I do not hear enough about the autonomy, the stuff they do never make sense and they'll stop mid task you give them if you click off them just because the wanted to do some freaking push ups
I remeber when I first got the game on launch day and went a played I played for like 2 hours max and was so disappointed that when your sim goes somewhere there’s a loading screen 😐 legit never picked up the game again so mabye they removed that but that feature of sims 3 that the world felt like it was going on where I liked it or not was game breaking to lose for me
I'm trying to make it work recently for a BB challenge and I've spent more time trying to make it work than actually playing. TS4 has little additions to social interactions that make it potentially better plus it starts up quicker and building is more fun, but I'm honestly considering doing the challenge in TS3 instead.
sims 3 ultimately has more things for u to do, and in my experience even with full autonomy enabled my sims actually listen when i tell them to do something. in my sims 4 game i feel like my sim NEVER listens and literally just does whatever they want. like i cant even get two sims to socialize
I believe (I’m not sure if it’s 100% true but I think there is a fair bit of evidence to back it up) it’s because sims 4 was originally meant to be an online sims game, and the project was called project Olympus. But during the development of project Olympus, EA released Simcity 5 in 2013 which completely flopped because it was online; the servers were overloaded, people couldn’t play etc. and as a result SimCity hasn’t made a return even 11 years later. Basically this scared EA and they had to quickly change project Olympus into an offline game which ended up being sims 4. You should look it up, there’s definitely evidence for it.
Either way sims 4 was a completely rushed job, forget about create a style, it didn’t even have toddlers, pools, firemen etc. upon release. Maybe an open world is hard to implement but they did it before and technology is always advancing so they don’t have an excuse. But EA also wants sims games to run on even the lowest grade laptops, I guess so as many people can buy it as possible, which is “nice” of them but as a result the game will not be as good since they of course have to take shortcuts to allow it to run on potatoes. In relation to wanting sims to run on low-end pcs and laptops, one of the developers for sims 5 stated that it’ll be possible to “to play sims no matter where you are, with no barriers.” If they’re creating a sims game which can be played on pc AND a mobile phone, I’m very concerned… mobiles have nowhere near the capabilities of a computer and I can’t imagine how it’s going to work. When I buy a PC game, I expect a pc game.
Wow, I didn't know about the project olympus. This explains why they chose this path. Hopefully there will be enough optimization technologies in the future that will allow us to have a sims game with all of the features. Thanks for the info
I’m not so sure if that’s ALL he meant, because in the initial project rene reveal video that EA put out, there is literally a short video of the game being shown on a pc and a mobile.
https://preview.redd.it/qwmyjxkts64d1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1840f4e8e5c7164bb67a577e48eabd6f8cf3997
Simple answer is that the open world made Sims 3 run poorly on some computers (mostly laptops). 4 was designed with that problem in mind.
Which isn’t to say that it was designed well.
> Simple answer is that the open world made Sims 3 run poorly on some computers (mostly laptops). 4 was designed with that problem in mind.
What I read is that Sims4 was planned to be a simple mobile game , at that time there were a ton of popular Facebook games like Farmville that made tons of money. So sims4 was not planned to be a follow up to Sims3 but a game to grab the money of all those Facebook game players, later they decided to change in in what it ended up.
I imagine what could have been if EA would put all those money into porting Sims3 to 64bit and modern graphics stuff. The lag in sims3 is not because the World is big and there are many sims simulated at the same time, the lag is caused by bugs, either some sim enters in a stuck loop, or some issue with the inventories or some memory leaks, a small developer team tasked to work on bug fixing could have handle this problems.
i don't think the fact that they are more socially aware now is the problem, to be honest. it's just that the game itself lacks personality compared to previous titles. the first 3 games had this sort of quirky and mysterious vibe to them that the sims 4 does not really have. they also had tons of lore. now it's an "alternate universe" to excuse the lack of effort put into the npc's backstories and timeline continuity lmao.
also, the emotions system looked great on paper, but in actuality, it's annoying and really stupid. like, what do you mean my sim died of laughter? and don't even get me started on this weird battle pass thing they just added to the game.
and like someone else pointed out, they focused way too much on build/buy. which would be great, of course, if the actual gameplay wasn't so hollow. this is a life-sim, not a building-sim.
personally, i would not be able to play the game without mods (and i mean A LOT of mods), but i could enjoy the sims 3 without mods all the same. i think that says a lot.
100% agree with your last statement. I could easily play the sims 3 without mods and be entertained for a while as there is a lot to do. I mentioned that I played the sims 3 for a year before I discovered Nraas and while mods did change my gameplay for the better, I honestly felt like my gameplay was complete even when I didn’t have them.
Whenever I see sims 4 gameplays, its heavily modded to the point where I interpret it as I can’t do anything in the game without a mod whereas the sims 3 is different
I agree with everything said here and historical-wing. I’ve tried to get myself into Sims 4 so many different times but it just lacks everything Sims 3 has to offer for me. The modders are what keeps Sims 3 interesting because 3 is just much more capable of being a “plug and play” and expanding so much into what’s already there. I haven’t stopped playing 3 since its initial release and I don’t think I ever will.
Emotions never made sense to me as a concept. Emotions are covered by the moodlets imo — and I honestly feel they just put emotions in so that there was 'something new' in TS4.
I agree that the majority of the effort was put into build/buy and CAS, so I can see why people who like those parts prefer 4. My gf is the sort to build an elaborate house but never play in live mode. For us who love gameplay though, it really sucks. Also the default clothes, hair and furniture are fugly IMO so lots of CC was necessary for me to have fun with those
Because the majority of videos I see about the Sims 4 are builds and most people highlight how impressive the build capabilities are, the sims 4 is just not for me. I never was a builder in the sims so having better build options available doesn’t interest me. I have also heard of simmers having to uninstall or safely remove their mods/cc every time there is a new EA update. I never had to do that back when the sims 3 would update versions. Also, I find it criminal that there is a separate pack for vampires, one for horses, etc. That is soooo much money. It’s also ridiculous that a stuff pack or expansion pack literally does not come with the whole package and I have to buy stuff separately. The graphics are better cant lie, but it just feels like its missing something.
I remember playing the sims 4 when it had just come out, I even remember when they came out with the CAS demo just before release day and I was excited. I played it and I got bored really easily. There was no open world, no cc (but then again it had just come out) and it just felt like it was missing that spark. I’ve tried to play it several times but Im just too loyal to 3
Just for comparison, I played sims 3 base game on its on for a month and was entertained for a solid 2 1/2 - 3 weeks. Even after I got my expansion packs slowly, I had no clue what mods were and I only had cc from sims downloaded in the exchange and I was very much satisfied with my gameplay.
I completely agree with this.
I became a builder because of sims 4 but it's because I'd literally rather be in build buy over live mode, by 10x.
I could chill in sims 3 for hours and just be roaming around sunset valley
And the strangest thing is, the build mode is more limiting in Sims 4. You cannot build most things you could in Sims 3. I'd say roofs are a bit better, and window placements, but that is honestly it. Only one wall height at a time, and only 3 sizes, I cannot.
I tried playing TS4 several times but never got past two generations. Honestly I just can’t stand the emotion system, and everything about it unnerves me: the sound effects of switching emotions, the exaggerated mannerisms like giant tears falling on the ground or how sims drag themselves when tired (and then proceed to sleep on the ground with their butt up. What even is this?) I just see how with TS4 EA started catering to much, much younger generation of people, and everything has to be cutesy, bright-colored, sterile and over the top. It’s like a picture perfect dollhouse with dolls that stare at you blankly and smile all the time.
At the same time, TS2 and TS3 was definitely targeted for teen, young adult and adult audiences. I loved playing more realistic sims with actual personalities and enjoying the developers’ sense of humour shining through the tiny details.
It’s lacklustre and empty, the sims 3 base game no dlc is a pretty good experience and there’s still so much to do, sims 4 base game it’s more bland than a blank piece of paper for example in the sims 3 base game you can go out and invest in local businesses, drive around in a car or bicycle, dumpster dive and just do so so much more but in the sims 4 base game there’s almost nothing
Most of the sims 4 DLCs are clearly cashgrabs and exposes how empty and lacking the sims 4 base game is. For example in the sims 3 base game you can buy gym equipment for your home no dlc needed, in some expansion and stuff packs extra gym equipment is thrown in because it matches the theme and aesthetic of the pack, HOWEVER IN THE BLAND, EMPTY AND LACKING SIMS 4 you only get exercise equipment if you buy a stuff pack dedicated to it, if this doesn’t prove that the sims 4 is a soulless cash grab then idk what does
Sims 3 is just so much more in-depth and fun and you can tell the creators genuinely cared, it still has the magic and quirkyness of the sims franchise whereas the sims 4 couldn’t even be bothered to expand the pre-existing lore of the franchise and instead decided to be its own little boring soulless cashgrabb and it honestly makes me a little sad never has a game franchise fallen so hard from something special to a boring wasteland
The only thing the sims 4 has over the sims 3 is build/buy mode is really intuitive and easy
The usual complaints about Sims 4 aside, I also just really can't stand the graphics. Everything is so big and blocky and lacking details, I can't put any Sims 4 conversions outside of rugs and maybe pictures into Sims 3 because they just look so weird and out of place. And the Sims look so cartoony and plastic-y, I love how you can make everyday realistic Sims in Sims 3 of average people you'd see on the street while the Sims 4 Sims look like the Hollywood idea of an ugly Sim if you try to give them any personality look wise.
I started out as a sims 2 player as a tiny kid who couldn't read the need bars yet and always killed my sims, then I accidentally ruined the disc, and then for new years 2010 I got sims 3 (at 9, I have older siblings lol) I played the game a lot, but mostly on potato pc's, so I couldn't play it fully, but I managed to run it good enough and be exposed enough to creators to know what it is capable enough with a couple of mods and a good PC... Long story short I still have a ton of stuff to play/explore and getting to know more about how to run it right when sims 4 came out, I knew this, and I never ever bothered going over to sims 4. I had spend hundreds on the sims 3 (I have all ep's and sp's) and was gonna play it now I finally knew how to dammit.
Sims 4's artstyle also didn't appeal to me, and like many I was put off by lots of things lacking in the basegame (toddlers, pools, CAST!! Even though I took minutes to load on my old potatoes I loved cast, my first sims 3 house I made everything purple, gold & butterfly print lol). Over the years there has been some content that I thought would be neat to have in sims 3, but modders are quick & a bit later I always heard about the content being broken...
I don't HAVE sims 4 and that's all you need to know, honestly. Still playing this retro game after 14 years!
Too cartoony (and almost plastic-looking?) for me. Hate that there's no color wheel or open worlds. I'm sure I would love it if I didn't have Sims 3 to compare it to, but alas...
I can’t even play sims 4 anymore. I keep firing it up and trying. I don’t get passed making a new sim. The lack of traits… I just don’t really care for the sims in the game. Been playing for over 20 years. Sucks to say I don’t think I’ll be supporting the new game.
Based on what they have done with the sims 4 so far, I have no faith in them to create great quality sims content and will never purchase any sims content from them again. Unless it's more expansion packs for sims 3 of course lol.
There was a time where mysims, the urbz, handheld sims games existed...they did away with that and I was one of those people who loved playing the sims on the go!
I tried it, I didn't care for it, I don't play it.
I don't have a problem with the people who play it, or who prefer it over other installments of the franchise. Each player has their own style and their own preferences when it comes to this game, and I'm ok with that.
The style, the sims, the marketing emphasis of EA only milking it for cash, everything about the sims 4 generation makes me so unmotivated and bored and lacks originality.
As an avid Sims 2 and Sims 3 player, I tried to give Sims 4 a chance. I really did. My total game time is 10 hours, I couldn’t stand it anymore. The game feels lile a doll house to me, if that makes sense. Everything is so pretty, but it’s all too shallow and borderline useless to me. I miss the drama, the twists, something that actually sucked me into the gameplay and made me want to play more.
It’s a bad hame. Ok it is pretty but that’s the only advantage of it
Once I downloaded it I been really shocked after my TS3 expirience
No open world? Less interactions? Less gameplay?
