Satisfaction with TS4
I want to see if player's satisfaction/non satisfaction with the TS4 correlates with which Sims series they started off playing with (in other words, the series you first played, like TS2, TS3, etc......
Forum Discussion
There are things I like about Sims 4, and it definitely has some innovative qualities. It's also a beautiful game with smooth animations and is just visually pleasing all around. The things that I enjoy about it are things that I really like.
But no, I can't say I'm satisfied. I feel like the original concept of Will Wright has been long lost (or discarded) in favor of trendiness, putting too much "real world" focus into the game, trying to pander to specific age groups, and creating whatever brings in quick money.
As some others have pointed out, the personalities in Sims 4 are just so shallow. There is no individuality and the Sims play like someone else's fan fiction characters. Traits should determine a Sim's personal whims, their instincts, and their reactions and behaviors. The base game completely changed a formula that worked perfectly in previous games in order to focus on emotions instead, but then they left out an entire branch of the emotional spectrum. Fear does not exist. There is no anxiety, no horror, no basic human phobias or fright. It's absurd and leaves the Sims incomplete. For crying out loud, we actually have focused and energized and inspired as emotions but not basic fear? The game is almost five years old, this should have been one of the first things corrected.
I also just can't fathom the whole "feel good game" Utopia that shields its own players from anything that might make a sim unhappy for any length of time. The constant grinning, hugging and "oh la-di-da, isn't life so swell, even if we get in a fight or become enemies, Imma hug you cuz you no be mad, k?" disturbingly shallow gameplay actually makes me dread going into live mode. Because I know very well that as soon as I'm trying to play any of my households, the exact same repetitious actions are going to infect whatever I do, no matter how I try to do it. Sims gravitating to objects that make no sense to their traits. Sims drinking eighteen glasses of water a day, even if they're Vampires. Sims speaking once to a stranger and then getting forty texts from them over the next few days. Sims wandering off to nowhere to play around on their phones alone instead of interacting with household members. Sims getting happy buffs every time they stand in a room that has a picture on the wall. Even the romantic interactions are so chaste and few that it's a wonder they can Woohoo at all. The game plays like it was made for children.
The Sims used to have a lot of heart and soul in the characters, and the dramatic parody and chance of failure was what kept people engaged for marathon sessions of playing. Now I get bored in twenty minutes or less because no matter what pack I add to my game, it's still the same core, the same incompletion of personalities, the same empty repetition of cookie cutter characters. So unless these very important core issues are addressed, I'm afraid that the game will always be unsatisfactory. And that stinks because I really do want to love it. I simply... don't.
But no, I can't say I'm satisfied. I feel like the original concept of Will Wright has been long lost (or discarded) in favor of trendiness, putting too much "real world" focus into the game, trying to pander to specific age groups, and creating whatever brings in quick money.
As some others have pointed out, the personalities in Sims 4 are just so shallow. There is no individuality and the Sims play like someone else's fan fiction characters. Traits should determine a Sim's personal whims, their instincts, and their reactions and behaviors. The base game completely changed a formula that worked perfectly in previous games in order to focus on emotions instead, but then they left out an entire branch of the emotional spectrum. Fear does not exist. There is no anxiety, no horror, no basic human phobias or fright. It's absurd and leaves the Sims incomplete. For crying out loud, we actually have focused and energized and inspired as emotions but not basic fear? The game is almost five years old, this should have been one of the first things corrected.
I also just can't fathom the whole "feel good game" Utopia that shields its own players from anything that might make a sim unhappy for any length of time. The constant grinning, hugging and "oh la-di-da, isn't life so swell, even if we get in a fight or become enemies, Imma hug you cuz you no be mad, k?" disturbingly shallow gameplay actually makes me dread going into live mode. Because I know very well that as soon as I'm trying to play any of my households, the exact same repetitious actions are going to infect whatever I do, no matter how I try to do it. Sims gravitating to objects that make no sense to their traits. Sims drinking eighteen glasses of water a day, even if they're Vampires. Sims speaking once to a stranger and then getting forty texts from them over the next few days. Sims wandering off to nowhere to play around on their phones alone instead of interacting with household members. Sims getting happy buffs every time they stand in a room that has a picture on the wall. Even the romantic interactions are so chaste and few that it's a wonder they can Woohoo at all. The game plays like it was made for children.
The Sims used to have a lot of heart and soul in the characters, and the dramatic parody and chance of failure was what kept people engaged for marathon sessions of playing. Now I get bored in twenty minutes or less because no matter what pack I add to my game, it's still the same core, the same incompletion of personalities, the same empty repetition of cookie cutter characters. So unless these very important core issues are addressed, I'm afraid that the game will always be unsatisfactory. And that stinks because I really do want to love it. I simply... don't.
