THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[Zazazu]

So has anyone tried to disable story progression, aging, and set the free-will to low? I was under the impression if we did those things basically families would be like they were in the Sims2, except they they would go to work and you would see them around town... they wouldn't make any big decisions on their own. And as for the wishes resetting, if you played different houses in the Sims2 often when going back to the original household, wants and fears would be reset.  Is the wish resetting somehow more of a problem to players than Sims2 want resetting?

The settings are GLOBAL. That means that if you disable aging, you disable all aging. That's not Sims2, that's Sims1. Disabling story progression does a big fat nothing, as already explained. Setting autonomy even to low results in zombie sims. I tried it. They just stood there while they starved.

The wish reset really isn't a big deal unless you're holding on to a high-scorer. As it is, those are few and far between.

But since I'm nosey, can someone out there tell me how baby birthing goes down in sims 3.  Do you have to call for an ambulance to get the mother to the hospital (since she was shown bringing the cocoon baby home from a hospital)?

I've done one in-house and one in-hospital. Once you get the notice that the sim's water has broken, you can click on them and choose "go to hospital". They will then take a cab along with their spouse (spouse will follow if occupied). A couple hours pass, and the baby is delivered. Mom walks out of the hospital and you name the child. They then go home.

On home births, the mom stands there and makes lots of faces and noises (honestly, sounds more like constipation than labor to me). This proceeds for a couple of hours, during which she cannot interact with anything. Then she has the baby and you name it.

Interestingly, while there is a "Having baby" moodlet, there are no negative effects.

[rohina]

Next time Im posting on this forum while using a computer, I shall type what I want to say into a word doc and check for errors.

You do that. Also, look up "apostrophe" in the dictionary.

[rohina]

The settings are GLOBAL. That means that if you disable aging, you disable all aging. That's not Sims2, that's Sims1. Disabling story progression does a big fat nothing, as already explained. Setting autonomy even to low results in zombie sims. I tried it. They just stood there while they starved.

I know there's all this argh and frustration about the horror, but this made me LMAO.

Anyone installed on the mac yet, or I am I going to be #1 guinea pig this evening?

[J. M. Pescado]

Guess what? Unticking "Enable Story Progression" does not work.

Is it possible the setting is inverted? Still a bug, though.

Mostly, though, the endless spawning sounds horrid, because anytime things start reproducing, you're going to see an exponential curve.

[literatebse]

Anyone installed on the mac yet, or I am I going to be #1 guinea pig this evening?

Since the university and I disagree on "appropriate use of university resources", it looks as though you get to be the guinea pig for now.  Hopefully I'll be able to join in a little later this week.

Edited to fix quote.

[Caz]

Kaylynn Langerak just effing died. By getting struck by lightning 37 times at some lightning rod tournament, apparently. How did I find out about this? By having Cornelia Goth read the paper.

Part of me wants to break something. The other part of me thinks it serves her right for having fallen in love with an ugly Sim the last time I checked on the household.

Having Sims who aren't even old randomly die when you aren't playing their household really sucks.   

[Zazazu]

The settings are GLOBAL. That means that if you disable aging, you disable all aging. That's not Sims2, that's Sims1. Disabling story progression does a big fat nothing, as already explained. Setting autonomy even to low results in zombie sims. I tried it. They just stood there while they starved.

I know there's all this argh and frustration about the horror, but this made me LMAO.

I've always been told I'm funny when I'm pissy. Every time I see that unrequested demon spawn across the street, I start cussing, in full-on WV accent.

Kaylynn Langerak just effing died. By getting struck by lightning 37 times at some lightning rod tournament, apparently. How did I find out about this? By having Cornelia Goth read the paper.

I got a phone call telling me that Gunther Goth didn't have long to live and that I might want to say my final goodbyes. No one in the family knows Gunther Goth. Oh, there's a little Kaylynn Langerak, as well as the adult one. Perhaps she's supposed to be the maid.

Guess what? Unticking "Enable Story Progression" does not work.

Is it possible the setting is inverted? Still a bug, though.

Maybe. Might as well try it.

