I’m going to do some copy and paste here, because I posted some very nice editorials/reviews about the different sims games during my 2022 “Thrall’s Game Awards” season. Some things will be new, because there’s more than just four Sims games that I have history with. But we’ll start with the basics. The Sims is my favorite games franchise of all time. Not only in hours played, but in the amount I’ve SPENT on the game(s). Now, as of November 2023, I have been named as a member of the “EA Creator Network” .. which is quite literally a dream come true for me. I squealed out loud and nearly cried when I got the acceptance email. Now, I get to make content for the sims on a more “official” basis.. and I’m so excited about it. Expect to see some exclusive Youtube series start up soon, as well as me definitely getting back to writing my blog stories. (I am missing writing SO badly after this massive website move – because I told myself there was no point in publishing anything on my old site just to move it and have to edit it on the new one. Which.. was legitimately a reason.. but it’s been torture.) Now, to get into some history and editorials/reviews on each game in the series that I have had experience with:

Sims 3 is another high point of the Sims Franchise for me. It was when I really started discovering and playing challenges, and – once I found out about challenges – it completely changed the way I played the game. It also marks the beginning of my Blogging “career.” This blog was actually established during the Sims 3 era, and if you’re looking hard enough, some of my old stories from back then (the ones I actually published) are still linked into this site (under retired or completed stories). It also marked the beginning of my love/hate affair with game modifications. I literally could not play Sims 3 without mods. To me, the game was unplayable without it – so while waiting for a mod to update or be fixed, I couldn’t play the game. (Which plays a huge part of my lack of mods and CC in Sims 4 – I just don’t want to come to a point that I cannot play the game without a mod). The game is still installed on my computer, and I *could* play it.. I just don’t. The memories of all the games lost to corrupted files, the long load times from back then, and all the bugs… *shiver*.. just don’t make me want to go back. Maybe someday.

When Sims 2 came out, I was more than ready for it. I ditched Sims 1 without barely a look back, and was immediately in love with Sims 2. Someday, I want to get it re-installed on my computer, and mess around with my favorite town, Strangetown, some more. I wasn’t really into building back then, nor did I make my own characters very often, but man did the storylines behind Strangetown and Pleasantville pulled me in and I spent so much time playing the sims that came with those towns. I still have all of the original discs from all of the expansions for Sims 2 (and somehow I missed getting the Ultimate Edition).. so I’d need to literally get those discs to work on my PC to re-install it. Last time I tried, I ran into some disc errors, and lost my patience, so I never finished it… hence why this game is NOT on the list of games I will be playing this year. It did still need to be mentioned, though.

There’s enough Sims games in my list – which is why I’m not including this even in the one-shot played honorable mention games. However, this game deserves recognition because it was the start of an era for me. Back then, I did a lot of building. Some gameplay, to be sure, but a lot of it was building. I wasn’t very good at it, mind you… but I tried. I didn’t use mods (never even considered the possibility) , didn’t know anything about challenges… and just generally enjoyed the game.

This isn’t included in the main “played” list for good reason. Clearly, it’s my favorite game of all time. I took the “bait” when it came out, and I’ll be completely honest, I have never looked back.

When asked what my favorite expansion is, I am hard-pressed to pick one, simply because I can find something redeeming in each and every one of them. I do own all packs, including all the kits – and for the most part, they have been bought on release day at full price. So, calling me a Sims 4 addict might be an understatement.

