Insimenator.org
March 28, 2024, 08:03:08 pm *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News:
 
  Home   Forum   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Expansion pack advice  (Read 3806 times)
0 Members and 1 Chinese Bot are viewing this topic.
Shaddeh
Member

Posts: 224



View Profile
« on: October 01, 2007, 08:26:52 pm »

First off, I hope this is the right place to post this.

Now, for the actual topic.

I own no Sims 2 expansions. I have the base game, four gigs of CC (which I plan to organize and clean out), and that's it. Me, never being content with what I own, want a couple expansions to enhance my game, like Seasons and Nightlife.

My questions are: Is Bon Voyage worth it; is Pets any good; is University totally useless; and do I need to install them in a certain order to make them work? I have a limited budget, but I know I can borrow some from my friends to install (if you can still install expansions like I think you can).

The list of mods I have includes:

Squinge's wear anything pregnancy hack
The wedding-dress selector
The last-name chooser (for married sims)


Basically, I don't want to screw up my game completely. Help, please?
Logged
babyblue1387
Member

Posts: 554


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2007, 09:16:31 pm »

Well, if you get nightlife, you won't need the wedding dress selector. It's really all about what more you want to do with your game. You seem to know, or have heard, about what each expansion can add. Personally, I'd go with Seasons, Nightlife and Bon Voyage. But much later for Bon Voyage. There are still a lot of bugs, and fixes are still being made. Squinge's preg wear all is being updated by Jordi at the InTeen site. Until then, since the InSim is updated, you can just change them to everyday with that, or use the dresser (if the option is there). As far as I know, the last name chooser should still work, though I'd head on over to MTS and check the thread and see if any updates are needed.

As far as what order you have to install them in, I have no idea. I got them as they came out (like a sucker), so that's the order I installed them in.
Logged
Sam the T-man
Formerly known as Sadie
Member

Posts: 1403


On hiatus from Insim


View Profile
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2007, 07:10:03 am »

Actually it's Open For Business that makes the wedding clothes selector redundant, not Nightlife Wink Nightlife's good for giving your sims cars and opening up the dating system, but top of my recommendations is Seasons Cheesy Get Uni if you want the extra musical instruments, OFB if you want lockable doors (that you don't have to download), Pets if you're an animal lover. It all depends what you want from the game.
Logged

No requests please
xoJessi
Member

Posts: 471



View Profile
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2007, 01:52:32 pm »

Heres the order I'd recommend you get the EPs.

1. Nightlife- New dating options. Turn on and Turn offs. Vampires. All hacks etc updated. New downtown lifestyle. Cars and Clubs. Adds a lot to your game-play.

2. Open for Business- You can own shops, create objects and you have a better aspect on building houses. A lot of new options and creates fun and great play! Adds an interesting aspect to the game.

3. Seasons- You can have winter, autumn, spring and summer. Simple as that. You get weather and it creates a realistic atmosphere. A ton of new interactions but from gaming experience you can live without it.

4. Pets- You can have cute and cuddly creatures. People complain about bugs but I haven't had many. Just make sure you use patches and the game will be fun.

5. University- You can take sims to college and you have new objects like Instruments.

6. Bon voyage- Fun but a bit buggy. I would hold off for awhile.
Logged

My Sims Journal/Photo Album Come see what my sims are up to!

Real Sims
Sims Oasis
babyblue1387
Member

Posts: 554


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2007, 06:01:32 am »

oh! Look at me, getting my expansion packs mixed up (again). I guess that's what happens when you're a sucker and get them one after the other, huh?
Logged
Skaarjy
Member

Posts: 132



View Profile
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2007, 07:14:33 pm »

Quote from: xoxk9;967057
Heres the order I'd recommend you get the EPs.

1. Nightlife- New dating options. Turn on and Turn offs. Vampires. All hacks etc updated. New downtown lifestyle. Cars and Clubs. Adds a lot to your game-play.

2. Open for Business- You can own shops, create objects and you have a better aspect on building houses. A lot of new options and creates fun and great play! Adds an interesting aspect to the game.

3. Seasons- You can have winter, autumn, spring and summer. Simple as that. You get weather and it creates a realistic atmosphere. A ton of new interactions but from gaming experience you can live without it.

