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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 1:53 AM
Default what EA messed up the most in the Sims 3
i just wanted to know what you people thought EA messed up the most in the Sims 3. (i.e. what they did and what you think they should have done.)

i loved how EA let us recolor almost everything in Sims 3. but that's it. ALMOST everything. i hate how we can't color the roofs, fire alarm,burglar alarm, and anything else i forgot to mention. the whole game is about customization. LET ME CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING!


(p.s. i know there are recolors on this site for what i said but i would rather be able to recolor them myself.)

I'm cooler than cool! I'm stupid!
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Inventor
#2 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 2:09 AM
.. pudding faces. With all the new features for making a face in TS3 you still need CC to make the sims somehow good looking. Everyone in game looked so similar compared to TS2, and the guys have quite feminine faces. Aswell as the lack of cultural differences. It was just the same face in different colors.. No recognizable features. Just robots..
Scholar
#3 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 2:26 AM
I think not being able to create our own community lots is the biggest mistake.

Many of the rabbitholes are understandable. However, the store and restaurant ones are not. Creating community lots was a major feature for me in the first two games so the lack of this in The Sims 3 had killed it for me for a while.

♫ Keeping this here until EA gives us a proper playable woodwind/brass instrument ♫
For now, though, my decorative Bassoon conversion for TS4. =)
Theorist
#4 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 2:31 AM
Just last month I bought the deluxe game (I gave my original copy away) to give it another go thinking an expansion pack and all of the patches might have made a difference and I still just couldn't get into it.

When Sims 3 first came out I could have given you a detailed list of what I liked and hated game play wise but by now the only thing that stands out is really how the game looks. I absolutely loathe the way the game displays, so much so that the game play doesn't even matter to me now. I'm not sure if it's a lighting issue, the art style or what but it's really unappealing to me.
Instructor
#5 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 2:59 AM
Banical Bay as a download instead of a disk if I'm going to spend $20 on a game I would Like to have a hard copy just in case something horriable would happen to my computer
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 3:16 AM
Unfortunately I think the problem is The Sims franchise is so popular that EA knows they don't have to work very hard to make millions of dollars. Sure they could make the game better, but what's in it for them if most sim fans will buy anything they come out with anyway? Another sad truth is that it seems more than half of the official Sims 3 objects are from the Sims 3 store.


The Sims 3 feels more like I'm playing The Sims 2.5. Being able to travel around the neighborhood and having a dynamically changing neighborhood are really amazing features, as well as being able to customize everything, but there's way too many features from The Sims 2 that were left out. Even now The Sims 2 build mode offers a lot more flexibility and detail than The Sims 3. Where are my spiral and modular staircases? Why do chimneys still only come in one color? So we still can't have attached garages in houses with a foundation? The only major upgrade from Sims 2 to Sims 3 build mode is official support for basements. *shrug*

Progressing from one generation to the next should mean the new game has everything from the sims 2 and more. Yet we still don't have weather or pets in the base game, and plenty of objects are missing like pool tables (Really, no pool tables? Especially in Late Night, where the whole point of the game is going out to bars?), and all of the expansions have pretty much been repeats. Paying for features we already paid for in The Sims 2 is pretty silly to me. And there's always an endless list of horrible bugs with every XP that could have been easily identified and fixed with a reasonable amount of play testing.

And I feel like Late Night is such a facade. You have all these big buildings but they really only have one family or business in each. It's basically just a bunch of regular houses pretending to be skyscrapers.

Overall I do prefer TS3 just for the color mixing and open neighborhood, when I played TS2 I would never leave the house because everything took forever to load. I just feel like EA is being way too stingy when it comes to development, and I actually kind of hope one of the future EPs is a sales failure so they finally get the point.
Forum Resident
#7 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 3:17 AM
I think the sims lack of life. Sims dont have cute little detailed things that they did. Now they kind of just stand around like robots, with no life
Instructor
#8 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 5:38 AM
Ugly, lifeless Sims.

