Carl and Pam's The Sims Community
The Sims 4 => Sims 4 - Gameplay Help, Building, and Addon Packs Discussion => Topic started by: imayu94 on November 12, 2014, 06:28:00 PM
-
I don't know why but somehow for me I find Sims 4 a wee bit harder to play. The Build and Buy mode is great and the multi-tasking is amazingly useful, but I'm talking about the aspiration goals, career goals and relationships. Things aren't as easy this time around. ;)
What do you guys think of this? Are you finding it a challenge?
-
I am finding it challenging, but I'm not sure how much of it is actual challenge and how much of it is me not being able to change all that easily. :P
-
It has taken me some time to adjust my thinking, but now it feels quite natural to me.
-
I agree with Zyfyr, at first it seemed such a very different game to TS3. But now after many hours of playing I really like it. I still find some things challenging like getting work/promotion tasks finished at the same time as certain aspiration tasks, but that's good. It would get boring if it was all too easy.
Getting child skills, aspirations and an A in school while isn't difficult, is very time consuming. It still takes over the whole focus of any game I play once I have a child in the house.
-
I find the whole friendship thing difficult. My main household is two adult sims, two teens and a child, so managing their emotions and aspirations and school/work goals etc takes up time. Relationships decay too fast, I think. They no sooner make a new friend, then get busy for several days, then that friend's relationship bar has dropped back down to nearly nothing. So I find it hard to keep friends as well as do everything else.
-
I find the relationships decay too quickly as well . I have a musician that needs 10 friends for his next promotion and find this very difficult to do . Elders need decays much quicker as well plus they can't do much without getting exhausted . But , I really do enjoy all these challenges .
-
I think a big thing is at this point in the game's early incarnation there are no discovered money tricks like playing guitar in the subway or using the table - things you could do in Sims 3 that were game changers as far as making tens of thousands of simoleans in a short time. So, unless you're the kind of player that flat out cheats it takes more work now in Sims 4 to get the things you want. That's a good thing IMO. The money making aspect of the game is certainly going to make the 2015 Tournament Challenges more "challenging" hehe.
-
The sims 4 is to me even on the difficulty level a step back to the sims 2, but for me I always felt that the sims 3 was overall too easy - yes even just the base game.
More challenging aspirations, more challenging career and school. Those 3 are all good things as far as I'm concerned.
Faster decaying needs are a bit more annoying but still anything that prevents me from getting bored is a good thing.
-
There are certain skills that bring in large cash deposits each day though, thinking of painting and writing, it just takes quite a bit of game play to get your sim to that point. You can easily bring in over 20K a day with a writer sim and a painter both having completed the relevant aspiration with them both just working at home.
-
Personally for me, maxing out a skill or career is easier in Sims 4 but certain things like Aspirations are pretty difficult. And while things like getting As in school aren't hard per-se, they're much more time consuming and like someone else said, when I have a child school takes up most of the time.
Relationships are a lot harder as well. While I like how it takes longer to build up a relationship so you can't meet someone one afternoon and get married that night, I hate how quickly they decay. They're much harder to maintain and if I even go a couple of days without focusing on socializing the bar drop really far down.
-
I think the whole friendship thing needs a bit of tweaking. If you get to good friend status, then it should decay slower. In real life, your good friends stay good friends even if you don't see them for months. They should make it that the higher the friend level, the slower it decays.
-
I think a big thing is at this point in the game's early incarnation there are no discovered money tricks like playing guitar in the subway or using the table - things you could do in Sims 3 that were game changers as far as making tens of thousands of simoleans in a short time. So, unless you're the kind of player that flat out cheats it takes more work now in Sims 4 to get the things you want. That's a good thing IMO. The money making aspect of the game is certainly going to make the 2015 Tournament Challenges more "challenging" hehe.
I've been using money cheats for comfortable home that keeps their needs high and I still find it more challenging than Sims 3. For me, it's the specific steps we have to accomplish for careers, Aspirations, parties, etc. I find it particularly difficult to get children and teens through school and still finish Aspirations, get good grades, and maintain part time jobs. There's no coasting in this game for me at this point.
