The Sims 4 announced

Redwing wrote:

Maybe if I get in on the ground floor with Sims 4 it won't seem so bad.

The key (at least in the past) is to be stingy with that stuff. None of the DLC is essential to the game, and in my opinion none of it is worth full price. Wait until a sale and even then just choose the packs that sound interesting to you. I know gamers like to be OCD about this stuff, but going in with the assumption that you need to get everything to have a "complete" experience is exactly what they are counting on with the ridiculous release schedule.

The Katy Perry content is essential though.

I have the base game for the sim 3 and enjoyed it. I didn't buy any of the DLC because of the way they handled user content. Its almost impossible to make custom stuff for the game beyond a skin change for something.

As someone who has bought these games since the first one I'm interested in this, but still not sold on it. I need to hear what else they have in store for this game. What new will they bring besides more moods and editing tools. That's great, but it's not enough to get me to invest all over again. Because let's face it, we will just get a base game here to start with and then all the expansion packs all over again. Most of them the same just renamed and tweaked. I don't have the budget I used to, so seeing what else they will bring to the table will be my deciding factor. Cause I'm still fine with playing Sims3 for a while.

DaScorpion wrote:

Cause I'm still fine with playing Sims3 for a while.

This. The Sims 3 is woefully underplayed on my hard drive, and I've routinely bought each expansion when they went on sale for 50% off or more. It's like a whole new entity now compared to when I first played it hardcore at launch. That and my pile is simply too big for Sims 4.

Man I hope I remember those words on that day I'm hovering over the BUY NOW button.

Budo wrote:
DaScorpion wrote:

Cause I'm still fine with playing Sims3 for a while.

This. The Sims 3 is woefully underplayed on my hard drive, and I've routinely bought each expansion when they went on sale for 50% off or more. It's like a whole new entity now compared to when I first played it hardcore at launch. That and my pile is simply too big for Sims 4.

Man I hope I remember those words on that day I'm hovering over the BUY NOW button.

Man, do I know this all too well. What I've had to do lately when I get the itch to buy a new game I always think about the stack or list of unplayed games in my library. Then I ask myself, "How much do I REALLY want this and how much will I REALLY play this game.". It helps. :]

I'm kind of curious to hear how it runs. Sims games have always been tremendous resource hogs, as was The SimCity. I know that in this age of infinite hardware configurations that kind of thing rarely gets much press unless it's insanely good or insanely bad but maybe someone'll mention it.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I'm kind of curious to hear how it runs. Sims games have always been tremendous resource hogs, as was The SimCity. I know that in this age of infinite hardware configurations that kind of thing rarely gets much press unless it's insanely good or insanely bad but maybe someone'll mention it.

I'm curious to know as well. I also want to know how will they model this game. Will it be the same as The Sims 3 or will it model more of the Sim City. I feel that they are trying to push us in that direction.

Lots of Sims 4 news at E3.

Release date: September 2nd (just in time for my birthday)

Gameplay presentation:

and lots of other videos on the official TheSims channel.

89 features missing from The Sims 4

I was pretty excited for this game, but this list is making me think twice.

...annnd after reading this forum post, which points out errors in The Sims 4 News site post, and which lists new features in The Sims 4 for comparison, I'm more reassured.

EA is not giving out review copies of the Sims 4. There will be no reviews until after it is released.

I'm nervous again.

BadKen wrote:

EA is not giving out review copies of the Sims 4. There will be no reviews until after it is released.

I'm nervous again.

That's usually an extremely bad sign.

Malor wrote:
BadKen wrote:

EA is not giving out review copies of the Sims 4. There will be no reviews until after it is released.

I'm nervous again.

That's usually an extremely bad sign.

I never thought I'd live to see the day where EA was nervous about screwing up The Sims

shoptroll wrote:
Malor wrote:
BadKen wrote:

EA is not giving out review copies of the Sims 4. There will be no reviews until after it is released.

I'm nervous again.

That's usually an extremely bad sign.

I never thought I'd live to see the day where EA was nervous about screwing up The Sims :(

This is Maxis we're talking about, so yeah. Do not underestimate their ability to f*ck up established video game franshises.

I downloaded the Sims 4 Create a Sim demo and was surprised that they removed so much of the customization from Sims 3. In the Sims 3 if you chose a suit top you could customize the shirt, the tie, the jacket all separately. You could make the jacket a cow-leather texture and change the color of the background and the spots. In the Sims 4 demo if you choose a suit top all you get are a few different color options with no customization. I don't want to say "dumbed down" but I don't see what else you can call it.

cheeba wrote:

I don't want to say "dumbed down" but I don't see what else you can call it.

Marketing:
Honed. Laser focused. Lean and mean.

silentsod wrote:
cheeba wrote:

I don't want to say "dumbed down" but I don't see what else you can call it.

Marketing:
Honed. Laser focused. Lean and mean.

