I used to play this game a lot, then eventually got bored of it. But it's still fun to pick up every once in awhile. I play it in spurts, some weeks where it's all I play, then suddenly drop it to play something else. It's fun when you add people you know or your favorite celebrities to it.
I used to play The Sims 1 a lot. I remember looking up cheats that would allow me to terraform the land to my liking. I also remember trapping dozens of families in their houses and setting off fireworks so that they pee themselves/burn to death.
I liked building houses, but not so much playing it and controlling the sims etc Sims 2 really stutters on my PC, so I haven't played it in ages.
Easier to customise? No way. There's just no way. Sims 1 body shop was a pathetic piece of crap. Cheats in Sims 2 can do just about anything, you can make movies with your Sims now, you can design thousands of different styles of houses, terrains, walls, clothes, and Sims. Body Shop has let people easily create creatures like Alien and Predator, you can download from a database that has hundreds of thousands of Sims, lots, clothes, and items, and there are tons of meshes for hair, dresses, and accessories that you just couldn't get with Sims 1. The only "problem" with Sims 2 is that you need a good computer to play it. I can't play it in my computer, but Sis's computer works fine with it so I play it there. Once I get my laptop, I'll go crazy downloading, changing the game, and playing with my Legacy family. And that's another thing - they actually grow up and die. Sure, maybe you wouldn't want your Sims to die, but it actually makes you like them better and it makes you really proud of them when you say, "He's 70 days old now and just look at all the skills he got! " Sims 1 was cute for animation errors and goofyness. It was also good for a limited zoom and camera. Of course, the music was better, but I've moved all those files to the Sims 2, so my Sims 2 plays Sims 1 music. Sims 2 is better.
But it's the total goofyness of The Sims 1 that made the game so endearing. The fact that they could die from not getting out of the bathroom because someone was blocking their way, or at least develop a severe disorder because of it. The Sims 2 is too lifelike. It became a parody of itself. None of the above things you mentioned are wrong, and you can do "more" in Sims 2, but it's just not the same, IMHO!
Clearly you weren't into object customization in Sims 1. I was actually a reasonably well-known object designer for Sims 1 once upon a time. With Sims 2, last I checked anyway, it's nearly impossible (at least, if you want something more than recolors).
SimSlice and The Sims Resource both have lots of hacked objects. Many just like the ones they produced for Sims 1.
The graphics are more advanced, but there's still a lot of websites were people have come up with all sorts of crazy crap! My sister found a cross with a Jesus on it. Your Sims can pray to it, grovel, praise it, or curse it. When they curse it, they'll be electrocuted to death.
I actually like the way they look at each other when another Sim enters a room, the way they congratulate each other randomly for good things that have happened, the way they hug and kiss each other (on their own accord) when they're in love, and the way they go into full-blown fights (on their own accord) when they hate each other. The goofiness of Sims 1 is fun and I still play Sims 1. My computer runs that great! But I think I really like the more life-like behavior of the new Sims. It's easier to take care of them, too.
can't post right now... to busy playing the sims 2... I play in spurts too. I'll have a few days where i'll play for hours, and then i won't touch it for months. My brother likes to build houses, but doesn't spend much time playing with the sims themselves. I don't like building houses but i like to have big multigenerational families.
I have two gay Sims. It started when they were talking to each other and I told one to ask the other a question. Something about how much money he made. And then they were in love. So, I moved them in together. They got married. They adopted a girl. She was hanging out with one of her girl friends when I told her to ask about interests or something. They then had crushes on each other. I guess they can't ever ask each other questions again! Anyway, it's one of my favorite households. It's funny to see one of the guys being the woman when they make out / have sex (you know, the one being cuddled most, the one with the girly "I you" expression on his face).
I never really liked The Sims... Sims 2 even less. But just about all of Maxis' pre-acquisition-by-EA games were the shit. SimAnt, SimLife, SimIsle, SimTower, all 4 SimCity's (especially SimCity 2000), SimTown... great games every one. Maxis was located in my hometown before they got bought and moved to Redwood City. The "California Commercial Park" (or something like that) in SimCity 4 is actually the building they were in, on North California Blvd.
Funny thing I heard. When Will Wright, creator of all those Sims games, made the proposal to EA to publish The Sims, some executive was heard saying, "This is the worst idea for a video game ever! All they do is eat, and shit, and piss!" And now, The Sims is probably their most valuable property ever, and they are milking it with expansion packs that seem to come out once a month.
Eh...Sims kind of lost my interest when SecondLife came along. It's rather like BEING the Sim, with no need to eat or sleep, but the ability to make real money and to be far, far more creative.
Back waaaaay back when I played Sims 1, sans upgrades, I made a pair of gay Sims. I gave em two kids (boys) and let em go.
Goes to show just how in tune I am with The Sims any more - back when I left the object community, I did so because you simply couldn't do it with Sims 2 beyond recolors, which I found to be mostly ridiculous. Still, now, it looks like a lot of it is recolor sets, a lot of it is basically running with a pretty simple theme (how many fucking glass block window types do you need?), etc, etc. Seems like there's a lot less variety. But maybe that's just me.
People can yell all they want about EA's monopoly and shitty beta version games they sell as official releases, but one thing you can't fault them on is their ability to allow their users to customize their games. I'm sure eventually people will figure out how to make brand new 3D objects and put them in the game, much like they do with C&C or Sim City.
That is definitely a fact, Scorp. Definitely a benefit of their age in the industry - customizable content used to be far more prevalent, especially when you didn't have yearly editions of sports games and the like. Maxis, of course, loves customizable content as well. A good combination, even if EA is obsessed with expansion packs and sequels.
When you made objects, did you actually make a 3D polygon of it? I know some people just take a picture of, say, a toaster - at several different angles - and then make a sprite of it. You can't do that with Sims 2, since each object is now a polygon. Yet another reason why I like Sims 1 better than Sims 2.
Well, you could do that back in the day with Sims 1. I would actually design the framework of a lot of objects in - get this - MS Paint, then do the actual pretty stuff in Paint Shop Pro, and then, eventually, Photoshop. Sure, the really, really good object makers (i.e. 7 Deadly Sims) would be using 3D models anyway, but Sims 2 took the real flexibility away from most people and left it in the hands of those with 3D rendering capabilities. In a way, this is a good thing. Results in a generally higher quality. But it also means that a lot of people with some great ideas will never be able to see them realized. This is unfortunate.
