Scenarios are a waste of time
When scenarios were first introduced to the game my immediate thoughts were not very positive at all, and I'm sad to say many of my concerns continue to be realized with the existence of this feature.
Scenarios were quite literally an incomplete feature upon their release and were advertised as such, "only 2 scenarios at launch, and more coming in the future!" They added more scenarios since, but I would argue to this day that scenarios are still an incomplete feature, as they lack any functionality with any content beyond the base game. Lets call a spade a spade, any feature that lacks universal functionality with all the content in the game is by default an incomplete feature, and since it doesn't look like they will ever expand scenarios beyond base game content it seems this feature will always remain incomplete.
Another concern I had was that they used precious time, budget and resources to give us a feature nobody asked for, and promised to continue using said precious time, budget and resources to give us more of this feature nobody asked for. The latest patch released today (August 30th, 2022), is a sign of exactly that, budget and resources being used towards scenarios instead of much more important areas of the game. Instead of updating more traits to be more meaningful parts of a sims identity, they give us more scenarios. Instead of updating wants and fears to work with more pack content, they give us more scenarios. Instead of fixing game breaking bugs, they 'fix' issues related to scenarios, as if these fixes help make the game a more stable and playable experience.
I also remember thinking to myself that scenarios are basically an incredibly simplified alternative to aspirations, with this train of thought scenarios couldn't possibly be that difficult to maintain as a stable feature in the game right? Wrong! This latest patch shows that not even scenarios are safe from bugs, issues, and in general being a broken feature. So not only did they release an incomplete feature, not only do they use resources for this incomplete feature that could be used elsewhere, but this feature is also prone to breaking, meaning even more resources will be used trying to fix this feature instead of the rest of the game!
Last thing I'll say about scenarios is that they really don't add anything new to the game, no new gameplay or functionality, they just slap a to do list on top of existing content with no meaningful consequences upon completing said to do list. If anything I find scenarios incredibly limiting for the player, as it turns the sims from a player driven experience to an experience where you are told what to do.
In general scenarios are an incredibly uninspired and genuine waste of a feature, and a reminder that the development priorities for the sims 4 will never be where they are supposed to be.
Scenarios were quite literally an incomplete feature upon their release and were advertised as such, "only 2 scenarios at launch, and more coming in the future!" They added more scenarios since, but I would argue to this day that scenarios are still an incomplete feature, as they lack any functionality with any content beyond the base game. Lets call a spade a spade, any feature that lacks universal functionality with all the content in the game is by default an incomplete feature, and since it doesn't look like they will ever expand scenarios beyond base game content it seems this feature will always remain incomplete.
Another concern I had was that they used precious time, budget and resources to give us a feature nobody asked for, and promised to continue using said precious time, budget and resources to give us more of this feature nobody asked for. The latest patch released today (August 30th, 2022), is a sign of exactly that, budget and resources being used towards scenarios instead of much more important areas of the game. Instead of updating more traits to be more meaningful parts of a sims identity, they give us more scenarios. Instead of updating wants and fears to work with more pack content, they give us more scenarios. Instead of fixing game breaking bugs, they 'fix' issues related to scenarios, as if these fixes help make the game a more stable and playable experience.
I also remember thinking to myself that scenarios are basically an incredibly simplified alternative to aspirations, with this train of thought scenarios couldn't possibly be that difficult to maintain as a stable feature in the game right? Wrong! This latest patch shows that not even scenarios are safe from bugs, issues, and in general being a broken feature. So not only did they release an incomplete feature, not only do they use resources for this incomplete feature that could be used elsewhere, but this feature is also prone to breaking, meaning even more resources will be used trying to fix this feature instead of the rest of the game!
Last thing I'll say about scenarios is that they really don't add anything new to the game, no new gameplay or functionality, they just slap a to do list on top of existing content with no meaningful consequences upon completing said to do list. If anything I find scenarios incredibly limiting for the player, as it turns the sims from a player driven experience to an experience where you are told what to do.
In general scenarios are an incredibly uninspired and genuine waste of a feature, and a reminder that the development priorities for the sims 4 will never be where they are supposed to be.
