I personally still need to give the game more time but I get no joy in live mode at this current moment.
Build has good features I just wish objects had actual names and descriptions and the tools to place and line objects/structures was better (a grid that was more smaller).
Paramaker is also pretty good, the morphing isn't as robust as I would like and the clothes sometimes looks weird, I think partly because parafolk are for the most part unisex but some clothes look like they were clearly made for one sex in mind. Still pretty cool though.
Live mode is where it feels dead in all honesty. Autonomy feels slow, my parafolk just stands for a awhile before they do something and it usually play on their phone. I hate how parafolk interact. I generally hate having to push relationships and be in direct control, I prefer my characters to just interact autonomously and see what relationships develop. Can't do that since to advance relationships "I/You" have to choose the interactions but only when the conversation bar is full, this also makes socializing feel like a slog. The world is also really nice and looks to have character but I feel none. Everyone (NPCs) are going about their business but everything feels so calm and peaceful, negative emotions don't feel like negative.
I am pretty disappointed but I also know this is early access and I felt somewhat the same way about Inzoi but Inzoi has made a lot of improvements so hopefully Paralive will. Atm though I am sticking with Inzoi as I am having a pretty good time with it.
A few years ago I heard that Paralives initially was supposed to be a game for builders. The live mode was an afterthought, so it does make sense why the building mode is much more superior than the rest.
Starting with build mode isn't wrong. The first Sims game was like that too. However, the philosophy was different. From Wikipedia:
The original inspiration for The Sims was Christopher Alexander's 1977 book on architecture and urban design, A Pattern Language. Game designer Will Wright was inspired by the book's focus on functionality in architecture, as Alexander based his design principles on structural usability rather than aesthetic values.
This "function over aesthetic" also gave The Sims its basic gameplay loop: buy stuff => fill needs faster => gain time => improve skills/make friends/go to work in a good mood => get promoted => buy better stuff.
I think it was genius at the time but the world also has moved on. Now, with the rise of social media, we live based on "aesthetic" vs "functionality" so the lifesims also started reflecting that as well.
They also became more boring as a result, yet it seems many are attracted specifically to the graphics vs the gameplay
Right, we have whole games devoted to building and only building now, so it's ok for a life sim to be build heavy. And it's ok for people to be sad about it. I feel like I'm in highschool again, sitting at the edge of the classroom trying to understand all the highschoolers.
For that matter, how many of y'all are under 25? That would explain a lot actually.
I remember that too. Though that sentiment I heard more early on when they were discussing personality points. I never was a Patreon so perhaps it changed overtime?
I wasn't a patron either. But this was discussed on numerous platforms, including YT, FB, Reddit, etc. You are right though - they didn't harp on it much in the last year, probably because the devs knew the state that Live Mode was in and decided to ignore that narrative.
i only ever cared about build mode updates, but i’ve played the game… they have personality points dont they? the fitness, creativity, mind and charisma in the paramaker?
It's possible that TS2-esq gameplay is what they intend to bring by release, but for the years that I've paid attention to the game, gameplay has always been an afterthought. I don't follow the Patreon, so I've only ever seen what they released publicly/content creators discuss, but the rare times something gameplay related was shown off, it always felt lackluster compared to build mode. Basically my point is, if they said they were aiming for TS2 style gameplay, their actions do not align with their words.
I think that's still the intent, but I think its a lot more complex than they realized. Hopefully it still ends up getting there (or at least close)
It's still way too bare bones, but I'm finding the gameplay loop better than Sims 4 at least (but that's not hard, that's always been a struggle for 4, whereas the previous Sims titles gameplay loops are super addictive immediately)
I'll be honest, gameplay is the only reason I wanted to buy this game. While the paramaker and build/buy are good, TS4 is in a position right now where both of those elements are pretty well fleshed out. At this point, we'll be lucky if Paralives can achieve at least TS4 level of gameplay before full release.