Taking out Memories and the storytelling tools.

Removing genetics.
Field Researcher
#9 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 7:55 AM
Maybe it's been too long since I've played TS2 to remember but for me, the list is small.

1) Obviously no "simple" way to create your own town.
2) Genetics (or lack of)
3) Lighting/shadows (who in the fresh hell approved this as being 'good'?)
4) I can't remember if this was in TS2 or if I just made it up but removing being able to delete CC in game (maybe you can and Im just blind).
5) No activities or interactions with each other (especially children/parents). I think its rubbish that they decided to set that aside to dedicate an entire EP to that instead.

Other than that, I can't think of any other things that irritate me at the moment lol
Mad Poster
#10 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 8:01 AM
Quote: Originally posted by idontnoWHOiam
but there's way too many features from The Sims 2 that were left out. Even now The Sims 2 build mode offers a lot more flexibility and detail than The Sims 3. Where are my spiral and modular staircases? Why do chimneys still only come in one color? So we still can't have attached garages in houses with a foundation?

A spiral staircase, as much as I miss it I wouldn't say it's adding that much flexibility to build mode. it didn't even exist until the last EP, so it not as if it was something that we were able to enjoy for the 5 years that TS2 was in production. It was something we whined about after every EP for 4.5 years until it finally came out and then we enjoyed it for 0.5 years before TS3 came out.

You mention basements briefly, but having basement support from the game is a huge thing. Basements in TS2 were unplayable. They were advertised in many chat scripts before TS2 came out, but in the end they were just bad and horrible.

Another big improvement to build mode, and apart from the basement, it's my second favorite thing, the ability to drag walls. It makes building so much more easier when when you re-size your house on the fly. No more demolishing and re-building and then noticing in play mode I have forgotten the wallpaper. So just because build mode TS3 is missing a few things from TS2, if you turn the table around, I would say TS2 is missing a huge flexibility aspect in building because it doesn't have proper basements, or the ability to drag walls.

Quote:
Yet we still don't have weather or pets in the base game,
If the pets trailer we saw, really is the pets game we are getting as an expansion, then I'm glad they didn't add pets in the base-game. Yes it would have been a quick fix for having a cat and a dog, but again if the trailer is for real, then 2.5 years is a short time to wait if it means we are also getting horses, raccoons and wild animals + other things we don't know about yet.

Quote:
and plenty of objects are missing like pool tables (Really, no pool tables? Especially in Late Night, where the whole point of the game is going out to bars?),
Isn't the point of going out into a bar drinking and dancing? A pool-table, is a fun object to have, but there is much more to going out than just that. Poor TS2 sims are stuck drink the same watery drink nigh after night. No dancing on tables for them. Also no blowing up things, or riding a bike, or drinking nectar, or doing laundry.

Quote:
and all of the expansions have pretty much been repeats. Paying for features we already paid for in The Sims 2 is pretty silly to me.


idontnoWHOiam: How can you complain about TS3 not having everything that TS2 has, as well as complain about having to pay for it again. Even if all these things you want would have been in the base game, you still would have had to pay for them again.

When TS2 came out, it did not have everything that TS1 had, and most of the things that got shifted from TS1 to TS2 later on, were just a duller version of what it was in TS1. Pets and magic for example, and what about all the things that never made it to TS2, like superstar, or the ice-cream stands, or the lovely chocolate boxes you could get from friends when they visited, because instead of just copy-pasting, EA decided to give us new things. Does that make TS2 a 1.5 version of TS1? I doubt anybody would agree on that statement. But if you go to a TS1 dedicated forum, you will fast find that they find TS2 to be a luke-warm version of the game they love.

