"ClarionOfJoy;c-17309224" wrote:
"Camkat;c-17302527" wrote:
If you look at purely just TS2, TS3 and TS4 base games and what those offer, TS2 wins hands down for the most value for your buck. You got so much stuff with that base game. They've added onto TS4 over the years but it's still half what TS2 was. TS3 was the start of the down slide, still a lot more on offer at the base, but I think it's when they realized they could hold a lot more off and put it into packs and the store. That said though, they actually had a lot of things crammed into the packs to make it worth the $40 asking price. Now it's like they don't even try to put it in a pack. TS2 had simple things (that likely weren't so simple to make) but simple actions that made it more endearing too. Like opening a drawer to get a spoon when cooking. Going to the store and having a shopping basket with shopping appearing to be in it! TS4 everything just poofs in and out of our sims hands and they poof themselves off to work. Even TS2 had them getting in a car or helicopter even to go to work.
TS2 was great, I agree, especially with greater detail of sims behavior and animations but TS3 had a lot of great things going for it as well that was also a lot of value for your buck. I honestly don't think it went downhill during its entire run, even to the last EP, Into the Future. When I first played it, I was wishing that it had the finer details of TS2, but I also realized back then, that it was very ambitious about its open world at a time when the computers didn't have as much power and capacity that it would need to add those finer details.
But the computers out now can handle so much more! I'm really hoping that TS5 will combine everything we love about TS2 and TS3 together: finer details of TS2, with the flexibility and open world of TS3, plus favorites from TS1 and TS4!
PS - I agree with the OP that the Sims 4 looks and feels empty, so not alone at all on that opinion!
While I fully see and appreciate sims in Sims 2 have more personality and animations are more detailed, I still favour Sims 3. Also after playing 2. Because too much detail becomes grinding for me and too much personality can block my own imagination. I don’t like
no personality, but too much of it, that’s also not my cup of tea. I need room to interprete and Sims 3 for me just has the perfect balance in that respect somehow.
Plus CASt plus open world for me are essential features to enjoy the game as well, I felt a bit limited, caged, when playing Sims 2. We just all have our own personal reasons to favour one over the other. Someone once explained to me Sims 3 for her in fact was too open, she preferred the ‘cage’ where for me it’s a downside.
