My point to superstar was that it was the first time you could follow your sim to work, and throughout the life-cycle of TS2 people referred to it when they wanted to point out that following your Sim to work is doable.

Well, everything in this game is monotonous, playing the piano, painting, sleeping, eating, popping out a baby... doing only one or two make-overs a day stopped me from getting bored because it freed me to do other stuff, not just work.


The collecting helper, such a joykiller. Tried it once with one guy who was testing the transformer displays for me, not really my thing. I'd rather run around Egypt, sleep my nights in a tent and try to find enough gems/bugs/metal on my own to pay for the trip and maybe a few bills back home.

It's true, anything in the game can get monotonous, and I've been thinking about why I feel Sims 2 is still more interesting even though any aspect of it has the potential to be monotonous. I remember back by the 3rd EP in Sims 2, I felt the game had a ton of potential and lots to keep the stories and gameplay going. I loved Open for Business, and combined with the previous EP, there was a lot of "layering" of gameplay.

For example, now you could have a Sim try to open a business (EP3) running a successful restaurant (EP2). Meanwhile you could send a teen to Uni (EP 1) while she tries to find her most compatible mate with the best chemistry (EP2).

There's a bit of that in Sims 3 but with not quite as much depth. The consignment store doesn't take anywhere near the same strategy as running a business in Sims 2.

The developers are trying, for example--with the celebrity system, but frankly the celebrity system is botched right now (wayyyy too easy to become a celebrity, yes I know there are mods, but I'm talking about the un-modded games).

1. Absolutely. I'd say Late Night also adds a great amount of decent clothing for both genders.
2. The game still feels a bit empty, but TS2 felt the same for me until pets and seasons were added so I think it will be a matter of time before this complaint is moot. I also think we really need more interactions with new animations. The social system feels really blah right now because most of the interactions are just variations of the talk interaction.
3. The open neighborhood, I've been waiting for this feature for a long time.
4. Create-a-style is amazing because now we don't need to download hundreds of recolours to get matching furniture. The new skills we've been getting with each EP are great too. Martial arts, photography, bass, and inventing are among my favorites. The improved graphics are worth mentioning too. No more jagged hills or fake still water! The ability to go visit other sims is great too. Collecting stuff or tomb raiding is great for when my sims have nothing else to do. I also love basements because I'm playing on a low-end laptop for the time being. Without having to show other parts of the neighborhood, the game runs like a dream when in basements. Despite TS3 not feeling as lively as TS2, all of the things I mentioned are what's preventing me from simply going back to TS2.

I'd say buy the game, but I strongly suggest getting at least one of the three EPs as soon as you can so you don't get bored too quickly. Maybe it's not as bad now that features such as basements, tattoos, and group outings were included in patches though.

TS3 is nothing without EPs, just like TS2. I will always consider TS3 better than TS2, because there are only 3 god damn EPs, people, you can't judge the game with only 3 EPs! When Pets and Seasons (whatever they'll be called) come out, you'll stop complaining about it. It has a lot of bugs, but what EA game doesn't?!

Overall, I adore TS3, even with the few EPs we have. The best EP, in my Egyptology lover eyes, is WA. Then comes LN, then, last and least, Ambitions.

Ummm duhhhh. The point is I like the fact that time doesn't stand still for a family I'm not playing. I'm not the micromanaging type of simmer. It adds to the realness of the game for me.

The point I was trying to make is that story progression changes your neighbourhood story, while aging does just that. I'm not the micromanaging type of simmer either but, for me at least, playing just one family is not an option, and I don't really care if random neighbourhood sims live young forever because I rarely, if ever, play them. But I don't like the game to arbitrarily change my sims and my story.

Meh. With TS3 and CAST, I haven't really been that interested in CC. I think the game looks just fine out of the box (which isn't to say there isn't some nice CC out there). I'm more interested in gameplay mods than CC.


The lack of alien abductions and cow plants. Limited options for kids. The game seriously needs a family-oriented EP (with weather and pets ).


The open neighborhood. The use of rabbitholes for crap I don't care about (I don't need to actually see my sim buying a book).


The open neighborhood. CAST. Traits. The Ambitions and Late Night EPs.

