This is something I've had to work on, to help me weigh up whether or not to get the game. The first thing that threw me was no CASt, then just as I got over that, they broke the news that there would be no toddlers. Me = heartbroken! As a legacy player, toddlers have always been an integral part of my gameplay; I couldn't, and still can't imagine not having them around. No teaching to walk/talk, no funny potty training faces... Still, I carried on with my pros/cons list, and even with no CASt and no toddlers, the pros seem to be far outweighing the cons. On that note, I've decided to bit the bullet and give it a go.
I figured I'd post my pros/cons list, in case I could be of any use to anyone else. Of course, it's only my own personal opinion, and I'm sure there's things here that you'll say "Are you CRAZY, that's awesome! How can you not like it?!" or "Are you CRAZY, that's awful! How can you like it?!" But I tried to be as unbiased as I could with it.
THE SIMS 4 PROS AND CONS LIST, V.2
CREATE-A-SIM
DO LIKE
The ability to change EVERYTHING on a sim and not with sliders.
The ability to mix-and-match any hat with any hair style.
The ability to wear boots without them cutting through the trousers.
No more maternity clothes; any and all outfits are now enabled for pregnancy!
Detail Edit Mode is a sweet, sweet thing!
The minimalistic look of the Create-a-Sim screen.
Good choice of clothing & accessories for female sims; a solid 9/10 overall rating from me!
Not as much choice of clothing & accessories for men, but still a good amount; solid 8/10 from me.
DON'T LIKE
No create-a-style OR even a colour wheel.
The solid black 'block' eyelashes – hopefully this will change before game release.
DON'T LIKE BUT CAN LIVE WITH
The hit-and-miss hairs. 43 gorgeous & ok hairs vs. 22 bad & atrocious – my overall rating: 7/10
INDIFFERENT ABOUT
The walk styles. Most seem too cartoonish for how I play; with realism.
MY THOUGHTS ON CREATE-A-SIM
HAIRS - In my opinion, hairs in The Sims 4 seem to be a definite hit-and-miss thing. Some are absolutely gorgeous, some are just ok, then others are absolutely atrocious, such as hair that looks like the ends have been superglued together, hair that closely resembles plant leaves if you turn it green, and the worst by far, being the large afro, which looks a lot like a large stone/rock. I done a quick tally, and counted 19 really nice hairs, 24 just ok hairs and 22 really bad hairs. Still with a combined score of 43 for the nice & just ok hairs versus the 22 for bad hairs... that's a pretty good outcome. Also, I want to point out that there are 42 female hairs and 22 male hairs, and that's just in the early demo - WAY more than we had in the Sims 3 base game!
FEMALE CLOTHES - So, the female clothing is a pretty solid category; my tally chart tells me that (in my opinion, of course!) there are 87 nice items, 41 just ok items and 24 not so great items. This is the overall score combined for tops, bottoms, full body, accessories, shoes, hats & make-up. I did find myself saying "I wish this came in x colour" and "I wish there was an opacity slider for make-up" but not that much - certainly not enough to make creating a sim in The Sims 4 troubling at all. All in all, I give it a solid 9/10 - a ton of items to choose from; way, way more than in the Sims 3 base game, some really nice recolours, and the actual textures/patterns are nice, too.
MALE CLOTHES - The mens clothing category is again, a strong category. Once again, I done a tally of all the items, and came up with a combined score of 68 nice items, 18 ok items and 27 not so nice items. The nice is majorly outweighing the bad, just the same as the womens clothing. All in all, I give it a decent 8/10. 1 point was knocked off because there aren't as many items as the girls have, and there's only 4 decent facial hairs.
BUILD/BUY MODE
DO LIKE
Curved and concave roofing without the need for CFE.
Being able to change wall heights and foundation heights.
Being able to move windows up and down the walls.
Curved foundations & fences.
Being able to move an entire house; perfect for when you build & it's slightly off-centre.
Ability to add separate roof trims.
Search catalogue in Buy Mode, to easily find whatever item you're looking for.
Bigger pictures in the build/buy mode catalogue
DON'T LIKE
No create-a-style OR even a colour wheel.
No terrain tools, meaning no split levelling.
DON'T LIKE BUT CAN LIVE WITH
The maximum lot size being 50x50. Would prefer 60x60, but it's not too much of a compromise.
No swimming pools- It's a shame, but I don't use them enough to warrant it being an issue.
INDIFFERENT ABOUT
Being able to place & move entire rooms. Not something I see myself using.
Friezes for the top of walls/buildings. Neat, but probably something I'd only use a handful of times.
GAMEPLAY/LIVE MODE
DO LIKE
The new emotion-based system, and the different ways that emotions impact your sim & gameplay.
The fact that the game is shipping with two worlds; Willow Creek and Oasis Spring.
Sims disappearing off the edge of the lot when going out. Didn't like, but actually do like now.
The overall 'whiteness' and almost Apple-product look of the build/buy/live mode UI.
Auto-save feature as well as manual save; always a good thing, whichever way it's implemented.
White baby bottles and breastfeeding; blur doesn't bother me as mod will get rid of it, like in TS3.
If sims don't pay their bills, their water & power gets shut off, instead of just the repo man coming.
When a sim is off-lot at work/school, you still get options to work hard/chat/take it easy, as in TS3.
Babies now have LEGS; no more pink/blue squirming larvae!
Push ups, sit ups and stretches a part of working out, as well as being a way to 'cool off' when mad.
Traits system; having 3 'base' traits, 4th linked to your LTW and 5th 'unlocked' for completing LTW.
Being able to switch between aspirations whenever, and not losing progress on the old one.
You get to bake a cake and 'add candles' for birthdays.
Sims can take a pregnancy test to see if they're pregnant!!!
Proper multi-tasking that actually works.
DON'T LIKE
No toddlers. This one is a hard hit, especially for legacy players.
DON'T LIKE BUT CAN LIVE WITH
Loading screens. The current 20-30 seconds is fine, just hoping it doesn't get longer with EPs/CC.
If you want a non-active house to continue over generations, you'll have to play them to do that.
Story Progression not working in the same way as TS3; giving you more control over every house.
INDIFFERENT ABOUT
The gallery feature. It looks cool, but I'm not sure how much I'd realistically use it.
Trams & boats being decorative. Would've been nice to use them, but I understand why you can't.
The new emotion-based deaths; Ok with them now I know you have to really try to make it happen.
Overall look of the world, Willow Creek. Looks nice, but the graphics & textures seem a little flat.
So. That's just my views. Yeah. Let me know what you all think; I'm interested to hear about other peoples' likes/dislikes, pros/cons of The Sims 4! I found that doing this was not only weirdly therapeutic, but it's actually a good way to get all of your thoughts down, so you can properly evaluate everything!
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