IIRC, there were libraries for all of the universities. I don't feel like loading it and checking right now.
But, yeah. Library in Belladonna, and you could always build your own.
Yeah. But... why would you want? What's the point of a community lot based around the idea of sitting quietly and reading?
They could have at least added a grumpy Ms. Crumplebottom-style librarian who would shush you for talking too loud or playing computer games (since Sims are constantly doing that). I mean, give me something entertaining.
"We've been attributing the state of The Sims 4 to greed but I think it's time to give sheer incompetence another look."
-Honeywell
IIRC, there were libraries for all of the universities. I don't feel like loading it and checking right now.
But, yeah. Library in Belladonna, and you could always build your own.
Yeah. But... why would you want? What's the point of a community lot based around the idea of sitting quietly and reading?
They could have at least added a grumpy Ms. Crumplebottom-style librarian who would shush you for talking too loud or playing computer games (since Sims are constantly doing that). I mean, give me something entertaining.
Most libraries have computers and, well, you can always stick in an area for kids and a small part devoted to playing card games and chess...
Well as for me I'd rather be "stuck" with plenty of things to do than stare at a rabbit hole. It may be an open world but there's really not much to do. And because of the open world the game is no longer challenging. It's too easy to get by.
Agreed on all counts, what's the point of having an open neighbourhood if there's virtually nothing to do in it.
Have to agree, my game feels empty no wonder I always go off for months at a time, when I do come back it's for a couple weeks then I'm gone again
I never thought I'd get so fed up with The Sims...
Wait....are you telling me this isn't how humans smile?
I guess there are always going to be animation glitches, which is what seems to be going on with the CC TS2 Sim in that pic (I can honestly say that I've never had that happen in TS2). But the TS3 Sims do it all the time. At least mine do.
I would really like to see it toned down in TS4. I can get some normal-looking smiles in TS2:
But I'm hoping for better expressions in TS4 -- I'd like more subtle and not so crazy. The graphics/animations are what gives my Sims their personality and lets them display emotion. The game can tell me what they are feeling, but it doesn't mean anything to me if I can't see it on their faces.
Maybe I have something else and more safe that can help it:
Go to edit town mode and look whether community lot types fit. I play many neighborhoods and it's mostly the EA ones who have the grocery set to "visitors welcome". Do you see Sims gathering at the supermarket or in front of the hospital entrance? That could be due to a wrong lot type setting. Well every Sim who is there is certainly not in a club! So just set those lots to "Visitors NOT welcome". Simple, eh?
Also check all other community lots. The supermarket and the hospital was just an example.
Wait....are you telling me this isn't how humans smile?
I guess there are always going to be animation glitches, which is what seems to be going on with the CC TS2 Sim in that pic (I can honestly say that I've never had that happen in TS2). But the TS3 Sims do it all the time. At least mine do.
I would really like to see it toned down in TS4. I can get some normal-looking smiles in TS2:
But I'm hoping for better expressions in TS4 -- I'd like more subtle and not so crazy. The graphics/animations are what gives my Sims their personality and lets them display emotion. The game can tell me what they are feeling, but it doesn't mean anything to me if I can't see it on their faces.
What's wrong with Crazy?
She is stunned by his good looks.
What's wrong with Crazy?
She is stunned by his good looks.
You know those Sunset Valley girls, they got them crazy eyes
To get back to the OP for a second, I like the open neighborhood because having to play every member of a family to make sure they all stayed appropriate ages was a gamebreaker for me after about two generations. I used to limit the amount of kids my Sims had just because I couldn't stand having some remain young, but also had no interest in playing them. Plus I really love stumbling into Sims I've placed hanging around community lots, or catching them cheating on their spouses in the park.
I sent a group of sims to Waylon's haunt to hangout. Out of curiosity I just sat back and let them go. Not one single sim bothered to chat with another. They were only focused on the objects in the room. Perhaps the social needs fill to easily and sims feel no need to socialize. I don't think lot types have enough influence on behavior.
Here's a good way to see the difference between TS2 & 3, freeze TS3 sims motives at max... They will just stand perfectly still for hours on end (even if there's someone else in the room), TS2 sims however will still continue to function.
To get back to the OP for a second, I like the open neighborhood because having to play every member of a family to make sure they all stayed appropriate ages was a gamebreaker for me after about two generations. I used to limit the amount of kids my Sims had just because I couldn't stand having some remain young, but also had no interest in playing them. Plus I really love stumbling into Sims I've placed hanging around community lots, or catching them cheating on their spouses in the park.
I'm pretty sure that EA could've added a simple system that would age up all sims in a neighbourhood and attached sub-hoods at the same time, but again it'd kill a major selling point of TS3.
As for 'seeing' the sims around the town, I'm afraid that's about all you CAN do... See them, they're automatons otherwise.
I'm pretty sure that EA could've added a simple system that would age up all sims in a neighbourhood and attached sub-hoods at the same time, but again it'd kill a major selling point of TS3.
As for 'seeing' the sims around the town, I'm afraid that's about all you CAN do... See them, they're automatons otherwise.
