If, like me, you have been a fan of The Sims since the original Sims game (remember the one where you'd have to 'make out' with your partner to have a baby and a crib would appear? Then after a few days the crib would turn into a child and be stuck like that forever) then you probably have some high expectations for The Sims 4.
The Sims 3 is an enjoyable game, but if you ask me the franchise sort of peaked at The Sims 2. There were better expansions, better characters and you could actually create a new town in a matter of minutes without the painstaking difficulty of placing 10,000 spawners and having to create every road and place every tree. Anyway, I'm not gong to use this post to complain about things I dislike in The Sims 3, instead I will share with you my hopes and dreams for the Sims 4.
- An easier way to switch between households WITHOUT losing their active opportunities, wishes and career progress.
I don't like to play one family through the generations, I like to play the neighbourhood through the generations. I like to watch my neighbourhood change and grow, and I like to be the one who makes the changes. I've recently been playing my own world River Valley, I created a family who wanted children, but I wanted them to earn a good bit of money first so I could do-up the house to make it a luxurious family home. The best option for me would have been to play another family for a while, allowing my sims to rake in the cash while I concentrated on some of their neighbours. If I had done this however, I would have lost the Have a First Child wish, and the lifetime happiness points for completing this when I finally got them to have a baby.
This brings me on to my second point. - More options in Story Mode.
Story Mode is a wonderful thing in some ways, but in other's it's diabolical. I had this plan once, to marry up everyone in Sunset Valley, Mortimer and Bella would marry, and Bella's brother Michael would marry Holly Alto and I'd create two power-families. Of course, Bella and Mortimer are children when you begin a game in Sunset Valley and Holly and Michael are teens so marriage is a no-no! While I waited for them to age up naturally I played some other families - Jamie Jolina married Christopher Steel and Judy and Jack Bunch had another baby. By the time Mortimer had aged up into an adult, Story Mode had moved the Bachelors out of town, so my entire plan was ruined. Story Mode should be editable to player preference. The problem I described in point 1. wouldn't be an issue if there's been a little button I could press to disable inactive households from vanishing from my town. - More stylish options for clothing built in to the game.
Anyone who plays The Sims 3 knows that base game clothing options are usually on the basic and/or ugly side of the spectrum, then we are charged quite expensive amounts to purchase premium content, and that's not always fashionable. Clever simmers who know how to download and upload from sites such as Mod the Sims aren't burdened by this, unfortunately I'm a bit of a technophobe when it comes to downloading and unzipping files and I would probably end up killing my laptop. - More realistic traits.
If you had to describe the personality traits of your best friend what five terms would you pick? Confident? Shy? Silly? Sarcastic? Mine would probably be Funny, Pessimistic, Clever, Ambitious and Lazy. That combination might sounds like it contradicts itself but you don't know my best friend. He's a bit of an oxymoron. My point is that I have never in my twenty-one years heard someone describe another person as Never Nude or Can't Stand Art. The creators of The Sims 3 seem to have gotten confused between traits, likes and dislikes and talents. Having a Green Thumb is a talent and not a trait, and Hates the Outdoors is surely a dislike? If they had worded some of these better then they would work - Never Nude could become Reserved and Hates the Outdoors could become Indoorsy. I just think that there could be much better traits in The Sims 4 and that the developers could look into this. - A mature expansion pack.
There are a generation of players out there who have grown from children, to teenagers to adults while playing The Sims, and I am one of them. While I understand that mature themes aren't for everyone, and so an expansion back containing more mature themes would need to be given an appropriate age certificate, I think it would be a good option for older Sims players who want to add a little realism into their games. I also think that it could help to bring in new players, there are thousands of people out there who play online simulation games such as Second Life and I think that the Sims 4 could try to appeal to them too. What of your Sim could become addicted to nectar? Or have sex on the couch? I know that a more mature game isn't going to be for everyone, and many people will argue that The Sims should keep it's innocent and comic status but a mature expansion pack would make mature themes optional.
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