How exactly do the expansions work in The Sims 3?

[The Crimson Emo]

I'm really hoping someone could clear this up for me. I've traditionally always played the Sims games on consoles so I never really got into the expansion packs that PC users are accustomed to, but I'm planning to give the PC version of The Sims 3 a try now that I have a decent gaming PC that can easily handle, well pretty much everything I've thrown at it so far.

But being used to only playing the sims on consoles up until this point, I'm honestly scratching my head as to how the expansion packs work with this.

With the Xbox 360 version of the Sims 3, the whole game takes place in one location where as the Sims 3 Pets is the same game but in a completely new location with new features, objectives and so on.

But one of the main selling points of the PC version is that the game takes place in one big always active town as opposed to small chunks of a town separated by into areas by lengthy loading screens.

Basically what I'm asking is, do these expansion packs simply add new features to the main game, add new locations to the main game or are they completely separate games altogether that simply need the main game to load from? (Similar to how GTA The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony were originally built to run off of GTAIV despite being separate games in and of themselves.)

I'm genuinely curious how this works but the DLC offers little information about it.

[marstinson]

Short answer: yes, yes, and kind of, but not really.

Long answer: Yes, expansion packs add new features to the basic game. Each one adds something different, but that's essentially what they do (along with clothes, hair styles, and stuff). Think of them as being giant mods to the base game and you're not too far off.

Yes, expanion packs add new locations to the base game. There are a couple that don't (Generations pops to mind first), but these are just other towns in which you can play the base game. They don't do much to places like Sunset Valley (the base game's town) other than let you add new venues if you want them, but they don't replace them, either.

They aren't completely separate games (unless you're counting the new towns as separate games), but they do kind of behave like the two expansions to GTA IV in that they expand upon the base game's mechanics and engine. But since TS3 tells the story that you want to tell rather than the one the devs are trying to tell you, they're not like those two, either. Again, it's probably easier to think of them as being really big mods rather than overhauls.

[bikethor]

You could youtube the sims expansions to see what they look like.

I'd say it adds things to the existing game ..

I wanted to be able to drive a boat on the lake, so I purchassed Isla Paradise expansion which allows you to own and operate boats.

Having a boat does not really change the game for me, but it's better than not having a boat.

The pets expansion gives you a pet creator .. I like dogs and cats so that's a really cool feature to me.

[The Crimson Emo]

Originally posted by marstinson:

Short answer: yes, yes, and kind of, but not really.

Long answer: Yes, expansion packs add new features to the basic game. Each one adds something different, but that's essentially what they do (along with clothes, hair styles, and stuff). Think of them as being giant mods to the base game and you're not too far off.

Yes, expanion packs add new locations to the base game. There are a couple that don't (Generations pops to mind first), but these are just other towns in which you can play the base game. They don't do much to places like Sunset Valley (the base game's town) other than let you add new venues if you want them, but they don't replace them, either.

They aren't completely separate games (unless you're counting the new towns as separate games), but they do kind of behave like the two expansions to GTA IV in that they expand upon the base game's mechanics and engine. But since TS3 tells the story that you want to tell rather than the one the devs are trying to tell you, they're not like those two, either. Again, it's probably easier to think of them as being really big mods rather than overhauls.

I see, so its just expanding on the main hub world rather than acting like completely seperate games that need the main game to load up.
Thats all I wanted to know really. Thanks a lot! =)

[The Crimson Emo]

Originally posted by bikethor:

You could youtube the sims expansions to see what they look like.

I'd say it adds things to the existing game ..

I wanted to be able to drive a boat on the lake, so I purchassed Isla Paradise expansion which allows you to own and operate boats.

Having a boat does not really change the game for me, but it's better than not having a boat.

The pets expansion gives you a pet creator .. I like dogs and cats so that's a really cool feature to me.

I see what you mean. I might just go for everything. Better to go in guns blazing and have the full experience! =D