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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 5:57 PM
Sims 3 players, have you ever tried to go back to the Sims 2 at any point? If so, what did you think?
I want your opinion on your experience in TS2 after playing TS3.
First, here's my opinion:
I <3 the graphics in TS3 and the fact that your sim can navigate around the neighborhood at anytime without having to pick up the phone and call a cab first. Editing their clothes and recoloring objects was simpler because you didn't have to use an editing program, you could just use the patterns that came with the game, and use custom patterns you made yourself. You also had more flexibility with designing houses and placing furniture.
However, I missed the fact that you can customize the music in radio stations and menus. You didn't just have a custom music station. I also think recoloring and making new outfits is a LOT easier with the Body Shop and a photo editing program like Gimp or Photoshop Elements. I don't do meshes or buy mode objects, though. The simplicity of TS2 makes things easier, but editing a sim's face is a bit of a challenge in Create-a-Sim, especially if you have a specific person or character in mind.

Post away folks.

Obsessed with children's cartoons since 2003.
---
I don't have the experience or time to make meshes, and I prefer to build families and houses rather than clothes and furniture.
I speak a little French, and I'm currently learning Japanese.
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Scholar
#2 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 6:05 PM
My experience is probably a little different than most. I started with TS3 -> TS2 -> TS3, before making an attempt to return to TS2. I miss the objects in TS2, Sim interactions and gameplay such as opening your own business. But on the whole, to me it's a lot more difficult to set TS2 up the way you want it. And I found I couldn't live without CAST.
Field Researcher
#3 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 6:18 PM Last edited by clay4kelly : 22nd Apr 2012 at 6:28 PM.
When I went back, I liked that my baby had limbs. I also realized how much I missed interactions like "dance on feet" with kids and older sims, as well interactions between kids like "cops n robbers", "Mary Mack" etc. Also "red hands", "slow dance" and the "hang out" interaction we got in the University expansion back - where multiple Sims sat in a circle on the floor and chatted casually... We need that one pack. Nursery rhymes for toddlers, change tables, baby baths, mendelian genetics, the baby toys that were releasd in the Sims 2 store just after Apartment life.... I could go on forever. These little things made my legacies more enjoyable. Oh wait, almost forgot - NO SIMPORT.

Things I disliked... Among many, many, many other things, it's the obvious one that tops my list: the frustration and isolation of having sims imprisoned in their homes! I just can't go back after experiencing an open neighbourhood and the depth of gameplay story progression (well, Twallan's SP) provides.
Top Secret Researcher
#4 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 6:36 PM
Quote: Originally posted by clay4kelly
the frustration and isolation of having sims imprisoned in their homes!
This.
It's exactly what happened to me when I tried playing Sims 2 again. I loaded my favorite family evar, all happy to see them again. Then I immediately started planning my sims day like I always do: "I'll send this sim to the library since he LOVES books, oh and we must need groceries, this sim isn't doing anything so I'll select him." Then I tried zooming out of their lot with the mouse wheel to see where the library and the grocery are to send the sims over! After a few cursings I realized that wasn't possible. I was SO frustrated. Really. It felt as if I was in prison. Claustrophobia in game is possible, after all.
Mad Poster
#5 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 6:38 PM
I played Sims 2 for little over a year before my integrated graphics card made me switch to Sims 3 (I could play Sims 3 on low settings). I recently was able to get an actual graphics card installed, and went back to playing Sims 2. The only things from Sims 3 I'm missing is Master Controller and the Ghost Hunter Profession.

I'll probably play Sims 3 again, but right now I'm on a Sims 2 kick.
Top Secret Researcher
#6 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 6:38 PM
The thing that frustrated me the most was the limited camera compared.

TS3 aliens? Finally! Now give us OFB and proper apartments, damnit! - EA, you are breaking my heart. - I give up.
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 6:46 PM
I play Sims 3 on my computer and Sims 2 on my laptop and there are both good and bad things for each game.

I forget often while playing Sims 2 that I can't just jump quickly to the neighbourhood. Or that I can't change that ugly coloured couch

But then I play Sims 3 and wish there was university and businesses. And I miss a lot of the actions mentioned above.

Sims 2.5 anyone?
Rogue Redeemer
retired moderator
#8 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 6:52 PM
The first thing I noticed was the smoothness and quality of TS2 animations... I mean, hair moves! The idle animations on sims is much more realistic than in TS3, like sims will sift weight from one foot to another, cross their arms etc. Also the facial animations are WAY more realistic and nicer to look at. They don't do anything weird like TS3 sims do (like that weird flaring of nostrils when 'smiling', eugh...)

