THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[Zazazu]

Is it just me or does she have a goatee in the child picture?

I suspect it's an issue with the gums showing through her skin, kind of similar to the occasional issue you'd get with a kid in TS2 with face proportions far from the usual. Most of why I had Dillon pursue her was to see how she turned out. And yup, she's an Ursine.

[TashaYarrr]

Does anyone have a list of functional cheat codes going yet? I'm thinking about starting a thread but I don't want to push my luck. I see a bunch of Prima Guide cheats got posted on Snooty, but from what I hear they mostly don't work?

I do know about motherlode and testingcheatsenabled.

There was one, "edit in cas", that if actually functioned would have been nice for dealing with ugly townies.

[cheezwiz]

'kaching' still works for 1000 simoleons.  Typing 'help' into the console will get you a list of commands, but none of them looked terribly inspiring.

There may be more, but I haven't taken the time to delve into them.

I have to say I'm kind of liking TEH HORROR thus far.  There are a few obvious annoyances, but all in all the game is quite enjoyable, moreso than Sims 2.

For me, the major cons are:

• the general ugliness of sims - it's hard to make a non-ugly face, and the townies have clearly not even bothered.
• Holy obesity, batman - no offense to persons of the large persuasion, but I almost freaked out when I saw the extent of the fat slider
• Bodies are not really all that customizeable - I guess I can't realistically wish for something like Spore's editor, but they need a lot more than just those two sliders
• Heinously limited clothes/furniture - their plan to nickle-and-dime sims players to death with their online store rears its ugly head.

However, I quite like the gameplay, and I love how you can just zoom out and look around town with no loading.  Oh, how I loathed loading in the Sims 2.  My poor sims were lucky if they got to visit a community lot once in their entire existence.  This new one, I can have my fitness sims jog down to the outdoor chess table, practice chess and meet several random townies all at the same time.  I also quite like the traits system, although there are a few I wonder if anyone would ever take.  The new wants and moods are neat as well, although I wish they'd be a little more consistent about spawning new ones; sometimes sims can go awhile without developing any strong desires for anything, it seems.  This is likely realistic, but it does cut down on my micro-goal rewards.

I do miss all the random crazy crap I had downloaded for the other game, but as it is, playing "normal" sims as opposed to the melange of aliens and fairies and whatnot I usually end up with is something of a change.  We'll see how long it lasts. :p

[rufio]

Moveobjects on works (to a certain extent - you can't delete newspapers); familyfunds apparently works if you have testingcheats on.

[GayJohnScarritt]

My three non-moving-anymore gnomes were brought back by my thief from her work. She also brought back a truckload of paintings and statues. Apparently these extras are supposed to be her share of the night's booty.
Too bad these damn gnomes stopped moving after a week. Arg i hate this bug.

Just noticed, that after my paperboy kicked my non-working gnome, and I stood him back up, the gnome started his hijinks later on that night.  So obviously the old saying "He needs a kick in the pants to get him moving" really is true. 

[Caraleede]

They failed in not supplying us with uppern and lower body sliders.  Both men and women can have different proportions.  In addition, but not all fat people are shaped like a pear.  I'm still shaped like an hourglass, just a generously proportioned one.  In addition, some guys are shaped like triangles, with nice broad shoulders and narrow hips.  That's hard to manage, as much as having a curvy slender woman is.

The fat slider is useless! I could put up with faulty genetics, and the fat sims who can stick their arms through themselves due to horrible bone structure, but what the fuck is that slider for?! It's either skinny and flat-chested, or a giant pear with thighs the size of Texas.

My initial reaction was that I could like TS3, but all this crap adds up - leaving EA in desperate need of Chk-Chk boom. 

[Doc Doofus]

Well, all I have to say is, it was smart noodlin' on EA's part to put Securom in the pirated version of Sims 3 to keep people from pirating it!

Oh.  Wait...  What the fuck? 

[Warge]

After having tested this for about half a week, I'd like to report a few bugs and also provide my personal notes about it:

First off, I've had a jumping bug. Yes indeed, one of the sims (my self-sim no less) had troubles sleeping and shifted every second from lying in bed to stiding through the bed. I should have saved a screenshot from that.
I didn't care really since this jumping did not disturb the energy recovery, but it got worse: the self sim began teaching a toddler to talk and again, shifted from sitting on the floor to standing twice a second. Very annoying.
About here, the spouse also began teaching a toddler to talk, and was done - the message popped up and everything, but she did not stop teaching the toddler. That was more serious.

I tried remedy this through the old TS2 way, by making the sims usable and simply deleting them, returning to the neighbourhood and return (where they should in TS2 style, return standing by the mailbox, fresh from bugs and whatnot). They didn't. I ended up with a household consisting of one (1) toddler... So don't delete sims, will you?

