Open Neighborhood Rather than Open World

I think open world should make a comeback. Technology is advancing and I can't think of a game I play that doesn't have an open world. Open worlds in sims 3 were not optimised well, everyone knows it. But I still love them. I love watching my pets wander the neighbourhood, I love watching other sims out and about (like the couple that just started randomly fighting on the beach) it's a living town and if my sim never goes out they will miss out.

With 4 a semi open world is an okay compromise on paper, execution is another matter. It bothers me that when I'm in San Myshuno for example and scroll out that the majority of the map is just set dressing. It looks pretty but pretty doesn't cut it.

As said already there is a lot of illusion in the sims 4. Particularly in San Myshuno, look down in the financial area and there's lots of fake people walking by. In other worlds community lots fill very quickly but always with the same people that will behave the same way, I'm not sure an open world or open neighbourhood would fix that.

When I play the sims 2 I don't mind closed worlds. I love community lots and the "feel" of them. I love that sims will come and go and just do their own thing and the npc characters that make the lot feel alive. There's a sense of community and you can't guarantee who will appear. So I don't have any problems with a closed world done right. But I prefer open given the chance.

While I am all for fully opened world. I can't understand why people didn't like it. Maybe they didn't multitask well with it or something. Even a medium for sims 5 having the neighborhoods being fully open and the world semi closed would be good as well.

"kwanzaabot;c-16020025" wrote:
Open neighborhood is fine.

Calculating all the actions of every Sim in the world was never that big a draw for me, as those Sims just weren't that interesting.

Load screens are 30 seconds, tops. Big whoop. But apparently that's somehow inexcusable, even though TS3's load times could be upwards of 5 minutes.

Frankly, TS4 does a fine job of simulating a living, breathing world. But because it's missing a feature from a past game (even though it was a cra.p feature), people just won't let it go.

It's been 3 years, and frankly I'm sick of hearing about it.

That kind of justifies Sims 3's loading times. If a loading screen in S4 is 30 sec max and if I visit 10 places in a session I've now equated Sims 3's 5 minutes loading screen. If I visit 20 places in S4 I've now spent 10 minutes in loading screens. Give me one long load at the start so I can be done with loading screens. And yes Joanne65 some rabbit holes were fun school I liked but if going to wish for future content might as well aim high lol

I wasn't a big fan of the open world, but then again I don't know if I would like it, if it was less buggy. One of the main reasons I wasn't a big fan of the open world are just because they made a mess when producing it.
For example, I did not like how buggy the game was due to the open world (now, if they did a better job next time that could be fixed). I also hated that when we did get loading screens (vacations etc.) the loading screens were unbearable long, so while I loved World Adventure's gameplay, I stopped using it because it took too long to get to the world. Another problem I had with it was that when a sim wanted to go to the other end of town, it took forever to drive there... it was longer than the loading screens are now and by the time my sim got there all his needs were so low that he could go straight home. Lastly and I know that depended on the computer, my world felt very empty. All lots were empty all the time.

So, I don't need an open world to enjoy the game, but if they added that feature, they better do a good job at it :)

If TS5 was open world again I'd be very interested, indeed. Open neighborhoods are fine as well.

I don't mind that TS4 is closed, though.

"kwanzaabot;c-16020025" wrote:
Open neighborhood is fine.

Calculating all the actions of every Sim in the world was never that big a draw for me, as those Sims just weren't that interesting.

Load screens are 30 seconds, tops. Big whoop. But apparently that's somehow inexcusable, even though TS3's load times could be upwards of 5 minutes.

Frankly, TS4 does a fine job of simulating a living, breathing world. But because it's missing a feature from a past game (even though it was a cra.p feature), people just won't let it go.

It's been 3 years, and frankly I'm sick of hearing about it.

Since when does Sims 3 need load time when visiting your neighbour? (we're not talking to you when adressing this loading time galore we don't like by the way so please don't feel adressed to; you can skip it)

"kwanzaabot;c-16020051" wrote:

"cactusjuice;c-16020041" wrote:

"kwanzaabot;c-16020025" wrote:
Open neighborhood is fine.

Calculating all the actions of every Sim in the world was never that big a draw for me, as those Sims just weren't that interesting.

Load screens are 30 seconds, tops. Big whoop. But apparently that's somehow inexcusable, even though TS3's load times could be upwards of 5 minutes.

Frankly, TS4 does a fine job of simulating a living, breathing world. But because it's missing a feature from a past game (even though it was a cra.p feature), people just won't let it go.

