Sims 4 Newbie... and it sucks

[Shelbee]

For context: long awaited Sims 4 Free to Play(er) here. Logged ~6 hours in the Sims 4 game now. Hardcore Sims 3 player. I try not to use mods or cheats, and try to just play naturally.

The point: Sims 4 kind of sucks. Maybe I just haven't "figured it out" yet, but here is some of my initial feedback. Open to opinions!

Topic 1: it's unnaturally difficult.
- I tried creating a single, female Sim, assuming I'd be able to meet a neighbor, get a relationship, and start a family. BIG NOPE. Making friends is so difficult (my Sim decides to randomly insult Sims all the time?), the friendship meter makes no sense (takes forever to improve and then one "insult" sets it back big time), and trying to meet someone for a relationship is really time consuming (with my Sim constantly needing to do something else). I finally gave up, went to CAS, made the perfect man, and had him move in.
- Why is it so hard to make money? My Sim goes to work happy, does the daily tasks, increases the skills, etc. Yet the only way I feel I am able to do stuff well (move, add to my home, etc.) is by using motherlode which really ruins the game for me.
- DO THE THING I ASKED YOU TO DO! Sims 4 constantly decides to override or straight up ignore asks. This is especially frustrating when I have toddlers who need to eat, and my Sim just REFUSES to give them food.

Topic 2: it tried to improve from Sims 3, but failed.
- The one thing missing from Sims 3 is the personalities. Sims 3 sims only really get emotional/upset after another close sim dies, and that's about it. Sims 4 tried to improve this, but my sims emotions are so random. "Very sad" for 2 hours about a missed dream, and then goes right back to Flirty. "Very angry" while at work, and then lands home and is fine.
- Relationships are definitely more complex in the game, but annoyingly so. I understand making it complex to have best friends or marriage, but initial friendships are even difficult!
- Why did they take away open world?
- I know this will be improved, but babies being objects is annoying.

Topic 3: It does have some positives.
- There's more options on how you want to play, and how your Sim lives their life.
- I can see that packs would make the game much more fun.
- I do love how customizable everything is (from the Sims themselves to their homes).

End of rant. Looking forward to hearing validation, opposition, or tips for new Sims 4 players!

[Material Defender]

Originally posted by Shelbee:

- I tried creating a single, female Sim, assuming I'd be able to meet a neighbor, get a relationship, and start a family. BIG NOPE. Making friends is so difficult (my Sim decides to randomly insult Sims all the time?), the friendship meter makes no sense (takes forever to improve and then one "insult" sets it back big time), and trying to meet someone for a relationship is really time consuming (with my Sim constantly needing to do something else). I finally gave up, went to CAS, made the perfect man, and had him move in.

- Relationships are definitely more complex in the game, but annoyingly so. I understand making it complex to have best friends or marriage, but initial friendships are even difficult!

I know for a fact the patch a week before it went F2P, added a trait to base game called "loyalty" that affected relationships, and introduced a bug that made everyone who didnt have the trait mean to each other.

[Lady Aeleanor]

The random insults and Autonomous Mean Interactions are caused by a bug in the current update, Tons of people are experiencing this issue. If you have MC Command Center, you can turn off Mean Interactions.

[Norðtann]

if ur job is too hard, then do another. My advice: just hang around home and paint and write books and sell them. No one tells u when to go where, u are ur own boss, can keep u happy all time and u earn about 1k per paiting and 2k per day in royalties

if u dont like free will, u can turn this off in the settings...
and the insults are a bit buggy. i would micro-manage the conversations until they fixed it...

Sims a hard game? *facepalm*

i right now earn 3k in royalties for books i wrote ages ago. This makes me live rent-free basically

[Mundfish]

Oi, is there a way to stop Sims from being feared of dead end jobs? I took them at most paid jobs I could get and now I'm getting bombarded how tense they are, tried using Fear-Be-Gone potions, which worked until it returned with a vengeance. While I'm not new to The Sims (played 2 with all expansion packs) it is first time I play 4 so, help me.

[Corvus corax]

The Sims 4 base game sucks.

[Shelbee]

I think my comment about the Sims being difficult was a bit misunderstood.
No, the game itself is not difficult.
HOWEVER ...
The constant issues (which I now understand the "insult" issue is a bug), Sims' mood swings, and weird glitches throughout make it difficult. Difficult to enjoy, at the least.

[KingOfFriedChicken]

No joke i set up a family and i have 2 parents to this child who have a kid together but i couldn't find out how to marry them in the family builder? idk so i had to work on their relationship and i built them for each other down to likes being the exact body type eye color and hair haha they still took forever and a day to love each other and i had to force that interaction they did not work it out themselves at all. The worst part is they have a kid together but wouldn't sleep in the same bed cuz "not together" and i still had to work for the "first kiss" lol
I just wanted to play my character starting as a kid with minimal interaction and let the parents be mostly autonomous but i ended up having to play all 3 just to build the relationship between mom and dad so they would both be able to sleep in their shared bed.

I do wonder if any DLC improves certain aspects of the game but im not really willing to fork out cash to find out, cuz i find jobs and school kinda dumb they just poof into jobs and school and i cant even play that aspect of their lives at all so my sim just makes friends at school but i dont know who or how or why *shrugs I also made a super social sim but they are the literal worst at making friends so i may have to edit that out honestly.

