The Sims 4 lacks story and depth
After playing Realm of Magic for an interminable amount of time, I have finally been able to piece together what was wrong with the pack and why it left me with such a despondent outlook on the Sims 4 as a whole. Realm of Magic was an uppercut to the jaw that forcefully pulled me from this dreamlike state that I was unaware I was in. It allowed me to look beyond the façade of the Sims 4 as a whole.
While the issues I am going to present span more than just this pack, I truly believe that this pack highlights them so blindly that it should be impossible to miss them. However, unless you actually look into the issues, you are unlikely to ever see them.
Moving on.
Saying that the game lacks story and depth seems a bit old. Currently, the franchise reads like an old and bitter uncle or aunt that is almost done with life and has no substance to keep it going.
As of now, there are no story elements in place or anything to add individuality to your Sims. They have no likes or dislikes, no fears or goals, nothing that can be built around them and sued to define their path. They are nothing more than expressionless puppets. The Sims have no personality, no depth, and nothing about them that makes them interesting. People who do story content are forced to make artificial plots and fabricate likes and dislikes because there is nothing in the game that allows this.
Sure, the Sims have this hidden sexual (that is going to get filtered, I am certain) preference, but I have lost count on how many times my supposedly straight as an arrow, three kids and a wife at home Sim has gone off the deep end and started flirting with a male bartender for no reason other than it looks fun. This destroys storytelling and is, in every sense of the word, silly. Why can I not set their gender preference? Alongside things that they find attractive and unattractive?
You can replace them with likes and dislikes as to not offend the delicate youth for using words like ‘hate’ or ‘turn-offs/turn-ons’. Why can I not make a Sim that absolutely loves pizza and would prefer to eat it over, I do not know, vegetables? You have this moodlet system in place that looks like it would be absolutely perfect for this, but you neglected it completely. Why can my Sim not be upset they were forced to eat vegetables for dinner? Why can they not find another Sim attractive because they like brown hair, blue eyes, and slightly larger Sims?
Even with the new pack, perhaps a Sim has an attraction to spellcasters and has a relationship (whether friendly or romantically) boost when finding out they are a spellcaster.
I really want to talking about Realm of Magic right now, but it will have to wait.
There are three lifestates in this game that are completely neglected. If you can list them before you read on, you win a medal.
- Babies
- Children
- Elders
I was tempted to add toddlers to the mix, but they actually have quite the list of content for them and are often given things frequently.
I am going to gloss over babies as there have been many threads on them that could make them interesting. I do not want to repeat easily accessible information and offer incorrect or bad suggestions because I have no idea how to change them to make them actually fit into the game.
Children
I am livid they were completely neglected in Realm of Magic gameplay-wise and with clothing and décor. There is no excuse why they cannot do magic when one of the largest magical worlds of this generation was based around children going to a magical school and casting magic. You pulled a lot from Harry Potter and took away the core of it without remorse. Even the spells are suspiciously similar to the ones used in Harry Potter. I mean, Repairio from Realm of Magic and Reparo from Harry Potter.
However, I have already publically posted my rage on the fact that children were neglected from this pack and, thankfully, I am on PC and can use mods to fix it. I just feel for the people on console who get the pack and realise that they cannot explore this pack on anything other than teenager and above.
I wish someone could tell me why they were locked out of magic. I wish someone could tell me why they get nothing in 95% of the packs and the few packs that are targeted towards children and are unlikely to be used outside of certain conditions.
I was designing a boys’ bedroom yesterday and realised how little in the way of décor children actually have.
Elders
Ah, yes, the forgotten age where there is nothing for elders to do as all the content in the game will kill them. I honestly feel like they are destined to just sit in the back and die quietly while everyone else (except for those listed above) has fun.
Send out your elderly Sim for a jog? Dead. Exercise? Dead. Drink some coffee? Dead.
It sucks because there is so much potential for elderly Sims and nothing of it is utilised at all for some unknown reason.
Family Stuff
I am not a huge family player, to be honest. I am a builder, then a killer, then an experimenter, then a torturer, then a creator, then a Sim designer, then a completionist, then a family player.
