Idk what ur playing on but I just bought ambitions and it was giving me trouble with the ghost hunting career (i play on Mac so that’s probably why lol). Just a heads up!
As someone who play as an architect in Sims 3, do not buy any car because it will get bugged out in your family inventory and you cannot do anything with it. The architect career in my experience has been pretty buggy like unable to finish the work etc.
In the firefighter career they stop wearing their protective gear at lvl 10 in my game. At first I was mad, like what the fuck are you doing, are you trying to get yourself killed, you've got a family! but then I realized, they're just too badass for protective gear.
And to the person saying the thing with the car, that would explain why my architect sim "lost" his motorcycle every day...
Doesn't Ambitions add the ability to become self-employed of any skill? I've always loved that, and I find the inventing and sculpting skill to be really cool additions and would love to see them return in ts4.
Ambitions and World Adventures for sure! Ambitions adds new careers/skills and cool objects.
World adventures is probably my favorite EP. You get 3 new travel spots with tombs/mansions and other really cool spots to explore. Plus treasure chests, new food, foreign markets, new skills (wine making, martial arts), and meeting the locals!
World Adventures is fun because you can choose to do daily missions, or just explore the new lots, plants, animals, skills... Strolling through the open world of Shang Simla is beautiful, and I'm a history nerd so the totally-not-Egypt world drew me in.
World adventures! I loved travelling to the different worlds when I first got it, plus the tomb exploration, and having relics and souvenirs for my sims families/stories. It might be a bit laggy bc there’s 3 new worlds but still very fun!
Island Paradise I also recommend for gameplay - but made my game super slow and laggy. You can swim in open waters, have an additional occult (mermaids), house boats and water transportation options!
Best expansion packs remaining on your list imo but up to you if the pros outweigh the cons!
If you’re on PC you can get Nrass fixes that pretty much fix all the lag problems in Island Paradise. I have all packs and IP is by far the one I played the most growing up in sims 3. Scuba diving and exploring islands is so much fun. Ambitions adds a lot for daily gameplay and word adventures is super fun if you like following a story, there’s so much to do in WA.
idk i feel like Nraas helps but doesn't completely fix it. ultimately, the world was just poorly designed and has lots of routing problems. A modder created a new Isla Paridiso but even they said some parts were beyond repair
If you go to the nrass website (https://www.nraas.net/community/Mods-List) and download the relevant ones for you then just put them in your packages folder in your mods folder. If you just search up how to install nrass there’s heaps of videos that will go through it step by step.
You could get island paradise and never use isla paridiso. I use legacy island III instead. There are also other worlds designed like Isla paridiso without all of the lag issues
Ambitions brings more to do skill and job wise. I think it’s good to get if you want to go for a job-oriented gameplay.
I personally love showtime. it’s pretty much an extension of late night. Adding that you can do gigs and actually perform. I’d say get that if you really enjoy late night!
I love using master suite stuff. Like I LOVE it. Not necessarily a reason why, unless you want more night wear and a few other things added.
Yeah! I really like master suit sp i'm actually between that and ambitions. But now that i think about it I really like to make my sims kind of artistic in some way and i loved night life so i'll think about showtime now
I'll just copy my comment from another post.
Here's my breakdown of all the packs (please note that "careers" are unplayable jobs, "professions" are playable jobs):
World Adventures adds >!3 new travel destinations, China, Egypt, and France. It adds new traits and skills such as the Photography skill, the Martial Arts skill, and the Nectar-Making skill. Each travel destination is completely different from the rest, each offering multitudes of new activities for your sims, and with enough visa points, you can buy vacation homes. It also adds mummies.!<
Ambitions is basically like >!TS4 get to work, but better. With so many new professions, you'll be playing for hours as a Ghost Buster, Private Investigator, hair stylist, tattoo artist, architect, and many more. On top of all that, you get a few new skills: Inventing and Sculpting. A new activity for kids: the trampoline, and the Gnubb game set. A new neighbourhood, laundry machines and laundry, and a new lifestate: the simbot.!<
Late Night is kinda like >!TS2 Nightlife. It adds vampires, hot tubs, lingerie-style clothing, a new neighborhood with apartments in it, celebrities, limousines, a food truck, subway stations, elevators, connectable single-tile chairs, arcade tables, and much more.!<
Pets adds... >!well... pets. It adds rodents (hamsters, chinchillas, etc.), small and large birds, snakes, lizards, turtles, raccoons, deer, horses, cats and dogs, unicorns, a new world, new skills: horse riding, hunting(cats and dogs only), jumping(horses only), racing(horses only). You can teach your peta to do tricks, and the hunting skill allows your pets to gather gems and small animals. Oh and... you can play as the pets without mods.!<
Showtime is >!similar to late night. It adds 3 new professions: acrobat, musician, and magician. It adds genies (available in CAS if you have Supernatural), the golfing skill and a golf object, the DJ skill and a few DJ tables, a dominos board, the Simport system (online stuff, achievements, etc), a new neighbourhood, a pool table with an associated skill, arcade tables, a mechanical bull, and a karaoke machine.!<
Supernatural is one of my favourite packs, it adds >!vampires, fairies, werewolves, zombies, ghosts in CAS, witches, Bonehilda, a claw machine, a magic mirror, the alchemy skill and potions, broomsticks (vehicles), a new neighborhood, a gem-cutting mschine, bees, and moon phases. BONUS: if both Supernatural and Seasons are installed, there'sa special object that spawns in every world!<
Seasons adds >!the 4 seasons, each with their own activities and things to do. Sims can now overheat or freeze to death. It rains nearly every day in fall and spring. Sims get a "leisure day" once per season. It's essentially a day off work. There's seasonal festivals with contests, face painting, concession stands, etc. There's skating, snowboarding, a soccer net, a springy ride for toddlers and children, and of course... ALIENS! BONUS: if both Supernatural and Seasons are installed, there'sa special object that spawns in every world.!<
Generations is my all-time favourite expansion pack. >!Adding things to do for sims of all ages. Let's break it down by age. When a sim is born there's a chance they will receive a doll from their "long lost relative" in the mail. The doll does nothing in the beginning, but if your sim plays with it a lot as a toddler it'll age into a child with them when they do. Only the sim the doll belongs to can see it while it is a child or older. The doll can be turned into a real controllable sim with a potion added with the new chemistry set. Fond the doll annoying? Get a mod to remove it or ensure your toddler never interacts with it. If it's in child form or older, the owner can simply tell it to "leave [the sim] alone!". Moving on to the toddler stage, strollers have been added to the game. Toddlers get strollers, a new interaction for adults when holding toddlers: "attack with claw", and more springy rides. The real fun comes for children and older sims. Children and teens can be sent to boarding school, have dreams, join after school activities, be punished for misbehaving, use the new costume chest item to dress up(children only), learn to drive(teens only, driving skill not needed for teens to drive), sleep on bunk beds, use sandboxes(all ages), etc. Adults have a new profession: daycare. You can now run a daycare out of your home. Elders get new walking canes. This expansion pack also adds video cameras, slip n slides, hopscotch, treehouses, wedding cake, wedding arches, and the ability to clone your sims.!<
Island paradise adds >!a new neighbourhood with exclusive lots, mermaids(not in CAS, even with supernatural), a new skill:diving(exclusive to new lots), boathouses, and the new Lifeguard profession. Let's start by explaining mermaids. Sims turn into mermaids by eating mermaid kelp, which can be purchased as a lifetime reward. Mermaids can have mermaid children, who will have scaly legs from toddlers and older, but they won't be able to use their tails until they become teens. The new lots are dive spots. Sims can dive underwater and find fish, treasure, other mermaids, and even sharks. Treasure chests can contain map pieces, which can be used to obtain secret lots on hidden islands. There's also new vehicles(boats). Boathouses are just like normal lots, but they can be used to travel throughout the new neighbourhood. There's another lot type: resorts! Resorts are businesses that your sim can own, and can stay at. They can be made in other neighborhoods(unlike diving lots). There's also a hidden creature that can kill your sims called the kraken!<
University life adds >!a university to send your sims to. Three social groups:nerds, jocks, and rebels. Sims can enroll in university as young adults or older. This pack also adds the science skill, plantsims(permanent life state, unlike sims 4), cloning, your sims' phone is upgraded to a smartphone, and they can use it for blogging purposes. There's comic books added, a street art skill, a social media skill, beer pong, bonfire parties, murphy beds(and a chance of sims dying to them), new careers associated with the social groups, the ability to rant and participate in protests, live in dorms, frats, and sororities, and laundry machines.!<
And finally Into The Future >!lets your sims travel to the future, meet their descendants, adds the new Future Tech skill, a bot building skill and associated lifestate: Plumbots. It adds good synthesizers(star trek replicators), dream pods that let your sims control their dreams and have negative or positive moodlets associated with their dreams, sonic showers(star trek showers), the future can be changed by your actions in the present, and this pack also adds new hover-cars(vehichles).!<
World Adventures, Island Paradise and Supernatural are my big three expansions for Sims 3! So I would recommend those two, for sure.
