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

14 Replies

SimsAddict_244
New Spectator
5 years ago
Sims 2 allows me to play with multiple families in a single save without mods, that is unfortunately one of S3's fatal flaw and one of the main reason why I play S2 more than S3. Open restaurants is also a plus for S2. Now, both have random restrictions like 6pm curfew for children and teens that I think should be up to the player.

I also feel like S2 is a more family-oriented game while S3 is more about creativity with its major improvements in customization both in CAS and build mode but with a clear focus on YA life stage. It got more traits but I also like S2's personality points even though you we only had to choose 25. S3 gave us houseboats and swimming in the ocean/underwater, creating our own supernaturals (vampires in S2 are disappointing but at least the occult is easy to avoid in this game).

Overall, I'll say S3 was a major improvement in some areas with new gameplay features that I want in future Sims game. S2 has a lot of details that I love but I feel is more restrictive creatively and for children/toddler life stages. I still love both games but for different reasons.
LogicallyIronic
New Vanguard
5 years ago
Sims 3 is great for single household and legacy gameplay. Sims 2 is great if you want to balance multiple households. Obviously, a few important things can still happen to Sims in 2 even if you aren't playing them, but you never feel like you're missing out and the memories system has you covered anyway. Sims 3 I switch to a different household for 3 in-game days, go back to my main household and I have no clue what I missed. Leave for a week and they're divorced firefighters passed out in central park.

I personally like the wants/fears and aspiration meter system, since they make my sims feel like little pets as opposed to dolls... which is creepy in retrospect but I have the most fun with it lmao
lilacsky2132
5 years ago
I feel like the AI was more advanced in the sims 3 than in 2. That is what I focus my games on. I'd rather not control everything and let the game make random decisions for me For example in sims 3 I was doing my thing in my sims house and some random person died in my pool. I had no idea he was even on my property!!! lmao! I got a notification that so and so had drowned. It was so strange and odd and out of all the years I have played the sims 2 or 4 I never ever experienced that. To me randomness makes a game more difficult in many ways. It's the challenge I crave and in sims 3 it truly was a challenge. Sims 2 I mastered in no time and it got very boring to me. However I do miss many things from sims 2 , like the cut scenes.

If I want a real challenge I will go back to sims one though because that game used to make me laugh so hard and pull my hair out at the same time. hahaha!
texxx78
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
For me 2 is more "static" than 3. I don't know which word to use, and if i'm using this one well, as my english vobulary is very limited. What i mean is that when i start a game in 2 i feel like i need to pause it for a while and decide what to do... while when i start a game in 3, after creating my character, things happen... if it makes sense :lol:

Forum Discussion

The Sims 2 Playstyle vs. The Sims 3 Playstyle

14 Replies

About The Sims Franchise Discussion

Recent Discussions

Board Game

Change One Word Game

Word Association Game

What Music Are You Listening To Right Now?

Sims Medieval won't launch via EA App on Windows 10