Do you find that strange at all? Most games don't get expansion packs; and the games that get expansions usually get less than three expansions. You can judge every game out there by its vanilla state, but not the the Sims?

I judge every game before EPs. If a game is unplayable before spending another $100 on it, why buy it? Frankly other than the presence of certain rabbit holes(bistro, book store, market, not the job sites), I liked the game before EPs

I didn't switch from Sims 1 until OFB came out for sims 2. And, I didn't switch from TS2 to 3 until Nightlife came out. Expansions can change everything, for me at least!

To answer all the questions:

1. Sims 3 sims look way better than sims 2. You need custom content, but just look at the celebrity sims that you can download from MTS2 compared to those of sims 2 - they look way more like the actual celebrity.

2. My biggest complaint about the game... probably the clock is way too fast. But you can fix this with a mod. I wish we could just go on vacation and stay at a hotel like in sims 1 & 2. No more beach days ! Sims are kind of stupid now too.. they can only walk 1 by 1 into an elevator... takes forever. If they like someone in the room they won't do that little winkey-eye thumbs up point thing that they did before either. I'm not sure if custom content creation has reached it's golden age yet either. (I remember for sims 2 it took forever!) OH I also hate how when you go to somewhere like the supermarket or the bookstore you can't see your sim while they are inside. A thing pops up and you just select what you want to buy then you see them walk out. we've always been able to go shopping as sims, I miss the real sim shopping experience.

3. I am happy about being able to just walk around the entire neighborhood. You can go and visit anyones' house and you can even ask them if you can sleep over. The styling tool is amazing, but I must admit that it makes the entire building/decorating process take 20385234 times longer than before so I tend to just download houses now because all I want to do is play play play! and party party party hehe!

4. What is better about this game than sims 2: Your houses can now be more beautiful than ever before, you have so many building options now. If you like your sims to be pretty, this is the right game! You are going to love just running over to your neighbors house, or even areas that don't have a lot, like the woods, you can still walk on them!

I really love TS3 but it still feels like something is missing. I really enjoy the graphics, clubs, homes and ect. I really want Seasons and Pets added to the game I want the rabbitholes open so much. I miss when my sims could visit lots but now in TS3 they can only go in and I can't explore it with them. We need STORES and rabbit holes to be opened.

TheCreeper: Ts3 is on it's 3rd EP which means it's verging on being nearly half way through its expected life cycle. At what number EP and $$ invested would you expect it to be more fun? Personally, I think games should be fun from the start and not expect players to wait for it to get fun.

Ani: Bad example since EA killed the Superstar aspects in LN by not making performing an active (visual) career. People's fascination with Superstar was not that they were going to work with their Sims-- it was the fun of being entertained by the Sims performances. IMO, OFB is what really got people interested in going to work with their Sims in other careers. EA also butchered the celebrity thing -- it makes no sense that nearly any sim can be famous for doing nearly anything -- I'm expecting any day now to see while playing "Oh there's the celebrity mailman or the celebrity babysitter or the celebrity paper girl, etc.

I don't like collecting things off the ground but the collection helper is a good way for sims to pick up a lot of cash fast. Is it a killjoy? Yes, probably, but I see it as means to an end. Besides most of the Rewards can be percieved as a killjoy in some way or another depending on how the person likes to play the game. Anyway, my point was not necessarily that you should pick everything up in day but that it was possible to do so since there isn't really much involved in collecting.

Anything can become monotonous if done enough-- though I never seem to get tired of my more talented sims playing the piano or painting. What I think makes the stylist job become so monotonouis so fast is that it is the same action we experience when creating a family in CAS or when we send a Sim to the dresser to plan an outfit. The action is repeated in a couple of instances outside of the career so the frequency of repetition is higher making it get monotonous sooner.

1) It has, but without CC you can also making decent sims, especially with the recent two expansions and stuff-packs.
2) I'm not sure what EA was thinking when creating the sims of Twinbrook.
3) Story Progression and Open World.
4) Story Progression, Open World, Professions, Shell Buildings...

