I'm not ready for Sims 5

[Beebo Brink]

Yes, it's mostly just rumors for now, but I've sunk so much (emotionally and financially) into Sims 4 that I can't imagine giving that up for at least several more years (if ever).

So what new features would it take to entice you into starting all over again? What are you missing now that would be worth the transition?

 

[Sid]

It being a platform like SL. But without LL.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Actually many of the original SL crowd migrated from TSO - The Sims Online - over here, when TSO was being shut down or short before.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

Yes, it's mostly just rumors for now, but I've sunk so much (emotionally and financially) into Sims 4 that I can't imagine giving that up for at least several more years (if ever).

So what new features would it take to entice you into starting all over again? What are you missing now that would be worth the transition?

The good news is that you don't have to give it up. There are people still playing the Sims 3, heck even the Sims 2. A lot of money is spent over time on all of their DLC's, so why not enjoy it as long as you want? What would entice me? Hmmm...they'd have to bring back an open world feature like 3 had, but without all of the headache of bogging down your system.

 

[Beebo Brink]

What would entice me? Hmmm...they'd have to bring back an open world feature like 3 had, but without all of the headache of bogging down your system.

I never played the earlier Sims games, so that's a feature I've heard of but doesn't have any emotional resonance for me. The performance issues it brought would have driven me crazy, so I'm okay with the tradeoff that EA made for Sims 4.

For me, the only draw to a new game would be one in which there are more and better story progression options. I find the NPC dimension of Sims 4 to be... tepid. I'd love to have my sims lives in a world -- even if it's just a small neighborhood -- where the townies have interesting lives.

I also get exasperated with the constant, unrelenting demand of fulfilling Needs. By the time I've run through the list of getting my sim enough sleep, fed, cleaned, and socialized.... it's time to start all over again. That doesn't leave enough time for me to do the fun things, like fish all night. In my latest game I've finally tried to play with this feature, instead of against it. I'm working the Whims really hard to get enough Reward points to buy all the potions that reduce Needs, so that's actually been a new layer of fun for me, but that's only good for one game. I ain't doing that every time, so I think from now on I'll just use cheat codes.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Actually many of the original SL crowd migrated from TSO - The Sims Online - over here, when TSO was being shut down or short before.

Cris migrated from There.com to start SLU. Oddly that website still exists and implies the game is still running. However it requires responding to a confirmation email that never arrives. The sample videos need flash. The list of acceptable os's ends at XP - no vista, 7, 8, 10.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Actually many of the original SL crowd migrated from TSO - The Sims Online - over here, when TSO was being shut down or short before.

Or right after the TSO beta looked like a dumpster fire for recluses like me.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

As for the original question; from someone who has played every Sims game since The Sims [not counting SimEarth, SimCity in several if not all iterations, and most anything else of that sort], and who has made mods for sims 2 and 4....

1: At least customization for decor as good as Sims 2, preferably like Sims 3 - if they could manage that 15 years ago, they should be able to manage it now
2: Open World, again, they managed it 10 years ago, they should be able to do it now.
3: Seasons, Pets, University, Hobbies, Magic, Show business, etc from the start; and please, don't pull another Batuu on us. if you want to do stuff like that, make it either tie in better, or its own thing, like Medieval.
4: Could we please finally have round rooms with working windows.

Really, for me, I get new iterations of the sims at launch usually. I then usually go back and play the previous version until they actually get around to adding in Seasons. But it gets old to wait 3-6 years for them to get around to adding in stuff that was in previous versions. We've had Seasons since 2, Magic and show Business since 1, Pets since 1, University since 2, and so on. But then the devs don't include these things in the base game, and want to do -new- stuff, so we wait, and wait and wait.

I blame the EA marketing team.

Also, the rason for the Sims 4 having such limitations is it was originally going to be a mobile game, then someone decided to retool it for PC, and tried to market how it made sims hve more personality. [They don't - if they did, they would react differently to things]

 

[Jolene Benoir]

I never played the earlier Sims games, so that's a feature I've heard of but doesn't have any emotional resonance for me. The performance issues it brought would have driven me crazy, so I'm okay with the tradeoff that EA made for Sims 4.

