I'm a huge Sims fan so of course i ran out there to snag a copy of The Sims 3 the other day. Took over an hour to install, but I was optimistic. I was even still optimistic after it crashed while I was in the middle of making my first sim. But after having it crash my whole system at least one or twice an hour in various modes... mostly create-a-sim and build mode, but also happens randomly while playing... Let's just say my patience is running out and I am pissed at having to re-get my promotion and re-go through pregnancy, again... Saving frequently is difficult in and of itself since the game takes at least 2-3 minutes to complete saving.
Awesome things about the game include the moodlets, the better socializing options and career advancement... Being able to leave the lot and go places without ridiculous loading time is nice as well. Being more in control of the design and color schemes is great, albeit flawed because of the constant crashes that happen when I attempt it...
Terrible things include only being able to have control of one family in the neighborhood at a time (and if you switch they continue their lives without you.... Not always making the choices you want them to!). And also, although it's great to be able to customize appearance with more subtlety, sometimes it seems like it's impossible to get them to look different without just giving up and hitting the randomize button. Which of course crashes the game anyway.
Really like a lot of the things in the game, but the crashing is really pissing me off. I more than meet the system requirements and nothing that is not essential is running in the background. I just want to play the damn game. Grrrrrrr......
Sims 3
Moderator: Tsuki
Re: Sims 3
I've been playing the Sims 3 for about a month of so now and I actually haven't had any problems with the "buggy, pre-final build of the game." I definitely feel your pain though. I've had some problems with GTAIV, a big-name game I've paid for as well. I realized quickly after I started playing the Sims 3 that this game would need to be almost uncrashable to ensure happy customers. I wish there was some sort of timed auto-save or something like that. Unfortunately, this becomes a big issue when you're in your situation. There's the constant threat of having all of your work be for moot. I've had play sessions almost 10 hour slong and I've been lucky, so I'm definitely considering staying with my copy.
As far as gameplay, I love most of the new changes and replacements. Going into town is a lot easier, but it seems like there's less to do. Actually going to work and having different settings are nice additions, but staring at a building is no more fun than staring at an empty house. I like the centralization and charm of, say, the restaurants and diners, but the entire community lot aspects (like building your own eatery or store) are completely gone. Personalities are great modifiers to a normal Sim's life, but I did have a bug that wouldn't let my growing young adult's new trait become active. New lifetime achievement rewards are nice, but they all seem like they were made with the old motive system in mind.You can do more with the items, but there are less of them. The same applies for clothes and hair. Opportunities seem more fun than nothing, but in the end, they're just another reason to stare at a building. Being able to get a ride instantly anytime is a good choice, but the inclusion of being able to buy a car is redundant (though I understand having bikes).
Meeting co-workers at work is a great replacement for making friends out of work, but those co-works are Sims who already exist in your world and do not live beyond the scope of interaction with your sim. Example: I met a co-worker and befriended him out of work. Eventually, I had mastered the carrer path and he moved in, giving me control of him. He had no skills, no active goals, and no promotions. This may or may not apply to other sims taking residence in your town, but it did for my co-worker. I know he didn't live in town because I checked every house and he didn't live in any. When he moved in, his household was him, my boss, another co-worker, and a default sim living in a house. This is stupid.
The load (and save) times are noticeably longer than previously. The graphics and animation are a step-up from Sims 2, but no that big.
I recommended this game to a friend who had only played Sims 1 and I don't feel bad, but if someone who had Sims 2 and all of the expansion packs asked me, I would tell them to wait until they either bring in some really nice features (community businesses, real co-workers, animals probably, i.e all of the Sims 2 expansion packs again) or until the modding community really beefs up some of the content.
As far as gameplay, I love most of the new changes and replacements. Going into town is a lot easier, but it seems like there's less to do. Actually going to work and having different settings are nice additions, but staring at a building is no more fun than staring at an empty house. I like the centralization and charm of, say, the restaurants and diners, but the entire community lot aspects (like building your own eatery or store) are completely gone. Personalities are great modifiers to a normal Sim's life, but I did have a bug that wouldn't let my growing young adult's new trait become active. New lifetime achievement rewards are nice, but they all seem like they were made with the old motive system in mind.You can do more with the items, but there are less of them. The same applies for clothes and hair. Opportunities seem more fun than nothing, but in the end, they're just another reason to stare at a building. Being able to get a ride instantly anytime is a good choice, but the inclusion of being able to buy a car is redundant (though I understand having bikes).
