Personally, I prefer the Sims 2. Aside from the fact I've grown to it, like others have said, they seem more.. Unique from one another. In the Sims 3, all sims look the same in some sort of way. They all have a similar look about them, almost like porcelain dolls, and they are just so flawless (In a bad way).

The graphics & scenery are nice, but the gameplay isn't really my style xP Admittedly, I love the more advanced customization of the Sims 3, but that's about it.



So true.

I've been playing Sims3 with pets for a little while and I really miss my 'real' sims. As much as I love the horses and the landscape I don't like the game style and the sims themselves are lifeless, bizarre looking creatures that don't seem to match the rest of the game. Maybe if I had a better computer and my learning disability disappeared overnight I could understand the instructions for downloading and load up on CC but I don't even make up stories for my sims anymore. I only have one family I'm attached to because they have horses, and as soon as they die (sob!) I'll go back to TS2, because with that game there's nothing I don't like.

I personally prefer Sims 2 over Sims 3 any day of the year. Sims 3 is childish, bland, flat and boring. In Sims 2, you're actually living an unexpectable life! You CAN and DO get killed/endangered in Sims 2. Sims 3 is made for children 3-5 years.

I know its counter intuitive, but my computer will play Sims 3 but not Sims 2. I plan on going back to Sims 2 when I have a computer that can play it, but for now I'm stuck with 3.

There is a way to put in mods and CC in Sims 3, but you have to set 3 up to take it. I liked 2 better in that you could just drop mods in your downloads folder.

I don't like the way Sims look in 3. They all look kind of blah.

I'm not sure what everyone means about the gameplay. It's the same.

I definitely love Sims 2 more, I like having all the old characters from Sims 1, and I like that they just stay in the house, unlike in Sims 3 where they can just wander round.
Sims 2 is more familiar to be, and Sims 3 makes me feel old (though being 16 I'm probably too old to play it anyway...)
So yeah, Sims 2 ftw

Sims that look like porcelain dolls, performance issues and lack of simplicity was enough for me to uninstall the game completely.

I have tried to have fun playing Sims 3 since 3 years ago... then I realized I got bored quickly. There was a bug on speeding time mode in Sims 3 base game, before I had any expansions. Watching my Sim sleeping until he wake up.. I could leave my laptop to have dinner in my real life then back to play again without pause. I felt that my Sim gameplay like I did in Sims1. He fulfilled all his "nature calls" bladder, hunger, energy then went to work place.. got the salary then back to home felt very exhausted, fulfilled all his "nature calls", then did his routine everyday. Very hard to make friends in Sims 3. Every time my Sim keeps talking to opposite Sim with the same interaction menu, the opposite Sim REFUSES to respond my Sim! Then the conversation stopped because both of them lack of fulfilling needs meter. Very Sims1 like! In Sims 2, you can make friends easily. I can make 2-3 friends in one day in Sims2 by keep talking to them. Am I the only one realizing that in Sims3 the energy meter is lowering quickly than Sims 2? In Sims 2 I still have energy to do anything after back from work until midnight without taking nap or coffee. In Sims 3, my Sim should take a nap or sleep to regain his energy for the rest of the night. Taking a sip of coffee no helping either.

When I played TS3 for the 1st time, hey isn't that item from TS2 base game? Hey isn't that item from TS2 Seasons? Animations (especially dancing) are same as TS2. TV channel broadcasts Sims from TS2. "Young Adult" stage looks useless without college! What's the difference between Young Adult and Adult then? Lack of baby and toddler interaction menu. Why my Sims look stoned and cold at each other? They seem not care about each other. Sims in TS2 are very emotional, look more like humans than robots/dolls in TS3. Maxis keep funny jokes, laying plates on floor that can make the old day TS1 unforgettable. In TS3 everything is cold and serious, without any humor.