Anyhow, my list.
- the default face townies the game generates
- everybody getting a car and a musical instrument when not playing their house
- how the game interferes with households when not playing them, like if a household has less than 500§ when you switch households the game will modify the funds to 500§ for some reason
- genetics, they are not horrible, but they could be better

There is more but I can't remember them all right now. But none of these things are deal-breakers for me. The list of thins EA did do well, is much much longer than the list of things they failed at. But pointing out the faults is easier, because when something is done well, you kind of don't notice it.
Theorist
#11 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 11:43 AM
I would say the biggest mess up is how lifeless and dull the neighborhoods feel. It's pretty but there's not enough of it that's actually alive. Apart from pigeons, fish, and insects, there's hardly any wildlife. I also miss a lot of the NPC's from TS1. At least Unleashed looks like it will improve the wildlife aspect, and World Adventures and Late Night added a few NPC's.

How sims look when outside kind of irks me too. They just look so wrong. Not good for pictures. *Sigh*
Inventor
#12 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 12:13 PM Last edited by QueenJimmyIV : 18th Mar 2011 at 6:27 PM.
I think a lot of the sims they created to populate Bridgeport. I've used the Master Controller to plop those simmies into CAS 90% of the time... and I'm someone who actually kinda likes pudding face. But only the sims in all the worlds previous. The only sim that I ever took into CAS in Sunset Valley was Bella when she aged up... and only because she looked like the population of Bridgeport! I mean, seriously, I think a lot of them look like cartoon characters and caricatures rather than actual people. The vampires are the perfect example. On one female vampire alone, her facial features were so extreme that her fangs cut through her cheeks and were visible when her mouth was closed. Here eyes were huge and slanted at a way that no person's eyes would really slant and her cheekbones and jawline could cut diamonds. They'd also made her have the biggest breasts available, but also cranked her muscle tone and mass all the way up and fat all the way down so she had flat boobs that stuck out really far. It looked like she'd shoved books into her bra. Dead serious.

Most of the Bridgeport characters have eyes that are cartoonishly big, ears that are too small, cheekbones that are way too sharp, and have you seen the chests on the majority of the ladies in town? Wow...

While it isn't their biggest issue, it's the one most on my mind right now as I'm currently giving all of Bridgeport makeovers.
Instructor
#13 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 12:59 PM
Disclaimer: I didn't play the Sims 2 extensively, though I had played the Sims 1 somewhat extensively. So there are things I'm aware of in the Sims 2, though it's not the same as playing it.

I think that EA did a great job with the Sims 3, although I do have some gripes with it, as I'm sure everyone else does too. Here are mine.

1. Elevators and Basements weren't included in the base game.

The ADA of 1992 effectively requires elevators in any publicly accessible building with more than one story, to make them accessible to wheelchair people. Apartment buildings, and I believe historical sites are exempt from this requirement.

Also, I find it curious that few pre-built Sims 3 houses have basements, and the basement tool wasn't included in the base game. Why? Because just about every house I've ever seen has a basement. At least around here. In fact, I take it for granted that every house has a basement. I've yet to see one in real life that doesn't.

2. No Ramps

This is still a problem. No ramps? Seriously? There's so many reasons to use ramps. The primary use is to use them in lieu of stairs, but there's other ways they can be used as well.

3. No canes, crutches, or wheelchairs.

I realize that the Sims series isn't 100% realistic, but this isn't too much to ask, is it? While unfortunate, sometimes people do end up in wheelchairs, or need to use crutches at least temporarily. To be nice, perhaps wheelchair Sims with a high Athletic skill will be able to pull themselves up stairs (so they could still complete tombs, for instance). For the record, I'm not a wheelchair man.

4. Restaurants are rabbit holes.

I would prefer to actually see them during meal time, with waiters, the maitre'd, and everything. Perhaps this will be introduced in another EP.

5. The Sims 3 doesn't have a 64-bit EXE.

It could be offered as a download. It wouldn't even encourage piracy, since the other files would still be needed. Why do I mention this? TS3 is very graphic, CPU, and RAM intensive. This may not be the case with most people yet, but if someone has 8+ GB of RAM, wouldn't it be nice to be able to use it all? Imagine a Sims 3 world with thousands of Sims (though that would probably need 16+ cores and 64+ GB of RAM). Even today, 4GB of RAM isn't unheard of.

