Seems like the poster was more of a sims player than just a TS4 player, but that's another discussion for these forums in particular I guess...

I think Open world is always the better option, it just has to be executed properly. Really TS3 open world is nothing compared to other games open worlds, to be fair to Maxis though Sims have a lot more AI to run on then say a GTA NPC that is just walking down the street.

I feel like I prefer TS2/TS4 because the lots feel a lot more active and alive. TS3 world was open but if you were to just follow a NPC sim they weren't doing anything special, I really think Nrass made that game feel more alive than it ever was without it. In TS4 Clubs are sometimes too packed and there are always sims on a lot which for me is better for gameplay. It really all depends on their execution really.

The perfect way to do this and what I imagine would be the perfect way to do a Sims game is to take a city about the size of a Simcity...and slice that up into sections. Rural, Urban, downtown...etc...and each section is it's own open world.

@nitromom: Yes! NRAAS! That's what it was. I could not remember the name for the life of me, thanks. XD And also thanks for the links, I'll save this information for when I'm ready to install Sims 3 again.

@eskie227: I'd personally prefer the 3 minute loading screen with open world. Hell I'd even take 10 minutes if it meant no loading screens between lots and I have full control over all my Sims again. I'd just toss a bag of popcorn in the microwave, tease the cats with the laser pointer or go looking for my missing socks while I waited for the game to boot up or something. XD

An open world was what I was hoping we were going to get and EA / Maxis was going to expand on with Sims 4. When I heard we were getting closed lots again though I somewhat assumed it was because the open world neighbourhoods were too strenuous and keeping everything contained into smaller areas would help the game run smoother. Which it does... until we get more expansion packs, then we'll see.

Fixed that for you

What's the point of an open world when the actual simulation on each and every lot is piss-poor like it was in TS3
If any game deserves to have an open world it's TS4



If all else are equal I'd pick open world any day of the week and twice on Sundays

So it sounds in general that open world would be preferable to single lot play. But the difficulties in implementation in TS3 left some, if not many, frustrated during play. @H.O.W., you're also quite right that NRaas mods went a long way to improving the open world play in 3. EA SP did a poor job of simulating a "living" environment (and you are also correct the demands on NPC behaviors in the Sims is much different than say GTA V).

@SimfulBear, I was sure hoping for an improved open world as well. Perhaps the solution you and H.O.W. mentioned, that of a world with several districts, with each district being open, could have been a nice compromise. It probably would have been less demanding from a hardware perspective, but still provided the sense of freedom the open world brought to the series. There may have been some complications with balancing population sizes between districts to assure a "lively" environment, but probably something that could have been addressed.

So I think it's fair to say that, assuming performance can be maintained proportionally across hardware platforms, with even the minimum requirements still providing some satisfying gameplay, but without much eye candy, that an open world, or semi-open world would have been preferable. Unfortunately, the developers did not or could not achieve that in this version. The why's of which we will never really know, at least in the absence of leaked information, and I really don't see Snowden coming back to the US just to dig up some dirty laundry at a game publisher. My personal opinion (and it's just that, an opinion) is that the game engine was repurposed from an online version to a single player offline version sometime after the SC2013 launch. And for an online game, the single lot solution is pretty much the way to go for a game like the Sims.

If there is a Sims 5, I guess we'll see how they decide to proceed after player feedback from all the earlier versions.

Not gonna lie. Both of those things in bold apply to me. I'm not a tech guy at all so reading those threads and hearing all the tech jargon made the word "NOPE!" pop up in my head over and over. Of course, I try to ignore it because I saw that one guy say his game runs smooth as butter even with a bunch of CC, but I'm still fearful of messing around with my computer when I honestly have no idea what I'm doing.



What the game is has absolutely nothing to do with what H.O.W was saying. Yes it's a piece of junk, but, honestly, so was TS3. He doesn't treat TS4 like it's the second coming, he simply defends it when people come here just for the sole purpose of shitting on it. Nothing wrong with defending what you like. Especially when he's in the appropriate section of the forum for these discussions and other people usually aren't. Do I always agree with him? No. Do I think that sometimes he's looking at the game through rose-tinted glasses and gives the devs way more credit than they deserve? Hell yeah. But he stands his ground and makes some damn good arguments while still reaming more civil than a lot of the people he goes up against.

I actually don't post here that much, I spend most of my sims time on Tumblr. Where I'm able to share my gameplay with other simmers whether they be TS2, TS3, TS4 focused simmers and there is never this back and fourth.

I'm chugging on a year later because I still play the game and so still visit the forums. I wouldn't have known about the rumored restaurant GP and other rumors that tend to be true about the game if I didn't come here. I think it's appropriate that someone that plays the game as much as I do (My Tumblr updates every day...) would visit a forum for said game.

