Hey I'm new and I have a few questions for... I'm new here and I just wanted to say hey and also ask a few questions about the game. I have The Sims 2 and I want to know which expansion pack I should get first. I was thinking of the Open for Business one or the University one but I'm not sure. Could someone tell me the main key points and university, business, pets, nightlife, etc. Also, this might be a stupid question but why is it I can never get through the game without using a cheat code :(. I want to just once play a few months without a freaking cheat code on and it's driving me nuts because my families all seem to die or get screwed if I have no code on within the first day or so of playing it :(. Please help me figure out which expansion to get and what I can do to make myself not use cheats, etc.
I've been having trouble with posting, too. I'm thinking the internet must be very busy this afternoon. There have been a bunch of threads and polls about the Expansion Packs. There are so many of them, in fact, we probably shouldn't start another one. As for playing families without using cheats. I think that comes from just playing the game a lot. 1) P for Pause. I stop the game constantly and check the stats of all my sims in the household. Depending on their needs, I then assign each of them things to do, like take a bath, or cook a meal, or go to bed. You can assign these things while the game is paused, so just keep Pausing the game, every 10 seconds if you need to. 2) Start with no more than two adults in a household and play with them until you get used to how fast their needs go down. 3) Save the game frequently, when things are going well. Then exit without saving if something goes wrong. Others will come along and add thoughts here. If my post gets too long I might get the white screen.
There have been a few threads about this previously. Try a search and see what we have. Meanwhile. University: Pros = new careers and career rewards, lots of extra social interactions, band instruments, extra want slots plus extra want lock Cons = playing the college years can be a bit dull/repetitious. Nightlife: Pros = extra social activity (dating, dining and dancing), love attraction chemistry. Vampires. Cars. Inventory (can take belongings with a sim). See neighbours from your sims' homes. Cons = downtown neighborhood NPC characters add bloat to your game. Needs higher spec puter to make best of new features OFB: Pros = businesses Cons = business is less fun than play (it's why we play games ... if we liked work that much we wouldn't be playing games, would we?) Pets: Pros = pets Cons = pets probably not realistic enough (not enough interactivity to make the pack worthwhile only for the pets) Seasons: Pros = weather, gardening Cons = seasons are a week long ... a child born in Summer will be adult before it sees a second winter. Low spec computers will really suck on this graphics demanding pack.
For OFB pack, are we able to create and use the business as an income for our sims or is it just for i don't know :(
It's possible to support the family on income from a business you own and run, but it isn't easy. It's a very complex Expansion Pack. Try the search function and see what threads you can find.
I personally like OFB. I have my family working and owning shops. I pass the shop on to next generation, and finally I'm making big money. It takes a lot of patience and the right stock. I own a Large toy shop and Real estate. The real estate does not sell real estate by the way. I sell the most expensive furniture and paintings and sculptures in it. You have to have a bit of experience before going to ofb. The bonus is you can build a servo.(Robot) which is great for cooking and gardening in Seasons, and also fishing and building toys for the shop. Oh and it makes an excellent maid and babysitter. Seasons is great. I never buy grocery's. The fridge is overflowing and the fresh food fills sims hunger needs real fast. Its also fun to watch the seasons change. Playing the game? Yes you do have to hit that pause button a lot. Pause stop and think. Make sure you give sims what they want eg aspiration. Knowledge. food. Romance. And lots of friends.
My two favorites so far have been Nightlife and Seasons. I enjoyed the "Chemistry" function of NL, and the have been asking for the farming/weather options in Seasons since TS2 was released. I use OFB to sell my produce and have opened many little homegrown "stands" in my game. IMO, the most useless EP has been Pets. I find the pets cute but a minor annoyance. The best thing to do with them is to put them to work so they at least contribute to the household. It's not realistic to think that every dog and cat has a job as an animal actor or a rescue pet, but hey!
Wow, it's Kristalrose! Hi! (Jumps up and down and waves.) I agree. Nightlife and Seasons are by far the best. I could play the game with just those two and be happy. I highly recommend both for the reasons listed above. Gardening is so fun! And dates and chemistry add such a great dimension to the game. Downtown, too, is very nice, always lots to do. University and OFB have lots of game enhancing options, so both are worthwhile, IMHO, OFB slightly more so than Uni. I am still working on building an empire like Odin describes but that could have something to do with the sheer numbers of sims whose lives I need to manage. If I could concentrate on just one family for a while it would be easier. Yeah, Pets is a little disappointing, and another thing I don't like about it is if all the humans are gone or sleeping the game no longer speeds up. You have to do that manually. It's not like I can control my pets while I'm at work! And if my sims are sleeping unless a pet is starving to death or really upset I don't wake up to care for them. Minor annoyance, I know, but it's prevented me from getting a cat or dog for some of my sims. A nice thing about pets is they do add realism. There are lots of animals in my RL too. I like that they mess up the house more, too. Yes, I'm weird. And another thing ... if you're raising a lot of kids and Mom and Dad are plotzed you can let the toddler eat pet food. I disagree that they're not realistic: their actions, at least, look well-researched to me. But all that said, if I didn't have a nine year old who also plays the game I wouldn't have gotten that EP. Even she hesitates before getting a pet, which may actually be the biggest benefit of the whole thing: the life lesson!
