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Original Poster
#1 Old 15th Aug 2019 at 6:42 PM
Default If TS3 released today, would it be the same?
I thought about this recently. Some might would say yes if the same team that worked on TS3 were involved, but I'm honestly not so sure. You have to think that for better or worse, this game was released 10 years ago. A lot has changed with games in general since then.

I really don't think EA would give them the sort of autonomy (heh) that they had even then. If you look at TS4 in particular, the problem there is that there is no unified vision for what the game is supposed to be about. Is it a life simulator? Party simulator? RPG-Lite (StrangerVille, multiple skills, secret lots)? Should the game allow creative freedom or rules set by the devs? And the biggest problem imo is that the game itself has too many producers and not enough people who know how to actually get things functional in the first place, if the growing list of bugs is anything to go by.

Although TS3 wasn't perfect, some packs didn't quite hit the mark, etc it still knew what it was. The game was built around open world and story progression. The packs revolved around this theme and worked for the most part with some hiccups along the way. But what was ambitious and innovative (for The Sims) would probably not work so well in EA's current gaming climate. The games as a service model wouldn't work well with a game like TS3, because it's perfectly playable on its own as a standalone before any packs. The packs themselves simply enrich the game itself and make it even better, but GAaS-type games rely on a steady stream of content to keep interest going. If people are simply buying one or two packs here and there when they feel like they need something new, EA would probably be seeing the game as a failure.

What do you guys think?

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Mad Poster
#2 Old 15th Aug 2019 at 6:56 PM
It'd suck less in some ways and more in others.

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( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
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Original Poster
#3 Old 15th Aug 2019 at 7:09 PM
Quote: Originally posted by AGuyCalledPi
It'd suck less in some ways and more in others.

I know what you mean. I feel like the technology itself would obviously have the potential to be better, performance and all that, if they didn't screw it up trying to piece together the game from something entirely different. But that should obviously not be your only goal going in, because it's going to fall apart sooner or later with a game such as this unless you're doing some pretty serious optimization as a developer.

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Scholar
#4 Old 15th Aug 2019 at 7:14 PM
So hard to tell. Who wouldve worked on it and how would it fit in EA's view of the games market atm?

Only thing we know for sure is that expansion packs or any DLC offers less content for the same price now compared to TS3 days. Also, they would still build with the knowledge of just TS2. And knowing how TS4 evolved, I would expect a very conservative look on how to improve up on TS2 by the current team. No really new challenging features, no open world or pattern tool. Just an attempt of an updated graphics look of TS2, but more shallow mechanics.

It would suck compared to existing TS3 I think. But then we would not realise because current TS3 would not exist. Instead we would call it a shitty TS2. Actually, the more I think about it. I wonder if it wouldn't just be current TS4 being called TS3? They would still come from an abandoned attempt of an online sims game.
Top Secret Researcher
#5 Old 15th Aug 2019 at 7:15 PM
It would be called the Sims 5.
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Original Poster
#6 Old 15th Aug 2019 at 7:24 PM
Quote: Originally posted by mithrak_nl
It would suck compared to existing TS3 I think. But then we would not realise because current TS3 would not exist. Instead we would call it a shitty TS2.

That actually was what happened with TS3. Some moving from TS2, like me, were amazed at how huge this game was, even just the base game. Others didn't like it, and some were more vocal about it. Looking at the history of both games, it's obvious why. TS2 was focused on the Sims themselves and many nuanced interactions that weren't readily apparent. TS3 was about the open world environment it provided and how your Sims interacted with it. Two different development goals. And one isn't more right than the other. Different playstyles and all that.

But I understand your point. TS3 itself would definitely not exist as we know it now and would likely be more in the vein of TS4's gameplay and systems. But with an emphasis on watering down features as much as possible. With the way TS3 works, half the fun being in how you can interact with the world, that would basically be a death sentence and even more boring than TS4 is now.

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Scholar
#7 Old 15th Aug 2019 at 8:21 PM
it would be probably rushed pile of garbage filled with microtransactions and some kind of gambling mechanics forced into, what you'd expect?


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Original Poster
#9 Old 16th Aug 2019 at 2:28 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
What everyone was hoping for when TS4 came out was simply a TS3 that runs on 64 bit, uses all your RAM, multi-core, etc...

Ehh, some I guess. But I'd honestly say most people were just looking to see something new and exciting that would warrant a new game like from 2 to 3. Every Sims game is different from the other and they all do different things well.

The backlash from TS4 stemmed from them blatantly lying about features before release, and never really doing anything to make the game feel like it was the next iteration of The Sims in the first place. Take the main feature of the game, emotions, something that could have worked well and could have been a logical progression of a Sim's behavioral qualities. If they'd spent time actually fine tuning it and building the game around how they could have Sims be affected by them, instead of throwing it in several months before release, it could have been something great.

