I have enjoyed all of The Sims games over the years, but I never picked up The Sims 4. I remember seeing some of the limitations during the preview cycle and the loss of the open world really bummed me out. That said, there are times where I still want to play The Sims (and seeing Abby stream Thirteen Deadly Sims is a big factor in that as of late).

So now that we are a few years into The Sims 4, what do people think of the game? At the time it sort of seemed like The Sims 4 still has its issues, but people moved onto the next game reluctantly, primarily because it's the new game and The Sims 3 is old. Has the game improved enough to less the impact of not having an open world?

For me, I don't mind buying expansions, especially if I can get them on sale. (Even if I were to do something truly crazy like load up The Sims 3 again, I'll end up buying some expansions anyways, since I have never messed around with the Pets stuff.) So if the answer is "Yes, but you need to buy these five different expansions", I would be okay with that (as crazy as that may sound).

Our home is a sims home. Its a good game. One thing i find frustrating is how they still manage to make such buggy engines. Its all a bit clunky but has a lot of charm and customization options, mods etc.

@travisrex: As long as the game doesn't hard crash too often, I think I will be fine with that. I remember my fair share of bugs in the past games, but the only real problematic issue I encountered was the weird memory problem in The Sims 3, which could make it so you couldn't save or load your file.

The Sims 4 is very stable, I don't think I've ever had it crash on me. Runs much better than the Sims 3 which was a ticking timebomb.

The base game launched rough, and Vanilla Sims 4 still is. Sim creation is the best it has ever been and is the standout feature of the Sims 4 from previous games. But like you suspected... If you really want to get the most out of the game, you really have to dive deep and get some expansion packs and maybe a few of the game packs. An easy recommendation if you like the Sims and are willing to commit to the expansion packs. Harder to recommend otherwise.

Just stay far the fuck away from the stuff packs though. They are overpriced wastes of time and money and only exist to nickel and dime addicts.

If anything wait for the relatively frequent sales they have on origin for stuff packs.

My wife and I were both surprised by how little we missed the open world. Thinking back on it we realized that the open world was interesting in the first moments of Sims 3. "Hey, there's a protest way over there!" or "I can just click on anything and drive to it." but beyond that, why bother? Nothing was gained of particular relevance outside of scouring the city of rocks and butterflies. If nothing else, the way that Sims 4 handles having Sims in multiple locations is streamlined by NOT having the open world. Sim A is sent out to visit the park. Sim B is still at home. Sim A is being controlled, and the player can assign a general task to Sim B to perform in the background while at home (build skills, work on needs, etc.) and change that as they see fit. If the player really wants to switch over to Sim B, it's a couple of mouse clicks away. Back to Sim B while Sim A stays at the park.

It was strange for all of a half hour, and now we don't miss it at all.

As others have noted, the Sims 3 engine was kind of terrible. If nothing else, the reduced strain was probably for the best considering that the Sims franchise has never had especially great engines.

@thursday1977: That's good to hear. I never got into the rock collecting stuff and the other miscellaneous tasks. The things I liked were going into town, going for a jog, etc. and having it be seamless. Since I haven't played the game, my complaint was more conceptual regarding what it was like to have load times and breaks when going to different locations and Sims. Hearing that it isn't that big of a deal to move around like that is good.

Alright, I am going to pick this up. Let's see how this goes!

I quite like it, what it lacks in freedom it more than makes up for in stability.

My sims go out less due to load screens existing between lots, but those load times are quite fast.

I own the jobs expansion (Get to work) and the social groups expansion. (Get together) and a couple stuff packs that had random stuff i thought would be fun, like the yoga/spa one.

It doesn't have as much stuff as the sims 3 but it all actually works 95% of the time. For example the detective career is viable in this game where as in Sims 3 it was almost completely bugged in my experience. Having 13 sims on a lot like in the new GB series would have killed the third game if you had more than a few expansions, not so with 4 so far.

Also the new build tools are a joy to use! You do lose the texture tweaking of the sims 3 though.

