Babe that's why I chose this community. Plus I assume that you guys played Sims 4 at some point. Sims 4 fans' brain has rotted to the point of calling every artstyle uncanny valley if it's slightly more realistic than Sims 4 maxis match and Pixar. They would probably have nightmares from non-online bloody grimy games straight men often play.

TS2 missing that? Haven't downloaded any, but knew of a few (most were pay-only, though. 18+ mods generally used to be, and there were a LOT of those going around for a while ).



I can't even find anything without CC in TS4, let alone when I put in minimal CC. CAS is fine-ish, but the buy/build is absolutely horrible. The amount of items is ridicolous, there's barely any system. Yes, you can sort after packs and such, but that deco section is even worse than TS2's ever was... Besides, TS2's ability to use two subsets and (proper) repoing makes TS2's swatches a ton better than TS4 (so many "unnecessary" TS4 recolors!), although it would've been nice to see them more than 5 at a time.



CASt in TS3 is fine (has upsides and downsides), but sometimes I want the level of detailing you can get with TS2 textures, and it's just a simple recolor away. I also found the CASt system started taking me down into a spiral of CAS-modifications every single time, taking away a lot of play time. By the time I got to the lot, I had absolutely no desire to CASt the houses, so my sims lived in EA's really badly decorated houses of mostly brown/yellow/orange. Choice is good, but too much choice can at times be exhausting. I sometimes miss it for TS2 - mostly for mix-and-match situations where there aren't repo'd options, or just for picking a color swatch that doesn't exist, or for a clothing item that's got a neat thing going, but not quite the right color. Most of the time I'm fine without it.



The bodyshape system is something I kind of miss, too. I don't really have the downloads folder for a ton of bodyshape clothes, so I've just elected to go for the standard EA shapes, unless there are very spesific reasons not to (storytelling reasons, a spesific picture series, etc.) - mainly for my own sanity's sake. Would be nice to have more shapes, though. Also wouldn't be mad about poseable faces, instead of the morph faces in TS2...

There's the growable cannabis mod. You could then sell that in an owned business.



LOL, a friend and I used to play those games and we are not straight men.



Same. I just can't be bothered wrangling different shapes and different clothes.

The Sims 3 - which there are parts of that I do like, and I think I may enjoy having all the expansion and stuff packs just in order to build - to me was just not as much fun as the 2.
The Sims 4 - it was okay in the beginning, but I got tired of them very soon.
The Sims 2?
@Charity - take note
I played the Sims 2 without ANY cc or mods for around 5 years - having tremendous fun and may still have been doing that, had my hood with all 224 families not decided to do that vanishing into space thing.
I think the fact that you can grow a huge neighborhood with just the base game is a huge point in favour of the sims 2.

Apart from the cannabis mod mentioned above. Sun&Moon have a range of tea that can be grown and made with a variety of purposes. Not quite what you were thinking of but I think it falls under that umbrella since you grow and dry the plants and can sell them. In fact as far as effects go, I don't believe the cannabis mod has any, but these teas do all kinds of things. EG Energizing Tea: Boosts Energy, Fun, Mood, and Comfort.

I think I've got a lot more nostalgia and excitement tied to TS2 than the two others. Plus, while it loads slow (blaming CC here), it runs best.

I played TS2 all the way through the EP releases from BG+Uni together, until FT (the rest were all installed together on my then gaming computer, since my ancient laptop couldn't handle more), so I got to enjoy the new features every time. Every new release brought a lot of excitement, even the SPs. All the long nights I spent playing...

With TS3 I tried to find most of the EPs on sales. Not quite the same excitement, but still got to enjoy the new features. Too bad the full set of EPs almost made the game unplayable (TS3 was always the most buggy to me - a few saves, even mostly CC-free, and the saves would bug out. Plus, it was very laggy).

With TS4 all of this was pretty much broken when they decided to sell the games web-only. I got the BG and a couple of EPs as "physical" copies. The BG was CDs (that didn't really work, had to use the codes), and the EPs were just codes in a cover. The BG felt empty (can't quite remember if I waited until toddlers were released, but it's possible I did - those missing were a big turn-off to me), and the EPs did help a bit, but not enough. It always felt like an unfinished game, even with the free "addons" (some of which are just fixes to an unfinished basegame, really). TS4 also was extremely laggy on my newer laptop (which played TS3 relatively fine, if a bit laggy), and sent the fans into "jet plane mode". Never figured out why, even with various settings.



