The Sims 4

cherryghost

Thread was removed from the now defunct The Sims forum, so starting a new one. Anyone looking forward to this? There's a lot of neat features in the customization and building sections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KSFkcKBBMo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZmtGfTj-to

Game is due August

wyrn

I preordered the last one and would have preordered this one only for the fiasco with SimCity. I just don't know what EA will do next. I think I'll hang on until there's a few patches released and then go back. I hated the way Sims3 was organised, everything from updating to importing add ons. It turned me right off.

Shiminay

I'm kinda curious to see it in action. I played a bit of Sims 3 after there was that EA Humble Bundle and it was a nice improvement on 2 which was the last one I played. I found it quirky, fun and engaging like the previous 2 Sims and I can't imagine 4 will change that up much - it's a winning formula.

The create-a-sim in the video above looks top notch. Intuitive and friendly interface that won't be any sort of issue to a new generation of potential players who have been raised on a touch screen.

As an aside, I can't help but feel that EA will continue to make it a terribly anti-consumer affair because Sims fans aren't gamers in the traditional sense of the word. They're dedicated and smart and enthusiastic people, but like the "Daves" who think they're gamers but who are only console CoD and FIFA fans and who think that buying the same game year after year is perfectly normal (as well as paying for additional content for said game on a regular basis), Sims fans have been horribly exploited with constant paid content and so have been trained to think that having to spend and spend and spend is perfectly normal.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Sims players or Daves by the way and I wholeheartedly believe that they are as valid and important a games consumer as anyone else, but I just really hate how their strength of numbers has permanently introduced things which those of us, who for the last 20 years have essentially fostered and given rise to the modern computer gaming industry, despise.

AlanS181824

Really excited for this game but €70 on Origin is extremely steep.

I think I'm going to wait until I can get the physical form.

cherryghost

Shocking decision to remove POOLS from the game, confirmed yesterday

AlanS181824

cherryghost wrote: »

Shocking decision to remove POOLS from the game, confirmed yesterday

They removed swimming pools from the game?

Why would they do that?!

Kiith

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Why would they do that?!

EA: Get ready for the Sims 4 - Pool Party, a new exciting DLC from EA.

:pac:

Vision of Disorder

I loved The Sims 2, constantly had problems with 3 though with Sims not aging properly, romantic relationships impossible to form. I've walked away in frustration and gone back more times than I care to think of, to play happily for a little while until something else goes wrong. I've uninstalled and reinstalled and constantly been frustrated by it. I'd love to think the new one will be fine but I'm not convinced I have to say, games being released buggy seems to be the norm these days.

wyrn

Kiith wrote: »

EA: Get ready for the Sims 4 - Pool Party, a new exciting DLC from EA.

:pac:

Was just about to post the same thing.

9bred4

Cowboy stuff. Sad to say that I won't be buying Sims 4 after buying the very high majority of games up to now. WHen they start to blatantly try suck money out of us users it's just too much!

J_E

I loved Sims 2 but Sims 3 was garbage, all of the sims had the same chubby, ambiguous faces and it was truly shameless with the expansion packs. I just don't trust EA to handle it properly any more and no doubt the game will be conveniently stripped of certain vital features only to have them 'featured' as downloadable content that costs extra. I truly believe Sims 2 was the peak of the series, incredible what people did with the game and the many many mods that were easy to install and use (which never really happened on the same scale with Sims 3)

sparkle_23

No toddlers in base game either which sucks

cherryghost

The idiots at EA/Maxis sound like they are driving this game into the ground. Just like Sim City

Cravez

It's no doubt Management who have no interest/experience in gaming who make all these quack decisions, just to suit the bondholders and their interest to the dollar rather than what's best to the customer. I mean you have to keep your shareholders happy, but making idiotic decisions does not equate into good business decisions for either party.

sparkle_23

There's a Create-a-sim demo available now. If you have Origin you can sign in and it will appear in the "My Games" section if you are lucky! I didn't get it at first but then I put my email address I use for origin on this site http://www.thesims.com/news/the-sims-4-create-a-sim-demo-early-access-signup and I have it now! Addicted already! I was annoyed about the lack of pools and toddlers...but I'm having so much fun creating Sims! Hurry up Sept 2 :D:D:D:D:D:D

AlanS181824

sparkle_23 wrote: »

There's a Create-a-sim demo available now. If you have Origin you can sign in and it will appear in the "My Games" section if you are lucky! I didn't get it at first but then I put my email address I use for origin on this site http://www.thesims.com/news/the-sims-4-create-a-sim-demo-early-access-signup and I have it now! Addicted already! I was annoyed about the lack of pools and toddlers...but I'm having so much fun creating Sims! Hurry up Sept 2 :D:D:D:D:D:D

I tried it out, pretty pleased with it.

