What if Sims 5 was like this?

I don't want a cartoon style in 5 especially since we just had it in 4, but I definitely don't want something so realistic. It just feels uncomfortable to me. Super realistic sims can look good in pictures but seeing them move around just feels off.

"JaiSea;c-17970798" wrote:
I'd like a more realistic look, but I'm worried that if we got realistic I'd miss the cartoon look. The Sims 3 was my favorite out of the franchise and I love the graphics of the whole game except the look of the sims. The sims in The Sims 3 is the only reason I don't play it anymore. I do love the sims look in the Sims 4 though, it's my favorite so far.

I'm sure you've seen all the wonderful Sims 3 cc out there. There's really stuff for any style, soo you may not like mine so much, but here's some of my born in game sims. They're from the same family I swear all my sims don't look the same! https://i.imgur.com/Ryw1z25.jpg https://i.imgur.com/2Z3tpvf.jpg

Personally not fan of realistic style.
It just ages so fast like the second something more realistic comes around whole game feels outdated

also I just feel like the so called "realism" in video games is often just another type of unrealistic because you can never get it perfectly right and then it just looks freakish parody of reality

also this particular picture? too dang anime for sims. like don't get me wrong i like anime but this just doesn't suit sims

The trouble with Realistic is that it ages as graphics advance - and of course there's always the risk of the Uncanny Valley. Sims 3 could be a bit creepy sometimes.

Graphics cards are getting ever better, but we'll need 16k graphics cards for true photorealism. In the meantime, the slightly cartoony style will do fine, as long as they get the lights right.

Make that a little more cartoonish and I would be fine with it
https://www.feedride.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/the-sims-5-release-date-rumors.jpg

The Sims 4 is pretty close to what I want, but it could be just a little more realistic and detailed for my tastes.
I experimented how far I would push it using The Sims 4 and CC.

Basically, more detail to the eyes: eyelashes, irises, sharp eyeliner with smoother curves. Eye brows that look like growing hair, not something painted on. More skin details to lips, but very subtle detail to face skin textures. There should be blush effects, freckles and beauty marks, but they should be controlled by the simmer.


This is alpha hair, but it's not as stringy as most alpha hairs you see. There should be evidence of a few strands of hair, but no more than two or three visible at a time. This hair is also more cartoonish than realistic.


This is alpha hair, but it looks more like a clay/alpha hybrid.
I wouldn't mind clay if they could find a way to show a few individual strands.
Actually EA has stepped up their clay-hair game lately. Clay 2.0 could be interesting.


Ignore the cat sim, but look at her thighs.
They need to fix that. Sims 5 should have more detailed body meshes. No angular thighs in 2025. (Rhymes with thighs.)


We also have to consider their world.
More realistic sims require a more realistic world.
I found myself turning to TS2 and TS3 textures for TS4.

That yellow cottage cheese looking carpet in the center is TS4 base game carpeting.
The surrounding carpet is from The Sims 2.


Pavement from TS2 and grass from TS3.


I am not a fan of TS4's moss grass, so I replaced it.
This isn't the best either, but I'll take it.


CC trees on the left, a TS4 tree on the right.


Seasons was problematic with my CC tree replacements, so I had to remove some.
I need to check if someone fixed the issue, but I really prefer this.
Also, I like Windenburg's clouds, but Willow Creeks clouds are way too cartoonish.


As far as build objects go, I find TS4's build/buy too thick and blocky and textures too subtle or washed out.
Most of the content I add in is to reduce the doll house aesthetic.


More texture and more thin objects to contrast with thick.
Plus less blocky meshed objects. I want bricks that look like manufactured bricks instead of a wall painting of bricks.
Also the new lighting TS4 added a few years later helped a lot with realism.


I don't believe TS5 needs to be a dramatic shift towards realism.
It can be a small shift. TS4 is almost there. I hope EA spends more time and money on game play than the look.

If realism equals more detail and not having clay blobs for hair and black lines as eyes lashes I'd gladly have this art style for Sims 5.

"CK213;c-17976715" wrote:

I don't believe TS5 needs to be a dramatic shift towards realism.

Your pics look awesome and your style is almost exactly how I mod my game. I don't want to feel like I'm playing in a movie with super uber realistic textures and skin details where I can see the facial pores, but I definitely want to move away from the fisher price dollhouse aesthetics of TS4. That was something that has taken me a very long time to get past.

And, I totally agree about the thick and chunky furniture, window frames, doors, the "smeary" blurred textures (like what is up with that grass!) Just because something is low poly doesn't mean it has to be exaggeratedly huge and oversized. With the exception of "round" objects (which none of the games had true roundness of their meshes, because anything that is round is higher in polygons) a more stylish, less chunky and clunky mesh has the exact same amount of polygons as it's counterpart.

I also hope that when they are creating meshes for TS5 they actually have RL appropriate size and scale of the objects. I've never ever understood the reasoning behind these ginormous end tables and coffee tables. For example, if I am creating a living room set, I always drag in a sofa into blender so I can match up the height/size of my end tables, coffee tables, and lamps to that sofa just so that they match the size compared to the sofa in a realistic manner.

And, I for sure, 1000% need real eyelashes and eyebrows! I'm so over this "Sharpie drawn on" look of TS4!

Maybe EA/Maxis could do the SFM style. I've seen lots of SFM animations on Youtube and they look really good. I would'nt mind if Sims 5 was done SFM-style.

One thing that has bothered me ever since I started using reshade is how the sims4's graphics are not very sharp.

I have only increased sharpness a little bit in this screenshot with Reshade and it looks so much better in my opinion when I am playing. I hope that the graphics in the sims5 will be sharper.

https://i.imgur.com/qwyNq8R.png

Although I’m someone who uses an insane amount of realistic CC skin details (and mods…?) I actually like the basic look of The Sims 4 sims.
I appreciate that the game was never designed to look or be realistic and it never should be. Personally I’d prefer a CAS tool that is on par with the Create a Pet Tool: Give us the ability to build semi realistic sims, but only if the player wants that.

Also, the Sims aesthetics can never be looked at without taking all the other elements into consideration. As has been mentioned in this thread, Sims have always acted silly and comical and they continuously find themselves in the most ludicrous situations. Funny characters, Silly Woohoos and crazy Deaths play a big part in the Sims series, therefore anything too realistic is just not going to work.
The Sims shouldn’t even be compared with Paralives in that regard because there’s nothing remotely funny about Paralives.

I believe that many folks who seem to want a Sims 5 or a Paralives as soon as yesterday, in reality just hope for a different life simulator altogether: some kind of marriage between Second Life and Paralives, rather than a different Sims title.

I feel that it is high time for a realistic life simulator to hit the market so that the sims can at least focus on being the sims again.