Meeting co-workers at work is a great replacement for making friends out of work, but those co-works are Sims who already exist in your world and do not live beyond the scope of interaction with your sim. Example: I met a co-worker and befriended him out of work. Eventually, I had mastered the carrer path and he moved in, giving me control of him. He had no skills, no active goals, and no promotions. This may or may not apply to other sims taking residence in your town, but it did for my co-worker. I know he didn't live in town because I checked every house and he didn't live in any. When he moved in, his household was him, my boss, another co-worker, and a default sim living in a house. This is stupid.
The load (and save) times are noticeably longer than previously. The graphics and animation are a step-up from Sims 2, but no that big.
I recommended this game to a friend who had only played Sims 1 and I don't feel bad, but if someone who had Sims 2 and all of the expansion packs asked me, I would tell them to wait until they either bring in some really nice features (community businesses, real co-workers, animals probably, i.e all of the Sims 2 expansion packs again) or until the modding community really beefs up some of the content.
Re: Sims 3
I desperately hated Sims 1, Sims 2 was pretty boring too I guess, but I really like Sims 3 somehow, there's constantly something you have to do and I like to build my own house. But how can I buy more land ? I've got my space all filled up with stuff and I can't expand or at least buy the house that lies next to mine.
But don't get twins, those bastards are just so damn annoying and consume all of your free time...
I'm on my first family, playing about 10 hours so far I guess and I haven't had the slightest problem with it.
Sims 3 runs perfect on my computer, only had a small glitch where the textures took about a minute to load, so most of the screen was black/white, but they did came eventually.
But don't get twins, those bastards are just so damn annoying and consume all of your free time...
I'm on my first family, playing about 10 hours so far I guess and I haven't had the slightest problem with it.
Sims 3 runs perfect on my computer, only had a small glitch where the textures took about a minute to load, so most of the screen was black/white, but they did came eventually.
Travel back in time through the haze of memories that aren't your own
and melodies frozen in a particular place in history..
If you say run, I'll run with you
If you say hide, we'll hide
and melodies frozen in a particular place in history..
If you say run, I'll run with you
If you say hide, we'll hide
-
vanillacat
- カントリー・ガールズ
- Posts: 344
- Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:09 pm
Re: Sims 3
Well, I was going to (not-so-legally) get it, but considering the legal version of Sims 2 that I bought a number of years ago ALSO had the habit of crashing my computer, I don't think getting the "next big one" is a good idea... my computer is crap, clearly. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ryalot.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':o' /> Maybe I'll try it out this summer, because hopefully by that time there'll be a non-crashing version that, hey, maybe I'll legally buy?
Re: Sims 3
I am a rabid Sims fan. I played TS1 and TS2 religiously, and own every single expansion pack for both, but I will not fucking touch TS3. I won't even pirate it. It goes completely against the grain of what made the previous incarnations great, and I am *tired* of forking over money to EA.
I just will no longer give them money on a product deliberately left unfinished just so they can rip off customers by forcing people to buy things from their insipid online "store" and their expansions.
The graphics engine is the SAME as TS2 and what's more, the lighting in-game is actually worse. It has taken people in the modding community to hack and mod it just to make the Sims not look like horrible pudding people. And last I heard, with the way that TS3's code is set up, it is actually illegal to mod this game, because it is closed-source and digitally signed. What made the previous games great was, in fact, the modding community, because EA cannot create a stable, non brain-dead Sims AI, without spaghetti for coding.
I could go on and on about what is wrong with the game already. But the playstyle that it enforces of single households, with no control over your other user-made sims, who spawn endlessly, move away, or die when you are not playing them, regardless of whether or not you want them to. Call me OCD, but when I stop playing a family, it does not mean I want them to become completely autonomous in their lives. They're *my* Sims, I should choose fit what I wish to do with them. That EA would willingly impose this kind of one-family restriction on the player is absolutely inane.
I will not go so far as to urge other people to boycott this game, but I for one have not yet been inspired to even try this game out. I used to love Maxis and they used to do no wrong with me, but since they've been swallowed up by EA and no longer exist, I can no longer devote myself to what was once a great and inspiring studio.
I just will no longer give them money on a product deliberately left unfinished just so they can rip off customers by forcing people to buy things from their insipid online "store" and their expansions.
The graphics engine is the SAME as TS2 and what's more, the lighting in-game is actually worse. It has taken people in the modding community to hack and mod it just to make the Sims not look like horrible pudding people. And last I heard, with the way that TS3's code is set up, it is actually illegal to mod this game, because it is closed-source and digitally signed. What made the previous games great was, in fact, the modding community, because EA cannot create a stable, non brain-dead Sims AI, without spaghetti for coding.
