I never really liked the original The Sims game. Mostly because you could not really leave the house. Some day I will revisit those as I have a lot of the add-ons for that game now.
The most time I had spent was on Sims 2. I liked being able to set the Sims to high autonomy (they do whatever they want) and pretty much just watch what happens. One thing I did like was to invite a bunch of people over and get them to die somehow. When they die, it leaves something behind where they died. If in the house it was an urn, if outside it was a tombstone. I try to get a large collection of those things on the property because then ghosts would appear and also cause havoc.
But I would say the things I found I like most about Sims 2 is what is missing from Sims 3. I have some time in on Sims 3, Steam says 49 hours. So here are some notes about Sims 2 and Sims 3.
Sims 2- the aforementioned urn/tombstone ghosts thing. Perhaps this is in Sims 3 Supernatural, but I have no add-ons for Sims 3. The add-ons in my VGC were used and their codes do not work with Steam.
- Sims 2 requires some versions of IE to be installed because the launcher uses it. If you upgrade your IE to a certain version, the launcher does not work. Also, the launcher tries to open a webpage and if it can't be found, you can't launch the game. There are ways around it, but it is one of the first examples I had seen where online content/servers being de-activated can stop you from playing a game. Even tho Sims 2 does not go online for anything else except for the Simoleon store.
- If you create multiple families in the main town, you can play as any, or you can play as any of the NPC families. And they can visit each other. This does not work in Sims 3.
- If you have your child Sims grow up and they decide to "move out" they disappear from the town. The only way to continue to play them is to get them to move in with an NPC, then you can find them in the menu as an NPC family.
- Pets are super annoying. If you do not take care of a cat properly, they will destroy everything in your house.
- CPS (Child Protective Services) can enter buildings without doors by walking through walls. If you do not care for the kids, they can enter the house through supernatural means to take your kid from you.
- There is a bug that causes Sims to not be able to wake up or get out of bed after sleeping. They can die due to this bug and the only way to fix this situation is to use the cheat menu.
- Getting Sims to fall in love with other Sims, to get people to move in with other Sims is a lot easier (fewer clicks) than in Sims 3.
Sims 3- sometimes a Sim could get stuck. Sometimes it is yours and sometimes an NPC. Rarely the Sim can get unstuck and a Sim can die from this. I have a screenshot of this, I found in town Nick Alto was clipped into the wall outside of the park:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=796281198He lived about a week (game time) like this and he eventually died. I knew this happened because it is shown in game your Sims are sad they knew another Sim (Nick Alto) had passed away.
- Some pools do not have ladders, but Sims can get out of them. I thought I was going to witness some glorious Sim deaths at the town pool but nope.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=766354274- Sometimes an NPC Sim can become invisible and cannot be clicked on. This happened to me multiple times with whichever Sim is in this screenshot. Unfortunately, there were quests to talk to or give things to this Sim and it was impossible. They would disappear in this location, or at their own house.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=837460630- For some reason the fishing activity is continuous. I think it is the only activity like this. If you tell a Sim to go fishing (there are wishes/goals for fishing) they will continue to do so until they pass out or die. If the Sim decides to fish based on the autonomy decision, this does not happen. They can decide to stop fishing and go do something else.
- I like to get furnishings by digging through dumpsters. Also you can get items if your character has the kleptomaniac trait.
- Some of the life goals seem impossible on the normal pacing, or perhaps my playstyle is not what it should be. Some seem only possible to complete by setting the lifespan to the max.
If anything is true about at least Sims 2 and Sims 3... there are two very important things you need to get when you start. A smoke detector and a security alarm system. Failure to have these will cause a quick game over early game if there is a fire, and a thief will come and steal everything in your house.