THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[Frankenbeasley]

Perhaps Pes isn't the best example there FB.

I deliberately chose Pes because his opinion on games is so widely respected around here. I am not stating that ttech is, necessarily, a maestro on the same order as the FOJ, I am merely trying to illustrate the point that, in the absence of any obvious idiocy in a post, you have no way of knowing anything about someone's abilities or capabilities from their first post in a forum.

[soozelwoozel]

As for the rubbish about it being their first post and, therefore, not to be trusted, the insinuation is childish and invalid. Imagine that there is another forum, one which Pes, say, is not yet a member of but that you are. Imagine there is an ongoing discussion to which Pes, newly joined, contibutes his first post. Do you automatically dismiss his observations as incorrect and untrustable because he is a 'noob'? If so, then you are an idiot. Judge a post on its content not just on the poster's join date.

But this is the internets, this is how it works. It's hardly like people were all 'zomg n00b gtfo!!11!', a little light hearted ribbing isn't really worth the effor of climbing up on a soapbox, surely?

[Fat D]

Did they actually claim to release a securom-free game? As far as I am aware, they only claimed that the measures enabled were not as harsh as the Splotchoid ones (such as online activation).

[Kyna]

FB, the point you are missing is that we haven't had any non-glowing, non-biased reports prior to this thread.  (Nor do I claim that any of the reviews in this thread - including Pescado's - are non-biased.)

The reviews in the magazines that we have seen tend to be glowing - and are usually by people who are quick to point out that they are "real" gamers who don't sim anyway.  The only other reports about the game to date have been from people who were bribed with visits to those "creator" camps they had earlier in the year.  Hardly unbiased reports.

We have already heard how wonderfully super-groovy and ultra-cool the game is from the bribed "creators", from the magazine reviews (by confessed non-simmers), and from EA's glowing pre-release reports.  We want the other side.  We want to hear what it's REALLY like - how the game is going to piss us off and annoy the crap out of us.

We don't need someone coming here and saying "Those doomsayers are wrong guys, in my EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE OF A COUPLE OF MINUTES PLAYING, I discovered that this game is so much fun ... and this thing is really cool ... and that is really great ... and I really liked ..." without really saying anything negative about the game.  It just sounds too fanboyish / fangirlish.  Besides, we've already heard about what is great about the game.  That's what EA's marketing department has been telling us now for ages.

[Skadi]

If I were you cassblonde, I would wait on the video card until the game comes out, that way you can see which cards are going to have issues with the game, a la the nvidia bug. Someone mentioned earlier in this thread about video card issues.

[Frankenbeasley]

But this is the internets, this is how it works. It's hardly like people were all 'zomg n00b gtfo!!11!', a little light hearted ribbing isn't really worth the effor of climbing up on a soapbox, surely?

You forget that, as usual, I start on the moral high ground and that, therefore, it is merely a gravity-assisted step down onto my soapbox. Hardly any effort is required.

Anyway, I was merely amused to see people who have not, apparently, arred the game, or played it, poking at someone who has done both of those things and who has taken the trouble to contribute their impressions in a fairly well-written post.

[vcpink]

sorry if it's been mentioned before, but anybody know how to kill some sims....
pools don't work to drown they can climb the edge... lol, three games+24EP/SPs to get that
fires are hard if you have multiple sims... they all run into the room and scream like panzies and interactions with anything other than fire and walking are locked out
haven't tried starving yet... but suspect they will go to a restaurant or any public place with a grill or other...

also, any idea who the seamingly unrelated goth ghost is... the one in the goth graveyard... i can't find her on the family tree!

EDIT:
my computer
2.2GHz Core 2 Duo
GeForce 9800GTX+
3GB RAM
runs the game great at max settings 1920x1200, haven't checked FPS yet but the game isn't laggy yet

[Sigmund]

So I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet so to speak,and download the game despite my original plan not to yesterday. I have to say, the similarities between TS3 and TS1 seem pretty striking, at least to me. Their faces have a somewhat creepy quality to them and are all extremely similar-- I played around in CAS for quite awhile, and had a very difficult time getting a distinct sim that I wanted to play.

