Hmm I would go for Celebration Stuff as Family Fun Stuff only comes with in my opinion annoying costumes for children. The new beds and wallpapers are fun but get old rather fast.

Well I wouldn't go out and get Celebration Stuff if there are better stuff packs out there... I mean after all it doesn't really matter if your cake has blue sprinkles or yellow, not really that much. If you really want dresses and suits, CC would be a better option because I don't think Celebration Stuff comes with a lot more besides that.

You're right about that I suppose.

If you were asking between Celebration Stuff and Family Fun Stuff, I'd choose Family Fun Stuff, because you can actually make your kid's room look like a kids room now. Plus the new kid's clothings are pretty cute, and the Hawaiian clothes look good if you wear them on vacation to Twiki Island. FFS has stuff in it that you'd use everyday, but CS just comes with things to make your parties look better, and I personally don't really throw a lot of parties.

I quite like Celebration Stuff, because I like throwing wedding parties and taking lots and lots of photos! :-D It's nice to have more cakes available, and there is some nice custom content that requires CS so I'm glad I've got it!

I'm not a huge fan of Family Fun Stuff - I don't like the outfits or the furniture much really, so I don't use the stuff from it much.

I don't use the Happy Holidays stuff much either, my sims rarely celebrate Christmas so it's never really very useful!

On the whole I'd recommend Celebration Stuff :-) Though I do have all three, and there are a few things in each pack that I like! :-D

Furniture isn't too big of a reason for me. I have a lot a lot a lot a lot of custom furniture I use, and what isn't custom I use the stuff from IKEA (it's rly nice <3).
I'm really just trying to figure out which stuff pack I'd want. Above all I'd want Holiday Stuff because of the ability to have holidays, but not if it'll cost me more than an EP. :\
I'll most likely go with Family Fun. Thank you!

Hi all.

Haven´t played the game for some time. Just got new laptop, unbelievably fast and of course I had to install my measly three EP´s(OFB, Nightlife and UNI).
Anyways this thread is very helpfull to me, because I am seriously thinking of getting a fourth EP, and from what I can gather on the posts here, Seasons is the best, not including the one I already have?
Personal taste is of course a factor, but I am very interested in building homes and sligthy less interested in actually playig. So an EP with lots of cool houses or just new way of building them, ie one where the walls can curve or individual roof angles. Love to have new windows and doors soon. So any ideas?

Seasons Yay!
 

I think my choices are quite similar to a lot of people here. But here goes anyway:
#1: Seasons
Love the graphics, love the idea of growing stuff, love small things like fireflies and scarecrow. I'm a customizing maniac so I never actually play much. I read about juice recipes and wishing well that came with Seasons, gonna try those some time. Nevertheless I'd put Seasons on top just for the element of weather.
#2: Nightlife
Vampires & dating. That's about it and that's enough.
#3: OFB
At first I wasn't impressed, but then I realized that OFB is like adding a tycoon mini game to Sims and it's quite fun.
#4: Pets
Cats...

I've played all the Sims 2 EPs at one point, but the other ones not mentioned are just plain boring. Uni is like two seperate games, BV is fun for a while but that's it (I only like the voodoo doll and ninja teleportation), AL seriously slows my game down, and finally I just don't care for FT...

BTW back when I played Sims 1 I really loved Superstar. Wonder why they never did it for TS2. Seasons and Pets are actually quite like the old Unleashed...

University
I don't see what the problem with this game. A Sim's college years really are fun, at least in my opinions, especially if you live in the dorms. Eight semesters might sound like a long time, but considering that each one is only around ten(?) days, it shouldn't go by to slowly.

Nightlife
This is far and away my favorite expansion pack. Literally, I send my Sims downtown practically everyday. I couldn't care less about cars - clubs, restaurants, and dating are what do it for me.

Pets
I could live without this one. The items it adds are, in general, really ugly and I hardly ever find myself making pets. This is the only expansion pack I have that really seems lacking.

Seasons
I like the additions of seasons and weather, but I often find myself changing the settings to be summer all year. The personal thermometer is really annoying. Really, if anyone knows a mod that gets rid of it or keeps Sims' at a comfortable temperature forever, please tell me.

Glamour Life Stuff
Some formalware added, but that's pretty much it. I usually only use the outfits added by this stuff pack on really gaudy Sims.

H&M Fashion Stuff
This adds pages upon pages of new outfits. They're all really cool and attactive as well.

