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[Gentle Rodriguez]

Sadly a lot of people I know that love playing Sims just buy the new games without knowing anything about it, they just get gouged without knowing and EA knows it. I'm going to actively try and let them know what's going on, maybe they'll change their mind.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

But RCT3 is legitimately good, vanilla or not.

I don't remember exactly what pissed me off about Sims 3, but I love how I could do giant family trees and fill my town cemetery with old dead sims in 2. My sim in 3 however grew old too fast and I couldn't make her have a child and top her career, it made stuff like food convoluted while missing other stuff. I just couldn't like it.

RCT3 vanilla had lots of problems, I understand that some people still think 2 is the greatest thing ever if they only played that. But after some patches and the expansions the game is amazing and much more custumizable than 2. 3 is the perfect park builder game, while 2 I have to say, is better if you try to play it with the simulation manager aspect.

About growing in the sims 3, the only thing i can say is that there are bars in options to change that. Im pretty sure I made my sims last A LOT, to create amazing tree generation with the whole neighbourhood (not only people that i create, like in the sims 2).

Sadly a lot of people I know that love playing Sims just buy the new games without knowing anything about it, they just get gouged without knowing and EA knows it. I'm going to actively try and let them know what's going on, maybe they'll change their mind.

Yep, the problem is that is inst going to fly when this kind of people find out there are no babies, open world or pools. Thast when EA is going to start to face the problem. Of course for them it will be a cash already in the pocket type of problem, but I can assure you this game is not going to sell as well as 2 and 3.

 

[EatinOlives]

Updated the OP with the new (sad) findings. I didn't even know of smaller districts, 30 second loading screens, and no 64-bit client. This game is looking worse with each new piece of info I learn about it.

 

[UrbanRats]

While I agree with the sentiment here, Maxis kinda has a monoply on life sims. They have no direct competition. Low info buyers will just see that there's a new Sims game on the marketplace and decide to buy it for a change of pace without knowing about the stuff removed.

It's actually surprising that no one has tried to compete with the Sims considering the absurd sales the series gets.

I remember a couple of not very serious attempts a bunch of years back.
Mostly focused on the relationship/dating/sexual aspect of it.

They felt very cheap attempts at the time (i think it was around the days of Sims 2's launch).

 

[GungHo]

EA gonna milk out those expansion packs.

Sims 4: Summer Party
Sims 4: Daycare Dilemma
Sims 4: The other content we cut out from the main game but is in Sims 3.

Sheeeeeeit... Sims 3 has 11 expansion packs and 9 stuff packs. They're gonna stretch this out for years. You may get the pool in Summer Party, but they won't implement the ladders to get out of them until the Swimming in the Gene Pool with Ariana Grande pack comes out.

 

[Tenumi]

Well, this sucks. I've never actually owned a Sims game, and I was hoping to make Sims 4 my first. But crippling it by removing series staples for no reason other than DLC money... well, that's probably a lost sale here.

Might just end up getting Sims 3, hopefully on the cheap, even considering the DLC stuff there.

 

[FrsDvl]

Kind of a bummer that they feel the need to cut out base content. Still pretty excited about playing it though, since what they have showed so far looks pretty fun. My girlfriend pre ordered it, so no harm done to my wallet.

 

[fader]

Updated the OP with the new (sad) findings. I didn't even know of smaller districts, 30 second loading screens, and no 64-bit client. This game is looking worse with each new piece of info I learn about it.

this game is just snowballing to a horrible title. No wonder why they only been showing off Create a Sim, they don't have anything for this game. just add DRM and this would mirror Simcity

 

[btkadams]

Wait, it's not going to be 64-bit??? Why?

 

[A-V-B]

Can you imagine how quickly a Will Wright Kickstarter would be funded of either a Sims or SimCity successor?

 

[Aiustis]

Well, then, I'll wait to see what happens down the line, but as of now, there's enough stuff in Sims 3 to keep me occupied for the next 10 years.

I can live without Sims 4.

Create a styles was my favorite new feature.

Well, this sucks. I've never actually owned a Sims game, and I was hoping to make Sims 4 my first. But crippling it by removing series staples for no reason other than DLC money... well, that's probably a lost sale here.

