The Sims 4 Discussion - Share your Opinion on TS4 and Gameplay Features

[Playalot]

Thanks Della 

[KhaineGB]

Oooooh, I was looking for that control too.

Thanks for the tip! I have some sims that need tweaking I think.

[sawadaWiz]

New CAS is very awesome with clothing, hair and accessory filters, but i'm not into tweaking faces, it's harder than i thought, although there are selections for sculpting face.
Still waiting for the release.

[McHazy]

I love the new CAS, its so easy to create more unique sims. I was guilty of sticking to the same old face/body shapes but I think this will unleash the creative beast in me! I too lament the loss of CASt but if it means a trade off in lag and game performance I don't think I'll miss it.

[Playalot]

I know what you mean McHazy, I nearly always used the pre-made female sim with plaits and purple eyes and just changed her traits and clothes etc, mainly because I was uninspired and/or lazy! I've been really enjoying making different facial features etc on the demo. Just really want to be able to play these new sims now. 

[JanessaVR]

Hello.

I've been a long-time lurker who's made extensive use of this site for the last couple of years and I own every expansion and stuff pack for The Sims 3, along with many purchases from the online store (I own every published world for TS3).  I was looking forward to the release of The Sims 4 and had pre-ordered the Premium edition from Amazon.  There were a couple of things not yet ready in the initial release, but I typically play solo characters, so the loss of toddlers wasn't a big deal.  I did miss pools, but I assumed those would be coming along later.

Then yesterday I came across "89 Features Missing from The Sims 4" over at ts4news.  It's essentially a list of everything I loved in TS3, and it's all been eliminated for TS4; I promptly went to Amazon and cancelled my pre-order of TS4.

Accessing the whole town at once, vehicles, basements, scalable terrain, large lot sizes, mixed foundation lots, 4 story houses, customizing community lots.  They even took out customizable colors - no more color wheel and no more Create-A-Style.  It will also be 32-bit only - if you've got more than 4GB of RAM, well, it's not going to help.

Again, I had really been looking forward to TS4, but I think this is my stop.  I've been so busy for the last year that there's still lots for me to explore in TS3.  It's just recently that I've finally been able to spend more time in Oasis Landing and I've barely started to explore Egypt; I haven't even been to China or France yet.  I've also been meaning to start a Midnight Hollow game, and explore more of the other towns as well, including Union Cove, which I've yet to play in, but want to.

So, it looks like I'm staying behind.  I'll download the manual install Super Patch in case I want to move TS3 to a new PC in a year or so as I can't be sure how long they'll keep the store/site up for TS3.

Do please keep this site up for TS3 - I reference it all the time and I have donated in the past (if it's ever going to be retired, please give us some advance notice, so that I can go save a very thorough copy of every page).

For those of you headed for TS4, this is a heads-up on those many, many missing features, if you haven't heard about it yet.

[Lisa46]

I'm not buying it. No way.

[saltpastillen]

Well, after reviewing the list I think you have to take it with a grain of salt. I doubt this is the "truth" of what sims 4 will be like. Besides, there are a few items on that list that was missing from sims 3 too, as well as, a lot of items listed that were not added to s3 until a later expansion pack. Personally I think there are only a few items on that list that will really impact my game play negatively in any way.

The first is the absence of create-a-style (but that has been known for a long time and I have full faith that cc creators will give us options where s4 limits us). Besides, if I spend less time in create-a-style I will probably play the game more. It can be a positive as well you know.

The other feature I would really miss is the family tree. I think the way it works in s3 is great, in that you can keep track of who's related to who, and who your new family is. I do however feel it can be worked around, and it is not a game breaker per see.

I do think toddlers, pools and many many other things will possibly make a return. You can't expect a base game to have it all.

However, I do hope they work on some kind of story progression in the future. I would really hate for no sims genetics to move forward to the next generations unless I do all the matchmaking myself.

Just remember - sims 4 is a whole new game! Just because it's called sims like the others s1-s3 doesn't mean it will work the same way. All the sim games have been vastly different if you compare them to each other. Some people prefer one others another. The game isn't out yet, so how will we know if we like it or not?

[Lisa46]

I know it's another game. I just don't see why I want this other game. I love the sims 3.

