Random Sim Musings 3-6-23

 

Coming to you LIVE from the Sim Acres Newsroom!  

Been awhile and there's been some stuff going on with Sims 4.  I have no idea where I'm going with this.

First up, THE BABIES ARE FREE FROM THEIR BASSINET PRISONS!  Kinda.  I don't generally play families but I have a few saves populated with lots of families and this will be an addition for them.  It's too soon to be annoyed with them yet.

I watched the live stream a few days ago and while I'm glad the new things are coming with the update and the expansion it's just...  Start this thought over.

The Sims 4 has added a lot over the years.  Lots of things with updates and lots of things with paid content.  And overall it's made a good playing experience (minus broken features and bugs) but it's spread out over so many packs and it can be inconsistent.   Like Selvadorada vs Sulani with culture lore.  Or even with the supernaturals.  Werewolves have lots of content compared to vampires.  Spellcasters fall in the middle since they have the Magic Realm.

Now this brings us to Growing Together.  There's the gameplay from Parenthood (which was not a Sims 3 Generations replacement) .  High School Years also had some family gameplay with the teens.  I see this as more of an add-on than an expansion (perhaps like My First Pet Stuff?) to fill in the holes in the family gameplay that's already there.

In the end I guess it doesn't matter because I'm getting the pack when it comes out and then figure out how to weave it in to my already established saves and probably making new saves because that's what I do.

Go 4th and sim!

 

Lori

#Simmer4Life

Crazy Sims Idea!

 YOU LOOKING FOR DRAMA???!??!? 

Well, you won't find it here.  Actually nobody finds this place. 🤷  The Simming Community is filled with drama...again.  It never really goes away, does it?  Not to mention the history making, life changing events of the last few years.  I'm just weary of everything.

Letting my mind wander into what ifs and this is what I got.  😐

We have scenarios.

We have a residential haunted house lot trait.

We have Strangerville.

We had Jasmine Holiday.  (She's been gone a long time.)

Here's my GRAND IDEA!

Pulling from the Strangerville Mystery, the Haunted House Residential Lot Trait, the limited time scenarios and Jasmine Holiday from the long forgotten challenge events.

I enjoyed the Private Eye career from Sims 3.  I enjoyed Strangerville.  I enjoy the location aspirations.  But once you do them they're done.  I would love to see a limited time event that adds some new gameplay.  

...

Yeah, that's all I got.  It sounded way better in my head than actually putting it into words.  I'm giving myself a 🌟for even making the effort to put something on this blog.

Go 4th and Sim!

Lori

#Simmer4Life

Random Sim Musings-The future of The Sims

There's been a whole lot of talk lately about the future of this beloved game.  There's been layoffs! Crappy packs released!  No information at all!  Too, too quiet!  WTF is going on!?!?!?!?

I have no answers.  If I did I'd probably be getting free stuff and the Sim Gurus would know me.  But I digress.

Yes, things have been quiet.  There has been some house cleaning so to speak.  And that last pack...well, the less said the better.  But right now they don't have a community manager to relay information and they did just put up a bunch of job listings for The Sims 4 and other projects so this franchise is not dead yet.  I still have hopes things will be released in a timely manner.  There is still quite a bit to go with this version.  Like Seasons and University, which I'm sure will come.

Now about Sims 5...I don't think there will be one anytime soon.  I think many long time simmers (like me) are slightly burnt out on the series and who knows about new players.  But ya know I have no information about any of this and it's just my random musings.

What I would like to see is a stand alone Sims title on PC.  Sims 2 had the Stories games and Sims 3 had Medieval.  It probably wouldn't be well received by the public but personally I like having a title that doesn't fit the typical Sims playing mold.  Some of my favorite titles were on the PS2, The Urbz and Sims Castaway.  And I did like Medieval.  They were nice distractions that were familiar but just different enough to be new.

I think what I would really like to see is a full on World Adventures/Jungle Adventure type game.  Which I suppose would be like Castaway.  Something more mission based but you can ignore it if you want.  I love what they added with the jobs the objectives.  I tend to sometimes just watch my game and direct them if they need something.  But I do find myself paying more attention when they have stuff to do.

But my big wish is to see a relaunch of Sim Copter.  There is definitely a hole in the simming market for one.  I just keep throwing it out into the universe and hopefully it get heard.

"Sim Copter 1, reporting heavy traffic!"