I could go on and on about what is wrong with the game already. But the playstyle that it enforces of single households, with no control over your other user-made sims, who spawn endlessly, move away, or die when you are not playing them, regardless of whether or not you want them to. Call me OCD, but when I stop playing a family, it does not mean I want them to become completely autonomous in their lives. They're *my* Sims, I should choose fit what I wish to do with them. That EA would willingly impose this kind of one-family restriction on the player is absolutely inane.
I will not go so far as to urge other people to boycott this game, but I for one have not yet been inspired to even try this game out. I used to love Maxis and they used to do no wrong with me, but since they've been swallowed up by EA and no longer exist, I can no longer devote myself to what was once a great and inspiring studio.
Last edited by Tsuki on Sun Jun 07, 2009 7:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Sims 3
[quote name='Tsuki' post='65217' date='Jun 7 2009, 10:43 PM']The graphics engine is the SAME as TS2 and what's more, the lighting in-game is actually worse. It has taken people in the modding community to hack and mod it just to make the Sims not look like horrible pudding people. And last I heard, with the way that TS3's code is set up, it is actually illegal to mod this game, because it is closed-source and digitally signed. What made the previous games great was, in fact, the modding community, because EA cannot create a stable, non brain-dead Sims AI, without spaghetti for coding.[/quote]
I do a gree with the rest of your post, but I've bolded what I disagree with. I definitely think the lighting in TS3 is better. Lamps light rooms dynamically based on nearby objects. It's something you can really tell if you play it. Re: custom content, I don't think putting custom content into your game will be hard. I know that there was a tool to create content released by a 3rd party before release. Yeah, it's not as nearly-painless as The Sims 2 had it, but fans will not stand the refusal of custom meshes and textures. Re: one family, yeah. It's pretty much like that. The option to change your active household is both intimidating and hidden under many different menus. It's a shame because they could've and should've made what is basically the main new feature of this easy to use, quick, and rolling. Why do you have to delete their goals? And reset their lifetime achievement points? Can't you store that somewhere? Isn't that what AI is for?
I do a gree with the rest of your post, but I've bolded what I disagree with. I definitely think the lighting in TS3 is better. Lamps light rooms dynamically based on nearby objects. It's something you can really tell if you play it. Re: custom content, I don't think putting custom content into your game will be hard. I know that there was a tool to create content released by a 3rd party before release. Yeah, it's not as nearly-painless as The Sims 2 had it, but fans will not stand the refusal of custom meshes and textures. Re: one family, yeah. It's pretty much like that. The option to change your active household is both intimidating and hidden under many different menus. It's a shame because they could've and should've made what is basically the main new feature of this easy to use, quick, and rolling. Why do you have to delete their goals? And reset their lifetime achievement points? Can't you store that somewhere? Isn't that what AI is for?
Last edited by neshcom on Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Sims 3
The lighting system base-game, without hacks in TS2 is inferior to TS3, mostly because EA are a bunch of lazy asses when it comes to proper lighting. But until I see mods that actually change the lighting system for the SIMS (the environments look great, I will not dispute that) properly, I maintain that the lighting is actually worse. (Check out the Radiance mod for TS2 if you haven't yet, should be on MTS)
Believe me, I've been reading up on this since the game was first leaked, and then some. Modding is, under TS3's current setup, illegal. It is not stopping the community from going ahead and modding anyway, because the community gets what the community wants. Unless EA starts trotting out its very intimidating legal section to stop the modding community from continuing in this matter, it will just go on, as I can only hope it will.
Perhaps there is a discrepancy between that pre-release version and the actual current one, but I have seen nothing that says otherwise. Modifying a closed-source, digitally verified and signed code is in fact, illegal. I said nothing about it being difficult.
This is really frustrating for me, since I so want to enjoy this game. Perhaps I will once the modding community grows larger and there aren't any imminent legal threats, but I probably still won't actually buy the damn game. When it comes right down to it, EA's going to do what they think is going to make them most money, and drive their big money truck right over what used to be their core fanbase in the process. They're aiming younger in age group with this game, which I think is a huge mistake.
Believe me, I've been reading up on this since the game was first leaked, and then some. Modding is, under TS3's current setup, illegal. It is not stopping the community from going ahead and modding anyway, because the community gets what the community wants. Unless EA starts trotting out its very intimidating legal section to stop the modding community from continuing in this matter, it will just go on, as I can only hope it will.
Perhaps there is a discrepancy between that pre-release version and the actual current one, but I have seen nothing that says otherwise. Modifying a closed-source, digitally verified and signed code is in fact, illegal. I said nothing about it being difficult.
