Sims 4

[Audiophile]

I'm going to sound like a real dick, but the money I spent on this game is really nothing that will leave me crying. I am a fan of th series and at the moment it's the only game of its kind on the market. What EA/Maxis could do with, is some competition to push their asses into gear.

 

Secondly, it's not inferior and it's not sh*t. The problem is, you believe that opinion should be universal just because it's yours and you're somehow the enlightened one in all this.

 

It's a base game. It's fine for what it is. The TS3 base game was also sh*t but at the time it was "wow, open world!". They are clearly adding more in terms of patches and the expansion packs, well, have to wait for the first one to come out but so far, it looks decent.

 

I am just happy the game runs, unlike TS3, which played like cancer even if you've got a good PC. It's not as empty of a base game as it looks. I'll admit, when it came out I was a little underwhelmed but the more I played the more I discovered all the little things and enjoyed it. It is quality over quantity thus far....but they are adding the quantity. The devs have been very vocal and open with the community. It genuinely seems like they care and want to better their product. And I am usually not a sucker for all that because it's obvious when it's just BS P.R. and marketing.

 

That is all. Other reasons have already been given throughout this thread. Apologies for any spelling/grammar errors. Wrote this up on my phone.

 

We do agree on one thing: Call of Duty is sh*t.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Audiophile

[Eurotrash]

Oh boy:

I'm going to sound like a real dick, but the money I spent on this game is really nothing that will leave me crying. I am a fan of th series and at the moment it's the only game of its kind on the market. What EA/Maxis could do with, is some competition to push their asses into gear.

 

Agreed. What's killing The Sims is the same thing that's killing Grand Theft Auto: lack of (decent) competition.

 

I'm going to sound like a dick when saying that I don't care if you cry over it or not. What I care about is the bigger picture. People buying overpriced garbage are the reason companies like EA are making fools out of all of us.

 

Secondly, it's not inferior and it's not sh*t. The problem is, you believe that opinion should be universal just because it's yours and you're somehow the enlightened one in all this.

 

If not being a moron makes me enlightened then I guess I'm f*cking enlightened, but that doesn't change the fact that, while The Sims 4 is by no means a bad game, IT IS inferior to it's last two predecessors in every way. Not everything is a matter of opinion, and having less content, lacking every major feature the last two installments brought to the series and still being just as buggy as those two were when they launched (under Maxis' claim that they've sacrificed quantity for quality) aren't opinions.

 

It's a base game. It's fine for what it is. The TS3 base game was also sh*t but at the time it was "wow, open world!". They are clearly adding more in terms of patches and the expansion packs, well, have to wait for the first one to come out but so far, it looks decent.

 

The Sims 3 was also a base game and it featured a large open world, swimming pools, ghosts, toddlers, create-a-style, and the list goes on. Much of this stuff was new, you discredit open world like it was nothing, when in fact it was a major innovation in the series. Even IF what you say is true, and The Sims 3 was otherwise complete sh*te, at least it brought something to make up for it. Only thing The Sims 4 innovates is the DRM, but even that didn't last more than two weeks.

I am just happy the game runs, unlike TS3, which played like cancer even if you've got a good PC. It's not as empty of a base game as it looks. I'll admit, when it came out I was a little underwhelmed but the more I played the more I discovered all the little things and enjoyed it. It is quality over quantity thus far....but they are adding the quantity. The devs have been very vocal and open with the community. It genuinely seems like they care and want to better their product. And I am usually not a sucker for all that because it's obvious when it's just BS P.R. and marketing.

 

The Sims 3 was just as buggy as any other Sims game was at launch. The Sims 4 is no exception, or have you forgotten the symbiote babies? Unless you've somehow found the secret to unseeing things, I highly doubt it.

 

Performance wise The Sims 3 does run like crap even on high end PC's, but again, that's nothing new. Under piles of expansions The Sims 4 will become unplayable as well, make no mistake.

 

The Sims 4 base game does run decently on even the crappiest computers, I'll give it that. I've played it on my mother's laptop, that piece of junk can't even run Terraria well. The problem is that doesn't seem to go past decent, even on mid-range or high-end computers. The game stutterers a bit on both the laptop and my desktop, and as my save got bigger (4 - 5 hours in) my frame-rate stopped rising past 35 FPS.

 

But it is an improvement, I won't deny that. Problem is, that improvement isn't the result of good optimization. It's the result of extreme nerfing. It is quality over quantity, but not nearly enough quality to justify the ridiculously low quantity.

 

IThat is all. Other reasons have already been given throughout this thread. Apologies for any spelling/grammar errors. Wrote this up on my phone.

