Friends have mentioned it is now possible to load all your packs when playing through Origin. What would worry me was the possibility that EA might change that arrangement at a later date. I must admit I had completely forgotten that you can play offline via Origin. I think for now I will stick with the disks. They are what I am used to.
I completely understand not wanting to play a game through a game client. There is that feeling that the game is not completely your own and you always have some anxiety that the game can get pulled and you will no longer have access to it. That's why I try to buy non-DRM games as much as possible, mostly through GOG (whose game client is optional, so I don't use it) and I download it immediately to save a copy for myself.
EA has been good about its sims games so far on Origin though, so knock on wood! I even bought MySims this past weekend on Amazon and installed it through Origin. The version on the disk doesn't seem to play on Windows 10, but the version you download from Origin does. IT'S SO CUTE!!!
Friends have mentioned it is now possible to load all your packs when playing through Origin. What would worry me was the possibility that EA might change that arrangement at a later date. I must admit I had completely forgotten that you can play offline via Origin. I think for now I will stick with the disks. They are what I am used to.
I completely understand not wanting to play a game through a game client. There is that feeling that the game is not completely your own and you always have some anxiety that the game can get pulled and you will no longer have access to it. That's why I try to buy non-DRM games as much as possible, mostly through GOG (whose game client is optional, so I don't use it) and I download it immediately to save a copy for myself.
EA has been good about its sims games so far on Origin though, so knock on wood! I even bought MySims this past weekend on Amazon and installed it through Origin. The version on the disk doesn't seem to play on Windows 10, but the version you download from Origin does. IT'S SO CUTE!!!
I hope you are enjoying MySims I honestly think after all this time that if I was to move on to a new pc version of the sims it would have to be available in disk form. This obviously reduces the chances of me moving as the future is clearly digital
I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sims 3: remastered 64bit version would make me stop playing Sims 3 original
Other than that no, nothing. NOTHING.
This would be my dream game. I honestly don't think EA is even capable of making a better Sims than 3 at this point. But I'd absolutely pay full price for a remastered The Sims 3.
Sims 3: remastered 64bit version would make me stop playing Sims 3 original
Other than that no, nothing. NOTHING.
This would be my dream game. I honestly don't think EA is even capable of making a better Sims than 3 at this point. But I'd absolutely pay full price for a remastered The Sims 3.
Sadly I don't think EA has the appetite to remaster TS3. The focus is firmly on TS4 for the time being and many of the developers who worked on TS3 have moved on. Lots of people here have put forward some brilliant ideas about what they want from a 64 bit TS3 but that and the fact the whole thing would have to be recoded does suggest a major undertaking for EA. Nice to dream though
I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
It seems clear that The Sims 4 was meant for a different market than The Sims 3-player generation, and that its style is made to draw in a younger age player and also someone who has not played the other sim-games. Only the number 4 denotes a succession from the previous ones; but its style and structure, the Sims mobile, freeplay and the fact that EA still sells The Sims 3 base game, expansion packs and store items to full price, all just show a very common tactic for profit-making (milking).
Considering how instabile The Sims 3 runs on a computer meeting the, only, specifics EA demands, as well as on much more powerful system, it also seems clear that some choices, like the loading screens in The Sims 4, must have game running reasons, and not just later expansion packs selling reasons.
What you wrote that I bolded is not true. With every new The Sims iteration, especially the very first one, were young kids who had no previous experience with other sim-games, who bought it, or more likely their parents did, and played TS1 or TS2 or TS3 as their very first sim game. And somehow, they managed to play the game and enjoy it without it being dumbed down for them. I actually feel sorry for the young kids who have TS4 as their first experience. They won't ever get to experience the thrill of having a jam-packed base game or jam-packed full of gameplay expansion or stuff pack which comprised the contents of TS1, TS2 and TS3; or to fully appreciate the progressions from TS1 to TS2 to TS3, like we did growing up.
And about TS3 being unstable, it's not so much anymore - especially when all solutions and workarounds are well-published/provided. That was more true when it first came out in 2009, but all the computers since 2014 have caught up, with EA maintaining the game to run on the new models and graphics cards as they come out. Also about The Sims 4 being more stable, well you only have to look on this forum and see all the complaints, the defections back to TS3 and TS2, and the fact that TS4 has a monthly patch day to fix all the previous month's problems. So it's apparent that it doesn't run as great as EA claims or pretends. I just really hope they are already starting development on TS5 - I will gladly help fund it if they create more content for the The Sims 3 Store as I refuse to buy TS4. But if not, TS3 is the last one for me.
@ClarionOfJoy
It is quite the experience to, for the first time in my life, be a member of a forum: I am certainly enjoying myself here and there are a lot of very friendly persons as well as interesting game problems to learn about and try to understand. What I am less interested in is to be the focus of, and in this thread continually, aggressive attacks of badly thought through posts repeating my own words to me, seemingly for no other reason than to start a fight. I will explain to you what I meant but would ask you to please be civil when speaking to me from now on, I will not answer you if you are not. Thank you.
To me, an adult and living in Sweden, in my experience a common reaction to and discourse about video games, is that it belongs to a younger generation than mine to have as a hobby and is, also according to my specific social experience, slightly looked down upon as a cultural product; which would be another discussion, but perhaps partly could be explained by the too clear involvement of commersialism for it to be taken seriously in other situations. The Sims iterations seems to have been one of the highest selling video games in history, so the consumer group must be very large and varied, but my guess then and now is that it is not aimed at the hard-gamer that enjoys running people over in GTA and has a monster gaming machine already fixed up but perhaps at everyone else; or, more likely, adapted over and over again based on constant market analysis to better hit the best angle. The games themselves are to me very childish and silly, which I happen to like being that myself; but they, just like this official forum for the unmodded game, is clearly directed and adapted not to my culture, but perhaps more the american, that is, the one in USA - considering the features appearant nod to those reference frames. Maybe I do not know the american culture well enough to speak about it but the eufemisms for a word I could not even write here without having it exchanged for something desirable, the mosaic, the dynamics of family creating and the dollhouse feeling of the game does not speak to my grown up side or to the teenager I once was; but in my understanding, more so to an american conservative parent guarded teenager.
The Sims 3 being released 2009 and therefore probably having a slightly older consumer group and players, would or would not be regarded as potential consumers of the sequals; but I find it very hard to believe that a profit-focused company would disregard the allurement of a new group of potential buyers in the next generation, and not let this effect the actual allurement - the game itself.
My post was in no way meant to be read as negative, towards anyone or anything, and I am guessing from your comment that you might have thought so, even if I did not see you actually provide any reason for why you thought it was not 'true', which I never stated anything as. I absolutely love the Sims 3 and everything connected to it and nothing I say is to be understood as criticism towards it.
I do not own Sims 4 but do not criticize it in any way, and frankly, to me such a discussion is uninteresting. My first post was a response to what I see here in this forum: the constant arguing over which game is considered the better one; and meant, in its very hastily frasing, to be a comment on the to me illusion of sims 3 players thinking that they are the and the main targeted market group for nr 4. In my mind I meant it as a comment to the thread's theme, but more in the way of trying to shift the focus from this, for me, unnecessary arguing; and I am sorry that I frased it in such a bad way, I did not mean any harm and I realised afterwards that it is pointless to post with my intention, and left the thread behind. (Sorry, OP, I mean no ill-will).
