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What IS really so great about TS3's 'open' neighbourhood?
Evil_One
Posts: 4,423 Member
I've noticed a few threads appearing about people longing to go back to TS2, but there are those who seem to think that TS3 is still better, one of the key reasons behind this 'feeling' is because TS3 has an open neighbourhood and no loading screens... The question is, is this really as great as it appears?
Not really, and here's why:
The so-called 'open' neighbourhood, I'm sure it sounded like a brilliant idea, but in practice it's lousy, in truth the sims themselves are no less isolated in their individual lots then they were in TS2, there's no talking over the garden fence, there's no going to the restaurant with a friend, in fact you can't really go anywhere because everywhere that might've been fun to go to is now a rabbithole, essentially all you've got is a huge version of a TS2 lot with extra building space, there's very little to do in it, which brings me to the second part of this particular item.
No loading screens (well aside from a really long one on startup but that's in both games). Whenever you play TS2 you get loading screens, and let's not understate them, you get a LOT of them... Every time you go from the house to any other visitable community lot, you have to wait for it to load in, but then you get to play on a richly detailed and usually highly populated community lot (which you may or may not own depending on what EPs you have), it's not much fun sitting there waiting for the lot to load in, but at least you can have fun when you get there... Even if your sim doesn't.
So, where does this leave TS3?, no loading screens (aside from the aforementioned one on startup), well while the loading screen itself it gone the effects are still there... Actually it's worse in TS3, while in TS2 you had to endure a waiting period before you arrived at your (hopefully) brilliant destination, where your sim could meet other sims, engage in romance, potentially get whacked around by Mrs. Crumplebottom for engaging in said romance and generally experiencing what that lot has to offer, in TS3 you get a waiting period in place of the destination in the form of a rabbithole... Well look on the bright side, at least you didn't get a loading screen [/sarcasm].
Now while EA ARE opening 'some' areas for you sim to play around in, more often then not without mods or CC you'll find your sim enjoying themselves to the sound of wind blowing through empty rooms (or at least you would hear the wind if EA would actually bother to add seasons) and tumbleweeds rolling about (again waiting on EA), this is because that the clubs (far from being as crowded as advertised) are either virtually or completely empty, and I'm pretty sure that in Showtime your sims are going to be singing to a crowd of all of three sims... Maybe.
So ask yourselves, what have you REALLY gained by having an 'open' neighbourhood?
For those of you experiencing the deserted clubs problem a 'fix' of sorts exists:
Not really, and here's why:
The so-called 'open' neighbourhood, I'm sure it sounded like a brilliant idea, but in practice it's lousy, in truth the sims themselves are no less isolated in their individual lots then they were in TS2, there's no talking over the garden fence, there's no going to the restaurant with a friend, in fact you can't really go anywhere because everywhere that might've been fun to go to is now a rabbithole, essentially all you've got is a huge version of a TS2 lot with extra building space, there's very little to do in it, which brings me to the second part of this particular item.
No loading screens (well aside from a really long one on startup but that's in both games). Whenever you play TS2 you get loading screens, and let's not understate them, you get a LOT of them... Every time you go from the house to any other visitable community lot, you have to wait for it to load in, but then you get to play on a richly detailed and usually highly populated community lot (which you may or may not own depending on what EPs you have), it's not much fun sitting there waiting for the lot to load in, but at least you can have fun when you get there... Even if your sim doesn't.
So, where does this leave TS3?, no loading screens (aside from the aforementioned one on startup), well while the loading screen itself it gone the effects are still there... Actually it's worse in TS3, while in TS2 you had to endure a waiting period before you arrived at your (hopefully) brilliant destination, where your sim could meet other sims, engage in romance, potentially get whacked around by Mrs. Crumplebottom for engaging in said romance and generally experiencing what that lot has to offer, in TS3 you get a waiting period in place of the destination in the form of a rabbithole... Well look on the bright side, at least you didn't get a loading screen [/sarcasm].
Now while EA ARE opening 'some' areas for you sim to play around in, more often then not without mods or CC you'll find your sim enjoying themselves to the sound of wind blowing through empty rooms (or at least you would hear the wind if EA would actually bother to add seasons) and tumbleweeds rolling about (again waiting on EA), this is because that the clubs (far from being as crowded as advertised) are either virtually or completely empty, and I'm pretty sure that in Showtime your sims are going to be singing to a crowd of all of three sims... Maybe.
So ask yourselves, what have you REALLY gained by having an 'open' neighbourhood?