In total, I've spent $0 on the Sims 2. The base game, expansions, and stuff packs were all given to me as gifts from people outside my immediate family. However, I really want Apartment Life and would be willing to pay money for it. The other EPs I don't have also sound interesting enough, but I'm not desperate for them. I wish that EA would just make a complete collection like they did for The Sims 1.

Nightlife: I really like it. I love the new community lots and being able to go on outings and dates. I also think the vampires are fun, although I've never had a vampire sim yet. It's actually harder then I thought... Vampires never seem to want to talk to my sims.

University: I really like this EP. I found this really nice dorm house here on MTS that I can't wait to use. I think University is a nice break from regular gameplay and you make a lot of friends, but it's annoying when you graduate and you never really see your Uni friends anymore and they all end up leaving messages asking why they haven't called. I also like the hairstyles and clothes it gives you, and all the new furniture and social interactions.

Open For Business: To be honest, I haven't really used this expansion pack much since I got it for Christmas. I haven't even opened a business. But I think the lemonade stand for children is cool.

Pets: I don't really care for this EP. It's hard to make a cute dog or cat, and I find it a hassle having to take care of a dog or a cat while I'm trying to take care of my sims.

Seasons: I just got it a few days ago, but I'm liking it a lot so far. My sims now have a lot more interactions to do with others like water balloon fights and play catch. I haven't gotten into winter yet (I'm in Fall right now), but I'm very excited to start making snowmen and snow angels!

Celebration Stuff: I don't really throw parties. I never throw birthday parties, I just get a birthday cake. And I usually just have quick weddings, but I do really like the new furniture and the wedding dresses and suits.

IKEA Stuff: I really love the furniture. Some of it is so simple that I don't see why some of this stuff wasn't in the base game. I use some of the furniture in all of my sim's houses.

Teen Style Stuff: I like the new furniture. I can now make my teen sim's rooms actually look like a teen's room.

H&M Fashion Stuff: My god, I love ALL of the clothes that come with this pack! It's hard to choose just one!

Kitchen & Bath Stuff: I actually haven't used anything from this pack I don't think, but some of the stuff does look really nice.

Mansion & Garden Stuff: I can't build nice houses, so the building decorations are worthless to me, but the garden stuff is nice, although I don't really keep gardens.

Family Fun Stuff: I actually haven't used much stuff in this pack yet since it's pretty expensive for my sims (I don't use money cheats), but I do like the theme sets for children's bedrooms. But there isn't really any set for a boy's room, there's like a princess theme and a mermaid theme set.

From most to least favorite EP :
1. Open for Business, I love money and business.
2. Apartment life, I can get discount and anything else from other people (social class)
3. Seasons, what is a life without weather???
4. Pets, same like Seasons.
5. Nightlife, I don't need to build community lots again.
6. Freetime, love the lifetime Aspiration Benefit.
7. University, not-so-much benefit, for me.
8. Bon Voyage, nothing interesting, except the pirate ghost.

For SP, I don't have any (poor me). But from my friend's laptop, I think that Glamour life Stuff is great, to accompany Open for Business.

Movie Maker's Expansion Packs
 

...From a movie maker's point of view...

In order...

The Sims 2 Nightlife
The vampires and stuff is a favourite for Sims 2. It has LOADS of new interactions and great ascpects such as dating,

vampires and CARS! Furthermore some of the outfits that come tih NightLife are very good, and again are useful for movies.

You get many more new objects helping expand your Sim world and the option to give your Sim turn-ons and turn-offs is pretty

cool, too.

The Sims 2 Bon Voyage
Personally, it has some great interactions such as looking around and what-not in my opinion. And the seperate holidays sets

are a bonus. And have you seen all the cc that requires BV? You also get some interesting jewellery.

The Sims 2 Freetime
Having you Sims do hobbies is always interesting, and it offers a whole new element to the game, making it a completely

different game and in some ways it could be easier to keep your Sims happy.
HOWEVER, if your Sims starts listening to music, you get the Music&Dance lady come around, not very practical. And if you've

recently been on the treadmill or something, the Sim will then stand there in an idle way and start punching the air dur to

their enthusiasm in sport. Which is weird.

The Sims 2 University
There is nothing wrong with thiss expansion pack. Only good comes of it, as you get new things to make your teens and (now)

young adults seem much more real, and you can get some interesting things such as phones and cameras. And for people who make

horror movies, ZOMBIES! Yeah, that is also awesome.