Where are the toddlers can someone tell me!

The whole drag and pull system is interesting but I found that if I try to move my Sim around to take a look at the back of them I start making them fatter/thinner.

Pain to get it right.

sparkle_23

AlanS181824 wrote: »

I tried it out, pretty pleased with it.

Where are the toddlers can someone tell me!

The whole drag and pull system is interesting but I found that if I try to move my Sim around to take a look at the back of them I start making them fatter/thinner.

Pain to get it right.

I kept doing that too! I wanted to zoom in on their face and I was messing up all my hard work! I found the sliders easier than this but maybe I'll get used to it

AlanS181824

sparkle_23 wrote: »

I kept doing that too! I wanted to zoom in on their face and I was messing up all my hard work! I found the sliders easier than this but maybe I'll get used to it

Yeah I ended up using the little sliders in the end too but I found these moved a bit too fast for my liking.

I'm sure it's just something we're all gonna have to get used to.

Really excited for this game now!

sparkle_23

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Yeah I ended up using the little sliders in the end too but I found these moved a bit too fast for my liking.

I'm sure it's just something we're all gonna have to get used to.

Really excited for this game now!

Yeah me too! Even though the sims are more cartoony their faces seem more real or something! Hard to explain but it's cool!

AlanS181824

sparkle_23 wrote: »

Yeah me too! Even though the sims are more cartoony their faces seem more real or something! Hard to explain but it's cool!

Yeah, I love the artstyle of it. I think that if they were too real looking then it wouldn't be The Sims!

Even though I love The Sims I haven't pre-ordered it as of yet, it's €70 on Origin which is a crazy price for a game!

I think I'm going to wait until Christmas and see what the prices are like around then.

sparkle_23

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Yeah, I love the artstyle of it. I think that if they were too real looking then it wouldn't be The Sims!

Even though I love The Sims I haven't pre-ordered it as of yet, it's €70 on Origin which is a crazy price for a game!

I think I'm going to wait until Christmas and see what the prices are like around then.

I haven't pre-ordered either! That's a bit expensive like TS3 and TS2 were only €40 if I remember! I'm not sure how much it will cost over here (living in Canada!) I'll probably buy it on the day its released!!

MyNanoh

Toddlers won't be in the game? I've heard about babies, like, with diaper and uselessness, but toddlers...
Are you sure about that?

sparkle_23

MyNanoh wrote: »

Toddlers won't be in the game? I've heard about babies, like, with diaper and uselessness, but toddlers...
Are you sure about that?

100% sure... no toddlers. They go from babies to kids

sparkle_23

The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection is available for free on Origin! I just got it :D

http://simsvip.com/2014/07/23/one-week-only-the-sims-2-ultimate-collection-free/#comment-this-topic

I lost all my discs so it is good to have!!

cherryghost

Sims 2 is probably the definitive ones before EA started hacking up the Sims franchise. Good to see its free

On another note, minimum specs are releasted. Any PC/Laptop made within the last 4/5 years should be well capable of playing it:

OS: Windows XP (SP3), Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1
PROCESSOR: 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon 64 Dual-Core 4000+ or equivalent (For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 or equivalent)
MEMORY: At least 2 GB RAM
HARD DRIVE: At least 9 GB of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
DVD-ROM: DVD ROM drive required for installation only
VIDEO CARD: 128 MB of Video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 3.0. Supported Video Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better, ATI Radeon X1300 or better, Intel GMA X4500 or better
SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
DIRECTX: DirectX 9.0c compatible

MyNanoh

How cr*p it is, no toddlers.

sparkle_23

MyNanoh wrote: »

How cr*p it is, no toddlers.

Yeah it's annoying. They will probably add them in an expansion pack.

After trying the create a sim demo I'm excited to try the new build /buy mode!

