I don't see a problem with him asking what we think, I actually prefer it. Interacting directly with him is better than wondering what ideas he has seen or hasn't and what he thinks about it. It sounds like he's a bit unsure of what exactly people want, so it's great that he asked for clarification.

I actually would prefer both options to be available, I don't want to send my sims shopping. I'm not much of a shopper IRL (well, for clothing or groceries at least), so I don't want to have to watch my sims do it either.

I was shocked because the answer was an obvious "Yes."

What EA, as of now, continues to do is neglect a specific player - builders. Creating both residential lots and community lots present different challenges and options, but both are fun and neglected. In the Sims 3's base game, the only community lots available was stuff that didn't really need community lots - Public Pool, Public Library, Public Gym, Public Gallery. Everything else was a rabbit hole - even things that didn't need to be, like a bistro.

I enjoy building movie theaters, shopping malls, parks, salons, etc. Naturally, the gameplay should/would follow behind. Having the option to shop from the catalog is alright (I supposed), but it limits a player base they could be accessing. Pets aren't a real requirement to the game either, but I bet they'll make an expansion for it.

Okay, first time posting here in... quite some time.

Just saw the screens and renders, and honestly am quite underwhelmed. The scenes look cheap and lifeless to me, and the sims themselves look like a step back graphics-wise. Everything appears to be less detailed and overly cartoony. It reminds me of an older console game, actually. Not the vibrant, detailed world that is The Sims 3. On the positive side, the sims do look more expressive and have more natural stances. The gameplay elements are interesting as well.

I'll be interested to see how things progress with TS4, and I'm aware that these are very early details and images, but as someone who has invested so much into the current generation buying pack after pack as well as store content, I'm hesitant to leave a game that fulfills all of my simming needs for one I'm not too jazzed about. If it ain't broke!

*Edit* Also apologize if this is the wrong thread. I just realized there's a whole section! (Obviously haven't visited in a while.)

Aww, apparently my reading comprehension is in a bad state today, sorry

As for the shopping questions tweeted by Graham - I actually appreciate them. Maybe they're even some kind of teaser that we can expect shop for clothing to make a comeback in TS4. Anyway, I'm all for when it comes to such questions being asked directly by the gurus - it gives a feeling that finally they want to really listen to us.

You have to watch them either way so I don't see how the experience would be much different for you. Besides, you can go for one shopping spree and buy all the clothes your sims will need, there's no need to visit a clothes shop twice.

The shopping can also be solved by adding an online shopping option through the computer or phone. That way it can just be delivered. Problem solved.

Personally I like having to shop for my Sims, it gives them an excuse to leave the house as well and socialise a little.

I'm curious about the general opinion of these leaks. Do people like them?

I realize I sound like some sort of undercover EA person, but I'm honestly just curious because I've read so many differing opinions in the last hour. I know I like them, so I would be disappointed to see that most people don't.

This game looks fun, though. Like, I really, really want to play it.

Options are always nice. I am in full support of online shopping, AS WELL as normal shopping. A quirky parody of life, with some realistic inflections here and there is fine. Completely scrapping core gameplay to make things easier and "accessible" (which the game already was) isn't good, in my honest opinion.



I haven't seen anything that appeals to me or that's a large enough change to make we want to jump ship. Multitasking is great. Better CAS tools are great. I suppose emotions could be interest (may be hit or miss, I have to see in depth). Everything else hasn't been a good enough addition to change to make me want to play the game.

Especially being a builder primarily, and how royally fucked build/buy mode has become. Who gives the go-a-head to scrap CAST?

This! Seriously, it's like mandatory if you're a teenage girl to go shopping with your friends once in a while, and sometimes even if you come home empty-handed it was worth it all just because you got to goof around with your friends

I just prefer being able to change their clothes at will from a dresser with everything available to me than taking them shopping.

Can't we have both? Maybe they could code wardrobes and dressers differently and the player can use whichever style of play they like better.

Does anyone remember the picture with the woman posing with a dress and another woman judging it? Maybe that's EA's hint that shopping will return? Where else would you ask for clothing advice, other than at a shopping mall when you're trying on clothes?

Maybe there is an option of judging what someone else is wearing. Also what the Sims is wearing might bring out some sort of response?

I don't think a Guru would ask if that is what people are asking for, if it was already implemented into the game now.

This is why the game, and even the industry, is in the states it's in now (No offense). Everyone wants things handed to them. Have basic options available is fine (as no one has one just one outfit), but everything - hell, lets remove jobs form the game? Outside furnishings, a few objects real estate, what's left to buy?