Oh, yes.. it’s coming. And am I ever excited about it. It has completely revitalized my Sims addiction, and I’ve been closely following it’s developments. (Mostly via SimsVip) I know a lot of people have been very polarized about it, many people are saying they’re not going to switch, they don’t like the changes, they don’t like the things that have been cut from the game.. etc etc. However, being the computer/game geek that I am, I have a bit of a unique perspective on those things. I know that changes are often good for a game series. Historically, the Sims base games have always been very bare-bones. In fact, it took me a rather long time to switch from Sims 2 to 3 just because I was waiting for more features to be added. In some ways, I regret missing the early days of 3.. but in others, it worked out. Every time Sims gets updated, there are things I have missed from the previous incarnations, but on the whole, the changes each time they upgrade the game have been extremely positive. So.. I’m ALL for this new iteration of the series. I know pools and toddlers aren’t in the base game.. and there’s no work or school lots.. and there’s going to be more loading screens with a less open world. Although I am disappointed with these (mostly about the toddlers and lack of work lots), I am very interested to see where it’s going. The new Create A Sim features and abilities look amazing.. and the Build Mode upgrades… WOW! – look amazing. I can’t WAIT to build houses with these new tools! The graphics look great, and I am SO very happy about the changes they’re making to build mode. There is absolutely NO WAY that I will not be getting Sims 4 and playing it! That being said, I have no plans to be completely switching from Sims 3 to 4 initially… as I already mentioned, the base game is usually pretty vanilla.. and I really like having lots and lots of options available during play, so I won’t be doing a final switch to 4 until more expansions are out. Which means I will still have plenty of time to play (and hopefully finish) my challenges in Sims 3 before I make an ultimate switch to 4. (Which is good news for anyone who likes the stories – including me!)

Some History

Sims 1

Yes, I started playing Sims way back with the first one… and I was hooked nearly right away. I still have the whole game, including all expansions, installed on my computer.. and I even occasionally load it up and play a bit! 🙂 Most of the time back then, my time was spent building houses and neighborhoods, but I did play with the simmies quite a bit too. I have lots of fond memories of the first game, and my addiction to the series has only grown since then!

Things I miss:

• Magic Town!!!!  Man, that place was the very best. The magic system really was quite a challenge! There was so very much flavor involved with the town, and having a completely separate “MagiCoins” currency was a fun idea. This is what I usually go back to Sims 1 to play – just to mess around. I loved the baby daffodil-munching dragons, and all the work involved in getting spell reagents… and the HUGE amount of work needed to actually purchase a Magic Town home.
• Superstar. Cliche, but I really liked it. The way you did the different careers were really interesting, in my opinion, and it completely over-rode my dislike of everything celebrity and “fashionable” in today’s culture.
• Pet Shows. Seriously, those were fun. The Unleashed pack really did add quite a lot to the game, and all the different things you could do with the little furry creatures was a lot of fun.
• Bella Goth. (Enough said.. lol)

Things I DON’T miss:

• Kids never aging up. This annoyed me no end. Really, I utterly hated the never-ending or progressing way the game handled.
• The graphics. Boy, does that game look dated now! 🙂

Sims 2

I was all-in on this game right away. I bought it right after it came out, and I really never looked back (except for the occasional re-visit to magic town).

Things I miss:

• Open For Business expansion – there were so many things you could do with this, and it was ALWAYS a big challenge. I thought it really stepped up the difficulty factor, as well as just being plain fun to actually own the city’s stores and lots and stuff.
• Strangetown – enough said. I think I actually ended up playing here more than Pleasantville. For some reason, I was never able to get into Veronaville or the other towns.
• Apartments – again, ’nuff said. It made building ye olde trailer park so much easier, and moving out sims SO much cheaper.
• Sims 2 aging – other sims not aging when I’m playing one family. Sims 3 is so much harder to keep tabs on what is happening in the rest of the town..
• More alien babies!
• The University system was so much better in Sims 2. Having to go multiple times in 3 is annoying (although getting multiple degrees is nice)
• Freetime Hobby system and clubs – those were fun, and being able to skill up in them was so much better than the way sims 3 does toy making and such.
• Sims being able to have different types of sickness and die from them. (Kill the sims and collect different ghosts was SO much fun in 2! – not so much fun in sims 3, playable ghosts make weird noises and move SO slowly!)

Things I DON’T miss:

• The weird good/bad/nuetral witch thing. It was so hard to switch between, and the constant glowy-ness always bugged me to no end.
• Trying to find the count or countess to turn into a vampire. It always took forever!!
• Sims 2 aging – just to be wishy washy.. in some ways I don’t miss having to play all the families in a rotation, it’s nice to have the rest of the town just keep rolling on.
• The “chemistry” system… it just never made sense in the coding as to which sim would like which. At it’s heart, it was nice to have attractions to other sims.. but, jeez.. be consistent!
• Not being able to control the pets.

