#yes i have ts4 and ts2 running at the same time i like to live dangerously

[ofmdee]

🖤🤍

[dramallamadingdang]

I never liked TS3, but your recent gameplay pics makes it seem so fun. How many packs do you have? Do you play with any mods? This is unrelated, but I was wondering what are your opinions on Sims 4? I am asking because I love sims, but don't enjoy anything beyond sims 2 and it is becoming increasingly difficult to play the game on modern computers. My playstyle seems to match yours, so I would like to know your thoughts.

You know, I didn’t like TS3 for years. I think it was because I really wanted it to be TS2, only better. Like, the same exact game only with better graphics, more freedom with the open world, etc. When I tried to play TS3, I was spending so much time comparing it with 2 that I couldn’t appreciate it on its own merits, as a completely different creature. Which it definitely is…

And I babbled a lot (What a surprise!), so I’ll cut the rest. I just woke up, so pardon my incoherent rambling. :)

Once I finally accepted that TS3 isn’t TS2, I started to enjoy 3 a lot more, and then I started to discover its own unique strengths. Because it does have strengths over TS2 – gardening and its tight integration with cooking, for one, plus the adventure-vacations and, oh yeah, HORSES and the other pets that, annoying routing aside, are just better than TS2’s – although there are many things that I like better in TS2, of course. Primarily building. I love building neighborhoods from the ground up in TS2. Doing that is why I got the game in the first place. In TS3? I HATE BUILDING WITH THE FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS. (So I’m really thankful for the people who enjoy making custom worlds! :D ) I just want to open up a fully-built, ready-to-go, but unpopulated world -- and if it’s populated I just nuke everyone with Master Controller -- and play TS3 because its gameplay is actually really fun, IMO, once you stop expecting it to be TS2. Now, to be fair, I haven’t gotten tired of TS3’s gameplay probably because I haven’t been playing the game for a solid decade, so I haven’t done all the stuff a million times yet. But in TS2, I’m starting to find the gameplay really tiresome, even with all the mods to make it more interesting. So, I break up the tedium with building, while my “playing batteries” recharge. I can see me coming to a point where I’ll stop wanting to play it, though, and just want to build in it and make stuff needed for what I build. But I still have fun playing TS3, so...yeah.

Anyway, I have all the TS3 EPs, and I kind of consider all of them essential because they all add bits (or large chunks!) of gameplay that I like. I only have one of the stuff packs – High End Loft Stuff or something? – because the base game I bought had that bundled with it. I have also *ahem* acquired *ahem* all of the store worlds and the interesting-to-me store items. (Like the canning station and the gardening/greenhouse/farm stuff and the glass-blowing/jewelry-making and the bakery set and the OFB-like stuff and…Well, you get the idea. :) )

And I have many, many mods. I have more mods than anything else, when it comes to third-party content for the game. I have pretty much all of the NRAAS mods, some of which – like Master Controller, Error Trap, and Overwatch – are essential for keeping the game running smoothly, and some of which add fun stuff. Like Traveler, which makes it so that you can have Sims living in multiple worlds in a single save (sort of like a neighborhood + subhoods in TS2), and you can bounce between them. It’s probably my favorite mod of them all. Other non-NRAAS faves involve gardening/cooking, whole packs of new plants for growing new ingredients that are needed for new recipes for the game, including cuisines for different cultures. (Greek, Indian, Mexican, etc.) Still others add more abilities and interactions for children, toddlers, and babies. 

And then there’s the “adult” mod, “Kinky World,” which adds realistic animated sex and various sorts of stuff for grown-ups. I have much of it disabled because I’m not interested in having things like rape and incest and bestiality in my game, but I’m OK with drug use and sex work and especially the customizable menstrual cycle that makes baby-making far more realistic, in addition to various services added to the hospital rabbithole (sterilization procedures for both sexes as well as some sex reassignment procedures), and…Well, I confess that the flashers amuse the hell out of me, specifically different Sims’s reactions to them. *laugh* The “Kinky World” mod certainly isn’t for everyone and it does throw errors and such and the admins on the NRAAS forum really poo-poo its shoddy coding, so you probably shouldn’t use it in a save that you really care about keeping around long-term, but if you’re into that sort of stuff and you’re just screwing around (pun intended :) ), it has some interesting features. I wish I could have the menstrual cycle from it all by itself because that’s mostly why I use it.

