The Sims 4 Won't Have Pools Because its Too Much Work, Says EA

[alj]

Pathetic does not even begin to cover it, you spend all that time putting in unique walking animations but you don't have time to do a pool? Get your priorities right. I am no lonver of the sims but do people care that much about the walking animation of the sims? Is the game not about building a nice home/town with people in it, not about how Mrs Barnstaple from No. 37 walks ?

 

[senordesol]

Guys its pools and toddlers, yes they will sell them back later as that is how the sims works and always has been, but sometimes things do actually get cut to allow development to focus on things that matter. so unless these items are secretly super high demand in the sims and EA knows they have a cash cow I am giving them this one. I know your all conditioned to treat a standard PR response as bull shit but sometime they are true I mean its freaking pools and toddlers.

First: The entire conceit of the Sims is to build your dream home with your dream family. That's the entire point of the game, to cut those particular corners after they've been a series stable for so long...is questionable at best. I mean the excuse they gave was: "look at how many emotions and walk cycles we have!!!"

Are they really expecting me to swallow that I had to give up a major luxury feature (a feature that damn near every 'dream home' would include) just so they could render different 'amused' and 'bemused' animations? Because THAT is expansion pack level crap right there.

And even if we were to concede 'hey, it's just toddlers and pools', I'd argue: it's just toddlers and pools *now*. What else, I wonder, is in store? What other content have they cut that they've yet to tell us about? Instruments? House Parties? The awesome radio stations?

See there's something sorely lacking from a lot of the industry these days: it's called PROFESSIONAL PRIDE. It's the idea that no matter what happens, if we're going to do a thing; we're going to do it RIGHT. We're going to do it the best we can, so that when we put that box on a shelf and ask $60 for it, we know that when the customer picks it up; it'll be worth every penny to him.

Yeah, maybe it was a tiny corner to cut; but they're still cutting corners! Yet, despite the corner cutting, you KNOW they're going to ask full price.

Now maybe this stuff isn't a big deal to you, and that's okay. It really is. But some people want the money they part with to be earned, and chucking beloved features of a major franchise is a poor POOR way to go about that.

 

[Trude]

I guess they didn't want to program a thousand ways of drowning your Sims in a pool.

 

[BX3]

*Reads title* "What...?"
*Clicks and reads article* "Oooohhh, so you mean deadlines."

The removal of toddlers is no skin off of my ass. The removal of pools however... is also no skin off my ass, BUT the removal of pools and this explanation basically confirms something I was afraid of since first hearing about this game's existence. No pools means no means for your Sims to cool off, which means your Sims have no need to cool off, which ultimately means... no weather. Once again, they refused to put weather into the base game. Which means, "Sims 4: Seasons" is going to be a thing... and that makes me quite unhappy.

I guess I'm sticking with Sims 3 then. Shame... I was really excited about Maxis being back, and I really wanted to try out the new emotion system and how they would handle worlds, but all that isn't worth it if I can literally predict the boring expansion packs they'll be releasing in the coming years. Seasons, University, Night Clubbing and Magic n' Shit, along with 1 or 2 expansions and a bunch of Stuff packs no one actually wants.

 

[epicdwarf]

EA, emotions should NOT be the entire selling point of The Sims 4. Sims already had emotions. The only improvement made is that their environment can effect them. That is not a major change. Now you are saying that this emotion system requires SO much focus that you can't add basic game features. If this system requires THAT much focus, why not delay the game? It will generate more hype, give you time to finnish it, and make sure EVERY base game system is fleshed out. Maybe it would also give you time to add something new and innovative to The Sims 4? Oh I am sorry, working is too hard. It is impossible for your employees to do their jobs. It is impossible for you to delay the game. It is impossible not to add these features as DLC. Just like how it was impossible for Sim Shitty to work offline.

 

[Stabby Joe]

Oi! Oi! Oi!
Cuz its
D L C
It was made (Oi! Oi! Oi!)
D L C
Really delayed (Oi! Oi! Oi!)
D L C
More gamers paid (Oi! Oi! Oi!)
D L C

SOLO!

