Or not even Sims 4 so much, but rather what it stands for.

A little backstory: I actually don't play that many games these days, but as you see I'm heavily involved in these forums and often read up on gaming news. I was unfortunate enough as a teen to grow up in one of those typical Midwestern towns where anything remotely entertaining to do is 15 minutes away by car, so either you stay at home and play video games/watch movies or TV, or you go experiment with every drug ever as drug usage always tends to be typically prevelant in such towns. I chose to play video games and at that age played them constantly.

Now I'm 25 and honestly? Only games I play at this moment in time are Fallout New Vegas (easily my favorite game of all time and constantly brings me back just so I can relax, play Dead-is-Dead and aimlessly ponder on various philosophical theories), Team Fortress 2 and Sims 3 (which I acquired from a very suspicious dude selling the full version for about 20€, otherwise I'd never consider paying EA's suggested pricetag). For the past 7 years there hasn't been a time where I've played more than three games at a time and I've probably played a grand total of 15 games over the course of those years (that includes games that I've played for maybe 2 hours before putting down). I don't own a console or buy games regularly or anything.

And yet I pay attention to gaming news like it's a hobby. Why? Well, things that repulse me? Fascinate me. I'm very good at putting myself in the shoes of others and imagining how they must feel, and when I come across a person or group I'm incapable of doing this for, I end up fascinated by them, trying to figure out how they work. For example the current Ukraine crisis fascinates me because I cannot fathom shooting down a civilian plane and then not taking responsibility for it. And with gaming? Let's face it: the gaming industry is corrupt. Bought-off journalists and reviewers, games that have forgotten to focus on fun and focus more on profit margins, deliberate misinformation or misleading trailers released by developers to increase sales....you name it. You see, greed isn't exactly a concept I understand because I'm the type of person to buy someone a $50 present when I myself have very little to eat. In that sense, the gaming industry is the gift that keeps on giving in that it's something I understand thanks to a backround of having played a lot of games as a teen and it's constantly filled with greed and misguidance to a degree that fascinates me and holds my attention.

So what about Sims 4?

I dunno how many of you have played Sims 3, but it's hands down the buggiest piece of crap I've ever seen. You think Bethesda makes buggy games? Man oh man, at least Bethesda games function as they should. For those that don't own or haven't played Sims 3, a couple points:

-The game is basically disfunctional without user-made fixes. Save files quickly bloat up in size to a degree where there's constant freezing that makes playing the game unbearable

-The Island Paradise expansion amazes me that it did not cause a class action lawsuit. The entire expansion basically -has- to be experienced in the neighborhood coming with it, as it's new features aren't present in other neighborhoods. The problem? The above issue of constant freezing will occur on day one while playing this neighborhood with a brand new save file, as a combination of the town just being more demanding on computers and one poorly programmed family with a bathtub turned the wrong way that causes nonstop data usage spikes. The expansion -is not playable whatsoever- without extensive knowledge of the causes for the lag and knowing how to fix it.

-A save file can bloat up to 4 GB of space (yes, 4 GB) rather quickly due to a stupid little memory system EA decided to include so you can post to facebook when your sim just took a massive dump. Every time an event occurs that could even remotely be considered memorable (shopping for groceries is an example of a "memory"), the game takes a screenshot and saves that within your save file. Memories basically NEED to be disabled completely or else you'll find yourself manually cleaning your save file periodically with user-made programs or periodically starting new towns.

-General gameplay bugs are often so basic and unforgivable. The Showtime expansion for example adds three new professions that, for some reason, will not function whatsoever unless you go manually edit and change the Sim's work outfit. The default ones cause errors making them incapable of performing at all. Likewise, some weird effect happens where a Sim's "existence" might end up tied to a gig they have, at which point the Sim cannot click itself or it's cell phone during any hour of the day that that gig's host is not found in the world map (for example I have a sim that cannot use her cell phone from midnight to 10am because of this). Ambitions includes a Ghost Hunter profession that, again, is prone to breaking completely at around level 5 of the career, at which point it completely ceases to function. These are supposed to be major selling points of these expansions and they're horrendously broken.

-Other bugs that add to the already buggy experience. Sims can sometimes visit China and discover their Family tree is now completely busted as they've randomly been "re-married" to some random Chinese guy and supposedly divorced their spouse or even have a new chinese daughter. Or perhaps your sim will receive an opportunity that, again, is entirely disfunctional and merely helps to break your sim. I've even had a bug occur where any sim who attempted to interact with my sim was simply reset (returned to their spawn point), making my sim incapable of interacting with others.

-The price gouging. If you buy the full version of this game from EA or an EA retailer, you're looking to spend over $1000. Likewise, within gameplay you're constantly bombarded with advertisemants for virtual sofas you can buy for the "reasonable" price of $15.

I tell you all of this because I see the hype for the Sims 4, and it's nothing short of astounding for me. I've had friends complain before about Bethesda games crashing to desktop and how the game was unplayable for them because of this. I'd tell them to just chill and learn to spam F5 when outdoors or to download a 4 GB patch. Sims 3 makes me understand what they mean: a game so buggy it ruins the experience for you. And yet, despite that and despite the price gouging, Sims 4 is hyped as hell and selling thousands of pre-ordered copies.

