My review of TS3. What I liked, don't like.
J. M. Pescado:
Quote from: SendmeLies on 2009 June 19, 23:22:09
Every menu of the game is on the left. Action takes place everywhere, mostly on the right because it's where the mouse rests. On a 24" monitor it gets really tiring to drag the mouse all the way around the screen to change anything.
I think you need to turn up your mouse sensitivity. Because the motion of the mouse on the screen is not dependent on the size of the screen. I can flip my mouse across any screen of any size with merely a slight wrist movement.
Blech:
I agree with everyone who said the puddings lack the ability to make you give a shit about them. Don't get me wrong, I've never really given a shit about any of them since TS1, but at least in TS2, most of them escaped random death just because I got bored and instead had to piss me off first by refusing to stop doing stupid stuff. Some even got a pass to die peacefully of old age for doing something endearing. Like, I'll never forget the first toddler I ever saw cuddle with a puppy. That earned her the privilege of fulfilling her LTW and dying as an elder. There's nothing the puddings do that even comes close to this level of cuteness, which is probably why I have yet to have any controllables die of old age, they haven't earned it.
The lack of proper romance and weddings is another thing that makes puddings inferior. In TS2, my sims were destined for each other from birth. They'd play together as toddlers and children, have their first kiss with each other as teens, live together in Uni, and then marry and live happily ever after with their soul mate as adults. Each milestone worthy of many pics taken by proud parents. It actually seemed like they gave a shit about each other, which in turn, made me give a shit about them. I still have pictures on my desktop from my first TS2 wedding. My first pudding wedding was the first of many disappointments. I went into it thinking, "OMG, this is going to be so awesome, a destination wedding at the pretty little park behind their house! I'll get a buffet table and some flowers and balloons. I'll set up the cake right in the center, on display. Ohhh, I gotta take lots of pictures!" But the caek was a lie. I got so fucking bored, the sims getting married were the first to leave, long before the party was over.
Also, families just aren't worth the trouble anymore. I prefer to micromanage, so I'm not going to waste valuable skilling time raising boring larvae who don't even have the decency to be cute to make up for being a drain on resources. And I cannot believe that EA has forced the 1950's on me by making my sim mothers stay home until their spawn goes to school. WTF is this? This isn't even realistic. IRL, if you're kicking ass in your career as a doctor, you don't take years off to raise some kids while you're husband is a level one musician. No, you make his slacker ass stay home, while you bring home the bacon. This is why ALL of my controllabe families have been one-child homes. My sim females are go-getters who take the world by the balls, so they just can't afford to spend the best years of their lives raising children. This is another contributing factor to the early deaths in my game. In TS2, elders had their usefullness as free baby-sitters while the adults worked. Now, since mothers can't work, elders are just another drain on resources.
Another thing that's already been complained about is the lack of group socials. Most of my sims have NO friends because it's not necessary for a lot of jobs anymore and it's such a fucking hassle. The only sims who can make friends while doing something relevant to their lives are logic sims and musical sims. Everyone else is a loner because they don't have time to waste in front of the boob tube when they could be improving themselves.
Although this post is already quite long, in an effort to not be Ms. Negativity, here's some stuff I do like:
1. The openness. I like that my sims can wander around town for hours. Especially when I set them to exploring places with no roads, on foot.
2. Being able to let my male sims procreate without the hassle of actually living with the brat or it's mother. Although, forcing him to pay for this in the form of child support would be even more awesome.
3. The ability to learn how to do things by actually doing them. My sims hardly ever read skill books. If they wanna be good at cooking, they cook. Makes sense.
4. The fact that if I stop paying attention to a sim in the controllable family in favor of a more interesting sim, they won't starve themselves and scream, "Look at me, NAO!!!"
Doc Doofus:
I'm actually starting to enjoy the game, more. I suppose part of it is because I, perhaps foolishly, have begun to hope that there will be some CC and tools before long and I'll get to be one of the first guys in there, modding things.
But the story progression is GREAT. I can understand why people that are still trying to play it TS2 style are disappointed. I'm disappointed in a number of things. But the story progression feature of TS3 is the core of the game. TS1 was about humorous Ozzie and Harriet kitsch (I still miss that Leroy Anderson type music), TS2 was about genetics and mods. TS3 is about story progression. I actually wonder what is going on with my fellow neighbors. The fact that EA didn't make it easier to switch between families baffles me, and I can't help wonder if it was a result of unresolved bugs in play-testing that they just wanted to sluff off for a future EP.
I always got bored with my families in TS2 after a while. It got the point where I just abandoned one and started a new one. The old family still showed up at the park and the restaurant, just the way I left them, making me feel guilty for dumping them. I kind of like it that they can move on with their lives and that I can peek in on them, once in a while, to see if anything interesting happens.
