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The Sims 4 |OT| Behold its true form and despair!

McNum

Member
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Game: The Sims 4
Format: PC
Genre: Life Simulation
Developer: Maxis
Publisher: EA
Number of players: 1
Editions available: Standard, Limited, Digital Deluxe, Premium, Collector's Edition
Available game languages: English, German, French, Russian, Polish, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, and Korean.
Release Date: September 2nd 2014 (US), September 4th 2014 (EU)​

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Minimum:
OS: Windows XP (SP3), Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1
CPU: 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon 64 Dual-Core 4000+ or equivalent (For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 or equivalent)
Memory: At least 2 GB RAM
Hard drive: At least 9 GB of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
DVD-ROM: DVD ROM drive required for installation only
Video card: 128 MB of Video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 3.0. Supported Video Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better, ATI Radeon X1300 or better, Intel GMA X4500 or better
Sound card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Input: Keyboard and Mouse

Recommended:
OS: 64 Bit Windows 7,8, or 8.1
CPU: Intel core i5 or faster, AMD Athlon X4
Memory: 4GB RAM
Hard drive: At least 9 GB of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
DVD-ROM: DVD ROM drive required for installation only
Video card: NVIDIA GTX 650 or better
Sound card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Input: Keyboard and Mouse

DRM:
Internet connection required on install only for product activation with Origin!​

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The Sims 4 is the newest entry in EA's cashcow/backbone franchise of life simulators. In The Sims 4 you play a caricatured simulation of the suburban lifestyle, where you help your Sims achieve their goals and desires... or not. Whether they live the good life or die horribly in a fire is up to you.

Basic Gameplay
The basic gameplay has you controlling a family of one to eight Sims as they live out their lives with careers, romance, and so on. Days progress in real time, although sped up significantly, and baling work, fun, relationships, and sleep can become quite the time management puzzle, especially if you have several Sims in the household and need to make them all sync up. To make your Sim interact with any object or Sim, you click on the target object and select the desired option from a radial menu. Things like "Sit" on a chair, "Watch" on a TV or "Imply Mother was a Llama" on a Sim that you want to be mean to.

A Sim has six basic needs: Bladder, Fun, Hunger, Social, Energy, and Hygiene that you will have to juggle. A tired Sim can't do much, a hungry Sim might keel over dead, and if you neglect your Sim's bladder need too long, you're going to have to urgently tend to its hygiene need after it has a little accident. But Sims haven't been just about physical needs since the original The Sims, and in The Sims 4, they get emotional. All Sims will now have distinct, shown in the UI, emotions that will affect how they act, and how other Sims react to them. An angry Sim will not be suited for polite conversation, but will tear it up in the gym, while a sad Sim might not be the most fun socially, but channel that feeling into a sad song played on a violin.

Additionally, each Sim has up to three traits gained as a Sim grows up (one as a child, two as a teenager, and three as an adult) that affect how they act when left to decide on their own, and how they will react emotionally to certain situations. An Evil Sim will be happy when he sees other Sims be miserable, a Family-Oriented Sim will be happy interacting with its family and a Sim with the Bro trait (and yes, there is a Bro trait) will feel energized hanging out with other Bros, watching sports on TV, or going to the gym. Furthermore, each Sim has an aspiration, a long term goal in life, which gives them a fourth bonus trait matching whatever they aspire to be.

Starting the game, you can either play a premade family, or make your own in the Create-a-Sim tool. Likewise, when choosing to move a new family into town, you can either pick a premade home to live in, or build your own, using the Build and Buy modes to construct rooms, floors, foundations, fences and such, then fill it up with furniture and other stuff. While you are limited to 45 degree angles for walls, the quality of the homes and community areas you build really only depend on your skill, patience, and household funds. And available items from DLC, Expansion Packs, or third party mods, of course.

Pre-release Controversy
It is no secret that The Sims 4 has had some controversy leading up to its release, mainly concerning how feature starved the game looks compared to the basic versions of The Sims 3, The Sims 2, and in some cases, even the original The Sims. Combine that with a marketing campaign apparently designed to show off as little as possible to the general public, a demo rollout that attempted to keep the Create-a-Sim demo away from people as much as it tried to show off what is looking to be one of the game's actual strong points, and some quite unfortunate statements made by some developers concerning the apparent lack of features as well as hints showing that the game will have Day 1 DLC while looking feature starved, the word of mouth has been deservedly antagonistic.

