Support NeoGAF

[RiverShell]

For groceries, it's more to do with food being actually "craftable" now rather than just a mysterious percentage that goes down with each attempt on cooking. You can still buy ingredients, grow them, or "auto-purchase" them (save for a few, like custom variations of food or high-tier foods). Also aren't aspirations sorta tied in to traits reflecting their wants?

Sorry for the late response. Both of the things you mentioned are good points, aspirations are tied to traits but I was hoping that the fear system, along with something similar to (but not as ridiculous as) a visit from the doctor if a Sim's mood is too low would return.

 

[Mr Swine]

I hope that The Sims 4 is hard as nails like the older The Sims games are. It's so easy to get money, even with a sim that is unlucky, shy and such

 

[Boss Doggie]

Sorry for the late response. Both of the things you mentioned are good points, aspirations are tied to traits but I was hoping that the fear system, along with something similar to (but not as ridiculous as) a visit from the doctor if a Sim's mood is too low would return.

Ah that. Yeah there's a distinct lack of fear.

I hope that The Sims 4 is hard as nails like the older The Sims games are. It's so easy to get money, even with a sim that is unlucky, shy and such

tbqh it's more to do with the updated features that make Sims 3 "easy" much like how newer Pokemon are "easy" due to updated mechanics.

 

[Baron_Calamity]

I've been thinking about this stuff for the last several days. The real kicker to all this is no one else makes these kind of games. Want a military shooter? There are a dozen companies all fighting for that space. Third person action games? No problem. People Simulators? We are stuck with EA and whatever they do with the Sims.

 

[Milamber]

People Simulators? We are stuck with EA and whatever they do with the Sims.

EA has got a ton of lawyers and patents to make sure that doesn't happen.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Well, Life Simulator. People Simulator sounds a bit more different in concept

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

I hope that The Sims 4 is hard as nails like the older The Sims games are. It's so easy to get money, even with a sim that is unlucky, shy and such

I always create my family, and I have three younger brothers; it's always hard for me! SO MANY NEEDS.

 

[Boss Doggie]

On a related note, if people really want Sims 3 to be hard, you can impose your own rules or, barring that, have many sims in your lot.

 

[Palette Swap]

Speaking of Sims expansions, I had forgotten about that H&M expansion for The Sims 2 and Steve Hogarty reposted on twitter his review from back then :

That's the kind of stuff they should have quoted on the box lol.

It's pretty interesting to see how 60 outfits for 10 quid was seen as a crime against back then, while now it's such a common practice that no one would notice.

Sources:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483224360418041856
and its followup:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483625602747203585

 

[Rentahamster]

Speaking of Sims expansions, I had forgotten about that H&M expansion for The Sims 2 and Steve Hogarty reposted on twitter his review from back then :



That's the kind of stuff they should have quoted on the box lol.

It's pretty interesting to see how 60 outfits for 10 quid was seen as a crime against back then, while now it's such a common practice that no one would notice.

Sources:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483224360418041856
and its followup:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483625602747203585

Those are amazing reviews. "Just stick to the facts" lmao.

 

[Ichabod]

Speaking of Sims expansions, I had forgotten about that H&M expansion for The Sims 2 and Steve Hogarty reposted on twitter his review from back then :



That's the kind of stuff they should have quoted on the box lol.

It's pretty interesting to see how 60 outfits for 10 quid was seen as a crime against back then, while now it's such a common practice that no one would notice.

Sources:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483224360418041856
and its followup:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483625602747203585

I laughed way too hard at this. Amazing writing!

 

[Azure Dream]

It's pretty interesting to see how 60 outfits for 10 quid was seen as a crime against back then, while now it's such a common practice that no one would notice.

Let's be fair, there's a lot more going into making a decent-looking outfit at today's standards than there were around the time of Sims 2.

Those reviews are amazing, though.

 

[spirity]

Speaking of Sims expansions, I had forgotten about that H&M expansion for The Sims 2 and Steve Hogarty reposted on twitter his review from back then :



That's the kind of stuff they should have quoted on the box lol.

