Some more Sims 3 stuff

On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:32:15 -0400, barbara.TakeThisOut@bookpro.com wrote:

>It doesn't appeal to me at this point either. I think it will require
>looking at the game in a very different way (based on what little we
>know now, of course), and whether it will grab players or not remains
>to be seen.

Exactly. Unless you play on an extremely strict rotational or cyclical
basis, your Sims are no longer YOURS. They're true "simulated people"
in a true, "simulated society".

Sounds like Sim City Societies. Not Sims 3 :-\
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

Guardian Pegasus wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:32:15 -0400, barbara DeleteThis @bookpro.com wrote:
>
>> It doesn't appeal to me at this point either. I think it will
>> require looking at the game in a very different way (based on what
>> little we know now, of course), and whether it will grab players or
>> not remains to be seen.
>
> Exactly. Unless you play on an extremely strict rotational or cyclical
> basis, your Sims are no longer YOURS. They're true "simulated people"
> in a true, "simulated society".
>
> Sounds like Sim City Societies. Not Sims 3 :-\

Seems to me, even if you do play in rotation, based on what was said, your
othet sims will have been up to all sorts in the time you left them to play
other houses!


--
kat
>^..^<
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

Guardian Pegasus wrote:
> http://www.luniversims3.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=art...e&id=16
>
>
>
> These look to be a genuine in game picture for sure. The lighting,
> while nice, is far less spectacular than the promo shots. The foliage
> is also not as detailed as it appeared, and still looks quite 'flat',
> which is hard to avoid frankly. The sim models also don't look all
> THAT much more advanced although they definately have a lot more
> polygons (graphical points, think of a box with 6 versus an artificial
> circle which can have a near infinite ammount of polygons to look
> round). Textures are also nothing special, but that might be a result
> of sims being able to walk so freely... it would just take up way too
> much memory to load ALL the textures in perfect clarity. Might be a
> detail setting. Neighbourhood view, meanwhile, looks quite a bit more
> detailed, but I still have my doubts as to wether we'll see neighbours
> really moving around like they would in "real sim life". And what on
> earth would that mean for the storytellers etc. ? If you can see your
> other sim households acting in ways not in line with the story you've
> developed. Again, lack of control may be an issue.
>
> One promising tidbit of information from the article:
> "Which configuration? We don't know for now. The demo was running on a
> laptop"
>
> Even the most highend laptops are not all that powerful.

Truly the only thing that impresses me about these pictures, really, is the
new architectural detail on the buildings. I guess I'm still a builder at
heart and I will be severely disappointed if those buildings are either not
a part of the game, or not reproducable.

I agree, though, that the graphical differences don't seem very pronounced.
And it finally occured to me what those Sims 3 sims remind me of -- the
"people" in the Shrek movies. Round inhuman faces. Kind of creepy,
actually.

Jeanie
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

> It kinda has to be an entirely different game. Sims 2 added 3-D and
> aging and all that stuff, making it very different from Sims 1. To be
> a true Sims 3 and not an EP, a new game has to make some major
> changes. What can they do that's the equivalent of going from 2-D to
> 3-D and adding aging, genetics, aspirations, and all that
> jazz--something that makes it a whole new generation of the game,
> while at the same time remaining identifiably Sims and not something
> else? I don't know, just wondering.

I can think of a number of things they could do instead of having the
neighborhood advance whether you are playing it or not....

Make the sims behavior much more dynamic. Instead of simply having certain
proclivities for each aspiration combination, let the experiences the sim
has as it goes through "life" change it's reactions to people. For
instance, if a sim has had a marriage break up because of infidelity, make
that sim suspicious in all subsequent relationships. If the sim got demoted
at work, let him come home and kick the dog or snap at the kids.

>
> Having the other Sims living their lives while your controllable Sim
> goes about his/her business makes it more realistic, which seems to be
> what they're going for, and does add different challenges and makes it
> a different game. I like the idea of playing it in addition to Sims 2
> and not as a replacement.
>
> BW

Yes, definitely not as a replacement. If I can't control all the households
in the neighborhood, then I won't spend nearly as much time playing it. It
may not even interest me enough to buy it in the first place.

