THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[BlueSoup]

God, it's annoying when people do that. That's not the value of the lost retail sales, it's the total sale value of the pirated copies. They have no reason to assume each of those pirated copies is one that would otherwise be a sale.

I totally agree...I never would have purchased this game.  the only reason I even have it is because it was available for piracy

[Scotty]

- The only thing that's really annoyed me so far is how long it takes to sleep/work.  In TS2 a sim went to sleep/work, 3x speed comes on and you blink and it's morning.  On the other hand I started with a single sim so when they were sleeping/working I was twiddling my thumbs.  If I was playing a larger household I'm sure that wouldn't have been as much of an issue for me.  
- Jobs (the ones I've done, anyway) seem a little more trouble than they're worth.  They don't leave much time for anything else.  
- I'm not too keen on the look of the textures but I don't doubt the community will address that in the coming months.
- I have observed that a really really really lot of the complaints that I'm seeing about "this or that is a step backwards because it was in TS2" are referring to things that were in xpacks and not the base game.  Cars, gardening, Lifetime Wants, saving leftovers, were all xpack stuff too and they're in the base TS3 game but that seems to get overlooked.  
- I think people are over-reacting to build mode a bit too.  It's needlessly "clever" but still simple enough IMO.
- I like the variety of paintings they can do.  Different sizes for one thing and also different styles apparently based on their traits once they learn to do still life.  I had an opportunity to bring $450 worth of paintings to a restaurant for money which is cool.  Sims can actually DO something with their craftables.
- Opportunities are cool though they could be a bit more clear on wtf you have to do for some of them.  
- This "enforced legacy play" kerfluffle is getting blown waaaaayyy out of proportion, IMO.  Wishes aren't wants.  Promising isn't locking. TS3 isn't TS2.  Don't promise something you don't have time to finish.  Granted I don't see much point to not saving them but that's a far cry from "amg they're forcing me to play legacy style".
- Gardening is cool but...is randomly picking up a seed off the ground the only way to get them?  If so it strikes me as a little goofy.  I'd rather be able to buy a pack of seeds at the store.  You can always keep the uncommon and rare seeds lying around for sims to find.  Otherwise I'm having a good time with it.  

I'm pretty pleased overall.  What annoyances there are aren't game breaking for me.

I do like the game, and I am  going to buy it. BUT the job thing does suck. One of my Sims is a doctor, and he has a beeper in his inventory. He gets called into the hospital at the oddest times for an emergency. I know this is supposed to be more realistic, but geez! He was called in on his own wedding day, and another time, he was reallly tired and was sound asleep when he was called in again. I also think they work way too many hours. On any job track. They have hardly any time to work on their skills, make friends or have any fun at all.

As far as EA goes, nothing they say surprises me. Their ego is almost as big as their bank accounts. I downloaded the game because I wanted to see if it was worth my 50 bucks. I may not buy it right away, but I'll get it eventually.

[daisywenham]

Does anyone know how to put already-made food in an inventory? It just won't go. The little hand does not appear when I tried to drag it to my Sims individual inventory, and there was a red x when I tried to put it in the household one. I lost a friggin challenge because of this. :/

Click the fridge to put leftovers away.  Then click the fridge again and select "open".  You can grab whatever you have in there and drop it in your inventory.  Don't do it too far in advance of when you're doing whatever you're doing with it because it will spoil, even something like cookies.  Unlike the 5406978650987 assorted fruits, vegetables and fish my sim currently has stuffed in her pocketses. >.<

[Scotty]

Does anyone know how to put already-made food in an inventory? It just won't go. The little hand does not appear when I tried to drag it to my Sims individual inventory, and there was a red x when I tried to put it in the household one. I lost a friggin challenge because of this. :/

Click the fridge to put leftovers away.  Then click the fridge again and select "open".  You can grab whatever you have in there and drop it in your inventory.  Don't do it too far in advance of when you're doing whatever you're doing with it because it will spoil, even something like cookies.  Unlike the 5406978650987 assorted fruits, vegetables and fish my sim currently has stuffed in her pocketses. >.<

Not in their pockets, They keep stuff in a much darker, smellier place. And it keeps food nice and fresh.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

I find it amusing that EA says that they've lost $9 million to piracy, and yet, they really didn't if this is truly the so-called "pre-final buggy version".  Can't lose money when it was never intended for sale anyway, asshats.