Adding fuel to the fire is a rumor that The Sims 4, despite being an offline singleplayer game, was actually conceived as an online game in the vein of The Sims Social, but the massive backlash against SimCity last year caused EA to panic and order The Sims 4 retooled into what we see now. EA has neither confirmed nor denied this rumor, but it would go a long way to explain some of the more, shall we say, interesting design choices about the game.

But those, while plausible, are still rumors so let's get on with the facts. What new features does The Sims 4 actually have? And which does it lack?​

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There are a few big new things that either weren't in a previous The Sims game or was upgraded significantly.

New features:
Emotions - Or rather, explicit emotions, since Sims have always been rather overemotional. Now Sims get angry, happy, sad, energetic, flirty and many other kinds of emotions and unlock different actions and responses based on how they're feeling. A furious Sim will, for instance, be able to vent that anger by exercising, gaining Athletic Skill faster, while an Inspired Sim will get better results if painting or playing music. Try not to get TOO extreme with the emotions, though, as emotion overload is fatal to Sims.
Multitasking - Sims can now actually do two things at the same time. They can now both walk AND talk, or watch TV while on a treadmill.
Relationships split into Friendship and Romance - You now build up friendly relations and romantic relations separately, meaning your Sim can be infatuated with another, but not be able to hold a normal conversation with them.
World-to-World travel - Traveling to another world is now as easy as traveling to another lot in your current world.
New or Revamped Careers - Entertainer (Music/Comedian), Writer (Author/Journalist), Painter (Realism/Artistic), Secret Agent (Super Agent/Supervillain), Astronomer (Space Ranger/Space Pirate) and Tech Guru (eSports Gamer/IT Startup Boss) with off-duty tasks to do to increase work performance.
Tactile Create-a-Sim - The new Create-a-Sim lets you reshape the face and body of your Sim by simply grabbing and pulling directly on the Sim itself.
Free-text Search in Buy and Build Mode - Type in the name, category, or hashtag of what you're looking for, and the game will find it. No more clicking through pages of toilets for just that one toilet you always use.
Room-based Build Mode - Making rooms have been sped up in The Sims 4, and you can now save room layouts for later use, so you'll only have to build a basic 3x2 bathroom once and can just pull it out of your collection of rooms later. You can even pick up the entire house and move it in one piece.
The Sims 4 Gallery - Or you can take that bathroom and share it... with THE WORLD! Sims, rooms, and even entire lots can be uploaded to the Sims 4 Gallery, and you can also download stuff other people have made without having to exit the game.
Built-in Mod support - If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The Sims 4 has an ingame mod manager, and EA is releasing documentation on how to mod the game.
Townie NPC Management - Want to make sure only YOUR Sims are seen walking around, or find someone in the Gallery you'd love to see, but ran out of space in the world? Add them to the NPC pool and they don't need a home!

All in all, the expected incremental updates to The Sims' core gameplay, however, there would not have been so much controversy if all the game had was shiny new stuff.​

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As The Sims once again starts over from scratch, many of the features added later to the previous games are not in The Sims 4. But apart from the usual expansion pack added features, like weather and pets, The Sims 4 does have some curious omissions from the basic game.

While the number of missing features from older games is close to one hundred, the highlights of the missing or dramatically reduced features include:

World Features:
Open World Gameplay - You will not be able to walk everywhere in the world, nor observe lots outside of the current lot in The Sims 4. To travel from lot to lot, you will go through a loading screen like in The Sims 2.
World Size shrunk to 25 lots - Sectioned into 5 different neighborhoods with up to 5 lots in each. Down from 100+ lots in The Sims 3.
World editing - You cannot add new lots to the world, and the game starts with only two empty lots per world.
Terrain Tools - You cannot make hills, lakes, or do any kind of landscaping on your lot. They are all completely flat.
"Rabbitholes" - There are no buildings signifying workplaces, theaters, day spas, stadiums or similar. All such activities will be done by the Sim simply walking out of the neighborhood.
Graveyards - There is no place to bury the dead, you will have to keep them at home.

Home and Lot Features:
Cars and bikes - With the loss of the open world, cars and bikes have no purpose and are not included in the game.
Pools - There are no swimming pools in the release version of The Sims 4, nor any hot-tubs. - Pools added in post release patch!
Max lot size shrunk to 50x50 - Down from Sims 3's 64x64 tiles.
Max floors shrunk to 3 - Down from 5 in The Sims 3, but does not count foundation as a floor.
Basements - And you can't expand downwards either. No basements.

