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The Sims 4

Gryffindorian

Gryffindorian

Vice Admiral
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I've been an avid Simmer since the first Sims game and have played all versions - TS1, TS2, TS3, and now TS4 - and bought countless expansion packs and downloadable objects.

The reviews on Amazon haven't been very good. Most players have pointed out some of the things that are lacking in this game.


  • No toddler stage
  • No swimming pool builder
  • No "open world" gameplay as in The Sims 3
Are there are any fans of The Sims on this board? I would like to know what you think of this latest installment. What say you?
 
I didn't play the first 2 games that much, but I really got into 3 and I loved it. I have most of the expansions for it and I still play it to this day.

I'm on the fence about 4. What you said above has turned me off of the game, plus they apparently got rid of the Create-A-Style mode, which is something that I LOVED about 3.

I like to form my own opinion about games, so I'll likely get it. I didn't know it was out already.
 
I had the predecessors, and also had the SimCity games up through 4. But I'm on an old machine now (hopefully temporarily but for 7 months so far), so I can't consider Sims 4 yet.

If I were able to play them now, I'd likely be doing that instead of being here all the time.

Wondering if leaving out small children has anything to do with concerns over modded child porn.
 
Toxteth O´Grady said:
I didn't play the first 2 games that much, but I really got into 3 and I loved it. I have most of the expansions for it and I still play it to this day.

I'm on the fence about 4. What you said above has turned me off of the game, plus they apparently got rid of the Create-A-Style mode, which is something that I LOVED about 3.

I like to form my own opinion about games, so I'll likely get it. I didn't know it was out already.
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IMHO, TS2 was the best in the series. I loved it so much, and it was a huge jump from the original in terms of graphics and gameplay. I bought almost all of the expansions for that game. TS3 seems kinda dumbed down for me, although I do like the open world feel. I don't care much for the Story Progression mode.
 
I have been thinking about trying Sims 2 again. I'm pretty sure I have my old copy of it somewhere. I only ever bought the University expansion for that. And it's been such a long time since I played it that I can't even picture much from it in my head.
 
If you're registered with EA Games, you can download The Sims 2 for free. I received an e-mail from them saying they would stop supporting TS2 but would like to give registered players the free download. I tried just that, but I have to say, the graphics were horrible, with only 800 x 600 maximum screen resolution.
 
Is 800 X 600 the highest that they go?

I did go ahead and purchase Sims 4 last night. I got the digital download of it and only took about 30-45 minutes to download.

First impressions? I love the graphics. The engine they're using for this one is pretty nice, I think. As long as the graphics never get too realistic. More cartoon-like graphics is what works for the Sims, I think.

While I bemoan the absence of CAS, I am pleased that they are offering multiple styles and colors for the clothing. The near-infinite options you had in Sims 3, however, are going to be missed by me.

I liked having the toddler stage in the previous two games, as it was a nice transition between baby and child. Having a baby grow from infant to a tween age seems a little awkward. I haven't gotten to that point yet, but right now I'm not too crazy about it.

This is a small thing, but I like that you can play with the genetics a little more this time. Originally you could only produce children with the genetics, but now you can create a sibling or a parent based on how your Sim looks. And they did a little more with the twin feature. In Sims 3 you clicked on "Create A Twin" and it just created an exact clone, but now it will change the clothing and hairstyle of the Sim, while keeping the same face, body and hair color.

I haven't played much with buildings yet, but it seems a little easier than Sims 3 was. I hope they will introduce basements in a future expansion.

I like that Sims can now multitask, like having a conversation while doing something else.

The new emotions feature is still pretty new to me. I'll need to play around with it some more before coming to any conclusions.

Overall I'm liking what I see so far, but it will really have to wow me to beat my experience playing Sims 3.
 
Gryffindorian said:
If you're registered with EA Games, you can download The Sims 2 for free. I received an e-mail from them saying they would stop supporting TS2 but would like to give registered players the free download. I tried just that, but I have to say, the graphics were horrible, with only 800 x 600 maximum screen resolution.
Click to expand...

