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...
Forum Discussion
Oh my word, quoting everyone in one response is going to be a headache. Well, I have never shied away from a challenge. Let us hope there is no character limit on the forums.
Edit: There is a character limit. :|
Cynna
I think you are correct with what you have said. I never really looked at the fact that teenagers, young adults, adults, and elders all share clothing and some animations (I am certain elders have a few unique ones) and now I am just shocked.
Easier and requires less effort, which means they can pump out more half-finished content for the masses.
As someone who loves magic – I am talking about frothing at the mouth over anything with magic – I was quite excited when they announced it. I started making some Sims that would be great for storytelling. I made a good Sim that would aim to ‘defeat’ the evil one. Now, it is rare for me to every actually make any sort of story as that is not my real goal or playstyle, but I was keen.
Vampires and magic. With the vampire pack being amazing and knocking out all other iterations, I was in high hopes and determined it would be good. I mean, they were releasing gamepacks so that they could focus more on that pack and not cramming smaller things into one massive pack. I mean, like Bridgeport from Sims 3.
I was wrong.
Anyway, the magic is so lazily done. The traits are bland and boring, and it feels like they decided on keeping the spells as neutral as possible. I mean, I have yet to see an NPC cast magic autonomously, so there is no excuse for them to add in a few more powerful spells. I got all the spells in two in-game days while working a brand-new job and getting promoted.
Trashmagic
You would think so, in all honesty. Every life stage should get something with each expansion. Whether a hair, clothing, or an object. Hell, I would even take a few new traits over getting nothing.
Delete
Oh, of course! I currently have a few mods installed that add an attractive system, a gender preference system, and then have a fee outdated ones that expanded on life and such. However, people on consoles cannot use mods like we can on PC. Then, you hit a stage where the game ends up like Sykrim and everyone just uses mods and the game is left in this state of constant incompleteness.
Granted, you cannot finish the Sims, but you know. It just sucks patch after patch, pack after pack, they are still remaining to their ways of making this a young adult simulator.
nerdfashion
I dare assume that you are correct. EA has this reputation for milking and then killing games with no remorse. I am not on the ‘EA hate train’, though, and I do know that they can do some good for games, but they have a cursed touch and time and time again it shows with every project or company they acquire.
And I think you are right. It was never the main focus in any Sims game, but in the Sims 4, you can just see the fact that they have decided to just not care about it as much.
Going through the DLC released, the last six or seven packs have had content aimed at teens, young adults, and adults. Seasons (June 22, 2018) and Parenthood (May 30, 2017) were the last packs to give children anything and I dare say that most of Parenthood was aimed at teenagers.
kaylin205
I would love an update of Sims 3 with more modern graphics and controls. I did not have a computer back then, but the few hours I played it at a friend’s house on the weekends were some of the best. I kind of miss that.
Sk8rblaze
Hah! See, I am on the same page. This game comes across more of a family-based game where you build a lasting legacy and then work up from almost nothing. Behind the young adult content, this game has nothing going for it if you cut out all that content. It has made no advancements to anything that it promised.
Island Living was a complete travesty that was nothing more than a flashy show of animations, effects, and limited gameplay. Well, you already said that. The world was pretty, but it had nothing else going for it.
Strangerville pretty much sums up the Sims 4 as a whole: An experiment.
Edit: There is a character limit. :|
Cynna
Spoiler
"Cynna;c-17251170" wrote:
I think that the reason that EA leaves out kids and toddlers is simply that it's easier (and cheaper). That's it. It's just easier. The other four life stages are basically the same creature. Teens, YAs, Adults, and Elders are all the same. They share the same animations and the same clothes. Children and toddlers do not.
As for RoM, the spells are the most unimaginative. As a player who doesn't like occults, the trailer piqued my interest. However, after seeing the spells, I didn't care anymore. Temporary curses, the inability to curse other Sims, no good vs. evil...
Meh.
I think you are correct with what you have said. I never really looked at the fact that teenagers, young adults, adults, and elders all share clothing and some animations (I am certain elders have a few unique ones) and now I am just shocked.
Easier and requires less effort, which means they can pump out more half-finished content for the masses.
As someone who loves magic – I am talking about frothing at the mouth over anything with magic – I was quite excited when they announced it. I started making some Sims that would be great for storytelling. I made a good Sim that would aim to ‘defeat’ the evil one. Now, it is rare for me to every actually make any sort of story as that is not my real goal or playstyle, but I was keen.
Vampires and magic. With the vampire pack being amazing and knocking out all other iterations, I was in high hopes and determined it would be good. I mean, they were releasing gamepacks so that they could focus more on that pack and not cramming smaller things into one massive pack. I mean, like Bridgeport from Sims 3.
I was wrong.
Anyway, the magic is so lazily done. The traits are bland and boring, and it feels like they decided on keeping the spells as neutral as possible. I mean, I have yet to see an NPC cast magic autonomously, so there is no excuse for them to add in a few more powerful spells. I got all the spells in two in-game days while working a brand-new job and getting promoted.
Trashmagic
Spoiler
"Trashmagic;c-17251192" wrote:"Cynna;c-17251170" wrote:
I think that the reason that EA leaves out kids and toddlers is simply that it's easier (and cheaper). That's it. It's just easier. The other four life stages are basically the same creature. Teens, YAs, Adults, and Elders are all the same. They share the same animations and the same clothes. Children and toddlers do not.