[Mokum]

i advice you to wait for later with kids they are a hasle ingame if you are completly new

[Mokum]

Originally posted by KingOfFriedChicken:

No joke i set up a family and i have 2 parents to this child who have a kid together but i couldn't find out how to marry them in the family builder? idk so i had to work on their relationship and i built them for each other down to likes being the exact body type eye color and hair haha they still took forever and a day to love each other and i had to force that interaction they did not work it out themselves at all. The worst part is they have a kid together but wouldn't sleep in the same bed cuz "not together" and i still had to work for the "first kiss" lol
I just wanted to play my character starting as a kid with minimal interaction and let the parents be mostly autonomous but i ended up having to play all 3 just to build the relationship between mom and dad so they would both be able to sleep in their shared bed.

I do wonder if any DLC improves certain aspects of the game but im not really willing to fork out cash to find out, cuz i find jobs and school kinda dumb they just poof into jobs and school and i cant even play that aspect of their lives at all so my sim just makes friends at school but i dont know who or how or why *shrugs I also made a super social sim but they are the literal worst at making friends so i may have to edit that out honestly.

to answer your DLC question Seasons changes the game considerably no idea why its not in basegame
you can die of heatstroke or freeze to death or get sick from running in the rain etc it really adds allot to the game thatone also look up a few Rags to riches chalenge ( you can do do these in base game altho some dlc may make it bit easyer with stuff like tent and a coolbox) on the google you will never play a normal game after that all will be rags to riches (Starting out with 0 simoleans making money fishing and painting stuff you can use the bathrooms in the gym to cleanup and do you buisness you can sleep on benches etc its not as hard as it sounds )
and finally after allot of fishing and collecting plus selling stuff (look if you have the street vendor table and wall for items and paintins to sell on the street for triplle vallue) you can get a house etc and carry on youur sims life
and i can go on you should really try it (ps setting gold to zero is done by using the console look it up how to do it have fun

[blooab]

No joke, I relate so much! I'm a hardcore Sims 3 player as well and I'm a bit disappointed from Sims 4.
I like how the build mode improved and I like the social interactions available. Plus, the toddler's clothes are incredibly cute! But, I don't know, it just doesn't feel right.
What you wrote were exactly my thoughts. In some aspects, the game is incredibly easy compared to Sims 3 but in the next moment it's so unnecessary difficult. Mostly because my Sims don't do what they are supposed to do! (Free will is turned off)
But nevertheless, I'll stay for the build mode. It has many improvements compared to Sims 3 (The stairs! The platforms! The window placement!) But for the gameplay, I will return to Sims 3.

All in all, I just came to tell: I feel you.

[The Living Darkness]

Originally posted by mzda_grl:

Originally posted by Mundfish:

Oi, is there a way to stop Sims from being feared of dead end jobs? I took them at most paid jobs I could get and now I'm getting bombarded how tense they are, tried using Fear-Be-Gone potions, which worked until it returned with a vengeance. While I'm not new to The Sims (played 2 with all expansion packs) it is first time I play 4 so, help me.

My sims constantly have this fear of a dead-end job too and it's annoying. Their jobs are fine and they need to chill lol

I currently turn wants fears off every time it pops up now until they fix some issues with fear. In general the fears that technically never go away like fire and the dark which can stick around even after you lose them. Dead End job though needs a complete overhaul. I have never had it stick even after losing, it may come back and almost always does but doesnt happen even without the fear. However like you said that fear can pop up even with sims who are at lv 10 and beyond in a career. One example was a lv 17 I think criminal with college education bonus cash and research and debate 10, so able to get free money and gain performance with a phone call to the boss....... but still he will get that fear a day or two after he loses it everytime.... that simply shouldnt happen

[Sugartail]

Insults out of the blue and the whole interactions' mess AND sudden fears like deadend/death/fire are confirmed bugs . Some sources said it'll be fixed early november, some aren't that optimistic setting the timeline to mid december.
I've played the game in Origin like a half-year back ant it wasn't THAT spoiled. Jeez, while other games come out of early access mostly licked clean from errors, it's like Sims4 went effing BACKWARDS in time

[Mokum]

Originally posted by mzda_grl:

Originally posted by Mundfish:

Oi, is there a way to stop Sims from being feared of dead end jobs? I took them at most paid jobs I could get and now I'm getting bombarded how tense they are, tried using Fear-Be-Gone potions, which worked until it returned with a vengeance. While I'm not new to The Sims (played 2 with all expansion packs) it is first time I play 4 so, help me.

My sims constantly have this fear of a dead-end job too and it's annoying. Their jobs are fine and they need to chill lol

im had (the sim is dead now) a sim with 670000 simoleans a big house all the luxury i could want excep a few maxxed out in upgrading i am a street vendor so i make tons of cash selling paintings and the game keeps telling my i fear to fail while i already made it (it was a rags to riches sim so he started from 0 simoleans to what he was at the end of her life )

i did not have a career tho

[Jinkaru]

I assume you already figured out what you wanted to know from this thread but, I always turn Autonomous off... (especially for werewolves lol ). The one big thing that you should pay attention to is moods. Catering to the Sim's moods will give you a bigger relationship boost. Likes also matter. For example, if you are Inspired and talking to a Creative sim while engaged in conversation and hit "Share ideas" , you will get better relationship interactions.
Even if the sim hates you, you can cater to the moods and almost always get them to like you at least a little bit.

I believe that all neighborhoods have a default Sim who will be your friend. And if you start in the default neighborhood as a new Sim, they should give you a fruit cake and a neighborhood welcome. The cake serves as an icebreaker to initiate conversations and small talk with the welcome party.

[Xuse B3]

The sims are insulting and yelling at each other because of a bug that exists since the last update. It is not something normal.
(Sry its google translate)