Sims 3 Showtime made me go back to Sims 2

[Sprue]

The turmoil of my frustrations regarding Sims 3 has reached the limit . EA Games is turning this franchise into something I don't have anything in common. They become incredible greedy cutting objects and clothing from Expansion Packs so that they release a day later for more 20 dollars . Just look at "Seeing Stars" set from The Store with clothing and hair that should have been in Showtime. But this is not the main problem , but the fact their greediness showed they can have people's money for much less quality of the game thus much smaller effort . This is the main problem.

In The Sims 3 you can't freaking go to the restaurant and eat or go on a date which was one of the main atractions in Sims 1 and 2 . The eating system is crappy made : all meals have the same hunger effect and Cooking and Eating is no fun anymore , is just a routine without any level of detail. This was again one of the main aspects of why I play the Sims. I miss the part where your whole family would eat and talk at the same time with nicely done animations . Another major flaw in the Sims 3 is the terrible detail and quality of objects compared to The Sims 2 . Take the Pool table from Showtime for example. Apart for the glitchy animations when the balls stuck after enter the sack of the table in the Sims 2 you could actually watch a real game of pool with an uncertain ending. Now all the animations are identical and you can't even freaking finish the game, the game stops after a few shots . It's the same with so many objects from Sims 3 , they refurbish stuff from Sims 2 but with much lesser quality.

Actually If I take an inventary of all the objects from Sims 3 , 95 % of them have animations taken from Sims 2 . You could think that because of this have more time to introduce new things and polish the details and featutures but actually they're much worse .

I had decent aspectections from Showtime but it dissapoints me . The carrers are dull , the singers don't use their pitch voice and all the show process is repetively and boring after few uses. I decided to uninstall Sims 3 and I will go back to Sims 2 . I had enough of if and I tried to like Sims 3 just that EA is making it very hard for me.

[morphius1]

I agree with you on some things (like the pool tables...they do suck!), but I just can't go back to the sims 2. I have thought about it a few times, but the thing that I like the most with the sims is building houses and commercial lots, and creating sims. There are more options in the sims 3 than 2, like holding down the "Alt" key to get 360 rotation, and object placing to the grid is better.
I do miss seeing my sims eat and working, though. I don't understand why EA took that away in the sims 3, or diving boards for the pools, and poker tables...

[pico22]

I never left TS2. When the original TS3 game came out I intended to uninstall it but somehow I never did; by the time I got a new PC it was already clear to me that TS2 is a must so I installed both games.

I noticed that there is a pattern to how I play TS3: when something interesting comes out, like a new EP or, more often, a great new world made by someone in the community, I play it for a few weeks and then revert back to TS2. It's a pity because I think TS3 did quite a few things better than TS2 but at the same time, it broke down or just abandoned many things that I love in TS2. It could become a really great game but I think it's too late for that now.

[jenieusa]

I love the pool table.....my sims play a full game...the animations look fine..
the trick shots are awesome...and since my sim has become good enough at it
she is now an offcial pool shark!

[Sprue]

The graphics are better in Sims 3 and the customization and building . And the open neighberbood but what's the point of having an open neighberhood if you can't do nothing in them ? In Sims 2 the gameplay was awesome you could do alot of things , go on a date and eat properly , I loved the date metter and the level of detail of mini games like the pool table , poker table etc, I could follow the little simmie and cheer or feel bad for him when he won or lose a game . And every time the game had different finale like I said, now it's a boring repetitively loop that annoyes me and makes them like robots. The sims somehow felt more alive in Sims 2, they had better and more natural/smooth facial animations and mimics . They could go on vacation, university, open a restaurant, bakery , shop etc . Now I can go to a park swimming pool and to some nightclubs where I can't have a proper date or proper group activity.

The group activity objects are the major flaw in Sims 3.

And I can't install both games on the pc because they occupy so much space with all the CC and stuff.

I love the pool table.....my sims play a full game...the animations look fine..
the trick shots are awesome...and since my sim has become good enough at it
she is now an offcial pool shark!

every time I started a pool game, they got bored or something and one of them quit the game before finishing it.

[jenieusa]

well if a sim get hungry or tired i can understand that.....
but my bars are always full of other sims to play with...
i don't see it as that big a deal....all the sims that start a game of pool
do not have all there needs filled but fun....

[PoisonFrog]

I agree with you on some things (like the pool tables...they do suck!), but I just can't go back to the sims 2.

Glad you said that...the pool table was the main draw for me to get SH(i)T. Now, I'll just contemplate patching to 1.32 to keep my lonely couple of mods current.

I wouldn't go back to Sims 2, either. I do agree that some things were better back then...transparent floors, terrain tools that worked, less spoam(rivulets of foamy spam...okay, I made another typo :faceslap: ).

EA knows that if they include just 2 or 3 must haves for each generation of The Sims, us consumerist stooges will lap it up like errr...spoam. In Sims 3 it was the open world, accessible CAS during gameplay, and the Create a World tool...at least for me.

mmmm...spoam
:beer:

[DigitalSympathies]

I've never really left TS2 to begin with. I too play for a few days at a time, just sporadically, but patches and other stuff mess up my game so often (I rarely use TS3 CC, just mods, the complete inversion of my TS2 CC hoarding obsession) that I just go back to TS2. For me it's more enjoyable because I grew up with it, it seems complete, its premise is solid (think of comparing Tw*light and Dracula, where TS2 is the masterpiece that is Dracula, but somehow both have rabid fanbases), and I just damn well enjoy the game! TS3 for me has become nothing more than a weak mew to the roar that this franchise once had. I do however like the idea of Pets and Generations more in TS3, because it worked, but SHT was the last straw. It screwed up my save games and wouldn't even uninstall.

[ocorreia]

Give me an open neighbourhood at the Sims 2 and I'll definitely go back to TS2. The only thing that keeps me playing TS3 is the open neighbourhood, because I don't have patience for all those loading screens in TS2. But in gameplay, TS2 is far far better than TS3.

Regarding the current greediness of EA, I refuse to spend one single penny at the Store or with Stuff Packs. Maybe more people should do the same, and possibly EA would realise they can't take our money for granted.

[Robodl95]

They become incredible greedy cutting objects and clothing from Expansion Packs so that they release a day later for more 20 dollars . Just look at "Seeing Stars" set from The Store with clothing and hair that should have been in Showtime.
SHT has the average amount of clothing/hair. Do you work for EA? If not then you have no idea what they might have done, it makes sense to release a store set tying into the latest EP.
In The Sims 3 you can't freaking go to the restaurant and eat
Yes you can.
or go on a date which was one of the main atractions in Sims 1 and 2 .
Uhm you can go dates. Not the same system as TS2 but much better than from TS1.
The eating system is crappy made : all meals have the same hunger effect and Cooking and Eating is no fun anymore , is just a routine without any level of detail.
Actually I think the cooking/eating system is one of the most improved things in TS3. You have individual ingredients unlike TS2 and every dish has a quality which TS2 didn't have either.

I could have gone on but don't want to. There are S3 whine threads already, heck there's even an "I hate TS3" group. Maybe you should join it.

[AdamantEve]

The store sets are a tie-in kind of thing, I think. They're probably made after hte game is certified (and therefore nothing more can be added to it) and goes gold or whatever.

Nobody complained about the Asian/Egyptian/Adventure sets in the store after WA. People are just searching for anything and everything they could possibly spin into a complaint when it comes to showtime. Those sets allow people who don't get an EP to still have a taste of the content it provides, and are an extra for those who really like that kind of content. Someone might want Asian furniture but have absolutely no interest in (or budget for) World Adventures, so they can grab the set for much cheaper. Similarly, all the people who "absolutely are not ever going to buy showtime" can still get some more fancy pop-star-ish clothes if they so please.

