How do you define face structure? In sims2 almost all sims had the first face in CAS or were based on that one, yet everyone said they have a unique sim. There were details added with the help of skintones, yet still not much you could do to improve that. Now in Sims3 you get a lot more details for the face, and they look way more realistic. And regarding the box cover, I'm not talking about facial expression. There are also many sims whose picture appears more than once. But, if you look at each any every single sim that was posted, on the cover or on the official page, you'll see that they have different features. Not to mention that it's way easier to create look alikes of real people. Just look at the pics of the two people who went to the creators camp. I haven't seen LightSide's real picture so I cannot compare, but the sim of the lady from Simcredible does look like her, if a bit younger. You cannot do that in the Sims2 without many hours of tweaking or custom content. If you can make sims with nothing but basegame that resemble real people, then I'd say that yes you can make unique sims. Any more uniquenss than that is unnantural.

I just don't find the box cover Sims that unique, really.

No you're not crazy. The same thing has been bothering me from the beginning. I think it's because of the eye area and that general round-ish look. It's hard to explain. I do have seen some different looking males (although they too had this certain similarity) but I have yet to see an unique looking female.
Well... knowing how important looks are for sim players, it's possible that they have chosen to only show these "best" looking sims. However, I personally would like to see some "ugly" looking individuals too. That at least would convince me that I have a possibility to make some bizarre looking sims too, that the CAS options offer some variability.
I'll just wait and see what kind of sims people are able to create. I don't trust anythng EA shows and tells me beforehand.

I agree that the Sims 3 do look similar and bland. I've thought so from the first time I ever saw them but just couldn't quite put my finger on the exact reason. They just seem dull and too much the same. I think also that part of it may be the flat looking skin tones, and yeah, the eyes all look the same. The cheeks look the same. Maybe it is just that the ones in the pic from the original post were made by the same people, but even so, when I look at the videos on the website, they are still plain looking to me.

Also, reading that link to parsimoniousims does open your eyes a lot. That's coming from someone who has actually had their hands on the game.

Distinctive characteristics. That is what makes something unique. Sure, they all look a little different. Eyes closer on this sim, nose a little lower on that sim, different hair and eyes on this sim... but, as stated in Parsimonious' sims camp blog "...in practice even pushing the sliders to the extreme did not really produce particularly unique results. No doubt the faces are smoother and do animate better, but the essential nature of each Sim seemed to be very much the same."


We can't make distinctive differences. We can't make fairly large noses, eyes, thin lips, or anything that defies EA's lazy coding that only allows sims faces to animate correctly if there face parts are all in the same general area.

Well that really sucks. I always try to create unique individuals so this is a real disappointment to me.

And looking at your Sims page, you do have a lot of really cool and unique Sims. It's a shame to think Sim 3'rs won't be able to do this. I guess in the future they may make it more versitile and maybe modders will eventually be able to submit their creations into the game, but for now, I'm sticking with my Sims 2. They have come a long way and I don't understand the people that say they will play Sims 3 and abandon their Sims 2. Doesn't make sense to me.

Ok, guys, I just think some people are being unreasonable.

Here's a sim with a fairly big nose

http://www.snootysims.com/thesims3/...thesims3-97.jpg

And the LightSide sim has thin lips and even seems to have a cleft lip

http://thesims3.ea.com/view/pages/home.jsp

I am sure you'll be able to make plenty of unique sims.

Yeah, it certainly doesn't seem to me like the ability to customize faces are severely limited. I've seen Sims with all sizes of noses, different shaped eyes, different shaped mouths, round faces, skinny faces, etc. There are some similarities in the EA-made Sims but if you think about it, it's probably because there are the same 2 or 3 developers making all of the Sims that are used for modeling purposes. If you go and take a look through promo pictures and videos for TS2 you'll notice a lot of the Sims look pretty similar there, too.

I think people should really try harder to seek out information on their own instead of relying on things that get posted in these threads. The information you get is only as good as the person who gives it to you, and you don't necessarily know where people are getting their information from here. I think a lot of the crazy rumors and misconceptions that have flown around about TS3 (no expansion packs! You can't change the shape of their eyes! There are no need bars!) have come from people circulating the same stories over and over again and everyone blindly believing what they read.

I wouldn't use the two photos in that link as an example of how unique Sims can look. Those two Sims look very similar! In fact, it was those Sims that inspired this topic, because I knew they were supposed to resemble different people but there is still something about them that doesn't scream "different people" at me. In fact, it looks like a before and after of a sex change. :nod:

Lol. The girl has a heart shaped face, full lips, delicate jaw line, sloped eyebrows, and the boy has square face, thin lips and really strong jaw line and arched eyebrows. How can that be described as a sex change is beyond me. Please describe what you understand by unique. So far it seems that sims with exagerated features would fall into that category. Frankly, I wouldn't describe that as unique at all.

I wish I could explain it my friend, but I cannot. Clearly I can spot their differences but they still don't look to me like fresh and individual "people" as the Sims in our picture threads on this forum appear. Anyway, it's not my mission to convince you or anyone else that they look alike. When I get my hands on the game I'll hopefully find that I can make Sims who don't appear to have been moulded by the same sculptor from the same clay. So to speak.

Well I only use maxis skins with rensim face mask and i have some unique sims. :/

Maybe because they both have a clean, healty look, which is something I cannot say about most of the sims posted in the picture threas.

Now .. people are being bit unfair ..

I don't wanna be mean people but loko at the custom content sims that are not based off celebrities or real people.

As much as you want to believe that your sims are unique and special .. they pretty much all look similar.

I think it's only natural they we create sims that are close to what we prefer to look at.

If one person created the many sims on the cover then I think it's logical that they would look alike.