We do agree on one thing: Call of Duty is sh*t.

 

Well that's some l33t phone typing. I can't even type "lol" on mine without adding 5 extra letters.

 

 

 

Anyway, I think it's time for some karma balancing.

 

I have to say, I like the sound of the first expansion. It's good that they are bringing back aliens so soon, they were probably the only special life state from The Sims 3 that didn't suck. And god knows for how long I've wanted an interactive cop career.

 

Karma balance. Nailed it.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Eurotrash

[OysterBarron]

I see a lot of people saying about the stripped out features but if they don't then where exactly can they take the series if every feature from previous games was included as standard? Here's Sims 4 see you in 5 years for Sims 5, I myself like the fact and I would assume that starting with a barebones product everytime would be a blessing for developers in order to evolve the franchise in a different way to its predacessors. If they included everything then the franchise would soon get very old and boring very quickly for me at least.

 

Take sim city for example I would've been pissed if they had just crammed everything from simcity 4 into Simcity and liked the fact they'd actually made an effort to simulate everything and polish up the engine to a nice standard. Yeah they made a few bad decisions that were hard to swallow but you've to look at the bigger picture as games get bigger and more involved in development terms and cost they need to adopt certain strategy's in order for the franchise to survive in the long term.

 

I could say that people who expect anything but a barebones package especially where the Sims is concerned are actually the stupid mugs as they've been doing this from the first iteration of the franchise why you would expect anything different is beyond me?

 

As for the new dlc it has peaked my interest again as it seems they've thought it through and are offering a nice bit of content with this as well as gameplay options I may indeed pick it up.

[Fireman]

I see a lot of people saying about the stripped out features but if they don't then where exactly can they take the series if every feature from previous games was included as standard?

 

Are you serious? There are thousands of mods out there of items/things that could've been used to expand features comparable to like 10 years of DLC

 

That's why we don't buy Sims 4 until ~2 years from now, when the game is enjoyable.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Fireman

[Mr Rabbit]

 

I see a lot of people saying about the stripped out features but if they don't then where exactly can they take the series if every feature from previous games was included as standard?

 

Are you serious? There are thousands of mods out there of items/things that could've been used to expand features comparable to like 10 years of DLC

 

That's why we don't buy Sims 4 until ~2 years from now, when the game is enjoyable.

 

Like with sims 3, after EA have released a few expansions and the likes of Twallan have got a nice library of mods to use.

 

Because of that f*cker my sims 3 hours have made me make my profile private out of sheer embarrassment

Edited February 8, 2015 by Flynny

[OysterBarron]

 

I see a lot of people saying about the stripped out features but if they don't then where exactly can they take the series if every feature from previous games was included as standard?

 

Are you serious? There are thousands of mods out there of items/things that could've been used to expand features comparable to like 10 years of DLC

 

That's why we don't buy Sims 4 until ~2 years from now, when the game is enjoyable.

I personally only purchased 2 or 3 of the last dlc so half these features weren't in my game anyway. As for mods I haven't used any apart from the remove censor filter in the original iteration of the Sims and character models so I can't really comment on that side of things.

 

But the removal of features didn't really hurt my enjoyment of the Base game Sims 4 it has still got quite a few features that I enjoyed previously aswell as new things that polish the experience more from my point of view.

Edited February 9, 2015 by OysterBarron

[Eurotrash]

I see a lot of people saying about the stripped out features but if they don't then where exactly can they take the series if every feature from previous games was included as standard?

 

Agreed. But it's one thing to remove minor features like swimming pools or toddlers, and another to remove major ones like open-world and CASt. The first two EA can easily make up for (although they haven't), the later however is pure devolution. Imagine if GTA V was 2D, that's pretty much what it equivalates to.

 

Plus The Sims 4 is a step backwards compared to The Sims 2 as well. not just The Sims 3, yet they charge more for it than they did for any game in the series.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Eurotrash

[Audiophile]

Another trailer for the upcoming expansion:

 

[Eurotrash]

Grey's Anatomy: The Game.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Eurotrash

[Chad Warden]

I've got the game and thus far I'm enjoying it. I like the little things, having big group convos and the emotion system. The building system is very easy to use and I enjoyed making my own little starter home. The push/pull create a Sim is the easiest way to make them and by far the most in-depth. It's a fantastic game to me. I'm not a big fan on the baby-to-kid thing, it's weird...but, It's not enough to piss me off.

[Eurotrash]

The push/pull create a Sim is the easiest way to make them and by far the most in-depth.

 

I don't know what game you've been playing. With sliders I knew exactly what slider did what. With the "sculpting" feature I never know whether grabbing and dragging a sim's nose will make it longer or more curved or whatever.

