As long as we have simultanious aging and off-lot sim autonomy, all the cool new features don't make a lick of difference. Your sims will still wither and die, have children, change careers, get promoted etc. and all of it without your intervention.

The Sims is all about playing god, about control, and they're taking the most basic fundamentals out of our hands.

This is Simsville 2, not Sims 3.

For us old-school, hardcore simmers, the only hope is that someone will hack the crap out of the aging and autonomy.

I pretty much agree

I agree with this.....

I don't like the idea that I pretty much have to play ONE family throughout their whole life as to not mess up the progress I made or their bad decision making. Who knows, it could be good? but from my experience in TS2, it sounds like a bad idea...

Another thing I don't like, which this thread isn't about, is the lack of game content, meaning, what we have thus far in Sims2 Expansion packs won't be included in the Sims3 Base. I think it's wrong... I mean... we bought "Vacation" for TS1, and "Bon Voyage" for TS2...... "Unleashed" for TS1, "Pets" for TS2..... some of these things are overlapping, and I don't want to keep buying the same exact thing for different versions of the game. lol. So, I disagree with this. They just want to suck up our money because we're the stoonads that will still go and buy it all :smash: :howdy: LOL

Well if you think that, then just keep playing The Sims2, I'm looking forward to the new challenge and its unfair attacking it even before its released.

I certainly don't like the way, the world freezes in every lot I play. The Sims3 doesn't have to be a complete copy of the other 2 prequels.

And your still GOD, every action you take effects the future of your entire neighborhood.

I don't want an 'exact' copy of the Sims2 but with slightly updated graphics thank you very much.

i think it would be neat to see what the other simmies are doing. i dont think that this is a bad idea at all, its actually something i wanted. im pretty sure there will be hacks to fix what you don't want, if its not there already, but you havent played it yet-you might like the idea. they cant create a game for ALL of us to enjoy, people like different things. if you dont like the look of it, dont buy it

That's what I'm saying ashley, I'm not going to buy it if the neighborhood plays itself. I might as well go watch a movie if all other sims are going to make a life-changing decision by themselves.

Conrad, I actually LOVE that the other lot freezes, that way I can take control of each and every family. What if I plan to marry Jane with Tom, but as I'm playing Jake, she decided to get married with Matt? It sucks.

It sounds to me, the game isn't gonna be easy for people who like storyboarding, but the game was never intended for storyboarding.

I think it will be great how Sims marry on their own and pick who they choose, its seems so unnatural forcing your 2 favourite sims to marry each other.

But that's the thing. Sims 3 is void of challenge. It's a neighbourhood simulator. You don't DO anything. Sims have full autonomy, both those you control and those you don't. When your sim wants something a moodlet or icon will appear, and you click on it to either make it happen, or you don't. WOW! Challenging! :P



Um... if I wait til the game's released there's no chance they can input an option that allows me to play the way I and millions of other simmers are used to playing, and is what made the game a hit in the first place. It wasn't called the toilet game for nothing, you know!

I'm not attacking anything. It's called constructive criticism. And my opinion represents a HUGE portion of Simmers. Fact is that Sims 3 looks to appeal more to the people who enjoy not PLAYING the Sims but WATCHING their sims.



Of course not. I applaud the new personality trait system, the open world etc. but the must fundamental difference between Sims 1/2 and Sims 3 is that Sims 1 & 2 are family and life GAMES, where as Sims 3 is a neighbourhood SIMULATOR. IE. pretty when you look at it, but don't touch, because it's largely devoid of playability, house design and furnishing apart.



I don't think it's a bad idea either. I APPLAUD the expanded world (if granny's laptop can truly handle it, I have my doubts), and I APPLAUD stuff like moodlets, the new rendering engine etc. I'm petitioning to try to make them input some cheats or options that allow those of us who want, to disable sim autonomy and aging. Given the fundamental and core nature of this programming I'm worried hacks won't cut it.

If it turns out it's an easy hack to do, or they enable cheats to stop my sims aging or changing jobs or getting married or having kids without my input, GREAT! Go hog wild! Make your lousy Simsville hybrid!