I suspect we aren't going to agree on this, but I don't find them so bad in terms of interaction that it ruins the game. At the same lot I've seen non-playable Sims set up laptops at counters, reject advances from men who weren't their husbands and have large jam sessions. (edit: oh, and fight. That happens an odd amount)
Whilst they certainly aren't as good as EA could and should have made them, and I do wish they'd do more, I personally don't find that my townies just stand there doing nothing.
edit: actually, this thread has got me interested to see just how much they do now, since I normally only notice townies when they are fighting or flirting near my Sim. I might try just watching community lots for a bit, and posting the results as a thread, to see how much really goes on.
However we aren't comparing graphics when i was talking about emmotions i was talking about the actuall AI. AI has nothing to do with with graphics.
Actually AI has little to do with that... that is the graphics... more specifically its all facial animation. AI deals with how the Sims act themselves, how there programmed, not there facial expressions. They probably won't get any better until EA stops using animators to do facial animations and starts using actors and the newer facial technology like LA Noire does because animators can never get the precise movements of the human face.
No im not talking about the facial expression i said that im taking about the AI Auto Interactions. Read the whole post coby to see what im talking about. Dark and Kir are talking about facial expressions im talking about the actual interactions of the sims. I know what graphics and what applies to graphics thank you.
Like i said the emotions for their AI isn't there and neither are the things connecting them. Like i said that level of detail that went into sims 2 is hasn't been used for sims 3.
Most of sims 2 in their gameplay and design, their interactions dont' center just around them. Like when a sim passes out you will see another sim become worried, i've even seen the sims walk over to try and cheer up another sim. They really are designed well to interact with their environement, and thier situation. When sims 3 came out i was expecting to be blown away by the possibilities of this one feature in sims being expanded on. Only to find out it's barely even implemented or has been replaced by moodlets. That is so frustrating.
How often in sims 3 can your sims walk into a room and his heart swoon, when he seels his loved one. Or if he thinks his loved one is smoking hot does he do anything in his ai towards that person. We don't even have an attraction system to dating anymore that governs that. Does someone closest to your sims run out greating them. Do they try to cheer one another up, with out you controlling them. How often when you are watching the chat bubbles do the series of that chat bubble seem to be telling you how your sims day went or you can tell it was a past memory. No way have i found that kind of detail in sims 3 yet. 6 ep's in and a possible 2-4 ep's left and still we have the same lack luster sims and lack luster neighborhood.
Yes the facial expression has to do with animation which i said, sometimes the crazy looks can be on the players end and sometimes it's on the codings end or animations. We've gotten pretty advanced in gameplay but i haven't truly seen a game yet that can do very detailed facial expressions. To me it's not really about that as much as it's about the timing. of it all. I don't want to see my sims skipping around 2 days later after his wife died lol. I certainly hate seeing that moodlets have replaced much of the ai of the sims. Like if my sims is hyper i want to see it not read about it. If my sims in love i want to see it not read. I don't like that the detail is lacking in that way.
No im not talking about the facial expression i said that im taking about the AI Auto Interactions. Read the whole post coby to see what im talking about. Dark and Kir are talking about facial expressions im talking about the actual interactions of the sims. I know what graphics and what applies to graphics thank you.
We were originally talking about the same thing, and I definitely agree with you, Anavastia. I was trying to use the facial expressions to illustrate the interactions, but it got off topic, sorry. :oops:
Anyway, the original point I was trying to make is that I wish they had focused on the AI, interactions, emotions, animations, graphics, etc. of the Sims themselves in TS3 instead of the open neighborhood concept. They can keep the open world in TS4, but I would rather have Sims with more depth all around. The Sims are way more important to me than the town.
No im not talking about the facial expression i said that im taking about the AI Auto Interactions. Read the whole post coby to see what im talking about. Dark and Kir are talking about facial expressions im talking about the actual interactions of the sims. I know what graphics and what applies to graphics thank you.
We were originally talking about the same thing, and I definitely agree with you, Anavastia. I was trying to use the facial expressions to illustrate the interactions, but it got off topic, sorry. :oops:
Anyway, the original point I was trying to make is that I wish they had focused on the AI, interactions, emotions, animations, graphics, etc. of the Sims themselves in TS3 instead of the open neighborhood concept. They can keep the open world in TS4, but I would rather have Sims with more depth all around. The Sims are way more important to me than the town.
It's okay, but i agree especially when it comes to all ages of the sims. Honestly i think improving the actual sims will improve the town. Why because it will liven it up. I also want to see control given back to the player, provide tools for our own venues, let us to do our own story lines. Let us decide what's right and wrong in our games. If they make another open neighborhood. For goodness sakes design the neighborhood so at the very least there will be tons of stuff to do in that neighborhood. If you can't make it all fit in one neighborhood, than bring back sub hoods. People love exploring and discovering new things. I think even the build/design players would love to have sub hoods where they can build and design downtowns, waterparks, malls, or countrysides, etc.
Bring in hwere players can make their own venues anda variety. I am sure they will find their sales perk up. Why you're not only creating more gameplay for both types of players, your creating a way for one player to advance the difficulty of game.
Same with the pregnancy, mommy to be doesn't even sit down and smile and rub her belly or talk to it at all. Who the hell here carried a child and never interacted with it before it was born.