I would be very grateful if you could provide an in-depth explanation on the choices when programming a game, because my understanding does not reach further than this: having an open world seems very performance heavy, and the reasons for taking away such a well-loved feature can be explained with the loading screens making the game playable on more computers (lower specifications), which equals more consumers. Unstable and bug-ridden is not the same thing. I see that you play with mods to stabilize your game - I do not, but I rarely have problems, not on my new medium gaming computer, or very much so either on my older less strong one, except when adding too many EP:s. My impression of instability is mostly from reading about other's problems. If by well published workarounds you mean good game management then I know what you mean, otherwise you are welcome to explain.
Sims 3: remastered 64bit version would make me stop playing Sims 3 original
Other than that no, nothing. NOTHING.
This would be my dream game. I honestly don't think EA is even capable of making a better Sims than 3 at this point. But I'd absolutely pay full price for a remastered The Sims 3.
Sadly I don't think EA has the appetite to remaster TS3. The focus is firmly on TS4 for the time being and many of the developers who worked on TS3 have moved on. Lots of people here have put forward some brilliant ideas about what they want from a 64 bit TS3 but that and the fact the whole thing would have to be recoded does suggest a major undertaking for EA. Nice to dream though
Not only that (that is fully understandable and I presume it was the same when Sims 3 was running), but the focus is also on turning this franchise into something completely different, something very unappealing for me personally and that, I must confess, worries me. Being still interested in a future for the game. I could live with the current iteration not being my cup of tea, but the suspicion nobody is interested anymore in the kind of game I expect, with some basic principles that happen to be essential to me (sims with personalities, emotions based on what happens around them - events and other sims - instead of auras, some kind of memory system like the moodlets, CASt, open world), makes me pretty despondent where the future of this game is concerned. Selling hot air and socializing with fans seems to be another focus atm and I can’t express how indifferent I am to that particular focus. I never had a clue who exactly created my game back in 2009-2013 and I never cared. I cared about my game and about the people (other simmers) I was sharing my experiences with. The admiration I felt for the people providing me this great game was based on anonymity and I was perfectly fine with that. The way both fans and creators are defending and even cheering the sacrifices that turned an addictive game into a boring, mediocre one (purely speaking for myself here obviously) leaves me without any confidence where the future of this franchise is concerned. Again, for me.
@JoAnne65 : you took the words right out of my mouth!
I really can´t express in my own words how awful I think is the way the game is produced and sold today! If I buy and play a game, I don´t want to socialize with the developers at all! In my opinion they should concentrate to develop a good game and let the customer play with the product!
I don´t buy the game in order to get a membership with the Twitter group, I buy a game to play it!
And I really doubt, that the developers today understand my gaming behavior at all!
I fear that The Sims 5, if there will be one, will be a desastrous peace of socializing hot air, without any playability!
So I have to stay with the Sims 3! (And because I think it´s the best one of the series!)
I love love love the toddlers in Sims 4 and the parenting skills along with it. I think that's the reason I've (at least temporarily) shifted my focus from sims 3. That open world, though. Those careers, though. It felt so much more real to have neighbors only walk by at the store, and not fifty people run by my corner lot every 30 minutes so they can do pushups.
My heart still love sims 3 best, though. I just hope sims 5 will have an open (or at the very least more open) world. If there is a sims 5. Maybe they could open up sections of the neighborhood to be open world, does that make sense? Like, I can still bike to where I need to be, but I only encounter the loading screens when I "leave the neighborhood" That way my game is still smooth like 4. Hmmm.
It seems clear that The Sims 4 was meant for a different market than The Sims 3-player generation, and that its style is made to draw in a younger age player and also someone who has not played the other sim-games. Only the number 4 denotes a succession from the previous ones; but its style and structure, the Sims mobile, freeplay and the fact that EA still sells The Sims 3 base game, expansion packs and store items to full price, all just show a very common tactic for profit-making (milking).
Considering how instabile The Sims 3 runs on a computer meeting the, only, specifics EA demands, as well as on much more powerful system, it also seems clear that some choices, like the loading screens in The Sims 4, must have game running reasons, and not just later expansion packs selling reasons.
What you wrote that I bolded is not true. With every new The Sims iteration, especially the very first one, were young kids who had no previous experience with other sim-games, who bought it, or more likely their parents did, and played TS1 or TS2 or TS3 as their very first sim game. And somehow, they managed to play the game and enjoy it without it being dumbed down for them. I actually feel sorry for the young kids who have TS4 as their first experience. They won't ever get to experience the thrill of having a jam-packed base game or jam-packed full of gameplay expansion or stuff pack which comprised the contents of TS1, TS2 and TS3; or to fully appreciate the progressions from TS1 to TS2 to TS3, like we did growing up.
And about TS3 being unstable, it's not so much anymore - especially when all solutions and workarounds are well-published/provided. That was more true when it first came out in 2009, but all the computers since 2014 have caught up, with EA maintaining the game to run on the new models and graphics cards as they come out. Also about The Sims 4 being more stable, well you only have to look on this forum and see all the complaints, the defections back to TS3 and TS2, and the fact that TS4 has a monthly patch day to fix all the previous month's problems. So it's apparent that it doesn't run as great as EA claims or pretends. I just really hope they are already starting development on TS5 - I will gladly help fund it if they create more content for the The Sims 3 Store as I refuse to buy TS4. But if not, TS3 is the last one for me.
@ClarionOfJoy
It is quite the experience to, for the first time in my life, be a member of a forum: I am certainly enjoying myself here and there are a lot of very friendly persons as well as interesting game problems to learn about and try to understand. What I am less interested in is to be the focus of, and in this thread continually, aggressive attacks of badly thought through posts repeating my own words to me, seemingly for no other reason than to start a fight. I will explain to you what I meant but would ask you to please be civil when speaking to me from now on, I will not answer you if you are not. Thank you.
To me, an adult and living in Sweden, in my experience a common reaction to and discourse about video games, is that it belongs to a younger generation than mine to have as a hobby and is, also according to my specific social experience, slightly looked down upon as a cultural product; which would be another discussion, but perhaps partly could be explained by the too clear involvement of commersialism for it to be taken seriously in other situations. The Sims iterations seems to have been one of the highest selling video games in history, so the consumer group must be very large and varied, but my guess then and now is that it is not aimed at the hard-gamer that enjoys running people over in GTA and has a monster gaming machine already fixed up but perhaps at everyone else; or, more likely, adapted over and over again based on constant market analysis to better hit the best angle. The games themselves are to me very childish and silly, which I happen to like being that myself; but they, just like this official forum for the unmodded game, is clearly directed and adapted not to my culture, but perhaps more the american, that is, the one in USA - considering the features appearant nod to those reference frames. Maybe I do not know the american culture well enough to speak about it but the eufemisms for a word I could not even write here without having it exchanged for something desirable, the mosaic, the dynamics of family creating and the dollhouse feeling of the game does not speak to my grown up side or to the teenager I once was; but in my understanding, more so to an american conservative parent guarded teenager.
