I strongly agree. Beating TS4 is a low bar. Any new Life simulation game needs to aim higher. At least for me, they need to be better than TS3. Right now, I'm not seeing that. At all.

I agree; the Sims 2 is such a great sandbox for storytelling. So far we've seen that the zoi interactions are rather shallow- nothing really seems to have consequence, and even the world settings for disorder just seem to end up with a different texture on things and (cosmetic?) fires. Maybe this is just that the players who have tested this game haven't shown us this- but I think it's more likely that it's not there (yet at least).

We can console ourselves that it looks very good though:








Source- u/Shesleeps22 on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/inZOI/comm...i_have_created/
More here: https://www.reddit.com/r/inZOI/comm...ve_made_so_far/

Yup TS3 is my bar. As someone who played the original The Sims. 4 is such a dissapointment. I'm ready to give inZOI a shot.

And now for something completely different.

Black Myth: Wukong is not a game I am really interested in, even if reviews are extremely good: just not my type. Two points worth noticing, though:
- on Steam, they released a (free) benchmark tool. I don't know how reliable it is (you travel through mostly static landscape; no fighting and fighting sequences are what sends my PC through the roof), but, as they say, it's the thought that counts. Krafton should certainly release one, preferably with Zois slapping each other, wrecking their cars and riding that rollercoaster.
- it made me wonder when the Chinese will make their version of Sims. Just the career options are mind-boggling: become head of CCP, for example - though I am not sure they would include that one.

Rabbitholes in the game files, according to Simmer Erin. I haven't watched the video, but this still worries me.

I really hope that something interesting won't be a rabbithole. I want to see Zois shop clothes, gorceries or see them go to school. TS4 has done it with High School Years so no excuses. It doesn't have to be super advanced.

EDIT: There will be many interesting venues such as fire stations, broadcasting stations, city halls, stock firms and so on, but it isn't clear from the video which of those will be rabbitholes. Those were listed under perspective events. I have no idea what that means.

There is a void with AI and everyone is trying to train and get as much data as possible. In my opinion it has advantages and disadvantages, but the objective always has to be to do something new, regardless of the base used. If the result is good, I don't see it as bad, although I think they should focus on the gameplay more. Everything seems very prefabricated and, as has already been said, lacking of consequences. I see it as a very good base, but as they have already said, it is far from being as good as Sims 3 if it had good optimization. (I have never been able to play it the way I want, So I consider it the best and the worst.)

I personally do care a lot despite what the end result will be when it comes to gen AI.

These models need SO much data and information to be more accurate, and these companies intend to use these models and systems to get money.... so why not use some of those millions and billions of dollars of investment money and pay artist and writers to include their content in the models and pay royalties?

As someone who works in tech, it just bothers me that there's always someone on top trying to take shortcuts and will happily soak in the wealth but get all preachy when someone demands to be paid for their work.

Inzoi is claiming theirs is in house, but I still have some questions about it. I guess we'll just have to see. I'm watching from a distance. And I want to stress I'm really only talking about generative AI, not AI in general. The Sims genre could use some advancement in AI technology to be frank, but I don't think gen AI really contributes to the cause.

I didn't feel much interest or excitement watching the gameplay myself. I think I said it before, but it feels a lot more GTA than Sims to me right now. The more I watched, the less interested I became. But hey, if they listen to the side of the community who is requesting more in depth gameplay rather than just pretty looks, I think it'll be a fun game for many simmers.

@kirabook Yes, in video games and so on, it would be nice that even if Ai is used, the artists are paid.

That would be nice, but I can predict that those companies will try to prevent this. AI is already a very costly business because of the amount of computation power and energy (cryptocurrency levels) and atm runs almost entirely on investment money. The current revenue there is based on subscriptions is like a drop in a bucket to counter costs.
So the way things are going right now, it could be the next bubble waiting to pop. Especially because AI is the fashionable buzz word atm to attract investors. But so far, the results still require human checks to be anywhere near productive. Also, most LLM's (what many ppl also call AI) are kind of crap beyond text composition (can't reason, no fact check) and used for the wrong reasons by ppl. But at the same time are a serious energy hog. They are simply not worth the costs atm.

I love AI research, but at the same time I can't wait for many of those big companies to fail. If only to make investors more wary and stop pumping money into anything called AI. Also because of climate change and the stupid amount of required energy needed for AI. It has to become way more energy efficient first.

I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years AI could be used to add things to existing games that we never imagined, even fix them. It seemed crazy before, but I read articles about it recently and I thought about it.

Got an e-mail from Krafton (as, I guess, has everybody else who played the demo): they want me to preorder the game. Well, I would consider it only if they made a real playable demo; if not, I might make one of my own or just wait for reviews. Far too many unknowns.

Have they announced a release date? I haven't been looking much into Inzoi but if I'm remembering right it was set for 2024 early access right? Or maybe they were vague with it like Paralives.

Early access in late 2024, the last time I heard of it. Not sure if it is still true. Steam says "coming soon" which, of course, does not mean anything.

I am wondering if the early access will still be this year. The trial for the character creator in August made me think it would be right around the corner, but it's been radio silence since. I wouldn't be too disappointed -- as long as when it does start, the game is in an acceptable state. I was personally very satisfied and truly had my expectations upended with the character creator. That satisfaction is enough to hold me for longer if needed.

EDIT: They've reconfirmed it's still coming this year.

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-...aign=socialflow

In other news, it seems they're taking the modern route of making it basically a live service game. Which I don't innately mind, but 20 years is a bit much... if it's going to be another TS4 that's bare bones at the start then overstays it's welcome, that's gonna be super disappointing.