Alot has happened over the past few months within the Sims community with the announcement of the upcoming Island Paradise EP and also the Time Travel EP to be released later this year. The biggest announcement is of course, The Sims 4, due to be released some time in 2014.
There was much speculation of this new Sims game mostly due to the fact that the domain TheSims4.com was purchased by EA some time ago and supposed concept images being posted on the website of an ex EA employee.
The announcement of The Sims 4 may have come too soon for some as I'm sure there are those who have lost interest in The Sims 3 and will be patiently awaiting the release of The Sims 4 before purchasing any other The Sims games. However, if you are a die-hard Sims fan like myself, you will be wanting anything and everything that EA release regarding The Sims franchise.
I'm a little sad that we never got a Vacation EP for The Sims 3. Although Island Paradise looks a little vacationy (vacationy?), it isn't a sub-hood like World Adventures or the vacation EP's we had for 1 and 2. I personally would have liked to have been able to take my Sims on a vaction to Island Paradise from Sunset Valley, much like we can go from the neighbourhood to one of the World Adventure worlds or to University.
Since the announcement of The Sims 4, I reinstalled The Sims 2 and started playing again (hence the lack of posts :-)). I must admit that I feel the gameplay of The Sims 2 is so much better than 3. Don't get me wrong - there are a lot of things in The Sims 3 that I love, such as the fishing skill, cooking and gardening and all the related books that go with it. Learning all those recipes and what you need to catch certain fish is great gameplay in my opinion and should be taken across to The Sims 4. However, there are many more things that were in The Sims 2 that I missed in 3 such as open restaurants, babies with limbs, slower eating, dating and outing scenario's, creating a group on your phone to invite out (as opposed to being automatically grouped up in The Sims 3 which I really dislike), and many other things such as the Wobbly Wabbit Head Charisma bunny for toddlers.
The open world and graphics of The Sims 3 is a lot better than what we had in 2; loading screens were a bit of a bind. However, since re-installing the game on a faster computer than I had before, the loading screens only take a few seconds. It is much better though to be able to just leave your house and go to the park in an open world, without having to watch a boring loading screen.
Here is a list of all the things I miss from The Sims 2 together with stuff from 3 that I would love to see in 4, plus a couple of ideas, (which I originally posted over on the official site):
- Wobbly Wabbit Head Charisma bunny for toddlers;
- DIY channel on TV for handiness skill;
- Babies and cars like in TS2;
- Cleaning skill back;
- Fears and memory system back;
- Comfort and environment needs back;
- Group system/scenario back - fed up of my sims being grouped up or put in a date when I don't want them to;
- Date system/scenario back;
- Pottery wheel/sewing machine for creativity;
- LOVE the science stuff in TS3 UL;
- Keep the gardening/cooking/fishing like we have in TS3 - put greenhouses in the base game;
- Bring back gardeners;
- Bring back the tools that we were given at around level 4 of each career in TS2 - i.e. cleaning gun for Law Enforcement, Indoor Golf for Business, Running Track thing for Military, Operation Dummy for Medical, Podium for Political, Chocolate maker for Culinary, Cow Plant for Science, etc;
- Bring back gold/platinum aspiration levels so that as in TS2 certain items can be 'purchased' with lifetime points such as the baby milk and the money maker machine. These could only be used when the sim was 'gold' or higher. Once a lifetime wish is accomplished then the sim should be platinum and stay platinum as in TS2;
- Open restaurants;
- Slower eating/chatting at the table etc as in TS2;
- A weight thingy like we had in TS2 - if a sim eats too much they put on weight and have to exercise, again like we had in TS2;
- Need to purchase food from the store or have it delivered as opposed to it magically appearing in the fridge;
- Need to purchase clothing instead of having everything available in CAS;
Bernards Botanical Dining from The Sims 2:
In addition, I loved the music from The Sims 1 and 2 and I remember that we had The Sims 1 music in 2 on the stereo entitled 'Shopping'. I also love the idea of having famous people singing their hits in Simlish as we have in The Sims 3. I'm assuming that with the Sims 4 we will get new music but I would love to see the music from all the other games incorporated into 4.
I'm sure there are a lot of other things that Simmers remember and would like to see in The Sims 4 and also have their own new ideas for the game.
On the other side of the spectrum, I have noticed there are a few people who state that they will continue with The Sims 3 as they 'don't want to start a new game all over again' and stating that 'this is just a money-making racket for EA to re-do all the old expansion packs'. I have to disagree with this and James from The Sim Supply explained why brilliantly in a video he posted on YouTube:
I, for one, am really looking forward to The Sims 4. Getting more information and seeing some screenshots (and a trailer) is something I and many others are really excited for. Remember guys, Tuesday June 18th is coming up for apparently more information on The Sims 4 so I'm really looking forward to that.
Well, that's about it for now; will try and keep up to date with posts in future (I think I may have said that before)......
Cheers and Happy Simmin'!
~ Minicart
