Randomness of Sims 4

I asked about this on another thread and got no answer, does anyone know if the wall microwaves mod works anymore? I thought it stopped working after Get Famous.

Also is the linking feature new for occults?

"SilentKitty;c-17128627" wrote:

"Sigzy05;c-17128207" wrote:

"SilentKitty;c-17128067" wrote:
More random stuff happening would be nice :)

Story progression would be awful :s do not want!

I want to be able to be in control of the stories in my saves. I do not want the game deciding who gets married or not because it does not know the variables in this specific save. If occults are shunned or admired and other things like that. I love to play rotational, loading a household and expecting to continue where I left off and finding a new wife and toddler is not fun. I am happy when a vampire comes over unexpectedly and snacks on my sim. Awesome! I would find it amusing if my sims would have random happenings at work that had consequences.

Sims getting married and having kids without me is a huge no-no. However I would be very happy to be able to play matchmaker for my fellow sims. If my played sim could help NPCs find their true love or a good partner somehow. By operating a dating site or arranging dates then that would be a lot of fun! I would most likely run across combination that surprised me and it could cause me to break lore-rules just because it would add to the story. I would be very happy to have a feature like this.

Trying to find where I draw my lines for randomness. I am very positive to random stuff happening to the sim that I am currently playing because then I can make sure that they act correctly to what happens. After being bitten, will they buy garlic in bulk or start researching vampires so that they also can become one. That is something that I encourage. I am much more restrictive with things happening to the households that are not played with. I want them to wait for my input. Then when I logg on anything goes.

Why wouldn't you be in control of your stories with a story progression feature? You always had the option to turn it off on TS3, so I find that argument truly inaccurate.

I would love story progression to be a feature in TS4 for those you would like to enable it, so long as it works well.

I encourage more randomness and more unexpected things happening. Meteor falling from the sky, fantastic. Even if it falls smack down in the park taking a bunch of NPC’s with it. I would still be operating one of the sims nearby and can choose how to incorporate it into my game. Try to plead with the grim for a specific sim or dancing on their graves.

If the game would be in charge of romantic relationships among NPC those parings would probably occur a bit more often than meteors and that would have a huge impact on my story. I have a lot of occult sims in my saves and they often have untold rules to follow. Hypothetical scenario. The alien faction and the vampires playing out a huge conflict for resources for example. I swing by the ghost community in Willow creek for a while and when I return a bunch of aliens wound up married to vampires. Hmmm....

More randomness and mayhem would be very much welcome, if I can see it happening then I can work it into my story. I do not want marriage and kids without my input. Flirting yes, showing a preference, yes. Actually putting a ring on it, no.

You'd still be able to turn it off in the options. I honestly don't see the problem or turn off story progression for "played sims" only. Like we can already do with ageing. One of the things I loved about TS3 was how alive the community was, sims would be marrying and having kids in the background, houses would never be filled with ghosts and there was always a lot of drama happening.

"RIP-Troika-Games;c-17129637" wrote:

"Karon;c-17128868" wrote:

"RIP-Troika-Games;c-17128057" wrote:
They can always add a toggle in the options for these things (Story progression, burglars etc), for those people who doesn't want them.

The devs will always use the excuse that they lose time and money developing toggle buttons instead of adding new content to the game. Well, guess what simgurus?! You guess should always add that to the Base game. We always have ghosts in the base game (not in sims 4, but you get what i mean) so they can be used as guinea pigs for future occult toggle options. Robbers can be used as toggle options for future bad sim-related disasters. You can choose a basic disaster (like earthquake) as the guinea pig/base for future natural disasters like the volcanic activity. You can cut corners if you planned EVERY single aspect of futre DLCs before releasing the base game. Also, if they added swimmable oceans from the base game we would have more space in the Island Living pack for them to expand the actual ocean instead of adding it to the game. Now we have a world with a buggy swimmable ocean and a bunch of other worlds that we are not even able to swim. DLC should be made to expand the game, not add stuff thats lacking.

@NoWayJose527 Sims 3 didn't add better toggle options for players that like rotational gameplay, because they didn't knew how much we loved to do that, but in Sims 4 they did the opposite to players that liked story progressive gameplay. They are lazy to add advanced settings/options for some reason. If they studied some mods from Sims 3 like the MCCC they would have some ideas of how we like to set out games, but they didn't.

As teenagers said back in the day: Word.

"drake_mccarty;c-17128223" wrote:
They took out the randomness because they felt it was counter-active to players playing out their perfectly envisioned fantasy lives in this game. They have removed or watered down many of the “gamey” features making this game feel more like an interactive story book/doll house, where you must imagine most of what’s happening because the Sims certainly don’t offer much in that regard and nothing unexpected or bad ever happens without you forcing it to happen.

Indeed. Which is very counter-active towards other sections of their playerbase. The ones who liked these things.