Again i am gonna disagree with this part...i have found my pregnant sims are always autonomously rubbing there bellys....and when left to there own when greating a sim...i see a baby in their thought bubble alot....and when she does finally go into labor...no matter where she is when it happens...she goes to the hospital and i find the daddy there waiting for her and they go in together...
How often in sims 3 can your sims walk into a room and his heart swoon, when he seels his loved one. Or if he thinks his loved one is smoking hot does he do anything in his ai towards that person. We don't even have an attraction system to dating anymore that governs that. Does someone closest to your sims run out greating them. Do they try to cheer one another up, with out you controlling them. How often when you are watching the chat bubbles do the series of that chat bubble seem to be telling you how your sims day went or you can tell it was a past memory. No way have i found that kind of detail in sims 3 yet. 6 ep's in and a possible 2-4 ep's left and still we have the same lack luster sims and lack luster neighborhood.
diagree again....i have a legacy family in HS....and i cycle through playing the kids now that are on their own....i ALWAYS find say 1 sim sees her sister at the laundry mat...she turns her head waves and says hello...and then goes about her business.....i have see the mom of the bunch dance with her kids at the local disco...sames goes for the park...1 has a dog...and went to the park...her brother came over and started playing with the dog and then started chatting with my sim....
If you guys aren't experiencing things like this then something is wrong with your game...
How often in sims 3 can your sims walk into a room and his heart swoon, when he seels his loved one. Or if he thinks his loved one is smoking hot does he do anything in his ai towards that person. We don't even have an attraction system to dating anymore that governs that. Does someone closest to your sims run out greating them. Do they try to cheer one another up, with out you controlling them. How often when you are watching the chat bubbles do the series of that chat bubble seem to be telling you how your sims day went or you can tell it was a past memory. No way have i found that kind of detail in sims 3 yet. 6 ep's in and a possible 2-4 ep's left and still we have the same lack luster sims and lack luster neighborhood.
diagree again....i have a legacy family in HS....and i cycle through playing the kids now that are on their own....i ALWAYS find say 1 sim sees her sister at the laundry mat...she turns her head waves and says hello...and then goes about her business.....i have see the mom of the bunch dance with her kids at the local disco...sames goes for the park...1 has a dog...and went to the park...her brother came over and started playing with the dog and then started chatting with my sim....
If you guys aren't experiencing things like this then something is wrong with your game...
You failed to see my point at all. I said how often do you see a pregnant sims smile and rub her belly, or talk to her belly. I find it funny that just like in sims 2 others can interact with the belly. However just rubbing the belly wasn't my point which you failed the miss. Where is the other ai to the sims to show her feelings about being pregnant. Let alone the other family members. I never see any sibiling excercise any emotions about their mother bringing in a new family member. Nor do i even see proud father to be do too much. Most the time your sims are jumping for joy because their moodlet is up. You don't even see mommy get a back ache she gets a moodlet that say she has one.
Like when she gets tried, you don't see her randomly crying from a moodswing, or getting cranky. Or just eating to be eating on her own at all. If want even that last bit it has to be player controlled.
I certainly don't see any lover ai, no blowing kisses, no smoking hot wow you look good ai. In other words there isn't detail there and it's disappointing. However if a loved one comes into a room you get a moodlet. I remember even in sims 1 if you walked into the bathroom on someone you were at least getting a shreik and the sim hurried up and ducked down. You don't even get stuff like that. You get an embarrassed moodlet. Like i said where is the dept and detail to this.
Also like i said how often does it all connect into a cycle. Like my sims got robbed in sims 3 you think their conversations to said friends would be about the robber nope, it's about some weird flower thing. The conversations normally have nothing to do about their events they're so random and so misplaced. Especially when them to be happy because their moodlets are boosted, however the events around them should be sad. Even the dang natural disaster, creates not reaction later on from them. My sims family was struck 2 times but a meteor. Not one of them showed any fear later one. During yeah they looked at the sky like what's that. Aftewards no reaction and the same with the town people.
Even the nemisis factor has no detail, you'd think if your sims are fighting they'd have more than just a moodlet, and arguments. What happened to being vindictive or vengeful. You declare you dislike this person, you fight that's just about it. You'd think if somene brought up said person in a conversation the sims would get mad and go storming off. What about cheating sims that get caught, again the spouse marriage just fell apart not even a few sim hours later. She's clapping hands and enjoying herself.
so yeah i disagree with you, it's not my computer my sims aren't going to do things they aren't programmed to. To have that kind of detail my sims needs to be programmed.
I think truly, it's a matter of opinion, I personally love the open neighbour hood, sure sometimes the places I visit arent crowded.. And occasionally empty but it doesnt bother me that much. There are some things I miss about the simes 2 (such as the no rabbitholes) but I have always been one for customisation and I love how michore customisable the sims 3 is
Honestly, if you don't want to play sims 3 and would prefer to be playing sims 2, well then stop complaining and just do it. Go play sims 2 instead..
...No what i am saying is what is actually missing from the game, and that is the detail of the AI, detail of the sims personality, and detail in the game period. Smiling and displaying those emmotions at the proper time. For example my sims and his girlfriend broke up. Not even 3 game hours later he's clapping his hands cheering. Wth for you just broke up with your girl. Same with the pregnancy, mommy to be doesn't even sit down and smile and rub her belly or talk to it at all. Who the hell here carried a child and never interacted with it before it was born. We don't even know if the sims is happy or sad at becoming a mom because she virtually shows not inclination towards such a big event in her life. I can give dozens more examples of where sims should be showing emotions and they don't.
