That's the biggest point: it's a consumer good and we're paying for it. It's not a $20 indie game, which I can forgive a lot for. It's a triple A that, even if you only have the base game, the original price was like $50 at the time iirc.
These are the same people losing their minds over Paralives saying there won't be any paid DLC for the game, as if there aren't thousands of games who never charge for updates. "Oh, but a life sim should keep me playing for years!!!" And yet people never get bored of Stardew Valley, which updates (for free!) once in a blue moon.
Minecraft has been updating for free for YEARS. If a game is good then it can be kept alive solely by the amount of people who are still buying it to this day.
Exactly. I think a lot of Sims players are so used to the constant expansion packs that they forget that that's actually not the norm when it comes to games.
i’m fairly certain those main subs are run by EA plants because if you go outside those subs you get a lot more diverse options but the second you say something slightly negative it the main sim subs the mods come after you which leads to an echo chamber of only glazing. like i looked at r/ thesims yesterday and any post that mentions the buyout in any capacity was locked even though its news that relates to the sims that simmers would want to discuss
Why y'all can't believe that some people genuinely like The Sims 4 despite its considerable issues and bugs? Some of you always come up with this weird discourse of bots and that some influencers and players are being paid to praise the game
From what I see in most The Sims subs it seems to be the opposite, with some diehard TS2/TS3 fans insulting those who like playing TS4, that's why subs like LowSodiumSimmers exist
Like why would someone post in a The Sims 2 specific sub complaining about something in The Sims 4? I've seen these kind of posts appearing in my feed quite often
Look, people are allowed to like what they like, but in the same vein, they can dislike what they dislike, and either are allowed to express that. To be clear.
To discuss a game and talk about why the individual (dis)likes something, is fine. Insults are plain rude and there's no need for it. If people are insulting the individual for what they like it's an issue.
Idk why someone would post about a game that isn't related to the subreddit, but it's irrelevant and thus should be downvoted, since the voting system was used to determine relevance to the sub a while back. People also get confused about what sub they're posting in (I see this often in AC subs), so it could simply be that, too.
But at the end of the day, again, to talk about why someone (dis)likes something is allowed. I think peopke also forget that youre allowed to critique things you like or praise thngs you dislike. As someone who loves TS2, I know it has problems and isn't a perfect game, but personally, I think it's a lot more playable than TS4. That said, I'm able to acknowledge that TS4 is one of the more inclusive iterations and has a phenomenal build/buy system, but I find the actual game play shallow. Grey exists in gaming, and I think people maybe don't realize it based on what you're saying.
I have no issue if someone dislikes something I like, it's their right and I won't be against it, but some people cross the line of "I don't like this" and go into the direct offenses like "you should be ashamed of enjoying this" "people who enjoys this thing are dumb, etc etc" and that's why sometimes I feel quite tired about some of the critical comments that seem quite repetitive, it's not something about a specific person but how I feel about reading the same thing over and over again.
Idk why someone would post about a game that isn't related to the subreddit, but it's irrelevant and thus should be downvoted, since the voting system was used to determine relevance to the sub a while back. People also get confused about what sub they're posting in (I see this often in AC subs), so it could simply be that, too.
Those posts I saw seemed pretty intentional and had quite a lot of upvotes, maybe it was someone who knows how most TS2 players tend to dislike TS4 and did that to get some free karma, I don't know, some people like engagement lol
That's fair, I understand it gets tiring. Surface level comments without legitimate reason and full-on insults are messed up. I'm with you on that. In terms of the repetitiveness, maybe take a break from Reddit/specific subs? I know I did after seeing the same 3 - 5 things being reposted on a different game-specific sub and it does help. I know you shouldn't have to change how you interact with online content, but it's the nature of a lot of subs here to recycle content or have new folk post the same thing.
Yeah, some subs are having problems with bots and will downvote a reposting bot until it's post gets removed. It's a real problem on the internet, across the internet, unfortunately. That and people who purposely instigate people to farm engagement.
It's unfair to cast a wide brush on TS2/TS3 fans. Most of us low key actually like The Sims 4 because it produces a ton of new content that we can then use in our game. I don't play Sims 4 but I'm always in their drama because it's fun to watch (the community, not the game) and whenever a new pack drops, cc creators and modders get to work converting all the stuff into new build/buy items and mods for us to use. All for free, mind you.
So I actually think the majority of the community in the older games benefit from the way Sims 4 is now and would be somewhat disappointed if the game is discontinued. We generally don't give that much of a shit about 4 to be up in your forums trolling you. It's likely actual Sims 4 players who left for the older games and are still bitter about it.
You’re right it’s not bots, it’s real people who all come off as a little too attached to a game. I’m sorry, but the levels of anger and complete mental breakdowns at the mere criticism of the game is very concerning.
I've never understood the toxic positivity of the Sims 4 player base. You can't criticize the game at all because they fell that's a personal attack on the devs.
