Changes from Sims 3 to 4: Fun, Interesting, Weird and/or Disappointing?

[lindsaysoderberg]

I thought it would be fun to point out all of the changes from The Sims 3 to The Sims 4 and hear what everyone thinks of them.

The first one that shocked me was the "baby" situation:

1. Pregnant Sims receive NO maternity leave and cannot ask for "unpaid time off."
2. A baby is born directly into a bassinet and cannot be moved to another bassinet.
3. When you click on the baby (bassinet, actually), you can make it "age up instantly.
4. There is no toddler stage!! The baby goes right into childhood.

What do you all think about this? Babies and toddlers can be cumbersome to raise, but, then again, this is just another one of the MANY simplified aspects of the game. Does it make it better or worse? I guess, in my opinion, right now I just feel like it's a completely different game.

[ManiSims]

Yeah, I was very shocked when I heard about the no maternity leave. I don't get it? I personally haven't had any experience with babies in TS4 so I can't really comment on 2 or 3. Number 4 didn't shock me as much because I already expected it, but I am sad that there are no more toddlers. I loved playing with them.


I actually really like the no open world– when I first heard of it I was really disappointed but it works quite well and the loading time are really short (only a few seconds!) so I don't mind.


So far the main change that I still have to get used to is the controls. They're quite difficult to get the hang of, even when I play on Sims 3 mode. Of course, I play on a laptop so that probably has something to do with it.

[lindsaysoderberg]

I do like the "no open world" part ONLY for the fast loading.

The very annoying part is that time goes on for the rest of your Sims, and they are completely beyond your control. **It's quite a disadvantage.

The controls are super hard to get used to, but it gets easier. It's very counter-intuitive, in my opinion. I play on a laptop, too, but I use a little bluetooth mouse. They are very cheep and make playing much easier.

[jillz]

Hello Ladies!

There is a thread http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,20450.0.html dedicated to this topic in the Sims 4 Pre Release Forums. This discussion really belongs there. It looks like you might be newish to the forums, so you might not have seen that thread yet.

Welcome to the forums!

[Pam]

Actually, I think we can leave this thread here. The other discussion was during pre-release and will likely be locked in the near future. Now that we're actually getting a chance to play Sims 4, we can have these discussions here. Carry on!

[lindsaysoderberg]

Sims 4 Aspirations versus Sims 3 Lifetime Wishes

Personally, I am really enjoying the new aspirations system. It is much more fun for me to have small goals along the way rather than work for days (human days not sim days haha) for one achievement.

I also love that aspirations can be changed. I don't know about you all, I often found myself disappointed when I achieved one of my favorite sim's lifetime wishes and couldn't move on to a new one. The aspirations give us something to keep playing for endlessly (as far as I know). I usually play one sim family for a VERY long time. The new system seems like it will make that more fun, challenging, and rewarding.

How do you all feel about the change? Which style do you prefer?

[EleLL]

I actually love the non open world. It's just open enough for me to meet and talk to passerby, and yet everywhere I go, there's tons of sims to meet and hang out with. Heck, I can take everyone on the block with me when I travel!

I adore the non toddler stage and in fact, I really love the whole new kid thing. I want more stuff for my kids, but between the playground, monkey bars, challenges to raise the grade, socialize, and multi-task, I feel like I have a complete family now. I put my kiddo's creativity table next to the couch by the TV, so as they are coloring, mom and dad are watching tv and talking to their child.

Loving the new socialization, it feels so much more expanded without unlocking everything already.

I'm enjoying gardening and cooking together... especially the split between cooking and mixology, then from home to gourmet foods.

I am really looking forward to how they expand this game, and what they give us to play with again as I'm feeling a tad stifled with just plain old white doors, no curtains that fit my tall walls with tall windows, and just a general sense of needing more for build mode. Although, I do love build mode, but it's going to take me a bit to get used to it... but roofs! Yay! I did my own roof for the first time and didn't feel like pulling my hair out during it!

All in all, I did enjoy TS3, but my sims always felt very robotic. In TS4, I enjoy getting them to their days off and just seeing what they'll do, and it usually is quite humorous, as they feel way more alive 

[lindsaysoderberg]

EleLL, Thanks for your post! I love hearing your positive take on things!!

The Sims 4 really does bring out the life in the sims.

1. Re: NON OPEN WORLD and TONS OF NEIGHBORS -
I have also noticed that there are TONS of sims everywhere, which is great.
One of my children needed to meet 10 new sims for an achievement, and she was able to do so just by stopping the people who walked by the house.
I also took one of my teen boys (who is supposed to kiss 10 different women) to the gym at 4 AM, and, again, lots of people! I am really enjoying that.
*Although I have yet to manage to get that teenager to kiss a single sim...I think I will figure that out by reading some other user posts on here

2. Re: NO TODDLERS/NEW CHILDHOOD -
Not having the toddler stage still seems odd to me. I imagine they will add it back eventually with an expansion pack.

