Paralives OFFICIAL gameplay trailer has been released! Everything we know about Paralives gameplay in 2024. Socials - linktr.ee/SatchOnStuff BUSINESS CONTACT ONLY: satchonsims@gmail.com
I think people just don't realize how much money they actually make. These companies make millions off of base game launches, needing anything more than literal multiple millions is capitalist greed
Simmers are so used to getting game content in chunks and pieces that they have to pay for that they have absolutely no idea the value behind a game and what you’re actually supposed to pay for as a player. It is insane, as a person who has been outside the sims community for a few years now, to see people saying that they should charge for updates. Like y’all are so shocked at the basic decency of a developer, it’s like you don’t know what you’re supposed to do so u jus default, like “no! Charge me, charge me!” Have realistic expectations and enjoy a regular degular gaming experience. Not every publisher is EA. “Don’t worry guys, we’ll charge you for it later!” isn’t acceptable in other gaming communities. This is jus insane to watch. I kinda wish I was an EA shareholder I jus can’t be that evil tho.
Right? That's the main thing I see is people saying how will they support their team? But they have a very small team to begin with and as others have said plenty of games sell a game once without paid dlc, and still are successful. Free updates down the road will be an incentive for more people to buy the game. EA has really ruined simmers perceptions with their greed. Paralives team has been working on this game for so many years I'm sure they're not making any statements without being certain of their decision.
all of this + what the commenter above has said - but I think people forget they can also choose to do paid DLC at a later point if needed! it’s not all or nothing. if they ultimately can’t sustain the game without paid DLC, so be it, I appreciate the attempt and transparency regarding it. gamers shouldn’t have an issue with paid DLC, it just needs to be better than EA’s nickel and dime-ing of everything 😵💫😭
I think satch does means optional dlc as a later addition, not that gameplay should rely on purchased updates and expansions. But yeah we've had a looooong time of having to pay to play and it shows 😂
Same with paralives tho, the early access release will be missing some pretty big features. They will be coming for free tho during FULL release however. Definitely go check out the development page on their website (should be a link for the full one) The stuff that is missing makes me pretty nervous for the games future tbh, lil simsie has the same fear as I do about it. Not that it won't be good, but people not knowing about it might tank the game before it is even finished, before the full release. Idk man I'm scared and I hope it goes OK, and people read the development timeline so they don't ask silly questions already answered on the free site.
@@user-th1pv6ks5o Lilsimsie should not always be used as an example of making reasonable commentary on concerns. I’ve found her comments pretty misguided and irresponsible in the past, as well as recently in her Paralives video.
As a normal gamer who also plays sims games, some of these takes on Paralives are absolutely wild to me. It’s like the only things some people have played or seen played are Sims and Fortnite, most games released don’t require paid DLC. They make money from… selling the game. Updates are released as necessary or as gifts lol
Yeah, i think THAT company brainwashed the players into thinking the dlcs are the main source of income when it should be the base game. When dlcs in games are generally cosmetics + soundtrack and sometimes even a digital artbook.
Yeah it makes me a little sad tbh. I've been following paralives for a few years and I remember they announced fairly early that they intended to have pets + weather in the base game. People were skeptical about that too, saying they didn't think it could be pulled off and its like.... these are parts of life, basic parts of living as a human. People have let EA brainwash them so much that they not only expect basic content to be stripped away and resold to them, but they think any alternative is impossible 😭😭
"Notifications instead of Needs Bar to declutter the interface" *Project Rene Team* trying to make their interface more minimal: *_Write that down, write that down!_*
I'm a very visual person, this is a negative for me. i have a really hard time reading in games especially if I'm tired after a long day (dysgraphic, and a little dyslexic) It basically feels like I have to stop and turn on my reading brain in a game, so, I'd love to have more bars, color coding etc to keep me from having to rely on my sketchy reading ability. I feel like they could make the visual representation just be more customizable. Instead of doing away with it it all together.
I've been a patreon for them for forever and not being able to talk about the live mode aspects was really fucking me up so i'm just sooooo glad that others are also able to talk about it now :D
@@Efi2002 in fact nothing. But we paid to to support and have preview content. If we start disclosing before Paralive it wouldn't really be right for them! This is a request from them and an advantage for us :)
I think it's great they avoid progress bars. Sims 4 is not only an animation player, but gameplay wise it's also an progress bar simulator. Friendships: Progress bars. Skills: Progress bars. Needs: Progress bars. Just to name a few, there are much more. By using ranks and levels and by displaying needs as thoughts I can imagine it feels much more organic and natural and less technical.