Another thing that struck me was that (even though I was playing only base game) there was A LOT of small, fun interactions. Like crosswords in newspaper, you can fashion a paper plane out of the paper and play around with it, sim kids will randomly go play with fridge doors, sims can watch clouds while sitting on the ground and not to mention the much more broader variety of interactions between sims... also in CAS, there were so much more usable, realistic hairstyles (again, this was just base game!) than we've had in the entire lifetime of TS3!

The objects are nicer too, IMO! They are realistic and normal, none of those weird squiggly shapes and overly modern stuff like 90% in TS3 seems to be... AND, even though it was just the base game, there were so many interactive objects! Like piano, aquarium, Granpa clock, remote controllable toys, other toys, pinball machine, and even a freakin' bingo machine! And a lot more music categories, metal and rock!
Also, all the colors in TS2 are so much more realistic and eye friendly... no neon-green grass in sight!
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 7:19 PM
Can't go back to sims 2 after sims 3...
- The CASting of a lot of things makes customization far superior in sims 3... I realized I had a go-to-these-items pattern in sims 2... my choices in sims 3 were limitless because of CASt. I am no modder and really enjoy this aspect of sims 3 so much
- The open world made me realize how locked in and isolated things were in sims 2... Plus all the exciting possibilities of creating realistic faraway distant forest/camping sites that were actually distant and not connected to a road.
- So much more things to customize with my sims in sims 3... Fat, fitness, muscle tone, body hair, boobies... Sims 2 seems limited by comparison.
- A very realistic aging system in sims 3... the aging thing was never a problem for me back then because I focus on sims I create, until trying to play normal in a vanilla sims 3 forced me to have to rely on the townies... Now this parallel aging thing bugs me in sims 2
- Tagging someone with specific traits...
- Careers that have unique bonuses and metrics... not just skill-farming...


The things I most definitely miss in sims 2 are...
- Creating your own fucking custom world from the get-go.
-Decorating your own world as I like while in the game.
- Playing multiple households, controlling and playing the drama from both sides and sometimes, multiple angles to a story... I miss the time I made a whole gang of University YA's in different dorms, made them know and friend each other through the University Directory, graduated them all and started pairing them up to live lives in downtown or the suburbs of the main neighborhood, some I play like legacies or forever bachelors who live to love or party, and they all retained some kind of relationship to each other( be it first love/kiss, Best friend, Enemy, Spouse etc...)... must try awesomod sometime for this...
- Endless community lot outings and really fun dates... without the worrying about aging or being pressed for time because of work schedules...
- Sims talking at you, looking directly at you to catch to catch your attention (I know some people hate this and mod this out of their games, but I loved this)
- The unique animations and that happens sometimes (the Romance sims sexy walk, family sims I'm Home etc)... The way some conversation animations and reactions are actually different... Many of the sims 3 trait unlock unique socials don't look that unique from the normal animations... seems like they scrimped on the animations for sims 3 base.
- CRAZY aspiration rewards in sims 2. It's not realistic, but it certainly had the best side-effects, especially when they fail XD.
- Sims 3 is the very first time i ever relied on mods and CC's just to improve gameplay... EA what are you doing to the beloved franchise I grew up with?

I realize that with sims 3, I try to design my sims for Lifetime-reward-farming while in sims 2, I design my sims to 'get a Life.' I don't know what it is about sims 2, but going through the aspects of life (YA's who must balance studies with having fun with friends or dates, Adults who live to party or date out in downtown, or marry, raise children and live on as an elder) seemed so much more fun and excited me more in sims 2... probably because of the fact that there is no aging in community lots... or the fully-fleshed or surprising outcomes and reactions of socializing in sims 2.

Still, I won't go back to sims 2... but am storing my sims 2 cd's and expansions, same as I did for sims 1.
Mad Poster
#10 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 8:18 PM
I've gone back to playing the Sims 2 after not playing it since the Sims 3 first arrived. I basically had to relearn how to play. There were several expansions that I hadn't tried yet, and I really really wanted to know why people kept hammering on about Seasons. (But I must admit, I have found it enjoyable.)

The very first thing that suprised me was that they pull spoons out of drawers and bowls out of the cabinent...and not out off their butts! I was totally fascinated by that. Another thing that surprised me was where all the snow collects. Like on the stone fence, for example. Snow collects between the tiny groves of the stones, and not just on top of the fence. If you zoom in, you can find bits of snow stuck in there. It's really cute. The stone fence meshes in the Sims 3 are so simplified, so even if they had Seasons...it's doubtful they would put that kind of detail in. Overall, though, I am just noticing fine details that simply aren't in the Sims 3. Both games have their strong points, and I enjoy them both, but I think one of the strong points for Sims 2 would be the details.