TS3 is more like development from TS2, whereas TS2 is made from scratch not just adding improvement to make TS1 better. If EA makes TS3 Sims look realistic, why don't they make the gameplay realistic itself? My ideas for TS3 that would make TS3 BIG IMPROVEMENT just like TS2 from TS1.
-adjust height. EA should make alternative animations, for example, if different height Sims kissing their lips met perfectly, not one kissing on the forehead then the other one kissing on the chin. Male should be taller than female! For God's sake.. people don't mind different height of both of them don't look discriminate gender. I'm a feminist, I agree 100% male is taller than female so they look as natural as real life.
-UNIVERSITY for base game. I know EA wouldn't make the same expansion from previous franchise TS2, so if they added "Young Adult" stage, they should made college student stage for them! College as crucial as school and work! If they made UNIVERSITY expansion, they should add new improvement just as like TS3 Pets. More college majors, master's degree, doctoral degree, being able to work as professor, more detailed University party and study life.
-MORE interactive menus. Disappointing seeing Sims still have limited interactive menu as like TS2. Sims TS3 in pool should have interactive menus like "float", "dive", "teach kids to swim", "splash other Sims", "play volleyball", "acrobatic swim" than just "swim". Sims should be able to call other Sims while sitting on seat, not wandering around the house. Eating snacks while sitting on sofa watching TV talking to others at the same time.
-Seasons. I know EA wouldn't make extreme graphic rendering since considering consumers' graphic card, so it would be good idea if they added rain for base game. Electricity off unexpectedly.
-HEALTH METER. TS3 should be more realistic and challenging of they could get sick and for worse, comma in hospital. Adding "HEALTH METER" on fulfilling needs so Sims could feel not well/well on each day and each moment. Eating meat/junk food/unhealthy food and not exercising would increase their "nauseating/not feeling well" meter.
-More -$$$$$. This is the feature I hate the most in TS3. Everything is FREE!! You pick clothes you like in store FOR FREE, riding taxi FOR FREE, cooking barbecue at park FOR FREE, eating quick meal FOR FREE, newspapers FOR FREE, hotel (?) home stay for foreign Adventure World FOR FREE, low bills. Ridiculously different range of price tag for different level of books.
I'm sure most of Simmers like challenging gameplay to make their Sims work harder to pay their bills, just like real life.

Well first of all I'm very picky and I did end up pre ordering the sims 3 and got it when it first came out. Found out it was very laggy when I installed it and that I wasn't too fond of the graphics at all. I played it maybe for a week and then after that I decided I liked sims 2 better. I just became attached to the sims 2 and now that I've finally got all of the expansion packs there's no way I'd play the sims 3 again. I would hate to have to reinstall everything. And as a lot of people have said I don't like the look of the sims in 3 their faces just look weird to me. so the sims 2 wins in my book but then again I'm sure there are people who prefer the sims 1 to the sims 2 and would have the same disagreements.

I'm 42 years old and playing TS2 from the first EP on, and still not getting tired of it. So if you feel old, what should I say?

For TS3: I never played it, I saw it on my friend's computer and was done with it by the Sim's look. I love Sims with characater, like Vidcund Curious and I LOVE Aliens.

TS2 forever <3<3<3

Sims 2: I've loved TS2 ever since I got and always will My only problem with it is a strange texture issue that a few people with windows 7 have... or maybe just me
Anyways, in my opinion people are (sometimes) a lot prettier than the sims in Sims 3. It's just plain easier for me to make prettier sims in the Sims 2. I always make the same looking ones on the Sims 3...

Sims 3: I only...really like the Sims 3. The thing I love the most is the open world. Everything is so...uneven? in the Sims 2. And you can make super fat sims Anyways, the rabbit holes however, diminish the open world feel. Is there anything I'm forgetting?

To sum it up, I just love the Sims 2 more. Plain and simple.

TS2 has a lot replay value. I have uninstalled it every now then, but months later, I have developed a crave again. The same doesn't happen with Sims 3 for me.

