First Impressions of Sims 3

To clarify on something: I didn't pirate the game. The pirated versions you see stem from Direct2Drive UK breaking release date, though this seems to have been fixed.
If it's against forum rules to post about it even then, I'll remove this.

Well we can still discuss the game as if none of us had it.

Personaly, I don't really care. I got bloody sick of the AI and how fast the time goes and how long it takes for Sims to do anything back in the first one. Building the houses though was always fun, I kind of miss that.

Also I never owned my own copy but two of my room mates (one owns all the Sims 2s, the other plays it all the time) like the game.

I would not be supprised if they releace another boat load of expantion packs for this game each month.

CivGeneral said:

I would not be supprised if they releace another boat load of expantion packs for this game each month.

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It makes sense.

Anyway, what I'd originally blanked out summed up:
The game is buggy as hell, there's very little content in game (as far as hair, clothes, and objects are concerned), it's missing some promised features (like mixing hats and hairs), the AI is worse than ever, and traits have no real effect on personality.

I was testing this out today. I had two sims with entirely opposite traits living together. I couldn't tell the difference. The loner sim socialized more, the evil sim was very, very nice, the hardworker was just as lazy as the couch potato, etc.

I'm starting to see why Will Wright left over this.
This entire thing just screams "Prepare to pay $50 20 more times, and $25 50 more times. "

The Almighty dF said:

The game is buggy as hell, there's very little content in game (as far as hair, clothes, and objects are concerned), it's missing some promised features (like mixing hats and hairs), the AI is worse than ever, and traits have no real effect on personality.

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What I would expect. EA Spore's it up again.

I played around a little with the basic Sims2 pack (with the nightlife mod). Pretty dumb stuff, though actually a litle deeper than Spore.

I predict EA will only be known for Madden, MMOs, and the odd $20 casual game once they're done raping their franchises.

The Almighty dF said:

It makes sense.

Anyway, what I'd originally blanked out summed up:
The game is buggy as hell, there's very little content in game (as far as hair, clothes, and objects are concerned), it's missing some promised features (like mixing hats and hairs), the AI is worse than ever, and traits have no real effect on personality.

I was testing this out today. I had two sims with entirely opposite traits living together. I couldn't tell the difference. The loner sim socialized more, the evil sim was very, very nice, the hardworker was just as lazy as the couch potato, etc.

I'm starting to see why Will Wright left over this.
This entire thing just screams "Prepare to pay $50 20 more times, and $25 50 more times. "

Click to expand...

the sims modding community has always been excellent in my experience. i'm sure these problems will be fixed in a jiffy.

and as you have the game already and the release date isn't until june, i'm gonna go ahead and assume that "paying" for the extras won't bother you a great deal...

As he said in the first post, he got the leaked copy from D2D, not torrents.

My computer runs Spore fine, do you think it would run Sims 3? I'd like to know that before buying the game(not going to download, I'm sure I would be stupid enough not to use my firewall to prevent me from connecting the game to internet and thus revealing that I have used a torrent to get it ), I'm not feeling like spending 50€ for nothing...

Hitti-Litti said:

My computer runs Spore fine, do you think it would run Sims 3? I'd like to know that before buying the game(not going to download, I'm sure I would be stupid enough not to use my firewall to prevent me from connecting the game to internet and thus revealing that I have used a torrent to get it ), I'm not feeling like spending 50€ for nothing...

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Actually, you have to register it for it to connect to the internet.

Also, the game is kinda... bulky when it comes to system resources. You'll want 1.5 gigs of RAM at the last, and a 2.2GHz CPU.
That's just to run it on somewhat-average settings. I'm running it on high settings now and it takes up a good bit of system resources. I've got 2 gigs of RAM and a 3.1GHz CPU.

They better not add the good stuff in expansion packs. I find the University, Night Life, Apartments and Seasons ones with the best stuff.

leonel said:

They better not add the good stuff in expansion packs. I find the University, Night Life, Apartments and Seasons ones with the best stuff.

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They will.

The Almighty dF said:

Actually, you have to register it for it to connect to the internet.

