Thank you for creating this thread! I would very much love to provide my feedback, as a fan of the Sims franchise for well over 12 years.
I admit that I was a little disappointed with the game after I first installed and began playing it last week due to many popular features missing that were available in the Sims 3, however, after having the game for about a week now, and after many, many hours of game play, I have to say that I am finding it more and more enjoyable. Here is my overall feedback about the game thus far.
What I like:
- My favorite thing about the game is the new Create-A-Sim. As others have said, it's very intuitive and makes customizing Sims easier now than ever before. I like that rather than using sliders, you can simply click, drag, and tug at areas on your Sim that you want to change. I love some of the clothing choices, which are very modern in comparison to what was available in the Sims 3. The new Create-A-Sim is a vast improvement to the old Create-A-Sim.
- I absolutely love the new building features. This is unquestionably my second favorite thing about the Sims 4! I love how you can now expand rooms by simply dragging the arrows in the appropriate direction. I love that you can adjust wall height, and I really like that you can place windows and wall decorations at various heights on walls now, rather than everything being at the same height. I haven't spent too much time building, other than adding on to preexisting houses, but I definitely love what I've seen so far. This is a huge improvement and step-up from the Sims 3.
- I love the Gallery and how easy it is to share your creations with other players, and how easy it is for you to download someone else's creation directly in to your game.
- I love that Sims can now multitask. It's so much more convenient and realistic than before and another favorite feature of mine.
- I love that Sims can have group conversations!
- The graphics are great! I don't really notice much of a difference from the previous game, but they're excellent nonetheless.
- I feel that the genetics are more accurate in this game when two Sims have a baby. In the Sims 3, I would often see issues where the child doesn't really look like either parent, or the hair color doesn't match either parent's hair color.
- I like that I can now click on my Sim and command him or her to go jogging, and they will go jogging around the neighborhood on their own, rather than me having to click on a specific place for them to jog to. I like this feature a lot!
- I like the variety of things that Sims can cook now. I like that Sims with an advanced cooking skill can prepare gourmet food.
- Just like with the Sims 3, I like that your Sim can become overweight if they overeat and aren't active enough. I like that Sims who work out a lot can also become more muscular.
What I dislike:
- With Create-A-Sim, I wish you could adjust the height of your Sim. It seems you can do almost anything else, but you can't choose how tall or short your Sim is. I would personally love to see this feature added to the game.
- I am disappointed that the Sims 4 doesn't offer custom color and pattern customization the way the Sims 3 does, such as the color slider. I really liked the ability to customize the color of virtually anything in the the Sims 3, whether it was my Sim's eyes, their clothing, wallpaper, furniture, patterns, flooring, et cetera. I liked that the Sims 3 had preset patterns as well. I know that the Sims 4 gives you the option to somewhat customize how you want furniture, floor, and wall color to look, but it's so much more limited than the Sims 3. The biggest issue I have with this is with the furniture, because I might find a style of bed that I really like, but I just don't like any of the colors to choose from. If you have a way of maybe adding this feature in at a later time, I know that would make many people happy. This is my biggest disappointment about the game because I feel it limits creativity.
- Pathing issues. I seem to run in to this problem a lot in the game, especially when I command my Sims to clean up plates. Often, they will pick up the plate and then set it down on a surface nearby, rather than follow through with cleaning it. Also, while sitting at the table eating, Sims will randomly get up and then sit back down at another seat, or get up and sick back down in the same seat.
- Appliances, toilets, sinks, and bathtubs break too much, and honestly, it's becoming a huge annoyance. This seems to happen the most with sinks, bathtubs, and toilets than it does appliances and electronics. Literally, in my game I find that stuff in the bathroom breaks AT LEAST twice a day. It's beyond frustrating. Even when I upgrade objects, they still break just as often as they did before.
- I really loved that the Sims 3 had an open world gameplay, and I am incredibly disappointed that this feature is not available in the Sims 4. I also liked that the Sims 3 had a ton of community and business lots, and now there's hardly any. I know that there will be expansion packs, but things like the hospital, school, fire station, and police station seem like basic things that should be included in a base game. The lots available in the base game are honestly very boring and don't do a thing for me. I am probably just going to bulldoze them and replace them with residential lots. Additionally, the size of the neighborhoods are very tiny.
- Jobs. I really loved the job selections in the Sims 3, and the job choices in the Sims 4 just seem very odd and random. I feel like the job choices are more of what one would expect to see from an expansion pack, and not the base game. What happened to just joining the medical field, law enforcement, or business field? I liked those everyday normal jobs, because I like my Sims to be normal, everyday people. I strongly dislike the job choices in this game and I hope that most of the career paths from the Sims 3 will be re-introduced in the Sims 4.
- No firefighters, police officers, babysitters, newspaper delivery boys/girls, etc. I really liked these types of NPCs in the Sims 3 and I am disappointed that these do not exist in the Sims 4.
- I am disappointed that there are no more toddlers. I am sure there are valid reasons for not having toddlers in the game, but I personally really liked that my baby could age up to a toddler before becoming a full-fledged child. I loved that my Sims could then teach their toddler how to walk, talk, and go potty on their own. It was so much more like real life!
- Too many loading screens.
Suggestions:
Apart from the things I mentioned above, here are a few additional suggestions.
- Re: Create-A-Sim, I would love if there were an option for players to be able to customize their own hair styles, such as dragging the mouse to adjust the hair length or fullness, or choosing how the hair should be parted, or whether it should be straight or curly. This would be a great feature, if it's at all possible!
- Bring back color sliders and enhanced customization.
- Pools, please!
- Bring back the open world gameplay, if possible, along with more businesses, careers, and community lots to choose from.
- Add family trees.
- I would like to see a Pets expansion pack introduced sooner rather than later. It's always been my favorite one.
- Could you perhaps look in to creating a babysitter, nanny, or daycare service? I noticed that when my Sim had her baby, there weren't any options to have someone come and watch the baby. She had to miss a day work and I was forced to age up the baby to a child so it could stay home and take care of itself. Additionally, this game doesn't seem to offer maternity leave the way the Sims 3 did, so immediately after having her baby, my Sim had to go to work.
- Part-time jobs. I loved this feature in the Sims 3, especially for teenagers.
Edit:
- I agree with other users that teenagers being the same height as adults makes it hard to determine if someone is a teen or adult. Please consider fixing this and also allow the option for players to adjust the height of their Sims.
My overall thoughts are positive, and I am optimistic about future expansion packs. I am also confident that EA will make positive changes based on our feedback and hopefully bring back some of the popular features that players have been asking for since the game's launch.
EA Staff (Retired)