It's pretty interesting to see how 60 outfits for 10 quid was seen as a crime against back then, while now it's such a common practice that no one would notice.

Sources:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483224360418041856
and its followup:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483625602747203585

I like how he slipped "deep abyss instead of a soul" into that second review.

 

[Capella]

Well it looks like Story Progression has been stripped down http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-sims-4-gurus-talk-story-progression/

Basically, unplayed sims can age and die but they will no longer obtain jobs, won't get married, and won't have kids unless you actually play them. If the sim dies then the game will move in new sims.

At this point I am not very interested in getting the Sims 4 anymore. This seems fine for anyone who likes micro-managing their households like in The Sims 2 but this is a pretty big step back for me. I really enjoyed playing multi-generational games and liked not having to go to each household and make decisions for them in order to have them progress. It was even better with mods that had fixes and gave you more control over how your town would progress.

 

[Aaron]

If they're going to strip out this many features, and not add anything really substantial, why bother releasing it? Finish the damned game first. They'll make the extra dev time back on expansions anyway.

 

[Aquamarine]

Well it looks like Story Progression has been stripped down http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-sims-4-gurus-talk-story-progression/

Basically, unplayed sims can age and die but they will no longer obtain jobs, won't get married, and won't have kids unless you actually play them. If the sim dies then the game will move in new sims.

At this point I am not very interested in getting the Sims 4 anymore. This seems fine for anyone who likes micro-managing their households like in The Sims 2 but this is a pretty big step back for me. I really enjoyed playing multi-generational games and liked not having to go to each household and make decisions for them in order to have them progress. It was even better with mods that had fixes and gave you more control over how your town would progress.

I find it incredibly ironic that it's Maxis---of all studios---that's ruining the franchise that the Redwood City-based "The Sims Studio" built up over the past five years.

 

[Chinese Cartoons]

Some people will never learn this is why ea will never change, enjoy.

 

[Zomba13]

Speaking of Sims expansions, I had forgotten about that H&M expansion for The Sims 2 and Steve Hogarty reposted on twitter his review from back then :



That's the kind of stuff they should have quoted on the box lol.

It's pretty interesting to see how 60 outfits for 10 quid was seen as a crime against back then, while now it's such a common practice that no one would notice.

Sources:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483224360418041856
and its followup:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483625602747203585

I loved PC Zone so much.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Well it looks like Story Progression has been stripped down http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-si...y-progression/

Basically, unplayed sims can age and die but they will no longer obtain jobs, won't get married, and won't have kids unless you actually play them. If the sim dies then the game will move in new sims.

At this point I am not very interested in getting the Sims 4 anymore. This seems fine for anyone who likes micro-managing their households like in The Sims 2 but this is a pretty big step back for me. I really enjoyed playing multi-generational games and liked not having to go to each household and make decisions for them in order to have them progress. It was even better with mods that had fixes and gave you more control over how your town would progress.

Wow... holy shit.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

If they're going to strip out this many features, and not add anything really substantial, why bother releasing it? Finish the damned game first. They'll make the extra dev time back on expansions anyway.

Because consumers have never punished them for this behavior no matter how far they push their luck with feature removal.

 

[thelatestmodel]

Maxis?

Maxis is dead, this is all EA.

 

[btkadams]

Speaking of Sims expansions, I had forgotten about that H&M expansion for The Sims 2 and Steve Hogarty reposted on twitter his review from back then :



That's the kind of stuff they should have quoted on the box lol.

It's pretty interesting to see how 60 outfits for 10 quid was seen as a crime against back then, while now it's such a common practice that no one would notice.

Sources:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483224360418041856
and its followup:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483625602747203585

Was that actually printed in a magazine? Sorry if that's a stupids question.

Edit: nvm it must have if it got him blacklisted.

 

[Terra_Ex]

Well it looks like Story Progression has been stripped down http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-sims-4-gurus-talk-story-progression/

Basically, unplayed sims can age and die but they will no longer obtain jobs, won't get married, and won't have kids unless you actually play them. If the sim dies then the game will move in new sims.