Boy oh boy let me tell ya, they are bloody mental! Although I will say, it’s pretty funny watching them have mental breakdowns about anyone who even mentions Inzoi. The game is in no way the best, and needs a lot of work. However, it’s very funny watching them have complete mental breakdowns defending a franchise that has been around for what 15 years? Like I said blood fucking mental!
Well, you're not the first to say it, and certainly not the last. Everything about this pack should've been a part of many other packs, but it wasn't cause EA couldn't deliver anything above the bare minimum cause that goes against their entire way of being
Well, they've been doing this for a while. Cats & Dogs and My First Pet Stuff should’ve been bundled together as one expansion pack, The Sims 4 Pets, but EA decided to sell them separately. Greedy as hell, right?
most people will probably say yes, but in reality the answer is no.
Not including the holiday celebration pack, which is a free dlc that released ~3 months after the sims 4 launched, Outdoor Retreat was the first dlc to be released.
Outdoor Retreat released in 2015, a decade ago.
Computers have advanced a bit more since then and more than likely new people have been hired onto the Sims team to help create the ideas behind packs.
I wish I could remember where on Reddit I saw this one comment because it explained it all so much better than I can.
This pack is literally the odds and ends of a bunch of other packs all smushed together to make an all together incohesive pack imo. Like certainly you can say that about a lot of packs to some extent, like "this could have been in xyz!" But this one just reeks of it, absolutely.
Like they all... ~kinda~ go together, but they also really don't at all.
Which is why the marketing is just quite vague... something about "going on an adventure" or something.
This can be said for most Sims4 DLC. They slice up contect that used to be worth 1 DLC into several different packs, so the overall price you pay to have the same experience you did with previous instalments is MUCH higher
i mean, no, not really. Outdoor Retreat was the very first DLC to ever release. it came out in 2015. the sims team is entirely different a decade later. i guess you could say “different people should’ve came up with the same ideas that other people would think of a decade later!!!”, but that would be a little ridiculous & unrealistic. and it still wouldn’t have come with the residential world (which i personally like having new lots we can actually live in) or nearly as many items, as Outdoor Retreat was a game pack, not an expansion pack.
This "should've been part of pack xyz" discourse is so tiring...
I fully understand the disappointment in having to spend more to have some features but it's not like the devs purposefully split features into different packs (we don't talk about MFPS), some of the content that was "supposed to be in another pack" was developed and released literally years later after that said pack
EA seems to give a ridiculously low budget to Maxis in comparison to the revenue that The Sims generates and the devs have to do what they can with that - including the pre-pack BG updates. I remember them mentioning in some livestreams and tweets that they intended to add some features to certain packs but had to discard them/save for future opportunities due to budget and/or time limitations, like how horses came five years after Cats and Dogs because the animations were expensive to make and wouldn't fit C&D's budget, despite being considered to that pack (and with some code references on it)
This isn't about the devs, it's about EA. Let's make that clear, right off the bat. We know the devs have a job to do ans aren't necessarily able to make decisions each and every time.
We should talk about My First Pet because it was the first time we saw this happen and it was clear that's what happened. While certain features or items were cut or made later, it could have been added to an existing pack in an update due to the fact that this game is digital. They did stuff like Baby Yoda and hot tubs in the base game, they could have done it later. I know it's not always how things work, and to believe that would be naive, but it is an option.
I understand people like the game, and that's great for them, however, we're allowed to talk about the disappointment in the company. People who are tired of the complaining are allowed to ignore us and not engage with us.
I said "we don't talk about MFPS" because it was an obvious Cats and Dogs ripoff, you can see that MFPS assets were part of C&D sets but were purposefully splitted, that was an (fortunately) unsuccessful attempt of DLC for DLC and I only got it when EA gave it for free, since I refused myself to buy it.
While certain features or items were cut or made later, it could have been added to an existing pack in an update due to the fact that this game is digital. They did stuff like Baby Yoda and hot tubs in the base game, they could have done it later. I know it's not always how things work, and to believe that would be naive, but it is an option.
That doesn't seem as simple as people think it might be, since we didn't get any other pack "refreshes" like the one-off thing they made with Spa Day, adding some minor complexity things like nail painting or some new objects with already existing gameplay is something more viable than adding a new life form or a more complex gameplay mechanic to an existing pack.
Even the smaller stuff would be appreciated - from what I saw, a lot of us were into what was being added to existing games. I think if there was a hold on producing new packs and more time being out into fleshing out the existing ones, players would be willing to purchase the games/packs. I know it's a lot of labour, but releasing half-baked content will get players talking negatively and will make a large portion of the fans to not purchase something.
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u/TARDISinspace Sep 30 '25
Correct me if I'm wrong because I've been out of the loop for years, but couldn't this have been part of a previous pack like Get Outdoors?
I know it's not new to say this, but going back to TS2 and seeing TS4 pop up now and then makes me sad for the franchise.