TS3

I was pretty sceptic when they announced TS3, and I've got what I expected. The game is not half as good as TS2 despite all those pretty landscapes and open village. Seriously, I can't even call it a town, it's too tiny and too countryside-ish. Of course, it's just a base game, and with possible expansions it may become better, but I doubt any expantion can change the things I don't like so much.

Sims are not elegant any more. The way they stand, the way they walk, all their motions are fine for a teenager boy, but not for a woman on high heels. By the way, I like that we can choose shoes sepatrately from the outfit, it's one of few improvements I admit. All the romantic interactions do not actually look romantic. Object-based interactions (on a sofa, on a bed) don't even require a high level of a relationship. Sims can woohoo without love. While it is realistic in some way, I don't like it. Long family dinners disappeared. Most of family interactions disappeared. Instead we have tonnes of different topics for chat using the same short animation. Cars are one of the failures. Why couldn't they make a normal animation for getting in/out of a car like in TS2? Filters in the Map mode are useless. I'd prefer seeing my sim's details instead. Collecting becomes boring after you get one collection of everything. It becomes a pile of useless crap in my sim's inventory. Oh, and I hate the fact that for a normal game play I shouldn't leave one family ever. Why the content of their inventory disappears? Why food disappeares from their fridges? That's stupid. Of course, there are always mods to fix such things, but I wonder why the developers made so many mistakes? And don't let me start complaining about the rabbit holes. I hate them as a concept.

What I wrote here is only a small part of negative moments I found in TS3. Well, there are few things I liked. First of all, the painting. It's amazing how many templates are there in the game and how sims customise them. Books are more useful now, and I like the fact that sims learn recipies from books and from each other. The sky looks pretty. Napping on a bed is cute. There should be something else, but I don't remember.

Basically, this game is playable, and I still play it from time to time, but it will never replace TS2 for me.

----------

I wrote this few weeks ago and forgot to publish it. I'm new to TSR blogging. And now I can add my disapproval for the first EP. Quests? Adventures? Martial art? Are we still talking about the good old peeing men simulator?