What Would Save The Sims For You?

"Tahabata;c-18086921" wrote:
I agree with most of the comments here. But there's something we can't ignore in previous versions of The Sims. There was immersion, even with all the flaws, code limitations, adaptations by the players, there was always something new to try. I don't know how many people here actually played The Sims 2 or just watched videos. But there were unique interactions, so many that you could easily miss them, even playing every day. The Sims 4 has indeed brought improvements, especially in construction and CAS, but what I hear from most players is that they get bored right after starting the game. Isn't it strange that most The Sims 4 Youtubers spend more time on their channels bringing new sims or new builds than new types of gameplay? Isn't it strange that there are always the same "trend" of challenges or scenarios to play in The Sims 4? For a game that is constantly being updated it still feels ridiculously robotic and antiquated in AI. I mean, which of you go to a community lot or a party and really feel immersed? I don't know, but in my gameplay I ALWAYS turn down calls to meetings or events, because in them there is absolutely the same thing going on. My game urgently needs more drama. And when I say drama, I mean please bring our Sims to life. More interactions, more animations, more random events, more consequences of our actions (No text bubbles with the same messages), more places to explore, more secrets, more body expressions, more illnesses, more hobbies, more interactive and functional objects, more details , more customization, more IMMERSION.

If we can't have so many new things improved in gameplay, at least bring the good old features back. It's the least they can do to try to fix this mess in The Sims 4.

I agree with you, for me it is the features that are missing and to be honest it is too late for Sims 4 and it must run whatever course EA/Maxis has planned for it.

For me, to save the Sims franchise, the developers would have to just sit down and play The Sims 2 for a couple hours (like I do every day). They would see the immersion and attention to detail that was given when this version was released. I do realize that it is limited to what was available back in 2004 when it was originally released but those features gave it what I love today.

Memories: This was by far the best way of remembering the major moments in a Sim's life. The way those were added to the Memories tab in Personalities was just wonderful. I can go back and look at any Sim's Memories and see when they did what in their life. I like to go back and see how long it took my pre-made Sims to fall in love with their significant other.

Chemistry/Attraction: I can look and see what makes Sims attractive to others and how many lightning bolts they have for that particular Sim.

Jealousy: You can see this played out very well when Sims catch their S.O. cheating. The slapping, fury, and fighting that goes on after this happens is very entertaining.

Community Lots: I particularly like how I can get most Needs met at a Community Lot without having to send a Sim back to their dormitory. I can also get skill points at certain lots (I play University students currently).

Aspirations: I love the different Aspirations because you can mix and match some for family gameplay and making friends for promotions. The only 3 I don't like playing in Sims 2 are Pleasure, Romance and Grilled Cheese Sims.

Personality/Traits: Sims actually show their Personality and Trait levels when they are left alone.

Gameplay Overall: I can go and play the same Sim in different neighborhoods and have very different outcomes each time. I previously played Marla Biggs in University multiple times and each time it took her a different amount of time to find her S.O. Sometimes it happened quickly. Sometimes it took a while even when I didn't think she liked a particular boy. It's never the same outcome in every neighborhood I have loaded. Right now I am playing Melody Tinker and I think it's going to be the same thing for her. She took her time finding her special man. I will have to see what happens when I load her in my next neighborhood.

Sims 4 is missing all of the features (and more) that I just mentioned and this is why I can't get into this version of the game anymore. I hope Sims 5 revisits Sims 2 and avoids the mistakes of Sims 4.

I think it's rather telling how my priorities for fanmade content has completely flipped on its' head in TS4: whereas with TS2/TS3 I hardly downloaded any mods but lots of CC, I'm now downloading a buttload of gameplay mods while hardly any CC (except some masculine content).
Vast majority of the mods I've downloaded have something to do with making sims have more personality, improving relationships or adding more challenge/drama.
I think this rather well sums up what my biggest issues with the game are right now. It is kind of style over substance and I don't like how bland and "safe" it has become.

*Accidental double post, please ignore*

"Thrior;c-18088225" wrote:
I think it's rather telling how my priorities for fanmade content has completely flipped on its' head in TS4: whereas with TS2/TS3 I hardly downloaded any mods but lots of CC, I'm now downloading a buttload of gameplay mods while hardly any CC (except some masculine content).
Vast majority of the mods I've downloaded have something to do with making sims have more personality, improving relationships or adding more challenge/drama.
I think this rather well sums up what my biggest issues with the game are right now. It is kind of style over substance and I don't like how bland and "safe" it has become.

I second that.

From a modder's point of view, it's especially telling that I shifted to focus on mods that fix bugs and add more depth to the code, while my focus lay heavily on creating new food dishes and gameplay objects for toddlers for TS 2 (I didn't mod for TS3 as I personally didn't enjoy that iteration).

From a player's point of view, it's equally telling how I shifted from playing only one main family and telling a deep story with them to playing about 15 households on rotation and switch to another familiy every Sim week in order to keep myself entertained.

It's not even that I don't love TS4, I just wish they would focus on gameplay and depth instead of only visuals.