For me, the only draw to a new game would be one in which there are more and better story progression options. I find the NPC dimension of Sims 4 to be... tepid. I'd love to have my sims lives in a world -- even if it's just a small neighborhood -- where the townies have interesting lives.

I also get exasperated with the constant, unrelenting demand of fulfilling Needs. By the time I've run through the list of getting my sim enough sleep, fed, cleaned, and socialized.... it's time to start all over again. That doesn't leave enough time for me to do the fun things, like fish all night. In my latest game I've finally tried to play with this feature, instead of against it. I'm working the Whims really hard to get enough Reward points to buy all the potions that reduce Needs, so that's actually been a new layer of fun for me, but that's only good for one game. I ain't doing that every time, so I think from now on I'll just use cheat codes.

Yes, the performance was absolutely awful and got worse with each added DLC. It was so bad that they would say you should only run like 3 DLC's. Well, thanks EA for saying that after having sold us like, I dunno, 20 of them. A person gets really attached to having certain things in their game and doesn't want to limit it to the 3 that THEY think *might* run okay.

Needs have actually improved by leaps and bounds from earlier games. I have played from the first one and still have all of the old discs. Back then, it didn't seem to bother me as much, but if I go back today, it's very noticeable. Of course they were new to it, Maxis, that is so I give them some leeway, but 1 is darn near unplayable these days. Wow, you die like nobody's business in that one from not fulfilling needs. They ran around extremely pissed off all day, pissing themselves and starting fires.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

As for the original question; from someone who has played every Sims game since The Sims [not counting SimEarth, SimCity in several if not all iterations, and most anything else of that sort], and who has made mods for sims 2 and 4....

1: At least customization for decor as good as Sims 2, preferably like Sims 3 - if they could manage that 15 years ago, they should be able to manage it now
2: Open World, again, they managed it 10 years ago, they should be able to do it now.
3: Seasons, Pets, University, Hobbies, Magic, Show business, etc from the start; and please, don't pull another Batuu on us. if you want to do stuff like that, make it either tie in better, or its own thing, like Medieval.
4: Could we please finally have round rooms with working windows.

Really, for me, I get new iterations of the sims at launch usually. I then usually go back and play the previous version until they actually get around to adding in Seasons. But it gets old to wait 3-6 years for them to get around to adding in stuff that was in previous versions. We've had Seasons since 2, Magic and show Business since 1, Pets since 1, University since 2, and so on. But then the devs don't include these things in the base game, and want to do -new- stuff, so we wait, and wait and wait.

I blame the EA marketing team.

Also, the rason for the Sims 4 having such limitations is it was originally going to be a mobile game, then someone decided to retool it for PC, and tried to market how it made sims hve more personality. [They don't - if they did, they would react differently to things]

Oh gawds, yes...I want back the customization of 3. You could copy ANY texture you wanted to any object.

On seasons, pets and so on. Those have always been my favs besides nightlife and similar. The more they take away from the base game, the more longtime players get irritated. Nobody likes having something and then having it taken away in later iterations. They really put out 4 initially quite bare-bones, without even proper basements or pools. Bad publicity move. They did fix later, but it turned off even diehard sims fans.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Oh gawds, yes...I want back the customization of 3. You could copy ANY texture you wanted to any object.

On seasons, pets and so on. Those have always been my favs besides nightlife and similar. The more they take away from the base game, the more longtime players get irritated. Nobody likes having something and then having it taken away in later iterations. They really put out 4 initially quite bare-bones, without even proper basements or pools. Bad publicity move. They did fix later, but it turned off even diehard sims fans.

3 had the best customization, hands down. But even 2 had better than 4 does. I could have a bed with whatever frame, then whatever bedding [and making recolours was loads easier than it seems now - for 4 I just make script mods.

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As for 3 and open worlds, I can usually run everything but you really always wanted the mod from MoreAwesomeThanYou to keep the game from going to into the eternal spawn npcs loop and killing your game. Also, turning off memories.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

3 had the best customization, hands down. But even 2 had better than 4 does. I could have a bed with whatever frame, then whatever bedding [and making recolours was loads easier than it seems now - for 4 I just make script mods.

--------
As for 3 and open worlds, I can usually run everything but you really always wanted the mod from MoreAwesomeThanYou to keep the game from going to into the eternal spawn npcs loop and killing your game. Also, turning off memories.