This is really frustrating for me, since I so want to enjoy this game. Perhaps I will once the modding community grows larger and there aren't any imminent legal threats, but I probably still won't actually buy the damn game. When it comes right down to it, EA's going to do what they think is going to make them most money, and drive their big money truck right over what used to be their core fanbase in the process. They're aiming younger in age group with this game, which I think is a huge mistake.
Last edited by Tsuki on Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Sims 3
I think I may have had that Radiance mod on TS2. That was pretty nice and, remembering that, I can say I think they're both similar to me (though, it's been a while since I've played TS2...). Even if the TS3 lighting is worse than TS2, it's still nice and adequate. I don't think the TS2 lighting changed to go with the time of day, did it? I really enjoyed that about TS3.
I think TS3 is definitely taking a page from Sim City Societies. Great concept, executed for children. I really don't know what will happen with TS3. It's looking like it may be pirated more than Spore and I really feel EA is banking on DLC like objects, but I'm pretty sure the launcher is not friendly with pirate, unregistered copies. The way I see it, the more official objects they put up for sale, the more objects for me to pirate. Like Fallout 3. The DLC for PC is literally just three files that you throw into a directory. Neither hard nor deferred. I can see TS3 DLC being much like that.
I think TS3 is definitely taking a page from Sim City Societies. Great concept, executed for children. I really don't know what will happen with TS3. It's looking like it may be pirated more than Spore and I really feel EA is banking on DLC like objects, but I'm pretty sure the launcher is not friendly with pirate, unregistered copies. The way I see it, the more official objects they put up for sale, the more objects for me to pirate. Like Fallout 3. The DLC for PC is literally just three files that you throw into a directory. Neither hard nor deferred. I can see TS3 DLC being much like that.
Re: Sims 3
I didn't find the lighting in TS2 any better; I have a mod in place to enhance the lighting there as well.
I've been following the drama/reports on MATY ever since it was leaked and Pescado has done a fabulous mod which I cannot wait to try. It sucks that the mods will have to be multipurpose instead of individual mods due to the way they're loaded now.
I've been following the drama/reports on MATY ever since it was leaked and Pescado has done a fabulous mod which I cannot wait to try. It sucks that the mods will have to be multipurpose instead of individual mods due to the way they're loaded now.
HOLD UP! I'M A GEEK THE BIG PARADOX!
Re: Sims 3
[quote name='Ap2000' post='65213' date='Jun 8 2009, 04:01 AM']But how can I buy more land ? I've got my space all filled up with stuff and I can't expand or at least buy the house that lies next to mine.[/quote]
this, plus, how can I make a second family/household start in an already existing city ?
e.g. I want to make a new (this time a single, only one person) household and I want to live in the same city where my old family lived.
I can import the my old pre-created family, but then I can't switch anymore and have to keep on playing this one.
EDIT:
Ok, I finally found out how this works with putting new families into an existing city. But I still don't know how/if you can buy more land.
I'm thinking about putting my first family into all the different already existing houses and then make myself a completely new house and just play this new household normally.
This could be interesting to see how (or IF) the others develop differently.
this, plus, how can I make a second family/household start in an already existing city ?
e.g. I want to make a new (this time a single, only one person) household and I want to live in the same city where my old family lived.
I can import the my old pre-created family, but then I can't switch anymore and have to keep on playing this one.
EDIT:
Ok, I finally found out how this works with putting new families into an existing city. But I still don't know how/if you can buy more land.
I'm thinking about putting my first family into all the different already existing houses and then make myself a completely new house and just play this new household normally.
This could be interesting to see how (or IF) the others develop differently.
Last edited by Ap2000 on Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Travel back in time through the haze of memories that aren't your own
and melodies frozen in a particular place in history..
If you say run, I'll run with you
If you say hide, we'll hide
and melodies frozen in a particular place in history..
If you say run, I'll run with you
If you say hide, we'll hide
Re: Sims 3
I wanted to get these two Sims to fall in love and get married, so I made the girl, set her up in her house and career, then I made the guy, tried to go out with the girl, and... What?? What do you mean she already has a boyfriend AND a child?! Arggggghhh... So I finally broke them up and married the girl but I didn't want this stupid bastard kid that the game named "Bryce". WTF I am not raising a kid with that name. But I couldn't get rid of him! So back to the town edit screen, then I had to merge her household with another and then split it so the kid was living with some other family where I didn't have to deal with him. But now the couple has kids of their own and this stupid Bryce is still listed in the family tree. Nooooooooooo.....
I had a pretty good run with the game today (about an hour and a half before it crashed), I am enjoying a lot, but also feeling stifled by being limited to one family. I've always gone into the Sims games and, before doing anything else, deleted all the pre-made Sims. I like to populate with all my own. And I could really care less about the stupid Goths. But with this game that's impossible. I wish I could just merge the good features between the two into one really good game.