For those of you experiencing the deserted clubs problem a 'fix' of sorts exists:
Coby wrote:Use at your own risk... :P
Here is the original thread: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/307092.page
You may also want to post this too, as some people said that after installing Generations that they had issues, and it's a little different to get working: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/381620.page
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Comments
my community lots are always full...plus since i have WA i get tourists....too
i can go to the library to read books instead of always doing it at home...
i can take a friend out to the restaurant for dinner....you can both eat outside and watch them eat..
If i have say 3 or more sims on 1 lot...i can have one go fishing...1 go to work and 1 go bar hoping....and not have just 1 sim do 1 thing at a time on 1 lot...
i can send my sim for a walk...and actually watch..my sim walk around town and take in the beautiful scenary...
i find that if you put things on the community lot for your sims to do...they will do it...
ETA...i might add...what i have gained is The Sims 3...not The Sims 2...
The only reason the home lot visiting wasn't added in TS2 was because it would've killed a major selling point of TS3.
Tourists can visit in TS2 as well, also in TS2 everyone got a populated lot, instead of just a lucky few.
Libraries existed in TS2.
In TS2 friends (and indeed lovers) could actually eat IN the restaurant, and there were a number of actions that could be done within... In OFB you could actually OWN the restaurant as well.
Great, so you can have two sims doing things which don't actually require you anyway and 1 bar hopping, which you could do in TS2.
So you can send your sims for a walk in what is basically an empty lifeless town.
As for putting stuff in community lots, again that can be done in TS2.
However, I'd love to see you go shopping in TS3, or actually own a business, watch the seasons change or better yet have two sims autonomously enter a relationship on your lot without any assistance.
You've lost 'The Sims' and gained 'The Sims societies'... Which is effectively a loss in itself.
If you are playing with an empty lifeless town...something is wrong...i don't have that problem....i see sims everywhere...going to work...walking the dog....kids playing at the park...
And as far as Season or Owning your own business is concerned...if we get we get it...if we dont we dont...i will not loose sleep over it....i love my game...and what EA has given us so far...
i play everyday.....i have never felt the need to return to Sims 2 or 1 for that matter because EA is not finished making expansion packs for 3 yet....
TS3 has some good points, but the open neighborhood isn't one of them...
Loading screens never bothered me so much. I have a pretty good computer, and even with tons and tons of CC, it still takes less than five minutes to load completely. Loading between lots usually takes about two minutes. Not much different than sitting at a red light.
On the other hand, with TS3 I have 'render time' which is the time it takes to turn those big gray blocks into detailed items. Wheter I'm waiting for the game to load or waiting for it to render, I usually spend those minutes scratching the dog's ears or looking for something I misplaced. It's no big deal.
The open neighborhood does have it's selling points...especially if you're playing a homeless family, but as the OP said...open to what?
However, I would gladly trade a seamless neighborhood for the ability to play more than one family in any given town. We all know what happens when we switch families for any length of time. They move, trade jobs, split up etc. I prefer to find them as I leave them I guess.
I know it can be enjoyable watching your sim walk around the neighborhood, but I also enjoy watching them go bowling and ice skating. I enjoy watching them smustle and slap dance and shoot hoops and swim in the ocean too.
...and yeah, sure we can watch them eat outside of a rabbithole. We can watch them eat at home too. Heck, from the beginning of sims time we could watch them eat. But in TS3 I can't watch them eat in a restaurant that I made. They won't tease each other, they won't toast each other, they won't have food fights or propose marriage to each other...they just eat. Big deal.
It is true...if you put stuff on a community lot that sims will use it. I'm still waiting for stuff to put on a community lot.
I agree with this. I love the open neighbourhood and no one on here can convince me that the openness is not my preferred way of playing.
I still have the Sims2 on my computer and I do on occasion visit them. Especially for the seasons and there are a lot of things I prefer on the Sims2 that never made it to 3.
But most of my playing time is with Sims3.
AHQ Champion
There are some things I love in the Sims 3 and wish were in the Sims 2 - most of them having to do with Buy/Build modes, like
Create-A-Style, being able to place furniture on "half" squares or at an angle without cheats.
No weather, no magic, no proper apartments. If I'd had CAS in Sims 2, I would have been very happy.
As it is, I seldom play Sims 3 anymore - Pets was the last EP I bought and I think I have played it a couple times. The love I used to feel for the Sims is fading and the enjoyment I got from playing gone with all the bugs and glitches in Sims 3.
I enjoy watching my sims play gnubb..shuffleboard...hopscotch...foosball...jump on the trampoline...there all sorts of things for my sims to do on a community lot....
