Most worthwhile expansions and stuff packs?
PirateFaafy:
Quote from: notovny on 2008 December 07, 11:32:24
"Beverly, I want to talk to you about one of your recent evaluations, 'Joe's Backyard.'"
"Awful place. Just a park bench, nothing else. Wrote a scathing review, and the place closed its doors shortly afterwards. What's the problem?"
"The problem is the million-simolean admittance fee you charged on the expense account..."
Ahahah, I lol'd. I just tried that out, and the look on the reporter's face when they gave the bad review just about fit that description perfectly! The reporter's name was Bev, too.
"Well, how was I supposed to review it without getting in?"
"It was just a pinball machine and eight pots of flowers!"
"Hey, the pinball machine shot fire and spat out money, okay?"
"Did you keep the money?"
"No, the owner did."
ElviraGoth:
I wasn't really interested in all the expansion packs, but I got them because of some of the things they added that I really wanted.
UNI: New careers/aspiration rewards, extra want slots, which can be gained using the batbox. I don't care about Greek houses or secret societies, but I just had a sim abducted into a secret society for the first time recently. Ok one time, but - meh. I send all my sims to UNI so they can meet other sims they might not normally meet for potential mates. I also set up dorms with tj's buyable career rewards (when it still worked) so they can further their skill levels. (On a new UNI I just added, I snarfed career rewards from a cow mascot and a professor after making them selectable and then unlocking all their career rewards. Grab what I want, then send them on their merry way!)
I send all my teens to UNI the day before their birthday to adult stage. I used to send them earlier, but if a sim wants to max out all their skills as a LTW, they can spend more time at home finishing what they can there, then the extra time at UNI makes it easier for them to accomplish. Most of them have their 7 skills maxed out by the time they graduate. (I don't usually try to get them maxed out while they're a teen, but a few have!) Then they can spend their time on other pusuits while an adult, like hobbies or crafting, from the other EPs.
NL: Cars and inventory, which I think was carried over into another EP. I didn't care about dates or the new places they could go. It gave me the ability to move sims into a larger house/lot and keep their stuff. The cars provided a means to send them to work/take kids to school on the day they moved (always starts out a new lot on Monday).
OFB: Don't care about running a business, but it added elevators, which I really wanted. Also added crafting benches which give my sims another way to gain income - you can sell items right from the bench at a profit, if the item wasn't screwed up. Otherwise, I would have passed this one up.
Pets: Meh. It added some new build mode options, otherwise, pretty useless unless you like having your sims have a pet. The bird and charisma building it gives to a family who doesn't have a golf putter or podium is about the only reason I keep it in.
Seasons: Also some nice new build stuff, like the stage and greenhouse, which I sometimes use for a porch! About the only thing I like about the actual change of seasons is the boost they give to various things - like friendships in summer and skilling in fall. Also nice to be able to put leftovers in the fridge. Really tired of the rain storms and lightning strikes, which happen way too often, but the weather machine can fix that.
BV: I passed on this one, and only just got it. I have a neighborhood I had set up a year or so ago of pirates and island girls and I saw that this had the pirate ship, beaches, and a few other things that would make this hood more like I wanted. I had already made my own hut bamboo & thatch walls, but it also added some new roofs that I like for some of my other hoods. Also adds the pagoda roof styles and some nice kimonos. And I may yet use the pyramid stuff on a pyramid house I started clear back in the early days of the game, but never finished beacuse I didn't have everything I wanted to make it realistic. Will have that egyptian theme hood yet!
FT: I wanted crafts. Also like the ability to go to a different neighborhood from the lot without having to got to the neighborhood screen first. Also added new careers, which I haven't fully explored yet. I got FT just about the time we were looking for, bought, and moved into a house, so I didn't have the free time to play it!
AL: Makin' Magic was my favorite EP from TS1. Also wanted apartments to move my graduated sims into instead of back to the parent's house, since those families have way more simoleans than they could ever spend. Also wanted spiral staircases.
M&G: Don't have, may get just because they have ceiling fans! Otherwise, I haven't seen a lot that this offers that interests me.
Stuff packs: I only got FFS for the stuff for my pirate hood. It has some good decorations, like crossed oars and a globe. Also has some cute stuff, like pjs and beds, for kids. Glamour life has a couple of things (mainly dresses) I can use for my eventual Egyptian theme hood. It also has some cool pjs for adults and some nice furnishings. These are the only two SPs I considered worthwhile for my purposes. What you want to do determines if or which of the SPs are worth the memory usage.
