#this is my therapy for being yanked around by sims 4 all these years

[thedarkmistress16]

My pitch for a future Sims game (5, 6, whatever) that is a proper sequel to 3 but better

or, what sims 4 should have done logically, if I want to be petty about it this is a long ride buckle the fuck in

Simply take what 3 did for base game and condense it a bit, but add more mechanics in other areas for a more well-rounded base game that is a clear love letter to Sims 3, with a focus on the optimization of gameplay.

Talkin' open world, but keep it mostly the same. Have decent gameplay for babies and toddlers, alongside pools, hot tubs, and other basic things that sims 4 did not include on launch but every other Sims game beforehand did in THEIR base (yes I will always hold this against them).

Include seasons, pets, occult sims (aliens, ghosts, zombies, and vampires), a very vanilla high school and community college system, and one vacation/travel lot AT LEAST. Have these features with extremely basic systems that work fine as is, and leave the more in-depth features for future expansions that justify the price point. Do not replace those systems upon said expansion, but rather build upon them further in a meaningful way and add new features that complement the pack's focus.

Example: Make an education pack that focuses on not just including forms of higher degree types like masters, doctorates, and certifications with an importance for major and minor declaration for a new university world, but also creating a preschool and/or kindergarten system, and a middle/junior school one. Maybe have them act as rabbit holes that family members or guardians need to drop the youngins at and have them learn additional skills, make friends, or improve their mood while they're there like a regular, older Sim does at school. Maybe the kids can bring things for a "show and tell" assignment one day and bring home pictures they've drawn or a toy they've swiped on others (for the klepto enthusiasts). Have public and private schools (elementary and up) differ in discipline methods, event messages, and usage of uniforms. Also include a homeschooling option and, in general, have the institutions declare a "wacky hat day" or "wear this color day" to just make things more lively.

For careers, let Sims have internships either offered by an institution they attend or the career path/field they're in or apply for. Varieties on payment, scheduling, and location can make each field's internship more diverse, especially so when based around the current Sim applicant's qualifications of skill level, income, scheduling, and traits. Would be neat to have jobs that may ask a Sim to relocate, not unlike WA's traveling opportunities. Thinking for Fashion, Business, and Reviewer careers to name a few.

Have birds and rabbits behave like cats and dogs mainly do now for pet expansions- to have four main and common household pet options (instead of two or three) that have the ability to be trained and interacted with more in general (I understand horses may not be included ever again and I love them in 3 but I am fine with not having them here despite that horses are fucking great-). Depending on the pet's personality traits, they can react very differently to other animal species in the same household, such as giving a cat a predator trait living with a bird and causing the feline to act more hostile and aggressively toward said bird when in close proximity. Maybe have traits that pit cats and dogs against each other as well, such as dogs having a moodlet to "chase a cat up a tree" or something to that effect. Even further, perhaps include special traits like Sims 4's aspiration traits in CAS but for specific breeds in this Sims 3 sequel like a history of hunters or intelligence or show business. And if creating a custom breed of animal, you have the freedom to choose that special trait for yourself and start a new breed heritage of that pet.

STORY MODE. You're a liar if you don't miss the hell and chaos that is playing through the first Sims games like Sims 1, Bustin Out, Urbz, 2, and Sims 2 Castaway on console and the Sims 2 Stories and Sims Medieval on PC. Simply having the option for story mode makes a Sims game feel more robust and complete, giving players more to do after fucking around in freeplay for a while or are lost amiss the abundance of features at their disposal. Catching a robber then unlocking their career was so fucking cool. Traveling to various lots and getting to know existing Sim relationships, personal journeys, and plights helps get the creative juices flowing for freeplay, too. Trying to juggle a job, numerous relationships, skills, and needs was fucking hell in early Sim game story modes (without cheats. otherwise, what's the point?), but so fucking rewarding when you do complete it. Bonus points for including Sim family mainstays like the Landgrabbs or Goths, even for a small cameo.

Bring back the color wheel OR use a single color for each channel and edit that with tone/saturation/transparency sliders. THERE IS NO ACCEPTABLE IN-BETWEEN HERE SO GET THOSE DEMON SWATCHES OUT OF MY FACE (wheel for pet CAS, swatches and sliders for CAS but only swatches for build/buy mode? wtf EA pick one. no wonder S4 is such a nightmare).

Please for the love of everything make an Island Paradise pack work with the hotels, scuba diving, and mermaids with better houseboat placement and optimization. Bonus fun thing: Add some Atlantis or any lost underwater city lore for high-level divers to find in the most dangerous diving locations. maybe have them swim into a pocket of water filled with ancient relics or creatures that existed years ago like narwhales or make llama/unicorn seahorses, i dunno. Maybe a nod to the lore in Sims 2 Castaway or Sims 2 Castaway Stories. Something fun and ocean-themed to add onto the fun of exploring in the pack. And adding more lore never hurts.