Jeanie
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

barbara.TakeThisOut@bookpro.com wrote:
> It doesn't appeal to me at this point either. I think it will require
> looking at the game in a very different way (based on what little we
> know now, of course), and whether it will grab players or not remains
> to be seen.
>
> Maxis has not always had a very good grip on what players actually
> want--look at the spectacular failure of Sims Online, which many
> people here were eager to play--until they did play it and found out
> it wasn't at all what they'd been hoping for. So I don't think we can
> automatically trust that Sims 3 is going to wow us.

It does sound as if the things that turned the players off about Sims Online
are being included in Sims 3, too. I mean, the part about having sims you
aren't currently controlling do things you really don't want them doing. If
I can't be the "mouse God" to my little simulated people, then what is the
attraction in playing? I may as well play some other RPG where I can only
control one character and the rest run amok around me. I don't play those
sorts of games and there's a reason for that. <g>

>
> Luckily for me, even if they never release another EP, I have years
> worth of play left in Sims 2--and plenty I never got done in Sims 1
> either, so I'm set. I probably won't get Sims 3 unless the folks here
> are bowled over by it.
>
> On the other hand, I was a Sims 2 skeptic for quite a while too, but I
> learned to enjoy it quite a bit.
>
> BW

I, too, will likely wait until I see people who's opinions I trust begin to
praise the game. And if we ALL do that, who will buy it?!?

Jeanie
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

lonestarlvn wrote:
> <barbara.RemoveThis@bookpro.com> wrote in message
> news:vh92u3t32f1mh8to6tl4p0585m4qmt4tap@4ax.com...
>> On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:44:35 +0100, Guardian Pegasus
>> <nobody.RemoveThis@nowhere.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:40:49 -0000, "kat" <kat.news.RemoveThis@ntlworld.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> An entirely different game, especially if you can't control the
>>>> whole family. And hopeless for those of us who like to roll down
>>>> the generations
>>>> and let a sim have more than one child.
>>>
>>> A console friendly game... *puke*
>>>
>>> It's like I wrote before in my first thread about Sims 3... in a
>>> (greedy) effort to appeal to even MORE players (apparently 100
>>> million sold and nearly being solely responsible for EA's financial
>>> survival isn't enough), the suits have decided that the game should
>>> be even easier to play, and have even fewer goals.
>>>
>>> Frankly, it's starting to sound a whole like Sim City Societies...
>>> The Sims Societies... *sigh*
>>
>> Speaking of Sim City Societies, while looking at pictures in the
>> binaries NG, I began to wonder whether Societies isn't Simsville
>> resurrected.
>>
>> BW
>
> I'd forgotten all about Simsville but since you've mentioned it, does
> sound logical.
> I've been thinking about buying Sims city Societies after looking and
> reading about it.
>
>
>
>
> LS

It's pretty, but for me, it got boring pretty quickly.

Jeanie
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

Jeanie wrote:
> lonestarlvn wrote:
>
>><barbara.DeleteThis@bookpro.com> wrote in message
>>news:vh92u3t32f1mh8to6tl4p0585m4qmt4tap@4ax.com...
>>
>>>On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:44:35 +0100, Guardian Pegasus
>>><nobody.DeleteThis@nowhere.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:40:49 -0000, "kat" <kat.news.DeleteThis@ntlworld.com>
>>>>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>An entirely different game, especially if you can't control the
>>>>>whole family. And hopeless for those of us who like to roll down
>>>>>the generations
>>>>>and let a sim have more than one child.
>>>>
>>>>A console friendly game... *puke*
>>>>
>>>>It's like I wrote before in my first thread about Sims 3... in a
>>>>(greedy) effort to appeal to even MORE players (apparently 100
>>>>million sold and nearly being solely responsible for EA's financial
>>>>survival isn't enough), the suits have decided that the game should
>>>>be even easier to play, and have even fewer goals.
>>>>
>>>>Frankly, it's starting to sound a whole like Sim City Societies...
>>>>The Sims Societies... *sigh*
>>>
>>>Speaking of Sim City Societies, while looking at pictures in the
>>>binaries NG, I began to wonder whether Societies isn't Simsville
>>>resurrected.
>>>
>>>BW
>>
>>I'd forgotten all about Simsville but since you've mentioned it, does
>>sound logical.
>>I've been thinking about buying Sims city Societies after looking and
>>reading about it.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>LS
>
>
> It's pretty, but for me, it got boring pretty quickly.
>
> Jeanie
>
>
I second that...Granny's really good about pulling sotires out of it
but I have a hard time with that...I need characters doing stuff...
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

