I appreciate the new game as much as most but there is... 'too big a gap' in the game types. I feel a distinct lack of community in Sims 4 that I had in Sims 3... it may seem superficial or a small detail but whenever your Sims are going through a town you're able to follow them and find random oddities in the city... Grim reading a paper at the park... A burglar playing Tag with a cop... or even a Sim being caught on fire from spells... the little tidbits aside from seeing people around was all part and partial to the enjoyment of the game. There are SO FEW places to go in Sims 4 and I don't mean simply that it is lacking content... I mean that there is so little they've done with the content. For instance... I would go throughout a town sometimes door by door looking to see who all was involved in it... being able to travel from point to point and micromanage the city was something I enjoyed. Now you're hardly able to micromanage anything outside your home and it feels more like you're playing as 'A' Sim instead of 'Sims'. I know that the hassle sides of Sims 4 will eventually be hashed out... if not by EA then by our modding community... but the sheer oddity of not being given what you need in order to accomplish what you're trying to achieve (Handiness being a prime example) is at times very annoying. I feel more like they're different genre of games more than simply different games.

I agree. I know we had the lack of community thing going on in The Sims 2, but since we've passed that I feel that open world is only natural. I know EXACTLY what you mean. The whole feeling of community, stalking your neighbors when they go to work. Seeing all the little things around the house or park happening. It's amazing.

Personally, I have a mixed feeling. Like, I'm glad The Sims 4 doesn't have the bad things of Sims 3, but at the same time I feel sad that it doesn't have the good things.
It's as if... Sims 3 and 4 are one the same game, but ripped apart and brought out as separate games.

As if The Sims 3 should have all the good features and graphics of The Sims 4, if you know what I mean.
I just feel as if they're deliberately cutting things out. It's only ruining their own business because all the things we did have in The Sims 3, aren't in The Sims 4. It just doesn't make sense!

Edit: Giving it up? Quite easy. Sims 3 runs and looks like crap. But for some reason as frustrating as it is, I keep popping back into it sometimes, just as with The Sims 2.

I haven't even played Sims 4 and I actually don't even feel the desire to do so. I could get 10 euros off the price right now in Origin but I'm going to pass. The more and more I've seen gameplay videos in youtube, the less and less I am interested in it. When it comes to the cartoony world style of Sims 4, I'm so glad Sims 3 doesn't have it. If it did, I'd probably still be playing Sims 2. I know many like Sims 4 but I'm just going to happily stick with Sims 3. And yes, I could never give up the open world anymore or the CAST, either. My sister actually offered to buy the Sims 4 for me as a gift a few days ago and I said no thank you. :D

Same as varpunen. I actually got Sims 4 but I got bored in a couple of hours. I remember playing Sims 3 nonstop for weeks when it came out and it had nothing, really. Sims 4 already has a bunch of CC and it really doesn't do it for me. I just can't give up open world and CASt, sorry.

The lack of effort to make generational aspects in the game makes it clear that TS4 wants you to only play an individual Sim, and neglects any other aspects that make you feel the crowds. It makes you feel like the world only revolves on that particular Sim, unlike in TS3, where everything happens simultaneously (with the help of story progression and open world). And this sucks (TS4 I mean).

Me too...same as varpunen and now that there are no more EP's and patches with the Mods available the game runs better than ever with more options for gameplay.
And juansfalcin, after looking at your Simblr I can see why you would would be easily bored with S4. Your Simblr is awesome . Meant to tell you how much I enjoy visiting those pages some time ago. Your background stories, pictures and oh, those family trees are fantastic. Thank you!

I realized I couldn't give up open world, SP, and CAST before TS4 was even released. What drove the point home for me was getting that S2UC for free from Origin. I was really excited getting the whole UC, I loaded it up, and after about a half hour I felt claustrophobic and I missed CAST for redoing even the simplest stuff. That experience (and not a knock on 2, it was a great game at the time) convinced me 4 would never work in the form they were releasing it in. Despite the problems 3 has, the experience is, for me, far richer by virtue of those features.

