The Sims 3

[RockyRan]

Have any of you guys tried TS3 for srs? Because I do have to say, if you like games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon you'll probably like TS3 very much.

 

I had a very weird relationship with The Sims series, mostly because I was absolutely amazed back in the day when I tried Sims 1 back when it was new. The novelty factor was just tremendous, but when the novelty actually wore off the game was just pure shit, mostly because of the over reliance on horrendously boring chores (like, literally chores). I tried TS3 like a month ago after having given up on the series (I mean, it WAS EA, I was certain they weren't going to change anything to make the game actually fun), but I was extremely surprised at how well they turned around the gameplay. EA essentially turned the game from a horrendous mish mash of directionless glob that was TS1 and TS2 and they actually game-ified pretty much every aspect of the game, turning it into essentially Animal Crossing in a modern setting.

 

So anyway, the game is actually a lot more versatile than I initially gave it credit for. Before I always started out with one dude and eventually tried to get a family going and slowly add to the house to make a huge mansion, but that got boring since that's how I always played it even back since TS1, so I'm doing crazy shit now. I'm actually finding the game to be genuinely fun when you don't take it seriously.

 

My "protagonist's" name is Toppe Hatte, a classy snob who's secretly an evil thief. You know of that one guy in real life who took like a paper clip and traded up with a slightly better item until he ended up with a Ferrari? I'm doing something kind of like that. I basically run a scam on the bitches around town. Toppe goes around schmoozing them and getting to marry him, then he moves into the house, kills everyone (including the spouse), uses that house to schmooze a bitch who's slightly richer and repeat the process. He's super fucking rich right now, and I'm working him on moving on the biggest house on the neighborhood. I've also killed like half the town too, but that's only a side effect. He's quite the classy homicidal man.

 

So yeah, doing a public service announcement. You don't HAVE to play it like a virtual dollhouse. If you look at it like Animal Crossing it's pretty fun in its own right, and you can do some pretty messed up shit if you're creative. I mean, AC doesn't really let you marry anyone and electrocute the spouse to death to keep their money while selling off the tombstone to sweep the murder under the rug.

[McBeeferton]

I've always liked The Sims, ever since I played the first console game on the PS2. Good times were had.

 

Eventually I tried The Sims 2 and found out that the PC version of the games are a lot better. Then came The Sims 3. The added features were really nice, but it really lacked content. Eventually I'll try it again once more expansions come out, even if I know they're just nickel and diming me for a few shirts and a shiny new couch.

 

But yeah, The Sims isn't really a "virtual dollhouse". I rarely play it like I'm supposed to, and that's half the fun! Being an idiot and tormenting your Sims is fun, but I also like the customization aspect of it, and most of all the silliness such as this: "I mean, AC doesn't really let you marry anyone and electrocute the spouse to death to keep their money while selling off the tombstone to sweep the murder under the rug."

[RockyRan]

I've always liked The Sims, ever since I played the first console game on the PS2. Good times were had.

 

Eventually I tried The Sims 2 and found out that the PC version of the games are a lot better. Then came The Sims 3. The added features were really nice, but it really lacked content. Eventually I'll try it again once more expansions come out, even if I know they're just nickel and diming me for a few shirts and a shiny new couch.

 

But yeah, The Sims isn't really a "virtual dollhouse". I rarely play it like I'm supposed to, and that's half the fun! Being an idiot and tormenting your Sims is fun, but I also like the customization aspect of it, and most of all the silliness such as this: "I mean, AC doesn't really let you marry anyone and electrocute the spouse to death to keep their money while selling off the tombstone to sweep the murder under the rug."

 

Agreed. The customization in TS3 is amazing especially, with how they let you change individual textures. At first I thought it was kind of a gimmick but then I realized I could reskin objects to make them look A) not like shit (unlike all the pre-release screenshots they released to show off the feature) and B) completely different. And my mind was = blown when I found out they let you change the colors within the textures with a color wheel. Grab like 6 new tiny texture files off the net and you can completely change the way an entire house looks. I was like "...dood" when I started messing with that.

[TheMightyEthan]

I agree that TS3 is a huge improvement over the earlier entries, however it suffers from the same core problem (at least for me) that the others did: I want to play it all the time, but when I am playing it I'm not actually having very much fun.

[AgamemnonV2]

I own TS3 and its expansions. I do not own the stuff packs. I refuse to buy those. In fact, it's bad enough how much I go back on my principles just purchasing the game. I don't know why they keep selling their freaking expansion packs with full-game pricing (although I haven't bought any of them until they are under $30). I still want to punch the guy at EA in the neck that came up with the fishing achievement to have 11 fish at one time but the only fish aquarium fits one fish. So fans complain and what do they do? Ah, right. They release the item in a stuff pack.

 

EA is notorious with the series in how they nickel-and-dime you, but the creation aspect is just too time-consuming. As people mentioned the complexity to it all, I find myself building and designing my houses more often than playing with the arbitrary game mechanics.