Slimmed and streamlined. Synergy!

*Picks up head from playing The Sims 3 and all it's awesome expansions*

Sorry, did someone say something?

I'm only half kidding here. Other than the graphical update and some new interesting features, I see nothing revolutionary here that should make me pick up the game, when I already hang my head in shame for underplaying The Sims 3.

Budo wrote:

*Picks up head from playing The Sims 3 and all it's awesome expansions*

Sorry, did someone say something?

I'm only half kidding here. Other than the graphical update and some new interesting features, I see nothing revolutionary here that should make me pick up the game, when I already hang my head in shame for underplaying The Sims 3.

My sims 3 is still loading its town.

Budo wrote:

*Picks up head from playing The Sims 3 and all it's awesome expansions*

Sorry, did someone say something?

I'm only half kidding here. Other than the graphical update and some new interesting features, I see nothing revolutionary here that should make me pick up the game, when I already hang my head in shame for underplaying The Sims 3.

Unfortunately for me even with mods like Overseer The Sims 3 refuses to run without hitching every two seconds. Turning all the video settings down to basically wireframe helps not at all. Makes it unplayable which makes me sad given how much enjoyment I've gotten out of it.

I'm taking a wait and see approach to TS4. Opinion after it's released on places like GWJ and GAF, along with the sim sites, will likely be the deciding factor on whether I buy it or not. I'm sure at some point in the future I'll buy it either way, they'll have a bundle of some kind, but I don't feel the need to day one it unless its quite good.

Well there are those issues yes. The Sims 3 does run slow on my laptop, but my desktop it works fine. Also, I think the overall design of the game is pretty damn good.

Also, I want to use this point to recommend the woefully underplayed and underrated Sims Medieval if you need a new Sims game fix.

The Sims 3 is just poorly programmed. I think/hope that's why they're cutting out so many customization options from Sims 4, so that it runs halfway decent.

I think/hope that's why they're cutting out so many customization options from Sims 4, so that it runs halfway decent.

It's probably to save money. Textures cost a lot to create, but don't matter much for performance, as long as your total texture load is less than the available texture memory of the graphic card. And they can typically be algorithmically sized down for lesser systems; quarter-size textures usually only look a little bit worse, and can be auto-generated from the larger versions.

I think it's more saving development time/money and hoping to sell you more stuff later. After all, they managed to charge lots of people about $500 for the last game. Them being a corporation and all, they'll be shooting for at least $750 this time around.

Meatman wrote:

This is Maxis we're talking about, so yeah. Do not underestimate their ability to f*ck up established video game franshises.

It's not Maxis. Maxis contracted a painful, lingering disease in 2000, and while it's work on the Sims kept it's spirits up for a while, it's soul fled the body in 2009. Now it's dead, decaying fingers continue to code, but with a soulless obsession with cash that makes it's original customer focus even more poignant in it's loss.

I don't know if I've ever seen more examples of improper uses of "its" in just 2 sentences :).

If you're on the fence about the game, know this: Sims can read while pooping.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/3qzQ2r1l.png)

Well that does it. Sold.

I've been playing Sims for quite a while. I have Sims 1 and all expansions, Sims 2 and all expansions, and Sims 3 with all expansions and all store content except the last couple of releases. When I heard about Sims 4 coming out, my first reaction to it was "meh." As I heard more information about it, my attitude of "meh-ness" just increased. We will have the opportunity to buy the exact same game and expansions again for even more money, have less customization options, and have to deal with sims who are even more emotional and annoying than ever. There is so much I still have left to accomplish in Sims 3 and even in the previous games that I think I'm pretty much done with this series. I really enjoy the sims, but...enough! I don't want to go through the whole money milking expansions, stuff packs, and store content all over again for slightly different content and a few more building options. I'm just not really stoked at all about this game. So...meh!

Got home early today from work and our UPS guy came right around the time I got home with the wife's copy of The Sims 4 Premium Edition. While sitting here on the laptop while she makes her first Sim, everything that I could find this morning is that it runs really snappy (compared to TS3) and is a solid base game, albeit some stripped content. I'm personally impressed with how smooth everything runs. That has never been my personal experience with any Sims game. But we'll see how it goes. It seems like any hype for this game is kind of next to nil.

Early reports I've been reading on Reddit and elsewhere seem mostly positive. Most people are commenting on how smoothly it runs, and the load screens don't seem to bother people much, because things are just snappier in general. The UI is getting praise for mostly staying out of the way and being more helpful than previous versions when things go wrong. The multitasking is getting a lot of positive mentions. People like the interactions between sims, and how much more expressive they are in this version. Build mode is getting a lot of positive mentions, too, it seems to be easier than ever to build a good looking and interesting house.

I haven't seen any major complaints at all, really. No crash reports, except for people who were trying to use third party content. We'll see how the game holds up after the honeymoon is over.