It might sound weird for this thread to discuss about "Things you wish EA won't do" in TS4 cause so many threads are all about "how TS4 should be or you wish they should". LOL

I wish they would not repeat the same mistakes with TS3

1. No meaningful interactions between toddlers and parents. I miss all cute and heartwarming interactions between them.
(To add more realistic and fun; how about "waiting for Daddy/Mommy to come home" or "Happy hug Mommy/Daddy when they come back home, etc.")

2. Lack of sense of humor
I miss all quirky humor in TS1 and TS2 so bad. I totally don't know what happen to The Sims team but they seem to lose all weird sense of humor that make us fall in love with.

3. Dating is not fun anymore in TS3
TS1's HOT DATE and TS2's NIGHTLIFE, date nights are sooooo much fun! Though I have to wait for another neighborhood loading, it's worth the wait.
But in TS3, the reason behind huge success of "Auto Woohoo Mods" are, I guess, romantic interaction is a total BORE. And for dating, there are not much to do or to hang out.


How about you guys?

No online features, I hate the way that they always want you to do them. No glitches, no stupid patch based cc install check, not allowed to edit world with out geting from EA.

No useless traits; eg the Daredevil trait

If they simcity disast it we'll have to live with a game with horrible ai, limited features, and a need for online connection for the next five years, so let's avoid that.

More rabbitholes
In-game commercial
Another World Adventures EP
'' Make burgers for some stupid neighbour for about 25 $ ''

Well, they already stated quite clearly this would be a single player, offline game, so I think we can let go of that fear for now. The quality of the AI, and the feature set are, however, reasonable concerns about just how the new installment of the Sims turns out. I expect that based on their ability to discern our resistance to MMO like game play, they probably get that we can't stand sims acting brain dead without direct intervention. Hopefully, that makes the cut as items to be developed for the new version. Hell, when your zombie sims are just as smart as your regular sims, you know one of the versions is screwed up (and it's not the zombies, well, at least in that vein). I actually caught a zombie bowling the last full moon. Wasn't sure if it was gaining skill points, but it was kind of weird watching the claw-like arm contraction vanish when throwing a strike, only to return while waiting for the ball on the automatic ball return. Almost as immersion breaking as watching a zombie break off a zombie attack to take a call on their smartphone and have a normal, animated conversation with their caller. Yeah, better AI really needs to make the cut.

So true. Totally true.
EA corrects it in the Uni-Life, right? To make sims with compatible traits to interact better than the incompatible ones?

Come to think of "meaningless traits", I wish EA won't do it again is to put "meaningless Zombies attack" and no consequences. I don't know why Zombies must roam around my house at night when I have no fear or whatsoever. Total meaningless.

EA should think more clearly before game release. At least "Scientist sims" should be able to find "Zombie cure" to save the world and/or "Fairy sims" should be able to cast the spell to cure werewolves etc.




You can read my mind!
I forgot to mention lots of patches. Lots and lots of patches make my head spin.




I really don't know why TS2 can make us experience Sims' workplace and TS3 can't.
I have to admit that Rabbitholes in TS3 disappoint me so much cause I expected TS2 experience.

Don't only mainly focus on, or make your primary target audience pre-teens. We can't simulate/play with life, when you can only include the candy coated rainbows and sparkles side of life. I don't want to simulate half of life, I'd like a wholesome experiences. Where there are dire enough consequences for my Sims. Where they can at least injure themselves a little and need medical attention. Where they can get suspended/expelled from school (for teens), if they misbehave/pull too many pranks etc.

So I'm not talking about including major and truly disheartening events and situations. You don't have to add AIDS/Cancer or anything of that sort. We don't need drugs and violent crimes implemented (modders would probably take care of that for those who do want it). But I'd just like the day to day Sim life to be a little bit more challenging. Not be able to walk into any building and land a job straight away. I should at least have to present the employer my CV first, then get called for an interview (or just be told no, sorry etc), if the interview goes well, they give me a call within the next few days to tell me I've got the job.

Pregnancies should be a bit harder, and maybe longer, depending on the life span of your Sims, or maybe even give us the ability to chose how long we want certain things to be! Pregnant women should have things to do relating to the pregnancy and their partners can go with them to those activities. (No RH of course, I want to see my pregnant Sim doing yoga with her husband, lol). Sims should have to pay for public transportation, no more free rides! Where I live, taxis are expensive! Make it harder to get promotions, and give Sims the ability to just stay at a certain job level. If I just want to be a waitress, let me stay a waitress. I don't want to become master chef after 2 sim weeks...