I'm going to need more icons, bolding, and color coding though because, reading in games is tough for me. I have dysgraphia and mild dyslexia and something about gaming makes it harder to turn on my reading mode. It's fine if it's a setting. But yeah, that radial menu in the sims 4 is also a problem for my sketchy reading abilities. But I liked being able to click on the needs and at a glance, make sure they won't pass out or stink while at work. There's probably other ways to do it, perhaps making physical needs have bars but social emotional needs be represented elsewhere.
@@steggopotamus tbh would be cool if we can customized how these UI or letters looks then upload them. So like you, you can just browse to different styles people created and pick what's work for you, someone probably have the same issues you have
I’ve never been more excited for a game. The fact in sims 4 you can only have friendly or romantic relationship bars is so infuriating. I love enemies to lovers trope in books so I would love to have academic frenemies in my game haha. I love when games actually give you a challenge like you only have a set amount of points to give to your attributes when you start. And the fact sims don’t all sit and watch a wedding EVEN WITH THE WEDDING PACK (love the world, sucks the gameplay doesn’t work with that pack, very sad) or how like satch said, sims cannot eat together at one table. The click and drag is going to be SO useful. I’m so tired of being the one running the entire world in the sims 4, I want situations to happen that I don’t have to spawn, I want unexpected events, love that NPCs can ask to kiss or something. So excited
They do have the challenge where you’re trying to get into the tech industry and your asshole ex childhood friend blabs how he’s so much better than you (not really) so he’s your enemy through the challenge but towards the end (when he gets sacked) you can hook your sim up with him. Probably the closest The Sims 4 has to enemies to lovers 😅
I'm hijacking this to remind people to not comment too much on the willfully negative comments, because it boosts the comments's ranking (not to mention give a presumably toxic person attention they crave, negative attention feeds their toxicity). Once someone has replied, just read the top few replies and like them to ratio the comment and then put your attention somewhere where you'd rather spend your time. It's ok to have reservations about the game, reply to the people who are being reasonable about it.
I cannot contain my excitement for this game. I've been a simmer for 23 years and I'm ready to move on. It's about time The Sims had some real competition. I know the paralives art style isn't for everyone but I personally love it. I think the para's are charming and look adorable. 2025 can't come soon enough!
Never apologize for talking about Paralives! We are here for it!!! And personally speaking it's so refreshing and exciting to know we have a new life sim to look forward to that looks like it's being made with love and the players in mind!!
If this was very similar to Sims 4 I'd probably not be interested. This goes in a new direction and that's why I'm excited. I want something new. I'm tired of broken content and thrown together ideas. This seems so thought out and creative. It's not my normal graphic style but the gameplay is a win for me and I can overlook graphics if the game is interesting and fun. I think we need to get away from normal and try something new before we decide we don't like it. Too many are comparing it, enjoy a new game concept.
A vicious queen can still be your best friend. I have a couple of those in real life. I like those various combos you mentioned. Perhaps these new Paras won't avoid each other because they are NOT enemies. .Not so black and white. (well maybe not BEST friends..lol)
I 100% agree with the career boxes! Less payment for the blue ones and taking more time to be able to choose. 3 days of work It's perfect. I don't know about it, but if we're able to change the Para's lifespan, I think that should change the length as well (Short lifespan = 1 day, medium lifespan = 3 days, long lifespan = 5/6 days.)
Is Interesting how they really planed the gameplay to feel different from the sims franchise, the needs, relationship, the work progression. I think it will match the way some people already play the sims, they use cheat to fill needs only to play more of the relationship and make pretend stories aspect. I am really surprised with what they come up. I thought they had no gameplay ideas because its was a total secret until now.
It wasn't really a secret they'd been posting on socials and their patreon. Obviously not to the extent of the recent video but they definitely showed gameplay quite a few times.
@@Ilivepuppys very true but with every game things get dull. This adds to the excution of the game even after it may or may not gets repetitive. I used to love to read the little sentiments you would get in sims and compare them etc. :)
I've read other simmers on other reactor's comments saying that "Notification/cloud-thoughts-like" needs and wants annoys them like how notifications or ads on their phones suddenly appear also annoys them. 😅😅 I don't know anymore, but I also agree that Need Bars makes me feel irritated because after filling it up into full green, it then gone back to yellow to orange to red. 😭😭😭
yeah I also really get the point with the notifications... maybe it would be nice for us to choose how we'll get notified. I think more nuanced symbols and light colours would help :) like a friend of mine is a slow reader but loves playing the sims. so it would be really sad if they'd be deterred from playing paralives bc of having to read a lot.
