Sims 4 nails character creation!

joxer said:

In case anyone is still interested…

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I'm interested. The game is to be released in less than one month. You could have expected a big hype train for a game like that and so far, the marketing storm is not here.
I wonder what it means: usually, very good games are preceded with massive hammering as they see it fit to promote even more a good product.
Either this game is extremelly good, so good they think they can bypass a heavy marketing campaign or it is not worth a massive marketing campaign because it is too poor.

EA promised to break some big news on Sims facebook page today.
Now everyone is expecting this and that, but I bet all they'll do will be official note that CaS demo is available on Origin.

Meanwhile I've asked on Bioware forums if DA3 will feature toddlers and pools. Didn't get ban yet, in fact, seems that people liked the question. Especially those who do realize if Risen 3 has swimming, if The Witcher 3 will have it, why EA suddenly has a water phobia in several titles. Who needs horses? Give us ponds, rivers and lakes to explore!
Oh wait, they can't sell armor for pools DLC.

Now this is very odd.
Amazon (both co.uk and .de) dropped Sims 4 limited edition price a bit.
On Origin it's still 60€, on amazon it's 55€ (or equivalent in pounds st.).
http://www.amazon.de/Die-Sims-Limited-Edition-PC/dp/B00EJNW9VC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408737137
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Sims-Limited-Edition-DVD/dp/B00E4LGSTS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408737093

Presales probably don't go well as EA expected. No wonder because everyone knows how much content was cut out from the base game.

Aaaaand it's been released. Dum dum dum.

Any impressions yet, on EA's #1 milking cow?

Sadly, no. I went for train fever (pew pew chew chew) and it was a poor decision.

Watched a few videos, the technological points I pointed out seem to have been addressed like a neater pathfinding.
The rest remains to be seen but do not seem as bad as announced (so negative marketing at work here)

I've bought it. If you saw me mentioning -23% voucher on GMG, I didn't have anything to use it on so…

Buying the deluxe or whatnot version and paying 10€ more on origin is accepting milking, you get no new gameplay options just some decorations and digital soundtrack. Now I can't say if the soundtrack is worth it, intro, cc and buildmode music is okay, nothing stellar, but dunno about the rest (there are three instruments to play in the game, have to check what scores you get from those). So I took the limited edition.

Didn't play much yet. It's fun but you instantly notice many things that are not there, not just pools. There is no dishwasher for example.
Pathfinding is not neater. You want to get across the street and your sim instead of crossing directly walks to some spot god knows why to cross it.
Character's inventory is horrible. Not in a consoleway and phoneway horrible, but it's still the same lazy design from previous Sims games.
If you have stacks of many items in it, it clogs the game. Luckily I'm playing on a great rig, but options like fertilizing and paying bills cause a freeze that lasts for a few seconds till the game checks your inventory and lets you make a move.
If you let Origin to be online while you're playing (and I did), you see spam on your info column "Maxis approves this house" and such garbage. I've asked on EA forum how to disable that retarded spam-o-rama, I don't care for Maxis' opinion about someone's design.
Switching areas causes loading and a loading screen that lasts longer than any game I remember. What's so slow for god's sakes? I've checked Sims forums, people with the fastest SSD have the same experience.

It's not as bad as announced, it's worse.
If you read critics on this game and they don't mention outdated graphics, that's probably a review paid by EA. With great rig and maxed options it still looks like crap. While I couldn't care less if graphics will be superb or crappy in this game, critics usually slashed scores of games we love because of that. Let's see what they say when it's EA game.

So far I haven't seen anything in Sims 4 apart from character creation that would be a reason to buy it instead of holding onto Sims 3.
But as I said, it's too early to say.

Pathfinding matters to reduce the time loss in trying to interact with other sims.
From the vids, it is much cleaner.

Eh, there is no huge time loss with that, let's say you're chatting with someone on the bench and click to introduce yourself to a third person. That third person will come to you. You'll go after that person only if you're in your house.
It's different from Sims 3.

But Sims 3 core problem was not just pathfinding. It was utterly nonoptimized and never properly patched code. Sadly I see same no optimization problems happening in Sims 4.
This engine they used is either just a bit upgraded Sims 3 engine or is some pathetic noname engine ment to be used in dull MMOs but is for whatever reason used for a complex singleplayer.