Right now the base game is on sale on Origin for $9.99 and the base game+stuff packs (digital deluxe edition) is on sale for $12.49. Based on the new GBE feature, I picked up the digital deluxe edition to give it a whirl; haven't played since the original Sims. The various expacs are all half-off right now, so $19.99 each, but I'm not willing to commit to that before seeing if I enjoy the game.

I was thinking about picking up the PS4 version in the EA sale.

Has anyone tried that version? I'm worried about the performance and controls mostly.

@beefygrandmole: I've heard the controller setup on console is pretty rough.

Like they didn't even bother to make the game work well on a controller.

It's faithful to the PC port, but the Sims 4 isn't a super powerful game, so if you have the means to do so, I'd get it on PC.

Also of note is at this time, there is a bundle of Sims 4 Digital Deluxe + Dogs & Cats expansion available for $20 total (same price as the current discount on Dogs & Cats standalone)

So, what's the verdict, Clagnaught?

I too picked up the deluxe edition + cats & dogs expansion while it was on sale the other day, after watching episode 1. Then I added up the price for the rest of the add-ons, and even on sale it comes out to $260 to get it all! O_O

I think I'll stick to have I have for now, haven't played since the original many years ago.

To be fair, the Cats and Dogs pack is so wafer thin that on sale is the only way to reasonably recommend it. That $20 combined deal that was happening is probably the ideal way to get that pack. Once one gets past the visual aesthetic of the animals, there isn't a lot else to it. Make no mistake, I recognize that (a) there is demand of cats and dogs and (b) by comparison to other packs the implementation of animals is probably more costly; but from the standpoint of my wife and I there really wasn't much of a purpose to paying full price for what was in there.

I'm really digging it so far. The core action is very similar, but every couple of years (for the past like 15-20 years) I feel like playing The Sims. So far, I gotta say this is definitely scratching that itch.

I ended up getting all of the expansions and the Parenthood pack (they were on sale). At first, this game feels like it has the most stuff I have to get a handle on. For instance, I didn't realize you could switch around between active characters. So for the first few hours, I was managing a Sim who went to a club gathering after gathering, while my other Sims were on auto-pilot at home.

It's a lot of the same stuff, but the foundation is really great. The moods make your Sims feel more lively and have more of a personality. I also enjoy how they compound on each other, like when a Sim feels flirty, they have more social options at their disposal, while a sad Sim may not be in the mood for certain activities. I have a few minor complaints--stuff like how you apparently can't build diagonal stairs--but none are really based on my original fears surrounding the amount of content or not having a seamless open world. Actually the more I play it, the more I like the current system, since you can freely follow different Sims and have them travel to different cities. Like you can easily go do nightlife activities, without living in an apartment downtown.

One thing I will say is there are times where I do get a glimpse of vanilla Sims 4. For example, while I was doing a club hangout, I randomly thought, "Oh wait, all of this must come from one of the expansions. Even something basic like this wasn't built into in the base game." While I also like having the option to visit some of those different towns, I also realize I got all of those through expansions. Or how some of my Sims are pursuing careers that I know weren't originally in the game. The core functionality was probably there day one, so chances are I would have enjoyed the game if I were to play it back in 2014. That said, the extra content feels so natural and fits so well with the game, The Sims 4 would feel more empty without it.

Good to hear. If you haven't already, be sure that you look in your library, There are lots that aren't automatically placed, restaurants being key among them. Restaurants are ideal for getting those friendship meters up without having to worry about cooking.

Edit: http://www.player.one/sims-4-jungle-adventure-game-pack-dlc-details-123862

Just stumbled on that article.

For anyone looking to get into Sims 4 due to @ybbaaabby's feature, if you missed the last sale, or want to get some expansion packs for 50% off, there is a new Origin sale for all EA games on right now. As a note, if you want Cats & Dogs it is bundled with Sims 4 base game for a tad cheaper than you can buy it on its own even if you already have the base game.

I almost pulled the trigger at full price 2 days ago. Thanks for the heads up!