No Story Progression = Easier Themed Worlds

The idea that there is no story progression makes it easier for players to create themed worlds. Instead of having NPCs move in different outfits, players can now control what NPCs move into the worlds and what outfits they will wear.

When players set the jobs and relationships of NPCs within the world, the game cannot change these settings. For example, if I create a rich Sim that I want my Sim to fall in love with, the game can't take that Sim, and have them marry and have kids with another Sim. Also, the game can't give them a roommate when I don't want them to have a roommate.

And its for those exact same reasons that some people don't like the lack of story progression. I personally can't stand the idea of having to micro-manage EVERYTHING in town. Its true that sometimes I wished the Sims I'm interested were a bit less... independent... but its not worth it when that means having the entire town in zombie-mode, waiting my commands.

I guess one benefit of being able to create themed worlds would be, for those who have the patience, to create an entire village or city with this idea or culture, and then publicize it for other people to download and play on.

The town won't be in zombie mode. Sims will still do stuff. They just won't undo what you set them to do.

I love themed worlds! I hate when you've got everyone properly decked out medievally and then someone comes in in 21st century clothing!

Yeah, I agree with IvoryOwl on this one...although I can see why this idea might appeal to some...it just seems like it might get a bit complicated for the game developers...but maybe not... *shrugs* I tend to just let things flow as they will in my Sims games...and see how things turn out in the end.

I understand what you mean, but I think that this is a step in the wrong direction. Story progression was such a wonderful thing because it kept the world fresh. I mainly played with one character that I would have marry a random sim and just create a family with that one sim, then move the family's line down. And I loved going to the other branches of the family and seeing how they changed in any way. And that was a very exciting thing for me. Now that I have to change from one family to another to do things like have a baby, get married, etc. was a major let down for me. I can see the reason why you would not want story progression, but it was one of my most favorite features in The Sims 3. The lack of story progression in The Sims 4 is a bit of a letdown, but I can live without it, I think.

I don't know if it is a glitch with my game or most of the people who like story progression are playing with mods but my Sims don't have babies or get married on their own. I could create a family and then kick out all the children. All the children who got kicked out don't marry or have kids. They all die as elders unmarried and without children. The only time Sims have children in my game is when one of my Sims woohoos with them and gets them pregnant.

That might have been a glitch, or I was playing with the story progression mod back then. (which I don't remember installing) Sims that aren't a part of your household are supposed to progress through life and get married, have kids, etc. Maybe you turned it off, check your options. Otherwise, I don't know.

I think you have to mark the box on options that says 'sims have free will' or something like that. I made sure to check it in TS2 ultimate before I started that game (sims that yell at me to make them go to the bathroom annoy me)...not sure if it works for the whole town though, I guess I don't really pay attention to that aspect. About TS3, I haven't played it in a while, so not sure how the options on that game can be set, but it might be similar...only have the origin freebie on here atm.

Easier, maybe. But more boring.

Free will only works for the household you are playing, not the entire world.

Yeah, I've never paid much attention to that...but all I usually concentrate on is the family I'm playing with at that point. Of course...back when 2 was first released...I played several families in each neighborhood...so I actually did control them to a degree...but by the time the 3 series came out...I stuck to one at a time. I haven't really played 3 in so long...I couldn't tell you even what was possible on that game...but refreshing my memory with session playing TS2 some nights is really fun (i've been going through sims withdrawal for several years since we lost our optical drive and had to reformat the computer.

Did you try downloading you The Sims 3 games from Origin? If you registered your games on The Sims 3 website, you can download them from Origin. Also, Origin had The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection for free until 7/31. I hope you did not miss out. If you did, you could try a EA Game Advisor to see if you can still get the game.

I didn't even have origin installed back on this computer until I registered for TS4 demo and started keeping up with this forum. I was able to get TS2 freebie (I've been playing it every night since downloading it), but I guess I never thought to download TS3 from origin as well. I've only got the original game and pets registered to my origin account...but reinstalling at least those two might keep me occupied until I can afford another dvd-drive and a video card so I can play TS4 when it's out.

You can register the rest to your Origin account. Also, did you know you get a special gift for each game you register on Origin that you can use in The Sims 4? If you have all EPs registered on Origin, you will get a cool looking Llama statue. http://www.thesims.com/rewards/en_US/.

The good news is that even if you buy the disk version of The Sims 4, you will register it on Origin and you won't need a DVD drive to play. The disk is only needed to install from but you can always install from Origin. Also, more good news, if you video card can run The Sims 3, then it probably could run The Sims 4. You don't have to miss out on the game and you can play it until you can make the necessary upgrades.

There are a couple of the stuff eps for TS3 I don't own, so I most likely won't bother with reinstalling or registering my other games from that series. While I think the rewards are neat, it's not something I see myself needing enough to install and register other disks. I'll admit I registered the pets ep to get some free pet goodies...but I haven't felt inclined to register the rest at this point. Right now this computer doesn't have a video card at all (thus I've been saying I need one). It runs integrated graphics at this point...but that's an investment I plan to make soon. I have not reinstaled TS3 on this computer at all sincewe had to sell our last video card to pay a bill, so I doubt it would be able to keep up (thus I'm sticking to 2 while I try to get our puter back up to par). I did have enough credit in amazon gift cards to order a new optical drive today, so maybe int he next month I can scrape up enough to find a decent (though most likely outdated) gpu. I've got my fingers crossed

You can run The Sims 3 on an integrated graphics card if your graphics card and the rest of your comptuer meets the specs. Also, you don't need to install the disks to register them. You just need to add the codes to your Origin account. You don't even need to install Origin to do that.

I guess I've never really given it much thought. I guess it makes sense you can link the codes on Origin, for some reason I've just always assumed you need the disk (I haven't registered any game since TS3 pets)...but I might go ahead and register the others later. The rest of my computer meets the specs for TS3 for the most part, so I might give it a go later. Thanks for the reminder

No problem. After you register them on Origin, you can download them so you really don't need a disk drive to play.

it be a pain in the ass to create a whole city lol