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

[lindsaysoderberg]

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!

This frequency of visits (see above) also makes it extremely difficult to achieve the goal/aspiration in which you must have many romantic relationships with more than one sim. I'm trying to develop a new romantic relationship (to get to the required 5 or 10), but then another of my "lovebirds" shows up at the front door (or at whichever lot I am) and gets **ed and that relationship instantly decays. It's so bad that I've had to start running away from the venue the second another love interest shows up.

It's a little bit like some guy getting caught cheating and running to hide in the closet!! haha

On the bright side, it is possible to achieve those goals by doing just that--sprinting out of there when more than one romantic interest is present. However, with the small, non-open worlds, it isn't always easy to find a place to "hide."

Has anyone else found a good way to overcome this obstacle?

[_Annika_]

Same theory, but different execution. I would suggest using the map to travel somewhere else with the romantic interest that you are currently wooing. The map travel is instantaneous, so you don't have to worry that they'll get to close and find out.

[Stormi71]

I'm finding it a real challenge to manage a household of more than a couple of sims. I made four female young adult housemates. Three have careers, one has just had a baby. They are all very different personalities. Their careers are all different, and they all have different start times, so I have to keep an eye on all of that, as well as the career performance tasks etc. None of them are close to finishing their aspirations because I've been focusing on everything else.
I also held my first house party and was too busy focusing on the tasks instead of having a good time, and wondering if my chef would come home from work while the party was still going so she could bake a cake so I could get the gold reward.
I also find friendships are quite different to sims 3. My neat, fitness fanatic sim is almost BFF with the slob, lazy glutton sim of the house, whereas in sims 3, people with opposing traits had a harder time building friendships. She has more in common with the other two sims in the house, but their friendships are not nearly as high a level.
My needs tend to decay slowly, though, or it seems that way to me. I noticed with needing to use the bathroom, that goes down a lot faster if your sim drinks something. My sims don't seem to need to pee all that often, and I don't have any LTR 's.
I really can't stand that things seem to break ALL the time. There is always a sink or toilet or shower or stereo that is broken. Even the oven broke!

[lindsaysoderberg]

One change from Sims 3 to Sims 4 that is really frustrating me at the moment is the inability to rearrange and store your items in any meaningful or useful way.

1. The items in your inventory seem to be ordered according to some "master list," and new items don't always go to the bottom, making them hard to find.

2. Fertilizing plants is a nightmare. Not only does the game momentarily freeze every time it opens the box to choose a fertilizer, but it lists them in no particular order and many are listed one by one; a few are listed in quantities between 2 and 15, but more are listed singularly.

3. Speaking of fertilizing, we lost the ability, from Sims 3 to Sims 4, to "Fertilize all with best fertilizers," and it is a REAL pain. 

*Still, I'm having fun exploring more and more of the game. I've reached the tops of most careers and am working on collections and skills right now.

If anyone has found a way to organize their sims' inventories, please let me know! 

[lindsaysoderberg]

Making friends in The Sims 4 does feel much more difficult than in The Sims 3, and, to top it off, it is very easy to lose a friend, or for a relationship to deteriorate, in an instant, with one wrong move.

That was hard for me to deal with, since, at the end of "the days of Sims 3," I was just using the relationship transmogropher (sp?) to makes tens, even hundreds, of friends. It may be a bit of a nuisance now, in Sims 4, , but at the new way is more realistic. On top of that, it's kind of growing on me. It's more fun and rewarding having to work hard at friendships.

[_Annika_]

One change from Sims 3 to Sims 4 that is really frustrating me at the moment is the inability to rearrange and store your items in any meaningful or useful way.

This is driving me nuts too And with no cabinet to store all our collectibles, I'm really cranky with it.

[Lisa46]

We didn't have that in sims 3 base game either though.

[Variosities]

I like that my sim washes her hands after using the toilet. With S3, if they weren't Neat, you had to train them to wash.

Since my sim washes her hands, I find myself washing my hands more.

