New Update: Neighborhood Stories

https://twitter.com/TheSimCommunity/status/1504023901130608641?t=yewx7Bj7qUmooUJoXidjHw&s=19

Article contents:
1. Everything you need to know about the Updated

2. Neighborhood Stories in The Sims 4

3.What’s Different?

4. Customization

5. Seeing Neighbourhood Stories in Action

https://simscommunity.info/2022/03/16/the-sims-4-guide-to-neighbourhood-stories-customisation/

Love this update, was a bit nervous but it's very easy to use. My played families are switched off, but might tweak that.
The unplayed sims feel alive now. Got a notification that the Kealoha family in Sulani are preparing for a new baby, someone else changed career. No deaths so far but think I might set that to off in case I lose someone that might be needed at some point.
Really impressed with this feature.

I am positively surprised by this update. I don't want story progression but am pleased for those who want it. The customisation option are awesome. I really love that we can set options on a household level. I might actually try it out on one or two families I don't care about just to see what happens to them.

I do wonder about sims getting children autonomously. Will households just fill until there are 8 sims if I turn that option on? Or is there a limit on how many children a household can get?

I'm quite excited about this update but haven't tried it yet. I play my played sims on long/normal lifespan and the rest of the neighbourhood is mostly not aging so I'm a tad worried this update will change things too agressively compared to my play pace. It's a huge rotation so that's why I turn the aging on for unplayed households very rarely. I wonder if those households will be piling up with babies and pets or something. Maybe it's another thing that I need to turn on and off? Still if it doesn't work for my main save I will likely start a new one where I can try it to the fullest. Also I have to say this really sounds like a game changer for single household players!

Excited to see what the update entails. It definitely looks very promising.

But I also agree that it would make sense if my sims got a sad moodlet if one of their close or maybe even just good friends died. After all they get sad when a rabbit, they might only have known peripherally, dies and there’s also that newish sentiment about being there for someone through their time of grief - or something like that - which would work well along the lines of something like this.

They really took EVERY type of players into consideration when developing Neighborhood Stories. Awesome!
Still misses a few things like other people pointed out, like moodlets for Neighborhood Stories related deaths, but overall this is a HUGE step toward the right direction for world-driven players (and still toward the right direction for other players because of how well-thought the customization aspect is).

I like that we still get phone calls from close friends. Combined with the new autonomous things, it really makes you feel like the world around you is alive and moving.

Now we wait for a full whims rework :D

Maybe I should start a new thread for this question, but everyone seems to be responding here, and it's related. I haven't played, save for building for some time. Do these "Scenarios" and "Stories" occur fluently, or are they something you have to initiate on your own? My issue is that, except for work or school, my sims would never leave the house. I didn't feel compelled to go to a club, or visit a library, for instance. But, if the game provided the incentive on it's own, I might start playing again.

"SailorCeti;c-18078778" wrote:
Maybe I should start a new thread for this question, but everyone seems to be responding here, and it's related. I haven't played, save for building for some time. Do these "Scenarios" and "Stories" occur fluently, or are they something you have to initiate on your own? My issue is that, except for work or school, my sims would never leave the house. I didn't feel compelled to go to a club, or visit a library, for instance. But, if the game provided the incentive on it's own, I might start playing again.

Scenarios are kinda like challenges. You start a scenario from the home screen, then make (or for some Scenarios, you can choose) a sim or sims that meet the requirements, then the game gives that sim moodlets, sentiments, skills and/or money suitable to the Scenario. Then you play to complete it.

Neighborhood Stories is Story progression for the unplayed households. It's entirely passive once you decide what progression you want.

"VeeDub;c-18078606" wrote:

Me when I saw this part of SimGuruNick's explanation of the new features:

Global enable/disable setting. If life changes happening all over the world are just not your thing, that’s okay! Neighborhood Stories can be entirely disabled under Game Options using the “Reset Custom Configurations” Button.*

Yaaaaay, this is awesome. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! :smiley: :grin: :love:

Me when I noticed the "fine print":

*Neighbor Sim friends will still occasionally call asking for advice about life changes unless your Sim’s phone is on silent.

Aw, man. I feel like I've been trolled. :disappointed:

This. I am glad that the devs have included toggles for the advanced Neighborhood Stories features, but I wish they had included a toggle for the Neighborhood Stories phone calls as well. Silencing the phone is not an optimal solution, because I do not want to block all phone calls, just primarily the ones related to Neighborhood Stories. I hope that the devs will consider adding phone call toggles in the future, so that we can control which specific types of phone calls our sims receive.

This is so amazing!! That is the kind of addition that makes me want to play the game more. Hopefully they rework the whims system next, that might add as much to my gameplay.