Sims Four Live Mode is Lacking

"PrincessrozeeS;c-16645833" wrote:

"fullspiral;d-944546" wrote:
While I LOVE the aesthetics of the game and how it looks, actually PLAYING it is tedious and repetitive and boring.

I don't know what it is. Is it the lot types and how the game codes them to play out? Is it that there is no new lot types? No new traits? No difference in how you set a sim up? They ALL play the same.

I initially loved how it was looking....but this is the first one of the entire 4 series that I cannot play in live mode for very long. And TBH, the only reason I played live mode in S3 was for the tomb exploration.

I think Sims lost it's Live Mode charm with Sims 2.

I can spend hours upon hours in build mode and create-a-sim in 4 because my imagination wants something, but as soon as I enter live mode, the excitement dies and it feels so tedious.

Such a shame for such a pretty ( looking) game.

I have had a lot of fun playing the Sims 4 BUT I find many aspects to the game frustrating and time consuming, by that I mean trawling through inventories that contain lots of items to find the one things you want. I often think back to the Sims 2 and think how I played that game for more hours than I care to admit almost every day. I couldn't wait for new EP's etc to come out. A game should improve not go backwards which I think the Sims 4 has in many ways. As the OP has said, the game is very pretty and I totally agree, but it has come with sacrifices as far as I am concerned. In the Sims 2 I was inspired to make stories and build lots, but I have had none of this inspiration in the Sims 4.

What I miss is the quirkiness of the game, when having a great date a gift would be left on the doorstep, now it just goes into the home inventory. Flaming bags of poo being left on the doorstep after upsetting a Sim usually after a break up. Mrs Crumplebottom hitting someone with her handbag are just a couple of examples. For me these kind of things made the game. I loved the little video's that cut into the game play when woo-hoo was in a hot tub, first kiss etc. The Townies in the Sims 2 had personality. The Townies or NPC's in the Sims 4 just walk around and do not really engage as they did in previous Sim games.

I like a challenge in a game but I don't want it to be a lottery, which to me is what the Sims 4 is all about. In the items your Sims finds when collecting, with fish and so on. My Sim needs to know what bait is required either by buying a book or actually catching the fish and recording it. Yes we have the Sims notebook on the phone but it seems so many fish like the same bait! I want to know where those places are to catch certain fish and guaranteed of catching what I want, not fishing for hours and hours and catching the same fish over and over. And I don't expect my Sim when maxing out fishing skill to be fishing out rubbish or other items they do not need. Why can't our Sims talk to other Sims while fishing to build up relationship points and charisma?

In the Sims 3 I used to love collecting rocks and precious metals/crystals and when they brought out a reward to see where these things were it made it even better. These things existed in all the worlds not just one special world. The spawning of items in the Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat is frankly frustrating and spawning places change. Even after several vacations there trying to fulfill the whole collection of insects is again a lottery. It is why I give up and have my Sim head for home! I used to enjoyed making my Sims a vacation home in the Sims 2 Bon Voyage, but none of this possible in the Sims 4. It is all rentals.

I haven't got Seasons EP yet and I am sure it will give more to my game, but like some of the other things that have already been released I will be thinking that it has been done on a budget and we are only being given a taster. I found this to be so with the Business side in the Sims 4, it was not a patch on the Sims 2 Open For Business. I have also recently been running a Vet Clinic and there are aspects to that I think could have been so much better. There is no real control over employees or helping them get skills, it's just pay the money for training! And still they don't use the surgery machine or seem to know what they are doing even when they reach the top LOL

I think we had been spoiled with the Sims 2, it embraced so much of the charm that the Sims 1 gave us and was improved with so many other things that opened up the game. It kept it alive with so many aspects to explore. Even the Sims 3 had tons of content and game play but it became too much for me to play with the open neighbourhood. It was too big, but I loved many aspects.

There are times when I find the Sims 4 tedious and turn it off, especially when there has been new content and patches added into the game which have messed things up, as they are now, but I know I will go back and play and still keep buying the new items that are put out in the hope the game will improve more. I will continue to explore the game to find out new things I have not seen and often will take on a one of the many "challenges" that have been made up for the game, e.g.the Legacy Challenge etc. this often lets me see another side of the game I have not explored before and refreshes me from my usual style of play.

"And still keep buying the new items they put out in the hope the game will improve"

That is the biggest problem with the fanbase. It sends the wrong message to EA that they don't really have to try harder because enough people buy whatever they put out. I am not saying this as a personal attack to you because I used to be the same but I grew tired of it. Imo the sims hasn't progressed at all since the end of the sims 2. We need quality, we need a new engine that is built to support dx11/dx12 so we can have a game that feels like a true upgrade with real life simulation and new ideas. New graphics is NOT enough!