Sims 3 – Story Progression and Graphics

I finally decided to go ahead and buy the Sims 3. I wasn’t sure how much time I’d have to play it, or if it was really different enough from the Sims 2 to be worth it. I must say, it’s almost like a whole new game. Since the game centers around the town as a whole instead of the household, there’s always a lot more going on at once. Which makes the performance seem a little slow. Perhaps I should lower some of the graphic settings to see if that will help. But it already seems like the graphics are not as detailed as the Sims 2 unless you are zoomed in very close (and I stay a little zoomed out to see everything). An interesting concept is Story Progression. I guess it would be handy to have all your Sims friends grow up at the same time he/she does.  I tried it for a few days, but by the time I spend some time with one family, all the kids are grown up in another family, or some adults are almost elders and haven’t gotten very far in their careers. I would prefer having a chance to play each family throughout their development and guide them in what they do. So what if it means that my least favorite families are ‘left behind’ and never age. I try to make my rounds to each family. Luckily we can disable Story Progression. One disadvantage is that when you switch the ‘Active Household’, the current family loses their wishes that you’ve chosen. Not too big a deal, but when I come back to the family I’d want it to be the same as I left it. Another annoyance is how buying groceries and books work. Gone are the days where we can buy a bookshelf with all the books we’d ever need to learn skills. We have to buy each book separately based on the skill level we want to get to! And they are expensive!! And now you have to buy cooking ingredients separately based on the meals you want to make. Very annoying. Each family has a difficulty level — seems like based on the number of family members. Overall I think this game is more difficult, compared to the Sims 2. Needs may be easier to fulfill, but career progression (and therefore the lifetime wish) is so much harder. But these difficulties make the game more realistic and sophisticated (and still fun), so I won’t be switching back to the Sims 2 quite yet.