THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[Roflganger]

WRT fertilizer, one of the Skill Journal perks mentions that "fertilizer will last longer" which leads me to believe that fertilizer must be applied multiple times to be of any use.  I suspect you would have to do it until the plant reaches maturity.  I don't know for certain because I can't be bothered to continually refertilize a freakin plant.  With all foods seeming to have nearly identical hunger-satisfaction factors, there doesn't seem to be much point in taking the extra effort to grow higher quality vegetables (unless your Sim is gardening for income, I suppose).  By the time the opportunities that require high quality produce come up, your Sim probably already has enough gardening skill to grow high quality produce naturally.

[EsotericPolarBear]

Yes, I've commented on the ridiculously high clog chance, etc.

I think they can be upgraded to unbreakable with handiness, though. And not sure if cheaper plumbing = more break.

If you get the plumber challenge for the handiness skill, then it automatically makes any plumbing object unbreakable the next time you repair it.  Then you can (I think) also upgrade it to self-cleaning and never have to deal with it again.

[Carokube]

Do the number of different qualities of plants/fish bother the crap out of anyone else? Why can't we just have 'Bad', 'OK', and 'Spectacular' as opposed to like 'Horrible', 'Bad', 'Kind of Bad', 'OK', 'Normal', 'Good', 'Great', 'Awesome', 'Really Awesome', and 'Perfect'. Honestly, I couldn't name for you what all the real levels are. My sim has an opportunity to deliver some sort of quality to a lady, but I can't figure out how to get it. Apparently, whatever it is is better than 'Very Nice' because I think that is the best I have.

[daisywenham]

Do the number of different qualities of plants/fish bother the crap out of anyone else? Why can't we just have 'Bad', 'OK', and 'Spectacular' as opposed to like 'Horrible', 'Bad', 'Kind of Bad', 'OK', 'Normal', 'Good', 'Great', 'Awesome', 'Really Awesome', and 'Perfect'. Honestly, I couldn't name for you what all the real levels are. My sim has an opportunity to deliver some sort of quality to a lady, but I can't figure out how to get it. Apparently, whatever it is is better than 'Very Nice' because I think that is the best I have.

It pretty much does go that way.  Normal, Nice (or does it go straight to very nice?), Very Nice, Great, Excellent, Outstanding, then Perfect.  I was bothered trying to figure out what I had in my inventory til I realized you could click the folded corner of the icon to pull up a close up of the stack.

[Carokube]

It pretty much does go that way.  Normal, Nice (or does it go straight to very nice?), Very Nice, Great, Excellent, Outstanding, then Perfect.  I was bothered trying to figure out what I had in my inventory til I realized you could click the folded corner of the icon to pull up a close up of the stack.

Ah yes, outstanding is what I am supposed to be getting. However, at 8 gardening skill I seem to be stuck in "Very Nice". Will I have to find some 'outstanding' seeds, or is there a way to get outstanding somehow else? Also note that fertilizing with outstanding things won't work because clearly, I don't have any!

I'm starting to feel confused and dumb. Bested by a video game... Prima is going to make a killing

[Angelo]

It pretty much does go that way.  Normal, Nice (or does it go straight to very nice?), Very Nice, Great, Excellent, Outstanding, then Perfect.  I was bothered trying to figure out what I had in my inventory til I realized you could click the folded corner of the icon to pull up a close up of the stack.

Ah yes, outstanding is what I am supposed to be getting. However, at 8 gardening skill I seem to be stuck in "Very Nice". Will I have to find some 'outstanding' seeds, or is there a way to get outstanding somehow else? Also note that fertilizing with outstanding things won't work because clearly, I don't have any!

I'm starting to feel confused and dumb. Bested by a video game... Prima is going to make a killing

Actually every time you plant something, the sprout that comes out is of the next level of quality. Thus if you keep planting the same produce in cycles, you'll end up with perfect quality. However, I don't remember if I noticed that behavior before or after I took the gardening lifetime reward.

By the way, did you notice the text color of the quality levels? Someone at EAxis has been playing WoW. Plus, the concept of the moodlets.

[Batelle]

  The Furniture sets come to $59.75 total, it's the clothing and hair that adds up.

