All of them are equal!!!

Sims 1: Nostalgia!

Sims 2: Great Gameplay and Amazing Mods...

Sims 3: Open World!!

Sims 4: Best CAS EVER!!!

Sims 1: Didn't play much
Sims 2: Still love it, after 9 years!
Sims 3: I like aspects of it (like the CASt and open world), but it's too prone to borking things up. Can't even use a save more than 10 times before things go to pieces. My game is completely borked now, so at the moment I'm just using it for converting stuff.
Sims 4: Haven't played yet, but I think I sort of like a few aspects of it. Too bad they've cut too many things that I liked, and borked up the younger ages completely. I'm considering buying it only so I can convert stuff from it... Which is basically what I'm using TS3 for now.

Sims 1: Holy shit, bae!!!!!! Like, the beginning. This is childhood stuff right here. What were we? Six? Seven? Now you're nothing. Back then you were everything. I can't say anything bad, because you were so young and fresh and we were crazy kids just trying to make it all work and you were just the start and it was and still is a great start. But we (me) moved on to bigger and better things (2, 3, not 4) but you'll always have a place in my heart. Nothing was as charming as you. Thanks for the memories.

Sims 2: My bff who grew into a beautiful swan, that fucking bitch. You're the GTA3 of the series. You evolved the games leaps and bounds. We went from small time to the big time and it deserves undying praise for it. Unfortunately, due to plastic surgery and that dog I released on you in jealousy, you're kind of uggo now. Fat body, BUSTED face, y'know? You were great way back then, all new and fresh and you still are for a lot of reasons, but you look like microwaved shit now. Really outdated graphics. Loading screens are for poor people. Everything else? As my hero Ebony "Enoby" Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way would say, "kawaiiiii".

Sims 3: omg bae like where do we even begin? You're bigger than life, but slow. Big and slow. Like a blue whale, or a brachiosaurus, or the modern brachiosaurus, a giraffe but the giraffe has broken knees. Maybe a Walmart shopper. But prettier. You're a pretty game. But poorly made. Not all there. Parents weren't good. You're hot though. My mate told me not to stick it in crazy, but I did. I did and you load CASt really slow and I need lots of meds (mods) to make you stable but I like this ride and I don't know baby maybe we should see where it goes, because I don't wanna leave. I don't wanna leave you. I like the large vibrant world you introduced me to. Entire cities and distant lands, a new beginning. A new life. Just please don't get bloated and crash.

Sims 4: Ugh. Ugh! UGH. Ew. STFUGH. The Gwyneth Paltrow of the series. A saucepan with metal handles so you can't even hold it when it's been on the stove. The pet you hate and want to have put down but the rest of the family loves her too much. AIDS. What are you? What do you even add? Why are you here? Stupid game. Stupid, filthy, awful game. Idiot. You piece of dirt. Who are you? I step on you. I clean you off of my shoes at night. I step on you, and then I throw away the shoe, and that shoe that I just threw away? That's worth more than your worthless life, Sims 4. And I'm pissed because I loved that shoe, you dirt, you piece of subhuman shit game fuckboy.
CAS doesn't look too bad though!!! Um, teen woohoo much?????

Bahaha.... what is that, even? Bahaha.

Okay, I'll bite: why Gwyneth? A fine actress and an elegant lady imo - and TS4 is neither fine nor elegant.

I must be missing something. Something having to do with saucepans maybe?

ETA: A lovely post, all in all. Forgot to say that.

Sims 1: Brilliant, loved it for years! Still fire it up from time to time on my old laptop. This game took the existing limitations at the time and made a wonderful, playable game. Being a tad bit older than many of you, I still remember putting the kiddos to bed and staying up way too late playing the game.

Sims 2: Vast improvement over 1, though the base sims are ugly as can be. Slap in some default skins and eyes and it's gorgeous. The worlds are infinitely customizable, the characters are fun to play, you can take this game and make it what you want. I invested loads of time creating content, adding body types, etc. I fire this one up too from time to time. I'm not sure I want to redo all the worlds and things I had, but I love playing the Curious brothers and their University pack is way better than Sims 3. Love the baby and toddler interactions too.

Sims 3: Love, love the open world. It's not quite as easy to create worlds for, but there's enough out there to fill the void. My game is heavily modded, but no non-ea hair, skins, eyes, etc. This is still the game I play. It takes a while to load to be sure and there are issues. Now that it's done though, no patches to come, I finally have a stable game. The CAS and CAST were a vast improvement over the Sims 2.

