5 years ago

The unfortunate increase in Rabbit holes

Hey guys,

So one thing I don't understand about the Sims 4 is its use of rabbit holes lately. Personally I never had an issue with rabbit holes in the Sims 3, since we had such a huge world and tons of community lots to visit and explore that rabbit holes didn't turn me off as much (maybe only the restaurants which I really wanted my sims to go in).
However once the Sims 4 got released and it had neither an open world or open districts but just one active lot and its surroundings the team justified their decision to do this by saying that it's just a trade off for being able to do more things with the active lots.
Even though we can argue if the team managed to compensate the removal of the open world by creating more interactive and complex active lots (which I don't think is fully the case), the rabbit holes have made a return in the last few packs.

In particular the Sims 4 University features tons of rabbit holes. All the buildings except for the dorms, houses and one cafeteria are rabbit holes. That is the case for both universities. But shouldn't there be some trade off for that? I cannot find almost anything to compensate the fact that we suddenly have both rabbit holes and loading screens and the active lots we have aren't necessarily more complex or interactive than any previous games. It's all the same things we could do in the Sims 3 but there were no loading screens there.
There is also a big decrease in lot numbers. Britechester has probably the least amount of things to do in any University pack so far. There were tons more things to do in The Sims 2 University. So in what way does the game make up for the removal of the open-world and increase in rabbit holes? What did we even gain from that apart for just more sims being on the lots? And shouldn't the addition of rabbit holes as university classes give them more freedom to create more active lots to go to?

The same applies to the Sims 4 Journey to Batuu. This place is filled with rabbit holes and has like 3 active lots in total. But there is still no compensation for that. Even when the sims go into the woods to fill their bladder or when they get in that rocket thing they just dissapear, no ability to follow them and not even an animation. Shouldn't the removal of the open-world and addition of a crazy amount of rabbit holes give them freedom to do more stuff? Why aren't they doing more stuff then? I just cannot see the reason why there are so many rabbit holes. They say they wanted to avoid having to many loading screens. My answer is since when? We've had loading screens in all other worlds so far and it was super annoying sure but why are they changing their minds now and saying they don't want us to sit through loading screens? Maybe they should have thought of that while making the base game and just include open districts?

Building a game full of loading screens for the sake of having more active lots but then removing the active lots for the sake of less loading screens results to packs with both loading screens and rabbit holes.

This is not what they promised us in the beginning. Now we have not just loading screens all the time but also nowhere to go in the active lots.

65 Replies

SEREFRAS
Seasoned Veteran
5 years ago
I so agree with SimmerGeorge, we need more playable places.
ArtificialIntel
5 years ago
This is not the Sims. It is laziness. It is not gameplay. It is staring at the screen while watching a bar rise - no brain activity on a simmer's part. No creativity. Nothing.

This is progress after 20 years in a game series?
CAPTAIN_NXR7
Seasoned Veteran
5 years ago
"amberlunez;c-17662343" wrote:
I was disappointed in that, as well as a lot of the 'explore' mode options (using the rocket, going through caves in Sulani, etc). I get that seeing everything is not feasible, but it's like every cool thing in a new pack is something that you only experience through really basic text notifications.

I don’t mind rabbit holes so much, including the rocket/ space ships. There is a chance the rocket will send you to Sixam if you have GTW installed.

I very much agree regarding the explore cave mode options, like the one in Sulani and Batuu. It’s the inconsistency that I don’t like. I find the ones that do not ‘chance card’ you to a hidden lot to be rather anti climatic. It defeats the purpose of ‘exploring’ a cave in the first place and getting nothing but a moodlet does offer minimal to no reward. If one explorable tree or cave can send a sim to a hidden lot, than all explorable caves should do so in the same manner.

In fact the cave in Sulani is a huge disappointment to me because I thought the unfinished mural right at the entrance of the cave was part of a puzzle that needed to be solved. It’s highlighted when you hover the mouse over it so I naturally expect it to offer some sort of gameplay surrounding that cave. And yet there is nothing about the entire ‘explore’ experience that fulfills any of those expectations only than a low chance of getting Mermadic Kelp. It’s not enough. It’s too easy. That cave should lead someplace, like the one in Oasis Springs, Granite Falls, the mystery tree in Willow Creek and the jungle portals in JA.
In sims 3 I was able to unlock entire islands, so it’s no wonder that I believed that after saving the island on Sulani, the mural would be finished and I’d be able to explore the cave once again. But this time it would lead to a subterranean area where those merfolk dwell, because they now accept you as their island savior. The beautiful surroundings and that should have been the ultimate reward on Sulani. Most logical thing for an island pack that includes Merfolk. Instead the cave does nothing. Nada. Except for kelp that is.

Same with the cave in the forest in Batuu. A cave should lead to somewhere. Not to nowhere and back.
SimmerGeorge
5 years ago
"Chazzzy;c-17662511" wrote:
I adore the rabbit holes. The last thing I wanna do is control my Sims at every single moment. I very much like that I can send them off somewhere and do other things with other Sims.

