Well I'm one of the "buy everything" people - I bought Uni, even tho I wasn't big on the idea as I knew I'd be sorry if I didn't (and I'm glad I have it) but danged if I'm paying $20 *more* to get something that people who are just now buying the original game get for free (it doesn't add anything to the cost of the game and ships with it) - so either it's VERY inexpensive or they can forget it, I'll look for people to upload the stuff and I'm going to be very unhappy. Asking for more money from me because I bought the game earlier really t's me off actually - loyal fans are bread and butter to the company, not someone that should be cheated. bah.

Sure, I've done it several times and have Uni installed. I haven't on campus, as I haven't been on campus since I got NL (except to drop out the sims I wanted to play) but can't see any reason why it wouldn't work the same there.

At least that sounds a bit better Motoki - at least they can interact with the people in the neighborhood, and maybe I'll switch back and forth enough to keep the timing right and not get too tired of it. (When my current crop of children grows up, I'll give it a shot).

I agree with both of you I just don't enjoy Uni. I didn't like the idea of it, but I got it to try, created some sims with ideas I had, did the dorm bit a little, let some pledge, did the secret society thing and got bored. And I just don't like switching back and forth (I'm kind of obsessive, so when I have sims I like, I want to play those), so I didn't even just switch back to a neighborhood, but quit playing Sims2 altogether. With NL, I still liked the idea of my college kids, so I dropped them all out, moved them into a house downtown and am now having fun again

And yeah, visiting community lots is actually fun. They did an awesome job of making it run well, even with my poor graphics card. Though I'm going to have to download some new ones as I'm getting bored with the ones that shipped (I've been to them a lot by now).

I'm hoping having the downtown things to do makes University more interesting. I got bored with college life quickly and basically quit playing the game... got started again just building houses right before Nightlife came out. Personally, I could have done without the whole Uni EP - I don't like things that take you too far away from the base game for too long - and one of the best things about NL is that you can put the houses DT and not have to switch neighborhoods.

Oh I love NL - basically every aspect (tho I have to say it's awfully easy to keep sims always platinum - just take 'em on a date/outing where all the wants revolve around the date aspects or things dt and roll 'em over again and again).

I don't think I have all the romance subtleties figured out yet at all. I'm not at all sure what makes them *really* like each other. For example, I created a couple as adults - gave them turn ons that match (well more or less - one of his is swimsuits so he likes her better sometimes than others) and made them fairly compatability personality-wise (I thought So sure enough they come up with 2 lightning bolts, 3 when she's in a swimsuit (I've never seen more than 3 - tho I've heard reports of 4), both have have a baby wants (which is what I wanted - I believe he's pleasure and she's popularity iirc). Anyway so I think everything is going great...

She gets little hearts all over the place every time he goes by - but he doesn't for her. Not even if she's in a swimsuit. He brings a female friend home from work and I can tell he's into her big, although there are no lightning bolts on their relationship score, and he keeps thinking about being married when he looks at her or she talks to him (the wedding ring shows up - I thought this was way cute. He has to remind himself he's married). If I click on her to choose an action, the ones with lighting bolts are there (flirts and all) - so I gather some flirt-type interaction is required before the lighting bolts show in the relationship score, at least if the sim is married/attached (I think this is a good thing - less "buggy" So I have him scope the room - both the work friend and his wife are there and he comes up with "new friend is HOT" (NOT, needless to say, most attracted to his wife). So I do the flirt/checkout interaction, figuring there must be at least 3 bolts or something, but nope, just 2. So how come he likes her better? No idea at all, somehow her personality must match his a little better.

But it's fun and really works rather well - now I have a female sim who is crazy about her husband and a male who just hasn't quite found real true love with his wife. He likes her - the marriage works well, but... not all the sparks there could be. He'll probably have a midlife crisis, lose her and then end up sorry as friendship and shared experiences are important, but he doesn't realize it in the quest for the absolute dynamic It'll also be interesting to see what that does to his son - said son being the whole point of creating them in the first place. However it comes out, I'm having a great time.

I didn't mind the chatter too much (in my 8 person house, they're all on different schedules so usually only 2-4 of them ate together and it wasn't that bad) until I noticed they lose pts in hunger while they talk... having a meal and getting hungrier? no wonder it's like chinese take out.

And I'm totally infuriated that a food fight is a romantic interaction. The only way to keep that long table stuff from being boring is to add social activities to it and *none* of them work as a "friends and family" thing. Why in the world is throwing food at someone romantic?

I've gotten the "don't call me so late" messages at normal times still (not using the phone hack yet). I think it varies according to the sim now (vampires and people working night schedules and whatnot don't seem to mind). They never mind if you're asking them on a date (although they can be at work) and will stay as long as the scores are good for dates/outings or anything timed, so you can have them hang around way late if you do it that way.

Speaking of harassing vampires, invite one that you have a good relationship with to a daytime party. They'll truck allllll the way over to your house to tell you they can't attend a party during the day, it's killing them and then walk back home. Don't ask me why they couldn't have thought of that when they took the phone call

Weird sense of humor, but I actually found this rather funny.

> I'd almost be for removing them or disabling them, but then that kind of makes the want system pointless I suppose.

It doesn't for me - I actually like the aspiration desires. I treat them as things my sims want, some way for them to tell me how they're thinking of things, and the achievement is really it's own reward. So I check out what they need and if they're ok then we work on what they want. I don't necessary work on skills or a promotion or whatever unless they want to (they usually do). I like the ones they have to work towards and lock those and ...I dunno rate the ease and quality of their life based on them (I don't mind if they don't get them - it just means they have harder lives, more trouble figuring out what they want out of life and the like, just like some people). And then, I build sims with ideas in mind for their characters, so when the wants match well I get all excited - for example I recently created a finance and popularity couple to be parents to babies I have stories in mind for. I was all pleased because they had lots of lightning bolts for each other (tho I didn't pay any attention to their signs or stuff) and wanted the right LTWs/career aspirations for the story I have in mind, both came up with lots of flirt and woohoo wants even tho they aren't family or romance oriented, and both of them shortly came up with "have a child" So I felt like they worked perfectly (yes, I'm very character oriented). And when they achieve LTWs I feel like they've had satisfying lives (tho failing sometimes is good too) and other wants are icing... I dunno, just works for me.

I just don't like the aspiration awards - they feel like cheating to me, much more than hacks. I use Rennie's baby mobile so my kids all grow up to toddlers with 3 or 4 body pts and that feels "right"  (it's exactly how my grandson tones up his body but jumping in a machine so you never have to sleep or use the bathroom or whatever. That feels like a cheat.

Guess I'm weird. But I like the game that way and it *is* harder.

If I want more difficult play, I just don't use the aspiration objects (or career rewards - although I don't usually go that far). I've gotten so the only one I use on a regular basis is smart milk as I feel a great need to quickly have my sim toddlers learn to walk and be potty trained. Other than that, I ignore the aspiration awards and maxing out skills becomes more difficult and there's less "quick money". I also start a fair number of sims in CAF as adults as they're harder to play. Oh and set goals for myself, like even if they *need* a new bed or a bookcase or something, if they're asking for paintings and rugs I buy those instead. If they want to spend money/time stupidly, it's their simulated life

The sims have to marry as adults and become elders. When the one with the LTW reaches elder status, they'll get an option on the phone to throw an anniversary party - have the party and as soon as you do that the want is achieved.