I think you are so right, Anavastia. I want to tell you guys what happened in my ts2 game today. I can't tell you how shocked and surprised and simply amazed at the emotions exhibited by my ts2 Sims.
For years now, I have played Gilbert and Denise Jacquet, from ofb. Maxis made sims. I tweak them here and there, but primarily, they are who Maxis made them. I am doing something very different with them this time around. I had Denise adopt 2 babies and aged Gilbert (who I renamed Mac) down to send him to college. He was coming home for visits and he just loves those two siblings. Autonomously, they hug and kiss one another, I just love that about them.
But Denise got involved romantically with the repair guy, Waylon. Both are elders, for those of you who don't know these sims. He moved in, and just seems to adore Denise. Well, the youngest of the 3 kids, aged up to teen and the two boys were invited over to watch her age up. After she became a teen, Waylon grabbed Denise and squeezed her romantically. Mac (formerly, Gilbert) had a conniption fit. He yelled at poor Waylon, poked him and in general, was just horrible! (Mac doesn't live in the household, so I couldn't get them to make up, so I just quit and will deal with them all later, lol).
Okay, my point here is that nothing that dramatic has ever happened to me in my ts3 game (which btw, I am playing again, along with 2). The attention to detail with the AI and graphically was just fantastic! The team who built that AI deserves a standing ovation, free trips to anywhere, for as long as they want, all expenses paid!!! It is so engaging, so interesting and so very human in so many ways. They look one another in the eye, as well as me. Which really helps to make the illusion of them being "alive" so much more than 3. There is just so much more involved in ts2, which could well have been done for 3, if they hadn't been trying to cut so many corners, or whatever it was they were doing when they built that thing.
I so want them to go back and revisit how they made ts2, I so hope they do so before getting too far into it with ts4. Like so many have stated, it is far too late for 3 to ever be as good as 2, but maybe...just maybe they will pull it off with 4. I hope so, anyway.
edit: actually, this thread has got me interested to see just how much they do now, since I normally only notice townies when they are fighting or flirting near my Sim. I might try just watching community lots for a bit, and posting the results as a thread, to see how much really goes on.
I don't want to hijack this thread, but I decided to do this purely for fun and the ongoing results are here, just in case anyone is interested. It's a mixed bag so far. Some things about the autonomous actions have been better than I thought, some dodgier.
edit: actually, this thread has got me interested to see just how much they do now, since I normally only notice townies when they are fighting or flirting near my Sim. I might try just watching community lots for a bit, and posting the results as a thread, to see how much really goes on.
I don't want to hijack this thread, but I decided to do this purely for fun and the ongoing results are here, just in case anyone is interested. It's a mixed bag so far. Some things about the autonomous actions have been better than I thought, some dodgier.
Lol i think you proved my point with that thread though anyway my idea how to get some of the detail back.
We need an emotions bar that governs the sims ai, expressions, and interactions. However it will not govern the mood bar but it an affect the mood bar. A sim that is sad it will be hard to help them have fun. Or a sim that is hyper his energy bar will go down a lot slower he will not be sleepy. A sim that is happy his mood bars will go up faster. A sim that is angry his comfort bar will go up slowly. Now that being said Traits affect the sims emotions. For example when your evil sims does a good deed, it will make him angry or sad as in his trait he doesn't like being good. When your sims trait says you have a grumpy sim he's actully going to be happy to be grumpy.
Traits also need a huge make over Sims need more traits to choose from over all in personality. It has always been 5 however i feel now it should be 7 to choose from. We need more traits as well especially polar opposite traits. Traits with commitment issues should have a polar opposite trait like loyal. Flirty should have chaste. We are missing lots of traits. Now of those 7 traits 3 traits should be negative and simmers will have to choose 3 bad things about their sims. I feel this helps to make more funny well rounded sims instead of the bland ones.
Now the other problem with traits is that talent traits are mixed in with personality traits. I feel strongly they should be seperated. So the trait system should have 3 categories, Personaly 7 trait slots, Talent traits 5 trait slots, Attraction 7 trait slots. Talent traits help with careers, life time wants and wishes. If you choose the correct personality traits that will also help you in your career. For example a person that does not like children but desires to be a teacher lol. Well he's going to have a hard time with his career until he becomes a college professor. Again putting challenge and uniqueness back into sims.
Attraction simmers can pick 4 things they are attracted to another sim and 3 things they find unattractive. However i feel their should be more to attraction than looks. Instead of being attracted to a sims skill like the old way i think simms should be attracted to anothers personality traits. So simmers will have a choice to pick physical attraction and personality. Simmers will pick what they are not attracted to both physicall and personality. Again by just adjusting this you change how the sims interact with one another. There is more detail to it.
Now there is only the problem of limited interactions. I feel sims should have more interactions. More to do in game, hold hands, fight, slap, pinch, slow dance, classic dance, seranade and play an instrument, propose in 4 different new ways besides getting down on one knee, cry on someone shoulder, actually cry with tears, comfort, cheer up, tease, (i think teasing is in there though), have 5 differen greetings, etc. Anyway it's not impossible to fix why this part of sims isn't detailed and advanced. It's wether or not they will do it. Which i am hoping they will for sims 4. I doubt i'll see it in 3.