But hey, maybe someone will come up with a functional SP for 4 (after all, it was done by modders for 3) and perhaps a color wheel will be introduced by EA (tough to see a modder shoehorning that in). In which case, maybe giving up open world and returning to loading screens will be something I can overcome. But as long as it's all three features that are missing, I'm keeping my wallet closed.

Besides, my current family in 3 is 14 generations deep, just relocated to Angel City (highly recommended as a major improvement in performance over Los Angieos) and running just fine, so I can find myself realizing that 3 to 4 hours of game play have flown by and I should really exit and restart the game if I don't want any nasty behavior to mess with my game. Damn memory leak.

I don't see any reason to give it up...
I was upset last year about open world and CASt, but I wanted to be excited. What they showed at E3 was astonishingly bland, but then they kept saying that you have to wait for the game itself because the differences are subtle. By the first gameplay viewing with SGRyan and SGGraham I knew I would never buy it. Yes, the animation is smoother and I really wanted that. But in service of what?
The gameplay itself is so similar to the others (click...click...click), but taking place on a claustrophobic stage. What was one of the big promises? Your town was going to feel so much more alive - with full venues? Now I've read on the Sims 4 forum that yes, lots of sims are walking by your sim's house, but they're drawn from the actual population of the town/district/whatever-it-is, force marched in front of your sims's house like they had nothing better to do. But you don't see the actual neighbors or something in the actual neighborhood because they're actually behind loading screens or something (I'm not going to buy the game to check any of this out myself) Yes, Sims 3 had elements of that, of forcing sims to go where your sim is, but I thought this was supposed to be an improvement.
Sims 3 was my first Sims game, so it's what I'm used to. I gradually built up to controlling an 8 sim family and their stories. Seems kind of pointless to me to trade up to a game where I will have a lot of trouble controlling more than one sim. Besides taking away so many features, they also pared down the family dynamics - the perfunctory birth/aging up processes with the parents standing around like robots - not even bothering to make some kind of a covering script/animation. No schools or public buildings to go into. I would think in a new Sims game that has access to newer technology all that would be fleshed out more not less - maybe a hospital your sim could go in and give birth or something.
Plus I hate how Sims 4 looks - which I would've lived with if there was a reason to, but there isn't.
(Guess I've gone on long enough - keep wanting to stop bitching but can't.)

The world building community has suffered since Ts4 came out, which really annoys me, because it's not like Ts4 even offers this feature. I think that there will be players returning to Ts3 once they realise that Ts4 won't offer what they want in the game. I just hope it happens soon because Ts3 could be even better than it is if those simmers 'came home'.

Ok, I disagree with some opinions here but totally agree when people say to miss the open world. I think S4 very good but the lack of the open world make me feel that the game went back in time. Also something about the landscape is annoying me. But the sims became more attractive than previous games and this is something i apreciate. For now I am playing both games (3 and 4) and enjoyng all the good features and complaining about the bad ones.

Not at all. I hate the look of it (sims, textures, environments), the Origin requirement, the fact that it feels like the inactive sims are just sort of window dressing to provide interactions for your active sims but don't really seem to have their own life. The whole thing feels like The Truman Show . A fake "world" provided for the main character to have something to do so they don't realize that their world ends more or less right at their doorstep.

It feels more fake than real and the immersion it is supposed to provide is absolutely terrible.

Needless to say the lack of CaSt, SP, and open world. Stupid, stupid loading screens. I like wandering around, watch my sims wander about, visit people. Every loading screen puts my immersion to a screeching halt. The reason I can't go back to TS2 is one of the many many reasons I can't get into TS4.

TS3 is as good as it ever will be. Why would I want to buy another buggy EA game where I spend years worrying about bugs, glitches, possibly game-destroying CC and updating mods?