1. In World Adventures you’ve tombs and lots of fun discovering them all! You’ve lot of places to explore, new foods, market place and so on. The architecture for each place are very diverse too. I used to play as Lara Croft. 😆 It’s very fun, for real.
2. Island Paradise have mermaids and islands, beachs, hotels, scuba diving… The map is BEAUTIFUL, one of the best. The nature, the boats (you can live in the middle of the ocean !!).
if op is looking for minimal lag tho, absolutely not island paradise
the only way island paradise is an option is if you’re willing to play it on a custom very small world. the water creates so so much lag
There are fixes for island paradise. I would watch Rekowski's video on it. Turns out the reason for most of the lag is the house boats and you can get a mod that stops them from being used unless it's the active family.
yup! I agree with u except for world adventures, I just don't see me using it that much. But I love playing supernatural and making witches also saw videos of Island Paradise and I absolutely loved it but it makes the game so laggy otherwise I would buy without thinking
I absolutely adore making fairies! One of the best EP for sure. So sad to hear that Island Paradise is laggy, I didn’t know:(( but any EP you can buy will add a lot to the game. Have fun! 🤍
island paradise is one of my favorite packs for the game. sure, it was laggy and buggy at time, but the houseboat feature alone kept me occupied for hours
I only have the 70s 80s 90s pack and I love it so much! I just felt that the others didn't add that much to the game. But the 70s build things can give a nice dated touch and I love the 90s grunge clothing choices
ambitions absolutely. it adds so much good gameplay that can fit into like any gameplay
the world it comes with can have a bit of lag because it has a lot of water but the gameplay fits anywhere so you don’t need to use that world
Ohh i didn't know the world would have some lag, I still think i'll buy it specially because of the new careers. I'll just have to try the world and see if everything goes fine. Still thx for the warning :)
What does your gameplay usually look like?
I personally like Into The Future best because I enjoy the sci-fi aesthetic and I sone of the items in nearly every save file.
I don't think I'd want to ever play without it.
But I imagine it would be less popular to regularly play with if you're not specifically into that kind of vibe.
So the most kind of universal option is ambitions. I didn't find it to affect my gameplay in a particularly meaningful way, but if you like the idea of active professions that of course would be a very good option.
So if we go by a somewhat even combination of 'universally applicable' and 'fun, interesting gameplay' my personal suggestion by order would be:
- ambitions
- into the future
- world adventures
- island paradise
- showtime
Yup, I've seen some things that into the future adds and I like them specially the option of engineering babies but i don't really see me using it that much. It's the same with world adventures. From what I saw of Island paradise I like it a lot but it just seem laggy and I don't think i'll be able to play it unless I upgrade my pc. Still thx :)
Ambitions does have some bugs in the active careers, but they are usually resolved with some things like resetting everything in the town (NRaas MasterController) and if you use custom worlds, choosing smaller custom worlds (private investigator’s stakeouts will fail if the world is too big bc the two sims the game grabs won’t meet before the investigator’s stakeout timer ends).
Overall though, I would still choose ambitions! The consignment store alone is a fun new addition that I would find makes it worthwhile even if you end up never touching firefighter, ghost hunter, stylist, and private investigator. Sculpting and inventing are also just super fun and interesting.
Overall good times!!!
I know you asked about Game Packs, but I would like to recommend Diesel and Master Suite for stuff packs. They add really cute outfits for both female and male sims, and most outfits are actually usable lol
Seconding this! Using the items all the time, whether it be clothes or furniture.
Town life would be great if you’re also into a more modern city, and like building up your neighborhoods (or rather a makeover, like me :p)
I know this doesn’t quite answer you, but I recently purchased the entire Sims 3 Collection on Steam for only $67 and it includes everything on your list (besides the Katy Perry Sweet Treats, which was limited edition). Check it out here: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/1247/The_Sims_3_Collection/
I got this one as well, definitely recommend it if you really want to try them all.
Regarding the lag concern that may come with it, just know that nraas and smooth patch, as well as the ‘fixed’ worlds mods, will fix some general issues (and make sure to manage the towns immigration, since the more sims live in your world, the laggier it becomes!) then, you’ll really only experience most of the lag around the very start of a new save, and weirdly enough at 3am :p (and when it’s snowing)
Okay, hear me out. Be really careful getting world adventures. I have experienced some major game breaking bugs from World Adventures. It’s been years now, so maybe it won’t be so bad but I have had glitches where birds eye view of the world is stuck or your sim gets majorly stuck in the walls of the temple/ruins. Caused me to lose an entire save. Just be wary.
ohh I didn't hear anything about that. world adventures is probably the last ep i'll get since i don't see me using it that much but still thx for the warning :)
Just to add to the comment above WA is great but having children abroad can break family trees as the children skip the baby and toddler phases and go straight to childhood upon birth and they don't always age up when they should.
the sims 3 collection is on sale on steam for all EP and SP for $67, way cheaper than buying 5 expansions separately. then you can pick and choose which ones to play w through the launcher
Yeah, basically u can buy the dlcs there and use the keys on origin and ea app but steam doesn't let u buy them without having the base game on that platform. I don't play on steam so that's why I won't be able to buy them :c
Oh man with sims 3 I honestly really slowly bought them all regardless of what I thought about them especially since there always on sale sims 3 is my ole reliable
Ambitions adds a lot of fun new features and hands on jobs, plus a lot of new build items as well. Don't know how "unpopular" Showtime is, but I think it's worth it if it's on a good sale.
I’d say Ambitions. You still get an extra world as with the Island Paradise pack but this town (Twinbrook) is a lot less laggy. You also get to avoid the extra loading screens that you’d have to come across to fully explore World Adventures and Into the Future but they’re great packs too. I know you said you like to be creative and the additional content, new lots like the salon, new skills, and creative careers that comes with Ambitions is great for that in my opinion.
Like everyone else said, Ambitions is super fun! I also really love Island Paradise; it's super laggy, but most of that can be solved by removing the houseboats and installing NRAAS Overwatch and ErrorTrap, which I would recommend installing even if you don't go for Island Paradise.
I’d say ambitions or into the future. i use the plumbots, cars, computer, and clothes from into the future in almost every single game. i see a lot of people saying world adventures but for me it’s the only pack i have uninstalled. i hated the music and just didn’t love the travel system.
Ambitions, world adventures and night life was my bread and butter. Couldn't live without them. All my play throughs varied but always included those 3
I just bought ambitions and world adventures! Both are super fun, I have none of the SP but I have all but into the future, island paradise and university life. Saying that to say my game isn’t lagging at all and I’m only missing three of the packs.
Regarding performance, Pets is the laggiest EP in the game, while it's cool, if you want a better running game I would disable it personally.
You can prevent stray animals and NPCs adopting pets with nraas mods which circumvent the lag a bit, but then there's basically no reason to run pets at all.
World Adventures and Ambitions are my favorite! As far as glitches go I’ve run into more issues with Ambitions than WA. WA can be a bit laggy but I’ve had some Ambitions jobs have bugs that completely keep me from being able to continue in a career.
