Morale is Rock Bottom? How do you feel about the state of the Sims

Other games give a competent experience, but Sims 4 just fails hard. They've done nothing to redeem the many failures on pretty much every front. There are still no sincere signs that they are ever going to make it right, and I've come to regret every penny that I've ever spent on this franchise.

Overall, I am honestly happy, but I have a few specific gripes. The main one is that when they add new systems that change the way the game functions, they don't always give us a way to turn them completely off. This really bothers me. Especially when the new system is added to the base game.

I usually wait 6 months to a year before buying new packs. Mostly because I am a cheapskate, so I always wait for the lowest discount sales. This is because I am an incurable miser, not because I think the price is necessarily too high for the value I get from it.

But waiting that long has had an unintended benefit. I'm well aware that Sims 4 packs tend to have a lot of bugs when they are first released. I think this is a bad way for them to be released, but I also think the best response to that is don't buy the pack until they fix most of the problems. As a result of the fact that I wait so long before buying, I think I have had a much less of a buggy experience than a lot of players.

I do use mods, but most of them are just so I can do something differently than the way the game was designed. This has never bothered me. I don't really like games, in general. I don't like rules or goals or restrictions or random challenges that someone else decided to put there. Most computer games bore me after a relatively short time. But I like sims 3 and 4, and I've put in thousands of hours on each of them, because with the use of some mods, I can turn them into a box of toys I can be creative with instead. I realize this isn't what a lot of players want, and I've always been fairly content to use mods to do what I want to do, because I assume I am in the minority on this issue.

It seems like the last few years have been decreasing in quantity in general, and also with what I'd personally like to see. I know the pandemic may have brought about some of that, so I don't know how much to attribute to the game's life cycle alone. I've bought a lot of content, but find myself less happy about with, with the except of Cottage Living which I think was great. I thought I'd love Snowy Escape but I barely play with anything in, or build with anything in it. But even pre-pandemic Island Living was the start of all of this for me and that's been nearly 3 years ago. University was alright and Eco Lifestyle is also not something i use a lot of. It just seems though that the last year has been really dull excepting Cottage Living.

I'm ready for hotels. I'm ready for body hair. I'm ready for Werewolves and to a less extent Medieval stuff....otherwise I just don't care anymore.

Edit - I think I really should add though, about in that same time period, there's been a lot of things weighing on me, both with the pandemic (which has been a huge issue for many people) and in my personal life. My lack of interest/motivation may be attributed to that as much as with the Sims itself.

Also, not to get off topic, but Planet Zoo has taken up almost all of my gaming runs in the last 2+ year, so there's also that.

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For a game I have loved forever its truly sad to be disappointed pack after pack even when it's something I actually want they somehow manage to mess it up and dumb down the feature be it retail (no cash register clothing racks or changing rooms) restaurants (can't play as waiter chef or hostess can't hire family members) everything is so basic and has no depth to it. It's sad the Sims themselves are a part of this where's my smart Sims I was told about. But most importantly where's my sandbox in a game that use to be sandbox they limit everything and could not even bother adding a CAW and limit us with their small ugly worlds and use them as a selling point instead of real features and game play I don't want their worlds I want my own.

The Sims team have proven they do not care if sell us broken content everyone knew My Wedding Stories was a complete mess every single game changer everyone who watched the dumpster fire live steam of it, and they still released it broken.

My morale is rock bottom. I'm continually disappointed, and I question if things will improve

This is mostly for Sims 4 and no attraction system in Wedding Stories and just the large amounts of bugs that never get corrected. The sad part is I just found a mod that adds a type of attraction system and it is free. I am starting to think EA just needs to start paying the modders.

I loved every version until Sims 4. Now I just pray for Sims 5. I have high high hopes! Cue the music. I know it will start back at base game but just like when all the other iterations came out before Sims 4, I will start the game and add on to the story with each new pack. I have hardly been able to keep a family going beyond 3 generations with Sims 4.

I've definitely had fun with Sims 4 but I always kinda find myself struggling to want to continue playing. Most packs are still hollow shades of previous iterations and the few new/unique ones are just as barebones, and some are just plain broken (the new MWS and, from what I hear anyways, Dine Out).

If they're going to continue to release half-baked, buggy and shallow content for the rest of Sims 4's lifespan I do not have much hope for Sims 5's content.

My morale was rock bottom nearly 10 years ago with all the issues present in TS3, especially late in it's life span where you couldn't even play with all of the packs you owned enabled at the same time and their money-milk-machine that is the Sims Storefront.

Now I just don't really care regardless of what happens, or doesn't. I keep buying and playing the games and packs in the franchise because there's no competition for this particular genre and TS4, even with the miss-steps, is a superior game for my playstyle than TS3 was (though I do still play that on occasion as well).

I didn't vote because there was no option for "meh, whatever. I still play and enjoy the games despite my feelings about EA and how they handle the franchise." I wouldn't play it without mods, and that's been true for the franchise as a whole since TS2.

Honestly? When I look back to my days on the PS2 playing the Sims, I think nothing but amazing times, stories and fun! Even the Sims 2, all good times and memories. Sims 3, same thing, thinking back to builds and werewolf clans taking over towns etc! Sure I do remember the lag of the open world, but for what it was, the content was GREAT, I was always excited for a new pack and had it release day without a DOUBT. I never questioned it. I've all the game DVDs still and they're some great memories and times.

When I think of the Sims 4, sure I think of some good times, but also a lot of frustrations. Small things, large things, let downs time and time again. I never buy a pack now on release day, I ALWAYS wait for reviews and to see how many bugs are released on launch day. I'm never disappointed with my decision to wait for a sale and several bug fixes. Even then, game packs like Dine Out, have been broken FOREVER! Small things like just allowing a sim to be their own chef or own host, waiter etc. The animations are all there, so why can't it work. Just small things. It shouldn't take 12 hours to eat a meal at a restaurant, but it does.

Morale is very low, rock bottom for me and I'm nearing my 30s and been playing near two decades of the sims games. Its definitely sad.

My morale hit rock bottom around Batuu. I am neutral now. The Sims as a concept is still a game made for me, but the recent content sure isn't. I am keeping up with it because I don't abhor it, but I am numb and have no reason to play over other games until there is something for me dropped. Plus, y'know, some bug fixes.

Edit: Plus Cottage Living is my beloved. I wish 3 got a full pack like that (and 2 and 1 while I am at it). I cannot hate 4 now.