I missed most of the clothing and hair.  Holy shit, there's $135 worth of clothes alone!  I think, I just counted up the number of and multiplied by 75.  I'm not even going to get into the hair, since they're selling the same style for different age groups separately from one another.

I understand that online stores and the like are the "way of the future" for gaming, but I can get three mini-expansions for Fallout 3 for $30 (well, I'll be able to when they release it for PS3 ).  

[Carokube]

  The Furniture sets come to $59.75 total, it's the clothing and hair that adds up.

I missed most of the clothing and hair.  Holy shit, there's $135 worth of clothes alone!  I think, I just counted up the number of and multiplied by 75.  I'm not even going to get into the hair, since they're selling the same style for different age groups separately from one another.

I understand that online stores and the like are the "way of the future" for gaming, but I can get three mini-expansions for Fallout 3 for $30 (well, I'll be able to when they release it for PS3 ).  

Yeah, Bethesda really gets it's community. They even gave away the expansion packs on facebook, if you were a fan of Fallout 3 on facebook. Granted, you had to be really quick to get them (whoever entered in the key first got it), but they make the move towards MORE free stuff as opposed to abolishing free things all together. Plus their games are just infinite quality.

[diskoh]

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet... maids are recurring for me, no matter which household it is. I can call them once and they'll come, but after that they don't come again until I call them. Newspapers pile up for a week.

They worked at first, but over the course of the hours I've put into the neighborhood they've become borked.

[EdenNintyNine]

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet... maids are recurring for me, no matter which household it is. I can call them once and they'll come, but after that they don't come again until I call them. Newspapers pile up for a week.

They worked at first, but over the course of the hours I've put into the neighborhood they've become borked.

It is interesting that you mention that- there was a in game pop up that said not all maids work as hard as they should… maybe this is how EA decided to deal with a bad code?

[Angelo]

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet... maids are recurring for me, no matter which household it is. I can call them once and they'll come, but after that they don't come again until I call them. Newspapers pile up for a week.

They worked at first, but over the course of the hours I've put into the neighborhood they've become borked.

It is interesting that you mention that- there was a in game pop up that said not all maids work as hard as they should… maybe this is how EA decided to deal with a bad code?

I don't know about you but in my game, the maids aren't regular, I seem to be getting 3 different maids, 2 female and 1 male, and whoever comes each day seems random. As for their work performance, one of the female ones decided to take out and eat a can of beans or soup or whatever on my kitchen island counter, and as soon as she finished she ended her shift, not bothering to clean up after herself. I wonder, if I fire that particular one will only herself stop coming, or all 3 of them?

[Zazazu]

I don't know about you but in my game, the maids aren't regular, I seem to be getting 3 different maids, 2 female and 1 male, and whoever comes each day seems random. As for their work performance, one of the female ones decided to take out and eat a can of beans or soup or whatever on my kitchen island counter, and as soon as she finished she ended her shift, not bothering to clean up after herself. I wonder, if I fire that particular one will only herself stop coming, or all 3 of them?

It has no effect. I've fired two maids: one for standing at the kitchen sink brushing his teeth and then pussyfooting around, the other for repeatedly chatting on the computer. Both came back after a couple of days.

[GnatGoSplat]

...in addition to graphics that look like a throwback to TS1 more than an improvement on TS2, has influenced me to uninstall for now.

Really? I thought the graphics were pretty nice, base game graphics weren't that great either. I have a feelings they'll be upping the ante with future EPs. 

I agree, the graphics to me look superb.  The lighting makes the sims look creepy and weird sometimes, but object textures and detail looks great.  Sims are quite obviously much higher polygon models than before.  Skintones are generic, but it's a necessary evil since the skintones are one-size-fits-all.

TS3 = Scavenger hunt and fugly sims.

I'll admit they take some getting used to but there are some seriously fugly sims in TS2 as well. I'm not real fond of the scavenger hunt crap but I'm kind of enjoying not having to worry about memories and I don't miss playing multiple households as much as I thought I would. With more neighborhoods you can have more households, this makes me happy. It's kind of weird but I think the game has some real potential and I've definitely been having fun with it (despite it taking a week to finally get the installation to work, lol).