Sim Features:
Babies as a life stage - A baby in The Sims 4 is an object, not a Sim. It is confined to a crib object, much like in the first Sims game.
Toddlers - Sims will age directly from Baby to Child in The Sims 4, skipping the Toddler life stage added in The Sims 2 and 3. Toddlers are in now!
Teenagers and Elders are the same size as Adults Same height, same build, same animations. This will probably be awkward a few times to find a romantic partner for your Adult Sim. Elders do have grey hair, though.
Swimwear - Without pools or hot-tubs, swimwear became redundant and was cut. - Swimwear added along with pools!
Classic NPC Sims - There is no babysitter, burglar, police officers, repairmen, repo men, bartenders, aliens, or firefighters. Think about that last one for a second.
Ghosts - In Sims 4, the dead stay down. You will not be haunted by the departed Sims. - Ghosts added in post release patch!

System Features:
Story Progression - While the world around you does age (if you want it to) other Sims will not actually advance in life. They won't change jobs, they won't form relationships, and they won't procreate. When they die off, new Sims are added to sit around not advancing. If you want the neighbor to have a child that your own family's child can grow up alongside of, you'll have to switch to the neighbor and do it yourself.
Create-a-Style - In The Sims 3, you could recolor nearly everything from within the game. In The Sims 4, clothes, furniture, hair, and everything else comes in predefined colors only.
Basic Careers - While there are new, zany careers to choose, the old Military, Law Enforcement, Medicine, Politics, Science, and Education careers are missing. (UPDATE): Business and Athletic careers added
Family Trees - You can no longer view the ancestry of your Sims.
The "moveobjects" cheat code - It is no longer possible to override object placement restrictions for landscaping and decoration.
The "constrainfloorelevation" cheat code - As there are no terrain tools, this code becomes redundant, and that's a shame since in the hands of someone who knew what they were doing, this code was key in some amazing architectural designs in The Sims 3.

There are other omissions, but these stick out. Especially since, well...​

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Of course. EA is known to milk their fanbase like it was a Laganaphyllis Simnovorii. (That's Sim-eating Cow Plant in case you were wondering, which actually IS in the game this time). While the pre-release details are sketchy, see above marketing campaign designed to show as little as possible, it is fairly certain that The Sims 4 will continue where The Sims 3 left off, with Expansion Packs, Stuff Packs, and a DLC store. A third kind of Pack, called Gameplay Packs, has been rumored, but not confirmed yet.

Further, preview videos have confirmed the existence of a service called "The Sims 4 Premium" that will allow early access to the various kinds of Packs as well as Premium exclusive items. Whether this is a subscription or a Season Pass style combined DLC pack is yet to be confirmed.

In short, EA will milk this as much as they can. You have to wonder if The Sims community has a breaking point with this. We may find out this time.​

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As mentioned in the what's new section, yes it will.

Since the Create-a-Sim demo was released in limited numbers in July, the Sims Modding Community has descended upon it and torn it apart. A lot of the file formats are fairly well-understood already, and modding tools are in development. And since EA is releasing documentation on how to decode the Sims 4 file system, and made an ingame mod manager to handle it, it's fairly certain that yes, there will be mods. How many and what kinds is yet to be seen, but expect good, bad, and ugly. Just like always.

UPDATE: As the game files are now in player hands, it turns out that EA has chosen unencrypted Zip files as their compression method, storing several game scripts as compiled Python scripts. This is rather unusual for a commercial game, so things may be looking quite promising for mods soon.​

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There has been a ton of trailers and a few screenshots out that show off what the game looks like, and even a couple that show off how it plays.

Screenshots:



Trailers:
General Trailers:
"Arrival" Announcement Trailer
First Look Gameplay Trailer
Create-a-Sim Trailer
Build Mode Trailer
Emotions Trailer
Stories Trailer
Launch Trailer

The "Weirder Stories" series:
Stay Weirder feat. Pancake Bob
It's Amber!
Epic Wood
Cow Plant Love

The 20-minute long Direct Feed Gameplay Walkthrough:
Direct Feed "Unscripted" Gameplay feat. death by laughter with Kim Jung-Un and his cupcake machine of doom!​

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To try the CAS4 Demo, you can now download it off Origin under the Demos and Betas header. You will be able to make Sims and share them to the Gallery. So if you do make someone neat, or a total freak of nature, feel free to share it with everyone.​

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A miserable little pile of data.
But enough talk... Have at you!​
 

Iacobellis

Junior Member
They removed basic NPCs? Sims that have been there since the original game?