...No what i am saying is what is actually missing from the game, and that is the detail of the AI, detail of the sims personality, and detail in the game period. Smiling and displaying those emmotions at the proper time. For example my sims and his girlfriend broke up. Not even 3 game hours later he's clapping his hands cheering. Wth for you just broke up with your girl. Same with the pregnancy, mommy to be doesn't even sit down and smile and rub her belly or talk to it at all. Who the hell here carried a child and never interacted with it before it was born. We don't even know if the sims is happy or sad at becoming a mom because she virtually shows not inclination towards such a big event in her life. I can give dozens more examples of where sims should be showing emotions and they don't.
I think you are so right, Anavastia. I want to tell you guys what happened in my ts2 game today. I can't tell you how shocked and surprised and simply amazed at the emotions exhibited by my ts2 Sims.
For years now, I have played Gilbert and Denise Jacquet, from ofb. Maxis made sims. I tweak them here and there, but primarily, they are who Maxis made them. I am doing something very different with them this time around. I had Denise adopt 2 babies and aged Gilbert (who I renamed Mac) down to send him to college. He was coming home for visits and he just loves those two siblings. Autonomously, they hug and kiss one another, I just love that about them.
But Denise got involved romantically with the repair guy, Waylon. Both are elders, for those of you who don't know these sims. He moved in, and just seems to adore Denise. Well, the youngest of the 3 kids, aged up to teen and the two boys were invited over to watch her age up. After she became a teen, Waylon grabbed Denise and squeezed her romantically. Mac (formerly, Gilbert) had a conniption fit. He yelled at poor Waylon, poked him and in general, was just horrible! (Mac doesn't live in the household, so I couldn't get them to make up, so I just quit and will deal with them all later, lol).
Okay, my point here is that nothing that dramatic has ever happened to me in my ts3 game (which btw, I am playing again, along with 2). The attention to detail with the AI and graphically was just fantastic! The team who built that AI deserves a standing ovation, free trips to anywhere, for as long as they want, all expenses paid!!! It is so engaging, so interesting and so very human in so many ways. They look one another in the eye, as well as me. Which really helps to make the illusion of them being "alive" so much more than 3. There is just so much more involved in ts2, which could well have been done for 3, if they hadn't been trying to cut so many corners, or whatever it was they were doing when they built that thing.
I so want them to go back and revisit how they made ts2, I so hope they do so before getting too far into it with ts4. Like so many have stated, it is far too late for 3 to ever be as good as 2, but maybe...just maybe they will pull it off with 4. I hope so, anyway.
The people that made the AI in sims 2 i feel did a fantastic job as well. That level of detail can surely be put into the future series. Really what happened with that ai it all is interwebbed together. Shows how focused on the details of sims they where. Infact i could see the braim storming power. If i caught someone cheating on me how would i react. I would be angry at first, i would get in their face yell and shout. I may even fight. I might cry depending on how serious it was, i may even break up, divorce, walk out.
If someone stole from me how would I react to them. What type of person am I would consider. If im a loyal family oriented sims or if i am a flirty vengeful sims, or if im unfeeling with commitment issues. If they were my enemy how would i react to them. Then the question goes how would they react back at me. How would i feel about it later. How does that affect the kids, how does this affect my family. Etc. YES! I want this level of detail in sims 3.
That's how i know will right still worked on sims 2, why because his thought process is still there and his attention to detail. I am positive that they went to him for advice and im even more positive though he didn't work on the coding his suggestions stood firm with the team and they followed his ideals for the game. His thought process is all through sims 2. However to me Rod Humble is a terrible developer and producer, his thought process is not creative and he tends to be very lazy in his work. His attention to detail is horrible and i've seen that in everything he's done. You can't blame the team for making something they are told to do, by a man with talentless visions.
However somewhere on that team there is someone who thinks the same we do and understand how important detail and depth is. That is the person they really want to raise up in ranks and get in charge of sims. Why because that attention to detail will help the series to blossom and grow and i feel simmers will enjoy playing a game that adds challenge, detail, fun, variety, and humor.
This is the blank, empty stare I was talking about, so it's definitely not just happening in my game. Maybe I just notice it more and I'm picky enough that it really bothers me. TS2 Sims would never do that. They are always looking around and interacting. It makes them seem much more alive to me. TS3 Sims look so soulless when they get that stare.
I think your experiment is a great idea, by the way.
Yeah the blank stare is a problem, i think also the lighting is too. It really adds shading in the wrong places so that the sims look very odd. I wish the lighting when outside was a lot brighter and softer. The shading less harsh. I'm not sure why the shadow is casting in that way.
I'd love to see some improvements with the eyes in sims 3 and i think thaat might be some of the culprit. >.< swear we need more sliders to help with the big forehead syndrome.
I want to point to the shading on the neck is very wrong, especially since her head is slightly tilted. Also they are outside near a fence yet none of the shadows from the fence are casted onto the in a proper way. I don't know it just seems very ood >.<.
Comments
Yeah. But... why would you want? What's the point of a community lot based around the idea of sitting quietly and reading?