katy wrote:
> kat wrote:
>> Guardian Pegasus wrote:
>>
>>> http://www.luniversims3.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=art...e&id=16
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> Hmm.
>>
>> "Lots not visited by the player will continue to live their lives
>> guided by the aspiration of the Sims and their personality. So we
>> will see births, relocations, new relationships all arrived in our
>> absence." So you spend a sim week playing the Goths and then go to the
>> Broke
>> house to find Brandi has had a visit from the social worker,
>> married Goopy, and Dustin in in jail, while over at the Pleasants'
>> house, Mary-Sue is shacked up with Kaylynn, Angela is a shop
>> assistant, Lilith is away at Uni, and Daniel only interested in
>> growing his roses? Even in your playable household, what are the rest of
>> the family
>> doing while you take your sim out and about?
>>
>
> Seems to me like if you want any control of your sims at all
> especially if you're doing the storyboard thing like Jeanne, Maxon,a
> nd I do (and others...don't want to elave anyone out) you're going to
> be hopping all over the place. No leaving a family to their own
> devices to come back to later. Seems like the concept of playing 100
> families at a time will go down the drain. Our role will be downgraded
> from Mouse God to Plant
> Manager.

Well, I have to admit that I tend to have two or maybe three households that
I really enjoy playing even in a neighborhood with 30 occupied houses. I
tend to concentrate on one or two sim children, wanting to follow them
through their lives, and let the rest go hang. In fact, if my neighborhoods
get too populated, I find that I stop playing them at all. To tell you the
truth, I'm getting a bit burned out on the Sims altogether these days. I
got the last two EPs and don't even use 90% of what they added to the game.

Jeanie
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

Jeanie wrote:

>
>
> Well, I have to admit that I tend to have two or maybe three households that
> I really enjoy playing even in a neighborhood with 30 occupied houses. I
> tend to concentrate on one or two sim children, wanting to follow them
> through their lives, and let the rest go hang. In fact, if my neighborhoods
> get too populated, I find that I stop playing them at all. To tell you the
> truth, I'm getting a bit burned out on the Sims altogether these days. I
> got the last two EPs and don't even use 90% of what they added to the game.
>
> Jeanie
>
>
Yes, there are aspects of the last 2 EP's I will probably never use, too
but then there are things from that that really helped...the whole
secret lot thing with going to the clubs etc is corny and hokey to me,
so I doubt if my sims will ever take advantage of them but I do like the
added on attractions of bug hynting, birdwatching etc and all the
accoutrements of the hobbies...I have sims now doing some of those
things autonomously and that I like...beats haing them just stand there
screaming at you to tell them to do something!

I have to go through my Neighborhood and pick out some more people that
are going to the graveyard..that will be sims that I have played and
didn't like for some reason or other...mostly because they are boring or
their personalities are just...bleah....that will take care of some of
my population...I have a hard time playing sims I don't like...I made a
bunch of them to fill in holes in teh story but now that the wars over,
I have way too many "retired" knights in both shiny and not so shiny
armor that need to just go bye-bye...Guess I will blue bush them all to
a lot and have them oplay deadly axes with each other! Too bad only one
can die at a time...the whole Grimmie sequence takes so long and he
can't do multiple deaths on a lot...tooo bad..could have a communal
farewell...
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

katy wrote:
> Jeanie wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Well, I have to admit that I tend to have two or maybe three
>> households that I really enjoy playing even in a neighborhood with
>> 30 occupied houses. I tend to concentrate on one or two sim
>> children, wanting to follow them through their lives, and let the
>> rest go hang. In fact, if my neighborhoods get too populated, I
>> find that I stop playing them at all. To tell you the truth, I'm
>> getting a bit burned out on the Sims altogether these days. I got
>> the last two EPs and don't even use 90% of what they added to the
>> game. Jeanie
>>
>>
> Yes, there are aspects of the last 2 EP's I will probably never use,
> too but then there are things from that that really helped...the whole
> secret lot thing with going to the clubs etc is corny and hokey to me,
> so I doubt if my sims will ever take advantage of them but I do like
> the added on attractions of bug hynting, birdwatching etc and all the
> accoutrements of the hobbies...I have sims now doing some of those
> things autonomously and that I like...beats haing them just stand
> there screaming at you to tell them to do something!
>
> I have to go through my Neighborhood and pick out some more people
> that are going to the graveyard..that will be sims that I have played
> and didn't like for some reason or other...mostly because they are
> boring or their personalities are just...bleah....that will take care
> of some of my population...I have a hard time playing sims I don't
> like...I made a bunch of them to fill in holes in teh story but now
> that the wars over, I have way too many "retired" knights in both
> shiny and not so shiny armor that need to just go bye-bye...Guess I
> will blue bush them all to a lot and have them oplay deadly axes with
> each other! Too bad only one can die at a time...the whole Grimmie
> sequence takes so long and he can't do multiple deaths on a
> lot...tooo bad..could have a communal farewell...

