Fly me to the Moon

My micro goal (as I'm calling them today) for this particular day is writing this post. This post has been percolating in my head since yesterday evening. It's important and it needs to be seen to fruition. This post is about the Sims 4.


When the Sims 4 was announced I was, quite honestly, pretty scared. The whole SimCity debacle was fresh in my brain and I couldn't help but wonder if EA and Maxis could be trusted not to produce a similar train wreck of a game, sending a franchise even closer to my heart down into the sewers to join it. SimCity was a hard enough blow for me. It threw me for a loop because I really thought I loved it after I played the Beta. The Beta was the reason that I preordered the game. Unfortunately, on top of the whole online only quandry, the game turned out to only be fun in small doses. Because the Beta was time limited you only got to taste it in small doses so this didn't become apparent until you sat down and really tried to sink your teeth into it only to find out there was nothing for your teeth to sink into after all. My fears about the next generation of the Sims were only magnified when launch got closer and they began to release more details about the game. It wasn't just that there were no pools and no toddlers (I don't care about pools, personally, and the toddler stage, while adding lots of realism, was always kind of obnoxious to actually play,) it was the fact that it was looking more and more like the game was actually a step backwards. The simulation didn't seem to be as complex and it wasn't open world any more. Those two things alone were pretty huge to me. After reading the list of things that wouldn't be included in the game and certain things about the new engine I became downright terrified. 

Now, when Sims 3 came out I wasn't the happiest Simmer on the planet, either. In fact, there are still things I think Sims 2 did better and I have always missed in the Sims 3, like likes and dislikes with regards to attractions and relationships (and the whole relationship system as solidified in the Nightlife expansion as a whole, as a matter of fact.) I was unhappy at first and it took me a while to warm up but Sims 3 was just so big and there was so much to it that it was hard to stay mad for long, especially after Ambitions released. That was a game changer for me because the game was truly interesting again. The point is, I view every new game with a healthy serving of skepticism and no game has satisfied me right out of the box (see the note about Nightlife for 2.) 

So, I watched some videos. At first all I was finding was people who didn't seem to know a whole lot about the Sims playing the Sims 4 and missing out on or overlooking things that seemed obvious to me. I needed a seasoned player of the franchise who was as familiar with the features of the first three games as I've become over the years so I could see how the game really held up. Watching new players or extremely casual players was fun, but I needed someone who had spent the same time in the mechanics as I had or at least had more knowledge than just the basics. There are long time Simmers who doesn't delve all that deeply into the game. That's not what I needed to see. I finally came close enough to my own play-style and knowledge base to get a decent feel for the game when I found the YouTube channel TheSimsSupply and more to the point the Rags to Riches playlist. Watching James play the game gave me a much better feel for what the game really was and I started to see things about the mechanics and the new interface that I actually liked and wanted to play with myself. A week or so later, I happened to walk into Gamestop on just the right day to find it on sale for $40. I wasn't about to give full price for it, still, but it was worth forty bucks to me just get my own hands on it and feel it out for myself. I picked it up.

Meet Cierran Sylvan -- Nerd Extraordinaire

I'm just going to go ahead and get right to the point without a lot of talk of pros and cons and likes and dislikes of the game and say this: The Sims 4 is the most fun I've had with a Sims title straight out of the box... ever. I never played the first game without expansion packs so I can't speak to that but I can speak to the fact that the next two didn't really do it for me until after they had a pack or two under their belts. This game is more fun straight out of the box (a few months after release, mind you,) than the past two games were. I was hugely skeptical. I was sure I was going to hate it. I mean... Loading Screens? Really? But I get it. I get what Maxis was trying to do in bringing the scope of the game down some and breaking it up a little. It's not the same engine. It's mechanics are the same in a lot of ways but there is so much more depth and nuance to the gaemplay itself in this title that I find myself a little awe-struck sometimes, while I'm playing, at how much more enjoyable it is and how much smarter and more intuitive my Sims respond to their world. This game is done right. I didn't expect to say that, by any stretch of the imagine, but they hit it out of the park. Seriously. I did not think I'd see myself type that

This game is engaging without being grindy, which is something previous Sims titles have never gotten right. The reward system for careers and aspirations and just going about your day is well implemented and well-balanced. For seasoned Simmers it's going to feel different and even I wasn't sure I liked the pacing at first, but with several gaming sessions under my belt I can say (with some hyperbole, granted) that this game is paced 1000% better than the previous games and is that much more fun to interact with, as well. I'm playing with the long lifespan on, which does feel a little like cheating, but even with that I am more than satisfied with the pacing of the game.

Smarter Sims? You hear this in all the trailers and it seems like a throw away line when they're so busy barking about the "new" emotion system. The thing is: it's really true. If you micromanage then you might not notice at first, but given enough time you will. You'll queue up something in a specific order and they'll go ahead and change it up in a way that makes more sense, like going to grab their tablet to play a game on the toilet when you didn't queue it up like that, or sleeping before they eat because they know that their sleep need is more important at the moment. Of course, you can God over them and make them do things anyway, but if you give them the chance they actually will show you how smart they are. The emotions system isn't as exciting as all those screaming heads made it out to be, of course, but it does add a layer to the game that enhances the experience if you pay attention and it let it do what it's trying to do.

Pay attention to the little things and the micro goals coming up all the time with regard to your Sim's aspirations and job and such and you will start to see where this game really shines. Let it engage you and it will engage you more strongly than any of the games have in the past. You have to let it be what it wants to be, but I promise when you do that, you won't be disappointed at exactly what that is and that is a much more fast, intuitive, and immersive game and experience than any past incarnation. Enjoy the fact the game loads up so fast you don't feel daunted to stop playing just because it took so long to boot up in the first place. Recognize that the loading screens allow you to dig a little deeper into the particular screen you're experiencing because the engine isn't bogged down simulating the whole world at one time. Notice how much more complex and intricate the interactions are instead of just flying by them and you will see the game that the developers intended and that I find myself more in love with every time that I play.

Yes, there are complexities that are missing and they are some of the same things that made the Sims 3 really shine, like being able to make anything any colour or pattern under the sun and that vast evolving open world. The colour thing especially gets frustrating sometimes. The things that are fun about this game, though, far outweigh the things that I miss and that shocks the hell out of me. I can't wait to see what they come up with next. If you know me, I'm just as surprised to see those words as you are.

Now, excuse me while I go rebuild my rocketship. It seems to have had a bit of a rocky re-entry last time out. Just as soon as Cierran has a nice run and finishes her Rom-Com, we'll get right on that. ;)