I often read a lot of threads where people are saying there is not enough gameplay or they need to add more gameplay in packs. I have seen some examples but most of the time there is no real explanation behind the comment. So I decided to ask the question. I think it will help the devs understand what we are looking for from the game.
I will start... For me, gameplay starts at the core. The core of the Sims is in the title. The Sims themselves. We have gotten off track and there has been too much focus on builds, beautiful worlds and CAS. When I look back on Sims 2, I really enjoyed the game because of the Sims themselves. My sims felt unique because there were many factors affecting their personality whether they were neat or sloppy, active or inactive or even mixed. Next thing that added uniqueness were interests. Did they like talking about money or politics, crime or love and conversations were affected between sims whose interests did not line up? Later the attraction system was added which added another layer of uniqueness to the sim.
The skiing, vacations, adventures, school, bands, fame, new worlds, will all feel the same as long as we are relying on the same 10 emotion system\moodlet system. The sims need more depth and more animation. EX: When a sim is telling another sim the big news of pregnancy, the sim should have an excited animation if they are happy or sulk animation or even a cry if they are not happy. Not a moodlet saying they are happy about the big news. It is the little things that make the game so much more. I spend more time imagining a reaction than seeing one and that is sad.
Yeah I would like to see more emotion portrayed in the sim's actions not just a moodlet. More reactions to things like pregnancy and maybe people moving out would add more to that feeling behind it.
"keekee53;d-985407" wrote: My sims felt unique because there were many factors affecting their personality whether they were neat or sloppy, active or inactive or even mixed. Next thing that added uniqueness were interests. Did they like talking about money or politics, crime or love and conversations were affected between sims whose interests did not line up? Later the attraction system was added which added another layer of uniqueness to the sim.
I could have cried reading this, this is exactly what we need back into the game - a personality. For me, "gameplay" is simply just storytelling and having my Sims live their lives, however everything in this game seems so linear and follows the same path, no matter what traits or careers my Sim has.
We are in desperate need of a proper personality system in this game such as likes/dislikes, favourites, interests, attractions. I would say a personality for Sims is the key to unlocking far more gameplay for us.
"keekee53;d-985407" wrote: My sims felt unique because there were many factors affecting their personality whether they were neat or sloppy, active or inactive or even mixed. Next thing that added uniqueness were interests. Did they like talking about money or politics, crime or love and conversations were affected between sims whose interests did not line up? Later the attraction system was added which added another layer of uniqueness to the sim.
I could have cried reading this, this is exactly what we need back into the game - a personality. For me, "gameplay" is simply just storytelling and having my Sims live their lives, however everything in this game seems so linear and follows the same path, no matter what traits or careers my Sim has.
We are in desperate need of a proper personality system in this game such as likes/dislikes, favourites, interests, attractions. I would say a personality for Sims is the key to unlocking far more gameplay for us.
Agreed. Any addition to the game will feel one note until they fix the sims themselves.
For me gameplay is doing fun activities with my Sims. Island Living and Snowy Escape are my favourite packs because of the fun activities. I have a lot of fun playing mermaids, building sandcastles, collecting seashells, and swimming in the ocean. For me Island Living adds a lot of gameplay. Now I can have my toddlers do something fun too (play in the sand, build sandcastles, and play in the ocean). Snowy Escape also added a lot of fun gameplay for me. I have a lot of fun having my Sims snowboard and really like that it's on an actual mountain with plenty of options on how they go about snowboarding down the mountain. This is way more fun than a halfpipe. I also enjoy the sledding and hiking. I really enjoy watching my Sims do fun activities.
I never really took note of whether the Sims have unique personalities or not (too busy doing fun activities), but I would like to have likes/dislikes, favourites, interests, and hobbies for my Sims. So long as I can choose what they are.
