Double Bored Well I am the type of person who just moves on once i've seen it all and i have to say after owning the sims 2 for 2 whole nights (I played it alot -- I think) and seeing how daunting a task is to manage those pesky little ants -- i mean humans -- sims rather. anyway... I WISH this thing was online.... I went ahead and did the free trial for the Sims Online but almost everything I click on is "Closed" so i have no clue how to goto public places nor do I expect the people on this Sims2 forums to tell me. So whats the point of this thread? I am glad you asked. The Sims 2 is great but the micromanagement is utter chaos. its a pain trying to keep two people alive. the very first family I made, Paul and Theresa are now dead. Theresa kept crying and i have no god **** reason why. I was keeping her satisfied to the best of my knowledge. Half the time I would look at the bubble on her head and think wtf THERE IS A **** toilet go use it. First I got them to get engaged then for some **** reason they called it off and are now just acquainteces. Go figure. Did I mention they both lost their jobs ? ya. So i decided wtf i'll pick one of the neighbors with lotsa money. within 1 hour i lost 2 of the family members to a fire. I suppose i am relying too much on that "Free will" crap that is deceiving me into thinking that I can leave them and let them do their own thing and they'll survive. Sorry this was way too long but its also a mini-review of what i am going through so far.
...without wanting to step on your toes, but what did you expect from the game? It sounds like you thought Sims2 was a movie which runs independantly with minimal player interference, or a 'rat labyrinth' where you just set the parameters and wait to see what happens. The Sims2 ( and Sims1 neither, for that matter ) isn't a RPG or MMORPG. Never has been. As for the points you mentioned... - There are two 'barometers' you have to keep an eye on. Your Sim Theresa most likely cried because you didn't fullfil her 'wants'. In Sims2, it isn't enough to keep the health barometer in the green ( hygiene, hunger, fun, etc ) but also the aspirations meter must be met. This is, in part, one of the challenges of the game. - As far as I know, even in Sims1 you had to point a Sim to a toilet. This still hasn't changed. Micromanagement was and still is a big part of the game. - Sims need to learn to cook before they can prepare a meal without setting the kitchen or themselves on fire. No, it doesn't always happen, but it's likely. Buy a fire alarm and sit your Sims down to study cooking. It will greatly reduce the risk of a fire. - Free Will does not mean "Sim will do the most logical thing". It simply adds a bit of spice ( and chaos ) to their everyday life. Part of the fun in Sims2, for me at least, is watching that chaos unfold and then do something about it. - I'm not sure how online would make much of a difference. I play in several MMORPGs and in the end, it always comes down to survival. Eating, drinking, fulfilling wishes - it's the same. - Finally. Two nights? You've seen nothing yet. I don't really know what to tell you other than a) start with just one Sim if two are too much to manage, or b) keep trying. Option C would be to give the game to a friend. But don't knock it till you tried it a bit more. Edit: Darn typos.
Thats exactly what I am going to do. If i was to compare this to my "REAL" life i can see where i went wrong. I can barely handle my own needs. LOL!
It's my experience that once you've invested some time into a certain family, they will actually get by just fine if you leave the CP for a while. Once I had my family of a grandfather, a father and two teen girls settled (got them jobs, learned them which bed they were supposed to sleep in and so on) I could easily leave them for about 20 minutes and go back and take a look at their menories. The popularity Sims had made new friends, the knowledge Sims had achieved some points and so on. But if you leave them by themselves before they know what "flush" means, of course they will leave the house in chaos. But there are a few things you can do to minimize the risk of house disasters. Like a fire alarm, a burglar-alarm, a (set) alarm clock and stuff like that... I had the pleasant experience to come back and find my father promoted, my grandfather in the hot-tub with a younger stud and my two teens doing their homework.
I've looked at MMORPG's in the past and the entire concept bored me rigid! Cheats are not allowed (except if you can script a macro ... duh!) and -- worse -- established powerful players are inviolate, mostly growing their power by devouring newbies (one way or another). Forgive me if I have oversimplified ... it's just my opinion and isn't really important.
WoW is some incredibly addicting stuff though. My viewpoint on MMORPGs used to be exactly yours, except for not cheating being a bad thing. I hated stuff like EQ and didn't understand why it was so popular... now, perhaps, I give it pardon. *Ahem* Anyway, back to the original topic: The sim Free Will AI is crap; it is highly recommended that you do not rely on it at all if you want any measure of success out of your sims. It is not and was never meant to run your sims without, at the very least, periodic human supervision. If micromanagement is overwhelming you, pause the game, assign a queue of actions, then let the action run instead of playing it all in real or fast-forward time.
Yeah I agree with you right back. I can imagine how addictive Warcraft and (for example) Eve ... (one of my friend's husband is seriously addicted to Eve ) can be. My comment on the no cheating was positive ... what I hate is not knowing who is running a script to build up their status while they, the player, engages in some rl ... Back to TS2. The AI is only intended to fill a sim's time if the player (in the form of the simulation's ego ... note not "god") has neglected to guide them into something productive. As a godlike entity we sims gamers have a pretty darn tiny pool of godly resources (motherlode and moveobjects being the two most important). As for boredom ... I wonder if this is just a symptom of graphical overkill? I know that I would be willing to exchange visual glitter for a greater depth of complexity of gameplay ... but then I admit to being weird!