And in case you haven't followed the news of Sims 4? It's filled with tidbits such as pools and toddlers not being a basic feature of the base game. That's right, two features that have been in the base game since the Sims 1 or the Sims 2 will suddenly be absent. Developers commented and said in a perfect world they'd include everything, but they have to accept that time restraints exist so they have to pick and choose what can and cannot be included. That's all well and fine, except for the fact that it seems an odd decision to spend time working on new items and features that no one asked for and prioritizing those over old ones...or does it? No, of course, cash motivates such a decision. If they spend time making a fancy new Snow Cone Machine or what-have-you be a part of the base game and then save pools and toddlers for expansions, you better believe we'll see a spike in expansion sales because people will desire to recover their lost features. Other features such as the ability to customize clothing and furniture styles or the basic Story Progression of Sims 3 (which to be fair, was kinda lackluster and probably contributed to bugs) are just completely missing as well.

My point with all this? I find it absolutely fascinating that people are lining up to get this game, and I think it speaks volumes about the gaming industry as a whole. I mean, here I am and you could argue I never actually bought the Sims 3 expansions as I opted to take a risk and buy the suspiciously low-priced full version from some random suspicious dude who's sole intent might be to fry my computer with viruses and malware, because wtf even if it DID I could buy a new computer for cheaper than the entirety of the Sims 3 series. If I were told I had to pay the full price from an EA retailer now or lose the game? I'd uninstall. And yet people are lining up for this, throwing their money at EA once again, bending over and waiting to be gouged for more money as the Sims 4 inevitably releases expansions featuring basic stuff such as weather, toddlers, pools, or....f***ing trees.

I think it speaks volumes about the industry in that this is the company behind the Mass Effect 3 "scandals" and the Sim City scandal, but everyone's got a memory of a goldfish. It's no wonder gamers have such a cynical view of the industry when this [censored] is allowed to happen and allowed to fly. But here we are, ready for another round of price gouging and there's no sign of the Sims fanbase thinking "hey maybe we should make a statement and hold off on buying." I mean I read the forums there sometimes and it seems universally accepted that the Sims 3 will be superior until about half of the Sims 4 expansions are released....I'm sorry, but shouldn't that mean EA should be expected to up quality with each new rendition to motivate sales? NOT re-release weather as an expansion pack feature every single time? And if we're so insistent it won't be any good until X amount of expansions are released, why are you people buying it on day one...?

Sorry if this rant seemed a little all over the place or aimless, but this is what's currently been on my radar lately and I'm nothing short of fascinated. Thoughts?

We can't talk about it sorry.

I too am surprised that so many people are going to get it especially since it has been stripped of a lot of content (which will likely return as DLC). At this point I think EA is just using The Sims to see what they can get away with.

Just like they're using SimCity.

And Battlefield.

And every other EA series ever.

Sure let's talk about it. For starters, it's an EA game, so that tells you a lot right off the bat.

Why was there no class-action? The same reason that you never hear of Class-Actions against Steam anymore. The industry is an Empire only interested in self-preservation. EA only cares about itself, under the buisness model of "we're not the other guy". Well, they're right. They are not the other guy, they're worse. EA blows out some free content to distract their consumers from the atrocities they commit, but the free content is elsewhere where it doesn't fix the problem, but it doesn't add to it either.

The other part is, The Sims is the only game of its kind, EA knows this, and gets away with it because there is no competition. There is no alternative, and if there is, EA will sue them into oblivion ot the point where the competition can't make a profit at all.

Maybe each game has its own set of poor business practices that they are trying to push to the limit. Evidence would seem to show that they need more development time on Battlefield games, so the next one (not Hardline) will be given a slightly longer time to complete it and they will see the reception of that.

I'm a huge Sims fan. I must admit I am a little excited for 4, but....

I played 3, Sims 3 was the worse piece of inbred crap that has ever graced this computer. "You know all the freedom you loved in 1 and 2?! Yea you get none of that."

I hated the whole....everything in Sims 3, buggy, crashy mess. Everything felt restricted, "You liked building Neighborhoods?! Lol tough luck, kid, you get none of that." "Hey! I know you just bought all the expansions, BUT WE'RE JUST GOING TO LOCK OUT CONTENT THAT YOU NEED TO PAY FOR FROM THOSE EXPANSIONS."

I also disliked the whole...living world. I liked seeing my sims out in the stores and community lots back in Sims 1 and 2, I don't know I liked that level of control in the pass games. Want to mod it out? You have to go through pages and pages of menus in a mod.

Ah, but Sims 4. Yup, they are not going to include the content and only leave you the bare minimum to function as a Sims game when it comes out. They will then re-use expansion and release the same darn expansions from the pass games.

To be honest, I am perfectly happy with The Sims 2, I still play it a lot, the community is active, lots of people are still posting stories, challenges, legacies for it back in Boolprop.