 

[Something Amyss]

...Well why didn't they extend the release date?! Games used to do that, sometimes they still do. Geez.

This is EA we're talking about, though. No way would they do that.

 

[james.sponge]

Pools and toddlers are serious business it seems, can't wait for them to not include graphics because it's too expensive and their current technology won't allow them to add such complicated assets...

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

For God's sake, who plays The Sims for the amazing emotional reactions between characters? It's The Sims, not a play by Tennessee Williams. It's a game where you build your dream home and then find amusing ways to torture virtual characters.

 

[RedBackDragon]

oh ea....... to me ea is becoming almost like cartman trey and matt love cartman because they can have him do atrocious things and not get much backlash because... well its cartman he does those things and for me i am just starting too expect these things from ea its not a surprise when they burn down half an orphnage then hold the other half hostage till you pay them for the dlc.

ofcourse this dosent mean i like them , it just means i am used too them .. which is rely rely sad.

 

[coheedswicked]

I have no idea why so many companies are cutting corners these days. Computers are getting faster, game development companies are getting bigger. The "we just can't" excuse doesn't fly. Saying "what? you want animation AND pool/ toddlers in your Sims game?" like that's some monumental feat is ridiculous. I remember when sequels to games were exciting because the developers could add features that were LITERALLY impossible at the time of the first game. Saying you have to pick and choose what features to add when computers have gotten approximately 32 times faster and your company is worth DOUBLE what it was when the previous game came out is inexcusable

 

[FalloutJack]

All this talk of being too lazy make me think EA am Bizarro.

"Sims 4 won't have pools. EA am too tired to think hard. Hurts brain."

At least Bizarro's funny. This is tragic.

 

[Flammablezeus]

600 reactions to objects?

I do hope one of them is a reaction to not having a pool.

Damn it. I wanted to post that.

 

[Flammablezeus]

So, you say you're just too lazy to implement these new systems right EA? Watch you churn this out 3-6 months later as part of some expansion pack..

You give them too much credit. It's probably already been programmed and safely stored away (or in the game files, knowing that devs are like) just ready to charge people extra for it.

 

[Racecarlock]

So tell me, ea, what exactly is stopping me from going back and buying the complete editions of any of the 3 previous games and completely ignoring this release?

No, really, go ahead. Bullshit me. Have one of your guys sign up for an account here and actually try and come up with one good reason for me to buy the new sims. I will try not to laugh. (I won't try)

 

[Shinkicker444]

I read that, and all I can see is "You thought SimCity was bad for contrived reasons to neuter a game, WELL THINK AGAIN! HAHAH!"

 

[Strazdas]

i remmeber when in Sims 1 i could download a free mod that would increase the maount of choosable objects and interactions 10 times. and they didnt remove pools either.

Sigh, this franchise has became a "selling full game in parts, 300 dolalrs total". SO glad i quite after sims 2.

So tell me, ea, what exactly is stopping me from going back and buying the complete editions of any of the 3 previous games and completely ignoring this release?

No, really, go ahead. Bullshit me. Have one of your guys sign up for an account here and actually try and come up with one good reason for me to buy the new sims. I will try not to laugh. (I won't try)

but but but 600 emoshuns!

 

[Canadamus Prime]

He also added that pools and toddlers could be added in a post-launch patch or expansion, though the odds on it being free are somewhere between buckley's and none.

Let's be honest and scrap all that bullshit about "too much work" and all those new assets and whatever. This is the real reason they weren't included. Paid DLC for everyone!!

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Eh, I like what versions of the Sims I have as it is. While I'm not a fan of children, nevermind videogame children as they're -rarely- done well, the "it's too much work" thing is a turn off.

Then again, they might have hot tubs, still, which might be somewhat of a consolation. Time will tell.

 

[weirdee]

I hope steam does a steam sale on women soon otherwise we are in trouble.

they actually did have two flash sales on women during the steam summer sale, so i can't tell if this is a sarcastic reference or not