Whut.

[tju_tju_tju_tju]

So I've been dying to get The Sims 3, and I convinced my mom to buy it for me as an early birthday present, but I've been reading reviews and... apparently your custom-made Sims act like NPCs once you leave the house? And their lives just continue on without you there to play God? And they can just up and leave town at any moment? And you can't make your own neighborhoods? WTF. I'm starting to wonder if I should just ask my mom to buy The Sims 2 for me again (my old copy only works on PCs and I have a Mac now). Pretty much the main reason I wanted The Sims 3 was for the further customizable personalities, and also for the ability to wander around the neighborhood, but if I can't make my own neighborhoods and my characters can just be deleted without warning, well... what the hell is the point, then?!

Anyone on my f-list who has The Sims 3 -- what do you think? Is it worth it? Or should I just get The Sims 2 again?

Comments

[eonism.livejournal.com]

I don't have Sims 3 yet, :\ I'm still weighing my options for all the reasons mentioned above. I just don't want to drop the $50 and have my heart broken.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I don't really care about the graphics and stuff; I want to be able to make my friends and cackle evilly as I control their lives.

[lonelysubmarine.livejournal.com]

I bought it before I left to move. I really like it. On my Mac, the graphics are weird, but I think it just might be a setting. They're not bad, but they're a tad pixel-y. It's not too bad. I still haven't decided how I feel about the whole "can't create a town" thing, but I like it thus far. You can buy pre-made houses or you can buy lots and make houses. :D All in all, you can fulfill all your Sim's wishes and dreams within the town since the town itself has everything.

All-in-all, I'd get it. (And if you don't like it, you can always re-buy Sims 2 for your Mac for cheep. :D)

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

B-b-b-but I wanted to make separate neighborhoods for my different groups of friends. :( LOL I'd probably get over that eventually, but it's still a major minus for me.

The personality customizing thing is a major plus, though. I just -- I don't want them doing shit in their houses when I'm not there to control their every move! If only there were some way to turn that setting off, but I hear there isn't. Gahhhhh I don't knoooowww. *cries*

[lonelysubmarine.livejournal.com]

True. That's a pretty big thing that I don't like either. You can always have them live in different towns. You can make as many towns as your computer can hold.

When the game isn't in play, they don't do anything. Also, if your worried about it, you can turn down their freewill all the way. (There are three types of freewill. Max, where maybe they won't do what you tell them. Mid, where they do what you say unless it conflicts with their basic needs. Or None, where they don't do anything unless you tell them to. They'll pee on the floor if you don't tell them to pee in the toilet.)

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I don't want them making any major decisions when I'm not playing their house. When I'm not at their house, I want those characters lives to come to a standstill. I don't want it to keep going despite the fact that I'm not there. I'm also not a fan of characters just suddenly disappearing without warning; wtf is that?

[lonelysubmarine.livejournal.com]

ALSO! They're are a lot of awesome new features with making a Sim. You have more control with how they look (except for the hair, that kind of fails. D:) and how they act. They have more than five aspirations, depending on what five personality traits you give them. They can be evil, or insane, or a kleptomaniac, or technophobic, or basically anything you want. :D It's pretty awesome.

[hobbit-eyes.livejournal.com]

I've played Sims 3 a few times and I really like it. The whole traits thing really makes a huge difference, it means you get a selection of Lifetime Wants to choose from built around their actual personalities, and each trait gives them specific social interactions and stuff.

As for the neighbourhood thing, it's not as bad as I first thought - basically, you start off playing just one family in one neighbourhood, and can have multiple neighbourhoods, each with one central family. You don't get to customise NPCs, but it's not like you create an entire neighbourhood and then have no control over it.

Personally, I love the traits thing, but replaying Sims 2 afterwards, that was the only thing I really missed. Sure, you can leave the house and get better character creation and higher control over jobs and stuff, and your Sim doesn't set themselves on fire if you turn your back for a second, but I like creating entire neighbourhoods then making them dance. In short, Sims 3 isn't for control freaks.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

I wish there was a way for me to do a trial run of the game or something for a day, to see if the benefits outweigh the downsides. I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to The Sims, so I don't know... just, the idea of customizable personalities is so awesome! I can't decide. :(

[hobbit-eyes.livejournal.com]

I'd say get Sims 3. You still get to control your family LOTS, and the traits and new social interactions are really cool. And face it, Sims 2 will probably start dropping in price now, so if you decide you hate Sims 3 and want to go back to Sims 2, it'll be cheaper to do so :D

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

The Sims 2 is cheap for PC right now, but for Mac it's still about 40 bucks, which kind of pisses me off a bit.

[xoblinkbunnieox.livejournal.com]

i have yet to get it.. i want it, but i never liked the look of everything.
i still think i like the sims 2 better, which i play like religously lol
at least once a day.. usually for 5 hours or more at a time lol
i never read reviews on it yet either, but if you get it.. let me know how it is.
i only want it for the neighborhood walking around thing too

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

I wish my copy of The Sims 2 worked on my new computer, lol. Then I probably wouldn't bother getting The Sims 3.

[sinverguenza.livejournal.com]

well, to be fair even on a trial run you might not like the game. i was super unimpressed for the first week, but now i am loving it!

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I might wind up getting it... I'll probably be like "ugh" at first, but I'll get used to it.

[eris-amazing.livejournal.com]

I was really, really hesitant about getting it. I didn't want it, my computer would run it pretty horribly, and I could just save some money and play TS2 again.

Then I read this thread: http://snarkphoenix.15.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=134&st=525

And I pretty much ran out and bought the game, and am finally starting to come out of my Sim coma. It's a lot different, and everything takes a bit of getting used to, but things I would have considered negatives three days ago are my favorite parts now.

YMMV, but I say go for it.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

My biggest trepidation at this point is the fact that the Sims lives continue going on regardless of whether you're in their house or not. That is my major, major minus. Maybe even my only minus at this point, but it's big enough that it's gonna make me consider not getting it.

Everything else sounds awesome, though. Aaagh, why must it have that one huge, major hiccup??

[cold-queen-5.livejournal.com]

I want to get the Sims 2...not 3, just because of price...but I've totally put it off simply because it completely CONSUMES my time and I would never do anything ever again.

Hubris is fun.

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it kind of eats up your life for a while, lol! That's why I want to get it now so I can play it over the summer. You do get kind of tired of it after a while, though, unless you keep buying expansion packs.

got it

[wolftailwagger.livejournal.com]

yeah I'm just really disappointed that you cant m-preg anymore :C not even an alien abduction. Its good to like wander around town yeah but, you can't see inside the buildings(I saw a trailer showing you could enter the gym,Not true!!.

Re: got it

[tju-tju-tju-tju.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there'll be mods for mpreg and stuff eventually, lol. I think what I'm gonna do is wait for the patch to fix story progression, and then I'll get it. I can wait a little while longer, I suppose.