Sims 3

It took me a really long time to switch to Sims 3. Partially because of budget, and partially because I really liked Sims 2, and wasn’t ready to switch to a game with less options and freedom. However, once I switched, I never looked back. There are simply so very many things to do in 3!

Things I love:

• Controlling the pets
• The very open world
• Being able to control what sims do at work
• Profession jobs and self-employment!
• Horses!! (and minor pets) – you can practically make a zoo now! (and yay! unicorns!)
• Supernatural’s ability to make starting sims be .. well, supernatural. (although I hate that not all of the supernaturals can be gotten this way, ie aliens, mermaids, plantsims, imaginary friends
• Gnome collecting! (although why is it so tough?!)
• World Adventures travelling and Tomb-hunting.
• Scuba Diving and boats.
• SO many different career choices!
• The immense variety of being supernatural – every type of sim is very different!
• Lots of different skills to work on!

Things I DON’T love:

• Into The Future and the early expansions having no achievements.
• Lag. Nuff said.
• Load times. Again, enough said.
• Glitches, crashing, and bugs.
• SimPort is great… when it works. But it doesn’t work very often.
• Being able to play as a ghost and bring sims back is great, but WHY do ghosts move like snails?!?!
• Not being able to make the “cultural” or “hidden” traits be given to new sims.
• Sim routing at buildings – it makes for pile-ups at the school and university classes.
• Many of the skills are not integrated very well into careers.

Bloopers, Glitches, Cute and Funny Screenshots

We’ve all had them. Those moments where something happens in your sims game that you just have to break out in laughter. Whether it’s a really funny glitch, or just something random that is really funny. Going through my screenshots and memories, I found quite a few pictures of moments like these, and thought it would be great fun to collect all of them in a post, adding to it as more of them happen. With each of them, I’ll add a little description of what’s going on, or how it happened. Anyway, there’s really very little introductions needed for these, so.. browse and Enjoy! Everyone can always use a good chuckle! (Some of these are actually a series of pictures, but that only makes them better.)

Hello, and welcome!  You’ve found my sims blog.  I’m known as IllusoryThrall on Sims 3/4 Forums, the gallery, Origin, Twitch, and on Twitter; and Wyldhawke on modthesims.com and boolprop.  Please send me a friend request on any or all of those! 

Over the years, this blog has grown, and it is no longer just used for my Sims challenge attempts and stories, but also the headquarters for info on my streaming on Twitch, and a safe place to keep the challenge rule sets I have either updated or written for Sims 4. To that end, in January 2022 I relaunched this site with a new theme and an entirely new menu structure to attempt to make it easier to find things. Below, you will find snippets of the sections this site contains and links to find out more about them.

Now, in October 2023, my site is again metamorphizing. I am moving to a new webhost, which will allow lots of fun upgrades to the site that I’ve been wanting to implement, but been unable to implement based on where my site was hosted. That being said, this upgrade is thanks to the generosity of a friend’s donation, and it is much appreciated. In conjunction with migrating and re-launching my website, I will also be adding the afore-mentioned upgrades, and a way to donate towards the cost of my website in the future, should you, also, be so inclined. There are a lot more things planned for this Sims 4 website, so stick around! All that being said, feel free to explore, there’s plenty of interesting things here to find!

(Published 3/7/2012 on the Sims 3 Website)

So, I finally locate tracking information for my “preorder” from Origin – and it states that “estimated delivery date” is the 9th! … How is that fair….  at this point, I’m starting to think I’ll not be pre-ordering from Origin anymore without huge incentive offered if they can’t even get the item here within a day of release.  Here’s hoping it’ll actually show up today, but.. *sigh*  It’s not like I only ordered it in the last day or two, either… they had plenty of time to process the order, in my opinion.  There are plenty of other places I could have pre-ordered a physical copy of the game and gotten a release-date delivery.. the least the actual publishing company could do is offer like services.