Might just end up getting Sims 3, hopefully on the cheap, even considering the DLC stuff there.

Sims 3 and expansions can be obtained for cheap, through the occasional origins sales and the often store sales. I got five expansions (the only ones I wanted) and stuff packs from various retailers during buy one get one sales.

 

[Rubezh]

Fan reaction:

 

[M.Steiner]

I was actually looking forward to jumping back into the Sims later this year as I haven't really played the series since 2. How disappointing :/

 

[Spaghetti]

what a fucking mess. the rot has definitely set in at maxis.

if it sells badly you can be sure they're next on EA's chopping block.

 

[chubigans]

Honest question: do you need more than 4GB of ram for a game like this? It doesn't seem to be a tech powerhouse.

 

[Aquamarine]

what a fucking mess. the rot has definitely set in at maxis.

if it sells badly you can be sure they're next on EA's chopping block.

Interestingly enough, The Sims 3 development was completely handled by two dedicated studios in Redwood City and Salt Lake City (The Sims Studio). The last participation that Maxis (Emeryville) had in The Sims was with The Sims 2, back when Will Wright was still with the studio.

They're labeling The Sims 4 as a "return to the basics" with development going back to Maxis...but I'm not sure development at a post-Will Wright Maxis is such a good idea anymore...especially considering the massive SimCity debacle.

 

[A-V-B]

what a fucking mess. the rot has definitely set in at maxis.

if it sells badly you can be sure they're next on EA's chopping block.

They were chopped a long time ago.

 

[btkadams]

Honest question: do you need more than 4GB of ram for a game like this? It doesn't seem to be a tech powerhouse.

I forget what video card I have (which is probably important), but I have a mid 2011 MacBook Pro with 2.3 ghz i7 quad-core and 8 GB ram. It runs the Sims 3 (a 2009 game) pretty terribly, but I guess that game is really poorly optimized. I boot into Windows to run it and I still have most settings at low or medium with random freezes and ugliness.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Transport Tycoon? OpenTTD is still fantastic.

OpenTTD, it's all we've got /weeps

 

[Naminator]

Fan reaction:

LMAO, #DEAD.

 

[Capella]

Updated the OP with the new (sad) findings. I didn't even know of smaller districts, 30 second loading screens, and no 64-bit client. This game is looking worse with each new piece of info I learn about it.

So, the districts or neighborhoods is a bummer but I think this was another decision where the change was made due to performance. Honestly I feel a lot better about this decision than when I first heard it because it looks like you'll feel less confined to one world. You can now move between worlds without losing everything and like the travel system in the Sims 3, you can visit different worlds.

It also looks like modders will be able to change the 20 sim limit. I wish I could find the tweet but one of the devs said that this was something they could easily change themselves so it's possible that modders could do it too. Hopefully there will be some sort of world building tool like with the Sims 3, but knowing EA I wouldn't be surprised if they decided against making one in favor of only having their own additional worlds available through DLC.

 

[Jeremy]

Whoa, they're really going to kill my favorite PC franchise aren't they?

I can't support this. No one should.

 

[A-V-B]

So, the districts or neighborhoods is a bummer but I think this was another decision where the change was made due to performance.

Just like the cities in SimCity m i rite?

 

[Aquamarine]

Just like the cities in SimCity m i rite?

Interesting that we had substantial predecessors (SimCity 4, The Sims 3 by the Redwood City studio), but when development came back to the modern Maxis, everything is getting simplified and scaled back.

 

[Amir0x]

I never really got into the Sims series, always was just a short passing burst of play from me, but this is a true shame. How fucking pathetic is it that these are the standards these companies hold themselves to now?

 

[Jeremy]

So, the districts or neighborhoods is a bummer but I think this was another decision where the change was made due to performance.

This would make sense if computers had steadily regressed since 2000.

 

[A-V-B]

Interesting that we had substantial predecessors (SimCity 4, The Sims 3 by the Redwood City studio), but when development came back to Maxis, everything is getting simplified and scaled back.

more to do with EA itself than their devs, I'm thinking.

 

[Archaix]

Pools?! They couldn't figure out fucking swimming pools? They just couldn't fathom a way to include those? Pools were too complicated. In the god damned Sims? I could not be happier with my life choices to not buy EA games for the past half decade or so, and the future...forever decades.