It's been 3 years, and frankly I'm sick of hearing about it.

That kind of justifies Sims 3's loading times. If a loading screen in S4 is 30 sec max and if I visit 10 places in a session I've now equated Sims 3's 5 minutes loading screen. If I visit 20 places in S4 I've now spent 10 minutes in loading screens. Give me one long load at the start so I can be done with loading screens. And yes Joanne65 some rabbit holes were fun school I liked but if going to wish for future content might as well aim high lol

That only works if you change locations every in-game day.
If your Sims spend their lives at home and only go out occasionally, then it's an unnecessary burden.

Huh..? (I don't understand what you're suggesting here, to play the game between the four walls of your sims' house or am I misunderstanding?)

"JoAnne65;c-16019356" wrote:
For me it's open world rather than open neighborhood and it always will. Open world only contributed to difficulties due to lousy implementing. I'm not prepared to settle for less just because they messed things up that shouldn't have been messed up. And even messed up I love it.

Except that the open world sucked. The worlds in TS3 were boring, annoying, and it took my sims like half a day to get anywhere. I'd rather not waste my time with that.

Okay... I am not a big supporter of the open world myself, but the sims 3 worlds weren't plum. I like Sims 4 worlds, but I also think Sims 3 worlds are well done.
Both have their nice parts. Some people really hate the backdrops, while I actually like them (I am not a builder though so to me the bachground adds to realism). Doesn't mean the people who hate them don't have valid points

Everyone has an opinion of the open worlds. Some people like me and others have good experiences with it enjoy and it. I've never found my towns to be empty or have deserted lots for example. Others had performance issues.

I've don't think it's fair to call either world boring though. Sims 3 worlds are gorgeous and full of things to explore. Sims 4 worlds are pretty and there are some really lovely parts, I just ache to explore every inch of the map and kind of wish so much of it wasn't set dressing. But it is pretty.

But let's not turn this thread into sims 3 open world vs sims 4 closed worlds.

"liliaeth;c-16020325" wrote:

"JoAnne65;c-16019356" wrote:
For me it's open world rather than open neighborhood and it always will. Open world only contributed to difficulties due to lousy implementing. I'm not prepared to settle for less just because they messed things up that shouldn't have been messed up. And even messed up I love it.

Except that the open world plum. The worlds in TS3 were boring, annoying, and it took my sims like half a day to get anywhere. I'd rather not waste my time with that.

Except that that's nothing but an opinion :p (take notice I wrote "for me") What's not opinion but fact is travelling time. I did a test once and it turned out open world and Sims 4's loading screen approximately take just as much time, be it in different ways (that's where opinion comes in again; I love following my sims in their car or on their bike/scooter/horse/broomstick/on foot through their worlds, for me that's just as important while playing as doing the laundry for others).

"JoAnne65;c-15549771" wrote:
I just did a 'speed' test, because I was curious what the differences effectively are between travelling in an open world and travelling between loading screens (for 'scientific' reasons, not because I care but because others seem to care; I don't mind waiting for a bit in 4 myself and I love travelling through an open world).

I made sure to be as 'honest' as possible, so all the sims testing for me were standing in their house and I included everything while timing. Also zooming out to press 'travel' in TS4, and zooming out to view town in TS3 and looking for/selecting the spot I wanted my sim to travel to. Everything was clocked from the moment I decide my sim has to travel till the very moment they arrive there.

Sims 3

I picked Hidden Springs, sending my sim from A to B.




Slowest car (3): 35 seconds real time (speed 3)
Sim time: 11:07 – 12:12 (= 65 minutes)
Fastest car (10): 21 seconds real time (speed 3)
Sim time: 17:23-17:55 (= 32 minutes)
Teleporting (cheat): 15 seconds real time (all-in, finding the spot B on the map and give order to teleport); sim time: 18:13-18:14 (= 1 minute to the very spot you want your sim to be)

Sims 4

From hallway to the café in Windenburg: 30 seconds real time
Back home: 35 seconds real time (due to walking time till loading screen, I used speed 3 of course)
Sim time going: 12:14-12:16 (=2 minutes); returning home: 2:32-2:42 (=10 minutes)

This on the same computer, obviously.

This by the way is from one far end to the other far end of the world, so maximum travelling time in that world. In an open world it matters how far your sim has to travel, which I love as well. And when you play more than one sim you don't even have to wait at all. You simply play another sim till the traveller is where you wanted them to go.