At this point I am not very interested in getting the Sims 4 anymore. This seems fine for anyone who likes micro-managing their households like in The Sims 2 but this is a pretty big step back for me. I really enjoyed playing multi-generational games and liked not having to go to each household and make decisions for them in order to have them progress. It was even better with mods that had fixes and gave you more control over how your town would progress.

Damn, that's a huge step back. It's EA so this is expected but still...

 

[Baron_Calamity]

This is really disappointing.

 

[mysteriousmage09]

Speaking of Sims expansions, I had forgotten about that H&M expansion for The Sims 2 and Steve Hogarty reposted on twitter his review from back then :



That's the kind of stuff they should have quoted on the box lol.

It's pretty interesting to see how 60 outfits for 10 quid was seen as a crime against back then, while now it's such a common practice that no one would notice.

Sources:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483224360418041856
and its followup:
https://twitter.com/misterbrilliant/status/483625602747203585

LOL @ stick to the facts. Best shit ever.

 

[McNum]

Well it looks like Story Progression has been stripped down http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-sims-4-gurus-talk-story-progression/

Basically, unplayed sims can age and die but they will no longer obtain jobs, won't get married, and won't have kids unless you actually play them. If the sim dies then the game will move in new sims.

At this point I am not very interested in getting the Sims 4 anymore. This seems fine for anyone who likes micro-managing their households like in The Sims 2 but this is a pretty big step back for me. I really enjoyed playing multi-generational games and liked not having to go to each household and make decisions for them in order to have them progress. It was even better with mods that had fixes and gave you more control over how your town would progress.

I'm laughing, but it's not really funny. That just makes me laugh harder.

You'd think, with all this news coming out about what's NOT in the game, it would be time to do a big gameplay blowout of what the game actually IS. Live gameplay, Treehouse style, if necessary. But they won't do that.

I mean, it's not like Sims 3's default Story Progression was any good, but it was there, you know? This seems like a rather major step back.

 

[MrBali]

Add Sims 4 to that comic where EA kills every franchise one by one

Also if you're gonna play Sims at all you know it's not as fun without the expansions. Go get Sims 3 or 2 they are still great.

 

[McNum]

Add Sims 4 to that comic where EA kills every franchise one by one

Also if you're gonna play Sims at all you know it's not as fun without the expansions. Go get Sims 3 or 2 they are still great.

Additionally, wait until the modding community breaks the game wide open and adds the features that EA "forgot". I know for sure that I'd have quit Sims 3 a long time ago without a couple of mods I use. One is for making the game not have a memory leak or corrupt Sims. Why does that need to be a third party mod?

I mean, this game is in full Duke Nukem Forever territory for me now. I have to see this thing for myself, but I'm not expecting it to be good anymore.

 

[massoluk]

Sims 3 vanilla offered more than Sims 2 vanilla. You're just comparing a full-expanded Sims 2 to Sims 3.

Not how I remember it, but nostalgia may be playing with my mind there. I just remember the Sims 2 had First Kiss and First Woohoo cutscenes, and the Sims 3 did not. I was really bummed out by the fact.

 

[Kimaka]

Well it looks like Story Progression has been stripped down http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-sims-4-gurus-talk-story-progression/

Basically, unplayed sims can age and die but they will no longer obtain jobs, won't get married, and won't have kids unless you actually play them. If the sim dies then the game will move in new sims.

At this point I am not very interested in getting the Sims 4 anymore. This seems fine for anyone who likes micro-managing their households like in The Sims 2 but this is a pretty big step back for me. I really enjoyed playing multi-generational games and liked not having to go to each household and make decisions for them in order to have them progress. It was even better with mods that had fixes and gave you more control over how your town would progress.

Next announcement, they reveal that they removed pregnancy. When your Sims make out enough, a baby pops into existence. You know, going back to the basics. No one ever liked the simulation aspects of the Sims. To make up for this lost, comfort is back. You can now enjoy the thrill of watching your Sims sit in a chair for five hours.

What is the point of this game again? I can understand not including things from expansion packs but they are removing big features from previous games. This is some Sims 1 base game shit. With every step forward, they move four steps back.

