There were some bugs in the game. I noticed that Sims in my game change positions during their conversation. When they finish chatting, they'll for example switch their sofas/seats and then start gossiping. Still, I told SimGuruHydra about this issue and we've been told ''This build is pre-release Beta software that contains bugs which will not be present in the shipping version''.

events sound like quests in the sims medieval at least with the bronze/silver/gold/plat stuff

So much for "OOOOH emotions!" (eye twitch) and emotional goodness for this game.

This quote about settings in writing/tv/art is kind of appropriate:

The posted pics of Battlefield 4 (not my type of game though) and Dragon Age Inquisition's settings feel like real interesting characters. Even TS3 worlds had depth and character to them. The island from the tv show Lost is another example of this. It was a great character all by itself. To contrast, this is what it feels like we got with TS4:

Edit: Oh, forgot... EMOTIONS!!!

Rachybop on YouTube is posting up a TS4 gameplay video per hour for 24 hours - apparently...
...here's a link to the actual playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?li...Eg0Rt2d7S76XLHS

This is even more awesome because you have Bianca Del Rio as your avie :lovestruc

Three weeks until launch and they couldn't break out the "good" game without all of the bugs? I'm really finding it hard to believe this excuse but since they keep repeating it, I can't wait to see what the release reveals.

What is this bar even... did they even take the time to furnish it?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/simsvip/14732037180/

I assume they've shown us the same build version they used for Creators Camp.

Sorry, no toddlers on the island!
Emotion: Sad, but you can't tell because she's grinning like an idiot.

Oh, thank God I didn't have liquid or food in my mouth when I saw that!

Ba-dum-ching!


Also, the video.. I feel like I just watched really awkward daytime TV porn. WTF is that music about?

Despite my previous qualms about downloading anything from Origin, I took a risk yesterday and downloaded the CAS demo. My impressions:

~ Skipped right past the intro because I've seen it all before. Just let me play already!

~ The "innovative" push-and-pull-like-clay feature was less than impressive. I had to push and pull quite a bit to see any changes and at one point I even checked to see if my mouse was even working. Aside from adjusting the breasts and butt of my Sims, I found myself sticking to the presets for the sake of convenience. Kinda wish they'd just stuck with sliders.

~Skin presets kinda suck. Gotta go really dark to make a dark Sim.

~Tattoos are better than TS3 but need more color variations.

~The eye colors are nice.

~ Love the clothing styles. Much better than the crap styles in TS3. However, the preset patterns and colors were bothersome. It was challenging to create matching outfits unless I stuck to neutral colors--which I noticed was easier to do with the male clothing than with the female clothing. Apparently, women are only supposed to wear bright and happy colors.

~ I actually found exactly one hairstyle that was done well and did not look like plastic--the barely-there hair for both sexes (wasn't able to take a screenshot, so hopefully you understand which one I mean). I was amazed at how well-done the texture was and how close it appeared to actual alpha hair in contrast to the other Lego-hair styles. Makes me wonder why all the other hairstyles look like plastic crap.

~Hair colors....are kinda meh. And I was angered that we were only given two multi-toned hairstyles and that we are not able to choose the colors we want from either of those. We are forced to choose a preset.

~Love being able to add hats to any hairstyle, and that boots conform to the pant length/style. That bugged me to no end in TS3 that both of those things were not possible and resulted in clipping (as far as the boots went, anyway).

~I was torn with the feature that makeup was not locked for each category. I can see pros and cons to this. It was annoying to have to redo the makeup when switching to a new category but at the same time I appreciated it, for instance, when I switched to sleepwear and the makeup was removed. After all, shouldn't wear makeup to bed anyway, right? But I do lament the death of TS3's opacity slider. I should have donned sunglasses before going through some of these selections! (That applies to some of the clothing colors as well. Yikes!) And, GOD, those "eyelashes"!

~I do like the realistic look of the Sims, despite the art style. (Really hate the artstyle!) As opposed to TS2 (IMO), it was easy to tell my Sims apart and I was able to make some very unique looking Sims. Love the genetics too, though some of the siblings did end up looking a little too similar to their counterparts. Because of this, it reminded me of TS3 genetics where a daughter could end up looking exactly like her mother. So...torn on the genetics I guess. And they must really want to keep us as far away from children, teens and elders as they can, since I noticed it was not possible to make either of those stages in the demo.

~Love that they included a name randomizer in the base game. I use that all the time in TS3 because I am horrible at coming up with names by myself.

