The Sims 4 announced

trichy wrote:
cheeba wrote:

$40 for an expansion? Geez.

Standard price for any new Sims 3 full expansion. No difference here.

Same with the Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 expansions at launch

shoptroll wrote:
trichy wrote:
cheeba wrote:

$40 for an expansion? Geez.

Standard price for any new Sims 3 full expansion. No difference here.

Same with the Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 expansions at launch

Cheaper than WoW expansions at launch

trichy wrote:

Standard price for any new Sims 3 full expansion. No difference here.

Really? Damn. It just doesn't seem to me like that is enough content to warrant $40. With Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 expansions, that's a sh*tload of content. With The Sims 4 it's just a couple new jobs and opening a store.

cheeba wrote:
trichy wrote:

Standard price for any new Sims 3 full expansion. No difference here.

Really? Damn. It just doesn't seem to me like that is enough content to warrant $40. With Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 expansions, that's a sh*tload of content. With The Sims 4 it's just a couple new jobs and opening a store.

Full Sims expansions are massive amounts of content. For example, the World Adventures expansion for Sims 3 provided 3 full worlds, each of which had the same amount of content as the original world, three new job, ten new skill tracts, and over a hundred new items. Trust me, I have two teenage girls obsessed with the game, and I can say that Sims expansions put many other games to shame with the amount of content. Some are better than others, but I never have felt that they weren't worth the money.

trichy wrote:

Some are better than others, but I never have felt that they weren't worth the money.

And if this one is all it purports to be, it will be pretty huge gameplay-wise! Combination of Ambitions AND Open for Business? That's huge.

Despite the lack of story progression, something about this game is still tempting me. Is it likely that the base game will go on sale when the expansion is launched?

No clue, but I am hugely tempted as well. Sadly, no job, so I shouldn't spend money!

ebarstad wrote:

Despite the lack of story progression, something about this game is still tempting me. Is it likely that the base game will go on sale when the expansion is launched?

I would say probably. I'm waiting for a big sale on expansions before diving in. Base game only kept me busy for about 6 hours.

Definitely going to wait on more content to come out before jumping from TS3 to TS4. I have all the expansions on TS3 that jumping to TS4 would seem like a downgrade right now. Maybe with time that could change.

Do the other Sims in the world age at all? Or is it like TS2 where only our household ages? I really love how TS3, all the Sims aged together. Honestly, this might be a make or break deal for me.

DaScorpion wrote:

Do the other Sims in the world age at all? Or is it like TS2 where only our household ages? I really love how TS3, all the Sims aged together. Honestly, this might be a make or break deal for me.

There is an option to turn on auto-aging of sims and it can be set to include only the sims you are playing or all sims in the world. You can also adjust the lifespan of your sims much like in Sims 3.

dmn668 wrote:
DaScorpion wrote:

Do the other Sims in the world age at all? Or is it like TS2 where only our household ages? I really love how TS3, all the Sims aged together. Honestly, this might be a make or break deal for me.

There is an option to turn on auto-aging of sims and it can be set to include only the sims you are playing or all sims in the world. You can also adjust the lifespan of your sims much like in Sims 3.

Though unlike Sims 3 they don't change at all other than aging/dying. So if you turn aging of non-played Sims on in Sims 4 eventually all the other families will die off because they'll never independently get married/have kids.

bnpederson wrote:
dmn668 wrote:
DaScorpion wrote:

Do the other Sims in the world age at all? Or is it like TS2 where only our household ages? I really love how TS3, all the Sims aged together. Honestly, this might be a make or break deal for me.

There is an option to turn on auto-aging of sims and it can be set to include only the sims you are playing or all sims in the world. You can also adjust the lifespan of your sims much like in Sims 3.

Though unlike Sims 3 they don't change at all other than aging/dying. So if you turn aging of non-played Sims on in Sims 4 eventually all the other families will die off because they'll never independently get married/have kids.

Wow. That sucks. Definitely going to hold off on this one for a while. That the one thing that I loved most about TS3 and we progressed from TS2. I felt like the town was totally alive.

bnpederson wrote:

Though unlike Sims 3 they don't change at all other than aging/dying. So if you turn aging of non-played Sims on in Sims 4 eventually all the other families will die off because they'll never independently get married/have kids.

This is true although the world is repopulated as sims die.

Edited for major typo.

So, I ended up picking up the base game and the new expansion through GMG for 20% off.

I'm enjoying it. I really like the Go to Work content -- the professions and the retail store stuff. I've tried the scientist and detective careers and they feel pretty different, which is good. The retail store is kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, I love being able to sell anything. My current store is full of collectibles, paintings, and inventions my scientist sim creates. On the other hand, actually selling stuff is super grindy and maybe a little buggy at times. Also, employees don't seem to be worth the money -- at least not immediately. Overall, though, it's pretty fun.

Also, the game runs like a dream on my mid 2014 13" Macbook with Intel Iris.

Thanks for the Work expansion impressions.