The good:
-I like the "opportunities", particularly the ones for the career. My main sim biked over to the local Black Gnome Market at four a.m. and gathered intel for her job, which I thought was kind of cool.
-The customization options available-- sort of. The actual meshes available are very limited, but the fabric swatching tool is nice, at least at first. After the novelty wore off, I found myself wishing there were more pre-made options available.

The less-than-good:
-No memories. WHY? I realize they could be annoying and glitchy at times, but it bothers me that my sims will have no memories of getting married, giving birth, and so on.
-This is minor, but... no coffee maker? Much like my life, ALL of my sims drink coffee daily.
-Cooking now takes a REALLY long time, at least it did for my sim. She was two hours late to work and almost starved to death while trying to make waffles. I can see myself using the "quick meal" option a lot.

Those are just the things that jumped out at me. Honestly, it's not quite as bad as I thought it would be, but I can't see it replacing TS2 for a lot of players.

[Skadi]

Wouldn't surprise me, or maybe that's in the collector's edition - they said there was content on that plumbbob drive.

[vcpink]

anybody else think that the torrent might not be the final build... or might be a developer/executive copy to show the big wigs at ea, i say this because it does seem awfully light on content and whatnot... and it load in less than a minute two when you include actually going into the neighborhood to play, compared with the sims 2 i get like 10 minute loads on boot when you include loading the hood.

also, anybody else remember hearing about a tool that allows custom hood making to be released shortly after the game goes on sale?

edit:
sorry about all the posts so quickly didn't mean to spam the same thing worded differently... again sorry

[mildlydisguised]

The creator camp stuff will be downloadable from the exchange when it properly goes live.

[Skadi]

There is supposed to be a second hood available to registered owners from the exchange. Is there anyway to see what build number is on the torrent release?

[Tigerlilley]

Does anyone know how to do the gardening thing?  I can't find anything in the buy/build menu that would make a vege garden, nor were there any seeds to buy at the supermarket.  Halp!

[kennyinbmore]

EA confirmed several times that there will be no Securom on the disk: http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=9c697e66b53cb9826ee6a642c297d163&directoryID=225&startRow=1&openItemID=item.225,item.43,item.61,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23#3dd4e4f42bb309388dfc6c17cf007a2b
I'm so hoping this is true...

A Maxoids word is not gospel. This is what Humble said

quote:
The game will have disc-based copy protection - there is a Serial Code just like The Sims 2. To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed

The same is true of every expansion of TS2 after Bon Voyage and guess what they had? His statement doesn't say no securom and as someone else mentioned the leaked copy is an iso which is an image of a disc, yet the description says securom is the protection method

[vcpink]

Does anyone know how to do the gardening thing?  I can't find anything in the buy/build menu that would make a vege garden, nor were there any seeds to buy at the supermarket.  Halp!

you could take some classes from the science center place that will give you some seeds to plant, they'll be in you're inventory, click on them and select plant, then plop em where you want to grow them, don't know where to buy seed though...
also, WTF 400simoleans to take a class? expensive...

sorry bout double post... didn't see this post when doing last one...

[Mixreality]

I plan on upgrading my computer this week. My system currently has: 2 processors running - Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6320 @ 1.86GHz, 2.0 GB RAM, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (Build Service Pack 32600), NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT (GeForce 8600 GT) with 256 MB of video RAM, and 183.8 GB free on my hard drive. I'm adding a GB of RAM to bring me up to 3 GB of RAM and max out my useful RAM under XP but what I am really looking for is video card recommendations since I've heard it's not just video RAM I should be looking at.

I have the same card (which is pretty much fried, I think, I had to underclock it in order to play TS2) and the same amount of RAM as you. It works! I have 2.66GHz Dual Core though (and it seems the game runs bit better on one core only). You should be ok. With all settings maxed, you shouldn't experience any particular issues (I have yet to play a huge lot, but the graphic-intensive-looking sea didn't cause a choke). The only thing that takes ages is saving the game. Understandable, 'cause it saves the whole "World" instead of just your simmies' house.

