Ambitions: What's Fixed

[Claeric]

I wanna know what people have noticed is fixed/better. I am risking a negative reaction putting this here (or making it at all), but whatever.

Stuff I've seen:

-The game in general runs a lot better for me. I can now drive around town at 3x speed without any jumping or lagging. The game no longer seems to try and load lots as you pass them.
-Outdoor lighting is significantly better. Lights spreading off lot is hit or miss, but lights on your sims and the world around them are much nicer.
-Doors, when placed on a wall bisecting another wall, would create a hole. There'd just be a big hole in that corner. Now, doors stay up when you are facing these corners, so that hole is hidden. It is honestly a big deal for me.
-Custom Content Icons. now I can tell if a hair or object is base game or if I downloaded it from somewhere. Very nice.
-Story Progression seems more agressive. This is a good thing.
-Wishes come a hell of a lot more often.

Add more, damnit.

[uknortherner]

Still running the base game here (Ambitions still in the post somewhere), but since the new patch, sim pathfinding is vastly improved with less foot tapping and sims whinging about blocked routes, etc.

Lighting is hit and miss as you say. Roads do not light up, but adjacent land does when outdoor lights are placed. Wall lights will NOT cast light beyond lot limits, however and no lights will cast light on walls more than one floor high. Light cast from windows now works correctly, especially at night.

Shadows are less pixellated.

Game appears to run smoother, though takes three times as long to load. Presumably it's doing a better job pre-caching everything.

[Goggalor]

It seem like objects that are enabled for neighborhood view now actually show without having to load the lot in high detail first.

[Simius]

You can select the lot type you want in edit town mode.  Lot types are no longer forced on you by what you decided to put in them.

[Roobs]

You can select the lot type you want in edit town mode.  Lot types are no longer forced on you by what you decided to put in them.

That's been around since before World Adventures.

I've noticed a lot less CTDs. They still occur, but they no longer seem to occur on the hour, as they once used to.

[jezzer]

The free-will AI for sims with professions seems to be really well-scripted.  You can follow your sim and micromanage him on jobs if you want, but he or she will do the jobs without being prompted if you want to concentrate on other sims.

Also, I can't point out enough how fucking nice Twinbrook looks.  And I love the fog effects.

[Sparks]

Routing has greatly improved. My family of 4 can actually sit and eat together instead of one of them finishing their meal while all the rest are still tapping their foot and waiting for him to get out of the way, even though he grabbed his plate ages ago.

[Claeric]

Sims seem to autonomously go for skills a lot more, too. My architectural designer gained a level without me having any idea she was doing anything. She had been researching with the drawing bench on her own.

[jezzer]

"Eco-Friendly" gives your sim a LOT of moodlet buffs.  Every time he or she does something energy or water-saving -- like car-pooling, shower vs. bath, using the clothesline, etc. -- you get a nice buff.

As far as the laundry system goes, you get two very nice long-lasting buffs for doing laundry:  one when you get dressed (clean clothes), and one when you go to bed (fresh sheets).  If you don't want to be bothered, the maid does laundry too.

[Pyromaniac]

I am risking a negative reaction putting this here (or making it at all), but whatever.

Personally, I appreciate this thread.

Since I didn't shell out any money for Ambitions, and therefore harbour no expectations of EA, I concur that EA has done amazingly well for a game that I obtained for $0.00 (excluding bandwidth fees).

I do feel bad for those who paid $40 and $50 for this EP and the base game respectively, though - many of the sparkling compliments in this thread about what EA has done 'right' should have been included in the base game. They did not receive the "bang for their buck" at all.

(That said, I'm so glad we can finally delete CC from ingame. FINALLY.)

[Claeric]

Wait, what? How do you delete CC in game? And if that CC is packed, is it safe to assume it deletes the entire package?

...is packed CC even required anymore?

[Pyromaniac]

Dammit! Never mind. I'd assumed it was deletable, considering all CC is now labeled with that collections/folder icon, and the trashcan button is no longer grayed out. I booted up my game to test this theory and it was not so.

Hopes: crushed.

[Sanati]

Being able to add and remove lots and neighborhood items from ingame is very awesome.
I also like the additional relationship options in CAS. Can finally create a couple that isn't married.

I'm not noticing pathfinding improvements. Without a mod that turns off autonomous PC usage my sims still crowd around PCs in use and bitch about not be able to sit down in the occupied chair.

