Life by You: A serious competitor to the Sims?

[Kashked]

So, if anyone has missed it there is a competitor to the sims releasing in early access in September, Life by You.

 

 

 

 

I'm... cautiously optimistic. Graphics are passable at best, but seeing as it's open world, and also 6 months before early access I'm not too bothered. Obviously we'll need more info on the actual gameplay, and what we have seen so far is basically all "this is stuff that isn't in the sims 4", pretty obviously trying to sell the idea of the game to currently annoyed Sims 4 players, but this could be a good replacment if they pull it off. And I'm not even one of those "Sims 3 was better"-people, 3 was the one I missed, played 1 & 2 as a kid and then got into 4 as an adult, so that's not open world-nostalgia talking. Modding possibilities being built straight into the game is a huge plus, and they also seem to be going for a realistic feel, not cartoony zanyness, and I'm all here for that aspect.

Paralives, for all it's hype, is still an indie project which is why that project never got me worked up. This is an established developer, although a new branch of that developer, with a lot more resources to throw behind the project.

 

I, for one, will be following this.

[Shellty_]

As for me this is not a competitor to the Sims. There is no desire to buy the game because graphics, characters, animations, environment look raw by now. I don't like cartoon design in Sims 4, don't like a lot of what they do and don't do for the development of the game yet so far there are no big competitors for this.

[LittleRedSonja]

I think that, even when the game still looks in a very early stage, it is good that there are more "life simulators" coming in the market.

And i know there are other more "indy" simulators out there, but the difference is that Paradox is a relatively big company, that can promote and launch products with ease, and that it has Rod Humble leading the project (which is a BIG thing).

One of the biggest issues with sims 4 is that EA has a monopoly right now, no competition, no alternatives, so they release packs that are almost empty of any content, very bugged packs that nobody have tested before release, they divide features that should had been included in ONE pack into 5-6 and sell them for twice the expected "reasonable" price...And still, we buy them. Why? Because there are no other alternatives. 

New alternatives coming into the market, even when they might not be for everybody and even when in very early stage of development and not very polished, might force EA to be more careful and put some extra effort when releasing packs, because otherwise people will simply turn to some of the other alternatives. 

Now i am not going to pre-order it, because i never ever do that, but i am quite happy that it will be available relatively soon. 

[wild_guy]

I saw a few such "very promising" projects in my life but none of them became more popular than sims so far.

Personally, I would rather the sims get better, the most thing I hate and always try to improve is its shitty cartoonish style.

Edited March 25, 2023 by wild_guy

[Kashked]

1 hour ago, LittleRedSonja said:

Now i am not going to pre-order it, because i never ever do that, but i am quite happy that it will be available relatively soon. 

 

Words to live by. Besides, pre-order is a Epic exclusive (eeeeewww....), although it launches at steam on the same day, so I'll pick it up there at EA-release.

 

1 hour ago, wild_guy said:

I saw a few such "very promising" projects in my life but none of them became more popular than sims so far.

 

Honestly, for all the people who want this to "replace" the sims, and even a bit in how I worded the title of the thread, I don't think this needs to get more popular than the sims to be considered a roaring success. Sims 4 has like, what 40 million players? I'd say this game will easily be a huge success if it passes a million.

SimCity died and City Skylines replaced it, and lots of people hopes Paradox will pull off the same trick, and do the same for the sims, but I just hope this will be something that scratches the same itch, but for adults (and I don't mean that in the X-rated sense). Both can co-exist and be succesful at the same time.

 

1 hour ago, wild_guy said:

Personally, I would rather the sims get better, the most thing I hate and always try to improve is its shitty cartoonish style.

 

I agree, because that would fit my playstyle and desires, but I don't see that happening. Not that they couldn't make the sims better, but the cartoonish style and content is part of what makes it the sims. To me that feels like saying "I just want to get FIFA to do better, and be about hockey instead". The Sims identity is caught up in a cartoons-like world, with the grim reaper and Father Winter, teleporting gnomes at harvestfest, aliens and vampires. And I don't think most players would like that the change, except you know, players like me, who might like this game better.

[GreyMouse]

I'm with @Kashkedon this one. This game has some promise in that it may not replace The Sims, but maybe it will push them to do a better job. I started the Sims in the third one, so I do miss open worlds and vehicles but I damn sure don't miss the poor graphics. I'm not a huge fan of the "realistic" look but if the game is fully made that way then I'm more understanding of it. The Sims 4 and others were made with that cartoonish look and that is how it should look instead of people trying to bring over that Alpha look which is hard to to fully implement when it isn't how the game was really made to look. EA is huge so I don't see that Paradox is going to replace the Sims but this might be some competition finally. I think I'll check it out when it comes out fully. Thanks for sharing @Kashked, this has some interesting points to it.

?

[wild_guy]

5 hours ago, Kashked said:

with the grim reaper and Father Winter, teleporting gnomes at harvestfest, aliens and vampires

No, no, I'm totally fine with such gameplay things, I meant how sims look, they are too cartoonish for me, also I would like more detailed objects instead of half-square Christmas balls and so on.

[modella]

It looks okay, but I do feel like I’m more partial to Paralives. I prefer the cartoonier look. But I would still try out Life By You. Depending on TS5 and how it pans out it may get blown out of the water.

[Madison09]

I'm excited about it and it will be good for the genre for Sims to have some competition, especially given that it is from Paradox (does anyone remember SimCity?).

 

They've got six months to improve the graphics, UI, and add more features before Early Access happens, I'm confident they're going to make the game solid by then.

[FauxFurry]

Someone needs to tell their assets and interface designers about the impact of aesthetics and presentation on the appeal of an audio-visual product. 

Maybe they should hire some of the more capable modders in the Sims 4 community to create a derivative but legally distinct art style to at least carry them to the starting line?

[MrGrey]

I've already bought it. Now just gotta live until it's September 12th and I get early access.

I predict that just like Sim City, EA will shut down the Sims franchise once they get competition from Paradox.

The Sims 4 will never get better. I pre-ordered Sims 4 for $70, it wasn't worth it. Someone did the math, this is a $1000 game and it's full of bugs and bore. EA has no incentive to improve it, all the Sims creators moved on and now Sims 4 is sold to a nich market. If you had to pay full price for the game outright, the only people who would buy it are those who will ask for their money back.

I'm sorry I know I'm bitter but EA's bold as brass money grab by breaking the game and then saying that their new $40 pack will fix it was almost criminal.

 

And Sims 3 is still a better game.

Edited March 26, 2023 by MrGrey

[sexangel]

I haven’t pre-ordered yet but the first time I will do it. But I do believe in this game. It’s what Sims 4 should have been but it makes me fearful for Paralives that they’ll take some strays on Paradox’s quest to end the Sims career