The Sims 3 being released 2009 and therefore probably having a slightly older consumer group and players, would or would not be regarded as potential consumers of the sequals; but I find it very hard to believe that a profit-focused company would disregard the allurement of a new group of potential buyers in the next generation, and not let this effect the actual allurement - the game itself.
My post was in no way meant to be read as negative, towards anyone or anything, and I am guessing from your comment that you might have thought so, even if I did not see you actually provide any reason for why you thought it was not 'true', which I never stated anything as. I absolutely love the Sims 3 and everything connected to it and nothing I say is to be understood as criticism towards it.
I do not own Sims 4 but do not criticize it in any way, and frankly, to me such a discussion is uninteresting. My first post was a response to what I see here in this forum: the constant arguing over which game is considered the better one; and meant, in its very hastily frasing, to be a comment on the to me illusion of sims 3 players thinking that they are the and the main targeted market group for nr 4. In my mind I meant it as a comment to the thread's theme, but more in the way of trying to shift the focus from this, for me, unnecessary arguing; and I am sorry that I frased it in such a bad way, I did not mean any harm and I realised afterwards that it is pointless to post with my intention, and left the thread behind. (Sorry, OP, I mean no ill-will).
I would be very grateful if you could provide an in-depth explanation on the choices when programming a game, because my understanding does not reach further than this: having an open world seems very performance heavy, and the reasons for taking away such a well-loved feature can be explained with the loading screens making the game playable on more computers (lower specifications), which equals more consumers. Unstable and bug-ridden is not the same thing. I see that you play with mods to stabilize your game - I do not, but I rarely have problems, not on my new medium gaming computer, or very much so either on my older less strong one, except when adding too many EP:s. My impression of instability is mostly from reading about other's problems. If by well published workarounds you mean good game management then I know what you mean, otherwise you are welcome to explain.
Speaking as the OP I must apologise for not being around much lately. Things in my domestic life have had to take a priority. This is one of the most peaceful and friendly of the sims fora. I can remember the state of the EA forum when TS4 was released and back then it was open warfare. Very unpleasant and we lost a lot of dedicated loyal simmers as a result.
The habit of bolding text comes from that period so that people could not later refute what they had said. It is therefore a practice performed out of habit and nothing more so please do not be offended by having your words quoted back to you. Everyone has a right to express an opinion so please continue to do so while accepting that not everyone will agree with what you say.
Bearing in mind this is a discussion about moving on from TS3 I give you my thoughts. Young gamers have a habit of growing up and moving on to other things. As evidence of this I offer both my nephew and niece. My nephew started with TS1 and in fact introduced me to the game. He now is in his late twenties and plays games like GTA but still remembers his time with TS2 and 3 with affection. My niece I introduced to Sims 3 when she was around eight. She has moved on to TS4 and loves it although she also loves Minecraft. So each games company must attract a new generation of players with each iteration while trying to retain the older player base.
With TS4 EA got that spectacularly wrong by omitting all the best features that were part of previous iterations and a point blank refusal to accept how much these features meant to existing players. Obviously with each iteration there has to be something new offered and EA was making a new game in the middle of a recession and in the face of fierce competition from other games companies. However the company's assumption that we would buy anything labelled sims was misplaced. This thread clearly shows TS3 players are a very discerning crowd. EA has since tried to mollify their existing players by adding free content such as swimming pools and bringing back toddlers. Even so it is not enough to tempt players away from TS3. A game without CASt, CAW, a full array of terrain tools and with only crude childish humour does not appeal to me. I do not want to say more because I promised myself this would not be a thread to bash TS4 and because I know there are many players, both old and new who really enjoy playing TS4.
The game is made in America so naturally the cultural references are American. They may seem at times contradictory particularly with regard to procreation but it is worth remembering this game attracts a player base which goes from pre teen to geriatric. Age groups which are easily offended or in need of protection. This allows the game to stay within it's PEGI rating. Personally I find this easy to accept but then again I'm British and we are well known for being a bunch of prudes As it is the game has sold millions and continues to sell so it must appeal to many different cultures without giving serious offence.
I am not sure I got your complete meaning about programming. However both TS2 and 4 having loading screens as opposed to the open worlds of TS 3. This clearly is a lot more demanding on a computer as the open world has to be permanently accessible for sims to move around freely and for players to check on the activities of each sim. Granted the newer computers have better capacity to deal with this and it is less of a stability issue than it was but the fact remains TS3 was programmed as 32 bit. Most modern AAA games are 64 bit. We have discussed the possibility of a remastered TS3 based on a 64 bit but this would require a total rewrite of the coding. That would be a major project for EA and as yet the company has not expressed any interest in doing it. As time goes on, the game is already 10 years old, we will therefore have to face further compatibility issues with each new generation of computers. Fortunately we have a very good tech section here who no doubt will find ways of keeping us playing TS3.
I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sims 3: remastered 64bit version would make me stop playing Sims 3 original
Other than that no, nothing. NOTHING.
This would be my dream game. I honestly don't think EA is even capable of making a better Sims than 3 at this point. But I'd absolutely pay full price for a remastered The Sims 3.
Sadly I don't think EA has the appetite to remaster TS3. The focus is firmly on TS4 for the time being and many of the developers who worked on TS3 have moved on. Lots of people here have put forward some brilliant ideas about what they want from a 64 bit TS3 but that and the fact the whole thing would have to be recoded does suggest a major undertaking for EA. Nice to dream though
Not only that (that is fully understandable and I presume it was the same when Sims 3 was running), but the focus is also on turning this franchise into something completely different, something very unappealing for me personally and that, I must confess, worries me. Being still interested in a future for the game. I could live with the current iteration not being my cup of tea, but the suspicion nobody is interested anymore in the kind of game I expect, with some basic principles that happen to be essential to me (sims with personalities, emotions based on what happens around them - events and other sims - instead of auras, some kind of memory system like the moodlets, CASt, open world), makes me pretty despondent where the future of this game is concerned. Selling hot air and socializing with fans seems to be another focus atm and I can’t express how indifferent I am to that particular focus. I never had a clue who exactly created my game back in 2009-2013 and I never cared. I cared about my game and about the people (other simmers) I was sharing my experiences with. The admiration I felt for the people providing me this great game was based on anonymity and I was perfectly fine with that. The way both fans and creators are defending and even cheering the sacrifices that turned an addictive game into a boring, mediocre one (purely speaking for myself here obviously) leaves me without any confidence where the future of this franchise is concerned. Again, for me.
Despondency is not permitted here At some point there will be a worthy successor to TS3, worthy enough to tempt us away from the game we all love so much. In the meantime we have a wonderful sandbox pc game which has enough flexibility and content to entertain all of us regardless of what we want to do with the game. I cannot atm think of any other game which does that and I am including TS1 and 2 in that thought.
