Reference: http://worldsims.org/the-sims-4-announcement-commonly-asked-questions/3545/ Q: Will there be an online component for The Sims 4?A:There will be additional fun and social gameplay elements for players who choose to go online (more to come on that later on) but the core game is designed to be played offline. It’s up to the player to choose how they want to play.Q: Will The Sims 4 require a persistent online connection?A: You will not require a persistent online connection to play The Sims 4.Sounds like EA learned from the SimCity fiasco and isn't mandating a persistent online connection. Let's hope it stays this way.
I still won't have a computer which can play it. (I need a new CPU, which means new motherboard and memory. I've upgraded the current model as much as can be done without major overhaul, which I can't afford.)
What more can they really do? Since TS2 we've had generations and infinite viewpoint. Since TS3 we've had "open neighborhoods" so we don't have so many loading screens. With TS3 we also got the option to recolor things so we don't have to have downloads folders full of just recolors. They've done every vacation, dating, pets, university thing imaginable, plus a bunch of just extra stuff. All they can do is rehash and reorganize at best. I suppose they could improve the building things (back to what we had in TS2 because yes, it was better.)
If they would bring back a really good building mechanic to the game then I might be interested. They'd also have to get rid of all the rabbit holes too.
My biggest complaint has been it's been more "evolution" than "revolution" in the gameplay for The Sims. Like the 3D perspective we got in The Sims 2... that was awesome as well as the building tools. The Sims 3 felt like just an evolution of The Sims 2... mostly of the same thing, with just a few added features I thought could have been in Sims 2.
TS2 was constrained by its engine. Many of the things we got in TS3 that we wanted in TS2 could not be done with that engine. I think that the building things that we lost with TS3 were because they had to make engine sacrifices to keep the computer specs from being too high. (I know that's why we got pudding faces that we hadn't had in TS2.)
I think the building tools were fine in Sims 3 just that there seemed to be a lack of building supplies in the game. Anytime we got a new expansion it was more clothes and buy objects than it was windows and doors and such.
I wonder only because those are far easier to make and add to the game over altering the game elements that affect light, etc. But computers that were rolling out in 2008 were extremely powerful....
I wasn't referring to window colors or door colors but different types of windows and doors and whatnot. Yes it is nice to take an EA door that's metal and turn it into a wood framed door and such but there just that many different styles of doors or windows.
While there were some powerful computers back in 2008, they were trying to keep it so that people who could play TS2 could still play TS3. The way they had it programmed, it didn't even take advantage of multicore processors but still preferred P4s. I didn't even need a new videocard for playing it, even though I had to get a new one when Sims Medieval came out. (Got the videocard and the game for my birthday that year.) However, I doubt that they'll cater to the P4s this time since most of the new games coming out are catering more to the multicores (which my husband was chagrined to find out when he went to play some game he wanted. His new P4 wasn't working for it because it wasn't a multicore.)
I wish they didn't compromise on the gaming experience at EA. Having all these weaksauce computers makes it more so annoying as a gamer and it hinders a lot of the fun that more complex gameplay could offer.
Frankly it would have been nice for all of us who had uber gaming computers to have gotten a little more out of the game. I don't think it would have been hard to code the game to handle higher specs and make better use of the power at hand.