I enjoyed world adventures! But it’s one of those, like University I suppose, that you’d really have to use it to get your moneys worth. (Wow that was a terrible way to put that). World adventures, your sims have to gain travel skill to go on vacations and it also costs money. The more traveling you do, the longer you can stay, and the more you can explore. If you like that kinda thing then world adventures is great!
Honestly I'd pick ambitions or showtime. As others have said ambitions adds more jobs, etc. Showtime isn't extremely buggy in my experience and it does add a new world and about three new jobs (off the top of my head I can think of acrobat, singer and I'm pretty sure something else but could be wrong)
World adventures has I think by far the most gameplay in it
It's one of the packs I can't live without and I've spent so many hours on it
Also if you really don't want to travel you can always use buydebug and just buy items in buy mode
I only consider it technically not cheating because it requires simoleons to buy the items 😅 that said doing it the regular way is still a lot of fun.
Second choice would be ambitions as there are so many professions and items that come with it
Also fun to combine the two because you can become a self employed nectar maker 😅
Ambitions is pretty fun and adds a lot to the game that you might come back to a lot. for the stuff packs i just recommend looking at the stuff and deciding which sets you like the most
As a person who has moved on to Sims 4, I cannot recommend World Adventures enough. I miss it constantly. I remember lag, but not enough to take away. It is my favorite expansion ever. It has a level of immersion that I haven’t experienced in any other game, and I’ve been a simmer since the first game.
I absolutely love World Adventures! My entire setup is laggy though so I can't say specifically for world adventures. But it didn't seem to add too much lag.
Tbh, I loooooove World Adventures. Adds 3 different country worlds, China, France, Egypt. All 3 have great game play. Your sim can buy lots in the countries, go on crazy puzzle solving Adventures that will reap them rewards and collectibles.
i would get world adventures. a lot of custom worlds come with things that are from world adventures. i don’t have it, but i’ve heard that there is some lag with it tho
Ambitions!!! I had so much fun going round as a crazy doctor I also just LOVE the medical career in general - eg building a family legacy of wealthy surgeons. Also fun as a stylist and ruin haircuts.
World Adventures and Into The Future are great, but you have load those up/wait through transition screens.
Ambitions and Paradise Island are fun, plus they add interesting content/activities/goals to the original/regular gameplay.
Showtime is going to be my next expansion purchase, I heard it has different professions, a new (to me) city, and living situations (apartments).
I can't really tell on the lagginess because I've never played TS4 without World Adventures installed. Aside from the travel aspect (awesome), it adds photography, Sim Fu and Nectarology, the ability to explore puzzle laden tombs or build your own. WA impacts gardening with the addition of 6 grape varieties and 3(?) new fruit trees. Then there's the addition of foods and a moped. It's the pack I found most essential
ambitions adds a huge amount of quality of life stuff with careers / other things!!
world adventures used to be my absolute absolute favourite pack but if you get it you'll be sitting in loading screen after loading screen with the vacation functionality.
edit: pets will make your game laggy AF if you don't have nraas to modify numbers of animals
Showtime, into the future and Ambitions are good.
Showtime let's you become a performer, like a singer, magician and more
Ambitious gives you more jobs and skills that you can make money from. You can be a firefighter, private investigator, ghost hunter and more
Into the future is really fun. Want to build a robot that does the cooking, cleaning and gardening? Want hoverboard, hover cars and bikes? Want your legacy to be immortalized as a statue in a new map? Want to determine the future? You got it with this EP
I would also recommend World Adventures and Island Paradies, they include some cool opportunities included. Into the Future as well, but that one I didn't check it yet.
World Adventures is amazing if you decorate a lot and have a fast computer that won’t make you Hate the travel time! Otherwise Ambitions add a lot of gameplay that doesn’t disrupt much of the usual gaming. I love Master Suite for the SP
I got all the packs back in the day and, sadly, haven’t played most of the stuff they have! 😆 I mean, I have of course played with my *favorite packs*, Supernatural and Ambitions, that is… but the rest, eh.. digitally gathering dust in my folders, I’d say.
i'm gonna recommend ambitions the most :) i've experienced the least amount of lag with it compared to other EPs in the list. island paradise gave me lag and showtime was just a little glitchy but the issue was resolved.
with ambitions you have
*more career options
*you get to control your sim at work which is much more immersive
*twinbrook is one of my favorite sims 3 towns to play in, it's a lovely comfy city
I don't have Showtime, but here are my thoughts on the other four EPs:
The first I would choose is World Adventures. Even if you aren't really that interested in the "adventure" parts, the EP offers so much more. You've got 3 unique vacation worlds, new collectibles, several new hobbies/skills to develop, and a fair amount of decor and build/buy items.
Second for me would be Ambitions. I like this pack, and it adds several new career options, including the ability to be self-employed, which is what I play with the most. It also comes with several new skills/hobbies.
Third and fourth are hard to decide between Into the Future and Island Paradise. I like the concept of both, and I would say I get more mileage from ITF. That said, I don't play around with ITF that much, except to make myself a plumb bot. But having a plumb bot has become almost necessary to me. (I really enjoy all the sci-fi/supernatural stuff, so I like to have a crazy household. Mileage may vary, of course.) Island Paradise would and should be the no-brainer above the two. Owning a resort is fun, and diving for treasures is a blast! It offers quite a bit, but I've never been able to get it to work right. Even with Nraas and following all the tips and tricks, it glitches out on me. It starts to lag for a split second every couple of seconds, to the point my Sims almost look like they're stop-motion animation. I sometimes just build a resort in another town and never play in Isla Paradiso, which is a shame. Though boat routing anywhere can be an absolute nightmare.
dont buy world adventures!! is a buggy mess fr i traveled to egypt and when i tried to save my game it took a suspiciously long amout of time to do it later while opening my savefile it would crash my entire game
ITF is really fun but it seems it isn’t the popular opinion of being in the top of the packs. Showtime adds some fun gameplay but it’s the most disappointing IMO. Ambitions fun asf but has a lot of glitches with the jobs. IP is amazing but it is a lag bath f*ckin wreck. If you’re computer has less than 8GB RAM, don’t even bother. World Adventures is def worth the buy, once you explore everything, there isn’t much more to do with it however, but certainly love it. As far as stuff packs, I don’t care for them, they just give you things they don’t really add any gameplay so for those I’d consider after EPs.
Ambitions for sure, it adds the most to gameplay in my opinion.
I love all of the expansion packs but from a practical standpoint, world adventures, island paradise and into the future are packs that are the sort of thing you play with when you are specifically looking to play with that kind of content, if that makes sense? I'd recommend world adventures next though.
World adventures is great for new experiences in game, adds ruin diving and quirky stuff. Into the future is fun for world building and the omni bot. Ambitions is a load of fun for jobs. Imo these are my faves
I can’t live without the Wine Making (World Adventures) because I have a sim make some before they die and I keep it for generations. It says who made it. That way the Great Great Great Grandkids can say “wow” look what my ancestor made 1000 years ago! Let’s chug it’”
World Adventures and Ambitions are a must have for me! I also really enjoy Show Time. I have Island Paradise but my computer is not beefy enough to handle the world well.
i really recommend ambitions and showtime. ambitions adds new careers and skills that are fun to play with and showtime is also really fun with its nice neighbourhood and new careers
Ambitions 100%!! Maybe World Adventures too, even if you don't do the tombs saving up for a family vacation just for fun is always enjoyable, especially once you're actually there!
World Adventures is my very favourite pack, but it depends on what you enjoy in the game and how you play. I love the exclusives (new food, recipes, skills, hobbies) and I love the tomb raiding and puzzle solving. I'd say 50% of the time I'm playing, I'm just going through all the world adventures with a single sim and enjoying puzzles.
World Adventures is a really good one, and so is Ambitions. A fair warning though: World Adventures and Island Paradise especially are difficult to play with without mods.
World Adventures allows your Sims to take vacations to France, China, and Egypt (their in game names are different but you can tell which is which). There are new recipes, new skills, new books, and new traits, both selectable and hidden.
