I want weather to be a base game thing ( even though I know it wont )

If a game is simply no fun to play, it doesnt matter at all that its technically flawless.

Considering that the sims are about simulating life in a slightly comical fasion, the little details are very important contributions to the overall immersion.

The GTA series for example, really comes to life through many small details that make the people in the streets more life like. They smoke, they talk with each other, some will fight you if you punch them and others will run, other people might steal cars too, people might be fishing, etc. And while those little things on their own arent a must have for the game, all of it combined greatly improves the total picture.

I played Sims 3 for a while, until I decided to give Sims 2 a spin. You talk about the Sims you're playing. The Sims in Sims 3 put cars in their pockets. The Sims in Sims 3 pull materials for cooking out of their pockets. The Sims in Sims 3 will get angry at your Sim if they have a romantic interest from their teens. Even if the couple got married right out of Young Adulthood, and are Elders now, the moment you install one little patch, the romantic interest from the teenage years causes a rift in the relationship.

And about the game working, they released World Adventures with a bug that would destroy your save. Not to say Sims 2 didn't release with broken things either. Bon Voyage released with a bug that would fill your neighborhood with Tour Guides. And they never did fix the things that corrupted your game.

You say the Sims 2 was limited in detail. Sure, it was limited in detail, but why should the Sims 3 be more limited?

TS2 was full of little details...but then again, if you only care about the sims you are playing right then, you probably wouldn't notice it.

TS2 had bugs. TS2 still has bugs in an unmodded game, although patches did take care of quite a lot of it. TS2 still has bugs in a modded game. But most people don't actually complain about the gameplay, from what I've seen.

A lot of people not only complain about the bugs in TS3, they also complain about what the gameplay has turned into - less sandboxy, more online components, etc.

TS2 isn't a perfect game, but it still doesn't make TS3 any better of a game, either.

I liked the memories system in TS2, and that it was incorporated in the base game. I may be alone on this, but I thought they were fun. I liked how they would come up in conversation and gossip. They were probably similar, but I didn't like TS3 memories for some reason. I could just be nostalgic about TS2, but I liked the positive/negative memories and the simplicity of them. They were just along the bar thing like needs and career and whatnot, it didn't require opening some stupid scrapbook-like thing.
Also the turn ons/offs were fun.

Despite traits, its surprisingly hard to find sims in sims3 that have an actual personality considering most traits have barely existant effects. The very way they move and interact simply isnt as catchy as in sims2.

As a person who loves Sims2 and Sims3 for different reasons, I can say that neither are sacrosanct. They both have their flaws and their strengths. Now, personally, I don't think it's too unreasonable or standards to high to expect a better rather than different game in the next iteration. A better game means they improve upon what's already there, while different means going in a different direction from previous iterations. EA obviously had long-term plans for a different game (except for the open world, changes made to gameplay from 2 to 3), so it makes sense people would be upset about that.

There is one thing I'm curious about though. You mention how you only care about the sim(s) your playing and not about the other sims around them. This, along with the "standards too high" comment, is your response that it's too unrealistic for people to want details, and then go on to talk about zealous adoration of Sims2. But having no interest in the sims around your sim is more of a Sims2 thing. So it's seems more like you're arguing as a Sims2 enthusiast against those that actually embrace the open world of Sims3. Is this right?

I love the small details in the Sims 2 that I miss in the Sims 3. This may strike some people as slightly odd, but I miss it when the Sims used to walk to the vehicles. When they teleport to their car, it looks rather odd.

Problem is that they wanted to dumb things down and overall make the experience easier. Appearantly having to put a parking spot at the side of the road was too complex too, but I blame it on lazy developers. They wanted to put cars in, but probably did it at the last minute. Might as well have saved it for an expansion then.

With all these complaints against the absence of car animations, you'd think this feature would now be set in stone as part of EA's list of missed features to add to TS4. And this is not even the only site to be vocal about it. It's practically become a sin not to have incorporated it in TS3, so EA should seriously take a lesson here while TS4 is still in development.

Let's hope they are paying attention to the critisism of sims3.

Sims4 is a big release for them after all, sims series is their most profitable franchise without a doubt. They'd want it to be good.

Still, they can be very fortunate that there is no competition at all for the sims series. Some games have small aspects of it and others tried to copy it, but no competitive alternative was ever released. Nothing they ever had to worry about at least.
In a way its a shame since competition keeps developers on edge. Sims is best in its genre because its its own genre. The only competition sims3 has is sims2.

Even if I wouldnt be interested in buying it, I'd welcome competition to the sims. A game that's also about simulating life, and expands on it with expansions but in the meanwhile does things differently. Including things the sims have never done.

Worked for Grand Theft Auto at least when Saint's Row came out. They never outsold GTA but the strenght of SR was that it played quite well into the critisism of GTA. Character customisation for example, create your own character in detail even greater than anything the sims ever did. In SR2 they even allow female protagionists which GTA has never done.
SR also made your mobile phone an important part of gameplay, and GTA adapted this into GTAIV as well. When SR2 came out they where quite clever about doing the crazy stuff GTA used to do in older games since some people didnt like the serious approach of GTAIV. They really where really preying on GTA and looking at its weaknesses.
And then they released SR3 and it was the end of that competition, but with the first two games they truly where paying close attention to GTA.

But either way, it provided good competition for a while. Sorry to ramble but its just really baffling that no one ever tried to make a rival to something so succesfull as the sims.

What I really want to have back is that they get a new life wish after you forfilled this one.

The punny and meaningful names. Mary Sue Pleasant, Cassandra Goth, Nervous Subject, Tara Kat, Circe Beaker, etc. -- I really miss seeing actual love put into the games. Besides; the extra little things like the names were a gameplay bonus. I seriously freaked out when I saw "Longish Name" because I thought they were going to start doing that again.

I miss the conversation bubbles actually making sense. In the Sims 1 and 2 it was like Flower>Tree>Recycling>Earth>Politics>Cities>Cars>Planes and so on. It looked like an actual conversation, where things slowly evolve from topic to topic. I used to make up little stories about what they were talking about.

In The Sims 3 it's more like Flower>Planes>Death>Recycling>Wrench. I never understood this change, and I hope they rectify it in the fourth installment.



Also I find the differences between TS2 and TS3 remind me of the differences between the two Star Trek series DS9 and Voyager.
DS9 focused on telling good stories in an alien setting, with realistic characters (that couldn't just be easily shoved into the good or evil category), and dealt with timeless issues. (There was even one two-parter episode that practically predicted Post-9/11 America.).
Compare that to Voyager, which was about flat uninteresting stereotypes for characters, and Jeri Ryan in a skintight catsuit.
One focused on characters, the other didn't. The exact same difference between The Sims 2 and 3. Although at least DS9 and Voyager were on at the same time for most of their respective lifecycles, so they covered all bases.

but who says you have to give up anything.. why not both

I really regret selling all my Sims 2 games after reading all these...

I just wish that EA would focus more on the gameplay, instead of having really great graphics etc.. I never had any lag issues with TS2! Ah, those were the days...

Kids putting on backpacks to go to school and in the Sims 2 you could get a drink of water, please bring that back. Also for some reason PB&J ingredients are all from the fridge, I want my Sims to walk around the kitchen and get the things they need, not it just popping out of no where. Also let kids have nightmares and piss there pants! I want to see my child-teen Sims get bullyed (if they have one) and eat lunch outside with there friends!

Piss their pants?

I want the job chance cards back! It's way too easy to get promoted in Sims 3. I can't really classify this as a "small detail", though, as it was a big deal back in Sims 2. Of course you could always click on "ignore", but where's the fun in that?