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Which graphic style do you prefer Sims 3 or 4?
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I prefer S3. S4 gets to be overly cartoonish for me. Driving in a super-realistic '63 Corvette ala S3-CC with a Sim4-character looks strange. In S3, You can pull it off. S3 isn't that cartoonish in comparison. Imo.
Rawwrr...
And this
And this
Whatever game these are from I like it.
TS4 is better when it comes to sims' look though. More variety in facial structure, etc. I find it easier to create racially diverse sims in TS4, it was a nightmare in 3.
Every game has this basic facial template for sims no matter what features you give them in CAS. I guess how much it irritates you once you move to live mode is a matter of personal taste. I don't find it as disappointing in TS4 as I did in TS3. Even if my TS4 sims look alike they are still distinctively Korean if I create them to be Korean. Live mode doesn't "break" the facial structure as much as in TS3 IMO. But as I've said, probably just a matter of taste as both games work similar way in this department.
I guess I confused graphics with art style (common mistake, I know). In this case, TS3 all the way. I miss the detailed, realistic textures. I miss my carpets looking like actual carpets. Everything about this game is just right, I don't really see the uncanny valley thing so many people mentioned here. Whenever I lurk in TS3's creative corner I'm stunned again. I guess its just the concept for the basic sim template in this game and tools we were given to alter it aren't my taste.
Example, sim in TS3 CAS:
Same sim in the game:
Same sim pulling faces:
And a sim in TS4 CAS:
Same sim in the game looking straight:
Even with a straight face his eyebrows are starting to lead their own life here in a way I never intended in CAS.
And when the facial expressions really hit, nothing of my work in CAS is there anymore, except for the colour of his eyes and hair.
His mouth looks like any other mouth of any other sim around him. And so do his eyes. Let me remind you:
Where is he?! And your Korean girl may look Korean in the game, she will look completely similar to any other Korean girl in the game.
Well, the most important thing about my Korean girl at the end of the day is that she looks like me. TS4 is the first game of the franchise that gave me the tools to create people who look like me, my friends, family, the people I grew up around - without tons of CC. It's difficult for me to explain why I find it so important but I guess it's sort of understandable. Now the only reason I need CC is to make my sims less alike even in live mode and I'm satisfied with the outcome. Granted, I'm using a mod that stops the extreme facial expressions.. I don't recall a mod that would keep my sims' face "together" while performing certain interactions in TS3. But well, that's not really a graphics thing isn't it. I still stand by what I said about it being a matter of personal taste and possibly other factors too, because it's not only the face I find strange in TS3 sims. Their bodies aren't well designed too. They look like very tiny barbie dolls, no matter the amount of muscle/fat and their arms sort of look like there are no bones in them. I've seen tons of insanely beautiful TS3 sims and I created some really nice ones myself but I still can't shake off this impression. If I can agree that a TS3 sim is beautiful but there's still something unsettling about them to me then personal preference/taste is the only thing I can explain it with. Especially that I find TS3 superior in basically every other aspect aesthetics wise and I hate the "pudding face" argument people often bring up.
When I look at the Sims 4 pics above, I'm not really getting the same impression that they are 3-D images. To me, they look like a 2-D flat image generated with a computer shaded to try and look 3-D. It reminds me more of a "painting" on a flat surface. I'm not saying one is better than another, it's all a matter of preference. Just an observation from me.
I haven't really tried to create my family or people I know, yet, and I don't know if I'm great at creating different ethnicity in my game, but I do like variety and it wasn't too difficult to create these sims:
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Sims 3 has come a long way from 2009 though, while Sims 4 hasn't come a long way from 2014 (yet). And tbh I don't think it ever will. I myself didn't permanently switch to TS3 until Isla Paradiso came out. By that time TS3 already looked a lot different with all the beautiful worlds and tweaks they did with each expansion, adding better clothing and hair etc.. Sims 4 only has 1.5 years left to go before it has the same lifespan as sims 3 and with the pace of releases they currently have I don't think they'll come close.