The sims were really fugly to me at first, but I've warmed up to them.  The male sims look somewhat decent to me now, but the females still look ugly to me with their big chins and round fat faces which looks really disproportionate on the skinny ones.  Several Sims 2 female townie faces look good with makeup, but I can't think of a single one in Sims 3 that looks attractive and oddly, makeup in Sims 3 makes them uglier.  Well, that one blonde that lives with Cycl0n3 Sw0rd is kind of okay looking... anyway, I was able to make a somewhat decent-looking female so I'm happy with that.
I've definitely been having fun with it too.  I see a lot of complaints, but personally, I think it's a great.  The change is refreshing and makes things interesting.  I won't be uninstalling Sims 2 though, there might be times I want to go back to old style gameplay and have some good looking female sims to look at.

[Soggy Fox]

I won't be uninstalling Sims 2 though, there might be times I want to go back to old style gameplay and have some good looking female sims to look at.

Exactly... except the good looking female part. I actually like TS3 females. Sure, the SUPER skinny ones look friggin' weird but the regular looking females and quite fat ones look sort of normal. I really want a breast adjuster though. It's not fair that only hugely obese sims have huge boobs. I know lots of skinny women with huge knockers.

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.

[GnatGoSplat]

Exactly... except the good looking female part. I actually like TS3 females. Sure, the SUPER skinny ones look friggin' weird but the regular looking females and quite fat ones look sort of normal. I really want a breast adjuster though. It's not fair that only hugely obese sims have huge boobs.

Yeah, the fat ones do look sort of normal.  They look exactly like someone I know in fact.  I wish the game had a breast adjuster too.  I wonder if such things could be tweaked in the character files at some point... if there are indeed Sims 3 equivalents of character files.  I'm guessing the bodies are a base mesh with some kind of morphing algorithm applied.

I know lots of skinny women with huge knockers.

I envy you.  

[BeautyWitch]

Hi, I'm a long time lurker, here to annoy you ...

I noticed at least one person mention that they were playing Sims 3 on a laptop - so, for those of you who've been using one, I'm curious - is it a super spectacular gaming laptop, or just a really good regular laptop?

Also, thanks to everyone who's taken the time to post pictures.  They rock.

I'm using a regular laptop. I initially installed it on my desktop, but even though I installed all the Sims 2 games, the graphics were crappy and it ran slow. I have all EPs and Sps of Sims 2 still installed on my laptop and The Sims 3 still runs very smooth with all settings on high.

[daisywenham]

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet... maids are recurring for me, no matter which household it is. I can call them once and they'll come, but after that they don't come again until I call them. Newspapers pile up for a week.

They worked at first, but over the course of the hours I've put into the neighborhood they've become borked.

It is interesting that you mention that- there was a in game pop up that said not all maids work as hard as they should… maybe this is how EA decided to deal with a bad code?

I don't know about you but in my game, the maids aren't regular, I seem to be getting 3 different maids, 2 female and 1 male, and whoever comes each day seems random. As for their work performance, one of the female ones decided to take out and eat a can of beans or soup or whatever on my kitchen island counter, and as soon as she finished she ended her shift, not bothering to clean up after herself. I wonder, if I fire that particular one will only herself stop coming, or all 3 of them?

I have the reverse problem with the maids.  I constantly find my sims chatting with them.  Bloody shut up already and let them do their job.  You have 6 other family members to chat with 'tard. >.<

[Deadclown]

Well when one of them starts doing nothing and because I usually keep testingCheatsEnabled on I just add them to the family and age them to death or teleport them onto someone else's lot where they can't move then starve them to death. Going to try drowning them

[Carokube]

I thought that maybe this was a coincidence but I've decided that it's definitely not so I have to share. My sim who has been 'Neat' since birth grew up always having wishes to befriend the maid. I thought this was cute but likely a coincidence since maids seemed to be the only people outside of his family that I let him spend time with. As a teen, he became best friends with two of the maids (they were both teens at the time... maids seem to be able to be teens or adults). Now that he is a young adult, he is constantly rolling wishes to flirt/massage/kiss the two maids that are serving his house. Clearly I will have him marry the prettier one since it's just so easy. He doesn't have any romantic traits at all either, he is brave/loves the outdoors/neat (he only has three traits because of the bug, i'm just about to give him more with the mid-life crisis reward). Anyways, I think this is an extremely adorable trait of the 'Neat' sims. Anyone else seen this?