You get more content than any other EP with Showtime, and you STILL feel entitled to the extra stuff thrown onto the store? :\

As for the cooking, the Sims 3 relies more on Moodlets and Overall mood than on your motives. Full hunger is easier to get. But that doesn't mean full mood is easier to get. If your sim sucks at cooking the food tastes like crap and they get a lower moodlet which results in a lower mood. A good cook produces food that's so good a sim will be happy even if Hunger is their only full motive.

[Sprue]

@Robodl95

The expansion pack lacks the type of clothing released simultanously at the store, which is stage outfits, this is what I was reffering to, this is a marketing trick . And I did not complain because of the price or the store but about the greediness this type of approach it gave birth. They are not preocupied anymore with the quality of the game because they can easily sell crap at the store and people still buy it . This was the idea.

So you refer to those rabbit hole simulacrums as restaurants ? No they're not , I was refering to proper eating/dating/outing with chefs, waiters and bartenders like in Sims 2, this is a simulation game which should accurate simulate life. Eating is a pretty big part of it

Sims 2 had better cooking animations and type of eating did actually reflect in the hunger need. In sims 3 I can't see why I should prepare a level 8 meal if I can satisfy the same need with a "snack juice" . The ingredients are useless for this reason.

I don't hate Sims 3, i feel bad that the people who created The Sims 3 seem completely different then those who are making the expansion packs . I like The Sims 3 and I wish the expansion packs could have the same quality as those Sims 2, when the Store wasn't a big part of the franchise and they were focusing more about quality.




You get more content than any other EP with Showtime, and you STILL feel entitled to the extra stuff thrown onto the store? :\

I prefer very little content. 4 new objects per expansion pack but well made and which can actually make an impact on gameplay.

[crocobaura]

A good cook produces food that's so good a sim will be happy even if Hunger is their only full motive.

Can you imagine how fun it would be to run a restaurant with such a cook on its staff? :heyhey: :bunny:

[Robodl95]

The expansion pack lacks the type of clothing released simultanously at the store, which is stage outfits, this is what I was reffering to, this is a marketing trick .
There's tons of stage outfits, but they're mostly career outfits which are unlocked as you progress. Or you could use the Unlockoutfits cheat.

[matrix54]

I prefer very little content. 4 new objects per expansion pack but well made and which can actually make an impact on gameplay.

You do get 4 well made objects, and quite a few more others, as well.
Most of your complaints aren't all that accurate.

[ani_]

Good post Robodl95.

TS3 has so many improvements over TS2 that the idea of going back is not possible. I tried TS2 last year, but I was not having fun at all. Everything was so generic. I like the detail of things in TS3, like having multiple skills, not just 7. Having ingredients instead of mass-production food, having lots of plants to garden, instead of just a few. And there is so much detail put into a lot of the careers like being able to write reports, the inventor career and so on. Sure there are things that were better in TS2 or TS1 but honestly, if TS3 was such a horrid game, so many people would not be playing it.

I don't really understand why people hate the store so much. It does not represent greediness. Greediness is EA making games that are so damn addicting that we keep spending money every six month when a new EP comes along. Every time something new comes out into the store people whine that EA is ripping them off. Also people keep making these really weird conclusions about the store. Like when the magic items came out, EA was greedy, lazy and on purposely mean because giving us magic store items somehow meant there will never ever be a magic EP. You can't say that because EA made some clothing that has the same theme as the EP that just came out meant that you, physically, got less items. As it was mentioned, the store does have items that are related to other EP's as well.

I'm not a huge store fan myself. I've only used my free points in there. But some of the items are actually pretty neat, like the climbing wall, and some of the special items.

[Sprue]

You do get 4 well made objects, and quite a few more others, as well.
Most of your complaints are all that accurate.

I might be perfectionist but I encountered many glitches in the new objects

Look at this chin-up bar, does it look ok to you when is used by teens ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg2C1g8bYvg&context=C44f7a18ADvjVQa1PpcFN1FfKx3uyWZ9e5M8VHzkScwPZa5ytgdsc=

And if you insist I'll give you more examples of this type.

[AdamantEve]

So one object having an animation error means you didn't get 4 objects that dont?

You set the terms yourself! You're fine as long as there's four objects that do something. Showtime has about 10 times that, if not more.

[matrix54]

Trust and believe - I too am a perfectionist. I'm a also a realist - nothing is perfect. If people actually took the time to understand game development (they never do - and I say this one too much) they'd stop complaining.

If Showtime pisses you off so much, sell the entirety of the Sims 3 series, keep comfy with the Sims 2 by your side, but a book a book on game design with your cash, and educate yourself. And don't be afraid to look at the free information as well. ;) in 9 months, you expect perfection? This is from a standard (about) 12 from the Sims 2. And I watched your video BTW - the was no glitch. It's called not being able to do a proper chin up...

[ChaoticNeutral]

After spending more time patching my game and updating all custom content (and still trying to figure out why it still wouldn't work) than playing, I gave up on The Sims series altogether.
The Sims 2 was neat and all, but the lack of CAST and open nhood made it obsolete -for me-. TS3 is just one huge bug with more patches than any other game I've owned. And from what I see from the newer EP, I would give up on it anyway sooner or later. If not the bugs, then the idiotic route EA is taking with the series.

[AdamantEve]

Trust and believe - I too am a perfectionist. I'm a also a realist - nothing is perfect. If people actually took the time to understand game development (they never do - and I say this one too much) they'd stop complaining.

If Showtime pisses you off so much, sell the entirety of the Sims 3 series, keep comfy with the Sims 2 by your side, but a book a book on game design with your cash, and educate yourself. And don't be afraid to look at the free information as well. ;) in 9 months, you expect perfection? This is from a standard (about) 12 from the Sims 2. And I watched your video BTW - the was no glitch. It's called not being able to do a proper chin up...

Nah, his hands fall down a bit from the bar when he goes down. It's barely noticable and provides absolutely zero impact on gameplay. A tad annoying, but nothing to care about...

[matrix54]

Oh, I saw that just now, thanks. It's not a bug, but an animation miscalculation. Like, if they has spare time, someone can edit it, but it's not the end of the world.

[Sprue]

Trust and believe - I too am a perfectionist. I'm a also a realist - nothing is perfect. If people actually took the time to understand game development (they never do - and I say this one too much) they'd stop complaining.

If Showtime pisses you off so much, sell the entirety of the Sims 3 series, keep comfy with the Sims 2 by your side, but a book a book on game design with your cash, and educate yourself. And don't be afraid to look at the free information as well. ;) in 9 months, you expect perfection? This is from a standard (about) 12 from the Sims 2. And I watched your video BTW - the was no glitch. It's called not being able to do a proper chin up...

You're implying that because i'm not a game designer I'm not entitled to complain about the bad quality of some of the game aspects, okay. EA is a corporation, they have profits of bilion dollars every year I think they can afford employing some proffesional stuff . It's not like they're building bridges or performing brain surgery when unexpected things can happen regardless of the level of preparation.

So one object having an animation error means you didn't get 4 objects that dont?

You set the terms yourself! You're fine as long as there's four objects that do something. Showtime has about 10 times that, if not more.

I only gave one example, there are more.

The karaoke machine synchronizes horrible with the animations, compare it to sims 2 and it will look just wrong and so on. I will make time some other day and post videos side by side with the same objects so you can understand what I mean.

[AdamantEve]

You're implying that because i'm not a game designer I'm not entitled to complain about the bad quality of some of the game aspects, okay.

No, he's saying your opinions are founded on flawed concepts. If you understood how making a game worked, even a little bit, you'd be less quick to take such enormous issue with such tiny things.

[matrix54]

Saved me time. And I wasn't implying it, I was shouting it from the heavens above.

It's like complaining about how much gasoline a car eats up without even looking at the engine.