"NoWayJose527;c-17128245" wrote:

"RIP-Troika-Games;c-17128057" wrote:
They can always add a toggle in the options for these things (Story progression, burglars etc), for those people who doesn't want them.

the

Story progression made it impossible for me to play Sims 3 as it wasn't compatible with my playing style. There was a toggle to turn it off. It didn't work.

Obviously I'd want a toggle that actually work, if it was to be implemented.


Why is it so common that whenever someone brings up the want for story progression and almost always a toggle to go with it for the people who doesn't want it. They usually go "No, I don't want it.". No desire for a toggle or anything. It shall simply not be added for the ones that want it. Doesn't feel very nice for the ones who do. (And this was not aimed to you NoWayJose, just a general observation on my part over the years.)

I understand the frustration all around regarding story progression and other features. Some things -- like occults -- can basically be ignored (most of the time, at least), but the way story progression was implemented in Sims 3 made the game unplayable for a lot of rotational players like me. I do like the idea of story progression, but only if #1 it works, and #2 I have some degree of control over it, i.e. deciding which families are affected and which aren't. In my game, I create my own story progression for townies, which can be a bit of work, but I'd rather do that than be unable to play because of EA's ideas on what the feature should do and how it should do it.


To me, the most critical issue regarding any aspect of the game is whether or not I have enough control over it to adapt it to my playing style. Sometimes that means using mods. For instance, neither the 7-day nor 14-day season length works for me and my playing style. I needed a 21-day season length. Fortunately I was able to find a mod that lets me do that. Similarly, I need a pregnancy length of 42 days. Again, I was able to find a mod that works for me.

I love simming. It's not a game to me; it's an enjoyable hobby. As a hobbyist, I want as much control over the gameplay mechanics as possible. Story progression scares me because it's a bit of a blanket option, either it affects all the sims or none of the sims. The story progression and open world format of Sims 3 meant that once I left a household, what happened to those sims was out of my control.

I started a storyline about a dirt poor young boy from the swamp who had a dream of becoming an astronaut someday. I played his house once, rotated through other families, and came back to find him at the top of the astronaut career with hundreds of thousands of simoleons.

I started a storyline about a single young woman who hated children. I played once, rotated through other families, and came back to find two babies on her living room floor -- and no husband/father in sight.

It was a nightmare for me, so whenever anyone talks about story progression and an open world concept, I immediately fear the worst. With a toggle or other controls that allow players to make their own choices, it could be a welcome addition. But my previous bad experience with Sims 3... well, that's not an experience I want to ever repeat. I tell myself I shouldn't get upset over a game, but like I said, it's not a game to me. It is a hobby, and I was truly depressed for weeks after Sims 3 came out and I realized I couldn't play it. So, for the next few years, all I could do was create sims to put in the gallery and do a bit of "sim modeling". I did go back to Sims 2 temporarily, but mentally and emotionally, I'd already moved on, so I couldn't fully enjoy it.

I guess I've rambled on long enough here. I do understand the frustrations. I guess I just find it hard to trust that EA will find ways to make future games compatible with all playing styles.

Well, as a game designed to be a world of the player's making...I want unpredictable deaths and similar negative events that don't have to be initiated by me to happen.

I mean, I want a toggle option so others don't have to play with unpredictable deaths and difficult events if they don't want to.

But I want my sims (and my gameplay) to come up against sudden and surprising turns that I have to deal with. That's fun for me. I'm a terrible person, it's okay, I know. I can't express how much I want this as an option.

"BilmoBlampkins;c-17127810" wrote:
I just want some small random things happening, like idk, RANDOM TOWNIES TALK TO EACHOTHER, townies marrying, throwing parties, dying and such, it's as everybody said, Wishy Washy.

My actor Sim had four people die at work last week in one shift! How's that for random? She did manage to successfully demand that two be allowed to live however. ?

"Monday;c-17130521" wrote:
Well, as a game designed to be a world of the player's making...I want unpredictable deaths and similar negative events that don't have to be initiated by me to happen.

I mean, I want a toggle option so others don't have to play with unpredictable deaths and difficult events if they don't want to.

But I want my sims (and my gameplay) to come up against sudden and surprising turns that I have to deal with. That's fun for me. I'm a terrible person, it's okay, I know. I can't express how much I want this as an option.

I don't think that makes you a terrible person. It's just a game after all.

"Sindocat;c-17130543" wrote:
But they do happen. Electrocution, emotional deaths, fires, etc. There are random negative, even fatal, events. If you want them to be harder, or riskier, that's fair. But they do exist. It happens.