[TashaYarrr]

I just opened up one of my saved games--sad that there's kind of no point in calling it a 'hood anymore--where I had "Lolita Goth" break up the Goth marriage. So Lolita's been living in the Goth mansion for quite some time now. Today I load up and see an unusual looking ghost on the lot. I hover over her, and her name is Lolith Goth. I quickly check, the original Lolita is still alive. WTF? Why did the game decide that my living sim needed a ghost dupe? Granted it doesn't look exactly like her. I'm guessing, like many things, the explanation here will turn out to be 'just because'.

[TrapperJohn]

...in addition to graphics that look like a throwback to TS1 more than an improvement on TS2, has influenced me to uninstall for now.

For some reason the screens I've seen from TS3 do remind me a little of TS1, but not in a negative way. I think this is in part because of the colours used. TS1 had more vibrant colours than TS2 has, and they seem to be making a return in this new game. I'm fairly sure the brick fence used in the park and the large shrub with pink flowers are based on objects from TS1. There may be more, but those are the ones I've noticed.

Also, TS2 tends to seem a little empty if you're not a good landscaper (I'm not), and even then the surroundings look pixelated and unattractive. The main reason I'm even going to buy TS3 is because the world itself looks so much prettier. I'm still hanging on to TS2, though.

[Zazazu]

Exactly... except the good looking female part. I actually like TS3 females. Sure, the SUPER skinny ones look friggin' weird but the regular looking females and quite fat ones look sort of normal. I really want a breast adjuster though. It's not fair that only hugely obese sims have huge boobs.

Yeah, the fat ones do look sort of normal.  They look exactly like someone I know in fact.  I wish the game had a breast adjuster too.  I wonder if such things could be tweaked in the character files at some point... if there are indeed Sims 3 equivalents of character files.  I'm guessing the bodies are a base mesh with some kind of morphing algorithm applied.

The pudgy girls' body shape looks like this other bridesmaid in the wedding I was just in. She and I wore the same cut in the same size, but our dresses looked so different because she's more of the traditional pear-shaped, heavy on the rear, and I'm more of a tube with big boobs. If you can count a 1/2" indentation as a waist, I guess I still have one.

I thought that maybe this was a coincidence but I've decided that it's definitely not so I have to share. My sim who has been 'Neat' since birth grew up always having wishes to befriend the maid. I thought this was cute but likely a coincidence since maids seemed to be the only people outside of his family that I let him spend time with. As a teen, he became best friends with two of the maids (they were both teens at the time... maids seem to be able to be teens or adults). Now that he is a young adult, he is constantly rolling wishes to flirt/massage/kiss the two maids that are serving his house. Clearly I will have him marry the prettier one since it's just so easy. He doesn't have any romantic traits at all either, he is brave/loves the outdoors/neat (he only has three traits because of the bug, i'm just about to give him more with the mid-life crisis reward). Anyways, I think this is an extremely adorable trait of the 'Neat' sims. Anyone else seen this?

The second that Dillon Langerak, the first-born of my current family, grew to YA, he wanted to befriend the last maid he'd seen. He's not wanting to mess around with any, but he's a newlywed and is otherwise occupied with wanting to become friends again with the highschool sweetheart I had him dump for his wife. And this is why I didn't let him marry the highschool sweetheart:

[CharleeRose]

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

[daisywenham]

The second that Dillon Langerak, the first-born of my current family, grew to YA, he wanted to befriend the last maid he'd seen. He's not wanting to mess around with any, but he's a newlywed and is otherwise occupied with wanting to become friends again with the highschool sweetheart I had him dump for his wife. And this is why I didn't let him marry the highschool sweetheart:

Is she an Ursine?  One of my gen 2 sims married an Ursine and she has the exact same lips.  One of their kids got them as well as her apparently immaculately conceived grandson.  

Has anyone else noticed a sim not sleeping in the bed they shared with their spouse after the spouse dies?  My CAS sim randomly slept in her grandson's bed the night her husband died.  Other than that and one other time, they've always gone back to the same bed automatically.  

[Avi]

I know this is going off on another tangent but is getting rid of Securom and EADM going to be the same as it was for Sims 2 or more complicated considering the launcher seems more integrated with EADM?

I've only seen mention that Securom is back, but not anything about how to get rid of it with TS3.  Or did I miss something?