But when i bought this game...i bought the Sims 3 not the Sims 2...its a different game....plain and simple as that.
I don't think anybody is arguing that point.
It's all just a matter of interests I suppose. Some people like one thing and some people like another.
Heck, I have friends who like Battlefield, but we still get along somehow.
Seriously?
Call people names because they don't have the same opinion as you?
Anyway, I like both games and still play both games. I actually do like the neighborhood. Even though I do like the resteraunts in TS2 better because of the interactions. But I only go to resteraunts when friends call and ask because I do hate the loading screens.
Both of the games have their points. I still even play the first game. Neither of the games are perfect, but they keep me entertained. And that's all that counts to me.
Calling somebody a fanboy is not offensive, basically it just means they are devoted to something even that thing is not that great or they generally support an unpopular opinion.... :?
If your going to criticize me then criticize me for doing something that warrants criticism please...
I've been played TS2 an awful lot recently (Seasons=snow :P ) and I actually much prefer the "one lot active" system. To me, there's a sense of privacy and cosiness and I love that. I value it much more now and I wish I hadn't have taken it for granted.
I mean, it must just be my computer or something, but whenever you DO go out on the tow - night or day - it's dull anyway? There's activity, sure, but in the form of zooming cars. It's impossible to talk to anyone as "___ is heading to work and cannot be disturbed" or "____ is going home".
I'm not really amazed by the open world system anymore ... wheneve ryou want to visit a neighbour they're almost always out anyway, and when you're invited in it's time to leave.
But you did say that because "they don't understand that TS2 is a better game."
But sorry if no one else thinks its offensive to them.
I feel the same way. And don't forget the infamous "(your sim's name) is behaving inappropriately, if she continues he/she will be asked to leave!" when visiting a household. My sim was hungry so I had him get it himself cause the sims in that household doesn't serve food. :?
The Sims 2 made me feel restricted and "stuck" if that makes sense.
Yes, I KNOW you're gonna call me a troll for not hating it like everyone else does. But you know what? I'm not going to change my opinion for anyone. :roll:
Oh yeah the 'zooming' cars, (you know that some of them don't even have people in and they're just to make it look like there's activity going on?)that isn't really activity, any more then the cars zooming around a TS2 neighbourhood screen were activity.
Out of curiosity, how many people who hate the open world system also hate Facebook games?
Agreed on all counts, what's the point of having an open neighbourhood if there's virtually nothing to do in it.
Honestly, I thought the open neighborhood had a lot of potential when I first saw Sims 3. If they had programmed the game right, optimized it right, and focused on keeping what was great while improving on things... it probably would have utterly blown me away.
The reality turned out to be far different.
Unfortunately, one problem I've noticed with open neighborhood is that we have a seemless neighborhood where you can walk from one lot to another... but thanks to travel times from a home to most lots, all you've really done is replace the blue loading screen from Sims 2 with a new loading screen consisting of your sim traveling. And, thanks to the lack of optimization, you can have it that the lot is not even fully loaded when your sim arrives.
And then there's the rabbit holes. Some of them were necessary for things like work... others, apparently because this game has less optimization than Windows 98.
The expansion packs also have not helped; in some cases, they've only made things worse. Everyone here is probably well aware of the problems each has, so I won't go into them.
Then there's the towns. One of the advantages Sims 2 had is that it could generate townies to visit places. Sims 3... mostly doesn't. And unlike Sims 2, where a place could easily become very crowded (I've counted as many as two dozen sims on a lot on my computer), in Sims 3 the crowds tend to be small thanks to a glitch in how the game reads processor capacity and, often, the crowds that show up anywhere are the same people every time, which in turn only enhances the feeling of emptiness. You can get crowds, but I've yet to see a report of someone with a true crowd without mods being involved.
Oh, yeah. And the issue of needing mods for Sims 3 to run as it should.
Overall... I would say that the open neighborhood was a good idea in theory but a bad one in execution.
Interesting, I expect much the same from most people who hate the open neighbourhood (IE the ability to see through a concept to examine what it REALLY entails which in facebooks case is a combination of a money-sink and free advertising).
Both TS2 and TS3 have their benefits, and their drawbacks, I have a hard time deciding which one I like better, although about 60% of the time its TS2, and 40% it's TS3.
My need for new stuff in the game (and the fact that when I tried to transfer the hard drive with all of my TS2 data onto my new computer it wouldn't let me) made me switch to TS3. Although if it gets much worse I always have my TS2 EPs to fall back on.