Overall, when it comes to TS3, I think you sort of have to find your bliss with it. Go into it with an open mind, explore the game unmodded for a while, try out various aspects of its gameplay, and then decide what you don’t like and look into how to fiddle with it with mods and CC and such. Like, I thought I’d hate the whole Story Progression thing – and I would hate it, in a TS2 context – but in TS3 I actually enjoy losing (some) control over my playables when I’m not playing them. It adds randomness, sort of like things like ACR does in TS2. That said, EA’s story progression sucks in various ways. Get NRAAS’s Story Progression. It’s huge and has a scary-looking learning curve but also has extensive documentation on the NRAAS site as to what everything does, and once you get used to it, it’s really cool. You can basically decide, on a very detailed level, which things you’re OK with the game deciding as opposed to you deciding, so you can get rid of the annoying things about EA’s progression while still keeping the general idea of it.

So…yeah. Play the game with an open mind, with a “I’m just testing” sort of mindset. Find out what you do and don’t like about it, on its own merits, and don’t just assume that the things you like in 3 will be the same as the things you like in 2 because they very well might not be. Then spend time exploring mods and CC (and prepare to be enraged by Adfly and such! :P ) to change how the game works and what it looks like and stuff like that.

I did a lot of experimenting over the course of various stabs at the game over the years, trying to find something to like. I quickly discovered that the “build-a-city-esque” way I generally play in TS2 was out because I hate building in TS3, but I also discovered that, like in TS2, I’ll get bored if I only play one household all the time. So, I do still like a rotational set-up. Happily, it is pretty simple, with NRAAS’s Story Progression’s “caste” system, to do rotational play in TS3. (There’s a “how to set this up” tutorial of sorts here.) This is what I found that I like best; I’m still in the process of fiddling with the Story Progression settings for non-active playable households, to determine what level of control over them I really want. (Turns out, it’s less control than I thought I’d want, but there are still some things that I don’t want to happen without my consent.) Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is to, at first, play some “throwaway” saves in the game that you just experiment with stuff, to find worlds you like (I highly recommend My Sim Realty’s worlds because they’re CC and store-content free as well as well-constructed – no lag – and attractive) and to find out what you like in terms of gameplay. For you, it might turn out that you like nothing…or you may find that you like a lot of things. And, yes, TS3 still runs well (when modded to fix some of its inherent flaws) on modern machines. I mean, EA still sells it, after all, so it kinda has to. :)

And finally, speaking of inherent flaws… I think TS3 is the proverbial red-haired stepchild of the franchise mostly because of two things:

One, while it has grand ideas – i.e., the fully open world – it’s just not executed well. For instance, there are many construction errors in the EA worlds that cause Sims to get stuck, and when a bunch of Sims are stuck but the game still tries to make them do things, it gums up the whole works, resulting in lag, lag, lag. There are fixed EA worlds out there, though, so if you try out the game and want to play an EA world, I highly recommend finding a fixed version, so you don’t get frustrated by the world’s EA-created issues. They’re all a bit screwy in this regard, but the worst offenders are Bridgeport from Late Night and Isla Paradiso from Island Paradise. Basically, EA tried to do it all and so did most of it half-assedly. The game pretty much requires fixed worlds (if you use the EA worlds) and the error-fixing NRAAS mods in order to run smoothly. IME, custom worlds tend to run better. Not always, because some creators are just better/more experienced than others, but generally speaking. It’s probably because world creators are crafting labors of love rather than operating under pressure and a strict time-deficient production schedule. :)

Two, people were like me: They wanted TS3 to be TS2, only better, but it's not that at all. It’s a completely different game in many respects, and it seems to me that many people just couldn’t accept that. I’ve never played TS4 (so I have no opinions about it, I’m afraid), but from what I’ve seen it seems a little more 2-like, and it’s more cartoon-like (whereas TS3 was going more for realism, the pudding-Sims aside) in a way that’s more reminiscent of a “Maxis-match” TS2 game. And it’s also not the resource hog that playing a huge world in TS3 can be. So, I can see why a lot of people play TS2 and TS4 but skip TS3. I always have a tendency to zig when everyone else zags, though, and I kinda really like TS3. Go figure. *shrug*

[winifredwoogie]

A Meme-thing!

