Are you looking forward to TS4?

[ZaleISBI]

Okay, I've typed like, six novels here, and I keep deleting it all and starting over... but here's part I want to keep:

The Sims. I have such a fond memory of playing it for the very first time, and my Mom and I were sitting there together going through the tutorial with Bob and Betty. I put one of those cheap kitchen counters in, and I thought I'd left enough room for Betty to get out - but she couldn't. And then she wet herself. And my mom and I were in tears laughing so hard at her. And I bought every single TS1 expansion pack, and even though the Sims didn't age past child, or age and die, I just loved them.

Okay, that said - I'm super excited for TS4. As I've moved from TS1, to 2, to 3 there was always adjustments. Even from TS1 to TS2 there were things I missed. By the time TS2 had come out, TS1 had become amazingly in-depth! And although the game was without a doubt BETTER, it was very basic. I had all the TS1 expansions, and by the end, you could have a wizard and a superstar, or even find bigfoot! With TS2 base game it was just no comparison to how elaborate TS1 had become. But I obviously loved the genetics, the aging, the life stages, the aspirations! And then with all the expansions, TS2 far exceeded ANYTHING I could have imagined. The seasons and pets and university and nightlife and apartments! Then TS3! We again suffered a huge loss of just how elaborate things had become. Base game TS3 is dull in comparison to where we left off with TS2. But I *loved* the change in worlds and graphics. I loved the Sims better, and CASt - well that speaks for itself. And then bring on the expansions! TS3 ALSO vastly exceeded my own imagination and has provided me endless hours of entertainment and I'm STILL discovering new things ALL THE TIME. So what have I learned? TS4 base game is going to feel flat. But it's going to have so much going for it! I can tell I'm going to love the actual Sims. I'm super excited to see what the world plays like, and how the sky and lighting and day and night and wind... And see how they dream and eat and sleep and bathe - they're going to be totally different little pixel people, and I'm excited to see how their lives work. But - it's not going to have toddlers, and pools, and CASt, and seasons, and university, and pets, and travel, and maybe not even aliens - yet. And yes, we'll have to shell out a bazillion more real dollars to get all the things, and I'm sure everything you really want will be in TS4 Store, and so on and so forth. That's the nature of this business now - and in-game purchases are what keep games making money. The time of a one time purchase has passed. Games like "Candy Crush" bring in millions - and true game designers cannot compete with that kind of market without doing a bit of the same thing...but I'm off topic. Yes, I'm looking forward to TS4 - and in my experience, it will be lacking the depth that the previous games had managed to obtain before the launch of their successor, all the way back to TS1.

[Teresa]

This is very well put. Exactly my thoughts but so much better than I could have said. There will be an adjustment, definitely. It is the nature of the business. And it is a business. If sims 4 were just an extension of Sims 3, it would be an expansion. It is not, it is a new game and as such will be different from the previous versions of the game. But I am looking forward to seeing what they have to offer.

[Anne]

Well said, both of you! I completely agree with you.

Although I'm still bummed about the toddlers.

[Teresa]

I am disappointed about toddlers but they will be back at some point. And this will let us get used to the new game play so when toddlers are introduced we can focus on them

by Tapatalk

[Anne]

Very true!

[Echoweaver]

Zale said it so well .

I played Sims 1 and Sims 2 base games, but in neither case did I really get sucked in. A lot of this was because I never got any expansions, I'm sure. But I think my vision of the way the game should work required the open world, everyone ages strategy. One of my favorite aspects of the game is to populate the town with celebrity simalikes and interesting sim faces, then let it loose with NRaas Story Progression and let them all breed to see what I get. Sims 3 sims definitely *don't* all look alike. The genetics system is a ton of fun. The EA random sim generator just makes the same choices a lot of the time.

