Sims 4 is out what's the scoop?

[pcgeekri]

Hai!

Sims 4 is out so how much of the advertising was L&P?  If purchased at a store (if it can be) does the Origin application still have to be installed for authentication each time it is played?   Which means one must have the internet to play Sims 4.  

How much of it may actually be modded.  And that so-called mod tool to be included, is it any good?
(Now back to my Sims 2 to test a new mod)

Thanks,

Pcgeek

[Skadi]

I don't think this belongs in BLS.

[wizard_merlin]

If purchased at a store (if it can be) does the Origin application still have to be installed for authentication each time it is played?   Which means one must have the internet to play Sims 4.  

Why wouldn't it be available at a store?  The more pertinent question is, does the box/case contain a disc with the actual game or just a license key to use in Origin?  Also, what Fucking games do you have that actually require authentication each and every time you play them?  According to the EAxis L&P, which you should have been familiar with, the game only requires a one time online activation when you install it, which isn't that different to many other games.  It is really a matter of how much EAxis fucks up the process while screwing everyone for whatever they can get.

I don't think this belongs in BLS.

Given the absurdity of the post, this is probably the perfect spot for it.

[Eurotrash]

Given the absurdity of the post, this is probably the perfect spot for it.

I think you mean ModTheSims.

Anyway so The Sims 4 is out and so far, it's a technical mess, it's packed with enough DRM to put SimCity to shame and as predicted it stands somewhere between The Sims and The Sims 2 as far as content and features go.

Well done EAxis. Well done.

[Levini]

PFFT!!! It's not even close to between TS1 and 2. It's more like The Sims -.00005 what with everything they stripped and the horrible issues it seems to have.

[Chinchillagrl]

I got a hard copy at the store. It comes with 2 disks. You still need to use Origin to run the game. I believe you only have to be in online mode to register the game then you are good to go with offline.
I played for a few hours and didn't experience any major glitches besides clipping.

[Eurotrash]

I got a hard copy at the store. It comes with 2 disks. You still need to use Origin to run the game. I believe you only have to be in online mode to register the game then you are good to go with offline.
I played for a few hours and didn't experience any major glitches besides clipping.

Didn't your babies try to kill you? At all?

[Chinchillagrl]

I got a hard copy at the store. It comes with 2 disks. You still need to use Origin to run the game. I believe you only have to be in online mode to register the game then you are good to go with offline.
I played for a few hours and didn't experience any major glitches besides clipping.

Didn't your babies try to kill you? At all?

Not yet, but it's only a matter of time.

[Skadi]

I quite like TS4. It runs really well on my machine, saving takes seconds, and travelling between lots works out quicker - 10 seconds loading versus 30-40 seconds of a sim driving across the damn map.
CC creation feels like TS2, and I don't miss CAST that much - it used to slow my game down.

Did I mention I fucking hated toddlers? No toddlers is a good thing, in my view.

• There is an awesome waddle walk when sims need to pee.
• It is quite easy to trigger the emotion you are after, either by using one of the different showering options, or looking at something.
  
• Hur. Take pregnancy test, §15

[Pyromaniac]

I'm playing the pirated version (skidrow release + 3dm crack downloaded from private tracker) and here are some of my thoughts:

- Create a Sim looks and feels great; the sculpting feature is so much better than the old slider system
- Decent variety of outfits that actually look good and are more "stylish" than in past games
- Sims generally look way better than in TS2/TS3. Of course this is a matter of personal preference, but this is probably the first Sims game where unconventional features don't automatically make you ugly as fuck. The in-game lighting is also way better; TS4 avoids the problem in TS3 where sims look different in CAS than they do in-game.
- Emotions are glorified moodlets
- Multitasking feels smooth
- UI is a lot more streamlined

I can't say much about the gameplay because I hit an anti-piracy measure 10 minutes into my playthrough. The mosaic censor takes up half of your screen and doesn't go away after your sims are finished showering/peeing. This hasn't been addressed in the Day 1 patch so I can only assume it's an anti-piracy measure.

[Eurotrash]

I quite like TS4. It runs really well on my machine, saving takes seconds, and travelling traveling between lots works out quicker - 10 seconds loading versus 30-40 seconds of a sim driving across the damn map.
CC creation feels like TS2, and I don't miss CAST that much - it used to slow my game down.

Did I mention I fucking hated toddlers? No toddlers is a good thing, in my view.

Toddlers suck. But FYI The Sims 2 and 3 wouldn't take long to save ether back when they didn't have any expansions. If The Sims 4 sells well enough for EA to "spam" us with expansions again, before long, we'll be back to reading War and Peace while we wait for the game to load.

[Skadi]

TS3 was never this fast to load or save.

Also, there is nothing wrong with travelling, you ignorant retard. It is UK/Aus spelling.

Add to the likes:
Being able to see when food will spoil. Choosing 1, 4 or 8 servings from the "cook" menu. The fact that eating quick meals will make your sims fat.

[Eurotrash]

Also, there is nothing wrong with travelling, you ignorant retard. It is UK/Aus spelling.

Make up your mind.

[Madame Mim]

Also, there is nothing wrong with travelling, you ignorant retard. It is UK/Aus spelling.

Make up your mind.

Now we have proof. It spells like an American and then defends the American spelling form above others. I call falsehood on its self-name and label it truthfully. It is just 'Trash'.

[ariffrazalin]

I can't say much about the gameplay because I hit an anti-piracy measure 10 minutes into my playthrough. The mosaic censor takes up half of your screen and doesn't go away after your sims are finished showering/peeing.

