For me, The Sims 2 always feels more open-ended, because of the possibility to lock wants/fears and fulfill/realize those wants/fears. If you consistently realize those fears, then you can send your Sim to the Therapist pretty often, creating the illusion that your Sim has to combat aspiration failure / mental illness for a very long time. This is great for a sadistic type of player who likes to watch Sims go through life and watch them fail at their tasks. The Sims 3 allows Sims to have fears, but those fears cannot be realized anymore. Instead, Sims may get negative moodlets, telling the player if he/she is afraid of something (i.e. the dark). Coward Sims are afraid of the dark and probably other things. The Sims 3 playstyle is more focused on fulfilling those promised wishes and earning LifeTime Happiness Points/Rewards. I can see why a The Sims 2 player may not like The Sims 3. TS3 may feel less open-ended, because everything is all positive and towards some kind of goal. You get wishes, promise those wishes, earn LifeTime Happiness Points and buy Rewards with those points. Torturing Sims is harder, because Sims are smarter and can get out of the pool without a ladder, so Skip Broke in TS3 will probably not have that "pool ladder accident". There is no aspiration failure, so no need of a Therapist. And, Insane Sims will just be Sims with the Insane trait. With that said, I can also see why TS3 fans may not like TS2, because TS2's goals are too easy to fulfill. In The Sims 3, the LifeTime Wish and LifeTime Rewards are rather challenging and time-consuming, and the rewards are plentiful. Meanwhile in the Sims 2, the highest aspiration reward is the Elixir of Life, and even that can fail depending on the Sim's aspiration level upon use. What kind of Simmer are you?

Sims 4 is similar to 3 in this case and I prefer the way it is in those games. The wants and fears, the apiration meter, and needing to see a therapist when that meter got low made the game quite hard for me. I'm the kind of Simmer who likes to do my own thing rather than be driven by the game. In Sims 2 my Sims aspiration meters were often in the red cause I didn't pay attention to their wants and fears (they probably realised a fear without me knowing). It took the fun out of the game for me, but I can see why people who like this system will prefer Sims 2.

"Sallycutecat;c-17763875" wrote:Sims 4 is similar to 3 in this case and I prefer the way it is in those games. The wants and fears, the apiration meter, and needing to see a therapist when that meter got low made the game quite hard for me. I'm the kind of Simmer who likes to do my own thing rather than be driven by the game. In Sims 2 my Sims aspiration meters were often in the red cause I didn't pay attention to their wants and fears (they probably realised a fear without me knowing). It took the fun out of the game for me, but I can see why people who like this system will prefer Sims 2. Cindy @ PleasantSims is a big The Sims 2 player, though she mainly plays Pleasantview and her own custom neighborhoods and The Sims 3 Pleasantview, then loves to complain about The Sims 4 for not having TS2-like gameplay. She plays by the wants most of the time.In my own gameplay, playing by wants feels too easy for me, because the wants are easy to fulfill and the aspiration rewards are relatively cheap compared to TS3's locked rewards. I usually make TS2 game more challenging/fun to play by focusing on wants (sometimes even fears) and LifeTime Wants and Careers, and while doing so, I take advantage of all the aspiration rewards and career rewards to help my Sims fulfill their goals. TS2 also adds the additional challenge of needs/motives maintenance. Sims have relatively low autonomy compared to TS3, so I really have to micromanage to make sure that everyone's needs are up so they can perform the activities.Personally, I think TS2 and TS3 are both quite challenging games in their own unique ways, and TS4 misses the mark. However, I can definitely see why some TS4 fans really love TS4. They just want to do their own thing or play house.

"ClarionOfJoy;c-17764644" wrote:In Sims 3, things aren't always positive - there are a lot of "negative" traits as well and such a diversity of positive and negative traits makes the population fun and interesting as they interact with each other!That is not what I meant by "negative" and "positive". I meant the all-positive scoring system in The Sims 3.In The Sims 3, Sims can only earn points towards their LifeTime Happiness. Everything is added up. In The Sims 2, Sims can earn points towards their Aspiration or lose points from their Aspiration. Everything can be added or subtracted.

I really like that TS2 has this negative mechanic. It’s present in fears, yes. It’s also present in Skills; Sims can lose Skill points if they don’t work on the corresponding activity. It’s kind of like practice and consistency is a Skill maintenance that is also present in real life. It also means, aside from just being a negative consequence of negligence, that Sims’ Skills aren’t as static. Because they can be both increased and decreased as opposed to just increased. I would not call myself a sadistic player. Ultimately, I like giving my Sims fulfilling lives that are marked by some level of happiness, but I like that the game works against me in some ways as I work towards that goal. Without the pushback from the game, I get kind of bored with the ease of it all unless I start making up challenges myself.

@NationalPokedex "NationalPokedex;c-17848758" wrote:I really like that TS2 has this negative mechanic. It’s present in fears, yes. It’s also present in Skills; Sims can lose Skill points if they don’t work on the corresponding activity.Eh? Sims can lose skills if they don't work on the corresponding activity? I think this is actually a mod function.In the Sims 2 game, my Sims only lose skills if they have gone through a job demotion or a random chance card or one of the aspiration rewards. I think if a Sim uses the Thinking Cap with less-than-ideal aspiration level, then that Sim will lose a Skill Point? Anyway, I don't remember losing a skill based on time alone.