"Thrior;c-18088225" wrote:
I think it's rather telling how my priorities for fanmade content has completely flipped on its' head in TS4: whereas with TS2/TS3 I hardly downloaded any mods but lots of CC, I'm now downloading a buttload of gameplay mods while hardly any CC (except some masculine content).
Vast majority of the mods I've downloaded have something to do with making sims have more personality, improving relationships or adding more challenge/drama.
I think this rather well sums up what my biggest issues with the game are right now. It is kind of style over substance and I don't like how bland and "safe" it has become.

Per your comment on style vs substance, saw earlier today a youtube video on the recent disaster pack that pointed out, among other things, that of the 130 or so folks working on it only 6% were on QC while 30% were on art. In contrast to Parenthood where 23% of team was QC. Looks like a deliberate change in priorities.

"EricasFreePlay;c-18087217" wrote:
For me, to save the Sims franchise, the developers would have to just sit down and play The Sims 2 for a couple hours (like I do every day). They would see the immersion and attention to detail that was given when this version was released. I do realize that it is limited to what was available back in 2004 when it was originally released but those features gave it what I love today.

Memories: This was by far the best way of remembering the major moments in a Sim's life. The way those were added to the Memories tab in Personalities was just wonderful. I can go back and look at any Sim's Memories and see when they did what in their life. I like to go back and see how long it took my pre-made Sims to fall in love with their significant other.

Chemistry/Attraction: I can look and see what makes Sims attractive to others and how many lightning bolts they have for that particular Sim.

Jealousy: You can see this played out very well when Sims catch their S.O. cheating. The slapping, fury, and fighting that goes on after this happens is very entertaining.

Community Lots: I particularly like how I can get most Needs met at a Community Lot without having to send a Sim back to their dormitory. I can also get skill points at certain lots (I play University students currently).

Aspirations: I love the different Aspirations because you can mix and match some for family gameplay and making friends for promotions. The only 3 I don't like playing in Sims 2 are Pleasure, Romance and Grilled Cheese Sims.

Personality/Traits: Sims actually show their Personality and Trait levels when they are left alone.

Gameplay Overall: I can go and play the same Sim in different neighborhoods and have very different outcomes each time. I previously played Marla Biggs in University multiple times and each time it took her a different amount of time to find her S.O. Sometimes it happened quickly. Sometimes it took a while even when I didn't think she liked a particular boy. It's never the same outcome in every neighborhood I have loaded. Right now I am playing Melody Tinker and I think it's going to be the same thing for her. She took her time finding her special man. I will have to see what happens when I load her in my next neighborhood.

Sims 4 is missing all of the features (and more) that I just mentioned and this is why I can't get into this version of the game anymore. I hope Sims 5 revisits Sims 2 and avoids the mistakes of Sims 4.

That's exactly what it's about, about feeling part of the game. I remember exactly the day my Sim casually caught her boyfriend cheating on her, while she was shopping at the supermarket. It was a hilarious fight and drama, I was just laughing and wondering how much of this was just coincidence or how much the game "schemed" to make this happen before my Sim's eyes. When Sims are caught cheating in The Sims 4 you just get "sad" and lose some relationship with your partner. Really? I would at least like to have the option of ending the relationship in style. Throw objects at your partner, get revenge on them, make a mess and end up getting the attention of other sims around. This could be part of the natural reaction of a "Angry" Sim, for example. I feel like the Sims personality traits currently don't work the way they should and feel more like a modlet roulette wheel. This just makes the game more unnecessarily difficult rather than more fun.

A wants and fears system with a meter would 100% get me playing the Sims 4 if it works just like the Sims 2. Low wants should give 100-1000 aspiration points. But most importantly, I want "Power Wants" that take some time to complete. I want specific Power Wants tied to the aspiration of the sim.

This may not be possible in the Sims 4, which is why I need a producer working on Sims 5 to really understand this point. There is an entire community of lost customers who no longer play or purchase Sims 4 products because the game does not work with our playstyle. We feel ignored. The wants and fears system is foundational to a wants-based playstyle. Sims 3 wants were too weak and small (no power wants) and there was no aspiration meter that added consequences. Whims in the Sims 4 is an abandoned feature.

Importantly, aspirations in the sims 4 are a misnomer: they are really Lifetime Wants. Renaissance Sim, Painter Extraordinaire, etc. are Lifetime Wants in Essense. The categories: Fortune, Popularity, Creativity are the core aspirations that should be selected by each sim...they are the high-level orientation of the sim and drives what types of wants and fears are rolled.
@SimGuruGrant @SimGuruGraham @SimGuruAzure @SimGuruFrost @SimGuruGeorge @SimGuruLyndsay @SimGuruNinja @SimGuruRomeo @SimGuruKuxiku Thank you!

Two world. Open world.

A much better AI. They need to consult with behavorists and get human-like actions and reactions. They did not make Sims 4 to have a good AI -- they didn't understand that understanding human behavior is more than "well, we KNOW how people react to things!" But since they felt that way, we got an AI that behaves that way -- uniformly with none of the nuance that different personalities bring to life.

I like an open world, but I'd take a closed world with a good AI.