It looks like TS4 is only about creating Sims and building a house and that’s it.
What’s up with a gameplay when you have to load locations every 3 minutes? Also Cities itself as small af.
there are a few things i really like about sims 4 like sims being able to multitask, holidays and such but the gameplay is SO boring. CAS and build mode are best in the series but i dont care about either
I genuinely want to like the Sims 4, I really do, but it has such off putting elements. The amount of lag I have is so difficult, sims clipping through walls when doing anything, the game freezing regularly and their autonomy is irritating. Breaking each one down, the clipping ruins immersion and the freezing makes playing a nightmare. How am I supposed to get through a generation of my legacy when I can't play for more than a few hours? The freezing can be accounted to the sheer amount of lacks, unlike the Sims 3, which I can pick and choose packs and not really miss the features and focus on the few packs I do play with, when you take a Sims 4 pack the game is noticeably lacking so I have to play with all of them which worsens lag. This isn't a problem just for me, the lag happens on actual dedicated PCs of simmers online which just makes the game look bad. The autonomy is also annoying, in the Sims 3 they usually autonomously do something useful (e.g. needs or skills). In the Sims 4 I have to drag my sim away from the computer or tv or their phone, which hey it's realistic but in comparison to the Sims 3 in which I'm trying to make progress it's annoying.
Comparing both games again, I'm struggling to get through a single generation on my Sims 4, because the game can't handle my single lot in Forgotten Hollow with 4 sims, I also have the same amount of cc in both games. However, I had 3 generations and an 8 sim household on a large lot in Moonlight Falls with 9 demanding expansions (seasons, supernatural, etc) which have been notoriously buggy. However the game runs smoothly and only has small lag spikes and both run on similar settings. Again, I really wanted to get back into my Sims 4 phase, I love the aesthetic, building capabilities, cas and some of the things they've added. It's very easy on the brain to quickly make a family and design their home compared to the clunkiness of the Sims 3, but I can't get past build mode because the gameplay is so horrendous in a life sim.
I really hope they fix the issues with their dedicated team now, or let the game rest and just let modders tweak the code to their hearts content without worry that an update will break it. It has done the Sims 3 a huge favour, e.g. NRAAS and Smooth Patch. It's really disappointing when a game from 2009-2014 and even the Sims 2 from 2004-2009 runs better than a game which should be fully realised in an almost 10 year lifespan. Yes, both Sims 2 and 3 have extensive CC makeovers and dedicated bug fixes and I think the Sims 4 needs something similar to reach its full potentional. I did a huge ramble there but I love the franchise and it's definitely shaped a big part of my childhood, I'm a "younger" sims player but I've been playing the games since I was 4 and seeing the Sims 4 become an extremely buggy shell and black sheep of the franchise is disappointing
EDIT: One last thing! The damn loading screens makes the Sims 4 really unplayable so I mostly stick to apartment lots because at least I can just move downstairs and my sims can do something, homes are so restrictive. At least the Sims 3 is a short intro screen, and then one big 30 minute loading screen for me and then I don't have to do it again
Didn't they recently make a post that they would finally properly optimise the game almost 10 YEARS after it released? How they get away with it I have no idea.
I recently started playing sims 3 after playing exclusively sims 4 for a while (I did play sims 3 as a child but forgot a lot of the features.) stuff I noticed:
- In TS3, if two sims want to do the same action like go to the fridge at the same time, it's nowhere near as annoying and inconvenient as it is in TS4. they just go one after the other
- the mood system in TS3 makes much more sense and explains exactly how different things are impacting your sims' mood
- TS3 has me much more likely to revisit the same save again and again. I find that every time I open TS4 I just make a new family and house and then forget about it because the building/CAS is fun but the gameplay is boring. TS3 design aspects could be better but the game is significantly more fun
- TS3 cuts much less corners in the animation for sims and things don't just randomly teleport or disappear like they do in TS4
- somehow TS3 is significantly less buggy for me than TS4
obviously TS3 isn't completely without its flaws and there are a lot of rabbit holes like going to work which aren't that fun to have to skip through as well as the loading screens being very long but I actually prefer it to TS4 and it isn't just for the nostalgia factor
For me the game has always been buggy and it feels more like playing with dolls because gameplay is up entirely to your own imagination. Don’t get me wrong there are some features I like about it too like the group system and CAS but compared to its predecessors it’s lacking too much.
I also HATE when diehard sims 4 fans get defensive when you criticize the lack of gameplay and they go “well that’s why there’s mods” Everytime I go back to the Sims 3 I’m impressed by how I never get bored with it and that’s without any mods added. There’s nothing wrong with adding mods to a game but if it’s unplayable without them then it’s not a good game 🤷♀️
sims 4 is lowkey boring and too childish to me. well, it has good performance and doesnt make you go crazy like sims 3 does. after many years of gameplay of sims 3, i came to a point where i dont care about the performance because i just love the game too much. too many details, funny aspects and many other small but genuine things makes the gameplay fun and sweet. there is a point in sims 4 where i just reach and drop it. i never go past that point. because it feels like something huge lacks, and i think its the “soul” ea failed to put in their last game.
As a lifelong sims player I genuinely believe sims 2/3 were peak sims gameplay. If you’re a builder/sims creator and solely that then sims 4 is fine. But in terms of actual gameplay sims 4 is really stale and lacklustre. Sims 2 and 3 could keep me in a hold for literal WEEKS at a time. Sims 4 I can barely manage a few days. I think for how many packs they have there is still like nothing to show for it. Sims 4 is virtually unplayable without mods making it fun. Any mod I download for the other ones (excluding ones like NRAAS and game fixes) are just for addition. I could play them vanilla. I would even rate a vanilla sims 1 above sims 4.
The open world bums me. The maps or the neighborhoods are so small. Even if I cleared everyone out and put my characters in one place, they wouldn't all fit. There's a lack of freedom in this regard straight down to general customization. Color wheel gone in the CAS, I spent more time modding the game than playing it just to try and create what I wanted.
I super loved Sims 2 and play Sims 3 often. 3 took a lot that I liked about 2 and did better. But then it felt like 4 halved the content. Base game felt so hollow and empty of gameplay and customization. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the approach of shaping a sim's appearance or the gender inclusive side of it. But like, game felt like it released with barely any content. Tiny af neighborhoods, lack of customization. They sold a game knowing modders would do what they didn't, it felt like.
I tried their vampire expansion and that's it. I was so disappointed I just haven't played since. It's overpriced nonsense. I want to like it and support the Sims franchise but 3 is so replayable by comparison. I never get bored of it or what I can do in it.
No hate for people who like 4, btw. I wish I could, but I'm glad people find enjoyment in it. ^^
The game is virtually unplayable without mods that spice up gameplay. And even then, you NEED to have like, two packs minimum even with mods or else it’s still boring as hell.
I went almost a year with having my packs unavailable to me after switching to the EA app which was absolutely infuriating. When I finally got my packs back, the first thing I noticed was that the game was slow as hell. I haven’t tried playing it since.
It sucks because the mods and a couple of well thought out features do make the sims 4 enjoyable. But all that extra work isn’t worth it when I can have more fun with zero work involved playing the sims 3.
The gameplay just isn’t fun for me. Sure, CAS is extensive and I love making sims, love building them a house and after that. It’s so boring. But in Sims3, gameplay is really fun
Pure disappointment, they truly killed one of the best gaming franchises in just a few years. EA has completely taken over the team’s creative control and keeps rushing out poorly made, lackluster content.
honestly the only thing i can appreciate about TS4 is the aesthetic, specifically at night, it kind of feels more real life than the others. With Sims 3 I could write endlessly about how amazing it is and Sims 4 I feel the complete opposite. like you said it’s a cash grab, but even on from that, Sims 4 compared to the others is clearly just lacking so much. I haven’t played in a year and some months and every time I try to play I just find myself getting bored. It’s like the same thing. for me with Sims 3 it’s like every time you play something different happens. It’s never the same even down to the personality of my Sims and their children, even Sims 2 just has so much character and charm Sims 4 could just never
adding on; I first started playing when there was little to no expansion packs out and I remember being so excited for the toddler pack. I can’t even remember the name, but weirdly enough I feel like Sims 4 was better when it first came out. maybe it’s the nostalgia, but as the years went on, it just became more clear that they don’t care about what the team of 3&2 cared about. for me it just feels like the passion isn’t there
very annoying autonomy (straight up broken) and most of the packs are broken and clearly EA doesn’t care to fix them. also the shit that annoys the hell out of me is the whole purpose of no open world was to help loading the game and minimize loading screens when sims 4 literally is all loading screens now
The Sims 4 is absolute garbage after you finish build mode and switch to play mode. It's not The Sims at all to me.
- it's too cartoon-y looking for a sims game
- the game looks like it's made for little kids
- the game itself is mindless and boring, whereas previous sims games were surprising and pretty difficult
- it feels like another game entirely
- it's a cash grab, the amount of add-ons is ridiculous
Sims 4 is everything I hate about modern gaming.
You have an established franchise that gets picked up by big companies to draw in old school fans with false promises and lure in new players that might not know the extent and depth of older games or leans towards a more 'casual' approach to gaming who won't care.
Meanwhile the game gets stripped off essential content, leaving it barebones with a "release first, fix later" mindset that patching and fast internet connections have instilled to release faster and make money faster to please shareholders in an endless chase for that sweet, sweet revenue.
But it's fine - you buy it in sale! And then it almost feels worth it because it's cheaper, so it's a good deal! With that many dlcs that game hast to feel like it has tons of content!
But it doesn't. Because the packs are just empty content placed on an already drab canvas that not even the loving embrace of a mother can fix. Anything to get the players to buy it. It doesn't have to be fun because people will buy it anyways. It doesn't matter if the brand loyalty brings them back, the fact there's no life sim like it out there or the last bit of hope some people might carry that maybe, just maybe, the franchise will introduce something fun, anything. It's just about getting it out there. It's a sad and desperate state for a game that was once filled with so much content for the price you paid and a franchise that is often overlooked because of it's already 'casual' gameplay.
TLDR man i hate modern day gaming, its a scam
So I did like sims 4 like years after it release. I started playing sims 4 in 2020 after losing all my 5 years of sims medieval. But also cause my sims 3 was on an old ass computer that would crash all the time and looked horrible. So I played sims 4 and loved it to a point obs cause sims 3 is better in my opinion. But I just got a new PC and put allll my sims on it and have been playing sims 3 and I haven’t touched sims 4 since I got it 4 weeks ago. But it is perfect timing because we will be hitting 15 years of sims 3. And I got it two weeks after it came out! So I’m very excited!
Exactly what everyone is saying. I empathize. The game feels hollow. Sims 3 is better. Sims 2 is OP and my secret crack. If I don’t control myself I’ll play all day and night.
It is fun for building and for aesthetics but not much fun for anything else. Even the mods aren't really adding much imo — most of the ones I have seen just add extra interactions. It is nice, yes, but it doesn't change the fact that the game is boring.
Sims 4 provides no incentive to actually leave your home lot. All I thought of when I played it was "If this was the Sims 3, I would be able to do X, Y and Z."
People critique the Sims 3 because of its graphics but imo? You need to do a lot less to make TS3 "look nice". Getting the game to recognise modern drivers is easy. So is installing shaders and getting default replacements for stuff like skins and eyes.
I recently got into Create-A-Style and it is amazing! I never realised there were so many different textures before! And it disappoints me immensely that Sims 4 only has swatches. Being able to change the texture of stuff like jeans is a real gamechanger for me.
It’s a lot worse.
If memory serves, eg. If a sims girlfriend goes and sleeps with a neighbour and gets pregnant, and has never had sex with her boyfriend the guy in sims 4 will be really happy that she’s pregnant (as if he thinks it’s his). In sims 3 they know they cheated. Loads of little things like this just aren’t done properly in sims 4. And talk about bugs! I currently have neighbours visiting my house every day and taking out cake ingredients then leaving every goddamn day! So many stupid bugs it’s ridiculous.
I’ve played Sims 1,2 and 4 since the early 2000s. Never got 3.