[Sprue]

No, he's saying your opinions are founded on flawed concepts. If you understood how making a game worked, even a little bit, you'd be less quick to take such enormous issue with such tiny things.

It's not like I wish the impossible, I believe game programming was the same at the time Sims 2 was made.

[matrix54]

From that post alone, I can tell you don't know a lot about game design. That one bar requires at least 4 people to make it. You do know that right. Sound, Modeling + Design (could be 1 or 2 different people) Animation, and programming. Game design is more than programming, but I'm sure you know this.

The most valid complaint you made was just recently - Karaoke. The sound doesn't match up at all. THAT is a valid complaint, and it does break immersion in the game space. It's one animation for entirely different songs - THATS what you complain about. Now a slightly lower than usual animation.

Complain about the lack of communication for a better product, not the product itself.

[Sprue]

I don't know alot about game design and It doesn't even matter on this issue. I don't have to be one to notice very obvious glitches and bad quality samples.

I don't care how much people work at it . EA is a corporation they make billion dollars every year from selling games. They can afford hiring as many proffesional stuff as they need. I am a custumer and I have presented examples of badly done stuff in a much advertised product. I did not complain about their presentation videos where most of the time they use staged set ups which can mislead the buyer about the product they buy. I am complaining about stuff and basic objects which don't behave as should do and every 10 year old could tell you there's a difference between the quality of same objects in Sims 2 and 3 . This procedure of refurbishing stuff doesn't work anymore, either they make animations matching the gameplay either they skip the object completely and not advertise them in promotional videos, at least this is how i see the things and it's only my opinion, you don't have to agree with me.

[AdamantEve]

I don't know alot about game design and It doesn't even matter on this issue.

But it does. If you don't understand something, it's not fair to criticize it as if you do. If I don't understand the work that goes into something, I am in the wrong to act as though I am the highest knowledge in the land on how it should be done instead of how the professionals do it, or in a position to say that they're doing it wrong.

Here you also show you don't understand economics- they "make" billions of dollars (around 3 billion at the most), but that money made is net revenue. That means that it's BEFORE subtracting all costs- production, advertising, salaries. They definitely can NOT afford to hire as many professional staff as they want- they have tons of teams under them that work on tons of games. Because you do not understand this about economics, you are not in a position to make claims about how EA doesn't spend their money properly. Similar to how not understanding how game development works means you aren't in a position to criticize the game development.

It's not like how you can dislike food without being a chef*- you're not disliking the food, you're criticizing the methodology of making it, when you aren't in a place to, and thus your arguments and complaints are grounded in flawed perspective. Does that make sense? That is what Matrix is trying to say.

*It is 100% okay to criticize the food a chef makes you. To claim otherwise is a fallacy. But it is not the same thing to criticize the method used to prepare the food.

[metal_goat]

I don't have Showtime, so I can't say anything about the quality (or lack thereof), but I don't understand how that EP ruins the previous content for you. If it made you not want to buy future products, but a bad EP does not make the previous content bad.

[jenieusa]

I might be perfectionist but I encountered many glitches in the new objects

Look at this chin-up bar, does it look ok to you when is used by teens ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg2C1g8bYvg&context=C44f7a18ADvjVQa1PpcFN1FfKx3uyWZ9e5M8VHzkScwPZa5ytgdsc=

And if you insist I'll give you more examples of this type.

First..that looks like a sim just learning to use it...and
second its Sims 3 not Sims 2

i have had no problems with the pull up bar...or the pool table...
and that stargate looking object is just hilarious....my sim died from
spinning on it so much...to the point it burnt out and caught her on fire..!!
and don't get me started on the hilarity of the bucking bronco thing....my
sim was trying to stand on it and ride it...got thrown off and tryed getting back
on...OMG this new pack is full of surprises...i love it!

[Sprue]

But it does. If you don't understand something, it's not fair to criticize it as if you do. If I don't understand the work that goes into something, I am in the wrong to act as though I am the highest knowledge in the land on how it should be done instead of how the professionals do it, or in a position to say that they're doing it wrong.

I criticize the final product not the programming technique.... I've said few times before that my standard of comparation is Sims 2, thus I don't have to be a proffesional designer to see in Sims 2 things work fine and in Sims 3 some don't.


Because you do not understand ..] you are not in a position to make claims ...] about how EA doesn't spend their money properly. Similar to how not understanding how game development works means you aren't in a position to criticize the game development.

Please refrain yourself about making statements of what I understand and what not as if you have any authority to do so. Congratulations you do know what's gross revenue. I don't see on what logic you're operating because my point still stands, EA is a big corporation which can afford what they need , irrespective if you do know the diference between net and gross income. At this point I hardly refrain myself to be polite so please don't reply me anymore .


It's not like how you can dislike food without being a chef- you're not disliking the food, you're criticizing the methodology of making it, when you aren't in a place to, and thus your arguments and complaints are grounded in flawed perspective. Does that make sense? That is what Matrix is trying to say.'

who criticised the methodology of making it ? I criticised the final product not the methodology but you were fascinated into giving satisfaction to the mods so this may have slept you.

[AdamantEve]

Oh whatever. There's a whole thread for whining about the game. I don't understand why thread after thread after thread of people complaining and complaining and complaining are allowed when that thread is up there at the top of the page at all times for everybody to see.

More posts on this site are about hating the game than playing it or looking forward to it or enjoying it. Should rename the place to Hate The Sims, because that sure as hell happens here a lot more than any modding does.

How about if you go back to Sims 2 you also go back to the Sims 2 forum and post about how great it is instead of furthering the ridiculously toxic atmosphere of this forum by all the people who can't seem to find a thread stuck permanently to the top of the page?

[Amp_RNA]

@AdamantEve

I think your seeing this because an expansion pack that people were not very excited about just came out. I've lurked the forums here for about a year and this is as heated as I've ever seen it (if you've lurked or something too then I'm sorry for assuming!)

On topic
I think part of the 'problem' with Sims 3 is that it is an open world. It's simply not possible to have some of what happened in Sims 1 and 2 because of the nature of the world. This isn't saying its wrong to dislike the style, that's fine, but I think there's an apples to oranges thing going on when comparing them.

[simsample]

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/5/2/8/4/8/MTS_simsample-1280327-Squabble.jpg

I wish you would all stop bickering!

[simsample]

AdamantEve, just stop posting in any showtime/ EP7 threads. I'm fed up of having to tell you and others to stop fighting over this.

[marioo90]

Just one thing... you CAN go eat in a restaurant...

[ani_]

I don't think there is anything wrong in criticizing a product you paid for. If an object has buggy animations, or it doesn't work and so on, then criticize away.

Now I'll start the complaining part of this post. Do not read if you hate complaining about those who complain posts.

What is really annoying sometimes is that

1. People keep referring as TS2 as some kind of glorious un buggy game, not remembering all the bugs it had before EA patched or the bugs it still has like the first born syndrome. The whole big thing about TS2 was the genetic aspect and having generations, yet this main feature is still broken and if you don't take action, you'll end up with clone siblings. TS2 also still has many bugs or features that need a community fix for them to work properly, but most people probably don't even remember they have these things in their download folder so it appears to them that EA cared more about them and the quality of the game than it cares about us TS3 players.

2. People keep complaining about having to update content when a new EP comes out. This is nothing new, the same curse was in TS2 when it was still in production.

3. People keep referring to TS3 as the only game in the universe that ever crashes. Yet if you pop into the TS2 forum you will see it's still a very current problem for some players.

4. The learning curve complains. Like how CAW is hard or how they don't want to learn to mod/do items for TS3 because it's not copy-paste knowledge from TS2. Sometimes it feels like these people are 80 year old technophobs. Not young people who will have to learn many new things in their lives before they can turn 80 and grumpy.