I mention this since I notice that the EXE often uses close to 2GB of RAM.

6. The lighting doesn't transition between floors.

Imagine you have a foyer that's two stories tall. There's no floor on the second story, and no ceiling on the first. If you place a light on the ceiling of the second story, it won't light the first story even though it should. This can be partially fixed if you have WA, though to get tomb lighting you need to use buydebug on. This problem happens regardless of whether it happens inside or outside.

7. The 5 story limit.

I understand that in TS2 you could have 40+ stories. I'd rather see a limit of say, 1,024 floors so that way it pretty much depends on the capabilities of your PC.

8. Child Sim restrictions are too tight.

These restrictions include: They can't play instruments, they can't learn the charisma skill, they can't change the diaper of a toddler, and without mods, male child Sims can't use the urinal.

When I was a child myself, it wasn't unreasonable for me to hear about other children learning the piano, violin, etc. I even tried it myself once upon a time, though that's a story for a different time. As for when I learned how to use a urinal? I can't remember, but I'm pretty sure it was before elementary school.

Also, I could be wrong, but is it really unreasonable to ask a 10 year old to change the diaper of his much younger sibling?

9. No pool tables?

Hopefully these will be introduced in another EP. I'm not experienced in object and animation creation so unfortunately I can't make one.

10. No diving boards for pools.

11. Child Sims can't "impress" a celebrity if their star level is lower than that of the target.

But sometimes Children can be amazing at certain tasks.

12. Without mods, Vampires aren't immortal.

I know that Vampires in the Sims 3 universe aren't exactly like those in traditional folklore, but I think they could have let them keep immortality.

13. Newborns and Toddlers can't travel to WA destinations, yet they're allowed to be left home alone.

I don't know of any parent who's even half-way decent who would leave them home alone. Usually they're left at a family member's house, or they take them along on the trip. In TS3, neither is possible.

14. No ladders or spiral staircases.

15. Multiple jobs/careers aren't allowed.

In real life, some people work a second, part-time job. But in TS3 that's not possible. I would even settle for the ability for a Sim to have a career and one of most professions. Maybe not firefighter, but I don't see why they couldn't be say, an interior designer at the same time. At least they can always sell sculptures, paintings, or earn tips from instruments regardless of anything else.

16. Tourists in the home world just wander around. There's no hotel that your Sim can visit.

17. The bulletin boards in WA are sometimes erratic since LN was installed.

This still hasn't been fixed. You almost need to use mods to get WA opportunities in a timely manner.

18. There aren't more career types.

So you have mailmen, pizza delivery, maids, etc. but your Sim can't hold those jobs. Using a mod to assign your Sim as a service Sim won't provide the desired results, since service Sims can't be in the active household.

19. Pizza delivery? Maids? Where's the actual pizza restaurant and maid agency?

I'm probably just splitting hairs on this one, but this has always seemed a bit strange to me.

20. Some service Sims work 24/7.

This, combined with limited interactions available with some, makes it impossible to develop relationships with them without cheats or mods. An added headache to this is certain WA opportunities that can't be completed because the Sim in question is never home. Though a player can fix this using Edit Town and moving a Sim aged YA or higher into the house in question.

This problem could have been easily solved with one of two methods. One, Sims could work in shifts. Or two, the game could check to see if a household has at least two YA or older Sims available. If only one is left, then exempt that Sim from being drafted.

21. Some lot types that should be purchasable aren't, but some that shouldn't be are.

You can buy the city library, parks, and cemetary, but you can't buy the salon? That doesn't make sense to me.

Wow...I could probably go on for a long time, since I came up with 21 things. So I'll write one last thing.

22. Ever since I installed LN, using mods has been a defacto requirement.

The particular mod in question is Twallan's Overwatch. Without it, if I start a Sim family, send them to a WA destination, and then they go home, the game will become corrupted and beyond all repair after about 4-8 Sim weeks pass.

