The Sims 4 City Living - discussion Part I.

It seems that new expansion pack for The Sims 4 has leaked.

http://simsvip.com/2016/08/17/sims-4-city-life-listed-next-expansion/

Hoping it would be like Late Night. Name for EP, would probably be Get to City. *sarcasam*

I hope that it wasn't like with that world, that after turned out to be very old concept art for The Sims 4 Base Game. 

http://simsvip.com/2016/06/30/the-sims-4-base-game-concept-art-by-michael-bierek/

I hope the new pack  comes with a big urban world with discos, restaurants, shops and everything.

I'd like to see cars, but the way they designed the game means that we will never have them...

It would be perfect to see big skyscrapers and bunch of lights. I think this world should be big, but cluttered.

//SPLIT

I split the posts and created a new thread for them, since it is probably best to start with a fresh thread.   @simmer_tony, feel free to edit your topic title if needed, since I chose this one here myself.

Looks like there is possible render of The Sims 4 City Life.

http://simscommunity.info/2016/08/30/the-sims-4-city-life-exclusive-render-and-info-unconfirmed/

I must admit I'm a bit dissappointed. I thought that City Life will be more oriented to fame and not to regular city activities. But anyways this is just a leak or maybe fake, so time will tell.

The 10 second teaser trailer for the new DLC:




The setting shows an urbanized area, and a sim staring into the sky (or maybe at some high-rise buildings). Could be interesting, but given the relatively small "sizes" of past DLC, the city feeling might for the most part just consist of a village with a couple of skyscrapers.

At least we'll get something. But, I don't know how will they "disperse" loading screens around town, as I think it'll feel a bit blank and restricted. As The Sims 4 is it all be perky and happy, and not like TS3 Late Night. I was really hoping for a bit more diversity. Every The Sims 4 addon feels like they just took previous DLCs and reskinned them. I really liked Get Together, so I think it'll go well with City Life. Also, a bit more urban grunge will be left out. And, as I said Sims 4 DLC is just reskinned and hasn't almost any diversity like any other Sims game.

The EP is now called City Living not City Life.

Please, any moderator, can change the title?

storeguy wrote:The EP is now called City Living not City Life.

Please, any moderator, can change the title?

Let's not be super-picky on that, @storeguy.   It's not the end of the world, but yes, I'll edit the title soon.

The trailer:



I noticed elements of four Sims 3 expansions:

1) Late Night
2) University
3) Seasons
4) Showtime

I like the apartments though.

I don't understand the community. The trailer releases and everyone has nothing meaningful to say, just variants of "OH EM GEE I'M DYING!!!!!" The moment there's a piece of new content, they all seem to forget all the problems the game has.

Plus looking at the trailer, while it looks nice in the sense it offers more than I would've expected, it still seems kind of lacking or mediocre. What the Sims 4 lacks is meaningful content, what this trailer shows is stuff like basketball, street art, bubble stations, keyboards and karaoke. Those are all kind of just things to do, not anything that can change how a Sim is played. Take Martial Arts in Sims 3 as an example. You learn it, and with enough levels, you can teleport and break rocks to get gems. Those are new abilities that are appreciated because they make your sim play different and can make their life easier. Meanwhile Street art was a rather dull skill because it didn't offer anything, it was just something to do. Much of the new content feels like the latter group instead of the former. This is reinforced by the idea that there's no new life states. I understand life states are hit-and-miss for different people because some people want the Sims to be more down-to-earth and realistic, but whether you like or dislike the fantasy element of different life states, life states did always bring about a new way to play the game.

One of my number one pet peeves with capitalism (no, I'm not one of those that blindly hates everything about it though) is that if I can watch this trailer, rationally think I shouldn't get excited for a game that's been mediocre for two years, critically assess it and keep expectations reasonable, none of that will matter if there's 50 other people pre-ordering (seriously, what benefit is there to pre-ordering virtual property?? They afraid they'll run out of stock?) and grabbing their money to buy it excitedly on day 1. You simply can't make a difference if a product is getting worse, yet most consumers fail to think critically, then you are "punished" with the fact the product continues to get worse due to their incompetence and inability to demand better.