5. Fear of patching. Talking about patching as if it's something wicked EA forces on us. Sure by not patching you'll miss on the possible bugs a patch might bring with it, but you will also miss up on bug fixes and new content and on mods that were made using an EP or patch. I know some people have problems with patches, but I do believe these people are a minority. Otherwise more people would be complaining.

6. The people who's every post seems to be a complain about the game, yet they must be secretly enjoying it otherwise why would they still be playing it, and always seem to be among the first to get a new EP.

I do hope EA does better with TS4 than it did with TS2 or TS3, but somehow I doubt it and the complaining will continue as a delight for future generations of Sim players.

[TheLB]

I guess I just don't understand why SHT would cause you to go back to TS2 altogether. I'm not too keen on SHT either, but instead I'm just going to use it for the items and probably play WA or ambitions content some more.

Let me just nitpick some points if I could do so.

1. You can't go eat at a restaurant/go on dates.
You totally can. Going on dates in TS3 is fun.

2. All of the food causes the same hunger effect/ so little detail.
I don't think you've explored the cooking skill that much, because the moodlets are indeed different for better quality food. You get a better mood bonus for better quality, and it keeps you full longer. Not to mention the ambrosia moodlet. Last time I checked, there weren't ingredients in TS2, and you couldn't have the option of experimenting by adding specific ingredients to the dish, etc. How exactly that is less attention to detail than TS2 I'll never know.

And I'm just gonna go ahead and agree with ani's entire post. I think most people are just looking through their nostalgia glasses. I'm sorry, but once I mastered TS3's CAS, I don't see how anyone could go back.

Also, just a note about the crashing. I'm not convinced that at least some portion of the bugs and crashes are user error. Think of it this way: TS3 is still being updated and patched. TS2 is not. TS2 is also very old software that most modern computers can swallow with ease. TS3 is not. That's like wondering why Mass Effect 3 doesn't run as well as Roller Coaster Tycoon.

[Miuki]

Oh ma-a-an... Did anyone notice how lately several newly joined posters cause uproar in almost every thread accusing and flaming MTS members, calling names. MTS is slowly turning into official sims 3 forums, it sucks! Moderators please stop it, it has never been that bad before. :(
On topic - Sprue I'm sorry to hear about your late sims 3 experience. Maybe you would let it be and try again in few months? And noone says you can't play both at the same time, at least that's what I do. After all you've paid for those. Both games have good and bad aspects and appeal to different types of players, for one I can't give up on CAW and stil have a lot of fun watching my simmies lifes in sims 2.
As for restaurants, I know what you mean - fastfood diners that you can achieve with WA registers are not real restaurants, please correct me if I wrong, they really lack waiters, menues, table interractions, etc. Maybe it's my game, but I rarely can make sims choose the same table if they eat outside the bistro.
Bugs and glitches - yes, some are players faults (outdated mods, not good enough PCs) but most are really bad design and programming, after all there are quite a lot of small mods correcting sims 3 performance here, starting from routing issues in EA worlds, recategorizing items to global Twallan's mods. I'm not sure it's OK to think that if we, I mean community, can correct them, it's not a big deal. In reality it's called setting low standards and EA gladly responds to this by not correcting mistakes they are initially responsible for.

[purexevil666]

The sims 2 was and always will be one of the best games of all time. just NOT as the sims 3
The sims 3 is slow and laggy as hell! and the whole gameplay system needs a huge work.
Sadly, calling EA's customers service support for help with the sims 3 is like asking a cat to drive you to school.. Pointless all thier replys are "reboot your comp. or uninstall it and reinstall it. i love the sims 2..

[lisfyre]

As much as I loved Sims 2, I don't know if I can ever go back. True, I have a better machine now with a better graphics card that can probably do circles around what my poor beat up 12 year old computer but overall, I like Sims 3 better. I'm just waiting for SIms 3 to catch up with Sims 2 in terms of interactivity between the sims and all the other content I feel is still missing from what we got used to in Sims 2. I'm one of those players that doesn't feel the need to get every EP/SP for the series out there - Sims 2 or Sims 3. In Sims 2 have passed up on all but 3 SP's and for EP's, I never got Pets and Uni. In Sims 3, I don't have any SP's yet... not sure if I'll get any and I have up to Generations for EP's. I won't buy any EP's that has no value added for my game and my game style hence, I never got Pets and SHT and from the looks of things, not EP7 either. And I sure won't get an EP for a few items like a DJ booth, photo booth, pool table, etc., I'm not obsessed with having the "whole set" for the sake of having the whole set collection either.

[Babydoll3133]

I have all the games from 1 to 3 but play Sims 2 the most. Sims 3 is terrible, though I do like the open world concept. Showtime is so buggy that nothing loads correctly and the new Simport is useless to me. I just finished uninstalling the whole series and will reinstall it AGAIN hoping that it will run properly. If not, I'm finished with it. Especially since the next stuff pack is reportedly more Katy Perry garbage and the expansion will be centered around magic. Not interested. Sims 2 is much more fun.

[zigersimmer]

The eating system is crappy made : all meals have the same hunger effect and Cooking and Eating is no fun anymore , is just a routine without any level of detail. This was again one of the main aspects of why I play the Sims. I miss the part where your whole family would eat and talk at the same time with nicely done animations .

All my residential lots now have kitchens with only a fridge, a microwave, a dishwasher/sink and trash can. There's no need for anything else in the kitchen. I've also eliminated all dining rooms because they are wasted space.

I'd go back to Sims 2, except I tossed out all my discs and I'm not going to repurchase everything.

[simsample]

I think the key is really to treat Sims 2 and Sims 3 as completely different games, as the gameplay is quite different.

I recently reinstalled Sims 2 and Sims 1 and have been having fun with those, as well as Sims 3. I can understand how Sims 2 players could get frustrated with Sims 3 though- my daughter feels the same, and she was a big fan of legacy style playing where you rotationally play your entire neighbourhood. I on the other hand always liked building Sims 2 worlds and played in live mode not so much, so the open neighbourhood of Sims 3 really suits me- I build a world, click play and watch!

For Sprue's comment about how EA 'refurbish stuff from Sims 2 but with much lesser quality' for Sims 3, I think as much as anything that's a general economy on game resources. For example, the cars in Sims 2 have all of the animations involved with getting in and getting out, and driving into a garage. But for Sims 3 it just wouldn't work without crippling the player's PC- I have over 200 sims in my current neighbourhood, and if the game had to animate all that each time a sim travelled I'm sure it would lag terribly. Remember that a game manufacturer always has to cater for the lowest common denominator, i.e, those with low end computers. So that's why we have cars without animated doors, and sims who teleport into the driving seat.

Maybe Sims 4 will have more animations, like Sims 2, but with an open neighbourhood!

[dream_operator23]

I think the Sims2 did a lot of things right. I also think that the Sims3 does a lot of things right. I can also see where someone wouldn't be happy with the Sims3 and like the Sims2 better. What I find amusing about some of these people is that they will defend their opinion that the Sims2 is better and then in the same sentence bash people who buy all of the Sims3 EPs, SPs, and *gasp* maybe even stuff from the Store! Did it ever occur to you that people buy these products not because they are brainwashed sheep, but because they actually enjoy them along with the rest of the Sims3? Just like it is absolutely your right to hate the game and never buy a piece of it, there are people out there that love the Sims3 and will buy everything EA puts out for it and there is not a thing you can do about it.

[zigersimmer]

They could give us the car animations only for the currently active sim without animating every sim in the neighborhood. The real problem is that unlike lots in Sims 2, lots in Sims 3 do not have to attach to a road. I think that's why we don't have the car animations.