My last question involves game play: While the active Sim family is busy with other things(at work, asleep, working through a bunch of things you've told them to do) can you take the camera and go wander around the Hood? If you do is there stuff going on or does stuff only happen on comm lots when your active Sim is there? I like the idea of being able to spy on, take pictures of and make up stuff about what the other Sims are doing while my playable Sim is otherwise occupied(and boring).

You can definitely press the 'Map view' button and look at the whole hood while your sims are doing their things at home. That's all I can say at this point. I'm not even sure you can visit another lot without your family coming to visit. I forgot



Okay, well, I'm not sure what to think after playing for 2,3 sim days (Agnes Crumplebottom). UI is... weird. Not sure if it's but ugly or it just takes some time to get used to it. I haven't touched CAS, except when changing sim's appearance, the game takes you to CAS  It might be a good thing, cause TS2's 'Change appearance' window was too small. The hair and make-up section seem very limited.

The rabbit-hole concept might be a good thing too, in the long run. Sometimes you just want things done. If there were just rabbit holes than the whole thing would so suck. But the normal ones are there to satisfy are peeping needs. Also, I tried to visit another family's home, but they weren't in, so Agnes couldn't go 

The Legacy-induced gameplay is a major drawback. If it doesn't get looked into it, I sure won't play it for as long as TS2.



Phyllis - You won't need the disk after installing and the crack comes with the image fie. At least the one I got. Also, I couldn't open the setup.exe with winrar so I guess it's fine? (I got mine from direct download links in that post 75 linked in that other thread )

[Zarifeke]

Does anyone know how to do the gardening thing?  I can't find anything in the buy/build menu that would make a vege garden, nor were there any seeds to buy at the supermarket.  Halp!

In my experience, seeds are typically found around town randomly. They're pretty small though so you have to look close. I usually find at least 1 every time I go to the park, and usually more.

I think you can also plant the fruits and vegetables you buy from the store, but you usually need a certain gardening skill to do so.

Once you actually have a seed, click it in your inventory and then click plant, and then you can choose where to plant it. No specific things to buy in Build mode for it, you just plop it down wherever.

So far I've been enjoying the game quite a bit, but on the other hand, I agree with the naysaying about the family play. I like the wishes and opportunities, and losing them when I want to play another family or having to finish them up first is a pain in the butt. Also, I REALLY wish story progression/aging/etc. were a household-by-household option, not global ones. As it is, I'm gonna have to turn story progression off if I decide to make a seperate family to play, because I'm one of those people that MUST control everything.

I don't want my little computer people to run off and get married when I'm not looking!

[Angelina]

So i got this about an hour after i got up yesterday, thanks to rapidshare. I played all of yesterday up to about half twelve at night. I first made a sim-self and my bf. I couldnt really make them look like us, even when i figured how to use the advance facial features. My boyfriend could tell it was me because of my blue hair and brown root but that was about it, but i was happy at how diffrent cas was. Not alot of clothes to choose from, and when you recolour a item of clothing it automatically becomes CC.  i picked the traits for us both, big one being im good and hes evil. I went to get us a house and could only pick from four, quite disapointing. So after getting a house, had to get jobs, groceries etc. So after a few hours of playing i wanted to try switch families, and it took half an hour to find out how. Once id finally got to the neighboor hood view via edit town there wasnt any good families that i wanted to play so back again i went to them sims i made. Now i was getting annoyed at what little funds they had and how expensive everything was so i entered the motherlode cheat and did up there house. I was trying to get a baby and it took about the 20th try for them, first time wohooing, but when ever i tried before hand, even with a wish from both of them to have a kid, they kept pushing each other off. So finally theu were pregnant, and one of the cutest wishes my bf sim want was to have a little girl, sad to say it was a boy. The animation for the baby suck, my self-sim has long hair and everytime she held the baby her hair would cover it. So i wanted to give the other families a benifit of the doubt, and i went to try get to them again, and i forgot how to. Now i just pressed edit town when my comp turned its self off. So i thought it may have been a graphics card problem, i had spent all day and night on it, it was probably too hot. So off i went to make some cofffee, so annoyed that they dont have it in the game. So i turn my computer back on and loaded it back up, went to click on my family and it shut down again. Now i stsrted getting worried, got my boyfriend to look at it, turned it back on he fiddled with the graphics card option turned all fans on, now ghis took about half an hour and it was fine. Loaded up the sims and it shut down again, so i left it, till this morning and now my computer wont even turn on.  i really enjoyed what i played, even if there was lack of new animations.  Sorry if there is any spelling mistakes using my phone.

