I started off vanilla since I didn't know about mods or cc or even the message boards (I was on pregnancy and parenting boards back then) and I didn't find it hard, it was so, so much easier than sims 1, I was like :lovestruc Maybe if peoples first game was sims 2 it would be hard, but compared to Sims 1 it was a piece of cake.

I can't imagine playing with a handful of Squinge's mods. O_O

I play with like 40% of his mods. Mostly annoyance fixes - like get the freaking dressed when you get out of bed like... really?!

Sims 2 is definitely easier than Sims 1, I agree to that. Yet the Sims have it quite hard in the vanilla game - in the beginning, their needs are always low, they are always tired and hungry, and they have to skill in order to get anywhere despite that. (Sims 1 as well - I once made a very active Sim in Sims 1 and he kept running in circles around his house ) And I am not against all mods, I do use some (around 15, I think).
And Sims 2 and the mods make it possible for everyone to play the game the way he or she wants to, which is wonderful.
Yet I maintain that if you are completely new to Sims 2, an unmodded game is a good way to start (except for the crucial mods). I tend to think one needs to know what you are going to mod out or in when you install a mod. Changing anything requires knowing what you are changing, I think, not only in the game, but in life.
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In addition to that, I wonder if long-time players have forgotten just how much fun it can be for a new player exploring all the different features in the vanilla game.

Long as they're still having fun, that's all that matters.

(If I had to go a day without my Downloads folder, all of my Sims would be wearing the same freaking outfits and have the same face template.)

Of course you need to play the game first before you know what mods you will need, I just disagree that it's hard, I find the vanilla game far too easy. They skill so fast. I decided my game had become too much about skilling and removed my slower skilling mod, now I can actually sit and watch the skill bar move. One of my teens had been trying for a 9th cooking point (with mod in) he was on flexi school (so at home) and had all perks ticked. Skilling cap on he sat there for four days studying in the zone and still did not have that point, even though that was all he did except for a bit of sleep, toilet, a shower and one meal a day. Mod removed he finished that point easily. I'm sure what would have taken five days would have only taken one or two. I guess it's all perspective. Some people say skilling is slow when it takes a sim a few hours to gain a point, to me that is fast when I know that 9th point can take 5 days of nothing but study.

My advice to anyone new to the game is play vanilla, click on everything, try out every action and go to every lot and keep free will on. Take notes of what annoys you and find mods to fix it. Check your sims needs often and set about improving them before they turn yellow. I think the main problem new players have is not checking needs enough and keeping a sim doing things until needs are orange and then everything needs fixing at once and by the time they have fixed some others are turning red which is how they can end up with the low energy hunger loop. Do have all crucial fixes in.

Actually, the higher the skill point, the longer they take to achieve it, and it really does not feel that fast to me . However, I think skill time in the vanilla game also balances with the vanilla age duration. Obviously, if you have longer aging mods, it makes sense to have harder skilling too. Yet that is exactly what I mean - changing things once you know what you want to change, and from there onward. There is a lot to learn in the vanilla game, though, new UC players have all at once - businesses, downtown, group outings, going on dates, chance cards, hobbies, pets, vacations (which I learned from EP to EP), which makes it not that easy if you have never played it before.

Know the basic cheats (maxmotives, aging on/off) helps a lot - in the beginning, mods are probably not necessary. I will say new players can go for some nice things, though, like hair and clothes and make-up - but even that is optional, I think, when you are faced with all the possibilities the complete game offer and have never played before.

I have tried a large number of mods myself (not all of them, of course, I came here way too late to even know what some of them do, and if you try to find out, the site is dead and the creator gone and some of the downloadable files are corrupted and some archives are empty). Yet it is also essential for new players not to be too eager - read up on the mod, what the creator says, and make sure to install the correct version, and do it when you know what you want to change in the game.

Yes I know, but 5-6 days of nothing but skilling is far too long, that was 3/4 of that boys teen life span on one skill.

My age mod was why I added harder skilling, thinking it would balance it out, but it doesn't. Even high achieving sims who skill from turning toddler, set as smart on the bat box who are using a thinking cap as soon as they hit teen, are still struggling to make 3 scholerships based on skill points. Often they get a badge scholership or a footwork one but I would like 3 skill based scholerships for the brightest ones. A few made it, but this included boarding school where they skill all day and even a lot of the summer holidays and weekends was also taken up with skilling. I want them to have some time to unwind, perhaps even find some romance, right now that is about a 1% chance. No time for that.