To fix that, just rename "TS4.par" to "The.Sims.4.Launcher.par"

[cwurts]

Pros:

• The gameplay is smoother, and it feels more natural to travel (even though I hate the open world as far as it pre-empts rotational play
• I have renewed hope that this iteration of the game will be moddable to my preferences./li]
  
  • I guess that's about it, besides the novelty of a brand new game./li]
    
  Cons:
  
  
  • The "intuitive and tactile" CAS is very difficult to master. You can't really see what you're doing, while you're doing it, and the sim keeps jerking their head around. A slider or a -10 to +10 number for this would have been extremely helpful
  • Half the eyes are Asian, which is not bad in itself, but leads to bad randomization. There are no intermediate hair colors (light red, light brown, medium blonde, etc. The black people look like diluted coffee
  • Only the presets can be randomized. Detailed mode has to be done by hand, and is the hardest part to do anything with. It's only helpful if you know exactly what you want your sim to look like.
  • No rotational gameplay (Ugh!) There is a "universal clock" which runs for everybody, so no motive time management if you want to play more than one family.
  • Oona did not make the cut, when EA decided who would live in the pre-made houses. (Those Caliente bitches).

[igottapi]

I like some thing but mostly Im just frustrated with the lack of simple things that I feel are just a sims game must and the cluster mess that is gardening. Also, whats with menus being all over the place? I have to go all the way up just to change floors.

But my #1 most hated thing is the lack of CASt. Seriously my sims house looks like a flea market reject. NOTHING matches in color or style.

[Pyromaniac]

Now that I've fixed the mosaic (thanks ariffrazalin) and played the game for a couple of hours, here are some thoughts on gameplay:

- Very basic story progression. I've seen inactive sims advance in their careers and cultivate new relationships, but haven't seen babies popping up yet. Implications: your neighbours will eventually die out (if aging is enabled) and be replaced by new townies. If you want them to have children and leave some sort of legacy behind, you have to play them. Heavily encourages Sims2 "rotational" playstyle where you disable aging for other households and just play them cyclically.
- Really, REALLY fast load and save times. Good performance. Important for me, as I personally stopped playing TS3 because of the insane lag and load/save times.
- Something weird going on with weight/muscle gain. Sims put on weight really easily if they don't exercise, especially if you feed them fatty foods. While some consider this "realistic", people do have natural metabolism and maintain a steady body weight even if they lead sedentary lifestyles. Looking forward to a mod that limits the amount of weight you can put on simply by breathing. Muscle gain is broken, I've had a sim work out for a few hours and he went from lean to ridiculously ripped.
- Haven't experienced the demon baby bug yet; my NVIDIA drivers are up to date.
- Socialization feels much more natural. I hated the Social system in TS2/TS3, it was annoying how you queued up a bunch of socials and stood there chatting until you became friends. This is related to the multitasking feature but now it feels better.
- Lack of content becomes obvious once you make enough money to buy everything. Personally, I don't care that they stripped gameplay mechanics out of TS4 -- whereas TS3 was about quantity, TS4 seems to be about "quality" (or at least polish) -- but it irks me that there's so little furniture/buyable content to choose from. This is one area where quantity IS quality.
- Weights of moodlets/emotions need to be adjusted (with a mod?) Certain events should cause more "permanent" moods. For example, my sim's spouse died and he was sad for all about 3 hours until someone brightened his day. I assume this can be fixed by adjusting the weights on the relevant moodlets. Actually, emotions need tweaking in general.
- Need more worlds.
- Need better story progression, so that unplayed households don't just all die out and get replaced.
- Experienced CTDs upon opening up the world map. This can occur when you press 'M', travel to a lot, or ask someone out on a date. May be related to the crack. Save often.
- Sometimes the game doesn't successfully save. This usually happens after an autosave overwrites one of your hard saves. Solution: make another hard save.
- The game is essentially a framework for future dlc/expansion packs. Suffice to say I won't be spending money on any of it. 

[iamafatcat]

Also, whats with menus being all over the place? I have to go all the way up just to change floors.

Definitely the thing that's been annoying me the most. I don't understand why you'd change a UI that has worked fine for 3 iterations of a game so drastically with seemingly no reason.

This and the fact roofs seem to have turned into some odd kind of object.

[Skadi]

I now play the sims the same way I play Skyrim, with one hand on the keyboard for shortcuts.

[Levini]

Also, whats with menus being all over the place? I have to go all the way up just to change floors.

Definitely the thing that's been annoying me the most. I don't understand why you'd change a UI that has worked fine for 3 iterations of a game so drastically with seemingly no reason.

This and the fact roofs seem to have turned into some odd kind of object.

Honestly I think the UI is a lot better. It's out of the way, for the most part.

On the roofs, I'm still WTF-ing about that too.

[Tia]

TS3 was never this fast to load or save.

Also, there is nothing wrong with travelling, you ignorant retard. It is UK/Aus spelling.

Add to the likes:
Being able to see when food will spoil. Choosing 1, 4 or 8 servings from the "cook" menu. The fact that eating quick meals will make your sims fat.

I didn't know that the quick meals made your sims fat. That explains a lot now.

[Skadi]

I didn't know that the quick meals made your sims fat. That explains a lot now.

Apparently eating high calorie foods like the protein meal you make when energised, will also make you gain weight.

My sim discovered fire:


And there is quite a crowd when playing chess at the library.

[Pyromaniac]

So... hate sex is a thing.



It was actually incredibly tedious getting to this point. I had to keep alternating between "Criticize woohoo ability" for the huge relationship drop and "Apologize...in bed" to keep the friendship meter down and the romance meter high. Ironic, but it was the most effective combination. Eventually I got the option to FIGHT, and then they became Enemies with Benefits. 

[Tyyppi]

Haven't played that much yet but it basically feels like Sims 2.5. As I already whined before, gone is the color wheel and so is the open world. There are some improvements and I think the sims themselves look better than they did in TS3. I do like to play it but I feel the novelty is starting to wear off already.