I mean there's already a helicopter in Sims 4.  I'd love to be able to fly around all those parts of the worlds we can't actually play.  Traffic jams!  Protesters!  People falling into the water!  Fun, fun, fun!  All that with the graphics of Sims 4.  Winner, winner chicken dinner!

And with that I sign off.  Always keep on dreaming!

Go 4th and Sim!

Simmer4Life

The Sims 4 CAS Demo

FINALLY got my hands on this (along with everyone else).  <mutter mutter>  Okay, whining over.  And the verdict is....I dunno.

I really miss the sliders because it's not always easy to move stuff around.  And honestly I don't see myself molding each part of the face.  I'd like to see all the accessories under one tab.  I don't understand why some t-shirts come in five colors and some only in one.  And yes, I understand it's a demo so the choices aren't going to be there.  I hope that when the game ships there are a more rounded choices of clothing.

 And for the love of all things llama and/or Freezer Bunny why is it so hard to get colors that match???  Yes, I'm missing CASt.  I would go to put a top and bottom together and the colors would just be a shade or two off enough to clash.  Maybe in Sims 5?

Now for the stuff I liked.  Yes, there are things I liked.  For one, hats on any head and boots in pants.  I like how things are separated by type.  I haven't really used any of the filters but as the choices grow I can see how that will be a good feature.  

The choice of hair are pretty good, at least of the ladies.  I like the longer styles in The Sims 4 but I do miss the detail with highlights and such.  The faces look pretty good and I think I'm getting the hang of making Sims that don't all look the same.  But that will probably still take some work.

I liked looking at some of the Sims in the gallery which is a nice feature.  Just as a side note I could do without the celebrities especially all the copies of the Frozen chicks.  And Kim Kardashian.  Gag.  Another strange this was not letting me upload sims based on their names.  So Duke Dinger and Nigel Ledbetter will only live in my game.  Well, at least Nigel will.  I kept him cuz he turned out cute.

Now the most important thing....PICTURES!!!

Serendipity Sunflower-The first version of her didn't come out good enough for me.  I went back and used the Sims 3 version to spruce her up.  I'm much happier with this version.  New and Improved!

And another one of Serendipity.

One of the most important things I had to decide was who to create first.  Serendipity was actually second.  I had to go old school and make the first sim I ever made...Belle Blu

Belle Blu 1.0

Belle Blu 2.0

Belle Blu 3.0

And finally.............

Belle Blu 4.0!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the latest is my favorite version.

Yes, big improvement in 14 years.

I liked playing around with it (Origin says I played 9 hours yesterday :O)  I made 16 households that I saved.  There may have been a few more that didn't make it.  Including an ugly sim.  I will try to collect more pictures because...because.

The bottom line is that I'm still on the fence about The Sims 4.  I know I won't be getting it when it comes out because it's just not in the budget but getting to play with the CAS demo a little I'm feeling better about it.  I'm still a Simmer 4 Life so again it's not a matter of if I buy it, it's a matter of when.

Go 4th and Sim!

Random Sims Musings 7-8-14 Pondering Edition

Now that most of the outrage has died down from NO POOLS?  NO TODDLERS? NO MONEY EA! announcement, let's put things in perspective....yeah, not getting much on that front.

Okay how about this...The Sims Franchise is 14 years old.  There's been 3 computer games.  I'm gonna say probably 10 console games.  A few online versions.  And The Sims Medieval, The Sims Stories games and The Urbz (those only get their own line because they're kind of spin-offs)   There's a lot of veteran players, plenty who have been playing since Day 1 <raises hand> and have tried multiple other versions <raises hand again>.

That is a lot of material to draw from.  I can certainly see the influence of some of the other games that have crept into The Sims 4.  Which is good because with all that history why not pull from it?  And I'm sure it's incredibly difficult to sit down and figure out how to make the next game new and the same.  Have enough of old and new stuff to draw back long time players.  I'm not even going to try to include how to get new players in on this because I have no idea and it hurts my head to figure that out.

Now speaking as a veteran Simmer I think there are certain expectations that I have going into a new version.  Perhaps even things that are taken from granted that would be in the base game.  Stuff that I wouldn't even think twice about how it should or shouldn't be in the game.  Toddlers and pools are on that list.

I feel bad that the Sim Gurus had such hatred thrown their way.  I'm sure they put their all into putting The Sims 4 together.  But a lot of what has been shared so far seems like a step back.  I'm not really caring about the new walk styles but the emotions are intriguing me.  I can see from a gameplay stand where they're going with it.