I don't want to see lazy Sim parents!!! I'd like for parents to be able to drop their child off at school, and give them lifts home if they're on the same community lot, instead of having the child cycle home in a snow storm while you're driving your brand new sports car home. Even if they aren't on the same community lot, if the lots are close enough, and you wanna send both parent and child Sim home at the same time, the dad/mom should be able to drop by and pick the child up and go home. This isn't too much to ask.

I'd also like my kids/teens to have exam days. All they do is homework currently and that's enough for them to graduate... They should have school projects that they can get help with from their parents (like the cliche volcano science project for example) or an older sibling with high enough skill points that is required for the specific subject area. They can go out and collect materials/gems/stones/bugs or whatever for their projects or ask their parents to buy them those things and also help with building/working on it. I think that would add some nice family interaction between parent and child, or between siblings. The child/teen can either be really eager to do their project or very reluctant (depending on their traits and personalities).

They should also have Maths, Science, English, PE, maybe even a foreign language exams. Things they would have to improve their skills for to be able to pass. Logic for maths/science, athletic skill for P.E. etc. And the difficulty of the exams should depend on what type of school it is. For example, if your child is in a private school, they might need 3 logic points to get an A for their project/exam, or if its a public school, maybe only 2 logic points. And if your child is failing, you can send them to summer school (provided we have seasons).

Don't make it so that themed world can not be "fully themed" and played in the time/era they're supposed to be representing. Meaning, give us the ability to turn of yellow taxis, mail man, phones, etc. Or maybe provide different themes for that. I feel like the theme we're always stuck with is the American theme. Yellow taxis, school bus, newspaper kid etc. How about make it so that we can change the world... amenities? I'd like to see black cabs, red double decker buses, postmen/women wearing different uniforms representative of different parts of the world. Cabs representative of different parts of the world as well as buses etc. (You'd have to do research EA). Or we could even mix and match things from the different themes as we like from. And as new EPs and ideas come out, you can upgrade/expand and add more themes. Medieval horse carriages for example. For a futuristic world, hover cars, or whatever. Just something that fits! ^^

Think ahead EA, think ahead! And make sure the new stuff you release can work well with the earlier stuff. I don't want to see incompatible features.

Luisa's Bones
I love your post to death.
I really wish The Sims Studio can read your reply. I pray they do.
Because...if they do read it and make the TS4 the way you describe it will be the best game ever!

If EA does offer an online feature ... which might be fun, if it does it right (holds breath) ... make it purely optional. The ability to visit a fellow Simmer's house (a la Animal Crossing Wild World on DS) could actually be a hoot IF and only if it's done right, with lots of security features to make sure that the visitor doesn't start up mischief. And if EA cannot do that, and does not have enough servers to do that, don't make the thing online in any way, shape or form! Period.

No hoarding of the content. Make it color-customizable a la 3, but make it abundant. The stuff in the store should be extremely well-made and entirely different from the content we're used to in Sims 1 and 2. (Yes, the hot tub is an example.) Something that will make me want to "hint" for it as a Christmas or birthday present. Watch that pricing, as well. I have no desire to spend $50 or more for a set.

I WOULD like the features to be a combo of 2 and 3 ... and more. Not so realistic that you can see the character's pores, but not overly unrealistic, thanks. And if you go the Sims 2 template route, try to avoid the really cartoony ones this time. Customizable heights as well. Show some love for us petite people, EA (and tall people as well)!

Yes, yes and yes, Luisa's Bones! Be aware that this game appeals to people of ALL ages, from 13 to 63, and beyond that range. Don't just gear it for the under-18s.

Sims 2-esque rabbit holes, please. No, EA, you don't have to show the school or the workplace. But restaurant interiors are nice!

But most of all, above all else, give us a game with few glitches .... the FIRST time. Test it thoroughly. I'd rather you push the date to 2015 than to give us a game with constant error messages.

I was watching a Sims 3 let's play and as morning came up the zombies hailed taxis and left. I thought since they came up out of the ground to start with that the ordinary take a taxi home was hilarious.

Gosh yes, if they think that is their major audience they are dead wrong. I don't want to see things like katy perry SP's.

I think the one major issue for me would be if they made it unmoddable/difficult to make mods for. Most other things they might mess up on could probably be fixed if mods can be made for it.

Something the sims 3 lacked was humor. It went the crap realistic path alot of game franchises are going these days.

The sims 2 was hilarious. Funny deaths, funny mishaps, funny facial expressions, and to top it off, the sims 2 had those hilarious cutscenes for woohoo. (I always laugh hard when i see the hottub woohoo).

I want the sims 4 to be humorous, wacky, and over the top.

I hope they make it easy to mod, and don't make it require 3 different kind of mods again (i.e. not tuning, script and core).

Oh, me too. Luisa Bones your post is giving me life! You should post it to the official forums or tweet SimGurus to see it.

That was a major turnoff for me in the early years of Sims 3 ... the difficulty modding and creating meshes for the game.