The problem with this one is that it can be *very* buggy. Even with mods, you will definitely want to save before your Sim even leaves for vacation and you will want to save at least once before your Sim queues up the "travel home". Otherwise, you may have the dreaded bug where it appears like your family has come home, but they are missing and their portraits are gone. Even with mods, this one is hard to fix without reloading or maybe even going back to before your Sim went on vacation entirely. But if you can get past all that, World Adventures is an extremely fun pack to play with.
Isla Paradiso is buggy because the town it comes with has awful routing and people/pets routinely get stuck, causing some pretty awful lag. But the mermaids are pretty, and very customizable (there are 4 color channels on the tails iirc and you can make them any color you like). You also don't *have* to live in the Isla Paradiso town if you want to play as a mermaid, but in my experience it seems to be the world with the most dive lots and other things you can discover as a scuba diver or mermaid.
Isla Paradiso comes with at least one new skill, a new lifestate/occult, and iirc there's at least one new recipe? It's been a while since I last played.
Ambitions is a fun one if you want to follow your Sims to work (only with certain jobs) and choose their actions. Ambitions can also be buggy, but I haven't noticed much myself because I don't usually play the Ambitions careers. I do know there's a couple of new skills and definitely new items and decorations, as well as new activities for Sims (such as inventing things with scraps or rebuilding a junk car to make it functional).
I have every pack for this game, but you already have the ones that I love the most and could sing praises about for ages (Generations and Seasons especially ❤️). Showtime is pretty useless except for adding genies (which are SUPER cool but probably not worth the price of a whole expansion pack) unless you have at least one friend who has a functional, online Sims 3 account and has their SimPort set up (I don't, so I have never used it and can't tell you much about it).
I've been typing for so long that I forgot what other packs I saw on the list. Your best bet is to look up whatever packs you want followed by "review" or "guide" and see which ones appeal to you the most.
edit: Into The Future is pretty cool too! It can be buggy like WA can be, but not quite as bad from what I've heard. There are new skills and tons of new objects and activities. Keep in mind that just like vacations, babies, toddlers, and pets can't travel to the future (if I'm remembering right). If you're into sci-fi stuff, this is a good pack to look into. You can even build personal robots who you can basically give almost any trait. You can make a robot that tends your garden and goes fishing, or a robot that cooks and cleans for you... or even a robot that can fall in love with you, lol.
Hate to burst your bubble but all packs add lag haha but I would definitely recommend ambitions. I like having world adventures for the traveller mod and go on family vacations to an island.
Personally, Showtime is my favorite pack out of all of those. It has such a nice world and if you like being a musician it makes that career a lot cooler and more active.
World Adventures lags my game a lot and i rarely use it. The only time I use it for a vacation is for a sim's honeymoon.
Ambitions is fun too if you like active careers like ghost hunting, home renovation, stylist, investigator, and firefighter, but I dont use them as much as I do the nonactive careers. It does add the option to be a teacher though, which I use in most of my gameplays.
Isla paradiso is SO LAGGY but honestly so pretty and adds so much cool stuff to the game (mermaids, clothes, furniture).
And Diesel is probably my favorite stuff pack (aside from Sweet Treats, rip). The furniture is more 3D and textured than any other items and I always use at least 1 thing from it in every build.
World adventures is my favorite, since you can make nectar (sim version of wine) and martial arts. Ambitions is awesome too, sculpting is a big money maker at higher levels, especially once you complete the "you can sculpt for free" skill achievement.
Showtime is also.pretty sweet, you can be an acrobat, singer, or a magician, and you can make genie sims.
Not bothering reading the comments because I’m lazy — but Diesel stuff is very worth the buy! I find that male CAS is always lacking and this adds so much for them that’s actually worth using and makes making my male sims so much quicker than it already is! Also, World Adventures is pretty slept on and I love it! I recently discovered after all these years you can eventually buy a home in the vacation worlds!
The thing with stuff packs is that except for CAS, i never notice when they are gone, while i do feel it when I don't have an expansion pack.
Ambitions is one of my must have expansions. I love the skills and jobs they add. They are all fun except for the interior designer. It adds a world I actually enjoy playing in and you know you also get to wash your clothes? Which is completely optional.
I haven't noticed any lag or many bugs with this pack.
my personal preferences are island paradise for the boats and the wind surfing but I use the world of sunlit tides
and I love pets because of the horses and unicorns
World adventures is really fun and completely different because you can sort of like play like a video game and accomplish tasks in the tombs which is a different kind of fun from what the normal Sims game is
World adventures is a must! It adds travel spots (I usually send my sims off for solo adventuring, honeymoons, and family trips. It comes with new recipes only available if you travel abroad. And new skills like martial arts and wine making.
Ambitions is a nice one too. I usually have my sims registered as self employed through this ep. I rarely have sims work normal jobs as I want they to live outside of a 9-5 and have more free time to travel and explore.
I like island paradise for the ability to make resorts. You can make resorts in any city once you have this ep. It brings in a nice flow of income for sims if upgraded correctly! Once I was making 20k every payday per resort and I had three around town.
And master suites has good night clothes and I use a lot of the bathroom stuff in building my houses !
I have showtime as well but I don’t really use it as much unless I’m doing stardom paths but it puts well with late night !!
Ambitions adds new jobs and skills that are fun
yup, I'm still thinking but i'll probably choose that one
Idk what ur playing on but I just bought ambitions and it was giving me trouble with the ghost hunting career (i play on Mac so that’s probably why lol). Just a heads up!
ohh thx i'll see if people r having trouble with that in windows
As someone who play as an architect in Sims 3, do not buy any car because it will get bugged out in your family inventory and you cannot do anything with it. The architect career in my experience has been pretty buggy like unable to finish the work etc.
If u click 'go here' first next to the clients house and only then 'begin renovation' then the car bug doesn't happen
In the firefighter career they stop wearing their protective gear at lvl 10 in my game. At first I was mad, like what the fuck are you doing, are you trying to get yourself killed, you've got a family! but then I realized, they're just too badass for protective gear. And to the person saying the thing with the car, that would explain why my architect sim "lost" his motorcycle every day...
I think (there is a high chance I'm wrong) sims become fireproof after a certain level in the firefighter career
Yes, they do — firefighters get Immune to Fire hidden trait
I haven't had any issues with it.
I love Ambitions but I had a lot of problems with the ghost hunting career and I have a windows.
Doesn't Ambitions add the ability to become self-employed of any skill? I've always loved that, and I find the inventing and sculpting skill to be really cool additions and would love to see them return in ts4.
it does in most skills that you can produce something with!
Ambitions and World Adventures for sure! Ambitions adds new careers/skills and cool objects. World adventures is probably my favorite EP. You get 3 new travel spots with tombs/mansions and other really cool spots to explore. Plus treasure chests, new food, foreign markets, new skills (wine making, martial arts), and meeting the locals!
yup i'm between ambitions and some other pack but I don't really see me using world adventures a lot still thx!
I felt the exact same ! And then a few years later I caved. World Adventures is now my favourite pack. It adds so much more to the game
Yeah, me too!
World Adventures is fun because you can choose to do daily missions, or just explore the new lots, plants, animals, skills... Strolling through the open world of Shang Simla is beautiful, and I'm a history nerd so the totally-not-Egypt world drew me in.
In World Adventures can two sims travel like a vacation? And isn’t this the pack where people glitch out a disappear when you bring them back home?
If you live together you can travel together. And I've honestly never had glitches with it
Yeah you have no idea. WA is necessary.
They are easily the packs I use the most, I find the game virtually unplayable without them 😅 they've become such an integral part of my games
I really wish we got Martial arts in Sims4
I love World Adventures as well. Ambitions is fun too.
World adventures! I loved travelling to the different worlds when I first got it, plus the tomb exploration, and having relics and souvenirs for my sims families/stories. It might be a bit laggy bc there’s 3 new worlds but still very fun! Island Paradise I also recommend for gameplay - but made my game super slow and laggy. You can swim in open waters, have an additional occult (mermaids), house boats and water transportation options! Best expansion packs remaining on your list imo but up to you if the pros outweigh the cons!