Can't say I did much CC-free playing (I had a good long while of playing families, though), but I absolutely see the potential in playing TS2 mod-free (save for some necessary fixes and possibly a few texture defaults).

I've mostly played TS3 and TS4 CC-free/light, but more out of practical reasons. TS3 because it already struggled under the load of itself, let alone CC, and TS4 because I sincerely can't bother with keeping up with what needs updating, especially when I play maybe once a year...

@simmer22

I lived in the mountains back then, internet was not working very well there. (It improved later).
I simply did not know much about mods or custom content. It was only after my hood exploded and I was trying to figure out why that I discovered the sims 2 community and MTS.
I think I still have less mods than most players - I learned to play around most problems over the years. And even though the hood blew up, if I say I played it, I mean I played it. All the time, had no other games. probably spend at least 5 to 6 hours per day (I was widowed in 2005 and had time on my hands, especially at night, after both kids also left school in 2006).
If only I knew that I could make a backup
I still don't know what I actually did wrong (if anything at all) - because the vanilla game does not allow you to do certain things (like interacting with Crumplebottom - believe me, I tried that). And sometimes, I still miss that hood.

Oh, and Sims 2 came with toddlers from the start.

Yeah, I honestly don't know what the TS4 team were thinking, releasing the game with babies that couldn't even move away from their crib, and no toddlers. Felt like a slightly redone Sims 1 basegame, but in 3D (only, I think it even missed a few features the Sims 1 basegame had)

Sure, they've added on the "missing features" plus some additional features to the basegame, but it's taken them upwards of ten years to do so, and a LOT of nagging from the community. Most of the missing stuff were likely left out in the cold because the game was rushed. They likely left a lot at the cutting board, and retroactively started adding it in when people started complaining - who knows what they would've actually added without any pressure from the community (likely nothing).

I do agree with everyone saying that TS4 is way more child-like game, compared to its predecessors. I like playing TS4 and I love the cartoon graphics to be fair, but the gameplay it's bland and boring. I'm not bothered by the huge amount of DLCs since I stay away from CC (literally some core mods & Bella Goth's original outfit lol) BUT I still think it's cashgrabby, as most of them feel unnecessary or don't add anything special worth the money or that could be bundled with something else. I think kits are a nice idea though whilst I struggle to understand the need for Gamepacks and Stuff Packs which are virtually be the same thing.

Not too long ago, I was watching an interesting video on YT (not sure if I'm allowed to post it) which analyzed TS4 trends and schedule with the release of DLCs and aside from the randomness of content it also pointed out the last 3 EP felt rushed and buggier that the previous ones (all of them came out in 2023, while in 2021 and 2022 we only saw 1 EP per year (still buggy though). I kinda of know what to expect every time a new DLC for TS4 is released, they felt much more incomplete and generic than the TS2 ones but above all don't seem to work well together - the most recent example I've got is Crystal Creation where you can't register yourself as free lancer although you can with painting and candle making. I did have the same feeling with some TS2 EPs, like each new hood added with EPs only contained items from the basegame and the specific EP HOWEVER I do understand this had to do with game limitations rather than developer laziness (missing content from lots turns into random basegame objects and so do walls & floors) but the EP still worked fine together and you can use all of the EPs at once and in one game session. Nothing will ever top up TS1 Vacantion lots were some of the contents of Unleashed were automatically added when installed.

I do go back and fort TS1, TS2 and TS4 - TS3 is the only one I can't get into, the Sims really put me off with their appearance and it's still quite laggy on my laptop - I was never able to enjoy the game properly except managing to play some EPs alone (World Adventure, Supernatural & a bit of Into the Future) but with all EP is way less smooth than my current TS4. I don't mind switching between games, I was randomly able to go back to TS1 and add a reshade configuration (although I had to pick between smother game and better graphics, you know who won lol) but on the other hand TS2 is the game I know how enjoy the game play most. I also know my way through gamefiles and managing the CC although it takes a while to load so I'd rather play something else if I haven't got too much time.

