THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[phyllis_p]

"No chairs? The toilet is the next most logical place to eat!"

Seriously though, I didn't have a dining room set and she went upstairs to eat on the toilet, WTF?

That's funny :-) 

Honestly, if I didn't have a chair or a couch, I might be inclined to use the toilet as a chair, but I'd put the lid down first.  Doesn't look like she did.  I'd probably be more likely to sit on the bed or the floor, though.  I'd do any of those three before I'd eat standing.

[HomeschooledByTards]

Well the toilet as a chair, must just be the crappy chair coding which the FOJ has explained in more detail.

Mr. Evil just sat on the edge of his tub to drink some juice. The toilet/tub sitting is amusing.

[MATYfraggle]

Please don´t beat me, if this was answered before.

In my options menu it is not possible to use the life span slider.
Is this a bug or am I just clueless?

[Aner-Dyfan]

Yes it's funny a couple of times, a bit like TS2 "What's this?" was ok a couple of times. But more than that it gets really annoying, especially in this case as you are occupying the toilet so are preventing sims from peeing before you can equip them with singularity kidneys. Most of the new behaviours are ok, but once you play for any length of time they get frustrating and you want to kill your sims... which is hard as they have insane amounts of immunity to most influences. They can climb out of pools with no ladder, it takes 3 days to starve to death etc.

@ fraggle:
Probably a bug.

[Netich]

In general im enjoying the game. i also use to play just one house, so no problem with that. One thing i find strange: all the watches, rings, etc, are just for one hand??

When you click on the watch/ring/whatever, does an arrow appear at the bottom-left of the thumbnail?  Try clicking that.

Hey! thanks for that.

I was thinking in the sims in ads not being in the game. Why do EA create all this characters (Magnus, kim, marcela, the render girl) and doesnt put them in the game? Maybe it is a beta after all... 

[literatebse]

I was thinking in the sims in ads not being in the game. Why do EA create all this characters (Magnus, kim, marcela, the render girl) and doesnt put them in the game? Maybe it is a beta after all... 

MJ Chun confirmed that many of the characters in the ads will not be in the game.  Apparently she wasn't too happy about it either.

Interview here: http://sims3nieuws.blogspot.com/2009/05/sims-3-nieuws-exclusive-interview-with.html

[ApplesandOranges]

Hi all. I couldn't sign-up/register under ooblushy88oo, it wouldn't take for some reason, so I chose this one. 

If you guys would like to see some screenshots I've taken, take a look at my PB account. I took quite a few!

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/KETCHUPanyone/Sims%203/

I gotta say, the Sims themselves look like clay-models. I took my Sim to the Cinema and Diner and I couldn't go inside.
She goes in and you just hear noises, that's it! You can go inside the gym though...pfft. I thought that was pretty lame, eh?

The objects are indeed very lousy and like it's been said already, very limited. 

[originalhalf]

I just can't get past how ugly they are.  Aside from that and a few other concerns folks have expressed, it does look like it's at least worth a free trial and I've been chained to the brand since the beginning so resistance is futile.  However, the ugly really is killing my must have it NAO drive normally associated with the Sims.

Please more screen shots.  Maybe the ugly will grow on me.

[HomeschooledByTards]

Hi all. I couldn't sign-up/register under ooblushy88oo, it wouldn't take for some reason, so I chose this one. 

I can see why you'd be disappointed that ooblushy88oo wouldn't take. It's clearly a highly desirable name.

Yes, most of the community lots are just empty boxes.

[tessieroo]

  So I'm hearing that there are community lots that you can't edit? You can't buy/build any changes to those lots? (In fact, you can't even lower the walls to see inside?) Examples given to me where a lot named "Little Corsican Bistro". I thought we were supposed to be able to follow our Sims inside stores & restaurants? Can someone who has it up & running confirm this?

So if EAxis has somehow fucked up doors or placement of things on those lots, we can't fix those things. FAIL.

[theresatv]

There is debate as to whether this is a beta or the final release. Some people seem to be declaring it to be one or the other with a quasi-religious fervor without offering much in the way of evidence. On this subject I am agnostic. I haven't installed any of the Sims 2 games before at least the second patch was released because EA's original releases are all somewhat boned, however, some of the issues I'm hearing about are pretty dire even for EA. Perhaps if we look at the available evidence calmly and rationally, we may be able to determine the probable status of this release instead of having some sort of Dinesh D'Souza/Christopher Hitchens kerfuffle that will determine nothing.

