lets talk about the Sim games

[gbpxl]

The Sim games were a big part of my life growing up. Sim City 2000, SimSafari, SimTown, SimPark, SimAnt, and SimTower. I have to admit that SimTown was my favorite. I liked that there was a lot more detail than in Sim City 2000. It almost felt like a zoomed in Sim City. Pacing was a little slower which I enjoyed.

Sim City 2000 I recently went back and played and man what a genius product that was. The background music was outstanding. to this day I still throw on a Youtube video of the OST now and then. I really liked reading the newspaper articles that popped up now and then. Really witty and clever stuff.

These "God simulators" I feel kinda paved the way into Farmville and similar apps of the 2010s but these games came out before microtransactions and what not and it was all about the gameplay.

I never made anything worth talking about but it was always fun to just keep a balance with everything going on in the game. I dont think I beat a single one of these games.

Its interesting that The Sims is the only series to survive after all these years. I am curious as to what degree Maxis and Yoot Saito are still involved with the games or with the industry in general. I wonder what they did after making all those games

[Jorpho]

You'd think it would be a no-brainer for EA to bundle up the old games and stick them on Origin. I'm sure they'd make plenty of money from people wiling to add them to their backlogs with no intent of actually playing them.

I wonder if all hope for SimRefinery is truly lost?
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/digqau/anyone_have_simrefinery/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimRefinery

Anyway, Will Wright is still doing stuff, at least, or so it seems.
https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-proxi-the-new-game-from-the-sims-creator-will-wright-uses-your-memories-its-so-creepy-8588902

[ArcadePerfect]

SimCity 2000 is one of the most revolutionary, brilliant games of all time imo. Agree on the music and newspaper articles. The Sims was an outstanding breakthrough, gained a mainstream casual audience so it's not too surprising it's still doing great business today.

[Edmond Dantes]

Ever gotten kicked out of office by an angry mob led by your own mother?

I've personally only played Simcity, 2000 and 3000.... I've seen videos about the various others, including The Sims, but I never had much interest.

My favorite is Simcity SNES. It may not be the most in-depth, but the music and graphics hold a special nostalgia for me. Sometimes I turn it on just to see that title screen.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I love Sim games, especially the ones from the early-mid 2000s. I started off with SimTown in 1997, when I was 4 years old. I still play SimCity 4 to this day. Many say it's too difficult and complex but if you get the Rush Hour expansion pack (or Deluxe Edition) and play it on easy mode it's perfect. To put it in perspective, the day I got SimCity 4 I was in the BACK seat of my mom's car because I wasn't old enough to sit in the front, now I'm 27 still playing the same game. It has loads of creative freedom and that's why I love this genre - the creative freedom. I also played The Sims 2 for many years (2004-2015) until my new computer could no longer run it. I built huge, lavish mansions in the Sims 2, that was a lot of fun. Beyond that, I got almost a decade out of SimCity 3000 and played it concurrently with 4 for several years. I have played SimCity 2000 and SimCity on SNES but by the time I was old enough to really figure out how to play SimCity, 3000 was already out. I enjoyed SimCity Societies to some extent but it was a major drop in quality over 4, and being a late-2000s EA game, developed running issues on my computer. I also loved Spore until it, again, crapped out after a couple years.

I enjoy SimCity SNES. It's not as complex as 2000, 3000 or 4, but for 1991 (really 1989, as that's when it first came out on PC) it's beyond impressive. Of the "classic" SimCity games (original through 4), 2000 is the only one that seems somewhat pointless in today's world, it was awesome in the '90s but today, 3000 gives pretty much the same experience as 2000 but with more polish.

I've always wanted to go back and play some of the '90s titles like SimTower and SimAnt.

The lone Sim game I've found that was bad was the 2013 SimCity. They dumbed it down way too much, implemented very heavy-handed DRM, and released a broken, buggy piece of crap. I waited for that game for years and then got it at launch. I think I saw the poor reviews but held out hope, thinking it might be another Driv3r, as in a badly reviewed game that turns out fun. Nope. It was another Sonic '06, a badly reviewed game that ends up even worse than the reviews say it will. Not to mention it was rated E10 but to play it, you had to register online which required you to be 13 or older. Imagine if a bar had a sign that said 21+ but once you got in, the bouncer checked your ID and made sure you were at least 25. Even though I was 20 at the time - well beyond the 13+ "hidden" age limit - I was disgusted. I played a lot of SimCity when I was 10-12 and I hate hidden age limits. E10 means there should be nothing stopping someone from playing the full game on their 10th birthday.

[Slate]

I played most everything that was available up to 2005. I stopped after a few expansion packs for The Sims 2.