I was tagged by @treason-and-plot to do this curious questionnaire. Since I’m sitting here at my desk trying to forget how hot it is, this seems like an excellent time to distract myself and respond :-D

What’s your favorite sims death?

Sims 3.. Hmmm...now that I think about it I do, Victor killing all the one jerk that beat up his girlfriend.  Although the death it’self wasn’t much I was happy the jerk was dead.   Sims 4...I had one of my sims go over to another sims house who’s son had murdered my sim’s daughter.  I had him kill her with mortification/embarrassment.  It amused me and gave me some satisfaction.  And one save I killed Mortimer Goth by over exertion because I wanted room in the house and he was in the way.

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

Sims 3 Alpha cc for sure.  Sims 4 Maxis match.  The two art styles of each game don’t always look good when used in game so I stick with what I find aesthetically pleasing and “correct” to me.

Do you cheat when your sims gain weight?

Sometimes when it’s taking too damn long to get their weight down.  Now if only there was an actual cheat in real life...I could seriously use it right now!

Do you use move objects?

Yes.

Favorite mod?

NRAAS Master Controller for Sims 3. MC Command Center for Sims 3.  I can’t imagine the games with out them.  Bonus mod: Shimrod’s “Everything is Fine” and the “Less smiling” mod.  Seriously.

First expansion/game/stuff pack you got?

Sims 3...uh...I honestly can’t remember.  The first store bought world I remember getting is Monte Vista.  I love that world, it is really beautiful.

Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing?

Live...as in “alive”.  I’m not saying anything else.

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

I have a lot of sims that I have made over that are my favorites.  I like them all but for different reasons.

Have you made a simself?

Hell no.  I have enough ugly sims running around in my game, I really don’t want to look at another one ;-D.

What sim traits do you give yourself?

Grumpy, animal lover, artistic, perceptive and loner

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

I don’t really have one. I know that in Sims 4 they REALLY need to add more colors or a way to customize the hair colors.

Favorite EA hair?

I don’t have one. It depends on the personality I’m giving the sim in either game.

Favorite life stage?

I don’t have a preference, depends on what I’m doing.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I am mostly for game play but I do enjoy decorating and sometimes building. The game is one of the things that helps keep me sane.

Are you a CC creator?

No. I am a collector.

Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad?

I interact with folks on line but I wouldn’t say I know them personally.  I am the type of person that will just observe...I guess at times I’m simply a “lurker”.  But I do enjoy seeing what other people are up to.

What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4)

I have only played TS3 and TS4 and I enjoy them both.  I would love to try TS2, I understand that it’s pretty awesome and has the better AI compared to the other versions.

Do you have any sims merch?

No.

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

No.  I do like watching LPs and Speed Build videos before going to bed, there is something relaxing about it and I will zonk right out.

How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I have a better understanding of both games but I still play the same: they are my digital doll houses and I play them as such with their own stories and lives...kind of like when I played with my real dolls as a child.

What’s your Origin ID?

Ah...that will remain a mystery, won’t it?

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

Ah jeeze, there are several.  Sims 3 is InkWisteria (children’s hair), Cazy, Praline Sims, S-Club, Beaverhausen, Buckley, Brntwaffles, Rusty, kijiko..the list goes on. Sims 4: Most of the folks above, Ms. Blue, Screaming Mutard, LumiaLover, Kiarazurk, simplesimmer, ebonix, pinkzombiecupcake, Pyxis, RemusSirion, Golyhawhaw...the list goes on.  Seriously, I would have to copy and paste my mods folder.

How long have you had a simblr?

I think about a year and half?

How do you edit your pictures?

I use Picasa mostly to just adjust the contrast and sometimes the light.  I use SweetFx in TS4 so a lot of my editing is taken care of.  For TS3, I takes a bit more care.  

What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next?

I own all the stuff for TS3.  For TS4, I own everything to date but what I am looking forward to is the Pets expansion.  This iteration is a different spin from the previous and I’m curious to see what they do with them and I miss having digital pets. I also want werewolves and witches added to the game.  So yeah...I’m waiting for a couple things.  I am not too worried about anything.

What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far?

TS3 I besides loving Monte Vista, I really enjoy playing in Bridgeport and Moonlight Falls, I like the store bought worlds a lot too.  TS4...it’s just stuff added to the game so really not quite as exciting as a huge open world to expand in.