I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
I love love love the toddlers in Sims 4 and the parenting skills along with it. I think that's the reason I've (at least temporarily) shifted my focus from sims 3. That open world, though. Those careers, though. It felt so much more real to have neighbors only walk by at the store, and not fifty people run by my corner lot every 30 minutes so they can do pushups.
My heart still love sims 3 best, though. I just hope sims 5 will have an open (or at the very least more open) world. If there is a sims 5. Maybe they could open up sections of the neighborhood to be open world, does that make sense? Like, I can still bike to where I need to be, but I only encounter the loading screens when I "leave the neighborhood" That way my game is still smooth like 4. Hmmm.
Glad you are enjoying TS4. I have heard the toddlers are something really special and so they should be after the long wait people had to get them in game. Many players here play both games quite happily. Perhaps you will be joining their numbers. Either way I hope you continue to find things in TS4 to keep you simming.
The issue of open worlds is one of the biggest reasons people have not moved on from TS3. Coming from the loading screens of TS2 the open worlds of TS3 were and still are, an absolute wonder. I could not, in all honesty now go back to any sims pc game which uses loading screens or restricts open access in game. Nor would I want a game which does not permit me to build my own open worlds.
I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
@ClarionOfJoy
It is quite the experience to, for the first time in my life, be a member of a forum: I am certainly enjoying myself here and there are a lot of very friendly persons as well as interesting game problems to learn about and try to understand. What I am less interested in is to be the focus of, and in this thread continually, aggressive attacks of badly thought through posts repeating my own words to me, seemingly for no other reason than to start a fight. I will explain to you what I meant but would ask you to please be civil when speaking to me from now on, I will not answer you if you are not. Thank you.
No, my post was not an aggressive attack. *Shrug* You just took it that way. The bad thing about the written word is that no one can see the writer as they write so sometimes what is written is taken the wrong way.
The Sims 3 being released 2009 and therefore probably having a slightly older consumer group and players, would or would not be regarded as potential consumers of the sequals; but I find it very hard to believe that a profit-focused company would disregard the allurement of a new group of potential buyers in the next generation, and not let this effect the actual allurement - the game itself.
Probably? You're guessing. If you read my post more carefully, I wrote that each new iteration from the very beginning had new young people who didn't play the previous one. And all those young people were able to play those iterations with no problems even though they were not dumbed down like TS4. In terms of choices of programming, the devs had always aimed The Sims iterations to be played by everyone or as large a group as they can, and not just to one demographical age group, because catering to just one would reduce their profits. It's that simple.
My post was in no way meant to be read as negative, towards anyone or anything, and I am guessing from your comment that you might have thought so, even if I did not see you actually provide any reason for why you thought it was not 'true', which I never stated anything as. I absolutely love the Sims 3 and everything connected to it and nothing I say is to be understood as criticism towards it.
When people keep repeating that it's unstable, it's just really not true anymore. Why should that be perpetuated? I don't think that's right. Every glitch and bug has been addressed and solutions published with the TS3 community eager to help others. Plus the newer computers are able to handle TS3 better. Since you say you love Sims 3, wouldn't you want other people to know and realize that?
I do not own Sims 4 but do not criticize it in any way, and frankly, to me such a discussion is uninteresting. My first post was a response to what I see here in this forum: the constant arguing over which game is considered the better one; and meant, in its very hastily frasing, to be a comment on the to me illusion of sims 3 players thinking that they are the and the main targeted market group for nr 4. In my mind I meant it as a comment to the thread's theme, but more in the way of trying to shift the focus from this, for me, unnecessary arguing; and I am sorry that I frased it in such a bad way, I did not mean any harm and I realised afterwards that it is pointless to post with my intention, and left the thread behind. (Sorry, OP, I mean no ill-will).
It was not this way before TS4 was introduced. There was some animosity between TS2 and TS3 simmers at the beginning when people were adjusting to the changes, but underneath it all, they have a great respect for each other and it just never got this bad. Plus TS3 is a natural progression from TS2.
But when TS4 came out, the devs had to make TS3 look as bad as possible in hopes people would give it up and get suckered into the money-pit that is TS4. I personally would have LOVED to give EA my money and buy it, but it is lacking in so many things that I would actually feel ripped-off. I feel really bad for TS4 simmers because they have to buy more packs just to flesh the game out - but from all the complaints I'm reading, packs aren't generous like packs for previous iterations and people still get bored of it relatively quickly while TS2 and TS3 players can continue playing their iterations for long periods of time.
So yeah, hence why there is so much constant arguing. But it really starts more often on the TS4 side because they can't praise their game without trivializing TS3 to try to make that money pit appear better. But if you look at their hopes for what would make TS4 better or prospects for TS5, a lot of it is what TS3 already has. *Shrug* go figure....
I would be very grateful if you could provide an in-depth explanation on the choices when programming a game, because my understanding does not reach further than this: having an open world seems very performance heavy, and the reasons for taking away such a well-loved feature can be explained with the loading screens making the game playable on more computers (lower specifications), which equals more consumers. Unstable and bug-ridden is not the same thing. I see that you play with mods to stabilize your game - I do not, but I rarely have problems, not on my new medium gaming computer, or very much so either on my older less strong one, except when adding too many EP:s. My impression of instability is mostly from reading about other's problems. If by well published workarounds you mean good game management then I know what you mean, otherwise you are welcome to explain.
Further about choices of programming: As I had written before, the devs program the Sims iterations developed the game to cater to everyone because it will create the greatest amount of profit. But what happened with TS4 is that they were developing an online version of the Sims but then decided to turn it into a single player offline pc game because another online simulaton game they developed - SimCity - flopped. So if you look at its game engine, it is lightweight in comparison to previous game engines of the older Sims games which can handle more functionality. That's why so many good gameplay mechanics were taken out of it. Not only that, but they reduced the development team drastically from previous iterations. This is why everything in the game is so simplified - not to cater to younger people or even to supposedly run on most machines, but because the game engine is poor being that it was originally meant for tablets, plus they don't have the manpower to make it more detailed.
It's just a sad mess really and what scares me is that EA might either 1) stop making The Sims iterations, or 2) continue to produce them like TS4 which is expensive for so little content. That causes me to become vocal - I don't want EA to keep taking us, the whole Sims community, down this horrible path. The Sims 3 isn't perfect, but it is an amazing achievement. I want the devs to remember that - Grant was part of the TS3 team before he became the lead for TS4 - and to remember that if they can make such an amazing game such as TS3, that they can do it again with TS5 and future iterations of The Sims.
I hope you are enjoying MySims I honestly think after all this time that if I was to move on to a new pc version of the sims it would have to be available in disk form. This obviously reduces the chances of me moving as the future is clearly digital
Well, take heart! I think EA will continue to sell their games in disk form to gain the greatest amount of customers. I think they realize not everyone wants to be on Origin. I used Origin because I was a travel RN for a while and moved often so moving my things around was starting to be a pain. I had tons of books I kept moving around with me. Needless to say, I picked up the habit of getting as many things in digital format as possible. If and when TS5 comes out, I will buy it on disk as I've settle down now!
