The Sims 3~

Since I'm going to get this one way or another, I had been reading stuff about it. I've played the Sims 2 for a bit, but didn't really get into the game-play. Instead I focused on making sims, making up their background, and building homes and towns. That's been working for me on and off. In TS3 it seems they're going to change, and from what I read the town seems more coherent, and things seemed more relevant so maybe I will enjoy the game-play this time around as well? Too early to tell. I'll probably spent countless hours on customizing the community lots, scrap them, and restart the hood over and over again...

Though I suspect the game will only pick up for me when people have cracked the thing down and start making custom objects not originally intended by the developers. One thing in the TS2 community that kept my attention for awhile was the bodybuilder body type mods. Making those Sims with Superman bodies are strangely entertaining. Of course, you'll have to be into muscles. It's borderline erotica, and some people actually cross the line and go all the way pornographic. Humm.. I guess guys are really visual animals. In an industry where homosexuality is so under-represented, the sexually open-ended Sims game and sexually charged bodies make a strong combination. Some drawbacks about that mod is of course that the game does not support it so to get the full effect you have to cheat the system with a work-around, that gets cumbersome after awhile. So one thing that is good to hear is that in TS3 Sims can gain muscles, without mods. From screenshots there does not seem to be any bodybuilders, the max they can go seemed to be an athletic build. Oh well, at least it's an improvement. It would be a mistake to expect too much from a teen-rated game. Athletic guys are sexy too!

Of course, Sims are more than just sexual fantasies. I had always enjoyed making themed neighborhoods. My favorite kind of fantasy neighborhood is the quiet, dark sky, cozy street lights, cute cottages, tidy sort of town. Snowing would also fit that theme well. The thing about designing a town though is that there are very few things you can do about neighborhoods in TS2. It's just houses and community lots, but then community lots are all pretty much the same thing, you can have an all-in-one, or separate them all with varying functions but then it'll take forever to load between them. There is little immersion, if at all. I don't know about how TS3 neighborhood customization will be, and I probably should not get my hopes up. Though it looks like they have put a lot of thoughts into making the original neighborhood that comes with the game. Maybe there will be enough to keep my attention off from making my own for awhile.

Some interesting tidbits I heard about the game:

1) It looks like some traits modify the available interactions for a sim. Whether the actual actions are different or if it is only just a pie-menu decor is unknown to me, but when I see people talking about Extreme Nap or Play Extreme Videogame, it just reminds me of Sasagawa Ryohei from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I definitely should make a sim like that.

2) The neighborhood is set in the same world as previous Sim games so families like the Landgraabs will have an appearance. I didn't play TS1, so I only know about them since TS2:OFB. Among all the families in there they're the only one that I'm interested in. Why? The playable is a blond, tanned, filthy rich guy.. He's quite ugly tho (just like all other default sims), so I had to do some "face-lifts" but after that he's been fun to play with. It'd be interesting to know more about them.

3) It looks like skill journals replace skill bars. That is a nice touch to help get rid of the "systematicalness" of TS2 skill building, if only in appearance. Macrotastics is still probably the best way to deal with those (besides cheating).

4) There are playable ghosts! I wonder if they're eternal. I always wanted a few sims to be eternal while other sims age. Usually I have some favored sims whether it be my self sim or some hunk (:P) that I want to keep. Though other playables and townies I would still like them to evolve and all so I don't get stuck with the same sims forever. Immortality seemed to be linked mostly to necromancy in the sims games. I guess I'm fine with that, though there are often drawbacks to necro'ed sims. Ghosts... I guess being ethereal can be a drawback, it is more difficult to appreciate a hunk that is see-through...

5) It seems like some of the features from TS2 expansions are also shipped in TS3, such as gardening from Seasons and owning businesses from OFB. I never cared about selling objects in OFB as it is quite boring and the system is really primitive. Owning businesses on the other hand though was very useful for you to customize the staff. That is quite important for businesses that have specific kinds of staff.

6) Townies have homes, but NPCs do not. Doh! There goes my opportunity to hit up the fireman. Why, Maxis, Why...

Overall I think I am looking forward to TS3, and hopefully any shortcomings of the game can be improved by modders.