My thinking process is pretty simple. I still play the game and still enjoy playing the game. I like the game and as long as I continue to like the game I will visit here.



I agree with all of this and thank you! Also though it is She :p

Ooooh My God! Why Do I Keep Forgetting Dx


*Mental note* H.O.W = girl!

TS4 doesn't have an open world. It will likely never have an open world- then why is a discussion like this even necessary?

It's not a debate over whether or not an impending patch bringing open worlds is good or bad- it's a shot across the bow that's entirely irrelevant to TS4.

That, along with dumping on the TS3's graphics- note how quickly sour the discussion turned once DhruvS began seizing on that comment.

I personally think that like at the Grand Theft Auto forums, a new forum for General Sims/ Future Sims Franchise discussions need to be created- so that general discussion can be had about general game mechanics, rather than having forum preferences tainting each discussion.

Why can't I agree twice?!

Sims 3 barely functioned at all, rarely able to start up or lagging then crashing, worst scripted game ever! It was refreshing when I got sims 4, it runs soooooooooooooooooo smoothly but I think they needed to take more to work in it instead of rushing it, it could have been amazing than just ok, they should have given us another ep or/and a so for sims 3 while we waited for sims 4 to ACTUALLY be finished, now ea really needs to make each neighborhood its own and only load when going to another hood, even the sidewalks are open.

I had to agree and disagree. There is a great game buried waaaaaaaaay underneath the problems EA created in TS3...but you really gotta work to find it and we shouldn't have to :/

Honestly, I read that opening sentence and truly believed you must be @TheRealDonaldTrump!

And if that was your experience, I would not blame you for disliking the game. Please be aware your individual experience may not be the same of others. Many players managed to enjoy hours and hours of fun gameplay without crashing or failing to start up. I can still sit down for a 3 hour session with TS3 and not have to worry about the sky falling in the middle of play. But the issue being discussed isn't whether TS3 ran well or not, but whether an open world environment adds to the gameplay experience.



It's great that 4 runs so much better for you. However, as you point out yourself, the developer would have been better off developing a hybrid open world rather than a single lot model. And I agree the developer should have taken the time to "finish" the game before release if the code was not ready for prime time, but that really is another discussion.

Excuse me, but you are quite wrong here.
In no way is TS4 a sequel to TS2. Talk about TS2's prequel and/or TS1's sequel and I will fully agree.

Honestly open world was amazing, it took sometime to load but then everything you need is actually there, i love it and sometimes i wish it was in TS2

Yup, that's it. Here's a little analogy I like to use:

TS4 is like a turd spray painted with gold. It looks nice and shiny on the outside, and so you'd believe it's actually a very nice thing. But the moment you grab it, the gold comes right off and what you're now dealing with is a pile of poop.
TS3 is like a bar of gold with shit smeared all over it. It might look unappealing and disgusting, but once you get through the layer of excrement, you're gonna be left with a jewel of a game. And modders have found new and exciting ways to spray the poop off so that you don't have to use your hands.

Pi, I do understand your analogy, but I was about to have dinner..............................

Absolutely. I was late in buying Seasons*, but when I did I was amazed with how gorgeous the world looked in Autumn and Winter. I have spent *a lot* of time supposedly playing a family while in truth I have been watching the wind moving the tree leaves and the smoking chimneys.

*I specifically mention Seasons because it was this EP that made me value open world so much. For others might be what a Sim's neighbour does, but for me it was definitely the weather elements, and how my Sims' world felt so alive.

To focus on the specific question "Is open world good or bad for my gaming experience with the sims?" I would say yes but it needs to be done better.

When I originally heard that ts4 was going to have districts I thought that the worlds would be about the same size as the worlds in ts3 but broken up into smaller areas.

Something like this, the districts are still big but since they are cut off from the rest of the world there is less strain on the system. I think this would of been a good in between. If ts3/4 was like this I would love it.


EDIT: This would also help with the empty lot issue that made the world feel empty since the game would force sims to be in active district rather then all over the world.

That would have worked for me.

That's definitely what it should have been

I've always thought it should be like Skyrim, open to explore, but towns/areas you load and houses you load, but it only takes about 3 seconds to open a house in Skyrim.

What does that have to do with anything?

Also, I'm allergic to vanilla Bridgeport. Anyone know of a good way to erase it from the face of this planet without affecting anything else, like my Bridgeport or the people that play in vanilla Bridgeport but also do good stuff?

Merging with existing thread.

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Please, don't talk about Skyrim and Oblivion. I have sacrificed unbelievable time of my life playing these games. I don't want to go back. Not again.
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