The Sims 2 Vs. The Sims 3

[jezzer]

Well, yeah, but that kind of mirrors real life.  "Generations" added a bit more for toddlers, children, and teens to do.

[Turd Ferguson]

As someone who's been INCREDIBLY patient with TS3, even with all its bugs and crashes, I can say I like it better than TS2. After playing TS3 and then taking the time to go back and reinstall TS2, I found it.... lacking. I think it's that mantra of "A luxury sampled becomes a necessity." I'm too spoiled by Create a Style and the Open Neighborhood. I couldn't go back to loading screens between lots. Not to mention TS2's EPs just seemed a lot more watered down and family friendly in comparison.

[buddha pest]

Well, yeah, but that kind of mirrors real life. 

This is why I refuse to spawn in real life, let alone put up with it in a video game.

[MrsCrumplebottom]

I have Sims 2 and all EPs and SPs...from what I've seen of Sims 3 (I've watched gameplay videos on YouTube and asked around), I think I will stick with 2, being the fascist that I am. 

As far as boring families in Sims 2...well, that's why I have Theo's plug-in. 

Not only that, but the Sims 3 base game is $50 in my area.  I got Sims 2 Double Deluxe and the other combo packs (and the remaining EPs) for $20 apiece.  Maybe by the time Sims 4 or 5 comes out Sims 3 might be cheap enough for me to give it a shot.

What are the requirements for Sims 3 anyway?  I'm running Windows 7 64 bit, 3 GB of RAM (it was 2 GB until I swiped a memory stick out of my old computer).

[witch]

I'm running Windows 7 64 bit, 3 GB of RAM (it was 2 GB until I swiped a memory stick out of my old computer).

Be careful with possible mismatched RAM, it can cause system issues.

[Zazazu]

3GB just seems low to run Windows 7 & Sims3 with any EP. But then I have 8GB on a 3.2 GHz quad-core and am contemplating upgrading to 16GB (MOAR power) on Win7 x64.

Check http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ . Don't trust the minimum requirement. You want to be well over that.

[Jeebus]

WTG Fuzzy Pumpkin for giving us a dead link.

[Zazazu]

I aim to please. Fixed now. Apparently it is not a fan of being truncated.

[MrsCrumplebottom]

Be careful with possible mismatched RAM, it can cause system issues.

My new computer is a Presario, so was the old one (but different models) and they use the same type of memory stick.  In fact if I remember right the stick I got out of the old computer was one I'd bought at Best Buy.

Thanks for the head's-up, though.  I do plan on getting a 2-GB stick as soon as I can afford it.

[Zazazu]

That's not what she meant. It's recommended that all RAM sticks be of the same size (as in, all 1 GB or all 2 GB, not a 1 GB stick and a 2 GB stick).

[witch]

Partly, although I was also thinking about different makes and how latency can vary and so on. I prefer to buy RAM in a batch, I've had problems before. There are apps to check your RAM if you want to be sure.

[MrsCrumplebottom]

I didn't know that about the RAM sticks, thanks Zazazu!  

Basically what I have is the 2-GB stick my computer came with, and the one I salvaged from my old one.  I've been wanting to get another 2-GB.

[Salomon]

The key difference between the fambly-counts in TS2 vs. TS3 is that in TS2, every fambly you add, you MUST play

Isn't that the point? Otherwise, why would I add it, or how would the members of that family be different from townies? (in a meaningful way.)

or they will lose sync...

I'm not a perfectionist regarding syncing of time scales, and don't mind if one teen is 6 days older than another one the same age after several cycles, after all, with so many families it's hard to spot the difference (but I MUST play all my families anyway.)

even if they become really boring.

Boring families can die in a fire. Though, switching to speed 3 thorough the day may make things interesting again, with Sims  having to rescue their jobs for missing the carpool or several needs dropping lethally.

In TS3, the number of maximum famblies you can expect to manage is lower

I could live with that, if it wasn't DRAMATICALLY lower, like, Elephant-to-Ant-ratio lower.

Most people don't have the time or inclination to play sixty families at once, but then most people aren't insane.

