For ME, the sims 2 base game was vastly superior to the sims 3 base game. When I got the Sims 2 base game, the computer I was running it on was quite old, and I didn't think it was capable of handling any of the expansion packs. I played the TS2 base game--with a few mods to make it interesting (and playable)-- for three years before I got a newer computer and added the expansions. Yes, it was better with expansions, but with just the base game only it was more than capable of holding my interest and being the game I went to most often for three solid years.

TS3, on the other hand, has turned out to be a game I really want to love, and for brief moments I do love it, but I also go for months at a time without ever playing it at all. I didn't bother to get WA; I wasn't playing the base game enough to care much that an expansion was out in the first place, and nothing I read about it really intrigued me. Ambitions sounded interesting, so I did get that, and it has added some mildly interesting stuff, but so far it's the kind of stuff that I play through once, think "that was kinda cool," but not "I want to do that again!" Once is enough.

Maybe it will get better with future expansions, but I'm not sure that I'll care enough to check them out. I can't buy the "The game is fairly new, we shouldn't expect it to be actually GOOD yet," argument, it just doesn't fly for me. Expansions are supposed to EXPAND games; they should be optional things that complement the original game, but not required just to have a good time. It's like a fast food meal. The cheeseburger is the base game. The fries and shake are expansion packs. The argument that we should wait for expansion packs to complete the game is like ordering a hamburger and being asked "Would you like a bun with that?"

Still, TS3 is, in some ways, quite a good game, and I do understand why some people love it very much. I just don't. For me, the difference in TS2 base and TS3 base is that with TS2, the soul of the game was already there and the expansions just added features, while with TS3, I can only hope that there'll be an expansion that adds the soul.

"The Sims 3: Soul and Assgrabbing" Now that would be an expansion I'd buy.

That is not what most posters that like the Sims3 are saying. It certainly isn't what I am saying. I think the Sims3 base game is loads better than the Sims2 base game. YET, at this point the Sims2 has a lot more activities to play around with because of the many EPs. That is just something that will come in time with the Sims3. So far I would rate Ambitions as one of the better EPs for either game. That gives me hope that there are going to be some more great EPs to come.

well now you didn't play a Vanilla Sims 2 Base Game did you...you enhanced it....

Now try again..Sims 2 Base VS Sim 3 Base...NO MODS!!!

But the game is good already, what it is not, is complete.

For me I could easily swap your comment around about the base games. TS2 base game wasn't capable to keep me interested for a long time, heck, TS2 + all EP's didn't keep me interested for month to no end, I always had periods that lasted months when I wouldn't play at all. I didn't get Uni until nightlife was released because I was already on my first break of not having any interest to play when uni first appeared. With TS3 I have not had a break in playing since it came out, I was still very much into it when the first EP came, and even thou I did not need WA to keep me interested, I got it because every EP brings more to the game and it's always fun to have new stuff.

About your comment of playing TS2 base game for three years. It really doesn't seem that you chose to play TS2 base game for three years, what you did was choose between base game, or no game. It wasn't until you got a better computer that you got the choice to play base game, or base game + eps.

TS3 is not perfect, and EA does do a lot of misses (for example the consignment shop and it's crappy functionality or story progression) when they try to be cleaver, but they also do a lot of good. They gave TS3 a lot of the things that TS2 people cried for, like bikes, laundry, or being able to see your sim at work as well as a more leaner social worker who doesn't snatch your kids just because they were home for five minutes without the parents. I would say that the reason most people cry about TS3 being bad is that they expect it to have everything TS2 had with EP's, instead of accepting the fact that it's a new game, under the same principle of the sims, which means it will be different. It will have things from the two previous games, but it will never have all the things both previous games had, but instead it will bring new things into the game that the previous two, didn't have.

When it comes to soul of the sims, I always considered it to be all those tiny funny and silly things sims do on their own or when interacting with each other. For somebody else the soul of the game is turning off free will and having total control over their sims. Now for me overly micromanaged games, or those game that are filled with "stop doing (insert autonomous action of your choice here)" hacks, is a sole killer - regardless of which game I'm playing.

Unfortunately you didn't specify what exactly is the soul of the game for you. Not trying to be mean here, but I really would have liked to know it.



Hmm, how many ways is there to make a toy robot? how many ways were there to make a flower bouquet? how many different ways there are to kiss a sim or make out with them, or rub your sim pets tummy or write a novel? Not trying to burst anybody's bubble here, but the sims games, starting from TS1 is all about repetition. Now the stories in the players head differ and regardless of the repetitive environment our beloved game is, nobody plays this game to see the same flower making animation over and over and over again. We (making an assumption here), play it because the story around the flower making animation is fascinating, not the animation itself.