I'm wondering if anyone has every used the "decimate neighborhood" function
of the lot debugger?

Jeanie
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

katy wrote:
> Jeanie wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Well, I have to admit that I tend to have two or maybe three
>> households that I really enjoy playing even in a neighborhood with
>> 30 occupied houses. I tend to concentrate on one or two sim
>> children, wanting to follow them through their lives, and let the
>> rest go hang. In fact, if my neighborhoods get too populated, I
>> find that I stop playing them at all. To tell you the truth, I'm
>> getting a bit burned out on the Sims altogether these days. I got
>> the last two EPs and don't even use 90% of what they added to the
>> game. Jeanie
>>
>>
> Yes, there are aspects of the last 2 EP's I will probably never use,
> too but then there are things from that that really helped...the whole
> secret lot thing with going to the clubs etc is corny and hokey to me,
> so I doubt if my sims will ever take advantage of them but I do like
> the added on attractions of bug hynting, birdwatching etc and all the
> accoutrements of the hobbies...I have sims now doing some of those
> things autonomously and that I like...beats haing them just stand
> there screaming at you to tell them to do something!

I was testing a shrunk lot last night - it crashed at 6pm again - but I
loved the CAS sim I put on it. He arrived, got out his binoculars and
started bird watching. Definitely beats hanging around doing nothing but
loook creepy.


--
kat
>^..^<
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

"Guardian Pegasus" <nobody.TakeThisOut@nowhere.net> wrote in message
news:8262u31t86t1l7lndrd254pc0jk4u4sde6@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:40:49 -0000, "kat" <kat.news.TakeThisOut@ntlworld.com>
> wrote:
>
>>An entirely different game, especially if you can't control the whole
>>family. And hopeless for those of us who like to roll down the
>>generations
>>and let a sim have more than one child.
>
> A console friendly game... *puke*
>
> It's like I wrote before in my first thread about Sims 3... in a
> (greedy) effort to appeal to even MORE players (apparently 100 million
> sold and nearly being solely responsible for EA's financial survival
> isn't enough), the suits have decided that the game should be even
> easier to play, and have even fewer goals.
>
> Frankly, it's starting to sound a whole like Sim City Societies... The
> Sims Societies... *sigh*
> --
..
You keep saying that. It sounds /nothing/ like Sim City Societies which
really doesn;t care about the sims at all. I am sure they are only there as
eyecandy and while I am playing Societies, that doesn;t bother me a bit.
It's the city that matters. The watered down Sims are amusing to watch, and
handy to get ideas about the run of the game, but that is all.
..
If anything this sounds more like an online Sims game - at least, online as
far as you only get one little avatar and that's your lot.
..
GbG
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff 

"katy" <katysails DeleteThis @netscape.com> wrote in message
news:64cn5gF2a0sjgU3@mid.individual.net...
> Guardian Pegasus wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Essentially, we will now have no more control of the other 99% of our
>> Sims... or as i like to call it, "One household per Neighbourhood".
>
> Kind of leaves us storyboarders out of the picture...kind of hard to write
> a story when things are happening that autonamously...I'm wondering if
> they might stick a feature in that puts a family "On Hold" maybe....
..
Kills story following stone dead, doesn;t it?
What would be the point of me setting Vudcund up for a prat fall by
introducing a dark slinky fortune-hunting siren to grab him if I run into
him in The Ruptured Duck and discover he has got married and is now the
father of twins?
And it makes murder on demand almost impossible.
Tuh! Spoil sports.
..
GbG
 >> Stay informed about: Some more Sims 3 stuff