 

[hesido]

Does it also offload calculations to the cloud? Apparently because CoreI5's and 7's were not sufficient for the greatness that was SimCity?

 

[Mr Swine]

Next announcement, they reveal that they removed pregnancy. When your Sims make out enough, a baby pops into existence. You know, going back to the basics. No one ever liked the simulation aspects of the Sims. To make up for this lost, comfort is back. You can now enjoy the thrill of watching your Sims sit in a chair for five hours.

What is the point of this game again? I can understand not including things from expansion packs but they are removing big features from previous games. This is some Sims 1 base game shit. With every step forward, they move four steps back.

This is EA we are talking about. I guess they will announce the first Expansion around 2-3 months after the base game and "fix" these problems by having us buy it

 

[asthmagasm]

I didn't think anything could keep me from buying this game, but they've found a way. Bravo, in some twisted way to them I guess.

 

[Kimaka]

This is EA we are talking about. I guess they will announce the first Expansion around 2-3 months after the base game and "fix" these problems by having us buy it

I was optimistic and thought the Sims 4 wouldn't come out as scathed from EAs horrible practices. The Sims 3 base game did a few things that I hated but introduced some major gameplay elements and became my favorite Sims game. All Sims 4 has going for it is better creation tools and revamped systems from previous versions. I would have to see some gameplay to see how it works but for now its looking like a definite no buy.

 

[jgwhiteus]

Well it looks like Story Progression has been stripped down http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-sims-4-gurus-talk-story-progression/

Basically, unplayed sims can age and die but they will no longer obtain jobs, won't get married, and won't have kids unless you actually play them. If the sim dies then the game will move in new sims.

At this point I am not very interested in getting the Sims 4 anymore. This seems fine for anyone who likes micro-managing their households like in The Sims 2 but this is a pretty big step back for me. I really enjoyed playing multi-generational games and liked not having to go to each household and make decisions for them in order to have them progress. It was even better with mods that had fixes and gave you more control over how your town would progress.

I actually don't mind that Story Progression isn't there, because I preferred the Sims 2 style of play where you micro-managed the families in your neighborhood and decided how you wanted each of them to progress and interact with one another. I also understand it wasn't perfect and could lead to unintended consequences or outcomes the player didn't want, etc. That being said, I understand it was an option you could turn on or off, and that a lot of players preferred it over The Sims 2-style of play (I never really got deep enough into TS3 to try it out)... so yeah, why include what seems like a neutered version in the Sims 4? You'd think instead of scrapping it or making it basic and useless, they'd try to improve on it instead.

And as I understand it, there's a limitation on how many families / individuals you can have in each "district", so you're not going to really have broad god-mode control over a neighborhood with dozens of people like you did in the Sims 2. So... what are the selling points of this game again?

- If you buy the Sims because you enjoy building houses and architectural creations, it seems the base TS4 game lacks terrain sculpting and basic architectural features like swimming pools.

- If you buy the Sims because you enjoy seeing how a neighborhood of families will grow up and change over generations, you now have neutered Storyboard Progression and missing key life stages like toddler-hood.

- If you buy the Sims because you enjoy playing god over a neighborhood of individuals and families, it seems you're limited to smaller "districts" of five residential / community lots each, with loading screens to go to other districts, compared to the dozens of people you could have in a single neighborhood in TS2.

But at least the graphics are... what you'd expect to see in a late 2000's / early 2010's game, with a 32-bit executable that will surely crash due to memory leaks as more expansions get added.

I'm just not really seeing the justification for this "sequel". As many problems as I thought TS3 had, at least it was offering something different from TS2 (even if it was something I ultimately ended up not being very interested in). This seems like it takes the features of previous games and then neuters them down, with nothing compelling to replace them.

 

[Solid Samus]

 

[Carlius]

can we really get mad at the no 64 bit thing? a lot of ppl are on xp still, which blows my mind, but i think we cant really complain about the best selling pc game of all time going for the casual crowd and trying to keep its loyal fans, form low end to high end.