What I love about ts2:
the community lots/the sub-neighborhoods
the non-cartoon look of the sims
the normal, one-family-per-time age progression (yes i know you can turn that on/off in ts3)
it is easier to make friends
filling needs are easier
memories
i can play the game for hours and not get bored; i especially love building houses and community lots
What I love about ts3
the customization: oh.my.GOODNESS. traits, voices, favorites, hair colors, everything. i love love love cas so much!
the open world
the extra options for work & school (take a break, slack, work extra hard, etc)
visiting neighbor's houses
What I hate about ts2
the loading screens
no extra options for school/work
having to add recolor after recolor to my dl folder
What I hate about ts3
only being able to control one family: i can't stand this at all
the rabbit holes
moodlets (they are fun and quirky but get really annoying)
the cartoon faces
sometimes the amount of customization is frustrating and exhausting

I still prefer ts2 over ts3.

I played the Sims 3 first and have every EP so far. I'd often take breaks from it because it was repetitive, dull and glitchy. Eventually I was fed up with having mod upon mod just to make the game playable, and still having issues. I felt like raging at CASt for loading and reloading and reloading and reloading every damn thing whenever decorating/building, and eventually saw no point in community lots at all as townies stand around most of the time like zombies, no matter what or who is around.

Before giving up on The Sims altogether, I decided to check out Sims 2 and immediately loved it. So many new interactions and animations and usable objects are added with every EP that it makes Generations look like a joke. I also couldn't believe how many animations from Sims 3 are from Sims 2 - it makes Sims 3 seem cheap and unimaginative. Pretty much anything I found charming about Sims 3 is because it's originally from Sims 2. It's like what Sims 3 tried for, Sims 2 actually achieved, which is strange.

I love having different destinations so the main town isn't overcrowded and think if this had been done with Sims 3, it would have made a huge difference. I prefer having the loading screens because once that's over with, the lot is packed with townies - chatting, shopping, playing, and arguing with each other - and there are just so many objects you can use. I never knew routing could be a non-issue 'til I played Sims 2.

All in all, to me, Sims 3 seems immature, restricted, unimaginative and not funny or charming when compared to Sims 2. I just got Apartment Life and had to laugh at how much better it is compared to Late Night apartments - Apartment Life (and Nightlife) is what I was expecting with Late Night. Bon Voyage is what I expected from World Adventures, Open for Business is what I expected from Ambitions etc. Even the rabbithole jobs are more interesting and diverse.

Excuse the caustic comments - I spent a lot of money on Sims 3 (which I have absolutely no desire to play again) just to find out Sims 2 is what I really wanted.

What are these rabbit holes I hear people talk about? Haven't played the sims 3 so not sure what it is or why everyone hates it.

A rabbithole in Sims 3 is like a shell of a building that your sim disappears into for their job (but in S3 there are also rabbitholes for grocery shopping and the bookstore - they disappear into a building and a menu pops up for you to choose what to buy). It's like in Sims 2 when your sim just disappears off the home lot for work - you don't actually see them working but instead get pop-ups about what they're doing.

Edit: I think people don't like rabbitholes in Sims 3 because it's suppposed to be an open neighbourhood, yet you can't do something basic like shop in a store, only choose from a pop-up menu (and there are no clothing stores, you just edit the sim's wardrobe in CAS).

No. It is not alright to request things in this way. If you go to the WCIF forum, you can start a thread to ask for a particular (existing) item. There is also a stickied thread where people who are willing to take requests are listed. Look through the thread and see whether you can find someone who is willing to make what you want. Then, make your request directly to them.

Here is the thread for Sims 2. There is a similar thread for Sims 3.
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=392615

Be sure to read the first post in that thread, to understand how it works. You are not allowed to post requests in that thread, they will be deleted. With some exceptions, you are not allowed to post requests anywhere on MTS.