I have played with ambition but have not yet played any of the new jobs. So far I have only registered my sims to various self employed jobs, like write, farmer, nectar maker and inventor, and to tell the truth, that's already an improvement to the previous sims games, or even to TS3 before ambition. Maybe when I actually start working on the real jobs, I will see the error in my ways and send my sims back to their rabbit hole jobs where i don't have to look at them between 9:00 - 17:00, but even then I will still have the new things ambition brought into the game play, even if i chose not to use them all.

While I admit TS2 has its advantages (weather, etc--from expansion packs), as a Mac user, I definitely like TS3 more. The conversion from a PC platform is not as "clean" as I would have hoped, but at least I get to play the expansion/stuff packs. I hated waiting months for expansions for TS2 and then waiting for those that never came. Just my opinion.....

I've always treated the Sims games kinda in the same sense that somebody who likes to fix up classic cars. I know there will be work put in to make it my own and to suit my wants and tastes. Both of the Sims 2 and 3 are special. My only complain so far with sims 3 is I miss the quirky romance and sim to sim interactions but I imagine there will be a "hot date/Night Life" expansion soon enough.

5 months since the reply but I felt I should mention that regardless of the sims looking fatter i have decided that afterall it is a fun game O.o I realised if you give it time you'll enjoy it especially if you love detail. My new gaming pc allowed me to adjust the graphics they look much better now because beforehand the graphics on other houses had black window not good and with my new pc the graphics means that i can see inside the house which is very kool. I'm pleased with it now because the sound is also incredible, just been playing all morning haha lol. Made a new family and editted my house i like the job details and such.

There are things I really like about Sims 3 and then there are things I dont like. There are things that really frustrate the heck outta me too. Im gonna give it sometime, build up my expansion packs before I say I hate it. However, I do really love Sims 2 still.

Actually, it's way MORE realistic than sims 2. How on earth is it less for you? And your gripe about their looks is just beyond superficial and silly.

Too much realism can often have the opposite result; and while I can understand why people like and support the degree of realism in TS3, which is against what I personally like, I will never agree in calling someone "superficial" and "silly" just because she/he has a different opinion from me.

I was one of those people who hated the pudding but apparently I got used to it because my most recent reaction upon viewing posted screenshots of sims 2 was that their faces looked way too pointy. You could chop vegetables with those things! So I'm fickle, poor EA.

And yet, my tolerance is seriously exhausted from being on constant bug patrol with sims 3 and will probably not bother with 4, if I even manage to finish this particular series of eps. For Sims 1 and Sims 2 I didn't even bother to make back-ups of anything before installing a new ep!! Really, remember those days? I'd just shove the latest cd in the drive and spend the next six months wearing it out. Now a whole slew of precautions are necessary and despite all that every ep still has the same result: play for a week then oops glitch scour the forums try this try that finally get it to play for another week then oops start the hell over because the latest patch borked the game AGAIN. Why do I even do this to myself??? Attempting to play this game has become an exercise in self-loathing in the same way that teenagers cut themselves.

However, I could be encouraged to continue my new lifestyle of self-harm if EA would recreate the stairs to the Storybrook set. Just noticed they left those out and that was the best part.

TS2 and TS3 both have characteristics that make each more realistic than the other, but I guess TS3 generally looks more realistic. I agree that too much realism is not always the best, it puts a limit to crazy, looney stuff because it has to fit into their "realistic" theme if thats what they are going for. And for video games, its not necessary to have it as close to RL as possible, games are chances to do things you can't do or see in RL.

An example would be TS1, definitely not as realistic as TS2 and TS3, but they were able to add quirky characters like the claire the bear, tragic clown, drew carey o_o lol, etc. And I was able to play it carefree, because I didnt have to worry about family and aging, etc.

And in my experience, probably diff for others, If I play a game thats too realistic, it makes me play the game realistically too. Or else I feel like the game's imaginary government would hunt me down.

The Sims 3 is fun, but The Sims 2 might be more fun. Sure The Sims 3 is realistic, but The Sims 2 is still great in every way. It's a tie.

(Checks to make sure she's in the right thread, or risk getting a scolding from Mangaroo.)

I got the console version of Sims 3 for Christmas, since I still don't know if my computer will handle the game, and don't want to spend money for a potential coaster, and though I know it's not an even comparison with the PC version, I finally got a taste of what this game is like. I noticed both good things about it, and not-so-good things. On the one hand, for instance, it IS nice that in Sims 3, if you want to go to the neighbor's house down the street ... well ... you walk there! I like the moodlets as well. Customizing the body shape better was a step in the right direction (no more downloading a dozen different body shapes, complete with clothes, and really fattening up a Downloads folder) but boy, yes, there was more that could have been done with the faces! The scenery is far better, I admit.