I hope you are enjoying MySims I honestly think after all this time that if I was to move on to a new pc version of the sims it would have to be available in disk form. This obviously reduces the chances of me moving as the future is clearly digital
Well, take heart! I think EA will continue to sell their games in disk form to gain the greatest amount of customers. I think they realize not everyone wants to be on Origin. I used Origin because I was a travel RN for a while and moved often so moving my things around was starting to be a pain. I had tons of books I kept moving around with me. Needless to say, I picked up the habit of getting as many things in digital format as possible. If and when TS5 comes out, I will buy it on disk as I've settle down now!
I do hope any future iteration of the sims franchise is offered on disk as well as digitally. Moving around must be difficult so I can understand you playing via Origin. I'm glad you have settled somewhere more permanent. I gave up reading books when I lost the sight in one eye and use an ereader now. However I can't bring myself to part with my books, particularly those I can't yet get in digital form.
I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
We have another way to say that here in the US, it didn't originate here but it became one of our "memes." Its context is typically a message from management to staff by way of an official memo.
"The beatings will continue until morale improves."
We have another way to say that here in the US, it didn't originate here but it became one of our "memes." Its context is typically a message from management to staff by way of an official memo.
"The beatings will continue until morale improves."
How did you know I was a manager in a former life
I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Hello,
To deliberately state something as not true even if it is not presented as such is a very confrontative way of discussing, and the reciever of such a response is entitled to their impression of it.
Your post is not clear, and I do think that you are talking about something entirely different than I was, because something being 'dumbed down' is not what you find in my post in wording or meaning. I am not clear on what you mean by it and feel that you are directing it towards something or someone else than me. To be clear: I do not think that any iteration of the sims is 'dumbed down', and do not understand what you mean by talking about such things when quoting me. To try to sell a video game to a younger generation is not in itself 'dumbing anything down'.
I think that you are very aggressive in your response. I really do not understand how you can find my post so negative that you feel it is needed to explain to me how to be more positive towards the game. I am not sure what you mean by every bug and glitch being adressed, or why you think that is what I meant.
I would not blame the developers for the animosity between the games I witness on this forum.
I would not have the insight to judge whether you are right or not in your short explanation on the engine, even though it does seem plausible that a development takes different turns when it comes to the media it is meant for. I would not call it an in-depth explanation.
I realise that we have nothing more to say to eachother, but thank you for your response.
You do not need to apologize, but thank you for the thought, it is very sweet and diplomatic and appreciated. I do understand that the situation was much worse before, but for me, a total 'newbie' when it comes to forums as these feel that the conversations here are very hostile at times.
Thank you for explaning the habits here, and your discussion on the game, it was interesting to read. I have not played any other iteration of The Sims than nr 3 which I started to do in 2016; but I have understood that the first and second were, and is, very well liked.
I do not know any programming languages and only became interested in game programming because of this game, and find it fascinating to read and learn about every aspect of it, even if it is a slow process. I do not think I can add anything to your understanding of it, and my initial point was to try to level the negativity towards the last iteration with what I understand as a choice of performance: either the open world of sims 3 is accepted, with the slight problems it means; or the loading screens in 4, for their, probably, better function. I do not pose those two games towards eachother and as I posted before in this thread, if I move on it would be to something else, not because I am displeased with the game in itself.
I do hope any future iteration of the sims franchise is offered on disk as well as digitally. Moving around must be difficult so I can understand you playing via Origin. I'm glad you have settled somewhere more permanent. I gave up reading books when I lost the sight in one eye and use an ereader now. However I can't bring myself to part with my books, particularly those I can't yet get in digital form.
Oh, I'm sorry that you lost sight in one eye! I'm glad you can still enjoy reading/listening by using an ereader now. I think they're amazing devices/apps! I use two ereader apps, Kindle and an multi-format reading one on my Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7" (which is the size of a 90 page paperback - perfect for my handbag on the go!) and I'm just a happy camper being able to read anywhere and whatever ebook I want simply because each ebook takes up so little space in my tablet's storage. I also find that some physical paperbacks make their print so tiny to save using up too much paper, but with ereaders, you can adjust the size of the font for comfortable reading and adjust the brightness or hue of the screen. For listening to books, Kindle has many Audible versions of the books they publish but costs money so I avoid using that feature (it's like buying the book twice to me!), but my multi-format ereader can speak the text for free which is pretty decent and not too robotic. Which ereader to you use?
I can't part with my favorite physical books too no matter how worn out they are from repeated readings. Just looking at them sends me back to the time when I first read the stories within. I even have some from when I was a pre-teen and I still love those stories!
You do not need to apologize, but thank you for the thought, it is very sweet and diplomatic and appreciated. I do understand that the situation was much worse before, but for me, a total 'newbie' when it comes to forums as these feel that the conversations here are very hostile at times.
Thank you for explaning the habits here, and your discussion on the game, it was interesting to read. I have not played any other iteration of The Sims than nr 3 which I started to do in 2016; but I have understood that the first and second were, and is, very well liked.
I do not know any programming languages and only became interested in game programming because of this game, and find it fascinating to read and learn about every aspect of it, even if it is a slow process. I do not think I can add anything to your understanding of it, and my initial point was to try to level the negativity towards the last iteration with what I understand as a choice of performance: either the open world of sims 3 is accepted, with the slight problems it means; or the loading screens in 4, for their, probably, better function. I do not pose those two games towards eachother and as I posted before in this thread, if I move on it would be to something else, not because I am displeased with the game in itself.
I hope it is a good long while before you feel the need to move on to other games. There is so much content in TS3 that I am still finding things to do even after playing since 2009. If you get the opportunity I would suggest trying TS2. It was the first pc sims game I played and I remember it with great affection. Sadly it has become increasingly difficult in Europe to find TS1 disks but I keep looking.
I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
I do hope any future iteration of the sims franchise is offered on disk as well as digitally. Moving around must be difficult so I can understand you playing via Origin. I'm glad you have settled somewhere more permanent. I gave up reading books when I lost the sight in one eye and use an ereader now. However I can't bring myself to part with my books, particularly those I can't yet get in digital form.
Oh, I'm sorry that you lost sight in one eye! I'm glad you can still enjoy reading/listening by using an ereader now. I think they're amazing devices/apps! I use two ereader apps, Kindle and an multi-format reading one on my Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7" (which is the size of a 90 page paperback - perfect for my handbag on the go!) and I'm just a happy camper being able to read anywhere and whatever ebook I want simply because each ebook takes up so little space in my tablet's storage. I also find that some physical paperbacks make their print so tiny to save using up too much paper, but with ereaders, you can adjust the size of the font for comfortable reading and adjust the brightness or hue of the screen. For listening to books, Kindle has many Audible versions of the books they publish but costs money so I avoid using that feature (it's like buying the book twice to me!), but my multi-format ereader can speak the text for free which is pretty decent and not too robotic. Which ereader to you use?
I can't part with my favorite physical books too no matter how worn out they are from repeated readings. Just looking at them sends me back to the time when I first read the stories within. I even have some from when I was a pre-teen and I still love those stories!