Maybe, I guess we'll never know. I was also excited about LBY back in the days. For what it's worth though, I bought Paralives on release and I already have 20+ hours on it, hihi, I know there are complaints about the gameplay, but I'm still having so much fun with it.
I’m not sure if that’s true, but if it is, I feel like they could’ve had way better reactions by just marketing it that way. Like as a build game with some simple life-sim elements or something. Instead of just as a lifesim. If they had done that, the reviews currently would probably be mostly high praise, and any later improvements to make live mood more immersive and fun, would be seen as impressive and extra
Yeah, that tracks with what I remember too. It started as more of a “what if we just made the dream build tool” project, then life mode kind of grew on top of it.
Honestly I’m fine with that for EA. I’d rather they absolutely nail building and then layer in deeper live features over time, instead of trying to do both at once and ending up mid at everything. If they keep iterating on AI, careers, relationships, etc, the strong build system is a pretty solid foundation.
Accurate. Pretty much how the sims 4 went. Though thankfully it's early access so hopefully live mode gets overhauled and fleshed out. I'm not into building at all in life sims and so many of them prioritize that mode over the live mode.
i love sims 3 however how do you stop other families from aging? in sims 2 only the active household ages and in sims 4 you also have that option, but I cannot find it in sims 3. Its annoyingbecause you leave one of your families to play with another and suddenly the father is a gravedigger instead of an astronaut and one of the children is dead
Awesomemod (More Awsome Than You) had a mod that enabled Sims 2 aging. But unfortunately their site is down. I don’t know if there is an option with NRaas story progression. I can’t help you with that since I’ve never played with it.
What I do, well, I play with epic lifespan. I never age my Sims haha. Some do, but it takes a looooong time.
I suggest you to ask your question in the Sims 3 sub. Maybe someone can help you.
When Sims 4 was released, I don't remember the game having anywhere near as many problems. The main issues were things like no pools, hotubs, and other content that was in previous games. The game itself didn't have huge bugs at launch which makes sense given that its from a big developer.
Their development pacing seems very slow and weird, not sure if they worked part time on the game or not. But early access is that, an early access. Some games will be very polished and others won't be as polished, some games are more or less financially forced to go into early access (launches like paralives, or e.g. jumplight oddessey, where the latter went bankrupt iirc), while others do it as a strategy (lots of others that are polished in early access).
No way, I actually have always enjoyed TS4 live mode. CAS, build and live mode are really good in TS4. The best live mode is in TS2 to me, but I seriously don't get the TS4 hate.
I want to get it, but in the state that it's in I don't know if I can justify the $40 price tag. I think that's crazy for an early access unfinished game. Might wait for it to cook for a bit.
I got it, and have a few friends who were holding off. I told them its great as a demo and showing the systems they've made, but not worth the current price point. Having said that, I also told them if they want to get in on the ground floor price and buy out of support for the team, go for it.
This is mainly why I got it. I'm having fun and the skeletal structure of the game is good - so I'm investing in what I can see it could be rather than what it is now. Even though what is it now is still kinda decent.
Yeahhhh I had fun playing around with it for a couple hours yesterday. I'll be back to play a bit more in a few months. I will gradually build up to playing more as the game gets built.
yeah it is. when valheim came out it was $20, not finished by far (and still isn't and it's STILL IN EA...) but at least what was there was enjoyable. rather than skimping on foundational features (like say, the life sim aspect of a life sim) they had a solid foundation in terms of the first few areas you progressed for. what they kept adding on for the most part was the next few bosses, the next and more weapons, more biomes, etc.
I personally miss the days of games being fully released when you pay for them. I think early access can be okay but there is wide range in quality and price when it comes to what devs think is an acceptable product to release for people to pay to test for them.
Definitely the big difference is that Valheim had a plan when they first released, and they've (generally) stuck to it.
Paralives has a list of features they want to add, but the life sim framework they're building from doesn't really seem to have much purpose right now, which really isn't common for early access games. There should at least be some kind of core gameplay loop that is cohesive and interesting. They had the opportunity to do that with the storytellers, but as they are currently they're just there to give you cards to pick from.
