is vanilla sims 3 any good

bigjimmyauk · 25 Jan 2011 at 13:30

not played one in years, i used to own number 2 and played it to death. My son borrowed is friends sims 3 for the 360 and i had a quick go but it house was so big it was a nightmare laying flooring etc has the cursor was all over the place.

questions are

does sims 3 run well on PC

is it worth just buying vanilla to start with or better to go all out from the beginning

is it just as enjoyable as number 2

bear in mind i love my RTS games and building games like roller coaster tycoon and sim city

Podmonkey · 25 Jan 2011 at 13:46

Ok speaking from 3rd party experience (dont like the sims unless im walling people in for lulz). Bought my GF Sims3 for xmas this year after she got a new laptop, her old 1 ran like a dog so 2 was as far as it could go before. She loves the sims, spends all her time on it building a house, getting a career, building stats etc (when im on my pc aswell). She loves it, says theres so much more to do, some of the older stuff has been simplified such as the bladder/tiredness stuff and more stuff has been added such as food shopping/rock finding. Only running vanilla right now but she says its great and is a step up from the last so if you liked 2 then you will like 3.

It runs great on a basic core i3 laptop with integrated graphics.

Also apparently there is a medieval sims coming along soon (new game, not an addon as far as ive been told) which could be interesting for you.

greeny_fastcar · 25 Jan 2011 at 14:19

Was I right in thinking they did quite a big patch on "vanilla" to fix/change a load of stuff?

Missus loves her copy of the Sims 3 as well, I bought it for her new i5 rig she built.

unknownsock · 25 Jan 2011 at 14:20

Well as the usual, I bought this for my GF on release.

Quoting her, she can't stand it as it works completely different to 2.
Which she still plays instead of.

iamTakeo · 25 Jan 2011 at 15:10

I can admit to play the sims from time to time. Any enjoyment depends on what you want out from it. I like the neighbourhood thing in Sims 3, I annoy my neighbours often.

Probably the most fun you can get out of the sims is reading other people's stories or comics they made. One was popular on Reddit recently;

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/e5xo2/guy_recreates_himself_and_his_friend_in_the_sims/

FNGsam · 25 Jan 2011 at 15:53

Lol all bar one reply has been bought this for GF posts. Only one person willing to admit they play the game themselves...

simpletom · 25 Jan 2011 at 16:36

It is a pretty good game. I bought it before meeting my partner and, frankly, I have played it more than a lot of PC games. Which is not that much, really

Building stuff is cool and it has a strange magnetism to it. Of course, it is an expensive game in the long run but, hey, so are PCs.

I am tempted to get another computer for work and let my partner inherit the one with Sims 3 on it as she can be on it for 8+ hours.

Oh and updates allow for some extra goodies as well. However, the best stuff is in the expansions. Somewhat predictable, I know.

Podmonkey · 25 Jan 2011 at 16:42

FNGsam said:
Lol all bar one reply has been bought this for GF posts. Only one person willing to admit they play the game themselves...

Or people have actually bought it for their partners..... Its not like hundreds of people are going uber manly to cover it up, people are giving advice from what they know. I will easily admit I played the first sims game, I found it dull and repetative (theres only so many ways to kill off a sim). Im not huge on strategy games (construction/building orientated) at the best of times anyway.

Xelene · 25 Jan 2011 at 18:46

As with all the others, bought it for my wife and she spends a few weeks binging whenever a new expansion lands. The base game is fun, but obviously the expansions each add new mechanics and obviously stuff; they are all good - you can always just get the base game and buy the expansions I the hook is there.

Be careful, they also have stuff packs available in retail that just add some textures. Only worth it for a completionist.

I play it from time to time, it's a fun game.

Wires · 25 Jan 2011 at 19:26

My gf loves the game.
I have spent some hours playing the game and found my self totally career obsessed and making my sim as buff as he could be lame I know. Its a lot easier than the previous sim games in my opinion as getting promotions in jobs isnt all about having friends which is nice cos socialising in the previous sims was not fun at all. Building houses are fun lets be honest about that.

A nice feature is being able to buy shops in the neighbourhood like the restraunt as you can make money on them and quit your job.

But I found once I had achieived everything career wise and earnt so much simoleons it was rather dull I never played any of the exspansions but my gf has them and likes them a lot.

Treebiter · 25 Jan 2011 at 20:13

It's a guilty pleasure of mine. I've even hidden the desktop icon before out of shame.

Can't say what it is that I like but I've played every one since the first. I'll warn you though. Sims 3 is a pretty demanding game, especially with add-ons.

I'd recommend getting the base game first to see if you get on with it. ANd yes, it's a huge step on from 2. Anyway, I'm off to play some ARMA 2 to 'man-up'

Murray · 25 Jan 2011 at 20:26

think i might get this sounds fun how much is it?

Mean Mr Mustard · 25 Jan 2011 at 20:46

Bought it a while back (for myself, I might add

), was quite fun for a while but I ended up neglecting my sims and being cruel to them; letting them lose their job, live in filth, walling in children, etc.

Lunatic Dreyfus · 25 Jan 2011 at 21:18

FNGsam said:
Lol all bar one reply has been bought this for GF posts. Only one person willing to admit they play the game themselves...

I have no issues with admitting to playing and I was very in to the original Sims as well. With the settings cranked up it'll punish even the most alpha/insecure of FPS rigs.

Personally, I think it does need the expansions, as vanilla Sims 3 is very stripped back, or at least it feels that way. Even with Ambitions + Late Night it still feels restrictive and a little soulless compared with Sims 2. But at least we now have hot tubs!

I get more fun out of building lots these days, which the game has always excelled at.

Xelene · 25 Jan 2011 at 22:04

Lunatic Dreyfus said:
I have no issues with admitting to playing and I was very in to the original Sims as well. With the settings cranked up it'll punish even the most alpha/insecure of FPS rigs.

My wife moans about the UI being too small when playing at 1920x1200 with all the settings cranked right up. Women.

BombayMix · 27 Jan 2011 at 13:16

My sister and nieces were big Sims 2 fans but not so much with Sims 3. Listening to their complaints it seems Sims 3 more like a normal game and not a sandbox. The expansion in particular seem like adventure games where you go out and explore areas for "stuff".

Like someone says it lacks all the "stuff" people had in Sims 2, which they also don't like.

Sims 3 Medieval coming out in late March. Got half an eye on it but again seems less of a sandbox then before.

They run it on the same PC they did Sims 2 with no complaints.

iamTakeo · 27 Jan 2011 at 13:46

The Sims 3 was designed with lots of missing content and features, that was pretty apparent when moving from Sims 2 with expansions to vanilla Sims 3. Its some money making model though.

BombayMix · 27 Jan 2011 at 14:32

iamTakeo said:
Its some money making model though.

My sister moaned about the latest expansion being about cars and how she wasn’t interested in that at all. But she still bought it! :rolleyes:

Bumhucker · 28 Jan 2011 at 18:33

Sorry to slightly hijack the thread but it doesn't seem worth starting a new thread:

I'm looking at getting this used. Is it a big issue if the game has already been registered on another machine? Will my online options be restricted?

BombayMix · 29 Jan 2011 at 17:08

There is a steam deal on the game right now. All in one pack for £57.