I'm still having mixed feelings about this whole new game.  Still taking a wait and see stance on it.  For right now I'm still having fun with The Sims 3 and even dabbling again with The Sims 2 (turns out I don't hate it as much as I thought).  There's more stuff that's coming including the CAS demo and an actual game play video.  Maybe that will do stuff to calm the masses.

Go 4th and Sim!

The Sims 4: Create A Sim Official Gameplay Trailer

So this was released today.




I so want to be in love with this new game but I'm just not there yet.  Yeah, not much else to say.  Bella looks like Bella but Mortimer...no.  How can he be older with wrinkles when they were just kids?  Sorry not buying that one.  And I'm not buying Mortimer with a mustache.  That's the creepy Sims 1 Morty.  I didn't like him then.  He was always giving my Sim a backrub.  Usually right in front of Bella!  Ewww!

I was reading some message boards and they were nitpicking everything about this video.  Like Bella is clearly a darker skins Asian woman with shorter hair.  WTF???  I will just say this...people see what they want to see.  Cuz besides maybe the shorter hair and darker skin I don't see Asian.  I think that has more to do with the artwork of the Sims 1.

So final verdict, I'm going to wait for some more in depth gameplay videos.  Yeah, nothing groundbreaking or earth shattering here.

Go 4th and Sim!

P.S. I need me some fourth generation Bob Newbie!   

Spring Cleaning

So my Sims game is a mess.  Oh it plays fine but I just have all sorts of stuff saved to it.  Lots of well, lots and lots of saved games that all seemed like a good idea at the time.  So what's a simmer to do with such a mess??

Damned if I know.  Though my latest greatest plan is to make yet another backup of things.  Then sort through the library and go from there.  My one thing that I'd like to do is to have one sim in one game and with the help of the Traveler mod play it as one big huge world.  That's already mostly the way I think of the game anyway.  I have lots that I've made especially for certain worlds.  Like an amusement pier for Barnacle Bay, a nightclub for Roaring Heights and a couple resorts for Lucky Palms and Monte Vista.

Honestly it's getting old fixing the mistakes of how this game thinks a world should be.  I hate that depending on the world certain lots get put in and I hate where the lots end up.  Plus it doesn't always make sense for every world to have the same kind of lots.  And it would put the store venues to better use if they go into the world they were intended for.  But but my versions since I like them better.  :)

And honestly again...I like building slightly more than playing.

Anyway, there's still five months or so before the release of Sims 4 and unless I see something that knocks my socks off, I'm still on the fence about it.  Looks like there may be some, really any news coming soon which would be nice.  But yeah, I'm still sticking with Sims 3 until something else looks better I guess.

So that is Plan 3820.44 for how I'm going play The Sims 3.  Success or failure???  Who cares?

Zuzi doesn't have the answer.

Go 4th and Sim!

Random Sims Musings 9-12-13

Yeah, it's been awhile but again it's not like anyone but me reads this thing so yeah.  Anyway, lets see what's been going on in the Sims World.

The embargo was finally lifted on the Sims 4 Build Mode and it sounds pretty good.  I'm liking the sound of the magazine mode or whatever they're calling it.  I like the idea of blueprint mode in Sims 3 but it was hard to judge how things would look without previewing them and it just seemed like the different room styles didn't match from room to room.  Like different doors and wallpapers.  Uh, all the country stuff should match.  Just saying.  I like building but I'm not so good at doing it from scratch.  Some of my favorite lots have been renovated ones.  I'm more satisfied in the end reworking something because I just get frustrated when I can't get things to work from scratch.

The Movie Stuff Pack was released and it's better than I expected.  Not quite sure what I'm going to do with the stuff from it but I've already used some of it in my household of video game characters.  Now that's something I can put together for my many blogs!  I don't seem like I play much anymore but I do.  That could be musings for another day.  Again, it's not like I have an audience for this thing.

And lastly, there's a new world coming.  Looks nice and the premium content is something that's been wanted by players for like EVER!  Just not excited by it.  I was never that big of a fan for OFB in Sims 2.  I found it more frustrating or honestly more like real work.  I didn't even build that many stores or businesses.

