The Sims 4 came out last week. I’ve been enjoying my time with the game so far. But I’ve also seen a wide array of reactions to it online — some pleasant, some less so. I’d like to understand these better, so let’s talk about the state of The Sims.
Here are a few questions I’ve come up with after reading many people’s reflections on The Sims 4 on forums and in the comments here at Kotaku. These are only meant to be jumping off points to stimulate discussion, so feel free to add anything else that you think is relevant as well.
- What were you most excited for, or most worried about, before The Sims 4 came out?
- How does The Sims 4 compare to other games in the series?
- What, if anything, do you feel is missing from The Sims 4 in comparison to earlier games in the series?
- What improvements, if any, do you feel that the newest game has brought to the series?
- What additional features and content are you hoping will be added to The Sims 4 in the future?
- How do you feel about the new “moodlets” and the emotions that Sims display in The Sims 4? Has this made the game more fun for you, or more frustrating?
- Do you like the new multitasking abilities that Sims now have?
- What is your favourite thing to do in The Sims games? Do you like to focus on building the coolest houses and making the happiest families, or are you one of those players who likes to mess with your Sims? Has it been harder or easier to play your preferred way in The Sims 4 so far?
Tell us about your experience with The Sims 4 in the comments below. Feel free to jump in if you’re not playing the game yet for whatever reason but are still a fan of the series as well — just make sure to explain why you’re choosing to opt out of the new game for the time being.
And, as always, remember to have fun!
Comments
15 responses to “Some Questions For People Playing The Sims 4”
90% of my sims time is spent building houses. I don’t know if I’m missing something, but I’ve found that if I have my house on a foundation, I cannot build a ground-level fence. I can’t adjust the foundation height because it appears to be a global setting – it changes the house as well.
Another thing is the whole not being able to build fences unless there’s a wall there. Or in particular, I can’t place a column and simply build floor tiles on top of it – I wanted a kind of undercover area next to my house and simply couldn’t work it out the way I was perfectly able to in sims 3. Still, it’s a base game – hopefully patches improve it a wee bit, stuff like this can be mildly frustrating
On the fence tab theres an option for “free building”
Life saver 😛
1. I was worried they would have limited range of items at launch but seems they have more than ever.
2. Best iteration to date I would say, visuals are great. Somehow they’ve made time management more diverse so you can spend your day exploring or meeting new Sims without peeing yourself.
3. Pools, also wish there were more places to visit.
4. See 3
5. The new mood system seems to work great and you’re not forced to use it if you choose not to.
6. Multitasking is great, small things like being able to read and eat add to the immersion.
7. I love how adaptable the Sims are, I chose my needs, talents ect and the outcome was a little virtual me! I made up fake bad news and got into a fight with a friend.. Just like real life!
Obviously I was first concerned with the amount of cut content, but given that I have never bought an expansion or DLC for any Sims game, I thought perhaps I’d hardly notice.
Sims 4 character creation is.. beyond excellent, gameplay is fairly standard in the sense that if you enjoyed the previous games, you will like this one.
I have seen the full lists of features missing, but as stated earlier I never played expansions, so much of it was entirely lost on me. My most missed feature though is the vast range of career paths, some of the more stock standard ones have been cut. For example, Law career, Medicine etc.
Future content… bigger neighbourhoods would be grand.
The character creation improvements is definitely a major selling point for me (parts of it still need expanding on. A colour wheel would be grand.)
Moodlets, I hardly notice at all. I go about my standard gameplay and very rarely go into a negative ‘moodlet’, generally I will sit somewhere in the positives. Seems too easy to satisfy.
Anybody that knows anything about this game will know that the multitasking feature has produced some hilarious results and personally, I love it.
Favourite thing in the Sims series is to gradually build a massive house. Progress through a few career paths to work up a wad of cash, upgrade me house, rinse and repeat.
I want to know where all the reviews are for Sims 4. There doesn’t seem to be any from major sites.
The best part is going onto Metacritic or alike, look at almost every review that rated 9 or above and go to the reviewers profile, they will generally only have written the one review on Sims 4, or only on other games made by EA.
EA has a reputation for this.
I didn’t even look in to it that far, but if it’s the case that’s honestly insane.
I just looked up one of the reviewers (GamePro) who gave Sims 4 100 and none of their reviews urls link to anything. Just the pcworld site. Same thing with “Gamezilla!”.
Also, why hasn’t IGN/Gamespot reviewed this yet? It’s been almost a week since it’s been out.