The fact that they've never expanded upon this system since 2014, no new emotion states or anything (like a much needed Fear. Tense is not Fear EA), and have all but gotten rid of emotion based gameplay with careers and whims off by default, shows me that even the devs realize this system as it was created was a failure and they're doing all they can to sweep it under the rug since it's built into the core of the game.

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Mad Poster
#10 Old 16th Aug 2019 at 6:31 PM
Looks like the basic arguments can be boiled down to:

1.) Software advances
2.) The state of the company that develops the game
Mad Poster
#11 Old 16th Aug 2019 at 7:05 PM
Hence the suck less, suck more thing. People who claim TS3 was too ambitious are unaware of two things:
The capabilities of modern hardware as opposed to a decade ago, and;
How badly optimized TS3 was and is.

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Scholar
#12 Old 16th Aug 2019 at 9:10 PM
Quote: Originally posted by AGuyCalledPi
Hence the suck less, suck more thing. People who claim TS3 was too ambitious are unaware of two things:
The capabilities of modern hardware as opposed to a decade ago, and;
How badly optimized TS3 was and is.


it was "too ambitious" a decade ago. Among other things - because of technology (but do not forget mismanagement and that mess which could be called as EA's "culture of work"); it still be "too ambitious" taking into account the state of the main players in the industry. And no: believing that some small, dedicated studio would be able to manage project of such size succesfully by themselves is just wishful thinking. These success stories of independend projects have something very important in common: very careful determined and controlled scale. The developing graveyard is full of projects too big and too ambitious to maintain, sry.


favorite quote: "When ElaineNualla is posting..I always read..Nutella. I am sorry" by Rosebine
self-claimed "lower-spec simmer"
Instructor
#13 Old 16th Aug 2019 at 10:58 PM
Quote: Originally posted by ElaineNualla
... filled with microtransactions and some kind of gambling mechanics forced into ...

You want open world? Gotta buy that separately. CAST? Better shell out some $ for that, too. You want CAST to work with every new ep you get? You get where this is going
Mad Poster
#14 Old 16th Aug 2019 at 11:59 PM
I hate this "EA charges for everything" meme. It's not accurate or funny.

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Instructor
#16 Old 17th Aug 2019 at 5:59 AM
I had it on my iPad but sadly I don’t have a lot of space so it was deleted for now. It took a lot of space and I have FreePlay also and like it a little more. It wasn’t horrible but I won’t spend money on it.
Forum Resident
#17 Old 17th Aug 2019 at 11:08 AM


If EA thought they could charge for anything and everything and get away with it, they absolutely would. It is entirely accurate.

Personally I think if TS3 were released today it wouldn't be the same. There is a distinct lack of imagination and creativity amongst many of the current team, I believe. As well as one developer in particular who has infected the game with their moronic excuses for humour, and their outright contempt for the playerbase and pretty much the game itself.

Quote: Originally posted by ElaineNualla
it would be probably rushed pile of garbage filled with microtransactions and some kind of gambling mechanics forced into, what you'd expect?


Absolutely this.
I could see TS3 being filled with idiotic features like "simstagram" or "simtwit" or whatever other social media crap that seems to have become the order of the day for attention seekers splashing their lives all over the internet.
Just like Ts4 "sim features" have been.

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Scholar
#18 Old 17th Aug 2019 at 3:34 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Anyone here play Sims Mobile? It actually is a lot more fun than TS4. So much to do!


What!? Really? I have to try it out.

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Mad Poster
#19 Old 17th Aug 2019 at 9:07 PM
Quote: Originally posted by enable_llamas
You want open world? Gotta buy that separately.

(gulps) Not sure I can afford that. How much would it be for a world that is only open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays until 2 am? Or only after I've put a coin in the box?
(rhetorical question, but why am I so compelled to post nonsense like this when I might be giving someone out there ideas that they do not need to have...)
Mad Poster
#21 Old 19th Aug 2019 at 1:43 AM
Quote: Originally posted by PuddingFace
What!? Really? I have to try it out.


I have tried twice and deleted as way too boring for me and actions are too many clicks and too controlled for my taste.
Mad Poster
#23 Old 19th Aug 2019 at 7:40 AM
I like that the PC games are more sandbox and as a major builder did not like that I could not do any building. It was not my cup of tea that it pretty much forces/dictates whatever you do. If you want to move on you pretty much have to do the assigned task whether you want to or not. I uninstalled completely.
Mad Poster
#24 Old 19th Aug 2019 at 8:52 AM
I've been level 27 in FreePlay for years now. At least 5. When you're bored, it doesn't even suck. At least, it didn't 5 years ago. I don't even know what kind of advanced anti-boredom technology we've got these days.

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( Join my dumb Discord server if you're into the whole procrastination thing. But like, maybe tomorrow. )
Scholar
#25 Old 20th Aug 2019 at 12:22 AM
Sounds more like a clicker game then a sims game? But I guess it depends on your playstyle whether you find it entertaining.
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