i would buy them off you if their not scrated up and you offer a good price, i really want some new ep's cause the game is getting stale all i have is double deluxe, so if your still interested in selling old eps mail me the info

I finally broke down and bought Bon Voyage. Beach lots are nice, I enjoy the furniture that it came with, I also enjoy being able to spend my legacy family's vast millions on vacation homes that I will never really go to. What I don't like is that my game has spawned hundreds of stupid vacationers and locals.

My favorite would have to be Bon Voyage because of all the landscaping goodies. Besides the obvious beach lot option, it also brought many gorgeous tropical plants that are native to where I live. I have papaya trees all over my backyard, the new palm trees in the game are in my frontyard, and I love the hydra hyacinth, which I have growing in my koi pond in the frontyard as well. I might upload some pictures later.

Anywhoooo... the one that absolutely gets on my f-ing nerves is University. It takes forever for the sims to graduate and it's a total drag trying to keep their grades up. Not to mention, they don't even have time to do much of the "campus life" stuff, like making friends with secret society members or getting pledges for their fraternity/sorority. Blah. The only reason I send any of them to college is so they won't be miserable for not going. That's when I temporarily give up on a family legacy.

I have a question about the Mansion and Garden stuff pack.

Someone told me that walking to work & school was carried over to this stuff pack if you didn't own Apartment Life, but I'm wondering, were ceilings also carried over?

Expansion Packs:
First: BV! I haven't experienced any bugs with it at all. I love the vacations. I love it. I love going to the Far East. I love the beach. I love Bon Voyage. The clothes are not horrid. I love it. Do I need to say more? I know it takes up a lot of space on my computer, but since my computer is less than a year old and barely has anything installed, I have room for it.
Second: Apartment Life! Being a witch and a wizard is AWESOME! I have at least ten playable ones. The apartments are so cool and rather easy to make. The clothes are the best, almost as good as OFB. The only problem is that there are so many NPC's. I also like the reputation meter - it doesn't really mean everything, but I like seeing how my sims are doing in the social status.
Third: Seasons! The country furniture is awesome! I love the rain, summer, falling leaves, snow, everything about Seasons - except for the plantsims, which is the weirdest thing I've seen so far in Sims 2. Well, they're okay - at least I never have to feed them. I don't like how trees are giant matchsticks in thunderstorms, and they are always catching on fire and my sims are always freaking out and the butler always calls the fire department, but the fire is out by then and the fireman yells at my sim. I wish trees would never get struck by lightning. It doesn't happen every time there is a storm in real life.
Fourth: University! I like the instruments, the college life, some of the outfits, the new majors and especially the careers. The only bad thing is the evil mascot, of course, but I just shoo him as soon as he comes. I also like the dorms - they allow more building opportunities. Again, so many NPC's come with this. Why did this get bad reviews? I like this one. Okay, the semesters are long, but your Sims get to live longer, right? And you can play longer with them. And there are a lot of people who don't go to college. But I like it - University has more good than bad. Couldn't live without the drum set too. Plus, if your sim doesn't want to go to college, if your sim is bored with it they can just drop out.
Fifth: Open for Business! Okay, the robot bench? That is COOL. And the clothes for women are decent, and so are the hairstyles. It's confusing navigating that little menu at the top at first, but I got the hang of it quickly. My sims have always wanted to do businesses. I don't know how it got bad reviews!
Sixth: Nighlife! This was actually a tie with OFB and Uni, but it didn't have enough new actions. Plus, Ms. Crumplebottom ruins dates. I love the cars, but I think the base game should have had them, so that my sims wouldn't have to get taxis everywhere and always carpool to work. I don't like most of the clothes either. But it's got vampires! Now that is cool. Bleh!
Seventh: Pets. Please do not get this expansion pack. It is a waste. The pets don't do anything, and your sims waste too much money on pets that end up getting practically neglected. The strays show up at bad times, like when you do machinima and there is a cat in the background or something. And they always bite your sims and whenever you shoo them it clutters your Sims' memory with new "I met a pet" memories.

Stuff Packs:
First: Teen Style Stuff! The teen clothes on this are sooo awesome! They look like... well they look like what teens would wear. The room collections are great - especially the surfer room. I wish there were a few more collections though. I guess teen style is good for a stuff pack. I wish that it brought in a FEW clothes for other age groups.
Second: Celebration Stuff. This one is okay - I got it with Double Deluxe, and it has good cakes, wedding arches, and dresses. Other than that, it doesn't have much stuff.

I do have kind of low expectations, so if my reviews are too positive, then that's why. I don't own Free Time, but it looks really fun and I'm planning on getting it soon.

