You don't have to load all of china to go to one single lot. Load times for a completely different world are the same across every single world. EVERY world is playable on every save file. There are plenty of reasons the way they did it with Sims 4 is greatly beneficial to the game as a whole. I think people would be pretty salty if the game world was totally open but most of the sims were just hidden behind a curtain at all times.
#Play the sims 1 online update
It hasn't had an update in almost a year, though, but it has improved lighting effects including accurate 3D shadows for walls and fences, an improved HD UI, full HD support, and even 3D gameplay by way of some insane trickery that takes information stored deep in the 2D object files telling them approximately where in 3D space the object's texture's pieces should be. It is a Sims 1 "remaster" by the guys making FreeSO. They don't have access to ten thousand interactable objects- because only one lot is active. They don't have to worry about routing issues caused by individual lots along the way- because only one lot is active. They no longer have to route across an entire massive environment- just the current area. There's no longer 200 sims to keep track of in real time at all times- just the 30 or so that are in the area. The Open World wasn't the problem, it was the open world in combination with the fact that a single NPC sim is more complex in pretty much every way than an NPC in any other open world game.Ĭhunking the world off means these things aren't as big of problems. Any computer made in the last 10 years can play GTA San Andreas just fine, but if every NPC in San Andreas had a job, schedule, family, relationship status with everyone they've ever met, set of skills, amount of money in their pocket, goals, inventories, personalities, and were interacting with each other and the game world in complex, autonomous ways? The game would be a mess. The issue is that The Sims is an incredibly complex machine of AI and information that it's not the same as other games with open worlds. Open worlds are totally feasible gameplay devices, and totally feasible on lower end hardware. Just for clarity's sake, that's not actually what happened at all. We went from massive, open towns in TS3 to small neighborhoods in TS4 because it was no longer technically feasible. What do you guys think? Would you play this? Realistically, I don't think that EA would do this, but what if an indie studio did? It would also help with the "no one would ever dare to compete with The Sims" problem, as an isometric life simulation game with simple graphics would not be in direct competition with something like TS4. It would really be its own thing, and EA could continue to produce content for TS4. I could also see this kind of game being geared more toward adults, with the dark/adult humor that TS1 had rather than the more childish, whimsical vibe of TS4. I think if it were done right, it would look great, and bring back the great vibe that TS1 and TS2 had. I know that some people would hate this, but personally, I would rather have deep gameplay, tons of features, and oodles of content with simple (but very charming) graphics than have what we have now (great graphics, animation, and art style, but shallow, limited gameplay). Imagine how easy it would be for the studio to create content! It kills me to think about. Imagine how well the game would run in the average computer. Imagine how much bigger the worlds could be if objects didn't need to have such detailed textures. I personally love that angle/view and camera distance. I was inspired by this article, which shows TS4 in an isometric view, as well as early beta pictures of TS2 ( this and this). The game could have massive, vibrant, open towns, endless customization, no rabbit holes, no loading screens, a deep simulation, complex personalities, and more. And I don't blame EA.TS4 is much more smooth and stable and elegant than TS3 was.īut what if they didn't have to sacrifice features? What if EA (or an indie studio) made a game that looked like TS1, but with a more modern style? A game with simple, but charming graphics like TS1 could instead focus on actual gameplay and features. We went from massive, open towns in TS3 to small neighborhoods in TS4 because open worlds caused severe performance issues. But EA is in a bind as each new generation introduces more advanced graphics, EA is forced to scale back features so the game is able to run on the average computer. People want open worlds, more customization, story progression, and more content than they know what to do with.