It's hard to describe without seeing it in practice and knowing through playing it that it works. What I can vaguely say I think I want is, largely:
1) gameplay that is more interactive (not big on watching my sims do stuff)
2) autonomy/behavior that is more varied/distinct and maybe just in general, a bit less hyper. by that I mean, like, sims don't necessarily need to be jumping around doing something hyperactive constantly if they are simulating real life. real people are not on the move all the time. they do uninteresting human things like sit and think, get distracted, take their sweet time to get to something. And yet, some are more hyper than others and more restless in general. Having more of a range of behavior in this kind of way would probably go a long way in making sims more distinct.
To me gameplay is: 1) feeling of unique personalities (through different traits, wants, different reactions to what happens to them & autonomy actions, favorites) 2) more interactions & various functional objects, activities that differ more 3) more storyprogression around you (feeling like npcs are also livng lives, go to work, to school at their respective hours) 4) immersion (car pools, school buses, more activity in your neighbours, service npcs, etc.)
What you describe is not the only gameplay to me, but it is indeed where the Sims 4 is lacking. Let's call it core gameplay. Due to the lack of uniqueness, all Sims are feeling the same. When TS 4 was released, I created my favourite couple from TS 2 and was ready to play with them - I couldn't. I wasn't able to nail it back then, but I'm fairly sure by now that it was because they did not show any distinct personality when I played with them.
This is as true for communication between different Sims as it is for reacting to a Sim's experience.
Things that were a viral part of why Sims formerly felt so unique are:
- interests - attraction system - favourites (color/food/etc) - memories - dislikes - fears - meaningful whims - unique animations tied to all of the above - it really doesn't make a difference to have a ton of different interactions if enthuse about favourite author uses the exact same animation as enthuse about the new app your Sim just created, and - for me first and foremost: - the whim system being used to affect a Sim's overall feeling. I hardly ever bought something fot the aspiration points in the Sims 2, but the fact that a Sim was feeling better when he had fulfilled his whims and not fulfilled any fears - and of course the opposite - and this status being open to changes anytime was what made the game for me. That also was one reason why I never was happy with TS 3.
To me, gameplay in the Sims series is about adapting to the unexpected. In The Sims 4, however, the only time that I was actually thrown for a loop was as a result of a really weird...bug. Otherwise, there was never a reason for me to stop, to reassess, to take a detour, or to change the course of my Sims' lives altogether. The surprise factor has even been removed from in-game death.
TS4 is so aggressively benign that the Sims' personalities have been scrubbed clean and there is no conflict between opposing personality types -- which was one of my favorite types of challenges within the game.
Unfortunately, the series has evolved from a game into something that is more of a digital dollhouse. Unfortunately, it took a long time for me to realize that it is that way by design and that it is never going to change.
"83bienchen;c-17763209" wrote: What you describe is not (the only) gameplay to me, but it is indeed where the Sims 4 is lacking. Let's call it core gameplay. Due to the lack of uniqueness, all Sims are feeling the game. When TS 4 was released, I created my favourite couple from TS 2 and was ready to play with them - I couldn't. I wasn't able to nail it back then, but I'm fairly sure bynow that it was because they did not show any distinct personality when I played with them.
This is as true for communication between different Sims as it is for reacting to a Sims experience.
Things that were a viral part of why Sims formerly felt so unique are:
- interests - attraction system - favourites (color/food/etc) - memories - dislikes - fears - meaningful whims - unique animations tied to all of the above - I really doesn't make a difference to have aton of different interactions if enthuse about favourite author uses the exact same anymation as enthuse about the new app your Sim just created. and - for me first and foremost: - the whim system being used to affect a Sims overall feeling. I hardly ever bought something from the aspiration points in the Sims to, but the fact that a Sim was feeling better when he had fulfilled his whims and not fulfilled any fears - and of course the opposite - and this status being open to changes anytime was what made the gam for me. That also one reason why I never was happy with TS 3.
