The Sims

[Gazz]

I actually fired my maid because at least one woman per day comes round my house and cleans everything up.

It's like it was programmed by a big bunch of misogynists.

[Paton]

I'm finding that the skills are easier to level up. I've only been playing about 6 hours and I've already maxed out the cooking skill.

[Herr Matzat]

Check out the "The Gold Lake Manor" in the ingame Gallery. It´s pretty. I don´t know if EA will be able to sell people Lots for 19$ if stuff like this is easy to find and access ingame.

[ZJ Penn]

I went away for a few minutes and let the game run it´s own way... when i returned about everything in my flat was broken and there was piss everywere >_>

And how was the game going?

Hahahaha. Magnificent.

[Herr Matzat]

The game has "bad" (whatever that is) sales. I read about 400.000 units sold in the first week. The Sims 3 was at 1.4 Million. Sadly the german Sims site i read this on dident give a source.

Very interesting still. If these numbers are true. EAs constant fuckery looses them core audience even if this game turned out surprisingly good, just very much bare bones. If these numbers are true i would expect them to put out one of the more important Expansion packs first (unlike World Adventures for Sims 3, which i have grown to love over the years but on first sight just thought sucked)

People say these numbers are only for hardcopys of the game.

According to www.vgchartz.com:
as of 6th of September

Global sales: 408,150
USA: 179,368
Europe: 161,584

Edited September 18, 2014 by Herr Matzat

[Herr Matzat]

Looks like tonight there will be Halloween related contend. No idea yet if its a free update or payed for but they will talk about it in a broadcast.

These are the related teaser images.

[JasonM]

You can bet your arse that you'll have to pay for it.

[apsham]

Except... not.

http://simsvip.com/2014/10/01/ea-announces-new-game-content-via-game-patches/#comment-this-topic

Hells yeah. I'm okay with that.

[Herr Matzat]

Very nice!

[Cole]

Having looked at a few brief reviews, would the few of you still actively discussing this here recommend it?

Or would I be better off getting a past version of the Sims going again, if I had played and enjoyed all of those in the past. Price isn't really an issue but if the gameplay is not worth the money then no point overpaying.

Appreciate it!

[Herr Matzat]

I stand by what i said before. It´s a very good basis for things to come, i am happy i got it for 30€ instead of what they charge as official Full price.

The game itself feels rather empty at points, i am guessing the reason we get these free upgrades to standard Sims things (Pools, Ghosts - maybe even the careers that in some cases were part of AddOnes in the past) is due to their deadline having released the release date a year (?) ahead of time. But i am certain with a few more patches and the first couple of add ones this will be glorious.

What i really like though is the fact that they put the Star Wars Stuff out there for free. If you look at the The Sims 3 store a set of themed clothings would usually cost you 10-20$ and theses dident even flash big brand recognition like Star Wars. - I wonder if these items will be ingame forever or if they will get patched out of the game after Halloween or after the new Star Wars Movie got released. But EA dos rock some StarWars games so they might just be able to do it as they please.

What i "don´t" (big "", i think it´s awesome they made this happen) like about these items is the silliness. If you buy the Deluxe Edition you get the HotDog costume, silly animal hats and Sims randomly running around in your game wearing these instead of "normal city life". Adding Yoda and rebel helmets to that dossent help. I would really like to see some more clothing options (also hair) coming soon just to make the world feel a bit broader.

I guess Pools will naturally bring a swimwear section so thats cool.

[Sousa]

Okay so I bought The Sims. The scads of stuff being released for free convinced me. Thoughts:

* It runs GREAT. Even on my POS computer that wasn't built for gaming, it runs really well.

* Create-A-Sim is the best it's ever been. I'm not quite used to manipulating features with the mouse, and it's a little touchy (I wanted my bodybuilder woman to have a squarish jaw and she ended up with a total case of Gaston chin, but there's so much to do and it's a lot of fun. Create-A-Style is sorely missed, but you still have plenty of options.

* If "instanced" neighborhoods and lots are the price to pay for a game that doesn't take twenty goddamn minutes to load, then count me in. Loads between lots aren't bad--they really aren't significantly longer than waiting for the PC to catch up when I'd move the cursor to the park and try to get my Sim there.

* Interactions are significantly better. This is the big one. There's no more queuing up a long list of interactions and hoping the character's mood doesn't change. When they finish doing the thing they're doing, they keep chatting--and conversations can now involve groups of people. This plus the game running more smoothly have done a lot to address complaints I had about Sims 3.