Case in point, even I somehow notice how little family stuff is created and made the main focus of the packs. It seems like everything that is released is targeted at young adults. Aliens, vampires, famous people, mermaids, and now spellcasters. However, with university being teased, that is another for young adults – unless, of course, they revamp schooling in general for children and teenagers.
At the end of the day, everything is aimed for young adults and adults and whenever is left is thinly spread to the other ages, with disregard for babies and elders, who have actually gotten nothing at all since the game launched.
You have this emotions system that was the selling point for the Sims 4 and then you release pack after pack neglecting family-based emotions. Elders could get bad moodlets due to not seeing their family, happy moodlets when they do, et cetera. There is so much untapped potential because you are busy selling half-finished packs.
I am going back to Realm of Magic and how nothing was tied into it. There is no depth and no baseline for a story or even gameplay experience besides the standard two hours of content for $30.
Where are the good and evil interactions? There is a literal evil trait and nothing comes from that. My goals of having an evil and rising dark lord spellcaster is shattered as there is nothing. I am not talking about brutal torture spells that cause discomfort and pain, I am talking about spells that cause annoyance and such. Think of making another Sim your thrall, making them embarrass themselves, making them fight with other people, make them love you, make them talk to their friends positively about you. Then we flip it and there are no ‘good’ spells. Nothing to heal the sick, make people happy, cure sadness, remove curses from wayward spellcasters, create an aura of happiness.
There is so much missed potential from magic alone that looking deeper at the interactions for families is just silly. A parent not teaching their child about magic, using magic to play with their toddlers, using magic to help look after the toddlers, using magic to create toys for their children and then animate them to play with. There is nothing for elders to ease their aching bones and remove the tiredness from them. Where is the family aspect?
Then we delve deeper and realise that no one cares that spellcasters exist. Like, hello? Mermaids, too. You ask them if they are a mermaid and they are just chill about it. And because there is no memory system, being deceived adds no value to the game at all, so everything relating to that is pointless. Someone is literally casting magic in front of everyone and no one cares? You hit it right with aliens. It felt deceptive to see someone you love turn into an alien.
I wish I knew why family play was neglected in favour of the single young adult Sim. There is no variety in the game and it sucks. It actually does.
If you desire to add your own opinion, please do. Just make sure that it remains respectful and you provide reasoning behind your post.
While the issues I am going to present span more than just this pack, I truly believe that this pack highlights them so blindly that it should be impossible to miss them. However, unless you actually look into the issues, you are unlikely to ever see them.
Moving on.
Saying that the game lacks story and depth seems a bit old. Currently, the franchise reads like an old and bitter uncle or aunt that is almost done with life and has no substance to keep it going.
As of now, there are no story elements in place or anything to add individuality to your Sims. They have no likes or dislikes, no fears or goals, nothing that can be built around them and sued to define their path. They are nothing more than expressionless puppets. The Sims have no personality, no depth, and nothing about them that makes them interesting. People who do story content are forced to make artificial plots and fabricate likes and dislikes because there is nothing in the game that allows this.
Sure, the Sims have this hidden sexual (that is going to get filtered, I am certain) preference, but I have lost count on how many times my supposedly straight as an arrow, three kids and a wife at home Sim has gone off the deep end and started flirting with a male bartender for no reason other than it looks fun. This destroys storytelling and is, in every sense of the word, silly. Why can I not set their gender preference? Alongside things that they find attractive and unattractive?
You can replace them with likes and dislikes as to not offend the delicate youth for using words like ‘hate’ or ‘turn-offs/turn-ons’. Why can I not make a Sim that absolutely loves pizza and would prefer to eat it over, I do not know, vegetables? You have this moodlet system in place that looks like it would be absolutely perfect for this, but you neglected it completely. Why can my Sim not be upset they were forced to eat vegetables for dinner? Why can they not find another Sim attractive because they like brown hair, blue eyes, and slightly larger Sims?
Even with the new pack, perhaps a Sim has an attraction to spellcasters and has a relationship (whether friendly or romantically) boost when finding out they are a spellcaster.
I really want to talking about Realm of Magic right now, but it will have to wait.
There are three lifestates in this game that are completely neglected. If you can list them before you read on, you win a medal.