4. Pets- You can have cute and cuddly creatures. People complain about bugs but I haven't had many. Just make sure you use patches and the game will be fun.

5. University- You can take sims to college and you have new objects like Instruments.

6. Bon voyage- Fun but a bit buggy. I would hold off for awhile.


I'd move seasons up over Open for business. OfB was a so-so EP, you don't gain much on your own lot, compared to everything seasons gives.

Don't forget:
nightlife: bolts for turn on/offs, downtown is good for a while,then you'll rarely go back to it.

OfB: servos, finally a useful creature unlike vampires, werewolves or zombies. Makes lots of money fast

Seasons: grow veggies/fruit, fish, wants that relate to the season (gifts for winter), plantsims.

pets: creatures being cats and dogs only with very limited actions. wormrats and birds barely count at all. very disappointing. mind you they are cute.

uni: 2 new want slots and an extra lock.  Natural Science job :-P With nightlife makes finding a bf/gf more fun in college.
Logged
dobydog
Member

Posts: 405


View Profile
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2007, 07:57:56 pm »

Ones I have:
Uni: I sometimes make sims go to college, but I always get bored with the CC I have and forget about them. I wouldn't get this one unless you want to download a bunch of lots. Many lots require you have this EP.

NL: You need this! It makes romance more realistic (kind of). At least it gives something else to the game. And you get vampires, which I've had a bunch of fun with. Smiley

OFB: I personally hate all of the stuff that came with OFB. I never use any of the store stuff, and the only thing I use is the new things I can download off of the internet.

Pets: This is a biggie if you want cats and dogs. The bad part is that you can't control the animals. This means that they tear up your houses and barge into any Community lot to distract all of the uncontrollable people. Plus the Strays come into your home every half a minute, which means that you get a whole new file of townie animals! Isn't this what everone needs? More townies? Birds and hammies also come with it, but they always die in a matter of days. Half of the clothes you can download require Pets Bodyshop now, which is a really good reason to buy it.

Seasons: I wish I could buy this but I have too many hacks that I can't live without. Sad

BV: DO NOT get this. Read my siggie. Smiley

Obviously I live for the custom content and I'm paranoid about my game.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2007, 08:01:40 pm by dobydog » Logged

'No telephone calls today, all my friends gone away. When you're out of fashion it's a lonely price to pay.'
Oh Funny Man, Sex Gang Children
AjaAja
Member

Posts: 1073


View Profile
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2007, 08:24:22 pm »

It depends on several things: 1. What you want in your game. 2. What custom content you want.

Unfortunately, a lot of custom content obviously requires you to have certain expansions. So the things I say are going to be disregarding cc.

University: This one for me is mostly for the sake of story and for the sake of having it more than anything else. I like that they add a new category of "townies" even though they aren't as separate as downtownies. The new "age group" - "young adults" pretty much sucks because it's just adult that go the college and have some different clothes, but other than that there's no significance in the age group. I send my sims to college mostly for the sake of sending them to college, then either fast forward or cheat through it. There are a few sims that I may keep them in college and maybe even extend their stay.

Nightlife: I don't remember what you get with this, but I remember it's probably one of the best expansions for Sims 2. I think this is where you get turn-ons. You can go on "dates" (which I rarely do). There are vampires (which  I actually do use- though they can be annoying as hell). You get to create a downtown. I think I've only sent a sim downtown once, but the thing I love about downtowns is that it allows you to basically create new neighborhoods that are connected to the main one. I like it for creating themed neighborhoods and of course either this or OFB to "merge" the Strangetown, Veronaville, and that one that comes with Seasons to Pleasantview.

Open for Business: I thought it was alright. I rarely open shops and do that junk, but I love servos (but they count as part of the family and are completely controllable). I absolutely hate random complaining customers that complain for absolutely no freaking reason... there's a lot of new objects.

Pets: terrible! Interaction is a bit limited; sims become idiots and play with pet at the expense of their own lives; pets can't be controlled; there's a separate cheat for controlling pets and canceling their actions. Not unless you really really want cats and dogs in the game... I have it installed, but I've never had any of my sims actually own a pet except for the pre-made families that come with the game; but they are so freaking annoying that I would never adopt a pet, and only make them for the sake of story-line; I may need them for the "implied story", but in truth, I hate them too and would kill them if I didn't need them for the story... grr...

