In regards to the lightbulbs, they went out occasionally in TS2...atleast in my game they did. And a few of my CC downloads had "breakable" lightbulbs in TS1.

What do I do when I get bored of the Sims 3? And that loading times are actually begin to feel that they are not worth waiting for to end?

I try to download new houses and community lots to play. I download mods that make tweak the game and make it less tedious or annoying (like make the life fruit and deathfish available to buy so I can make Ambrosia to reset the age stage before completing lifetime wishes). I try things I have not tried before: I get my sim to join the criminal career so he can do slightly more (not that much) naughty things like stealing. You can try playing the characters who have the heartbreaker lifetime or Golddigger wish (but I won't), or insane characters like Hunter in Riverview who lives in a bunker and wants to have the perfect aquarium "lifetime wish". I try to discover quirky neighbourhood characters like Lucky Perkinds of Riverview and find their stories and their lifetime wish. I try to play a game in which I switch back and forth across a few households (be careful of disappearing inventory items). I switch households to get into the heads of the neighbours and then I switch back to my active household (again, be careful).

I agree that TS3 is doing it too "safe", despite being a teen game. If the mosaic covering the sims when they bathe is not obvious enough, as a crook you really can't do that much evil. You cannot choose which item to steal directly. You cannot break into a lot. You cannot murder and you cannot rob. You also have self-righteous police officers arresting your sim frequently. If your sim has the pyro trait, you still cannot set fire to specific objects, and cannot set fires in neighbour's lots. You actually have curfew police sending teens home. Also sim parents cannot deliberately leave kids home alone, unadopt them or give away children. They are compelled to attend to the kids when they bawl, sometimes for no good reason despite the hunger, social, energy or hygiene bars are more than half fill. And there are no accidents involving kids. There are no boy girl relationship between teens. The sim's world is like a perfect world, where life is all about skill building, raising family and growing old.

I know I will eventually get tired of Sims 3. The last game that drove me just as crazy was Oblivion. I played the game over half a year, including mods and the official expansion packs, before I moved on.

Last edited by Malekitty : 9th Aug 2009 at 09:20 AM.

Actually, it's perfectly acceptable to have teens dating other teens. Even gay relationships between them. It's teens with adults the game doesn't allow (without mods).

On the Sims being "too safe", I'm just wondering whatever happened to the more risque stuff that was in the Sims 1, like the go-go dancers that popped out of the giant cake or the "nectar" press that would get your garden gnomes drunk? And then you had Vicki the Vampiress in what appeared to be a metal armor bikini...

What I'm saying is that the game is too tame now. The weirdness and craziness has been taken out in favor of "being safe". I feel that the previous two games had a certain quirky charm that isn't present in Sims 3. The Sims 3 is just...bleh.

It's only keeping up with the times, really. EA are far more likely to get in trouble these days having something that could be seen has 'inappropriate' than back in TS1 days. Plus, TS1 lacked aging and various age groups, meaning it'd be harder for them to toe the line. Since the introduction of teens (for example), the whole issue of 'teen pregnancy' is raised, and EA avoid that like the plague because mums want to protect their darling daughters from ever even imaging that they could *possibly* have sex and therefore get knocked up at such a tender age. We all know it's bullshit, but EA have to make it obvious that they are doing their best to protect "innocent" minds, because as soon as it looks like they aren't, the mums groups can sue them for all their worth, whether it has a 'teen' rating or not. They take it way too far, I agree, but I can also understand where they're coming from (from a business point of view, anyway). "Better to be safe than sorry" is basically EA's motto.

It may be the combination of traits you're choosing if they are all wanting the same things. I've discovered, through trial and error mostly, that the more traits you give a Sim that are in the same vein make the Sim boring. In other words, if a Sim is all "good" or all "bad", they suck. If you make them quirky, well, they're hella fun.

For example, my evil genius sim also happens to be family-oriented. It makes for some hilarious results among her friends and family members. Same thing goes for my good genius sim who is unlucky and a heavy sleeper.

As for being younger than you...I'd be surprised. Life, however, is good that way.

I agree with this. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but something seems to be missing for me.

