I'm starting to have a doubt in my mind that TS3 is going to be as good as TS2. I don't like the fact you can only have one neighborhood, and that the needs bars gone.
I will still probably buy it but I have a feeling I will mainly stick to TS2.

Is anyone else thinking this? Or is it just me?

Many people are /yawn theres like five threads on how horrible the sims look, the neighborhood deal, etc. etc. Sims do have needs, they just tell you what they need rather then you having to observe them 24/7. Also I wont discriminate against the game until its come out with more details, nothing has disappointed me yet to the point I'd go down and burn Eaxis.

Honestly I'm tired of the TS2/1 gameplay, something new could be reviving, I don't just want upgraded graphics with the same old game... maybe we'll all enjoy the lots aging without us there, ( and yes there will be a cheat to keep a family from aging, trust me) and maybe we'll enjoy no needs bars and focusing on lifetime aspirations and our sims adorable personalities.

I'm not going to judge it until I play it.
I thought the idea of sims 2 was ridiculous until I saw the preview CD they included with Makin' Magic (which I didn't watch until the day before TS2 came out, so I didn't have that long of a wait, lol).
I'm actually getting excited for TS3.
I for one love the way the sims are looking.
I felt the same way about the motive bars being taken out and the one neighborhood at first, but now I'm thinking to myself "eh, the motives were the most hassle of the game anyway". I'm really excited for the personalities and such. I can't wait to see my short little 5'0 selfsim kissing my 6'0 selfsim boyfriend =D haha. I've wanted different heights for ages, as with different bodytypes.
So yes, I think it will be better.

Ha..ha..lol. I agree..

I'd contribute, but I'd just be repeating what I've already stated in the other threads on the same topic...

I'm definitely most excited about my sims visiting neighbors. I know it's coming with appt life, but that's just for sims who live on the same lot (I think). I've always wanted my sims to be able to visit neighbors and eat all their food.

You know, it's not at this point to judge whether TS3 will be as good as TS2. Because if you do trust the sneak peeks that EAxis is giving us, you'll conclude that it will be even better. But just be warned: Not everything you'll see in the sneak peeks will end up in the final output.

Now I'm not saying I'm not for TS3, but I'd like to keep a level head on this. I can't get too excited for it, actually. And it's a huge transition. From motive bars to whatever is replacing it; from aspirations to hopes and dreams (??); from multiple neighborhoods to just ONE--it's a huge change.

I'm aware that EAxis is still making an EP for TS2. This is probably the transition they are giving us from TS2 to TS3. Or, they just want to keep TS2 alive after TS3. I don't know, really.

Summary: Don't say that TS3 is as good as TS2 at this stage--maybe a month before the game is released, or even when the game is released, do you judge whether it's good or bad.

I apologize in advance to anyone I might offend.

I am with you Cecilia. I will buy it and test it out no matter what but I doubt that it will be as good as TS2. One of the perfect things with TS2 is that it contains everybody's wishes and you can do much more with it than just play good old simming. With the ability to make our own custom hoods and choose between 3 maxis made hoods we can have an alternative play style.
Pleasantview= normal/soap opera/drama/romance, Strangetown= scifi/desert village/aliens/strange people, Veronaville= shakespeare/ fairytale/ fantasy. I guess Pleasant Valley will be like Pleasantview and the sims will be just "normal".
But I still have some hope that there will be a "strange" suburb/part of the town with strange inhabitants. If the city is going to be 100% normal (with no aliens, no amateur astronomers, no Nervous Subjects and no geeks) it will be BORING!
And the fact that we cannot make our own neighborhood or choose the neighborhood is also a visionary boredom. I don't like being forced to look at green grass all the time. Where is the desert???

It shouldn't be a bad game, anyway, even if it's not as good as TS2. At the end of the day we're pretty much in the dark about most of the gameplay features so we can't totally judge it.

Looking at what I've seen so far, I'm thinking that it's going to be good, you know?

But the problem with this game is that it is replacing the good old features with totally new ones. Not being able to make our own neighborhood is minding me much of TS1.

Well, most of the things you don't like can be changed. I'm sure people will come up with better looking sims. And I saw somewhere that they may be adding a tool after the release that allows you to add more neighborhoods. But honestly, there's not much information about the game in the first place, so it'll be hard to judge.

I went from hating TS3 to loving it to being on the fence with it. The personality traits, customization options, and the overall thought of a sequel to TS2 sounds exciting but things like the one neighborhood and mutiple households concept sounds strange to me.