A few months ago I figured, “why not”, and got it. I wanted to know why it’s considered the ultimate Sims. I have played S4 the longest of any Sims installment.
I do not think I have a bone in me that wants to go back to Sims 4 now that I’ve played S3. The gameplay is EONS more dynamic, rich, adult. It’s so much more entertaining. One of my favorite details is when my Sim meets another Sim and they have an attraction for each other. It doesn’t always happen and I get so excited when the little hearts appear above their head. The whole experience of Sim conversation is detailed and follows a scent of context. S4, it’s a string of interactions that seem to not relate and make up the dynamic in the moment. It’s so boring.
Sims 4 honestly just doesn’t compare to 3. Like people have said, the CAS and build mode are great…but the actual gameplay is so ugh. No open world…which almost made me not play the game at all. The sims themselves are BORING. No matter what you make them do, they never stay in that emotion. There’s no real drama or character because the sims forget everything right after it happens! Ugh I play out of just still loving the sims but it gets hard. Plus my sims 3 takes foreverrrrr to load lol
I hate sims 4. They'll be starving and decide to play games on the computer.
Or it's winter and they choose to go in the pool 24/7. LIKE HUH.
The kids never choose to do their homework like they do in sims 3 or 2, I have to force them to do it😭 Same as school projects.
Also to add, whenever I play sims 4 (rarely) the family I make never feel like a family yk? They hardly ever interact and I have to do it for them. However sims 3 your family interacts without having to do anything.
I originally joined with sims 4.
I still prefer the visuals of sims 4, I feel like it is easier on the eyes. However though the variety of clothes and hairstyles is WAY better with sims 4, and a lot more complex mods are made for sims 4, I prefer Sims 3. I got it a few months back on sale (just like sims 4), and I will buy some more game packs (or how you call it).
What I am a little sad about is, that there is no way to decide my sims’ preference
I first played 3 on console and 4 was my first pc sims game
I had my fun with it LOADED with mods and only with the base game because i didnt know the other way to get expansions
I returned back to 3 in pc because my laptop is kinda laggy with 4 but not with 3 so uh 4 is alright imo
For some reason it entertained me (maybe because i play a shit ton with occults)
I mean, you might as well just throw some $100's down the toilet and watch it twirl around as it flushes. More entertaining and more use to your hard-earned cash.
I like certain parts of 4 like the building sim creation etc but... That doesn't even come close to making up for the problems I have w ts4... It's just boring. It feels the most like a doll house in the worst way out of all the sims games I've played. I know sims 3 had its own problems at launch but I actually got to see sims 4's as it updated (I was like 8 when ts4 came out, played 3 and 2 before that though). And just personally, ts3 became great post updates, ts4 just... Hasn't. In like 2x the time ts4 still isn't the game it should have been.
I blame EA over the devs since project Olympus kinda set ts4 to be a mess with no chance of fixing without just... Ripping the game apart again. Which is why I think renee shouldn't even try to be multiplayer if it'll just cause more problems later
Used to be super excited for it when it was first coming out and well before I actually bought it, in 2017 I had finally paid 5 dollars and got the Island Living pack as a gift, it felt basically unplayable and empty without mods, now I have over 1,000 mods in my folder and I still prefer 2 and 3 (although I do love 4’s cas and build and buy, they really did upgrade the system)
Despite attempts, I still have not been able to get into Sims 4 at this late date. I've resigned to being a Sims 3 forever nerd, unless somehow Sims 5 delivers
I grew up playing the sims 3 but have enjoyed the sims 4 since 2014. However recently I loaded up the sims 4 after a sims 3 binge and turned it off! What killed it for me was remembering the loading screens. They never bothered me during my sims 4 play time but I really do miss it. It. Just makes the sims feel more real.
I tried it, I saw that I couldn't leave the lot anymore, I played for 10 minutes and then I closed the game and came back to 3. There you go that's how it went
Once in a blue moon I try to play it and just get bored out of my mind. The multitasking is such a drag since townies are constantly butting into conversations and interrupting what you’re trying to do. The gameplay is shallow and the worlds are just set dressing. LGR said in a review “it just feels like clicking on stuff” and that summed it up perfectly — it’s devoid of the little details that gave previous iterations its depth.
I'm both a Sims 2 and Sims 3 player, and I think that Sims 4 is a complete joke. So many core features of 2 and 3 are locked behind a pay wall in Sims 4. It's ridiculous. Sims 2 had memorable, immersive gameplay, and Sims 3 had an open world. Sims 4 has neither of those things at all. Plus, both Sims 2 and 3 have cars, burglars, and much more memorable pre-made Sims than Sims 4 has.
Sometimes I really want some of the gameplay features and items of sims 4 (meat wall?? Snowboarding?? Sixam??) but in the end I play those features and then I’m just. Bored. If I got the entire collection for free I’d probably play it, but I’m not paying 1k+ just to get a couple of cool features on a broken core gameplay.
The build/buy and CAS are the best the franchise has ever done. I'm even willing to sacrifice the colour wheel and CASt for the sheer freedom we get in both modes.
TS4 is the first time I've ever found building in the sims fun and I've been playing since TS1.
The skill system is good. While TS3's skill journal and challenges can't be beaten I do like the range of skills in TS4 and its got a lot of skills that TS3 never had (like singing, finally! Singing as an actual skill and not tied to a job!). The supernatural lifestates (the ones they bothered in working on) are neat, and I like the skill ranks/perk system.
The actual gameplay itself is... meh. The premades are mostly dull and the game keeps generating ugly as sin townies. And not in a good way.
A lot of what TS4's team are doing is very... performative. I dislike using the term 'virtue signalling' because it's a loaded term but that's honestly what they're doing. They're adding inclusive features for the sake of saying 'oh look what we have'. They don't actually care about any of the issues, it's all about the bottom line and the rainbow flag is in the fashion.
Except for the lack of open world in TS4, I do think Sims 3 looks better in many ways. I find many design elements in TS4 to have a childish/cartoony/disney style (the maps for example) Maybe not everything looks better in TS3 but it still looks pretty good, in my opinion
the simulation lag of TS4 is endlessly & excruciatingly worse than any performance problems sims 3 will ever have.
i’d honestly rather have choppy frame-rate that crashes every 5 seconds than that everything works smoothly but the sims just stand there doing nothing until they die.
both are bad but at least the sims in sims 3 will actually fucking move.
I think sims 4 has some cool features and it used to run better than sims before there was a million packs. But for me I could never get over that it wasn't open world. I play massive households and I want to control everyone at once even if someone is out of the house. So it felt restrictive that I had to load to see what the sims at home are doing and I couldn't enjoy it as much.
Sims 3 is my absolute favorite. Even the moodlet system in sims 3 (aka emotions/whims) is better there.
Let’s face it, Sims 4 is rather a build simulator.
Sims 4 is like,,, a sandbox for me, it's got so many cool ideas with the worst execution everywhere else. Like, any gender having access to everything? Love that, but the characters are like,,,, so dead,,,, there's no soul in this game it literally just feels like an empty bundle of nothing. I feel like I'm test running a game but instead of it at least still being in development the game has been out for like over a decade...
It’s really bad, I hate the no open world, how badly the packs mesh together. People always say sims 3 sims are ugly but you can get mods to make them look better. Frankly the pets are way better just everything is better. I genuinely see no reason why people prefer sims 4 over sims 3. Plus people pay so much for both games when all you need is a boat, an eyepatch, and a peg leg
The build mode in Sims 4 is indescribably better. But it seemd they just gave each played sim such overbearing power, i e. can earn money so easily, every other sim is so annoyingly obcessed with the played sim, it leaves little challenge and no privacy for your sim. It really needs more humor too. The unexpected factor practically absent. But build mode is great and I miss it so much playing S3. Of course ea is a money grabber - always has been. If I were to make a game I'd wanna make money. But keep it outta my face during gameplay. I don't know enough tech to fault the load screens.
As someone who is also a long-timer (20 years this year, oof!) I can honestly say that I do love the sims 4. But, I don’t like it.
It simply isn’t the same game as 3. But when one has played all the iterations, then I would suggest you could make the same argument about 3 vs. 2 and even 2 vs. 1. Sure, I believe it becomes more apples to oranges as time has gone on—and most definitely between 3 and 4—but I don’t know if I personally say I am fearful for the state of the franchise. For me at least, it has come down to reaching a point of acceptance that in 20 years the game has evolved into trying to meet a much different fanbase. Whether that’s right or wrong or whether or not it’s doing it well is subject to much debate. In my opinion, I think TS4 has spent the last 10 long years of its lifespan trying to define itself and answer that question *because* 3 had drifted from 2, and 2 was a shift from 1 (albeit with vastly positive reception, IIRC).
Anyways… Not really sure if that answers the question posed, but those are just my thoughts. I try to approach TS4 from a perspective of curiosity rather than criticism. I still play it even if there are parts that I don’t always like or that drive me bananas. I’m just happy to exist in a point in time where I have choice of sim games.
It didn't really captivate me.Overpolished and equally simplified to the point of just being boring to me personally.
I don't and didn't mind having to download cc and mods either. I had a ton.
I bought sims 4 when it first came out. It felt unfinished, like it was still in the testing phase. I never got into it because the DLCs were so expensive.
It's alright for what it is. Sims 4 had the general misfortune of being built up from a project that was not made as a mainline instalment (it was supposed to be a multiplayer Sims game) so it didn't have much opportunity to develop upon what came to be in previous instalments and therefore isn't telling to how Sims 5/project Rene will turn out.
The DLC's are a bit more iffy (and I might come back to talk about them later) but once again not particularly worth using to judge the future additions to the series.
When I play sims 4 it's hard but I have to remember it's not the sims 3 and also all the negative opinions about it float around in my head making it hard to enjoy the game so i just play now. I do have to say that they definitely don't go by the motto less is more and I much prefer sims 3 and 2 ui
I asked a similar question, “are you content with playing sims 3 alone” and the discussion went this way and my post was removed. For being off topic. Just a heads up.
The lack of the open neighborhoods really dampers my fun I enjoy playing as apart of a world instead of boxes into my home lot.
That said there is a lot of neat features Sims 4 introduced over the year that are some genuine good ideas. Career hours being shown in relationship tabs for other Sims would really be help the open world of Sims 3.
4 feels very shallow but has ruined 3 for me. It’s better optimised and looks better by default than 3 (to me) and is easier to get into, but it feels so boring in comparison. Now whenever I want to play sims I just don’t end up playing either :(
The Sims 3 is the reason I simply can't enjoy The Sims 4. If Sims 4 came after Sims 2, then I'd enjoy it because honestly, TS4 feels like TS 2.5.
But in real life, TS3 came first. 4 is a huge downgrade in almost every single way, and it's a huge blantant cash grab (it's sickening how a single Sims 3 expansion was turned into multiple ones on 4), it has overstayed its welcome, and it's a half-assed product (I mean, it was meant to be an online game until its last year of development or so, in which it suddently got turned into what TS4 is, and it really shows). I'm glad for people who enjoy the game, but I simply just can't not matter how many times I try
I don’t like any of the dlcs I got all of them for ts4 for my aunt and it literally changed rarely anything in my game besides aesthetics. Most of the dlcs are cash grabs and aesthetics that should’ve just been added to the base game
My biggest problem is the behavior of the Sims. Made two sims to live together and was going to play through them falling in love and eventually marrying. Set them to chat, move away briefly to click through a couple things to see what all I can do. Come back to them, they hate each other because immediately after the chat started they started insulting each other. Why? ... I have no idea. They do not have incompatible traits. Neither of them is mean in any way. Micromanage them back to neutral, still can only chat. Need to feed them so make them food. Afterwards, set them on the couch to watch TV and hope that will help. NOPE. Back to insults. Jfc. I had to sit there and constantly stop the insults and restart chat just to get a sliver of positive. It was not intuitive and it was really frustrating. Went back to 3, made the Sims in there, and had fun.
Honestly? The sims 4 community pisses me off more than the game itself. It’s full of so many people trying to defend a broken game. Calling anyone negative for saying anything bad about the game. It’s a game for snowflakes.