An expansion pack/stuff pack I would take off - I wish that if I had to, I could take off Celebration Stuff, but since it's part of DD, I can't. If I had to take off an expansion/stuff, I would debate between Teen Style and Pets. Teen Style, well I love the stuff, but it's just STUFF if you know what I mean. The pets are pretty annoying, but it would be weird living Sim life after having pets and then not, and I'm looking forward to making a werewolf family. So if I absolutely had to, I would take off Teen Style. I could always get teen clothes off here.

For me, I would have to say:

1 - Apartment Life. That really bugged me, that my $20,000 starter families w/ 2 adults and 3 children had to try and move into $18,000 houses straightaway and get enough stuff to make them at least satisfied with only $2,000. I always wanted apartments/duplexes in my game (because where I live, there's a LOT of those) and I literally squealed when I saw that it was coming. Plus, I think this was the pack when they started adjusting how much cash a CAS family started with - soooooo nice to get even just a few thousand more simoleans.

2 - Bon Voyage: loved the vacationing. Don't often use it, but love it when I do. Plus, the Far East tea table was a lovely addition to my salons and spas!!

3 - Seasons: like the gardening aspect and the weather changes - to a certain extent. Don't really like that lightning keeps hitting my trees and making my Sims run out to panic in the rain, and a lot of the pre-installed houses (in particular, the Pleasant house in Pleasantview) weren't built with thermometers in mind, so Angela nearly froze to death numerous times before I figured out the problem (her room wasn't "fully enclosed", so the game tagged her as being outside and made her temperature drop in winter.)

If I had to get rid of one, I would probably go with Open for Business. I very rarely use it - tried it once and failed miserably. Think I might try it again, though, in my new neighbourhood.

Favourite EPs

1 Nightlife
+ Nightclubs, restaurants, bowling, etc (I like to have many community lots in my 'hood, I have not less than 6 nightclubs and 5 restaurants)
+ dating
+ cars
+ turn-ons and turn-offs
+ vampires (I never play neither them nor any other supernatural creatures in my game, but still, many people like them)

- you can meet a vampire only if you go downtown
- most DJs are sooo fugly

2 Freetime
+ new hobbies to make your sims' lives much more interesting, and objects for hobbies
+ ability to make some things, unavailable in buy mode
+ hobby-related interactions (some allow your sims to earn money)
+ movies on TV

- annoying secret society members who smash into your house to invite you to a secret lot, or those messages popping up every time you start doing anything from watering flowers to looking at your new sculpture)

3 Seasons
+ weather (it adds much realism)
+ gardening and fishing
+ some cool new sets of furniture

- sims walk under the rain without umbrellas - isn't it wierd?
- in cold seasons, sims who visit the household you are playing in, or a community lot, tend to remain in their outerwear indoors sometims. It is irritating to see your sims' visitors sitting at the table in the dining room and eating in coats and gloves.
- penguins pass your house by in winter and talk to the snowmen

4 BV
+ travelling
+ nice themed sets and decorative objects
+ digging for treasures
+ Beach lots! (i really like them)

- there could have been more than three destinations to travel to
- locals are ugly (actually, almost all NPCs are, though)
- sometimes BV is kinda glitchy

Least favourite EP - Uni
+ student life, new majors and careers
+ mobile phones

- too many odd creatures hanging around (those guys in llama suits and the naked dudes who can come in and annoy you any time)
- it takes forever to make your sims graduate
- there's too little attention paid to studying itself

Favourite SPs
1 IKEA (really stylish and modern furniture)
2 H&M (cute clothes, stylish building materials and objects to build a store)
3 Mansions and Gardens ( a lot of awesome building materials and plants)

Least Favourite SPs
1 Family Fun Stuff (all the things look like toys, they seem unsuitable even for nurseries; stupid clothes and walls)
2 Celebration stuff ( there's much useless content either, like Christmas themed walls)

I have a small question. If you had to choose one, would it be Freetime or A.L?

I would choose Freetime, in retrospect, but it really depends on what you're into. If you like apartments (and a bit of lag) apartment life is for you, because even witches aren't a bunch of bells and whistles.

I'd pick Freetime. I use it so much. The constant pop-ups are a little annoying, but I love having sims that work at home. Freetime adds so many options for earning money at home, you can restore cars, make pottery, sew...
And I love the aspiration benefits and secondary aspirations! I always felt bad making parents that were say, Fortune and Knowledge but allowing them to have family as their secondary aspiration is great there. You know, obssessed with science but loves his kids. It adds a lot of dept, I think.

I haven't actually played AL yet but I sure hope it's better for me than FT was. Freetime got so old. I mean, ya you get some new hobbies and objects, but I just don't think its worth getting called constantly only to here "hello, i here that your learning about cuisine. If you continue to learn about it, we'd be happy to welcome you in sue's secret kitchen" I swear. I got those calls everytime my sims ate food, or watched tv, or read a book, or really anything. I got so sick of it. Come to think of it, did ft even come with a new creature?(you know, werewolves, vampires, etc.) Wow, this a lot longer than I thought it would be.....