Even though S3 is an open world and it's supposed to be fun and ~new~, I feel like it's kind of centered around work and the game's more serious. Most of the LTWs are either about getting to the top of a career branch or mastering a skill. What happened to the "Marry Off 6 Kids" or "Send 3 Kids To College" LTWs in S2? Maybe they still have some like that, I haven't really read all of the LTWs.
S2 was still a little serious but there were still funny things like the vampires when they go out in the sun or the message they'd send you whenever you'd invite a Grand Vampire out in the day time. In S3 they took that away and they replaced the vampires with more serious, boring creatures.
Even with traits in S3 that can make your sim a lot different from others, I still felt like they were all the same. Even with my dad sim who had a lot of bad traits (Dislikes Children, Mean Spirited, etc) still had normal wishes to play with his daughter. Guys who dislike children and are mean spirited and bully their teen son don't usually want to play with their daughter, especially when they get a negative moodlet every time they interact with them. He acted almost the same as the Nurturing, Family-Oriented mom I had, except he was an asshole.
But with S2, I feel like they all had a mind of their own, even if you can only control their attitudes through little blue points in CAS. Every time they didn't want to do something, they would do that little "Why me?" shrug and then walk over begrudgingly. Yesterday I was playing the Beaker house and after Nervous fought with his dad, I saw him walking around the house all day with his hands balled up in a fist. In S3, sims don't do that. They seem like little stick figures that you have to watch over constantly to make sure they don't do something stupid or die from hunger.
Also, the sims in S3 all look the same. My sims are all really different from each other and still when I have my sim go out to the park, I look at the other premade sims and they're all like twins. No matter what I do they all still have that roundish face and the weird shaped body (Who did the boob sliders for EA? The boobs look horrendously plastic and erm... pointy.).
And of course, Story Progression is a pain in the ass. I love having legacies all in one town so they can all be friends and I can kind of have a back story to them, but with Story Progression I'm scared that while I'm playing one family, my other huge family I've been working on for god knows how long is going to move away or one of them will get pregnant. I don't want that. I don't like how teen sims can grow into young adults while I'm out playing another family and they choose their other trait and they do whatever they please. I want to choose what my sims trait is and I want to decide what skills they get and where they're gonna live. I like how in S2 if you're playing a house, you're playing THAT house. There is no Story Progression to screw up your perfectly constructed hood for you. It took me months after buying S3 to realize that I could turn that off
I still enjoy playing S3 just cause of the traits and the new things I can do, but I'm always gonna love S2 more, even if it doesn't have fancy expansions like Showtime where you can be a ~popstar omgz!!!~ or live in a huge, glitchy apartment in a huge, glitchy neighborhood.

They . . . they don't have these in TS3?! o_O" *checks*

Oh my God, they don't.

. . .

Um. Wow. That only took three and a half years or so.

*coughs*

I prefer TS2 because it's malleable and I feel in control of everything. I have objects that when placed on a community lot let me mod it any which way I want - control who goes there (and where!), lets me use buy and build mode, and lets me save. On TS3 I find myself feeling that it's very . . . "glossy" like the pages of a magazine, where it's so slippery and you can't get a good hold on it. I don't know how to describe it. I don't really hate TS3, I just disapprove of the consumerist, commercial, instant-gratification route it's taken. *gets out cane* You kids, get off my lawn! You're messing up the flat, limited-to-four-types terrain paint!

. . . But in all seriousness, as a person who has played all three games, and reviews PC games for cash, I'd have to say TS2 is the most well-rounded and accessible (out-of-the-box, no manual needed) out of all of them. With TS3 I was like "wait, what - page 9, page 9 . . . okay, hmm, well, where the hell . . . ?" and with TS2, when I got it I was like "oh, wow, look at this" even though I didn't know how to rotate furniture until I did it by accident x'D

I love Sims 2 a lot more, only because I have been playing it for years.

Sims 3, well, it took some time getting used to, and I lost the disc somewhere. I haven't played since August.

I like TS3 more now, and don't play TS2, but I do miss some of its features, like restaurants, businesses, university, seasons. All these features were lifelike, logical, and simple in TS2, but in TS3 they are trying to create "something new" and often mess up the things.
A perfect game would be: graphics, beautiful nature, open world and CASt from TS3, but all interactions and EPs from TS2, and simple downloads placement from TS2, too (just one type of files, and one way to install all of them). Now, that would be supercool! Ah, and functions of Twallan mods incorporated into the vanilla game, so I wouldn't have to download mods.