For Sim birthdays, let's make their likes and dislikes, and favorite things they enjoy have more meaning than just a description in their bio or briefly mentioned in the message/notif box during convos. Have a variety of different cake flavors, colors, and candle toppers to choose from, as well as decorate the home with streamers, balloons, and banners. Have these be various color schemes and designs, but also of themes like royalty, galaxy, dinos, gaming, mythical creatures/magic, aliens, wild west, carnival, pirates, superhero, underwater, vehicles, gothic, seasons, holidays (for the "my birthday lands next to/on a holiday" peeps), and some sim mascots like freezer bunny and tragic clown, to name a few. Have Sims be able to pick their favorite and disliked or hated things, either discovered through gameplay or chosen in CAS. And have objects that are meant to be gifted to the birthday Sim have choices in wrapping color, designs, and extravagance (simple. plain wrapping, themed, with all the bells and whistles). Have the option to gift coupons and gift cards too, lol. This would give players the opportunity to make each birthday of a Sim be either their best day ever, surrounded by their favorite things and feeling loved, or the absolute worst one of their lives and planned utterly and completely wrong (having an upset or angry moodlet, depending on their traits). Even if there's little to sparse decorating or the cake is the only thing they like, they can still have a tiny moodlet boost for the ones that don't like big celebrations on their birthday but can still get something nice out of it. Grant them a greater moodlet bonus when they partake in things they enjoy or hate doing on their birthday (in Sims 3 terms, like an additional +5 or +10 increase to a base reaction to something they already like doing or hate, such as enjoying being alone even more than normal or hating the outdoors would worsen their mood when they stay outside longer that day). If too robust to code, acceptable to make into a pack that expands upon families or as a smaller pack with just this birthday mechanic in place as the selling point but a basic likes and dislikes system in place for base game. Birthdays functioning akin to a Sims 2 PC event or as a candle interaction with optional party set-up in Sims 3/4 would depend on the coding requirements.

Other Fun Packs to Include:

A Wild West/Cowboy/Native American expansion pack. I haven't seen this theme done since Sims 2 console and a bit of SIms 3 (but in Pets it's more ranch than anything) and I wanna see more of it. Give me a world with a dedicated museum, historical plots of land, a cheesy Indian-themed casino, some colonial aesthetics, and half-de-commissioned, worn railroad tracks placed somewhere in the map. Gives me an excuse to see a dumb Woody costume in there, too. Maybe add horses here! A southern style of architecture on the buildings and homes would be neat to see here, too.

Make a Superhero pack. Maybe combine it with an "Into the Future-esque" pack or something where a sim's genetics can be altered to have superpowers like increased strength = faster athletic/gymnastics skill build rate or crazier muscle definition. Or higher stamina = less energy depletion. Just simple things that the reward system does for achievements. Oh and not to mention the ability to fly, shapeshift, and control elements!!!?!!?? Like regular occult such as vampires already and have been doing for years?? How have superpowers not been a pack yet?!? (Movie Stuff doesn't count) Perhaps include a heroic and villainous progression system/tree that grants certain rewards when deeds of a good or bad alignment have been done, making evil and good trait Sims more important and possibly affecting the time stream as well if still merged with a time-jumping pack. By extension, throw in angels and demons as llamas because of the alignment scale PLUS the canon of Sims praying to or being derived from llama people will never NOT be the funniest Sim lore I have ever encountered and it would be really fun to see at like, high superhero levels a Sim can achieve. Would give a chance to poke at the player for being god or something too, like Medivial does. I want some actual Sim mutants in my game, not just cosmetic look-alikes, lol.

Have a Master Suite pack combined with Wicked Whims, lol. But seriously, give us more juicy, dramatic, and sweet interactions that Sims can do with others romantically like polygamy relationships, an escort career system, periods and ovulations, couple therapy sessions, more sex skills, etc. Let a Sim's orientation, sexuality, and preferences affect how other Sims engage with them like how compatible and incompatible traits react upon discovery, on top of including them in general. Let me see the chaos or harmony a Sim polycule will bring. Or an anime-inspired harem ripe with jealousy. Make the SIms adult again guys tf, lol.

Do a Fast Lane pack but INCLUDE A RACECAR DRIVER CAREER plus an auto mechanic/detailing/manufacturing, tow truck driver, and delivery driver (warehouse or fast food) careers and part-time jobs. Would or would not lead to Sims dying more race-wise but this franchise is all about wacky deaths so might as well (that was a wacky races reference btw). Damn hold up we've had helicopters and yachts for cutscenes and rabbit hole travel since Sims 1 and 2 and Urbz and Castaway and like, none after that? Fuck include skydivers, pilots, stewardesses, security detail, luggage carriers, flight instructors as job titles in the plane field, and actual airports while we're at it. Taxi to that airport and then rabbit hole to your destination. This could've easily been an expansion pack istg-

How about more rollercoasters? And water parks and carnivals and state fairs and big tops? Do a whole pack about this theme park aesthetic and give adrenaline junkie or fear of heights and from funnel cake to BBQ lover or sensitive stomach traits. How about being able to take pictures of little kids on the slow spinning rides for the family members and include the long wait time and rigged game negative moodlets and the worth the wait and exhilarating ride positive ones. Let Sims gorge on peanuts under the big top and see the elephants or have a clown completely ruin their day at the theme park because they have a hate clowns trait or a prior nightmare experience. Have their level of activeness-laziness and playfulness-seriousness affect how they react to riding a coaster of different twists, turns, loops, and speeds, if possible.

(Not a pack but an extension of the above with coasters used as an example:) Also include the possibility to die on a coaster or other event, or perhaps let certain memories stick with Sims like next to someone who died or survived a crash and have that prevent that sim from autonomously doing and refusing to go on any roller coaster again or a specific coaster/action forever or for a really long time, having that lessened with optional and continuous therapy sessions. Give my Sims traumatic experiences that block them from doing certain actions and, when cheated to do them or have their memory intensity lessened enough to do that action again, have a higher risk of actually having that fear come true, greatly decreasing the effect the memory has on them, or completely getting over their fear depending on the level of intensity the traumatic memory has on that Sim at that time, on top of personality traits like Un/Lucky and general world chance variables within the world's coding.