-
I find keeping friendships is a lot harder.
The thing that I find not so much hard but more annoying is earning reward points. I find the 3 little whims useless. I find I don't notice them and therefore ignore them, plus they aren't worth much. I'm forced to keep changing aspiration goals to earn significant rewards. I'd prefer to keep my sim interested in one aspect such as collecting and later, go after other challenges at my leisure. I have to give up what interests me the most in order to earn points to keep the needs bars higher.
-
I forgot to add this, but Prestige parties are so much harder. In The Sims 3 all you needed to do was make sure everyone was happy, pretty simple. But now I find it impossible to get a gold and pretty hard to get a silver, so I normally just go for the normal parties. (Holding five Prestige events for every single heir in my Immortal Dynasty is by far the hardest requirement. Gah.)
-
I think the childhood aspirations, particularly the whiz kid one, are near impossible on a normal life span with aging on. I have yet to successfully complete that one, and the closest I came to it was with the child going two nights without sleep burning through potions.
The "A" in school for children requiring level 4 in 4 skills is a big hurdle for me. They can level social and either creative or mental no problem, but motor seems to be hard to level in tandem with other skills.
Chess game win requirements can also be frustrating. On public lots, sims crowd them, and then everyone starts talking. That slows the play time to a crawl, and all it takes is one random sim being a jerk to show up and put everyone in a poor mood. There's also the chance that after you've invested 3-4 sim hours in a game, the opponent will get hungry or need the bathroom and just leave, making all that time wasted. In your own home, the risk is a bit less, but you need to have a sim that has the free time to play chess with your sim. You can invite someone over, but without them being under your control, you can't make them stay put.
-
The chess one is so true. But I've found that the sims don't leave that often as far as my experience.
I also don't play with those in the park who are already playing. I start a conversation with a wandering sim and invite that person to play. That way, they seem to stay longer. I also cancel the mini-interaction (the small circles next to the conversation circle) so that my sims don't talk often and finish the game more quickly.
I've already achieved the "Whiz Kid" aspiration on a normal span, but it's such work, your kid will not enjoy his/her childhood. It needs constant attention, needs emotional boosting, and a skill room, where all the materials for leveling up are in one convenient place, with a bathroom just next door.
-
I find the Social Butterfly by far the hardest. In fact if I never ever played the Social Butterfly aspiration ever again it would still be too soon!! With aging on it becomes very difficult to actually find enough children for that last milestone. Yuk, one horrid aspiration. :-\
-
I find the Social Butterfly by far the hardest. In fact if I never ever played the Social Butterfly aspiration ever again it would still be too soon!! With aging on it becomes very difficult to actually find enough children for that last milestone. Yuk, one horrid aspiration. :-\
I'm finding that problem, and I have aging off. It was easier with my teens as I made households with other kids specifically so they could have friends. Now they've been aged up, too, so my current child has slim pickings.
-
Some of them are really easy and some of them are really hard. But knowing how things work especially reading carlsims4guide, it isn't a problem anymore. I already finish all the aspiration in the skill category (mind, body, art) but none in the social one except love.
The kids aspiration from the easiest to the hardest for me is
Artistic Prodigy<Rambunctious Scamp<Whiz Kid<Social Butterfly
It's really hard to balance their school and their aspiration, well the whiz kid is not because he can just breeze to the homework.
I haven't said anything about carrier.
But seriously, of all these hard things, I enjoy doing it because it's so challenging.
-
In the beginning I was truggeling with all the requirements of daily life in the sims 4. Your job is definately more work, children have more things they need to do and then you have the aspirations. I find myself completing all the tasks for work and so on pretty easily now. It leaves less time to do other things though. I did find the whiz kid aspiration not that hard to be honest. Did that one for the immortal dynasty and it was pretty doable, even with my kid getting A's in class. The kid didn't have much else he could do though.
