Yeah, I guess I'll get it and some RAM.

I'm sorry if this isn't the place to ask this, or if someone already has, but I was curious about Castaway Stories. Is it any good? I understand it is separate from the Sims 2 game, so will I be able to use any custom content in it?

I'm asking for BV and AL for XMas, and I have NL, Pets, Seasons, and the base game. Good choices for my wishlist? Is SecuROM going to kill my laptop?

I dont have them all quite yet, my mom took some off me for christmas bnefore i installed them. for Stuff pakcs H&M fashion stuff. though we can download clothes from here the originals are sooo lame!

My fave expansion pack actually is Univercity tbh. idk why.

Definitely good choices. AL is a great addition.

Seasons, Pets, Freetime, Uni, AL...there's something I like about each pack....my least favorite are NL and BV. I think it's worth it to have them all though....I do like my Bigfoot(feet) :lovestruc , I have several...they're a favorite right now...all we need is a female. I'd like some Bigfoot families.

I have the Double Deluxe so I have NL and CS. I also have FT and now seasons.

I also have Uni with Ikea Home Stuff and Teen Style Stuff. I lost my disk though so I had to uninstall. =(

NL is cool but I think CS is kinda lame. I could do without the wacky bridal hair and dresses.

I liked Uni and especially the Ikea stuff. So I'm sad I can't find my disk anywhere.

FT is okay. I thought it would be better. I just bought seasons like 2 hours ago and have yet to play it so I'll find out soon if I like it or not.

I have played all the "stories" games and I must say you are much better off sticking with TS2 and getting EPs and building on to your game. Or you could get The Sims 3 because apparently the "stories" set were testers for The Sims 3 and trying out different things (more open neighbour hoods etc.)
If it was my choice, I'd keep going with TS2 or move onto TS3. If you like the adventure aspects of Castaway you could get Bon Voyage for TS2 or World Adventures for TS3
Hope this helps!

i liked university, seasons, and apartments. i didn't like pets that much. i love animals in real life, but in sims i just wasn't that impressed. it seems like it came with a lot more hassle than anything else. i never played bon voyage or open for business, sadly.
i view nightlife almost as one with the base game. it just seems like a necessity. i can't imagine my game without nl.
i've never purchased a stuff pack. i guess i'm pretty frugal, but i never really saw the point of spending money on new content when i could just download even better cc.

My favourites are :

1)Open for business - it is fun to have business

2)Seasons

3) Nightlife - i love Vampires :D

4) H&M - Cant imagine how i play sims without this stuffpack. I just love those clothes!

5) Teen Style - i love when my every kids room is special.

6) Apartment Life - just love it.

Well i love Pets too but it is not important expension pack to me. I can play without it too.

It's been a lot since i last posted here; My vision over EP's changed radically... somehow

1) Seasons. Everyone agrees it's the best.
2) Bon Voyage. Vacantions were very entertaining, vacantion mementos were a very nice addition. It's just fun.
3) OFB. The idea behind it it's very simple, but it's kinda fun. Other then that, playable Servos were one of the best ideas they had.
4) Pets. They are cute, CAP is very complex, and the praise/scold skills are very intresting. It has a lot of downfalls, but the few content it brings is very good.
5) Nightlife. Much less practical then Hot Date, because of the load times between your hood and the Downtown. This EP bought some intresting new content like turn-ons and turn-offs, dates/outings, the aspiration changing machine, and vampires... but that's all.
6) Apartment Life. Apartments are simple, and a good addition, though not what i was thinking of. The magic is the only thing that brings this EP up in my eyes. Not as complex as in Sims 1, but enjoyable nevertheless.
7) University. It's not very good, lags because of the large ammounts of sims in the campus (or w/e), and the content it offers isn't who knows what.
8) Free Time. Seriously... the Genie isn't even playable, you get a lot of stupid prompts about "hobbies" and the Hobby secret lots are in a different hood, meaning pointless loading screens. The only good things from it are aspiration benefits, which can and probabbly will make the game way too easy.

I know I already posted on here, but well, my opinions changed

Expansion Packs:
First: Apartment Life. This expansion pack NEVER gets old or boring, it's usually the reason I keep playing Sims 2. It has so many more building options and it's so much more complex.
Second: Seasons!
Third: Bon Voyage.
Fourth: Freetime! I just got this one.
Fifth: University!
Sixth: Open for Business!
Seventh: Nighlife! 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, 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: Ikea Stuff! I was surprised at how cheap the furniture is in here when I got this expansion for my birthday recently.
Second: Teen Style Stuff!
Third: 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.

The End. In summary: Get AL. Not Pets.

is there anyway to have the instruments without having uni? i want to have seasons but my computer always crashes if i have them both installed. and i like seasons better anyway except i love the guitars for my sims T-T

Hm..... There may be a download here, or on other sights, but you need Uni to have the basic guitar.

so basically if i dont have uni then even if i downloaded guitar meshes they wont work?

