Which do you like better Island Paradise or Island living ?
I like both games.
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Well, I like them both, but for me, Island Paradise is definitely the better of the two. I agree with sentiment that some have voiced, that Island Living just doesn't feel like it's a full EP to me. I think it's good for what it is, but value-wise I rate it as a GP.
I loved all the things that IP brought to the game: Boating (and not just two types of boats -- you had the sailboats and jetskis but also sailboarding and more), houseboats, snorkeling, diving (actual underwater play), diver and lifeguard as playable careers, resorts and last but certainly not least, mermaids. Most of these are in IL in some form, but none other than mermaids were implemented anywhere near as fully as they were in IP.
Yes, IP (and a fair deal of TS3) was buggy and unoptimized. This caused various degrees of problems. Some people, like myself, had a few glitches, but it basically ran and was playable. A few mods that did what the devs should have done and it all worked pretty well. That's not to deny that there were those who had more, and more serious issues. But just as I feel that I need to make that concession, I think those who come at this from the opposite side need to concede that not everyone had such terrible issues.
Should IP and TS3 in general have been properly quality-tested and cleaned up by the devs? Absolutely. But let's not pretend that TS4 and IL are flawless and without their share of bugs. The pre-IL patch broke its share of things and has been one of the worst to recover from yet in terms of changes for modders. (Not THE worst, I'm sure, but it's up there.) Maybe you don't care about mods, but I do, and that's just as valid as not. Again, I think we need to attempt to see things from both sides of the street.
In my opinion, the issue of quality, of glitches and poor optimization, is basically another topic in and of itself. I say this as I feel it's not a problem limited to TS3 or TS4 alone. Far to the contrary, it's a pervasive issue in both games, and in much of the "triple-A" games that have been coming out from major game publishers for the last, oh, decade or more, I'd say. So I tend to look at these comparisons based primarily on gameplay features, and the TS4 versions of almost everything are simply lacking, IMO. (Vampires being a notable exception.)
So for me, Island Paradise is far ahead of Island Living. All just my own opinion, and YMMV, which is totally okay. (And yes, I do still have TS3 with all EPs installed and play both it and TS4 now and then.)
(Also, not to seem like I'm deliberately ignoring features of IL: Yes, it does have the 'cleaning up the island' aspect which wasn't a thing in IP. "Something totally new!" I can hear people shout. Well . . . it wasn't in IP, but it's basically the mechanic taken from TS3's final EP, "Into the Future." That doesn't make it insignificant by any means, and I do like it and think the 'stages' of the island are generally well done. It's just maybe not as revolutionary as some might think.)
I loved all the things that IP brought to the game: Boating (and not just two types of boats -- you had the sailboats and jetskis but also sailboarding and more), houseboats, snorkeling, diving (actual underwater play), diver and lifeguard as playable careers, resorts and last but certainly not least, mermaids. Most of these are in IL in some form, but none other than mermaids were implemented anywhere near as fully as they were in IP.
Yes, IP (and a fair deal of TS3) was buggy and unoptimized. This caused various degrees of problems. Some people, like myself, had a few glitches, but it basically ran and was playable. A few mods that did what the devs should have done and it all worked pretty well. That's not to deny that there were those who had more, and more serious issues. But just as I feel that I need to make that concession, I think those who come at this from the opposite side need to concede that not everyone had such terrible issues.
Should IP and TS3 in general have been properly quality-tested and cleaned up by the devs? Absolutely. But let's not pretend that TS4 and IL are flawless and without their share of bugs. The pre-IL patch broke its share of things and has been one of the worst to recover from yet in terms of changes for modders. (Not THE worst, I'm sure, but it's up there.) Maybe you don't care about mods, but I do, and that's just as valid as not. Again, I think we need to attempt to see things from both sides of the street.
In my opinion, the issue of quality, of glitches and poor optimization, is basically another topic in and of itself. I say this as I feel it's not a problem limited to TS3 or TS4 alone. Far to the contrary, it's a pervasive issue in both games, and in much of the "triple-A" games that have been coming out from major game publishers for the last, oh, decade or more, I'd say. So I tend to look at these comparisons based primarily on gameplay features, and the TS4 versions of almost everything are simply lacking, IMO. (Vampires being a notable exception.)
So for me, Island Paradise is far ahead of Island Living. All just my own opinion, and YMMV, which is totally okay. (And yes, I do still have TS3 with all EPs installed and play both it and TS4 now and then.)
(Also, not to seem like I'm deliberately ignoring features of IL: Yes, it does have the 'cleaning up the island' aspect which wasn't a thing in IP. "Something totally new!" I can hear people shout. Well . . . it wasn't in IP, but it's basically the mechanic taken from TS3's final EP, "Into the Future." That doesn't make it insignificant by any means, and I do like it and think the 'stages' of the island are generally well done. It's just maybe not as revolutionary as some might think.)
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