My Kindle/Audible apps were an absolute lifesaver when I went into hospital last October for major surgery and in the months beforehand when I was not very well. As for my books, as my hubby says they are old friends, very much like my TS3 disks
I will add that I regard the sims as a real prop, both emotional and physical, when you are feeling really ill. This is something which is not as acknowledged as it should be but for me remains part of the reason why I am quite happy to keep playing for now.
I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
My Kindle/Audible apps were an absolute lifesaver when I went into hospital last October for major surgery and in the months beforehand when I was not very well. As for my books, as my hubby says they are old friends, very much like my TS3 disks
I will add that I regard the sims as a real prop, both emotional and physical, when you are feeling really ill. This is something which is not as acknowledged as it should be but for me remains part of the reason why I am quite happy to keep playing for now.
I'm glad you made it through that difficult time! And that TS3 helped you get through it. In medical research, people are trying to find ways to help patients heal faster without drugs. One of them is music therapy as it helps a patient's body to relax (and thus helps the body to focus on healing), but maybe an immersive game such as TS3 can be another possible way.
Also I don't think you will have to worry about the TS3 disks not working for a long time to come. TS2 simmers were able to play them for years. I think it wasn't possible to play the game anymore on disk only when Windows 10 came out. But since TS3 is more recent and if you have Windows 10, you can back it up or create restore points before each time Windows 10 wants to update just so you can restore in case something goes wrong. Or you can just stay with an older Windows version as those are still pretty good (and far less annoying that Windows 10 and its constant updating).
I find myself returning to TS3 with renewed vigor once again. So many things just seem better and more appealing. The other day, I actually went a little overboard in the store to be honest
No, I don't think I will ever move on from TS3. Go elsewhere too, yes. But not as in leaving the game as such.
Origin ID: Nindigo79
A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear
Time enjoyed is never time wasted
Sims 3: remastered 64bit version would make me stop playing Sims 3 original
Other than that no, nothing. NOTHING.
This would be my dream game. I honestly don't think EA is even capable of making a better Sims than 3 at this point. But I'd absolutely pay full price for a remastered The Sims 3.
Sadly I don't think EA has the appetite to remaster TS3. The focus is firmly on TS4 for the time being and many of the developers who worked on TS3 have moved on. Lots of people here have put forward some brilliant ideas about what they want from a 64 bit TS3 but that and the fact the whole thing would have to be recoded does suggest a major undertaking for EA. Nice to dream though
Not only that (that is fully understandable and I presume it was the same when Sims 3 was running), but the focus is also on turning this franchise into something completely different, something very unappealing for me personally and that, I must confess, worries me. Being still interested in a future for the game. I could live with the current iteration not being my cup of tea, but the suspicion nobody is interested anymore in the kind of game I expect, with some basic principles that happen to be essential to me (sims with personalities, emotions based on what happens around them - events and other sims - instead of auras, some kind of memory system like the moodlets, CASt, open world), makes me pretty despondent where the future of this game is concerned. Selling hot air and socializing with fans seems to be another focus atm and I can’t express how indifferent I am to that particular focus. I never had a clue who exactly created my game back in 2009-2013 and I never cared. I cared about my game and about the people (other simmers) I was sharing my experiences with. The admiration I felt for the people providing me this great game was based on anonymity and I was perfectly fine with that. The way both fans and creators are defending and even cheering the sacrifices that turned an addictive game into a boring, mediocre one (purely speaking for myself here obviously) leaves me without any confidence where the future of this franchise is concerned. Again, for me.
Despondency is not permitted here At some point there will be a worthy successor to TS3, worthy enough to tempt us away from the game we all love so much. In the meantime we have a wonderful sandbox pc game which has enough flexibility and content to entertain all of us regardless of what we want to do with the game. I cannot atm think of any other game which does that and I am including TS1 and 2 in that thought.
Then I’ll accept whatever penalty involved, because I’m not kidding when I say I am Nothing would please me more however than to be proven wrong in my pessimism. At the moment though, I have no reason to believe a successor worthy in ways I expect is anywhere near around the corner. They’ve announced content for Sims 4 for at least three years and the developers are clearly very happy with all the choices made that for me took away the joy to play the game. “What about open world” I saw someone asking on Twitter yesterday. The developer’s reply: “That’s a different game.” That choice of words saddens me. A different version ok, but a different game?
Comments
I completely understand not wanting to play a game through a game client. There is that feeling that the game is not completely your own and you always have some anxiety that the game can get pulled and you will no longer have access to it. That's why I try to buy non-DRM games as much as possible, mostly through GOG (whose game client is optional, so I don't use it) and I download it immediately to save a copy for myself.
EA has been good about its sims games so far on Origin though, so knock on wood! I even bought MySims this past weekend on Amazon and installed it through Origin. The version on the disk doesn't seem to play on Windows 10, but the version you download from Origin does. IT'S SO CUTE!!!
I hope you are enjoying MySims
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
Sadly I don't think EA has the appetite to remaster TS3. The focus is firmly on TS4 for the time being and many of the developers who worked on TS3 have moved on. Lots of people here have put forward some brilliant ideas about what they want from a 64 bit TS3 but that and the fact the whole thing would have to be recoded does suggest a major undertaking for EA. Nice to dream though
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
@ClarionOfJoy
It is quite the experience to, for the first time in my life, be a member of a forum: I am certainly enjoying myself here and there are a lot of very friendly persons as well as interesting game problems to learn about and try to understand. What I am less interested in is to be the focus of, and in this thread continually, aggressive attacks of badly thought through posts repeating my own words to me, seemingly for no other reason than to start a fight. I will explain to you what I meant but would ask you to please be civil when speaking to me from now on, I will not answer you if you are not. Thank you.
To me, an adult and living in Sweden, in my experience a common reaction to and discourse about video games, is that it belongs to a younger generation than mine to have as a hobby and is, also according to my specific social experience, slightly looked down upon as a cultural product; which would be another discussion, but perhaps partly could be explained by the too clear involvement of commersialism for it to be taken seriously in other situations. The Sims iterations seems to have been one of the highest selling video games in history, so the consumer group must be very large and varied, but my guess then and now is that it is not aimed at the hard-gamer that enjoys running people over in GTA and has a monster gaming machine already fixed up but perhaps at everyone else; or, more likely, adapted over and over again based on constant market analysis to better hit the best angle. The games themselves are to me very childish and silly, which I happen to like being that myself; but they, just like this official forum for the unmodded game, is clearly directed and adapted not to my culture, but perhaps more the american, that is, the one in USA - considering the features appearant nod to those reference frames. Maybe I do not know the american culture well enough to speak about it but the eufemisms for a word I could not even write here without having it exchanged for something desirable, the mosaic, the dynamics of family creating and the dollhouse feeling of the game does not speak to my grown up side or to the teenager I once was; but in my understanding, more so to an american conservative parent guarded teenager.
The Sims 3 being released 2009 and therefore probably having a slightly older consumer group and players, would or would not be regarded as potential consumers of the sequals; but I find it very hard to believe that a profit-focused company would disregard the allurement of a new group of potential buyers in the next generation, and not let this effect the actual allurement - the game itself.