 

[jgwhiteus]

can we really get mad at the no 64 bit thing? a lot of ppl are on xp still, which blows my mind, but i think we cant really complain about the best selling pc game of all time going for the casual crowd and trying to keep its loyal fans, form low end to high end.

I don't know, I feel like the Sims games are notorious for memory leaks and crashes, and for running slow as crap the more expansion packs you add - being able to access extra memory would theoretically have been welcome for improving stability and performance.

It's also a series that's built on a long shelf-life of a few years, as the base game is just a starting point for multiple expansions released over the next 4-5 years. Will there be a lot of people still on XP in 2018?

I mean, I'm not "mad" about it not being 64-bit based, but it's just another item on a list of why there's not really a compelling reason to buy it. It's still probably going to have terrible performance issues upon release (TS3 was a crash-fiend for me when it first came out) with outdated graphics suitable for XP computers. If it had a 64-bit exe I still might not have bought it, but at least I could see the potential for "will now run better on your PC" as a selling point as opposed to what they have to offer.

And I guess this is a bit off-topic, but decisions like these kind of stagnate the PC market - I remember deciding to upgrade my PC / memory, etc. in the past because I wanted better performance on the Sims 2. This could potentially have been a turning point for many consumers to finally move to Windows 7 and a new desktop (which are becoming very cheap compared to what they were a few years ago).

 

[Revven]

It's sickening, to be honest. I haven't bought a Sims game since Sims 2 and this is just an example of why. The developers behind the series have become money grubbing and would rather make more money by reselling you features that were even in The Sims 1 from the start than keeping consumer trust and relationship up.

Actually the Sims community was asking for this to happen when tons of them were open to buying things off The Sims Store. Everything Maxis/EA sells you on there are overpriced as hell (neighborhoods costing an upwards of $20+? The cost of a Stuff pack practically and you don't get any new furniture or gameplay to play with -- just aesthetic differences). I mean, yes, the people who make those things have to be paid somehow and so they have to factor in the time spent to make them and the effort required but that doesn't mean it's still shitty for the consumer in the end. But people buy them! They buy recolored furniture... stuff that was free to them as custom objects or mods in previous games.

In fact, the developers made Sims 3 even less mod-friendly than Sims 2. There's still nothing super interesting in Sims 3, from the modding community, that's on the level of what could be done in Sims 1 or Sims 2. It's extremely sad how bad it has gotten. I can't wait to hear how much more mod-unfriendly The Sims 4 is. They should be embracing that stuff, not closing it off and making it harder. But EA wants to make long-term money off the series so they can't be having modders making free content that's better than what they're selling. :|

Story progression being near non-existent is just... wow. That feature was really nice, to me anyway. I don't really like having to play multiple households in a single neighborhood to make them do what I think they should do (like what type of job they should have or skills or whatever). It made things easier for me -- knowing that I could just plop a copy of a family in a different save/neighborhood and not have to worry about them and just use them as adding to the population of the world was great (all while noticing what they've been doing)! But now knowing that's not really going to work all too well in Sims 4 really... makes me just... ugh I don't know. Gutting more features that were in Sims 3's base game is just a disgusting practice.

 

[Rentahamster]

In fact, the developers made Sims 3 even less mod-friendly than Sims 2. There's still nothing super interesting in Sims 3, from the modding community, that's on the level of what could be done in Sims 1 or Sims 2. It's extremely sad how bad it has gotten. I can't wait to hear how much more mod-unfriendly The Sims 4 is. They should be embracing that stuff, not closing it off and making it harder. But EA wants to make long-term money off the series so they can't be having modders making free content that's better than what they're selling. :|

A shame, really.

https://twitter.com/vertexnormal/status/312275013380210689

It's cool to see the fans digging through our source files, the creativity of our mod community has always been the lifeblood of Maxis.

Heh.

¯\_(&#12484_/¯

I wonder how much the individual devs at Maxis have to grin and bear the directives from corporate.

 

[mrlion]

Maxis went to the dumpster once Will Wright left...

 

[kingkitty]

In Sims 3 you could turn off story progression. Get fucked EA.