That's it for me. I am really disappointed in Whims. Sentiments would have been a perfect opportunity to bring back whims in a better way. Sims now feel these sentiments, now what do they want to do about it? A whim should show what they want to do about it.
Instead I have to role-play it: Sim A made Sim B happy. Sim B now want to repay that with a gift. Or send them a happy text which will in-turn spawn an invite to go out.
I recently put in some chemistry and attraction mods. This what the game should have been like from the beginning. I wrote about some interesting incidents that I experienced after installing my mods. Copying them over:
"CK213;c-17758942" wrote: I am experimenting with mods. I put in an Whims Overhaul mod, Personality Please, Chemistry, No Environmental Moodlets, and Wonderful Whims (Attraction Mod). It's like the game had a lobotomy and suddenly has all the brain damage repaired.
Sims are pulling socials I've never seen them autonomously perform before. One of the dormies has been a noticeable source of drama with another dormie. It's been fun trying to keep the peace, but it's not happening so much to be annoying.
Personality actually feels like it matters and I am well aware of bad matches. Whim game play is better, but I still wish there were more personality driven whims. I am getting more lot type and object driven whims, but at least I am getting some relationship/social whims.
And it feels like the good old days where stuff that you weren't expecting would happen. These two were outside. I invited everyone from the dorm to hangout at the student commons, but had not earned enough club slots to add these two. So they just sat outside talking.
And then Zayden pulled a prank. It's not really in his traits, so the game must have made him the dorm prankster.
Other than canned events and weird holidays, I have never seen two sims brawl because one could not stand the other until I put in my mods.
I sent Cassandra Goth out to try to patch things up. She's actually been trying to hook Zayden up with a couple of the dormies.
Not happening.
Another incident happened while Zane was doing his homework. This stranger walked in the dorm, with silly townie clothes and I made her over to how she looks now. The Wonderful Whims mod said Zane found her extremely attractive.
But once he introduced himself, the Chemistry mod basically said, RUN AWAY! The Chemistry mod looks at Traits and Skills that you set and determines how well sims should get along. I found it interesting and started playing with the Persuasion game play from the mod.
Krystal is a Greedy sim, so Zane was faking being Greedy to score higher relationship points with her. And then Zayden walks by and she lights up.
So I had Zane ask Krystal did she want to meet Zayden. And she was like: "Heck yeah, I want to meet Zayden."
It was getting late and I was going to have Zane tell her goodbye, but I changed my mind. Let her stay here and sees what she does.
What she did was get all flirty with Zane.
Hey, where did Zayden go?
I did put in a mod called Have more personality please. I swear EA must have created NPC socials to be as boring as possible, because since installing this mod, sims are pulling socials that I have never seen them pull before. Maybe they only pull a few base-game socials.
Probably some of them should be blacklisted, but you do have some funny situations and instead of boring routines. While my sims were in their college prep dorm (not University), someone must have dared Olivia to go Streaking. She rose to the challenge.
I mean it was funny, but whoever the sim was that dared her to do it, that kind of stuff should be in their nature to do so.
All these game features should combine in interesting and surprising ways. That's what I consider emergent game play.
"Cynna;c-17763477" wrote: To me, gameplay in the Sims series is about adapting to the unexpected. In The Sims 4, however, the only time that I was actually thrown for a loop was as a result of a really weird...bug. Otherwise, there was never a reason for me to stop, to reassess, to take a detour, or to change the course of my Sims' lives altogether. The surprise factor has even been removed from in-game death.
TS4 is so aggressively benign that the Sims' personalities have been scrubbed clean and there is no conflict between opposing personality types -- which was one of my favorite types of challenges within the game.
Unfortunately, the series has evolved from a game into something that is more of a digital dollhouse. Unfortunately, it took a long time for me to realize that it is that way by design and that it is never going to change.
Yes, that is a good one. I do miss the surprises that came with Sims 2. I have had some crazy things happen to me in that game. In this game, nothing ever alters my sims lives unless I make something happen.
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