I think it is fair to say some gaming companies (EA in particular) have a tendency to pay off websites to give good reviews/postpone reviews until a game is more ‘complete’. Can’t give any solid evidence, but it’s becomes more and more obvious the further into it you start looking.
That being said, I am quite enjoying The Sims 4, even with its (vast) array of issues. Short of a complete boycot, there is no way to stop any of it and it will never happen.
From what I have been reading IGN/Gamespot are in the middle of playing/reviewing the game with their full reviews coming up I think at the end of this week (hopefully)…It all depends on when they received their review copy of the game.
Like for example the major sites had received their review copies of Destiny about 4-5 days ago but can’t start reviewing it because servers are not online (and also Bungie stating that reviewers may want to go through a couple of days worth of gaming before reviewing)
Sigh. I really want to play this.
Spent the last 4 days ignoring all my friends to re create them in the Sims – 10/10 If I’ve ever had a crush on you we’ve been married in the Sims.
Hahahaha, I want to make myself all fancy in new Sims, dammit!
My wife is hooked on the sims 4 at the moment. It does look like a very fun game in its current form and i think it will only continue to improve. Compared to older sims games it loads incredibly fast and the build mode is very fleshed out with tons of options (just check thesims reddit).
1. excited Drag and pull of building mode worried cut content
2. feels so barren compared to other sims, the items in buy mode feels so barren there is no dish wash for god sake!!!!! lack of create is a big disappointment
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdEQmpVIE4A: with lack of create a style, it just makes the game items that much more generic andnot personalised from sim household to sim house, The number of lots available is ridiculously small. cut content
4. don’t have opinion on that yet
5. multitasking is a big plus now i can fill up hunger bar and social bar at the same time!!
6. Build house, I like most aspects of the new build mode especially the drag and pull walls and different wall heights.
I’m still playing The Sims 3.
So am I. And I have no plans to get Sims 4 any time soon. There’s just not enough in it for the price. Lack of create-a-style is a big minus for me.
*That the game was being released. I have no expectations.
*I’m a Sims fan. I’ve been one since 2000. Each one stood out alone. No matter what other’s reported or complained about.
*It’s missing something but the basics like cars, kitchen appliances, laundry appliances, video console’s, maybe even weather.
*It’s a better Sims 3 with minor perks.
*To be honest whatever the release as long as it’s good and I feel is worth me spending my money.
*I love the emotions. Sometimes it’s been hard when having more than 3 Sims. It’s a crazy frustrating feeling. But I’ve felt that way with all of the Sims games I’ve purchased.
*I love the multitasking ability they have. It builds relationship’s without me forcing the relationship.
*Make a Sim of myself and watch her progress in life in the game. It’s only harder when I have too many Sim kids.
I like it well enough, but I miss story progression as it stood in The Sims 3.
I tend to play one or two households, but in The Sims 3 this was fine because other households would be living their lives and doing their own things. They’d advance.
Beyond merely aging unplayed households don’t progress. They’re static.
And it makes for a more lifeless experience.
I know they’re gonna milk us with expansions and I tend to be okay with this, but really this is the only real problem I have with the game. I’d like for some attempt to be made at addressing it before we go onto releasing a “pets” expansion for the forth time.
1) I’m a veteran player, I’ve been playing Sims since six months before the end of Sims 1 and I was actually depressed right the way throughout this launch, I didn’t like what I was hearing. It sounded like Console Sims. I was wrong, I think this is the best of the series.
2) I think this is the best of the series apart from the issue of the load screens, they’ve actually put thought into the core game play elements like socials, character creation and building. This means that when they get EPs out, this should be a really strong version of the game
3) Missing? The only thing I miss is the open neighborhood
4) Improvements? The ability to multitask and build friendships while you are cooking or dancing. The ability to build charisma points while you are talking to someone rather than plonk them in front of a mirror. The ability to boost skill gain by getting their mood right
5) Additional features? Just the usual set of EPs. There will be a magic one, a seasons one, a Uni one and a travel one, there always is.
6) The moodlets are fine
7) Fun or frustrating? a bit of both. It took me three days and about two generations in one household figure out how to complete a household and it is a long time since that has happened. I am enjoying that they have challenged me a little for the first time in a long time.
8) Love the new multitasking abilities
9) Adore the new build mode, but I have spent more time gaming
While I appreciate that this thread is all about players sharing their thoughts on the game, I really can’t fathom the reason for the passive dismissing of player’s opinions.
This has been the lowest rated Sims game ever… and not by reviewers (people are afraid to give it under a 70 — of course), but by the players. The ratings and general consensus is that this was a gutted version of even just the Sims 2 that is being hawked for 60+ dollars.