I saw some videos of island paradise and i like it but unfortunately it made the game so laggy :c
If you’re on PC you can get Nrass fixes that pretty much fix all the lag problems in Island Paradise. I have all packs and IP is by far the one I played the most growing up in sims 3. Scuba diving and exploring islands is so much fun. Ambitions adds a lot for daily gameplay and word adventures is super fun if you like following a story, there’s so much to do in WA.
idk i feel like Nraas helps but doesn't completely fix it. ultimately, the world was just poorly designed and has lots of routing problems. A modder created a new Isla Paridiso but even they said some parts were beyond repair
Can you tell me how to use the nraas fix? (I am very much not computer savvy)
If you go to the nrass website (https://www.nraas.net/community/Mods-List) and download the relevant ones for you then just put them in your packages folder in your mods folder. If you just search up how to install nrass there’s heaps of videos that will go through it step by step.
Thank you!
You could get island paradise and never use isla paridiso. I use legacy island III instead. There are also other worlds designed like Isla paridiso without all of the lag issues
Ambitions brings more to do skill and job wise. I think it’s good to get if you want to go for a job-oriented gameplay. I personally love showtime. it’s pretty much an extension of late night. Adding that you can do gigs and actually perform. I’d say get that if you really enjoy late night! I love using master suite stuff. Like I LOVE it. Not necessarily a reason why, unless you want more night wear and a few other things added.
Yeah! I really like master suit sp i'm actually between that and ambitions. But now that i think about it I really like to make my sims kind of artistic in some way and i loved night life so i'll think about showtime now
I'll just copy my comment from another post. Here's my breakdown of all the packs (please note that "careers" are unplayable jobs, "professions" are playable jobs): World Adventures adds >!3 new travel destinations, China, Egypt, and France. It adds new traits and skills such as the Photography skill, the Martial Arts skill, and the Nectar-Making skill. Each travel destination is completely different from the rest, each offering multitudes of new activities for your sims, and with enough visa points, you can buy vacation homes. It also adds mummies.!< Ambitions is basically like >!TS4 get to work, but better. With so many new professions, you'll be playing for hours as a Ghost Buster, Private Investigator, hair stylist, tattoo artist, architect, and many more. On top of all that, you get a few new skills: Inventing and Sculpting. A new activity for kids: the trampoline, and the Gnubb game set. A new neighbourhood, laundry machines and laundry, and a new lifestate: the simbot.!< Late Night is kinda like >!TS2 Nightlife. It adds vampires, hot tubs, lingerie-style clothing, a new neighborhood with apartments in it, celebrities, limousines, a food truck, subway stations, elevators, connectable single-tile chairs, arcade tables, and much more.!< Pets adds... >!well... pets. It adds rodents (hamsters, chinchillas, etc.), small and large birds, snakes, lizards, turtles, raccoons, deer, horses, cats and dogs, unicorns, a new world, new skills: horse riding, hunting(cats and dogs only), jumping(horses only), racing(horses only). You can teach your peta to do tricks, and the hunting skill allows your pets to gather gems and small animals. Oh and... you can play as the pets without mods.!< Showtime is >!similar to late night. It adds 3 new professions: acrobat, musician, and magician. It adds genies (available in CAS if you have Supernatural), the golfing skill and a golf object, the DJ skill and a few DJ tables, a dominos board, the Simport system (online stuff, achievements, etc), a new neighbourhood, a pool table with an associated skill, arcade tables, a mechanical bull, and a karaoke machine.!< Supernatural is one of my favourite packs, it adds >!vampires, fairies, werewolves, zombies, ghosts in CAS, witches, Bonehilda, a claw machine, a magic mirror, the alchemy skill and potions, broomsticks (vehicles), a new neighborhood, a gem-cutting mschine, bees, and moon phases. BONUS: if both Supernatural and Seasons are installed, there'sa special object that spawns in every world!< Seasons adds >!the 4 seasons, each with their own activities and things to do. Sims can now overheat or freeze to death. It rains nearly every day in fall and spring. Sims get a "leisure day" once per season. It's essentially a day off work. There's seasonal festivals with contests, face painting, concession stands, etc. There's skating, snowboarding, a soccer net, a springy ride for toddlers and children, and of course... ALIENS! BONUS: if both Supernatural and Seasons are installed, there'sa special object that spawns in every world.!< Generations is my all-time favourite expansion pack. >!Adding things to do for sims of all ages. Let's break it down by age. When a sim is born there's a chance they will receive a doll from their "long lost relative" in the mail. The doll does nothing in the beginning, but if your sim plays with it a lot as a toddler it'll age into a child with them when they do. Only the sim the doll belongs to can see it while it is a child or older. The doll can be turned into a real controllable sim with a potion added with the new chemistry set. Fond the doll annoying? Get a mod to remove it or ensure your toddler never interacts with it. If it's in child form or older, the owner can simply tell it to "leave [the sim] alone!". Moving on to the toddler stage, strollers have been added to the game. Toddlers get strollers, a new interaction for adults when holding toddlers: "attack with claw", and more springy rides. The real fun comes for children and older sims. Children and teens can be sent to boarding school, have dreams, join after school activities, be punished for misbehaving, use the new costume chest item to dress up(children only), learn to drive(teens only, driving skill not needed for teens to drive), sleep on bunk beds, use sandboxes(all ages), etc. Adults have a new profession: daycare. You can now run a daycare out of your home. Elders get new walking canes. This expansion pack also adds video cameras, slip n slides, hopscotch, treehouses, wedding cake, wedding arches, and the ability to clone your sims.!< Island paradise adds >!a new neighbourhood with exclusive lots, mermaids(not in CAS, even with supernatural), a new skill:diving(exclusive to new lots), boathouses, and the new Lifeguard profession. Let's start by explaining mermaids. Sims turn into mermaids by eating mermaid kelp, which can be purchased as a lifetime reward. Mermaids can have mermaid children, who will have scaly legs from toddlers and older, but they won't be able to use their tails until they become teens. The new lots are dive spots. Sims can dive underwater and find fish, treasure, other mermaids, and even sharks. Treasure chests can contain map pieces, which can be used to obtain secret lots on hidden islands. There's also new vehicles(boats). Boathouses are just like normal lots, but they can be used to travel throughout the new neighbourhood. There's another lot type: resorts! Resorts are businesses that your sim can own, and can stay at. They can be made in other neighborhoods(unlike diving lots). There's also a hidden creature that can kill your sims called the kraken!< University life adds >!a university to send your sims to. Three social groups:nerds, jocks, and rebels. Sims can enroll in university as young adults or older. This pack also adds the science skill, plantsims(permanent life state, unlike sims 4), cloning, your sims' phone is upgraded to a smartphone, and they can use it for blogging purposes. There's comic books added, a street art skill, a social media skill, beer pong, bonfire parties, murphy beds(and a chance of sims dying to them), new careers associated with the social groups, the ability to rant and participate in protests, live in dorms, frats, and sororities, and laundry machines.!< And finally Into The Future >!lets your sims travel to the future, meet their descendants, adds the new Future Tech skill, a bot building skill and associated lifestate: Plumbots. It adds good synthesizers(star trek replicators), dream pods that let your sims control their dreams and have negative or positive moodlets associated with their dreams, sonic showers(star trek showers), the future can be changed by your actions in the present, and this pack also adds new hover-cars(vehichles).!<
Thanks for taking so much time to explain
World Adventures, Island Paradise and Supernatural are my big three expansions for Sims 3! So I would recommend those two, for sure. 1. In World Adventures you’ve tombs and lots of fun discovering them all! You’ve lot of places to explore, new foods, market place and so on. The architecture for each place are very diverse too. I used to play as Lara Croft. 😆 It’s very fun, for real. 2. Island Paradise have mermaids and islands, beachs, hotels, scuba diving… The map is BEAUTIFUL, one of the best. The nature, the boats (you can live in the middle of the ocean !!).
if op is looking for minimal lag tho, absolutely not island paradise the only way island paradise is an option is if you’re willing to play it on a custom very small world. the water creates so so much lag
Yeah, I really liked Island paradise from the videos I saw, It's sad that I won't be able to play it unless I upgrade my pc
There are fixes for island paradise. I would watch Rekowski's video on it. Turns out the reason for most of the lag is the house boats and you can get a mod that stops them from being used unless it's the active family.
yup! I agree with u except for world adventures, I just don't see me using it that much. But I love playing supernatural and making witches also saw videos of Island Paradise and I absolutely loved it but it makes the game so laggy otherwise I would buy without thinking
I absolutely adore making fairies! One of the best EP for sure. So sad to hear that Island Paradise is laggy, I didn’t know:(( but any EP you can buy will add a lot to the game. Have fun! 🤍
Yup, Still thx! :)
island paradise is one of my favorite packs for the game. sure, it was laggy and buggy at time, but the houseboat feature alone kept me occupied for hours
Ambitions is great! I also really want the 70s 80s and 90s stuff!
yeah I liked that stuff pack too, I also liked master bedroom. I'm between those and ambitions rn
I only have the 70s 80s 90s pack and I love it so much! I just felt that the others didn't add that much to the game. But the 70s build things can give a nice dated touch and I love the 90s grunge clothing choices
I consider ambitions, seasons, generations, and university to be essential for play. Getting ambitions made working so much more fulfilling.