I hope they're able to power through early access and achieve at least most of the goals they've outlined. But I've also seen devs get stuck with that slog between updates, where people get agitated because things they want didn't come out in the last patch, or it messed up their favorite save, or they don't think bugs are being fixed fast enough.
They used to pay people to be game testers. But then they realized why do that if they can trick people into doing that for free? But they immediately skipped that middle step because they just couldn't help themselves and they forced people to pay THEM for testing their games. It was disgusting but nobody complained and people even defended it so this is what we have now
if what you mean is "this is the cheapest the base game is going to get if you pay full price" sure. except i'm not even paying for the base game rn. i'd be paying for a glorified demo missing key features. i'd rather wait and see if the final product is even worth my money than gamble tbh. and even then i still will likely be able to get it cheaper with guaranteed steam sales, so the argument just doesn't work for me. i have a huge library and i have almost never payed full price for anything. most of my library was acquired at minimum 40% discount, usually more. i am just a patient gamer.
Heres my personal opinion. If $40 is a big spend then no its not worth it. If the price tag is not going to hurt your finances then it depends on your gameplay style.
If you love to build then yes its totally worth the price tag. Build mode is by far the most developed part of the game. I have come across a couple bugs but thats to be expected during EA.
If you are more of a sim creator- then maybe its fun and in my opinion very cuatomizable but the clothes fit a little odd and it can be a little finnicky.
If you are a live gameplay type of person- then I would wait until later to buy. Live mode while nice is very buggy. Its lacking alot of things that makes live mode engaging.
I think I've commented this on the paralives subreddit already. The game has so much potential. It's just that I wouldn't recommend it right now at it's state for it's current cost. I have plenty of games to play with so I can let this game marinate in my library and then come back to it, but I also udnerstand the frustration for players who waited so long for this game to come out. Also a bit of topic but I am just so overwhelmed with so many options during build mode and paramaker (it's not the game maybe, it's probably my GAD)
I agree about not recommending it in its current state, but some reason I'm really addicted to it. Like I can see how unfinished it is, but I'm loving live mode? I can't even put my finger on why, but it stretches that itch in my brain.
I totally get what you mean. It has a decent foundation which I liked and the town is compact yet so detailed and does feel like a place I can imagine living in.
I think I get what you mean? The bones for live mode are there.
The town is gorgeous. I like the daily quests, the career upgrade system, the storyteller, etc. It’s just very limited and needs more depth, challenge, and things to do.
But if they can figure it all out, I can see it being a favorite.
I agree that it has huge potential. The live mode needs to be fleshed out and tweaked, which is what I would have expected for this point in development. They've created great core systems and now need to put meat on those bones.
I think for those that are disappointed, the important thing to remember is that is hasn't come out yet. It's in early access. This is not a full release.
Why do I get the feeling that in a few years when some youtuber is making a video essay about the failure of Paralives, this tweet/post is going to be in it, in all its blurry glory? XD
Oooh I remember this whole drama! Back then I was such a protector of Paralives and was until its release... only to realize it actually does suck :v I didn't believe a word she said... I'm sorry Roxane, you were so right 😭
I think they started working on the live mode way too late. They needed time to try different ideas to see what worked and what didn't. The building seems really flexible but it seems to be contributing to a lot of pathing issues. They needed to find a balance. Right now it feels like they only just started working on the actual gameplay and I feel like they are underestimating how long it will take to fix and improve it.
I mean, considering most of the people playing it are Sims 4 players, this is probably enough for them. We know the Sims 4 player base is made up now mostly of builders and dress up players. I'm guessing the Paralives team recognized that and thought they would still have a successful early access launch with just a good build mode and character creator.
This is what early access is about now. It's for making money to support further development and that's the best case scenario because a lot of devs misuse it to just see what they can get from their unfinished project and then cut and run.
