@LiELF hahah gotta admit though, it always makes me laugh when she calls them magical freaks xD
Yes, she really is pretty funny.
@simfriend1968 Is that the person who does those comparison videos with all 4 Sims games? I love those videos!
Yes, where available—there are comparisons for maids, kids, pets and beaches for all four games. The Seasons, cowplant, aliens, PlantSims, ghosts, toddlers and vampire videos for obvious reasons only draw upon the last three games. I love them all, and am eagerly anticipating his magic comparisons, which will hopefully include all 4 games again.
One thing I do notice when watching these comparisons by The Red Plumbob is how long and detailed TS2 animations are in comparison with both those of TS3 and TS4. This was fun but could have its downside I suppose; it used to amuse me how my small daughter would ruthlessly fast forward through all the animations and cut scenes of TS2. (I liked to play them, but if I complained at her fast forwarding she would just say, “Oh mom, I’ve seen the same thing a hundred times before”).
You know what, I’m going to do a direct comparison for fun. Because although I’ve done a direct comparison in my head between sims 2 and sims 4 spellcasters since I’ve been very recently playing a sims 2 legacy where everyone is a witch I didn’t have to look much up.
But I honestly can’t remember sims 3 witches except the Apple conjuring which I found fun and silly in a good way. And the grind. So, here is a lumping of sims 3 witch spells depending if it’s A) a copied mechanic, B ) can be done with cheats, or C) unique. And then we will compare with sims 4 spells! Copied might be spotty since it’s been awhile since I played sims 3.
Note: there are some grey areas regarding what is copied/based on cheats, and I will try to address this. I see copied mechanics as stuff that are 100% lifted, basically ‘in the same amount of clicks I can make it happen’ deal. Same with cheats. If there is a noticeable difference I will not consider it copied or cheats.
COPIED: Good Luck Charm (moodlet, lucky trait), fire blast, ice blast (pretty sure there were ray guns for that??? Not 100%), Magical upgrade (just upgrades machine like with handiness).
Original: Love Charm, Sunlight Charm (though this mostly does stuff that falls under cheats regarding moodlets, considering it has unique effects on vampires and werewolves and zombies I’m putting it here), toadification curse, haunting curse, pestilence curse, bewitching rain, conjure Apple, conversion ritual, restoration ritual.
CHEATS: honestly? For spells? 0. I know I was surprised too. OH WAIT. Herbio, technically, so 1z
ORIGINAL: Delicioso, Floralorial, Repairio (I’ve heard people use this as a ‘max repair skill insta repair’ copy, buuut like with the sunlight charm it does more than that), scruberoo (not only fills sims hygiene bar, BUT cleans the house), homewardial, rite of ascension, furio, infatuate, morphiate, strangeify, decursify, inferniate, necrocall, zipzap, duplicato (different from science cloning as the clone is temporary and can be commanded to clean).
TOTAL COUNT:
Copied: 8
Cheats: 1
Original: 15
Aaand this isn’t even including the different perks or the curses.
So, on my money, hands down RoM has a better magic system when it comes to spells. Even if I forgot some aspects and had to shuffle a few of them, RoM has a huge lead on Original Mechanic spells. This also confirmed why I couldn’t remember the sims 3 magic system, because with the original spells there... wasn’t a whole lot that was memorable outside the curses (which I do think we’re where the sims 3 witches shined).
The streamer in the video made an interesting statement about nostalgia for previous sim games that I'd like to chime in on. My favorite magic EP is still Makin' Magic, and my favorite iteration of The Sims, is still TS2, BUT I exclusively play TS4 at this point because shockingly enough, I prefer it over all my other sims games... and that's for a lot of different reasons that I won't get into here.
First, I'd like to explain the underlying reason I hold both MM and TS2 in such high regard. I enjoyed the rough humor and uncompromising consequences that were present in both game worlds. Meaning, you could directly influence the death of other sims, and you had to take great care to keep your own sim from being taken out too. lol So it's not so much any one spell or particular feature, although I do kind of miss Corruptus Locus from TS2 lol, it's more about how the games themselves were designed. Death is an unavoidable part of living, and TS1 and TS2 did not shy from making your sims, and ultimately you, pay for your mistakes/misfortune permanently. There were times I was legitimately fearful and experienced heavy anxiety over whether my sim was going to make it through something or not. LOL I personally enjoyed that, but there are a lot of people out there who would not enjoy that element. Nothing right or wrong about it, because it's simply preference, but I have found that many people who hold MM and TS2 in high regard, do generally enjoy having a challenging element of danger in their game play.