[dream_operator]

The settings are GLOBAL. That means that if you disable aging, you disable all aging. That's not Sims2, that's Sims1.

So even the sims in the household you are playing don't age? Gah...that does suck. 

[Mixreality]

Kaylynn Langerak just effing died. By getting struck by lightning 37 times at some lightning rod tournament, apparently. How did I find out about this? By having Cornelia Goth read the paper.

Well, that sounds cool

Feel free to throw rocks, but I'm all for unplayed sims living their lives, spawning, getting killed randomly... I've been trying to accomplish the very same in TS2, with randomizers and stuff, but this is just more natural. This could be a godsend. I just hope there's some kind of limit, and the towns people won't spawn when that limit is reached. Chances are there's no such limit, knowing EA

[daydreamer]

Kaylynn Langerak just effing died. By getting struck by lightning 37 times at some lightning rod tournament, apparently. How did I find out about this? By having Cornelia Goth read the paper.

Part of me wants to break something. The other part of me thinks it serves her right for having fallen in love with an ugly Sim the last time I checked on the household.

Having Sims who aren't even old randomly die when you aren't playing their household really sucks.   

See, that's waht I'm scared of. I don't want to return to my favorite household and see my kiddies are phantoms.

[SimKat]

This game reminds me way too much of the PS2 version of The Sims2 (cheesy).I'm still going too hold off buying it for now.I sure hope the modders can get in thier code and fix this garbage.Looks very buggy too me,then again it's EA what else did I expect lol.

[crunk]

Cons: I slightly exceed graphical system requirements, yet the game threw me into all low settings the first time I tried to play. I'm getting it to look decent after some fumbling, but I'm surprised at how horrible TS3 on medium settings looks vs. TS2 on medium settings.

UI is less intuitive than TS2. Messy, even the tutorial is just... messy.


Pros - I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet, but I'm really excited (providing it works) - windowed mode without editing a shortcut!
Adjustable lifespans - only downside is that I assume it is global vs. per household. I still like that you can shorten or lengthen the lifespan without cheats/mods.

Build - Gotta love recycling! I'm getting a bit sick of the same windows/doors/walls/etc being recycled through now three incarnations of the game. The idea of no new meshes makes me want to weep. I have a TS2 addiction to new windows. I am surprisingly delighted by some of the small things in build - the auto roof feature, the dragging of walls, the auto quarter tile placement and 45 degree rotation.


I'll add to this as I discover more about it.

[ShortyBoo]

Apparently buying sets of objects from the Sims 3 store will cost between $5.75 and $20 according to this site: http://simmersnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/sims-3-store-set-prices.html I hope they'll be easy to share like the TS2 Store items because everyone who buys the game gets $10 worth of Sim Points free. I'd be willing to share what I buy if it's possible to do so. The only bad thing is I heard that the EADM has SecuROM and I don't want it on my computer.

[Mixreality]

Pros - I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet, but I'm really excited (providing it works) - windowed mode without editing a shortcut!

Well, it works, but the performance is much, much, MUCH better in full screen mode. For me, it's practically unplayable in WM. It even says so in the readme file.

[Lyndon Baines Johnson]

It seems that a lot of those sets feature Sims 2 items.

[specialtoffee]

The reloaded iso is the digital download version, as can be seen in the EULA that everybody clicks past without reading:

"ELECTRONIC ARTS
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
FOR THE SIMS 3 GAME
(DISTRIBUTED BY DIGITAL DOWNLOAD)"

also

"B.  Technical Protection Measures. When you purchase the Software online via digital download (the “Digital Download Version”), you receive a Digital Download Version of the Software that uses SecuROM digital rights management technology provided by Sony DADC Austria AG.  The SecuROM technology is integrated into the Digital Download Version of the Software and is not a separate installation. For more information about SecuROM, visit www.securom.com and http:/faq.securom.com/.  By installing the Software, you acknowledge and agree to the Software’s use of SecuROM.  An internet connection is required to authenticate the Software and verify your license (“Online Authentication”)."

So that would explain the phoning home, no idea why it's on an iso though.