Using Overwatch has literally, single-handedly made TS3 playable again.

I guess this last point really gets me because usually I expect a game to work perfectly, and it would be a mod that would break it. But in this case, a mod fixes it.

But despite the many shortcomings I listed, I still think TS3 is a really great game. The fact I've even spent enough time to come up with these is probably a testament to that.
Banned
#14 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 4:35 PM
Top 5 Biggest fkups in The Sims 3! Brought to you by:

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:...DZ9omF9pXpd&t=1

5. Music is still in simlish, I mean I understand why they made the sims speak a retarded fictional language (to make it seem less repetitive) but why the hell would they make the music in simlish? It's even worse than Justine Bieber! Ok not worse than JB but still just as bad...
4. Bugs / Glitches, Sims 2 had 'em as well but they never EVER left a permanent mark on the save game.
3. Neighborhood editing system
2. General game design... blue streets, puke colored grass etc...
1. Story Progression
Forum Resident
#15 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 4:55 PM
The absolute biggest thing messed up for me - genetics! I miss genetics very much.
Top Secret Researcher
#16 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 5:02 PM
About #5: Songs have to be in Simlish for consistency and realism within game's frames.

Now, my turn...

The biggest turn OFF (completely OFF, I am telling you) is the gameplay, for someone like me who wishes to play a lot of families a la TS2 style. This is number 2 on my list though, for romantic interactions get on number 1. One Sim hour to flirt and give massages till to finally make your partner follow you to the bedroom? Even if your partner is actually your husband/wife? I am taking bets that in TS4 there will be NO SEX at all. Instead, Sims will get satisfaction while meditating side by side.
Theorist
#17 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 5:36 PM
I used to hate how TS3 sims look compared to TS2. Maybe I've just improved at making them or becoming accustomed to them, because I think all the TS3 sims that I've made look a ton better than TS2 sims. I actually like the Bridgeport sims and thought Sunset Valley and Riverview sims were ugly puddings (Twinbrook sims were freaky-ugly, but I liked that). To me, they look better with every new town. I think EA employees are getting better at making them, too.
I do still hate the exterior lighting, and I hate the bloom. Oh how I hate bloom!

What I think they screwed up most on, is omitting the charm and cuteness. A few months ago, I played TS2 for a bit, first time in over a year. It's amazing how much more energetic, cute, and charming the TS2 sims seem compared to TS3. Teens especially, are much, much cuter in TS2. Even their voices and the things they say sounded much cuter. A ton of the cute, charming, and funny interactions in TS2 have been omitted from TS3. In fact, I find there's a significant lack of interactions in TS3 in general. I often have to recycle the same 4 or 5 interactions over and over to build up sims' relationships before new actions show up. I don't remember TS2 being that bad. I would have rather they recycled TS2 animations and actions over leaving them out entirely. There were a lot more Romance and Friendly interactions in TS2, and most were a lot more amusing than TS3. Jealousy was far more entertaining in TS2 as well. What's the most they do in TS3? They shake their shoulders, get a negative moodlet, and then act like it never happened. No slapping, no foot-stomping rage, no anger. Boring! Why would any sim bother to stay faithful, if that's the extent of the repercussions?