I agree with you here but you would think that having 4 life stages share clothes/animations/everything would leave more of a budget for kids and toddlers. In the older games most of the life stages were separate. Of course none of us know what this budget is but I don't really understand why kids and toddlers were left out. Makes no sense.
You would think so, in all honesty. Every life stage should get something with each expansion. Whether a hair, clothing, or an object. Hell, I would even take a few new traits over getting nothing.
Delete
Spoiler
"Delete;c-17251209" wrote:
I agree that elders and babies are really bland and basically useless and you basically just have to wait until they age up , I never really touch them and do agree they a heck ton of work. But as for story telling script mods could add interesting features like attraction systems and turn ons and offs (for people not for food and things. It would be really awesome if my sim could have a favourite colour or something) There's also a mod for memory systems and sicknesses that can be deadly and a ton of other stuff that can spice up the game a whole lot. I know this should mainly be EA's responsibility to make their game interesting but you've gotta make do with what you have sometimes : /
Oh, of course! I currently have a few mods installed that add an attractive system, a gender preference system, and then have a fee outdated ones that expanded on life and such. However, people on consoles cannot use mods like we can on PC. Then, you hit a stage where the game ends up like Sykrim and everyone just uses mods and the game is left in this state of constant incompleteness.
Granted, you cannot finish the Sims, but you know. It just sucks patch after patch, pack after pack, they are still remaining to their ways of making this a young adult simulator.
nerdfashion
Spoiler
"nerdfashion;c-17251225" wrote:
I think that most of the games problems come from EA, not Maxis. EA dictates the deadlines, what they produce, and who the target demographic should be (this is just speculation, I am not 100% sure), and from what I've heard Maxis has produced incredible depth and family gameplay in the past. But I think EA has tried to take complete control over this multi-million dollar franchise and mostly succeeded. The issue about lack of family gameplay has shown in all four games, but I guess it's just the most prominent in this iteration of the series.
I dare assume that you are correct. EA has this reputation for milking and then killing games with no remorse. I am not on the ‘EA hate train’, though, and I do know that they can do some good for games, but they have a cursed touch and time and time again it shows with every project or company they acquire.
And I think you are right. It was never the main focus in any Sims game, but in the Sims 4, you can just see the fact that they have decided to just not care about it as much.
Going through the DLC released, the last six or seven packs have had content aimed at teens, young adults, and adults. Seasons (June 22, 2018) and Parenthood (May 30, 2017) were the last packs to give children anything and I dare say that most of Parenthood was aimed at teenagers.
kaylin205
Spoiler
"kaylin205;c-17251291" wrote:
The most family gameplay I've seen out of the iterations is from sims 2. They had everything you could hope for in that one. Which is the main reason why it has been a favorite for many people, including me. Some of the gurus don't believe in family playstyle and don't want it in the game. Which is why they haven't added anything for this, and most likely won't. If they did they would need to do an overhaul on all of those life stages. More time = less money
Think about it this way, almost everything revolves around technology and self absorbed humans that do not interact with each other. Hints why the sims are always on the computer or their cell phones not interacting. It feels like they where programmed to be zombies.
Now the bottom line comes to... modernizing the game, spending as little money making everything as possible, and most importantly getting new players.
I would love an update of Sims 3 with more modern graphics and controls. I did not have a computer back then, but the few hours I played it at a friend’s house on the weekends were some of the best. I kind of miss that.
Sk8rblaze
Spoiler
"Sk8rblaze;c-17251335" wrote:"kaylin205;c-17251291" wrote:
The most family gameplay I've seen out of the iterations is from sims 2. They had everything you could hope for in that one. Which is the main reason why it has been a favorite for many people, including me. Some of the gurus don't believe in family playstyle and don't want it in the game. Which is why they haven't added anything for this, and most likely won't. If they did they would need to do an overhaul on all of those life stages. More time = less money
Think about it this way, almost everything revolves around technology and self absorbed humans that do not interact with each other. Hints why the sims are always on the computer or their cell phones not interacting. It feels like they where programmed to be zombies.
Now the bottom line comes to... modernizing the game, spending as little money making everything as possible, and most importantly getting new players.
To me, it makes the most sense to have The Sims designed around legacy/family gameplay, over, say, collecting character figurines from the flop MySims over and over again. Really, who thought that would be remotely fun to do?
The game is fun and appealing when it feels like what you do matters. And, in The Sims, that is when we not only reach small term and long term goals, but when they last longer than one generation. The Sims 2 is often praised as the best Sims game because, aside from all of its advancements, it had actual game design. Every single pack you add to the game is open-ended and molds perfectly within the life simulation genre. There was none of this "oh, we just want to experiment with this pack" mess of The Sims 4, like what we see with the hand-holding, boring gameplay of Strangerville. Experiments belong in development, not in release.
As for your last statement, I'd say it's true. The goal with The Sims 4 seems to be getting more and more players on board through shiny/flashy objects with meaningless animations, like the entirety of Island Living.
Hah! See, I am on the same page. This game comes across more of a family-based game where you build a lasting legacy and then work up from almost nothing. Behind the young adult content, this game has nothing going for it if you cut out all that content. It has made no advancements to anything that it promised.
Island Living was a complete travesty that was nothing more than a flashy show of animations, effects, and limited gameplay. Well, you already said that. The world was pretty, but it had nothing else going for it.
Strangerville pretty much sums up the Sims 4 as a whole: An experiment.