Yeah, I use NRAAS mods for the Sims 3 to try and keep it all under control, with the Master Controller, Overwatch and Error Trap, and yes on turning off memories.

No matter what sims game a person is playing mods can extend the life and enjoyment of the game. I always highly recommend with the caveat that a person doesn't overdo it, makes sure that they play nice together and things like thatt. People are SO creative and have breathed so much life into the games, in general.

On Beebo's original dilemma, I think that mods are going to keep the Sims 4 viable for quite some time into the Sims 5 life cycle; at a minimum until they release assorted DLC's.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Yeah, I use NRAAS mods for the Sims 3 to try and keep it all under control, with the Master Controller, Overwatch and Error Trap, and yes on turning off memories.

No matter what sims game a person is playing mods can extend the life and enjoyment of the game. I always highly recommend with the caveat that a person doesn't overdo it, makes sure that they play nice together and things like thatt. People are SO creative and have breathed so much life into the games, in general.

On Beebo's original dilemma, I think that mods are going to keep the Sims 4 viable for quite some time into the Sims 5 life cycle; at a minimum until they release assorted DLC's.

Yup, especially since, if the past s any indication, we'll be waiting for a few years for seasons again.... and that's usually my non-negotiable to actually really play it.
I still pop into 3 because I loved the future stuff, and being able to go to France and Egypt.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Ah yes, mods. One benefit of a completed life cycle for Sims 4 is that I would finally add mods. For now, with frequent updates and patches, it's just not worth it to install mods and then juggle them on and off.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

Ah yes, mods. One benefit of a completed life cycle for Sims 4 is that I would finally add mods. For now, with frequent updates and patches, it's just not worth it to install mods and then juggle them on and off.

Yeah, I can understand the reticence with mods. The ones I mentioned to Ari are qol ones for 3, since it runs so badly.

In my experience the best mods are those that alter the gameplay in some way. Of course that doesn't stop me from getting that cute little couch I just adore or other such things . I've been using mods on a limited basis right from the start with the Sims 4, but carefully. One thing I will give 4 is that it runs so much more smoothly than past iterations, even if you toss a bunch of mods at it. As to the open world thing, they, in many ways, harkened back to 2 in how they set up 4, with the screen loading and rabbit holes. Maybe, they will pay homage to 3 in 5, but with modern tech and capabilities. I can dream.

One thing that I will miss a lot is the built in online community. I have a house made for Christmas that always gets a lot of downloads this time of year, among other ones, and I LOVE seeing what other people have done, playing around with them. Eventually, I'm sure they will shut that down and a lot will be lost as a result. Here's to hoping they keep it open for quite some time.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Okay, so mods...

Most mods don't need updating until the game makes a change to the item modded - like, my experimental food mod or baking mod only need updating if they add new dishes to existing stoves [which I really should finish fixing them....]

 

[Jolene Benoir]

Okay, so mods...

Most mods don't need updating until the game makes a change to the item modded - like, my experimental food mod or baking mod only need updating if they add new dishes to existing stoves [which I really should finish fixing them....]

I have used McCmdCenter and pretty much have to update it with any major updates.

Oooh..I often do food mods/baking/cooking/canning and so on. I bet I have one or more of yours. Thank you!

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Well what I expect from Sims 5 is Rusty - lots and lots of Rusty:

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I have used McCmdCenter and pretty much have to update it with any major updates.

Oooh..I often do food mods/baking/cooking/canning and so on. I bet I have one or more of yours. Thank you!

If you do, I apologize for not getting them updated to work with the new pack.

But its more likely you have lilmsSam's stuff -overall, her stuff is better, i think.

But my MTS account is Reyn so you might have some anyways.

 

[Ann Launay]

Ah yes, mods. One benefit of a completed life cycle for Sims 4 is that I would finally add mods. For now, with frequent updates and patches, it's just not worth it to install mods and then juggle them on and off.

UI Cheats is a pretty nice, easy to use one. I mostly use it to fill - or partially fill - Needs, but it will also do things like fulfill career objectives if there’s something you’re struggling to complete, increase your funds balance without enabling console cheats, and change reputation/fame.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/ui-cheats-v1-16-26240068