Plants comparison 2 to 3?

keFUNKNEY101

I wanted to compare the plants from the sims 2 and 3, so I took pictures of the palms of palm trees to compare. I think the sims 2 had much better quality plants. For one they used 3D models and they seemed to be more detailed. What do you guys think?



http://www.flickr.com/photos/106545464@N07/11262338925/lightbox/

I should mention my graphics are turned to max high, and sorry the picture doesn't show up.

Jenieusa

look fine to me...but then again this is the Sims 3 not 2 and its a game...not real life...

kellycot1

I've noticed this too when I've been building and, though it bothered me at first, I actually think it makes sense and I've grown to appreciate it.

In Sims 2, you lived entirely on a single lot; that was all you saw unless you got up and visited another single lot. All you ever saw was all of your items, plants included, up REALLY close, so this really was a key area to pay attention to for the game developers. In terms of processing, however, there was only a single lot's worth of objects to load, making that extra detail easy enough to handle.

In Sims 3, the focus is entirely different, emphasising the world view and moving between lots; that means you're rarely sitting there, looking at a single plant or small group of plants up very close. I've even noticed that in Sims 3, as compared to Sims 2, the general 'sitting' distance from the lot you're looking at is much further away (as in, you're always automatically zoomed out further than in Sims 2). In this case, they had less reason to put extreme, close up detail into each item, and instead needed to focus on making a LOT of items look good all at once, and from a variety of distances. I think Jenieusa's picture demonstrates that perfectly; to me, THOSE trees, viewed like that, look infinitely better than the ones from Sims 2, it's just that zooming changes things.

But, like I said, you're absolutely right and when I've been building I've definitely noticed this. Thankfully, I've learned to not just stay zoomed in on the object I'm placing, and to look at the whole 'scene' to get a better feel for how everything comes together; I'm not a great builder, even now, but it's probably proved to be a huge blessing, since I do think it's helped me improved. It's funny how things work like that!

Aiyo

I have noticed this too, some renders in the sims 2, while possibly not always technically/graphically better, did look nicer. However, I think the graphical feel/theme for each game was supposed to be slightly different too. It also too seems that each sims game has had a slightly different focus, and you really can't compare the fuller worlds of the Sims 3 with the comparatively barren worlds of the Sims 2.

However I must admit I did get more enjoyment from playing my Sims in their home in the Sims 2 than I do in the Sims 3. In the Sims 2 I felt more like I was watching a life with landmarks and milestones, whereas without a neighborhood to go out and explore, the Sims 3 feels like you are watching a robot perform a series of tasks (which I guess you kind of are... but still I don't want to think about it that way).

What I really miss from the sims 2 are the facial expressions, they seem so much more muted in the sims 3. I also REALLY miss the little cut scenes for stuff like growing up, marriage, certain woohoo's etc.