1. Has CC improved the look of the sims? Clothing, hair, makeup?

I can barely stand the base clothes offered by the game. I'll create my own styles or install some one else's smokin' fashion tastes. Same goes for hair, eyebrows, skin...I'm not into the cartoonish look at all. There are some amazing artists in the community, and I've discovered fantastic styles. I use them alot.

2. What are your biggest complaints with the game?

I HATE HATE HATE rabbit holes! I want to see everything that's going on, and I can't in those rabbit holes. How awesome would it be to actually see an underground subway system? I'm totally disappointed in EA with them taking the easy route when they don't want to deal with complexity and vision. Rabbit holes are unneccesary and retarded.

3. What are you happiest about? Surface details. The game world is stunning to observe. If only the game developers would go deeper than that...I'd be knocked off my feet. Sims 3 is designed to run on high end computers, imo, and EA knows this. They should grab that opportunity and give people with kick butt computers the option to add more depth if the developers create it for them.

4. What makes it better than the sims 2 (if anything)? I've only played Sims 3, so I can't really compare the previous to the new.

Actually if all that extra visual rendering was done by EA and slowed your game down to a crawl you'd be complaing about that too. The game was programmed so you don't need a gaming rig to play it which means more customers and more money. It wasn't an easy route that they took, it was the most profitable route

1. Has CC improved the look of the sims?
The additional content of 3 EP's, CAStyle and a slider multiplier hack are enough to create 'decent' looking sims, at least to my taste. But obviously, a year and a half after release, there are many great free cc around now, in different styles and this enhance much the experience of the game if you're into this. I would say that cc is not as much needed as in TS2 for me, thanks to CAStyle mostly.

2. What are your biggest complaints with the game?
Story progression: in fact I love the idea, but not the way EA implemented it. I can't play without a mod to replace EA's fail.
Traits: just the same, I feel that EA took the easy path and some differences between traits are only 'cosmetic/superficial' (think about the 'evil' shower and 'delightful' bath vs basic shower and bath, how lame!). I would have wanted MORE specific actions/reactions/interactions/animations for each trait.
The lack of replayability and customization: It's like they have lost a part of the Sims spirit. WA specific gameplay (tomb raiding), the professions from Ambitions and the Band profession from LN are awfully limited, repetitive and boring, hardly customizable. Well lame and fail again. The departure of Rod Humble might bring some change in this, at least I hope so.

3. What are you happiest about?
The open neighborhood, the ability to have your active Sims scattered around the world, to visit friends at home, no loading screens.
Create a Style is one of their greatest ideas and realizations.
Create a World, although it's not part of the game, I can find great worlds, better than EA's and spend time trying to shape mine.

4. What makes it better than the sims 2 (if anything)?
As much as I loved the Sims2, I could never go back to it. Mostly because of the opened world/no loading screen in TS3. And everybody age together, there is no time distortion anymore. The flexibility of the trait system too, even if it could be improved. I was a bit fed up with always the same knowledge/wealth/family... sims at the end.

Wait, what extra visual rendering are you talking about? The Sims can vanish off to work for those inactive careers by driving off in a car rather than turning invisible by entering a building and floating around as a bubble head? Driving off to work would mean no extra visual rendering and no big empty inactive shells cluttering up the towns. Without the RH’s there would be no Sims walking in and out of the buildings and vanishing, no floating bubble head, no view of empty building floor, no screens to give the illusion of a real building from the exterior—not having the RHs and having sims drive off to work off-camera would actually free up some of the resources. As we don't really go to work withn Sims in Rhs why should players care if they drive off to work or not?

Right now the RHs are merely repositories for vanishing sims and game menus. I like that sims can take classes -- I'd like it better if I could see them take the class-- but since I can't watch them take the class then let them drive off to class. (Bye!) Actually, why don't we see sims take a class since class size can be limited and kept small (4 sims maybe?) and the animations for all the skills learned already exist in the game. The athletic training could happen at the gym, the handiness class could take place at the firehouse, the painting class could take place at the art museum, there could be a communty education center with spaces for the classes that can't be taught in one of the already existing active community lots.