On the other hand, I still play Sims 2 more. I agree with those who insist there is a certain goofy silly soul to the game. Personally, the faces appeal more to me, though yes, custom templates help a lot there. I like that there is a lot more one can do with the game; not only changing a blue sweater to pink, but working with so many different meshes to create new looks that change constantly. I keep telling myself that I should play the Sims 3, but I keep going back to Sims 2 instead. And I have only the expansions up to Seasons, so I've been "frozen" at Seasons since 2007. I should be bored, but I never am.

Sims 3 disappoints me in a way, but not because it's a "bad" game. It isn't. I think the console version I got was well worth the money, and provides hours of gameplay. It's just that when I play this game, I wish that somehow, the developers took more of the good stuff in Sims 2 and evolved it. Sims 3 had so much potential to blow Sims 2 out of the water, and I don't think it did. Somewhere, something got lost ... something charming and sweet and funny. I only hope that Sims 4, if that ever comes out, does what Sims 3 should have done.

While I didn't see this survey, I thought someone mentioned that one was done here shortly after Sims 3 came out, and about a third of the people here still played the Sims 2. I wonder if that's changed?

I like both games, what's the big deal?

Building is better in TS3 even though we don't yet have spiral staircases and clearly EA would rather die than offer a complete build set when dishing stuff out with the game and EPs.

That said, I also think it is time to redo the poll and see what players think now that more people play and we're nearly half way through the anticipated 4 year (6-8 Eps) life span of TS3.

I don't agree with the building. Building is better in TS2, cause you have more options there and more freedom. You're pretty restricted with building in TS3. Sure, you now can make other kind of roofs, like those pagode ones and there are probably more windows. However, you can't flatten a terrain in world mode and you can't create custom terrains. You have fixed ones which you can place. And often you can't place them precisely to the street. There is a little gap then between the terrain and the street.
No, building is way better in TS2, more simcity like.

And that's why you don't place lots using the crappy in-game editor? That doesn't really have anything to do with building. I find Building in TS3 to be hugely improved, like having multiple terrain brushes with opacity, and of course you can't forget CASt because TS2 building is really constricting without it. I also love being able to go off grid/45 degree angle without cheats.

When should I expect you to start this new poll/thread?

The Problem with saying the Sims 3 "sucks" compared to TS2, is that the two games are VERY different in gameplay. It's like comparing a muffin to a potato. I love both, but they are very different, so it's hard to determine which is "better" and which is "worse"
I started with TS3, so I suppose I can't really talk, but aren't the two games very different?

I don't know what you're talking about. Banana nut muffins are better than potatoes, potatoes are better than all other muffins besides banana nut. Muffins and potatoes are both better than Sims 3, although Sims 3 is better than Virtual Villagers. Sims 2 is better than muffins, potatoes and Sims 3 but margaritas are better than them all. Trufax.

I think when we get to the point where people are arguing you can't compare a sequel (or spinoff) to its predecessors we're in silly territory. In that sense, I agree with Honeywell.

I don't for one second agree with the proposition that Sims 2 is better than muffins or potatoes, though, it's down there somewhere with porridge, which I quite like, except that it's cold. And TS3 is warm porridge with some sugar on it, but a fork instead of a spoon. Tortured metaphors FTW.

It's hard not to compare the two games. I started playing with the sims 1. So, i compare all of them. There are things i like better in each of them. I loved the magic and the vacations from the sims 1. I loved open for buisness and having apartments in the sims 2. I love Adventures in the Sims 3 and the vampires. But they haven't finished with the ep's for the sims 3. by the time we got the last ep for the sims2, i thought it was the best game in the universe. I have a feeling the sims 3 will be the same.

Can I start a poll? I thought only the admins could do that. I think it'd be interesting to see where people stand on TS3 at this time, don't you?

I dont think sims 3 sucks compared to sims 2. I loved sims 2 and happily played it until I got sims 3 two months ago, having read all the horror stories and the "I hate sims 3, this game sucks, EA are evil" threads I was no hurry to update my computer to play sims 3. Now I am sorry I waited so long I actually really like sims 3 and haven't gone back to sims 2 since I started playing. Sure the sims 3 is different to sims 2 but I would have been cheesed off it had been the same game with updated graphics and a funky open neighbourhood. There are things about sims 2 I miss and I agree the sims 3 is not as cute/goofy but for me it is still an enjoyable way to pass my freetime.
The thing that has disappointed me most is what sims 3 has done to the community boards, I used to love reading the sims 2 boards seeing what other players were up to with their sims and what not. Nowadays most of the boards are filled with hate/love the sims 3 arguments or complaints about missing weather or pets (I miss neither btw) or the sims look like puddings (mine certainly dont) and I miss the whats going on in your game right now, it was a great place to pick up idea's and inspiration for when your game started to get a little bland, boring or repetitive.