Why would that even be difficult? The only reason I sometimes feel tempted is because I can't quite get over the New! Shiny! part of my brain. I guess growing up in a society that values New!Shiny! more than long-term quality in order to keep this capitalism engine running will do that to your cognitive functions. So, there are days when I have to wrench myself away to remind myself: You don't actually like this game. So, even if you have the money, you don't actually want it.

Anyone else finding it difficult to give up Sims 3 for 4? Yes

I played the Sims 4 for a week and lost interest very quickly. I could not get past the constant loading screens, mandatory Orgin with disc purchase, numerous bugs, very tiny non-open world, CAST, and not much for my Sims to do. My sister ask me to make her a few simple mods but I quickly lost interest with all the patching this game needs.

The Sims 3 offers open ended game play style, an open world environment, and makes you feel that you are in total control. You rule your own game, the game does not rule you. With the additions of mods and new content, I can make the game into what I want it to be. In a flash make a few changes to the mods and content provides me a fresh and exciting game to explore on my own terms. I do not think the Sims 4 will ever be that type of game.

Do I find difficult to give up Sims 3? No, because giving it up isn't even a question for me. Admittedly, I was mildly interested when TS4 was announced first but as it became clear quite early that it won't be available without Origin it was obvious for me that I won't get it. Initially I toyed with the thought of making this my first ever attempt at getting a game from different channels, but then the first details rolled in and I lost interest completely and didn't even bother to find out how to get it but not Origin.
I still read the TS4 section here and a lot of things do sound interesting but then I see pictures or videos and think: Yes, interesting but not in that environment.

I never even bothered with The Sims 4. I could tell that it wasn't going to be compelling from the very beginning. I mean, I may have still had a slight bit of hope right after the first trailer was revealed. But then we had that entire year with a drought of information, and I knew that EA had nothing to show for with The Sims 4. And I was terribly right.

I don't have a problem with not being able to move on to The Sims 4. The Sims 3 is already paid for, and now as complete as it ever will be. It's great to be able to enjoy it without the looming thought of a sequel with improved features that will drag me to it and its perpetual incompleteness. It's a never-ending cycle that has, at least until the next installment of the game, subsided.

I really do like TS4.

However I really like TS3 more. I'll play them both. Just...TS3 a bit more!

I played TS4 like 5-10 minutes.. Enough to get past the loading screen to the park.

I hated everything about it. I hate how the sims looked like fax dolls. I hated how the environment looked something out of cheap animation movie. I hated how everything got high lighted when you put your cursor on top of them. Though I have say, some of the clothes for child girls were quite pretty and the new expressions and gestures were amusing to watch.

I know exactly what you mean about the lack of a community feel in TS4. That's one of my main gripes with the game too.

It doesn't bother me too much. I feel I have a lot left to try out in TS3. I'm about 1/6 of the way into a total makeover of Barnacle Bay and after that's done (probably about a year from now!) I'm going to tackle Moonlight Falls. I've still never visited the future or created a pet from scratch or built a tomb or gone anywhere near CAW, so the game definitely has enough to keep me going for a while.

I haven't bought Sims 4 yet. I fully intended to get it on launch, then I heard about everything they were cutting out... and I don't think the time is right for me. Maybe if toddlers and a colour wheel come back, or after expansions start coming out. But right now it doesn't offer enough. Strangely, I've actually gone back to Sims 2 with the UC release. I play that for the premades, because I love them, and Sims 3 for my storytelling. As it stands right now, Sims 4 doesn't have a place in there. Never say never though.

