The long tale of my Sims experience: (Sorry, I nearly wrote a novel, lol.)
My Sims journey began from an entirely different game series. No joke, my worlds collided in an unexpected way.
I didn't play Sims 1, but I had heard of it, and I ashamedly admit that I thought the concept was ridiculous. I used to say, "why in the world would anyone want to play a game about living your life? Just go live your life!" But I imagined the game was only about getting up, going to work, coming home, eating, showering, sleeping, etc. and just doing very basic things. That didn't sound at all fun to me.
Well. Enter Sims 2. Shortly after Night Life had released for Sims 2, I had gotten deeply invested into the expanded storylines of the game Final Fantasy 7 because a digital film had been released called Advent Children. I was fascinated by the characters and the depth of the story and did a lot of researching into connected games and easter eggs and such, when I came across a YouTube video of someone's Sims 2 game, modded with FF7 custom content. I was fascinated. It was the first time I had laid eyes on a Sims game and I immediately looked into the links that the YouTuber had generously provided. I think it had linked me to ModtheSims for the CC and man, I'm telling you, when I saw the possibilities of the world I could create and the Sims I could fill it with, I was sold. Suddenly the concept wasn't so silly because I realized I could make this game whatever I wanted it to be. I could create an idealized fantasy world with all of my favorite characters from a variety of genres and I could have them interact, even procreate. I could make their stories my own. So I bought the base game with Night Life and went CC shopping. I learned how to add everything I wanted to my game so I could make my favorite characters. And not only FF characters, but I created characters from Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, various vampire tales, X-Men, steampunk themes, and anything else I could think of. The body shop feature was amazing and, combined with CC, allowed me to manipulate the facial features to make whoever I wanted. So I committed to the journey of Sims 2 and bought every pack that released. My first game session was around Thanksgiving of 2005, I had the house to myself for a couple of days, and I ended up staying up all night long, only realizing how long I'd been playing when the sun came up around 7am, lol. I actually wanted to continue but I made myself go to bed. But since it was a holiday, I was able to play again shortly after I got up. I had found a new passion. And it was glorious. <3
When Sims 3 released, I'm sad to say, I was very disappointed. I could no longer fill my worlds with my own Sims, I was restricted to a single household, and the CAS was so awful, I couldn't get anywhere near creating a character how I wanted. To make it worse, there was no mod folder included in the game, replaced by a microtransaction store that was so boldly in my face that it completely turned me off to pursuing the game. I wanted to love Sims 3 but I just couldn't. I tried it many times for the first several months, but concluded that if I couldn't enjoy even the base game, it just wasn't going to be for me. But in the end, that wasn't such a bad thing because I still had my massive Sims 2 game that I loved so much. So life went on as usual.
I had forgotten all about Sims sequels when the demo for Sims 4 came out. But after Sims 3, I was apprehensive. I downloaded it to try it out and was immediately interested. The CAS was AMAZING. It was everything I wanted, and it even had more diverse, thicker and longer hair styles so I could actually make my Simself for the first time, and without CC. I was definitely intrigued. But remembering my experience with Sims 3, I held off buying the base game for a couple of months. October was also a very busy work month anyway, and if I did end up liking the game, I didn't want it to distract me. So I got it some time in November, 2014. I also found out I was able to import my Sims from the demo, and that was an immediate plus. And when I started my game in that little cute, green starter house in Willow Creek, I knew this would be a different experience. The scenery was breathtaking and the neighborhood was alive, the Sims were animated. Rotational play was back. All worlds were accessible. But the frosting on the cake? The gallery! I could now actually find builds and put them in my game without going to external websites! This was beautiful. I had found a successor that I could enjoy. <3
So it's been a journey, and although I really like Sims 4, there are still areas where I think it could improve. But that's okay because it's still in development. I've learned to look at each iteration as its own beast, not a copy of the last. This has really helped to open my mind to the differences and possibilities. I've even picked up some of the expansion packs for Sims 3 when they were on sale really cheap recently. I'd like to find something I can enjoy in it, and I never did get to play the plethora of Supernatural creatures that it offered. I'm just trying to look at it as a completely different and separate game now.
Anyway, it was Sims 4 that brought me to the forums to make my requests for the content that I'd like to see, and I've met some wonderful people here and had many interesting conversations, even with developers. I truly adore this community, even if we sometimes have our arguments and disagreements. We're all here for a common love of a series that has a deep significance to each one of us, and I hope that the series will continue on for many, many years to come. :)
Peace, everyone! Happy simming!