That's very unfair. We have just as much a right to an opinion as anyone else. Few spectacular things were ever conceived without much debate and/or criticism.



Yeah... I don't want to be sexist or agist or anything, but to me it seems like they're trying to please every demographic, and yet they seem to be forgetting their core market, which has played Sims or Sims 2 for years. It seems like they're making a neighbourhood simulator ala Simsville, and it looks like they're getting ready to port it to the consoles. Probably why they're adding "difficulty levels" too.

And that's my real fear here... that my beloved and open ended game of life which could be virtually anything to anybody, is turned into some console-and-child-friendly rendition of itself, and aimed towards children and teenage girls, forgetting that half of sims players are male, and more than half the women who play are over 30.

The Sims is all about having the power and freedom to do whatever you want. That's what made it a success in the first place. I applaud innovation, but there's no need to reinvent in the wheel here! In the very least give the millions of us who do not feel comfortable with simultanious aging and autonomy an OPTION!

Despite it being one of the main attractions to the Sims franchise? The ability to imagine a story and have it appear in front of your eyes was, and still is, a major part of both Sims 1 and Sims 2. Why do you think people spend large amounts of time on one family, like Legacy challenges? Just because it's not always formalised in print doesn't mean that as you play you don't have a mental storyline running behind the back of your eyes?

Yet another TS3-bashing thread. But I somewhat agree with part of this. The Sims will always stay The Sims, no matter the cool stuff. But I really would like to see for myself the cool stuff and judge then and there whether it sucks or not.

.

Not really. Sim Stories are amazingly popular in TS2 as well as in TS1. How else would all those legacies and stories be popping up everywhere?

I'm positive I read somewhere that you can put entire households on pause... So theoretically, you could pause every household in the neighborhood and achieve roughly the same effect as in TS2.

Well if the game WAS intended for storyboarding, then why do we have those annoying motive bars, Skills, Careers, and Aspirations to take care of?

If they gave us the option to turn off aging in sims 2, why would they not include that option in sims 3? Maybe it hasn't been said because it is a given that there will be that option just like in sims 2.

It's hard to disagree with something without critisizing it. I also don't see the point in bringing in this form of constructive criticism after it's out. Because then it'll be 5 years til we see Sims 4, and I don't know about you, but I'm not that freaking patient



Oh my..... that would pretty much solve the issue right there... could I please bug you to try to remember where you read that?

Frankly, I would be surprised if they DIDN'T implement something like this. It simply makes sense, since The Sims has always been about giving the user creative powers and tools to do whatever they want. So far I've been shocked and apalled at their lack of interest in the issue.

And to be honest, apart from this one (or two) issues with sim autonomy and aging without my express consent, I think the game looks both beautiful and fresh. I love the personality trait innovations, the fluid animations, the open world... though I still have my doubts as to what sort of system requirements it will have.

So no, I'm no basher, per se. I'm merely trying to save them from making a terrible mistake



I fear that the whole aging and autonomy bit is so at the core of it's nature that it'll be rough to hack. A Maxis cheat is really what I'm hoping for at this point.

As for why they wouldn't supply such a cheat... well... I don't know. It would make a whole heckuva lotta sense. A lot of simmers weren't happy with the idea of aging and all, aging off solved their problem. More power to them.

That said, Maxis has promised many things, like height and weather, and are already recounting some of them... I am one of the most avid simmers on the planet Earth, I've played it almost every day since Sims 1 was first released, and I would just hate to see the core concept of the Sims effectively recounted.

Fingers crossed!

If the game WASN'T intended for story telling, then tell me why they have included a story album in the game. For every single friggin' household. They even have this "storytelling" folder for each neighborhood. Explain it.

Thats just for snapshots, and most games let you take snapshots, just because its called storytelling it doesn't mean it was the games main priority, fact is, i've never taken 1 snapshot, yet there plenty still to do in the game.

Also to note many players don't even bother to fill in the album, I can live without it or several other useless bits and pieces EA has put in.

