So far I haven't even begun to dream about Sims 3. I would have to start a new story to use it -- otherwise I would have to recreate EVERYONE and EVERYTHING, and there won't be anything like the quantity of CC we have on Sims 2 for quite some time.

(On the other hand, just like with the abandonment of original Sims, the CC creators will all eventually move over to Sims 3...)

There are some features I think I would like for storytelling. From what I've seen you get at least a slightly more realistic range of body shapes. You don't have to choose between stick-thin or stick-thin-with-beer-gut.

It looks like the lighting model is better, and the Sims have more detail in their faces and hands and so forth (in terms of the meshes, not necessarily the textures, though I wouldn't be surprised if the texture images were larger or better too.)

Also the outdoors looks somewhat more realistic.

I'm assuming they won't make some story-telling features WORSE of course... like what if they prevented you from modifying the camera or something? I haven't kept up on any Sims news sites to know how playtesters have been receiving it (if it has gotten that far yet). So I'm just theorizing.

There's another thing you ought to consider, though, Tiffany, and that's your computer. If you have an older computer or mediocre video card and don't expect to upgrade soon, you're probably better sticking to Sims 2. You will probably have more fun both playing and taking pictures in a high-quality / fast Sims 2 than a slow, low-resolution, and buggy Sims 3.

As for me, I probably won't upgrade either until I have to (not sure how that would happen), or I either quit writing about Lothere and start a new story (not sure how that would happen either) or start story version 2.0, which would probably require at least a massive change of scenery, à la the Holy Land and the Crusades.

My money says I will never see Sims 3. I'll move on to something else by then. (Sims 4!)

Ouch!

So, yeah, about the Sims 2...

Wow! Thank you for that insight. I haven't read much about The Sims 3 in terms of storytelling, since it is pretty obvious I'm stuck with Sims 2 for as long as I'm writing Lothere. But it certainly doesn't sound as useful for storytellers as Sims 2. You can't even have different neighborhood terrains or choose where you put your lots? That sounds so limiting. It does sound like they sacrificed flexibility for fancier gameplay.

I wonder how much longer the Sims 2 community is going to survive though? There may come a day when the CC I have is all the CC I will ever have.

I haven't actually played Sims 3 yet, but I think the story progression thing would drive me insane. Random deaths/births/meetings/household merges/relationships/sims moving out of neighborhood/etc? And them aging without my even playing the lot? Maybe it's just the InSim-induced, story-teller "must have absolute control over sims" mentality... but actually, I think even in my pre-InSim, pre-story, actually playing the game days, that would have ground my gears. From what I gather, it would be virtually unenjoyable for me without the AwesomeMod.

Plus there's the fact that I'm a cheapskate. I don't even have any expansions, because I can't afford to part with the money *clutches lone $5 bill protectively*

Hi! I saw you registered and scurried to check out your site. I am going to have a look, because I'm interested in seeing just what you can get away with in Sims 3 storytelling. It does seem like if you're writing a story set in a modern-day-ish, Simmish sort of town, and if you're good at wrangling Sims, you can make it work. And after all, working around limitations is one way to make creativity blossom!

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