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Trying to post more often even though I'm still feeling rather disconnected from the world at large :)
Not Sims related: I took a long break from Who pretty much as soon as I heard Eleven was leaving because I was not ready to say goodbye to him yet (did the same thing when I heard the Ponds were going). I wanted my goodbyes to be bittersweet but not resentful, with the edge of excitment that comes from goodbye always meaning 'hello' in the Whoverse. Finally felt ready and marathoned up through The Time Of The Doctor. Cried buckets. Oh Eleventy...you will always be my Doctor in a way I'm not sure can ever be replicated, much as I may love your other selves. I will try to be in a headspace to actually post about it soon, and before I start Twelve (I need a bit to collect myself, though I am indeed ready to say hello).
Sims related: Wow, the various sims forums/boards make the worst of fandom look like a puppy playground, y'all. I wouldn't participate with a ten foot pole, but just skimming them is like drowning in toxic waste. Would not recommend. Was curious in the wake of the epic wars going on with the release of 4, and decided to play 2 and 3 again today after having spent so much time in 4 to form comparison. 2 is still everything, and I immediately got sucked into losing my entire morning and had to make myself stop. I think 4 may overtake it eventually (more on that in a second), but until it does 2 remains the reigning champion, making up for it's limitations and what it lacks on pure WTF charm.
What surprised me is that upon booting up 3, I had...absolutely no desire to play it. None. Surprising because 3 has the most stuff to do and places to go, and I love stuff and things to do with my sims. But I realized that actually I had spent most of my 'playing' time in it building stuff. And rearranging stuff. And setting stuff up. And very little with the actual sims. Because they are cold. I'm all for projecting on to my sims (obviously), and half the fun of the game is what you bring in your imagination to the party. But 3 lacks intimacy in a way I'm not sure I can put my finger on, other than I didn't realize just how much it was a one way street until I was away for a bit. Felt like I was pushing around dolls instead of forming a relationship with them. The world is great. The stuff is great. And...I realized I don't much care if I don't feel like my sims are playing with me, rather than me playing them if that makes any sense at all.
Which is why I will firmly plant my flag in the 'fuck the haters' camp regarding 4. It lacks stuff, yes. It even lacks stuff that isn't excusable even for a base game, and it's a bit buggy in places. I don't care. These sims are so full of life and charm and personality, and the way the world is set up puts me up close and personal with them in the same way they are in 2, only with even better sims themselves. Stuff can be added. Places to go and things to do can be added, and no doubt will be in the billionty expansion packs I'll probably go broke buying. A sim who gets me emotionally invested is priceless. And the mere thought of what it's going to be once it's expanded beyond the base game. I really, honestly, and truly think it could not just reach but surpass the epicness that is 2. And quickly.
Not Sims related: I took a long break from Who pretty much as soon as I heard Eleven was leaving because I was not ready to say goodbye to him yet (did the same thing when I heard the Ponds were going). I wanted my goodbyes to be bittersweet but not resentful, with the edge of excitment that comes from goodbye always meaning 'hello' in the Whoverse. Finally felt ready and marathoned up through The Time Of The Doctor. Cried buckets. Oh Eleventy...you will always be my Doctor in a way I'm not sure can ever be replicated, much as I may love your other selves. I will try to be in a headspace to actually post about it soon, and before I start Twelve (I need a bit to collect myself, though I am indeed ready to say hello).
Sims related: Wow, the various sims forums/boards make the worst of fandom look like a puppy playground, y'all. I wouldn't participate with a ten foot pole, but just skimming them is like drowning in toxic waste. Would not recommend. Was curious in the wake of the epic wars going on with the release of 4, and decided to play 2 and 3 again today after having spent so much time in 4 to form comparison. 2 is still everything, and I immediately got sucked into losing my entire morning and had to make myself stop. I think 4 may overtake it eventually (more on that in a second), but until it does 2 remains the reigning champion, making up for it's limitations and what it lacks on pure WTF charm.
What surprised me is that upon booting up 3, I had...absolutely no desire to play it. None. Surprising because 3 has the most stuff to do and places to go, and I love stuff and things to do with my sims. But I realized that actually I had spent most of my 'playing' time in it building stuff. And rearranging stuff. And setting stuff up. And very little with the actual sims. Because they are cold. I'm all for projecting on to my sims (obviously), and half the fun of the game is what you bring in your imagination to the party. But 3 lacks intimacy in a way I'm not sure I can put my finger on, other than I didn't realize just how much it was a one way street until I was away for a bit. Felt like I was pushing around dolls instead of forming a relationship with them. The world is great. The stuff is great. And...I realized I don't much care if I don't feel like my sims are playing with me, rather than me playing them if that makes any sense at all.
Which is why I will firmly plant my flag in the 'fuck the haters' camp regarding 4. It lacks stuff, yes. It even lacks stuff that isn't excusable even for a base game, and it's a bit buggy in places. I don't care. These sims are so full of life and charm and personality, and the way the world is set up puts me up close and personal with them in the same way they are in 2, only with even better sims themselves. Stuff can be added. Places to go and things to do can be added, and no doubt will be in the billionty expansion packs I'll probably go broke buying. A sim who gets me emotionally invested is priceless. And the mere thought of what it's going to be once it's expanded beyond the base game. I really, honestly, and truly think it could not just reach but surpass the epicness that is 2. And quickly.
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That said, I am quite adoring Twelve so far.
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Partly, I mostly just felt stressed while I was playing. Make sure he eats! Make sure he cleans up! Make sure he goes to work! Make sure he does various things to boost his stats! Keep all the plates spinning on their sticks, pay attention, keep him on an upward path!
I never got emotionally attached, I felt anxious, and if I want to feel anxious about keeping up with a never-ending rota of tasks, I can just behold my nominal adulthood. :D
...I mean, there was funny stuff, etc.? But my dominant experience was not attachment and enjoyment and desire to play some more, as I had hoped it would be. I might not have been playing it right--I didn't get any tips from friends, etc.--but maybe I would have enjoyed one of the other versions more.
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But with sims 2 and now sims 4 sims, they are so quirkily endearing to me that they become like little imaginary friends that I am emotionally attached to, and I am glad to help them out (albeit sometimes on fast forward for the more boring skilling) because I *want* to see them succeed in their little sim lives and find love and laugh at their antics, and if there is an alien abduction that results in a half alien mpreg baby along the way (TRUE STORY, Sims2...you're the inspiration in my life), all the better! Alas, 4 does not have aliens yet, but it does have ridiculously endearing sims.
Sims 3 sims...they don't have that magic, IMO. Even with cheats on, and I use them a lot in 3. Hell, I've *barely* even used cheats on 4 so far. I can't resist an initial money cheat at the beginning, because I can't stand moving my sims into a starter hovel, but since the initial move in I haven't even bothered. And I haven't even once artificially filled their needs or frozen them, because then I'd miss doofy simlish conversations over pancakes in the morning or the ridiculous walk they do when they have to go pee.
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So I guess I have found a way to have fun with Sims...watch you play it!
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I tend to play a really domestic game so things like family meals and basic needs routines and having some kind of income (be it from jobs or at home freelance work or owning a business or whatever) feed into that, so once my sims have hit high skills/high end/upgraded items, fairly low maintenance on that front I turn the cheats off if I'm using them. But some days I also just wanna play out some ridiculous storyline, or party all night long or whatever and I have no shame about being 'who needs to pee today? NO ONE DOES. What do you mean we can't afford that fancy toy to play with? Pshaw, your long lost aunt Motherlode unexpectedly left you an inheritence, what.' :D