The fact that I have a Mac and sims 4 won't work on macs has an impact as well.

[Bri]

Hi Everyone,

 I've been aware of this list for a while, and even reported on many of the features cut when it was revealed.  I apologize if anyone is offended at me for not posting a link to it, but I've seen how some people have reacted in other places and hesitated putting it up for that reason.

However, let me say it is great how maturely everyone has reacted, whether they've been pleased or irritated with the Sims 4 news, and for that, I thank you.  You are certainly free to discuss the list as well.

Do please keep this site up for TS3 - I reference it all the time and I have donated in the past (if it's ever going to be retired, please give us some advance notice, so that I can go save a very thorough copy of every page).

For those of you headed for TS4, this is a heads-up on those many, many missing features, if you haven't heard about it yet.

The site will be up for The Sims 3 for the foreseeable future as well, JanessaVR. 

[bubbles]

I read through the article and there's nothing there that disappoints me that I wasn't already aware of, really. Loads of the things on that list were things missing from The Sims 3 as well and, although it would be nice to have them, I'm personally not bothered. The baby thing, for example. Babies always annoy me in The Sims 3 (And 2 for that matter). All they really do is cry. I'm just happy they have legs! I hated it when older sims would sometimes leave the baby on the floor or have to walk all the way upstairs to put the baby in a crib before completing actions.

Some things on the list I'm actually glad are missing. Burglars, for example. In my immortal dynasty, I had burglars what felt like every week. It was such a pain because everyone got woken up at 3 in the morning and then they would all go back to bed at 5 to get up again at 6 to go to work in a bad mood. I will definitely not miss that for sure, as well as the extortionate cost for a burglar alarm!

With the teens being the same height as adults, I don't see much of a problem there. I'm 5 foot 3 and my mums 5 foot 4. We are practically the same height anyway. I'm the same height as two of my friends mums, taller than quite a few teachers at school and this is an average height teenager. One of my friends is 5 foot 8. The short teens in The Sims 3 were nice, but they weren't absolutely necessary in my opinion.

As Salt said, toddlers and pools are quite likely to make an appearance in the near or far future. The game developers have said so themselves. I have waited for many features in the past, I can wait some more.

For me, create-a-style is the worst loss because it won't be added at all, but when I'm just creating sims, it doesn't matter that much. And, with the lack of favourites, I won't feel like I have to dress all my sims in particular colours! 

I can why why people are so reluctant to order and, for a time, I was too. However, since Creators Camp I have been really excited about all the new and improved features of the game and less obsessed with what has been lost.

I have preordered the game on Amazon.co.uk in physical form (I expect the servers will be so full on release day, the download time will be forever). I really want to see this as it's own individual game and I want to completely forget about the freedom and the constraints of The Sims 3 and embrace the next generation.

[IronicBeauty]

I did not read all of the comments so I do not know if this has been discussed yet. Please excuse if this is a repeat.

My biggest concerns are the 32-bit graphics and the 4gigs of limited ram. Now one forum will say that this is good and will cause the game to run faster and smoother. Another forum will say that it will cause the game to bug, crash, or not play at all if you have a faster gaming computer.

I've read that the very fabric of The Sims 4 gaming engine will actually prevent the future inclusion of certain elements like CASt, toddlers, pools, and could even make it very difficult for CC to be included. The fact that we are hoping for these additions in future patches or expansions may never be realized.

Is this brand new game, that is very different from the other Sim games, going towards a mobile or browser based outlet? Is the open-armed welcome to the modding community a way to get developers to work for free? Is the Sims franchise dissipating into the online void of casual gaming that is restrictive in style, form, and creativity?

I may be swallowing the conspiracy but what I've seen doesn't alleviate my doubts. I feel like a $80 game is being sold to the masses that will soon be switched to a 'free to play' format and a once beautiful offline game will be lost forever. 

[Bri]

My biggest concerns are the 32-bit graphics and the 4gigs of limited ram. Now one forum will say that this is good and will cause the game to run faster and smoother. Another forum will say that it will cause the game to bug, crash, or not play at all if you have a faster gaming computer.