I haven't wanted to play the Sims 3 much after Showtime. I played it, but then I got bored really fast. I needed something meatier, and EA just didn't deliver what I needed as a gamer. If they had, I probably wouldn't have even considered picking up the Sims 2 again. I have everything for the Sims 3 minus a couple of stuff packs, but I still feel like the series is lacking something. I hate that I feel that way, especially considering how much money I've dropped on this series. (To be honest, it reminds me of having sex without the big ~O~. They tease, they taunt, but they never finish.)

If they weren't so focused on nickel & diming people to death, they could do so much better.
Mad Poster
#11 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 8:28 PM Last edited by HarVee : 23rd Apr 2012 at 6:15 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by ~MadameButterfly~
but I still feel like the series is lacking something.


I couldn't agree with you more. It seems no matter what EA adds (or takes ) from the series, it just feels way too incomplete these days.

One thing I will give them a plus for with TS3 is the object selection. While the features maybe lacking, the amount of objects that EA has added to the game through the various add on packs -and even the store- is quite remarkable.

Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

Top Secret Researcher
#12 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 9:00 PM
I have gone back and forth between 2 & 3 several times, each time swearing I was never playing the other again.

I love the control of creating in Sims2. II can possibly have that again if my schedule opens up enough to allow me to learn Sims3 creating.

For me, Sims2 is easier and faster to make a 'world' that follows a theme. There is so much more 'theme' kind of CC out there to work with. Sims3 is slowly getting more expansive in that regard, but when your personal tastes are odd, it takes a long while.

The rabbit holes of Sims3 are so necessary, but so style limiting. I got frustrated with the rug rabbit holes and the sign rabbit holes. Note: This says more about my personality and time constraints than it does about the innovative rabbit holes.

Vehicles are handled so oddly in sims3. It is vaguely disturbing to find them in your back pack. And the way they run thru each other and thru Sims is very disturbing.

The strongest points about Sims3 for me is the open neighborhood (though I hated it initially) and NPC aging. I do enjoy collecting things - especially rocks. Don't know why, because ultimately it is so pointless and repeative. I love the tombs in WA.

The one absolute reason I don't think I will ever be happy playing Sims2 again for any length of time is HORSES! I love them.

Retired from the Sims world. Please continue to enjoy my creations. Thank you to everyone who helped -- by either giving me the tools and knowledge to create or by encouraging me & downloading my creations. The Sims community is the BEST!
Field Researcher
#13 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 9:26 PM Last edited by gege_sml : 24th Apr 2012 at 12:06 AM.
Never ever thought I'd say that, (even made fun of my friend who said that once) but: I'm seriously considering going back to Sims 2 for a few days... I know I'll probably won't take it any longer because after playing with the open neighborhood I think it will be very hard to get used to Sims 2 style again, but there are many things on that game that I'm miss like the interactions, the objects and the expansion packs...Sims 3 is getting frustating to me since the last few months not only because of its bugs and glitches but also because I'm recently having this huge feeling that game always lacks something and that it could be so much better..

Like everyone already said Sims 2 is much better when it comes to small things, details that make all the difference, is also smoother and easier to run (obviously)

Sims 3 brings A LOT more of possibilities with the open neighborhood, create a sim, buy and build modes.. but it looks like the complexity the base game brought didn't have a continuity in the EPs.. the EPs seem kind of rushed and sometimes they look like they could've been so much more, what didn't happen to Sims 2.. I absolutely love ALL the EPs

IMO both games are amazing, one is never going to be better than the other..I wish there was a way to put the 2 games together.. it would be perfect.. but that's just me dreaming haha

So I'll probably give Sims 2 a try next week and I'll let you know :P



Quote: Originally posted by ~MadameButterfly~



I haven't wanted to play the Sims 3 much after Showtime. I played it, but then I got bored really fast. I needed something meatier, and EA just didn't deliver what I needed as a gamer. If they had, I probably wouldn't have even considered picking up the Sims 2 again. I have everything for the Sims 3 minus a couple of stuff packs, but I still feel like the series is lacking something.



I absolutely agree with you
Scholar
#14 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 9:43 PM
I went back to TS2 one time about 2 years ago and played it for about an hour. I uninstalled it and sold it (all EPs and SPs) and reinstalled TS3 and have not thought about it sinse.

There is no comparison. TS3 tops TS2 all the way around...in my opinion, that is.
Test Subject
#15 Old 22nd Apr 2012 at 10:23 PM
I got the Sims 2 and a few expansions after hearing all this great stuff about it, and I love the interactions in TS2! They are just so cute. My favorite would have to be the swinging around kids. I also love the monkeybars.