I've no idea if it'll be good or not, but when I look at it with a critical eye, I don't really see any new content that will help kill time beyond maybe the political career. Everything else just looks like "something to do" akin to the dance skill in Get Together, and I'm really confused about the art style. I can get why an artist would enjoy making this stuff, cannot understand why the project director didn't say the clothing looks awful and to re-do it. It looks like a unicorn puked rainbows on everything and then someone doused the rainbow puke in tye-dye for good measure. All I can say is I'm glad I'm not paying for this game as a product, otherwise I wouldn't be bothering with it at all. Normally I'd be against pirating games, but for Sims, I make an exception, and there's a very good reason why I make that exception.

Buying stuff-packs is in general a waste of money.

Beatoften wrote:I don't understand the community. The trailer releases and everyone has nothing meaningful to say, just variants of "OH EM GEE I'M DYING!!!!!" The moment there's a piece of new content, they all seem to forget all the problems the game has.

Here's an analogy from real-life: if you asked somebody which environmental temperature "exactly" is uncomfortable or unhealthy for human beings, most people won't be able to give you a clear reply. However, everybody will still have a rough feeling about what is too hot or too cold. My aunt who lives in a very warm country finds that 20 degrees Celsius (plus) are "too cold" already, and yes, she is healthy. In contrast, unless you are used to that kind of heat you will find e.g. the Sahara-desert uncomfortable.

As for video games, it's very similar in my opinion. You don't have to give a detailed technical analysis to back up your opinion (something which even specialized video game periodicals/publications sometimes fail to deliver). You will at least have a feeling of what is right or wrong. And I myself agree with the overwhelming majority of people on TS4. Sure I could go into the minutiae of how the ability to do simultaneous sim interactions does not counterbalance the fact that a lot of things in TS4 are very superficial, and that skills are learned far too quickly/easily. I could also compare the quantity of in-game content relative to the bugs still present in the game, and draw inferences about how the developers possibly don't care. But hey, I can't really be bothered. When someone with TS2 or TS3 playing-experience simply tells me that after playing TS4 "something doesn't feel right", then it's cool for me. And should I be interested in a more elaborate analysis, then I'll consult specialized publications or sources.

You could argue that the negative feedback on any bad game contributes to the vicious cycle of the game's likelihood to remain bad, in that this negativity can still indirectly benefit the game publisher too (people's attention is drawn to the negative feedback (!!!), therefore some of them become curious and may even test the game/buy it, etc.). But that is a bit far-fetched IMHO and probably off-topic here. Besides, what do you want to do? Forbid people to say negative things? All you can do is making a nice and informed argument. What other people make of it, is out of your hands though.

Beatoften wrote: Take Martial Arts in Sims 3 as an example. You learn it, and with enough levels, you can teleport and break rocks to get gems. Those are new abilities that are appreciated because they make your sim play different and can make their life easier. Meanwhile Street art was a rather dull skill because it didn't offer anything, it was just something to do. Much of the new content feels like the latter group instead of the former.

Let's not forget though that the mere quantity of possibilities in TS3 was much higher than the material from TS4. A lot of the things in TS3 were also "things to simply do", but nobody bothered in the end because the mere ratio of 'meaningful' or 'interactive' game content was high enough to make up for the deficits.

Beatoften wrote:One of my number one pet peeves with capitalism (no, I'm not one of those that blindly hates everything about it though) is that if I can watch this trailer, rationally think I shouldn't get excited for a game that's been mediocre for two years, critically assess it and keep expectations reasonable, none of that will matter if there's 50 other people pre-ordering (seriously, what benefit is there to pre-ordering virtual property?? They afraid they'll run out of stock?)

The human brain is programmed to prefer stuff which appears to be rare or otherwise more difficult to get. This is something that stems from the stone ages, and 'instincts' like that can't always be shut out. Advertising experts exploit these psychological depths whenever possible. One way to get people to pre-order the stuff is by means of promising them something exclusive in return. Like special support or access to certain bonus DLC. Sometimes you also have other gimmicks, like tinboxes, T-shirts, cups, hardcover books with artwork, video DVDs, etc. From a rational perspective, is it worth pre-ordering stuff? Usually not. But again, the human brain doesn't work that way. 

Beatoften wrote: I can get why an artist would enjoy making this stuff, cannot understand why the project director didn't say the clothing looks awful and to re-do it.

I also think a lot of people underestimate, that currently there is simply nothing else comparable on the contemporary game market like EA's The Sims (4). So EA have no real competition in that niche as of right now.

I am seriously liking this expansion.