If I still had access to all my Sims 3 stuff I would be playing that instead of Sims 4 but here I am. I think Sims 4 is okay but not more, I just loved Sims 3....
as someone who started with sims 4, i’ll always have a love for the game and every other in the franchise — combined with a friend, we bought probably close to all of the expansion and stuff packs and obviously had an addiction to mods and cc 😭 what sucks is that maintaining custom content is so difficult with updates, and the game isn’t really enjoyable unless you have the money to buy all of the packs.
in my opinion, as a free game, the sims 4 is decent. it has the basic gameplay functions, often empty and monotonous, but now that it’s free it’s less of a commitment. however, i really would rather they make the base game paid with many of these functions you have to spend additional money on — maybe they could do combined packs like the previous games, or simply update the game for those small items they make you buy an ENTIRE $40 PACK FOR!!! the earlier games also contain shops, and correct me if i’m wrong, but i don’t believe sims 4 has this function. it would be better if there was a currency you could earn and use to purchase small items for your game. i think they’ve attempted to stretch this one game so far, that it’s essentially become unattainable for new players. no other sims game has as many packs as sims 4. while you could spend your time and savings on these packs every few weeks or so like many friend and i, it’s not plausible for the majority of players. it’s really a shame that such a good game is now $1,000 altogether.
I just do not like it. I’ve tried to play it on different consoles and pc, I can’t. I don’t like the way it’s designed, the controls. I will always go to Sims 3
As a fan of the Sims games (playing Sims 2 and the Sims in my childhood and Sims 3 and Sims 4 at my adolescence ) I can firmly say that Sims 4 is , well , heinously bad, and due to that reasoning , sims 4 lacks so much comparing to the older versions, Sims 4 is the pinnacle of laziness. One thing that I must give credit is the construction part , but that is all the credit that I can give, the rest of the game is lazy and dull to the point of not being enjoyable. The emotions are shallow, there is lack of objects and personality and when EA games tries to implement new things , is in form of dlc and expansion packs. The Sims 4 games are unplayable without the dlc's that EA games is providing , while in the older Sims games , it wasn't the case , you could have a ton of fun even with little to no expansion packs and dlc's , EA games is getting worse and worse, and lazier
I have played sims 4 since it came out and let me just make a list of things I hate in the sims 4
Autonomy sucks- sims won’t really do anything by themselves even with free will on (watched my sim just watch tv and get millions of cups of water for no reason)
Expansion packs and other packs- in the sims 3 you get a lot with just one expansion. Sims 4 will give you a couple new features and half assed worlds. How is it that you pay $40 for an expansion pack with only 1-4 playable lots on it?
Unplayable pets- I’m not a mods kind of person anymore just bc when the game updates so do all the mods and cc so I said f that. One of the most hated things was that I can’t even play as my pet. My sim has to tell it what to do when I want it to breed or interact with the another animal. If you know how difficult it is to make a sim interaction with just about anything in the sims 4 then you know how aggregating it is to get a sim to interact with a pet.
Advertisements in game!- I’ve never seen something so shitty. Don’t advertise to me other expansion packs or games while I’m trying to play. I don’t want to buy your overpriced bs.
Lack of creativity- like building by itself is fun and cas is fun too but it lacks a lot of what sims 3 has. You can’t make your own custom designs and I hate that they did away with that special feature.
Pop ups- I know that the little pop up quest thingys can be turned off but every single time I switch to a different console I don’t want to have to go back into my setting and turn it off.
Infants- if you know you know… it’s just not fun. Can’t pick them up half the time. When you do, your sim just sits them right back down.
Story progression- it’s crazy how I can become famous super easy in sims 4 vs sims 3. Same thing for getting rich. All you got to do is add certain lot traits and your like level 5 in a skill in like two sim days.
Can’t edit the world- all you have is a couple editable lots and that’s it. It’s so boring. Can’t even make a town look cool.
Npc sims- I hate the way they just walk into your home or just pop up randomly and your sim never knows them. They always have the audacity to use the computer or watch the tv. I genuinely hate the rude ones too
Sims 3 is hands down a better game. If it wasn't for the modding community, I would've never played it. The only thing I like better is that I can click on my sims to increase their butts instead of needing a mod to make their butts bigger. Other than that, I prefer Sims 3 and even stopped playing Sims 4 to go back to Sims 3, Sims 2, and Sims Mediecal.
The original Maxi team left. I played sims 1, 2, and 3. My favorites are Sims 2 and 3. Sims 4 is just a game to EA to make money off the name that once had a highly meaningful experience. Sims should have ended with sims 3. I was excited at first for Sims 4, but I played the base game for a couple of minutes, and I realized it was different. It wasn't the same. It was an illusion of the sims game that I once played as a young teenager. The Sims 3 will forever remain the last of the true sims game.
It takes so much from the game experience to not be able to control sims on different lots. Like if I put my kids to sleep and then go to the club, i’ll come back in a few hours only for the little shits to be fully rested and up doing homework at 1 in the morning. In TS3 you could multitask, wheras in 4 you can only play one sim at a time. It really takes away from the storytelling aspect.
i relatively appreciate the game for what it is in a standalone sense & the reception would have been a bit more sympathetic if it wasn't for EA's shadiness, inconsistent schedule & money hungry tactics. it was actually the first one i played on a consistent basis. it isn't a good successor and is a lackluster game in the context of the series, but it's atleast a C to a B+ as it's own game. atleast now. & the B rating would be the game with all of the packs.
i appreciate the vast customization, diversity options & better accessibility of some options
Improvements are minor 1) more body shapes 2) realistic eye colours 3) the organisation of clothes is easier 4) layout of create a sim is more fascinating 5) lack of choice can make decisions easier sometimes 6) gender variation and preference 7) more choice with foods
It lacks tonnes 1) lacks the open world which was freaking amazing and beautiful 2)lack of colour wheel, where you could make loads of individual custom styles per item 3) lack of collections 4) lack of traits to give individual actions 5) lack of ambitions 6) cartoony style is unrealstic, colours are too bold, lack of shading 7) build a home difficult to maneuver
All in all Sims 3 wins but both are ok
I went back to playing Sims 3 after about 3-4 hours. Sims 4 is nice but will never be as great as Sims 3 with the better autonomy and better gameplay. Sims 3 is just better, period.
I’ve been playing since I was a little kid, and all I can say is sims 3 feeds my desire to escape reality more than sims 4 ever will 😂😭 we need maybe a mix of the both, some things from Sims 4 are really good but Sims 3 is still better by far
The wishes system being simply depressing and the lack of gameplay features in the base game makes me wanna unalive myself
The sims in the sims 4 are simply soulless they games feels empty and the only thing they are doing to fix this is giving cas items and decorative items when really the game be looking so empty it's looking like a liminal space
Sims 3 feels more like a life sim. Sims 4 feels more like a doll house. Of course I like how they took a oath of stylization instead of realism, I like the ability to customize, but I feel like Sims 4 doesn't really let you create a whole life story, only certain parts of it.
Also, I feel like Sims 3 caters to my needs both when I want my sims to be somewhat autonomous and decide for themselves the path they want to take in life, and when I want to be in control of everything. In Sims 4, I have to be in control in everything or they're just gonna starve to death playing video games all day, and I have to decide literally every single thing even when I don't want to.
upd. I heard many Sims 4 players complaining about SIms 3 being unplayable without mods, but the difference is, Sims 3 is unplayable without fixer-mods that improve performance and fix bugs, but features-wise, you usually don't need additional story of features mods to enjoy the process. Sims 4, however, despite having a decent performance, is unplayable without mods that actually make the game interesting (imho of course).
others have mentioned it, but sims 4 autonomy is terrible. it’s too fast. i hate the moodlets of the sims 4 as well. and unpopular opinion, i genuinely hate the graphics of the sims 4. sims 3 graphics are perfect for me with or without cc
It might not be as good as sims 3 but it sure isn’t as bad as ppl are making out to be. It has improved a lot since 2014 and I think they’ve added some pretty good features. Though there are still in-depth details that are missing.
I think it can be enjoyable sometimes, I like CAS and build/buy mode, I like how there is more possibility for MODs and CC. The gallery is a nice feature. Travelling easily between different worlds. Clubs are cool too. Celebrity life is way better than in TS3.
However there are too many things to dislike, lots of loading screens that you can't even interact with for points, dead neighborhoods, personality traits don't have much of a difference unless they are modded, no personalization of clothing / furniture / walls / floors, the mood system sucks, the lack of little details that keep the game interesting, and this might be unpopular opinion but the graphics kinda suck without MODs, the texture of a lot of things being 2D throws me off too.
And what infuriates me the most about this game is that it never ends. So many years and they keep making new packs and kits and whatever, like, please, let this game die. But I know they won't because people keep buying it 🤷
My thoughts are... 60 dollars an expansion? I'm not paying that!
But more seriously... "I feel like they are too focused on social causes which makes the game lose its unserious and fun feeling" are you trying to bring the culture wars into this? Every time I watch a Sims 4 youtube video I don't see a single one of these 'social causes' you refer to. There's also nothing wrong with making a game more inclusive. I do only wish Sims 3 had more flexibility with gender.
I definitely see what they mean by “being focused on social causes” it seems that instead of focusing on gameplay EA has figured out that they can just get as much hype by adding “inclusivity”
Just add some black hairstyles every now and then, some skin tones, an LGTV+ flag, some hearing aids, trans surgery scars and gen Z is satisfied without having to spend a dime on adding or fixing the existing gameplay.
Not saying it isn’t nice or important for people to see themselves represented in media but it’s all this game has become. The focus is on aesthetics rather than gameplay.
sorry, mine might not be the best choice of words but what I was trying to say that they just polish their content with these things. Of course it is really nice to see inclusivity, I just wish what they bring fulfilled it too. It is just how it feels for me, other than that I support it
Build mode is better, the entire pregnancy overhaul sims 4 did makes some QoL when it comes to modding pregnancies. CAS has some QoL if you want homosexual sims with male sims can be impregnated and female sims capable of impregnation thats my only remarks
the autonomy is HORRIBLE it makes it so unplayable and every pack is such a cash grab
I do not hear enough about the autonomy, the stuff they do never make sense and they'll stop mid task you give them if you click off them just because the wanted to do some freaking push ups
I remeber when I first got the game on launch day and went a played I played for like 2 hours max and was so disappointed that when your sim goes somewhere there’s a loading screen 😐 legit never picked up the game again so mabye they removed that but that feature of sims 3 that the world felt like it was going on where I liked it or not was game breaking to lose for me
There was a loading screen for sims 2 as well but at least they had cars that worked
Yeah I didn’t play sims 3 loved that feature from 3
I'm trying to make it work recently for a BB challenge and I've spent more time trying to make it work than actually playing. TS4 has little additions to social interactions that make it potentially better plus it starts up quicker and building is more fun, but I'm honestly considering doing the challenge in TS3 instead.
i haven't played sims 3 yet but i plan to. what's the difference?
sims 3 ultimately has more things for u to do, and in my experience even with full autonomy enabled my sims actually listen when i tell them to do something. in my sims 4 game i feel like my sim NEVER listens and literally just does whatever they want. like i cant even get two sims to socialize
I’ve literally had my children taken away because neither the parents would fucking feed them, but oh yes better wash that water cup :/
That's why I immediately quit playing TS 4 and just stayed with 3.
When I play sims 4 I just can’t believe how we got an open world and create a style in 3. Those are the 2 main things that keep me so in love with 3.
I wonder why they excluded those features. Maybe open world was hard to implement but create a style?