That, to me, is probably one of the biggest attractions with Sims 2. Over the years, thanks to this ability to mod and mesh, the Sims community has come up with some wonderful content that has kept Sims 2 fresh even after EA determined it a "goner". Don't take that away, don't be so quick to relegate the old series to the background, and EA can have quite a franchise ... using all FOUR series! Something for everyone, and all that.

I'm worried that The Sims 4 will take just as long, if not longer, to load. The starting loading screen takes like 3 minutes. I've timed it before! THEN, after you select which file you want to play, ANOTHER loading screen. And, if you want to create a new sim/customize a sim you've already made, MORE LOADING SCREENS.
When I only have like an hour to play The Sims 3, I only get about 20 minutes of actual gameplay due to all the loading screens.
To my knowledge, the reason that is is because The Sims 3 is a MONSTER of a game! 13 Gigs on my computer. 13 GIGS OF ONLY SIMS. This is without any custom content, store content or mods. CRAZY!

they need to fix the eating, and romantic socials system. The ones in Sims 2 were just perfect. The sims 3 totally screwed all of them

Yes, modding support right out the gate would be a big boon. A actual toolbox would be the best thing they could do for the community.

After all, I think they crib some of the add-ons form the most popular mods so it's win-win for them.

I would like to see the 'Serve' option return for dining... I mean, I can understand making food just for one Sim, as you do, but when cooking for a group just plonking the plate on the side, and have multiple routing failures as Sims try to get a plate is an absolute pain! And then, they decide to eat at SEPARATE TABLES! I hate that with a passion! I enjoyed having a family in TS2, where the main cook would whip up some dinner, and then serve it out for the family - who all sat together!
Even if they don't bring back the Serve option, please at least make Sims sit together when eating in a group setting or even on a date...

-Lack of hairstyles and clothing in the base game
-Baby burritos with creepy eyes
-Making the camera so awful
-Making the graphics so meh

1. No more materializing! Like how cars materialize out of garages onto the street, how sims materialize from sidewalk into cars and bicycles, and sims materialize out of doorless rooms. There was something about TS2 where the sims felt more like they really existed in their virtual worlds because they never just vanished from one location and magically appeared in another. If they got stuck somewhere, you could be confident they were gonna croak because they couldn't materialize somewhere else.

2. No more backwards Hold Hands animations that patch after patch and year after year, never gets fixed. When you go to hold someone's hands, you reach out and hold their hands. You don't psychically implant the thought into someone else's head that they should be the one to reach out and hold your hands.

3. No more "ghosts are icky". In TS3, when sims see a ghost, they act disgusted and say "eew" as if the ghost is a smelly fart or something. Ghosts are supposed to be scary, not icky. In TS2, sims at least responded appropriately with fear and even risk of dying of fright.

4. No more instant fridge food. Because you have to put food in a fridge, it's not supposed to magically produce food while at the same time magically deducting from your bank account.

5. No more "I own every outfit that exists", because you can't possibly already own every outfit that exists, you have to go the store to buy it. It'd also be a lot less painful going through just what outfits the sim owns rather than every outfit in existence, which takes for-freakin'-ever to load.

6. No more free bikes or cars. Just because you have to go somewhere, doesn't make you entitled to a free car.

7. No more cars or bikes in inventory. Vehicles should exist in the world and stay where you left them. Being able to whip a car out of your ass is just silly.

8. No more dropping of tasks if I ordered it. Sim, I am the boss of you. When I stack crap for you to do in your queue, you'd better do it!

Mistakes they could possibly make:

1) Only releasing an Eng-US version and no Eng-UK version. It's "colour" everywhere else, damn you! (Spelling is important to me, okay?)

2) Simcity-style traffic handling. NO. JUST NO.

3) A constant push to share shit with your friends on (nearly totally irrelevant here) Facebook.

4) Not releasing a Bodyshop, CAW, or Homecrafter.

Oh yes, I want to see colour, neighbourhood, centre and theatre!

The major mistake for me would be if the AI was like the Sims 3 one. I want interactions like the Sims 2 have.

I agree, useless traits just clutter things up.
- Useless clothing (stupid clothing like the muscle shirts, flipper feet, crazy hats... at least hide them).
- Too many rabbit holes.
- Lack of character depth.
- Lack of character creation.
- LONG LOADING SCREENS/TIMES.
- Clayface characters.
- Humor is good but not silly humor. I don't want to see the military portrayed as it was in TS3, needs to be more like TS2. TS3's military ranks were just stupid as was Science.
- Lack of interesting gameplay choices.
- Removal of established TS2/TS3 features. That will kill it for me.
- Lastly, too many "stuff packs", DLCs, mandatory store stuff, and an expansion rush.