Sims 4: Almost brilliant CAS, the sims look great except for block feet (blech). I don't mind the cartoony look of the game, it can be pretty in spots. Of course I need loads of CC since I can't recolor anything in game. Hate HATE the tiny, claustrophobic worlds. The initial neighborhood screen is worse than Sims 1. And the loading screens! Seriously, to go across the street?? WTF!? Nothing except the sims is really customizable. I hate the building limitations too. I wind up making some sims and then getting bored in game in minutes. I used to grab new EPs immediately for 1, 2 & 3. Now I wait until they go on sale. I just can't justify the expense. This is the only Sims game that I can't lose myself in. All the rest totally absorbed me, pulled me in to another world. This one doesn't. It's basically a fancy bodyshop, fun to create sims, but there's nothing to do with them.

Honorable Mention for Sims Medieval: A very fun game, not a replacement, but a fun off-shoot. I grabbed it for $7, and have spent hours enjoying it.

Sims > Sims 2 > Sims 4 > Sims 3.

Nothing can beat the original. It had a huge impact on the gaming industry and it's mark will always be remembered.

Sure it set the stage for the rest of the series but to say it's the best in the franchise is reeeeally stretching it (especially if it being the first is your only reason)

Honestly, it plays so different from the three games that came after it, I don't even think it's fair to compare it to them :/



....You and MinghamSmith are seriously the funniest people on this site! Please live forever so this place never has to go without you XD

I grew up with the sims, so I'm a lifelong player. I had endless hours of fun with TS1 when it was the only thing around. I remember when I saw the original teaser for TS2 and I flipped my lid. I don't know when exactly we lost Will Wright, but he had a very noticeable influence that I miss very much. TS2 is still, and probably will always be my favorite. TS3 had some truly great features that I wish 2 had, and so I was hoping 4 would be the best of both. The hype was lost on me, and since I wasn't willing to spend money on it, I tried it out at a friends house. Sad to say, after a few hours I'm a bit bored. To me personally, TS4 feels less like a sims game and more like some kind of glorified and polished facebook game. Lifeless, limited, doesn't live up to its predecessors. That is to say, I appreciate the features it has. But what's more troubling are the features it lacks. Maybe it'll get better with expansions. Though until I get my TS2 with TS3+4 features, I'll still be playing 2 primarily.

She knows what she did.

Iron Man 3 wasn't her fault!

I rarely post in forums, but I've been seeing where a lot of members here liked the Sims 2 best. I only started my Sims experience playing Sims 3.

My question, if anyone knows, is the Sims 2 Ultimate Collection that I either got free or on a super sale through Origin, the complete Sims 2 game. It's my understanding by some of what I've read there are still mods and cc available for the Sims 2. If it's the full game, I might download it until, if ever, they get things straightened out with Sims 4 (right).

@reclusive757,
The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection they gave away for free on Origin is indeed the full Sims 2 series with all of the EP's and SP's included.

Thank you for the information DiAnkhiar. I may have to give it a try.

I love TS2 and I think out of the four, it is most complete game from the bottom up in terms of what it changed from its predecessor and how it improved basic gameplay. That being said, TS3 is my favorite, hands down. It is incredibly flawed but also incredibly ambitious with what it tried (and sometimes failed, sometimes succeeded) to do. No matter how much it drives me crazy, there are always moments in the game when everything is working and it's glorious, as in better than any other Sims game glorious. Those are the moments that keep me going.

I still play TS2 with the Ultimate Collection but it doesn't sustain my interest as much as TS3 does. TS4 to me was just a pathetic cash grab on EA's part -- nothing about it makes me think they put in any real thought into making a better game than its predecessors.

So for as long as there are still people out there making content and mods to improve the game, TS3 will still be my favorite and I will keep playing it.

When Sims 2 came out, people thought it would merge with Sim City 4. Ea didn't do that.
I have both those games and still play them a lot. I don't have Sims 3 but my friends do. All three of these games are better than their most recent Siblings .

TS4 should have been TS2 and TS3 combined but like Sim City 4/Sims 2 hybrid that didn't happen.

I won't mind loading screens even though it takes me around 7 minutes to play with my Sims from first clicking the desktop TS2 icon

I like Sims 3 for the open world and horses. Modded Sims 2 to get something similar.

The Sims 4 should have more of a pet selection when they bring out pets, farm animals perhaps.

I think that TS4 was lost from the moment they decided to make it as a MMO. Later on they had their mind changed, etc. etc, but I believe it is a lost cause.

