The new EP Sims 3 Generations comes out May 31! Bunkbeds, snadboxes, strollers, pranks, more complex school system, parental punishment system (toy banishment ), treehouses, imaginary friends, memories, bachleaor/ette parties, graduation... It looks awesome! CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Such a pity they never made Ambitions for Sims 2. I'd still play it more if they had.

I've never had a problem with the sims 3 yet and honestly.. I can't go back to The Sims 2. I couldn't have fun in that game without tons of CC and mods. But with the sims 3, I don't need any of that to have fun. It's just so much funner. No loading screens, able to visit friends.. I don't have to control every last sim. they live their own life. So yeah, I'm not going back. Ever.

If you feel that strongly about it perhaps you should abandon TS3 maybe it just isn't the game for you, personally I put off buying TS3 because of the multitude of threads saying what an awful game it was, how ugly the sims were and how charmless the game seemed but after drooling through pictures on the favourite rooms and residential lots threads in the creativity section I finally succumbed. Iam so glad I did, I find the game much more engaging yes I miss the humor, no the game is not perfect but I couldn't go back to TS2 now and personally I dont find the sims ugly at all I actually prefer them when compared to TS2 sims. Another thing I love is not having an overflowing cc folder one of my greatest bugbears about TS2 was how much cc it took to make things look acceptable.

I don't get the hostility for the OP; normally this forum bashes Sims 3 and EA constantly. I'm assuming the OP read the same threads I did to come up with their assessment of the community as a whole hating the game.

I didn't play Sims 2 when it came out. After reading so many anti-Sims 3 threads I thought I would give Sims 2 a try to see what I was missing. The game without heaps of CC and EPs was very boring, dated, unattractive, and robotic feeling compared to Sims 3 or any other games from the last 5 years. Needless to say, I went back to Sims 3 and never gave 2 a second thought.

When Sims 4 comes out I'll probably prefer that one to 3 as well. I try not to let nostalgia cloud my better judgment.

This. It's a little unfortunate that they didn't just do a heavy update to TS2 (all they'd have to do is update the graphics and make it an open world and, with all the EPs they had, it would have been infinitely better than what TS3 is now), but I do enjoy TS3. It's buggy and a lot of things are, in my opinion, missing that shouldn't be missing...but they're different games. I tried to play TS2 again and I just can't. Despite its flaws, I still prefer TS3.

Doing all those changes to TS2 would have pretty much meant they would have had to re-write the whole game-engine (which is pretty much what they did by coding TS3). TS2 was never meant to be open world type of game. But, some smaller changes would have been possible. Like making it possible to visit any neighbor, or making more skills and such.

I for one think it's better they ditched the old and re-wrote a new game, thank God the days of only 8 skills are behind us.

You think TS3 is buggy? think how many game breaking bugs we would have had in the TS2->TS3 hybrid you mentioned.

Agreed 100% especially with how buggy TS2 was, it seems a lot of people forget that. TS2 also felt pretty empty for me until Pets came out, which was the fourth EP. We're approaching the fourth EP for TS3 and for me it definitely feels like history is repeating itself. It just took some time for TS3 to mature.

Although TS2 has some awesome stuff like pets and weather which TS3 doesn't have yet, I still think TS3 is the overall better game. With Late Night and Generations it does seem that the producers are listening to us more. I think World Adventures is a great thing to have on the side when you've run out of things to do. It's helped me ease the wait for the other EPs. Plus we know pets are in EP5 and from the discovery of weather effects with the fog emitter it seems EA has at least started programming that into the game, it's probably just taking a while. I definitely can't go back to a sims game that doesn't have the open neighborhood or traits, I know it's going to feel as awkward as when I tried playing TS1 back when TS2 was still fun for me.