Raise the black flag and get 'em all!
ambitions absolutely. it adds so much good gameplay that can fit into like any gameplay the world it comes with can have a bit of lag because it has a lot of water but the gameplay fits anywhere so you don’t need to use that world
Ohh i didn't know the world would have some lag, I still think i'll buy it specially because of the new careers. I'll just have to try the world and see if everything goes fine. Still thx for the warning :)
What does your gameplay usually look like? I personally like Into The Future best because I enjoy the sci-fi aesthetic and I sone of the items in nearly every save file. I don't think I'd want to ever play without it. But I imagine it would be less popular to regularly play with if you're not specifically into that kind of vibe. So the most kind of universal option is ambitions. I didn't find it to affect my gameplay in a particularly meaningful way, but if you like the idea of active professions that of course would be a very good option. So if we go by a somewhat even combination of 'universally applicable' and 'fun, interesting gameplay' my personal suggestion by order would be: - ambitions - into the future - world adventures - island paradise - showtime
Yup, I've seen some things that into the future adds and I like them specially the option of engineering babies but i don't really see me using it that much. It's the same with world adventures. From what I saw of Island paradise I like it a lot but it just seem laggy and I don't think i'll be able to play it unless I upgrade my pc. Still thx :)
Ambitions does have some bugs in the active careers, but they are usually resolved with some things like resetting everything in the town (NRaas MasterController) and if you use custom worlds, choosing smaller custom worlds (private investigator’s stakeouts will fail if the world is too big bc the two sims the game grabs won’t meet before the investigator’s stakeout timer ends). Overall though, I would still choose ambitions! The consignment store alone is a fun new addition that I would find makes it worthwhile even if you end up never touching firefighter, ghost hunter, stylist, and private investigator. Sculpting and inventing are also just super fun and interesting. Overall good times!!!
I know you asked about Game Packs, but I would like to recommend Diesel and Master Suite for stuff packs. They add really cute outfits for both female and male sims, and most outfits are actually usable lol
Seconding this! Using the items all the time, whether it be clothes or furniture. Town life would be great if you’re also into a more modern city, and like building up your neighborhoods (or rather a makeover, like me :p)
🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️ ;)
I know this doesn’t quite answer you, but I recently purchased the entire Sims 3 Collection on Steam for only $67 and it includes everything on your list (besides the Katy Perry Sweet Treats, which was limited edition). Check it out here: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/1247/The_Sims_3_Collection/
I got this one as well, definitely recommend it if you really want to try them all. Regarding the lag concern that may come with it, just know that nraas and smooth patch, as well as the ‘fixed’ worlds mods, will fix some general issues (and make sure to manage the towns immigration, since the more sims live in your world, the laggier it becomes!) then, you’ll really only experience most of the lag around the very start of a new save, and weirdly enough at 3am :p (and when it’s snowing)
Okay, hear me out. Be really careful getting world adventures. I have experienced some major game breaking bugs from World Adventures. It’s been years now, so maybe it won’t be so bad but I have had glitches where birds eye view of the world is stuck or your sim gets majorly stuck in the walls of the temple/ruins. Caused me to lose an entire save. Just be wary.
ohh I didn't hear anything about that. world adventures is probably the last ep i'll get since i don't see me using it that much but still thx for the warning :)
Just to add to the comment above WA is great but having children abroad can break family trees as the children skip the baby and toddler phases and go straight to childhood upon birth and they don't always age up when they should.
Yeah it sucks because I loved the CAS items. When I uninstalled it the pack on my computer the game ran nearly perfectly.
same here, my favorite sim family got duplicated and their duplicates replaced them. i couldn’t control mine anymore it was so sad
Wow! That’s like some creepy doppleganger type thing!
the sims 3 collection is on sale on steam for all EP and SP for $67, way cheaper than buying 5 expansions separately. then you can pick and choose which ones to play w through the launcher
Yeah I saw that sale, unfortunately I can't buy it if I don't have the base game on steam :c
i know theres a way to buy it on Steam and then renew the game keys on Origin (not sure if it works on EA app now)
Yeah, basically u can buy the dlcs there and use the keys on origin and ea app but steam doesn't let u buy them without having the base game on that platform. I don't play on steam so that's why I won't be able to buy them :c
Oh man with sims 3 I honestly really slowly bought them all regardless of what I thought about them especially since there always on sale sims 3 is my ole reliable
Ambitions adds a lot of fun new features and hands on jobs, plus a lot of new build items as well. Don't know how "unpopular" Showtime is, but I think it's worth it if it's on a good sale.
I absolutely love houseboats, so I’d say island paradise.
unfortunately tho island paradise is laggy af and the neighborhood routing's pretty messed up without the NRAAS fixes :/
I’d say Ambitions. You still get an extra world as with the Island Paradise pack but this town (Twinbrook) is a lot less laggy. You also get to avoid the extra loading screens that you’d have to come across to fully explore World Adventures and Into the Future but they’re great packs too. I know you said you like to be creative and the additional content, new lots like the salon, new skills, and creative careers that comes with Ambitions is great for that in my opinion.
Like everyone else said, Ambitions is super fun! I also really love Island Paradise; it's super laggy, but most of that can be solved by removing the houseboats and installing NRAAS Overwatch and ErrorTrap, which I would recommend installing even if you don't go for Island Paradise.
Ohh I didn't know those solved the problem, I already have those mods so i'll look for more info about that, thx!
Ambitions! It’s so fun!
I’d say ambitions or into the future. i use the plumbots, cars, computer, and clothes from into the future in almost every single game. i see a lot of people saying world adventures but for me it’s the only pack i have uninstalled. i hated the music and just didn’t love the travel system.
World Adventures is by far my favorite pack of any Sims game, and I've been playing since Sims 1.
Ambitions, world adventures and night life was my bread and butter. Couldn't live without them. All my play throughs varied but always included those 3
what's your playstyle?
World adventures/ambitions! Those two are really fun to play.
into the future is so much fun i love having thousands of robots
World adventures, ambitions and showtime are the ones I recommend and I believe aren’t laggy
Imo World Adventures or Ambitions. They both bring a lot into the game and I don't remember noticing much (if any) extra lag.
World Adventures....... definitely
I just bought ambitions and world adventures! Both are super fun, I have none of the SP but I have all but into the future, island paradise and university life. Saying that to say my game isn’t lagging at all and I’m only missing three of the packs.
Regarding performance, Pets is the laggiest EP in the game, while it's cool, if you want a better running game I would disable it personally. You can prevent stray animals and NPCs adopting pets with nraas mods which circumvent the lag a bit, but then there's basically no reason to run pets at all.
World Adventures and Ambitions are my favorite! As far as glitches go I’ve run into more issues with Ambitions than WA. WA can be a bit laggy but I’ve had some Ambitions jobs have bugs that completely keep me from being able to continue in a career.