I'll likely pick it up down the road as my budget and time allows.

So it was 50% off last weekend.

I'm having a blast so far. Only bought the deluxe package.

Anyone still play?

Manach wrote:

So it was 50% off last weekend.

I'm having a blast so far. Only bought the deluxe package.

Anyone still play?

My wife and I had a blast with it the last few weekends.

Is there "friends" feature? I haven't dig into additional features for this game, just played as the sim go...

Manach wrote:

Is there "friends" feature? I haven't dig into additional features for this game, just played as the sim go...

Predicted for a future expansion, supposedly.

Got a chance to play this game for the free 48 hours they offered on Origin. I gotta admit I was not expecting much but came away feeling better about the game than what I thought.

LIKES

Very light game. Graphics are more Sims 2 (Not a bad thing, I actually like it.) and it makes for a fast loading game, even on my not-so-fast machine.

Easy builds. This looked interesting from the previews but building out rooms seems to be easier, even more so with the already built out/furnished rooms.

The traveling. This was one of my concerns with the game. I didn't like the thought of traveling places, BUT it didn't take long to load into the next neighborhood at all, and I feel that this could be great with future town/neighborhoods being released because you can just travel to them all.

The interface. I'll admit when I first loaded into the game, I was a little confused and even annoyed that the whole interface changed, but as the game went on, I really like how they helped clean it up quite a bit.

DISLIKES

Content. I didn't get to play much, so it's really unfair for me to say this without being a bit premature. I only got as far as getting married, so again I know it's not a fair assessment of the whole game. But my only real concern was the content that's out right now. Like maybe in a few generations of Sims, I would start to get bored. Coming off of The Sims 3 and all the expansion packs, it's hard to go back to the basic game with one or two expansion packs. BUT, I feel that in time with more and more expansions, I can totally see myself buying this game. I'm just not sure if I want to pull the trigger just yet.

I'll eventually break down and get the game, but probably once they get to the requisite apartments/urban life expansion or even the college expansion.

Yeah I feel that way too. I think once the right expansion pack comes out for, or maybe the next big sale they have I might pick it up.

I need to find a way to get notified when a good bundle comes out for Sims 4 and the major expansions. If you know one that doesn't require me checking forums/Google/TheSims.com/etc all the time, please let me know.

-BEP

https://isthereanydeal.com/

You may already know about this site, but it lets you populate a wishlist of games and set the parameters of notification on each one (only 50%+ off, only Steam keys, etc.). You just set it & forget it and then you get an email when it's at the price you want.

Aaron D. wrote:

https://isthereanydeal.com/

You may already know about this site, but it lets you populate a wishlist of games and set the parameters of notification on each one (only 50%+ off, only Steam keys, etc.). You just set it & forget it and then you get an email when it's at the price you want.

Nice. Convenient. But it does take out some of the fun of hunting (I refuse to call it shopping, since it reminds me of going to the mall with my wife for her "shoe time")

Aaron D. wrote:

https://isthereanydeal.com/

You may already know about this site, but it lets you populate a wishlist of games and set the parameters of notification on each one (only 50%+ off, only Steam keys, etc.). You just set it & forget it and then you get an email when it's at the price you want.

I did not know about this site. Thanks! No time here to prowl the 'net looking for deals.
-BEP

Aaron D. wrote:

https://isthereanydeal.com/

The site seems handy, for sure. The Sims 4 is an Origins game and not on Steam. It appears that I would need to have some sort of "wishlist" set up on Origins then import it via a GreaseMonkey script to have ITAD.com monitor Origins for the game. Is this correct? I don't see a way to just add "The Sims 4" and have it scan everywhere for the best deal on it.

-BEP

I simply created a unique login with ITAD.com and never bothered to go the Login With Steam route.

When I login, I simply type Sims 4 into the search bar and press Enter. Highlight the game or expansion I'm interested in, and then hit the Wait link under the game title. You should get a pop-up menu that lets you edit the parameters (if it says something instead like Default Settings Applied, just go to your Wishlist and click on the game to apply unique settings).

On this settings menu you'll see a list of 35 or so online stores that are tracked, one of which is Origin (though obviously lots of other stores sell EA codes (Amazon, etc.). Just leave them all checked. However, you will want to uncheck one of the bottom options, "only if the game can be activated on Steam" since Steam doesn't sell the game.

Hope that helps!

EDIT:

On a side note, when tracking games with lots of DLC, I usually just track maybe the most recent DLC release and one or two I'm most interested in. When I get a notification that it is on sale, it's usually a good indication that it's ALL on sale at the outlet. Or at least mostly.

So if you're looking to get a bundle of Sims 4 DLC, this is usually your simplest route. I do this for Paradox games like Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 4.

Aaron D. wrote:

When I login, I simply type Sims 4 into the search bar and press Enter.

Wow. How did I miss that BIG search bar at the top? Thanks for pointing it out, I'm a moron. Many much meesen!

And thanks for all the other info posted above. Very helpful.

-BEP