Fear of my sim dying and the thrill of victory at thwarting death is an element that is lacking in TS4, and often times when I find myself missing the older titles, that's the element that I'm honestly missing. It's a rare occurrence in my Sims 4 game for a sim to die of something other than old age, though, the cursed and gremlins lot traits do help increase those odds significantly when I play with them. Even with the help of lot traits, though, it's still not as gritty as the above mentioned games, but for me, it's an acceptable workaround. I can also objectively acknowledge that the game needs to be appropriate for teens, and what is considered appropriate for that age range has changed a fair amount since I myself was a teenager and playing the original Sims. In short, my personal play style doesn't really fit into the 2019 teen appropriate mold, and I don't feel it's fair or realistic for me to expect Maxis to bring back in elements that would get them in a heck of a lot of trouble now. Like the cake dancer... oh yes... I loved it then and I still love it now. The ridiculous adult entertainers that it spewed forth were outrageous, inappropriate, and downright hilarious, to me. ROFL 10/10 would love to have that back, but it's never going to happen, and I don't blame them a bit for not doing so, but that doesn't mean I don't miss it. rofl
Now that you have the back story, lets move on to the reasons I didn't enjoy TS3 witches as much as I do TS4 spell casters. I sincerely dislike excessive grinding simply for the sake of grinding. It's a time gate, and in a game like The Sims, where you'll be repeating tasks through the generations of sims you play, time gates are really annoying. I liked the idea of being a witch in TS3, but I hated grinding the levels out. It felt monotonous, and it always resulted in me going afk to do something more interesting, like wash the freaking dishes in real life. Anything was preferable to staring at my screen while my sim "played with magic" over and over and over and over again. In this way, I appreciate TS4's less grindy leveling system, and the manner in which we gain casting rank. I leveled my spell caster on duels and potion making alone, which felt very rewarding for me. I've won all my brooms and wands through duels, and I found that to be extremely satisfying, too. So TS4 brought into play the same leveling system from previous iterations, level by practice, but added more experience generating options for leveling while toning down the grindy aspect of it. I also like that alchemy is tied to spell casting instead of being tied to gardening like it was in TS3. All in all, I have found it to be a pleasant balance. Originally I purposefully refrained from allocating all the perk points, so that my caster wasn't all powerful, but she was failing so frequently at potions and spells that I actually became a little worried she might kill herself before having an heir... which is not a feeling I'm familiar with having in TS4, so that was nice! lol A little sprinkle of worry over the life of my sim adds a bit of excitement to my game play. LOL I currently have all of the spell casting perks, but she still mucks up every now and again. I actually like that, though. So while they're certainly powerful, they're not infallible, even when maxed out.
Now, to be fair, once you were past the first few tiers of spell casting in TS3, you had more options at your disposal too, and you could duel in TS3 as well after tier 4 (I think), but this is where the open world kind of made things annoying for me. My sim's surroundings were frequently empty. Staking out the basement of a nightclub to spam spells on people for experience was just not as viable an option in that game, because quite often no sims showed up! The only place I could reliably find a decent influx of people was at the Festivals that came with Seasons. If my memory serves, though, you never gained anything by winning a duel in TS3, so unless I was after screenshots, I didn't pursue this activity. In TS4, though, I duel all the time because I find that to be a more enjoyable way of acquiring wands, brooms, alchemy ingredients, and knowledge. It's just a really nice touch that engages me and leaves me feeling like the time I invested was meaningful and worthwhile. It's useful enough I have continued to engage in duels long after my spell caster maxed out. The spell casting book is just epic, too. I really love that UI, and I hope to see that idea used again with a slight twist for future supernaturals.
So yeah, I with you, OP. While I didn't mind TS3 witches, I definitely prefer TS4 spell casters. In TS3 magic was something my sim did on the side, and in TS4, magic is at the forefront of my sim's identity.