EP4 for me was do or die for TS3. Thankfully with Generations, EA has finally addressed one thing that's bugged me a bit since the first game, that the game is only fun when playing as adults (or the "sweet spot" as Ryan Vaughan accurately put). Honestly, I think that each age group being almost equally fun to play as alone will keep me hooked on TS3. Oh, and horses! I have a feeling I'm really going to like them even though I've only ridden a horse in real life once.

I prefer the depth of gameplay and challenge that TS2 offered. With TS3, it feels very watered down, but I'm too spoiled by the gfx and open world to go back. I can't imagine having to load everytime I visit another lot... I still prefer TS2 EPs over TS3 EPs. I really loved what I could do with the sims in NL & OFB. But after seeing what EA is trying to do to Generations, I really hope it will spice up the game for me. Since what I miss was the interactions and some of the little things like memories etc..

So yea.. I guess I'm not abandoning Sims 3.. at least not just yet.

Neither the game nor the company are all that bad enough to make me want to mutiny or boycott them. Like anyone else, I can think of things they can do better, but it's still pretty good value for money when I think of the hundreds of hours of entertainment it's given me, one way or another.

Just had a marathon play last night. I am in no way giving up on EA and the Sims 3. True, I may not be a total EA fangurl, okay and rah rah everything they do, but the Sims 3 have been very entertaining, and quite satisfying for my game play.

Looking at all the posts, I think the OP is mostly alone in their observation.

ETA: There is no way I can give up the open neighborhood. No way!

I get extremely bored with TS3 and go back to TS2 regularly. They both have their attractions and annoyances. Open world is nice. Weather is nice. (shrug)

I've been playing the Sims franchise since the Sims 1--while EA has strayed away from some things I like about the Sims (magic, aliens, blah blah blah), the Sims 3 is leaps and bounds better than the Sims 2, IMO. I don't think I can ever go back from an open neighborhood. Also, I can play Sims 3 unmodded, for the most part (I still use some modes). I could never do that with the other games.

We are not amused with your insinuations. >:c

I might abandon EA and not give them a chance of redemption just because how wonderfully overdramatic it sounds.

Just kidding. It's a game, it's not like giving the last chance to an unfaithful fiancée. If you want to abandon it, go ahead, you don't need our blessing for that.

I play both games. I see no reason to pick and choose. They are not the same game and so I enjoy them both for different reasons. I enjoy the traits in TS3 but hardly ever get attached to the sims. I feel like the TS2 sims only have personalities if you really use your imagination, but that's why I get so attached to my little simmies. I still can't get passed the 3rd generation of a family in TS3 without getting error codes and I've hardly ever had errors or issues with TS2. I have a love/hate relationship with the open neighborhood. I like it when I'm only controlling one or two sims but when I've got an enormous family I spend most of the time flying back and forth around town and I feel like that's all I'm doing. I like the "closed in" feeling that not having an open neighborhood provides. Maybe that's why I get so attached to my TS2 sims and not so much to my TS3 ones. If I had to choose, I'd say that TS2 is still my favorite. I like TS3 (I hated it at first, but the expansions really helped flesh it out), but it still feels like something is missing. That being said, I wouldn't just give up on it. For better or worse, EA is buying up the world and if I avoided every game EA had a hand in, I'd have to get a new hobby.

For myself I play TS3 . I enjoy many of the feature offered. No game to date does not get released with out some bugs. It is the nature of the beast.. Designers and programmers want more time. The company wants the game on the shelves now. We buyers end up with a game that needs patches. If you are looking for the perfect game to be released with out any bugs or needing patches. You are going to be looking for a long time.

I understood when I bought TS3 that there was going to be changes. Part of the agreement when you buy the latest installment in a franchise. If I didn't like the changes I could always go back to the earlier version or stop playing entirely; Both games have their strengths and weaknesses. Yes it is a little more difficult to mod than compared to TS2.

The source codes changed. That should be expected. I suspect when EA gets around to pushing out TS4 that there will be further changes.. Though to be honest if EA makes modding impossible, I suspect that there will be an outcry and then we will see if it becomes a deal breaker for many of us.