Here, let me go over this. If you don't have Uni, you can't use the guitars and drums. BUT if you might download a file or mod, you might be able to play a guitar still, even without Uni. But i don't know where those downloads might be.

my suggestion is open for business first, seasons second.

Bah, I suck, I missed this and posted a new thread. Bad Mega, no biscuit. Why don't we have the smiley of hitting someone over the head with a fish?

Anyhoo. Ikea Stuff. Is it just me or is there not very much stuff in it? I was hoping for modular desks, or maybe my Tovik corner desk... the one with my gaming computer on it... that would be really meta.

There isn't a huge amount of stuff in the Ikea pack itself but HugeLunatic made a load of stuff that matches the stuff in the pack.

I'll be honest, I MAY have posted some kind of reply to this thread a loong time ago... but this time I'm going to be thorough about it! And going into it I'll admit, I'm a big Sims fan and you'd be prying ANY of my EP's and SP's from my cold, dead hands...

Favourites:
Pets: People seem to get the hate on for this EP, but nothing about it was ever really glitchy for me... in fact I've NEVER had any major (or really minor) glitch problems with anything. And I LOVE pets! Just having them around adds a great extra element of realism, and although I don't do it all the time, I love breeding them in game.

Seasons: Again another favourite because of the added realism. It always used to bother me how it was ALWAYS a clear sunny day aaalll the time. BORING! Although I wish I could just make the fall skill-building boost last all the time!

IKEA Home Stuff: Tons of very versatile furniture that can be used in sooo many different decors, and if that weren't enough already, lends itself very well to recolours for using in even MORE decors!

Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff: Also a favourite due to versatility, one of the better Maxis packs IMO because it's less "theme-y" and more realistic. And we needed more options for the bathroom sooo badly!

Apartment Life: I find apartments sooo fun (even though I only really have one populated at the moment that I regularly play) so this one is up there! And I'm starting to explore the magic aspect more, it was something I never really bothered with in the Sims 1 but it's fun!

Those would be my favourites but really, I have them all (yes, ALL) and I wouldn't get rid of any of them. I like having so many options and choices in my game!

My favourite EP is University. Seasons comes a close second, and when it comes to stuff packs, I adore Teen Style Stuff. When it comes to least favourites, the Happy Holidays SP is cute but kind of useless, and I don't get much out of Pets.

I'm very gameplay/realism oriented, but at the same time if I had to pick and choose which EPs I'd have to have vs what I could live without, these would be first pick:

-Apartment Life
-University
-Night Life
- Open for Business

The Middle-Men are

-Free Time
-Seasons

And the Last Choices are:

-Bon Voyage
-Pets

I know, I know - How on Earth is Seasons in the middle?? I remember getting Seasons 2 days after it came out, and by the weekend I was bored. It's pretty and all, but it just didn't add any good gameplay. And after an almost 2-year gap of not playing I waited to add Seasons, and I just didn't miss it.

And I mentioned liking realism but BV and Pets are at the bottom? Honestly, BV is only at the bottom because I don't have it anymore and don't miss it either. If my disk wasn't broken I might add it on just because, but it's not worth going out and buying it again. And Pets was like Seasons, only 3x as worse. At least the Seasons didn't go away -- if you didn't have pets, then there was nothing else to do >_<

Which is why I like the top 4 so much - I may not go downtown all the time, but I'm always interacting with downtownies, and there's a million items I use all the time. Same with Uni and OFB. And I'm always using apartments. If not apartments, then townhouses, boarding homes, trailer parks, etc, etc. I love it so ♥

Um, now SPs? Not necessary and all, but I actually have a few, 'cause I bought bundle packs this go 'round. I dunno which I like the best...maybe K&B. Celebrations has definitely raised my expectations for it. H&M is okay. And I use to have FFS and HHS and the only one I'd actually rebuy (cheaply, of course ;D) is HH.

Okay. Now that I have all the expansions I will ever get, I'll add my preferences to this thread.

Number One: Seasons!
I love gardening and fishing.
I love how I can choose which seasons I want for an entire hood. Most of my hoods have at least two fall seasons because it tends to have the mildest weather. My sims can grow and harvest more in the fall. Even though most of my sims have greenhouses, they may have to do without the greenhouse at first. My sims gain their skills faster in the fall. I don't have winter in most of my hoods because I don't like frozen ponds. But I recently have been making indoor ponds so my fisherman can fish at all hours of the day and night for their stores. I have yet to see how this will be in the winter because I only have winter in one hood, I think. In some hoods, it is fall all the time because that is the best for all my sims do.

The one negative I have about Seasons is that they should have had more fruits and vegetables to grow. And fruit that you can eat from the tree or garden without having to put it in the refrigerator or juicer to store. Even lemonade with the real lemons my sims grow would be awesome instead of that stupid lemonade stand that doesn't use the harvested lemons.

I also think there should have been more types of fish, even fishing for big game fish from the ocean when my sims go on vacations.