~The traits are fairly meh. Don't like that we're limited to three, plus one that unlocks with the LTW--which I noticed the trait stays the same per LTW category. So if you have the option, for instance, to be either a chef or a mixologist, regardless of which LTW you pick, you will receive the Essence of Flavor trait. They could have gotten a little more creative with that IMO. And would it have been too much to ask to give us an additional initial trait so that we would still have five traits to start with like in TS3? I understand that there are traits that can be unlocked throughout the game but IRL people have numerous traits--some major, some minor--and isn't this supposed to be based on real life? I really do not understand this limitation, at all. Not to mention that some of the animations for different traits are exactly the same. That is just sheer laziness, really. On the pro side though, it is possible to make some really interesting Sims. For instance, "Bro" does not cancel out "Geek." So I made an active bro geek with the aspiration to be a Joke Star, which made him gregarious as well. Totally saving that Sim!

~Some of those walk styles are just........... really? I can see myself using only a handful of those and limiting half of that handful to specific genders. Goofy? never gonna use it. Sluggish? Probably never. Snooty, perky, bouncy? A bit over the top. Why the hell is everything in this game so exaggerated? WHYYYYYYYY, EA?!!

~Like the voice styles. Better than TS3 IMO.

~Only glanced at the gallery. Never gonna use it, most likely.

~Tweaked the graphic settings from medium to high. Didn't notice a damn bit of difference.

Overall, not all that impressed with CAS, for all the hype it's getting. I did, however, have a lot of fun making different Sims. For about 4 hours. And then I decided to start up TS3.

Going back to what I said about my created sims, I do love the way they look, and really want to play them... but with the game as it is there's just no way right now. I really wish I could just plop them into the sims 2.

Yeah, cut up a probably 20min video into 24 smaller bits. That's the EA spirit.

I don't mind the graphic style, I actually like it. Are there better around? Sure. But I have a lot of fun with TS2. Surely not because of the graphics, but the gameplay. Gameplay is much more important for me.
There is still hope for TS4, but I wouldn't buy for the full price. As someone already said, vote with your wallet. This is a language EA understands. If we reward such a slim lackluster game, imagine how Sims 5 is gonna look? Even less money for development, even less features, even less development time.

If Sims 4 goes the way of the dodo, there might not even BE a fifth installment...
I do hope there will be a Sims 5 - if only to rectify the current mistakes/omissions EA have made - but if EA can royally mess up this game now in 2014, God only knows what trampled shite they'll come up with in 5 years' time if they do indeed decide to continue the Sims franchise.

Totally agree!
I did enjoy making my Sims and was itching to play with them, but I just.....really don't want this game. At least not for $60-$80. To me, it's only worth about a quarter of that. It looks and acts like a mobile game. And I won't pay more than $20 for a mobile game, so....
They should have called this The Sims 1.5.

Am I the only one who thinks the game is starting to look fun?!

If TS4 is really as bad as we fear, yes, then it might not get more than 1 expansion and people will catch up prettly quickly how limiting the game is.
But my guess is, that the game will not be THAT bad. Just mediocre, just missing a lot. It will probably not get a 9, but a 7.5 or 8 from IGN? Surely, EA has money for that. Those games are hard to rate anyway. And CAS and Build Mode actually look good in my opinion. The game will just passable enough that some will think, let's buy the next expansion, maybe then things will get better. Sad thing is, I hope that, too. Maybe a nice family expansion with toddlers, unchained babies and pre teens to turn things around... getting excited all over again, totally forgetting that I wanted that from the base game.

About the Rachybop videos, I know, it will rain disagrees, but I find the 'need to pee' walkstyle funny I also liked the cooking animation, freezer bunny guitar and that Mortimer sure laughs a lot in his sleep. What I didn't like: doors opening very abruptly, the little pauses between different animations, the light in the rooms. They are so dark.

I'm not going to disagree with you but no, it's not looking fun at all to me. Maybe I missed it though -- what's catching your attention? I'd much rather be in the omg-so-excited camp rather than omg-wtf-did-you-do one.

Aaaand there's already confusion about the outside areas being playable or not. I'm sure we'll be seeing topics pop up with, "help! I'm trying to load into the other parts of the neighborhood and I can't figure out how to!"

I love it too!

I remember guests in RollerCoaster Tycoon ran like they desperately needed to pee when their bathroom need was critical. Thankfully, they never relieved themselves and leaked on your footpaths. Vomiting from rides and lack of benches, and littering from lack of trash cans, was enough for your janitors.

"No terrain tools other than paint; everything is perfectly flat"

OK, that's it. I'm done. Good bye world. Good bye fellow architects, we won't need you anymore.

All the disagrees on this comment concern me. Are we disagreeing because we think it doesn't look fun? Agreeing because we think it does look fun? I'm.. I'm confused

*runs and hides*

I think, personally, it might have its moments, but I'm worried about them adding the things we want. They could easily rope us in and be like.. LAWL no toddlers ever. Toddlers are a HUGE deal to me. HUGE! Even more so since the baby object is now more object-y.

Didn't EA say something about how we could sculpt our worlds, and move hills etc. if they blocked our view?
I swear I remember they said that. And now we just have flat land. Laughable.