We can hope they optimize it, maybe, dunno, we'll see. But one thing is so lousy that is beyond repair. Remember it:
The inventory system is horrible.

Also remember that you don't need to buy the game on origin to be able to "upgrade" it to deluxe version.
And you won't upgrade. You'd be crazy to pay 15€ for this bullshit:

For that price you can almost preorder the whole The Witcher 3. Just imagine how much of content that is.
I just can't understand what is EA doing for god's sakes? Several items: hats and lights, fifteen bloody euros?! Hell MassEffect3 they sell for 10 euros on Origin! A full game, not some crap itempack!
And don't ask how I got that Life of The Party, I dunno. Maybe because I have Sims 3 and several addons? It just installed itself automatically. Not that I used any of it's items in my game...

It's a stripped down version of Sims that's comparable to Sim's 1. Loading screens for everything. No screen rotation. No stories to follow. Simplified everything. No color wheel. If you bought the deluxe version you paid 80 bucks. My wife has been a big Sims fan from the beginning and she is pissed off. Did I mention you are stuck with Origen?

and no woo hoo! WTF! They should be mailing refund checks to everyone.

There was a review embargo up to the day of release date. For a very good reason. When I got home it was too late to stop my wife, she already typed in the key for the game.

Thanks for the head's up.
Sounds like I am going to need to hold my gf off from buying it.

Have some personal issues so can't be frequent…
But from what I've played:


Is the game fun? It actually is. I'd lie if I say it's not.
Is the music superb? Not really, older Sims had better scores. IMO.
Graphics? Outdated.
Optimized code? No, again microfreezes happen on paying the bill or on fertilizing (gardening) and loading screens take too long on SSD.
Pathfinding? Yup, some improvements are there, but your sim sometimes still does some odd pathways.
Content? As basic as it gets.
Spamfree? No, it's connected to a social network and Maxis spams appear on your ingame wall.
Challenging/balanced? It's rotten, you become a millionaire fast with royalties or painting.
Creating sims? Superb!
Building mode? Way better than in older games.
Inventory system? Horrible beyond words.
Sims independent AI? Retarded as butler in Sims 3, telescope, bar and gameplatform are honeypots they spend 24/7 on.
Friends/Love simulation? Can go totally out of the place. Your sim hits on anyone. Even on own brother/sister. And everything is just slutty, there is even an achievement for whoring all over the town.
Life sim? If you don't exercise you get fat. Awsome. However, Sims 4 don't fart. And no matter how emotional they get, you never hear: "Panubi?! Panubi."
Perks/Traits? There is no "stupid" trait. But there are stupid actions to do in the game like "send chain letter".
Grinding? Abnormal level. Yes it's sandbox game but still. For example at one point you need to perform 100 jokes. That means 300 mouseclicks!
Bugs? Many, many small annoyances, and the dreadful savegames vanished issue reported numerous times on EA's Sims 4 troubleshooting forum not solved yet.

Other stuff like family micromanagement, secrets and etc… I just didn't play the game enough hours to talk about those.

In the end the game is not a disaster, it's just not worth it's current abyssmal price.
If you'll buy it, honestly, make sure you get it at least -25% off. And buy limited edition, not deluxe!

Well well. Due to Stardew Valley success Sims 4 improves gardening via the new patch:
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/942005/june-19-2018-patch-notes

We overhauled the Gardening Skill in a big way! We revised the tuning and balance to make it a little easier and more profitable. Less drudgery, more money!

- We synchronized plants to need water, etc. at the same time of day.
- Seed Packets can be opened if placed on the ground.
- There is a gardening sort in outdoor activities in Build to make it easy to find all the gardening equipment.
- You can also buy seed packets in build now!
- Gardening Evolution has been streamlined to 5 levels with better UI, plus we made the interaction immediate.
- Uncommon and Rare Seed packets can be purchased once you're at higher levels of the gardening skill. This means you can just buy them instead of hunting them down in the world.
- You can research plants (new interaction) to gain info for your notebook.
- Research tells you things like the right growing season, sell price, and more.
- You can now sell Harvestables directly from the plant.
- Most interactions now have an "area of effect" option at higher levels so you can garden more quickly and efficiently.

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Gardening was on par with SV already, but new buyers will surely appreciate these grinding reduction improvements.

For me it's too late. Had already hundreds of hours of fun with Sims 4, I'm now waiting for Sims 5.