I downloaded a ton of shit though and used it once.  Useless downloads, noted for another musing topic.  I built more shops and stuff in The Sims 1.  I made a whole downtown area with all sorts of things.  I even made sure all the street lights were spaced perfectly.  Loved that downtown.  Okay I will admit I did make one town in The Sims 2 that I liked and filled it up with all kinds of shops but most of them were ones already from the game that I changed the stuff around.  I'm gonna have to pass on this world.  I don't play most of the worlds anyway.  I'll try them out but I keep going back to Sunset Valley.

Time for a random picture!  I'm pretty sure this fridge came in the base game and I just noticed that it has this screen on it.  So cool if that actually worked!

 And so this ends this edition of Random Musings.

Go 4th and Sim!  I know I am!

Random Sims Musings-Sims Edition 8-22-13

This is just a quick one.  I may have been too soon to react (exactly what I thought other people were doing :o) about how the Sims look.  After reading more stuff this is a Pre-Alpha release they are playing with and showing now.  Now I'm no expert when it comes to the lingo but I figured it's still early in the game (HA-HA!!!!!).  Literally though and now this could be bullshit buuuuut....sounds like the staff is working on getting the game working before they put the minor details in.

I know for some people this isn't good enough and there's plenty of stuff that won't work to their liking and how dare they release this stuff and blah, blah, blah.  Yeah, whatever.

Sadly I'm going to miss the live broadcast today but I'm sure by the time I get home tonight it will be up and running.  I'm really enjoying hearing about The Sims 4 but I wish I could've been there.  Maybe one day.

Go 4th and Sim!

Random Sims Musings The Sims 4 Edition 8-20-13

So I got up early enough on my day off to watch the EA press conference from Gamescom and I'm so freaking happy they started it with The Sims!  I'm just not interested in the other games (sorry I only have enough money to be loyal to one franchise).

Thought the announcement trailer was pretty good.

Then there was the gameplay video.

First off I have to say that I hate the new look of the sims.  They look too much like Sims 2.  

The gameplay looks pretty good.  I know that it probably won't be as intense as the trailer shows but it did give a good idea of how the game will work.

Building looks like fun!  I never thought about picking up and just moving rooms but I've been doing that since Blueprint mode came out.  So that's okay.

Create a Sim will take some getting used to.  I was never a big user of the sliders, I usually used one of the premade ones from the library and tweaked from there.  Hopefully they left the random options in.

One thing I hope they touch on in the live broadcast on Thursday is rabbitholes.  I love them and I want them.  I'm not a micromanager that needs to control everything my sims do.  I don't need to watch them eat, stand in line to buy stuff or how they spend their working day.  But I do like the opportunities that come up and would like to see that expanded more (like what the medical and movie careers have now).

There's a thread on the Sims message board about the definition of "sandbox" playing.  I didn't like that I had to shop for my clothing and food in Sims 2 but that seems to be the popular option from what I'm reading.  It's kind of weird though that the same ones that want shopping don't want things to be unlocked as achievements.  But I wouldn't mind if there were special objects you had to earn (World Adventures) or certain outfits unlocked (careers).

The Gurus keep saying that they're listening to what the players want but I worry that all they'll hear is the one side and not take everyone's opinion into account.  I know they can't please everyone but I don't know.  I'll just have to wait for more information and maybe take the opportunity to get my hopes and wishes out there too.

Overall a very exciting day in The Sims community!  Probably only to be topped by Thursday's live broadcast!

Go 4th and Sim!

Preorder now!

Random Sims Musings 8-10-13

So lately I'm been trying to figure out what to do with this little Sims empire I'm trying to create and don't really know what to do with it.  I would like it to be something.  Something people see of course would be nice.  But for now I figure I'll just plug along trying to get my stuff out there as best I can.  Got the whole tumblr account set up and I'll be using that for more creative things, like stories and profiles of my Sims.  I have an idea for one, I just need to work on it.  I have all sorts of pictures and mostly have stories behind my sims.  Now I would just like to put them together so maybe other people can come across it.    We'll see how this all goes.

On another topic, I watched the trailer and a few videos for Grand Theft Auto V.  Sadly, it doesn't seem to be for the PC but only for consoles which I do not own.  I like the look of it and open game play is always good.  Back in the day I bought the Vice City game and couldn't get past the second mission.  It was hard for me to play it on the PS2.  Mostly I would just have the guy steal cars and blow things up.

