Benzi chibna looble bazebni gweb.

It's been far too long.

And yes, I know.. I always say that.  But it's true.  

Problem is, I just don't have shit to write about.  I really don't.  It's been all the same. 

Hang out with friends, meet people, visit family, catch up on fave shows, walk the pups, be embarrassed by the pups, vow to never take the pups in public again, hang out with friends..

Same ol', truly.  And not even good same ol'.  Boring same ol'.

But.. as a lack of anything better to write..

AND.. well, let's face it.. I'm not sure if I could help myself..

Today is September 1st, 2014.  Which means.. 

In reality.. I have some MAJOR reservations.  Enough that I almost didn't buy the game at all.  Which would have been a first.  And not just a first.. but a first since February 2000.  

Yes, I have literally purchased every Sims game since it's inception.. before it's release (not counting SimCity).

And this was the first that I almost didn't.  

In fact, I didn't buy it until 2 days ago.  Which is the closest to the release date that I've ever purchased an installment.  

Not counting the midnight hard copy releases that I attended.  But that's neither here nor there.

Anyway.. As any serious simmer knows.. There's about 50+ features that The Sims 4 has left out.. including, but not limited to, toddlers, pools, cars, open world, customisable hair/clothing/furniture/worlds, etc.

EA and the TS4 team is hoping to make up for their shortcomings with their new Sim gameplay design.  

Apparently our sims are now going to have moods.  And feel things.  And be affected by their environment and music and shit.

Well, awesome.  I guess.  

That's the major improvement that EA has been spouting.

Which, honestly, is actually pretty awesome.

But not at the expense of customization.  Not at all.  If EA thinks that "feelings" will make up for the solid 25% or so (rough estimate) of gamers that play The Sims precisely for building, design and customizing.. Then EA is gonna have a bad time.

Myself, I've probably put in about 2 hours of time with the CAS demo (CAS = create a sim, for those that don't know) over 2ish weeks.  

That is not a good ratio.  

I could spend hours happily creating a new sim to play with for The Sims 3.  So many options.. So many choices.. So many things to play with and experiment and create..

But if the demo was any indication?  Not good.  I got so terribly bored with the 12 different hairs and set makeup choices and zero clothing patterns.. 

I mean, who cares if you can drag your sim's shoulders out to here and their thighs out to there if in the end you can't even give them the right hair color or pants?  

As for the other disappointments I've heard.. There is a loading screen (albeit short) between lots, no story progression whatsoever, only 25 lots in a neighborhood and those lots are not customisable at all, sims are only given 3 traits to start with, and there is nothing of TS3's expansions packs.

That means no traveling, pets, weather, magic, supernaturals, university or time travel.  Not that I was into the time travel, but still.

So, as of now, my expectations are about as low as can be.  It is now 29 minutes exactly until release and I am half excited and half dreading it.

Let's see what the next generation brings, shall we?  Here's hoping that it will come even a fraction close to what we have had with TS3.

Fingers crossed.

XOXO