I think this will bring back some players. I like that I got a bit of famous as we get Social Media carrer and those apartments seem so cool. Get Together and City Living will go good together.

Some new insights about the upcoming DLC:
http://simscommunity.info/2016/10/01/the-sims-4-city-living-neighborhoods-new-objects-and-more-livestream-facts/

I find this here "hilarious" though:

simscommunity wrote:New Death: There is a new way to die in City living and that’s through food poisoning. More specifically, when you eat a puffer fish dish. When your Sim consumes a puffer fish dish they have a chance to be hit with a status effect and then die.

If you're clinging to your precious sims, you may want to save the game even more frequently (especially now with this new dish), and of course exit the game without saving in case something like that happens. Or, avoid the dish altogether. I'm assuming the base chances for that new type of death will be small, about 1-5% or so, which can fluctuate depending on various other factors like (maybe?) the sim's traits. But still: I'd be annoyed as hell if that - or similarly "funny" deaths happened to me. Though I have to admit, there is some degree of realism in it.

I know u guys have no idea when the game will be cracked. My question is, since city living will be released on Nov. 1st and usually there are bugs after a major addition to the game...is it safe to assume that the game probably wont be cracked until after the November patch is added? Cuz it would suck and not really make sense for them to crack it before all the kinks get worked out.

Honey Empress wrote:I know u guys have no idea when the game will be cracked. (...) is it safe to assume that the game probably wont be cracked until after the November patch is added?

Hello,

Yes, we don't know anything about release dates. If you asked about my own thoughts, I doubt the scene groups care much about "sitting out" the initial glitch-phase, and that's valid for pretty much all games. And the patches that do come out on Origin fix some issues, but at the same time tend to re-introduce new problems.

People will simply want to play the new DLC as soon as possible, regardless of any in-game bugs. Not sure how much you follow the torrent networks, but if you look carefully you'll notice that a lot of games are/were being cracked not too long after release. Any subsequent patches are then provided along the way, and in separate torrents.

Ahh, thanks! Hopefully the bugs wont be too bad then

Yup, or: from the perspective of a publisher mainly interested in making as much money as possible, one could also say something along the lines of:

Unknown wrote:There are no bugs, only unappreciative little brats [and adults]

But seriously, a lot of effort and investment goes into bright and shiny new features - however problematic their technical implementation may be in the end. Not much work goes into fixing errors from earlier games/DLC. Maybe because they "figured out" (by advice of some shady business consulting firms?) that focusing on new stuff is more lucrative than working on bugs? That could be a possibility, but as much as I dislike this modern attitude of products and services being mostly considered as short-term & throwaway-worthy, there may be a point from a purely economic standpoint. Under the assumption that people are not going to bother about patches for earlier DLC, unless the patch fixes a serious & game-breaking bug, it may indeed be a possibility to only throw out new stuff all the time, to feed the short-term interests of so many gamers these days. 

Again, I personally don't agree with such an economic direction, but it is still one possible explanation for the growing number of technical issues in these Sims (4) games. I also believe that a lot of people themselves contribute to this vicious cycle, but on the other hand even this topic is more nuanced than it seems. A lot of these people are kids who just want to play games, and if the game is "overall fun", then nobody will complain about glitches. Or, the people buying these games are parents who simply want their kids to have some fun.

P.S. about the quote from above, I vaguely remember something like that (not with that particular wording, but with the same 'message') coming from Ubisoft a couple of years ago...? I hope this mentality won't be taken up by all the game publishers.

Usually a patch (new versionnumber) is released 1 day before the new DLC becomes available.
So, good chance that people like Reloaded will include it in their cracked version.

I guess just the some-included content of Seasons, Late Night AND LOTS MORE
Whatever, I guess It'll be nice




Mod edit: topics merged.

- The_gh0stm4n

The Sim Supply did a Preview for the new expansion and I know the game is buggy and over-priced, but OMG!!



I'm excited for this one. There are still things in Dine Out that I have not done and combined with this one? OMG!!!

To all the happiness vampires...leave me alone, I like the expansion.

i found a crack ?? 

SimsIsMyLife wrote:i found a crack ?? 

Hello,

Please don't post links to outside download sources (see Forum rule #7), unless you have a special permission from the Forum Administrators.   As for the topic, the City Living DLC has not even been officially released yet on Origin - it'll come out on November 1st.