Sim Copter and Streets of Sim City are now playable on Windows 10, with "Patches" from Alekasm:

http://simcopter.net/

http://www.streetsofsimcity.com/

Sim Copter and Streets of Sim City are unique to the Sim franchise in that you can use Sim City 2000 maps in each game. Sim Copter is simply about doing missions around a city (Extinguishing fires, catching criminals, MedEvac missions, transport, rescue missions, etc.) Streets is a crappy (but mostly enjoyable, IMHO) B movie grade game where you go on one of several 1970s TV show career paths. Both games feel cheap in a way, and you're definitely not gonna get realistic physics for the cars is Streets, but I can't help but enjoy them. Streets is still playable online, if you use Hamachi and the LAN option.

EDIT: Apparently, Streets isn't yet playable online.

Both Sim Copter and Streets are still playable on Windows 10, though. You do need to use some "Patch" programs that Alek made, though. Here's the patch site for Sim Copter.

http://www.simcopter.net/

- Austin

[Edmond Dantes]

Of the "classic" SimCity games (original through 4), 2000 is the only one that seems somewhat pointless in today's world, it was awesome in the '90s but today, 3000 gives pretty much the same experience as 2000 but with more polish.

Objection! 3000 doesn't have reticulating splines! ;)

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Objection! 3000 doesn't have reticulating splines! ;)

Is that like Blast Processing for Sim games?

[Edmond Dantes]

Is that like Blast Processing for Sim games?

You'd have to ask Will Wright. All I know is that 2000 likes to declare "reticulating splines" whenever you start a new city, so I can only assume its some amazing godly technology that for some reason is exclusive to 2000 ;)

[gbpxl]

its also in the loading screen for The Sims

[jb143]

You'd have to ask Will Wright. All I know is that 2000 likes to declare "reticulating splines" whenever you start a new city, so I can only assume its some amazing godly technology that for some reason is exclusive to 2000 ;)

Supposedly someone did ask him, as there are a ton of references out there to Will Wright saying in an interview that it was just a joke and a phrase he came up with because it sounds cool. However, I can't find the interview anywhere, or no reference to the actual interview, only people rehashing the same claim that it was in an interview.

[Mad-Mike]

My Sim xxx Nostalgia begins with Sim City (the original) and ends with The Sims 2 or 3. I remember always having to play these games at a friend's house when they were new because my family was too "poor" to own a computer at the time (there's some personal stuff behind that I don't want to get into). Once I started messing around on fourth hand PC systems in the early 2000's, it became pretty much customary to install Sim City, Sim City 2000, Sim Tower, Sim Ant, A-Train, and Sim anything else on them that would run.

TBH, any game where you build stuff is pretty much game for me, because I like building stuff in real life as well (guitars, computers, electronic stuff, working on my car, etc).

I'd say the ones that stick with me the most are Sim City 2000, Sim Tower, and The Sims 2. Sim City 2000 being because of it's more complex infarastructure management, I've pretty much figured out how to "game" the game in the original Sim City (ie 8x industrial, 6x residential, 4x commercial - rinse and repeat, and make sure to start that railroad track EARLY, then run the game on something silly fast - like a 486 DX4, and let it run all night on no disasters annd auto-budget - you'll be able to build a sprawling metropolis in no time with that strategy).

The Sims were a bit weird. I never really enjoyed playingg out the lives of my sims so much as I enjoyed building out houses. There was a period of time I was using The Sims 2 for "virtual actors" for music videos for my own compositions and a cover or two but people found this stuff CREEPY. I still enjoy the Original and it's a bit of a subject for "system requirement smearing" on my old systems. I kind of enjoy, sometimes, more using it as a torture chamber of sorts for SIms created in likeness of people I can't stand - mostly I use The Sims 2 for that.

[Gametrek]

The only thing I liked about the SIMS in the late days was all the XXX skins and other actions. Like getting them high. SIMS online was an XXX parade. It even got noticed on the news.

My friend had SIMS and a house of two people attempting to get it on.

That is it for the SIMS series.

SIMS2 I used to take pictures of a house for my drafting class. We had to go around the neighborhood and take pictures of houses and rebuild the houses via Autocad. I had a copy of 2004 which was the same program basically.

SIMS 2 and SIMCITY 2000 ( or is it 4000 ) you could use the items from SIM CITY in SIMS 2.

[Jorpho]

I wonder if all hope for SimRefinery is truly lost?
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/digqau/anyone_have_simrefinery/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimRefinery

Since this thread has been bumped I might as well take a moment to mention that all the secrets of SimRefinery were indeed cracked wide, wide open not so long ago.
https://obscuritory.com/sim/simrefinery-recovered/