I remember thinking TS2 graphics were still pretty good. Booted it up after playing a lot of TS3 and found my memory had just tricked me. TS2 was great at the time but I don't think it has aged well - the gameplay is still solid though!
I like when video games look like video games. The later games I loved for gameplay and content, but none could beat the original for graphics. They were trying too hard to look like us, and not like video game characters.
The Sims 3 by far looks the best of all the other games mentioned in the poll. I even like its art style a bit better than the Sims 4. I know that some people think that the Sims 3 is ugly, but I definitely don't think so. The Sims 1 by far looks the worst to me, and there are so few create a Sim options in that one that chances are you'll come across a ton of other Sims that look exactly like your sim anyway.
Thanks for everyone's responses so far. It's interesting to read everyone's reasoning and I'm surprised to see that the Sims 3 isn't winning by a landslide (although it is still winning). I personally don't have a preference, which is why I made this poll but I can see a point for all of the games.
The Sims 1, to me still looks pretty good, isometric games look better to me then early 3d games. Although I definitely think some aspects like the Sims aged worse than in 2 or 3. @XnexusnyxX makes a good point too. When games try to look too realistic it ends up looking worse as it ages and can sometimes look uncanny/creepy later on.
The Sims 2 also looks great for it's age when I can get it to run correctly with new graphics card. There's a ton of movement and details in the world maps that you don't get in the newer games. I'd argue that that the Sims look the worse in this game, but I never liked the design so it could be a bias.
The Sims 3 definitely has amazing backgrounds and I think they look amazing still. The Sims are a bit too realistic so they aren't aging as well as if they had been more cartoon like, but they still look decent compared to other games. I think they look better than 2 Sims.
It will be interesting to see how the Sims 4 ages compared to 5 if they ever make it.
TS2 It may be old but the graphics are still good - sims are much better than either 1 or 3 (hair even moves), unlike in 4 you can get close to walls & floors and they still look believable, objects have amazing detail - even in places where you wouldn't expect it, map view is more detailed and is customizable. Snow looks like snow and has depth. It still delivers the goods even after 15 years.
Sims 2 has aged best in my opinion. Sims 3 looks great, and Sims 1 is special in its own way, but overall TS2 is by far the best considering it's almost 16 years old. You can zoom into a sweater and see individual threads on Sims 2, can't do that in any of the other Sims games.
It's really quite a hard choice as TS2 & 3 aged like two types of fine wine (TS1 has its own campy charms).
On one hand, TS2 really does offer an unparalleled and unified game experience out of the box, and the art-style has really aged quite well due to the high quality of the textures, while the charm of the premades persists over the years.
On the other hand, TS3 is really one of those games that gives you so much freedom as to how you want to tell your stories. It's almost broken and ugly out of the box (you will need NRAAS and some default replacements), but with mods- it truly transforms the Sims from being a household simulator, to being a community simulator. I have NRAAS Tagger (which allows you to follow sims from Map View), and I'm always fascinated at how the game simulates sims running around town, each doing their own things, living their own lives, etc.
The Sims 2 i don't want to even play TS3 because of how influenced the graphics is by TS1 and the recycled sounds from it i just can't go back to TS1 especially after The Sims 2 that is definitely the best game, i think the graphics of The Sims 2 is nicer because it's clearer and not so pixelated that it makes the sims look very disproportionate and it just didn't look great in TS3 mixed with some higher graphics, now with TS4 i can live with it with no problems because it's more like TS2s graphics again. Younger people say TS3 is the best but they didn't witness how it changed to this pixelated world then going to this clearer and more refined graphics and just everything about it more refined, of course it's not just the graphics that makes it the best game, plus little does anyone realize the Simlish in TS2 was changed however... since TS3 they've definitely gone back to the original Simlish. All i know is TS2s clearer graphics just looks a lot better it feels better quality and it's smoother to play, i would definitely keep playing it if i could i've stuck to it for as long as possible lol.
It may be a machine issue, but I find TS3 graphics rather grainy overall, coloration is bad while in build mode - sometimes to the point where I can't tell if a floor has been placed or not and the walls look muddy. The sims themselves have a grainy muddy look, heads like billard balls, and they all look the same regardless of age or gender. Doesn't matter how much you fiddle with the various pieces, either. TS1 is, compared to now, very primitive, but has a certain charm. At least the lawns look like grass, which is more than I can say for TS4 lawns. What I and we need to remember that graphic art is subjective, one man's woof is another's wow.
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The Sims 1, to me still looks pretty good, isometric games look better to me then early 3d games. Although I definitely think some aspects like the Sims aged worse than in 2 or 3. @XnexusnyxX makes a good point too. When games try to look too realistic it ends up looking worse as it ages and can sometimes look uncanny/creepy later on.
The Sims 2 also looks great for it's age when I can get it to run correctly with new graphics card. There's a ton of movement and details in the world maps that you don't get in the newer games. I'd argue that that the Sims look the worse in this game, but I never liked the design so it could be a bias.
The Sims 3 definitely has amazing backgrounds and I think they look amazing still. The Sims are a bit too realistic so they aren't aging as well as if they had been more cartoon like, but they still look decent compared to other games. I think they look better than 2 Sims.
It will be interesting to see how the Sims 4 ages compared to 5 if they ever make it.
Ditto to this haha
they/he
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On one hand, TS2 really does offer an unparalleled and unified game experience out of the box, and the art-style has really aged quite well due to the high quality of the textures, while the charm of the premades persists over the years.
On the other hand, TS3 is really one of those games that gives you so much freedom as to how you want to tell your stories. It's almost broken and ugly out of the box (you will need NRAAS and some default replacements), but with mods- it truly transforms the Sims from being a household simulator, to being a community simulator. I have NRAAS Tagger (which allows you to follow sims from Map View), and I'm always fascinated at how the game simulates sims running around town, each doing their own things, living their own lives, etc.
So...to each their own!
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