I got a pear tree. I planted it....and uh....well....I like this game (despite the 32bit like graphics). Can I skin Grolf? I want a carpet. =8^)

[G-man Joe]

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>I got a pear tree. I planted it....and uh....well....I like this game (despite the 32bit like graphics). Can I skin Grolf? I want a carpet. =8^)</div>

[Lox]

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Yeah, I have a nice apple tree growing by the store. Just started fishing and paying off my debt for my first house expansion too. Woohoo. :)</div>

[EsquE]

<div style='font: 12pt Garamond; text-align: left; '>Not trying to start trouble, but can someone explain to me how this is so vastly different from The Sims?</div>

[G-man Joe]

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>I can see a lot of similarities with The Sims. You gotta work to payoff your mortgage. Mostly through treasure hunting and selling it off. Friends don't visit you, you visit them and the interaction is quite limited. There are no socializing points other than "Why don't you write?" (even though everyone is within walking distance).</div>

[Lox]

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>I have no idea. It kinda is, but it's not the Sims, therefore it's different. :)</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Play the game, and you'll realise that your question sounds kind of like "How is Halo different from Starcraft?" They are two completely different genre's, one is a simulation, the other is a role playing game.</div>

[G-man Joe]

<div style='font: 11pt "Fine Hand"; text-align: left; '>There are SOME similarities.</div>

[EsquE]

<div style='font: 12pt Garamond; text-align: left; '>Uhhh...a Sim and an RPG with no battles are pretty damn similar...heluva lot closer than comparing a FPS to an RTS...you say some really bizzarre shit sometimes...</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>No more simularities than there are between Halo and Starcraft.</div>

[Eric]

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>Ummmm, I'd say that statement is entirely false.</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>One game puts you in the place of someone watching over a family living in a House as they work and interact with the surroundings you build for them with the cash that they make, you have no direct control over anything. Animal Crossing is nothing like that, you are put in the role of character which you have direct control over. You get money by Hunting, Fishing, Harvesting, Trading, and performing services for others, or possibly simply by winning one of the many hundreds (or maybe thousands) of contests throughout the game. A major component to the game deals with communication and trade, through both human and non human players. Also being at the right place at the right time is a MAJOR part of Animal Crossing. Animal Crossing is a game which runs on a real time engine, The Sims runs like all the other maxis games, you control time hours can pass by in seconds.

In fact, the only real thing I see that they have in common is that you can buy furniture and put it where you want in your house, that is what the Sims surrounds pretty much, but is only a very small part of Animal Crossing, and also for a completely different purpose. The purpose for having anything in your house in the Sims is to increase and maintain several stats which allow your characters to live more efficient and productive lifestyles. Animal Crossing you have items in your House primarilly for storage purposes, the only reason you have anything is either to store usable items, because you think it might look nice (which has nothing to do with the actual gameplay as far as I know, it doesn't effect your character or anything else in the game in any way), to use for some sort of recreation (example, an NES to play games like Excitebike, Donkey Kong, Zelda, etc...) for fun, or because the item is rare and valuable (which ultimately is good for trading purposes). All items in your Animal Crossing Home you have direct control over. But Animal Crossing is a pure Role Playing game as it's a game about interactions and playing your role in a society, that is NOT what the Sims is about at all.

>>>you say some really bizzarre shit sometimes...

It only sounded bizzare because you were ignorant, now you know better. Your Welcome</div>

[EsquE]

<div style='font: 12pt Garamond; text-align: left; '>LoL...why do I bother...the core games you're describing are very similar with different bells & whistles is all...you really crack me up sometimes...</div>

[EsquE]

<div style='font: 12pt Garamond; text-align: left; '>And thanks to everyone else for actually answering my question...</div>

[Oracle]

<div style='font: bold 10pt ; text-align: left; '>Nothing against anyone, but I kinda agree with Seeker here... if ya just play it you'll know what he means. Fundamentally ok, SURE they have a bit in common, but putting them side by side I cant see putting them in the same genre</div>

[EsquE]

<div style='font: 12pt Garamond; text-align: left; '>Maybe they don't go in the same genre, but the person that has said the most about this game is saying that it is as far from the Sims as Halo is from Starcraft. I hated The Sims...just trying to get opinions from people other than Seeker before I waste any money on this game...</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Based on what grounds? Halo and Starcraft are generally both about fighting Aliens, are they not?</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Alright Esque you win, I say they're very different games from one and other, everyone who owns it agree's, obviously they MUST be the same.</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Bah! Ingrate I tell ya!</div>

[EsquE]

<div style='font: 12pt Garamond; text-align: left; '>No, everyone else is saying that there are many similarities, but that they are different kinds of game, which is what I wanted to know..you're the only one saying that they're as far removed as Halo and Starcraft, and everyone else that has it says that isn't true...</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>"everyone else is saying that there are many similarities, but that they are different kinds of game"

I think only G-man said that and he hasn't really played the game all that much yet, everyone else in the thread who has played the game agrees with me. They might have things which appear similar on paper like buying furniture, but they aren't used for the same purposes as I already explained several times before over the last week. IE. in Halo you can fight aliens with guns just like you can in Starcraft, but it's not the same, or for the same purpose. In Halo and Animal Crossing you have direct control over a single player. In Starcraft and the Sims you have indirect control over characters. In Halo and Animal Crossing you perform tasks to further advance your character, in the Sims and Starcraft you do not perform tasks the same, rather you give orders for the tasks to be completed.

If you had no concept of what an RTS or a first Person whooter was, it would probably be just as hard or harder to describe a difference between Halo and Starcraft than it would be between Animal Crossing and the Sims. Animal Crossing is probably nothing what you expect it to be, it's a genre of RPG that hasn't been touched before (except to some extent by Terranigma, Zelda MM, and Pokemon). Don't base Animal Crossing off of the Sims, it's pointless, it's like a person basing Halo (who hasn't played) on what they know about Starcraft. Rather it would be better to base them off of Harvest Moon and Zelda Majora's Mask, those two games are the closest. The trade and communication elements in Majora's Mask are very similar to Animal Crossing in some ways, and the way that you harvest things in Harvest Moon to sell on the market is very similar to some major aspects of Animal Crossing. Actually, I think one reason why Zelda MM and Animal Crossing would have things in common are because they were worked on by the same development teams. Treasure Hunting, can't really say where all of that came from, it's just something that is fundamental to all RPG's, like talking to people, buying and selling goods, and playing your role in the game.

Sorry for trying to explain things to you, but the Sims isn't really a game I would have ever chosen to compare Animal Crossing to simply because they are two different types of game. It would be much easier to compare it to Harvest Moon and Zelda: Majora's Mask.</div>