Video games are a visual medium. While some actions make sense to be done off camera i.e. fight bear in mausoleum or get mugged on subway there is no need for the Sims to have buildings designated for disappearing into for six hours while they work. If EA had made the RH structures combine the career space element along with an active community lot purpose then it might have made sense but as a bunch of empty shells around town they are merely very large deco. Right now the RHs are merely repositories for vanishing sims and game menus. I like that sims can take classes -- I'd like it better if I could see them take the class-- but since I can't watch them take the class then let them drive off to class. (Bye!)

I would so much rather have my Sims drive off to work/class and disappear and have that real estate used for more Sims homes and active community lots – restaurant, shops, kid and toddler playgrounds, etc. then those useless RHs. While Rabbit Holes may be attractive as structures--they are also empty and inactive which to me makes them hollow both literally and figuratively. And I agree with ElektroGuy that EA took the easy (and lazy) route in putting in RH’s. I too hate Rabbit Holes and find them unnecessary.

I take issue with there being so much filler rather than substance in general in TS3 and RHs are a part of it. Maybe EA should stop masking what they can’t do and focus on how to improve the things they are capable of providing in the game.

Anyway, I do agree with you that how this game is constructed is an issue of EA maximizing their profit margin . And they should –they’re in business –too bad they can’t be smarter about it.

Its really easy to turn off aging, either in the entire hood, or in individual households using simple mods. You can have Sims 2 style aging in Sims 3 if you want.

I love the Rabbitholes. I didn't realize how much until Ambitions came out and I couldn't really play with two adults both in Ambitions careers without a lot of juggling. I found the Firefighter career boring. I would MUCH rather run a business as in OFB then take my sim to one fire after another doing the same thing over and over again with very little gain from it. I loved the strategy aspects of Sims 2, now practically missing in Sims 3. I hope they will bring that strategy back! Make it difficult to actually do something rather than so easy that its not a challenge. How hard is it to become a celebrity or to climb that career track? How many makeovers must one do over and over again..with no strategy, no real challenge..in order to succeed? I see the Everquest in Sims 3 where you repeat the same things over and over to get XP to rise in your skill/career/class. The goal is simply to succeed, no real challenge there. Of course in EQ, you can die..and come back..and die..and come back. In the Sims, you simply are demoted and the promoted, change jobs, whatever. Someone missed the boat there. They forgot to add a really compelling reason to advance! The strategy game is enjoyable because simply advancing is challenging...the RPG aspects now in Sims 3 are not challenging at all. Too bad.

I'm very disappointed with TS3. All they're doing is remaking Sims 2 and they can't even remake it right. I loved it at first but when LN came out with all the glitches of Bridgeport where you can't even play there is unbelievable! They don't care anymore and I really don't see it lasting at all which is really sad. Even Rod Humble left lol! Most of everything is a TS2 remake and now outdoor crap >.< They can't think of anything new and when they did (Fast Lane) they got a really poor response. It's just not the same anymore. Like I said it feels like they just gave up and don't care.

I'm curious -- what do you find so special about RHs that justifies their use of resources and space which makes it preferable to your none-active career sime just driving off to work and vanishing? Not having RHs doesn't necessarily mean we'll have to go to work with all our Sims-- they can just drive away.

Honestly, with the absence of a OFB pack at least they allow me to have a sim own one or two or the entire town if I wish them to do so. If the other sims just vanished, I would get none of this. I also like the co-workers which makes the game seem a wee bit more realistic. And while I find the tones silly, it does give a tiny bit of strategy to the game.

So you are right in some ways...In Sims 2, I probably would have agree with you about the RH but in Sims 3, there is so little depth to the game that I would prefer RH to vanishing. When I said I love RHs, I meant that I have no desire to sit and watch my sims at work or to play the silly fireman/stylist games over and over again with every career. Compared to the alternative, I prefer the RH. But if the game was more challenging in other aspects, I really wouldn't care if they just vanished.

Yes, because there are crucial things added with each EP, which is not the case of WoW, for example.

Did you see the part about the underground subway system?

I don't remember tombs, following your sims to work, collecting, an improved CAS, CASt, visiting your neighbors, going around town, etc. ever being part of TS2 so how exactly are they remaking it? LN is the only remake in TS3 so far so where is all this "everything" that is a remake? Its a life simulation game, there are only so many aspects of life you can do....

You beat me to that one. The two games are like night and day in my opinion.