These things we know:
EA announced that the game had gone "gold" on May 8.

The date for the .exe file on the DVD for Apartment Life is July 26, 2008.
The release date for Apartment Life was nominally August 25, 2008.

NOW...

What is the actual date of the .exe file of this release, and what is the latest date on any of the included files? All I have heard on this is that the date on the .exe is "about April." Although EA's work isn't always tight as a Swiss watch, I can just about guarantee that the file date is not "about April."

[Aner-Dyfan]

Several comm lots you can't see inside, in fact I think it might be all of the speciality comm lots (where you work etc) You arrive, click the door a window pops up, you do whatever then click ok and leave. A large amount of the game is just about text boxes, the actual gameplay feels like its been reduced down to a text based game which so happens to have a graphical interface.

Oh and there is no debate on if this is a beta version, those who think it is are stupid.

[ApplesandOranges]

I can see why you'd be disappointed that ooblushy88oo wouldn't take. It's clearly a highly desirable name.

I guess so. 

So I'm hearing that there are community lots that you can't edit? You can't buy/build any changes to those lots? (In fact, you can't even lower the walls to see inside?) Examples given to me where a lot named "Little Corsican Bistro". I thought we were supposed to be able to follow our Sims inside stores & restaurants? Can someone who has it up & running confirm this?

So if EAxis has somehow fucked up doors or placement of things on those lots, we can't fix those things. FAIL.

Tessieroo, I don't know about the editing in buy/build mode but so far when I've taken Sims to restaurants and the movie theatre, they went inside
but I couldn't follow them in. They go in and you just hear clatter/noises and you have to cancel the que and then they come out. 

[tessieroo]

Thanks Aner-Dyfan. What a big pile of shit. 
It really sounds too much like the Stories series they put out. Lost interest in that once I got all the way thru.

[phyllis_p]

I just can't get past how ugly they are.  Aside from that and a few other concerns folks have expressed, it does look like it's at least worth a free trial and I've been chained to the brand since the beginning so resistance is futile.  However, the ugly really is killing my must have it NAO drive normally associated with the Sims.

Please more screen shots.  Maybe the ugly will grow on me.

Moody made two very nice-looking Sims last night, one with a quite passable resemblance to himself.  (Well -- himself at a distance, anyway).  I'll see if he'll let me post pictures this evening.  Of course, he's an artist, and all his Sims have always looked awesome, from TS1 onward.

[jolrei]

Oh and there is no debate on if this is a beta version, those who think it is are stupid.

But I am holding my breath for the next two pages of posts on this thread, so that we can see the next "there are rumours that this is a beta" post.

I can see why you'd be disappointed that ooblushy88oo wouldn't take. It's clearly a highly desirable name.

I guess so. 

MATY will not accept stupid usernames with numbers in them.

[Piffle]

There is debate as to whether this is a beta or the final release. Some people seem to be declaring it to be one or the other with a quasi-religious fervor without offering much in the way of evidence.

I honestly fail to see the point in dredging this topic up again.  In thirteen days, one side will get to do the I-was-right-and-you-were-wrong dance on the basis of irrefutable evidence; there's no point in arguing over rumors and speculation until then.  

[blackcat]

I have a little question.

In Sims 2 when you went through CAS or used a mirror you could check, uncheck or scroll through options pretty fast. For example while browsing blushes or hair, you could just click, click, click and preview was available right away. That was not the case with accessories. You had to click, wait while game updates and shows you a sim in glasses, then choose another glasses, wait again and so on; or when you scrolled though pages of glasses. That's why I rarely used them and never downloaded anything for that section.

Now in Sims 3 I see that behavior with everything and especially CAST.

Now the question: Is this behavior depends on how fast computer is, and with strong enough one you won't notice this, or, like with glasses from sims 2, will always take a little bit of time?

[brownlustgirl]

As someone who is definitely not gonna play a vanilla sims game, I am throughly enjoying it. Lots to explore and do, makes me ignore the little fugly maggots. I haven't played enough to figure out all my dislikes, tho I do miss macrotastics and ACR, but it's not all bad. Just wish my sim would stop wanting items with a 50% chance of getting the points.  She could use those points.

[MuertoElBarto]

I can see why you'd be disappointed that ooblushy88oo wouldn't take. It's clearly a highly desirable name.