[grieralexander]

People, it is really sad that one can not post one's opinions on a post without having someone track you down and making it personal. First, I do not have to know how acertain piece of equipment works when I buy it, or to buy it. I am the end user and I buy something to perform as advertised. If I needed to know how every piece of electronics worked, I would not have any! Certainly I do not need to know the technicall aspects to my washer machine to buy it, in the end all I see is it is doing the job I bought it for; are the clothes clean, doest it save water and energy, etc. You catch my drift. I don't need to be a tech to at the end, have an opinion on how the product performed for me and say my opinion with such product. Every one is entitled to an opinion. An every single one of us is entitled to be respected. It is a game, for crying outloud, it is suppose to be fun, an outlet, a distraction.

[TheLB]

People, it is really sad that one can not post one's opinions on a post without having someone track you down and making it personal. First, I do not have to know how acertain piece of equipment works when I buy it, or to buy it. I am the end user and I buy something to perform as advertised. If I needed to know how every piece of electronics worked, I would not have any! Certainly I do not need to know the technicall aspects to my washer machine to buy it, in the end all I see is it is doing the job I bought it for; are the clothes clean, doest it save water and energy, etc. You catch my drift. I don't need to be a tech to at the end, have an opinion on how the product performed for me and say my opinion with such product. Every one is entitled to an opinion. An every single one of us is entitled to be respected. It is a game, for crying outloud, it is suppose to be fun, an outlet, a distraction.Your post confuses me. Who was making it personal? It all looks very civil to me.

Secondly, your washing machine analogy needs some work. Certainly you should know what quality washing machine you're getting. Sure it washes clothes, but what kind of load can it take? Is it a high efficiency machine?

The point I'm making is that all computers are not made equal, and it is entirely your responsibility to ensure that you have a machine that runs the game well. Gaming is not a basic function expected of all computers, especially not games that require as many resources as TS3. That's why the system requirements come included. If you buy a product without doing the proper research to find out whether or not your machine can run said product, then that is not the manufacturer's problem. If you have a machine that meets the system requirements and it still doesn't run well, then that is the manufacturer's problem.

Anyways, obviously I can only speak for myself, but I don't know what kind of system that the OP is trying to run the game on, but in my purely anecdotal experience, there are a lot of people who place the blame on EA for having a glitchy game when their machine is probably the source of the problem. I never accused the OP of absolutely having a subpar computer, I only raised it as a possibility.

[crocobaura]

They could give us the car animations only for the currently active sim without animating every sim in the neighborhood. The real problem is that unlike lots in Sims 2, lots in Sims 3 do not have to attach to a road. I think that's why we don't have the car animations.

That is not a good excuse to not make the animations. We can attach lots to the road and even if they weren't attached, sims put their car inside their inventory when they can't reach their destination lot by car.

[daciasil]

hahaha yes. I got so frustrated with the singers' no sound issue, the showtime careers being somewhat borked when my sims get pregnant, photo booth bugs and all the other really frustrating bugs that I started playing sims 1! Life was so much simpler then...

[olomaya]

If you took the TS2 Eps and put them in TS3 base game and general gameplay, I'd never leave the house and would be chugging 5-hour energy drinks to stay up 24/7 playing the game.

I agree with both sides in a sense. I think the TS3 base game is far and away better than TS2, I love the open world and TS3 does have an amazing amount of details in it but the EPs for TS3 so far have just been terrible compared to TS2 and without EPs to keep my interest alive, I just don't play the game anymore. I just pop in to see what's going on in the community and whether a new EP is going to come out that will get me excited about the game anymore.

I kind of wish I could go back to TS2 because I miss the EPs but I know I would get frustrated/bored with having to play each household one by one in its own separate world. Now, I'm just waiting for TS4 to come out and hoping it will be more like a TS2+3.

[Tempscire]

Sadly, calling EA's customers service support for help with the sims 3 is like asking a cat to drive you to school.. Pointless all thier replys are "reboot your comp. or uninstall it and reinstall it. i love the sims 2..
That was basically the extent of their customer support for TS2, as well. :rolleyes:

First, I do not have to know how acertain piece of equipment works when I buy it, or to buy it. I am the end user and I buy something to perform as advertised. If I needed to know how every piece of electronics worked, I would not have any! Certainly I do not need to know the technicall aspects to my washer machine to buy it, in the end all I see is it is doing the job I bought it for; are the clothes clean, doest it save water and energy, etc.
But you know at least the basics of how all those electronics and appliances work: the washing machine, for examples, has to be attached to water and electrical inputs, you must know that you add soap yourself and not to over-load it, that you need to change the settings to delicate or extra soak depending on what's in your laundry, and so forth. You can't blame Maytag if your whites come out pink because you mixed your colors, or if everything shrank because you selected the wrong temperature. So, too, it is with computers, but instead of wash settings, you just need to know the capacity of your hard drive and processing speed and graphics card. Installing something that doesn't suit is the same as dropping a red shirt in with the whites, but neither requires advanced knowledge of programming to avoid.

That is not a good excuse to not make the animations. We can attach lots to the road and even if they weren't attached, sims put their car inside their inventory when they can't reach their destination lot by car.
And that still doesn't address why Sims do not have have animations for physically stepping into their cars nor any of the TS2 options to sit in the car in the driveway, listening to music and making out.

If you took the TS2 Eps and put them in TS3 base game and general gameplay, I'd never leave the house and would be chugging 5-hour energy drinks to stay up 24/7 playing the game.
Haha, I feel the exact same with TS1 EPs and TS2's game play. ;)

[Doc Doofus]

I miss BodyShop. I miss how realistic and distinct you could make Sims look in TS2. Sadly, with TS3, there are only so many ways you can change a Sim's face with the sliders. This remains one of the worst things about TS3 for me, because I spent hours and hours in TS2 Bodyshop playing around making new Sims faces.

I think I understand why it's limited this way. Perhaps it makes it easier to store game rendering information for each individual sim if they are all simplified this way. But it's still sad.

And the sex. TS2 was a MUCH more explicit game than TS3. Even the simple bed woohoo was a more elaborate affair. All the external public woohoo devices were well-planned. There were much higher gameplay rewards for woohoo, including first woohoo, big bonuses for woohoo with NPCs, etc. The base game practically encouraged you, fresh out of the box, to make Donald Pleasant cheat on his wife with the maid Kay Langerak, with a tutorial hint that that's where he was going with that. In TS3, all of this has been toned down, the point rewards have been chopped, wants to have kinky sex with the maid don't appear. It's a much cleaner game, deserving of being played by preteens, certainly, which is good for them. But I feel like the game's just not as good as it used to be.

I like the open town aspect. That's about it. Graphics aren't as good, game mechanics aren't as good, community content creation is NOWHERE near as good or as plentiful.

I'm waiting for Sims 4. I hope EA might learn enough from this bad experience to improve on it with the next Sims release. Until then, it's just recycling the same Sims 2 stuff, only watered down.

[grieralexander]

Well, I guess that my washer machine analogy was taken personal; which was not intended; however goes to show. I also know that there are basics that you should know, before buying something; however we are not talking about computer specs, or is my computer fast enough to handle the game, or good enough. That you should find out before you buy X game. I even bought a new PC, so that I could play the game with less problems. However, it doesn't change the fact that I had to reinstall everything when I patched to 1.32xx superpatcher. Now I have an EP that I am not using, waiting for the problems to be smoothed out, before I patch and reinstall again. I read the post to see if someone is or has experience the same problems and if someone has offered a vaible solution. What I am talking about is that patch after patch there are numbers of problems and some decide to post the problems they are having and their discontent with the product. All of the sudden he or she gets replies to the post that are short of calling them stupid or something worst; and there starts a cycle that doesn´t solve any one's problem or frustration with the game.

I will not continue, because posting this message, just adds to the trail of useless information and missinformation, that just doesn't help any one. If I've offended any one it was certainly not my intention. I do respect your opinion, we are all entitle to one.