Seasons: Surprising okay... especially, for something that came between those two. Having different weather is interesting, but can get annoying because of the sims stupidity in constant needing to look out the window (this thing overrides their current action!), or say that it's snowing, play water balloons outside during winter, take multiple showers when their hygiene is full because they were outside too long and are too cold or too hot, starting to workout because they are too cold without knowing how to stop, having this stupid thing that says some kid is freezing or too hot (when it's the stupid kid's fault for not staying inside when I told him too). In some ways, this expansion kind of ruins going outside, because sims don't know how to manage their time, which can now result in death. It's still a pretty good expansion compared to some of the other crap.

Bon Voyage: No! Just don't even bother. I actually bought this, but I never installed it, and have decided to never install it. I've managed to buy myself an overpriced paperweight, but I suggest you avoid this like the plague, unless you're really willing to deal with bugs, bad programming, and malicious spyware.
Logged

If my avatar is a girl, it's most likely me
CBC (Come Back Campaign)! One post can make a difference. Join here!
Best contest ever, Beauty of the Decades. Join here!
Have my self-sim for yourself Wink. Get me  here!
JCSpencer
Member

Posts: 1053


View Profile
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2007, 09:10:01 pm »

I can't say much about Pets, Bon Voyage or Seasons since I don't own them. I've heard Pets sucks (overall - and did create problems for non-Pets users) and BV is too much of a hassle until EA addresses some serious issues; but Seasons is supposed to be a good one to have (if you don't mind monitoring your Sims a little more closely). But then like some have said, it depends a lot on what you like and want in your game. For me, my fave expansion is Open For Business because I *love* running businesses. It's a blast, and there's are hundreds of different styles of businesses you can run, of all sorts of sizes.

Nightlife was great, and although the dating and turn-ons and vampires was cool (although I generally avoid the latter), having the ability to own your own car is pretty cool, especially if you grab some of the custom ones. Using NL + OFB allows me to run a car dealership, which is fun and a great way to earn simoleons.

I also really like University. Sometimes it can seem tedious (and maybe I'm still new enough to Uni to not be tired of it yet), but there are some cool rewards and careers that are only enabled through Uni (or hacks, but that's up to you). Plus, I love the instruments and the ability to perform together as a group. Using Uni +  NL + OFB allowed me to open a bar & grill downtown with a stage, and the family of 4 that owns it goes down every night for a few hours and plays music for the patrons (earning a tidy sum in tips in the process!).

So you can see that personal taste very much influences the EPs you should get. I personally don't really care for the stuff packs. It's like paying for custom content that you can get for free (and often at a better quality) from fan sites. They don't really add anything to the game other than items, but if you want extra options and are uncomfortable downloading too much custom content, then getting the stuff packs ensures those extra options with the Maxis seal of approval (if that's supposed to be somehow comforting).
Logged

Join the Animal Army ... your site just might depend on it!
...- Admiral Anemone, Animal Army Naval Division
avexkoo
Member

Posts: 4


View Profile
« Reply #9 on: October 16, 2007, 09:01:27 am »

It really depends on what YOU want out of this game, and for me I was into building the lots, and each EP I have was due to the objects they came with, UNI had the pool table, NL had the garage, and OFB had the elevator, I desperately wanted those three things for the lots I built. Eventually I got into OFB gameplay as it really adds another dimension to the whole thing, and I like that dichotomy between the house life and the business life. I have yet to explore the NL element much (as the sim can still party at home), and UNI is really something you can do without if the whole college thing isn't your thing, but it does help the sim advance much faster in the eventual career field because of the skills/friends your sim takes into the real world after graduation.

On the flip side, I didn't get the Pets because it adds nothing to the building element, as well as the Seasons, although I am contemplating getting it for the business aspect, and lastly, Bon Voyage seems to have too much bug issues for me to bother with.
Logged

Current contest(s) I'm participating:
Movie Star - App, R1
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  


Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
Page created in 0.042 seconds with 30 queries.
SimplePortal 2.1.1