#i just want ts2 with ts4 graphics and build buy mode that would be the best game

[dmumt]

god i wish ts4 let your sims run businesses from their home lots like in ts2 

[findingbxlance]

I love The Sims. 

Which is why I will never stop being disappointed in TS4. 

Lets do some math, and I’m going to keep this mainly between TS3 & TS4. While I did play TS2, there isn’t a lot of information readily available on what the games themselves cost at the time of release. I have some information on that, but I’m not sure if it’s 100% accurate as I was baby when they came out and my mom had to buy them for me. I’ll release it later if anyone is curious. 

TS3 launched with a base game priced at $49.99, and throughout it’s lifetime accrued nine stuff packs at $19.99 each, and eleven expansion packs priced at $39.99 a pop. This comes to a total of $669.79. 

TS4 launched with a base game price of $59.99 (that price soon dropped to $49.99 because the backlash was immediate), and introduced the new game pack. In total (as of 4/15/2020), TS4 has sixteen stuff packs at $9.99 each, eight expansion packs at $39.99, and eight game packs at $19.99. That comes to a total of $699.67. 

That’s not a huge price difference. All in all, it’s about $30 if you want to get the whole, complete collection, so why do I dislike TS4 so vehemently? 

Quality. 

Let’s compare a few expansion packs just to get a feel for what the difference is.

 TS3 launched the “Late Night” expansion at $39.99, and it included: 

A new world (Bridgeport) with 82 lots

Fame & reputation systems

Bars & night clubs

Apartments with penthouse suites

Subways

Elevators

Breast & muscle sliders in CAS*

Zodiac signs

A fountain tool*

Height adjustment for wall objects

Groups & bands

Butlers

Vampires!

The mixology skill

2 new traits (shy & star quality)

TS4 launched the “Get Famous” expansion at $39.99, and it included: 

A new world (Del Sol Valley) with 11 lots

Fame & reputation systems

Active acting career

Multiple ways to become famous 

Music, video station, etc.

And that’s about it. 

Now I’ll be the first person to admit that TS3 wasn’t perfect. Although it was a very full game, it struggled in areas of performance. With such large, open worlds, and detailed customization systems, it was pretty buggy for a lot of people, but we’ll talk on that more later. 

But what I want to focus on is the disparity between these two packs, as they’re supposed to be mirrors of one another. “Get Famous” is the TS4 version of “Late Night”, so where did all the stuff go?

Well, EA broke it into 3 packs. 

To get the full experience of “Late Night” in TS4, or at least something similar, you would need to purchase, “Get Famous”, “City Living”, and “Vampires”. That’s 2 expansion packs, and 1 game pack. So, to replicate the experience of “Late Night” you would need to spend $99.97. 

That’s almost $100. 

So, for an experience we paid $39.99 previously in the last installment, we’re now being asked to pay $100 for. 

Is that fair? 

Lets do another expansion pack comparison: 

TS3 launched “Ambitions” at $39.99, and it included: 

A new world (Twinbrook) with 82 lots

5 new active jobs that take you all around the world your sims inhabit

Firefighter, investigator, ghost hunter, stylist, and architectural designer

Self-employment

Sculptors, inventors, painters, writers, gardeners, and so on can all profit from at home work

Laundry

Tattooing career

New traits (eco-friendly, good observer, weirdo, etc.)

Consignment stores

Inventing

Sculpting

TS4 launched “Get to Work” at $39.99, and it included: 

A new world (Magnolia Promenade) with 4 lots

3 new active jobs that take place in one location

Detective, doctor, scientist

Baking & photography skills

Retail lots

Illnesses for sims

Aliens

There’s definitely more crossover here, but “Get to Work” still falls short. $39.99 for a full game and all we get is a world with 4 lots? Even in TS2 “Open for Business” we had more to do.

And, that isn’t to mention the fact that “Get to Work” launched separately from the TS4 “Laundry Day Stuff” pack. So, to get a similar experience to TS3′s “Ambitions” you would need to purchase both “Get to Work” and “Laundry Day Stuff” at a total of $49.98. 

One more comparison for good measure. 

TS3 launched “Island Paradise” at $39.99, and it included: 

A new world (Isla Paradiso) with 118 lots, the most of ANY TS3 expansion

Houseboats that can move anywhere around the island

Resorts that you can either visit, or own, manage & edit

New transportation modes

Boating, skiing, and windsurfing

3 new careers

Lifeguard, resort manager, scuba diver

Diving into fully realized underwater scenes

Sims could also catch fish, explore underwater caves & find sunken treasure

Shark & kraken attacks

Mermaids!