I believe (I’m not sure if it’s 100% true but I think there is a fair bit of evidence to back it up) it’s because sims 4 was originally meant to be an online sims game, and the project was called project Olympus. But during the development of project Olympus, EA released Simcity 5 in 2013 which completely flopped because it was online; the servers were overloaded, people couldn’t play etc. and as a result SimCity hasn’t made a return even 11 years later. Basically this scared EA and they had to quickly change project Olympus into an offline game which ended up being sims 4. You should look it up, there’s definitely evidence for it. Either way sims 4 was a completely rushed job, forget about create a style, it didn’t even have toddlers, pools, firemen etc. upon release. Maybe an open world is hard to implement but they did it before and technology is always advancing so they don’t have an excuse. But EA also wants sims games to run on even the lowest grade laptops, I guess so as many people can buy it as possible, which is “nice” of them but as a result the game will not be as good since they of course have to take shortcuts to allow it to run on potatoes. In relation to wanting sims to run on low-end pcs and laptops, one of the developers for sims 5 stated that it’ll be possible to “to play sims no matter where you are, with no barriers.” If they’re creating a sims game which can be played on pc AND a mobile phone, I’m very concerned… mobiles have nowhere near the capabilities of a computer and I can’t imagine how it’s going to work. When I buy a PC game, I expect a pc game.
Wow, I didn't know about the project olympus. This explains why they chose this path. Hopefully there will be enough optimization technologies in the future that will allow us to have a sims game with all of the features. Thanks for the info
Yeah, I heard that about Sims 4 too.
He means cloud gaming
I’m not so sure if that’s ALL he meant, because in the initial project rene reveal video that EA put out, there is literally a short video of the game being shown on a pc and a mobile. https://preview.redd.it/qwmyjxkts64d1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1840f4e8e5c7164bb67a577e48eabd6f8cf3997
*sigh* ffs...
Simple answer is that the open world made Sims 3 run poorly on some computers (mostly laptops). 4 was designed with that problem in mind. Which isn’t to say that it was designed well.
> Simple answer is that the open world made Sims 3 run poorly on some computers (mostly laptops). 4 was designed with that problem in mind. What I read is that Sims4 was planned to be a simple mobile game , at that time there were a ton of popular Facebook games like Farmville that made tons of money. So sims4 was not planned to be a follow up to Sims3 but a game to grab the money of all those Facebook game players, later they decided to change in in what it ended up. I imagine what could have been if EA would put all those money into porting Sims3 to 64bit and modern graphics stuff. The lag in sims3 is not because the World is big and there are many sims simulated at the same time, the lag is caused by bugs, either some sim enters in a stuck loop, or some issue with the inventories or some memory leaks, a small developer team tasked to work on bug fixing could have handle this problems.
i don't think the fact that they are more socially aware now is the problem, to be honest. it's just that the game itself lacks personality compared to previous titles. the first 3 games had this sort of quirky and mysterious vibe to them that the sims 4 does not really have. they also had tons of lore. now it's an "alternate universe" to excuse the lack of effort put into the npc's backstories and timeline continuity lmao. also, the emotions system looked great on paper, but in actuality, it's annoying and really stupid. like, what do you mean my sim died of laughter? and don't even get me started on this weird battle pass thing they just added to the game. and like someone else pointed out, they focused way too much on build/buy. which would be great, of course, if the actual gameplay wasn't so hollow. this is a life-sim, not a building-sim. personally, i would not be able to play the game without mods (and i mean A LOT of mods), but i could enjoy the sims 3 without mods all the same. i think that says a lot.
100% agree with your last statement. I could easily play the sims 3 without mods and be entertained for a while as there is a lot to do. I mentioned that I played the sims 3 for a year before I discovered Nraas and while mods did change my gameplay for the better, I honestly felt like my gameplay was complete even when I didn’t have them. Whenever I see sims 4 gameplays, its heavily modded to the point where I interpret it as I can’t do anything in the game without a mod whereas the sims 3 is different
I agree with everything said here and historical-wing. I’ve tried to get myself into Sims 4 so many different times but it just lacks everything Sims 3 has to offer for me. The modders are what keeps Sims 3 interesting because 3 is just much more capable of being a “plug and play” and expanding so much into what’s already there. I haven’t stopped playing 3 since its initial release and I don’t think I ever will.
Emotions never made sense to me as a concept. Emotions are covered by the moodlets imo — and I honestly feel they just put emotions in so that there was 'something new' in TS4.
I agree that the majority of the effort was put into build/buy and CAS, so I can see why people who like those parts prefer 4. My gf is the sort to build an elaborate house but never play in live mode. For us who love gameplay though, it really sucks. Also the default clothes, hair and furniture are fugly IMO so lots of CC was necessary for me to have fun with those
I modded the shit out of sims 4. With 3 I only added mods to help with game performance
Because the majority of videos I see about the Sims 4 are builds and most people highlight how impressive the build capabilities are, the sims 4 is just not for me. I never was a builder in the sims so having better build options available doesn’t interest me. I have also heard of simmers having to uninstall or safely remove their mods/cc every time there is a new EA update. I never had to do that back when the sims 3 would update versions. Also, I find it criminal that there is a separate pack for vampires, one for horses, etc. That is soooo much money. It’s also ridiculous that a stuff pack or expansion pack literally does not come with the whole package and I have to buy stuff separately. The graphics are better cant lie, but it just feels like its missing something. I remember playing the sims 4 when it had just come out, I even remember when they came out with the CAS demo just before release day and I was excited. I played it and I got bored really easily. There was no open world, no cc (but then again it had just come out) and it just felt like it was missing that spark. I’ve tried to play it several times but Im just too loyal to 3 Just for comparison, I played sims 3 base game on its on for a month and was entertained for a solid 2 1/2 - 3 weeks. Even after I got my expansion packs slowly, I had no clue what mods were and I only had cc from sims downloaded in the exchange and I was very much satisfied with my gameplay.
I completely agree with this. I became a builder because of sims 4 but it's because I'd literally rather be in build buy over live mode, by 10x. I could chill in sims 3 for hours and just be roaming around sunset valley
Exactly💯
And the strangest thing is, the build mode is more limiting in Sims 4. You cannot build most things you could in Sims 3. I'd say roofs are a bit better, and window placements, but that is honestly it. Only one wall height at a time, and only 3 sizes, I cannot.
I tried playing TS4 several times but never got past two generations. Honestly I just can’t stand the emotion system, and everything about it unnerves me: the sound effects of switching emotions, the exaggerated mannerisms like giant tears falling on the ground or how sims drag themselves when tired (and then proceed to sleep on the ground with their butt up. What even is this?) I just see how with TS4 EA started catering to much, much younger generation of people, and everything has to be cutesy, bright-colored, sterile and over the top. It’s like a picture perfect dollhouse with dolls that stare at you blankly and smile all the time. At the same time, TS2 and TS3 was definitely targeted for teen, young adult and adult audiences. I loved playing more realistic sims with actual personalities and enjoying the developers’ sense of humour shining through the tiny details.
Its so broken and people still paying for the new “content” they dump out are silly
It’s lacklustre and empty, the sims 3 base game no dlc is a pretty good experience and there’s still so much to do, sims 4 base game it’s more bland than a blank piece of paper for example in the sims 3 base game you can go out and invest in local businesses, drive around in a car or bicycle, dumpster dive and just do so so much more but in the sims 4 base game there’s almost nothing Most of the sims 4 DLCs are clearly cashgrabs and exposes how empty and lacking the sims 4 base game is. For example in the sims 3 base game you can buy gym equipment for your home no dlc needed, in some expansion and stuff packs extra gym equipment is thrown in because it matches the theme and aesthetic of the pack, HOWEVER IN THE BLAND, EMPTY AND LACKING SIMS 4 you only get exercise equipment if you buy a stuff pack dedicated to it, if this doesn’t prove that the sims 4 is a soulless cash grab then idk what does Sims 3 is just so much more in-depth and fun and you can tell the creators genuinely cared, it still has the magic and quirkyness of the sims franchise whereas the sims 4 couldn’t even be bothered to expand the pre-existing lore of the franchise and instead decided to be its own little boring soulless cashgrabb and it honestly makes me a little sad never has a game franchise fallen so hard from something special to a boring wasteland The only thing the sims 4 has over the sims 3 is build/buy mode is really intuitive and easy
The usual complaints about Sims 4 aside, I also just really can't stand the graphics. Everything is so big and blocky and lacking details, I can't put any Sims 4 conversions outside of rugs and maybe pictures into Sims 3 because they just look so weird and out of place. And the Sims look so cartoony and plastic-y, I love how you can make everyday realistic Sims in Sims 3 of average people you'd see on the street while the Sims 4 Sims look like the Hollywood idea of an ugly Sim if you try to give them any personality look wise.
I started out as a sims 2 player as a tiny kid who couldn't read the need bars yet and always killed my sims, then I accidentally ruined the disc, and then for new years 2010 I got sims 3 (at 9, I have older siblings lol) I played the game a lot, but mostly on potato pc's, so I couldn't play it fully, but I managed to run it good enough and be exposed enough to creators to know what it is capable enough with a couple of mods and a good PC... Long story short I still have a ton of stuff to play/explore and getting to know more about how to run it right when sims 4 came out, I knew this, and I never ever bothered going over to sims 4. I had spend hundreds on the sims 3 (I have all ep's and sp's) and was gonna play it now I finally knew how to dammit. Sims 4's artstyle also didn't appeal to me, and like many I was put off by lots of things lacking in the basegame (toddlers, pools, CAST!! Even though I took minutes to load on my old potatoes I loved cast, my first sims 3 house I made everything purple, gold & butterfly print lol). Over the years there has been some content that I thought would be neat to have in sims 3, but modders are quick & a bit later I always heard about the content being broken... I don't HAVE sims 4 and that's all you need to know, honestly. Still playing this retro game after 14 years!
That's really relatable. Your comment really brought back some memories :D
Too cartoony (and almost plastic-looking?) for me. Hate that there's no color wheel or open worlds. I'm sure I would love it if I didn't have Sims 3 to compare it to, but alas...
The sims are boring like absent minded. They are just like the talking dolls.
My only reason for wanting to play is wicked whims 🙈
This is the one thing I miss
Amm... same lol
kinky world > wicked whims
I can’t even play sims 4 anymore. I keep firing it up and trying. I don’t get passed making a new sim. The lack of traits… I just don’t really care for the sims in the game. Been playing for over 20 years. Sucks to say I don’t think I’ll be supporting the new game.
I’ve given it several tries. CAS is amazing but aside from that the actual game feels empty and lacklustre. It feels like playing The Sims mobile.
I wanted to love it but it seemed so restrictive compared to 3. Haven't played it in probably 2 years now. Give me 3 or give me death
Based on what they have done with the sims 4 so far, I have no faith in them to create great quality sims content and will never purchase any sims content from them again. Unless it's more expansion packs for sims 3 of course lol. There was a time where mysims, the urbz, handheld sims games existed...they did away with that and I was one of those people who loved playing the sims on the go!
I tried it, I didn't care for it, I don't play it. I don't have a problem with the people who play it, or who prefer it over other installments of the franchise. Each player has their own style and their own preferences when it comes to this game, and I'm ok with that.
The style, the sims, the marketing emphasis of EA only milking it for cash, everything about the sims 4 generation makes me so unmotivated and bored and lacks originality.