There’s no way around how ridiculous that is. I don’t even care how great the game is as a standalone (it’s not — I’ll get into that), the bottom line is that it’s disrespectful to the game’s legacy and to its players.
It makes it no better that all of the gaming news outlets are doing nothing to propound the players truths. You’ve acknowledged the overwhelming consensus here, although very half-heartedly and without encapsulating the true brunt of what players are feeling (“But I’ve also seen a wide array of reactions to it online — some pleasant, some less so” wow… that’s how you’d describe the game’s reception?) It doesn’t matter what we say in the comments: we’ve already said it, for months leading up to the game and that did nothing. If that does make a difference, it’s hard to tell as EA doesn’t seem to be taking note. All they do are focus on the positive headlines, that these news outlets are MORE than happy to throw them… just like they did, inexplicably, with simcity.
As for the game — 1) As I said, the sims 4 feels like a hollowed out version of the Sims 2. The social interactions are wonderful and there are quite a few incremental improvements which DO make a difference. The sims themselves feel upgraded as well, and I do think the emotions system is fun — ALTHOUGH, I was happy with moodlets and felt that they took care of at least insinuating emotions. Unfortunately, the Sims world has been downgraded. The Sims 1’s neighborhood, honestly, had more to offer. At least it was unique, genuinely fun and curious. Here the few community lots feel like less interesting renditions of sunset valley inspired locations. Reverting to loading screens was a bold (and questionable) decision when the main selling point of the last one was the open world… and with nothing to make up for the loss, it’s a decision I don’t quite get.
2) It’s been made clear what’s missing from this game especially in comparison to other games. There have been lists made, comments posted, tweets have been tweeted, etc. It couldn’t be summarized more clearly. I’m gonna give you the big one: Create a Style.
3) The improvements are honestly mostly with the sims themselves. The sims really feel upgraded. Their ability to take care of their own needs is remarkable as is their newly realized potential for multitasking and socializing while completing tasks (although I need to say that these are very much incremental upgrades — the sims in the sims 3 were fine as well. The sims being better is not a draw at all — I feel I should make that clear)
4) As for additional features and content: doesn’t need to be said because it already has been. Google any list and there you have a quite a few things that the base game alone needed. Beyond that, everything the expansion packs from the past have added… only at this rate, I don’t think I’d buy another Sims 4 game unless there were some sort of major change in the way content is released. 600+ for an entire game is no longer a reasonable thing to ask for.
5) Emotions are fine. A fun overhaul, but not a game making or breaking one. Can be quite easy to control it for your own purposes — which isn’t a bad thing.
6) Yes I like the multitasking abilities, but it’s really a teeny tiny incremental upgrade that doesn’t even remotely make up for anything. (I feel I need to make that abundantly clear whenever I compliment the game. I like certain changes, but would never prefer them.)
7) I prefer to explore everything the Sims has to offer, but spend a lot of time living out the Sim’s lives… more time than in CAS or Build Mode.
I’ve played all the Sims games with all expansions and stuff packs and some Sims 3 store items. The base game is always plain and missing plenty and i can’t wait for the first expansion to be at the very least announced, but so far so good, I like the Sims 4.
1. I was mostly excited about the neighborhoods. It bugged me that we had to create new Worlds with Sims 3 so hopefully we will be able to make them bigger and unique like we used to in Sims 2 with Downtowns.
2. The Sims 4 is supposed to be better and I think it is or it will be once EA comes out with some real exciting new content be it as an expansion or items in the store.
3. Missing the dishwashers and the lack of color customization, got quite used to that with Sims 3.
4. Seasons and even though I was never a big fan of pets, we need some wildlife besides butterflies with no interactions and useless frogs and fish. And paddles appearing out of nowhere seriously????
5. Love the emotions but it is also frustrating at times, they change too quickly making it hard to earn satisfaction points.
6. The multitasking is the best part, I just love it even if sometimes it is bordering stupidity, but that was so needed and still hoping for some improvements.
7. My daughter likes to create Sims and then take hours to furnish their house. Me I just like to play and reach top of my career and then start a family once there is enough income as I will only use the cheats if it is very necessary and definitely no money cheats once the house is furnished with the essentials. It is still a game after all so I like to be challenged a bit.
Hopefully I will have my review finished before the weekend. The Sims 4 is not as bad as loads of people are making it to in my opinion.
The sims 4 is awesome. Just use these cool cheats: http://www.pcgamesdownload.org/sims-4-cheats/