Apart from the bugs, I don't really mind the game - and this is indeed a game as Pescado said earlier. It IS possible to make quite good sims, and by using and undertanding the color wheel and materials, you can make anything look exactly how you want. Using Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V in the binary field also makes sure everything has the exact same color. The building and buying tools are a blast.

One thing I really do mind is the animation set, or rather, the lack of animations. The animations are dull and flat and the facial animations even worse. A good smile is more than just showing the teeth. The walking animation seems to be taken from The Movies where the theatralic way of walking was more in line with the actors, but for normal people or sims, the walking looks just wrong.

Since this is a game and a new way of approaching family life, I think it just is a matter of getting used to the new style and way it is played. Even if I don't like that I can't make my own setting but is limited to Sunset Valley it could have been ok, if there would have been options to a) remove all the crap EA has filled the family and house pools with, and b) would have allowed me to put down a few lots of my own.

Things are EXPENSIVE, and I'm not talking about the game itself, but the stuff in the game. Building a house for a couple and keeping it under 16000 simoleons is hard, especially if the girl is knocked up. Not that I mind actually - it was way too easy to make money in TS2, but here you actually have to earn your keep. That is very, very good.

The most fundamental things in life are weather, time and seasons, and not having those included was a disappointment.

Got to love the rabbit holes. I don't give a damn about how a school looks inside, I just want to know there is one in town. Very good initiative.

The lack of hair styles is also a disappointment, and also the fact that my teen boys can't grow a five o'clock shadow. I don't mind the lack of clothing styles that much, mainly becuase the customizing tools makes most of what you want.

For the game itself, I find it odd that a game that is not holding everything that was promised is to be released, and that so much will be available only through download. Perhaps EA was inspired by the great paysites debate, and decided they wanted some of the cake. Since EA and Maxis are companies they are out to make money, and that's fine by me. However, trying to make money this way, by making people pay for extra content that was supposed to have been included from the start, that sucks.

Have a nice day.

[teaislovely]

Has anyone else had an elder last a really really long time past their lifespan? I've got mine set to live 190 days and this sim is now 206. I like her and all but I  need to make some way for babies. DIE SIM DIE.

[Lurker]

Just noticed, that after my paperboy kicked my non-working gnome, and I stood him back up, the gnome started his hijinks later on that night.  So obviously the old saying "He needs a kick in the pants to get him moving" really is true.

I already Kicked all of them several times and stood them back up, they're still stiff frozen. Thanks for the suggestion though I will kick them like 5 times in a row each just to be sure. Since you had that non-moving glitch too i wonder if they're just borked. Or maybe the RLD version is the culprit since they already had stopped moving before changing it for the Razor one. I will have to get new gnomes to test anew.

[Cameo]

   Hi ALL!  I'm new here and thrilled about it...I think...maybe...maybe not...will wait and see how y'all treat me.     Besides what I've read here tonight, I've been viewing a lot of TS3 videos (some with voice-overs) made by simmers who got the game one way or another...don't care.  Many of them (the videos) have been "taken down" since, but between this site and those videos...what an education!  I want to thank ALL of you here and would like to participate.

MY very first and BIGGEST disappointment was learning that the animation of getting on/off the school bus and in/out of taxicabs & cars is GONE.  Sims simply poof in/out of them.  Then I saw a video of 2 Sims going to the waterfall for a picnic/fishing via a car as transportation.  When they got there...poof...out of the car and then the CAR poofed away!      I adored this animation and used it an a TS2 story and plan on using it again in other TS2 stories.  Obviously, it won't be used in any TS3 stories, should I decide to even venture there.  I did reserve the Collector's Edition but may be regretting it now.

The ONLY thing that comforts me is that the base game appears to be on 1 DISK!  Well, that's the size of the box.  Didn't TS2 require 4?  Don't really know what that means, but 1 disk vs 4 is better.  As for my PC handling it AND TS2, it should.  If not, I'll just dump/sell TS3.  Apparently, no biggy.  I've still got lots to do in TS2 anyway and thankful for that.

Hats off to the OP for this thread and the rest of you for your contributions.  Excellent!  THANK YOU!

   Cameo

                 

[DigiGekko]

  Hi ALL!  I'm new here and thrilled about it...I think...maybe...maybe not...will wait and see how y'all treat me.     Besides what I've read here tonight, I've been viewing a lot of TS3 videos (some with voice-overs) made by simmers who got the game one way or another...don't care.  Many of them (the videos) have been "taken down" since, but between this site and those videos...what an education!  I want to thank ALL of you here and would like to participate.