They could have at least added a grumpy Ms. Crumplebottom-style librarian who would shush you for talking too loud or playing computer games (since Sims are constantly doing that). I mean, give me something entertaining.
"We've been attributing the state of The Sims 4 to greed but I think it's time to give sheer incompetence another look."
-Honeywell
Most libraries have computers and, well, you can always stick in an area for kids and a small part devoted to playing card games and chess...
Have to agree, my game feels empty
I never thought I'd get so fed up with The Sims...
I guess there are always going to be animation glitches, which is what seems to be going on with the CC TS2 Sim in that pic (I can honestly say that I've never had that happen in TS2). But the TS3 Sims do it all the time. At least mine do.
I would really like to see it toned down in TS4. I can get some normal-looking smiles in TS2:
But I'm hoping for better expressions in TS4 -- I'd like more subtle and not so crazy. The graphics/animations are what gives my Sims their personality and lets them display emotion. The game can tell me what they are feeling, but it doesn't mean anything to me if I can't see it on their faces.
Very clever Cryon!! Thanks for the tip
What's wrong with Crazy?
She is stunned by his good looks.
You know those Sunset Valley girls, they got them crazy eyes
To get back to the OP for a second, I like the open neighborhood because having to play every member of a family to make sure they all stayed appropriate ages was a gamebreaker for me after about two generations. I used to limit the amount of kids my Sims had just because I couldn't stand having some remain young, but also had no interest in playing them. Plus I really love stumbling into Sims I've placed hanging around community lots, or catching them cheating on their spouses in the park.
Here's a good way to see the difference between TS2 & 3, freeze TS3 sims motives at max... They will just stand perfectly still for hours on end (even if there's someone else in the room), TS2 sims however will still continue to function.
I'm pretty sure that EA could've added a simple system that would age up all sims in a neighbourhood and attached sub-hoods at the same time, but again it'd kill a major selling point of TS3.
As for 'seeing' the sims around the town, I'm afraid that's about all you CAN do... See them, they're automatons otherwise.
I suspect we aren't going to agree on this, but I don't find them so bad in terms of interaction that it ruins the game. At the same lot I've seen non-playable Sims set up laptops at counters, reject advances from men who weren't their husbands and have large jam sessions. (edit: oh, and fight. That happens an odd amount)
Whilst they certainly aren't as good as EA could and should have made them, and I do wish they'd do more, I personally don't find that my townies just stand there doing nothing.
edit: actually, this thread has got me interested to see just how much they do now, since I normally only notice townies when they are fighting or flirting near my Sim. I might try just watching community lots for a bit, and posting the results as a thread, to see how much really goes on.
No im not talking about the facial expression i said that im taking about the AI Auto Interactions. Read the whole post coby to see what im talking about. Dark and Kir are talking about facial expressions im talking about the actual interactions of the sims. I know what graphics and what applies to graphics thank you.
Most of sims 2 in their gameplay and design, their interactions dont' center just around them. Like when a sim passes out you will see another sim become worried, i've even seen the sims walk over to try and cheer up another sim. They really are designed well to interact with their environement, and thier situation. When sims 3 came out i was expecting to be blown away by the possibilities of this one feature in sims being expanded on. Only to find out it's barely even implemented or has been replaced by moodlets. That is so frustrating.
How often in sims 3 can your sims walk into a room and his heart swoon, when he seels his loved one. Or if he thinks his loved one is smoking hot does he do anything in his ai towards that person. We don't even have an attraction system to dating anymore that governs that. Does someone closest to your sims run out greating them. Do they try to cheer one another up, with out you controlling them. How often when you are watching the chat bubbles do the series of that chat bubble seem to be telling you how your sims day went or you can tell it was a past memory. No way have i found that kind of detail in sims 3 yet. 6 ep's in and a possible 2-4 ep's left and still we have the same lack luster sims and lack luster neighborhood.
Yes the facial expression has to do with animation which i said, sometimes the crazy looks can be on the players end and sometimes it's on the codings end or animations. We've gotten pretty advanced in gameplay but i haven't truly seen a game yet that can do very detailed facial expressions. To me it's not really about that as much as it's about the timing. of it all. I don't want to see my sims skipping around 2 days later after his wife died lol. I certainly hate seeing that moodlets have replaced much of the ai of the sims. Like if my sims is hyper i want to see it not read about it. If my sims in love i want to see it not read. I don't like that the detail is lacking in that way.
LOL, CK!
There is definitely a time and place for crazy faces. My guy tends to look a little insane when he's throwing axes:
And the girl I posted earlier makes some great faces:
They just usually don't seem quite as exaggerated to me, which I prefer most of the time.
We were originally talking about the same thing, and I definitely agree with you, Anavastia. I was trying to use the facial expressions to illustrate the interactions, but it got off topic, sorry. :oops:
Anyway, the original point I was trying to make is that I wish they had focused on the AI, interactions, emotions, animations, graphics, etc. of the Sims themselves in TS3 instead of the open neighborhood concept. They can keep the open world in TS4, but I would rather have Sims with more depth all around. The Sims are way more important to me than the town.