Missions to discover and unlock new islands

Blueprint templates*

TS4 launched “Island Living” at $39.99, and it included: 

A new world (Sulani) with 11 lots

Docks & new foundation types

4 new careers

Conservationist, diving, fishing, and lifeguard

Mermaids! 

Boats

Missions to clean up the island

2 new traits

In the case of “Island Paradise” vs. “Island Living” there are a quite a few similarities, but the disparity remains. Thankfully, this time around EA didn’t break “Island Living” into multiple packs, but imagine if in a few months we get a resort style pack? Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past EA. 

In these pack comparisons, I hope I’ve highlighted some of the issues between what should have been pretty similar packs. 

And, to clarify, I’m not saying that EA should have just copy pasted TS3 packs into the TS4 style, but for the amount of money they’re asking, the quality should remain the same. There should be a similar amount of features between each pack, but there isn’t.   

With each expansion, it feels like EA is spending less and less time working on the unique gameplay features, and pouring more time into the general aesthetics of the packs. So, while TS4 is the prettiest of all The Sims titles, it’s also the emptiest. 

Despite the shiny veneer of a good game with solid graphics, TS4 ultimately lacks depth. It doesn’t feel like a game, but rather a character creator. I spend more time building sims and their homes than I do actually playing out their lives.

All in all, I find that the “life simulation” part of TS4 is severely lacking. It mostly comes down to the little things, which is exemplified whenever I go back and replay TS2. Sims would cuddle their partner in their sleep, burglars were a real and present danger, raccoons would topple your trash can at any given chance, and friends would call all the time to ask if you wanted to go downtown. 

It’s been 6 years since TS4 came out, and, from what the dev’s have said, they aren’t planning on pushing out TS5 anytime soon, but let’s dream a little bit about what could be. 

In my perfect game, TS5 would include aspects of TS3 and TS2. The open worlds were great, but not many people’s computers were beefy enough to run them. The one thing I will applaud about TS4, is that its made with everyone in mind. We can’t all afford big, gaming computers, a lot of simmers play on their laptops, and we should all be able to play regardless of what type of machine we’re working with. 

So, instead of fully open works with 90+ lots, I would like to see open neighborhoods. If we take the open concept of TS3, and combine it with the neighborhood style of TS4, we’d get an open world of about 15-20 lots. That’s nowhere near as big as TS3, but would allow for more fun neighbor interactions, and remove the constant load screens. 

I’d also like to see a return of the color wheel. This is also a point of contention, where I understand that excessive customization really dragged down TS3 and made it unplayable for a lot of people. So instead of full customization, relegate it to just colors (instead of different materials like fabric, metal, wood, etc.,) and just CAS. 

I think a lot of what gummed up TS4 was the fact that you could customize everything. Hair color, eye color, makeup, clothes, accessories, wallpaper, paint, tiles, flooring, chairs, sofas, decorations, and on and on. Restricting it just to CAS, and in a simple color wheel would give us so much more freedom. 

A color wheel in CAS would also solve EA’s issue of diversity. While they’ve given us the ability to create trans and nonbinary sims (which is fantastic!), they’ve been really slow on any progress when it comes to skin tones. A color wheel would allow us to create sims of all colors, and give power to the players to create more realistic and diverse representations of their lives as sims. 

The last thing I would really love to see is a return to the little details. Give us more randomness. Genies, walking skeletons, ruins we can explore that aren’t just rabbit holes, more active careers, more opportunities. Don’t be afraid to give us the weird things, we love the weird things! But don’t forget about the little things. Sims sitting in the grass together and chatting, sims leaving flowers at your door after a really great date, sims scooting together to cuddle while watching a movie together on the couch. 

Overall, TS5 should just include more more, if that makes sense. 

Leave your comments & thoughts below! I’d love to talk to ya’ll about this, its really been brewing for awhile. 

*Features included in TS4 base game. 

[liulingsims-blog]

TS5?

Just hoping that my feedback message will be heard and read for what I would like to see in TS5. Here is what I wrote to them:

In case the Sims 5 is still in its beginning phase there are a few suggestions that I have to make gaming smoother for those playing on the pc.

