So is this officially the worst year for sims 4 ?

Last time I was excited for a pack was when IL and ROM and those packs were so hollow. This year we barley had any useable content. EL is buggy and most can't play it, JTB is niche, NK is also kinda niche and only has two gameplay objects and TL is just a stuff pack that could have been added to Uni and we could already make tiny homes.

"Sk8rblaze;c-17662009" wrote:
It seems like this is the first year out of The Sims 4's lifespan where Maxis has implemented nothing but new, original ideas to the series. This comes at no surprise, given a guru has told us to expect that prior to this year. Is it a coincidence some are calling it TS4's worst year yet?

With that said, I personally feel these original concepts are pretty... unexciting, to put it kindly. Knitting, stuff for tiny homes (which was obviously meant to supplement the expansion), and eco-living, one of the most buggy and, well... blah ideas for a pack that has also clearly not been gameplay play-tested enough, otherwise people wouldn't have NPC Sims rampantly stealing from their lots and such. How could that have passed Q&A? Is there still Q&A at all for the series?

I swear, nothing has made me appreciate The Sims 3 more than seeing how low The Sims 4 has taken the series. World Adventures, Ambitions, Generations, horses in Pets, Supernatural, Island Paradise, Into The Future -- look at how many original ideas The Sims 3 introduced that turned out to be such fun additions to the series!! What happened???

They figured out the new comers will buy packs that don't make any sense at all. Such as the lackluster IL, where they just threw in a mermaid and called it done. Yep, we threw in a life state, aren't you guys grateful? Where the game play is so small might as well sold this pack as world like in TS3's Store. No need to even call it a gameplay pack. Where diving is a rabbit hole in a closed world system...

TS4's reputation is sinking so low it's packs are not even as good as the overpriced content in TS3's store. It can't even be compared anymore to any pack in TS2 or TS3, just some extra stuff sold on TS3's store is more in line with what these so called packs are offering. Such as buying a world in TS3 (some of them) where there wasn't much to do in those worlds, maybe one new object to use (violin comes to mind) and sell it for high price much like the lackluster gameplay of the new worlds actually sold in the TS4 EPs and GPs. So lacking in any new gameplay that last more than an hour or so, that we can't even compare them to Island Paradise, and or any other EP from TS3, or even any EPs in TS1, or TS2. They are nothing more than maybe a new world with very little gameplay in them like worlds in TS3's store. (but even that is an insult to TS3's worlds in the store).

"Peral;c-17662166" wrote:

"Horrorgirl6;c-17662098" wrote:
To be honest the problems aren't because the stuff is new.The problem is they are not creative, and are base on trends .

Honestly I think the Star Wars pack is the pack that demands the most creative thinking of all the packs from the player

I think a game that is an adventure game can be fun, I used to love them before I found The Sims. I continued to play them for a few more years.

However, I can think of some that were much more challenging and had to use that gray matter, such as Agatha Christie games, 'Then There Were None'. What did I do with some of the objects I found and put in my inventory.

Or Dracula's Last Sanctuary, especially the last challenge, where I had to figure out the steps (literally) down to the final place, and then cross that life size chess board. Or game over, dead, killed by Dracula. (impaled) Start again, lol. No cheats, no tutorials, no walkthroughs.

I remember it took my brain awhile to figure out how I escaped those werewolf things up in the room in the mainhouse where I had no escape and I had only like five seconds to figure it out or my Harker got killed, when they burst through the door I had blocked, lol, game over.

Or when he is down in the sewer and has to swim underwater to get out of there but runs out of oxygen, game over.

Yeah, I used to love Adventure games because they were a challenge. It's not much of a challenge to point and click an object and be done. Or in the Holmes games where when I tried to build the enigma and was cursing what had I done wrong?! lol, too late Holmes died of poisoning.

If I'm going to play those in The Sims, I expect them to be as entertaining, even though I feel they never belonged in The Sims.

ETA: And probably my most favorite for the times was Omega Stone, it was so much fun to get in that helicopter and steer it to a dig site. It was so much fun to figure out how to get out of a tomb when a wall closed it off. And finally (after 44 hours of guaranteed gameplay) for an average person, find the Altar and solve the last puzzle.

I guess my point is does SW even offer the Sim being killed or out of luck and dying? I don't think so.

yeah i think its been a pretty bad year for the sims. i think the stuff packs are fine. but eco lifestyle is buggy. it would be more fun without the bugs. and of course the star wars pack no one asked for. im nervous about the new ep that will come out. im hoping it will be better.

I've enjoyed all the packs this year. I think the worst year for The Sims 4 was the first year, when they put out a game that was missing a bunch of things we'd expect from the base game, especially including pretty much anything for sims to do, because midway through development they realized that The Sims doesn't work as an always-online, multiplayer experience and scrambled to make a single-player game from the wreckage.

"Horrorgirl6;c-17662101" wrote:

"Beardedgeek;c-17662099" wrote:

"Sk8rblaze;c-17662009" wrote:
It seems like this is the first year out of The Sims 4's lifespan where Maxis has implemented nothing but new, original ideas to the series. This comes at no surprise, given a guru has told us to expect that prior to this year. Is it a coincidence some are calling it TS4's worst year yet?

