Summary

• Create A Sim will be easier with an update in The Sims 4, allowing toggling makeup and accessories.
• The Lovestruck expansion pack adds romantic options and new relationship dynamics.
• Quality of life improvements with base game changes address long-standing player concerns.

Thanks to an update in entirely new romantic world in Sims 4. Some of these major changes are coming to the base game as well, which is good news for fans who don't want to spend the extra money getting a new pack. These features are long overdue, since many of them were seen in older iterations of the game, but that does not make them any less exciting.

These updates are also major quality of life changes that will likely bring fans back to the game after putting it aside. Thanks to the efforts of the new team EA put together to combat bugs in The Sims, many of these issues are finally being addressed after all the years they've been occurring in-game. Players have been trying to solve things like routing issues, game crashes, and making the Sim actually listen to the inputs from the player since The Sims 4 launched and things are finally starting to improve.

Create A Sim Is About To Get Much Easier

New Menu For Applying Accessories To Outfits

One specific issue that players have been frustrated by was the CAS system. Originally, when selecting the makeup and accessories for an outfit, they would not apply to the rest of the outfit types. For example, putting a wedding ring on a Sim on the Everyday outfits didn't mean that the wedding ring would show up on any of the other outfits. This was also the case for wearable medical items, making Simmers have to go through every outfit they created individually to add it.

This was a necessary step for players who wanted consistency, but that didn't make it any less tedious, especially since the makeup and head accessories are in a different menu than the outfits. Now, thanks to the update to CAS announced during the Lovestruck livestream on The Sims' YouTube channel, there will be an option to toggle the makeup and accessories on each outfit, instead of having to go through and choose them individually. This will make choosing these accessories and consistency much simpler for players who want to keep the same makeup look across different outfits.

Love Is In The Air For Sims Players

New Romantic Options Will Add Depth To Stories

Aside from the CAS update coming to the base game, the update will also bring a few changes to the relationships both in the base game and exclusive to the Lovestruck expansion pack. For the base game, EA is including the feature Romantic Boundaries, which adds more dynamic relationships between Sims. These options are related to the way Sims will react to their romantic interests engaging in romantic interactions with other Sims. There will be jealousy options around flirting, WooHooing, and other romantic interactions that can all be changed depending on the stories the Simmers want to tell.

The specific changes made to the Lovestruck relationships are similar to the Growing Together relationship dynamics. Each romantic partner can have different relationship types, like Steamy, Strained, Unpredictable, and Wholesome. Like in Growing Together, these can change over time and develop naturally through the game play, or they can be set beforehand for the players who want more specific stories. Additionally, attraction features are being added which let Sims develop their preferences for other Sims and can affect relationships. These changes will only be available in the Lovestruck expansion, so players who are interested in that need to purchase that pack.

There are also new Aspirations and Traits for the Sims with the Lovestruck pack, which will add to the romance story options even more. Sims can be Romantically Reserved or Lovebugs, which will change how they react towards romantic interactions. For aspirations, there are the usual options but also the inclusion of Paragon Partner and Romantic Explorer. Together, these will give players much more depth to their stories and more dynamic interactions throughout their game play.

Lovestruck releases on July 25, 2024, and will cost $39.99 USD.

All of these changes are going to greatly improve the quality of life for players. It might seem like simple additions, but these are things that players have been requesting for quite some time and have used Sims mods to fix these issues on their own. Players on console are also finally getting a reprieve, since mods are extremely difficult to add. Thankfully, these base game changes continue to be added and continue to improve players' experiences. Even though The Sims 5 is on the horizon, players who want to keep up with The Sims 4 can do so comfortably because changes are finally being made to the game.

Source: TheSims/YouTube