IllusoryThrall's Sims 4 Hub
- Challenges, Tips & Stories
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:
The game released in February of 2000, and the final DLC for it came out in 2003. Which, when you look at it, was a pretty good run of time for a game back then. The original game got a 92 Metacritic rating, and I think that’s pretty accurate. It was a novel idea at the time – and it was stupidly addicting. It won Game of the Year in several game award shows, and “Best Simulation” from IGN. As of March 2015, The Sims had sold more than 11.24 million copies for PC. It truly spawned a legacy. When I looked back through my posts on this blog, I found one where I compared the Sims games.. and I honestly couldn’t think of a better way to describe Sims 1. My opinions on it haven’t changed.
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. Yes, I was hooked nearly right away. I still had the whole game, including all expansions, installed on my computer.. (until this most recent computer in November 2023) and I even occasionally loaded it up and played 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!
Sims 2 was published in 2004, and was, obviously the sequel to the first Sims. Sims 2, however, allowed your sims to age through six life stages, and experience death by old age (provided you weren’t a “serial killer” and murdering your sims before their time). Being that they now had real lives, the Sims 2 was the first game that brought genetics into the game, such as they were. The game also spawned eight Expansion Packs and nine “Stuff Packs” before Maxis moved on to Sims 3.
Reviews-wise, Sims 2 was critically acclaimed, garnering a 90% score from MetaCritic and GameRankings. It is considered to be one of the greatest games of all times. It was also a commercial success, selling one million copies during the first ten days on the market, which at the time, was a record. By March 2012, Sims 2 had sold 13 million copies across all platforms (six million PC), making it one of the best-selling PC games of all time.
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.
Sims 3 released in 2009, and was a direct sequel to Sims 2. The major upgrade to the game that Sims 3 offered was the open world concept. (In my opinion, it may have also been the downfall of Sims 3 .. it led to huge load times, bloated save files, corruption issues, etc etc.) It also included the “Create-a-Style” tool, which allowed every object, clothing, and hair to be redesigned to any color, material, or pattern. At it’s heart, however, gameplay was much the same. The premise was the same, and you were still following your Sims’ lives, day by day, until they were no more (and even then, they could be brought back as ghosts!)
Sims was a huge commercial success, selling 1.4 Million copies in its first week. It also got an 86 on Metacritic, as well as “generally favorable” reviews elsewhere. Over the years, Sims 3 received a whopping 11 expansion packs, nine stuff packs, and a whole store filled with extra items to download. (Which turned it into a massive money sink – especially for me!)
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! It 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.
Sims 4 released in September of 2014.. and is, at the time of this writing (January, 2022), still in development and receiving expansions and updates. There is no telling when it will officially “end” or when the next installment (Sims 5) will release, although if you listen to the rumors, Sims 5 is in development. The game received a 70 on Metacritic, and moderate scores among other reviewers (about 3 and a half stars for most, or a score of 6/10 to about 7.5 out of ten. The game was hotly debated among the Sims community, and for that matter, it still is. (Which I’ll get into more in a moment) If you listen to the wiki, The Sims 4 has 36 million players worldwide as of 2021, and has generated over 1 billion in total revenue. In other words, even though the game was polarizing, it has still been wildly successful. Looking back through this blog, I found a post that accurately describes my feelings on Sims 4 from just before it came out:
“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. …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!)”
Clearly, based on my 10,000+ hours played in Sims 4, 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. We did finally get toddlers. And so many free build mode upgrades. Is there still stuff I miss from Sims 3? Yes. But not much. Will I ever go back to Sims 3 because of those things? Unlikely. Overall, I love what they have added to Sims 4, especially the emotion system… and now, the likes and dislikes. Am I 100% happy with every pack they’ve ever put out? Nope. But I would say I’m in the minority when I say I CAN find something I like in every pack (as I said in the introduction) – including the dismal Luxury Party, My First Pet Stuff, and the horribly controversial Journey to Batuu. I absolutely LOVE Sims 4. Am I looking forward to Sims 5? Not currently. I will need more information about it before I throw my hat into the ring for sure… but yes, I’m sure I will need to own it, just like I need to own all the rest of the Sims games. Time will tell on whether I make an immediate switch when it comes out.. or hold out for more updates on it.
I’m going to list this one first because it is STILL one of my very favorite games in the series. It is so different from the mainline sims games. First off, all building is done through collecting resources, as opposed to a money system. There is a really fun story that you can go through to unlock new objects and stuff, or you can just skip the story and go right to playing in the world (I recommend the story first). The game was optimized for laptop play, and will still run alright on current systems with some hoops jumped through (there’s a sims 2 era patch that fixes it). The disk can still be found for sale occasionally, although it still tends to be a bit pricey. (Worth it, in my opinion!)
I will say, however, that there is a different Version of Sims Castaway on console. To my knowledge, that is a completely different game, and I, unfortunately, have never played it, so I cannot speak to how good or bad it might be.
This was another real high point for me. I loved this game and it’s DLC, Pirates and Nobles. Still, to this day, I load this up every once in a while just to have some fun with it. I have even played it several times on my Twitch channel. I keep saying that someday, I will go back and unlock all the achievements and other scenarios that I’ve never gotten around to unlocking… but that’s still a bit of a pipe dream.
The fun parts of this game were the fact that you literally got to build up your kingdom from a single hero and complete “quests” with your heroes as you add them. Tons of fun, and highly recommended for any Sims fan.
These were the other two “laptop-compliant” Sims offshoots with the previously mentioned Castaway Stories. Not as good, in my opinion, but still a fun time. Much easier to find for sale, but requires the same hoops to get running as the Castaway game did. The stories are good, but nowhere near as good as the Castaway one, and I’ve never seen the need to install them on modern systems after having played through them each once back in the day.
Believe it or not, this is actually a different game than Sims 3 on PC. I played a fair bit of it, and really enjoyed it. I still have my copy of it around here .. somewhere.
Honestly, I didn’t have the systems usually, so I never tried them. Sims 4… I got, but then it was the same game as it was on PC, only without Gallery support (which has been added)…. and I ended up selling the game back to the store. Wasn’t interested. Controllers aren’t typically my bag of tricks.
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.
Continue reading →
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.
Continue reading →
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.
Continue reading →
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.
Continue reading →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!)
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:
Things I DON’T miss:
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:
Things I DON’T miss:
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:
Things I DON’T love:
(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.
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!
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