I've been playing Sims 2 ever since it came out and replaced Sims 1, and I thought that was a great upgrade. When 3 came out, I wasn't so sure. I've started playing though, and there are definitely things I like, but I long for my Sims 2 Sims. I'm wondering what experience other Sims 2 devotees have had with Sims 3. Does it become more enjoyable over time? Do you eventually not miss 2? I don't recall ever missing 1 when 2 came out, but as I remember they didn't totally change gameplay.

This feels like a ridiculous dilemma, but it's definitely there. Sooo many neat options in Sims 3, but it's just not 2.

I would say switching to ts3 takes some getting used to. By now I don't miss ts2 although I was a big fan of it for a long time.

I missed Sims 2 at first also. You do get used to it.
There are less needs to take care of. The wish system is nicer.
Plus I believe you can get allot more custom content as not many still make stuff for Sims 2.
Perhaps with the help of some expansions?
I'd personally recommend Super natural as it's my favourite.

I took a long time to get used to TS2. Of course, the difference was graphical, in the interface, even the gameplay, everything. But I don't know why, I learned my way around Sims 3 very fast.

I played Sims 2 for 2 years before I bought a new computer, The graphics chip was showing signs of not being able to handle Sims 2, so on a suggestion started playing Sims 3 on low settings with just the base game. I missed Sims 2 like crazy, but knew I couldn't play it. I eventually got a graphics card installed that can handle both and switch between Sims 2 and Sims 3 based on my mood.

I enjoy the Ghost Hunter Profession that came with Ambitions, I enjoy gardening a lot more in Sims 3 than in Sims 2, I have more fun with how witches were done in Supernatural than the way they were done in Apartment Life, so there are parts I love about Sims 3 and there are parts I love about Sims 2 and switch between them depending on what I want to do. I like University better in Sims 2, and University Life in Sims 3 drove me crazy to the point of uninstalling it.

The moment I started playing Sims 3, I never looked back at Sims 2. Things like being able to go steady/break up, the real estate system and investments, story progression, customizable life stages, and the trait system made it so that I've never missed the Sims 2.

If you were the type to rotate through playing all the families in a neighborhood, you may have a hard time adjusting. I never understood that playstyle, though.

Thanks for the input, everyone. I might end up being a back and forth player, or I might switch to TS3 altogether. The expansions do look very appealing, although I must be in the minority for not getting into the supernatural stuff. I've put in my TS3 time, so now I'm going to play TS2... lol.

Yes, Supernatural is a very specific expansion pack and doesn't really add that much to the general gameplay so unless you're really a fan of supernatural things I wouldn't recommend getting it first (or at all).

In my opinion Seasons is the must have expansion that brings something for everyone. The only downside is that it doesn't have a new neighborhood. I'd also recommend getting Late Night. After that it's up to everyone's own tastes.

Generations is (imo) another 'you should really have it' EP, since it adds a lot more interactions and makes families a lot more fun.

I second this. Generations is a great expansion pack.
I'm still finding new things from that pack as it has allot to offer.

Funny you guys should mention those two, because if I buy expansions, those two will the be the first i get! I'm just trying to make sure I have the basics down before I start adding stuff, because there really is a big learning curve (at least for me) in 3. I'm sure the more I play the more normal it will seem, and I keep finding things in 3 that I really like. For example, the night sky is beautiful, and I didn't have to fight to get it that way. I'm less enthused than I thought I'd be about being able to customize everything, but I think I might enjoy that more later as well. If I do buy those expansions, I'm definitely getting them from Steam, NOT Maxis/Origin/whatevertheheckthey'recalledthesedays. If we learned anything from 2, it was that those downloads that were supposed to be there forever are NOT. With Steam, you buy it, it stays permanently. It costs more since it isn't part of the "let's dump all the TS3 content in preparation for TS4 (I'm suspecting)" sale, but in the long term, totally worth it.

That's not true at all - there's probably more CC being made for TS2 than ever before, and it's definitely better quality.

I tried going back to TS2 once, but the moment I tried to leave my house and a loading screen popped up instead of my Sim just driving to the lot, I knew that I would never be able to play TS2 again. For me, the open neighborhood is such an advantage that I'd rather play TS3 with no EPs than TS2 with all EPs.

But the switch was hard and I did miss a lot of the stuff I could do in TS2. I'd advise getting a couple EPs. Getting EPs made me miss TS2 less.