Well i've played LOTS of mmorpgs and no i do not expect TS2 to be an MMORPG. Just right this moment i logged out of TSO. It was kinda fun. Not exactly gorgeous but it was fun. I would say it was a beautified chat room at best. Whats fun about tso? well there are no cheats and the human interaction is a BIIIIG plus. I cant wait for the day when they overhaul TSO to have the TS2 engine. Now... is TSO lacking? YES! its a ghost town. but then again. theres those true dedicated users keeping it semi alive. In regards to the "Cheats": I hate cheats I hate cheats I hate cheats. If i see a cheat can i stop myself from using it? NO. and thats my problem. Mainly because I get the feeling that I am being cheated by other players out there who are abusing the cheats so why not me use them too? Not only does cheating hurt the game but it also finishes it faster. You'll see what you didnt see when you were not cheating and experience all that isnt available. I really wish Maxis wouldnt make the cheats available at all. The money cheats are the worst.
man, with regards to the first post you made, take it easy. others may or may not share your opinion, but theres no need to go full agressive about it ^_^ Copter.
EQ too I play EQ and EQ2 myself. Before that a bunch of RP chats, MUDs, and graphical MUDs. I love EQ2 and have a TS2 neighborhood based on my EQ experiences.
There are some people (My husband happens to be one) who think the Sims are a boring waste of time! I've mentioned a few times on the boards that he is into shooter games, RPG games, games with a "PURPOSE". Games that have a beginning and an ending. He cannot for the life of him figure out what my addiction to TS2 is all about, and quite frankly makes me feel like a freak about the whole thing. He says, "Why can't you get off that computer and live your own life, you can take care of babies, clean house, chat on the phone, and do everything else your sims do IN REAL LIFE!! What's the challenge of playing those electronic barbie-dolls, anyway?" (It's a good thing he's pretty, or I'd have to murder him in his sleep! LOL) TwoCows, you may just happen to be a person much like my husband. You want there to be something more to your sims. Most games do not require that you feed, bathe, or potty-train your charectors. That's fine. It's not the game's fault, that's just your preference.
No kidding my boyfriend is the same. He even yells freeeeeeaaaaaak when he goes by the computer He says I should do things in real life instead. However all he does with his evenings are surf and watch TV. So excuse me but that's a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Sorry we're not being very helpful. Let's see if I can try to understand. As Ningengirai said, two nights isn't enough to be able to say you've seen it all, even if you did play it a lot. I think you'd be missing out if you moved on without giving it a little more time, unless you really did't like it. I think that problem has more to do with getting experienced at the game than a flaw in the game per se. It is difficult at first, like all games, and looking after one Sim on their own for a while will be a good way for learning the ropes . I think an online element would be wonderful too. I can't say much about the Sims Online because I've never played it, so I won't say much here. Forgive me if you were trying to make another point. Yeah, it is pretty annoying that they end up dead if you don't look after them to a certain extent. The other posters have helpful advice on this. If it's not helpful, then please elaborate on your problem a little more and I'll try to help. It's fine I think it would help for you to try not to think of yourself as being in competition with other Sims players. It makes sense in other games, but because the Sims is more a playground for creation than a competitive game with well-defined rules and objectives, competition is a far less relevant part of gameplay. That's true, though you don't really 'finish' a game like the Sims. With the Sims, because it isn't a competitive game, the cheats are more geared towards enabling different styles of gameplay. For example, if one of the things you loved most about the Sims was the ability to build an amazing house for your Sims to live in, but weren't so exited about the prospect of working your way up the careers, the money cheats are a valuable way to enable rhe sort of gameplay you'd find most entertaining. If you decided that you had created the perfect family, and wanted them to stay the same way as an example of perfection for the whole neighbourhood to aspire to, then 'ageing off' would be essential. Cheats in the Sims aren't so much away of subverting the game in order to win - they are more about being able to have different styles of gameplay to suit the ideas of the player. I hope I've been able to help
Micromanaging heaven twocows spouted: The Sims 2 is great but the micromanagement is utter chaos. I for one love the micromanagement. It's what I play the game for. Maybe its my writer's instinct, but I love to see how things I meddle with turn out, then change them if I am unhappy (revision is half the process ). its a pain trying to keep two people alive. I regularly keep families of 6-8 thriving. I love the challenge. The secret is prioritizing. Learn what makes a good Sim tick and make sure those things are purchased first and foremost (TV for fun and skills, bookcase, a comfortable couch for watching TV and eating meals, a fire alarm, and maybe most impotant: a high energy bed, the higher the better). Once these things are squared away life gets a whole lot easier. Did I mention they both lost their jobs ? ya. There's an up side to this. The silver lining: they'll probably gain employment as a want in the first couple of days after being fired. And getting the job is worth big aspiration points. Wanna afford any aspiration award? Have a financial Sim get fired / quit every day you can afford it. The next day get a job and the want reward for it. Rinse and repeat as long as you can afford it. Elixer of Life, here you come!