MY very first and BIGGEST disappointment was learning that the animation of getting on/off the school bus and in/out of taxicabs & cars is GONE.  Sims simply poof in/out of them.  Then I saw a video of 2 Sims going to the waterfall for a picnic/fishing via a car as transportation.  When they got there...poof...out of the car and then the CAR poofed away!      I adored this animation and used it an a TS2 story and plan on using it again in other TS2 stories.  Obviously, it won't be used in any TS3 stories, should I decide to even venture there.  I did reserve the Collector's Edition but may be regretting it now.

The ONLY thing that comforts me is that the base game appears to be on 1 DISK!  Well, that's the size of the box.  Didn't TS2 require 4?  Don't really know what that means, but 1 disk vs 4 is better.  As for my PC handling it AND TS2, it should.  If not, I'll just dump/sell TS3.  Apparently, no biggy.  I've still got lots to do in TS2 anyway and thankful for that.

Hats off to the OP for this thread and the rest of you for your contributions.  Excellent!  THANK YOU!

   Cameo

                 

Judging by your use of smiley faces, you smell of sheep, even if you at least exhibit knowledge of proper grammar, etc. Just a forewarning that you can get eated alive here for that. Anyway, TS2 was on 4 CDs. TS3 is on a single dual layer DVD. It's about 5.6 gigs versus a little over 2.

[eforrest]

Is it just me or are the lots just way too big?  What the hell kind of house am I going to build on a 40x40 lot? 
I guess I'll just try to stick with 20X30 and 30X40. 

[VeilSethekk]

It turns out that the Moodlet Manager actually serves as a semi-Need Rejuvenator in that it restores a need to full if the Sim has one of the negative/neutral moodlets for it. (E.g. Needs to Pee, Getting Hungry, Tired, etc.) The rare backfiring isn't that big of a deal since you can use the MM again to get that depleted need back to full.

[SimKat]

Again EA with their big lots.I still don't understand their obsession with over sized lots that lag the hell out of your game.Nightlife comes too mind with this one.I'm also sticking with the smaller sizes(oh man that came out bad) lol.

[J. M. Pescado]

Things are EXPENSIVE, and I'm not talking about the game itself, but the stuff in the game. Building a house for a couple and keeping it under 16000 simoleons is hard, especially if the girl is knocked up. Not that I mind actually - it was way too easy to make money in TS2, but here you actually have to earn your keep. That is very, very good.

Well, it's even easier to get huge amounts of cash in TS3, but none of it is necessary: Due to the open neighborhood, you tend to be better off simply living off the land than trying to build a house, as the structural cost will quickly leave you no budget except for a pile of shitty equipment which will actually make your sims less happy than nothing at all.

[Liveangel]

 Baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa. Baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa.  Baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa.

Baa baa baa baa baa baa baa baa thanks this is great.

   Cameo

I call sock.

[Papercut]

If TS2 was a genetics-based  / CC-enhanced self-determined Simverse with several hoods to explore, including the option to make your own from scratch, then TS3 is one long series of LEVEL UP!s and collecting jags and mini-games that have had "make your own character / homebase" playability added on to make it a Sims game. It could be Splotch with the same gameplay, really, or any number of "adventure" games that make you run your player character back and forth across the game 'verse to collect tokens / clues / points.

Sadly, you speak the truth.

I'm already getting bored with TS3. This is a far cry from TS2 - when that first came out I was riveted, and my real life fell apart for a few weeks due to massive playage. Unlike this.

Collecting shit holds no interest for me. Nor does completing unrealistic, tasky opportunities. Skilling seems like more of a grind in TS3, which is strange, as I thought it was grindy in TS2, but it has somehow been made WORSE. Maybe it's because the game puts so much emphasis on A!CHIEVE!MENT! - I'm guessing Rod Humble is a fan of personal development tapes and motivational speakers (also that he loves to collect random useless shit).

While I do like the improved social interactions, friends seem kind of pointless, as others have mentioned. And friendships are strange. On one hand you have to make an effort to build and maintain them, even if it's between sims living in the same house (unlike in TS2 where sims living together would eventually build up the relationship score by nattering over breakfast and the like). But on the other hand if you have a guitar sim with high charisma they seem to accumulate friends every time they go out busking.

And romance seems like a total afterthought. They really should have put less fish types in the base game and included an attraction system instead. In TS2 I used to orchestrate a lot of tragic romances and illicit affairs. But in TS3 everyone is too busy working and sleeping, and without the lightning bolts there doesn't seem to be any point, as they are neutral towards everyone else anyway.

While moodlets are a rather nifty system, they make the game too easy in some ways. In TS2 you had to make an effort to satisfy wants otherwise you'd end up with asp failure. But in TS3 as long as you put someone in nice house and keep their needs filled, then they remain content, more or less. It's almost like everyone is perma plat.