For me, the ideal game would be Sims 1 everything with an open world and Sims 2 or 3 graphics. (I like my 3D people)

I love Sims 2 more

Lord knows how many times I wish I had a Sims 2 version of Master Controller so I could put Sims back into CAS to either undo the effects of getting hit by lightning or change facial structure so that they aren't so fugly. I also wish there was a Sims 2 version of Overwatch and Errortrap to stop game breaking glitches before they start.

I also wish Sims 3 had one kind of mod instead of 3 kinds so that modders had an easier time of stopping the annoyances.

Having recently played a bit of the Sims 2, I feel I now have sufficient opinion to share, so here's a pros and cons list for each:

The SIms 2 pros:
It's much easier to make sims look attractive, or at least interesting.
There's a greater variety of hair styles, and they seem to be of a typically higher quality.
There's an indescribable quality to sims that makes clothing look better on them.
Relationships and how they interact work better; each sim has a separate score, and actions aren't "gated" in the same way as they are in the sims 3, so more crazy options are possible and it's harder to tell if an interaction will work or not.
Sims seem to have better AI, going from one interaction to the next more fluidly (and they seem more on top of their needs, not just waiting till they barely have enough time to pee to head for a toilet), and seem more willing to do interesting things with each other (in just a few minutes of free will two sims began flirting with each other, spawning a relationship).
There are more interactions for sims, and those interactions are typically better than those in the Sims 3.

Sims 2 cons:
Sims look less realistic, and their faces tend to be much more jagged/less smooth.
The action queue is small and when you add an action to a queue that has a free will action in it, the free will action doesn't X out and lead me to constantly accidentally X out my own action.
You can't change the time setting while a pie menu is open.
The fastest time setting is helpful for very long interactions, but also can go too fast for shorter interactions (personally, I'd like there to be four settings, with a Sims 2 3 setting for the fourth and a Sims 3 3 setting for the third).
You're stuck with only a few different colorings for hair, clothing, and objects.
Needs detract in a way that seems just plain weird--they often seemed to go down at the same speed as each other, but that might just be me.

Sims 3 pros:
Open world!
Sims 3 sims look more realistic and have smoother features.
Sims are more customizable and there are more clothing options.
Create a style! (This extends to its use for hair colors, as well.)
Smaller grid with off-grid rotation and placement with a simple button press.
The game itself runs easier; changing time settings with pie menus open, smoother camera, etc. Overall, it's just much easier to play.
The town aging with your sims--this leads to more genetic diversity, as not all sims come from the same pool of townies.
The "adult" lifestage makes for a smoother transition to elder.

Sims 3 cons:
Traits, being by themselves, result in less personable sims.
Actions being "gated" leads to ridiculously easy social interactions, as there's very little chance of failure.
Despite that, it seems harder to build up relationships to an annoying degree.
No needing to buy food/clothing.

In the end, I still prefer the Sims 3, but it's a more horizontal game in regards to the Sims 2 than the Sims 2 was to the Sims; with fewer objective improvements, it's not nearly as easy to say the Sims 3 is better than the Sims 2 or vice versa. I also get that indescribable feel from the Sims 2, in that the sims just have more personality and stories seem to pop up at will; I created a household of eight sims in the Sims 3, and once plopping them down I was like "now what?" whereas with the SIms 2, I sent seven sims off to college and immediately started with ridiculous romantic escapades (if it moved, they flirted with it!) and it just seemed more... natural.

That's another intrinsic difference between the two: in the Sims 2, you're limited to the one lot for normal gameplay, so the other sims go to you. In the Sims 3, the entire town is open to you, so you have to go to the other sims. Having a bunch of random visitors drop by and talk to your sims was really cool in the Sims 2, and that just doesn't happen in the Sims 3.