Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.
Initial concerns and gripes
GPIA7R
Posts: 16 New Member
First, the game is nice and fun. But it feels overwhelmingly empty. Not just the lack of expansion content, but I mean core content. The removal of certain "woohoo" options, although silly, doesn't seem necessary.
The unbelievable lacking choice of hairstyles ("Emo" being the only option?) seems like an obvious money-maker for EA's "Store".
Which brings me to my next point - Outside modding. Places like "ModTheSims2.com" were great resources for players of The Sims 2 to make the game how they liked. Will EA be allowing of external mods to be implimented OUTSIDE of their moderated "Exchange"? I'm very curious about this... and if modders are unable to change the game, The Sims 2 will continue to be the better choice.
The game itself feels short and empty, though. As said by others, the neighborhood aging "feature" is more of a hinderance, in how you don't have enough time in the day to even experience these "stories" because you get tired so quickly. Your other families will be deleted, moved, replaced, asexual birthed, etc... I agree that the "open" feel is nice, and there are plenty of great features. Moodlets are a nice touch, and enjoyable. But why get rid of Memories? Those aren't an expansion thing... those are part of the core... and even Sims 2 didn't feel like more was removed than added.
Achieving some of the easy lifetime goals, also, feels far too quick... and leaves little to nothing after. I find myself with no time to actually go out and see things, and mostly just speeding along. Half the days are sped-through, and shorten the game further (work, sleep). It's far too easy to progress through jobs (friend sat down for three hours last night, reached end of career, lifetime goal, and... felt empty.)
The Sims 2 had far more content, even outside of the expansions. The "Memories" part of Sims 2 was a great feature that made the user feel more involved and showed a great deal of detail. Now it feels like what happens is planned... and there's no personal touch to it. Example: A friend played an hour, and the game crashed. He went back to the previous save state... and was given all of the exact same opportunities, actions, options, etc... all the exact same things happened again. It doesn't feel dynamic.
Lastly... the game just feels like "easy mode". It doesn't appeal to true players of The Sims 2 in a way that makes me want to pay more for expansions. I certainly won't be paying for extra in-game content, as I would rather support and rely on the hard-working, talented modders of the "real" community.
Maxis did it right with The Sims 2, and I really want to see The Sims 3 live up to that.
"We'll give you an assortment of unappealing Emo hairstyles. If you want better, normal ones, you'll have to pay us more money."
Where there's a will, there's a way. I really hope the modding scene grabs this game and runs with it. It has unbeleivable potential, but feels far too held-back for monetary purposes. The strong modding scene of The Sims 2 gave it the replayability that it deserved.
Sims 3, though, deserves to have the freedom to change for the better, for those that choose to partake.
I would appreciate your thoughts and comments, as everyone thinks differently.
The unbelievable lacking choice of hairstyles ("Emo" being the only option?) seems like an obvious money-maker for EA's "Store".
Which brings me to my next point - Outside modding. Places like "ModTheSims2.com" were great resources for players of The Sims 2 to make the game how they liked. Will EA be allowing of external mods to be implimented OUTSIDE of their moderated "Exchange"? I'm very curious about this... and if modders are unable to change the game, The Sims 2 will continue to be the better choice.
The game itself feels short and empty, though. As said by others, the neighborhood aging "feature" is more of a hinderance, in how you don't have enough time in the day to even experience these "stories" because you get tired so quickly. Your other families will be deleted, moved, replaced, asexual birthed, etc... I agree that the "open" feel is nice, and there are plenty of great features. Moodlets are a nice touch, and enjoyable. But why get rid of Memories? Those aren't an expansion thing... those are part of the core... and even Sims 2 didn't feel like more was removed than added.
Achieving some of the easy lifetime goals, also, feels far too quick... and leaves little to nothing after. I find myself with no time to actually go out and see things, and mostly just speeding along. Half the days are sped-through, and shorten the game further (work, sleep). It's far too easy to progress through jobs (friend sat down for three hours last night, reached end of career, lifetime goal, and... felt empty.)
The Sims 2 had far more content, even outside of the expansions. The "Memories" part of Sims 2 was a great feature that made the user feel more involved and showed a great deal of detail. Now it feels like what happens is planned... and there's no personal touch to it. Example: A friend played an hour, and the game crashed. He went back to the previous save state... and was given all of the exact same opportunities, actions, options, etc... all the exact same things happened again. It doesn't feel dynamic.
Lastly... the game just feels like "easy mode". It doesn't appeal to true players of The Sims 2 in a way that makes me want to pay more for expansions. I certainly won't be paying for extra in-game content, as I would rather support and rely on the hard-working, talented modders of the "real" community.
Maxis did it right with The Sims 2, and I really want to see The Sims 3 live up to that.
"We'll give you an assortment of unappealing Emo hairstyles. If you want better, normal ones, you'll have to pay us more money."
Where there's a will, there's a way. I really hope the modding scene grabs this game and runs with it. It has unbeleivable potential, but feels far too held-back for monetary purposes. The strong modding scene of The Sims 2 gave it the replayability that it deserved.
Sims 3, though, deserves to have the freedom to change for the better, for those that choose to partake.
I would appreciate your thoughts and comments, as everyone thinks differently.
0
Comments
One thing I learned from my MMORPG is that a disasterous start makes for some GREAT fixes and awesome improvements.
I'm also worried that when EA tries to make some sort of item... then an outside modder comes along and creates it better... what EA will do. I'd rather the game stay open and available to everyone, and players always have a choice between paid and unpaid content... but for those of us that pay full price for a game EXPECTING the content to be there... it's hard to get excited about paying for it all over again.