Also, spawn-raising and playing the generation game is no fun when you know you're gonna get batch after batch of pudding-faced children. I wish there was a way to force ALL born-in-game sims to have head-width maxed to the left. And I can't believe EA borked the genetics so much. Having a toddler with Grandpa Alto's silver tipped hair is fail.

I just want TS2 with an open neighborhood and traits, pretty much ... not this goal-orientated, gotta catch 'em all frankengame.

[Mikkey]

On one hand you have to make an effort to build and maintain them, even if it's between sims living in the same house (unlike in TS2 where sims living together would eventually build up the relationship score by nattering over breakfast and the like).

Another thing that bothers me. Apparently sims cannot serve meals anymore, all you can do is "call household to meal" which is a problem in larger families. In TS2 I loved to build up their relationships over breakfast/dinner, in TS3 the first ones are finished when the last ones are still waiting in line for their food 

[daisywenham]

Has anyone else had an elder last a really really long time past their lifespan? I've got mine set to live 190 days and this sim is now 206. I like her and all but I  need to make some way for babies. DIE SIM DIE.

My CAS sim lived to around 107 days though her life span bar filled at 90.  On the other hand, her husband, who was about 6 days younger, died well before she did.

[J. M. Pescado]

I'm already getting bored with TS3. This is a far cry from TS2 - when that first came out I was riveted, and my real life fell apart for a few weeks due to massive playage. Unlike this.

Well, TS2 is a toy in which you make your own game. TS3 is a game that you beat. The "toy" aspect is less than well-developed.

Collecting shit holds no interest for me. Nor does completing unrealistic, tasky opportunities. Skilling seems like more of a grind in TS3, which is strange, as I thought it was grindy in TS2, but it has somehow been made WORSE. Maybe it's because the game puts so much emphasis on A!CHIEVE!MENT! - I'm guessing Rod Humble is a fan of personal development tapes and motivational speakers (also that he loves to collect random useless shit).

Skilling is more of a grind in TS3 because in TS2, it was A: Faster, and B: Automated with Awesomeness. You could press the command to DO EET and it would. Neither of these features was in base game.

While moodlets are a rather nifty system, they make the game too easy in some ways. In TS2 you had to make an effort to satisfy wants otherwise you'd end up with asp failure.

Well, more avoid fears, really. You couldn't go into aspirational failure otherwise.

But in TS3 as long as you put someone in nice house and keep their needs filled, then they remain content, more or less. It's almost like everyone is perma plat.

That is pretty much true of TS2, too. An entire command was created to accomplish this automatically without the need for user input.

Also, spawn-raising and playing the generation game is no fun when you know you're gonna get batch after batch of pudding-faced children. I wish there was a way to force ALL born-in-game sims to have head-width maxed to the left.

Well, it's your own fault for breeding with other puddingfaces. I imagine the problem is less apparent when you breed non-fatheads.

And I can't believe EA borked the genetics so much. Having a toddler with Grandpa Alto's silver tipped hair is fail.

Accept that there are apparently no hair genetics. We have a hypothesis going that the hair genetic behavior may actually be a bug. Code ripping studies are ongoing.

I just want TS2 with an open neighborhood and traits, pretty much ... not this goal-orientated, gotta catch 'em all frankengame.

We are working on it.

[jonas]

I just want TS2 with an open neighborhood and traits, pretty much ... not this goal-orientated, gotta catch 'em all frankengame.
We are working on it.

I just thought you should know that statement made me feel all warm and fuzzy.  For the life of me, I don't know why EA hasn't made you freakin' head programmer and game emperor yet. If I was a major shareholder I'd bloody demand they did just that and beckon you with many 0's on your paycheck.   

[Caraleede]

Can I ask, also, what the fuck is with the Saves? I had played a family five hours previously (and after 40 or so minutes, Vista went blue screen on me, as usual; nothing new there) but unlike usual when I returned to play, I didn't have any saves at all. The files are still there, but the game apparently doesn't deem them worthy to be played. 

[MaryH]

I just thought you should know that statement made me feel all warm and fuzzy.  For the life of me, I don't know why EA hasn't made you freakin' head programmer and game emperor yet. If I was a major shareholder I'd bloody demand they did just that and beckon you with many 0's on your paycheck.

I think that the saying "Death before dishonor" is the appropriate quote. EA would be a gutted shell if Pescado ever got his mitts on it, if he even cared to bother with it.
Of course that's not saying that EA isn't already a gutted shell.
By the looks of this game, they're almost there. Just a few more EP's for this mess and they'll be done.
Nothing like driving the plane right into the rocks for a good ending.

[jonas]

That's another thing I just don't get.  With the glutinous success the Sims franchise has had, there should be more clones.  I know of the crappy attempts at clones so far, but no one really goes much further than that. You'd think Blizzard would give it a go in a more extreme way with all the cashola they have.  Or maybe Sony (eek).