Comments
Yes, she really is pretty funny.
@simfriend1968 Is that the person who does those comparison videos with all 4 Sims games? I love those videos!
Yes, she really is pretty funny.
@simfriend1968 Is that the person who does those comparison videos with all 4 Sims games? I love those videos!
Yes, where available—there are comparisons for maids, kids, pets and beaches for all four games. The Seasons, cowplant, aliens, PlantSims, ghosts, toddlers and vampire videos for obvious reasons only draw upon the last three games. I love them all, and am eagerly anticipating his magic comparisons, which will hopefully include all 4 games again.
One thing I do notice when watching these comparisons by The Red Plumbob is how long and detailed TS2 animations are in comparison with both those of TS3 and TS4. This was fun but could have its downside I suppose; it used to amuse me how my small daughter would ruthlessly fast forward through all the animations and cut scenes of TS2. (I liked to play them, but if I complained at her fast forwarding she would just say, “Oh mom, I’ve seen the same thing a hundred times before”).
How so?
But I honestly can’t remember sims 3 witches except the Apple conjuring which I found fun and silly in a good way. And the grind. So, here is a lumping of sims 3 witch spells depending if it’s A) a copied mechanic, B ) can be done with cheats, or C) unique. And then we will compare with sims 4 spells! Copied might be spotty since it’s been awhile since I played sims 3.
Note: there are some grey areas regarding what is copied/based on cheats, and I will try to address this. I see copied mechanics as stuff that are 100% lifted, basically ‘in the same amount of clicks I can make it happen’ deal. Same with cheats. If there is a noticeable difference I will not consider it copied or cheats.
COPIED: Good Luck Charm (moodlet, lucky trait), fire blast, ice blast (pretty sure there were ray guns for that??? Not 100%), Magical upgrade (just upgrades machine like with handiness).
CHEATS: hunger/thirst charm, bladder charm, hygiene charm, hunger/thirst curse, bladder curse, hygiene curse
Original: Love Charm, Sunlight Charm (though this mostly does stuff that falls under cheats regarding moodlets, considering it has unique effects on vampires and werewolves and zombies I’m putting it here), toadification curse, haunting curse, pestilence curse, bewitching rain, conjure Apple, conversion ritual, restoration ritual.
TOTAL COUNT:
Copied: 4
Cheats: 6
Original: 9
Now for REALM OF MAGIC
COPIED: Copypasto, Transportalate, Burgliate, Deliriate, Despario, Chillio, Dedethify, Minionize
CHEATS: honestly? For spells? 0. I know I was surprised too. OH WAIT. Herbio, technically, so 1z
ORIGINAL: Delicioso, Floralorial, Repairio (I’ve heard people use this as a ‘max repair skill insta repair’ copy, buuut like with the sunlight charm it does more than that), scruberoo (not only fills sims hygiene bar, BUT cleans the house), homewardial, rite of ascension, furio, infatuate, morphiate, strangeify, decursify, inferniate, necrocall, zipzap, duplicato (different from science cloning as the clone is temporary and can be commanded to clean).
TOTAL COUNT:
Copied: 8
Cheats: 1
Original: 15
Aaand this isn’t even including the different perks or the curses.
So, on my money, hands down RoM has a better magic system when it comes to spells. Even if I forgot some aspects and had to shuffle a few of them, RoM has a huge lead on Original Mechanic spells. This also confirmed why I couldn’t remember the sims 3 magic system, because with the original spells there... wasn’t a whole lot that was memorable outside the curses (which I do think we’re where the sims 3 witches shined).
First, I'd like to explain the underlying reason I hold both MM and TS2 in such high regard. I enjoyed the rough humor and uncompromising consequences that were present in both game worlds. Meaning, you could directly influence the death of other sims, and you had to take great care to keep your own sim from being taken out too. lol So it's not so much any one spell or particular feature, although I do kind of miss Corruptus Locus from TS2 lol, it's more about how the games themselves were designed. Death is an unavoidable part of living, and TS1 and TS2 did not shy from making your sims, and ultimately you, pay for your mistakes/misfortune permanently. There were times I was legitimately fearful and experienced heavy anxiety over whether my sim was going to make it through something or not. LOL I personally enjoyed that, but there are a lot of people out there who would not enjoy that element. Nothing right or wrong about it, because it's simply preference, but I have found that many people who hold MM and TS2 in high regard, do generally enjoy having a challenging element of danger in their game play.