But I HATE a lot of things abotu TS2. No CAS, no open world. It's pretty much impossible to play
Mad Poster
#16 Old 23rd Apr 2012 at 12:57 AM
Sims were never "imprisoned".. but it was like a hamster cage type thing. The only game where the Sims couldn't leave their house was TS1 before Hot Date came out. They can still leave their houses but you have to wait through loading screens and it wasn't an open world. As long as the loading screens were fast, that didn't bother me. There was even a mod that came out which would let your sims visit other sims' houses in ts2. But the thing I didn't like about ts2 was that mostly the adults looked the same, there were only two body type choices and two voices for both male and female. I don't know why something so small like that would bother me. I'm still not completely used to all of the new features in ts3 though, so I'm going to stay with it. Although I do miss University and hanging out too!
Test Subject
#17 Old 23rd Apr 2012 at 1:08 AM
NOOO, because I <3 Sims 3 so much and am so used to all the advancements I don't want to go backwards
Field Researcher
#18 Old 23rd Apr 2012 at 1:58 AM
I kept al my EPs and SPs from sims 2 for a long time after I installed sims 3 (basegame, WA, and Ambitions). There were things I found much better in TS3 (open world, beautiful landscapes (I mean in Twinbrook and WA worlds, 'cuz SV landscapes made my eyes explode, that grass, meh...), build mode flexibility, and, of cource, CAST! But sims looked soooo damn fugly, and I even didn't have mods and CC to make them look at least a bit better, so I switched to TS2 again, than back to TS3, and it lasted untill I finally learned to install CC and framework for mods, learned about patch compatiability, etc.
I deinstalled TS2, but kept my CC folder for it long after that, cuz i didn't know, whether I was ready to abundon TS2 completely. Anyway, I really started enjoying TS3 with new EPs (it was LN that made sims 3 really interesting for me, because I missed Nightlife). Besides, I switched to Windows 7, and TS2 is not very friendly with it. CC woudn't show anyway, and I'd never play TS2 vanilla again.
However, I installed basegame to make a TS3 version of Strangetown, because I miss this town, it was the most unique one in that game. And when I started playing, I realized that, damn, sims here have NORMAL expressions! Yes, they seem to be overemotional, but it's cute, at least their emotions are realistic. And they don't raise eybrows all the time like they do in TS3.

Anyway, I've customized my sims 3 game to get rid of many things that annoyed me, CAST enables me to avoid those neon colors that make my eyes bleed, with the sliders I can make sims unique (they have different bodies, not just faces, and they're even of different height!), I don't need to search for a ton of recolors to go with each mesh, and I can visit community lots and other households... Creating worlds is freakin' hard, but the worlds are much more beautiful; as a person, who loves nature, I find it very important.
So, I stick to TS3, but I want businesses, universities, and first and foremost WEATHER AND SEASONS!
Field Researcher
#19 Old 23rd Apr 2012 at 2:48 AM
Yep. I played TS2 for about 3 years and in January I decided I wanted to try TS3 again. I played it, loved it, and then after a while I tried to go back to TS2 and hated it without traits, open world, opportunites, etc. Plus I hate loading screens more than I hate short necklaces. I un-installed it a few weeks ago since I had 1GB left on my computer (not even kidding about that, I think most of it was my CC and my music), and I haven't even thought about reinstalling it. Except I miss all the CC I had for TS2, I feel like there's just not enough CC for TS3. Or there is but most of it isn't really my style.
It's also really nice that now most of my sims don't look like exact clones of each other like they did in TS2. In TS2 they all had perfect bodies and the same hair colour but now since I can customize so much (boobs, muscle, hair colour, height), I have a bigger variety and they all don't look just like barbies hehe.
Inventor
#20 Old 23rd Apr 2012 at 5:03 AM
I go between TS2 and TS3 all the time. I used to think it was difficult to not have the open hood in TS2 but now I'm used to playing the two different games. There are some aspects I like better in TS2, and some I like better in TS3.

Even on occasion I'll play TS1, but not very often.
Test Subject
#21 Old 23rd Apr 2012 at 5:53 AM
I tried to go back to TS2 a month ago for the first time. I was excited about it, feeling in a nostalgic mood (I started out with TS2, never played TS1 but would love to try it). I was having a lot of problems with TS3 - the point I get to where I spend days trying to fix the game and resort to reinstalling until finally it works again. I thought, this time I'll try TS2 again, I miss swimming in the ocean, open restaurants, University, all the extra interactions and cute little movies (first kiss, etc). I installed every EP I had, couldn't wait to see weather in the game again and sat back to play.