You can edit the resolution by following these instructions.
 
As a casual Sims fan, TS4 just doesn't have a revolutionary feature to hook me. I was okay with transitioning from TS1 + expansions to the barebones TS2 because the ageing feature and 3D graphics were huge new additions. The open world and story progression features of TS3 were also big changes. TS4 doesn't have anything like that, it just has a list of small additions that are welcome, but far from exciting. And those additions just don't seem to justify the removal of the features that were taken out.

From what I've seen, TS4 looks more like TS1.5 and I see no need to upgrade from TS3.
 
I played the hell out of 2, but 3 left me sort of ambivalent. Open world is great and everything, but it seemed like there was nothing worthwhile in that open world. So far everything I've heard about 4 sounds like more of the same.
 
Robert Maxwell said:
Gryffindorian said:
If you're registered with EA Games, you can download The Sims 2 for free. I received an e-mail from them saying they would stop supporting TS2 but would like to give registered players the free download. I tried just that, but I have to say, the graphics were horrible, with only 800 x 600 maximum screen resolution.
Click to expand...

You can edit the resolution by following these instructions.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I might try TS2 again later, depending on how much I'm going to like TS4.

I still have TS3 on my PC, but I haven't played it that much and have bought only three expansions: Pets, Night Life, and University.

I'm getting the vibe that many players don't like paying a hefty price ($60) for a game with minimal content, and I can see where they're coming from. Does this mean that future expansion packs for TS4 are going to cost at least $50? I hope they incorporate a more dynamic gameplay, besides owning pets and going to college.

ETA:

I have been experimenting with the Create a Sim Demo since it was released. I made four sims just for the heck of it. I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to upload them to the Community, but I keep having connection issues with the Origin software. WTF? I want to be able to download copies of those sims to my current game.

I checked online for solutions. I tried adding Origin/Sims 4 to the safe list and even disabled my firewall altogether; it still didn't work. Has anyone else had this problem?
 
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Been playing Sims 4 for a couple days now....

There are some GREAT things about it. I love the new graphics (I know some hate it). What's really awesome is Sims can multitask. They can eat and watch TV, meaning you can take care of multiple needs at once easily. The social interactions ARE more dynamic. They naturally fall into 'group conversations', Sims will actually change what they're doing in order to interact with other Sims (ie if they're eating in the dining room and realize someone is cooking in the kitchen they'll get and up and join the other sim in the kitchen. If someone's watching TV they'll take their meal into the living room to interact with the other sim, watch TV AND eat). Careers aren't so easy to just get a promotion in, there's 'daily tasks' as well as skill levels and other goals to meet. It isn't so easy for kids to do well in school either. Seeing the sims' reaction to emotions is kind of fun too. I haven't gotten a kid raised to teen yet, but we'll see.

I'm still getting used to building houses (little difficult to do with a touch pad on a laptop). I can't say it's 'dynamic' but I like that you can drop pre-designed rooms into a lot without having to fill it with furniture yourself. Everything feels a little more 'real' as well.

On the other hand...like any base game things feel more limited after multiple expansions in the previous iteration. Fewer choices for hair, clothing, decorations, etc. I especially miss seasons, I really wish they had built those in.

I don't really care about pools, and honestly the toddler stage in Sims 3 was just tiring for the parents and a pain the get the toddler through all the developmental goals (walking, talking, potty training). Odd that they eliminated dishwashers, but oh well.

Open world vs. Closed world: Open world was more realistic obviously, but I always felt there was so much time wasted watching in Sims 3 watching sims run, bike, drive, boat between locations that closed world feels like less of a time suck. Loading screens are annoying though. Hopefully with expansion packs there will be more options for more 'worlds' with more public locations and more prebuilt and open lots.

Anyway, I'm enjoying it but it feels like it's lacking after the completeness of Sims 3 with expansions. It has potential to be great fun.
 
EA was giving it away on Origin a couple months ago. That's when I picked it up.

Origin fucking sucks, though.
 
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