After being incredibly disappointed by the release of Sims 4, I was someone holding out hope for Sims 5 that they would have realized, “Hey, people really didn’t want us to do anything multiplayer in Sims 4. Maybe that means we should go back and make an actual good Sims game?” But instead, we get this awful news that Sims will be just like Fortnite, heavily monetized with its own store, basically following the model of Fallout games with creation club, in a sense. Completely the opposite of what players asked for, and crushing all of our hopes and dreams of playing a new Sims game that’s just like Sims 3…
To me, this really kills the entire franchise for me. I don’t think there’s any hope for it, I think this is a death blow, basically an execution of the franchise and turning it into the most low value (to the consumer, mind you) dribble that they could have possibly came up with. There is nothing they could have announced that is worse than a multiplayer version of Sims with microtransactions, that’s basically just Sims mobile that you can play on your PC! Sims 4 is already completely unplayable for me, because there’s no content, it’s just stupid packs and kids and stuff and little micro bundles. There’s nothing fun about the game, and you see people streaming it, it’s just building. That’s all they are ever doing. Just building crap.
It’s even worse that there’s no competitor because it’s so incredibly challenging to make a game like The Sims. Horrifically challenging, life by me was completely gutted and canceled, and that was one of the major games that people were looking forward to. There is still paralives, But they are so early access and have no release date at all. It could be 10 years from now that they finish their game or longer.
TL;DR: Sims 4 ruined by surprise multiplayer mechanics that were removed. Sims 5 canceled in place of multiplayer with microtransaction store like Fallout creation club. Barely any competitors, life by me canceled. Franchise is dead in the water
Life by You’s cancelation was a big disappointment to hear. I figured if any studio had an understanding of emergent intercharacter storytelling in the way a Sims game needed, it was Paradox.
That said, Para-Lives is still in the works and looks quite promising.
There’s still hope. Just not from EA.
Mmhmm, Paralives looks like it’s going to take the world by storm. I’ve been following their development and they’re doing really good things.
Mmhmm, Paralives looks like it’s going to take the world by storm. I’ve been following their development and they’re doing really good things.
Don’t get your hopes up. It never lasts. These small indie studios create something truly insane that’s so fun and incredible, and then big gaming studios like EA come in and ruin everything. A lot of people seem to forget that Maxis, developer of Sims and SimCity, used to be completely independent. EA bought them out and ruined the entire thing, now they basically don’t exist anymore. Who is to say that the developers of Paralives isn’t going to do the same thing? Guarantee they get a stupendous amount of money offered to them and they sell out, and they would be stupid not to. Who wouldn’t sell their franchise for tens of millions and never have to work a day in their life ever again?
There’s nothing fun about the game, and you see people streaming it, it’s just building. That’s all they are ever doing. Just building crap.
To be fair, that’s always been a reasonable description of games like Sims, Minecraft, and most other simulation style games, depending on personal preference. Maybe the fact that you’re choosing to use it now means you aren’t as interested in that style of game, or even video games in general, as you used to be. Maybe not, but I think it’s worth considering at least.
That’s how I’ve felt about The Sims since the first one. It was so boring making my Sim go to work, come home, eat, go to bed, shower, etc. I bounced off it hard and never went back. If someone likes it, good for them, but I’ve never gotten it.
To be fair, that’s always been a reasonable description of games like Sims
I disagree with you here. You’re making it out to be that this is the extent of it, and that’s not true. Sims 3 had a HUGE amount of content aside from Building. There were quests/tasks, lineages for families, hidden objectives, you could wander around your entire city/neighborhood. None of these are possible in Sims 4. Every “neighborhood” has like 5 housing plots. Some have more than that, one of the Vampire ones has literally 4 homes, you can’t scroll over or have your sim walk next door and make a new friend nope. If you/others haven’t played Sims 3, seriously… Go try it, try to 100% it by experiencing all it offers, especially the Future DLC. It’s insane, really. Every S4 DLC by comparison is hollowed out and has like 5 things to do total. Most of the traveling ones, the university ones. They slashed the content in Sims 4 by 75% and kept the price for the DLC the EXACT same. It’s criminal.
I’m not saying it’s not possible that the Sims franchise has gotten worse. I’m just saying that lots of people would have described every Sims game in the same terms OP did. I’m also saying that your tastes and preferences can change over time. It’s possible, but certainly not the only option, that these two things are more true than it is that Sims is getting worse.
Check out Inzoi.
Steam link for the lazy
I have really big hopes for this game, I’m worried to be disappointed. The character creation demo seemed good.
I recently was holding out hope for a franchise that was similarly treated. I can tell you from experience that Sims 5 will make a billion dollars and they will then fire all the programmers who made it.
Do people still play The Sims 4? I bought it like 7 years ago, played it once, got bored, and never picked it up again. I saw gameplay once of the Sims 3 and was genuinely surprised by how many more features it had.
The Build Mode features in 4 are pretty good if you’re into virtual dollhouse building, and there’s a ton of custom content for it (as long as you’re on PC).
Live Mode is not very good, but it’s functional enough to play dolls in the houses you built if you’re willing to do all the story writing to make up for sims not having very interesting personalities/desires/autonomy.
Do people still play The Sims 4?
Yes, it’s widely streamed on Twitch, most of them are just chicks doing house builds. It’s pretty much a PC game version of HGTV to build homes with absurd amounts of customization. Most of them don’t even play the game, they just give themselves tons of money and build a “dream home” like some Ikea home builder simulator. Which is fair, btw, I just want to say that… Completely ok if they like that, not to bash them. But it’s not really playing the full extent of the game, building a family and a career and life simulating.