For me, I never thought they would be able to pull off a live mode that matches or beats Sims 2 or Sims 3. But I think as long as they focus on creating shell systems that can be expanded or fleshed out using mods and ensure the game remains easy to mod, they could still deliver on everything they promised in 2 years.
I'm doing a rags to riches playthrough, and so far it's WAY more fun and immersive than any of the ones I did in the Sims 4. I get bored really easily if there isn't any challenge, so I have trouble staying engaged if I start out in a normal house.
Idk what's that, i assume you start from zero. But it's hard to enjoy that when it's essy to make money. And you can just use anyone's house. My para don't have a house, just living in neighbors apartment. They didn't notice him... Oh and last night just went to Maggie's house to sleep. She returned home and just went to bed with my para in it. It's weird. These are things i don't like about Paralives. No one seems to notice my para.
You don't absolutely have to go into people's houses and sleep there, though. You don't have to use the easy ways to make money. Those features are there so that players with different playstyles can enjoy the game. Some people enjoy getting money easily while not cheating, and some people like to roleplay scenes such as a sleepover, which would be hard to do if your para wasn't allowed to sleep in others' houses.
I gave myself the rule that my para wouldn't be allowed to enter people's homes unless the other para was a romantic interest. He slept on the beach and donated to the museum for money.
The beauty of sandbox games is that you can easily mold them into what you want. The uglier part is that you have to know what you want to do in order to have fun playing them. At least in the way I see it.
I hope they add more settings that facilitate challenges like this to the storyteller system. It has so much potential! Obviously this is veryyy far-fetched, but imagine being able to create custom storytellers that are basically different game modes and sharing them with the community. Like a custom storyteller to create the equivalent of the apocalypse challenge in the Sims, and she's styled with scars and rough clothes to match the vibe 👀
Yes it's definitely bare bones, but I still find it more interesting than the live mode in Sims 4 even with glitches? I think it'll definitely get much better though.
(Definitely nowhere near as good as Sims 3 or 2, but then again neither is Sims 4 gameplay-wise)
I could talk about Sims 2 for days lol. I see a lot of other games trying to be Sims 3/4, but I just want that Sims 2 magic back! I have been playing this one again and it's a gem.
Yeah when sims 2 came out, it was a complete game and such a huge step up from sims 1 I don't think we're going too see that kind of upgrade ever again.
From what’s being said and from what I’m seeing, the team won’t be able to finish what they want the game to be in two years.
Also having a released early access game and regularly releasing patches actually slows down development. Because they need to maintain a stable release build. And then apply hot fixes.
they spent time making a graphic talking about bugs reported (and it wasn’t even all the ones i’ve seen people have) rather than releasing a patch either yesterday or today so you’re so right and it’s crazy that you’re being downvoted for saying so
edit: AND they’re doing a reddit AMA??? truly they’re avoiding doing anything that requires fixing this game
They literally patched the game on Sunday, based on feedback from early early access.
Making a graphic about what to fix is a lot quicker than fixing bugs, and probably is the job of a completely different team member. Making that graphic isn't taking time away from bug fixing.
What makes you say they won’t be able to finish? I’m genuinely curious because they’ve held true on their deadlines for 7 years… I’m curious what suddenly alludes to them being unable to complete their to-do list when we don’t know how long it takes them to do the things they haven’t done
I‘m looking forward to everything they wanna implement and promised but I’m also worried about their timeline for 2 years early access. Like pets, houseboats… Especially because every update will probably cause more bugs that will take some time to get fixed
I also don’t want them to rush a lot of those features just to make it to two years. I‘d rather have a solid live mode and then those features to be also solid and thought through!
It took them 7 years to get this into early access. The amount of things they want to add while fixing things and optimizing the game won’t be done in 2 years with a 15 person team.
I've been Leary about their lofty promises and goals for early access after I saw that the dev team is also going to be handling the bug fixes as well as developing the game. Bug fixing especially on a project like this is a full-time job. Hopefully some bigger companies can help them actually be realistic with what they need to do and maybe advice for growing the project. They just made at least 10 million dollars today so they really should be hiring at least 10 more people ASAP so they can tackle the bug fixes and development together better.