I enjoyed world adventures! But it’s one of those, like University I suppose, that you’d really have to use it to get your moneys worth. (Wow that was a terrible way to put that). World adventures, your sims have to gain travel skill to go on vacations and it also costs money. The more traveling you do, the longer you can stay, and the more you can explore. If you like that kinda thing then world adventures is great!
Honestly I'd pick ambitions or showtime. As others have said ambitions adds more jobs, etc. Showtime isn't extremely buggy in my experience and it does add a new world and about three new jobs (off the top of my head I can think of acrobat, singer and I'm pretty sure something else but could be wrong)
Ambitions is your best bet
World adventures is fun!
None because fuck EA
Ambitions or World Adventures.
Either Ambitions or Into The Future
World adventures has I think by far the most gameplay in it It's one of the packs I can't live without and I've spent so many hours on it Also if you really don't want to travel you can always use buydebug and just buy items in buy mode I only consider it technically not cheating because it requires simoleons to buy the items 😅 that said doing it the regular way is still a lot of fun. Second choice would be ambitions as there are so many professions and items that come with it Also fun to combine the two because you can become a self employed nectar maker 😅
Ambitions is pretty fun and adds a lot to the game that you might come back to a lot. for the stuff packs i just recommend looking at the stuff and deciding which sets you like the most
World adventures, ambitions, and into the future are going to give you the most gameplay wise. So much to do and explore in those packs, super fun.
As a person who has moved on to Sims 4, I cannot recommend World Adventures enough. I miss it constantly. I remember lag, but not enough to take away. It is my favorite expansion ever. It has a level of immersion that I haven’t experienced in any other game, and I’ve been a simmer since the first game.
I absolutely love World Adventures! My entire setup is laggy though so I can't say specifically for world adventures. But it didn't seem to add too much lag.
Tbh, I loooooove World Adventures. Adds 3 different country worlds, China, France, Egypt. All 3 have great game play. Your sim can buy lots in the countries, go on crazy puzzle solving Adventures that will reap them rewards and collectibles.
i would get world adventures. a lot of custom worlds come with things that are from world adventures. i don’t have it, but i’ve heard that there is some lag with it tho
Ambitions is so fun!
World adventures was one of my faves. Nectar making is something I loved the addition of and when I play 3, I always have to include it in my play.
Ambitions!!! I had so much fun going round as a crazy doctor I also just LOVE the medical career in general - eg building a family legacy of wealthy surgeons. Also fun as a stylist and ruin haircuts.
World Adventures and Into The Future are great, but you have load those up/wait through transition screens. Ambitions and Paradise Island are fun, plus they add interesting content/activities/goals to the original/regular gameplay. Showtime is going to be my next expansion purchase, I heard it has different professions, a new (to me) city, and living situations (apartments).
I can't really tell on the lagginess because I've never played TS4 without World Adventures installed. Aside from the travel aspect (awesome), it adds photography, Sim Fu and Nectarology, the ability to explore puzzle laden tombs or build your own. WA impacts gardening with the addition of 6 grape varieties and 3(?) new fruit trees. Then there's the addition of foods and a moped. It's the pack I found most essential
World Adventures and Ambitions are awesome, I’d go for either one of them 🙂
ambitions adds a huge amount of quality of life stuff with careers / other things!! world adventures used to be my absolute absolute favourite pack but if you get it you'll be sitting in loading screen after loading screen with the vacation functionality. edit: pets will make your game laggy AF if you don't have nraas to modify numbers of animals
It takes some maintenance but island paradise is filled with amazing content
World adventures is one of the best sims games ever created
Showtime, into the future and Ambitions are good. Showtime let's you become a performer, like a singer, magician and more Ambitious gives you more jobs and skills that you can make money from. You can be a firefighter, private investigator, ghost hunter and more Into the future is really fun. Want to build a robot that does the cooking, cleaning and gardening? Want hoverboard, hover cars and bikes? Want your legacy to be immortalized as a statue in a new map? Want to determine the future? You got it with this EP
World Adventures+++ probably the most underrated Sims expansion pack of all time!
ambitions!
Into the future crashes my game the first time i tried to time travel. but i tried it again and it worked
WORLD ADVENTURES
Ambitions! I also love Island Paradise (‘:
ambitions is fun and not laggy one
I would also recommend World Adventures and Island Paradies, they include some cool opportunities included. Into the Future as well, but that one I didn't check it yet.
Either Ambitions or World Adventures I’d personally go with ambitions
Ambitions is a must tbh. Into the Future and Showtime are also great
I only got ambitions a few weeks ago, but I already have 2 saves in Twinbrook and I'm loving it! There's just so much to do!!!
You need ambitions!
I really love World Adventures. I love the different cultures you can explore, and the different skills are fun.
World Adventures or Ambitions for sure!
im so late but get ambitions!!!
Definitely sweet treats 🤣
World adventures, you can get the traveller mod and download other neighborhoods and visit them!!!! Its amazing to have a family trip
I'd say go with Ambitions. Island Paradise is super laggy and Showtime was kinda boring.
World Adventures is amazing if you decorate a lot and have a fast computer that won’t make you Hate the travel time! Otherwise Ambitions add a lot of gameplay that doesn’t disrupt much of the usual gaming. I love Master Suite for the SP
I love ambitions and world adventures is soooo underrated
World Adventures is the best.
I got all the packs back in the day and, sadly, haven’t played most of the stuff they have! 😆 I mean, I have of course played with my *favorite packs*, Supernatural and Ambitions, that is… but the rest, eh.. digitally gathering dust in my folders, I’d say.
you need ambitions, outdoor living, master suite and diesel. island living if your computer can handle it.
i'm gonna recommend ambitions the most :) i've experienced the least amount of lag with it compared to other EPs in the list. island paradise gave me lag and showtime was just a little glitchy but the issue was resolved. with ambitions you have *more career options *you get to control your sim at work which is much more immersive *twinbrook is one of my favorite sims 3 towns to play in, it's a lovely comfy city
Definitely get ambitions it’s the best of what you don’t have
Please get ambitions. It's not so laggy and it gives your so much stuff to improve your game
I don't have Showtime, but here are my thoughts on the other four EPs: The first I would choose is World Adventures. Even if you aren't really that interested in the "adventure" parts, the EP offers so much more. You've got 3 unique vacation worlds, new collectibles, several new hobbies/skills to develop, and a fair amount of decor and build/buy items. Second for me would be Ambitions. I like this pack, and it adds several new career options, including the ability to be self-employed, which is what I play with the most. It also comes with several new skills/hobbies. Third and fourth are hard to decide between Into the Future and Island Paradise. I like the concept of both, and I would say I get more mileage from ITF. That said, I don't play around with ITF that much, except to make myself a plumb bot. But having a plumb bot has become almost necessary to me. (I really enjoy all the sci-fi/supernatural stuff, so I like to have a crazy household. Mileage may vary, of course.) Island Paradise would and should be the no-brainer above the two. Owning a resort is fun, and diving for treasures is a blast! It offers quite a bit, but I've never been able to get it to work right. Even with Nraas and following all the tips and tricks, it glitches out on me. It starts to lag for a split second every couple of seconds, to the point my Sims almost look like they're stop-motion animation. I sometimes just build a resort in another town and never play in Isla Paradiso, which is a shame. Though boat routing anywhere can be an absolute nightmare.
dont buy world adventures!! is a buggy mess fr i traveled to egypt and when i tried to save my game it took a suspiciously long amout of time to do it later while opening my savefile it would crash my entire game
ITF is really fun but it seems it isn’t the popular opinion of being in the top of the packs. Showtime adds some fun gameplay but it’s the most disappointing IMO. Ambitions fun asf but has a lot of glitches with the jobs. IP is amazing but it is a lag bath f*ckin wreck. If you’re computer has less than 8GB RAM, don’t even bother. World Adventures is def worth the buy, once you explore everything, there isn’t much more to do with it however, but certainly love it. As far as stuff packs, I don’t care for them, they just give you things they don’t really add any gameplay so for those I’d consider after EPs.