Number Two: Open for Business

It took me a while to get around to creating my own businesses for my sims. I created a lot of community lots, but having my sims own businesses and make money off each other is awesome. Much better than buying from the catalog and seeing the money my sims earn go poof into some void. I am glad to see what they earn go to the community. I don't complain as much about them buying stuff now.

I used to save their money for the next house because I moved them around all the time. Now I'm trying to move them around less so the saved money can be used for businesses.

I don't like the servos. I like the clean bots and the sentry bots.

Number Three: University

I like sending my sims to Uni. They have fun and they gain friends, skills and start earning serious money they can't earn as much as teens. I also like having the extra want slots without using a cheat. The extra careers and majors are also fun.

The others: I like the cars in Nightlife. My sims don't get to drive them because it takes too long to get them in and going to where ever they are headed. I just like the cc cars I downloaded sitting pretty in the driveway, or garage. I also live the cc mopeds I downloaded for my poor sims and even my Uni sims sometimes.

I hate the vampires.

I got tired of Bon Voyage after a few hours of my first vacation. My sims ask for vacation homes all the time when I am saving for something else. I hate seeing that want. All the available vacation lots are too small, so if my sims want to go on vacation, they just have to wait until I build a new place on a custom hood.

There wasn't much I liked in Glamour Life. If they had more matching stuff, it would have been better. I had to download a lot of stuff to get my houses to not look like crap all the time. Because of that, I never bought another stuff pack.

My Favorites:

1: FreeTime
Good: The hobbies and secondary aspiration are awesome. I also liked playing Desiderata Valley.
Bad: I hate the fugly clothes, and the contests. Just so annoying.
2. Apartment Life
Good: Apartments are freaking fun. Witches are half, the spells are kind of fun.
Bad: Witches are half, the spells ingredients get annoying.
3. Seasons
Good: The seasons are the best, the fishing is fun, PlantSim-ism is fun, gardening is fun to explore, greenhouse roofs for homes are funny when a vampire Sim walks into that room.
Bad: Water balloon fights, freezing/fainting from heat.
4. Nightlife
Good: Dates, attraction, downtown, vampires.
Bad: Fugly furniture

Okay..

1 Nightlife
It come with so much!!! cars, clubs, resaurants, bars, dating, vampires (but are annyoing) the gypsy matchmaker for potions, dancing, singing and DJ, cemetary, the tricou family and their house, dancing sphere, cool booths for eating, dance floors, cool disco lights, turn ons and turn offs, pleasure aspiration, downtown!!! I LOVE this EP!

2 Apartment Life
OMG i love this one too its right next to nightlife...you can have apartments and see your neighbors, WITCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SPELLS!!!!!, reagnants, good, evil, or neutral, magical world, high witches, HELICOPTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUTLERS!!!!!! stacking shelves, the mysterious booksheleves!!!! the cool roofs!!! i love this EP!

3 University
Zombies even tho they dont do anything, the ressurecting!, the plastic surgery thing, playing through college life which can get boring but you just have to spice it up like get them a girlfriend or make them a witch!, the makeover table, graduating, roomates, the young adult life state, cowplant, camera for art, majors, scholorships!!!!

4 Bon Voyage
Go on vacation to 3 cool places! the spa, hot spring, massage table, HOTELS!!! room service, you can sleep at communtiy lots like its your home, BEACHES!!!! the pirate ship, bigfoot!, purchase a vacation home, and tour guides! you can walk to lots! the cool pagoda roofs and cool vacation themes!

5 Open For Business
Comes with new interactions, make your own business and make money, have people come to your house like your famous, purchase community lots!, SERVOS!!!! hair salon, toy making, robot making, flower arranging, bluewater village! i like the cool costumes and hair...but i dont really make businesses as much.

6 Seasons
Kind of cool i guess... i like ice and roller skating, fishing, the weather and seasons are cool, tempatures, gardening even tho my plants always die, gardening club, trees change color, gift giving, PLANTSIMS!!! snowman, snowball fights, marco polo, water baloons...i dont really do many things except see the weather and make plantsims!

7 FreeTime
Not much...hobbies, secret lots, new objects in the hobbies section, but its annyoing when the phone rings and it asks for magazine subscription or when the hobby leaders come to my house, and when it notifies me "so and so is losing enthusiasm!" but i like the cool outfits and hair, and the GENIE!!! i love making wishes but im mad its just an NPC.

8 Pets
The only thing in this is cats and dogs! no other *PLAYABLE* animals like monkeys or snakes...just birds and womrats...what is a womrat???? the only cool things are the Atomic space theme but theres nothing to do with it just decor, the obediance trainer, and WEREWOLVES! they are OK, but not much to do with werewolves. I never make pets in my families unless they actually DO have pets like if its a real family im making...not much else except pet objects...the intercations are boring and there arent many of them...the pets arent even controllable! haha boolprop controlpets on lol thats it!

and stuff packs:

1 Mansion and Garden
2 Holiday
3 Kitchen and Bath
4 Teen style
5 H & M fashion
6 Glamor Life
7 IKEA home
8 Celebration
9 Family Fun