Resident wet blanket.
Forum Resident
#18 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 5:38 PM
BenC0722: In England we don't have basements! Some large and old houses have cellars, but I have never seen a basement.
Test Subject
#19 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 5:56 PM
My biggest gripe with the game is the lack of collection folders and as heartbreak said, being able to delete custom content in game. To me, that seems to be the two strangest things to take away. I hate spending 30 minutes in buy mode trying to find items that go with a set. And I am a very precise cc downloader, but sometimes what looks good in a picture doesn't do the same in game. I just want to be able to delete an item without having to exit the game and remove it from the launcher or from my folder. If I'm missing something on how to do this in game, please share because I've tried it all.
Inventor
#20 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 6:37 PM
So someone explain the genetics problem to me... I thought Sims 2 was pretty bad. I could take a female sim, clone her a twin, make the twin male and make the twin her husband and they would have kids that would look DIFFERENT from them. Oh sure the basics would be the same, like the skintone or hair color, but their nose shape wouldn't be like their parents or their jawline wouldn't be right or something. I did this once when I wanted my vampires to all look the same so I cloned a beautiful sim several times over, creating two or three families of them. I had created all the way back to grandparents on each family. The kids got married to each other and, suddenly, the kids don't look the same as everyone else anymore. A few generations pass of the clones all having children with each other and things are REALLY gone. No one even looks like the original family anymore other than eye color, hair color, and skintone.

At least in Sims 3 I can make clones have babies with each other and end up with a clone, at least facially. I occasionally get the blonde hair but it's still the same thing facially. If I merge two different looking sims I can see in their children who ended up with dad's nose or mom's jawline.

I'm not trying to be rude... I just don't understand.
Test Subject
#21 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 8:25 PM
For me (even without custom content or mods) Sims3 was too buggy for long term play. Crashes during saves, weird corruption. Even if the animation weren't so dead and lifeless (compared to Sims2) I could never really get attached to my sims because once I did I'd wind up with a funky bug that would halt my new generation. I ended up reinstalling Sims2 because I'd been feeling so nostalgic and wanted to see what exactly it was that I missed and if I wasn't just making it all up in my head.

Primarily--the number of types of interactions + animations in Sims2 really give it charm. The increased stability is fantastic, I haven't had any crashing issues with Sims2 and I don't suddenly grip my chair anticipating a crash while saving. More importantly, for Sims2 although there were game mods provided by the community the game itself didn't NEED to be modded to increase playability. It seems as though the community has provided for Sims3 what EA should have built in or patched in.

That being said, I continued purchasing Sims3 even after I realized all these things thus contributing to the problem. The game is prettier for sure and certainly it offers a certain type of gaming that people can enjoy but it is discouraging that gameplay and stability have been less important in development than making a game that looks prettier (in the sense that the scenery is better by leaps and bounds).
Banned
#22 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 11:11 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Nalia
About #5: Songs have to be in Simlish for consistency and realism within game's frames.


Figured. Still stupid though.
Lab Assistant
#23 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 11:29 PM Last edited by Pax : 19th Mar 2011 at 12:11 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by TrillianRikku
Banical Bay as a download instead of a disk if I'm going to spend $20 on a game I would Like to have a hard copy just in case something horriable would happen to my computer


You can redownload it from the store as many times as you want after you've bought it.

Reading this thread has made me seriously consider whether or not I want to continue playing The Sims 3. I've been dealing with it's glitchy lifeless nonsense since it came out but just kinda delt with it, thinking EA would improve it with expantions after a while. But as we all know, the expantions just marginally squeak by as being something worth buying. So forget that! I'm installing The Sims 2 and enjoying my game again! The customization and open neighborhood perks are worth losing in favor of sims having a personality, not being pud-tastic, and actually being able to interact. Viva le Sims 2! Not to mention.......custom content.

It's teatime somewhere.
Instructor
#24 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 11:48 PM
Honestly, if they just took exactly what they did with TS1 and TS2, added the traits and open neighborhood, TS3 would be boss. All that I really want back in my game is the humor! Where is Claire the Bear? Unsavory Charlton? The stripper cake?!

TS3 lacks most of the stuff that made the previous games such a success. It really is a shame.
Banned
#25 Old 18th Mar 2011 at 11:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by jay_envy
Honestly, if they just took exactly what they did with TS1 and TS2, added the traits and open neighborhood, TS3 would be boss. All that I really want back in my game is the humor! Where is Claire the Bear? Unsavory Charlton? The stripper cake?!

TS3 lacks most of the stuff that made the previous games such a success. It really is a shame.


I totally agree! :D
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