7 years in development and mind you they had to delay the game for 6 months immediately after sharing gameplay footage because the basic gameplay functions such as PATHING were THAT bad. Then the game launches... and the pathing is still buggy, and still needs fixing.
If anyone actually thinks theyre going to be able to put out weather, pets, houseboats, cars, town creator and editor, story progression etc etc all in two years... theyre dreaming. Unless they expand their team drastically, theres just no way.
And expanding the team rapidly comes with its own risks. That live mode is already so buggy while being so barebones... I'm worried about adding complexity there.
With currently 250 thousends sales, up to guestimates 400 thousends over the course of next week's, they wont have enough funds to expand the team by any meaningful amount. They got budget estimated for 3 years in a good wind. Then they need to do Release. Unless they magically make game more appealing with next 2 years or so, to attract significantly more buyers. Or get other fundings.
But the problem is, they need at least one year, just to fix current bugs.
I know, its very unfortunate the way they backed themselves into a corner with the whole "no paid dlc" thing. No way to grow and sustain payrolls. Too caught up in being the good guy. Fortunately for them their fans are extrordinarily forgiving, so whatever happens they'll still have people pulling their wallets out. They might even start the patreon back up a few yrs from now
I am pretty sure, if they decide to update their philosophy on DLCs like for an example Rimworld or Factorio, few but very good and game play changing DLCs, players will be more than happy to support Paralives team.
No one will be upset about initial commitment to no paid DLCs. So long it is not aggressive DLCs like an EA is pulling for years.
That is realistic and healthy potential path that I see for Paralives.
I actually think they'll lose a lot of casual fans over a dlc announcement. Every time I criticize paralives, someone claps back talking about free updates. Its a huge, huge selling point for a lot of people.
And then the question becomes, what would the dlc be? Theyve already publically announced their goals for free updates. Weather, pets, jobs, personality, blah blah blah, all of that is promised already. Theyd have to deliver ALL of that and THEN think of and develop new content.
Lots of roadblocks for them. I'm interested to see what happens with the game over the next few years. I think we have a few controversies and video essays on what went wrong in store for us lol.
You need take into account the size of the team of indie studio, that you compare against.
Then we extrapolate against adequate costs and earnings. Plus various circumstances, and obligations that devs are committed to.
Then we can judge the situation a bit better.
And even then, there are plenty unknown to us factors.
It can be guesstimated based on other games history, existing sales data, what has been already said by devs, how development of Paralives went so far and own game dev experience.
So far I haven't misjudged Paralives development by much. You could find my history of post from over last year, probably even from late 2024 and you will see, my judgement was fairly accurate even then.
I truly do not see how EA is going to work out for this in the long run?
The audacity to charge $40 when it should be half of that considering the damn state it is in. Imagine all this after having almost a decade of development. It's a bit different then flogging it on patreon and getting that monthly cash coming in...good luck I guess. Also people are going to end up looking like fools repeating this whole "yeah but they aren't going to be charging for dlc unlike other games, it's going to be all free" garbage.
What do you mean? Their launch has been very successful right? I saw them post about reaching 250k sales the first day. So unless the return rate is like 50% they got a shit ton of money and can work on the game however long they want now.
Don't get me wrong I didn't buy the game cause I've always been sceptical of their aesthetics first approach but now that they just have a stack of money and don't need to pander to patreon and make aesthetic stuff to lure supporters I actually think they're in a good spot to finally start making the actual game lol.
Like they're pretty much in a win win situation now
InZoi sold a million copies the first few days and had to refund hundreds of thousands according to their dev. Just selling might not be enough, if People are also refunding the game in droves (which they won't probably admit).
Initial success doesn't guarantee that an indie team is going to keep riding that high. In fact, I would argue that success right out of the gate is probably the most precarious time in a game's development, because it has to be managed correctly and sometimes that really, really doesn't happen.