* Moods and emotions are an interesting idea. A lot of it is figuring things out by trial and error. My bodybuilder is in the spy field and wants to be "Confident" when she goes into work, and I figured out that you can get that by brushing teeth, watching sports on TV, making a meal successfully, etc. My one complaint is that other characters' introductions for some reason seem really skewed towards "Flirty," which is weird--my Sim would go on a date with Nancy Landgraab (FUCK YOU GEOFFREY) and like fifteen total strangers would come up and flirt with her. Awkward and weird.

* As far as content goes... yeah, it's the first Sims game of its generation, so THE FLEECING will begin soon enough. I don't miss swimming pools, to be honest; I hardly ever used them anyway. Toddlers, in hindsight, weren't much in Sims 3 anyway: teach them to walk, talk, and go potty, and then let them fuck off and use the logic blocks or the xylophone until they become kids. Lots of stuff is likely to be fleshed out in expansions, but that's sort of the nature of the beast with The Sims.

So overall, I had fun with it. I still advocate waiting for the price to go down or for some decent bundles to come out, but I don't regret buying it.

[apsham]

Pretty much the way I feel with the side statement that basically says.. for years I have never really played Sims "right" so to get it and play it without cheats, and play it regularly is a real achievement for how this plays I think.

[Herr Matzat]

People will be able to sit on the side of the pool and you have options on how deep the pool is.

[Herr Matzat]

Pools this week.

Twitchbrodcast tonight.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Herr Matzat

[Schlitzbrille]

Changed my mind a few weeks ago and picking it up as soon as I'm not a poorbro.

[Noah]

I'm still happy enough with Sims 2 on the rare occasion I feel like playing a Sims like game. I mean sure most of the fears related to Sims 4 have long been allayed but I could do without another new game I wouldn't find time for.

[Herr Matzat]

Patch is downloading. 288MB.

Update: 11/04/2014 – Version 1.2.16.10

Hey S(w)immers!

It’s time to go swimming! November, sunshine, swimming, splashing, the warmth of the su… well, we are international, so it’s sunny for some. Anyway, Pools are here! And your Sims are ready to jump in and splash around!

• Jump into Create a Sim to customize your Swimwear!
  • Choose from the Styled Looks to quickly swim up your Sim; or choose the perfect one or two-piece bikini, swim trunks or budgie smugglers!
  • Top off your creation with a hat, some sandals, and a dab of sunscreen down the bridge of your nose, and you are ready to go!
• Build out your pool in Build Mode by clicking on the Build tab, and the Pools image in the home portrait
  • You can place pre-fashioned pool blocks (triangle, square, diagonal, or octagon), or you can use the Pool Tool to draw your own pool.
• Pools can be built on any floor of your home or venue.
• Decorate and enhance your pool with pools lights, install a ladder, customize the wall and floor textures to your liking then plop down some decals or add some windows for that aquarium’esque experience!
• Sims can enjoy the comforts of your newly built pool, whether they are socializing as they dangle their digits in the water, splashing the kids, or putting themselves out after being set on fire by an angry ghost who had died from a tragic poolside grilling accident.
• Be wary of the hungry and fatigued, a moment too long in the pool has been known to cause a lack of living. The Reaper will gladly accept your pleas, though he may not always oblige them.

Build out your dream home (with pool included) or head to the Gallery to find the wondrous creations of your fellow S(w)immers , and spend the day with your Sims by the poolside!

In addition to releasing Pools in this update, we have also spent time fixing some bugs and continuing to enhance the game:

Our players have been instrumental in helping us track down the small eye, wide jaw issue that was interfering with some Sims as they aged up both in Live Mode and in Create a Sim. Working with the community, and our internal quality assurance group, we have reverted the tuning as Sims changed ages that resulted in a shrinking of the eyes, and a widening of the jaw. It is intentional that Sims change slightly as they age but the tuning we were using wasn’t performing as we expected as of yet. Thank you once again for your patience and diligence in helping us resolve this

Crashes / Performance

• Several performance issues were found and addressed with this release, and we will continue to look into improving performance across the board.
• Fixed an issue that could result in the player being unable to place a room from the gallery if it contained a slotted object.
• Fixed an issue that would prevent you from loading an older save with an updated version of the game.
• Sometimes the game crashes in a completely logical fashion and sometimes…
  • We fixed an issue that would cause household members to delete themselves, but only if a household of more than one began their existence at the Potters Splay lot, one member of the household then traveled to visit the Pique Hearth or Rindle Rose household, and then returned home to find their other household members have gone missing. The Potters Splay lot has been thoroughly exorcised and made safe for Sim living once again.
• On a similar note, there was a counter and an oven at Yuma Heights that could cause a crash, these too have been fixed.
• We fixed a freeze that could occur when attempting to move in with a homeless Sim if you changed your mind (having realized they don’t have a home) and attempted to back out of the move-in flow.
  • Rejoice! You can once again choose to move in with the homeless even though they don’t have a home. You can decide to not move in to their homeless home, but rather choose to move into a new home with them, or move the homeless Sim into your home.