It's okay, but i agree especially when it comes to all ages of the sims. Honestly i think improving the actual sims will improve the town. Why because it will liven it up. I also want to see control given back to the player, provide tools for our own venues, let us to do our own story lines. Let us decide what's right and wrong in our games. If they make another open neighborhood. For goodness sakes design the neighborhood so at the very least there will be tons of stuff to do in that neighborhood. If you can't make it all fit in one neighborhood, than bring back sub hoods. People love exploring and discovering new things. I think even the build/design players would love to have sub hoods where they can build and design downtowns, waterparks, malls, or countrysides, etc.
Bring in hwere players can make their own venues anda variety. I am sure they will find their sales perk up. Why you're not only creating more gameplay for both types of players, your creating a way for one player to advance the difficulty of game.
Again i am gonna disagree with this part...i have found my pregnant sims are always autonomously rubbing there bellys....and when left to there own when greating a sim...i see a baby in their thought bubble alot....and when she does finally go into labor...no matter where she is when it happens...she goes to the hospital and i find the daddy there waiting for her and they go in together...
diagree again....i have a legacy family in HS....and i cycle through playing the kids now that are on their own....i ALWAYS find say 1 sim sees her sister at the laundry mat...she turns her head waves and says hello...and then goes about her business.....i have see the mom of the bunch dance with her kids at the local disco...sames goes for the park...1 has a dog...and went to the park...her brother came over and started playing with the dog and then started chatting with my sim....
If you guys aren't experiencing things like this then something is wrong with your game...
You failed to see my point at all. I said how often do you see a pregnant sims smile and rub her belly, or talk to her belly. I find it funny that just like in sims 2 others can interact with the belly. However just rubbing the belly wasn't my point which you failed the miss. Where is the other ai to the sims to show her feelings about being pregnant. Let alone the other family members. I never see any sibiling excercise any emotions about their mother bringing in a new family member. Nor do i even see proud father to be do too much. Most the time your sims are jumping for joy because their moodlet is up. You don't even see mommy get a back ache she gets a moodlet that say she has one.
Like when she gets tried, you don't see her randomly crying from a moodswing, or getting cranky. Or just eating to be eating on her own at all. If want even that last bit it has to be player controlled.
I certainly don't see any lover ai, no blowing kisses, no smoking hot wow you look good ai. In other words there isn't detail there and it's disappointing. However if a loved one comes into a room you get a moodlet. I remember even in sims 1 if you walked into the bathroom on someone you were at least getting a shreik and the sim hurried up and ducked down. You don't even get stuff like that. You get an embarrassed moodlet. Like i said where is the dept and detail to this.
Also like i said how often does it all connect into a cycle. Like my sims got robbed in sims 3 you think their conversations to said friends would be about the robber nope, it's about some weird flower thing. The conversations normally have nothing to do about their events they're so random and so misplaced. Especially when them to be happy because their moodlets are boosted, however the events around them should be sad. Even the dang natural disaster, creates not reaction later on from them. My sims family was struck 2 times but a meteor. Not one of them showed any fear later one. During yeah they looked at the sky like what's that. Aftewards no reaction and the same with the town people.
Even the nemisis factor has no detail, you'd think if your sims are fighting they'd have more than just a moodlet, and arguments. What happened to being vindictive or vengeful. You declare you dislike this person, you fight that's just about it. You'd think if somene brought up said person in a conversation the sims would get mad and go storming off. What about cheating sims that get caught, again the spouse marriage just fell apart not even a few sim hours later. She's clapping hands and enjoying herself.
so yeah i disagree with you, it's not my computer my sims aren't going to do things they aren't programmed to. To have that kind of detail my sims needs to be programmed.
Honestly, if you don't want to play sims 3 and would prefer to be playing sims 2, well then stop complaining and just do it. Go play sims 2 instead..
I think you are so right, Anavastia. I want to tell you guys what happened in my ts2 game today. I can't tell you how shocked and surprised and simply amazed at the emotions exhibited by my ts2 Sims.
For years now, I have played Gilbert and Denise Jacquet, from ofb. Maxis made sims. I tweak them here and there, but primarily, they are who Maxis made them. I am doing something very different with them this time around. I had Denise adopt 2 babies and aged Gilbert (who I renamed Mac) down to send him to college. He was coming home for visits and he just loves those two siblings. Autonomously, they hug and kiss one another, I just love that about them.
But Denise got involved romantically with the repair guy, Waylon. Both are elders, for those of you who don't know these sims. He moved in, and just seems to adore Denise. Well, the youngest of the 3 kids, aged up to teen and the two boys were invited over to watch her age up. After she became a teen, Waylon grabbed Denise and squeezed her romantically. Mac (formerly, Gilbert) had a conniption fit. He yelled at poor Waylon, poked him and in general, was just horrible! (Mac doesn't live in the household, so I couldn't get them to make up, so I just quit and will deal with them all later, lol).
Okay, my point here is that nothing that dramatic has ever happened to me in my ts3 game (which btw, I am playing again, along with 2). The attention to detail with the AI and graphically was just fantastic! The team who built that AI deserves a standing ovation, free trips to anywhere, for as long as they want, all expenses paid!!! It is so engaging, so interesting and so very human in so many ways. They look one another in the eye, as well as me. Which really helps to make the illusion of them being "alive" so much more than 3. There is just so much more involved in ts2, which could well have been done for 3, if they hadn't been trying to cut so many corners, or whatever it was they were doing when they built that thing.
