How much is there in the way of gameplay and content with just the base game, no expansions?
I've always been sorta tempted to give the sims a go (despite the reputation and stigma attached to it among "serious" gamers), but the masses of expansion packs always left me suspicious that they'd be filled with features that *should* have been included in the base game, and so the base game would be kinda lacking without them (especially with EA being the publisher - I pretty much consider them to be the devil).
EA makes some good games, but they are mostly sports games, and i don't play em. the tomb raider series was pretty excellent, though. i haven't played the new two but yeah.
the base game is pretty awesome though, and pretty varied. most of the expansions really only contain some new furniture, a new wallpaper pattern or two, and a new type of job or activity, mainly. the really big one is the vacations expansion, which basically adds a whole couple of levels of tomb raider light, in sims style instead of first-person-shooter, of course, to the game. so the upgrades are totally worth it, but not actually so important that the game is lacking without them...which i think is kinda cool. the only thing is, sometimes there are patches you will need to make a former upgrade still work with the new one, but that's an operating system thing, as i understand it, and virtually impossible to keep any game compatible with the wealth of hardware and software out there.
actually, if i am not mistaken, the upgrades in this version are really to change actual gameplay to make one more interactive with say, a sim's work habits (they used to just go to work and come home from an inaccessible building), or their leisure time. my assumption was it was an attempt to get players out of the building mode and actually playing with their sims. at any rate, the upgrades seem to add way more stuff to do and get, but not so much a difference in the base game, the big exception being now you can put a pool above ground, say in your third-story bedroom, rather than just in the ground.
this latest expansion, for example, they added some professions and expanded the 'collecting' activity, which isn't an actual job or profession, but is still hella complicated with weird and cool rewards. they also added vampires, which meant they had to add some food types and a new plant or two for gardening, and a new stone for collecting, and a couple of new magic yard gnomes. vampire sims are fun, especially since i learned how to cure them, but they are impossible to keep alive for me in vampire form, especially when they have a daytime job. your best bet is to turn them and then use the money cheat and let them stay at home where they can get out of the sun. they can bite other sims and turn them to vampires, too, or feed on them, but it has to be consensual for them to turn another sim.
i played sims 2 without many of the upgrades for a long time. in fact, what finally made the game stop working for me was when they added sim pets. i never could get that install, when i finally got it, to run right, and if it did run right, it was so fucking slow. i started playing sims 3 with only the one upgrade, and i'll play it a good long while before i get tired of it before the next upgrade. but what keeps me hooked isn't the new stuff so much as the building and designing, i am a slut for building giant houses.
also, fuck 'serious gamers.' really, fuckem; the sims is fun as hell, and really it's like ten games in one. funny how every single facebook flash game is based on components the sims featured like fifteen years ago. besides, the whole reason for playing a video game is that one finds it fun, which tells me 'serious gamers' have no investment in what they like or dislike other than socially (like, no one is paying them to like video games), and everybody knows they are devoid of social lives because of the 20 hours a day they have to log on 'serious games.' my girlfriend got actually
berated by a gamestop employee for playing 'runescape.' literally the guy made fun of her for like a minute, and then when we checked out (i was buying 'god of war' AND a sims upgrade) he was like, 'psh, runescape. psh.
psh.' i'd finally had enough of it and told him two years ago, she wouldn't even turn on a computer to check her backlogged email. if she likes a game, wtf? he said something about runescape being KNOWN for being lame (it has a shit load of players to be so lame). i responded by lightheartedly discussing the matter with his manager, a really nice girl who used to work for me. i didn't want him fired or anything, but he needed to adjust his attitude; a little teasing is one thing but people shouldn't need to feel bad about leisure time. on the way out i told him, 'don't fuck with me. i actually owned an atari.' (my neighbors actually owned pong, but i didn't feel the need to tell him i was
that old.)
seriously, beware of anyone who cut their teeth on super mario brothers. i'm just kidding, i'm bitter because i am unable to complete a single level in that game. i had to wait for mario 64 to come out and be in 3-d to become a mario addict.
(by the way, she loves runescape. it's my fault she plays it, i used to play it. i liked it because it was like a shitty, free version of the sims, or a slightly better version if you paid five bucks a month. i just don't have a lot of patience for how slow one levels up in rpg's)
edit: it's actually a shame we can't play all in one town. that would be amazing.
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Topic: The Sims Thread (Read 4751 times)