 

IMO they only included this sculpting "feature" because they couldn't be arsed to create the slider interface.

[Chad Warden]

I find it to be more user friendly. It took some time to learn which part does which, but it works great for me. Maybe it's because I'm more of a casual fan of The Sims.

[Audiophile]

Next week, they will be showing off the detective career.

 

They also confirmed that on the days you do not want to bother following your sim to work, you can choose to have them just go to work as they would in a base career. I think that's good.

 

You can also have a career, including one of the new ones you follow your sim to work in, and open your own business. So, you could be a doctor who owns a bakery on the side. As the EP will introduce the baking skill, for one.

 

I don't know. I didn't have any of the game-breaking bugs at launch, like the demon babies. Not everyone had those. The issues I did have were minor and were fixed in patches. I have been enjoying the game and enjoy it more with each addition of content. The content is more in-depth and fleshed out than TS3 content. I feel like with EP's, this game will be the best in the series. Whether that will prove to be true, we have to wait and see. But so far, it looks good.

 

I don't get the hate. Every single TS game has been bare in the base game. Then EP's come out and it adds things. Yes, TS4 doesn't have the open world, but they did say EP's will likely expand on what is there. And if that means the game ends up running better, I don't care. I am having fun with it. Even with EP's added on, I think if you've a decent PC to begin with, the game won't run as bad as TS3 does.

 

Doesn't matter how open TS3 is. Doesn't matter how much more content it has than TS4. I can't enjoy it because of the stuttering and other performance issues. And I've not got a crap PC either.

[Coin]

My only complaint is the pricing of the add-ons. Outdoor Retreat is $30. Get To Work is going to cost $50.

 

f*ck that.

[Audiophile]

My only complaint is the pricing of the add-ons. Outdoor Retreat is $30. Get To Work is going to cost $50.

 

f*ck that.

 

It's $19.99 for Outdoor Retreat here and $39.99 for the EP.

 

But you're in Australia, you guys always get shafted.

[Chad Warden]

I can't see myself buying an expansion pack until next year. Game has plenty to offer and it's one of those games I play in spurts anyway.

[El Dildo]

My only complaint is the pricing of the add-ons. Outdoor Retreat is $30. Get To Work is going to cost $50.

 

f*ck that.

seriously I can't believe this crap is still going on.

 

so now you've paid over 120 dollars for the amount of content that almost any other game would deliver @ 60.

and this is just the beginning.

[OysterBarron]

I paid 500 dollar for 3 spaceships you can't fly in star citizen so that statement isn't completely correct.

 

The trouble is its only worth what you think you want to pay for it, The fact they don't have any competition also doesn't help the price so they can charge what the hell they want for it as no one really offers a decent alternative.

[Chad Warden]

New games use to come out for $40 on the PS2. Having to pay $70 for the base game and $20+ for DLC is insane.

[Eurotrash]

I find it to be more user friendly. It took some time to learn which part does which, but it works great for me. Maybe it's because I'm more of a casual fan of The Sims.

 

The Sims doesn't have casual fans. It redefined the Time Consuming genre.

 

I don't know. I didn't have any of the game-breaking bugs at launch, like the demon babies. Not everyone had those.

 

Lucky. But don't worry we'll fix that:

 

[El Dildo]

I paid 500 dollar for 3 spaceships you can't fly in star citizen

y.

 

y in gods name would you do that.

y.

Edited February 19, 2015 by El Diablo

[Eurotrash]

Happy 15th anniversary The Sims!

And rest in peace.

[Eurotrash]

 

 

Detectives earn promotions by handing out tickets? wat

[Audiophile]

Trailer for the Scientist career:

 

 

Looks damn good, if I say so myself. Seems substantial enough in what it adds.

 

Wish they'd give an exact date already, though. It's March and they're still on "Coming in April", dafuq is this, Apple?

 

Here is also an informative interview:

https://thesimscraper.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/group-shots-illnesses-babies-oh-my/

 

 

Q: In the trailers we see new areas in which are the Hospital and Police department, is this a new world or are Willow creek and Oasis springs having an expansion?

 

A: Rather than taking your Sims to a new world, The Sims 4 Get to Work integrates new environments into the existing worlds in The Sims 4. The Sims 4 Get to Work also includes an entirely new neighborhood, Magnolia Promenade, which is made up of four new lots, three of which are retail. You can create retail lots in the existing neighborhoods or move existing venues into the new neighborhood. It’s all up to you! You can even live right next door to your retail store.

[Audiophile]

Trailer for the Retail "career". Damn, it looks so good! Finally, an Open for Business return!