Unfortunately, this is one of those questions which will be hard to answer without the game being actually out.  However, from some of the decisions made (no open world, no CAST, etc.) it should run better than Sims 3.  Theoretically, it should do fine even with future expansions, but we can't really speculate on it.

Is this brand new game, that is very different from the other Sim games, going towards a mobile or browser based outlet?

The things I've read, and seen released seem to be clear that it will definitely be home computer based.  This isn't to say they won't do sales and incentives to get people to buy things (like DLC, pre-ordering).

Is the open-armed welcome to the modding community a way to get developers to work for free?

This one I will actually see as a positive.  An active modding community for a popular game can make a game last long beyond its normal time span.  And I wouldn't be surprised if some ideas are incorporated from good modders, especially if it would speed up a game.  Sometimes ideas occur which may not arise otherwise.

Is the Sims franchise dissipating into the online void of casual gaming that is restrictive in style, form, and creativity?

This is a subjective question, but I can attest that some of what I loved with Sims 3 definitely did slow it down.  Some of the restrictions do make sense, even if it can be displeasing.  Having a ton of lots, full of people, and having to render all those textures, and when you pile on Store Content, expansions, it does become a resource hungry game.  I've seen people who spent as much as many people do on a used car have their machines slow to a crawl with everything from Sims 3.

I may be swallowing the conspiracy but what I've seen doesn't alleviate my doubts. I feel like a $80 game is being sold to the masses that will soon be switched to a 'free to play' format and a once beautiful offline game will be lost forever.

This is a case where I would advise someone to wait a while.  The $80 cost is if you decide to get the "Premium Package", the normal base game is around $60.  With time, that cost will certainly come down, and that will also decide whether it will continue to get expansions. 

As for the 'free to play' element; EA/Maxis actually tried that with some watered down Sims games, and they didn't do well.   

[Dellena]

I agree with Bri in that if you're feeling ambiguous about buying Sims 4, then maybe you should wait.  Several people have also said how they have a lot they haven't done yet with Sims 3.  I can understand wanting to get all that you can from that game.

For me personally, Sims 3 has run it's course and I have explored all professions, adventures, futures, etc.  So I'm ready to move on and am excited for something new, not necessarily a re-packaged older version of the Sims.

Multitasking is going to be an awesome feature.  It's little things that I've noticed.  Like when one of the guru's had his sim ask the guy in the gym to come over and train him.  Previously, my sims would have had to stop what he was doing, walk over and talk to that sim and then they would go back to the gym equipment.  However, in what I saw, he  clicked on the interaction on that sim and he walked right over without the active sim having to stop training.  This is big to me.  I get annoyed if you're in the middle of something and to add someone, you have to stop, walk over to them, talk for a bit and then go right back to where you were before. 

To me, it all seems to play out a lot more realistically.  Particularly with the multitasking - chatting while cooking - doing things on your tablet while on the toilet (I confess, I've done this in real life) - being able to work on multiple things at the same time will be exciting for me.  Yes, I'll miss CASt - however, I also see this as a good thing because I had masses of CC patterns.  If I didn't use a mod, it would take a minute just to load one category of clothing for a female.  Planning new outfits was very time consuming.  So in terms of actual game play, this will likely work out to be a good thing for me.

And I'm happy for some features to be added later.  I feel certain that there's going to be so much to do, that having some stuff for on down the road when I'm ready for it will be better.  I'm planning on eventually exploring all available base game careers (both branches of each - not sure people realize that all professions have two branches).  And then there's finding all the hidden things, getting all the rewards, etc.  I've warned all my World of Warcraft friends that September is my Sims 4 month.   We're going on holiday for three weeks in October - queue Sims withdrawal!  And then in November, the new expansion for World of Warcraft hits - I'm going to be a busy girl this fall - but very happy!

For those that are on the fence and not sure, stay tuned and see how our stories turn out and what we post about The Sims 4.  I'm already planning on a blog-like thread on these forums to document my Sims 4 experience with my first sim.  Not a story - more like a journal of me as the player.  My plan is to post something for each Sim day - what happened, things I learned, etc.  I hope people will find it fun and useful.

[MarianT]

Dellena,

Your journal sounds like it will be interesting. I agree, if you don't know whether you'll like it, it's better to wait.