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I agree. I don't always play with sims who resemble me 100%, but when I do I want to be able to work with what the game offers me. I still remember how upsetting it could get with TS2 and TS3. I could create anyone but realistic looking Asian people (mind you, realistic as in not strange looking) and it was frustrating to have to get all the custom sliders, face masks, etc. just so I could create a world in my game that I know and am familiar with. But yeah, that's a whole different issue. I do feel like TS3 CAS requires a talent of some sort, and definitely practice. If you're willing to spend some time playing with sliders the effects can be truly amazing. I don't mind sims changing their look in live mode because I remember how I created them in CAS and that's how I see them. To me it's not really that much of an issue because I think the base template of a sim face in 4 is good enough. I didn't like it in TS3 and found it harder to alter to my liking. Luckily it never held me back from enjoying the game
A very limited facial bone structure system is a problem in TS3 as well. I understand how Sims 4 improved that part for you, but it's genuinely beyond me why they had to exchange one improvement for a huge flaw (for me it really is, it causes I don't like my own sims in the game). You can give your sims all the refined facial details in CAS you want, as soon as the emotion system hits (and it hits all the time) those details are gone and turned into one look. I do have that mod as well by the way, the no smiling one, but other facial expressions will still change their faces too much, turning them into somebody completely else than you intended and somebody similar to your sim's neighbours. Sims 3 doesn't have such a mod because Sims 3 doesn't have that problem. Only in a few cases that occur so sporadicly that it's easy to just turn a blind eye at moments it does happen. I never take pictures of my sims at moments like that, that's for sure. And I take thousands and thousands of pictures.
@Odonata68 Yes, I have the same issue, the texture being so flat. But that apparently is a matter of preference. I also agree it is possible (though not always easy) to create unique sims.
I wasn't around back then, but I can imagine in the beginning, when Sunset Valley and Riverview were the worlds we all played our sims in, filled with EA's interpretation of CAS sims, and people comparing them to their heavily CC covered sims in 2 that yes, that may have been the discussion. Funny thing is, at the moment I often see the argument sims in 4 are cartoony again, 'just like in Sims 2'. Truth is, sims are only cartoony in Sims 4, not in 1, 2 and 3. Giving them a real cartoony approach in CAS suits them much better (exaggerating all their features).
@Namaya92 That doesn't apply to me, it being more easy to identify yourself with a caricature/cartoon. Quite the opposite actually. I prefer playing with sims that are absolutely not me by the way (young, slim, muscular
But I do agree about the base template of a sim face in Sims 3 not being very good. If you leave all the sliders at zero, the default "pudding" face, the proportions are off on some features. My pet peeves are the eyes being too large, the distance between the bottom of the nose and the top of the lips being too small and the jaw being too narrow. Looks like those same flaws have been carried over in the base template of a sim face in Sims 4.
Flat is a perfect descriptor.
The eyes, the eyebrows, the hairlines, and make-up result in these sims looking like their faces are painted on.
The mono eyelash and clay hair makes them look like animated sculptures.
That takes the immersion out of it for me and its why I am smothering them with CC to breathe more life into them.
I like TS4 sims, but not without some tweaking.
The first picture on the left has the default eyes.
The reset have CC replacement eyes.
I think TS3 is better environmental. The worlds are breathtaking and just can't be beat.
What I really hope for the future of the franchise is that EA strikes a balance (not going from one extreme to the other) and also they could do with taking note of the amazing CC creator's creations in the community. I think details and textures are key.
All of that is open as well
And when it comes to the World, I prefer the Sims 3. It feels that If I went to a beach, I relax my mind, with all the waves and water sound fx, How beautiful and realistic they are, makes me feel that I am seeing a real place. IT was Realistic and Beautiful
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/924539/features-that-needs-depth-and-ways-to-improve
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^This. Same with me. I can sit and watch the beach in Sunset Valley and get the calming and relaxing feeling I do at a real beach.