... why I dislike TS4 so much; it only took me nine years and a bit but I made it. And no, it's not the fact that EA is greedy and that it put out a zillion packs that cost a zillion bucks. It's not the fact that it's a multiplayer game that took a wrong turn. It's not even the fact that it is a big step back from older games.

I'll state in my defense that I haven't played the game for nine years - I stopped after the patch with swimming pools. Now that the game is free I downloaded it and, after a while, I finally fired it up. I made a Sim and moved her into a starter house and then neighbors came and they stood around chatting and I was looking at them and I finally realized what the real answer was: all of them were as smug as smug can be. My Sim was smug and so were the neighbors and so were, undoubtedly, their children and their children's children would be smug as well.

And I hate smug people, period.

What about them is smug? I have never thought/seen/noticed that. And certainly not for the whole game. And all the kids? I am not seeing that at all. And the game is so shallow overall we really have no idea what they think about most things. I will not hit the disagree button, but that observation is not in my ballpark at all.

https://www.google.com/search?q=smu...chrome&ie=UTF-8

Maybe you should brave turning on the insipid Wants & Fears Maxis introduced.

They'll be cowering and quaking in their boots every five minutes with incessant annoying fear idles to boot. But at least there will be very little time for them to be smug. But then again, no, you'll just end up hating your sims for being frightened little wussies every five minutes instead of being smug shits. That's gotta be worse, right?

You made me laugh. The last thing - in fact never - would I ever have seen TS4 sims as being smug.

I would love to read your further explanations, examples and insights on this. The mind boggles.

English is not my first language, so I googled the word before I wrote the post and found the same definition as Daisylee posted a link to.

They are oh so beautiful. And intelligent. And they have such a great taste. And they are such a perfect company. So witty. And, of course, beautiful. And intelligent. And so full of themselves they can hardly breathe.


Sorry, not brave enough. But if there is a DLC with which you can strangle them, I'll buy it immediately and become the greatest TS4 player ever.

Is the original poster trying to say that TS4 sims never disagree with each other and that everything is perfect and barbie inspired?

I kind of agree and disagree. I really hate their idle animations because their smile is always so...smug.

I do not see that at all and especially how you think that is how the kids act. But if you dislike the game so much, that is fine and just don't play it.

I have had a married couple I created where he hated her from the fist time played and she grew to hate him as much as he was so awful to her. They were my only divorce ever in Sims. I would not call their behavior smug at all. I tried to do everything I could to mend that relationship and it just got worse and worse.

So, I have not seen anything in my game that I would call smug Or at least throughout the whole game.

???

Well, at least we agree on this point. I already uninstalled it.

Really? I always thought that the sims from 3 look the most smug, then again I don't really care about any of it

For me the reason I'm not in love with Sims 3 or 4 comes down to moodlets and the game telling me what's happening instead of showing it, the moodlets are just so stupid and meaningless! What's the point game telling me that Sandra is so super sad she can't do anything right now and then I zoom to Sandra and she's there like no sadness showing on her at all. And then she walks in the nicely decorated living room and immediately forgets that her husband just froze to death in the blizzard outside because other moodlets overpower the sad one and she's instantly inspired and happy instead. Same thing with all the rabbit hole adventures the games have, I really don't care that my sim is time traveling or exploring a cave because I can't actually see them do it, I just get pop ups telling that "oooh Sandra fought a bear!" okay, and? Who gives a shit, either show it happening to me or don't bother writing such meaningless bullshit. I miss the way how in Sims 2 sims you didn't need the game to tell you what your manically grinning sim is feeling, you could tell from their body language and expression. The games after that don't have that kind of details and it's a shame, it all feels like downgrade and every game strays further away from that.

I'm more in agreement with foxmanic. The game is always nagging me with something so that I can't create the characters my way or play with my own goals in mind. I think this is in part why I prefer the older games, especially Sims 1. There was less there, so I could insert more of me. As for smugness, I think we all project thoughts and attributes onto our Sims based on our life experiences. I don't see them as smug. I don't see them as thinking their lives are all so perfect. But I do find them annoying in so many many ways.

I enjoyed the game when it first came out because it was new. There are still a few features that I enjoy within it, but overall I find it too boring to play. I spend forever updating first origin and then the game almost every time I fire it up and then I end up turning it off before I even start playing. The challenges with these Sims are not intriguing enough for me, I guess....maybe there's not enough gameplay? I can't put my finger on it. I'm glad you figured it out for yourself.

Is it the default smile they do that is smug? I cannot stand that airheaded smile they do. Or the airheaded cooking animations. A lot of the animations are just so over the top and "quirky" which was on-trend in early 2010s.

Personally, I like moodlets in TS3 and they are essentially tokens from TS2 but disguised in a form of short-term glorified memories so you know what’s up with a Sim (if they are cursed or smth happened that makes sense). In TS4, they stripped down versions that only affect mood most of the time, nothing else and are left as effects that aren’t affect for anything really. With TS3x the only problem I have I’d say that positive ones were overpowering and there was hardly any challenge to sustain their happy mood. I think they should have created less of positive ones (even up the number with negs) and designed the score to be lower than the overwhelming they are. Not everything makes you happy, some should make you feel neutral/indifferent.

While I don’t know about bear thing as that much, but the argument less makes sense when TS2 had also off-screen events if things or animals that aren’t in the game, just to be devil advocate here.

Idk, I'm inclined to believe the sims are very smug indeed.
Just look at my spellcaster toddler after she threw a magical tantrum
and triggered a localised heatwave because she didn't get any more sweets.

She knows exactly what she did, and is pleased to bits with herself.
No where NEAR anything approaching "sorry"

If that face isn't "smug" then "smug" is a myth.

At arcade, payed a few hours to play for sn hour. Theres sims 4 so thought, why the fuck not remember why its crappy game.

Trapping Sims in a oasis springs lounge my Sim hop onto his phone. The game then asks if *I* should consider whether my Sim likes gaming or now Like why? Do they lack the autonomy? does the player has to choose do and like everything for a Sim?

Just down there’s element of surprise, own-driven storyline creating game, where Smarter Sims aren’t even smart to design themselves who they wanna be or how to act.