I had some thoughts about Uncle Fred / Tutorial, especially as the end game starts to come together.
The intro tutorially is great and recent changes have forced players to do a few more very specific things, which is honestly smart. The game can be a lot at first, so making sure they don’t get overwhelmed and fail is important, and too much freedom when they don’t understand can end in disaster.
But after you’ve played a few times (or restarted over 100 times as I have), that intro can be restrictive and unneeded (and recent changes have made that even more painful). Of course, we have the options for “Story” mode and “Custom” mode, but I still want to be able to restart and play the story (I’m 18 and eventually deal with the “Doctor’s Appointment” and whatever the end-game is), but I don’t want to be forced to do a tiny giftshop, and then a fast food place every time I start over.
Perhaps the story mode can have a “skip the tutorial” option that gives you the apartment and car, but doesn’t force you two make the two stores, and still allows you to continue the storyline.