So it depends on what things you really feel necessary, or just plain LIKE, that an EP/SP has to offer that will make it worth keeping and taking up memory space. I bought a computer 3 years ago that I figured would be the ideal game machine, mainly for TS2, but also for some other games I play. I was at that "unusable" stage on the computer I had prior to this one, so I know what you're going through.
I also have a hood I started just for monsters, like vampire and werewolf. Haven't had either yet, and I got each EP as it came out, except for BV.
Also on the fence about TS3. Dosn't look like it's going to offer a whole lot, but the ability to change sims bodies into more realistic builds and to be able to customize walls, furniture, etc. by color/pattern within the game might make it worth looking at. Still undecided as to whether I think it's worth it, though. I have a lot invested in this game, and I figure I'll keep playing it for a long time!
PirateFaafy:
Quote from: ElviraGoth on 2008 December 07, 18:01:24
I wasn't really interested in all the expansion packs, but I got them because of some of the things they added that I really wanted.
UNI: New careers/aspiration rewards, extra want slots, which can be gained using the batbox. I don't care about Greek houses or secret societies, but I just had a sim abducted into a secret society for the first time recently. Ok one time, but - meh. I send all my sims to UNI so they can meet other sims they might not normally meet for potential mates. I also set up dorms with tj's buyable career rewards (when it still worked) so they can further their skill levels. (On a new UNI I just added, I snarfed career rewards from a cow mascot and a professor after making them selectable and then unlocking all their career rewards. Grab what I want, then send them on their merry way!)
I send all my teens to UNI the day before their birthday to adult stage. I used to send them earlier, but if a sim wants to max out all their skills as a LTW, they can spend more time at home finishing what they can there, then the extra time at UNI makes it easier for them to accomplish. Most of them have their 7 skills maxed out by the time they graduate. (I don't usually try to get them maxed out while they're a teen, but a few have!) Then they can spend their time on other pusuits while an adult, like hobbies or crafting, from the other EPs.
NL: Cars and inventory, which I think was carried over into another EP. I didn't care about dates or the new places they could go. It gave me the ability to move sims into a larger house/lot and keep their stuff. The cars provided a means to send them to work/take kids to school on the day they moved (always starts out a new lot on Monday).
OFB: Don't care about running a business, but it added elevators, which I really wanted. Also added crafting benches which give my sims another way to gain income - you can sell items right from the bench at a profit, if the item wasn't screwed up. Otherwise, I would have passed this one up.
Pets: Meh. It added some new build mode options, otherwise, pretty useless unless you like having your sims have a pet. The bird and charisma building it gives to a family who doesn't have a golf putter or podium is about the only reason I keep it in.
Seasons: Also some nice new build stuff, like the stage and greenhouse, which I sometimes use for a porch! About the only thing I like about the actual change of seasons is the boost they give to various things - like friendships in summer and skilling in fall. Also nice to be able to put leftovers in the fridge. Really tired of the rain storms and lightning strikes, which happen way too often, but the weather machine can fix that.
BV: I passed on this one, and only just got it. I have a neighborhood I had set up a year or so ago of pirates and island girls and I saw that this had the pirate ship, beaches, and a few other things that would make this hood more like I wanted. I had already made my own hut bamboo & thatch walls, but it also added some new roofs that I like for some of my other hoods. Also adds the pagoda roof styles and some nice kimonos. And I may yet use the pyramid stuff on a pyramid house I started clear back in the early days of the game, but never finished beacuse I didn't have everything I wanted to make it realistic. Will have that egyptian theme hood yet!
FT: I wanted crafts. Also like the ability to go to a different neighborhood from the lot without having to got to the neighborhood screen first. Also added new careers, which I haven't fully explored yet. I got FT just about the time we were looking for, bought, and moved into a house, so I didn't have the free time to play it!
AL: Makin' Magic was my favorite EP from TS1. Also wanted apartments to move my graduated sims into instead of back to the parent's house, since those families have way more simoleans than they could ever spend. Also wanted spiral staircases.
M&G: Don't have, may get just because they have ceiling fans! Otherwise, I haven't seen a lot that this offers that interests me.
Stuff packs: I only got FFS for the stuff for my pirate hood. It has some good decorations, like crossed oars and a globe. Also has some cute stuff, like pjs and beds, for kids. Glamour life has a couple of things (mainly dresses) I can use for my eventual Egyptian theme hood. It also has some cool pjs for adults and some nice furnishings. These are the only two SPs I considered worthwhile for my purposes. What you want to do determines if or which of the SPs are worth the memory usage.