As for the whole "safe" thing, I played TS1 when I was 6 and it didn't have any bad effect on how I turned out. :P

I played TS1 when I was 6.
Sims 2 when I was 10.
And the Sims 3 now, when I'm 13.
And I'm completely fine.
/Funny.TS1.Flashback.

My sims were swimming, when the woman suddenly gave birtch right when she was about to dive in. Then my sim baby was outside because I didn't use cheats.
Fun times, fun times.

I've been playing The Sims since 2000, and I came out....only slightly corrupted

Edit - And I agree with the "quirkiness" factor. The Sims 1 had that cute pixel dolly charm, and The Sims 2 was just...adorable!

But the Sims 3 is just lacking...something...it doesn't have that charm anymore.

laurbake: Yeah, it's the weirdest thing. I don't know what it is that's missing, but something is definitely missing. I wish I could figure out what it is.

daluved1: I agree. I always thought it was adorable when my sims smiled in Sims 2, even though all of the smiles were pretty much the same. Now when they smile it's just...creepy.

I think the way Sims 2 sims smile gives them this "goofy factor" that's really charming. I love my Sims 2. I don't really think my sims in 3 look creepy when they smile, but I do agree, they lack the goofball charm of Sims 2. But it's Sims 3, not Sims 2, so I just enjoy it as it is and go play Sims 2 when I feel like playing with my charming goofballs.

I think what's missing is a certain feeling. I saw this happen with other games and with movies.
It's like Sims1 and Sims2 were created by people who loved what they were doing and had fun with it.
Sims3 feels like it was made by people working on a project to satisfy their bosses.

I totally agree!

Holy CRAP. I don't remember any of this, and I played almost from day one and had every xpac. Vicki the Vampiress? Garden gnomes?

This is the second time in a week I've been tempted to reinstall TS1, but I just know the graphics will make me want to weep.

If everyone is upset with the end results, take to the streets or be silent. Go protest of you are so unhappy.

Really, you don't remember them? Vicki the Vampiress and the drunk gnomes were in the Makin' Magic pack. Your witchy sims had to cast a certain spell to make any garden gnomes on the lot come to life, and the purpose of the spell was to have them as a bunch of little gardeners. But, if you had a nectar press on the lot, they would neglect their gardening duties and spend all of their time swimming in the nectar that was in the press. And then they'd act all drunk

Vicki was a shopkeeper in Magic Town. If I remember correctly, she sold dragon eggs.

Man, I really want to reinstall Sims 1 too. I don't even care about the graphics, it was just AWESOME.

Good idea, lets all meet at the town hall on Sunday afternoon :D

I'm with you guys . Miss the nightclubs , bars and neighborhoods. Until EA comes out with decent xpansion packs, even with some of the custom content out there....Im goin back to Sims2.

I was thinking more of storm the forums, send tons and tons of angry emails, etc.

I spent all last week playing Sims 1 (I have all 3 Sims games on my computer) and yes, they are so cute and I love Vicki and the little dragons, even though they mess with my magical gnomes. :D

How strange. MM was my favorite, too. I did go to Strangetown and all that. I looked up a screenshot of Vicki and I kind of half-remember her, but I definitely don't remember the gnomes. I must have just never bought/played with them.

The sad (good?) thing here is that I have ALL my Sims1 stuff backed up. Including like a hundred zillion custom hairs.

You had to make the gnomes on a workbench and then cast a spell to bring them to life. I never did that until recently, and it's all kinds of fun! If your computer can swing it, you should reinstall and play. Sure the graphics aren't the same as TS2 and 3, but the little animals and all of the shameless jackassery is really fun! I especially love the racoon, El Bandito!

You had me at 'shameless jackassery'.

I've been bouncing back and forth between my Sims 2 reinstall and playing Sims 1 over the past week...there's no other description for drunk lawn gnomes being tormented by the pet dragon, my sim walking around with a donkey head and then trying to turn her husband into a toad, only to have it backfire and turn *her* into a toad...looney tune fights with El Bandito...well, you get the picture. Shameless Jackassery, pure and simple.