Fear of my sim dying and the thrill of victory at thwarting death is an element that is lacking in TS4, and often times when I find myself missing the older titles, that's the element that I'm honestly missing. It's a rare occurrence in my Sims 4 game for a sim to die of something other than old age, though, the cursed and gremlins lot traits do help increase those odds significantly when I play with them. Even with the help of lot traits, though, it's still not as gritty as the above mentioned games, but for me, it's an acceptable workaround. I can also objectively acknowledge that the game needs to be appropriate for teens, and what is considered appropriate for that age range has changed a fair amount since I myself was a teenager and playing the original Sims. In short, my personal play style doesn't really fit into the 2019 teen appropriate mold, and I don't feel it's fair or realistic for me to expect Maxis to bring back in elements that would get them in a heck of a lot of trouble now. Like the cake dancer... oh yes... I loved it then and I still love it now. The ridiculous adult entertainers that it spewed forth were outrageous, inappropriate, and downright hilarious, to me. ROFL 10/10 would love to have that back, but it's never going to happen, and I don't blame them a bit for not doing so, but that doesn't mean I don't miss it. rofl
Now that you have the back story, lets move on to the reasons I didn't enjoy TS3 witches as much as I do TS4 spell casters. I sincerely dislike excessive grinding simply for the sake of grinding. It's a time gate, and in a game like The Sims, where you'll be repeating tasks through the generations of sims you play, time gates are really annoying. I liked the idea of being a witch in TS3, but I hated grinding the levels out. It felt monotonous, and it always resulted in me going afk to do something more interesting, like wash the freaking dishes in real life. Anything was preferable to staring at my screen while my sim "played with magic" over and over and over and over again. In this way, I appreciate TS4's less grindy leveling system, and the manner in which we gain casting rank. I leveled my spell caster on duels and potion making alone, which felt very rewarding for me. I've won all my brooms and wands through duels, and I found that to be extremely satisfying, too. So TS4 brought into play the same leveling system from previous iterations, level by practice, but added more experience generating options for leveling while toning down the grindy aspect of it. I also like that alchemy is tied to spell casting instead of being tied to gardening like it was in TS3. All in all, I have found it to be a pleasant balance. Originally I purposefully refrained from allocating all the perk points, so that my caster wasn't all powerful, but she was failing so frequently at potions and spells that I actually became a little worried she might kill herself before having an heir... which is not a feeling I'm familiar with having in TS4, so that was nice! lol A little sprinkle of worry over the life of my sim adds a bit of excitement to my game play. LOL I currently have all of the spell casting perks, but she still mucks up every now and again. I actually like that, though. So while they're certainly powerful, they're not infallible, even when maxed out.
Now, to be fair, once you were past the first few tiers of spell casting in TS3, you had more options at your disposal too, and you could duel in TS3 as well after tier 4 (I think), but this is where the open world kind of made things annoying for me. My sim's surroundings were frequently empty. Staking out the basement of a nightclub to spam spells on people for experience was just not as viable an option in that game, because quite often no sims showed up! The only place I could reliably find a decent influx of people was at the Festivals that came with Seasons. If my memory serves, though, you never gained anything by winning a duel in TS3, so unless I was after screenshots, I didn't pursue this activity. In TS4, though, I duel all the time because I find that to be a more enjoyable way of acquiring wands, brooms, alchemy ingredients, and knowledge. It's just a really nice touch that engages me and leaves me feeling like the time I invested was meaningful and worthwhile. It's useful enough I have continued to engage in duels long after my spell caster maxed out. The spell casting book is just epic, too. I really love that UI, and I hope to see that idea used again with a slight twist for future supernaturals.
So yeah, I with you, OP. While I didn't mind TS3 witches, I definitely prefer TS4 spell casters. In TS3 magic was something my sim did on the side, and in TS4, magic is at the forefront of my sim's identity.