I have been playing the sims since its infancy with The Sims. I have seen a lot of differences and some good and some bad.

What I miss:

being able to put the foundation inside of the house (from TS2) to make a taller platform. For example: in the living room if you want to add the dining room but make it a higher than the living room....you would put the foundation in and then add the stairs...it adds height, depth and dimension to the room/build

L-shaped, spiral, and U-shaped stairs. Doing work-arounds can be very nerve grinding ridiculousness for a builder...it doesn't help..it hurts.

TS3 store had some great items for the game...not having them in TS4 was a real bummer Chun Co. Teppanyaki Grill - what a marvelous invention.

Sizzle Baby Pro Deep Fryer - I so miss being able to deep fry food.

World of Wonder Carousel Collection Everything in here is worth having again

Last Venue of Amore - the gondola was amazing

The Boardwalk - the roller coaster

bakers station - not only having the station but adding more baking goods to create

it's business time industrial oven - double ovens....please!

playpen and toddler walker - so cute for the babies and also the baby swings

canning station - same as the baking station...being able to can more fruits and veggies

dragons - duh!

dbl sliding bookcases

tileable bookcases - really cool and great feature for libraries

water wheel - loved that feature from the brunch at the old mill

the tea set from brunch at the old mill

being able to have all harvestables from TS2, TS3 and TS4 combined in TS5 as well as nuts of every kind

fowl and feathers chicken coop

Milkin' It Dairy Corral

Aims Co. Choc-O-Falls Fountain

Setting up a store for TS5 just like TS3. Extra stuff sets and misc items available for purchase with simpoints....I love this idea. It is actually cheaper for those paying for a whole pack. Not everyone can afford a whole pack and this added "new" items without breaking the bank.

I know the franchise wants to make money, but keeping in mind that there are low income consumers would be very beneficial for the franchise as well. Some of us only live on $800/mo due to having disabilities, but are still able to function enough to play a game like the sims...it can develop certain brain skills that they did not have before and it can also help with creating brain pathways on some levels. Such as seeing what cause and effect does and being able to take that into real life. If my sim starts a fire while cooking and gets burned and dies and the fire consumes the house because there wasn't a smoke detector to get the fire dept to come, this too can happen in real life...on a certain level...Some people are concrete and this helps with that because they can see it.

Having all of these packs is not helpful. There are a few that could have been lumped together. Also, when there is a pack or a set coming out, including all of the cas and build/buy mode items images for that set or pack is very beneficial to those who are buying the pack. I know I like to see what I am getting before I get it. I may not want everything in the pack, and I won't buy if there is only one thing in there that I want. I know there are more consumers out there like me.

Having more valentine day stuff would be great as well as some more christmas items...st patrick day stuff, Asian holiday items, India and other cultural holiday stuff would be great too.

CREATE-A-STYLE really does need to come back. Most of the items in TS4 just do not have enough swatches let alone some....I just would not put together.

Having different animal sculptures for creating a zoo or just making those animals or having a set or a pack that deal with just a zoo...that would be awesome!

Books and bookcases --- major overhaul

I am putting together a library right now. And am discovering some things going on with the bookcases. If I remove all books from a bookcase, then set it up to have only the LEVEL 1 skill books, the bookcase goes back to "normal" if I upload it with a lot for the person downloading the lot. I have to make the bookcase a deco piece before I can upload it with a lot. So, being able to make bookcases to where they are similar to an actual bookcase library would be very helpful and beneficial for those of us creating a library for our sims. Also, the bookstore-spa, bookstore-diner combos....that was a wonderful idea in TS3.

CARS, CARS, CARS...did I mention cars!

Some of the items in Into the Future were pretty amazing. The holograms was a brilliant idea.

Please keep in mind that the graphics for console games and pcs are actually different; therefore, camera controls should be set up differently for the two. I do not like the camera controls in TS4 even with the option of the TS3 camera control. And seeing the world through the eyes of the current sim in play, is not beneficial either; the sims is just not a battlefield game...that was not a good idea.

I know my ideas and the items and stuff I have mentioned may not be worth reading doing anything about, but I do feel that I have the right to state my opinion. I do believe that every company should listen very closely to their consumers remarks....even the bad ones because the company does not deal with the end result 24/7...the consumer does. We need to be heard, we need to be understood, and we need to be happy. When we are happy, you make money.