Anyway, I got to thinking about The Sims 4 while watching the new videos and I know there are people out there don't want it to look too realistic but to me it seems to be the direction to go.  I don't want cartoony looking Sims.  I want them to look real but still look like they're drawn.  I hated the look of The Sims 2.  They all had weird expressions and they're heads were shaped wrong.  In The Sims 3 I do get a sense that there are different looking sims around town.  Personally, I end up just making all mine looking the same or very similar but oh well.

Guess we'll just have to wait until Gamescom next week to see The Sims 4 gameplay.  Would love to go to something like that but with no money, no passport and hard to take time off from work it's not really possible.

Go 4th and Sim!

Random Sims Musings 5-22-13

Had this article sitting around for a bit and it lists 23 unforgettable things about The Sims 1.  Yeah all of them were pretty much spot on.  Looking back this game now seem quaint and makes you kinda realize that there's some stuff that should still be there.  And with The Sims 2 reaching nearly the decade mark it's almost getting the same treatment.  "Oh this stuff was so GREAT!!!  We need more of this!!!"  There still seems to be a lot of hate directed towards Sims 3.  Maybe once we're all well into The Sims 4 run, Sims 3 will have the same warm fuzzy feeling of "Yeah, those were great things."

Now these are just broad generalizations.  There are groups that still play all the games, some people that leave the old ones behind and some that still play one of the older ones.  I loved the original game and it didn't seem to matter that I only got so far with the game play.  I kinda missed out on the whole second half of releases and that was that.    I got into The Sims 2 fairly late and feel like I missed out really exploring what it could do because I was trying to play catch up.  I spent lots more time downloading and decorating than playing.

Now with The Sims 3 I have a computer that could play it and I've gotten each pack as it's been released and I really feel like I got the full experience.  It's my favorite so far of the three.  I don't feel very nostalgic for Sims 2 gameplay and there's too much difference between the first and the others to even compare.

I'm not sure when I'm going to get The Sims 4, I know I will though because I, ya know, have to.  I may end up doing it gradually.  When 3 came out it was good but still bare bones so I played 2 to fill the gaps but once more stuff came out and Sims 3 started to feel more complete I gave up Sims 2.  Then my computer went kablooey and I haven't installed it on my new one.

I'm sure I had a point somewhere in here but it's more rambling but fuck it nobody looks at this thing anyway but me.  Though my stats tell me I have a worldwide audience.  Yeah!

Go 4th and Sim!

Random Sims 4 Musings 5-8-13

So it's been nearly 48 hours since the big announcement...there's certainly been lots of chatter about it on the Sims sites.

Here's some observations I've made:

• People are either really super duper OMG!!!!!!!!!! ecstatic over it or NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!  DON'T COME TO MY HOUSE AND DELETE ALL MY SIMS 3 SIMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Though there is a decent size group of people that are excited about 4 but still see some decent playability to 3.
• People are reading way too much into the small amount of info that's been released.  Including deep analyses of the ONE picture.  And don't even get me started on the Simlish on the website.
• Don't make a whole new game just update The Sims 3.

These are the things I noticed that people seem to want:

• Car animations from The Sims 2
• No more burrito babies
• UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE RABBITHOLES TO BE ALLOWED IN THIS GAME!!!!!  NO WAY!  NO HOW!! Over emphasis on my part. :)
• In the same vein...open businesses such as shops and restaurants.  Because we need to see Sims eating and browsing.
• And also in the same vein as above Open for Business and everything that came with that.
• More things that cost money.  Buying clothes and no more free transportation.

I have my own views that will of course be sharing but in another post.  Nothing major just more random musings of a seriously casual Simmer.

Go 4th and Sim!  

Yeah so sticking with that.

What does it all mean?

Pssst! They figured it out on The Sims 4 message board.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end

Yeah, so I picked a cheesy 90's song for a title.  Get over it.  So now it's now officially official.  The Sims 4 is coming 2014.  And I'm not sure how to feel yet.  I still have playing to do with Sims 3.  This is the first one of the three that I've been able to go on the whole ride, get stuff when it's released, let myself get excited by the stuff coming up ahead.  Now that it seems that train is slowing down but I'm not ready to get off yet.

More info here, sadly I'm not an insider...yet!!!

Website up here.

Forums up here.

There's new stuff for at least the rest of this year and that's exciting.  So I think for now I'm gonna check out what out there and enjoy the rest of what The Sims 3 has coming.

Go 4th and Sim! <--See what I did there??