Overall I do think that people should just give a go to each installment and see what they enjoy more: I understand TS4 is still quite expensive with all the DLCs however the first 2 can be easily downloaded online (since there's no legal way of getting them anymore) & TS3 DLCs are quite cheap nowadays. I don't like the direction EA has taken with TS4 (and TS5 for what matters) but I can't wait for them to be done with DLC so that the game can be finally fixed by modders

So did I at the beginning. I just thought it was funny that someone implied that people only used a lot of mods in Sims 3 and 4.

There are some things I wish were transferable to Sims 2 from Sims 3 (that aren't possible), but I can't really think of anything from Sims 4.

I did not mean to imply you need mods for those 2 games. I honestly don't know - I only played the base games of both, never bothered to waste money on any expansion packs. The point I was rather trying to make was that I did not enjoy it nearly as much as I did the base game of Sims 2.

Sims 3 - I played 3 of the families for a while, made my own, did not like the fact that there was no neighborhood play as such.

Sims 4 - I don't think I spent more than a week on it. I tried - it was a birthday gift and quite expensive at the time! I went back when the toddlers were added and tried again (the todds were quite cute, but it just was not enough to keep me there. After all, my Sims 2 sims were calling me).

I do find some of the objects very nice, especially in Sims 3, though, and from what I have seen other builders do, it looks tempting to me to use Sims 3 for building purposes. I found the open world quite boring - how many times do you want to watch a sim walk/run/drive somewhere anyway? I like some of the objects, even have 3 or 4 in my game.

Sims 4 was just a bit plastic to me (still looks like that) especially the poor plants. Some objects here and there are nice. I don't use any.

I like some of the converted clothing from both. My Sims are still dressed by Fanseelamb, Fakepeeps and CatofEvilgenius, though. I guess I am not keeping up with the styles

Heh, I spent about 3 hours on Sims 4 before I thought. I'm so bored; why am I playing this?

What I probably should have done!

My experience exactly

Okay so this thread turned into comparing games to each other. Okayy.. interesting....


In my opinion there is nothing wrong with Sims 4's artstyle, though a little more detailed meshes would't hurt. Sims 2 has much more detailed meshes for objects like food. It's actually interesting how Sims 4 made a cartoonish game during a period where games were becoming more and more realistic. I feel like Sims 4 said "Okay, quit the realism, this is getting too uncanny" and many games took that route, only not as extreme, but Fortnite reminds me of Sims 4. I do see Sims 4 players overusing the term 'uncanny valley' and it's very popular to hate alpha CC there. I actually once posted my build of a record store and people called it uncanny for being too realistic, especially the album covers being actual existing covers. It wasn't like there was 30 versions of maxis match album covers and I like pretending that my sims listen to Pink Floyd in their free time. When it comes to other people's creations, I know this will sound mean but hear me... I'm so annoyed that the only type of sims that get upvotes are goofy sims. Older simmers like to make fun of young girls creating Insta model looking girls and giga chads while older simmers do the same with their 2020s Disney cartoon looking sims.

Secondly, during my Sims 4 days, I wanted to create the most interesting storyline and the gameplay was so boring that I couldn't do that. Some youtuber made such a great video explaing that Sims 4 took all of the 'annoying' obsticles of the Sims 2 which made the game vapid and dull. To be honest, I don't know a single person who played Sims 2 as a kid that wasn't scared at some point, but we still have good memories of it.

Also some of your comments made me think why do I hated building in sims 3 so much. The objects had to be loaded everytime I click on the category. It was absurd. Sims 2 at least loads once ir twice when you view the next page in the catalog. I did like CAS and people who complained about ugly sims just didn't know how to make them, mine were sexy. My sims were actually the least attractive in Sims 4 because I was fighting with the goofy artstyle by trying to make semi-realistic looking sims with alpha CC. It was bad.

I've never been interested in having extremely realistic sims, but I like them somewhere in the middle. With TS2 I just need a few basic defaults, and I'm good to go. Even a few of the EAxis hairs and various clothes can work in a pinch (low/no-CC game). Even townies look mostly alright with the defaults.

My biggest beef with TS3 in particular is that if you want to have nice-looking sims, you kind of need more than just a few texture defaults. Almost everything else in the game looks alright, but the sims... Eh. Not for me. I can play the game, but I've never been interested in doing storytelling and such because of this (just can't be bothered to go the whole round of finding all the stuff I'd need to make nice-looking sims). And when you've made them somewhat alright-looking in CAS, they still end up looking all weird ingame. Oh, and the shine/glow everywhere. I know it can be toned down/removed, but why is it even there to begin with?

