While it's fresh in my memory, here's a prime example of why The Sims 4 is a real mess of a game. To set the scene I was playing as Cassandra Goth and had her about to marry Don Lothario when I had Don bail out on the wedding. (A trip down nostalgia Lane.) Cassandra was as expected very angry at this. She stomps around for a few minutes then randomly starts making spaghetti. OK so I also turn to food in times of emotional distress so I get it girl, but I kinda wanted some drama. So I get Don to make out with another sim literally right in front of cassandra and she doesn't bat an eye lid. Her angry moodlet has been over ridden with a happy one (I guess because of the spaghetti? Which to be fair I can also relate to) but that's not realistic! I cancel all actions on Cassandra and get Don to make out with the other sim again and still nothing. Cassandra goes off to dance....Don is not fazed. He's living his best life. So I go to start an argument. I select mean interactions between Don and Cassandra but they just cancel out! Don and Cassandra just start random group conversations with other sims and all my commands are just cancelled out as soon as I select them. Then they sit there happily chatting to each other as if nothing has happened! What is going on with this game?! So an hour or so goes by (sims time) Don and Cassandra happily co existing, Cassandra is even dancing with Don's side chick like she has total amnesia then all of a sudden back comes the angry moodlet followed by some angry stomping around. So I think yay let's start an argument again. I select a mean interaction and poof! Action cancelled and moodlet is gone, replaced with happy again. I honestly give up! I wanted to love this game, (good lord I've spent enough money on it) but it's fundamental gameplay mechanics ruled by emotion buffs is just so beyond repair I just find myself quitting in frustration and loading either Sims 2 or 3 up for my sims fix. Please tell me Sims 5 is in the works and if it is, please tell me the devs have used sims 4 programming as an example of "what not to do!" Use the Sims 2 gameplay mechanics. That worked. Thanks. *note* I do not and never have, used mods or CC in my Sims 4 game.

The reason ? 'sAfe sPaCe wHere wE aLL cAn lEaRn aNd gRow'

Hehe. I see nothing's changed. The sims 4 is still playing the player.

yeah, just get some mods that add a bunch of more realistic - or not - chaos. it mkaes it a lot more enjoyable for your money.

This is why I cannot play this game anymore.....

Beardedgeek72
New Spectator
5 years ago
The Meaningful Stories mod is godsend. It's making the emotions play exactly like you'd expect them to.
Just don't install the "color fix" bit that turns "happy" grey and "fine" green. The developer thinks it matches the UI better, but IMHO it just doesn't make sense (AND it bugs out Servos, since they are completely faceless when happy instead having green eyes).
Beardedgeek72
New Spectator
5 years ago
"Jordan061102;c-17447909" wrote:
"Oldeseadogge;c-17445405" wrote:
Why I still play TS2!

*Hold up the hands*

I don't, but objectively it is the best game in the series, or at least the most detailed. Showing people that never played 2 or 3 the animations... The cooking one alone blows Sims 4 (AND 3) out of the water.

Just imagine it with modern graphics...
Purrloin9
5 years ago
The emotion system is the main reason I can barely deal with the game. It's just flawed plain and simple. It doesn't work. I can see what they were going for and why they'd want something like this, but the execution was awful. And 6 years into the game, it's gotten no better. Whoever programmed sims to naturally incline toward happiness and never respond negatively to anything, destroyed any resemblance to a life simulator. When a pretty picture in a run down apartment overrides all feelings of despair that have been occurring in a sims live (getting fired, getting divorced, losing their child, a death in the family), then the game has failed and simulating life. The team has gotten too caught up in trying to add trends and dIvErSiTy into the game, and make it a happy bubble safe space. They've let everything else fall to the wayside and the game is simply not enjoyable.
texxx78
5 years ago
"Beardedgeek;c-17447442" wrote:
The Meaningful Stories mod is godsend. It's making the emotions play exactly like you'd expect them to.
Just don't install the "color fix" bit that turns "happy" grey and "fine" green. The developer thinks it matches the UI better, but IMHO it just doesn't make sense (AND it bugs out Servos, since they are completely faceless when happy instead having green eyes).

