The Sims 4 and Expansions: Back to Square One All Over Again

The Sims 4 is expected to be released sometime later this year and I already know what most die hard fans are thinking: “Time to buy the base game and all the expansions again.” The funny thing is the last expansion pack only came out last year and there’s already a sequel. There’s no wait or breathing room for a gamer’s wallet to gain more dough for a huge sequel. I remember when I just recently completed all the expansions for The Sims 2, then the third one was announced not long after.

Am I and every other Sim fan pissed? Well, it does suck to some degree because we just started to enjoy one installment in its entirety and now we are back to square one. I can definitely install The Sims 4 and The Sims 3 in the same computer, but others might not be so lucky. I don’t think dedicated players will readily want to uninstall the latter so quickly. Does this only happen with The Sims franchise or other games have this as well? It’s not rhetorical because I am really asking.

Read on for more.

You know that feeling when you just experienced an awesome movie or game. By the end of the film, your heart is clamoring for a sequel. You wished you had it right away because you really wanted to know what’s going to happen next with Commander Shepard from Mass Effect for example. The truth is: While you are begging a developer for sequel through their forums, you don’t really need it right now. It’s simply a knee-jerk after effect of witnessing something awesome. Think about it. You’re sitting on your couch for hours and you are fed with content all the time. Of course, you’ll want more even if it is satisfying conclusion!

The perfect time is always when people least expect it after two years or even more. People have probably played the crap out of the last game and most would make room for the next installment right away. The last game isn’t a new found love affair anymore and it would hurt less to shelve it. Our wallets have probably grown over that long period of time to shell out some dough. For PC gamers, we have to spend for the game and the video card upgrade so it is more costly. If you play other games aside from The Sims, then you know how important the latter upgrade is. A console’s life cycle is shorter if I’m not mistaken.

I know that The Sims franchise isn’t anything like Mass Effect or other stories with a compact narrative. There is no ending when you are playing The Sims games. There are a multitude of stories happening in your game world and you can even have an unlimited number of family generations. At one point, you may decide to stop playing but you can always go back to pick up where you have left of (provided you have the save files).

I used to play The Sims 3 on my Macbook Pro using Windows OS via Boot Camp. While I can play the game on the former’s OS, all my games are in the Windows partition. It took me two years to get settled in my college town so the MBP was a compromise to accommodate my then nomad lifestyle. Anyway, I think I only assigned 50 GB for that partition. That’s not a lot since you have to give space for the OS and all the other accessory programs. The Sims 3 and its expansions took a huge chunk of the space. It was enough, but the MBP might not hold The Sims 4 and its first expansion packs. People might not face the same situation, but it’s equivocal to people who do not have desktops and latptops powerful enough for games.

Thus, some people would resort to uninstalling games to make room for new games. For die hard Sims fans, it’s difficult decision to make since they are most probably the early adopters of The Sims 4. At the same time, they’ve probably built one whole empire in The Sims 3 and it was only recently “completed” after the last expansion pack was released. I’m one of the players who get a renewed love for the game when all the expansions pack have been released because it feels complete. In the early days, my Sims didn’t go to college, didn’t have a resort, and wasn’t able to be a supernatural creature among many other things. Now that I can, I want to start fresh and make a family that can experience all these things. My cousin actually waits for all the expansions to be released before she plays it.

I just hope that The Sims 4 won’t be such a bare game, so it can stand on its own for quite a while. It’ll be easier that way if you don’t want to install its initial expansions. I’m optimistic since I noticed an overhaul of features for the base game when it was announced and showcased. I also hope that release University a lot earlier for this generation. Open for Business is also one EP I wish they would release for this upcoming generation. They only teased it through little features, but it wasn’t in full glory like it was in The Sims 2. Otherwise, I’d love to see all the past expansions return and some new ones as well.