This is basically a scam....

"DeservedCriticism;c-15812981" wrote:

"x_Always_Heart_x;c-15812875" wrote:

If they can do what they did with vamps, they can do that with cats and dogs and more to be worth forty flippin' bucks.

HOW???

There's a big difference between Vampires and dogs. Vampires are fantasy, dogs are not. Vampires they can assign any powers or weaknesses or supernatural gameplay they want, dogs they cannot. I mean I've certainly never heard of Vampires casting a spell to make nearby people embarassed before, yet we have those vampires now and none of us question it because it's pure fantasy anyways.

There's clear limitations to how they can expand on dogs and cats. This isn't the same open-ended and lenient concept that Vampires were, this is pure simulation stuff. So how on earth are they supposed to give Dogs and Cats something new that they haven't already given us in a previous installment?

I'd say there's a reason that when Sims 3 tried to wow us with something new, it added a third big animal into the mix. Sims 4 doesn't seem to be doing that though, so what's left...?

I have had similar trains of thought on pets and so I researched what we actually do with animals in real life, and mostly we gain socialization with them. We like animals because of the bond we like petting them and their greeting us and purring when we pet them (for cats at least). In a game we can't get that connection with them so they just seem like simple animations that we gain little from as player compared to other life states.

What I think could help add depth though:

more skills and traits so training can be more complex (then say sims 3 where you trained once than the animals taught them selves)
Add an animal handling skill for sims higher levels help to train and socialize better
For Cats and dogs add hunting, and agility
Add in dock jumping for dogs
Have competitions for each of the above skills for animals to enter into winning based off of owners/runners handling skill and animals skill

Add a breeding system so if animals have certain traits like a coat pattern and so they can be an official breed and maybe be worth more money which could tie into owning a pet shop and add the challenge of breeding animals appropriately to get certain features.

have breed judging contests where you try to make you animal look all nice by bathing and brushing and then with a breeding system also how closely they match their breed coat patterns and how many tricks they can do and will listen to when coming from a judge that isn't your sim.

Have just plain old tricks contest with out the whole breed thing in there to test animals obedience

obedience classes added for pets

Pet shows/events that run in general for sims to go to and enjoy

add jobs for pets and jobs for owners like show riding (I know horses are unlikely just a suggestion), vet, police canine unit, part-time of dog walker, obedience class teacher, the ability to build pet shops and maybe even run them. Add pet jobs ie therapy animals police service animals, animal actors, vermin control, herding dog. Require certain skills to go up in career path again adding challenge to the life state

Add in tricks/ training and teach animals to come, sit, use toilet (for cats), dance, shake etc etc each of these could unlock new play styles ie you can't play fetch with an animal unless they know come command so they will return the ball to you (other wise you just play throw toy)
or if an animal knows the dance trick you can dance with you pet etc.

Pet traits to choose that impact their AI and certain traits will lock training ie a pet with unfriendly trait can't be trained to be friendly
Finally trained traits similar to the parenthood model for pets but start point is influenced by parent animals trained behaviors.

Also socials for all ages of sims and animals

Of course you don't like animals those still won't add much but I think it would add some more challenge for the life stage and depth.

As for my thought on this being a scam I think it is a bit early to judge but if it is just cats and dogs it will depend on how fleshed out the animals are. If they are high quality and in depth for me I will probably still get them and be fine with it. but they will need to be better than all previous generations because I've always found them to be as @DeservedCriticism said but that just me (and him/her I suppose).

Edit: Also obviously these add things for people who want the game-play features so to say and care little for the animation features or immersion factor I know there are many who love pets for what they were before.