I haven't left TS3 either. Right from the beginning when it was revealed that silly eyes banner was actually a picture of the "next gen" sims, and not a render like many of us thought, I figured I wouldn't end up liking the look of the Sims. Putting them into those appalling, fake looking animation worlds, and it makes them seem so much worse. As I saw more of the gameplay revealed I had less and less hope that it would be a game I would enjoy.
My reasonings echo a lot of them in this thread - Horrid Origin requirement, lack of open world, CASt, plastic sims with painted on eyebrows and lego hair, no real generational gameplay since a whole lifestage is missing, etc, etc. I have not bought the game, and I have no intention of paying $80+ just to reaffirm my dislike. I wont go on, because everything has already been said.
Like tizerist, right now the one thing I do really lament is the world building community. Fresh threads used to pop up every few days with ideas, or WIP's. Now, world building sections on the boards I visit seem to be like graveyards since TS4's release. I miss watching the development of a world from start to finish.
I suppose people would like a world tool for TS4, but I personally don't see the viability, as it isn't like sims can make use of a whole world anyway, being confined to singular lots and loading screens. That's just me though, and I wouldn't say I was terribly objective because I can't stand the game anyway.

I've bought TS4 TWICE, trying to get into it. I figured most of the community would be going over to the new game so I had better get acclimated to it. But I just CAN'T... The first time I bought it, I played with it for about 2 hours. It was literally like pulling teeth. I couldn't get into the "feel" of the game. I seriously hate the textures and the look of it. I know a lot of people didn't like the uncanny valley appearance of Sims 3 (with mods), but I LOVED IT. I couldn't get into CAS, one of the things I love about sims 3 was creating sims, and I don't think Sims 4 gives me the creative freedom I had in CAS with Sims 3. Now mind you, I have a shyt load of sliders and CC, but even as I'm seeing new skins and clothing being made for sims 4, it still looks like paper doll cut outs to me. I hate the aesthetics so much.

So then I decided to give it another chance once better CC was introduced. And I played it for about 20 minutes literally, and just said Screw it... Let me get my money back, this game isn't for me. Period. I need the open world, I need Cas, I need pure creative freedom. With Sims 3 if you want to download a world that's set medieval times, you can. If you want a world that's purely gothic, you can have that too. The fact that we can't recolor objects and make them fit the atmosphere to our world, is what's a deal breaker for me. I hate hate hate there's no open world. Also I really didn't see a huge difference as far as the sims themselves... Mind you, it feels more like I'm playing a "game" as opposed to the sandbox experience. Which I hate also. I just don't like it, and I've bought it twice, and returned it twice. Can't do it.

I tried, I really tried... and I'll probably try again once there are more expansions. But the thing is they are two totally different games-- or so I tell myself. Sims 4 for playing with Sims, TS3 for everything else. But even that is not convincing, because as the OP said, TS4 really reduces you to playing with one sim. If one sim leaves the home lot, you don't have the option of switching back to any other sim. And despite the so called advances in building, my heart's just not in it without CAST.

I didn't bother with TS4. I like TS3 a lot more than what TS4 has to offer. I just can't give up CASt, the open world, SP, toddlers, normal careers, cars, etc., ad infinitum... and last but not least, the biggest deal breaker of them all - the Origin requirement. Thanks but no thanks. I like playing my sims game standalone, with no worries as to when EA/Origin will decide to close the servers and the money I spent on that series goes POOF!! At least with TS2 and TS3, I know I own my games, I can put it on any computer I own and not have to worry when EA/Origin decides to close those servers. And I can play them anytime I want!!

The only thing I have to say is this: Every good feature The Sims 3 has, The Sims 4 doesn't have. And vice versa.
That is all.

I agree to the OP,. I too own TS4 but then I only played it for 1 day and after that I am back to Sims 3..I just don't like TS4's concept of world although it has awesome graphics. I still prefer TS3. If EA will change the world feature to a seamless neighborhood (which is impossible) then I might try going back and playing it.

I've had further thoughts about this .. I don't think anyone has to give up anything - I hope that no one will actually expect any of us to takes sides in this Sims 3/Sims 4 thing. It's not about sides, it's about what you want to play at any given moment, I hope I am sure we're all mature enough to accept all game play styles and versions at any time, right?