[Solowren]

Well, it works, but the performance is much, much, MUCH better in full screen mode. For me, it's practically unplayable in WM. It even says so in the readme file.

LAAAME!

I always play TS2 in windowed mode.

This makes me sad in my pants.

[Acid_fairy]

It runs great for me in windowed mode. I can't see any difference between that and full screen.

[sweatyscotty]

I've just been playing the game for a few hours. So here are my thoughts:

The Good

Personally I don't think the clothes are that fugly for Eaxis.  WIth the Sims2 base game the jeans were all awkward and all the tops seemed to show belly or fitted awkwardly.  Overall I loved CAS. Although I do prefer cartoony sims, my skin for the sims 2 is the maxis match one from gos, the whole thing was far superior to the Sims 2 CAS.  The create a style is brilliant. My sim was geared up in leopard print clothes throughout, and her formal wear was a bondagey leather thing.  What's not to love?

The game is addictive.  I meant to go out for a run tonight, then i saw it was dark, well dark. As in half ten at night dark. I started playing the game at 3. So despite what I complain about (a lot) you don't get bored.

There are a few wee things that made me happy:

If you're shagging the boss you can get a promotion.  I had my woman, Joanne Boyle, at the same level as the Wollfe guy (she ruined his marriage). Then when  I went to play him it turned out she had been promoted (despite just having a baby).  Then the Wollfe guy was able to ask for a promotion from Joanne.

Careers are hard.  I guess that's a good thing, more realistic.  

there is the relationship 'ex husband' and 'ex wife'.  

The Bad

I like to play on a rota. I play 8 days one family, and 8 days another.  Like was said at the begining of this thread- that doesn't look possible here.  

Babies keep on popping up the houses of single guys.  The amount of time I was playing meant for them to be toddlers then someone would have to have given birth in the time i'd played the game... but the guys were on their own.  

romantic relationships build slowly.  Fair enough they want to be realistic. But what about the realistic side that you get drunk and sleep with a stranger? Well actually, they sort of have that to.  Before you can kiss, before you can even massage people, you are able to woohoo and make babies.  You can kiss on the bed though. Bug perhaps?

Worst part of this was I was having my guy pure woo this woman, then I turn round and she's become an elder. Before he even got to shag her.  I was llike :/

I have problems with my speed. Not the sims 2 storage kind where everything seems to lag.  This is just not a very fast speed. I'm wondering if it's my computer (or the lack of space on my computer) or the game wants us to watch our sims sleep.  

Also, complete bullshit about needs being easy now.  my sims are constantly tired. Moodlets are useful- but without them getting your sims to work is a nightmare.  

I just think if they'd  tacked the open ended neighborhood onto the sims 2 that this would be an amazing game.

I really don't get why I truly dislike the game, but managed to play for about 7 hours straight.  

[Mixreality]

Well, it works, but the performance is much, much, MUCH better in full screen mode. For me, it's practically unplayable in WM. It even says so in the readme file.

LAAAME!

I always play TS2 in windowed mode.

This makes me sad in my pants.

Me too, because I had to, but I got so used to it Also, alt-tabbing is horrible. And I get a little 'Memory Recovery' window? Not sure if it's a windows thing or one of my long forgotten attempts to improve performance (2GB RAM here).

[crunk]

WM runs fine for me - there was a slight hang up loading the town that I didn't have in fullscreen, but this is comparable to TS2.

[Zarifeke]

Wait wait, these people saying they have random toddlers popping up in their houses:

Could your people be autonomously ADOPTING while you're playing other people? If this is possible, I call EXTREME WTF and stupidity on EA's part and DNW O.o

[Vanni]

okay. Long time lurker first time poster.

Spent the entire day (and most of the night) yesterday playing TS3.

Honestly...since I'm not a extreme micromanager...I guess some of the complaints others have aren't the same as I would. I.E. Not being able to jump into multiple households on the fly.

TBH I usually play one household at a time and that's it. From everything I've seen so far, it's not as polished as TS2 + EP's. But then again, it's the base game.

