ElementMK
23rd Apr 2012, 10:55 PM
Throughout this series, many features have been added, stripped, and re-added again. What are some details and features you'd like to see in a potential TS4? This can also be a way for us to identify what each game did right.
Please don't say something like "ADD ALL OF THE EXPANSIONS INTO THE BASE GAME PLZ", since that's just unrealistic.
Here's a few things I'd like to see in the next Sims game:
- TS1-style music in Build/Buy mode. While the music in the later games is enjoyable to an extent, I often find myself muting the game while buying objects and building homes. TS1's New Age music and piano ballads were simple and never started to grate my nerves.
- The moodlet system (introduced in TS3). The moodlet system was a great addition to the classic Needs chart, and I'd be fine with it replacing needs entirely. Not only did it allow for a variety of mood-altering situations, it's also more realistic. Nobody is ever "60% hungry". Our happiness is decided by hundreds of factors at any one time, and our basic needs are fairly simple. Our Sims should be the same, IMO.
- The wants / fears and system and aspiration bar (introduced in TS2). I prefer this design to the simplified Wishes system in TS3. TS3's Wishes don't allow for a failure state, which removes some of the difficulty from the game. I enjoyed the risk vs. reward that existed when a Sims wants and fears had to do with the same event (like flirting / being rejected for a flirt).
- Weather (introduced in TS2: Seasons). This may be a somewhat big request, but I'm tired of waiting around and paying for this fairly important feature to The Sims. I was sick of every day being sunny in TS3 only a few weeks after I bought it. EA needs to quit stuffing this into an EP.
- Servos (introduced in TS1, expanded upon in TS2: OFB). SimBots suck. Give me my Servos, complete with their low-maintenance needs and desire to do chores.
- All-in-one cities (introduced in TS3). Having a shopping district, downtown, and college town attached to my TS2 neighborhood was annoying. I had to sit through two loading screens to get anything done across them. Vacation neighborhoods make sense, of course, but keeping everything in one city is a lot more enjoyable than the disconnect in TS2. On a side note, allowing Sims to visit and move between cities in different saves would be a nice feature.
Please don't say something like "ADD ALL OF THE EXPANSIONS INTO THE BASE GAME PLZ", since that's just unrealistic.
Here's a few things I'd like to see in the next Sims game:
- TS1-style music in Build/Buy mode. While the music in the later games is enjoyable to an extent, I often find myself muting the game while buying objects and building homes. TS1's New Age music and piano ballads were simple and never started to grate my nerves.
- The moodlet system (introduced in TS3). The moodlet system was a great addition to the classic Needs chart, and I'd be fine with it replacing needs entirely. Not only did it allow for a variety of mood-altering situations, it's also more realistic. Nobody is ever "60% hungry". Our happiness is decided by hundreds of factors at any one time, and our basic needs are fairly simple. Our Sims should be the same, IMO.
- The wants / fears and system and aspiration bar (introduced in TS2). I prefer this design to the simplified Wishes system in TS3. TS3's Wishes don't allow for a failure state, which removes some of the difficulty from the game. I enjoyed the risk vs. reward that existed when a Sims wants and fears had to do with the same event (like flirting / being rejected for a flirt).
- Weather (introduced in TS2: Seasons). This may be a somewhat big request, but I'm tired of waiting around and paying for this fairly important feature to The Sims. I was sick of every day being sunny in TS3 only a few weeks after I bought it. EA needs to quit stuffing this into an EP.
- Servos (introduced in TS1, expanded upon in TS2: OFB). SimBots suck. Give me my Servos, complete with their low-maintenance needs and desire to do chores.
- All-in-one cities (introduced in TS3). Having a shopping district, downtown, and college town attached to my TS2 neighborhood was annoying. I had to sit through two loading screens to get anything done across them. Vacation neighborhoods make sense, of course, but keeping everything in one city is a lot more enjoyable than the disconnect in TS2. On a side note, allowing Sims to visit and move between cities in different saves would be a nice feature.