The pools controversy didn't bother too much, but I can't wrap my head around this one.
 

McNum

Member
They removed basic NPCs? Sims that have been there since the original game?

The pools controversy didn't bother too much, but I can't wrap my head around this one.
The firefighter being missing is honestly my biggest "Wait, what?" of that entire list. Because unlike the police officer who doesn't have a burglar to catch anymore, there is still fire in the game.
 

Iacobellis

Junior Member
The firefighter being missing is honestly my biggest "Wait, what?" of that entire list. Because unlike the police officer who doesn't have a burglar to catch anymore, there is still fire in the game.

As I started reading the list of omissions, I began thinking that I wouldn't mind it as it made the game seem similar to the original release on consoles, the one with the story mode and multiplayer mode. I loved that game to death and it got me hooked on the series, but they went even further back than that one.
 

McNum

Member
Awesome OT! Great work, OP!
Thanks. It's my first OT, so I wanted to do it right. I just wish the game looked better, but I don't make the game, I just make the OT, and for better or worse, this is The Sims 4. It may look like it's just half a game, but that doesn't mean I get to make just half an OT.

It does, however, mean some tactical snarking action in the right spots, of course.
As I started reading the list of omissions, I began thinking that I wouldn't mind it as it made the game seem similar to the original release on consoles, the one with the story mode and multiplayer mode. I loved that game to death and it got me hooked on the series, but they went even further back than that one.
Yeah, if that was what they were going for, it might work pretty well. Like Rollercoaster Tycoon style scenarios. "This Sim wants to get married before his birthday, but he's a Hot-headed, Gloomy Sim with Commitment Issues. Can you do it?"

But no. Sandbox only. Too bad, really.
 

Comandr

Member
Wonderful OT. Laughed at the title and castlevania references. Good stuff.

Holy shit @ basic npcs and jobs missing. Wtf.
 

Iacobellis

Junior Member
Thanks. It's my first OT, so I wanted to do it right. I just wish the game looked better, but I don't make the game, I just make the OT, and for better or worse, this is The Sims 4. It may look like it's just half a game, but that doesn't mean I get to make just half an OT.

It does, however, mean some tactical snarking action in the right spots, of course.

Yeah, if that was what they were going for, it might work pretty well. Like Rollercoaster Tycoon style scenarios. "This Sim wants to get married before his birthday, but he's a Hot-headed, Gloomy Sim with Commitment Issues. Can you do it?"

But no. Sandbox only. Too bad, really.

I think bringing the Get a Life mode to PC would be cool.
 

Lach

Member
Even with all the features cut, I'm still on the edge on getting this. Maybe not at launch but a week in if the reviews aren't too bad....
 

Steel

Banned
I'm actually curious as to how many people on GAF, knowing what was ripped out of this game, will buy it. Best of luck to those who do.
 
Great job with the OT!

I'm curious how the reviews will pan out - we may notice the (depressingly long) list of missing features but chances are, the gaming press isn't as invested.
 

Delio

Member
Great job on the OP even if I'm pretty much sold on not buying this. Will totally see how the general public/fans here like it.
 

McNum

Member
I'm actually curious as to how many people on GAF, knowing what was ripped out of this game, will buy it. Best of luck to those who do.
Well, thanks. I'm getting it. I'm walking into this one eyes wide open and expecting nothing.

Hopefully it will surprise me, but I get the feeling that even if the half that's left is actually good, it's going to chafe hard when I want to do something basic from an earlier game that just isn't in.

The Create-a-Sim demo is pretty neat, though. It's just sad remembering that in the final game, that checkmark in the lower right leads to such a limited base game.
 

Yrael

Member
*Siiiiiigh* at that list of missing features. :/

I'll be skipping this one at launch. Much later down the track, once it's cheaper and a few expansions/patches/fixes have been released, I may consider getting it. But right now that list of cut content that was in previous base games is painful - especially Create a Style.
 

dreamfall

Member
The OT is beautiful.

I want to read a ton of previews before actually pulling the trigger, but I'm excited!