I didn't know about cheats when I started playing sims 2, and this is what taught me to watch needs. I had a couple of sims die and two kids taken away and that was it, I learnt to be extra careful. It's rare for a sim of mine to be in the red for anything, apart from boarding school teens. They get off the bus on Friday with 3 red bars- how they have red social bars while being at boarding school I don't know. Using something like maxmotives means a new player does not learn to manage needs since they don't need to. I used it once in a bachelor challenge and I was like dang when are these needs going to drop! No one needed anything for what seemed like ages and I didn't know what to do. I micro manage needs quite a lot. If someone doesn't want to take care of needs at all it would be useful. I know some people play like that, I would find that incredibly boring since there is no challenge. When I am feeling bored a toddler mania challenge is my idea of fun. Admittedly that poor sim is always in the orange and red. It's a "Can you pot those 7 toddlers before passing out?" kind of challenge.

I had kids taken away, Sims passing out everywhere Taking care of the needs is, to me, a very essential part of the game. Aging on is the one cheat I used most often - hard to see a Sim dying when he is one day away from achieving his lifetime want (although some would regard it as realistic, it is no fun at all!).If I don't have to take care of their needs, I would probably find the game a bit boring! Learned about maxmotives much later, too late to save a Sim dying on a community lot (which, I in my stupidity, built without any food ) That is how you learn, is it not?

I had a family of three die once, but that wasn't regular playing needs it was a stupid tree fire while they were away on holidays. I had bought them a holiday home and it was the first day. Lightening struck and all of them ran out to the tree. The rain stopped and I couldn't make anybody run away or call services. Now if that happened now I would do the cheats 'dormon' 'moveobjects' and delete the darn fire. Some people would leave it but I don't like sims to die of anything but old age unless I am doing it on purpose for a cemetery. Tree fires are way too common in sims then real life. I'm 49 and I've only ever once seen a tree on fire from a storm. All my houses have outside fire alarms (except my medieval hood but sims may die there since different rules apply) which has meant a fire truck turning up 2-3 times a night on occasions. They always jump out, look around, say be more careful and leave. I don't suppose there is a less tree fire mod around?

Edited since so many players were complaining that 'you can still run the game w/o Essential Mods but it's not a very good idea, Bob'.

I'd also like to thank everyone for the wonderful feedback. :lovestruc

Here's one Cyjon made earlier. While there, also consider downloading his patch for preventing breadfruit trees from seeming on fire forever.

Thanks, I already have the breadfruit tree fix.

Because I know from this thread that so many have done it in the past, I'm starting up a seperate game w/o any CC or Mods besides the Essentials, 5 Maxis mistake fix Mods (Like argon-fix and Bodyshop Sliders) and Tarlia's templates. I threw my Downloads folder into a different, safe location on my computer as well as made a backup of it on an flash drive (just in case) along with my Neighborhoods folder. I'm really interested to see how this goes. It's going to be pretty hard considering I usually have a ton of annoyance fixes in my game. And I'm going to have to use Maxis wallpaper. Well, YOLO so I guess it's worth a shot.

Edit: Remind me never to do that again. I'd rather shoot myself in the foot.

Because I just reminded myself, I'm probably going to put Tarlia's Templates up on the original post. But I'd actually like to see what you guys have to say about it first, considering that some people have called her templates unsafe. Are they really?

Since I do not play the maxi hoods, I do not use empty templates at all.
I also like the townies, so they stay.
I also like the bin Sims, so they stay.

Yet I do not believe that Tarlia's templates can be unsafe; the original maxi hoods were not that clean and Tarlia simply cleaned those up. Still, it is up to the player, I guess, to decide to use them (or not).

As for annoyance fixes; I use some of those, but not all of us get annoyed by the same stuff either. That is why I think it is a good idea to start with as little mods as possible.

Tarlia's templates are as safe as we know how to make them. No one has come along with a better way to clean the premade hoods than the methods she used. Certainly they are cleaner than both the originals and the HP and MATY megahood versions. The only reason to play the originals would be if you don't like some of the incidental changes she made, like giving some of the teens more days in their age bracket, or were intrigued enough by the dramatic possibilities of the Curious Brothers not knowing they're related to Chloe and Lola to put up with the mess that family tree's in, in a premade hood.