I like how the sims are 'smarter' about their needs. I walked away from the comp at one point and forgot to pause the game. Went and made dinner. Came back 20 mins later and my guy had not only taken perfect care of himself...he'd gotten a promotion at work and pumped up his cooking skill. Had I left my sim alone that long in TS2...he'd be passed out in a pool of his own piss cause he forgot to go to the damn bathroom or go to sleep, and most likely lost his job. I say this is a step forward.

Honestly, I haven't found much to complain about. Well no, that's not entirely true. The pudgyness of all the sims faces is something of a WTF. Regardless of how thin a sim is...their faces are still really pudgy. Also, I don't quite like the way you can't just go for a jog like you could in TS2. You have to manually select where they go.

[DigiGekko]

Anyone installed on the mac yet, or I am I going to be #1 guinea pig this evening?

Way ahead of ya. Thankfully, Sims 3 actually plays very decently on the Mac, unlike the crapfest that was TS2. Unfortunately, it looks like shadows are permanently set to low. Installed on both Mac Pro and Macbook Pro, one with ATI card, the other with Nvidia. Well, no shadows on either. Interested to know your results. Other than that, it plays great, but it's so bland and Sims-2ish without working shadows that I'll be playing via Boot Camp for the time being instead.

[Genlisae]

Have to jump in here with my two cents after having played for several hours over the last 2 days.

A short list of things I dislike:

Again with the faces. 3 hours in CAS and I can almost get rid of the round, play-dough jaw, almost.

Pathing/Action cue (I am not entirely sure which this would fall under). I had a female sim visit her male neighbour who already had a friend over. The friend and the neighbour were in his kitchen, 30 steps away I told the woman to go talk to the neighbour. All 3 sims proceeded to stand around looking stupid for the next 2 sim hours with the neighbour standing in the kitchen doorway facing out, the friend standing directly behind him and the female sim waiting in the hallway facing the neighbour while she waited to go talk to her neighbour. Once I cancelled the "chat" action they all lept into action where the neighbour took two steps forward and one to the left and let his friend go past him out of the kitchen. Presumably the standing around looking stupid was due to the neighbour having to move out of the friends way but was unable to because he had to go chat with the female sim ? (confused!)

The neighbourhood. I feel like I have been transported back into TS1. You can not place empty lots. You can move pre-made lots (to empty lots that are appropriately sized) and you can build on the existing empty lots, but you can not add more lots (unless I missed it in the mess that is the UI, someone please tell me I missed it)

Unfulfillable wants and lack of notification/mystical, magical knowledge of happenings in the rest of the 'hood. Female sim is pregnant by male from another household. Switch over to male's household, play for a few days during which female presumably gives birth with NO NOTIFICATION to the father. Mysteriously he is suddenly aware he has a child (shows up in the relationship panel as his "son" despite having never met the child or even seen the mother once since the conception) and "wants" to hold his son. Send him to go visit the mother's household. Find the baby laying forgotten on the floor screaming and father is completely unable to interact with the baby. Two sim days later, again after zero interaction between the households and father now happily engaged to another woman, he rolls the want to teach his (now toddler) son to talk. Another visit to the mothers household and he is still unable to interact with the child. I have not tested if he could interact with the child were he to invite them to his house, of course I haven't figured out how to get the mother to bring the child with her either.

There are many more things that irk me, most have already been covered in other posts. Suffice it to say while I was reading every other post with complaints I was nodding in agreement.

Likes:

Some of the redundancy has been removed from actions. For example, a sim can be relaxing/reading on the bed and you tell them to go to sleep and they will simply slide under the covers and go to sleep rather than get up and go through the whole process of getting out of bed just to get right back in.

The ability to simply slide a wall over to adjust the size of a room rather than have to rebuild the whole room - when it works properly!

C.A.S.T. though the novelty does wear off very quickly and I find myself wanting more/better texture options.

Overall I think the game has potential. Unfortunately, I don't think that potential will ever be realized and TS2 with or without mods is still a much more polished game offering more playability over the long term.

Of course, that is just my opinion

Edited because punctuation is not my friend.