I think it's all about making the sub sims more accessable to the casual gamer. I think this 'arcadey' vibe that some folks are getting is this accessability layer. Sub sims have a lot of specialized concepts and terminologly that hinder a casual gamers ability to get into the game so they give up in confusion and frustration. It looks to me like the Devs have added a layer of concepts and terms that casual gamers are familiar with. Levels and power ups and that sort of thing they've seen before and understand the concepts. This eases their entry into the game and makes the learning curve not so steep. This doesn't necessarily mean the sim underneath has been dumbed down.
THIS IS A GOOD THING. A hobby that is inaccessable to new people is a dead hobby. Look at what happened to board wargaming. It got so complex, from catering to the hard core, that it shut out new members. It was in a death spiral long before computer games finished it off. We may be seeing the same thing happening with modelling. The kits are so complex and expensive, kids can't easily get into the hobby.
Hopefully that sim we all hope for is still there under that layer and can be accessed thru game options or at least modders. I haven't yet seen anything definitive to indicate it's not there.
Targeting sub sims solely to the hard core simmers means sub sims DIE.
|