I think it's a bit too early to have such concrete feelings about TS3. EA loves using extended truths and fabricated lies to woo us into liking the game. I have the magazine where the world premiere of TS2 is featured right in my lap as I type. It talks about objects wearing down, the Life Score feature which sounds a lot better than the Aspiration system, and nested interactions, all which were promised but never offered. EAxis would also talk about the boss coming over for dinner and a tattoo station, both not in the game. Watch with a careful eye before you believe what EA says, especially at such an early stage.

no doubt though that you will be able to customise it to your hearts content?
i imagine that you would be able to change 95% of the landscape as you please, just like Sims2.
whats that then? :confused:

I won't be able to decide until I play it...but I'm kind of hoping it DOES suck because I'm such a huge fan of everything I can do with TS2. Does anyone else feel that way?

I'm talking about households aging and playing by themselves. I just don't like the thought the game taking over and doing things you wouldn't want it to do.

me too. apart from toddlers and kids, there is no aging in my sims2 whatsoever.
don't worry though. the idea of sims3 having an aging system that we cant do anything about is not that realistic. we'll be able to change that either by in-game options, cheating or hacks. no problem.

houses playing by themselves is fine by me though. UNLESS it was one I CREATED, and wanted to oversee every little thing what goes on inside

No, I reckon it'll be brilliant

I let all my sims age from infant to elder, but I want to have complete control over it.

Hopefully, there's a feature in TS3 where you can still have the seamless neighborhood but freeze the houses you're not playing and unfreeze them when you want to play them again so the game won't do anything to them. I hope it's not a hack since god knows how complex it may be to create hacks for TS3, so it may be a while if we have to depend on a hack for that.

The fact that the needs bar are gone and replaced with ridiculous pop up message telling that your sim needs something is a HUGE step back... Also, I bet TS3 wouldn't be as customizable as TS2 seeing where they're currently heading.

If they use the new version of SecuROM that requires you to re-validate your game everytime you install a new custom content, probably there will be some sort of 'Exchange' for TS3 and there won't be any CC made by the community... I really hope I'm wrong though.

Somehow I just have a feeling it'll be a total flop.

I think the popup messages will be somewaht like the sims waving at you when in pee/sleep/hunger/fun desperation. And that sort of makes things more realistic. I am guilty of making my sims have the need bars constantly green and make them do things that aren't that much needed simply because I feel those bars should be green. Forcing us attend to our sims needs only when absolutely needed, is quite a good move, I think.

But I still think a message like 'John is hungry! Click here to feed him!" is so stupid. We're not a bunch of kindergärtners who need to be told what to do all the time... I think I rather have them waving at me than pop up messages. Imagine if we play a household containing 8 sims, I bet there'll be pop up spams all the time...

Don't get me wrong, I hope TS3 will be great But currently, the more I read about it, the less interested I get :P

I dunno... I'm not liking the sound of it, but I'll probably want to get it anyway (note the word want). On the other hand, having spent about £50 on TS2, I'm more likely to stick to that and get Apartment Life in order to visit neighbours. And I know I'm not liking the TS3 graphics yet.

Maybe it will be like click here and the sims will go by himself to the fridge.

Maybe, but the fun for me is to actually click on various things and objects. To click on a message and have the sim went on their own is a... dunno... a turn off for me. It seems like a step backward *shrugs* I guess I'll just have to wait and see, I think I'll get it though, no matter what, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna like it

I actually think it sounds pretty cool. At first I was a little disappointed seeing it, since the look doesn't seem to have a big jump from The Sims 2. I was really into The Sims 1, and had gotten all the expansion packs and when the Sims 2 came out, the graphics and everything was a huge jump, and all the things you could do with the houses. When I got the Sims 2 though, I wasn't as into it as I had been with the Sims 1 at first even with all the neat extra things, mainly because I wasn't used to it. I also missed certain things, but as time has gone by, they have pets, vacations, they are bringing back that cheesy heart bed and finally more playground type stuff the old sims had, but newer.

Sim 3 will be a bit weird at first too, but being able to walk around in the neighborhood, being able to customize the personalities seems really neat. It will be the same yet different, might take a bit to get used to, but I'm hoping it will be pretty good. I'd love to be able to just walk to the neighbors house, rather than exit out, go into another neighbors house, and then especially aging, don't have to go to other houses to age them. Plus not having to go to different loading screens everytime you want to go downtown, etc.. sounds great