[grimsoul]

In building I miss having the round and octagonal roofs. Putting a regular roof on a tower just doesn't look right to me.

[radwyn]

I am loving Sims 4 because

I love everything about emotions they really add to game play
Multi tasking makes Sims feel much more real
I find Sims 4 runs more smoothly than Sims 3 if your game pauses or stutters turning off online options fixed this for me.
Sims actually turn up at venues and venues are great places to meet new sims
Sims 4 looks beautiful
Load and save times are fast
Houses are much easier to build now I love how you can save and download rooms

[lindsaysoderberg]

This is driving me nuts too And with no cabinet to store all our collectibles, I'm really cranky with it.

MODIFIED: October 8, 2014 12:15 AM:
I investigated these matters further, and it looks like I made a few mistakes. Sorry about that! I modified it below to make it correct.

_Annika_, I am hoping for cabinets to come soon, too!

For now, here are some alternative storing options in the absence of cabinets:

Fruits and vegetables can be stored in the refrigerator, but not the flowers nor any fish.

Postcards can be stored "on" the bulletin board on a wall. These have the "inspiring" mood effect if you choose to enable it. Plus, each and every one of the 14 postcards (Inspiring Decor: 3) can be enabled for a total "Inspiring Decor" score of 42 from something the size of a medium painting! 

Elements can be stored in the Elemental Display Rack, which I think is pretty cool. The elements have the "focusing" mood effect if you choose to enable it. Plus, as above with the postcards, each and every one of the 15 elements (Focusing Decor: 3) can be enabled for a total Focusing Decor score of 45 from something the size of a small chair! 

And, of course, Microscope and Space Prints can be placed on the walls. There can also be enabled as Focusing Decor. Each microscope and space print, regardless of size or rarity, have Focusing Decor: 2.

Smaller crystals and smaller metals (and fruits and vegetables if you want them on display...) can be placed on shelves on the wall and also on the bottom shelf of the "Bold Statements Console Table." I really like this feature! However, similar to the allowed refrigerator contents, flowers can't be placed on shelves, which is kind of odd in my opinion.

Larger crystals, frogs, MySims trophies, metals, aliens, and fossils can only be placed on cabinets, dressers, or tables. The benefit of doing this, though, is that some of these can be used to influence your sims mood by clicking on them in live mode and "enabling" each of their emotional auras.

MySims trophies - Playful Decor:

Large Crystals - Energizing Decor: 2

Small Crystals - Energizing Decor: 3

Aliens - Confident Decor **  Note: In LIVE mode, only some of the aliens give the "Enable Emotional Aura" option. In BUILD mode, some say "Confident Decor: 3" when you pick them up; however, in live mode, you cannot enable this aura. I assume that this is a bug that will be fixed. I guess there is a small chance that the emotional aura of these objects is simply always on, but that would be inconsistent with the rest of the game objects.

Metals, small and large - Some type of Decor: UNKNOWN # **Note: When you select the metals in build mode, they are just labeled "Environment: 2," but in live mode, you can click on them and Enable Emotional Aura. My sims tend to become focused around them, but that could also be due to many other actions or items. I will try to look into it.

No Mood Effect: Frogs and Fossils

Fish can be mounted and placed on the wall, but, of course, that doesn't allow you to use them as bait later. Mounted fish on the wall do not have any emotional effect.

On one hand, by NOT giving us cabinets, we are forced to discover the benefits of keeping these items "out in the open." It could also be a way to discourage us "hoarders" from collecting thousands of items (as I have done many times), which seems to inevitably slow down and crash the game. But who knows?

[Pam]

_Annika_, I am hoping for cabinets to come soon, too!

For now, here are some alternative storing options in the absence of cabinets:

Fruits and vegetables can be stored in the refrigerator, but not the flowers nor any fish.

Postcards can be stored "on" the bulletin board on a wall.

Elements can be stored in the Elemental Display Rack, which I think is pretty cool. The elements can also be enabled as Focusing Decor.