The fact that the developers are planning to offer all additional content and updates free of charge sounds great, of course. But I'm not sure whether they will be able to fulfil this. I think we all know how demanding players can be. Many people will complain whether it's free or not. I wouldn't mind paying extra from time to time as long as the content is of high quality.
i think the following they could develop could outweigh that. if they were to keep on developing the game, starting with a full base game and quality expansions, people will be more likely to recommend it to their fellow gamers and simmers. and with the vibe of the community, it seems some people will be doing similar things to stardew valley- buying multiple copies, gifting copies etc to support the team as much as possible
EA has brainwashed you... Look at a whole bunch of other games on the market, successful games. A lot of them have no paid DLC's. This is very feasible, and with stuff like Patreon funding development they'll be able to do this. When this game comes out it's going to sell, and sell a lot. They won't need to make DLC's.
i love the idea of being able to say yes or no to a romantic interaction, i hate how i have no control over my sims decisions on that in the sims games lol
There r some jobs that u need like Rank 15. it means near 20 ingame days including holidays. So i think gaining job rank every day is a must. If not we will not be able to change into a better job. 😊😊😊
You also need the special thingies (the skill trait things?) to get better jobs. You can’t just rank up forever, your para needs to build their resume too lol
I do really like the “vibe” option. When I was privately coming up with ideas to how I would create a life sim myself, I really liked the idea of splitting traits up for which area of a sim’s personality you were going to customize. The “Vibe” is basically what I was thinking of calling a 1st Impression. Then I was thinking of splitting everything else up in social traits, mental traits, lifestyle traits, and even include the option of a health trait. This would be for things like if you carry the bald gene, get hot or cold easily, or if you have a good immune system.
I agree, there doesn´t need to be a salary increase every day. I think that is to much money to fast but otherwise, I really like their job model. I also agree, that the expertise doesn´t need added salary.
The game looks cool but I'm wondering how they'll make it engaging if you can't manage conversations more than once every ingame hour and such, the NPC's better have very good autonomy to spice things up, else it's going to be a "watch the game play itself" simulator (which The Sims already suffers from even though you can micromanage it). If not that then I hope they'll allow to create very big families. If I can't queue a 100 actions in conversation at least I can switch paras to attend to each and every of their convo-stuffs. Then again they seem to be gearing it to the chillest players who just want to sit back and sip coffee so maybe it'll be just that, a chill game.
You can tell the devs have played a lot of games and understand what fun is and what people really want out of gameplay. By streamlining and reducing micromanaging, they have made a game that CAN focus on gameplay.
From what it sounds, there are needs beginds the secns, but they arent visible as bars like in the sims. So you still need to keep up with your character needs, but the state of their needs is less obious. it will make for a more challenging gameplay, which can be both good and bad. Its at the very least going to make gameplay more immersive, there is no such thing as "needs bars" irl, but most of us do have an inner monolog
I'm excited about this aspect because I have such a problem with letting my sims needs get low. They take like 2-3 showers a day lol. If it's just a "hey, I'm hungry" I think my brain can let them finish a task before I get them food instead of obsessing over their needs bars.
Sounds amazing! Like developing a personality slowly over time based on different choices…kind of like life…instead of ‘it’s a romantic sim/gardening sim’ etc etc. I’m wondering if ‘time’ moves a little more slowly for this game than The Sims, so a change every work day may make more sense if it takes longer to play through one Paralives day. I also really like the idea of “work friends,” vs “friends” vs “neighbors that I’m friendly with,” it just makes it more rich and complex, imo. I’m really liking all of this!
I think it would be great if at the end of each workday there was a random chance of earning a point - for instance for hardworking paras the chance might be 50/50, but if the para is kind of lazy it might be a 1 in four chance.