[zigersimmer]

That is not a good excuse to not make the animations. We can attach lots to the road and even if they weren't attached, sims put their car inside their inventory when they can't reach their destination lot by car.

I'm not offering up an excuse for why EA has not included the car animations. I'll never play apologist for EA. I was simply proposing one possible explanation (other than EA laziness).

[zigersimmer]

Even the simple bed woohoo was a more elaborate affair.

I miss those romantic little cut-scenes just before woohoo in TS2.

[EmotedLlama]

I miss those romantic little cut-scenes just before woohoo in TS2.

I found them unsettling and they made me feel like a creeper. I don't mind them being gone at all.

[acid_fairy]

I never quite understand the nostalgic Sims 2 posts... I have played The Sims since I was 12 (am now the grand old age of 24) - I remember when Sims 2 came out and people were OUTRAGED we didn't have towns we could visit/celebrities/Claire The Bear/MOAR furniture.

You have to remember that The Sims 2 is an old game. All its patches are done. Modern computers can run it with ease. Mods have been tested for years and don't cause unwanted effects - the vast majority of game problems are caused by outdated mods. (When I installed SHT I had a hissy fit because it kept crashing - I had forgotten to take my Mods folder out. It was an outdated Twallan mod causing the issues.)

Something else it helps to remember - there are so many millions of different computer configurations and EA has to make a game to run on them all. It's not like making a console game, made to only run on one type of machine, ever. Unfortunately, some computers will not cope with this game as well as others - this is just a fact.

When TS4 comes out we will have the same types of post reminiscing about TS3. Unfortunately (or fortunately!), nostalgia comes with a pretty powerful pair of rose tinted glasses.

[olomaya]

When TS4 comes out we will have the same types of post reminiscing about TS3. Unfortunately (or fortunately!), nostalgia comes with a pretty powerful pair of rose tinted glasses.

I don't think science or delusion has yet to come out with glasses rosey enough to make me miss TS3. I cannot wait for TS3 to be over, haha! I definitely didn't feel that way about TS2 when TS3 was coming out. TS3 has just been really unfulfilling for me mostly because of the EPs aren't centered around things that I enjoy which is family and relationship-centered gameplay.

Also, I think it's pretty fair by now for people to compare TS3 to TS2. There are already 6 EPs out with a rumored 7th on the way. TS2 had 7, 8 EPs?

[nikkiforest99]

Sigh. I was going to quote an excellent point made by Pescado over at MATY, but the site appears to be down at the moment. Anyways, the basic gist of it was that TS3 is a far less buggy game than TS2. One of the main arguments was the 'fuck up your game button' (pardon the language) that was the lot/family bin. The point is, a lot of bugs or errors in TS2 were caused by shoddy programming. A lot of bugs or errors in TS3 are caused by conflicting/outdated hacks, hacks that are installed or uninstalled improperly, a crappy machine, or some other user error unrelated to EA's programming. I'm not saying that EA didn't screw up on some things in TS3; I'm still mad that we can't have singers in bands. But TS3 certainly isn't the train wreck it is said to be by the OP; nor is TS2 a perfect, bug-free game.

[Grig 32]

Go back? Why would I go back? I never uninstalled it :P between work, relationships with my family and the cats at our house that's what I do to relax. I play TS2 and TS3...

honestly, I'll NEVER understand the whole 'You MUST play one or the other' or 'you MUST hate one or the other' :P despite how much people want to paint it, the games are - in many ways - different. TS3 is open world and environmental while TS2 is a sandbox where you can play whole generations of familys around sims that NEVER die :lol:

Both games are good, why would you give up either?

Though I do wonder one thing... Realistic and Distinct? When were the Sims in TS2 realistic and distinct? They almost all looked the same half the time - you had to spend hours in the CAS just to get the sliders to cooperate :P Lets lower those rose-tinted glasses for a minute - I'm not excusing TS3 and the sheer RIDICULOUSNESS of the breast slider which gives you baloons instead of breasts :P but realistic and distinct?

Please :rofl:

[AdamantEve]

Though I do wonder one thing... Realistic and Distinct? When were the Sims in TS2 realistic and distinct?

When people had 12 different greasy photoskins and used a different one for each sim. ;)

[pico22]

Oh, the fight still going on? Let me see...

- TS2 is exciting even when it is crashing
- TS3 is exciting only when it is crashing

Discuss.

[Glic2003]

One thing I truly hate is when people constantly parrot the same old lines about how the game is only buggy because of your mods or your computer's inability to run it properly.

TS3 easily the buggiest PC game I've ever played, and this is in a 25 year history of PC gaming, and most of the bugs I encountered were well before I even attempted using any mods on it.

And generally speaking, these bugs have nothing to do with the PC running the game. True, some bugs are obviously a result of insufficient hardware: if the game crashes, or won't run at all, yes, the problem is probably due to your PC. But the more common bugs (Sims that never stop running, achievements that can't be finished, Sims that don't age up properly and so on), these have nothing to do with what hardware is running the game. They are simply mistakes in the programming, or situations the programmers didn't allow for.

Anyway, I prefer a lot of things about TS3 over TS2, but I really appreciate how the TS2 Sims act sort of like people instead of pudding-faced robots. I also like how they don't have a route failure every time another Sim so much as looks at the door they were trying to walk through.

[annoellyn]

I got to say to the OP and to a few of the posters in this thread - if you don't like ts3 THAT MUCH, then don't play. I love TS3 and I love TS2 and they BOTH had things I loved and didn't like in the game - as with EVERY game. At first I hated TS3, graphics and all, and constantly went back to TS2. However, now it's been over 2 years since I've even touched TS2 and I really couldn't imagine going back. I could never ever deal with loading screens just to roam about the town, I love that my kids can pop over to a friends after school, that I can send my sim out to the library/museum/gallery/park for a few hours when I'm focusing on other sims, etc. There are SO many things in TS3 that I love - and of course some that I don't. That's normal. I gotta say, I hate the show-time expansion pack. But I also hated a few of the TS2 ones (OFB and Bon Voyage).

And I've never had a single glitch that wasn't caused by me in the game (yet, lol). In TS2, i seem to recall a lot of glitches (the ottomas family comes to mind) and you had to be careful what you did in-game lest it turn into a bfbvfm.

Of course, as stated above, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but it seemed kind of rude to post this is the TS3 section where you already knew a lot of people liked the game.

Annie

[secretsim]

This may sound odd and contradictory, but while I think I ENJOYED Sims 2 more, I can't ever go back. I like the open neighborhood too much, but that's about the only advantage I see in Sims 3 over Sims 2. I really miss all the custom content I had -- the wonderful furniture, clothes and houses people made. I'm way too scared to use CC now since my game has been borked so many times, and because updates are now so frequent. I honestly can't even remember patching Sims 2 or having to do any kind of work with it whatsoever.

What I REALLY miss are the expansion pack features. Open for Business was awesome, as was Seasons. I feel like they're now gearing Sims 3 for a younger crowd with less, uh, sophisticated gameplay. It's much more of a role-playing, goal-oriented game now (see: World Adventures, Showtime) versus a game that simulates life as you want to imagine it.

[EmotedLlama]

This may sound odd and contradictory, but while I think I ENJOYED Sims 2 more, I can't ever go back. I like the open neighborhood too much, but that's about the only advantage I see in Sims 3 over Sims 2.

There are some other small improvements I like, such as being able to see how long sims will sleep for, or having them skill until the next level, or being able to change the game's speed with a pie menu open. I also like the smaller grid and 45 degree angles, and more easily natural landscaping.

[Doc Doofus]

When TS4 comes out we will have the same types of post reminiscing about TS3. Unfortunately (or fortunately!), nostalgia comes with a pretty powerful pair of rose tinted glasses.