Gamer Bhoy 89

cherryghost wrote: »

Sims 2 is probably the definitive ones before EA started hacking up the Sims franchise. Good to see its free

On another note, minimum specs are releasted. Any PC/Laptop made within the last 4/5 years should be well capable of playing it:

OS: Windows XP (SP3), Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1
PROCESSOR: 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon 64 Dual-Core 4000+ or equivalent (For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 or equivalent)
MEMORY: At least 2 GB RAM
HARD DRIVE: At least 9 GB of free space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content and saved games
DVD-ROM: DVD ROM drive required for installation only
VIDEO CARD: 128 MB of Video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 3.0. Supported Video Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better, ATI Radeon X1300 or better, Intel GMA X4500 or better
SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
DIRECTX: DirectX 9.0c compatible

Way too tired to be reading those specs so read my Signature, can I run it?

meoklmrk91

The sims 2 and the sims 3 were both launch day games for me, the sims 4 however is not, I have just not seen enough that makes it compelling and as EA have done with Simcity they are taking a truly beloved franchise and wreaking it with their greed. I have gotten many hours of play out of the sims 3, it's a really enjoyable game at its core but EA were too busy releasing ridiculously priced expansions for a game that was full of bugs and issues. Then you have stuff packs, which are not worth a penny IMHO, there is nothing in them, then there is the DLC which is all rediculously expensive. The expansions have all been pretty poor IMHO, I thought that the sims 2 expansions were far better thought out and implemented, free time, apartment life, seasons were just great and really added loads to the game.

The sims 3 seasons is just about as annoying as can be, the entire winter none of my kids ever go to school because ever day is a snow day. Showtime was just a big money making venture (I didn't buy it). The celebrity thing that they added with late night is permanently turned off in my game because absolutely everyone is a celebrity and its really annoying. The social media thing they added in university is really annoying. I actually uninstalled world adventures because of how much I hated it. I have even bypassed the launch centre because of how annoying and buggy it. Instead of fixing all these issues they would just release more crap that was fundementally broken.

Now they expect sims fans to not only buy a game that doesn't have pools or toddlers but to rebuy pets, late night, seasons, vacations/world adventures etc. etc. I had unleashed for the first sims, pets for the sims 2 and sims 3 and now they want me to buy it again for the sims 4? Forget about it, I think I am done with EA and their greediness and nothing I have seen about the sims 4 so far makes me want to change my mind. Maybe if they included some of this stuff into the base game it would inspire them to make better and new expansions that we haven't seen before instead of making more convoluted versions of the same one over and over. At the very least I think pets and seasons should be included in the base game.

degrassinoel

Gamer Bhoy 89 wrote: »

Way too tired to be reading those specs so read my Signature, can I run it?

your signature blinded me - don't be so lazy!

AlanS181824

MyNanoh wrote: »

How cr*p it is, no toddlers.

"Coming soon to the Sims 4: Toddlers! only €9.99!"

It's EA, I can easily see it happening.

Gamer Bhoy 89

degrassinoel wrote: »

your signature blinded me - don't be so lazy!

thanks for your feedback...

cherryghost

A depressing read of whats to come:

These are "not" rumors. Everything below has been confirmed with sources mentioned in this thread.

NOTE: Click the little 'x' for the source... (in progress of updating)

---

MAJOR CONFIRMED MISSING: (All were in base versions of Sims 3)
No create a style (CAST) - NOT technically possible in future expansion (x)
No modifications to public space - The park in the demo is a mix of a community lot and public space (x1) (x2)
No nursery items other than basinet (cribs, highchairs, etc.)
No "normal" careers - Law enforcement, Medical, Business, Education, etc. were removed
NO OPEN WORLD - You can't just walk from house to house without loading screen...(x1) (x2)
No pools (x)
No terrain tools other than paint - REALLY !?!?! (x)
No toddlers (x)
No story progression - Aside from Sim's aging its out! (x)