And of course, they're going to use figures like this in any case because just imagine if the game hadn't been cracked, and people were forced to buy this shit in order to find out what it's really like.  That's what they really wanted, was for suckers to purchase the game and then be stuck with it.

I'm sorry, EA.  You're out 9 million imaginary dollars and maybe 180,000 suckers.

[brownlustgirl]

~ I do love the career advancement system. I like the categories for advancement and the fact that they involve more than skill building. For example my journalist Sim needed to advance in charisma, and writing obviously, but also in freelance writings from interviews and articles. It's cool.

~ I also really like how you can chose how they spend their time at work and that they can - ahem - build their skills at work.

That is the best part to me too. I love how my secret agent sim have a beeper and get called to go to work in the middle of the night, after working in the hood questioning sims and going house to house going thru their garbage. Finally have a life of turmoil going in that family. Also his wife is very depress, just lost her one best friend in a boat accident, preggers and in the yellow.  I love drama!

[Exiled]

- I have observed that a really really really lot of the complaints that I'm seeing about "this or that is a step backwards because it was in TS2" are referring to things that were in xpacks and not the base game.  Cars, gardening, Lifetime Wants, saving leftovers, were all xpack stuff too and they're in the base TS3 game but that seems to get overlooked.  

Well yeah, TS2 base didn't have them, but we expected them to include at least a few features from the TS2 EPs (similar to how TS2 included parties, and, uh...can't remember what else).  You know, to build on TS2, rather than repackage it and come out with the same damn EPs the same time around.

[linz]

Does anyone know how to put already-made food in an inventory? It just won't go. The little hand does not appear when I tried to drag it to my Sims individual inventory, and there was a red x when I tried to put it in the household one. I lost a friggin challenge because of this. :/

I Had the same challenge or something similar, i was able to "serve" dinner and then stick it in her inventory and i brought it over to someones house, but when I clicked on the pie chart "Deliver Food" was grayed out. In the challenge info is says make a "group meal" if making a group meal is entirely different then how do you make it!?...

[J. M. Pescado]

I find it amusing that EA says that they've lost $9 million to piracy, and yet, they really didn't if this is truly the so-called "pre-final buggy version".  Can't lose money when it was never intended for sale anyway, asshats.

And of course, they're going to use figures like this in any case because just imagine if the game hadn't been cracked, and people were forced to buy this shit in order to find out what it's really like.  That's what they really wanted, was for suckers to purchase the game and then be stuck with it.

They can't use BOTH arguments at once, really. If what we have is not the Real Thing, then it is merely a very fancy demo. In any event, demos have no monetary value!

[brownlustgirl]

Your question just remind me of something.  My sim wanted to eat a certain food while at the park, I can't figure that one out either. I did make a group meal, but couldn't figure how to eat it at the park.  I see the townies make picnic spots but not happening for my sim.

Does anyone know how to put already-made food in an inventory? It just won't go. The little hand does not appear when I tried to drag it to my Sims individual inventory, and there was a red x when I tried to put it in the household one. I lost a friggin challenge because of this. :/

I Had the same challenge or something similar, i was able to "serve" dinner and then stick it in her inventory and i brought it over to someones house, but when I clicked on the pie chart "Deliver Food" was grayed out. In the challenge info is says make a "group meal" if making a group meal is entirely different then how do you make it!?...

[linz]

Your question just remind me of something.  My sim wanted to eat a certain food while at the park, I can't figure that one out either. I did make a group meal, but couldn't figure how to eat it at the park.  I see the townies make picnic spots but not happening for my sim.

how did you make the "Group Meal"?

[TashaYarrr]

Is there a way to drag a stack of objects rather than one at a time? I've tried shift-drag and ctrl-drag. Stocking the fridge is tedious.

[cyperangel]

clicking and dragging from the top most left coner (where the shade of blue is darker than the rest of the background behind the veggie) will drag the entire stack. Simply clicking once will open the stack in a new window.

[daisywenham]

- I have observed that a really really really lot of the complaints that I'm seeing about "this or that is a step backwards because it was in TS2" are referring to things that were in xpacks and not the base game.  Cars, gardening, Lifetime Wants, saving leftovers, were all xpack stuff too and they're in the base TS3 game but that seems to get overlooked.  