One thing I find difficult are keeping friends. Mainly because the relationships decay so quickly. I've never find it a fun job to keep friends in any sim game and this one isn't an exception. However I think making friends isn't hard at all (in general). Some sims can be a pain to befriend, but most you can befriend in a few hours.
Like the challenge in the sims 4. Sims 3 was pretty easy at times.
-
One thing I find difficult are keeping friends. Mainly because the relationships decay so quickly.
This seems to be a trend in the difficulty. If there's something I do miss for children it's the "Do Homework With..." option for kids to help each other. The relationship boost of that in Sims 3 was good in terms of relationships. I think it would help significantly given the relationship decay in 4.
I do like the fact that Sims that you are close with basically come to visit you, every once in a while. Only after you ignore them for a few days will they stop. That way you kinda don't forget your friends. I wish there was a control on the door though. Like, if you were Best Friends in status, that sim can basically go in your home without 'Invite In'. Might be troublesome, but realistic.
-
I think it is more difficult, absolutely. The career requirements and the aspiration requirements all seem to add up and sometimes I don't think I know where/how to focus. Take childhood: sometimes I just don't know if I should work on the aspiration tasks (usually eventually amounting to max skill X) or the whole "level all skills up to four" for that A grade. I eventually reach a point where I haven't progressed in either objective, and the clock is ticking! I did manage to get one kid to an A, and I was pretty furious when I missed out on his Artistic Prodigy aspiration by one Creativity Skill Point. That was frustrating.
As someone mentioned, though, that could just be because I'm not used to it yet. I also need to reach a point where I can work out which satisfaction rewards are most useful - once I got those down pat in the Sims 2, it was much easier (I remember the day I discovered Smart Milk was a thing, and there was much rejoicing!). So yeah, I'm sure a lot of my woes are just me struggling to find my sea legs.
I think one reason in particular that I'm struggling to keep up friendships in the Sims 4 is the uselessness of a phone conversation in this game. It doesn't raise the relationship at all, I don't think - I don't think a call a day would even maintain a friendship. You actually have to meet with someone in person on a regular basis if you want to have any shred of hope of holding onto their friendship.
-
For me, the stumbling block on Whiz Kid is that A in school requiring 4 skills at level 4. Motor seems to level so slowly and wastes time that could be better used on mental skill. I did find that using the "ask for typing tips" speeds it up, as do the other skill related ones like "discuss fractions" or "tell make believe story," and in my earlier plays I didn't use those because I was always thinking "Stop socializing! You need to skill and your social is already high enough." The first time I tried the aspiration, I found out I needed the A when I only had 2 school days left before aging up, so I was sunk.
I also tend to hoard my aspiration points so the first thing they buy is the 4000 point reward that makes it so they don't need sleep, so that might hinder me somewhat. Maybe getting things like Steel Bladder or splurging on 400 point sleep replacement potions for children so they can get that extra trait is a better strategy.
-
I did find that using the "ask for typing tips" speeds it up, as do the other skill related ones like "discuss fractions" or "tell make believe story," and in my earlier plays I didn't use those because I was always thinking "Stop socializing! You need to skill and your social is already high enough."
I find this information useful, I didn't realize the power of the small socializations. Mostly I just leave my kid to rot with the chemistry set or any other skill items with the corresponding emotion state. At least with that, they do get some social life. :D
When it comes to the aspirations I look at the aspiration panel every now and then so that I know where I'm headed. For example, gaining a 10 in Logic in the Level 4 of an Aspiration takes work, and if I do have the time, I still level it up even if the current milestone only requires level 5. That way I can be prepared.
I think I find that the Sims 4 requires much planning since I always felt that time is off the essence. But then again, it might just be me being a control freak.
-
It keeps making me jump through hoops I don't want to jump through. For example, my athletic Sim keeps disrupting family life because she has to go to the gym or show off her muscles for an Aspiration. But I'm not willing to leave anyone home alone because I don't trust their judgment, so I have to make it this big all-family outing, which takes ridiculous schedule coordination (I have 7 Sims [2 are babies now], and some are Sims who work late at night, Sims with 9-to-5 jobs, schoolkids, Sims who work in the afternoon, Sims who don't work at all...). And then the whole thing only lasts 3 hours because Anna gets hungry.