I actually really love the whole concept behind the para careers. It gives careers in simulation games a new meaning, in a way. Rather than making sure that your person has practiced a skill for the day and goes to work happy to obtain promotions, para careers take a somewhat more realistic approach to obtaining and maintaining a job. You have the ability to upgrade your job everyday in order to really focus on where exactly you want your para to be in their career. Are you happy in your current position? Want a better looking check now rather than later? Go for the salary increase. Want to look for a different job, one with better pay, perhaps? Surf through the requirements of the job you're aiming for and work to gain those skills on your CV/Resume. Only in search of extra perks at your job? Choose the third option. I don't know, I just love the idea of needing to gain certain skills for certain jobs BEFORE you apply, rather then after you've already gotten the job. And the option to CHOOSE if we even want those new skills or if we'd rather go for an extra perk at work or a bigger salary.
I agree with the work pointer. Giving the blue upgrade a raise making the green upgrade pointless. Why would you only upgrade your salary but not your skill ?
Im exicted that its different, sims 4 costs a lot of money and glitches and crashes all the time for me with and without mods and cc. I quit for months at a time because anyime theres an update i cant play. Or log into my EA account. I dont think paralives will overtake or kill off the sims or EA unless EA lets it, between inoki, LBY and paralives theres competition in the life sim genre which is good! I personally find the art style comfy and cozy and i like it more than LBY i might still buy them both but i will play paralives more i beleive. I cant wait for all the games to come out! And i hope project rene does well for EA
Loving the tag on the cap in the background 😁 Really love the fact that not all will be within your control and that there are some random elements. Also really nice that you can use your built up skills to get a higher rank at another job. And if you quit a job and then want to start again you don't have to start from zero since you have the skills. Also feel like one point per day is too much. Agree that you should get 1-2 per week. And that the blue option should be either no money or just small amount. It's always way too easy to make money in sims for instance and it's so boring. And yes! So much more fun with a schedule on the sims for instance instead of just sleeping in the day and be up in the night.
Just like Palworld gave a great smack in the face of Nintendo\Gamefreak, I really hope this one will have the same effect and show EA how to do a literal game and not a cash-grab
It honestly concerns me how many are calling it a "controversy" that they wont have paid dlc. Calling it that can give paralives a worse rumour than they deserve! Also, I hate micro transactions in cosmetics. Paralives also doesn't have to last forever, many finished games are still played today!
I am sooooo excited for this game. It's bringing me back to the Sims 3 days when I would watch one of the trailers and be smiling or having my mouth open the whole time, counting down the days until release haha. It's been a long time since I've felt this level of excitement for a game. 2025 can't come fast enough😭
Again, I disagree with your assessment of encouraging cosmetic dlc. While you might feel this to be a welcoming feature to benefit both the consumer, as well as the players, this only will make the eventual console players left out (akin to having to buy kits in Sims 4, because there is no modding options available). Stardew Valley still is being purchased, Terraria is still being purchased, Hollow Knight, as well as the original Minecraft (plus a plethora more that use this model). All of them are successful. Like they stated, they have no shareholders to appease, which in turn makes us (the consumers/players), the shareholders, and our rewards will be updates. There is no overhead, they are a small team, and since they remain transparent with us, we provide them with feedback and marketing. You do realize that we, as consumers pay more for games, not because of development costs (or increading employees' payroll), but to line the pockets of CEOs and shareholders, regardless of the successes or failures. Even when Sim City 2013 crashed and burned, while employees lost their jobs, the shareholders and CEO still made a plethora of money. This is why most triple A developers will not venture fown this path. And why even Microsoft, upon buying out Minecraft, went the route of introducing spinoffs, and the Marketplace (which again only thrives on console and mobile platforms), due to the modding community. Even with those cash grabby additions, there are still free updates for all Minecraft games (including spinoffs). If there does come a time that Paralives considers charding for any dlc (outside of spinoff games), it will be us, the consumers/players (especially console players) that will hurt. Another aspect to consider, let's take a good long look at just the mainline Sims evolution. The Sims, was a revolutionary introduction to the Lifesim genre. Because digital access was not yet commonplace, we were able to play a relatively bug free game (having the least glitches and bugs out of all the mainline games). Yes, paid dlc was added, but just expansion packs, which were more in line to sequel gameplay, with the ability for crossplay. In comes Sims 2, completely enhancing the personality system (with aspirations) of The Sims, adding in days of the week (which allowed days off from work/school), and aging (along with the most comprehensive and realistic genetic and memory systems). However, its success