I also think that TS3 is the tragic one. It had a lot of great ideas but it's also the one in which dumbing down and corner cutting began. I still don't understand why they omitted so much stuff: e.g., libraries (that were not in TS2) were in the game from the very beginning, so why not playable clothing stores and bookstores and (possibly various types of, like in TS) restaurants? Why all those "pudding faces" - did they really believe they were looking good? And they did not think anything through. At least we had Twallan and other modders for that but even they could not put everything right. By now the game is quite enjoyable but it could have been one of the great ones, and not only in The Sims series.

I agree that TS3 isn't a bad game, but it's so frustrating to play, I just could never keep up with so many dramas in an open world, just couldn't be everywhere at once.

I have experienced TS2, TS3 and recently bought TS4. My first thought about TS4 is how limiting the styling selections were in the CAS. Maybe this is because I love having loads of options. Then there was the looks of the actual sims. It really didn't appear to me to be much of an upgrade. The other thing that I noticed was how tiny the world was. It made me feel a bit claustrophobic. Again my options were limited. I picked a house which I was meeeeehhh about but really didn't have the heart to play any further. I ended up with a serious case of buyers remorse. Maybe there will added things in the upcoming expansion packs that will make TS4 interesting but I have doubts about that. TS4 gave me a whole new appreciation for TS3. So I cast my vote for TS3 (although I really liked the TS2 and miss The Sims online).

So I played The Sims 4 when it first came out for about two weeks, and then again a few months ago for another two weeks. I like it, but I don't love it. I kind of want the new expansion pack to see how it will enhance game play, but I don't have the money so I'm not thinking about it.

I went back and started playing Sims 3 again about two weeks ago and I generally play it about an or hour so every other day, maybe a bit more, sometimes a bit less. I can't really explain why I feel like Sims 3 makes me feel like I'm building a family to play over generations while the Sims 4 feels like a game to play and win. Sometimes I'm in the mood for that but not really.

I will say that I love The Sims 4 building styles -- that you can easily make a room bigger, that you have decorated rooms. I think the building there is really great. I do like the multi-tasking.

I can say that I miss the hobbies, university life, and business from Sims 2. If I could have those in Sims 3 along with the building changes and the multi-tasking in Sims 3, I'd be a pretty happy girl.

But I wouldn't say The Sims 4 is a bad game. It's feels like it has different objectives and goals.

I started playing the sims a LONG time ago, back in S1 era. When the The Sims Pets was "cool".

I didn't really play TS2 a whole lot, but by the time it came out I had already switched to Linux, and it didn't work on Linux in wine correctly. So I can't really comment on a game I've not played a lot.

Fast forward to TS3, which did work quite well, it was a good game in general, just some serious memory usage issues and it was almost entirely dependant on mods such as NRass to be even playable for me.

TS4, I kinda like it because of a few noticeable good improvements, namely multi tasking, it runs a lot smoother on Ultra than The Sims 3 ever did, and it sits around ~2GB of ram usage even after hours of play, no where near the 3GB~ ram usage my Sims 3 would start from even just loaded, I would constantly have to exit and restart S3 to avoid it hitting 3.5GB, at which point it would be unable to save. This would usually happen within about an hours gameplay.

The multi tasking sims has got to be a favourite feature of mine, chatting while eating, chatting while doing anything, listen to radio and use computer, watch tv and eat etc etc. Very handy.

Now, I know that you have loading screens when switching lots, yup that can be a little annoying, but it is something the The Sims 1 and 2 had also. And with the Sims 3 I usually was only using one lot at a time anyhow as it would use up to much ram too quickly by switching a lot.

Although, the Sims 4 isn't totally current lot locked like the Sims 1 was. Where my lot is you can go across the street and there is a kids playgound where kids can play without needing a loading screen and you can control them, and any sims in the household without any loading screens.

I also now find my self actually playing the Sims to fill there needs again now, where in the Sims 3 I formed a habit where I would just drag the needs bars to full when they got low. So it has added a bit more challenge which is always good.

Next up building: Building in pre-Sims 4 games could be a hassle at times, specially if you added a basement after you've added a foundation to the building or already built the building, or if you want to add a foundation, make the whole building bigger/smaller etc etc. You'd have to do everything your self. Sure it would keep me occupied for longer doing so, but I would often find my self spending all my time in build mode rather than playing with the sims.

Sims 4 is a breeze, need a bigger room? drag it bigger, need to add a foundation? easy just drag the slider, etc. I much prefer the newer build system.

In general The Sims 4 presents more of a challenge game play wise, with relationships, work, skills, aspirations etc. So I always have something for my sim to do, in the sims 3 I didn't have that.