My husband and I came into The Sims 2 as a very late player - Dec 2007. I got TS2 Double Deluxe with Night Life and Bon Voyage. We added Seasons, OFB then got FT and AL. I loved Sims 2. When Sims 3 came out, I played it and kept TS2 on my computer. I'd go back and forth between the 2 games and downloaded CC for both. But Sims 3 just had that open hood and CASt and NO LOADING SCREENS!!! A year and a bit later, Sims 2 was officially uninstalled.

My husband installed Sims 3 and never touched Sims 2 again. He's still got it on his computer but he's never fired it up again.

I have fond memories of Sims 2 but I can never go back. I can never give up the open world or CASt. Are you kidding me... no ability to change colours or textures on the fly? I can't even imagine not being able to do that anymore. Sims 3 for me until Sims 4 comes out... if EA is planning on making The Sims 4

Hey, TS2 board speaking. We think we may have lost you.

Same here. TS2 has since been uninstalled too

i prefer ts2

Redeemed by World Adventure???.......I don't think so. I even fear The Sims 3 starting to disoriented. A solo adventure instead of family/friends interaction? Spending the whole time cracking the tombs instead of playing with everyday life? I'm starting to see The Sims 3 will became a solo adventure game like Tomb Raider. I'm worried the next EPs will be an adaptation from Crysis, Starcraft, Dragon Age, etc........it's definitely not The Sims we know anymore.

I love several stuffs in World Adventure, as I always love additional features and items whatever EA built, in the very limited world of The Sims. But overall World Adventure is a total failure.

If World Adventure is a Vacation EP, complete with the hotel, resort, tourist trap, sight-seeing objects, group activities, experience, plus WA's tombs and ruins (of course not a sole adventure, instead of teamwork from family members and friends). That's what The Sims 3 should be!

But thanks God, with the Ambitions EP and Late Night, The Sims 3 back to the course and push forward to the next level.

I have right to be worried, since The Sims development always kept in the dark. It revealed just after it already near finish. There's nothing we can't do.

I have looked back at TS2 after playing TS3 for a year, I almost immidiatly removed TS2 from my pc so now I have more space for TS3 EP's

I totally disagree. I love WA and I prefer exploring the tombs with just one sim. Dragging the whole family and friends along would be just too tiresome and too much hassle. I have done it with two simmies when the mother of my current sim was kind a teaching her the ropes.

I've also added some custom lots (clubs, etc.) to the WA destinations and turned them more into vacation style neighborhoods. I do regret the fact the simmies can't swim and that there are no hotels but it's not the end of the world. They will come later, hopefully. Foreign sims add color to the game, especially because they can move in and get married with your own sim. I guess it just depends how one looks at things (WA in this case) - either the glass is half empty or half full.

Just to offer a different perspective, in TS2, I encountered glitches, but the glitches I encountered weren't severe like the ones I've experienced in TS3. In TS2, my glitchiest game was probably University - I got the arm-bending glitch and the thing with having a crush on ones's self. But in TS3, I've had some very frustrating things happen - time freezing (the clock, not the actual sims/world), sims completely losing their family trees (which means a lot to me), not being able to get beyond the "flirty" stage.

So you encountered worse glitches in TS2, I encountered worse ones in TS3.

I wasn't talking about the glitches I encountered. I was talking about the bugs that were in the game... programming errors in the game code that lead to unintended behavior... which are in EVERYBODY'S game. Every game box has the same program in it ;-)

As for how we know what gameplay issues are due to bugs in the code... as opposed to those that can crop up due to mods, individual hardware configurations, corrupted files and the like... there are various sources of information to use. One is what shows up in EA's patch lists. Another is what modders who have the tools to actually look at the game code can tell us, and what they can fix with their mods.

So, yeah... what the bugs are is not a subjective question. Which collection of bugs is worse might be ;-) I'm going by what I read on these and other forums and by talking to modders, but I guess there could be other ways of evaluating the same evidence.