Well, that was ranty. In short, having to leave the house and interact with people to complete Aspirations and career goals annoys me. But that's probably because I am antisocial and would probably not leave the house if I didn't have to go to school.
-
I know that feeling. I learnt to let go of complete control of all sims and just concentrate on one or two when I did an Immortal Dynasty. Freewill is fairly good - if you let it take care of the rest of your sims they do alright - just keep an eye on the colour of their mood, and buy an unbreakable toilet ::) That said, hunger shouldn't really be a huge problem when you go out, as there are grills around that your sims can use. And if you don't want them making their own, they can take someone else's still - I haven't had a sim get embarrassed yet from taking food someone else cooked. And if you don't want them to eat food, get one of the kids to make a bunch of health potions, and they can drink those.
-
I know that feeling. I learnt to let go of complete control of all sims and just concentrate on one or two when I did an Immortal Dynasty. Freewill is fairly good - if you let it take care of the rest of your sims they do alright - just keep an eye on the colour of their mood, and buy an unbreakable toilet ::) That said, hunger shouldn't really be a huge problem when you go out, as there are grills around that your sims can use. And if you don't want them making their own, they can take someone else's still - I haven't had a sim get embarrassed yet from taking food someone else cooked. And if you don't want them to eat food, get one of the kids to make a bunch of health potions, and they can drink those.
I tried using the grills. My Level 10 cook somehow burned everything. I miss edible fruit.
-
I'm finding it the opposite. Perhaps it's just more intuitive for me. I often got frustrated with Sims 3 and would stop playing because I felt like I wasn't making progress. With Sims 4 I feel like I'm always moving forward. In fact it's the most focused I've been playing Sims. In previous editions I'd get frustrated and start a new Sim. Basically I never finished goals and such because I would get bored or frustrated with lack of progress. I played a lot of Sims 3, but I actually was never successful with finishing goals and such. With Sims 4 that's not the case, I've already achieved one aspiration for a Sim and started a second one. That motivates me to play more.
-
There's plenty of reward systems I find when it comes to the aspirations. The milestones kind of keep you going. What's frustrating as of late is the low increases in job performances unless your sim is really in an ideal mood with max needs and complete daily tasks.
It's more difficult when you play in the normal mode this time. It takes a while, but you kinda want to push through with it. And I think that's great. I kind of cheer for my sims sometimes when I'm insane enough.
-
It s more difficult and focusing for sure.
My own proof is that i needed to slow time to not have to pause the game too many times.
First time i use that kind of mod (i played all the sims games a lot)
-
I definitely find it more challenging, which is why I play on the Long Life span. I find I just can't complete everything I want my Sims to do in the Normal Life span. Careers are definitely a bit harder for me this time around! So are the child aspirations, which makes me want to spend a lot more time with the children to complete the them.
-
It seems like everything takes longer and there's less time to get things done. Relationships take longer to build and reach "friend" status, careers take longer to progress, there's more "homework" involved (daily tasks), Sims tend to get out of shape and pudgy if I don't play them, so I have to switch around to different houses and keep them working out, skills take longer to build, rewards take longer to unlock... it's more "grindy" overall. A lot of that is because of the multitasking thing. If you're doing two or three things at once, you're going to progress more slowly in all of them. But even if you focus on just one thing, it still seems to take longer.
I was watching the clock while a sim was taking a shower and it took almost an hour. A shower hour. That's kinda crazy. I heard there's a mod that changes the time scale so those little basic tasks don't take as long. I might look into that.
-
I don't find it more challenging as far as harder or easier. What I find is the play is more linear and I'm not fond of it. It seems like there is a lot less sandbox play.
-
I think the childhood aspirations are really hard especially if you have the normal lifespan. Also making money (from going to work) is really slow.