The Sims 4 certainly has some negative points though, many of which everyone knows about. Although, the big ones, such as no pools, no basements, no ghosts have since been fixed in recent patches, which is good.

I think my most negative thing would have to be the sheer lack of objects/clothing. But that's nothing CC cannot fix.

I'm just glad The Sims no longer stutter every time they go through a doorway. Talking of which another plus, no tapping feet, and multiple sims on a set of stairs to go up/down.

But, thats just my opinion.

PS: Yup my spelling and grammer has not been checked on this post :-P. Go ahead, grammar nazi me, I don't mind. :-P.

@iforgot -Thanks for your post. I found it very interesting about the ram usage.

Well my favorite to least favorite would be in this order: Sims 2>Sims 1>Sims 3>Sims 4.

Sims 1: Great for deviant Simmers, cool NPCs, and such a great godlike game.
Sims 2: Ultimate family game and smartest Sims of the series and game has a lot of depth.
Sims 3: Best for creating worlds, cool CAS, and CAST is great for putting your desired pattern and/or color with pretty much everything. The worlds are massive and amazing.
Sims 4: Well highlight is probably the demo. The rocket ship is cool although it is pretty much a rabbit hole. The basements are nice. Aliens I heard are cool. Basically it plays like a side with a lot of missing content and playstyles. Good game if you want a basic mobile style game and like following achievements like the Sims Castaway. It's basically a single Sim catered experience like the Sims Castaway. Collect stuff and earn random achievements and follow silly goals. The babies are objects like TS1 and there are no toddlers, so I wouldn't advise this if you like playing with 2+ Sims.

The Sims 1 was great, because you could actually start to control the lifes of human beings. That's the main big thing of Sims 1, as an improvement of something non existing. But I don't think it's fair to compare them with the other Sims, because there're no comparable prequels and the later editions have had the potential to be much better, both in graphics and gameplay. If you really think about it, Sims 1 was just very limited in all sorts of ways, but I still had so much fun with it. Yet you don't had any competition of earlier versions or any other ''real'' alternative.

Writing about it actually brings back all those memories: all those 8 people families I made of 8 mainly brothers, where everyone has to have their own career and sometimes one of them stayed at home for cleaning and cooking. In some cases I named the family members to their career and mostly all looking like Bob Newbie with their own personal mini houses (bed and bath rooms) and big house for kitchen, living room et cetera. One of them died on with a heart attack or something like that. A blond dude named Rick Blond as a varity on James Bond. He never succeeded in Superstar EP careers, btw. Mixing my own households with the premades. All those fights with burglars. The dozens of times I had to remove doors and walls from the toilets, because another Sim blocked the door way for another Sim peeing or shitting.

TS2 was the best for me. Such more options compared to TS1 and especially with the University EP (best Sims EP ever <3) I played zillions of hours. First game I've quit with those ridiculous households. All normal size and normal names. Never downloaded any CC or something, what I did for TS1 & TS4. No CC counts for TS3 as well, but I relatively hardly played this game, because I somehow could not get used to it's gameplay and didn't feel the same thing for my Sims, like I did in TS2 and still do in TS4. There I actually loved my creations (mostly my Sims wife is adorable) The open world is the only big thing in favour of TS3.

TS4 is just nice and playable enough for me. I like my Sims and with the mostly absence of TS3 I feel like I rediscovered the series. Of course, there are missing things here and there, but I can still play the game with enough interests. And I really enjoy things like more realistic chatting (less face to face) with realistic multitasking (watching the telly while sitting, chatting and eating). I would say TS2 (> TS1) > TS4 > TS3 in my game playing history.

I'm actually starting to get the impression that TS4 is not trying to be a successor to TS3 or TS2, but a successor to TS1 Base Game. When you compare TS4 to TS1 Base Game it feels like a true sequel, but compare TS4 to TS2 or 3 and it feels like a poorly designed spin-off. I guess it all depends on a persons perspective. Perhaps if a person was to look only at what the base game for TS1 featured, one would start to dislike its successors less.

Regardless, my heart will always be with the first game. It features an amazing soundtrack that perfectly complimented its graphical elements and visual style while retaining gameplay that is both addictive and massively entertaining. It also doesn't have any performance problems, and its challenging core design required the player to think and play strategically - all of the things that equate to a high quality game. Sure it lacked aging, foundations, CASt and all the other goodies, but what content and features it did have were all very well utilized to become what I'd call the perfect balance between game and simulator. I think some of the guys at modern Maxis need to reflect upon the concepts and design of first game and use that as the model of inspiration for what a Sims - or better yet - a Maxis game should strive to be.