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Maxis is, yet again, removing basic features from new Sims 4
- Thread starter EatinOlives
- Start date
It seems fair to say the series fell with 3, I know the community seemed much smaller after the inital hype over the sims 3 died.
Coming off the original game, sims 2 with all of its expansion packs and ideas was a complete game experience. There's hardly anything missing from the sims 2 that you couldn't make yourself with mods.
Sims 3 did have a great launch, but it didn't take long for its legs to fall apart. The amount of people on the dedicated forums who were giving up on 3 helped me in turn to give up on 3.
Part of this is the problem of the fan base, we will buy expansion packs and additional content. There is a balance that has to be kept, but personally... I see it as a feature of the series. The game grows for years to come and you build it as an investment.
Ill wait for in depth reviews (I didn't for 3), but my biggest hope is that the game is optimized to run smoothly and snappy. If they build a solid foundation to work with, I may jump back into the sims. If they remove too many features... I may not bother at all.
Coming off the original game, sims 2 with all of its expansion packs and ideas was a complete game experience. There's hardly anything missing from the sims 2 that you couldn't make yourself with mods.
Sims 3 did have a great launch, but it didn't take long for its legs to fall apart. The amount of people on the dedicated forums who were giving up on 3 helped me in turn to give up on 3.
Part of this is the problem of the fan base, we will buy expansion packs and additional content. There is a balance that has to be kept, but personally... I see it as a feature of the series. The game grows for years to come and you build it as an investment.
Ill wait for in depth reviews (I didn't for 3), but my biggest hope is that the game is optimized to run smoothly and snappy. If they build a solid foundation to work with, I may jump back into the sims. If they remove too many features... I may not bother at all.
TheAbsolution
Member
Yeah, I noticed that the modding community was much smaller for the Sims 3 than it was for 3. I guess people just didn't care anymore. That sucks.
*sigh*
yea this is ultimately going to be my decision. Olives made a good point about them cutting out features to optimize the game but the fact that they push out expansion packs waay too fast which slows the game down causing more problems. If they release a truely optimized sims game with a lot of the common laggy sims problems gone then I will play this game but from the 30 second load screens i am hearing about this just seems like the same old shit.
EatinOlives
Member
My biggest problem is how everything is behind paywalls. Even community content is mostly part of large modding sites that monetize everything. If you want free stuff you really have to sift through tons of low quality amateur content before you get anything remotely decent.
It's a marked difference from most other PC games with strong communities. Thankfully most involved gameplay overhauling mods are free, but objects/clothing/hairstyles are nearly always behind paywalls ever since Sims 2.
Anachronox
Member
The ground layer of TS4 seems to be totally flat, they have removed all the terrain altering features which i believe is the same in SimCity? So as a result you get no pools. Cars are probably the next big omission, no drive ways on any of the lots and only cars seen moving in the streets, like the trams which have been confirmed as decoration.
The world shipping with the game is called Willow Creek, its broken up into 5 districts which can have 2-5 playable lots of which only one can be active. The district can also have one (i think its only one) "public space" which is fully open at all times but you can't edit.
So if you make your home in a district thats the active lot, so that lot and the public space are open and loaded. If you want to enter another home or a community lot in that district you get a load, if you want to move to another district you will get a load.
It's very disappointing so far to say the least.
The world shipping with the game is called Willow Creek, its broken up into 5 districts which can have 2-5 playable lots of which only one can be active. The district can also have one (i think its only one) "public space" which is fully open at all times but you can't edit.
So if you make your home in a district thats the active lot, so that lot and the public space are open and loaded. If you want to enter another home or a community lot in that district you get a load, if you want to move to another district you will get a load.
It's very disappointing so far to say the least.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Is there any legit way of acquiring a digital download of The Sims 2? It seems it's not on Origin, and hasn't been for a while.
I'm pretty sure there are more catches to come.
ooohh that stupid marketplace thing
EatinOlives
Member
I don't think it's available digitally anywhere.
A real shame, since before Sims 2 was pulled from the Origin store, the game and the expansions used to go on sale for real cheap. I guess EA didn't want people to buy Sims 2 content for cheap when it could sell basically the same content on Sims 3 for a much higher price. Plus, by buying Sims 3 they're getting into a platform that monetizes everything "better" for EA (store items right on Buy Mode, SimPoints or whatever the fuck, etc.).