I said "sixty" only as a starting point, in a different post I mean to add a couple hundreds. And I don't see this being different from adding thousands of characters to a MUGEN roster, so this is just like an Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny but with famblies. So, if I can add all the Marvel, DC Comics, Webcomics, Comic Strips, Ánimanga, TV Shows, Cartoons, Films, VideoGames, Celebrities, Sports, Tabletop Games*, Media, Fan Fics, Fictional, Historic and Literature (and whatever I'm missing... **) Characters, what is going to stop me, that the game would just combust? No.

The Sims 2 is the ultimate crossover tool (at least until they make one in where I can add the 648 Pokémon and such in there as pets, a cat that looks like Mewtwo just doesn't cut it...)

* I hadn't thought of it until now, but yeah, I have to plan to make families based on Chess sets, with two enemy families being White and Black, though I think the pawns would need to be born in-game so it doesn't become idiotic.

** Oh, heck, just imagine The Sims 2 Meets The Akinator, I don't think I'll put really obscure chars in the game, so no Alfredo Cristiani or Mettannamuwa in there, I'm not THAT insane, that's why I'm saying a couple hundreds and not a couple thousands.

[jezzer]

[Crazed tealdeer]

We really don't need to hear about all the furry/comic book/fan fiction/faffy elf shit you want to put in your game.  We already knew you were insane from the "SIXTY FAMBLIES AT ONCE!!!!!1!" post; you don't have to go into all the sad, lame details.

[soozelwoozel]

This is insane. You actually want to play 200 odd families at once? WTF. Apart from the fact that this is beyond cray-cray, isn't there a limit to the number of characters TS2 can handle, befoe the game asplodes?

I like the fact I can send my spares and various extraneous family members off into the big wide world in TS3 and let them get on with it. I do have a hood where I flip around the families, but I still let Twallan's SP do its thang. Sure, sometimes Sims deviate from my vague plans for them, but meh. I tend to take the view that the game is just following the messiness of life.

[J. M. Pescado]

I could live with that, if it wasn't DRAMATICALLY lower, like, Elephant-to-Ant-ratio lower.

It's not really elephant-to-ant lower. It may not even be lower at all, depending on how much you value actually making progress. If you're playing 30 famblies in TS2, your progress is effectively close to zero. I know this, I've tried. I had to stop doing that. In TS3, it is entirely more feasible to manage 30 famblies, albeit on a more macro level than before, whereas in TS2, such an attempt was pretty much doomed by the fact that you had to actively play a fambly even when nothing was happening.

In TS3, the Supreme Commander autopilot handles that just fine.

[Nalia]

TS3 families might be more self-sufficient but Sims' interactions are boring, they lack sense of humour and behave somewhat coldly. I can't imagine my father saying "It's a bit late, you should leave now."
Only "Generations" provided a few things for kids and teens to do, nothing for adults though.
Anyway, I'm an insane Simmer who very much likes having the first and last word in what Sims are and/or are not allowed to do. So, TS2 suits my philosophy better.

[jezzer]

It's a bit late, you should leave now.

[Salomon]

If you're playing 30 famblies in TS2, your progress is effectively close to zero.

Indeed, the progress is virtually 0. But that's not a bug, it's a feature as that's just the progress of the source material. I'm a fan of Comic Strips, and I'm stealing this from Robot Hobo of somethingawful:

- Charlie Brown has always been in elementary school.
- Swee'Pea has been a baby for 78 years.
- Marvin's been a baby for 29 years.
- Luann is on her 26th year of high school.
- Little Orphan Annie did seem to age by a couple of years... over the course of 87 real years.

I wouldn't see a problem with their Sims counterparts doing the same, so NO PROGRESS FOR YOU is fine with me.

I'm more worried about soozelwoozel's question of the game asploding once the number of characters get too high, though.

@Nalia: Thanks, that's what I've noticed on videos, so it's not just a quantity problem, but a quality problem (as I consider how they animate a big part of the Sims, I still find some new funny animations I hadn't seen before, or forgot about them, now and then. I play The Sims 2 because they are charming.)