I don't want a subscription or multiplayer game. I don't want the restriction of playing in a sandbox which involves waiting on a loading screen every time I want to visit my next door neighbor. Those are all deal breakers for me, so I'm not really optimistic about TS5 to be honest. I'd love for EA to prove me wrong, but I'll believe it when I see it and sadly, I really don't expect to see it. :'(
I haven't played 4 in years now, but I remember getting a barebones game (and I do mean bare) which was a huge disappointment. It took years to get a half way decent game with the addition of various packs and game world tweeks.
Sadly, 3 spoiled me with the open world concept and has been the closest the sims franchise has come to actually being realistic while still being a game world full of anticipation and excitement. Unfortunately, it was a bit ahead of it's time as the average household didn't have a computer that could handle a huge game world. I believe most households could now handle a game of this magnitude.
Herein lies the problem for me. Even if 5 meets all of my hopes and dreams of the franchise (which I seriously doubt given past experiences with EA), we are likely to get a bare bones game world full of bugs, because, once again, they rushed it out the door to make money. So even if simmers give feedback which tells me it's the game of my dreams, it's still going to be several years before the game has the bugs worked out (sorta) and enough content to make it fun to play. I mean let's face it. How many posts have there been in this thread alone that simmers are complaining that the game is still unfinished and 4 is now 8 years in for crying out loud.
So yeah, I'm hopeful that EA will get it right with 5, but I'm not holding my breath. History says it will be years before 5 is even developed to the point where I will be able to find it interesting to play. And can EA avoid the temptation to make a money grab with a subscription game? Probably not.
Hope you prove me wrong EA, but, again, I'm not holding my breath. B)