Wow, seriously. What the fuck is going on there? That's even worse than no toddlers or pools.
EA learning from Sim City -- cannibalize your IP for maximum short term profit, then burn it and toss its ashes to the wind
Though they'll be luckier here since they have the Casual market which endlessly buys stuff without questioning why
Haha ! Has he already commented on a game about swimming pools before ?
Slighty off-topic, but I decided to re-install The Sims 2 and it looks like I can't play the game while connected to the internet (due to the launcher or something like that). I mean, I've just disconnect my internet cord whenever I've played it, but I guess EA has stopped giving support for The Sims 2?
Removing of features from base games is problematic but their idiotic decision to still use a 32-bit client is even more of an issue. Haven't past games become so bloated with expansions that they crash head first into the memory limit and crash repeatedly? Wouldn't SimCity have benefited from being a 64-bit program? Why do they keep insisting on targeting toasters as their minimum spec?
It was also announced that the game will not support a 64bit client and will be limited to 4GB of RAM for the foreseeable future... disappointing to say the least, considering the game will be around 5+ years...
http://simsvip.com/2014/06/26/the-sims-4-utilizes-a-32-bit-executable/
No 64bit client even though 80%+ of Steam users have support for 64bit....
Jesus Christ. Additionally, Create-A-Style was my favorite feature of The Sims 3, and it sucks that it's absent.
Also, limited hair colors in Create-a-Sim once again. Give me color sliders for everything already.
You can skip the launcher. Go to the folder of whatever the latest expansion pack, or just the base game, you have and head into the Bin folder and run Sims2EPx.exe where x is the number of the pack, or just Sims2.exe. That boots the game directly.
And yes, EA has stopped support for The Sims 2, did so about half a year ago.
a secret-boss
Banned
expected as much I stopped at 2
EatinOlives
Member
Well I guess that's the real reason why it was removed from the Origin store. Here I was getting all indignant about pushing Sims 3 because its content is more expensive :/
exmachina64
Banned
Because they don't care whether you or I purchase it. They care about people with low-end PCs (the casual market) purchasing it.
Cjdamon042
Member
I think what has happened is that the Olympus project they were making was going to be the next main title. Screenshots and basic info about it was released, with it being a fully online game, but I reckon after SimCity's backlash they tossed it and used what they had to create the Sims 4 we have now in little under 2 years. The art style they used in Olympus is the same as what The Sims 4 uses and basic omissions like pools, terrain editing, toddlers, teens being the same height as adults, decorative cars and trams and smaller worlds all adds up to that I feel.
It's disappointing but hopefully they can make up for it. It's just a shame they'll use expansions as a means of adding in these basic features.
Puppet Shadow
Member
The Sims is the only EA game I buy (as it's one of the few I can buy it on Steam), because as much as EA pisses me off as a company, it's a great game that I really enjoy. I bought The Sims and every expansion pack, same with The Sims 2. The Sims 3 was great, but I only have maybe 3/4s of the expansion packs.
With this news (especially taking pools away), I've decided to skip The Sims 4.
Fuck you, Ea
With this news (especially taking pools away), I've decided to skip The Sims 4.
Fuck you, Ea
I know they target low end PCs. Problem with that theory is that with every passing year those low-end PCs are more and more likely to have 64-bit OSes. The recent steam hardware survey had 64-bit OS usage at 80.76% across Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. This would indicate that systems with 32-bit OSes are a rapidly shrinking minority so the targeting of these games at this demographic is a terrible decision in pretty much every category.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Read an above post, basically none.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
I think their reasoning would be that 32-bit clients can run on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems, so it's better so that 100% of their consumers can play the game. 32-bit OSes are rapidly shrinking, but a 32-bit client can still serve 100% of users.
Once they think that 32-bit clients hurts their revenue more than it helps, then they'll change.
A developer focused on quality first might make that decision to make a 64-bit client, but as we've seen in the past, EA is not that kind of company.
They need more time, that's apparent. We haven't even seen live gameplay yet, and I heard the game isn't even out of alpha. I know one thing, to make this up for me, I expect them add what's missing as free DLC, which won't happen.