I'll be the first to concede that EA's Story Progression for Sims 3 really didn't work. I'm uneasy about the halfway approach in Sims 4 where everyone ages but there's no Story Progression at all; new families are just generated to replace the ones that die. But, honestly, Sims 3 unmodded Story Progression didn't work much better than that. I really hope it will be possible to write a Story Progression mod like IndieStone/NRaas and that someone will want to write one quickly.

On the subject of cartoony graphics, I think the new sims take a bit of getting used to, but I don't want my sims to be photorealistic. Photorealistic digital humans fall into what's known as the "uncanny valley" -- if they're designed to look too real, the human brain expects them to BE human and will zero in on the motions/behaviors that don't match a human you meet in real life. A cartoony human smiling on the screen may look cute, but a photorealistic one often looks creepy. That's probably OK in Call of Duty. It's not OK in The Sims. EA is trying to make design choices that walk the edge of the uncanny valley, and this is something where I agree with them.

I'm also sure we're going to end up with CC skins, CC hair, and CC eyes that will allow us to make our sims more or less photorealistic.

[Teresa]

Yep I bet we have berry sims pretty darn quick (I have already seen pictures out of CAS demo) speaking of, I am still hoping I get CAS demo before the release...

[Echoweaver]

I *really* want berry sims!

[Teresa]

Me too. I have reblog on my simblr of a bunch that were made in the demo. [emoji813]:

[Echoweaver]

You made berry sims in the TS4 demo? Is that linked from your sig?

[Teresa]

I didnt. But someone else did. Pretty. I will post the link to the simblr shortly.

by Tapatalk

[Chase]

@ Zale there is no lie! that is how it works, however annoying it is to our wallets lol

[Teresa]

http://downtherabbitholesims.tumblr.com ... nginghymns

by Tapatalk

[Ath]

Look baby game play!

[Chase]

"Unngh.... NOOBOO...." The pregnancy morph is pretty interesting looking, too

[TeeVee]

While I think it's cool what they've done with the babies themselves - no more podbabies! - I'm actually disappointed that the babies will be tied to the bassinet thing. I liked my sims being able to carry their kids around. I'm also not a fan of being able to pick the gender - I believe that's what the person said they did when it was paused. I like the element of surprise when my sims give birth so I'm really hoping that you can randomise that. All in all, I'm still going to get the game, but I'm getting a bit less excited about it the more I see :/

[Chase]

Thinking about it, babies really do frustrate me, since my sims will always leave them on the ground randomly, or a guest will take the baby and refuse to let go... speaking of leaving babies on the ground, I just had 6 kids taken away because I lost a baby on the ground in a CC furniture piece on TS2 , about a week ago. That'll never happen with the bassinet

I don't like the gender thing, either, if that is a thing. If we can pick, I'll probably just roll a die for each birth.

[Anne]

The article said they could *see* the gender, but not pick it, so I'm hopeful about that. I'm not really happy about the bassinet, though... Especially in combination with the no toddler thing, since I think making the babies be tied to the bassinet makes the gap between baby and child even larger. But we'll see, I guess.

[ZaleISBI]

I find it hard to believe they'll tie the babies to the bassinet by game launch. I mean, that's TS1 AGAIN. I *do* love how the baby actually LOOKS, and that you can breastfeed. It actually has arms and legs! That wiggle! If you can pick gender, which would be so weird (and so hard not to when you need certain gender options for heir!!!) I'm sure we can just roll for it... Man... So weird... tied to the bassinet and infant to child... Oh well, I still can't wait.

[Echoweaver]

Heh. If a baby is tied to an object, I'm willing to bet there will be more baby objects in the future, ala a swing or a bouncy chair. I'll be happy for 100% less leaving of the baby on the floor.

Honestly, if the baby is tied to the bassinet, my gameplay won't change a lot from Sims 3, since that's basically what I do.

Still hate hate hate the censor mosaic. I'd rather see the baby breastfeed through a shirt than look at that thing. I'm sure removing it will be a high priority for modders.