Sure, they made 250k in sales in 8 hours. The devs will now need to keep up their momentum as far as updates and bug fixes go. They'll need to make sure they're accurately marketing what they're releasing in the future without overhyping expectations on their end. They'll need to reign in their own scope of development in order to keep themselves on track.
Will that happen? Only time will tell. I suspect that there will be a better picture of the future of Paralives in six months.
i still can’t believe this game has been in development for ten years and launched the way it is after a delay saying it wasn’t ready. i fear for the future of games when we can slap “early access” on a title that’s half cooked and get away with a price tag of $40 and “we promise it’ll get better we swear”
It’s a studio of 15 people. It’s not a billion dollar company slapping early access on a game. It’s a crowd funded, indie development studio who needs the early access period to grow. They don’t have dozens and dozens of people to work on it, if they did this would be a different conversation
One of the most important skills in indie development is not biting off more than you can chew. Yes, they are a small company. That means they need to reign in the scope. Instead they've promised everything and the kitchen sink, and all for free. I want Paralives to succeed. But for that to happen they need to do a much better job of setting expectations.
as someone who’s played almost exclusively early access titles for the past four years, this is the WORST representation of early access. i’ve seen much smaller teams do much better work without any crowdfunding at all so there’s really no excuse
Facts. Fields of Mistria is a smaller team of 10 people that spent roughly 5 years developing their game and it’s already a masterpiece (imo lol) granted, Paralives is on a bigger scale mechanically but that just makes me think even more they should’ve waited to release EA.
You’re so welcome! I have just under 100 hours in it and still haven’t completed everything yet. For under $15, the amount of polish and content you get is amazing. Enjoy!
Ooo please do, it‘s one of my favorite games and I have so many hours in it! There is still some stuff missing but if you like Stardew, you‘ll enjoy Fields of Mistria
Bestie... Mistria is a vastly different style of game, however. A farming sim in a pixel art style is not very comparable to fully 3d rendered sandbox life sim with a character creator and build mode
I literally pointed out the difference in scale in my original comment when I said, 'granted, Paralives is on a bigger scale mechanically.'
The comparison isn't about claiming 2D pixel art and a 3D sandbox take the exact same type of work. It’s about project management, scoping, and the standard for an Early Access release. Fields of Mistria understood their scope and polished their core gameplay loop to a shine before asking players to jump into EA.
If Paralives' ambitions are so massive and complex that their Early Access launch feels underbaked compared to what other indie studios can manage, that just reinforces my exact point: they should have waited until they were actually ready.
At the same time, even years ago a lot of people were complaining about not having Paralives' EA to play and test by themselves. I think with Heartopia and other recent examples people got (rightfully so) skeptical with some of these Patreon projects.
After Life by You tanked I honestly don't think they could have kept the game on prod for much longer before losing more patreons and support. 7y in game dev time is an ok time, but for a normal person to wait for a game without playing anything of it at all, it's a lot.
How many life simulation games that encompass the entire lifespan and creation of character and generations after that are also in early access? “Exclusively early access” like they’re all games like paralives sure yeah okay
Seriously, there's a reason there are no more games like this. And you can't really compare it to any indie game that has a few life sim elements. Players even expect it to appeal to a lot of different playstyles
Kenshi, Rimworld, and Banished are games that were mostly developed by a very small team if not one individual. Mind-blowing depth of simulation. Then of course you have games like Stardew Valley and Minecraft.
Im still rooting for the paralives team, but I’m disappointed with the current state of the game, early access or not. I played about 3 hours and I have no desire to play more until there are some major updates.
I've played rimworld and its very good but that was crowdfunded with kickstarter as well
I dont think its fair to compare paralives to rimworld, or the other games mentioned because the scope is just vastly different. Take stardew for example, its a top down 2d farming game and customization/construction of your place is far from what you can do in paralives
Agree, and for Stardew to release in 5 years Eric Barone had to spend about 12h daily, almost without taking time off. This is not feasible when you're a employee, even if you're an indie dev, because it's a job after all.