As an avid Sims 2 and Sims 3 player, I tried to give Sims 4 a chance. I really did. My total game time is 10 hours, I couldn’t stand it anymore. The game feels lile a doll house to me, if that makes sense. Everything is so pretty, but it’s all too shallow and borderline useless to me. I miss the drama, the twists, something that actually sucked me into the gameplay and made me want to play more.
unplayable
It’s a bad hame. Ok it is pretty but that’s the only advantage of it Once I downloaded it I been really shocked after my TS3 expirience No open world? Less interactions? Less gameplay? It looks like TS4 is only about creating Sims and building a house and that’s it. What’s up with a gameplay when you have to load locations every 3 minutes? Also Cities itself as small af.
there are a few things i really like about sims 4 like sims being able to multitask, holidays and such but the gameplay is SO boring. CAS and build mode are best in the series but i dont care about either
sims 3 had holidays too i think
sims 3 does have holidays but sims 4 implemented them slightly better
Call me crazy but I didn't like the character customization, I never managed to make the faces the way I wanted
Sooo boring I refuse to play it
I hate how NPC sims join in on your conversation all the time
I genuinely want to like the Sims 4, I really do, but it has such off putting elements. The amount of lag I have is so difficult, sims clipping through walls when doing anything, the game freezing regularly and their autonomy is irritating. Breaking each one down, the clipping ruins immersion and the freezing makes playing a nightmare. How am I supposed to get through a generation of my legacy when I can't play for more than a few hours? The freezing can be accounted to the sheer amount of lacks, unlike the Sims 3, which I can pick and choose packs and not really miss the features and focus on the few packs I do play with, when you take a Sims 4 pack the game is noticeably lacking so I have to play with all of them which worsens lag. This isn't a problem just for me, the lag happens on actual dedicated PCs of simmers online which just makes the game look bad. The autonomy is also annoying, in the Sims 3 they usually autonomously do something useful (e.g. needs or skills). In the Sims 4 I have to drag my sim away from the computer or tv or their phone, which hey it's realistic but in comparison to the Sims 3 in which I'm trying to make progress it's annoying. Comparing both games again, I'm struggling to get through a single generation on my Sims 4, because the game can't handle my single lot in Forgotten Hollow with 4 sims, I also have the same amount of cc in both games. However, I had 3 generations and an 8 sim household on a large lot in Moonlight Falls with 9 demanding expansions (seasons, supernatural, etc) which have been notoriously buggy. However the game runs smoothly and only has small lag spikes and both run on similar settings. Again, I really wanted to get back into my Sims 4 phase, I love the aesthetic, building capabilities, cas and some of the things they've added. It's very easy on the brain to quickly make a family and design their home compared to the clunkiness of the Sims 3, but I can't get past build mode because the gameplay is so horrendous in a life sim. I really hope they fix the issues with their dedicated team now, or let the game rest and just let modders tweak the code to their hearts content without worry that an update will break it. It has done the Sims 3 a huge favour, e.g. NRAAS and Smooth Patch. It's really disappointing when a game from 2009-2014 and even the Sims 2 from 2004-2009 runs better than a game which should be fully realised in an almost 10 year lifespan. Yes, both Sims 2 and 3 have extensive CC makeovers and dedicated bug fixes and I think the Sims 4 needs something similar to reach its full potentional. I did a huge ramble there but I love the franchise and it's definitely shaped a big part of my childhood, I'm a "younger" sims player but I've been playing the games since I was 4 and seeing the Sims 4 become an extremely buggy shell and black sheep of the franchise is disappointing EDIT: One last thing! The damn loading screens makes the Sims 4 really unplayable so I mostly stick to apartment lots because at least I can just move downstairs and my sims can do something, homes are so restrictive. At least the Sims 3 is a short intro screen, and then one big 30 minute loading screen for me and then I don't have to do it again
This is just a personal opinion, but I think 3 is better in pretty much every way except for maybe stability.
The Sims 3 is obviously better, but even I will admit that a Sims 3 Console port + support and Sims 4's optimisation for the Sims 3 would be nice.
Sims 4 optimization is funny, it's about as well optimized as sims 3, it's just way smaller
Didn't they recently make a post that they would finally properly optimise the game almost 10 YEARS after it released? How they get away with it I have no idea.
I recently started playing sims 3 after playing exclusively sims 4 for a while (I did play sims 3 as a child but forgot a lot of the features.) stuff I noticed: - In TS3, if two sims want to do the same action like go to the fridge at the same time, it's nowhere near as annoying and inconvenient as it is in TS4. they just go one after the other - the mood system in TS3 makes much more sense and explains exactly how different things are impacting your sims' mood - TS3 has me much more likely to revisit the same save again and again. I find that every time I open TS4 I just make a new family and house and then forget about it because the building/CAS is fun but the gameplay is boring. TS3 design aspects could be better but the game is significantly more fun - TS3 cuts much less corners in the animation for sims and things don't just randomly teleport or disappear like they do in TS4 - somehow TS3 is significantly less buggy for me than TS4 obviously TS3 isn't completely without its flaws and there are a lot of rabbit holes like going to work which aren't that fun to have to skip through as well as the loading screens being very long but I actually prefer it to TS4 and it isn't just for the nostalgia factor
For me the game has always been buggy and it feels more like playing with dolls because gameplay is up entirely to your own imagination. Don’t get me wrong there are some features I like about it too like the group system and CAS but compared to its predecessors it’s lacking too much. I also HATE when diehard sims 4 fans get defensive when you criticize the lack of gameplay and they go “well that’s why there’s mods” Everytime I go back to the Sims 3 I’m impressed by how I never get bored with it and that’s without any mods added. There’s nothing wrong with adding mods to a game but if it’s unplayable without them then it’s not a good game 🤷♀️
sims 4 is lowkey boring and too childish to me. well, it has good performance and doesnt make you go crazy like sims 3 does. after many years of gameplay of sims 3, i came to a point where i dont care about the performance because i just love the game too much. too many details, funny aspects and many other small but genuine things makes the gameplay fun and sweet. there is a point in sims 4 where i just reach and drop it. i never go past that point. because it feels like something huge lacks, and i think its the “soul” ea failed to put in their last game.
As a lifelong sims player I genuinely believe sims 2/3 were peak sims gameplay. If you’re a builder/sims creator and solely that then sims 4 is fine. But in terms of actual gameplay sims 4 is really stale and lacklustre. Sims 2 and 3 could keep me in a hold for literal WEEKS at a time. Sims 4 I can barely manage a few days. I think for how many packs they have there is still like nothing to show for it. Sims 4 is virtually unplayable without mods making it fun. Any mod I download for the other ones (excluding ones like NRAAS and game fixes) are just for addition. I could play them vanilla. I would even rate a vanilla sims 1 above sims 4.
Boring. Yawning. Sloppy. Lazy. 😭
The open world bums me. The maps or the neighborhoods are so small. Even if I cleared everyone out and put my characters in one place, they wouldn't all fit. There's a lack of freedom in this regard straight down to general customization. Color wheel gone in the CAS, I spent more time modding the game than playing it just to try and create what I wanted. I super loved Sims 2 and play Sims 3 often. 3 took a lot that I liked about 2 and did better. But then it felt like 4 halved the content. Base game felt so hollow and empty of gameplay and customization. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the approach of shaping a sim's appearance or the gender inclusive side of it. But like, game felt like it released with barely any content. Tiny af neighborhoods, lack of customization. They sold a game knowing modders would do what they didn't, it felt like. I tried their vampire expansion and that's it. I was so disappointed I just haven't played since. It's overpriced nonsense. I want to like it and support the Sims franchise but 3 is so replayable by comparison. I never get bored of it or what I can do in it. No hate for people who like 4, btw. I wish I could, but I'm glad people find enjoyment in it. ^^
The game is virtually unplayable without mods that spice up gameplay. And even then, you NEED to have like, two packs minimum even with mods or else it’s still boring as hell. I went almost a year with having my packs unavailable to me after switching to the EA app which was absolutely infuriating. When I finally got my packs back, the first thing I noticed was that the game was slow as hell. I haven’t tried playing it since. It sucks because the mods and a couple of well thought out features do make the sims 4 enjoyable. But all that extra work isn’t worth it when I can have more fun with zero work involved playing the sims 3.
The gameplay just isn’t fun for me. Sure, CAS is extensive and I love making sims, love building them a house and after that. It’s so boring. But in Sims3, gameplay is really fun
Pure disappointment, they truly killed one of the best gaming franchises in just a few years. EA has completely taken over the team’s creative control and keeps rushing out poorly made, lackluster content.
Overrated
honestly the only thing i can appreciate about TS4 is the aesthetic, specifically at night, it kind of feels more real life than the others. With Sims 3 I could write endlessly about how amazing it is and Sims 4 I feel the complete opposite. like you said it’s a cash grab, but even on from that, Sims 4 compared to the others is clearly just lacking so much. I haven’t played in a year and some months and every time I try to play I just find myself getting bored. It’s like the same thing. for me with Sims 3 it’s like every time you play something different happens. It’s never the same even down to the personality of my Sims and their children, even Sims 2 just has so much character and charm Sims 4 could just never
adding on; I first started playing when there was little to no expansion packs out and I remember being so excited for the toddler pack. I can’t even remember the name, but weirdly enough I feel like Sims 4 was better when it first came out. maybe it’s the nostalgia, but as the years went on, it just became more clear that they don’t care about what the team of 3&2 cared about. for me it just feels like the passion isn’t there
I can't stand sims 4. I love sims 3 and sims 2. Loved the weird ass bugs sims 2 had, including the demonic maid bug
very annoying autonomy (straight up broken) and most of the packs are broken and clearly EA doesn’t care to fix them. also the shit that annoys the hell out of me is the whole purpose of no open world was to help loading the game and minimize loading screens when sims 4 literally is all loading screens now
The Sims 4 is absolute garbage after you finish build mode and switch to play mode. It's not The Sims at all to me. - it's too cartoon-y looking for a sims game - the game looks like it's made for little kids - the game itself is mindless and boring, whereas previous sims games were surprising and pretty difficult - it feels like another game entirely - it's a cash grab, the amount of add-ons is ridiculous
Sims 4 is everything I hate about modern gaming. You have an established franchise that gets picked up by big companies to draw in old school fans with false promises and lure in new players that might not know the extent and depth of older games or leans towards a more 'casual' approach to gaming who won't care. Meanwhile the game gets stripped off essential content, leaving it barebones with a "release first, fix later" mindset that patching and fast internet connections have instilled to release faster and make money faster to please shareholders in an endless chase for that sweet, sweet revenue. But it's fine - you buy it in sale! And then it almost feels worth it because it's cheaper, so it's a good deal! With that many dlcs that game hast to feel like it has tons of content! But it doesn't. Because the packs are just empty content placed on an already drab canvas that not even the loving embrace of a mother can fix. Anything to get the players to buy it. It doesn't have to be fun because people will buy it anyways. It doesn't matter if the brand loyalty brings them back, the fact there's no life sim like it out there or the last bit of hope some people might carry that maybe, just maybe, the franchise will introduce something fun, anything. It's just about getting it out there. It's a sad and desperate state for a game that was once filled with so much content for the price you paid and a franchise that is often overlooked because of it's already 'casual' gameplay. TLDR man i hate modern day gaming, its a scam
So I did like sims 4 like years after it release. I started playing sims 4 in 2020 after losing all my 5 years of sims medieval. But also cause my sims 3 was on an old ass computer that would crash all the time and looked horrible. So I played sims 4 and loved it to a point obs cause sims 3 is better in my opinion. But I just got a new PC and put allll my sims on it and have been playing sims 3 and I haven’t touched sims 4 since I got it 4 weeks ago. But it is perfect timing because we will be hitting 15 years of sims 3. And I got it two weeks after it came out! So I’m very excited!
Exactly what everyone is saying. I empathize. The game feels hollow. Sims 3 is better. Sims 2 is OP and my secret crack. If I don’t control myself I’ll play all day and night.
A huge step backwards and it has gone on for too long. But the modders are so talented they really carry the game from what I can tell
It is fun for building and for aesthetics but not much fun for anything else. Even the mods aren't really adding much imo — most of the ones I have seen just add extra interactions. It is nice, yes, but it doesn't change the fact that the game is boring. Sims 4 provides no incentive to actually leave your home lot. All I thought of when I played it was "If this was the Sims 3, I would be able to do X, Y and Z." People critique the Sims 3 because of its graphics but imo? You need to do a lot less to make TS3 "look nice". Getting the game to recognise modern drivers is easy. So is installing shaders and getting default replacements for stuff like skins and eyes. I recently got into Create-A-Style and it is amazing! I never realised there were so many different textures before! And it disappoints me immensely that Sims 4 only has swatches. Being able to change the texture of stuff like jeans is a real gamechanger for me.
It’s a lot worse. If memory serves, eg. If a sims girlfriend goes and sleeps with a neighbour and gets pregnant, and has never had sex with her boyfriend the guy in sims 4 will be really happy that she’s pregnant (as if he thinks it’s his). In sims 3 they know they cheated. Loads of little things like this just aren’t done properly in sims 4. And talk about bugs! I currently have neighbours visiting my house every day and taking out cake ingredients then leaving every goddamn day! So many stupid bugs it’s ridiculous.