brought on more greed, as stuff packs were now introduced, as well as an online store (yes, Sims 2 is where the store began). Sims 3 brought another level of ambition, an open world. However, there were major setbacks, personalities (which evolved over time, through gameplay), were replaced with more stagnant traits, animations were toned down (teleportation became the norm, as details were scrapped). While they continued on with the EPs (more of them) and SPs (more of them), they heightened their store to levels of individual items to bundled items, to premium content, to venues, to ultimately entire worlds offering added gameplay elements. The prices were ludicrous, but eventually they added in the ability to watch ads to earn SimPoints, giving the ability to buy the entire store for free (excluding items and worlds unavailable for SimPoints purchasing), myself included. And while not every region of the world was given this option, they introduced it whereever allowed (which they benefited far more from advertisers, as well as us players benefitted too, especially console players). EA had already introduced The Sims Complete (I forget the exact name), and since its sales were successful, they decided to introduce the Sims 2 Ultimate Collection (with very little marketing), for free, but only for a limited time (although that was also not announced as such from the get go). After a bit of a delay, due to the disaster of Sim City 2013, Sims 4 was introduced, stripped down mostly beneath The Sims version. Sure, it added in emotions, but they added little to nothing towards gameplay or personality, as the emotions are easily interchangeable, making every sim now feel bipolar. Because of Sims 4's poor launch, they decided to end the Sims 3 Store's method of watching ads for SimPoints, as well as terminate giving free copies of Sims 2 Ultimate Collection, in hopes to sway players to focus on Sims 4. Of course they did keep the Sims 3 Store open, as well as allowed players to purchase any dlc (except KPST), as Sims 3 is still raking in money for them. However, The Sims Complete, and the Sims 2 Ultimate Collection were not being offered for sale, nor supported in any way, with the exception of the Mac Version (which has missing content). Sims 4 took what was once considered a Life Simulator and turned it into a dlc Simulator, adding on top of EPs and SPs, Game Packs and Kits. While prices might seem more reasonable, Sims 4 cut the content of all of them. They might as well had just had an online store, for the quality of their content. So, in conclusion, do you really think that having paid dlc would be better for the consumer? I have a ferling that Project Rene will crash and burn, just like Sim City 2013, if Sims 4 doesn't implode first, ending the series entirely (unless they get smart and polish and enhance their earlier games, as complete collections).
Thank you for this update. You're so funny and I agree with all your points! I think you made great observations and commented on things I was thinking about myself.
@intoxishawn. I'm all for devs to have more money, but games usually come as a whole product. I think the Sims 4 lowkey distorted players' perception of buying DLCs since raw the sims 4 is bones. If the game is good, it will sell well with not dlc needed
I think the question is only the realistic sustainability if such a promise that either one, it will lead to them not being to update at all at some point because they won’t be able to afford it or two pulling a Disney Dreamlight Valley and having to go back on said promise.
@@TheDawnofVanlife I think they could release monthly cosmetics packs to have a constant income. People who don't want to get them, can just download mods, it would also be great for console players since they can't access game files etc. When it comes to ,,gameplay,, content I think it all should be included the base game
Very insightful! I appreciate your input on the job aspect. Gaining skills/knowledge every day is, as a new hire, pretty realistic, I think. I can only imagine the longer your character works at that job, that getting opportunities for raises and stuff will thin out to every other day or so, depending on their own skills or expertise. I also think that integrating needs and wants is more personal and helps understand the Paras better. It looks like it'll be more fun to play.
I really like the idea of developing your personality, but I don't want my paras to eventually become too OP (like how some traits in the sims make things too easy imo). It might be kind of an unpopular opinion, but I would like to see some aging effects (maybe doing some stuff slower or something). Because most of the time older people know more, but are for instance less mentally flexible.
i grew up during the oblivion horse armor dlc drama, so i mean... lol and i still say so long as it's just cosmetics and for fooling around to have fun, there's no harm no pressure not only is it an avenue for small creators to keep a roof over their heads it's crap people like me love spending pocket money on, and i dont have many games i do that with adding weird radio stations, or a decked out steampunk pack; i dont understand the harm in like a 10$ pack of quality or even parody recolors or builds and really i dont mind full game expansions either, but the content needs to be worth the price, and not feel like the base game is MISSING features without it.
Yeah I wonder if fulfilling/not fulfilling the wants/needs would impact your Para's mood, but I can't tell if mood is a feature they've incorporated, it doesn't look like it at this stage, but maybe that would come to the game later?
Ok; this is exciting! I know I’m late to the Paralives hype train - I wanted to see more concrete info from the team - but it’s looking super promising!