My post was in no way meant to be read as negative, towards anyone or anything, and I am guessing from your comment that you might have thought so, even if I did not see you actually provide any reason for why you thought it was not 'true', which I never stated anything as. I absolutely love the Sims 3 and everything connected to it and nothing I say is to be understood as criticism towards it.
I do not own Sims 4 but do not criticize it in any way, and frankly, to me such a discussion is uninteresting. My first post was a response to what I see here in this forum: the constant arguing over which game is considered the better one; and meant, in its very hastily frasing, to be a comment on the to me illusion of sims 3 players thinking that they are the and the main targeted market group for nr 4. In my mind I meant it as a comment to the thread's theme, but more in the way of trying to shift the focus from this, for me, unnecessary arguing; and I am sorry that I frased it in such a bad way, I did not mean any harm and I realised afterwards that it is pointless to post with my intention, and left the thread behind. (Sorry, OP, I mean no ill-will).
I would be very grateful if you could provide an in-depth explanation on the choices when programming a game, because my understanding does not reach further than this: having an open world seems very performance heavy, and the reasons for taking away such a well-loved feature can be explained with the loading screens making the game playable on more computers (lower specifications), which equals more consumers. Unstable and bug-ridden is not the same thing. I see that you play with mods to stabilize your game - I do not, but I rarely have problems, not on my new medium gaming computer, or very much so either on my older less strong one, except when adding too many EP:s. My impression of instability is mostly from reading about other's problems. If by well published workarounds you mean good game management then I know what you mean, otherwise you are welcome to explain.
I really can´t express in my own words how awful I think is the way the game is produced and sold today! If I buy and play a game, I don´t want to socialize with the developers at all! In my opinion they should concentrate to develop a good game and let the customer play with the product!
I don´t buy the game in order to get a membership with the Twitter group, I buy a game to play it!
And I really doubt, that the developers today understand my gaming behavior at all!
I fear that The Sims 5, if there will be one, will be a desastrous peace of socializing hot air, without any playability!
So I have to stay with the Sims 3! (And because I think it´s the best one of the series!)
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/953447/streuner-a-cat-s-tale
My heart still love sims 3 best, though. I just hope sims 5 will have an open (or at the very least more open) world. If there is a sims 5. Maybe they could open up sections of the neighborhood to be open world, does that make sense? Like, I can still bike to where I need to be, but I only encounter the loading screens when I "leave the neighborhood" That way my game is still smooth like 4. Hmmm.
Speaking as the OP I must apologise for not being around much lately. Things in my domestic life have had to take a priority. This is one of the most peaceful and friendly of the sims fora. I can remember the state of the EA forum when TS4 was released and back then it was open warfare. Very unpleasant and we lost a lot of dedicated loyal simmers as a result.
The habit of bolding text comes from that period so that people could not later refute what they had said. It is therefore a practice performed out of habit and nothing more so please do not be offended by having your words quoted back to you. Everyone has a right to express an opinion so please continue to do so while accepting that not everyone will agree with what you say.
Bearing in mind this is a discussion about moving on from TS3 I give you my thoughts. Young gamers have a habit of growing up and moving on to other things. As evidence of this I offer both my nephew and niece. My nephew started with TS1 and in fact introduced me to the game. He now is in his late twenties and plays games like GTA but still remembers his time with TS2 and 3 with affection. My niece I introduced to Sims 3 when she was around eight. She has moved on to TS4 and loves it although she also loves Minecraft. So each games company must attract a new generation of players with each iteration while trying to retain the older player base.
With TS4 EA got that spectacularly wrong by omitting all the best features that were part of previous iterations and a point blank refusal to accept how much these features meant to existing players. Obviously with each iteration there has to be something new offered and EA was making a new game in the middle of a recession and in the face of fierce competition from other games companies. However the company's assumption that we would buy anything labelled sims was misplaced. This thread clearly shows TS3 players are a very discerning crowd. EA has since tried to mollify their existing players by adding free content such as swimming pools and bringing back toddlers. Even so it is not enough to tempt players away from TS3. A game without CASt, CAW, a full array of terrain tools and with only crude childish humour does not appeal to me. I do not want to say more because I promised myself this would not be a thread to bash TS4 and because I know there are many players, both old and new who really enjoy playing TS4.
The game is made in America so naturally the cultural references are American. They may seem at times contradictory particularly with regard to procreation but it is worth remembering this game attracts a player base which goes from pre teen to geriatric. Age groups which are easily offended or in need of protection. This allows the game to stay within it's PEGI rating. Personally I find this easy to accept but then again I'm British and we are well known for being a bunch of prudes
I am not sure I got your complete meaning about programming. However both TS2 and 4 having loading screens as opposed to the open worlds of TS 3. This clearly is a lot more demanding on a computer as the open world has to be permanently accessible for sims to move around freely and for players to check on the activities of each sim. Granted the newer computers have better capacity to deal with this and it is less of a stability issue than it was but the fact remains TS3 was programmed as 32 bit. Most modern AAA games are 64 bit. We have discussed the possibility of a remastered TS3 based on a 64 bit but this would require a total rewrite of the coding. That would be a major project for EA and as yet the company has not expressed any interest in doing it. As time goes on, the game is already 10 years old, we will therefore have to face further compatibility issues with each new generation of computers. Fortunately we have a very good tech section here who no doubt will find ways of keeping us playing TS3.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
Despondency is not permitted here
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
Glad you are enjoying TS4. I have heard the toddlers are something really special and so they should be after the long wait people had to get them in game. Many players here play both games quite happily. Perhaps you will be joining their numbers. Either way I hope you continue to find things in TS4 to keep you simming.
The issue of open worlds is one of the biggest reasons people have not moved on from TS3. Coming from the loading screens of TS2 the open worlds of TS3 were and still are, an absolute wonder. I could not, in all honesty now go back to any sims pc game which uses loading screens or restricts open access in game. Nor would I want a game which does not permit me to build my own open worlds.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
No, my post was not an aggressive attack. *Shrug* You just took it that way. The bad thing about the written word is that no one can see the writer as they write so sometimes what is written is taken the wrong way.
Probably? You're guessing. If you read my post more carefully, I wrote that each new iteration from the very beginning had new young people who didn't play the previous one. And all those young people were able to play those iterations with no problems even though they were not dumbed down like TS4. In terms of choices of programming, the devs had always aimed The Sims iterations to be played by everyone or as large a group as they can, and not just to one demographical age group, because catering to just one would reduce their profits. It's that simple.
When people keep repeating that it's unstable, it's just really not true anymore. Why should that be perpetuated? I don't think that's right. Every glitch and bug has been addressed and solutions published with the TS3 community eager to help others. Plus the newer computers are able to handle TS3 better. Since you say you love Sims 3, wouldn't you want other people to know and realize that?
It was not this way before TS4 was introduced. There was some animosity between TS2 and TS3 simmers at the beginning when people were adjusting to the changes, but underneath it all, they have a great respect for each other and it just never got this bad. Plus TS3 is a natural progression from TS2.