 

[Aquamarine]

Pools?! They couldn't figure out fucking swimming pools? They just couldn't fathom a way to include those? Pools were too complicated. In the god damned Sims? I could not be happier with my life choices to not buy EA games for the past half decade or so, and the future...forever decades.

It's almost 100% part of their stupid "vision" for the game.

I have no doubt that the developers could have easily put in pools if they were allowed to. But no...it's not "simple" enough for Maxis's new, dumbed-down vision of what the Sims should be.

 

[Captain Europe]

I can deal with no create-a-style/pools/toddlers...but the open world being divided into districts with only 20 sims in them? Fucking fuck that.

 

[LaserHawk]

While I agree with the sentiment here, Maxis kinda has a monoply on life sims. They have no direct competition. Low info buyers will just see that there's a new Sims game on the marketplace and decide to buy it for a change of pace without knowing about the stuff removed.

It's actually surprising that no one has tried to compete with the Sims considering the absurd sales the series gets.

I know that for a lot of people it isn't the same, but I've been finding that Tomodachi Life has a lot of the things I liked about The Sims, and it lacks a lot of things I didn't like.

Unfortunately there isn't any home-building. But for the most part, Tomodachi Life is scratching my itch.

 

[OnionPowder]

My girlfriend is now devastated thanks EA

 

[btkadams]

I know that for a lot of people it isn't the same, but I've been finding that Tomodachi Life has a lot of the things I liked about The Sims, and it lacks a lot of things I didn't like.

Unfortunately there isn't any home-building. But for the most part, Tomodachi Life is scratching my itch.

I don't know if they're really comparable. They play very differently.

Also, there isn't same-sex relationships which is a big part of why I've always loved The Sims. Hopefully that's in the tomodachi sequel though.

 

[Fuchsdh]

But RCT3 is legitimately good, vanilla or not.

I don't remember exactly what pissed me off about Sims 3, but I love how I could do giant family trees and fill my town cemetery with old dead sims in 2. My sim in 3 however grew old too fast and I couldn't make her have a child and top her career, it made stuff like food convoluted while missing other stuff. I just couldn't like it.

Indeed. RCT3 was awesome, even missing some of the features of the old version. It added much more than it lost.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

I believe Im seriously done with any EA product!

 

[Frazley]

I stopped playing The Sims when I bought Sims 3 and discovered that it was mainly a conduit for paid DLC. There were so few hairstyles and furniture items included in the game, yet even at launch you could load up their store and find TONS of hairstyles and furniture to be purchased separately. I don't expect Sims 4 to be any different.

Same! I loved The Sims 1, played a bit of Sims 2 and got saddened by Sims 3. Maxis used to also give away free DLC ever Sim Thursday (or was it Tuesday). One of the devs had his own site where you could download free items. I also loved SimFreaks and TSR. I even have a TSR polo.

 

[randomengine]

I played Sims 3 when it first came out and it did seem like a decent leap from Sims 2 which was a leap from Sims 1.

When I saw the presentation for Sims 4.....I saw almost nothing added.

Oh wait, dying of laughter....ok they added that, but beyond that?

What is the hook? Seriously what is the HOOK for Sims4?!?!

 

[dLMN8R]

So what, exactly, is actually new about The Sims 4 that's better than the previous base games?

 

[A.D. Skinner]

...There were so few hairstyles and furniture items included in the game, yet even at launch you could load up their store and find TONS of hairstyles and furniture to be purchased separately. I don't expect Sims 4 to be any different.

I noticed this on day one too. It was so obvious but I already had it by then so just enjoyed what I had. Even the lack of hairstyles was ridiculous, did they even add much?

They're already calling it a base game too which is disgusting. They couldn't make it any clearer that it's going to be pumped with DLC.

 

[GungHo]

So what, exactly, is actually new about The Sims 4 that's better than the previous base games?

It's one better. Don't you know math?

 

[BloodMoney]

EA "It's in the game"... or is it?

 

[hydruxo]

I'm always amazed that people still play The Sims games.