Thanks for this imput. I also don't like the color change. I will delete that file. Thx!
And yes, Meaningfull stories is really great!
texxx78
5 years ago
I also use ui cheats mod so that i can right click in moodlets and delete all environmental ones... or all others that doesn't make sense to me.
Drbigt
5 years ago
I'd just like to point out that just to enjoy playing Sims 4, I have to run literally 316 mods.Which doesn't even include a single new modded item or anything, just to get rid of stupid stuff or to tweak things that annoy me.
Huiiie_17
5 years ago
From what I've been reading here, Sims 2 actually seems like a pretty good game. I think they should just scrap all the plans they have for TS5 (multiplayer, really? Nobody asked for that), and just re-release TS2 with better graphics, maybe with open neighborhoods and proper time-continuity and I would buy it. In fact, the only things that keep me from buying TS2 is the hassle of making it run on windows 10 and the graphics that only look good with a heckload of cc.
Huiiie_17
5 years ago
"Sk8rblaze;c-17448530" wrote:
"Huiiie_07;c-17448335" wrote:
From what I've been reading here, Sims 2 actually seems like a pretty good game. I think they should just scrap all the plans they have for TS5 (multiplayer, really? Nobody asked for that), and just re-release TS2 with better graphics, maybe with open neighborhoods and proper time-continuity and I would buy it. In fact, the only things that keep me from buying TS2 is the hassle of making it run on windows 10 and the graphics that only look good with a heckload of cc.

Instead of creating a remaster, I think they'd go pretty far by just playing The Sims 2 and delving deep into its core gameplay to understand what fans really love about it. The Sims 4 feels like its made by people who have seldom played the past games, if at all.

It does seem that the general consensus of the fans is wanting the gameplay of TS2 and the open world/customization of TS3 in the next game (which is what should have been The Sims 4). I know as much as TS2 remains my favorite even with its closed world setup, I think perfecting the open world is the way to go.

I think a majority of the devs not having played past games isn't even that far-fetched. As much as I know, most of them haven't worked on earlier games and probably haven't played them either. This would explain why their vision for the game is so disconnected from what the players actually want.

I am a bit sceptical when it comes to open world. On one side, it's a neat idea, but they really have to do it well. In TS3, open world caused a lot of issues for many players, be it empty venues, lag and stuttering or story progression making rotational play really hard to do (disabling story progression in the options wasn't enough to stop it completely). If they ever intent on bringing it back, they should try to sort these issues out first. Other than that, I'd also be fine with open districts in which you can visit your direct neighbors without loading screens, but would have one when visiting another neighborhood.
NikkeiSimmer
Seasoned Adventurer
5 years ago
"Drbigt;c-17447324" wrote:
The emotions are superficial at best in this game.

You can take angry poop, proud poop, inspired poop, flirty poop or energized poop. It makes no difference either way and kinda summarizes the whole emotion system in a nutshell. ~edited for brevity~

Don’t forget:

1. You can pee like a champion and
2. Talk to the toilet.

That’s gotta stand for something. They did a great job ~roll eyes~

~rolls eyes~ dripping sarcasm
Beardedgeek72
New Spectator
5 years ago
"Sk8rblaze;c-17448290" wrote:
"Beardedgeek;c-17447913" wrote:
"Jordan061102;c-17447909" wrote:
"Oldeseadogge;c-17445405" wrote:
Why I still play TS2!

*Hold up the hands*

I don't, but objectively it is the best game in the series, or at least the most detailed. Showing people that never played 2 or 3 the animations... The cooking one alone blows Sims 4 (AND 3) out of the water.

Just imagine it with modern graphics...

I agree with you entirely, and would love a remaster, but isn’t this what a sequel should ultimately bring in itself though? Otherwise, what is the point?

The Sims 3 didn’t capture all of The Sims 2’s magic, but it still shot for the stars and looked to bring some massive improvements to the series. It did have instability issues and I had other gripes with it, but at least it had some actual game design. The Sims 4 barely even tried.

Sims 3 sacrificed some things to accommodate a fully operational open world. It was a valid exchange and some things are clearly much better than in 2, and a lot of things are slightly worse.

Sims 4 is... a weird mix. It suffers A LOT from the sacrifices made to accommodate an online playstyle that never happened (thank God) but certain things are both better and worse at the same time. Loading screens everywhere BUT you can freely move between worlds, something not even 3 could (you had an open town, but you were stuck in it). Which is actually HUGE. I also personally absolutely love the deliberately cartoony art style.

...but then they skimped on virtually everything else. The huge selling point this time were "emotions", that does not make up for the loss of an open world at all, barely matters and has to be used with mods to even make sense (OH look I am all happy because I have a beautiful fridge, so who cares if my kid just died in front of me!). The animations are sometimes greatly detailed (the bike animations are MORE detailed than in 3, for example) while others (the cooking ones) are very very basic. The lack of a color wheel / Create a Style is painful since their swatches are so limited, often ugly, and never matches.

Come to think of it, regarding animations: Almost all base game animations are very bad, while the newer the pack, the better they are. If only they updated old animations...