Yup, I would love for them to be harder/riskier. For my taste, most of those things are too avoidable, need to be initiated by the player, or can be stopped. Or, whether it's my play style or luck, they don't really happen naturally in my games. I want to have some of the control in those aspects taken out of my hands. But then, I may well be asking for something that's just not going to happen in a Sims game, which is fine and understandable. I see the contradiction in asking a game that is about player decision to take away the player's ability to decide certain things. And I don't want players who don't want things to be riskier/unavoidable to have to suffer with my own wants. But if it were an option that could be turned on and off, I would be happy with such a thing. And this goes for non-terrible things, too, I'm happy with all of the features we get that add an element of surprise and force me to alter the story of my game so I have to adapt.

All that being said, I adore this game as it is now.

"Sindocat;c-17130543" wrote:
But they do happen. Electrocution, emotional deaths, fires, etc. There are random negative, even fatal, events. If you want them to be harder, or riskier, that's fair. But they do exist. It happens.

Electrocution is RARE. Even a guru couldn’t get it to trigger when they did everything in their power to.

Emotional deaths, let me be honest I thought those were a super neat idea and they nerfed those. Good luck having that happen without spamming interactions to influence their mood. In the event you come close, the game WILL warn you and gives you ample opportunity to change what you’re doing to avoid death.

Fires - oh my favorite. Fires aren’t that random. They are also pretty rare, but when you do have a fire and if your sim catches fire they will extinguish themselves without you directing them to. That is how they programmed these Sims.

So I’m going to politely disagree with everything you have said. Maybe you missed the point or you don’t understand the point being made, but the things you mention aren’t random or really negative. You will never experience death in this game without a large warning sign basically pleading for you to stop what you’re doing. In some cases the game will not let you progress further, like when your elder is exhausted - the game will not let you continue. Anything fatal in this game only happens when you make it happen, and if that works for you that’s great but it’s not what we’re talking about here.

"Sigzy05;c-17129679" wrote:

"SilentKitty;c-17128627" wrote:

"Sigzy05;c-17128207" wrote:

"SilentKitty;c-17128067" wrote:
More random stuff happening would be nice :)

Story progression would be awful :s do not want!

I want to be able to be in control of the stories in my saves. I do not want the game deciding who gets married or not because it does not know the variables in this specific save. If occults are shunned or admired and other things like that. I love to play rotational, loading a household and expecting to continue where I left off and finding a new wife and toddler is not fun. I am happy when a vampire comes over unexpectedly and snacks on my sim. Awesome! I would find it amusing if my sims would have random happenings at work that had consequences.

Sims getting married and having kids without me is a huge no-no. However I would be very happy to be able to play matchmaker for my fellow sims. If my played sim could help NPCs find their true love or a good partner somehow. By operating a dating site or arranging dates then that would be a lot of fun! I would most likely run across combination that surprised me and it could cause me to break lore-rules just because it would add to the story. I would be very happy to have a feature like this.

Trying to find where I draw my lines for randomness. I am very positive to random stuff happening to the sim that I am currently playing because then I can make sure that they act correctly to what happens. After being bitten, will they buy garlic in bulk or start researching vampires so that they also can become one. That is something that I encourage. I am much more restrictive with things happening to the households that are not played with. I want them to wait for my input. Then when I logg on anything goes.

Why wouldn't you be in control of your stories with a story progression feature? You always had the option to turn it off on TS3, so I find that argument truly inaccurate.

I would love story progression to be a feature in TS4 for those you would like to enable it, so long as it works well.

I encourage more randomness and more unexpected things happening. Meteor falling from the sky, fantastic. Even if it falls smack down in the park taking a bunch of NPC’s with it. I would still be operating one of the sims nearby and can choose how to incorporate it into my game. Try to plead with the grim for a specific sim or dancing on their graves.

If the game would be in charge of romantic relationships among NPC those parings would probably occur a bit more often than meteors and that would have a huge impact on my story. I have a lot of occult sims in my saves and they often have untold rules to follow. Hypothetical scenario. The alien faction and the vampires playing out a huge conflict for resources for example. I swing by the ghost community in Willow creek for a while and when I return a bunch of aliens wound up married to vampires. Hmmm....

More randomness and mayhem would be very much welcome, if I can see it happening then I can work it into my story. I do not want marriage and kids without my input. Flirting yes, showing a preference, yes. Actually putting a ring on it, no.

You'd still be able to turn it off in the options. I honestly don't see the problem or turn off story progression for "played sims" only. Like we can already do with ageing. One of the things I loved about TS3 was how alive the community was, sims would be marrying and having kids in the background, houses would never be filled with ghosts and there was always a lot of drama happening.

From all that I have heard from other rotational players, and not just in this discussion, it really didn’t work the last time they tried a toggle. So from my perspective this is like taking my favorite game that currently supports my gameplay and possibly adding a way to break it. I am not enthusiastic about that. Adding a toggle is no guarantee for functional rotational play so saying that rotational players can always flip the switch almost feels disingenuous.

My playstyle is rotational so Sims 4 is great for me. More mayhem please but no story progression.