MAJOR CONFIRMED AS CRIPPLED/LIMITED/LAME: (All were in base versions of Sims 3)
All buildings on a lot must either have/have not a foundation. No mixing for sheds, garages, etc. (x)
Babies are mere objects - ***ALL INTERACTION IS THRU THE BASINET, NO NEEDS, YOU CAN'T WALK AROUND WITH THEM*** (x)
Completely FLAT building lots - That's right we've gone back to living in a flat world! (x)
Fewer floors/levels (x)
SIGNIFICANTLY smaller "worlds" of <25 lots compared to 125+ lots (x)
Smaller lots - Lots are limited to 50x50 instead of 64x64. (x)
Loading screens for individual lots (x)
Teens are same height as adults and they along with elders all look nearly identical. (x)

ALL OTHER MISSING GAMEPLAY ELEMENTS: (Were in base versions of Sims 1, Sims 2, or Sims 3)
No ability to place lots using the world editor (x)
No aliens (x)
No babysitters (x)
No basements (patched into base Sims 3) (x)
No burglars (x)
No cars (including as décor in home) (x)
No cemeteries (x)
No cloths shopping (in Sims 2) (x)
No color wheel, predefined to ~20 colors (x)
No curfew (x)
No customization of multi-tone hair color (users select only main color) (x)
No dinner proposals (in Sims 2) (x)
No diseases or illness (x)
No eyelash length slider (x)
No favorites (food, color, music) (x)
No fears (x)
No garage doors (for those décor cars) (x)
No gardeners for hire - Who is going to cut my lawn? (x)
No ghosts (x)
No grocery stores (x)
No male body hair (patched into base Sims 3) (x)
No move object cheat (x)
No newspapers (x)
No opacity slider for makeup (x)
No party invitations from other Sims (ok this may be a duplicate as it is apparently part of Story Progression) (x)
No private schools (or even on screen schools for that matter) (x)
No rabbit holes at all - Sadly the fix was the sim goes off screen instead of fixing it so the locations were working lots (x)
No random deaths (x)
No repairmen (x)
No repo man - Your toilets are now safe!!! (x)
No restaurants (in Sims 2) (x)
No skin slider (x)
No swimming / swimwear - Including lakes, fountains, etc. (x)
No tragic clown or social bunny (x)
No way to watch the sim commute to work/school (x)
No website for browsing exchange or store (its in-game only) (x)
No zodiac signs (x)

MISSING OBJECTS: (Were in base versions of Sims 1, Sims 2, or Sims 3. Could certainly return as Premium Content or with Expansions)
No bikes (x)
No changing tables (in Sims 2) (x)
No dish washers (x)
No hot tubs (x)
No pool tables (in Sims 1 & 2) (x)
No trash compactors (x)

ALL OTHER THAT IS CONFIRMED LAME:
32-bit executable - Intel has not sold mainstream consumer PC 32-bit processors in like 7+ years and it should have been 64-bit (to address more RAM which is very important to this game) (x)
Fewer "actual" traits (new traits = rewards in Sims 3) (x)
Fewer user selectable traits per Sim within CAS (additional ones assigned during gameplay) (x)
Incompatible simpoint currency - DON'T BUY BUNDLES IF YOU PLAN TO USE THEM ON SIMS 4 (x)

MOST LIKELY TRUE (but not confirmed):
No create a world
No swings
Premium Membership REQUIRED to get certain sets on release day or at all

CONTESTED FACTS (responses vary):
No attraction system
No MAC version - Answer changed from "after PC release" to "no comment" which has 100% of the time ultimately meant "no".

Vision of Disorder

cherryghost wrote: »

A depressing read of whats to come:

You have just saved me the cost of the game and for that I thank you.

9bred4

cherryghost wrote: »

A depressing read of whats to come:

So there ends the Sims generation. If any games developer had half a brain they would tap into the market. I'd root for them if I knew they were making a genuine effort. Sick of EA's crap

humanji

All this talk of missing features makes me want to re-install Sims 3.

Shiminay

The thing is Sims fans are not the same sort of Games fans in the way that we might identify ourselves as Gamers on this forum - I'd jokingly suggest a lot of us would call them filthy casuals and rank them in the same slot as Farmville players

However, the Sims has a lot of seriously hardcore players none of whom might be aware of the sorts of practices that the marketing people in EA force upon their customers. Sim City did at least make a slight dent in mainstream media because a lot of its fanbase aren't the sort's of people who just bl33t abuse and cause all people with legitimate complaints to be simply ignored as whinging children (Sorry folks, but all you need to do is look at the vitriol these things generate, no one will ever listen to anyone who engages in that sort of noise, criticism needs to be constructive and spoken in a language that senior management in suits will be willing to read).