 

[Solid Samus]

most of this shit is just unexplainable. Maxis is definitely banking on their audience being totally unaware or just not caring about these things and they're probably right on the money there. Districts as opposed to an open world, I can live with, so long as it doesn't break the illusion of an open world entirely and even could allow for more distinct looking areas across town, maybe, IDK. No pools, no toddlers, though? It can't be made any more obvious that once basic features in this life sim are being omitted just because many people will buy the game regardless and many people will buy those features back through expansions when given the options. and 32 bit only is just blowing my fuckin mind right now

 

[Capella]

This would make sense if computers had steadily regressed since 2000.

Just like the cities in SimCity m i rite?

Considering the performance issues the Sims 3 had on even some high end PCs, especially when you had a large world with a ton of sims, performance being an issue just wouldn't surprise me. Now maybe that just has to do with it being poorly developed but I guess I'm just trying to give them some benefit of the doubt. Though I guess after Sim City and the recent news about the Sims 4 I probably shouldn't :/

 

[shadowkat]

No pools? The pools I had in the Sims? Before any of the expansions?

And no toddlers and teens the same (height wise) as adults?

These are ridiculous exclusions/changes.

 

[Nibiru]

Yup, those are gonna show up as expansions.

EA AND Maxis.

Let's be honest EA micromanages to the max. I can't imagine a scenario where a protest by Maxis would yield any results at all. What EA says goes.

 

[FrontalMonk]

I can't believe that Maxis has fallen this far. I mean, this used to be the studio that brought us SimCity 2000, SimTower, SimEarth...how did we come to this?

 

[EatinOlives]

Considering the performance issues the Sims 3 had on even some high end PCs, especially when you had a large world with a ton of sims, performance being an issue just wouldn't surprise me. Now maybe that just has to do with it being poorly developed but I guess I'm just trying to give them some benefit of the doubt. Though I guess after Sim City and the recent news about the Sims 4 I probably shouldn't :/

Well, I'll be fair here. The Sims 3 is, on a technical level, really quite complex. The game is attempting to run AI algorithms for 100+ sims simultaneously, complete with their own jobs, relationships, daily routines, etc. Yes, the vanilla AI is horrible at this, but there are many mods that fix this. The engine is perfectly capable of doing it, and the mods don't cripple the performance or anything. Not to mention the hundreds of sim animations that need to be loaded and ready to go at all times. There's also the detailed lots and houses that are entirely customizable, down to each texture, and every object added to the houses, big and small, is a big chunk of additional polygons that need to be rendered. There's tons of things going on under the hood.

So even on a basic level the engine is very complex. The main problem for Maxis is that they're churning out DLC and features faster than they can fix them. Expansion packs add quite a bit of new content every time a new one is released, and there's simply not enough time to actually do proper QA to resolve all the technical issues.

What Maxis is doing with Sims 4 is turning down the computational complexity, or at least attempting to compartmentalize it. But the issue here is that, at the end of the day, they're making bizarre design decisions that's giving players a much more limited experience for the sake of performance, and once the endless parade of Stuff Packs and Expansions starts coming in there's going to be unoptimized features and a big ol' mess of bugs introduced anyway. They've never been able to make a completely stable Sims + Every expansion package simply because of how fast they're churning out content.

I guess what I'm saying is, they're going through big lengths to cut down the game's complexity for better performance, but I'm not confident that they'll be able to maintain a lean, polished experience anyway, so there's no real point in simplifying the game.

 

[dLMN8R]

It's one better. Don't you know math?

heh

I'm genuinely curious though. I haven't seen a single thing about The Sims 4 which discusses which actually makes it better than The Sims 3. Surely there has to be *something*, right??

 

[EatinOlives]

heh

I'm genuinely curious though. I haven't seen a single thing about The Sims 4 which discusses which actually makes it better than The Sims 3. Surely there has to be *something*, right??

Maxis' claims on Sims 4 for the most part seem to be the Create-A-Sim and Build Mode improvements (which do look good, mind you), and a more complex system of traits that affect behaviors.

I haven't read much on how this will affect minute-to-minute gameplay, though, especially for the tons of people who play the game by micro-managing what their Sims do, which in the Sims series always supplants whatever fancy personality algorithms they have. I mean, I can have a sloppy Sim and still have a spotless house because I'm the one ordering him to clean everything up.