Re: Sims 4- Wishing it was like sims 3
by SheriGROriginal Post
@jessicamill-hoon @Dazzusmaximus There are many differences between Sims 3 & 4, but personally I cannot list the comparisons like many others here ( @PugLove888 would be great for this), but I can tell you that I personally did not click with Sims 3 like I did with 1&2, but I absolutely love Sims 4. If you are finding your Sims 4 a bit flat it is more my feeling that it CAN be played more simply, which works well for beginners and is preferred by many, but that is not all you can do. I will list just a few of the things that will 'spice up' your base game or your game play:
- Purchase expansions. They can ad an incredible amount of interest and depth of possibilities for play, depending on the particular pack and what it adds. Some expansions even add careers, skills and a lot of interesting options.
- Enter challenges. On the forums you can find many threads with gameplay or build challenges that can be very challenging. This also provides potential for interaction with other players, etc.
- Up your challenges in your households. If you play a large household, challenging career &/or financial goals, multiple households, out-of-household interaction/collection, etc. objectives it can increase your challenge level considerably.
- Buy / run a business. This one overlaps the expansion suggestion. With Get To Work you gain careers plus you can go to work with some of them, and you can build/purchase/run a retail business. You can even sell goods that you make in the business, which increases the challenge also. (ie: Garden produce, food you cook/bake, paintings, items made on the Woodworking Table, etc. - you can sell most tings there, or items from build mode added to the store. With Dine Out you can eat out interactively or you can build/purchase and run/manage a restaurant. With Cats & Dogs you can build/purchase/run/be a vet at a veterinary clinic.
- Gardening challenges. This one overlaps the expansion suggestion also. With the Seasons Expansion you are able to add many features that switch things up, including weather, gardening seriously, joining the gardener (botanist or flower arranging/florist career) career.
- Expanding on the 'gardening challenges' suggestion... I like to have a cook & florist then have them also have a valuable garden and build a business for them where they sell the produce and cooked/baked goods in a retail store (through the Lice Cold Freezer customers can purchase directly from the freezer with no need to check them out) and make flower-arrangements to also sell in the store. (I have several stores set up to work this way in my gallery that you can download and use if yo udon't want to build one.)
- Build. Many gamers enjoy creating lots, rooms or households for uploading to the community gallery for others to download.
Anyway, this is just a beginning list. Many really cool options come with the various packs and expansions, though. That's just how Sims 4 is set up. The up side of this is that you can build your game as you can afford to add packs and you don't have to pay for feature you don't want to use. For instance, I gradually added packs and expansions in this way, and many of them I added when they went on sale (they cycle through putting various packs/expansions on sale and you can see if something is on sale when you start your game in Origin). I now own almost all of them, but not Vampires since I have no interest in them, and I added them gradually in order of what featured things that I would enjoy most.
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@jessicamill-hoon& @Dazzusmaximus ,
yes there are other people who feel as you do, but there are others who feel the opposite. And then there are some who love both versions equally! 
I've played all versions of the Sims from the Original to Sims 4 and each one has something about it that I love. I recently saw a comment someone wrote on another site that pretty much sums up my wish list " take the graphics and design of Sims 4 with the play style of the Sims 2 and the innovations of the Sims 3, with a nice healthy dose of the quirkiness and unexpected surprises of Sims 1 and 2." My favorite version is TS2! 
I had to force myself to stop playing it. I would even miss meals and sleep (not something I do often!) because I couldn't stop playing TS2. Like you, some others have felt that way about TS3 and felt that TS4 was a bit of a let down, but that was my feeling about TS3. Don't get me wrong: I absolutely still loved TS3, but for the first time I felt that I wasn't having as much fun . ( I did love that CASt color/pattern wheel, though! 
) But this was even before my game ended up getting unbearable slow and then grinding to a halt! 
That was due in part because of the open world and my addiction to adding patterns and then making crazy amounts of color variations of them with the CASt wheel! 
By the end, with all the expansions and stuff packs, my game was almost unplayable.
They say that even cheaper computers now should be able to handle a game like TS3, but I don't know if this is true.
I hope so, because I think that would make a lot of people happy since TS3 was great in theory, even if it wasn't great in practice on everybody's computer. 
Some things I prefer about the TS4 is building is easier (but I want all the stair choices of TS3 and TS2, like spiral stairs, L-shaped stairs, switchback stairs, and curved stairs!). I also prefer TS4 for the more natural interactions, the ability for more than one sim to use a staircase at the same time, and the ability to multitask! In TS4 I love that I can have a Sim eat a meal while watching TV and talking to other Sims at the same time! That fulfills 3 needs at once; and if you have your Sim watch the Food Channel, they are also increasing their cooking Skill! :eahigh_file: I also prefer the toddlers and Vampires in TS4 over their TS3 versions!
@SheriGR has posted some great suggestions, so try those out if your haven't already! She mentioned most of the things I can think of, with the exception of playing with Mods/Custom Content (CC). I don't play with Mods/CC because it caused problems in my game in TS3. You do have to be careful because each time EA releases a update/patch, all of the Modders and CC creators have to update their items so that those work with the changes to the game. It means organization and upkeep, and I'm too lazy to do that! 
CC/Mods aren't for everyone, but if you have no objections you might them a try!
Basically, what @SheriGRmentioned about trying to run a business in your game can be looked upon as trying out different aspects of your game that you haven't used much. For example, I prefer large families (they can be quite challenging!) but if I want a change of pace I might make a Sims that is a serial dater (which I usually detest, but can be fun for variety). Others prefers serial daters and play large families for a change of pace! Another example is that last Summer I focused on experimenting with building a family consisting of an Alien and a Vampire and seeing how their family turned out genetics-wise 
Some people try to kill their Sims in every way possible; others try the 100 baby challenge. There is a playing style and a challenge for everyone! I usually play with Sims who try to be nice to others, but I always have at least one family who have horrible traits and that I try to play them in the opposite way from how I usually play.
But if you still prefer TS3 over TS4, that is fine too! Play that to your hearts content! And if there is going to be a TS5, perhaps that version will have the combinations of the best aspects of TS1, TS2, TS3, and TS4! 
Happy Simming!