[Inge]

Hello Angelina, congratulations on your first post at MATY.

[J. M. Pescado]

-No memories. WHY? I realize they could be annoying and glitchy at times, but it bothers me that my sims will have no memories of getting married, giving birth, and so on.

Memories have been replaced by variable duration moodlets, apparently. Part of this is beneficial, if it allows greater datafile cleanliness. Previously, sims that had EVER interacted with ANYONE basically had to be retained FOREVER. This would be a disaster in an endlessly expanding neighborhood, so perhaps the filesize won't explode in a BFBVFS....we will only know when we can open it up in a neighborhood editor and see what disasters have occurred.

-This is minor, but... no coffee maker? Much like my life, ALL of my sims drink coffee daily.

It exists. In fact, it's quite detailed, including a bunch of incomprehensible names for no real purpose, as there is no actual distinction. Macrocaffeination is no longer something that exists, though, as coffee does not grant energy, but instead the ability to ignore energy provided you recast every 3 hours. If you are not attempting to function without sleep at no energy, it provides a short-term mood boost followed by a penalty after the 3 hours.

-Cooking now takes a REALLY long time, at least it did for my sim. She was two hours late to work and almost starved to death while trying to make waffles. I can see myself using the "quick meal" option a lot.

Food is also considerably less important, yes.

Those are just the things that jumped out at me. Honestly, it's not quite as bad as I thought it would be, but I can't see it replacing TS2 for a lot of players.

I have to say, TS3 is more of a "game" than TS2 was. Unfortunately, GAMES have poor longevity. TS2 was a toy. You made your OWN games out of it. TS3 is a game: You play it their way, beat it, and dump it for the next shiny thing.

Hello Angelina, congratulations on your first post at MATY.

[Angelina]

why, thank you. Ive been a member for a while always lurkin, but i forgot my login so made a new one,  just so happy i cant vent my frustration at the game here, everywere else its NOT ALLOWED and u get shouted at  

[J. M. Pescado]

You're pretty much doomed to be shouted at. Only instead of people shouting at you for criticizing the game, you will be shouted at for your horrible grammar and abuse of punctuation.

[Caz]

As a lover of Maxis sims... I am severely disappointed with this game. I was hoping to find Brokes, Pleasants, Newbies, Simovitches, Oldies, Burbs, etc. Basically the ancestors of the Pleasantview sims and the Sims of TS1. However, the only returning Sims appear to be Goths, Bachelors, Mrs Crumplebottom and Kaylynn Langerak, which makes no damn sense as she shouldn't even be born yet.

How disappointing. I wanted to see Bob and Betty alive. Now they apparently just don't exist.

And the game itself... well, it's confusing, and all the boxes can be annoying. I dislike how the game practically tries to force you to play one family. Sims are pretty good at looking after themselves. One Sim actually woke up in the night to go and feed herself.

Is it just me or do Sims take forever to even get a crush on each other, let alone fall in love? I had two Sims flirt with each other repeatedly and they aren't even in love. Just best friends. Strange, I seem to remember that in TS2 if Sims so much as looked at each other funny, they would fall in love.

And it creeps me out when I bring up the pie menu and the Sim's face is staring at me. It's so dang creepy.

The buy mode is very perplexing. I eventually found a birthday cake in Outdoor Cooking. Yeah, I don't get it.

[Angelina]

well im sorry, as i said on my post i am trying this on a mobile phone, so please excuse the grammar, punctuation and any spelling mistakes. I am trying my best when every five minutes i get disconnected from wlan.

[vcpink]

Is it just me or do Sims take forever to even get a crush on each other, let alone fall in love? I had two Sims flirt with each other repeatedly and they aren't even in love. Just best friends. Strange, I seem to remember that in TS2 if Sims so much as looked at each other funny, they would fall in love.

no, confuses me too, especially since i can't get Cornelia and Gunther to woohoo, they're friggen married for christsake...