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Test Subject
#726 Old 27th Jul 2014 at 8:21 PM
Personally, I am still enjoying the Sims 3 - something I could not say for the previous versions - and I see no reason to buy the sims 4 unless it is going to be an improvement, which so far I'm not convinced, so unless someone is just out for the next big thing, why buy it?
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Test Subject
#727 Old 28th Jul 2014 at 11:07 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Sognatrice
CAS missing is still my biggest complaint for TS4, even more so than pools and toddlers (and all the other missing things). I don't want to be back to downloading dozens of recolors for every single piece of clothing and furniture. I'm a sim creator and builder, this is what I spend most of my time with when playing The Sims. Feels horrible to suddenly be so restricted again.


It's cruel, isn't it? I think the new CAS and build features ARE SO EXCITING. Better organized CAS parts, better outfit categories, way better sims, finally hats that go over hair and boots that go over pants, (but no custom layering of tops, not even just jackets/coats over tops?). Round foundations/railings, adjustable height walls and foundations which probably means the stairs are greatly improved, adjustable height WINDOWS finally! Maybe they were so crazy as to make it so that you could place windows and doors in the middle of OR in between tiles! Then we wouldn't need to make/download several versions of every window and door for height/tile position, that was a catalog disaster. It's the kind of thing I can really get hyped about! That's the sort of thing I expect, real improvement that makes it so you don't even think about the old version anymore. A BETTER game, all around. Woo progress.

But then they do this, they make it so we can't even recolor. I could handle not being able to choose from very many textures if we could at least recolor them (there were way too many stupid and useless ones in S3, and with how long it took to load them with their stupid programming that was really irritating). In this day and age it seems ridiculous. I remember playing Roller Coaster Tycoon or Sim Theme Park or something and being impressed at how most everything could be recolored, it was lovely. I recolored everything, it was thematic as #%@&! That was like 10 years ago. I get that they're making Sims 4 for 10 year old technology but come on! It's not a minor detail, it's something that is going to make or break the game experience for creators (and people with taste), and something that is going to waste thousands and thousands of hours of human life in making, downloading, and organizing recolors. Just so the game doesn't suck for us. A game shouldn't be so inconvenient! It should be fun and REWARDING! Why does the sims have to feel like a punishment?

We shouldn't have to sit around thinking, Man this would be so nice if I could just get this stuff to look okay.

I'm actually worried that Sims 4 is going to ruin the sims for me all together. I only came into the Sims when 3 came out (I played 2 after 3 and couldn't stand the closed world), and mostly create worlds, buildings, and pets/sims. I realize that's because the Sims 3 live mode game is AWFUL, and the included buildings and worlds drive me batty, though I also just love to design things. Sims 4 looks like, with some more expansion packs, live mode is actually going to be a fun game, and that seems pretty darn relevant. I also love the unified art style (did 3 even HAVE an art director!?) and the worlds are adorable. But If I can't stand 4 because I can't recolor/retexture anything (or make my own parks or edit the world possibly), and I can't stand 3 because I KNOW the crappy build/CAS/worlds could be better, I think I'm going to be stuck in limbo...

Maybe I'll get Roller Coaster Tycoon.
Lab Assistant
#728 Old 29th Jul 2014 at 1:24 AM
Quote: Originally posted by rinarunine
I was never a huge fan of CASt. It's one of the reasons CAS takes ages to load and the reason the game is so slow a lot of the time. At least that's been my experience.


See, but that issue is all in the implementation of CASt and the Sims 3 in general. Open World + CASt = Lag. Hell, EA's Open World = Lag.. but CASt did not have to be that way.

What I would have loved to have seen was an incredibly stripped down version of it in Sims 4. With maybe 4 wood textures, 5 patterns, 5 fabrics etc. That way, someone buying the game who doesn't really care about those features may have a few options, but won't have to deal with any significant load times or performance hit.

However, those of us who choose to add in styles could do so. If we wanted, we could end up with 30 custom wood textures (ones we actually like and will use instead of the force-fed ones that EAxis gave us). The team could have even made a Body Shop type program which would let us mock up new textures on a few different generic room sets in different lighting (like day, night, indoor fluorescent, indoor warm..) Letting players assess whether that texture would really work in their game. (Modders could even create their own unique sets)

Doing this, players could choose what they want their game to bother loading and have the ability to easily remove any textures from their game they decide they don't. They could have even let players delete every single texture included with the Base Game or future expansions; letting players have the choice to go completely custom (because lets face it, they made so few really good textures as it was). There could even be an option to disable the new CASt completely so a simmer who could care less about customizing other than the defaults would never have to load or see the tool.

The key is choice.

Another thing that I hear a lot about is the issue of performance, but the reason why there were any performance issues from the tool was because of the way EA coded it. They could have made pages in CASt so that not every texture had to load before you could choose one that you wanted. They could have slimmed down the textures in the tool and made them all removable. They could have even given us the ability to create custom categories and remove their pre-defined ones. That way I could make a "Gothic Manor" set or a "Welcome to the Poor House" set and only ever load those textures for the particular house I'm working/living in. Never will I need to load ritzy regal patterns for my poor sims or dingy wood for my rich ones (unless I choose to). Yay!
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