I knocked TS3 quite a bit before- and admittedly, I will probably get very annoyed when I have to choose between families, but that might also be a blessing. There's a pair of houses I'm playing at the moment, and I'm only really interested in one but to make it work properly, I have to play the other as well (before you ask, yes I am OCD- just a bit). I'd really, really love it if the family would just age without me sometimes.

The only thing really holding me back from launching myself at TS3 now is the amount I've spent on TS2 and the EPs...

*cough* If it's only for snapshots they wouldn't provide a text input box *cough* They even provide complete support to upload the stories to the official site and whatnot. They won't bother to do that if it's not one of the focused features.

Also, the fact that most, if not all the premade families came with background story encourages player to continue the storyline. Just my two cents. Yeah a lot of players don't bother to fill the album for the families, I don't myself. Only for the legacies and this one family that's intended for story telling. I don't fill all the other families.

Yeah there's still a lot to do in the game, but for TS3, I doubt it. They said it themselves "Just make a sim, sit back and let the game unfolds the story" (paraphrased) Well that's called watching, not playing.

Just want to point out that if you don't use the feature doesn't mean it's worth getting rid of. :smash:

Somehow I think you're trying too hard to defend EA. I don't know if you're a maxoid in disguise or simply a fanboy/girl. But seriously I'm getting pissed off. They need criticism, you know. Without critics they won't improve. Everybody need constructive critics. If I wait until the game is released before I throw out some critics, it's TOO LATE. And fyi, we're not attacking the game, we're giving our opinions.

Just because you don't take photos doesn't mean you don't play a story in your head while playing. For example, I'm currently playing the Goth house. Alexander is pregnant with Beau Broke's child, and Cassandra has just miscarried her twins with Don. After Alex's baby, Keldar, is born, I'm planning to have Mortimer and Cassandra hate Keldar; Mortimer because he believes the evidence of Alex being gay will bring shame to the Goth family, and Cassandra because Keldar was born healthy while hers didn't survive. Alex, thinking that his family will look after Keldar well, will leave for University. After he's gone, Mortimer will install a secret basement in the house and hide Keldar down there, sleeping on a dirty mat and feeding him via pet dishes. When Alexander comes back and finds out the truth, he'll go insane and attack his family. With Apartment Life's witches, I plan for Alex to turn to the Dark Arts in order to get his revenge on Cassandra and Mortimer. Soon, it will be up to Beau and Keldar to help him learn to love again.

All this, and I'm not going to take a single photo. Why? Because it's my mental story that I'll enjoy playing. I'll enjoy every moment of it, pretending what people are saying and planning certain aspects. Like I said, just because it's never going to be in print doesn't mean I don't have a story in my mind.

I disagree. Even making it to the next age transition is a boring infinity to me. I'm glad things are sped up.

As far as I can tell, nothing has been "sped up", the ages take the same amount of time to transition as they currently do, and they've re-vamped the young adult stage, making it more than just college, and added it in so now there are 7 base life-stages instead of 6, which would make the sim's lives LONGER if anything.

I'm willing to bet you buy it

Hmm, I've never heard of this before. The only thing I've heard was that you can freeze the ages of a household or mutiple household while playing one. So the other families are still doing their own thing, but you can still have some say-so as to how they age when you return and turn aging back on in their household.

To me, I'm a little on the fence. While I do like this feature for townies and 'filler families', I'm not too sure about the families I actually play. While I do think it sounds cool and realistic to see my sims live their lives without me, I wouldn't want them to make any extreme decisions without my ultimate decision.

you can freeze the family or a sim...

[14:22] <Steve|TSR> Sim life continues in all families as you play.. but you *can* pause age progression on a sim/family.

This was said at the sims resource chat

Well, okay, if you can freeze particular families (and don't have a limit to the number of families you can freeze) that would be fine. I don't mind townies and other 'less important' households continuing to play themselves but it would drive me batty if sims I had a particular plan for continued to age and play when I wasn't controlling them.

That is a bit reassuring.