I'm not talking comparing the sims to CC Sims2 sims. I have CC hair, but no skin. I don't design my own sims or download others - all are born in-game. But all the Sims3 sims do look a lot alike to me. It's just a sameness about them. A roundness, especially (which isn't my favorite look, anyway), and a smooth, clay-y look, too.

My S2 sims have cartoony skin, of course, but it doesn't bug me (possibly because I'm used to it). Aside from the defaults, and the Hart kids, I've never really thought any of my Sims2 sims looked alike.

And for me, ever since I first saw them, the sims 3 sims do look alike. I probably wouldn't notice it so much, except I don't like the way the look. Don't think I've seen a single one that I actively like, and only one or three that I don't dislike. I hate that round look, and I think every single sim I've seen has had that look.

I definitely hear what some of you are saying. There's something doughy about the Sims 3 facial features, and face shape/width/chub of each individual sim doesn't seem to change that. It's weird, it's an almost intangible same-y quality that I can't put my finger on and yet I've noticed it since the first few screens started coming out. In time there may be a way to get around that.

ETA- From the Parsimonious article: "On the plus side, it is easier to create more realistic looking Asian Sims, something that was a problem in Sims 2." Creating rounded, smoother features or wider faces in Sims 2 was pretty tough. There was one template that was useful (don't recall what #), but the rest were way too angular. Interestingly, the Sims 3 look is exactly that... smooth and round, but even the thin-faced sims have hardly any clean sharp angles from what I've seen.

I don't see any particular same-y-ness to The Sims 3 characters. I love the way they look. They are soft and fresh looking. What are you talking about? They all have different features. I think they just have similar face shape(probably using templates). Some have sharp noses some have upturned pixie noses. Some have round eyes and some have angular. Some people have strogner jaws and some have weaker omes. *Shrug* I see the difference it's just not as exaggerated.
I guess I'm one of the very few that didn't like the look of the sims 2 they were to stiff and expressionless for me. These sims have expression and personality you can see it in their pictures. I like the roundness and the almost clay-ish as you called it skin. I'm not seein the Blah-ness you are seeing. I have always preferred round as it seems more natural to me than the sharp angles.

Seems like no matter what EA does there will be an overwhelming amount of people who find a flaw. That picture of the five or so "ethnic women" looks pretty damn great to me. Sure, they all have heart shaped faces, BUT THEY LOOK LIKE AN ACTUAL ETHNICITY! Tell you what, I am just glad all the men have normally shaped noses and cheek bones. There are SO many other things to be complaining about...and NOT just The Sims 3 based.

momicajack - Thank you for the nice comment

Well, yeah... of course people are going to complain. I never was entirely happy with the CAS options in TS2 (mainly with the eye area and especially eyebrows which in my opinion don't allow enough editing) so I think it's just natural that I expect more from the new game. I know that it can't be perfect or please everyone so usually I just accept the flaws and hope for the better in the future.
However, in TS3 they seem to have taken a focus on things which don't meet my personal preferences. They seem to aim more and more towards realism which is something I don't really care about because it tends to reduce the number of options (no elf ears for example).
I don't mean by this that I think TS3 sims look completely rubbish or something. No, the possibilities just don't seem to meet my personal expectations... and yeah, I admit that I often tend to have a pretty strange taste. I sometimes like to give them character by making them look always angry, suprised, tired or something. These kind of facial features would look rather bizarre in real life but I like to do this in the Sims.


Now that's what I'm talking about. I want to see more TS3 sims like this. It doesn't mean that I would want exactly similar looking sim in my game but seeing pics of these more radical individuals shows us what we are really able to do. That it IS possible to create something more bizarre, that it's not so limited because honestly, I haven't really seen any "eye-catching" TS3 sims around. It makes me feel happy that I am allowed to tweak these details and create that "ugly, unhealtly looking sim with exagerated features". To me it's all about diversity, that I can create as different looking neighbours I want (but not to go overboard of course).

However... while TS3 doesn't (yet) seem to meet all my expectations when it comes to customizing options, that's still only a minor gripe and definitely not something which would stop me from buying the game if it's otherwise good. To me the most important thing is the gameplay and a possibility to create sims who actually act like individuals, who have some REAL personality.

I don't like the way the sims 3 looks more cartoony then the sims 2. The reason I love TS2 is because of how real it can sometimes look. Whereas TS3 looks like its been made for a younger generation...I don't know why.

But EA were always gonna have a hard time living up to a already fantastic game. I think because they know what all the custom content creators have done with the Sims 2, they are more working on the actual playing and interactions of the game, not the sims themselves.

I totally get what you're saying, Thrior. They all do look like Barbie dolls ... or Mary Poppins (practically perfect in every way). I, too, would like more "diversified" sims. I don't want them all looking like something out of a Teen Spirit commercial. I thikn they were just try to appeal to a younger audience or something. I'm sure you'll be able to create different sims to your heart's content ... at least ... I hope we will be able to.

Wow am I the only one who like the way they look? I had no idea the response to the new TS3 look was so negative. I expected at least some people to like it. I guess I'm the odd one out.

I think that the thing that makes them all look alike is a combination of the face's general shape and the eyes. The eyes are all shaped the same. The only difference is the spacing and some are slanted or squinty, but they're all the same shape.

The sims do look like they're made of clay. They remind me of the characters in shows like Moral Orel, like that clay stop-motion look. I was hoping they'd look more realistic, like the characters in Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors or GTA IV. They look realistic, but enough like video game characters where it doesn't look like a live action movie or show. I hope that makes sense.

here's one of the few Sims I've seen that looks unlike the others:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simprograms/3266091791/
In contrast here is a "new" Sim that looks far from "new":
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simprograms/3266091865/
^ Borrring...



There were a number of people in this thread who claimed to be satisfied with Sim appearances so you're not the odd one out, just in the minority.