@Chazzzy We got the option to send the sims off on their own in GTW we can get it again.
SimmerGeorge
5 years ago
"amberlunez;c-17662343" wrote:
Well said. This is something I find immensely frustrating, particularly in University. While I appreciate the University area being a bit more open/travelable, nearly all of the things that make it a university are...inaccessible. What's the point? I was disappointed in that, as well as a lot of the 'explore' mode options (using the rocket, going through caves in Sulani, etc). I get that seeing everything is not feasible, but it's like every cool thing in a new pack is something that you only experience through really basic text notifications. The only lots that have anything to offer are like...bars.

Even the graduation is a freaking rabbit hole
SimmerGeorge
5 years ago
"CAPTAIN_NXR7;c-17662729" wrote:
"amberlunez;c-17662343" wrote:
I was disappointed in that, as well as a lot of the 'explore' mode options (using the rocket, going through caves in Sulani, etc). I get that seeing everything is not feasible, but it's like every cool thing in a new pack is something that you only experience through really basic text notifications.

I don’t mind rabbit holes so much, including the rocket/ space ships. There is a chance the rocket will send you to Sixam if you have GTW installed.

"Chazzzy;c-17662511" wrote:
I adore the rabbit holes. The last thing I wanna do is control my Sims at every single moment. I very much like that I can send them off somewhere and do other things with other Sims.

I find it great that you guys like rabbit holes. I personally don't but this is not why I made this thread. I wrote this because if you remember when the Sims 4 was released the team promised us that since they have reduced to amount of openess in the game and included the loading screens they will be able to do so much more in the active lots than in previous games, make them more interactive and complex.
A rabbit hole unfortunately doesn't fit the definition of interactive, so my question is why aren't we getting what they said we would?

I made this thread not as a why to ask people if they like the rabbit holes or not (which of course everyone is free to express anyway, I have nothing against that) but I would also like an answer as to why, in a game so restricted (loading screens), are we getting more restrictions (rabbit holes) as well?
MidnightAura86
New Spectator
5 years ago
I agree with the original post. I don’t like the extended use of rabbit holes. University and island living have a lot of rabbit holes and for me, it’s not good gameplay. I don’t want to sit and watch a buoy whilst my sim is diving. I know the world is pretty but I didn’t buy a video game to look at.

I don’t mind getting rid of my sims for work and school. I quite like those being rabbit holes but things like diving, university graduation, volunteering with family, exploring a cave should not be a rabbit hole.

It’s clear to me that the sims 4 is struggling on the engine it is using. The open letter to the community confirmed that. I expect to see a lot more rabbit holes and set dressing moving forward sadly.
crocobaura
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
"CAPTAIN_NXR7;c-17662729" wrote:

Same with the cave in the forest in Batuu. A cave should lead to somewhere. Not to nowhere and back.

I explored that cave for the first time yesterday and I was disappointed to find out that it does nothing. My sim got lost in it and then she came out. I wish all these caves would lead to hidden lots. Would love to have my sims live in them, like cave people.
Peapod79
New Spectator
5 years ago
I don't mind the rabbit hole classes for university. I think that's fine and it works well if you have a lot of students in one household.

The Sulani cave and pretty much all of Batuu was a disappointment. As much as I love both of those packs, I really wish with the Sulani cave had at least some chance cards... but really would it have been too much trouble for just a little hidden lot like the tree in Willow Creek or the cave in Oasis Springs? Batuu... again... same thing for the cave. I don't mind the rabbit holes for the missions on the ships, they have chance cards and the choices can depend on your droid and upgrades it may or may not have and your inventory items. That at least makes sure you can upgrade and replay. The vendors though... They all could have been city living style without too much trouble surely?!

For some things it's fine and can make sense, some of this though does feel like it was just the easy way out.
logionX
Seasoned Hotshot
5 years ago
I don't understand the usage of rabbit holes in their latest packs lately either. As you said, I assumed that they are made so that they can have more activities on the active lot that the player can use while sending other sims away to a rabbit hole.

However lately their packs have not involved much reason for your sims to stay on the active lot, in fact. The rabbit holes have become the activities. Unless you play with multiple sims while you are on the university, there is nothing you can do while your sim is attending class. You can only do one mission at a time in Journey to Batuu and the cantina, resistance base and the first order base does not involve any major activites, the activities are the missions, which forces you go away from the lot or leave the lot or go to a rabbit hole.

Why don't they focus on activities on the active lot? Why do we have to go away to another lot or go to a rabbit hole? Why are they making their zones so huge? Why don't they make them smaller and focus on the active lots? This is why I like the Spice District in San Myshuno, you have your apartment, you have other apartments that you can visit, you have the basketball yard, you have food stands, you have places where you can draw art, you have musicians playing, you have a mime, you have people walking in and out of the zone, you have festivals that spawn there with more activities.

I agree that loading times are not the most fun thing to watch, but I would rather have more zones with activities than a huge zone with just rabbit holes.