What Sims to buy?

I was about to buy the Sims 4 but the reviews say the Sims 3 is better. So I opened Origin and typed the Sims 3 and there were many games and packs I didn't know where to start? Is there like a base game to buy then you add the expansions if you want or how does this work?

 

Interesting... I also can't seem to locate the base game on Origin. There's one called The Sims 3 Starter Pack ( https://www.origin.com/irl/en-us/store/the-sims/the-sims-3), I have a sneaky suspicion this is it, although it states in requirements "Requires The Sims 3 to play"...
It is also available in Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/47890/The_Sims_3/
The Sims 3 Bundle there looks like OK deal.

The Sims 3 had/has, if I remember it correctly, three different types of expansions or DLC:
1) big DLCs like Seasons, Pets, etc. which add both new items and features;
2) "Stuff" packs which are just collection of items;
3) single piece item DLC you can buy from game launcher (unless you directly run game .exe, when you launch the game from shortcut first comes up The Sims 3 game launcher on which you then actually press play, this launcher also conveniently showcases these DLC items like various tiles, clothing, haircuts, etc.). Those used to be sold directly for cash, but now I see that it looks like they offer their ****ty currency as well - The Sims 3 SimPoints
There was also a big mod scene present for the games as well, I think major websites were modthesims/modthesims2/modthesims3 dot com. Some interesting stuff could be found there.

As for which ones to get, well, it's up to the person who plays it. Back in the day when I played it (yes, I played The Sims, shut up, I was actually kinda good at it, wish it was that easy IRL as well)

Spoiler

had a character created named Jack Headbanger. Dude was a complete badass! He aced university, could play guitar and drums like a mofo and had a great career in music, rose to the top from being a single roadie! My actual guitar collected dust at that time

I would go for something like Seasons, University and Pets as they seemed to add more useful features than gimmicks.

A bit of a rant

Spoiler

Interesting how EA milks the franchise. The very first The Sims game had Pets expansion, and then one would expect features from previous game expansions would be added as core features in the sequel... Nope! The Sims 2 had Pets expansion, then The Sims 3, and I have no idea about The Sims 4, but it's probably true as well. Same for a lot of other expansions...
I have played from 1 to 3, and all base games came out barebones (and as far as I gather The Sims 4 was extremely cut in content on release). Sure, they had some niceties added under the hood, but it could be cool if once in a while they would add some features from previous game expansion to its sequel, i.e. seasons. But no, gotta ride that gravy train I guess and continuously re-release same stuff in a new package...

 

Right, weird how it's on both Origin and Steam. I was only looking on Origin and it's confusing as heck there you don't know what to choose. On Steam it's very organized, they show you the packs and then the actual game or the full bundle: https://store.steampowered.com/app/47890/The_Sims_3/

I'll hold on buying it for now as it's a 50 bucks for the bundle, that's very expensive for such an old game so for now I bought My Time at Portia and my small 3.5 year old daughter is enjoying it.

 

bro buy shenmue 1 and 2 for 20 cad or 10 euros...3d version of sims with a story

 

Oh yeah, hate this. Activision is guilty of this as well. They still sell first Call Of Duty for 20 Euros and I don't think I ever saw it going very low during sales.

IDK, for a 3,5 year old The Sims seems to be a bit early, at least in my opinion. It's not a hard game, but it still requires some attention to keep the virtual humanz well, unless you want them to die in misery (I had a lot of those, even had a small graveyard in one of the households ), and I am not sure 3,4 year olds have that sort of attention. Though obviously kids may vary in their attention keeping abilities.

 

BTW I have The Sims 3 and the Sims 3 Pets. If I buy another expansion in the future for the Sims 3, would it like integrate into the game along with the pets or it's a different Sims 3 game altogether? like can I find the pets and something else in the same game progress I am in?

 

Yes. It's just like an add-on in any other game, it will add new features.