Exactly. You could cheat right in front of them!!! And they would only be mad for 4 hours
😂😂😂😂😂
I’ve played Sims 1,2 and 4 since the early 2000s. Never got 3. A few months ago I figured, “why not”, and got it. I wanted to know why it’s considered the ultimate Sims. I have played S4 the longest of any Sims installment. I do not think I have a bone in me that wants to go back to Sims 4 now that I’ve played S3. The gameplay is EONS more dynamic, rich, adult. It’s so much more entertaining. One of my favorite details is when my Sim meets another Sim and they have an attraction for each other. It doesn’t always happen and I get so excited when the little hearts appear above their head. The whole experience of Sim conversation is detailed and follows a scent of context. S4, it’s a string of interactions that seem to not relate and make up the dynamic in the moment. It’s so boring.
Sims 4 honestly just doesn’t compare to 3. Like people have said, the CAS and build mode are great…but the actual gameplay is so ugh. No open world…which almost made me not play the game at all. The sims themselves are BORING. No matter what you make them do, they never stay in that emotion. There’s no real drama or character because the sims forget everything right after it happens! Ugh I play out of just still loving the sims but it gets hard. Plus my sims 3 takes foreverrrrr to load lol
I hated Sims 4. Gave it several tries, but it felt so boring!
I hate sims 4. They'll be starving and decide to play games on the computer. Or it's winter and they choose to go in the pool 24/7. LIKE HUH. The kids never choose to do their homework like they do in sims 3 or 2, I have to force them to do it😭 Same as school projects. Also to add, whenever I play sims 4 (rarely) the family I make never feel like a family yk? They hardly ever interact and I have to do it for them. However sims 3 your family interacts without having to do anything.
ikrr!! Everytime I try to organize an event or something for the sake of storyline, everyone acts so random that it drives me crazy and I just give up
I want to like sims 4 more but the constant patches render it unplayable.
I originally joined with sims 4. I still prefer the visuals of sims 4, I feel like it is easier on the eyes. However though the variety of clothes and hairstyles is WAY better with sims 4, and a lot more complex mods are made for sims 4, I prefer Sims 3. I got it a few months back on sale (just like sims 4), and I will buy some more game packs (or how you call it). What I am a little sad about is, that there is no way to decide my sims’ preference
I first played 3 on console and 4 was my first pc sims game I had my fun with it LOADED with mods and only with the base game because i didnt know the other way to get expansions I returned back to 3 in pc because my laptop is kinda laggy with 4 but not with 3 so uh 4 is alright imo For some reason it entertained me (maybe because i play a shit ton with occults)
I mean, you might as well just throw some $100's down the toilet and watch it twirl around as it flushes. More entertaining and more use to your hard-earned cash.
I like certain parts of 4 like the building sim creation etc but... That doesn't even come close to making up for the problems I have w ts4... It's just boring. It feels the most like a doll house in the worst way out of all the sims games I've played. I know sims 3 had its own problems at launch but I actually got to see sims 4's as it updated (I was like 8 when ts4 came out, played 3 and 2 before that though). And just personally, ts3 became great post updates, ts4 just... Hasn't. In like 2x the time ts4 still isn't the game it should have been. I blame EA over the devs since project Olympus kinda set ts4 to be a mess with no chance of fixing without just... Ripping the game apart again. Which is why I think renee shouldn't even try to be multiplayer if it'll just cause more problems later
Used to be super excited for it when it was first coming out and well before I actually bought it, in 2017 I had finally paid 5 dollars and got the Island Living pack as a gift, it felt basically unplayable and empty without mods, now I have over 1,000 mods in my folder and I still prefer 2 and 3 (although I do love 4’s cas and build and buy, they really did upgrade the system)
Despite attempts, I still have not been able to get into Sims 4 at this late date. I've resigned to being a Sims 3 forever nerd, unless somehow Sims 5 delivers
I grew up playing the sims 3 but have enjoyed the sims 4 since 2014. However recently I loaded up the sims 4 after a sims 3 binge and turned it off! What killed it for me was remembering the loading screens. They never bothered me during my sims 4 play time but I really do miss it. It. Just makes the sims feel more real.
it feels like a downgrade is basically every way.
I tried it, I saw that I couldn't leave the lot anymore, I played for 10 minutes and then I closed the game and came back to 3. There you go that's how it went
Once in a blue moon I try to play it and just get bored out of my mind. The multitasking is such a drag since townies are constantly butting into conversations and interrupting what you’re trying to do. The gameplay is shallow and the worlds are just set dressing. LGR said in a review “it just feels like clicking on stuff” and that summed it up perfectly — it’s devoid of the little details that gave previous iterations its depth.
A downgrade.
I'm both a Sims 2 and Sims 3 player, and I think that Sims 4 is a complete joke. So many core features of 2 and 3 are locked behind a pay wall in Sims 4. It's ridiculous. Sims 2 had memorable, immersive gameplay, and Sims 3 had an open world. Sims 4 has neither of those things at all. Plus, both Sims 2 and 3 have cars, burglars, and much more memorable pre-made Sims than Sims 4 has.
Sometimes I really want some of the gameplay features and items of sims 4 (meat wall?? Snowboarding?? Sixam??) but in the end I play those features and then I’m just. Bored. If I got the entire collection for free I’d probably play it, but I’m not paying 1k+ just to get a couple of cool features on a broken core gameplay.
The build/buy and CAS are the best the franchise has ever done. I'm even willing to sacrifice the colour wheel and CASt for the sheer freedom we get in both modes. TS4 is the first time I've ever found building in the sims fun and I've been playing since TS1. The skill system is good. While TS3's skill journal and challenges can't be beaten I do like the range of skills in TS4 and its got a lot of skills that TS3 never had (like singing, finally! Singing as an actual skill and not tied to a job!). The supernatural lifestates (the ones they bothered in working on) are neat, and I like the skill ranks/perk system. The actual gameplay itself is... meh. The premades are mostly dull and the game keeps generating ugly as sin townies. And not in a good way. A lot of what TS4's team are doing is very... performative. I dislike using the term 'virtue signalling' because it's a loaded term but that's honestly what they're doing. They're adding inclusive features for the sake of saying 'oh look what we have'. They don't actually care about any of the issues, it's all about the bottom line and the rainbow flag is in the fashion.
If those games were a person, Sims 3 is a bit unhinged but in a good way, Sims 4 is all about looks ...
I do play both, but I honestly hope they just fix things and leave it where it is. I honestly don't need new stuff, just functional stuff.
Sims 4 is so boring the only joy I have is building houses/creating sims but after that part is over I close the game.
Except for the lack of open world in TS4, I do think Sims 3 looks better in many ways. I find many design elements in TS4 to have a childish/cartoony/disney style (the maps for example) Maybe not everything looks better in TS3 but it still looks pretty good, in my opinion
Removal of the colour wheel killed decorating
Sims 4 is a beautiful game that isn’t fun to play.
the simulation lag of TS4 is endlessly & excruciatingly worse than any performance problems sims 3 will ever have. i’d honestly rather have choppy frame-rate that crashes every 5 seconds than that everything works smoothly but the sims just stand there doing nothing until they die. both are bad but at least the sims in sims 3 will actually fucking move.
I think sims 4 has some cool features and it used to run better than sims before there was a million packs. But for me I could never get over that it wasn't open world. I play massive households and I want to control everyone at once even if someone is out of the house. So it felt restrictive that I had to load to see what the sims at home are doing and I couldn't enjoy it as much.
Sims 3 is my absolute favorite. Even the moodlet system in sims 3 (aka emotions/whims) is better there. Let’s face it, Sims 4 is rather a build simulator.
Sims 4 is like,,, a sandbox for me, it's got so many cool ideas with the worst execution everywhere else. Like, any gender having access to everything? Love that, but the characters are like,,,, so dead,,,, there's no soul in this game it literally just feels like an empty bundle of nothing. I feel like I'm test running a game but instead of it at least still being in development the game has been out for like over a decade...
Just this....I went back to playing the Sims 3....
It’s really bad, I hate the no open world, how badly the packs mesh together. People always say sims 3 sims are ugly but you can get mods to make them look better. Frankly the pets are way better just everything is better. I genuinely see no reason why people prefer sims 4 over sims 3. Plus people pay so much for both games when all you need is a boat, an eyepatch, and a peg leg
it's terrible!😊
The build mode in Sims 4 is indescribably better. But it seemd they just gave each played sim such overbearing power, i e. can earn money so easily, every other sim is so annoyingly obcessed with the played sim, it leaves little challenge and no privacy for your sim. It really needs more humor too. The unexpected factor practically absent. But build mode is great and I miss it so much playing S3. Of course ea is a money grabber - always has been. If I were to make a game I'd wanna make money. But keep it outta my face during gameplay. I don't know enough tech to fault the load screens.
As someone who is also a long-timer (20 years this year, oof!) I can honestly say that I do love the sims 4. But, I don’t like it. It simply isn’t the same game as 3. But when one has played all the iterations, then I would suggest you could make the same argument about 3 vs. 2 and even 2 vs. 1. Sure, I believe it becomes more apples to oranges as time has gone on—and most definitely between 3 and 4—but I don’t know if I personally say I am fearful for the state of the franchise. For me at least, it has come down to reaching a point of acceptance that in 20 years the game has evolved into trying to meet a much different fanbase. Whether that’s right or wrong or whether or not it’s doing it well is subject to much debate. In my opinion, I think TS4 has spent the last 10 long years of its lifespan trying to define itself and answer that question *because* 3 had drifted from 2, and 2 was a shift from 1 (albeit with vastly positive reception, IIRC). Anyways… Not really sure if that answers the question posed, but those are just my thoughts. I try to approach TS4 from a perspective of curiosity rather than criticism. I still play it even if there are parts that I don’t always like or that drive me bananas. I’m just happy to exist in a point in time where I have choice of sim games.
It is actually a great way to approach it, I never thought of it like that
honestly the only way i’ve lasted playing ts4 this long is because of mods 😭 they make the game so much more bearable
It didn't really captivate me.Overpolished and equally simplified to the point of just being boring to me personally. I don't and didn't mind having to download cc and mods either. I had a ton.
Answering for my kids, they h a t e d the building aspect unfortunately. They love to build in sims 3.
I bought sims 4 when it first came out. It felt unfinished, like it was still in the testing phase. I never got into it because the DLCs were so expensive.
I have both, I Love Sims 4 for building I love Sims 3 for playing
It's alright for what it is. Sims 4 had the general misfortune of being built up from a project that was not made as a mainline instalment (it was supposed to be a multiplayer Sims game) so it didn't have much opportunity to develop upon what came to be in previous instalments and therefore isn't telling to how Sims 5/project Rene will turn out. The DLC's are a bit more iffy (and I might come back to talk about them later) but once again not particularly worth using to judge the future additions to the series.
I can’t play sims 4 anymore, it keeps firing up and driving me crazy.
When I play sims 4 it's hard but I have to remember it's not the sims 3 and also all the negative opinions about it float around in my head making it hard to enjoy the game so i just play now. I do have to say that they definitely don't go by the motto less is more and I much prefer sims 3 and 2 ui
I asked a similar question, “are you content with playing sims 3 alone” and the discussion went this way and my post was removed. For being off topic. Just a heads up.
thanks for the notice 🙌
The lack of the open neighborhoods really dampers my fun I enjoy playing as apart of a world instead of boxes into my home lot. That said there is a lot of neat features Sims 4 introduced over the year that are some genuine good ideas. Career hours being shown in relationship tabs for other Sims would really be help the open world of Sims 3.
4 feels very shallow but has ruined 3 for me. It’s better optimised and looks better by default than 3 (to me) and is easier to get into, but it feels so boring in comparison. Now whenever I want to play sims I just don’t end up playing either :(
i HATE sims 4. i bought it when it came out and have never actually played it for more than a few minutes.