The Sims 2 Playstyle vs. The Sims 3 Playstyle

NationalPokedex
4 years ago
"waterywatermelon;c-17848787" wrote:
@NationalPokedex

"NationalPokedex;c-17848758" wrote:
I really like that TS2 has this negative mechanic. It’s present in fears, yes. It’s also present in Skills; Sims can lose Skill points if they don’t work on the corresponding activity.

Eh? Sims can lose skills if they don't work on the corresponding activity? I think this is actually a mod function.

In the Sims 2 game, my Sims only lose skills if they have gone through a job demotion or a random chance card or one of the aspiration rewards. I think if a Sim uses the Thinking Cap with less-than-ideal aspiration level, then that Sim will lose a Skill Point?

Anyway, I don't remember losing a skill based on time alone.

Hmmm maybe that’s what I’m thinking of then. I just remember there being Skill lose in my gameplay, but I also don’t play with mods.

ETA: I went looking this up because I don’t know why my brain would create this memory, and you’re right there is a mod for skill lose via time. But again I never played with mods but somehow it feels like a fever dream lol. Maybe I did watch someone with mods play this once or something.

Anyways there’s still like four other ways to lose skills rather than time which still makes Skill more dynamic.
EnkiSchmidt
Hero
4 years ago
I'm a big fan of positive reinforcement in games, so that would make me "Sims 3 playstyle". My sims get plenty of hardship from my story goals. I don't need a moodlet telling me they sad, I will know (and slap them with a cheated one if needed).

As for the actual games I vastly prefer Sims 2 and 4 over Sims 3, because they are easier for rotational play. Travel times, the handling of inventories and careers even with story progression off, curfew and the erratic aging of currently unplayed households are red flags for me.
waterywatermelo
4 years ago
"EnkiSchmidt;c-17848914" wrote:
I'm a big fan of positive reinforcement in games, so that would make me "Sims 3 playstyle". My sims get plenty of hardship from my story goals. I don't need a moodlet telling me they sad, I will know (and slap them with a cheated one if needed).

As for the actual games I vastly prefer Sims 2 and 4 over Sims 3, because they are easier for rotational play. Travel times, the handling of inventories and careers even with story progression off, curfew and the erratic aging of currently unplayed households are red flags for me.

Haha... I am just the opposite. I much prefer Sims 3 over Sims 2, even though I have actually played the Sims 2 the longest. The Sims 3 just has a lot of things to explore and is focused on achievements and goals. I actually like the travel times and curfew hours, because they make the game realistic. I think if a kid is outside too late, and there is no grownup around him/her, then he/she will get into trouble with the curfew police. However, if the kid has a grownup nearby, then that's okay? I mean, that's what the notifications imply. They imply that the child/Teen Sim should either go home or get a chaperone. I usually play with one household per save file, but I make the Sunset Valley families and the Riverview families the exception to the rule, because I want to play with all the better-known families in the save file. When I make my Sunset Valley rotation, I may start with the Landgraabs, then move onto the Langeraks, then the Bachelors, then the Goths and finally the Crumplebottoms. In Riverview, I start with the Brokes, then move onto the Simovitches, then the Newbies and finally the Lotharios. I do what must be done to get the Sims ready for The Sims 1 world made for The Sims 3 and continue the storyline. Some families will directly move to The Sims 3 Pleasantview (created by PleasantSims).
EnkiSchmidt
Hero
4 years ago
I think that curfew didn't translate well into the Sims 3, because a game can never follow a law to the spirit, so it has no choice but to follow it to the letter. And that resulted in strange situations like the police always knowing where my teens were, or them bringing my son home in handcuffs for the crime of crossing the street at 5 am (I wanted him to get a wellness treatment before school). And the gem of my sim having to sleep on the park bench at the cemetary just so that his son could try fishing for a death fish at midnight. The dad was sleeping, so he was actually neglecting his duties and should have gotten arrested or fined.

In the end I feel I'm better off with setting my own boundaries, like letting the teens sneak out and only have them get into trouble if they walk into line of sight of an actual sim of whom I know that they are a cop. It's more relaxing this way.

Sims 3 with a single household of one or more adults is more enjoyable for me, but single household is just not my favored playstyle. Tired of waiting for horses to come to Sims 4 I got Pets during the 2019 Steam sale and absolutely loved playing my horse ranch. The birds are amazing and the little ice cream truck is such a nice touch, I wouldn't mind getting it back.

Forum Discussion

The Sims 2 Playstyle vs. The Sims 3 Playstyle

About The Sims Franchise Discussion

Related Posts

Sims 4 VR!

Future of the Sims Franchise & Sims 4 For Rent: concerns

HELP! Sims dying and sims having babies

Introduce sims

My Sim died laughing - really

Recent Discussions

Word Association Game

Change One Word Game

An Important Update on the Future of These Forums

What Music Are You Listening To Right Now?

Issue on saving the game