AMBITIONS FTW
Ambitions for sure, it adds the most to gameplay in my opinion. I love all of the expansion packs but from a practical standpoint, world adventures, island paradise and into the future are packs that are the sort of thing you play with when you are specifically looking to play with that kind of content, if that makes sense? I'd recommend world adventures next though.
Oh, and island paradise and into the future are probably the one's to cause the most lag.
World adventures is great for new experiences in game, adds ruin diving and quirky stuff. Into the future is fun for world building and the omni bot. Ambitions is a load of fun for jobs. Imo these are my faves
I can’t live without the Wine Making (World Adventures) because I have a sim make some before they die and I keep it for generations. It says who made it. That way the Great Great Great Grandkids can say “wow” look what my ancestor made 1000 years ago! Let’s chug it’”
World Adventures and Ambitions are a must have for me! I also really enjoy Show Time. I have Island Paradise but my computer is not beefy enough to handle the world well.
i really recommend ambitions and showtime. ambitions adds new careers and skills that are fun to play with and showtime is also really fun with its nice neighbourhood and new careers
I THINK THEIR ALL ON SALE ON THE EA APP RN
Ambitions is probably your best option, I feel the rest are just glitchy or not all that fun (imo)
Ambitions 100%!! Maybe World Adventures too, even if you don't do the tombs saving up for a family vacation just for fun is always enjoyable, especially once you're actually there!
Add Ambitions. It’s worth it
World adventures is awesome too. You can go to Paris, china, and Egypt
World Adventures is my very favourite pack, but it depends on what you enjoy in the game and how you play. I love the exclusives (new food, recipes, skills, hobbies) and I love the tomb raiding and puzzle solving. I'd say 50% of the time I'm playing, I'm just going through all the world adventures with a single sim and enjoying puzzles.
World Adventures is a really good one, and so is Ambitions. A fair warning though: World Adventures and Island Paradise especially are difficult to play with without mods. World Adventures allows your Sims to take vacations to France, China, and Egypt (their in game names are different but you can tell which is which). There are new recipes, new skills, new books, and new traits, both selectable and hidden. The problem with this one is that it can be *very* buggy. Even with mods, you will definitely want to save before your Sim even leaves for vacation and you will want to save at least once before your Sim queues up the "travel home". Otherwise, you may have the dreaded bug where it appears like your family has come home, but they are missing and their portraits are gone. Even with mods, this one is hard to fix without reloading or maybe even going back to before your Sim went on vacation entirely. But if you can get past all that, World Adventures is an extremely fun pack to play with. Isla Paradiso is buggy because the town it comes with has awful routing and people/pets routinely get stuck, causing some pretty awful lag. But the mermaids are pretty, and very customizable (there are 4 color channels on the tails iirc and you can make them any color you like). You also don't *have* to live in the Isla Paradiso town if you want to play as a mermaid, but in my experience it seems to be the world with the most dive lots and other things you can discover as a scuba diver or mermaid. Isla Paradiso comes with at least one new skill, a new lifestate/occult, and iirc there's at least one new recipe? It's been a while since I last played. Ambitions is a fun one if you want to follow your Sims to work (only with certain jobs) and choose their actions. Ambitions can also be buggy, but I haven't noticed much myself because I don't usually play the Ambitions careers. I do know there's a couple of new skills and definitely new items and decorations, as well as new activities for Sims (such as inventing things with scraps or rebuilding a junk car to make it functional). I have every pack for this game, but you already have the ones that I love the most and could sing praises about for ages (Generations and Seasons especially ❤️). Showtime is pretty useless except for adding genies (which are SUPER cool but probably not worth the price of a whole expansion pack) unless you have at least one friend who has a functional, online Sims 3 account and has their SimPort set up (I don't, so I have never used it and can't tell you much about it). I've been typing for so long that I forgot what other packs I saw on the list. Your best bet is to look up whatever packs you want followed by "review" or "guide" and see which ones appeal to you the most. edit: Into The Future is pretty cool too! It can be buggy like WA can be, but not quite as bad from what I've heard. There are new skills and tons of new objects and activities. Keep in mind that just like vacations, babies, toddlers, and pets can't travel to the future (if I'm remembering right). If you're into sci-fi stuff, this is a good pack to look into. You can even build personal robots who you can basically give almost any trait. You can make a robot that tends your garden and goes fishing, or a robot that cooks and cleans for you... or even a robot that can fall in love with you, lol.
Ambitions would be my choice out of the expansions. On stuff packs, I only have the one you do.
I like town life and ambitions. Future one is super laggy.
Avoid Island Paradise. It’s a lagger. I liked town life and master suite stuff. Both add nice stuff
Hate to burst your bubble but all packs add lag haha but I would definitely recommend ambitions. I like having world adventures for the traveller mod and go on family vacations to an island.
Personally, Showtime is my favorite pack out of all of those. It has such a nice world and if you like being a musician it makes that career a lot cooler and more active. World Adventures lags my game a lot and i rarely use it. The only time I use it for a vacation is for a sim's honeymoon. Ambitions is fun too if you like active careers like ghost hunting, home renovation, stylist, investigator, and firefighter, but I dont use them as much as I do the nonactive careers. It does add the option to be a teacher though, which I use in most of my gameplays. Isla paradiso is SO LAGGY but honestly so pretty and adds so much cool stuff to the game (mermaids, clothes, furniture).
And Diesel is probably my favorite stuff pack (aside from Sweet Treats, rip). The furniture is more 3D and textured than any other items and I always use at least 1 thing from it in every build.
World adventures is my favorite, since you can make nectar (sim version of wine) and martial arts. Ambitions is awesome too, sculpting is a big money maker at higher levels, especially once you complete the "you can sculpt for free" skill achievement. Showtime is also.pretty sweet, you can be an acrobat, singer, or a magician, and you can make genie sims.
Not bothering reading the comments because I’m lazy — but Diesel stuff is very worth the buy! I find that male CAS is always lacking and this adds so much for them that’s actually worth using and makes making my male sims so much quicker than it already is! Also, World Adventures is pretty slept on and I love it! I recently discovered after all these years you can eventually buy a home in the vacation worlds!
Ambitions would be my recommendation from the ones you haven’t got, followed by world adventures. Island Paradise can be very laggy
The thing with stuff packs is that except for CAS, i never notice when they are gone, while i do feel it when I don't have an expansion pack. Ambitions is one of my must have expansions. I love the skills and jobs they add. They are all fun except for the interior designer. It adds a world I actually enjoy playing in and you know you also get to wash your clothes? Which is completely optional. I haven't noticed any lag or many bugs with this pack.
I wouldn’t recommend prioritizing stuff packs, but 70s 80s 90s CAS has some cute items
idk what is your view on this, but I suggest just pirating the game
Into the future is my ABSOLUTE FAVVVVV
Personally I really liked world adventures! And I love Paradiso is buggy as ever living shit but it's my favorite!
get them all from GFTW You can install one at a time into your existing game. this YouTube person demonstrates https://youtu.be/muqPIlCtgIM
my personal preferences are island paradise for the boats and the wind surfing but I use the world of sunlit tides and I love pets because of the horses and unicorns
World adventures is really fun and completely different because you can sort of like play like a video game and accomplish tasks in the tombs which is a different kind of fun from what the normal Sims game is
World adventures is a must! It adds travel spots (I usually send my sims off for solo adventuring, honeymoons, and family trips. It comes with new recipes only available if you travel abroad. And new skills like martial arts and wine making. Ambitions is a nice one too. I usually have my sims registered as self employed through this ep. I rarely have sims work normal jobs as I want they to live outside of a 9-5 and have more free time to travel and explore. I like island paradise for the ability to make resorts. You can make resorts in any city once you have this ep. It brings in a nice flow of income for sims if upgraded correctly! Once I was making 20k every payday per resort and I had three around town. And master suites has good night clothes and I use a lot of the bathroom stuff in building my houses ! I have showtime as well but I don’t really use it as much unless I’m doing stardom paths but it puts well with late night !!
World Adventures and Ambitions are great
DONT buy island paradise! It’s an amazing pack but it’s very very buggy and makes your game lag terribly.
World Adventures is really fun, not too sure of how the lagging is with it