Um, no. I can't remember too many people reminiscing fondly about TS1 when we had TS2. I do remember people complaining that the later EPs were recycling TS1 ideas. Which hasn't changed much and probably won't when TS4 comes out. I suspect people will forget TS3 pretty quickly when TS4 comes out. It doesn't have that kind of endearing quality to it.

Though I do wonder one thing... Realistic and Distinct? When were the Sims in TS2 realistic and distinct?

Well, they came distinct enough certainly. Making them realistic took work. My TS2 default faces mod which used to be hosted here (might still be) made faces which I felt had some potential to be made more realistic than the TS3 Sims faces can.

Am I the only one here who tried to download a new skins pack for TS3 because the preview graphics looked so good, only to install it and find out belatedly it was a TS2 .package?

It was also easier to customize non-default unique skins. There were a larger variety of them.

Oh well, if you feel satisfied with the cartoonish sims we have now, that's just a matter of taste that can't be resolved very well. All the Sims in TS3 look the same to me with the same features that can't be fixed with sliders. For me, I find the cheek and Jaw sliders are inadequate. For another example, I don't see any useful purpose in the cheekbone shape slider because moving it to left or right of center only distorts the face. Or, for another example, there are no sliders at all to increase/decrease the brow protrusion.

[ani_]

honestly, I'll NEVER understand the whole 'You MUST play one or the other' or 'you MUST hate one or the other' :P despite how much people want to paint it, the games are - in many ways - different.

I don't believe people set out to choose sides, nor do I believe people choose sided because they must only love one game.

There are people, like yourself that like and play both. Then there are the people who enjoy one over the other that that they just play one game. Most of the quarrelling happens when people start using outdated or completely false information about TS3 to prove it's a bad game.

I still read the TS2 part of the forum because I still enjoy reading about game-stories and game-play strategy that they talk about in there. And usually every few month there will pop-up a thread where somebody wants the rest of the community to tell them it's OK to still play TS2 and at some point the thread turns into a TS2 is better than TS3 thread, and some time later the thread turns into TS3 bashing thread.

Now, I know I should not read those thread because they frustrate me to no end. Not because people like TS2 or find it better. If you like the game you like the game, no questions asked. But why I get frustrated is because 90% of all information people say about TS3 is either completely false, or something that is no longer valid due to EP's.

Usually I can restrain myself from answering, but sometimes I just cant. So I write a response, but I always try to find the loophole to do so. Like the last time, some TS2 player actually asked in the thread why would anybody who has played TS2 ever drop it for TS3. So I answered her question, and people went crazy because somebody dares saying TS2 is not the most awesome game in the universe and decided to choose another game over it.

The last thing I wrote in the TS2 section was a response to a thread where the whole point was to say what is good about all three games. I had a short list for TS1 because it's been so long since I last plaid it. I had a longer list for TS2, and an extremely long one for TS3, because once I started typing all the things I like about the game, the list just grew.

Instead of just accepting the answer people started tearing it to shreds saying this and this things I mention are not true. And then I would answer them and say these parts are actually true.

The worst part about this "you can only love one" quarrel is that it doesn't need to be so. I also hang out in a forum called The Sims daily, and the best part about that forum is that there is not such bickering. People play what ever game they want, people comment other people's game. There is a common section for threads that concern any game and specific threads then for TS2 and TS3.

TS3 is open world and environmental while TS2 is a sandbox where you can play whole generations of familys around sims that NEVER die :lol:
An open world and sandbox game don't exclude each other. My game is extremely sand-boxy. Many times people point out that opportunities destroy the sand-box of the game. I always find this comment very entertaining because it's extremely similar to the comments TS1 players said about chance cards or sim wishes, how those destroy the sand-boxyness of the game. Another thing people point out about how TS3 is not sand-boxy because there is collecting. Which again is an extremely funny thing to say considering there was collecting in TS2 as well.

Like collecting BV travel memories. That's basically an opportunity your Sim is presented with, which you can either do or decline. Or, collecting bugs, but instead of physically seeing the bug you collect you can collect any bug at any time from your front yard.

I have my game all set up with TS2 style ageing, rotating, taxes, integrated economy. Having an open world did not break my sandbox, it just made it better when I can also do things in there that I couldn't do before. Like having my girl stay the night at her boyfriends house for a sleep-over or just hanging out. Having a dad visit his toddler daughter every day to teach her skills even though he lived in a different house than she and her mother did.

Of course TS3 also has the added bonus that sometimes I do want to play it the "real" TS3 way. Then I usually have one Sim who I have exploring other worlds, either EA created or user created. Currently my casual Sim is the daughter of one guy who moved out of my main hood. He lived in bridgeport before moving to Twinbrooks and now his daughter just moved to Appaloosa plains and will be starting her life there. For now I'll play Appaloosa plains with TS2 style ageing so I can get to know the people. But, maybe one day when I want the hood to go forward without having to play every single household I'll turn town ageing on.

And yes, I know TS3 doesn't come with TS2 ageing out of the box it's a feature of awesome (twallan's SP and buzzler's ageing mod also can achieve this). But even before mods I always planned on playing TS3 the TS2 ageing way, but back then the plan was to have 1 anchor family I play for 1 week ageing on, then the rest of the household with ageing off for the same amount of time. I just think it's amazing how flexible this game is that it can cater many different play-styles :beer:

[opiumgirl]

I did go back to playing sims 2 again and I am really glad I did.
When I started up my first game I was simply blown away by the sheer vibrancy of the game. It seems so alive that sims 3 seems flat and lifeless to me now.
The sheer amount of interactions was almost overwhelming initially.
My sims also seem more intelligent and they do things on their own that make sense.

You can of course play and like both games.
For myself I am giving sims 3 a rest until I feel like playing it again.

[310175]

Well, I like them both. I do remember patching and reinstalling, and cleaning out my CC with Sims 2 a lot too. I do have an inordinate amount of CC for both games. Strangely enough, I figured, with all those patterns, I would need less. Apparently, I'm just as greedy in Sims 3.
I play whichever game I feel like on a particular day when I have the time to actually sit down for a few hours. I can't imagine playing any of them without mods.
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't really see an issue. They are different games, one is old, the other one is new with all that comes with it.
And I've always treated all new EP's like I treat any new Windows version. Wait to get it until the one after that is almost out to make sure the initial bugs are gone. Or skip altogether once it becomes apparent that the new isn't better. I love all EPs of Sims 3 up until Showtime. This is my Vista/Me in Sims 3. In Sims 2, I skipped Pets. Hated the useless little buggers.

[zigersimmer]

Both games are good, why would you give up either?


On account of I couldn't find the updated mods for TS2, and I got a lot of conflicts and other errors from the mods I was running. TS2, just like TS3, without the mods is meh.

[Jasumi]

OP, this is wonderful news. Hopefully you and all your comrades can now clutter the sims 2 forum with how wonderful the game is and stop wasting your precious time in this one.

Why harp over something you strongly dislike?

[AdamantEve]

OP, this is wonderful news. Hopefully you and all your comrades can now clutter the sims 2 forum with how wonderful the game is and stop wasting your precious time in this one.

Why harp over something you strongly dislike?

You must be new here! Let me introduce you to the most popular thread subject on the site. ;)

[Doc Doofus]

Why complain?

I guess I'm hoping they'll quit making recycled X-packs and hurry up on TS4 because TS3 was such a poor sequel. One can hope.

I suspect everybody probably agrees with that but some don't want to hear it because it spoils their fun. Sokay. I can understand that just fine.

[ani_]

Why complain?

I guess I'm hoping they'll quit making recycled X-packs and hurry up on TS4 because TS3 was such a poor sequel. One can hope.

I suspect everybody probably agrees with that but some don't want to hear it because it spoils their fun. Sokay. I can understand that just fine.

I disagree with you, but your opinion does not and should not spoil the fun people are having with the game. It's just an opinion, everybody has their own.

