Smarten up TS4

The only thing that keeps me in the Sims 4 is the graphics and cc options. But it annoys me how unaware the sims are of their environment. Sim A cooks dinner. Sim B goes right on to find something else to eat. If the sims aren't in the same room as a sim who died (even if they are related) they won't care. Sims don't recognize other sims. Not to be 'that person' but I played Sims 2 and 3, after the Sims 4 and was shocked. Mind you I really like the graphics in the Sims 4. But gameplay wise? I was shocked how complex the sims were. A grandmother in a household I played recognized and remembered a sim who had cheated on her daughter and would be angry whenever she saw him. Why can't the Sims now do that? In the Sims 2 and 3 there was more dialogue than to "Brighten Day" or "Tell a joke about penguin". Sim conversations have no substance, it's frustrating. I also agree with the first post. My sims would be in a three-way convo, and the third sim will know nothing about their traits or careers. But God forbid they start flirting, cause then they'll ALL become romantic interests.... -___-

"Nehemiahxx;c-16486674" wrote:
The only thing that keeps me in the Sims 4 is the graphics and cc options. But it annoys me how unaware the sims are of their environment. Sim A cooks dinner. Sim B goes right on to find something else to eat. If the sims aren't in the same room as a sim who died (even if they are related) they won't care. Sims don't recognize other sims. Not to be 'that person' but I played Sims 2 and 3, after the Sims 4 and was shocked. Mind you I really like the graphics in the Sims 4. But gameplay wise? I was shocked how complex the sims were. A grandmother in a household I played recognized and remembered a sim who had cheated on her daughter and would be angry whenever she saw him. Why can't the Sims now do that? In the Sims 2 and 3 there was more dialogue than to "Brighten Day" or "Tell a joke about penguin". Sim conversations have no substance, it's frustrating. I also agree with the first post. My sims would be in a three-way convo, and the third sim will know nothing about their traits or careers. But God forbid they start flirting, cause then they'll ALL become romantic interests.... -___-

This!! The part where sim a doesn't recognize when sim b cooks dinner has to be one of the most annoying things in the game.

Something that I really hate is when my Sim invites someone to the restaurant and orders food, if the person they invited is hungry, they will go grab food in the fridge instead of waiting to be served. That doesn't make any sense!

The worst for me is when My sims get in a huge brawl with smoke clouds and chaos only to finish the fight and start a friendly, happy go lucky conversation with the sim they just beat the heck out of.

"Evil_One;c-16478398" wrote:


Because this game was supposed to be online, with players doing the parts and not NPCs, so they had to hastily add into the base game the NPC coding, multitasking, emotions, ETC.

The result is a hollow shell of a game.

You can thank anyone who still wants the Sims to be online.

And this is why the "Family Tree" doesn't work properly either and Toddlers show up as being the spouse of an adult sim. I enjoy some aspects of Sims 4, but find myself playing Sims 2 or 3 more.

I really wish this could be properly fixed.

"Nehemiahxx;c-16486674" wrote:
A grandmother in a household I played recognized and remembered a sim who had cheated on her daughter and would be angry whenever she saw him. Why can't the Sims now do that?

This statement right here is 1 of the many things that bug me. Why in just the second version of the game can this happen but here in 2018 ts 4, sims are oblivious to others past actions. We need some kind of long term memory system. I agree the graphics in TS4 are just stunning. That's a huge draw for me and probably the main reason why I don't just go back to playing ts2. Now with Seasons coming back, I will most likely purchase and play again.. for all of a day or so until my sims remind me of why I always stop playing. They can add all the Ep's, GP's & SP's there are to make, if the sims themselves are broken, the game will never be as good as it can/should be.

The infrastructure exists in Sims 4 to create intelligent Sims it's just not utilized. All Sims instantly go play on the computer, or go play Horseshoes. There is no diversity it what activities a Sim chooses because they used a simplistic one size fits all system for attracting Sims to certain objects. They are also 99% oblivious to the world around them which is why when a Sim begins preparing a meal, the others will go get a snack out of the fridge. Maxis didn't apply a trigger alerting Sims that another Sim was performing an activity. This simple system would have dramatically improved the AI. If two Sims are in the same room they should know what is happening. For instance "That Sim just went into the bathroom. I won't barge in." or "That Sim is preparing a meal. I'll wait." or "My spouse just went to bed. I'll join them." or "My teen age son is making out with his girl friend, that's inappropriate!" However they did manage to apply triggers in the dumbest ways. For instance, your Sim goes over to their boy friends house, and begins cooking him a meal....here he comes saying, "That's inappropriate! If you keep that up you'll have to leave!" REALLY!? That's the one thing Maxis decided was important? Let's say that was in any way useful, why still does it ignore relationship status!? Sims are completely oblivious unless they can verbally assault someone. :neutral:

My sim was talking to a friend saying nice stuff about that sim's daughter, and she answered "I'd love to meet her" ??

My sim was secretly kissing with a guy from work and immediately after got a message from her boyfriend (who had never met the colleague): “I’m so glad you and X are getting along, he’s a great guy” (or something along those lines). That’s not the sim being aware something happening, the game was aware and triggered the message. And did something pretty hard to follow with the event.

"tonicmole;c-16497650" wrote:
The infrastructure exists in Sims 4 to create intelligent Sims it's just not utilized. All Sims instantly go play on the computer, or go play Horseshoes. There is no diversity it what activities a Sim chooses because they used a simplistic one size fits all system for attracting Sims to certain objects. They are also 99% oblivious to the world around them which is why when a Sim begins preparing a meal, the others will go get a snack out of the fridge. Maxis didn't apply a trigger alerting Sims that another Sim was performing an activity. This simple system would have dramatically improved the AI. If two Sims are in the same room they should know what is happening. For instance "That Sim just went into the bathroom. I won't barge in." or "That Sim is preparing a meal. I'll wait." or "My spouse just went to bed. I'll join them." or "My teen age son is making out with his girl friend, that's inappropriate!" However they did manage to apply triggers in the dumbest ways. For instance, your Sim goes over to their boy friends house, and begins cooking him a meal....here he comes saying, "That's inappropriate! If you keep that up you'll have to leave!" REALLY!? That's the one thing Maxis decided was important? Let's say that was in any way useful, why still does it ignore relationship status!? Sims are completely oblivious unless they can verbally assault someone. :neutral:

I like this answer - I didn't necessarily read the whole two page thread, but you said:

Maxis didn't apply a trigger alerting...

and so on.

The jury is out on exactly what the shortcomings are - ie there is a whole ton of speculation and rumour; however, having Simmers who kind of get how something is achievable or can be achievable is better than have 2,000 Simmers who are arguing/demanding something with no idea of how it is going to be achieved.

ie, this is probably true:

Because this game was supposed to be online, with players doing the parts and not NPCs, so they had to hastily add into the base game the NPC coding, multitasking, emotions, ETC.

and so on.

Understanding the logic of how and why anything could be achieved is good.

Maxis didn't apply a trigger alerting Sims that another Sim was performing an activity.

It does so much, because it is so basic - Sims and their 'musical chairs'; toddler and highchairs, etc.

AI blockers.

You shut those suckers down and make them behave.

It's been discussed before.