Well yeah, TS2 base didn't have them, but we expected them to include at least a few features from the TS2 EPs (similar to how TS2 included parties, and, uh...can't remember what else).  You know, to build on TS2, rather than repackage it and come out with the same damn EPs the same time around.

Did you not notice the things I listed in the lines you quoted that are indeed in base TS3 that weren't in base TS2?  Not to mention a lot of stuff that never made it into TS2 even via an expansion.  You really just made my point for me.  

[blackcat]

Your question just remind me of something.  My sim wanted to eat a certain food while at the park, I can't figure that one out either. I did make a group meal, but couldn't figure how to eat it at the park.  I see the townies make picnic spots but not happening for my sim.

To make a picnic you need to buy a picnic busket from buy mode and put it in the sim's inventory, then sim can serve picninc anywhere in the neighborhood.

[mandababy]

Your question just remind me of something.  My sim wanted to eat a certain food while at the park, I can't figure that one out either. I did make a group meal, but couldn't figure how to eat it at the park.  I see the townies make picnic spots but not happening for my sim.

In order to eat certain foods at the park, just make them, and put them in your sims inventory, then go to the park and pull it out and set it on a table or something, and have them go eat it. But be QUICK! lol, my chic wanted to eat salad at the park, I made it for her, got her to the park, drug it out of her inv and placed it on a nearby picnic table, you should have seen the townie people swarming to be the first one to sit down and eat her salad!

For the picnic someone else answered for you! You just buy the picnic basket from buy mode (under outdoor cooking or eating something like that) then place it in your sims inventory, or you can place it on the counter and click it and it will say "pack up" and the sim will place it in their own inventory, then when you get into town, click in the inv and it will say "place" click that and place it on the ground, or it even works to be placed on the picnic tables, but beware of ants and creepy crawlies, who actually carry food out of the basket! LOL

[Quill]

Does anyone know how to put already-made food in an inventory? It just won't go. The little hand does not appear when I tried to drag it to my Sims individual inventory, and there was a red x when I tried to put it in the household one. I lost a friggin challenge because of this. :/

I Had the same challenge or something similar, i was able to "serve" dinner and then stick it in her inventory and i brought it over to someones house, but when I clicked on the pie chart "Deliver Food" was grayed out. In the challenge info is says make a "group meal" if making a group meal is entirely different then how do you make it!?...

As someone mentioned before, for some extremely strange reason any challenge/opportunity items have to go into your sim family's shared inventory in buy mode.  They don't go into the individual sim's inventory.  I'm fairly certain it actually says something about this in the simpedia or whatever they call it.  It's the bottom button of the three on the middle left in buy mode. 

I don't know if this is a bug, but my sims don't seem to age at the same rate!  I made two sims in CAST, in one "family."  They started out as housemates, then got married and lived together for a while.  The other day they had a kid, then a few minutes later it said "Male sim is about to have a birthday!" and when I looked at the sims' age bars, he was 2 days away from his birthday, while the female sim had 8 days.  I'm playing on the default speed, and they were both young adults.  It's pissing me off; I don't want to have him be that much older.  My other family seems to be aging at the normal rate, although the daughter was only a kid for about 5 days before it was time to age her to teen.  It's very strange, since I think the aging time is supposed to be set for each age group, not variable unless it's an elder. 

My only thought was that perhaps the happiness level of the sims affects that too?  My guy sim has been a bit more stressed than the female sim, but I hadn't payed much attention to their ages while I was playing them. 

[Insanity Prelude]

Should I feel bad for kind of enjoying TS3 despite myself? 

[Acid_fairy]

I made a new sim the other day as a young adult. I moved him into a house and I found that he was already a quarter of the way through that life stage. Surely that can't have been implemented into the game on purpose? I smell a bug.

[Mikka]

I'm having that issue, too: I've been making various young adults, but many of them start anywhere from one day to a quarter (maybe even a third) in to that lifestage.  I think the first Sim I made was just starting 'young adultness', but even if starting 'new game', others are a bit in to the lifespan.  I'm not exactly sure what to think about that: I would personally call it a bug, but considering the random clones children and 'sims moving out at will' deal, it may be a 'feature'.  Whatever it is, though, I don't like it.

