My review of TS3. What I liked, don't like.
jolrei:
I am finding it rather fun to ignore the "mini-games" like collecting stuff, chasing after wants, buying all the lifetime rewards, etc., and just playing it like a story. That said, there is a lot of new breadth to the game (contiguous neighbourhood, no load screens, story progression), which promises a lot, but delivers less than desirable (rabbit holes being one case in point).
I think the summary line in the review/article is that you can not eat the cakes. Caek exists, but it is a lie.
Alex:
Quote from: originalhalf on 2009 June 15, 12:17:03
The key word in that article is "laziness". After playing this entire weekend I have to agree.
I feel like I've been forced to dumb down and fit into my spawn's console world or play one of the RPGs I have. The sims move like little robot people (what is WITH that stance they have when standing still?), have little to no personality and building stuff is painful. I think I hate the speed problem more than anything in this POS.
I do like being able to follow them as they move from one lot to the other, color customization and the interactions with the ghosts. I'm determined to get a ghost baby for which the Son of Perdition's self-sim has graciously agreed to take one for the team to provide. After that I see myself going back to TS2 to fulfill my goddess complex.
As a Sims player since day 1 I feel like I've been bent over and fucked in the ass with no reach around.
My thought's exactly. All of it.
This game was blantantly rushed, and it's been sloppily and lazily developed. I'm only playing to see everything, and then I too shall return to the clearly superior TS2. There's some nice stuff in there, admittedly, but it's floating around in a sea of crap. The Sims 2 is an eternal sandbox that I can play until my fingers bleed. The Sims 3 is a shallow, generic game I will be sick of by the end of the week not least because of the numerous technical problems and it's tendancy to fuck it self up when I'm not looking.
It's like a PC version of the console games really... In fact, come to think of it, it's more of a horrific second coming of Simsville. One can now see why that game got canned.
originalhalf:
The only mini game I like is exploring the catacombs in the graveyard. I've gotten all my gnomes there (which btw is a hilarious addition), some of the rare seeds and some weird rock. Plus I enjoy seeing my simself come out fried when it's been particularly traumatic. She's gone in there so many times I think I've gotten all the scenarios multiple times.
AllenABQ:
Quote from: Drakron on 2009 June 15, 03:18:48
Quote from: AllenABQ on 2009 June 15, 00:28:35
I get the impression he's very well acquainted with TS1 and TS2 I also get the impression he really likes pudding, but the rest of the review makes up for that.
And there is this pearl ...
Quote
There is no way for a roleplayer to rationalize this, it is just further incompleteness and more design. Guess the extra 4 months wasn't enough. Solution: Design the interiors and lay out tasks and time limits per day. Performance can vary finely with player cleverness and activity.The tasks required would be very specific to the job.A "Journalism Track" employee might race to town square, chasing down a story about a protest rally. A "chef" could have a very zoomed up view of the kitchen's surfaces, with all the ingredients and utensils laid out for the player. Mouse strokes could cut veggies and meats and then careful attention to cooking temperature would be necessary.
First, he does not get this is a God Game.
Second, he does not get what is a "roleplayer" (lets ignore the fact you are not making a ingame avatar but creating a Sim) and just in case anyone is stupid enough to try to argue with me ... roleplay is exactly that, play a role but if I am playing the role of William Tell it does not mean MY (the actor) skills are the same of William Tell (the character) ... some dumbfucks think "roleplay" is using their (player) skills in some mini game and this lead me to ...
Three, Mini games are not replacement for skill system ... if there is a skill system then DITCH then, I tolerate mini games when they are used for breaking pacing and entirely optional but at least he did not directly mention what is the bane of current video games ... Simon-says mini games.
A lot of the issues with TS3 is because EA tried to appeal to people like him (the so called "gamers", I call then "proof we need eugenics") , its more of a "game" and that is why it fails.
I disagree that he doesn't get its a "God game."
I believe he was just trying to think of something else that might break the MORPG "grind"-like aspect of skilling in TS3. In that respect, he has a point:
MORPG = set your character to make 150 longswords in the workshop. Execute. Wait.
Sims = set your character to learn cooking skill by reading a book. Execute. Wait.
The difference however is that with a MORPG you go fix yourself a snack, maybe start a load of laundry, or take some time to play with the dog while you wait. In the Sims, you can simply switch to a different active sim and keep playing. So I disagree with him on the point of needing to "fix" skilling with some kind of mini-game. I don't think it would hurt to add mini-games that increase skills purely for the sake of variety, but I wouldn't make them required.
What I have noticed in the bit I've played is that the Sims seem to lack soul. I've seen very few animations so far that I really like or that have brought a smile to my face. And there is something odd about the way they walk I can't put my finger on.
I also came across another review where someone directly accused of EAxis of making TS3 more MORPG-like. I have to admit I'm getting that feeling myself. I drifted away from TS2 to play "Lord of the Rings Online" for the past two years because I was getting bored and it was refreshingly different from TS2. LOTRO has now gotten boring, and so I thought maybe TS3 was perfectly timed to take over as my new major video game interest. However my experience so far has been that it's not different enough from TS2 -- and in some ways very inferior to it -- to hold my interest for very long AND parts of it do remind me of playing LOTRO.
:-[
originalhalf:
Quote from: AllenABQ on 2009 June 16, 00:21:58
What I have noticed in the bit I've played is that the Sims seem to lack soul. I've seen very few animations so far that I really like or that have brought a smile to my face. And there is something odd about the way they walk I can't put my finger on.
They stand and walk like they're going to a gunfight at the OK Corral. It reminds me of Yul Brenner's character in "Futureworld".
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