So it depends on what things you really feel necessary, or just plain LIKE, that an EP/SP has to offer that will make it worth keeping and taking up memory space. I bought a computer 3 years ago that I figured would be the ideal game machine, mainly for TS2, but also for some other games I play. I was at that "unusable" stage on the computer I had prior to this one, so I know what you're going through.
I also have a hood I started just for monsters, like vampire and werewolf. Haven't had either yet, and I got each EP as it came out, except for BV.
Also on the fence about TS3. Dosn't look like it's going to offer a whole lot, but the ability to change sims bodies into more realistic builds and to be able to customize walls, furniture, etc. by color/pattern within the game might make it worth looking at. Still undecided as to whether I think it's worth it, though. I have a lot invested in this game, and I figure I'll keep playing it for a long time!
Children can have maxed skills before becoming teenagers, making Uni skilling totally unnecessaryStages came with Open for BusinessGoing onto the computer and getting the Lawyer/Politics career then quitting unlocks the rewardParrots build charisma at the same rate as the mirror doesApartment life has elevators as well
Other than that, though, it's accurate.
ElviraGoth:
Quote
Children can have maxed skills before becoming teenagers, making Uni skilling totally unnecessary
Stages came with Open for Business
Going onto the computer and getting the Lawyer/Politics career then quitting unlocks the reward
Parrots build charisma at the same rate as the mirror does
Apartment life has elevators as well
Couldn't remember which one had the stages - thanks!
I only allow one career and its associated reward per adult/household. Because of that, my sim children aren't usually maxed out in skills unless they're a third or more generation in a house. And I don't always use the teacher/link skilling method, because I just don't think to use it. And I kind of like playing the UNI part, for some sadistic reason.
Actually, I think JM's list of skill gaining rates lists the mirror at a higher skill gain than the parrot - mirror 200 and bird 150. The only advantage to having a bird is that they talk to it autonomously once it has been taught to talk.
The list is by no means complete, I'm sure, this was just why I got them and why I keep them in my game.
Telcara:
I have all the expansions and stuff packs. Im not really sure what I would consider the most worthwhile ones. I mainly stick with all the expansions and stuff packs as I like how the clothing, hair and objects fit the overall environment, which I for the most don't find CC doing. I also find that when downloading CC, I get a "more, more MORE" sickness so I try to keep with what I already have.
H&M Stuff is my favourite when it comes to clothing, however, it focuses mainly on female clothing. I really like Family Fun Stuff because of the beds and the pjs. Glamour life also has a nice set of furniture. Celebration stuff was the one I disliked the most, I rarely marry my sims under the arch so they never really wear formal clothes. Teen Stuff was fun, while Family Fun focused more on the kids, Teen Stuff has some nice items (and clothes) for your teen sims. IKEA was a HUGE disapointment for me, coming from Sweden and basically grown up with Billy bookcases and the like... I find all the items really ugly in the game. K&B made me drool - I really wanted those new stoves and fridges and I love the modern look. Haven't had M&G for long but so far, the only object I really like is the huge staircase which I will probably never use. There's also the Holiday stuff which I find quite worthless - unless you have Seasons and get Santa to drop by with some gifts every winter.
I rarely send my sims to Uni, because if I send one, they all want to go. And when they go, they want to almost max their skills - which I leave my sims to do when they're elders. I like NL - nice objects and clothes - even if I don't do the dating and the vampirestuff. OFB adds a new aspect to the game imo. It seems to me that it goes very well with Freetime. Kind of cute.. having stores where your sims have created everything themselves. Pets is as said by others only good if you really want pets for your sims. For the most part I find the pets annoying. Seasons added a nice touch - season activities and now actually those stuff from the holiday stuff pack came in use... BV doesn't change the game much but it does come with some nice objects, and it can be fun to have your sims go on vacation.
I haven't played BV and Freetime as much as I'd like, and I just got AL today.
I think in order to say which expansion packs are the most worthwhile, you need to ask worthwhile from which perspective. As I stated, I like the Maxis stuff. I'm not buidling much so I can't say which EP and SP are most worthline if you want more buildstuff. M&G I suppose is quite nice for that but most EP/SP add floors and walls not so many buidling options, none other than has already been mentioned that I know of at least.
Came to think of that AL has those spiral staircases.. but I found them somewhere else and had them before AL =]
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