Tuning / Graphics

• Fixed an issue that resulted in a placed counter sink being deleted when the player moved the counter.
• You can now search for “TV” in Build Mode, because it turns out nobody uses the word television.
• Fixed an issue with newly created Sims made from an older shared household overwriting the original household.
• Fixed an issue where Sims refused to clean up books if the action was initiated through the bookshelf. It seems Sims prefer to be told directly, rather than the bookshelf leaning over and whispering "Hey, my books are showing."
• Fixed an issue that resulted in elder female Sims forgetting they had two legs, and instead walking with a one-legged stutter step, “Pardon me m’lady, but you have two legs.”
• Fixed an issue that could occur during the swapping of the Urn and Tombstone models that would result in the urn/tombstone forgetting what it was and losing all functionality.
  • On a side note, why use the word “could”? It turns out that bugs do not occur for all people, often due to the complexity of what is happening in the code. In this issue, the reproducible case that allowed us to verify the issue as resolved required you to perform an action an unreasonable number of times in succession, in order to see the issue occur once.
• Fixed an issue where Sims were choosing to kneel at improper moments, being socially awkward, kneeling at the dining table, or similarly strange occurrences.
• Children will no longer levitate when attempting to blow out the candles of a cake on a counter. Nobody believed the levitation really occurred anyway, and those who “saw” the levitation are no longer available for comment.
• Fixed an issue with Ghosts possessing Grills, that would cause them to open the grill, examine the contents, close the grill, and then jump in. We have informed the ghosts that the contents of the grill will have no bearing upon their dietary preferences, nor will they be viewed any differently for choosing to possess a grill when they just feel like possessing a grill.
• Fixed an issue that would result in multiple Sims standing in the same place when they chose to play as sea monster.
  • It was noted that this bug made them look like a sea monster, so… an internal debate rose regarding the believable nature of the issue. Were the Sims expressing their inner monster as they played Sea Monster? Should we take that away from them? Did we even have the right to? As the producers were busy debating the philosophical merits involved, planning meetings, and contemplating the social ramifications… the engineer fixed it. And well here we are, with our Sims sea monsterly expression ripped from them.

Build Mode

• The simple way to state it: We fixed an issue where auto counters would stop working correctly after modifying the nearby architecture.
• The not so simple way: When placing a counter perpendicular to a wall, and placing a second counter opposite to it, then placing a third counter positioned in front of the second one as if you were attempting to create a corner with auto-counters, then deleting the wall, and then once again attempt to create a corner piece, was resulting in auto-counters losing functionality. We fixed this.
• Fixed an issue that would cause undo and redo to stop working if the undo action undid a foundation doing.
• Fixed an issue when deleting an object with other objects slotted to it, with the sledgehammer that prevented undo from returning the slotted objects (or, if you deleted a table with a vase on it, and then chose to undo the action, the vase would not come back).
• Fixed a “quick-click” issue. Delete floor, exit Build Mode, Sim is floating! Ta-dah!
• Fixed an interface issue with the remove ceiling button flickering when the cursor hovered over it.
• Fixed an interface issue that would result in the Build Mode catalog failing to properly open when switching between Build and Live Modes.
  • Learning time: By the way, in case you were curious on the correct pronunciation of Live, simply say to yourself “I Build in Build mode, and I Live in Live mode.”

Thank you for everything
-SimGuruGnome

Edited November 4, 2014 by Herr Matzat

[Sousa]

Fixed an issue where Sims were choosing to kneel at improper moments, being socially awkward, kneeling at the dining table, or similarly strange occurrences.

"Sims Patch Day" is like Christmas for me.

Also I'm starting to really hate emotions. The implementation is so weird. For my aspiration I'm expected to "Win 10 fights while Angry," but getting my character Angry is really fucking hard to the point that it's not really fun.

[Herr Matzat]

Can´t ypu just anger up on someone if you are mean to them? I feel like emotions are switching by the second. A bit more stabilety would do the game good.

Pools are pools. Nothing to special.