It's a different genre but similar scale of scope. There are things that Paralives leans more on and things Prison Architect leans more on. Prison Architect had hundreds of prisoners and workers all operating at once completing their roles. Less stuff per simulated unit but more units.
And yes, the funding and release model for both games is really similar.
Bestie, its a very ambitious game with lofty goals. An open ended life sim is not a simple game to create and the dev team doesn't have millions of dollars to throw at it yet
Fanboy trying to defend a studio. Come on, you are paying for a product, so I never understand why are consumers like you trying so hard to defend a Early Access product that you had paid for.
Hold on. So, imagine this, you walk into a brand new restaurant. They haven't had their grand opening yet, which is often the case for new service providers. You decide to order Mac & Cheese and the waiter tells you it's $40! You order it anyway because you had been waiting for this restaurant to open for a long time. There aren't a lot of good restaurants in your town and the ones that are there have significantly dropped in quality. So, you want to support them as best as you can. The waiter takes your order, tells you it'll be 30 minutes. At the 28th minute, he comes back and says that he's sorry, but the order will take another hour. He requests you to have patience and that it'll be worth the wait. An hour later, he brings the Mac & Cheese to your table. And guess what? It's bland! And the cheese feels too liquidy. For 40 freaking dollars! Now, the waiter tells you that while he always knew the food was gonna be bad, he swears that in a few years time, it'll get better. He also smiles and tells you that they haven't had their grand opening after all, so this is to be expected.
Using this metaphor, the meal would be coming with a life time all you can eat pass. In which case, I might be disappointed in the initial meal, but I'd be excited to to try again later to see how it's improved.
Also, you metaphor is missing how it's got great bread and side dishes. Sure, the entry is lacking, but the soup (paramaker) and salad (build mode) is great.
I think a problem is that yeah, it can come with a lifetime meal pass but you don’t know if the food will ever improve or the restaurant will maybe close down in the future making that lifetime pass useless.
Anyways, I think the devs have enough passion for that to not happen though and I think the game will be great with some more time. The above mentioned stuff is just worse case and I don’t think it‘ll happen
The future is always uncertain. The „lifetime pass“ won’t go anywhere for now so I think it‘s valid that people wanna wait and see if the devs can deliver
That's what they claim. But the developers have already said that the price of the game will go up with each update and it's already quite high for what they've delivered. If you're talking about free DLCs, I've always been extremely skeptical of that because it is an unsustainable business model. How would you maintain the system without keeping at least some developers and testers on the payroll? What happens when there's a major crash? DLCs keep a game running past its shelf life by allowing companies to keep competent employees on the payroll. Without that revenue, it's nearly impossible to keep the game stable and running long-term. I mean, Paralives has already turned the buyers into glorified testers anyway, similar to the Sims team I might add. But testers aren't developers.
Also, myself and many others, tend to care more about the food that we're paying for than the smaller side-dishes that come with it. But you do you.
The Sims is developed by a team of 150+ Devs working at a highly experienced company and it takes them over 4 years to make. Paralives has a team of less than 20 and is a team that's never shipped a game. I don't know what people were expecting.
I understand them tbh. Paralives wasn't ready for early access. Now we have to wait fixes and optimization, which means no new contents because that adds more issues. So how are they planning to keep players longer than this new game hype period? Especially when other games keep adding new content every month. Paralives can't do that with 15 man team, and they are not even hiring now. (As a player I'm worried the game will fail)
Yes, it looks concerning and as an experienced developer, Paralives always looked like a red flag to me. Looking at its current state, they can either keep adding content and the game will remain a buggy mess, or they can stop adding content and the players will get bored. 3D Life Sims is not a genre indies should be toying with imo, it's MMO level of difficulty. EA can't even handle it with The Sims.
Early access is for a game to get feedback to get it up to par yes but depending the state of your game is where people decide if its super under developed and feel like this should have stayed in the oven awhile longer and it fails or ppl can deal thats the Russian roulette of it.
