I was pretty hyped for this game coming out, even after getting shit on by Maxis EA with Sim city (and to a lesser extent spore). I'm a closet Sims fan who plays them as games unlocking all the shit and maxing out all the journals while ignoring most of the dollhouse social/love simulator stuff. 15hrs into one Sims 4 family, here's my opinions adding to whats already been covered by others in the thread, hope they help ppl on the fence about this game.
Likes
- No open world is actually better for the game. I barely leave the house anyway, having your sim step off the lot and be immediately at work is ideal for gameplay, maybe less so from a simulation point but I don't care about that. Having solid fps/simulation performance in one lot (Sims 4) beats having all lots available but running like shit (Sims 3). Don't really miss cars, burglars or toddlers (definitely miss pools and basements tho)
- Plenty of stuff to do, lots of brand new skills, unlocks, aspirations etc. I don't care much for object options as I typically save up to buy the best fridge etc and stick with that over style. In Sims 4 this changes a bit as some of the objects unlock with career/skill/aspiration milestones, and while they might not be the "best" object of their type they can offer mood benefits that stack. Sims 4 creates this interesting decoration metagame where I found different rooms filled with assorted character building mood boosting objects, as opposed to my typical empty Sims 3 rooms with only "the best" essential items (& environ boost paintings that never get seen with the walls down). Painting is a better skill now.
- Its fun and enjoyable. I like playing it and look forward to playing more. Hard to quantify, but I'll buy the inevitable gameplay expansions that shit out every three months or so because I want more. Part of the problem sure but I wouldn't do it for a shit game like Sim City. One can hope for more varied and integrated expansions this time with the new engine (like Future and World Adventures), but this is EA so we'll probably get universities and pets and nightclubs again in random order until legit innovation occurs. For a base sims game, there's plenty enough content for the money asking so hopefully the expansions follow suit.
Dislikes
- Tutorial and lessons are probably the worst they've been in a sims game. And you can't turn them off, bad move. In the past you'd stumble upon something (say gardening) and there would be a pop up in the top corner inviting you to learn more if you chose to, perfect. In Sims 4 there are these blue pop up boxes randomly somewhere on the screen that interrupt whatever you're trying to do and don't really offer anything interesting that couldn't be figured out. I just learned to click them away without reading after while. There are lessons still in the game, an option to turn off the random blue boxes or just link without pause to the lesson ala Sims 3 would be ideal.
- Needs bars could be better integrated, pressing "o" key to bring the bars up gets a bit old (I should probably rebind it). Why can't I look at the details of a Sim while they're at work/school? Not a problem really, Its not like I can't do it while he's sitting down to "pee like a champion". There's a 4000 point aspiration bonus that negates sleep entirely, which breaks the game slightly going forward. I mean, Not really, but your house won't need many bedrooms if your Sims never sleep (and a whole house can tag team share the same flirting enhanced shagging bed, moral problem free, hashtag weird stories bro). Perhaps they should be more like the aspiration bonus' that severely reduce the need to eat, wash etc, which at least give you a reason to keep your heavily upgraded shower. Some slight design incongruities like these are all over Sims 4 but don't really get in the way of enjoyment.
- Even though the social options and talking as a group/during actions have improved, its still a chore to maintain groups of friends for all your sims. Friendship decays too fast and improves too slowly, especially if they don't knock and hangout to hear the same jokes every-single-day while your sim does their thing. Which they bloody do. I do need to test max charisma and comedy interactions to see if there's a quicker way to build/keep sims friends but from what I can tell, its easier just to pick a favourite or two and ignore the rest. Kind of like real life. Was kind of hoping the Sims would auto-txt each other on the toilet or watching tv etc and get a bigger social benefit from it, tbh I don't think txting does anything worthwhile in game atm.
So yeah, with that said, its back for more.
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