I had a pretty good run with the game today (about an hour and a half before it crashed), I am enjoying a lot, but also feeling stifled by being limited to one family. I've always gone into the Sims games and, before doing anything else, deleted all the pre-made Sims. I like to populate with all my own. And I could really care less about the stupid Goths. But with this game that's impossible. I wish I could just merge the good features between the two into one really good game.
Re: Sims 3
[quote name='BeForJess' post='65242' date='Jun 8 2009, 06:44 PM']...that the game named "Bryce". WTF I am not raising a kid with that name... and this stupid Bryce is still listed in the family tree. Nooooooooooo.....[/quote]
<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... pyeyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> D:
<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... pyeyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> D:
Re: Sims 3
imho building/improving/enlargen your house is pretty much the best and most fun thing to do in Sims 3.
So why not make it, that you can build other houses and then rent them to other/new families.
It would take some time until you've built the rent house, but in the end you'd have some good cashflow.
That'd be an awesome idea, so I guess EA will read this and make an 20€ add-on with this. lol
So why not make it, that you can build other houses and then rent them to other/new families.
It would take some time until you've built the rent house, but in the end you'd have some good cashflow.
That'd be an awesome idea, so I guess EA will read this and make an 20€ add-on with this. lol
Travel back in time through the haze of memories that aren't your own
and melodies frozen in a particular place in history..
If you say run, I'll run with you
If you say hide, we'll hide
and melodies frozen in a particular place in history..
If you say run, I'll run with you
If you say hide, we'll hide
Re: Sims 3
I played it this weekend and I basically experienced some of the weirder situations of the game. My friend sent her sim to get something to eat, the sim walks out, and starts talking to someone, but then 3 minutes later, a sim who looks exactly like her goes into the restaurant. So we wait for her to come out and find out what the hell just happened, they have a conversation, and she has the same first and last name, is married to the same guy, BUT lives somewhere else. They're friends now, so they can have clone dates.
The second situation was with another family, they lived on a haunted property, so they had about 3 ghosts hanging around. One of the ghosts was cooking and the food set the house on fire, the male ghost runs and gets the extinguisher and puts it out. That's not even the weird part. One of the sims I made (who was a happily married lesbian) was cheating on her beautiful wife with... one of the female ghosts. She actually got along better with the ghost than her wife. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /lmfao.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' />
Oh yeah, and the cheater was an ugly blue-faced ham beast, she had some nerve.
Also, no crashes and the game was running for many hours. It was the Mac version.
The second situation was with another family, they lived on a haunted property, so they had about 3 ghosts hanging around. One of the ghosts was cooking and the food set the house on fire, the male ghost runs and gets the extinguisher and puts it out. That's not even the weird part. One of the sims I made (who was a happily married lesbian) was cheating on her beautiful wife with... one of the female ghosts. She actually got along better with the ghost than her wife. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /lmfao.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' />
Oh yeah, and the cheater was an ugly blue-faced ham beast, she had some nerve.
Also, no crashes and the game was running for many hours. It was the Mac version.
Last edited by Pucchi-Mo on Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Delivering bad puns and deciphering
Tsunku's madness for ten whole years!
You're welcome.
Tsunku's madness for ten whole years!
You're welcome.
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vanillacat
- カントリー・ガールズ
- Posts: 344
- Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:09 pm
Re: Sims 3
I played it briefly at my friend's house, and was fairly impressed. The Sim Maker is incredibly in-depth, although I do wish there was more hair choices, and I spent hours tinkering with that.
Then my friend decided that her Sim and mine should get into a lesbian relationship, and thus they were making out like three minutes into playing. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' /> We went to the pool and fought over one of the cute guys we stumbled across, though, except her Sim had the "flirty" personality trait, so she won. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /noway.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':noway:' />
Are mods and other things available yet for Sims 3? I always found the fan-made Sims much better than the ones in-game. I may go back and play Sims 2, since I actually own that one, on my parent's computer or something.
Then my friend decided that her Sim and mine should get into a lesbian relationship, and thus they were making out like three minutes into playing. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' /> We went to the pool and fought over one of the cute guys we stumbled across, though, except her Sim had the "flirty" personality trait, so she won. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /noway.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':noway:' />
Are mods and other things available yet for Sims 3? I always found the fan-made Sims much better than the ones in-game. I may go back and play Sims 2, since I actually own that one, on my parent's computer or something.
Re: Sims 3
HOLD UP! I'M A GEEK THE BIG PARADOX!