Free Time gave you the genie...

(Not that you ever got to turn into one. You just got the gypsy to drop off the lamp and then forget to do her job forever after that until they got the patch right. Or rather until Pescado got her fixed.)

My favorite is seasons because of the ability to grow your own food, the weather and seasonal effects. Pets is a close second. My only complaints are not being able to control the animals the way you do sims, and no reptile pets. The "womrats" are guinea pigs so why couldn't they have just called them that or made them more hamster like and called them hamsters? And it's to hard to turn a sim into a werewolf (I could never do it. I had a lady make best friends with a wolf with glowing eyes and she stayed a person).

My least favorite would have to be univerisity because I feel as if I payed $30 for nothing. If I had to uninstall a pack it would be univerisity.

i think my fav pack was nightlife. it expanded the world without making it insanely convoluted, and vampires were fun.

least fav... university. well, university and pets. i hated the pets. they were SO BLOODY ANNOYING and totally not like real pets at all D< those pets were nuisances in pet form! not worth the money i shelled out for that expansion!
and uni just kinda pissed me off. xD~ a lot. and just too many fugly townies T_T

I agree. Right now, Pets is the only EP I don't own (sold it on Amazon). However, I saw Uni at Electronic Fry's for $6.50 USD! There's a lot of good deals on Uni and Nightlife, seeing as how they're the first EPs.

Weighing in...

1) Seasons
+ Weather effects, especially snowing
+ Hot chocolate
+ Water balloon fights!
+ OMG penguins! So. Cute.
- Freezing/sunstroke can get in the way sometimes.

2) Free Time
+ Secret lots
+ Hobby enthusiasm builds like skills
- The constant phone calls and people interrupting my sims about their interests. Enough already! Grrrr!

3) Nightlife
+ The matchmaker
+ New playable subneigbourhoods for all sims
+ More modern build/buy mode items
+ Inventory
- Vampires. Not enough interactions and too hard to become one.

4) Open For Business
+ Elevators
+ Talent badges
- When Servos run amok

5) University
+ Sim campus life in general
+ Streaking! LOL
+ More want slots
+ Hippie-themed stuff. Cosmic, man!
- Having to use cheats in order to build your own dorms.

I have everything except Pets (sold it, the little creatures are too annoying), Kitchen & Bath, Happy Holiday, Teen Style, and Family Fun.

For those of you who have those expansions (and stuff packs), what clothing and hairstyles do those add, if any?

I was thinking of buying another stuff pack (much to the dismay of my parents), however I've heard those four are all mediocre. Kitchen & Bath, I've played before but gave it away, doesn't add anything except a few tubs (one shower is just a recolor of the glass door shower thing Maxis made, except with higher stats), towel racks, and bathrobes. Oh, and I think there were some paintings and the official website says male clothes.

I've heard Happy Holiday is overrated and overpriced.

Family Fun and Teen Style, same as Happy Holiday. A few things for the kids, but not much.

I may end up not buying at all, I feel like I spent too much on Sims 2 games already.

Thanks for any feedback!

I just bought Apartment Life and Glamour Life. I know I said I wasn't going to buy any stuff packs, but I caved when I saw GL.

EDIT: Goddamn I'm so addicted.

Glamour Life has too little items. Your profile says you're a guy. Most of the items I found to be too girly, even for me.

I'm a guy with a number of attractive female Sims. I like the GL stuff, especially the fur coat.

What does being a guy have to do with whether or not you like the items in an expansion pack?

See my earlier post:



I did not think a guy would really have use for redhead girl comic posters or high heeled statues, however he said he has many female Sims.

I still only have the basegame but I really want Nightlife for cars. That's it. I've had TS2 since 2006, look at how far behind I am. I don't care much for Seasons since I live in the southwest and we get enough wild weather- a drought one week and a snowstorm the next, literally- and don't need it in my game. I don't want Pets, not interested in Business- I just want NL. But to get a hacked wedding arch in mah game I need an ep made after Open for Business or something. ....and I want me some ACR. *sigh*

If you had waited, the Deluxe version of the game came out in May 2007, combined with Nightlife. I bought Double Deluxe, which has Nightlife and Celebration Stuff in two... that would of finished it for you.

I seen many stores having sales on expansions now. As I stated earlier, Uni and NL can now be found for under $10 USD in many stores, especially considering the season.

Apartment Life has been the answer to my prayers!

+Ceilings. OMG they finally added ceilings! My machinima sets never looked better.
+Witches. I still have yet to try this part out, but it looks promising.
+ZOMG HELICOPTERS! FULLY SICK!
+The ability to turn off landline phones. Take that, FreeTime!
+More playground equipment for kids.
+The ability to have both my main Sim families on the same lot by way of an apartment building.

-The fact that, like dorms in University, you need to cheat in order to build your own apartment blocks.