And, of course, Microscope and Space Prints can be placed on the walls.

Smaller crystals (and fruits and vegetables if you want them on display...) can be placed on shelves on the wall. However, similar to the allowed refrigerator contents, flowers can't be placed on shelves, which is kind of odd in my opinion.

Larger crystals, frogs, MySims trophies, metals, aliens, and fossils can only be placed on cabinets, dressers, or tables. The benefit of doing this, though, is that some of these can be used to influence your sims mood by clicking on them in live mode and "enabling" each of their emotional auras.

Playful - MySims trophies
Energizing - Crystals
Aliens - Confident

No Mood Effect: Metals, Frogs, Fossils

Fish can be mounted and placed on the wall, but, of course, that doesn't allow you to use them as bait later.

On one hand, by NOT giving us cabinets, we are forced to discover the benefits of keeping these items "out in the open." It could also be a way to discourage us "hoarders" from collecting thousands of items (as I have done many times), which seems to inevitably slow down and crash the game. But who knows?

I think this information should be in a topic of its own on the General Discussion board, unless someone else has already started one.

[EtnaFan666]

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?

I have played The Sims 2 and found these Aspirations are like the Lifetime Wants of The Sims 2 - once you complete one, you can do another.  What would be the ultimate experience would BE goals - a long term one like the Lifetime Wish which is completed and never changes, but also a short-term goal which lets you keep things fresh. For example, a Sim could have the goal to be the ultimate philanderer and WooHoo 20 women, but he would also have small-term goals like being a serial romantic who becomes a Romantic Interest for 20 women and then changes to be a master musician, etc. Once he has WooHoo with his 20th conquest, he would be done and fulfilled with a zillion points of happiness(or maybe a platinum plumbob like in the Sims 2 so he would never be miserable) but the small goals would give him rewards as well.

The ability to change them if you don't like them is awesome. I'm still having a butt-load of problems getting Tier 2 of the Curator(the rocks spawn so slowly!) so I might change my Sim to be a Master Botanist instead. ^_^

[ClayMask]

I have played The Sims 2 and found these Aspirations are like the Lifetime Wants of The Sims 2 - once you complete one, you can do another.  What would be the ultimate experience would BE goals - a long term one like the Lifetime Wish which is completed and never changes, but also a short-term goal which lets you keep things fresh.

I'm confused.  I would say that The Sims 4 does have goals like this.  They are the different steps in the aspirations, and parts required to complete each step.

[lindsaysoderberg]

Re: No More Moodlet Manager

When I first started playing The Sims 4, the first thing I noticed and completely freaked out about was...no Moodlet Manager! Yikes! Playing the Sims 3 for me had quickly become about getting the Moodlet Manager ASAP so that I could focus completely on skills, careers, traveling, etc. and not have to worry about annoying, time-wasting things like sleeping and eating  I got enough of them to hand down to my children and future generations, never to worry again about eating, showering, sleeping, socializing... 

At first, I thought that EA would have to eventually bring it back for The Sims 4.

Now, I am happy to say, I am not missing it at all. It isn't difficult to earn the Rewards: Hardly Hungry, Never Weary, Antiseptic, Carefree, Independent, and Steel Bladder.

I think this new method of "saving sim time" is actually much better and more fun. With the Moodlet Manager, the moodlets still dropped quickly, and I had to constantly pull it out and also use it over and over, especially when it chose to knock my sim out rather than refill its moodlet meters.

The Moodlet Manager also made many objects somewhat obsolete (beds, toilet, showers, etc.), which is kind of silly.

The new method of earning rewards so that the moodlets decay much more slowly is fun because it is more reliable than the Moodlet Manager, and, even better, your sims still use all of those major objects, just not as frequently. It makes it feel a little more "real" and less like "cheating" or skipping necessary life actions.

I'm surprised that I haven't seen anyone else bring up the absence of the Moodlet Manager yet.

How do you all feel about it?