I've never been too big a fan of the cartoony style in TS4. I absolutely hate 99% of the clay hairs, their mouths kinda creep me out a bit sometimes, and the furniture looks a little bit "off" for various reasons (more so when converted 4t2). I've done some storytelling/picture setups just to test it out, but the setup is extremely tedious (there are probably easier ways, I just can't be bothered to get into it all). Mostly just played with some families, but the gameplay does get very repetitive, and it's a too easy game. At times it almost has the feel of a mobile game, especially for all the annoying and often useless stuff you have to collect and do to advance (I think one task is to put 50 columns or some such number on the lot for one of the aspirations - which is ridicolous unless you're building a mansion or some such )

...was I the only one who assumed the AquaGreen Hydroponic Garden slacker career reward was supposed to be cannabis?

There's a trend of making games 'mobile friendly' and I hate it.

Off-topic, I just saw a port of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for mobile and I am both impressed and in disbelief. Impressed, because technology has improved so much that playing such a game (which made my desktop lag back in the day) is a piece of cake for modern day phones. In disbelief because who in their right mind would play such a game on a phone?!

I'm sorry, people complain about the lighting physics in TS2???

LOL. IDK about you but I cannot stand the lighting in sims 3 or 4 - it's way too dark, you can barely see anything, all screenshots look horrible and blue and clothes for some reason reflect light so they look shiny like they are wearing pleather everything.

Sims 2 especially with the lighting mods that improve the lighting is absolutely brilliant.

*Me who had a trip down memory lane that lasted for a couple of days and got Neighbors From Hell 1 and 2, Pocket Tanks, Worms and that beer game with girls on the App store. Btw, I was too young for those games when they were the most popular and would watch other kids play it.

I don't mind having 2000s games as mobile games because new mobile games are so Candy Crush-a-fied. They have too many levels and those levels are too easy and stimulating (which probably makes them addictive). They also force you to engage with other players and the art style is Sims 4 but in 2D. 2000s games were much harder, had less levels and were less flashy and addictive.




Yes. Here is an example of my build. You can see the shadow under the balconies that don't make sense with the lighting angles elsewhere. Yes, it's a bit annoying but like you said, Sims 2 has the best lighting. I already said that it's the brightest but not as oversaturated as Sims 4. Not to mention that it accentuates the detailed textures of some objects which is impossible in other games. I only wish there was a mod where I can change the color and intensity like in Sims 3. I had some issues with Gunmod's lighting in the past with my red flashing neighborhood so I'm wondering if that mod will improve this shadow.

I feel like a rare soul who likes all the editions, despite some personal gripes and grumbles with each.

Have you ever tried taking a picture of a set of wall papers for upload? No matter what you do you get odd shadows and lines on it. If you do it outside its too bright and inside is too dark, no matter how many windows you place. I will still take sims 2 lighting over the other games anyday, but when you make and try to showcase wallpaper you notice it.

TS2 has some issues (like the wall/wallpaper issue) I'd love to see a fix for, but I too prefer the lighting in TS2.

I was doing some pictures of objects a while back in TS4, and I quickly figured out the shadows were some of the ugliest and most difficult to work with in all 3 games - they were causing issues everywhere. Floors, walls, on the items... Turning off shadows didn't help much either (I usually keep shadows off in TS2 - when shadows work they're fine, but there are issues, especially with CC). Didn't make it easier that I was doing some 2t4 conversions, and fixing the issues... oh, boy! The inner workings of S4Studio (when you're not just replacing a mesh/texture and calling it a day) is a nightmare compared to SimPE - that thing has more layers than a box of onions, even if it seems to do much the same

TS3 has the ugly vibrancy/shine on everything, as if all furniture is self-illuminated. There's a mod to fix that, but still... And of course whatever makes everything look like it's made out of plastic/leather.

I'm also in favor of the fact that the shadows in the Sims 2 are weird, but the lighting is still the most beautiful (adding in that all the objects have quite realistic textures). Although I really liked the environmental lighting in the sims 3, (not counting the horrible glowing textures).