I played sims 1 then sims 2 came out and i loved it, and couldn't wait for sims 3 to come out i pre ordered it and got it delivered the day of release i installed it and i had mixed feelings with it, but now i'm really enjoying it, but do find it frustating at times having to search for answers when the game starts lagging, crashing, and erroring while saving, and all the bugs that the game has, and find to make the game playable i need lots of mods where as sims 2 i didn't useany mods, i have tried to go back to sims 2 but then found it dated and slow, so found myself going back to sims 3.

I don't know how anyone else feels about sims 4, but i am really unsure about whether i will be preordering it yet, or even getting it, after all the issues we have all had with sims 3 i'm not sure if 4 will be any different i hope it will be.

Everyone misses their sims from sims 2. Mine could never be replicated. But it passes, and the new sims will eventually find a place in your heart.

The open neighborhood is one of the best things about 3 imo.

This is so true, and I cannot begin to convey how happy I was to see that modders were still creating content for TS2 when TS3 came out. I was afraid everyone would switch to making content for the new game. But I'm very glad I was wrong. I probably downloaded more awesome stuff for 2 AFTER 3 came out than before.

Nooooo... say it isn't so that TS3 is buggy like TS2!!! Not to say I'm not in the market for something like the Sim Blender, because I've relied on that for a long time. But I haven't found anything yet. Am I missing an awesome item on here?

And I did go ahead and buy Seasons and Generations, and I'm going to try them out now.

You will soon find that Sims 3 has way more bugs than Sims 2. If it weren't for the various Nraas mods cleaning up junk, I doubt I could get very far. Speaking of, check out the mods here http://nraas.wikispaces.com/ there are very many useful mods (and some like Overwatch and ErrorTrap clean up a lot of EA's junk).

Although I played Sims 3 from the beginning, I won't lie that I miss Sims 2. I miss the heartfelt endearment when life changes happen, like babies are born and grow up, have a family if their own and accomplish their goals in life. Then become elders and die. I was so emotional for each phase, not at all for Sims 3 people. I still play because I love building and seeing how everything works from my planning or no loading screens to go out the house. Especially don't have to play every house to grow Sims up in unity. There were miserable times when I had to play households I absolutely hated. Ugh.

I really enjoy TS3, probably more than TS2. That said, it's definitely not for everyone. If you're not enjoying it, after installing some CC and giving it the old college try, you shouldn't feel bad about going back to TS2 if you're not into TS3, or about switching between the two.

I'm one of the people who couldn't go back to TS2. I mean fuck, don't get me wrong. I loved the flying fuck out of 2 but for some reason it just...doesn't hold my interest anymore. So y'know, each to their own and all that.

To be honest, after having to switch over and almost 700 hours of Sims 3, I still miss Sims 2. Sims 3 seems to me like they just threw it together knowing they'd make money off of it. I liked basically everything about TS2 better than TS3; gardening, dating, families, social interactions, the entire style. I hate the way sims in TS3 look, to boot. The only reason I haven't gone back to TS2 is because my disc is cracked and I literally can't play it anymore.
But that's just me.

Well, you learn something new everyday.
I've literally never looked back at 2 since 3 came out.


I wonder what our opinions on this type of topic will be when 4 is out.
Personally, I don't like the way the new sims look.
I like the way we have been able to make them more and more realistic.
Then they come in with those...they're just so cartoonish.

Sims 3 was the only one of the series where I bought it right away - I think TS2 was almost out before I bought TS1, and I waited and purchased TS2 a few years after it was out, too. But for TS3 I jumped in right away.

There are so many things that I like about TS3, and many things I don't like, too. And there were many things that they left out that we had in TS2. But I tried to go back and play TS2 at one point and just missed so much about TS3 that I never looked back after that. I actually played TS2 again for a short time a few weeks ago, but haven't really been tempted to play it since then. There are many things that I loved about TS2 that are lacking in TS3, but instead of wanting to go back and play it I just still wish they would have added it to TS3 while still keeping all the awesome stuff they gave us in TS3! The open hood, gardening, the beautiful landscapes and how I can send my sim to a lovely little pond with rippling water to go fishing, or across the street to visit the neighbor. I recently started trying to 'tell a story' with a group of sims and it's making the game even more interesting to me because there are a lot of interactions I don't even bother using the way I normally play, and now I am exploring more things through the vehicle of this story. It's kind of fascinating since they've always used the marketing slogan about 'telling stories' with TS3 but maybe it really was designed for that and I am just figuring that out.

I don't know if any of that will make sense to anyone but me, but there you go.

With TS4, I'm afraid they are going to remove everything I love about TS3, since that seems to be their pattern. I can only hope that they will give us awesome stuff in exchange, but IMO nothing they've mentioned so far seems to be all that awesome.