After 40 hours of play, here's my feedback:
Much of what I like are the small details that contribute so much to my sims' personalities. I think "Big Personalities" was a misnomer -- it suggested you'd get a Jackie Gleason type of character who would take over your game. The differences are subtle and hard to explain to someone who hasn't played the game. For example, I have a little boy whose trait is "loves outdoors." In TS3, I could make a child who loved the outdoors do things indoors -- he wouldn't get the +20 moodlet but he might be happy enough that wouldn't matter. In TS4, the child is unhappy about being cooped up indoors.
I expected that I would miss the 4th speed, the one that rushed you through an action to the next action. I used it all the time in TS3. Maybe I'll want it back after I've seen my 21st sim drop the salt shaker in the scrambled eggs, but right now I'm on speed 1 except when they're sleeping.
I love having my sims pick out their clothes from the 5 options I gave them (although I might retire the outfit that puts my musician in a playful mood; she needs to focus a bit more, but she keeps picking it out.) I don't know why you didn't play this up more instead of keeping it a secret.
Wow moments for me were these: my sim went to introduce herself to another woman in the small bathroom in the museum. Other people came into the bathroom, too. And then my sim and the person she was talking to exited the bathroom because it was too crowded. Another jaw-dropping moment -- one sim was sitting at an island counter and another was making salad. The one making the salad set it down on his side of the counter, and the sim sitting down reached across and took a bowl.
I love the book titles and blurbs, and I expect to continue to find delights. Someone mentioned that the descriptions of the refrigerators are hilarious, and so they are. I expect there are other witty descriptions lurking in the catalog.
What I don't like: The deformed babies. I got one, thanks to my graphics card. I wanted to do all the cute interactions, but it was just too hideous, so I aged it up immediately into a cute little boy. I don't like the absence of basic gameplay information, like how to start a different new game and how to edgescroll using the keyboard instead of your mouse or laptop touchpad. I do wish there were more empty lots -- not 10 or 20 but 2 or 3.
Suggestions: Either some empty world templates or even Willow Creek and Oasis Springs backdrops combined with an empty town. I'm not much of a builder, but if I were, I'd be in pain. I'd like for my sims to be able to build relationships with people at work. I thought that when I chose "Socialize with co-workers," some new people would show up in my sim's relationship panel, but they didn't.
Overall thoughts: I love this game; I have loved every iteration of the Sims. Much of what you've done has been great for me because I use the Sims as the basis for stories. But I wish that other people didn't feel left out by this new version.
EA Staff (Retired)