With that said, I personally feel these original concepts are pretty... unexciting, to put it kindly. Knitting, stuff for tiny homes (which was obviously meant to supplement the expansion), and eco-living, one of the most buggy and, well... blah ideas for a pack that has also clearly not been gameplay play-tested enough, otherwise people wouldn't have NPC Sims rampantly stealing from their lots and such. How could that have passed Q&A? Is there still Q&A at all for the series?

I swear, nothing has made me appreciate The Sims 3 more than seeing how low The Sims 4 has taken the series. World Adventures, Ambitions, Generations, horses in Pets, Supernatural, Island Paradise, Into The Future -- look at how many original ideas The Sims 3 introduced that turned out to be such fun additions to the series!! What happened???

Everybody would LOVE new stuff if we at least was up to have everything included in the Sims 3 base game. We're not there yet.

That's part of the problem, but the big problem are the packs themselves .Just look at Journey to Batu? I don't think the base game would help it.We would still have a bad pack.

I agree if EA/Maxis had released everything from the packs into format of an base game the game will still have the same effects it has now, The game would still be gimped as it may run okay but I look at what EA/Maxis took out to make sure it runs okay instead of taking the time to make sure the game runs good even with the features still in. I have no faith for Sims 5 as EA/Maxis rep is tarnished starting with Sim City 2013.

"Beardedgeek;c-17662099" wrote:

"Sk8rblaze;c-17662009" wrote:
It seems like this is the first year out of The Sims 4's lifespan where Maxis has implemented nothing but new, original ideas to the series. This comes at no surprise, given a guru has told us to expect that prior to this year. Is it a coincidence some are calling it TS4's worst year yet?

With that said, I personally feel these original concepts are pretty... unexciting, to put it kindly. Knitting, stuff for tiny homes (which was obviously meant to supplement the expansion), and eco-living, one of the most buggy and, well... blah ideas for a pack that has also clearly not been gameplay play-tested enough, otherwise people wouldn't have NPC Sims rampantly stealing from their lots and such. How could that have passed Q&A? Is there still Q&A at all for the series?

I swear, nothing has made me appreciate The Sims 3 more than seeing how low The Sims 4 has taken the series. World Adventures, Ambitions, Generations, horses in Pets, Supernatural, Island Paradise, Into The Future -- look at how many original ideas The Sims 3 introduced that turned out to be such fun additions to the series!! What happened???

Everybody would LOVE new stuff if we at least was up to have everything included in the Sims 3 base game. We're not there yet.

But every time they put in something we had before it is damned as recycled. EA/Maxis don't seem to do anything right with this community do they?

"Simburian;c-17666073" wrote:

"Beardedgeek;c-17662099" wrote:

"Sk8rblaze;c-17662009" wrote:
It seems like this is the first year out of The Sims 4's lifespan where Maxis has implemented nothing but new, original ideas to the series. This comes at no surprise, given a guru has told us to expect that prior to this year. Is it a coincidence some are calling it TS4's worst year yet?

With that said, I personally feel these original concepts are pretty... unexciting, to put it kindly. Knitting, stuff for tiny homes (which was obviously meant to supplement the expansion), and eco-living, one of the most buggy and, well... blah ideas for a pack that has also clearly not been gameplay play-tested enough, otherwise people wouldn't have NPC Sims rampantly stealing from their lots and such. How could that have passed Q&A? Is there still Q&A at all for the series?

I swear, nothing has made me appreciate The Sims 3 more than seeing how low The Sims 4 has taken the series. World Adventures, Ambitions, Generations, horses in Pets, Supernatural, Island Paradise, Into The Future -- look at how many original ideas The Sims 3 introduced that turned out to be such fun additions to the series!! What happened???

Everybody would LOVE new stuff if we at least was up to have everything included in the Sims 3 base game. We're not there yet.

But every time they put in something we had before it is ???? as recycled. EA/Maxis don't seem to do anything right with this community do they?

I mostly hear the word "recycled" regard re-skinned objects and re-used animations. Not "Oh look they made an university pack again", which was wished for for years.

"Simburian;c-17666073" wrote:


But every time they put in something we had before it is ???? as recycled. EA/Maxis don't seem to do anything right with this community do they?

Not true.

There is a difference between accepted standards and recycling.

If the next installment of The Sims shipped without CAS or build/buy mode, would it still be a Sims game? Many of us feel exactly the same about seasons, vacations, pets, transportation, and a myriad of other things. They are integral to our gameplay and are standards that we expect the development team to meet in each installment of a Sims game.

Recycling is the persistent reuse of assets, animations, and features when new assets, animations, and features would have been demonstrably better. For example, there should have been new animations for reading, watching television, using a tablet or sketchpad, or speaking while on a lounge chair. However, there are none. Instead, the same bolt-upright, awkwardly stiff animations from the base game were reused as a cheap shortcut. That is recycling.

"Beardedgeek;c-17666077" wrote:

I mostly hear the word "recycled" regard re-skinned objects and re-used animations. Not "Oh look they made an university pack again", which was wished for for years.

Exactly.

Yeah, I agree, I wasted money getting the Star Wars, didn't bother to get the knitting mess. I wish they had more things in the game as the Sims 3 had. I miss how the vacations were in Sims 3 and being able to build hotels and I miss being able to swim anywhere.