Im ok with paying dlc if its decently priced not like eas prices free games usually die fast...wich is a problem... I dont think paralives will be updated for yeras to come maby only 1 or 2 years after full release :/
They can updating because some games do that instead of paid DLC as example game Star stable online do this way for 12 years now xD and game gets even better now.
Not having shareholders does make me feel a little better about their strategy. But I wouldn't minde a few extra supporter packs that offer non essential cosmetic stuff.
I just hope the game play for raising kids is really good cuz that's been my struggle with sims. I haven't seen any tyoe of babies in the game yet so I'm curious to know if it's something they're working one
I think the blue box for the career definitely needs nerfed a bit. Maybe it gives a small bonus? Keep the full salary raise for the green bar only? So it’s like your para went above and beyond to learn something new at work and got their bonus type of thing
With regards to expertise gain in careers, it would be cool if they differentiated it by making new job ranks locked behind certain expertise ranks, rather than having expertise give you a pay rise. That would model real life jobs a bit more, in that people will get small pay rises over time, but often don’t get promotions until they can offer new or more specialised skill sets.
As someone who's biggest issue in sims 4 is the lack of dynamic relationships, I am so happy about the relationship status's. There's only good friendship, bad friendship. Good romance, bad romance. And that's it. You can't really like anyone without them *having* to like you back and relationships just don't really work that way
I agree, even though they are small, the money from the initial sale of the game won't last long. It's not like you're going to have a lot of people buying the game as time goes on, at least not ever at the same level of the initial purchase, especially in the gaming industry, it's always about the big "new" thing and older games get left in the dust. They are going to have to have some sort of pay model in order to maintain that a year or more down the line. Yes, they are going to most likely sell a LOT of copies in the beginning, but that will trickle off after the first year, with maybe peaks of purchase activity when they launch 1.0, and when new content gets released, but it will never peak higher than the initial purchases.
I actually think the pay increases and job credits are very realistic, but perhaps that's because I'm from a country where salaries are pretty transparent: there are scales with a range of 0-10 steps usually. Most jobs will be a certain scale (or range of 2-3, from junior to senior) but the steps depend on your skills and experience. Most jobs offer a yearly step upgrade if your performance is satisfactory. If you suck, you won't get it (firing someone isn't easy) and if you do really well, you can negotiate more steps or even a scale up. To use the paralives' example, you could say you're going to focus on your communication or writing skills for the next x months or year and then in your 6-month/yearly review performance you evaluate if you've progressed well in those areas and your regular performance. A daily point/credit might seem like a lot but I don't think they've revealed the lifespan of adult/eldery paras yet? So if the top job requires rank 20 to even get it, that's at least 20 work days if you solely focus on increasing your rank. Perhaps they could make the difference between monetary 'bonuses' bigger: like job rank would be a 100 paradime extra, whereas an expertise would be a 20 paradime extra.
Wow so, their needs are kinda like a smarter version of the sims 4 whims combined with the reward traits u can buy, like when I want to have an introverted sim but they always need to socialize totally breaks my immersion of who they are, so I either have to grind or cheat the reward trait 'independent' or 'needs no one' JUST so I can have them be happily introverted, but with this it looks like they can be introverted right from the get go if u chose a 0 or 1 level charisma in ur para creater. That'll be so nice 😭
Job development every day - Assuming Paralives has a similar time scale as The Sims, since they'll be living for about 70-90 days, a 'day' equates to about a year. (But also to about a day for weekends)
Im so excited for this game!! Im obsessed with the labels and COMBO LABELS💜I cant wait to make SO.MANY.FRENEMIES AND LIFE PARTNERS. 6:18 IM SO HAPPY 7:40 yes.please; 8:18 exactly. i hate how easily i can befriend a sim in sims 4!
So my boyfriend and I came up with an alternative, optional thing instead of paid DLC: Pay one game fee and you own the game, but depending on the platform they could (in 6ish months once they see customer response to the game) roll out optional DLC subscriptions for a rather small monthly/quarterly fee. So if you don’t care and plan on going thru modders, cool, but if you want dev-created extras (different clothing options, other l not-necessary content that would be a bit more seamless than modded content, etc) you could pay maybe $5-9 a month. Kind of similar to the way Rocket League runs?
I really like the new needs system, because as you said, the majority of your time in Sims are actually spent sending them to bed, make food or go potty instead of actual gameplay which over time gets boring, tiring snd annoying like a Sims Tamagotchi.