But when TS4 came out, the devs had to make TS3 look as bad as possible in hopes people would give it up and get suckered into the money-pit that is TS4. I personally would have LOVED to give EA my money and buy it, but it is lacking in so many things that I would actually feel ripped-off. I feel really bad for TS4 simmers because they have to buy more packs just to flesh the game out - but from all the complaints I'm reading, packs aren't generous like packs for previous iterations and people still get bored of it relatively quickly while TS2 and TS3 players can continue playing their iterations for long periods of time.
So yeah, hence why there is so much constant arguing. But it really starts more often on the TS4 side because they can't praise their game without trivializing TS3 to try to make that money pit appear better. But if you look at their hopes for what would make TS4 better or prospects for TS5, a lot of it is what TS3 already has. *Shrug* go figure....
Further about choices of programming: As I had written before, the devs program the Sims iterations developed the game to cater to everyone because it will create the greatest amount of profit. But what happened with TS4 is that they were developing an online version of the Sims but then decided to turn it into a single player offline pc game because another online simulaton game they developed - SimCity - flopped. So if you look at its game engine, it is lightweight in comparison to previous game engines of the older Sims games which can handle more functionality. That's why so many good gameplay mechanics were taken out of it. Not only that, but they reduced the development team drastically from previous iterations. This is why everything in the game is so simplified - not to cater to younger people or even to supposedly run on most machines, but because the game engine is poor being that it was originally meant for tablets, plus they don't have the manpower to make it more detailed.
It's just a sad mess really and what scares me is that EA might either 1) stop making The Sims iterations, or 2) continue to produce them like TS4 which is expensive for so little content. That causes me to become vocal - I don't want EA to keep taking us, the whole Sims community, down this horrible path. The Sims 3 isn't perfect, but it is an amazing achievement. I want the devs to remember that - Grant was part of the TS3 team before he became the lead for TS4 - and to remember that if they can make such an amazing game such as TS3, that they can do it again with TS5 and future iterations of The Sims.
Well, take heart! I think EA will continue to sell their games in disk form to gain the greatest amount of customers. I think they realize not everyone wants to be on Origin. I used Origin because I was a travel RN for a while and moved often so moving my things around was starting to be a pain. I had tons of books I kept moving around with me. Needless to say, I picked up the habit of getting as many things in digital format as possible. If and when TS5 comes out, I will buy it on disk as I've settle down now!
I do hope any future iteration of the sims franchise is offered on disk as well as digitally. Moving around must be difficult so I can understand you playing via Origin. I'm glad you have settled somewhere more permanent. I gave up reading books when I lost the sight in one eye and use an ereader now. However I can't bring myself to part with my books, particularly those I can't yet get in digital form.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
"The beatings will continue until morale improves."
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How did you know I was a manager in a former life
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
Hello,
To deliberately state something as not true even if it is not presented as such is a very confrontative way of discussing, and the reciever of such a response is entitled to their impression of it.
Your post is not clear, and I do think that you are talking about something entirely different than I was, because something being 'dumbed down' is not what you find in my post in wording or meaning. I am not clear on what you mean by it and feel that you are directing it towards something or someone else than me. To be clear: I do not think that any iteration of the sims is 'dumbed down', and do not understand what you mean by talking about such things when quoting me. To try to sell a video game to a younger generation is not in itself 'dumbing anything down'.
I think that you are very aggressive in your response. I really do not understand how you can find my post so negative that you feel it is needed to explain to me how to be more positive towards the game. I am not sure what you mean by every bug and glitch being adressed, or why you think that is what I meant.
I would not blame the developers for the animosity between the games I witness on this forum.
I would not have the insight to judge whether you are right or not in your short explanation on the engine, even though it does seem plausible that a development takes different turns when it comes to the media it is meant for. I would not call it an in-depth explanation.
I realise that we have nothing more to say to eachother, but thank you for your response.
Hello,
You do not need to apologize, but thank you for the thought, it is very sweet and diplomatic and appreciated. I do understand that the situation was much worse before, but for me, a total 'newbie' when it comes to forums as these feel that the conversations here are very hostile at times.
Thank you for explaning the habits here, and your discussion on the game, it was interesting to read. I have not played any other iteration of The Sims than nr 3 which I started to do in 2016; but I have understood that the first and second were, and is, very well liked.
I do not know any programming languages and only became interested in game programming because of this game, and find it fascinating to read and learn about every aspect of it, even if it is a slow process. I do not think I can add anything to your understanding of it, and my initial point was to try to level the negativity towards the last iteration with what I understand as a choice of performance: either the open world of sims 3 is accepted, with the slight problems it means; or the loading screens in 4, for their, probably, better function. I do not pose those two games towards eachother and as I posted before in this thread, if I move on it would be to something else, not because I am displeased with the game in itself.
Oh, I'm sorry that you lost sight in one eye! I'm glad you can still enjoy reading/listening by using an ereader now. I think they're amazing devices/apps! I use two ereader apps, Kindle and an multi-format reading one on my Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7" (which is the size of a 90 page paperback - perfect for my handbag on the go!) and I'm just a happy camper being able to read anywhere and whatever ebook I want simply because each ebook takes up so little space in my tablet's storage. I also find that some physical paperbacks make their print so tiny to save using up too much paper, but with ereaders, you can adjust the size of the font for comfortable reading and adjust the brightness or hue of the screen. For listening to books, Kindle has many Audible versions of the books they publish but costs money so I avoid using that feature (it's like buying the book twice to me!), but my multi-format ereader can speak the text for free which is pretty decent and not too robotic. Which ereader to you use?
I can't part with my favorite physical books too no matter how worn out they are from repeated readings. Just looking at them sends me back to the time when I first read the stories within. I even have some from when I was a pre-teen and I still love those stories!
I hope it is a good long while before you feel the need to move on to other games. There is so much content in TS3 that I am still finding things to do even after playing since 2009. If you get the opportunity I would suggest trying TS2. It was the first pc sims game I played and I remember it with great affection. Sadly it has become increasingly difficult in Europe to find TS1 disks but I keep looking.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
My Kindle/Audible apps were an absolute lifesaver when I went into hospital last October for major surgery and in the months beforehand when I was not very well. As for my books, as my hubby says they are old friends, very much like my TS3 disks
I will add that I regard the sims as a real prop, both emotional and physical, when you are feeling really ill. This is something which is not as acknowledged as it should be but for me remains part of the reason why I am quite happy to keep playing for now.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
I'm glad you made it through that difficult time! And that TS3 helped you get through it. In medical research, people are trying to find ways to help patients heal faster without drugs. One of them is music therapy as it helps a patient's body to relax (and thus helps the body to focus on healing), but maybe an immersive game such as TS3 can be another possible way.
Also I don't think you will have to worry about the TS3 disks not working for a long time to come. TS2 simmers were able to play them for years. I think it wasn't possible to play the game anymore on disk only when Windows 10 came out. But since TS3 is more recent and if you have Windows 10, you can back it up or create restore points before each time Windows 10 wants to update just so you can restore in case something goes wrong. Or you can just stay with an older Windows version as those are still pretty good (and far less annoying that Windows 10 and its constant updating).
No, I don't think I will ever move on from TS3. Go elsewhere too, yes. But not as in leaving the game as such.
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