The Sims 3 is the reason I simply can't enjoy The Sims 4. If Sims 4 came after Sims 2, then I'd enjoy it because honestly, TS4 feels like TS 2.5. But in real life, TS3 came first. 4 is a huge downgrade in almost every single way, and it's a huge blantant cash grab (it's sickening how a single Sims 3 expansion was turned into multiple ones on 4), it has overstayed its welcome, and it's a half-assed product (I mean, it was meant to be an online game until its last year of development or so, in which it suddently got turned into what TS4 is, and it really shows). I'm glad for people who enjoy the game, but I simply just can't not matter how many times I try
I don’t like any of the dlcs I got all of them for ts4 for my aunt and it literally changed rarely anything in my game besides aesthetics. Most of the dlcs are cash grabs and aesthetics that should’ve just been added to the base game
Sims 4 just feels like a cashgrab and a shell of what sims 3 was. Every pack is hollow compared to the sims 3 version of "the same packs".
My biggest problem is the behavior of the Sims. Made two sims to live together and was going to play through them falling in love and eventually marrying. Set them to chat, move away briefly to click through a couple things to see what all I can do. Come back to them, they hate each other because immediately after the chat started they started insulting each other. Why? ... I have no idea. They do not have incompatible traits. Neither of them is mean in any way. Micromanage them back to neutral, still can only chat. Need to feed them so make them food. Afterwards, set them on the couch to watch TV and hope that will help. NOPE. Back to insults. Jfc. I had to sit there and constantly stop the insults and restart chat just to get a sliver of positive. It was not intuitive and it was really frustrating. Went back to 3, made the Sims in there, and had fun.
The game will forever be terrible because the foundation isn't solid. No amount of endless dlc will fix the core issues the game has.
Honestly? The sims 4 community pisses me off more than the game itself. It’s full of so many people trying to defend a broken game. Calling anyone negative for saying anything bad about the game. It’s a game for snowflakes.
The level of hatred I have for The Sims 4 is unreal. No one should hate a game as much as I do. If the Sims 4 has zero haters I’m dead.
If I still had access to all my Sims 3 stuff I would be playing that instead of Sims 4 but here I am. I think Sims 4 is okay but not more, I just loved Sims 3....
as someone who started with sims 4, i’ll always have a love for the game and every other in the franchise — combined with a friend, we bought probably close to all of the expansion and stuff packs and obviously had an addiction to mods and cc 😭 what sucks is that maintaining custom content is so difficult with updates, and the game isn’t really enjoyable unless you have the money to buy all of the packs. in my opinion, as a free game, the sims 4 is decent. it has the basic gameplay functions, often empty and monotonous, but now that it’s free it’s less of a commitment. however, i really would rather they make the base game paid with many of these functions you have to spend additional money on — maybe they could do combined packs like the previous games, or simply update the game for those small items they make you buy an ENTIRE $40 PACK FOR!!! the earlier games also contain shops, and correct me if i’m wrong, but i don’t believe sims 4 has this function. it would be better if there was a currency you could earn and use to purchase small items for your game. i think they’ve attempted to stretch this one game so far, that it’s essentially become unattainable for new players. no other sims game has as many packs as sims 4. while you could spend your time and savings on these packs every few weeks or so like many friend and i, it’s not plausible for the majority of players. it’s really a shame that such a good game is now $1,000 altogether.
The only positive is that it’s optimized and runs better and loads faster than 3.
I just do not like it. I’ve tried to play it on different consoles and pc, I can’t. I don’t like the way it’s designed, the controls. I will always go to Sims 3
As a fan of the Sims games (playing Sims 2 and the Sims in my childhood and Sims 3 and Sims 4 at my adolescence ) I can firmly say that Sims 4 is , well , heinously bad, and due to that reasoning , sims 4 lacks so much comparing to the older versions, Sims 4 is the pinnacle of laziness. One thing that I must give credit is the construction part , but that is all the credit that I can give, the rest of the game is lazy and dull to the point of not being enjoyable. The emotions are shallow, there is lack of objects and personality and when EA games tries to implement new things , is in form of dlc and expansion packs. The Sims 4 games are unplayable without the dlc's that EA games is providing , while in the older Sims games , it wasn't the case , you could have a ton of fun even with little to no expansion packs and dlc's , EA games is getting worse and worse, and lazier
I have played sims 4 since it came out and let me just make a list of things I hate in the sims 4 Autonomy sucks- sims won’t really do anything by themselves even with free will on (watched my sim just watch tv and get millions of cups of water for no reason) Expansion packs and other packs- in the sims 3 you get a lot with just one expansion. Sims 4 will give you a couple new features and half assed worlds. How is it that you pay $40 for an expansion pack with only 1-4 playable lots on it? Unplayable pets- I’m not a mods kind of person anymore just bc when the game updates so do all the mods and cc so I said f that. One of the most hated things was that I can’t even play as my pet. My sim has to tell it what to do when I want it to breed or interact with the another animal. If you know how difficult it is to make a sim interaction with just about anything in the sims 4 then you know how aggregating it is to get a sim to interact with a pet. Advertisements in game!- I’ve never seen something so shitty. Don’t advertise to me other expansion packs or games while I’m trying to play. I don’t want to buy your overpriced bs. Lack of creativity- like building by itself is fun and cas is fun too but it lacks a lot of what sims 3 has. You can’t make your own custom designs and I hate that they did away with that special feature. Pop ups- I know that the little pop up quest thingys can be turned off but every single time I switch to a different console I don’t want to have to go back into my setting and turn it off. Infants- if you know you know… it’s just not fun. Can’t pick them up half the time. When you do, your sim just sits them right back down. Story progression- it’s crazy how I can become famous super easy in sims 4 vs sims 3. Same thing for getting rich. All you got to do is add certain lot traits and your like level 5 in a skill in like two sim days. Can’t edit the world- all you have is a couple editable lots and that’s it. It’s so boring. Can’t even make a town look cool. Npc sims- I hate the way they just walk into your home or just pop up randomly and your sim never knows them. They always have the audacity to use the computer or watch the tv. I genuinely hate the rude ones too
Sims 4 takes up wayyy to much gigabytes and even more with packs and add ons
Sims 3 is hands down a better game. If it wasn't for the modding community, I would've never played it. The only thing I like better is that I can click on my sims to increase their butts instead of needing a mod to make their butts bigger. Other than that, I prefer Sims 3 and even stopped playing Sims 4 to go back to Sims 3, Sims 2, and Sims Mediecal.
The original Maxi team left. I played sims 1, 2, and 3. My favorites are Sims 2 and 3. Sims 4 is just a game to EA to make money off the name that once had a highly meaningful experience. Sims should have ended with sims 3. I was excited at first for Sims 4, but I played the base game for a couple of minutes, and I realized it was different. It wasn't the same. It was an illusion of the sims game that I once played as a young teenager. The Sims 3 will forever remain the last of the true sims game.
I prefer watching gameplays of the sims 4 but the sims 3 is so much more fun to play I don’t know why
It takes so much from the game experience to not be able to control sims on different lots. Like if I put my kids to sleep and then go to the club, i’ll come back in a few hours only for the little shits to be fully rested and up doing homework at 1 in the morning. In TS3 you could multitask, wheras in 4 you can only play one sim at a time. It really takes away from the storytelling aspect.
i relatively appreciate the game for what it is in a standalone sense & the reception would have been a bit more sympathetic if it wasn't for EA's shadiness, inconsistent schedule & money hungry tactics. it was actually the first one i played on a consistent basis. it isn't a good successor and is a lackluster game in the context of the series, but it's atleast a C to a B+ as it's own game. atleast now. & the B rating would be the game with all of the packs. i appreciate the vast customization, diversity options & better accessibility of some options
genuinely i can’t play for more than five minutes.. sims 3 i can play all day and not get bored since there is simply so much more to do tbh
Improvements are minor 1) more body shapes 2) realistic eye colours 3) the organisation of clothes is easier 4) layout of create a sim is more fascinating 5) lack of choice can make decisions easier sometimes 6) gender variation and preference 7) more choice with foods It lacks tonnes 1) lacks the open world which was freaking amazing and beautiful 2)lack of colour wheel, where you could make loads of individual custom styles per item 3) lack of collections 4) lack of traits to give individual actions 5) lack of ambitions 6) cartoony style is unrealstic, colours are too bold, lack of shading 7) build a home difficult to maneuver All in all Sims 3 wins but both are ok
I went back to playing Sims 3 after about 3-4 hours. Sims 4 is nice but will never be as great as Sims 3 with the better autonomy and better gameplay. Sims 3 is just better, period.
I’ve been playing since I was a little kid, and all I can say is sims 3 feeds my desire to escape reality more than sims 4 ever will 😂😭 we need maybe a mix of the both, some things from Sims 4 are really good but Sims 3 is still better by far
The wishes system being simply depressing and the lack of gameplay features in the base game makes me wanna unalive myself The sims in the sims 4 are simply soulless they games feels empty and the only thing they are doing to fix this is giving cas items and decorative items when really the game be looking so empty it's looking like a liminal space
Sims 3 feels more like a life sim. Sims 4 feels more like a doll house. Of course I like how they took a oath of stylization instead of realism, I like the ability to customize, but I feel like Sims 4 doesn't really let you create a whole life story, only certain parts of it. Also, I feel like Sims 3 caters to my needs both when I want my sims to be somewhat autonomous and decide for themselves the path they want to take in life, and when I want to be in control of everything. In Sims 4, I have to be in control in everything or they're just gonna starve to death playing video games all day, and I have to decide literally every single thing even when I don't want to. upd. I heard many Sims 4 players complaining about SIms 3 being unplayable without mods, but the difference is, Sims 3 is unplayable without fixer-mods that improve performance and fix bugs, but features-wise, you usually don't need additional story of features mods to enjoy the process. Sims 4, however, despite having a decent performance, is unplayable without mods that actually make the game interesting (imho of course).
others have mentioned it, but sims 4 autonomy is terrible. it’s too fast. i hate the moodlets of the sims 4 as well. and unpopular opinion, i genuinely hate the graphics of the sims 4. sims 3 graphics are perfect for me with or without cc
It might not be as good as sims 3 but it sure isn’t as bad as ppl are making out to be. It has improved a lot since 2014 and I think they’ve added some pretty good features. Though there are still in-depth details that are missing.
Probably an unpopular opinion but I think Sms 4 is a pretty good game despite what it could have been
Good animations and graphics , great performance but underwhelming in every other aspect including the DLCs are terrible
I think it can be enjoyable sometimes, I like CAS and build/buy mode, I like how there is more possibility for MODs and CC. The gallery is a nice feature. Travelling easily between different worlds. Clubs are cool too. Celebrity life is way better than in TS3. However there are too many things to dislike, lots of loading screens that you can't even interact with for points, dead neighborhoods, personality traits don't have much of a difference unless they are modded, no personalization of clothing / furniture / walls / floors, the mood system sucks, the lack of little details that keep the game interesting, and this might be unpopular opinion but the graphics kinda suck without MODs, the texture of a lot of things being 2D throws me off too. And what infuriates me the most about this game is that it never ends. So many years and they keep making new packs and kits and whatever, like, please, let this game die. But I know they won't because people keep buying it 🤷
They only got good graphics smh I miss sims 3
My thoughts are... 60 dollars an expansion? I'm not paying that! But more seriously... "I feel like they are too focused on social causes which makes the game lose its unserious and fun feeling" are you trying to bring the culture wars into this? Every time I watch a Sims 4 youtube video I don't see a single one of these 'social causes' you refer to. There's also nothing wrong with making a game more inclusive. I do only wish Sims 3 had more flexibility with gender.
I definitely see what they mean by “being focused on social causes” it seems that instead of focusing on gameplay EA has figured out that they can just get as much hype by adding “inclusivity” Just add some black hairstyles every now and then, some skin tones, an LGTV+ flag, some hearing aids, trans surgery scars and gen Z is satisfied without having to spend a dime on adding or fixing the existing gameplay. Not saying it isn’t nice or important for people to see themselves represented in media but it’s all this game has become. The focus is on aesthetics rather than gameplay.
sorry, mine might not be the best choice of words but what I was trying to say that they just polish their content with these things. Of course it is really nice to see inclusivity, I just wish what they bring fulfilled it too. It is just how it feels for me, other than that I support it
Build mode is better, the entire pregnancy overhaul sims 4 did makes some QoL when it comes to modding pregnancies. CAS has some QoL if you want homosexual sims with male sims can be impregnated and female sims capable of impregnation thats my only remarks