- Babies
- Children
- Elders
I was tempted to add toddlers to the mix, but they actually have quite the list of content for them and are often given things frequently.
I am going to gloss over babies as there have been many threads on them that could make them interesting. I do not want to repeat easily accessible information and offer incorrect or bad suggestions because I have no idea how to change them to make them actually fit into the game.
Children
I am livid they were completely neglected in Realm of Magic gameplay-wise and with clothing and décor. There is no excuse why they cannot do magic when one of the largest magical worlds of this generation was based around children going to a magical school and casting magic. You pulled a lot from Harry Potter and took away the core of it without remorse. Even the spells are suspiciously similar to the ones used in Harry Potter. I mean, Repairio from Realm of Magic and Reparo from Harry Potter.
However, I have already publically posted my rage on the fact that children were neglected from this pack and, thankfully, I am on PC and can use mods to fix it. I just feel for the people on console who get the pack and realise that they cannot explore this pack on anything other than teenager and above.
I wish someone could tell me why they were locked out of magic. I wish someone could tell me why they get nothing in 95% of the packs and the few packs that are targeted towards children and are unlikely to be used outside of certain conditions.
I was designing a boys’ bedroom yesterday and realised how little in the way of décor children actually have.
Elders
Ah, yes, the forgotten age where there is nothing for elders to do as all the content in the game will kill them. I honestly feel like they are destined to just sit in the back and die quietly while everyone else (except for those listed above) has fun.
Send out your elderly Sim for a jog? Dead. Exercise? Dead. Drink some coffee? Dead.
It sucks because there is so much potential for elderly Sims and nothing of it is utilised at all for some unknown reason.
Family Stuff
I am not a huge family player, to be honest. I am a builder, then a killer, then an experimenter, then a torturer, then a creator, then a Sim designer, then a completionist, then a family player.
Case in point, even I somehow notice how little family stuff is created and made the main focus of the packs. It seems like everything that is released is targeted at young adults. Aliens, vampires, famous people, mermaids, and now spellcasters. However, with university being teased, that is another for young adults – unless, of course, they revamp schooling in general for children and teenagers.
At the end of the day, everything is aimed for young adults and adults and whenever is left is thinly spread to the other ages, with disregard for babies and elders, who have actually gotten nothing at all since the game launched.
You have this emotions system that was the selling point for the Sims 4 and then you release pack after pack neglecting family-based emotions. Elders could get bad moodlets due to not seeing their family, happy moodlets when they do, et cetera. There is so much untapped potential because you are busy selling half-finished packs.
I am going back to Realm of Magic and how nothing was tied into it. There is no depth and no baseline for a story or even gameplay experience besides the standard two hours of content for $30.
Where are the good and evil interactions? There is a literal evil trait and nothing comes from that. My goals of having an evil and rising dark lord spellcaster is shattered as there is nothing. I am not talking about brutal torture spells that cause discomfort and pain, I am talking about spells that cause annoyance and such. Think of making another Sim your thrall, making them embarrass themselves, making them fight with other people, make them love you, make them talk to their friends positively about you. Then we flip it and there are no ‘good’ spells. Nothing to heal the sick, make people happy, cure sadness, remove curses from wayward spellcasters, create an aura of happiness.
There is so much missed potential from magic alone that looking deeper at the interactions for families is just silly. A parent not teaching their child about magic, using magic to play with their toddlers, using magic to help look after the toddlers, using magic to create toys for their children and then animate them to play with. There is nothing for elders to ease their aching bones and remove the tiredness from them. Where is the family aspect?
Then we delve deeper and realise that no one cares that spellcasters exist. Like, hello? Mermaids, too. You ask them if they are a mermaid and they are just chill about it. And because there is no memory system, being deceived adds no value to the game at all, so everything relating to that is pointless. Someone is literally casting magic in front of everyone and no one cares? You hit it right with aliens. It felt deceptive to see someone you love turn into an alien.
I wish I knew why family play was neglected in favour of the single young adult Sim. There is no variety in the game and it sucks. It actually does.
If you desire to add your own opinion, please do. Just make sure that it remains respectful and you provide reasoning behind your post.