So this, for me, is EA shafting another customer base entirely.

Why they keep doing it is anyone's guess, but the $$$'s must just keep coming regardless.

micktrim

Thanks for the list of all the things removed, very disappointing number of things removed. I thought sims 3 was a good improvement on the second overall but doubt I will get this one. Will wait until it comes out but more then likely will not buy it

humanji

Shiminay wrote: »

Why they keep doing it is anyone's guess, but the $$$'s must just keep coming regardless.

It's actually mind-boggling that they'd do this. Many didn't like The Sims 3 because how it changed some of the features. But this one is straight removing them and openly happily proclaiming the fact. At least with Simcity they pretended they were awesome and then were exposed. Now they're just shrugging their shoulders and saying "well, yeah, but we've got more emotions (that don't seem to do much)".

I reinstalled Sims 3, as I threatened, and it still strikes me the level of detail they put into it. Things like getting major bands to re-record their own songs, but with the lyrics in simlish. That sort of thing is ingenious.

Sims 4 seems to have stripped everything back just to suit the create-a-lot feature, which still lacks some of the major features. It's like someone high up is having a bet as to how much they can push consumers and still get their money.

sparkle_23

There's lots of uproar on the official forums. It really sucks they've taken away all that stuff. The babies are like on TS1, stuck in the crib all the time. I need a new laptop and wasn't planning on getting a gaming one. Looks like I'll stick with TS3 so I'll buy an amazing one that lets me run all settings on high.

wyrn

So what is going to be in the game? Is there anything new to make up for the loss? Between what's been reported in Cherryghost's post and the latest SimCity, I think I'm pretty much done with all of the Sim's franchise. I don't know what EA are playing at.

sparkle_23

wyrn wrote: »

So what is going to be in the game? Is there anything new to make up for the loss? Between what's been reported in Cherryghost's post and the latest SimCity, I think I'm pretty much done with all of the Sim's franchise. I don't know what EA are playing at.

Emotions... Which seem to be crappy from what I've seen. So dissapointing, I love the art style and I got the create a sim demo and I love it. A pity they've taken so much out of the base game

Cravez

I wouldn't be surprised if they add these features back in at a later time via DLC/Expansions and charge top dollar for it.

Shiminay

Yea and I think it speaks volumes about what people think and have come to expect from EA that the first thought a lot of people had was "That'll be paid DLC later" and I'll bet it'll still fly out the door when they do start selling.

Gunslinger92

When I initially heard about Sims 4, I was delighted.

But having read that list of things that won't be in it, it's just put the nail in the coffin. I was already skeptical about it having watched a video from ComicCon where the girl presenting kept going on and on about how sims have emotions now. It seems to be the biggest selling point of it?

Plus, since I got the sims 2 ultimate collection, it's made me realise how much better 2 is than 3, at least in my opinion. I never got into 3 as much. Oh well..

Cravez

Sim City never really had much expansions though, Sim City 4 had maybe 1 or 2? However the Sims 3 had 11 expansion packs and had 9 content packs.

Different IP's may have different views on DLC content, even if they are with the same company. I think the concept of the Sims is a lot more exploitable for additional content than Sim City.

Generic Dreadhead

Was gonna write a big thing about my love affair with the sims games since the 1st and my feedback on the stuff listed in this thread..... said i'd go for a shorter, sharper, concise commentary to save us all some time

This sounds like it's going to be $hít

cherryghost

Create a Sim is fun. Lots more variation but still have massive reservations about the end product itself.

AlanS181824

Not long left now!

We'll soon be Simmin' away :pac:

I'm getting a new tablet for school so unfortunately I couldn't preorder but who has?

Did ye pay €70 for it?

AlanS181824

OSI wrote: »

I pre-ordered it for the SO. Haven't shown her any of the furore over the lack of features, hoping it means she can enjoy it more.

Ah that's really nice :pac:

Nah, I got it on WoCK for €35

What's WoCK?

€35 definitely isn't a bad price for it.

humanji

No review copies until after the release date.

http://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/2014/08/the-sims-4-review-copies-being-withheld-until-after-release-spells-a-pr-disaster/

Pretty much the final nail in the coffin.