I was comparing cold numbers, not gameplay. I was simply pointing out that SCS (despite your claims) probably didn't outsell the most successful games of that year.

The rest of your post just derails this "discussion" even further and I have no idea what you're actually trying to convince me of. All I asked for was a source for your sales figures, which you can't provide, so let's just leave it at that.

One more thing, though:

Seems more like you're mistaking curiosity for hostility. I wasn't being rude at all. Maybe you should read my posts again.

Disagrees with me on what? I only mentioned those two other games, because they're officially the highest selling titles of 2007. Those numbers weren't my rough estimates either, they're from the NPD market research group.


I don't think it actually is. Maybe I gave you the wrong impression, but I'm not trying to argue about SimCity Societies and its qualities as a game. I was really just blown away by your sales figures, considering that 7 million copies for a PC exclusive would be phenomenal and quite unlikely in the case of this game.


I never said, or even implied anything like that.

Thanks for your effort. It just seems very odd to me that SimCity Societies would have managed to be almost on par with Halo 3 (8.1 million) and even outsell Call of Duty 4 (7 million). It's not that I think you are making this up, but I'm sure those numbers are fabricated. I mean, 7 million for a PC exclusive would be spectacular.

I couldn't find sources of those exact quotes either, but maybe you just paraphrased them.

Just out of curiosity, where did you get those numbers?

Not trying to badmouth your wishes for the sequel, but I hope they don't waste time implementing a multiplayer mode at all. It would be like Second Life, a watered-down 3D chat client posing as a game.

I just can't think of a way how The Sims could offer an enticing multiplayer experience. I guess you could "share" your neighbourhood, by inviting people online to watch you play the game, but why the hell would anyone want that? I could also imagine some sort of co-op mode, like a persistent household, with a few Sims living in it, each controlled by a different player, but unless you're interacting with NPCs, there's no real long-term appeal to that either, as proven by that dreadful The Sims Online. Besides, I assume TS3 will once again employ RTwP gameplay mechanics, which are just not meant to be experienced by more than one player at a time.

Looks like the link got cropped. Try this one: http://tinyurl.com/279smj

This is a godsend, by the way. I tried it last night and it really seems to fix ALL the secondary aspiration related issues.

I see. I was just asking, because your "hunting for CC" comment made it sound like that's what you're primarily interested in.

I wasn't trying to bash EA with my comment either. I just don't think any modding community could actually benefit from such a centralized exchange service controlled exclusively by the IP owner, whose main interest isn't to provide a great platform for creative people to share their free quality content, but to have a cheap promotional gimmick to make the actual line of products sell better.


I'm less bitter than it sounds, by the way

What makes you think that? To me, this just sounds like an expanded version of the Exchange. There will still be thousands of creators putting their stuff on alternative sites, especially those who make content deemed "inappropriate" by EA. I'm sure the integrated mod tools will be awfully limited, too. I mean, EA wouldn't want to make stuff packs obsolete.

In all honesty, none of those features sound all that appealing to me, except for the inclusion of weight and moods. The rest just sounds like "We removed gameplay in favour of accessibility, because The Sims 2 was obviously such an obscure, overly complicated niche title that only a tiny percentage of hardcore gamers could get any enjoyment out of it. We also made the interface Wiimote compatible."

Yeah, I'm kinda half-expecting a collection of minigames wrapped around a half-assed dating sim. Don't get me wrong, I don't have nearly enough information to actually make up my mind yet, but I'm not much of an optimist in general and statements like that really do sound worrying. The moment I hear "MULTIPLATFORM", I'm officially out.


It also sounds like an entirely new way to screw up the families you're not actively playing. "Oh look, I can see my Self-Sim from here... and he's burning to death!"

By the way, I think all the XP users, who fear not being able to play it, should just calm down a bit. It's highly unlikely that The Sims 3 will be a DirectX10/Windows Vista exclusive title. Maybe it comes with a few gimmicky DX10 features that XP users will have to live without, but I'm sure it'll be at least compatible. "Completely seamless, living neighbourhood" does translate to "Get a new computer", though.

Is it one of the best EPs?
No.

Is it one of the worst EPs?
No, it's pretty much right in the middle.

Is it worth the money?
Not at the moment, but I guess it will be worth it eventually.

What are your favorite things about Free Time.
The new aspiration benefit system.

What should have Maxis done differently.
They should have left out all hobby related NPCs, phone calls and pop up messages. I'm not retarded, I can read a progress bar. Also, it would have been nice to be able to murder Mr. Humble, either by walling him in and letting him starve to death, or by setting him on fire. Sadly, he possesses the ability to magically disappear.

Are you experiencing any problems, any funny glitches.
Ironically enough, the thing I like best is also buggy as hell. Spending your benefit points on a secondary aspiration screws up your primary one, resulting in your Sims getting incorrect memories and the wrong tombstones. "Pleasure" as a secondary aspiration doesn't even work at all, since it breaks your aspiration meter. Also, the violin's tip jar leaves dead spots all over the place.

Any advice for those still on the fence?
Wait for the patch.


All in all, I think Free Time is a decent expansion, even though the new NPCs make me want to create a serial killer Sim. It's also a bit weird that keeping your Sims enthusiastic about their hobbies requires more constant effort than maxing out their work related skills. Well, I guess you could say it adds to the challenge. I really love the benefit tree concept, though, despite its bugs.

Thanks for the suggestions, but sadly, none of them worked. I didn't actually have many custom downloads in the first place, since I've just recently gotten back into the game again. I only had a few custom meshes and a bunch of recolors, no houses, or mods.

However, I've fiddled around with the Sim a bit more and now I'm pretty convinced that it's a Free Time bug afterall. I don't know what caused it in the first place, but I discovered that I can get things back to normal by letting my Fake Plat Sim use the orb to get Grilled Cheese, then reach Gold and then pick a regular aspiration again, but without taking any of those Lifetime Aspiration Benefits. As soon as I make use of those, the fake permanent platinum returns. It works every time, so I assume it's a bug and not just some random glitch.

Other Sims can get those benefits without any problems, by the way. Maybe this only occurs on university lots, or is related to something else entirely.

Anyway, I'll take a look around, if anyone else is experiencing this problem. Again, thanks for your help.

Hi there, sorry for making my first post a help request, but I've encountered a problem that I just can't solve by myself. I'm also sorry if this is a bit too wordy, I'm just trying to be precise.


So here's what happened:

A teenage Sim of mine was platinum for a while, so I decided to send him off to college and ever since then, his aspiration hasn't decayed. He remains platinum, no matter what I do. This would be annoying enough, but he doesn't even get platinum benefits. His regular needs decay at normal speed and when he tries to use aspiration rewards, it ALWAYS results in the worst possible outcome.

Here's what I tried to fix it:

aspirationLevel cheat - I tried this with all the possible levels and it's always the same: The new aspiration level does appear on the meter, but without any (positive) effects and it never decays either.

That orb reward thing - I let him get the Grilled Cheese aspiration, which actually worked. His aspiration level dropped, started to decay as usual again and rewards could be used, too, but as soon as I changed the aspiration back to Knowledge, the problems returned as well.

Additional info:

I have all the expansions, except for the stuff packs, I don't use any global hacks, or any external mod programs and this is literally the only problem I've experienced so far. Also, I'm not really sure if this is actually Free Time related, but I've never encountered this issue prior to that expansion.

So, I'm out of ideas and any kind of help would be greatly appreciated.