J. M. Pescado:
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 01:56:03
Also, families just aren't worth the trouble anymore. I prefer to micromanage, so I'm not going to waste valuable skilling time raising boring larvae who don't even have the decency to be cute to make up for being a drain on resources. And I cannot believe that EA has forced the 1950's on me by making my sim mothers stay home until their spawn goes to school.
It's okay. AwesomeMod has a command for that. No more mandatory time off.
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 01:56:03
WTF is this? This isn't even realistic. IRL, if you're kicking ass in your career as a doctor, you don't take years off to raise some kids while you're husband is a level one musician.
Oh, it's not even the SIM choosing to take that. It's MANDATORY, they aren't given a choice at all!
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 01:56:03
Another thing that's already been complained about is the lack of group socials. Most of my sims have NO friends because it's not necessary for a lot of jobs anymore and it's such a fucking hassle. The only sims who can make friends while doing something relevant to their lives are logic sims and musical sims. Everyone else is a loner because they don't have time to waste in front of the boob tube when they could be improving themselves.
Well, that's a certain level of culture shock from TS1/2. In TS1 and 2, you were basically forced and encouraged to befriend everyone. In TS3, sims are more predisposed to keeping a realistic number of friends. How many friends do YOU really have?
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 01:56:03
Although this post is already quite long, in an effort to not be Ms. Negativity, here's some stuff I do like:
Negativity? This is MATY!
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 01:56:03
1. The openness. I like that my sims can wander around town for hours. Especially when I set them to exploring places with no roads, on foot.
2. Being able to let my male sims procreate without the hassle of actually living with the brat or it's mother. Although, forcing him to pay for this in the form of child support would be even more awesome.
I don't believe in child support. Not paying child support is a privilege you earn by not getting your head eaten.
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 01:56:03
3. The ability to learn how to do things by actually doing them. My sims hardly ever read skill books. If they wanna be good at cooking, they cook. Makes sense.
That's not NEW. TS2 had that.
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 01:56:03
4. The fact that if I stop paying attention to a sim in the controllable family in favor of a more interesting sim, they won't starve themselves and scream, "Look at me, NAO!!!"
Oh, they still do that. You need Less Whiny to make it stop. They're not quite as inclined to starve themselves, but the screaming continues.
Quote from: Doc Doofus on 2009 June 20, 02:32:24
But the story progression is GREAT. I can understand why people that are still trying to play it TS2 style are disappointed. I'm disappointed in a number of things. But the story progression feature of TS3 is the core of the game.
My view is that the CONCEPT of story progression is good. The implementation, however, is terrible: It has no respect for the rules of common sense, logic, or the player's wishes. A version that FIXES these issues would be perfect. But a version that doesn't is worse than nothing at all!
Quote from: Doc Doofus on 2009 June 20, 02:32:24
TS1 was about humorous Ozzie and Harriet kitsch (I still miss that Leroy Anderson type music), TS2 was about genetics and mods. TS3 is about story progression. I actually wonder what is going on with my fellow neighbors. The fact that EA didn't make it easier to switch between families baffles me, and I can't help wonder if it was a result of unresolved bugs in play-testing that they just wanted to sluff off for a future EP.
Well, it's not easier to switch between them because you're NOT SUPPOSED TO. The game basically destroys your progress if you do.
caterpillar:
Quote from: Doc Doofus on 2009 June 20, 02:32:24
But the story progression is GREAT. I can understand why people that are still trying to play it TS2 style are disappointed. I'm disappointed in a number of things. But the story progression feature of TS3 is the core of the game. TS1 was about humorous Ozzie and Harriet kitsch (I still miss that Leroy Anderson type music), TS2 was about genetics and mods. TS3 is about story progression. I actually wonder what is going on with my fellow neighbors. The fact that EA didn't make it easier to switch between families baffles me, and I can't help wonder if it was a result of unresolved bugs in play-testing that they just wanted to sluff off for a future EP.
I always got bored with my families in TS2 after a while. It got the point where I just abandoned one and started a new one. The old family still showed up at the park and the restaurant, just the way I left them, making me feel guilty for dumping them. I kind of like it that they can move on with their lives and that I can peek in on them, once in a while, to see if anything interesting happens.
I would love story progression if the neighbors actually did anything with their lives. Married couples will produce spawn, but their spawn (with parthenogenesis disabled) will most likely not get a job, never marry or breed, and die single and childless in the house they were born in. The parthenogenesis was a lame fix for the inherent problems with the way they handled story progression. I feel like I'm being forced back into the TS2 model, having to go into each house and manage their lives for them if I want them to have jobs, marriages and kids. My problem is that I also got bored with TS2 families because I didn't want to micromanage the whole neighborhood, and I hate having to play TS3 like it was TS2, creating the story progression myself.
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