I agree completely with you about the new Sims 4 childhood experience.
I LOVE the new child stage.
Between the four childhood skills, the homework, the extra credit work, and all of the aspiration goals, my child sims are super busy.
In fact, I was surprised by how hard it is to keep up!
It was really hard to get just one of my children to an A grade where before, in the Sims 3, it was an inevitability.

*In fact, the Sims 3 child stage was so boring that sending them to boarding school was an awesome option!!

3. Re: SOCIALIZATION and MULTITASKING -
This is definitely the best new feature in the Sims 4.
It is so much more realistic and simple.
The group conversations are a lot of fun.
It is great that you can tell your sim to eat and then chat, and they go and do it at the same time.
I even had one child eating, and an adult decided to talk to the child. So, the child stood up from the table, plate in hand, walked over to the adult, and joined the conversation.
I was very impressed and excited about that!

4. MORE -

*I have even tried gardening yet.
*I'm also too overwhelmed to be thinking a whole lot about house design and decorating at the moment. (My kids are keeping me too busy )

[grimsoul]

One thing I miss and not sure why they didn't add it is the speed 4 option. Where it would fast forward through the current action the return to normal speed when it finished. I didn't realize how often I used that until I don't have anymore.
The multi taking I have a love/hate relationship with. I love they do multi things at once most of the time. Then times when I want them to finish something and move on like when they're eating and chatting with someone they can take forever to finish eating and I won't to tell them to shut up and finish eating already so you can go do this.  

[Cheezey]

One thing that is different that I'm not thrilled with is how often you will get visitors who are your friends.

I was playing a single sim, who started the game friends with 2 people, his parents, who lived in a house down the street.  (I made the family in CAS and then placed and split them, making the son active to get the relationship in the game.)  While it was nice that they cared... his parents visited constantly.  His mother rang the doorbell three times in one day while he was at work, and his father stopped by once.  After he made friends with another neighbor, that neighbor started visiting all the time as well.  My sim couldn't just be at home messing around and skilling without someone visiting.  After he got married, one of his friends from the wedding, who lived in the other town, also started visiting all the time.

Luckily, you can socialize and skill in this game, but the frequency of the visits really started to get on my nerves.  I'm an introvert in real life, so this is probably why it bugs me so much. Sometimes I want to be left alone.  Five minutes to work?  Oh, look, Mom is at the door again!

[grimsoul]

I like friends coming around all the time to visit there are times I'm busy and don't want to be bothered so when they knock on the door at those time I just ignore them. They give up after awhile and leave.
Like in real life when that one neighbor comes around your like,  shhh  be quite and they will think no one is home and go away.

[Ginj]

Ah yes, "Go away, Visitor; I'm playing Sims".   That being said, socializing does seem be higher value and lower effort than in Sims 3.  Lots of other surprises:

Homework arrives in a child's inventory as soon as he/she ages up.  No need for those overachievers to finish a school day.

Entire garden plants can be sold and not merely disposed of. 

There's a warning when an elder is reaching his/her last days.  I'm not sure if it's a generic warning like in Sims 3 at age-up or whether one can actually predict the arrival of Grimmy.  Zaiden's still kicking but it's only been about one day.  At least he's lived long enough to get acquainted with his daughter.

[lindsaysoderberg]

Homework arrives in a child's inventory as soon as he/she ages up.  No need for those overachievers to finish a school day.

I was pleasantly surprised by that, too.

However, my kids are constantly leaving their homework around the house; so I have to go look for it and put it back in their inventory.

Good news! You can buy new homework from the bookshelves where you buy all other books.

[lindsaysoderberg]

It's nice that you can drag and drop dishes into the fridge, trash can, dumpster, or even sink to dispose of them.

Perhaps that is to make up for the lack of a simple dishwasher!
(But I wish that dropping my real life dirty dishes in the sink took care of them )

[jesirose]

Disappointed: I was SO excited that in TS4 moms could now breastfeed their babies. What I am upset about is that it's PIXELATED OUT! Like as if it's obscene or something? Why even bother EA? Just to offend breastfeeding moms? I can have my Sim wear revealing lingerie, but actually using the boobs for what they're meant for, is censored? For shame. It's bad enough our society is so messed up about breastfeeding, they should not have included it in this way, just to make it out as if it's something to be hidden.