Well, sadly my excitement lasted about a day. I tried to stick with it but I just couldn't get past all the slow loading screens, the graphics, the fact that sims can't have different body shapes and mainly the lack of an open neighbourhood and story progression. I just love how the town ages around my sim in TS3 and that they can go anywhere they like, even jogging down the street while I follow them watching the town go by. I also love zooming my camera into sunset over the ocean or something else that catches my eye while my sims are at work. While I do miss a lot of things about TS2 I just can't go back to it because as much as I complain about the crashes in TS3 I discovered there are just too many things I love about it.
Mad Poster
#22 Old 23rd Apr 2012 at 6:23 AM
Oh my gosh, lol. Story progression was way better for me and it suited my style of playing more because I would play one house for days and days in ts2 and not go back to catch anyone up. So it was like some families lived weeks ahead in the future, and the kids in the family would grow up without their friends.
Theorist
#23 Old 23rd Apr 2012 at 10:53 AM
I play both, and I take turns playing each game.
Mad Poster
#24 Old 23rd Apr 2012 at 12:20 PM
Quote: Originally posted by christmas fear
Oh my gosh, lol. Story progression was way better for me and it suited my style of playing more because I would play one house for days and days in ts2 and not go back to catch anyone up. So it was like some families lived weeks ahead in the future, and the kids in the family would grow up without their friends.


This was a problem for me in Sims 2. I would be so attached with a family that it was hard to go and play another household so they would age together, and I had a lot of families to age after the 2nd generation. Some households bored me to tears that I would make up a dire situation and kill them off so I can go to my favorites and play them. Sometimes I would play a family where the mother would be pregnant, then I would leave to play another family and it would take a long time before I go back to the 1st family, the poor mother would walk around pregnant for a long time, or die of some spreadable disease. I hated going back to fix the 1st family. So Sims 3 does satisfy the aging process as long as I don't play EA's SP. :D

I do miss the genetics, the diseases, open restaurants, dining table interactions, the general things that made playing interesting, but I don't think I could give up CASt, open neighborhood, and the aging process through the world. I keep hoping EA get the celebrity, glam life out their butts and give us something worthy and interesting. No more Katy Perry, I am so sick of that mess.

Resident member of The Receptacle Refugees
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Scholar
#25 Old 23rd Apr 2012 at 1:27 PM
While I love the animations and weather - and even University in TS2, I don't miss the loading screens (AUGH!)

The modders have really made TS3 for me. When I started to list everything I love about TS3, I realized that I wouldn't like it if it weren't for mods.

1. FACES - I know people claim they look better, but to me, they look the same. Even really customized TS2 sims, I can tell which face was the template for it. With sliders and replacement default skins, the faces in TS3 look WAY better to me.

2. GENETICS - While I do miss the dominant/recessive genes that they had in TS2, I do love that EA got one thing right - at least I think it wasn't a mod. When you had highly customized TS2 sims breed, you could get some very inhuman looking pixelized messes for faces on the offspring. Even slightly customized faces could make some terrible circus freaks if the features were slight, but too different from the other parent's. In TS3, the blending of genetics almost always makes something that resembles a human. Even the really fugly ones look like they could be extremely ugly people and not odd mishapen pixels. I think I've only had two sims generated that were inhuman freaks. All of my townies are generated with sims from this site exclusively. There is no pudding except for the NPCs. And I have an amazing variety of sims in my game. Some are stunningly beautiful and some are downright ugly to the bone, but they all bred on their own and without help from me (except for some wardrobe choices now and then) they look like people you might meet on the street.

3. Open world vs Closed - No if ands or buts. Love the open world. Not only are there no load screens, but I managed to "break" the gameplay with the hamster cages. I figured out how to have my sim stay out for days at a time and never go home. I had a simbot who owned a business and I realized that he never ever had to go home. He could call up an employee to take care of his business while he recharged in the front of his store.

4. Build/Buy - except that I don't like how the new basements look and I never minded the work that went into the basements, I think I like TS3 building better. And I LOVE the create a style option. I love that off the top of my head, I can make unique houses and lovely things without having to download 50 recolors. On the other hand, I don't quite understand why it seems that you can have infinite CC in TS2, but have to be careful in TS3. Except for mods and a few hairs now and then, I keep my games CC free because it slows my game down and being on a Mac, I can't bundle up my CC without doing a big hassle of up and downloading between two machines in the house.

There are lots more comparisons I could make, but I'll save them for later in the thread.
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