Sims seem to autonomously go for skills a lot more, too. My architectural designer gained a level without me having any idea she was doing anything. She had been researching with the drawing bench on her own.

It's painting. That desk is basically just an easel, "researching" on it just paints a picture and raises the painting skill, and the stylist and architect professions both gain from painting skill improvements. Sims have always been drawn to empty easels. So I don't think anything has changed there.

[Claeric]

Oh, I guess.

Social sitautions, and this might just be circumstance and reading into things, feel more present, too. It may be a combination of factors (like going around town and meeting people every day to be an architect), but it feels like the neighborhood is more...present.

Also you can click your car and "Visit Lot" which goes to map view and points out every lot you have a friend on, which really helps with going to friend's houses. I've also gotten calls from friends asking to come over or if they can come over, which I have never, ever gotten before installing ambitions.

[Simius]

My simbot keeps getting rustier and rustier as he ages.  Maybe this doesn't count as a "fix" but it makes the fact they have a limited lifespan better.

[Claeric]

Ah, I remember what I was going to mention.

Cars. ALmost every family in Twinbrook is equipped with cars. So not only is there more variety driving around town, but parking spots are ACTUALLY USED.

[Barbara Walters]

The game now tells you how many tiles you've used when building with walls and floors.

[Claeric]

Time Travel is nega-borked, in the sense that instead of being borked as expected, it is pretty nice. They even avoided the question of changing history with a "Keeper of Time" who jumps out of time portals to tackle you before you have the chance. One tag references the civil war and <i>trying to save an important politician</i> which freaks me out as a bit too much real world reference, but eh.

[Erry]

When you move a sim over to newer or different neighborhoods, they still keep their profession: only as long as certain rabbit-holes or job-lots are present. I'm not sure if this was present before but I've just only known about it.

[The_Goddess]

When you move a sim over to newer or different neighborhoods, they still keep their profession: only as long as certain rabbit-holes or job-lots are present. I'm not sure if this was present before but I've just only known about it.

This isn't new I move families to new worlds all the time and they kept their jobs. 

[Erry]

Ahh, guess I kept creating new families that looked similar then.

[Papercut]

Since I didn't shell out any money for Ambitions, and therefore harbour no expectations of EA, I concur that EA has done amazingly well for a game that I obtained for $0.00 (excluding bandwidth fees).

I do feel bad for those who paid $40 and $50 for this EP and the base game respectively, though

I heartily agree.

Actually, I paid zero dollars and I still feel a bit ripped off. Compared to OFB - which granted infinite possibilities - Ambitions is a steaming pile of crap. It's just more mini-game tedium, with little replay value. Given WA and now this, it looks like TS3 is definitely shaping up to be a half-arsed RPG. Way to fuck up the greatest game franchise of all time, EA.

On the other hand, I'm getting less lag now. I like how Twinbrook is so scummy. Ooh, and there's a new male hair that I quite like.

[J. M. Pescado]

OFB didn't really grant infinite possibilities, either. It granted a lot of MOD POTENTIAL, and possibilities could be unlocked through modding it, but out of the box? OFB was utterly shite. Running a business and trying to manage employees without AwesomeMod is an exercise in pure masochism, as their AI is dumb as bricks.

[Papercut]

True, that.

Un-modded OFB was a headache. But what I liked about it was how one could make any kind of business. I hate being shoe-horned into a few EA-provided options, and that's all Ambitions offers. I'm not particularly awesome, but I'm guessing that Ambitions has a lot less mod potential than OFB.

Eh, fuck it. I won't be happy until I get a TS2-style ticket machine. And I don't hold out much hope for that, given that it's too open-ended for Humble and co. What on earth will players do if they don't have enough mini-games and collecting busywork to keep 'em occupied?

[jezzer]

I'm not noticing pathfinding improvements. Without a mod that turns off autonomous PC usage my sims still crowd around PCs in use and bitch about not be able to sit down in the occupied chair.

I was referring to the "foot-tapping stall" that would occur when two sims try to move through the same space.  Pre-Ambitions, they'd stand there for upwards of 10-15 seconds, both tapping their feet.  Then, more likely than not, they'd both try to move around each other in the same direction, end up blocking each other again, and tap, tap, tappity tap.  With Ambitions, they tap for a couple of seconds, then quickly move around each other.