Yes, yes, it is.  I reserved ooblushy88oo years ago, in case my initial account was ever trashcanned, and I needed a sock.  Tough luck; you can't have it.

[cyperangel]

Im currently toying with a family and have tried the farming route. But there are one thing driving me up a wall, so now I come here begging for help.

I have managed to find most plants, including the omniplant that is mentioned when you level gardening skill to 10nd the flame Fruit bush. But where in sweet heaven have they hidden the money tree? Has anyone found one of those yet?

In advance thank you very much, for any and all assistance rendered.

[DigiGekko]

Here's a strange quirk related to the new way genetics work in Sims 3. Make a girl, preferably toddler, and then give her a twin. Make the twin a boy. Now guess what happens when the boy ages up? Yep, they get girl hair. You can change it, but you won't be able to get it back. I'm sure it works the other way around, too. And I'm sure this will continue to haunt the poor lad through every following age advance. Sigh.

[Acid_fairy]

I am a control freak, so I am not enjoying all these pre-mades growing up and dying without me. However, I can confirm that it appears that changing the life span is indeed global. I think this will be the way forward for me since I don't want my sims doing stupid things without enough life left to correct them.

[kytyngurl]

Opinion thus far:

The good:

Like the lack of loading screens, and the fact that the whole 'hood is free for your sims to explore. I rarely sent my sims out in 2, as it was so slow.
The ability to make woods, colors, and patterns match is nice. I wish they did that ages ago.
Like some of the CAS modifications, and that hats have their own category.
Like using objects in your inventory. Very nice. I saw a guy using his laptop at the beach.
Sim to Sim interaction seems a bit more realistic or at least enjoyable to me now.
The ability to have various weights makes everyone a lot less same-y.
No ape-faces on the townies thus far.
The trees, ground, some bushes, and a few other things look great.
Love the traits!

The bad:

The sims all look... off. Even the skinny ones look like one of those aged celebrities who put too much silicon into their faces. Also, playdoh.
The graphics don't seem all that much of a step up from Sims 2. Still some jaggies, and some things look pretty much the same as they did in 2.
Not enough stuff in Buy Mode and CAS. More on this later.
Everything looks kind of dark to me.
Doesn't seem like there is all that much to do, but this might mean I need to spend more time playing it.
Lots of bugs, sounds like. Though I haven't encountered one... yet.
If they are not going to allow custom content/mods/hacks, then that's a deal-breaker.
All those sliders in CAS, and yet still everyone looks the same.
The pathfinding seems just as retarded as ever. Does it really need to take 3 RL minutes for two sims to figure out that, yes, they are going to throw a ball?
Sounds like they broke genetics. Ugh. I DNW ugly babies/kids.

The iffy:

Not sure about the enforced Legacy thing yet. I like townies aging, but DO want to maintain strict control over my families.
Fast Forward seems to only last as long as the action you put it on.
Not used to the control scheme yet.
Hard to get around town.
Moodlets... meh.

Overall:

My experience with this game is being really influenced by how little there is in it, and the knowledge that EA again will attempt to rape us all with EPs, Stuff Packs, and Sim Store Stuff. I've followed this game since Sims 1... and I am tired of giving EA huge sums of money for a few freaking bread-crumbs. There needed to be more things from 1 and 2 in here. A LOT more things. Hobbies, for instance. And weather. Perhaps pets. Those were all great things that need to be a base-game, not an expansion pack. I don't want to buy a 'Nightlife' EP for a third time, or a 'Pets' one, or whatever thing they are going to re-hash.

I guess I'll play the game a bit more, and will await more news. Until then, color me pretty underwhelmed.

[nekonoai]

When the pop up notifications bug you that you only have one day left to pay your bills, there is a "pay bills now" button there--if you click it, your bill will automatically be paid and you don't have to send someone to do it.

I don't remember seeing this pop-up, but I might have been distracted at the time.

When does betting open on how soon a patch is released?

The day after release. I got five on it.

Revise: You don't want that unless you are doing it DELIBERATELY.

It would be lulzy if it randomly showed up, though. Like Don Juan Trepie's nose.

Look at their career tab. On the right side, you'll see one or more smiley/frowny faces.

Ah, so I know that his second smilyface had to do with his boss, so maybe he should do a little sucking up or something. Also, good to know that C is still the snapshot taker. I hadn't tried it yet, but I'm going to tonight. :3

LOL That picture of the sims protesting with the NO BUGS signs really make me chuckle.