Notes from the Live Stream at PAX 8/30
There are quite a few good game play tips from this live stream!
SimGuru Lyndsay and Swiftor (not sure who he is, some guy from Twitch maybe?). The live stream today was only 30m.
We start off with 5 Sims, three male and two female. SimGuruLyndsay tells us that two of them are Penny Arcade creators, Jamie and Mike. (PAX stands for Penny Arcade Convention, a convention aimed specifically at gamers, that has been going on since 2004.)
Mike is feeling Flirty and Jerry is Focused. Most of the Sims are sitting in a living room area watching television and chatting. The camera pans out to show a rocket ship sitting in the front yard. SimGuruLyndsay decides to send Mike into space for a Work Out. We are told that you can check out the rocket ship launch from a computer too and choose "Listen to Space Launch"
We move to Jerry (I just noticed a FREEZER BUNNY GUITAR GUYS! It's ADORABLE) in the living room and are told that because he is Focused, he is learning his current skill faster, video gaming. We are shown the Motion Gaming Rig again, the 3D surround gaming platform that actually surrounds your Sims with the game itself and they physically move the 3D objects in whatever game they are playing. Jerry enters the Motion Gaming Rig and enters a tournament to play the Tetris like game. SimGuruLyndsay explains traits and careers to Swiftor. Jerry's traits are: Bookworm, Outgoing, Geek & Muser (from the Creativity Aspiration, Writer)
We switch to the two female Sims sitting on the sofa watching tv and are told about Multitasking again as they are instructed to Gossip with each other. The Gurus chat about Multitasking and then Lyndsay opens the Gallery to merge a new Sim into the existing family. Conveniently, there is a Sim of Swiftor, her cohost, in her personal Gallery Library.
Cut to Build more because Swiftor needs someplace to stay now that he's a member of the family and we are shown Styled Rooms. Lyndsay picks a Styled Bedroom and drops it on the house. I want to mention that she drops it on existing fencing and landscaping in the front yard. That fencing and landscaping disappear and the room goes where she wants it to go, regardless of what is already there. It literally takes ~1m to add an entire furnished and decorated bedroom onto a house now, including a roof and a set of windows.
Jerry has returned from space and he is Confident and Lyndsay decides to take the Sims to a different lot. She discusses the concept of travelling between different worlds now and I want to specifically mention that she said "Each new world has different collectibles for you to find"
Lyndsay decides to take Sims to the Gym in Oasis Springs, Burners and Builders. The loading screen for this takes ~22s which is ~7s more than the loading screens we saw when we were watching live streams from Maxis headquarters.
After a little bit of discussion about neighborhoods, we cut to Swiftor working on his Athletic skill by using a punching bag. Swiftor asks about downsides to working out and Lyndsay explains about the Uncomfortable Emotional State and we switch to a female Sim, Robin, who is in a Tense Emotional State because she is a Loner and there are too many people in the Gym. As a side note, there are probably 3-5 other Sims in the Gym when the household of 6 arrives, so there are plenty of other Sims for them to interact with. Lyndsay also explains that when a Sim with the Loner trait does make a friend, "they are better friends for longer and they actually get a boost from being around their friends." Robin chats to a male Sim sitting next to her and chooses to vent her problems and then is in a Happy Emotional State instead of Tense now.
We cut to the bathroom and see a Sim get embarrassed again when someone walks in on them and Lyndsay starts to talk about Whims. Whims are described as mini goals that will help them deal with how they are feeling (their current Emotional State) & there is always one dedicated specifically to how they are feeling. She puts some Sims on the treadmills and chats about how they can work out, chat and watch tv at the same time and Swiftor asks what channels they can watch.
Then she shows off how the Sims dance and chats about old fan favorite families that are back in this game since Don Lothario is in the background.
Lyndsay pans the camera out of the gym to go see if she can find other Sims hanging out in the neighborhood. We see 2 women sitting on some picnic tables across the street and Lyndsay says that one of her favorite things to do now is Simwatching, since their emotions come through in ways she never really expected. She has Swiftor go over to them and use "Rude Introduction" on them since he wanted to make some awkward interaction happen. We see Swiftor interacting with one of the ladies and a Swiftor throws a drink in her face and tricks her with a hand buzzer.
Lyndsay decides to take the Sims home and have a party. It takes ~16s to load the home lot back up and travel home. Lyndsay chats about the jobs in Sims 4 and it's the same information we already know, 8 careers with 2 branches each. And then she shows off some of the Styled Rooms that are unlocked with the career's, highlighing the Writer's Den room, the Heroic Deeds Headquarters which is unlocked for the Astronaut career (Side note, we saw this room in action on day 1 of the live stream with the Malakai brothers, it was in place on their lot) and The Game Room which is unlocked for reaching the top of the eSports career.
Lyndsay then brings up the Plan A Social Event menu to throw a party and when Swiftor talks about the animations on the TV, Lyndsay tells him that they are all old videos captured from The Sims 3. Note, the Prestigious Social Event Box on the menu was unticked so it's just a regular party without goals. We saw a Prestigious Dinner Party earlier in the week and that is where the medal system and unlockable rewards come into play.
Oh no! One of the house Sims wanders into the back yard too near to the cow plant and picks the piece of cake it is waving around and is consumed by the Cow Plant and then regurgitated back out.
The hired caterer makes a cake and puts it on the floor and sits down on the sofa to watch tv and chat with the other guests.
Gameplay Hint! - When you bring up the Needs Menu, the 6 basic Need bars are there: Bladder, Hunger, Energy, Fun, Social and Playtime. They all have a little round button icon at the left hand side of the bar. Lyndsay tells us that you can just press that button and it will shortcut actions to your satisfy that particular need to the action queue.
Moodlets are discussed and how they affect your Sims Emotional State. There is an easel on the deck and Lyndsay tells us that there are special painting that Sims can paint when they are in specific emotions and you can hang those paintings in in the house. Those paintings can be hung in the house and will affect the moods of Sims in the same rooms as those paintings. i.e. you could have a flirty love nest with flirty paintings everywhere.
We watch a few Sims just hanging out in the house. The hired caterer is playing in the Motion Gaming Rig, one is enjoying his bubble bath, one is playing with the Cow Plant in the back yard.
Then the Live Stream ends.