No Hot tubs, pools, swimsuits, death visits, toddlers... holy goodness. It just keeps getting stripped down. I bet the expansions will soon make us pay to even have more than one Sim :/
 

Kayhan

Member
The Sims faithful fans will likely get it day 1 so it makes sense that EA would hold back (potential) negative reviews before launch.

I mean, fan sales are a sure thing so why risk losing any with bad reviews?

It is cynical as fuck but it makes sense.
 

McNum

Member
The OT is beautiful.

I want to read a ton of previews before actually pulling the trigger, but I'm excited!
Be careful with the previews here. Because while the press has not had much if any access to the game, the most loyal of the fanbase, affectionately named "Yibsims"* by EA, HAS. And even they have been sort of mixed on it, but most of them gushing feverishly about it and calling anyone who mentions the missing features for haters.

EA is trying hard to control the message here. Trying hard and failing, at least in some corners of the Sims communities.

*"Yibsim" means "Friend" in Simlish.
 

Lucifon

Junior Member
Great OP! Really looking forward to getting back into more Sims. Some of the removals do suck, but some of the additions sound great. I hope they support this with proper meaty expansions like we've seen in the past, and not Sim City level of support... Hoping for expansions, not DLC.

Preordered and paid for Limited Edition for £24, not bad in my eyes.
 

Thoraxes

Member
Holy shit, this is out in one week?

I had no idea! I'll have to tell my sister because she's looking forward to this!
 

Hasney

Member
The OT is beautiful.

I want to read a ton of previews before actually pulling the trigger, but I'm excited!

No Hot tubs, pools, swimsuits, death visits, toddlers... holy goodness. It just keeps getting stripped down. I bet the expansions will soon make us pay to even have more than one Sim :/

There are death visits and you can bargain with him.

The rest is bullshit though. Bought this for my housemates birthday so hopefully it's still good enough.
 

McNum

Member
I had no idea so much stuff was removed from the base game. Interesting, but pretty depressing, read!
So this is a bad time to mention that the missing features list is an abridged version? If you really want to be nitpicky, there's close to a hundred things missing. But that's stuff like wall phones or animated hair and other really specific items that make up most of the rest. And things like "There's no Wishes in The Sims 4." which is technically true, but it's because the new version of that is now called "Whims". I chose to let that cancel each other out.

Curiously, the Fire Alarm is still in. I wonder what it does since it's not going to summon the non-existent firefighter, after all.
 

PaulLFC

Member
I managed to preorder this for £25 ages ago. Debating whether even that is too much for how basic and feature-deprived this game is sounding. Keep or cancel? Hmm.
 

Liljagare

Member
The wife has denied this access to our computer after Simcity, and reading about everything that is no more in the Sims.

Me happy.. :)
 

Derp

Member
Holy crap! I had no idea that much is being ripped from the game. I thought it was just swimming pools LOL.

So they're doing this so that they can sell it as part of future DLC??? If so... That's just... Wow. And if not??? Then still... That's just... Wow.

Wouldn't touch this game with a stick.
 

McNum

Member
Only pancake Bob can save us.

Plus missed opportunity on a title about the lack of pools.
Eh, I already had the Dracula quote at the end. Figured I could use another for book-ends. If the game had been looking good, the subtitle would have been "Once more, with feeling!" but this game deserved the snark.
 

aeolustl

Member
Is it confirmed that there is no season at the base game again?
I don't want to buy that season EP again
I will still buy it anyway
 

Kouriozan

Member
It was actually the first time my mother was pre-ordering a game.
I'll wait for review and buy it for her if it's good.
 

EVOL 100%

Member
Jesus Christ they removed the open world? And the NPCs? No Story Progression? This is even worse than I thought

Yeah I'm feeling pretty good about just reinstalling The Sims 3 now
 

EVOL 100%

Member
Silver Lining is, we can't get much lower than this.

Yeah, I'm going to go with this. Removing Story Progression and the open world is straight fucked. I'm guessing that no amount of expansion packs will be able to restore that. This is just basically Sims 2.5
 

Fruitster

Member
It sounds like a mere shell of a sims game. I hope people read up properly on all the omissions before throwing money down on this shit. It boggles the mind, all these cuts and features missing, do EA like dealing with shitstorms or something? Surely they must realise that releasing Sims 4 in this state is not going to go down well.
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
I loved Sims 1, but never ended up getting any of the games after that.

EA has done a great job of driving me away from ever getting any of the Sim games ever again, and that's incredibly frustrating because I used to enjoy them so much.
 
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