Also, if everybody agrees with you, then where did that "some don't want to hear it" group come from? I thought everybody agrees with you.

I don't think your wish for EA to stop recycling will ever happen. Unless TS4 comes out with pets, weather, ofb, magic, zombies, travelling, diving board, piano, uni and other items/interactions people miss, then the complains of bring these items back will continue. And EA will recycle the ideas in EP's to give things they know will bring them money.

I do hope TS3 has 10 EPs like the rumours say, so that makes another 2 years of patching and updating mods. Then EA can shift to TS4 and I'll probably join the TS4 group when there is weather, pets and OFB in the game. Or, if TS4 is too heavily online for my taste then I'll stick TS3 until playing online goes out of fahshion, if it ever does.

[NightK]

There are things that I miss from TS2, mainly shopping for clothing, but I can't go back now that I know TS3 gameplay, that said I don't like the online stuff also.

[crocobaura]

Why complain?

I guess I'm hoping they'll quit making recycled X-packs and hurry up on TS4 because TS3 was such a poor sequel. One can hope.

I suspect everybody probably agrees with that but some don't want to hear it because it spoils their fun. Sokay. I can understand that just fine.


I don't think it's bad that they recycle ideas for EPs. The sims is a game about life and it's only normal to include all aspects of life into the gameplay, be it real or supernatural. There's lots of other ways thay could improve the game, from the game engine and how things are rendered and animated, to the appearance of the sims and every little detail of their everyday life and how they interract with each other. Personally, I think it would be great if they take the good ideas from each EP and improve and expand them.

[Doc Doofus]

Also, if everybody agrees with you, then where did that "some don't want to hear it" group come from?

<clarify ON>
Well, maybe not everybody. That's too broad. But there are grave disappointments in TS3 that I suspect ALMOST everybody would like to see remedied in TS4 and that ALMOST EVERYBODY would like TS4 to come sooner rather than later after a bunch of TS3 x-packs.

Also, I CAN UNDERSTAND people who don't want to hear that because it spoils their enjoyment of the only game that they do have, at present, when other people criticize it. Even though some of those people might agree.

</clarify off>

I'm still amazed at how well Rockstar managed to deal with so many of the problems of managing a virtual world from GTA3 on. GTA3 Vice City, for instance, ten years old now, was so superior in graphics and performance, with such a large world to explore, that I just always feel like I've stepped backwards in time more than a gaming decade when I play TS3. I'd love to have a Sims game like Vice City but with babies instead of bullets.

There's a Harvard Business School theory that once you have created a "high quality" brand name, one way to exploit it if you can't improve it is to milk it to death for profits by gradually making it cheaper, faster, sloppier, and crappier, until the brandname is worthless. And then you create a new "high quality" brand name elsewhere and start over.

I feel like that's the trajectory EA is taking with the Sims.

[zigersimmer]

There's a Harvard Business School theory that once you have created a "high quality" brand name, one way to exploit it if you can't improve it is to milk it to death for profits by gradually making it cheaper, faster, sloppier, and crappier, until the brandname is worthless. And then you create a new "high quality" brand name elsewhere and start over.

I feel like that's the trajectory EA is taking with the Sims.

I don't know if that theory would work so well when applied to game software development studios and publishers. Gamers can be a very discriminating crowd. Look what SOE did to itself; and EA doesn't exactly have a lot of fanbois.

[Simmer4Lyf]

In sims 3 I can't see why I should prepare a level 8 meal if I can satisfy the same need with a "snack juice" . The ingredients are useless for this reason.

THIS. SO. MUCH.

[Simmer4Lyf]

Good post Robodl95.

TS3 has so many improvements over TS2 that the idea of going back is not possible. I tried TS2 last year, but I was not having fun at all. Everything was so generic. I like the detail of things in TS3, like having multiple skills, not just 7. Having ingredients instead of mass-production food, having lots of plants to garden, instead of just a few. And there is so much detail put into a lot of the careers like being able to write reports, the inventor career and so on. Sure there are things that were better in TS2 or TS1 but honestly, if TS3 was such a horrid game, so many people would not be playing it.

I don't really understand why people hate the store so much. It does not represent greediness. Greediness is EA making games that are so damn addicting that we keep spending money every six month when a new EP comes along. Every time something new comes out into the store people whine that EA is ripping them off. Also people keep making these really weird conclusions about the store. Like when the magic items came out, EA was greedy, lazy and on purposely mean because giving us magic store items somehow meant there will never ever be a magic EP. You can't say that because EA made some clothing that has the same theme as the EP that just came out meant that you, physically, got less items. As it was mentioned, the store does have items that are related to other EP's as well.

I'm not a huge store fan myself. I've only used my free points in there. But some of the items are actually pretty neat, like the climbing wall, and some of the special items.

I used to get annoyed with people going on about sims 2 being so much better than sims 3 but wow, I played it for the first time in about a year 2 weeks ago and it's just so much more enjoyable. I lamented the improvements of sims 3 while playing but you know what? I really prefer bar-hopping and club-hopping and bowling alley fun and roller skating fun, especially in groups, over the sims 3 open 'hood. It was just so much more fun playing sims 2. I agree about the jobs and all you can do with them in sims 3 being better but a family vacation to Three Lakes where after the family comes back with cool new objects and memories and rewards beats rummaging through the trash of neighbors and writing up reports about my findings. Of course, that's just me.

Also, just about everything sold in the store should be, and easily could be, put in the EPs. There should be no confusion about it; the sole purpose of the store is to make extra profit. EA isn't being nice and selling things they only thought to make later, not at all. They sell virtual items (for real money) that they could have just put in the EPs to get more money from us. That is the ONLY reason the store exists and that IS greedy.

[Simmer4Lyf]

I did go back to playing sims 2 again and I am really glad I did.
When I started up my first game I was simply blown away by the sheer vibrancy of the game. It seems so alive that sims 3 seems flat and lifeless to me now.
The sheer amount of interactions was almost overwhelming initially.
My sims also seem more intelligent and they do things on their own that make sense.

You can of course play and like both games.
For myself I am giving sims 3 a rest until I feel like playing it again.

Agreed and I'm currently doing the same. I'm loving sims 2 so much right now. There's just so much to do.

Just had Lilith Pleasant drop out of Sim State after a semester. She will be pursuing the entrepreneur route as a baker. She just needs to save up some simoleons. She's currently living with her dad who's got his own place (he moved out after Mary-Sue divorced him). Dirk misses her but is finding uni much more freeing without her presence (they were in the same dorm). He still calls her everyday though. Meanwhile, Angela (aka, Rachel Berry) is excelling over at Académie Le Tour. Since Dustin went off to Sim State, they decided to take a break and experience everything college has to offer, people and all. Angie has already determined Art as her major. She'll be pursuing the show business career path. Speaking of which, just a side note; I always limited sims' job prospects based on their education after getting Uni. Like, you couldn't be a Doctor if you hadn't gone to college. Anyone else do that? Anyway, for obvious reasons, I just can't play like this in sims 3 and I missed that. It's been a blast to play like this again. I'm excited to take Mary-Sue and her fiance, sent to her via the match maker, Robert on their honeymoon to Twikkii Island.

[ani_]

Like, you couldn't be a Doctor if you hadn't gone to college. Anyone else do that? Anyway, for obvious reasons, I just can't play like this in sims 3 and I missed that.

I had the same system in my game in TS2. You can't be a doctor if you didn't go to college, and I still have that system in my current game. There are actually a bunch of people doing uni in TS3 (http://www.thesimsdaily.net/showthread.php?tid=249).

My post here is not a (must turn you to a TS3 player, or must prove TS2 is not as awesome), it's great you are having fun with TS2. I do understand if you are not fascinated by TS3 you won't have the desire to make it your own the way you have a desire to make TS2 your own game.