I'll just end up waiting for my cousin to buy all the expansions from Sims 4 to borrow them, just like I did in the other Sims games. NOT spending 30$+ on a expansion 9 times in a row.

I think I rambled a lot...ended up filtering myself as well!

It's like they are taking the Facebook version of the Sims, selling it for $60, then adding $300 worth of DLC. But this is okay because they had Obama in the E3 video.

Well one thing I wanna say is that I don't just think it's EA that's guilty of this kind of stuff. Other companies rehash ideas and overcharge for them aswell, EA and the Sims just seem to be the most dramatic example I can name.

But yeah I brought this up more as a representation of the industry as a whole. It's one thing when a game slowly removes features or dumbs itself down to the point where those that complain are labeled as nitpickers, it's another when.....ffs as I said, I challenge you to find a computer that can run the Island Paradise town without user-made fixes....and yet people are lining up for the sequel.

I'm sorry I don't have more to say; it's just something I wanna discuss but I'm not sure how to fix such a pattern in the industry. I don't think any of us would deny the price-to-quality ratio is diminishing, and not in the sense that developers are saying "hey our work is worth more" but in the sense that quality is simply dropping when it comes to triple A companies. I'm not sure what we can do about it though cause even if we all unanimously agreed to avoid Sims 4, their official forums are loaded with people lining up and buying the fanciest pre-order package, ready to buy every virtual sofa from the online shop...

"But they'll learn from their mistakes, give them another chance."

That's something I'm hearing about a lot of games these days.

Whales will always exist. If you got people that weren't brain dead to boycott the game, it would make a financial statement to EA. I think whoever said they have a monopoly hit it on the head. Think about the major publishers that exist. EA is essentially a monopoly. Hell, I actually received a check from a class action lawsuit against EA for their monopoly over the sports franchises they've had running for so long (can't remember what the name of the suit was, but the check was for 25 bucks or something like that).

These publishers have no competition, so I'm not surprised at all to see quality taking a steady dive. I think it is absolute crap, but as long as they do it just "right" they will keep people who enjoy a basic experience coming back for more. I'm 24 myself and I'm at a point in my life where my gaming choices are weighed much more carefully than they were before. I am also a console gamer and I find the current next gen landscape to be almost complete crap. I'm holding out for the reviews on the new Dragon Age (hopefully it redeems itself from the absolute crap that was DA2) and I'm holding out for Bethesda's next offering.

All other gaming companies (with a few extremely notable exceptions... why'd you have to screw gamers over Levine? I'll try to forgive you) are releasing games that have the distinct feeling of "how much can I do to get by?". No one strikes me as trying to make the best game they can anymore and again, I know that isn't truly a blanket statement, but a lot of companies I have had the highest respect for have disappointed me greatly in the last few years.

Typically when I say this, some idiot chimes in with something along the lines of "well, they are a company not your friend and they have to make money blah blah blah snargle DAAAAAAAAAHHH". Really? Thank you super genuis, I had no idea they were trying to make money. I rescind my statements and bow before you intelligence. Oh, but gee, don't you think it would be nice if they tried to make money by making a solid product? Do you expect the final installment of a Game of Thrones to be five pages long, filled with paragraphs that outline the major events that conclude the countless thousands of pages that proceeded it?

These forums seem to be full of people like that, because every time someone mentions a complaint with ANY game, they immediately get defensive... why? What the hell is wrong with critiquing a game? I think as long as a person can be honest and say "yes I enjoyed this experience BUT... it could be better" there is nothing wrong with that. I think that crappy games need to be lambasted until the game developers just come out and say "yeah this was absolute sh--".

I apologize because I went full rant on this one guys, but I just can't help it. I agree with you Longknife, and I'm glad to know how crappy Sims 3 is (although I haven't played a Sims game since the Urbz... which was its own little atrocity as far as the Sims goes). My only consolation is that our technology will inevitably advance to the point where we can construct games like Skyrim, Fallout 3, or Dragon Age: Origins with ease and then maybe independent game developers will start making games that are even more amazing than the games I hold near and dear to my heart. For instance, I hold out the sincere hope that in the near future, someone is going to design a Legend of Zelda + Skyrim love child that will combine the best aspects of both while eliminating the annoyances of both. I would gladly get behind someone who wanted to start a project like that.

As a final aside... what do you guys think of Kick Starter? I hate that crap almost as much as I hate developers who make their games crappier on purpose.

The Sims 4? Over-hyped?

Maybe it's because I skimmed through EA's E3 conference, but I didn't really see much from the Sims 4. They made a big splash last year when they announced the game... but that's it.

Personally, I didn't venutre any further than the original Sims 3, so I have only positive experiences from playing it -- no bugs. That being said, I do feel like there isn't a huge graphical leap between 3 and 4. The emphasis on Sims yet some how their actions and motives being quite unpredictable, over dramatic and wacky doesn't really sit well with me either. They should act like humans... not cartoon characters.

Just read the same thing regarding the latest Halo.


I played the original Sims and Sims 2 on the PC. Only played the third on console, but I still really liked it. Don't know the differences between the console and PC versions. I haven't seen or heard anything for the fourth game.