Kids not being able to go musical bugs me.  Fine, if they can't play the guitar- but can't they have a piano?  Or if nothing else, read some books about guitar playing?  Foo.

I am, for the moment, enjoying the jobs- even though my poor medical sim seems to spend the majority of his life at work due to his beeper.  It does make things interesting, though.  My criminal Sim seemed to get arrested every other day or so while at work, though... that was more annoying.

[VeilSethekk]

They can't use BOTH arguments at once, really. If what we have is not the Real Thing, then it is merely a very fancy demo. In any event, demos have no monetary value!

Well, this IS EA that you're talking about, the company that had the balls to charge for the Splotch Creature Creator prior to Splotch's release, let alone put Sux0rROM in it.

[rohina]

I find it amusing that EA says that they've lost $9 million to piracy, and yet, they really didn't if this is truly the so-called "pre-final buggy version".  Can't lose money when it was never intended for sale anyway, asshats.

And of course, they're going to use figures like this in any case because just imagine if the game hadn't been cracked, and people were forced to buy this shit in order to find out what it's really like.  That's what they really wanted, was for suckers to purchase the game and then be stuck with it.

They can't use BOTH arguments at once, really. If what we have is not the Real Thing, then it is merely a very fancy demo. In any event, demos have no monetary value!

I love the implicit argument that this demo is doing the opposite of what demos are supposed to do. Aren't they meant to make you want to buy the full version?

[Marhis]

Played for some more hours. The time/story progression still annoys me to no end.
The days are too short; they spend too much time doing useless (for the player) things, like sleeping and working; too much time is spent doing the stupidest actions, like showering or preparing meal. Add to this the time spent improving skills and stuff, and there's no time left to do anything interesting.

EA said that TS3 is focused on socializing, with all the seamless neighborhood and communities, and this alone would make this game perfect for my play style, but there's no freakin' time to do this!
From what I saw, so far, FIRST you need to play arcade-like, having your sim collect as many lifetime points as possible, so it could buy the perks which will make the game playable, and THEN you may enjoy it - assuming you've already set the lifespan to the maximum and freezed the story progression, otherwise you'll enjoy your sim only for a few hours before he dies of old age.

With regard to the socialization thing, I managed to make a self-sim with a reasonable similarity, and sent her to knock to the neighbors' door. When the guy opened the door, I took a look at the social menu and chuckled because she listed "kiss" due to her Inappropriate trait. She introduced herself to the guy and immediately kissed him autonomously and he liked it, apparently because he's a Great Kisser(?). My jaw dropped. THAT's the kind of stuff I would like to see more in this game (I mean the surprising and funny stuff, not my sim randomly kissing strangers on a regular basis).

I see potential in this game, a lot, but until a good bunch of cheats and hacks will be available is more frustrating than enjoyable. When I passed from TS1 to TS2 it was different; now I'm too spoiled by TS2 cc and hacks to accept this game as is.

[maxon]

"First Sims 3 Expansion News?
The Game isn't out, yet we have our first possible hint at the first Sims 3 Expansion. SimBr. attended the Sims 3 Brazilian event, and spoke with an EA rep who told them that the first expansion will likely focus on Jobs and Occupations.

We have just received from our representatives in The Sims 3 Tour event in Sao Paulo information about the first expansion of The Sims 3. Representatives Weslley, Eduardo and Victor spoke to the manager of marketing for EA Games, Ian Freitas, and revealed that the first expansion of The Sims 3 exists, and that probably has something do with occupations and work. Great news! Keep an eye on OSimBR.net for more news in real time about events in Brazil!"

I don't know what they meant by 'will likely focus on ...' - they must be working on it now and so should know for sure.

- This "enforced legacy play" kerfluffle is getting blown waaaaayyy out of proportion, IMO.  Wishes aren't wants.  Promising isn't locking. TS3 isn't TS2.  Don't promise something you don't have time to finish.  Granted I don't see much point to not saving them but that's a far cry from "amg they're forcing me to play legacy style".

I think you've misunderstood the nature of the objection.  It's not the forced locking and/or fulfilling of wants that's the problem, it's the not being able to play multiple families easily and the danger of unplayed families either gaining unwanted spawn, dying and/or being deleted from the neighbourhood.

[SimplyComplex]

Can someone tell me the control for changing the height of wall placements, i can't for the life of me remember