Also, the game is kinda... bulky when it comes to system resources. You'll want 1.5 gigs of RAM at the last, and a 2.2GHz CPU.
That's just to run it on somewhat-average settings. I'm running it on high settings now and it takes up a good bit of system resources. I've got 2 gigs of RAM and a 3.1GHz CPU.

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I have 2.2GHz CPU and 4 gigabytes of RAM, so it won't be a problem. What about graphics, does Sims 3 need a really good graphics card or is a card that is enough for Spore enough for Sims 3?

Hitti-Litti said:

I have 2.2GHz CPU and 4 gigabytes of RAM, so it won't be a problem. What about graphics, does Sims 3 need a really good graphics card or is a card that is enough for Spore enough for Sims 3?

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I'd say yes. Sims 3 is prettier than Sims 2, but it still doesn't seem that graphically intensive.
The main drainer is CPU and RAM, since there's a lot going on at once.

Also, one new complaint...
Think about this.
If the AI is significantly worse, or even on par with Sims 2?
Remember that everyone is active while you're active, just autonomous.
I've seen 3 deaths just walking about town.

Also, working around the limited hairstyles is annoying.
The hairstyles in game for men: Shaved, emo, that guy from the band that did Wonderwall, mullet, Fabio, balding, balding, mohawk, pompadour, woman's ponytail (not to say ponytails are girly, but this one is.)
You can kinda make a bald sim if you select shaved and set it to white, then just keep the sim zoomed out.

Some things I've found:
-Evil sims can troll forums. They get mood boosters by having people fall for it.
-Neurotic sims just get stressy, and they can have little psychotic fits which relieve stress.
-The nudist trait got removed, but never nude is still there.
-Your wants don't seem to be based on your personality. I get the same wants no matter what sim. Make the bed, clean a counter, buy something costing $100, make waffles, etc. Personality as well, sadly.
-Although you -can- make sims fat, the texture is very muscular. Looks very, very weird.
-It's near impossible to make a sim without a fat-looking face. The cheek and mouth sliders are very, very limited. Especially the latter. You can move the mouth by about 2 mm.
-Careers -might- be random, a friend got a different career at one level. Maybe I'm just unlucky.
-The Steel Bladder reward doesn't make you use the bathroom less. It seems to stop you ever needing to use the bathroom.
-Facial hair doesn't connect to hair, which looks really irritating. With beards and sideburns, there's like a three inch gap seperating the two.
-Getting promoted seems to be a lot easier now. No more trying to get friends, just make sure one or two skills are boosted and you go to work happy.

If anyone has any Sims 3 questions, just ask.
I can also take some screencaps if anyone wants.

PrinceScamp said:

They will.

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We'll see. I'm a little hopeful that they will, despite knowing EA's M.O.

Just a little screencap of my most recent sim: Lex Luthor.
Here he is making some mac'n'cheese.

I gave him the traits Evil, Workaholic, Genius, Perfectionist, Ambitious. Favorite color is green (due to his armor, greed, and the average color of kryptonite), favorite food is lobster, and his favorite music is classical.

Sadly, rock is not an option for favorite music.

Wow thanks for that screenie...

i have been an avid fan of the Sims for the beginning....got all the Sims 1 and 2 stuff...for me personally..The Sims 3 is starting to not look like a game anymore....seems very complicated..
and now theres CC for you to buy already that they didn't include in the original game?? Makes no since to me....

How well would this game handle on a machine with multiple cores?

Is it as boring as it seems? I can't imagine why anyone would play these games, but obviously people do.

Building the hosues is a lot of fun. Probably most of it, laying around with the people is mroe of an annoying although possibly hilarious side game.

It's official, EA deserves to be boycotted.
The reason why the game feels so unfinished? They're selling off everything else as additional separate features.
Want more hair than the few that the game came with? Be prepared to buy each individually.

http://store.thesims3.com/category.html?categoryId=11959&index=0

Also, the version that leaked, unlike what wiki says, was not an unfinished version of the game. It's the official game, which went gold a good while back.
That "half the world, a second neighborhood" they claim is missing? According to their press statements and the official site, it's -downloadable content.-

These lying scumbags don't deserve any money.
Now I wish I -had- pirated it.