I haven't seen or heard of any real gameplay balancing from the team, just wants to do things faster and making sim efficient, which is fine, but when I have a constant flow of large amount of money, bills are an after thought.

Actually, 3 made quite a few basic NEEDS optional. After that, where's the game? Where's the challenge?

And naughty sims get to have changing booth woohoo too.






I don't understand this. It's an open neighbourhood, people should try and make full use of this feature, yet some prefer to play lot based like it's TS1.

Indeed. It makes you wonder which direction the game is going to take.

I have a feeling the game is going to be much much easier in a sense. I don't think we will get most the extra details we want back. Reason I think this is because most of the new players for the Sims 3 are used to not having to 'deal' with that stuff. Quite frankly, you can't miss what you don't know or have.

Going by the UI, the needs are simplified. As are CAS and build mode. So beats me what the challenge will be....

In Sims 2, there was a clothing rack mod that made all clothes available at home and for free. I didn't use it because I still endured the loading screens to get my sims out and shopping for clothes represented Mommy or Daddy and child time or shopping for birthday gifts for your just aged up teen. Loved taking them to the salon for a new hair and makeup do and buying them new electronic devices or games. I want that back in Sims 4. Hopefully with the open world to boot. :D

The thing that bothered me about that question was that he considers shopping to be removed from and maybe even contradictory to a sandbox experience. I can get why people wouldn't want shopping in the game; I personally haven't missed it much myself, though I do like making little shops in TS2. You've seen one "browse for clothes" animation, you've seen them all kind of thing, and choosing individual outfits was already handled through a pop-up window. But needing to -- or even just having the alternative option to-- send your Sims to a store to do some shopping does not, to my thinking, detract from a sandbox experience. I mean, if nothing else, you can always just refuse to ever send your Sim to a store, same way you can not purchase a washer/dryer if you don't want to do laundry (barring various arguments one way or the other about what contributes more to the overall game experience and is worth the limited time available to develop).

Unlockable achievements and objects: those are anti-sandbox. Quests through tombs or challenges to find & explore mystery islands that stop being interesting after the first time you complete them are anti-sandbox. Being forced to accumulate visa points to buy a vacation home (rather than just having money) is anti-sandbox (though admittedly there is some real-world though arbitrarily-applied logic there). Or acquiring things by having to send your Sim on tour in another game; or one style of university that exists only as its own world plus various other restrictions; or omnipresent taxis and cell phones are anti-sandbox (and anti-my-style-of-realism, personally, which is also bothered by free clothing). Feh.

Gosh after 5 years of complaints I thought shopping for clothes/groceries etc would be in the base game for sure .. please don't tell me that restaurants are out again ¬¬

I, too, want clothes-shopping a la TS2. What's the point of an open world if you're not even going to use it? My Sims are not homebodies and should not have to suffer for it.

I thought the same thing. The time spends their entire time constructing this intricate works, building up the town, the back stories, getting the right feel for the world...

...only to end up having the player bored because there's nothing of value to do. Clothes shopping is a chore, but it adds substance to the game.

Like laundry - since Ambitions, Laundry has popped up quite frequently. It was a chore, but it's added substance to the game.

Getting a job is also a chore, but it adds a lot substance to the game, and, in 3, fills out the town quite nicely when the places of employment are in town.

well at least he only mentioned shopping for clothing.. it means that maybe we could still shop for other stuff

A register and store furniture are being created as we speak...


... to eventually end up at the TS4 store.

I barely ever send my sims out of the house in TS3, I never felt the need too, the grocery store was pointless, the bookshop became irrelevant with the multi-tab, my sims had their own pools and gyms in their houses and the I don't think i've ever visited the library or art gallery. I want 4 to have reasons to leave the house, to buy more clothes, buy games or magazines ala Sims 2, pick up some groceries, I would also love shops selling exclusive content kinda like the pet store in TS3 pets, things like a luxury car dealership or high fashion stores.

tl;dr community lots in 3 are boring and pointless

Excuse me, but, what? How do you mean "scrap CAST"? Are we back to having to download dozens of recolours of each buy/build object in TS4? Is this firm information?

As far as we know, CAST has been scrapped. For what, we don't know, but I hope it's not recolors. My primary concern is how friggin awful presets can be and the lack of options given - even in the Sims 2, at times.



The Sims was never hard (unless you had a large family. If you have to work for a few days and paint a few pictures to get an outfit and you consider that hard, something is wrong.

And no one's asking you to have ratting clothing available. Sims 2 proves this. The entire wardrobe wasn't available to the players, but simpler options and few nice looking additions we readily available. Probably as motivation to buy better clothing, like in real life.

I understand there's a level of escapism that plays a part in video games, having everything readily available sound a bit cheap.