Diving Deep: Journey Into The Sims 4
Cyliena delved into The Sims 4 over the past week and has an in-depth analysis.
Skills
Rivaling the amount of skills that The Sims 3 had after several expansions, The Sims 4 offers a wide variety that your sim can work to excel in. Some of the skills are simply renamed (Fitness instead of Athletic) while others are brand new to the series (Mischief and Comedy, for example). The full list of skills that I've discovered so far are:
- Returning - Charisma, Cooking, Fishing, Gardening, Guitar, Handiness, Logic, Mixology, Painting, Piano, and Writing
- Renamed - Fitness (formerly Body or Athletic) and Rocket Science (formerly Science from Sims 3)
- New - Comedy, Gourmet Cooking (unlocked at Cooking 5), Mischief, Programming, Video Gaming, and Violin (I don't consider the Sims 3 store Violin as a skill, just an object)
There are a lot of Sims 3 skills that weren't added to the base game for Sims 4, such as Drums or Alchemy, but as they were expansion additions to that game it means we can likely expect the same in this one. Skills can be raised from level 1 through 10, increasing your mastery in it as you gain levels. There are skill books you can read and objects you can interact with in the world that can increase your skill level.
Remember that pile of trash Ginni passed out in on Page 2? I forgot to have her clean it up and it turned into a Trash Plant, which she now practices her Gardening skill on (the fruit is collectible, too... but don't eat it).
Those with Child sims will also be able to build four basic skills up to level 10: Creativity, Mental, Motor and Social. These are easy to build by interacting with child-useable skill objects, toys, or other sims. Since I didn't get a sim to Teen yet, I'm uncertain of what impact raising these skills will have or if there are is a Teen-specific skillset.
Achievements
Many games have achievements and The Sims 4 is no different. The game offers a lot of fun achievements to work on as you play your sims, covering the different categories of Careers, Player Feats, Relationships, Sim Feats, Skills & Crafting, and Wealth & Collecting. In usual Maxis fashion many of these achievements have humorous names such as "For the Hoard!" (a nod to Warcraft 3) or "Rosebud" (one of the original money cheats in The Sims).
Achievements aren't necessary to your gameplay but offer an added challenge for those especially motivated completionists.
Bills
Bills come weekly in The Sims 4; the cost depends on how lavish your home is. Unlike the Repo Man from previous installments of the game, your utilities will instead be shut off one-by-one if your bills go unpaid, starting with the electricity.
These bills are no joke, either. I fully admit I use enough money cheats to fund building a house (because I love building unfettered!), so of course I dumped in several fairly expensive items and used a big lot. The first bill I saw rolled in at over $5k. For one week. ONE WEEK! I've looked into it and have seen others reporting bills that go way beyond that, while some living modestly are having smaller bills that Sims players are more accustomed to.
Maybe it's a bug (that's gotta be an extra 0 at the end, right?), or maybe it's a way that Maxis is telling those of us that use cheat codes for building to be more responsible with our sims living way beyond their means. I'm hoping to see some sort of middle ground because currently it feels crippling to those who enjoy living in the majestic homes that they build.
Collections
Like Achievements, Collections are another fun addition to the game that gives you an extra challenge to work on. There are currently thirteen collection categories to complete and each requires a variety of items. Some, like Frogs, Fish and Gardening, require quite a bit more items than others such as Space Rocks and Aliens. The SegmentNext blog has a great guide that lists all the base game collectibles.
I told you that the Trash Plant fruit is useful for something!
Some collectibles have emotional auras that can be toggled on when used to decorate your home. It may be difficult to find enough space to place them all in your home if you plan on keeping everything! I also found out from Twitter user LittleSparkzLFG that you can breed the frogs you collect:
@Cyliena yep clicking on them in your inventory offers the breed option. I haven't explored off my lot too far yet.
— Kristin (@LittleSparkzLFG) September 12, 2014
Multitasking & Game Speeds
Multitasking is a new addition to The Sims 4, which allieviates some of the previous headaches of the series. With multitasking your sim can do their homework and have a conversation (pictured below), laugh manically while walking around the house eating their lunch, play a chess game while getting into an argument, or maybe something crazy like quitting your job while using the bathroom.
Overall, the multitasking works fairly well, but sometimes it has baffling results. If you queue up using the toilet and reading a book, the sim will only multitask them if the book was queued first (because that can be carried to the bathroom). I had a sim almost walk out on a date because she decided to go to work; I canceled the work option, but she just kept walking away from the building (despite having no reason to walk anymore) until I canceled that as well.
I assume that because of the multitasking feature, the fourth game speed that was in previous versions of The Sims was removed. The Sims 4 has Pause, Normal, Fast, and Very Fast, but no longer has the "Very Fast Until Current Action is Complete" option. I still find myself tapping the "4" hotkey trying to enable this when my sim is doing something like practicing the piano for a longer period of time, but it isn't something that detracts too much from the overall experience.
The Gallery
The Gallery requires you to be connected online to Origin and offers a place for you to upload your saved sims, rooms and lots to, share them with the community, and download/import Gallery selections to your own game. Integrate sims into your current household or directly into CAS to create or add to a new family, expand your home, or just simply use someone else's fully-furnished home and move in right away. Even on a personal level, this is a great way to save a backup of a sim you really are proud of creating, or easily import rooms you made to multiple lots in your game.
I enjoy sharing my creations with the community and it's amazing to see what others have created as well. There have been some fantastic replicas of the Friends apartments, spot-on celebrity look-alike sims and some wonderfully unique things as well. So far I've experienced a very supportive community, with players praising, thanking and encouraging each other. Hopefully the trend continues and it will be interesting to see how The Gallery expands in the future.
Hidden Areas
A cool addition in The Sims 4 was two hidden areas that your sim could access. I haven't been able to get into the one in Oasis Springs yet (apparently it requires Handiness level 10), but I did go visit Willow Creek's Sylvan Glade. By performing various interactions on a very unique tree near the "Crick Cabana" lot, you unlock a beautiful area that offers several collectibles. I tried to access this area with a child first and couldn't interact with the tree, so you definitely need an adult (or possibly a teen) sim to access it.
It's so majestic that even the fish are desperately trying to get a glimpse of their surroundings.
For a full walkthrough on accessing Sylvan Glade plus the Forgotten Grotto, make sure you bookmark SimsVIP's Hidden Lots guide.
Cheats
Cheat codes have been in every version of The Sims, and The Sims 4 is no different. I won't give the full list here (it's huge, so go bookmark this page), but I'll go over a few useful ones if you're inclined to use them.
- CTRL+SHIFT+C: Opens up the command console
- motherlode: Adds $50,000 to the current family
- rosebud or kaching: Adds $1,000 to the current family
- testingcheats true/false: Toggles the usage of more cheats, such as...
- SHIFT+click sim: Allows you to reset object, add to current family, make happy (fill all needs), and enable or disable motive decay
- SHIFT+click ground: Teleport to that location, if possible
There are a plethora of cheats beyond that, but those are the ones I find myself using above any other whenever I'm inclined to utilize cheat commands.
<< Page 2: The Heart of The Sims 4 Page 4: Conclusion >>