Another interesting aspect that I loved in Sims 3, gone.

GONE.

ARRRRGGG

 

[Mr Swine]

Maxis went to the dumpster once Will Wright left...

I'm just glad they managed to make Sim City 4 and The Sims 2 fantastic games before EA killed them off

 

[Capella]

In fact, the developers made Sims 3 even less mod-friendly than Sims 2. There's still nothing super interesting in Sims 3, from the modding community, that's on the level of what could be done in Sims 1 or Sims 2. It's extremely sad how bad it has gotten. I can't wait to hear how much more mod-unfriendly The Sims 4 is. They should be embracing that stuff, not closing it off and making it harder. But EA wants to make long-term money off the series so they can't be having modders making free content that's better than what they're selling. :|

So far, the Maxis devs have been openly saying that they aren't doing anything to prevent mods. No idea how mod friendly that makes the game but it seems like they are embracing custom content and fully expect mods to be present in the game. I think the Gallery feature that is built into the game is going to feature CC as well. They seemed to be opening up to it again around the Ambitions expansion pack when they made it so we could put our mods in the Documents folder again.

 

[Drazgul]

32-bit only? Man, gtfo EA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w09rqkY0hbg

 

[jgwhiteus]

Another entry in the parade of missing features: no more school, work, or grocery store lots:

http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-sims-4-no-grocery-store-work-or-school-lots/

Seriously... what's the point? I mean, I'm one of the complainers who liked TS2 more than TS3, but I didn't expect EA to remove gameplay features until the game resembled TS2's base game more. I thought sequels usually added things to improve upon their predecessors...

Combined with the way neighborhoods and loading screens are described:
http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-sims-4-loading-screens-the-world-explained/#more-38380
- one neighborhood playable at a time
- only up to five lots in each neighborhood, only one lot playable at a time
- loading screens will "take less than 30 seconds of your time", and "only" appear when traveling between worlds, neighborhoods, and lots (wow! really? less than 30 seconds? That's some amazing performance there!)

I totally missed EA's E3 presentation, so for someone who watched it or has been keeping up with the PR - could anyone provide a short list of the features that are actually selling points for this game? Like, what's the big change that's supposed to make me want to spend another $60 plus hundreds more on expansions and content?

 

[thesuperfunk]

sigh....

still relevant.

This confirms my fears to The Sims 4 I think it time I move on from the Sims.

I don't think I get the 2005 depiction? ... anyone?

 

[diaspora]

I don't think I get the 2005 depiction? ... anyone?

Expansion pack was more of the same, but it wasn't features that were removed from the game for the express purpose of reselling it.

 

[scoobidoo112]

sigh....

still relevant.

This confirms my fears to The Sims 4 I think it time I move on from the Sims.

Updated:

 

[Capella]

Another entry in the parade of missing features: no more school, work, or grocery store lots:

http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-sims-4-no-grocery-store-work-or-school-lots/

Seriously... what's the point? I mean, I'm one of the complainers who liked TS2 more than TS3, but I didn't expect EA to remove gameplay features until the game resembled TS2's base game more. I thought sequels usually added things to improve upon their predecessors...

Combined with the way neighborhoods and loading screens are described:
http://simsvip.com/2014/07/02/the-sims-4-loading-screens-the-world-explained/#more-38380
- one neighborhood playable at a time
- only up to five lots in each neighborhood, only one lot playable at a time
- loading screens will "take less than 30 seconds of your time", and "only" appear when traveling between worlds, neighborhoods, and lots (wow! really? less than 30 seconds? That's some amazing performance there!)

I totally missed EA's E3 presentation, so for someone who watched it or has been keeping up with the PR - could anyone provide a short list of the features that are actually selling points for this game? Like, what's the big change that's supposed to make me want to spend another $60 plus hundreds more on expansions and content?

New CAS & Build Mode and emotions. The subject of the E3 presentation wasn't much different from the one at gamescom. They just showcased more of the emotions and a sim dying from laughter... The rest of the info we've gotten has been from an interview and tweets from the devs.