Nope. No basements either.
s_mirage
Member
So let's get this straight; Pools are out, toddlers are out, teenagers might as well be adults, the lots are perfectly flat, there is less scope for lot editing, and the worlds are smaller and more limited? Way to go EA/Maxis! You really know how to kill interest in a title. Did you learn nothing for the Sim City debacle?
Well, this one isn't online only, is it?
Oh christ, is it? Have they specifically said that it isn't yet?
Anachronox
Member
They have said it needs a one time connection to Origin for activation other than that it should be playable offline.
No doubt it has online features but they aren't talking about it.
No doubt it has online features but they aren't talking about it.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
I don't know why anyone is surprised. Have you all forgotten Simcity 2013? EA and Maxis just roll like this nowadays. The Sims franchise has been quartered and drawn like this with each new incarnation, there was never any reason to believe that Sims 4 would be any different or better.
Don't worry all of the cut features will make it back in eventually. Only as paid DLC of course. You can't get the milk without milking the cow....
Don't worry all of the cut features will make it back in eventually. Only as paid DLC of course. You can't get the milk without milking the cow....
RiverShell
Member
After watching the excellent CAS and Build Tools videos, every time I read new information about this game I lose interest but I should have known better than to get excited after seeing the new SimCity.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Ive been hearing this all around the thread, but from what I remember and what I have read in wikipedia now of things that went from 1 to 2 to 3 (or taken out) this is totally false.
I even asked someone in this thread personally and he literally said "I dont remember what it did bad but it pissed me off".
Rose tainted glasses, that's what it is.
3 wihout expansions is a much better game than 2 without expansions, and it improved on a lot of things. Much of what people are remembering that was good in the sims 2 came only when The sims 2 University, an expansion pack, was released. It's remembered as a "massive" evolution because of the big jump in graphics and create a sim aspect (instead of predefined), but 3 brought open world neighbourhoods instead of loading screens and a city that felt alive already without expansion packs.
People seemed to don't remember Sims didnt even age in 2 if you werent playing in that lot, making a massive broken game becuase kids in the same generation stayed small if you not played jumping lots.
LOLCats
Banned
My girlfriends gonna be pissed. That can of disappoint called simcity was only a minor let down for her. She loved the Sims 3 like 13 addons and hours and hours of play.
Ill have a sit down conversation and prepare her for the fact the Sims 4 will be an empty shell when it comes out and deliver nothing but more EA dissapointment.
Ill have a sit down conversation and prepare her for the fact the Sims 4 will be an empty shell when it comes out and deliver nothing but more EA dissapointment.
TheAbsolution
Member
Nah, there was something about the way Tue Sims 3 was packaged that threw people off. Especially those in the modding community. I know that the quantity of items went down.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
The games actually have performance issues, and that's not taking account the expansions.
The series is a legitimately good game bogged down by nickel and diming and coding problems.
Modding exists in sims 3 still, it's just that it takes a bit more... hoop jumping.
what
Sims 3 vanilla offered more than Sims 2 vanilla. You're just comparing a full-expanded Sims 2 to Sims 3.
Honestly Sims 3 gets huge amount of flak despite having a huge bulk of gameplay content. Sims 4 is definitely a bad step though.
RiverShell
Member
I wouldn't say that Sims 3 felt barebones but there are things that I felt were better in Sims 2. I liked features such as needing to buy items (clothing, groceries and games), aliens in the base game, aspirations and more difficulty in general. I'll gladly agree that there are many things that Sims 3 does better, such as the graphics, the open world, and adding a trait system. I was hoping Sims 4 would combine more of these things but it seems that I'm out of luck in terms of things like the open world.
Incandenza
Banned
Of course Create-A-Style got removed. If they let you design your own furniture, how are they gonna sell you all that hot furniture DLC?
My most defining memory of The Sims 3 is how they actually made the game worse over time by patching in layer upon layer of microtransaction bullshit.
My most defining memory of The Sims 3 is how they actually made the game worse over time by patching in layer upon layer of microtransaction bullshit.
Yup. This is literally it. There is no other really really good reason.
We need a Will Wright Kickstarter bad.
LurkerPrime
Member
I can see the DLC formulations hidden within their designs.
If you thought the Sims 3 had too much DLC, then avert thy eyes from the Sims 4 - 'cuz it won't be pretty.
Sims 4 will be a free-to-play paradise. Except you have to pay a ton for permission to get in. It's like a private club for hopeless gamblers at this point.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
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?