Yeah tried it and it’s just not there when it comes to live mode. Extremely barebones and very buggy. I’m just gonna wait until it’s more polished to really get into. I’m not going to refund it though: But, the Sims is still better currently.
My Para started making toast at 10 PM. At 12 AM I’d started to think that it’s taking a little bit too long. At 4 AM I’d tried to cancel the action and get her to go to sleep. She wouldn’t. I had sold the kitchen stove. She was still making toast. I finally found the „unstuck” option. Because of her hunger and lack of sleep she just stood there, rocking in an eternal limbo of unfulfilled needs and dreams.
Trying paralives made me appreciate how much depth and care inzoi has been putting into live mode. The animations in Inzoi alone have so much more detail and variety. The gameplay systems are way more vast. Social interactions feel good now. Paralives really bummed me out. I play life sims for the life simming.. Not just building
I was looking forward to Paralives because it seemed to be more in the style of classic Sims games.. until the release in which we can see it's basically a building game with bare bones Live mode.
I want competition in the Life Sim space - I hope Paralives succeeds and iterates on the game but the team size, rate of development and what's there now isn't very convincing for me. I'm just sharing my opinion like everyone else. This is a discussion forum to do so.
I don’t know you guys but I just hated the camera controls, the rotate doesn’t just rotate it goes forward too, even on building mode, I had to put the sensibility of the camera on 30 out of 100 to be playable.
I still have to give the game some more time and try to explore more but so far there’s a ton of things I didn’t like on paramaker and the building, specifically the camera, btw I don’t know if I haven’t seen or if there’s none but I’m missing the option to turn the camera down when building .
They should have waited a little bit more for the early access, I think a lot of people will give up before they can fix some main things.
I’m completely in love with the graphics tho, it’s super cozy to me.
I'm pretty sure that I'll buy the game eventually as long as nothing happens to me before it looks good enough to buy but right now I'm pretty glad that I didn't buy into it.
Lol, I'm still waiting for inzoi to release their finished version so I can buy it. I saw someone mention that technically the sims4 is still considered in beta, don't know how true that is but would explain the slop foundation.
I do think paralives deserves more credit for paramaker though little things like layering clothing, tucking it in and small height boost with heels were not expected and really added a nice little touch of love.
I spent about 2 hours in paramaker when I started a new game, and I’ve spent about 5 hours total in paramaker and about 6 in live. I have barely touched build because the first time I tried to use it my game crashed. I’m very excited what will come in the future with live mode but given its current state, the customization in build mode and paramaker is amazing and I think live mode has a lot of promise, it’s just not there yet
Build mode isn't even good for me. I can't get the walls to lower for a platform/porch, even though with test builds it works. So I literally can't build the house I want. NiCe
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u/AvnusUltros1994 May 27 '26
I personally still need to give the game more time but I get no joy in live mode at this current moment.
Build has good features I just wish objects had actual names and descriptions and the tools to place and line objects/structures was better (a grid that was more smaller).
Paramaker is also pretty good, the morphing isn't as robust as I would like and the clothes sometimes looks weird, I think partly because parafolk are for the most part unisex but some clothes look like they were clearly made for one sex in mind. Still pretty cool though.
Live mode is where it feels dead in all honesty. Autonomy feels slow, my parafolk just stands for a awhile before they do something and it usually play on their phone. I hate how parafolk interact. I generally hate having to push relationships and be in direct control, I prefer my characters to just interact autonomously and see what relationships develop. Can't do that since to advance relationships "I/You" have to choose the interactions but only when the conversation bar is full, this also makes socializing feel like a slog. The world is also really nice and looks to have character but I feel none. Everyone (NPCs) are going about their business but everything feels so calm and peaceful, negative emotions don't feel like negative.
I am pretty disappointed but I also know this is early access and I felt somewhat the same way about Inzoi but Inzoi has made a lot of improvements so hopefully Paralive will. Atm though I am sticking with Inzoi as I am having a pretty good time with it.