The I'm Bored Thread

These days I only fire up Sims 4 when I'm inspired to create a sim or try out a new mod, otherwise I don't bother. There's no challenge, no real rewards, nothing to strive for. Aspirations are too easy and money is too easy to come by, and yet, for some unthinkable reason, they keep adding in ways to make this non-game even easier. I mean, the beach life aspiration from IL giving us a clone of the carefree trait was unforgivable enough, but spellcasters are just walking cheat code repositories. If I wanted to refill your needs without cheats, I'd give you a moodlet solver or something, but sure, give us a potion of plentiful needs, why not, it only does what plenty of other items and mechanics in-game already do. I mean, even getting a sim infected ups all their needs. And why bother giving us more ways to remove the tense moodlet when negative emotions don't stack and can be mitigated with pretty decor? I can't even romance my own magically-produced clone for crying out loud? Potions being worthless hasn't even been fixed yet despite it being actively addressed as a mistake. This series is staler than the pizza I bought two days ago and even the pizza still manages to be good enough to keep me coming for more, can't quite say the same for Sims 4.

As much as I enjoy making my sims happy (and at the risk of sounding like a complete sadist), I miss the lasting psychological torture you could inflict upon your simmies in 2. I mean, they could end up feeling so distraught with their lives that they start making out with brooms or cradling flour-sack facsimile babies, where's that kind of sheer goofy fun and challenge in 4? Many people seemed not to like the random opportunities in 3 but at least they gave you something to do when things were getting repetitive. And, hello, cops and burglars? Fire fighters? Literally anything that would make this "game" feel like a proper life simulator, like it used to?

And the animations are drier and blander than uncooked, unseasoned chicken, remember the sims 2 cutscenes for marriage or alien abduction or giving birth or hot tub woohoo? Remember sims swooning when they passed a sim they found cute, or becoming furious with one another? And yet, now all two sims interact exactly the same way, whether they're friends, enemies, lovers or relatives, it makes no difference when it's easier to just reuse assets and call it a day. I miss when the developers cared, when they realized they were actually making a game, not a no-soul millennial simulator. Speaking of, I believe we're all acquainted with the good ol' cycle of "no content for kids so they don't get played, kids aren't played so no content for them", and similar with babies, toddlers, teens, older adults, elders... It would just be another cosmetic addition (which we all know EA loves these days) but giving the elders their canes back would make a lot of simmers happy, except it'd be more work when EA can

"WaitWhatYT;c-17255135" wrote:
just reuse assets and call it a day.

And yeah, the game looks nice but are graphics and cas items the selling point here? There are plenty of dress up games online for free if that's what you're into not to mention modders making better clothing than what can ever be put in game, some of us want actual good gameplay like what we had before things started getting cut for no apparent reason, and again, SIMS 2. I remember the difference between light and heavy snow, and sims' hair swaying in the wind, where's that? Sure, the sims were kind of ugly, but the animations were fluid and engaging and a delight to witness, they built immersion instead of breaking immersion when your sims stop a conversation to sit across the room from each other before resuming, or address their arch-nemesis like any other sim and have a "pleasant conversation" with them because again this room is just SO nicely decorated that I'm no longer angry over you calling my mother a llama, let's be friends! If I wanted to see boring people having boring conversations, I'd watch a freaking sitcom, I want DRAMA, I want CONSEQUENCE.

And sure, I could address the bugs and those who disagree can rightfully say that every game has bugs... but why have the longest standing ones not been fixed yet? Why do apartment neighbors still complain about my sims being loud when there's literally nothing going on, no TV, no music, not even a conversation? Speaking of City Living, why does Billie Jang even exist, easily TS4's greatest sin lol I kid, I kid. But actually speaking of City Living, remember a lil trait called "unflirty"? Yeah, me neither, given how easy it is for those sims to still become flirty and to successfully flirt and be flirted with and get into relationships because why even bother. Hotheaded is like the only trait that I'd say does it's job, as I actually witness my hotheaded sims getting angry at nearly everything, and I like it! I didn't realize until last week that hotheaded sims get angry instead of happy when witnessing the first snow of the year, and that's one of those little additions that make the "game" great, which are sadly in such short supply this iteration when even hotheaded sims are as friendly and unproblematic as every other sim given enough positive moodlets which are BEYOND plentiful. What does gloomy even do, or noncommittal, or romantic or erratic or dance machine or ANY other trait? Squeamish in particular is such a flop, there are sooo so many things squeamish sims could've been able to get disgusted by which just went ignored, you're really telling me a "squeamish" sim doesn't freak out upon seeing another sim wet themselves, or when being made to change a dirty diaper??? And while I think that it should hypothetically be possible for good and evil sims to be friends with significant effort and player interference, there should be some challenge to it, that's the whole point of having both good and evil sims! If neat sims are so uncomfortable around filth, why don't they autonomously clean up more, and what's the point of even having a "cheerful" trait if sims in 4 are, by default, perpetually smiling buffoons? That plum-eating-grin on happy (or confident or energized or flirty or...) sims gets old fast, especially when they tend to do little else but smile and stand around even with autonomy enabled (thanks a lot, simulation lag). Another trait I don't fully hate is jealous, given it actually adds a bit of challenge for both single and coupled sims, but even still, watching the jealous sim run the same "no way!" animation literally every single time their SO talks to another sim gets sooo ooold, especially given it doesn't actually impact their relationship with either sim and ultimately amounts to nothing, per usual.

And let's talk occults, or as I see it, vampires+spellcasters and friends since those are the only two with anything at all going for them (and I've already stated my gripes with the latter). Mermaids and aliens, as much as I positively adore them, are boring, and occult children routinely get shafted because no one cares to make them worthwhile in any way. Plantsims aren't even a real life state, just a shoddy illusion we got temporarily for some even that barely anyone even remembers, and hybrids are beyond buggy despite being fully possible in game without cheats or mods. We still can't even sync alien forms despite how useful it would be because they just. don't. CARE.

I have my game running now as I was testing something (forgot what though lol) and I just forgot about because I'm honestly having more fun ranting about the Sims 4 than actually playing it, that's how bored I am with this series. I expected to type up a single paragraph or two and post, but here we are with this sprawling wall of text, lmao. If you actually read all of that, thanks, you're a real one ??

"thecatsred;c-17263410" wrote:
Children and Teens don't get bullied or have fights with their friends and only come home bored, embarrassed or stressed. I want a kid to come home angry maybe.

Well, to be fair, they do come home mad (enraged even) sometimes, but it's meaningless when you can just queue up several "calm self down" interactions with the nearest mirror and suddenly they're completely over it...

"SK_Inspired;c-17268269" wrote:
Who here remembers "Death by Flies?"

Ugh, yes. This was legit one of my favorite deaths if not my absolute favorite, just because of how ridiculous and sudden it was, not to mention, it presents a clear consequence for leaving a sim's home dirty! Sims 2 truly was that game, I remember investing hours, even days into it, building neighborhoods and working out complex sim relationships and stories. Gone are those golden days of yesteryear...