I so want them to go back and revisit how they made ts2, I so hope they do so before getting too far into it with ts4. Like so many have stated, it is far too late for 3 to ever be as good as 2, but maybe...just maybe they will pull it off with 4. I hope so, anyway.
I don't want to hijack this thread, but I decided to do this purely for fun and the ongoing results are here, just in case anyone is interested. It's a mixed bag so far. Some things about the autonomous actions have been better than I thought, some dodgier.
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/483330.page
Lol i think you proved my point with that thread though anyway my idea how to get some of the detail back.
We need an emotions bar that governs the sims ai, expressions, and interactions. However it will not govern the mood bar but it an affect the mood bar. A sim that is sad it will be hard to help them have fun. Or a sim that is hyper his energy bar will go down a lot slower he will not be sleepy. A sim that is happy his mood bars will go up faster. A sim that is angry his comfort bar will go up slowly. Now that being said Traits affect the sims emotions. For example when your evil sims does a good deed, it will make him angry or sad as in his trait he doesn't like being good. When your sims trait says you have a grumpy sim he's actully going to be happy to be grumpy.
Traits also need a huge make over Sims need more traits to choose from over all in personality. It has always been 5 however i feel now it should be 7 to choose from. We need more traits as well especially polar opposite traits. Traits with commitment issues should have a polar opposite trait like loyal. Flirty should have chaste. We are missing lots of traits. Now of those 7 traits 3 traits should be negative and simmers will have to choose 3 bad things about their sims. I feel this helps to make more funny well rounded sims instead of the bland ones.
Now the other problem with traits is that talent traits are mixed in with personality traits. I feel strongly they should be seperated. So the trait system should have 3 categories, Personaly 7 trait slots, Talent traits 5 trait slots, Attraction 7 trait slots. Talent traits help with careers, life time wants and wishes. If you choose the correct personality traits that will also help you in your career. For example a person that does not like children but desires to be a teacher lol. Well he's going to have a hard time with his career until he becomes a college professor. Again putting challenge and uniqueness back into sims.
Attraction simmers can pick 4 things they are attracted to another sim and 3 things they find unattractive. However i feel their should be more to attraction than looks. Instead of being attracted to a sims skill like the old way i think simms should be attracted to anothers personality traits. So simmers will have a choice to pick physical attraction and personality. Simmers will pick what they are not attracted to both physicall and personality. Again by just adjusting this you change how the sims interact with one another. There is more detail to it.
Now there is only the problem of limited interactions. I feel sims should have more interactions. More to do in game, hold hands, fight, slap, pinch, slow dance, classic dance, seranade and play an instrument, propose in 4 different new ways besides getting down on one knee, cry on someone shoulder, actually cry with tears, comfort, cheer up, tease, (i think teasing is in there though), have 5 differen greetings, etc. Anyway it's not impossible to fix why this part of sims isn't detailed and advanced. It's wether or not they will do it. Which i am hoping they will for sims 4. I doubt i'll see it in 3.
The people that made the AI in sims 2 i feel did a fantastic job as well. That level of detail can surely be put into the future series. Really what happened with that ai it all is interwebbed together. Shows how focused on the details of sims they where. Infact i could see the braim storming power. If i caught someone cheating on me how would i react. I would be angry at first, i would get in their face yell and shout. I may even fight. I might cry depending on how serious it was, i may even break up, divorce, walk out.
If someone stole from me how would I react to them. What type of person am I would consider. If im a loyal family oriented sims or if i am a flirty vengeful sims, or if im unfeeling with commitment issues. If they were my enemy how would i react to them. Then the question goes how would they react back at me. How would i feel about it later. How does that affect the kids, how does this affect my family. Etc. YES! I want this level of detail in sims 3.
That's how i know will right still worked on sims 2, why because his thought process is still there and his attention to detail. I am positive that they went to him for advice and im even more positive though he didn't work on the coding his suggestions stood firm with the team and they followed his ideals for the game. His thought process is all through sims 2. However to me Rod Humble is a terrible developer and producer, his thought process is not creative and he tends to be very lazy in his work. His attention to detail is horrible and i've seen that in everything he's done. You can't blame the team for making something they are told to do, by a man with talentless visions.
However somewhere on that team there is someone who thinks the same we do and understand how important detail and depth is. That is the person they really want to raise up in ranks and get in charge of sims. Why because that attention to detail will help the series to blossom and grow and i feel simmers will enjoy playing a game that adds challenge, detail, fun, variety, and humor.
This is the blank, empty stare I was talking about, so it's definitely not just happening in my game. Maybe I just notice it more and I'm picky enough that it really bothers me. TS2 Sims would never do that. They are always looking around and interacting. It makes them seem much more alive to me. TS3 Sims look so soulless when they get that stare.
I think your experiment is a great idea, by the way.
I'd love to see some improvements with the eyes in sims 3 and i think thaat might be some of the culprit. >.< swear we need more sliders to help with the big forehead syndrome.
I want to point to the shading on the neck is very wrong, especially since her head is slightly tilted. Also they are outside near a fence yet none of the shadows from the fence are casted onto the in a proper way. I don't know it just seems very ood >.<.