 

[Wayne Daniels]

Are all these trailers free content?

[Audiophile]

No. The content in these trailers is content from the first expansion pack: Get to Work.

 

They have provided free content in major patches from October, November and December. I believe they said they will continue to do patches like that.

However, some of the features that will come with the first expansion, they will also be added in via a patch. They mentioned basements as one of them. Basements are being added with this EP but will also be made available to those that do not have it via a patch.

 

The following talks about running a Bakery, as part of the retail "career". You can also run a photography studio, clothing store, etc.

http://www.thesims.com/en_GB/news/running-a-bakery

 

 

Sarah’s Bakery was failing. Badly. She’s was losing Simoleons on it every day, she was overworked, and she hadn’t found the time to leave her store in days. But today was the day she would turn things around.

She woke up bright and early in the small room she had built above her bakery. It was pretty basic – a bed, a bathroom, and a small kitchen – but it let her take care of immediate needs when she was too tired to head home after a long day of work. She would eventually have to go to her real house to pay her bills, but this little home away from home lets her start her day earlier (and end it later).

 

She made a few pies and brought them downstairs, putting them on shelves around the room. She looked around her shop, letting it all soak in. Her bakery was awful. It wasn’t cute or fun, or anything a bakery is supposed to be. If she wanted to succeed, she needed to expand and get creative!

 

Though her business was failing, she had saved up just enough Simoleons to make some changes. She grew her shop downward, adding a basement to her building and filling it with the fixings of a proper bakery: tables, ovens, and – of course – a cupcake machine, which she used to make a variety of awesome sweet and savory creations. Her garden let her include some fresh ingredients too – things the Sims coming in wouldn’t be able to resist. By the time she was done, she’d become better at baking, and learned a few new cool recipes.

 

Now she needed to change the look of her bakery to make it more appealing to potential customers. So she made another change, splitting her store down the middle. One side was painted pink, with cute decorations and all of the sweet baked goods she could create. On the other, things became darker and more savory, with Crab Cakes, Artisanal Herb Bread, and other flavorful goods. She stood in the middle of her larger, more impressive shop. This was good. This was very good! But now that her shop looked great, and was filled with great stuff, Sarah knew she’d need some help.

 

She looked through a list of potential hires. A few were great at sales, others better at cleaning and restocking, and some were more hardworking. She hired a cheerful Sim named Melissa and gave her a brand new uniform. Everyone who came in was met with a smile, and left with a handful of Sarah’s baked goods. As the day went on, Melissa got faster and faster (and made Sarah more and more money). Sarah’s new baked goods were flying off the shelves thanks to Melissa. Her investment was well worth it! Melissa was so good that Sarah needed to hit the floor herself, restocking her pies and cupcakes as Melissa rung people up on her tablet.

 

At the end of the day she walked over to the cash register and looked at her earnings. She’d made enough to give Melissa a well-deserved raise – which she knew would keep her happy – and her business was successful enough to upgrade.

 

A big, neon sign was placed above the door: talk about a perk!

What a difference a day makes. When she woke up she was struggling to make ends meet in a failing bakery, and now her shop was the talk of the town. Who knows what tomorrow might bring. She could hire another employee, add another level (or two) to her store. Maybe she would open a different type of store entirely – one that sells pictures of wooden figures. She wasn’t sure, but she was excited to find out!

Edited March 11, 2015 by Audiophile

[Wayne Daniels]

Installing this game again, haven't played since September 17!

[Audiophile]

Get to Work now has a release date: March 31, 2015 for North America. I presume other regions will be a few days later in April.

 

This EP will also be adding Aliens. Aliens sound like they work differently in TS4 than in previous Sims games. For example, achievements have revealed that Aliens can actually disguise themselves as regular Sims. The various careers have special ways of detecting Aliens: fingerprinting with the Detective, X-Rays with the Doctor, etc. Regular Sims outside of these careers will also have their ways of detection. There is an achievement for leading a "Double Life", where you get an Alien disguised as a regular Sim to marry a Sim without being detected.

 

A trailer for Aliens will be released this upcoming Tuesday.

 

I'm just providing info here, even though this thread seems quite dead, but I have to say - this EP sounds great. I look forward to it.

 

@Wayne Daniels

Yeah, they added quite a bit of content since then. Pools, family trees, careers, etc. That is all free. Paid content they added thus far has been the Outdoor Retreat Game Pack. Which I have and will recommend. It actually adds a fair bit of content like new skills, a new area. Info and a trailer I posted for it is in this thread.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Audiophile

[Geralt of Rivia]

New expansion looks awesome. Day 1 buy for me.