The Sims 2 Seasons
You get some interesting weather with this, and it all looks very pretty. But if you want to make a movie, sometimes the

random outburst of rain can really bug you. But when it kicks off into a storm, well, get the aspiration full and use the

weather-controller otherwise the place will catch on fire. Not cool. However you do now get the option tohave 'outerwear'

which is cool.

The Sims 2 Open For Business
This has some great haristyles and interactions. Which again can only be benefitial. And the option to own your own

businesses is good, too. This expansion pack is great for when you want to make a movie based on a community lot, however it

always seems better to have fake shops because with real ones, sometimes you hire people to work for you or even you yourself

could be working and some reandom townies could just appear and some glitches have caused some of the townies to look very

unusual, however you get a lot new items (Obviosuly to meet various customers' needs) which always look good on display.

There were going to be moreitems, but EAxis believed they weren't quite appropriate and therefore gathered them all together

and shoved them in a Stuff pack called 'Family Fun Stuff'.

The Sims 2 Apartment Life
I don't actually own this one, but like any Simmer, I would obviously know about it. The option to live in apartment not only

gives a good new elemntto the game, but also seems quite realistic for movies. And if you don't want a realistic movie, well,

that's where the bookcase-door thing comes in. Also, there is a HUGE amount of custom content that require AL, and it comes

with a lot of it's own content. These include interesting clothing and good items for build-mode, as a lot of custom windows

seem to require AL, getting this EP would certianly open up the world of windows (If you pardon the pun) for you.

The Sims 2 Pets
Despite this being a good expansion pack, Sims 2 Pets causes a bit of trouble for custom-content creators. EAxis selfeshly

thought that they could get away with making it so that half of our accessories (or pretty much any created prior to the

game's release) seem to flash blue. This is just a small problem, which can be fixed, but is just annoying. And because of

this mistake, you would expect Pets to do something to win you back. But infact it doesn't, it offers a wide variety of pet-

themed furniture. Why you'd want a sofa with apaw-print on it, I don't know. And the pets may look good in the background,

but it is hard trying to make a movie with them. As pets are very hard to control, even when using cheats and some of the

hacks out there, sometimes it works best with say only cats than dogs. Furthermore, sometimes you get either the neighbours'

pets or just a randomly generated pet that just happens to walk into your lot, which is annoying during filming you have

somee stupid dog just prance onto the set. Of course you have to then either get a Sim to shoo them away, but if they're too

busy doing better things such as striking a pose, you can always use Moveobjects on and delete the mutt.

And there is my list of the best expansion packs to have. I hope it was interesting


And HERE'S my list of Stuff Packs, just incase you were wondering about them.

Introduction
Luckily, Stuff Packs only add opbjects and such to the game, and not whole new element such as hobbies or really annoying

patches. This makes them a good bundle of fun things which are always nice to have aren't they?

IKEA Home Stuff
This comes with a wide range of furniturefrom IKEA, which is great, as it bring a nice, sophisticated and modern atmosphere

to your game. Furthermore, if you worried that it will bring something hideous to your Create-A-Sim menu, it doesn't! IKEA

likes not to stick it's nose where it doesn't belong, and therefore keeps to itself in the way that it only gives you stuff

in Buy Mode. This is an SP to have, it won't be demanding on your game, and the furniture's realistic, sophisticated feel can

only be benefitial.

H&M Fashion Stuff
A nice amount of clothing from the popular H&M brand. As well as looking cool enough for people to want to keep rather than

be ashamed of it because EAxis made it, the many clothes also provide a great many decent and unique meshes for people who

are interested in creating new clothes. Furthermore, H&M Fashion Stuff also comes with a lot of new and unique objects. From

simple pieces of furniture or rugs to having your very own 'H&M' store-sign, which again i great for building your own H&M

store. And to complete the look, it also comes with a variety of shopping-goods (As well as a few pre-made shops) such as

signs for in the store, clothing racks and cash-registers. Like a good Stuff pack, H&M Fashion Stuff is good to have.

Mansion and Garden Stuff
Again, an overall benefitial stuff pack, it brings a nice sophistication to building your houses, letting you make them that

little bit more posh, and you get new tools in build mode, such as being allowed to choose how much the roof tilts, making

your houses look truly custom. There is a lot of content for buy-mode, too, from a range of themes, and for the movie maker,

this is good.
And for Create-A-Sim, there are a few interesting hairstyles that aren't anything to be ashamed of having in your movies,

also the fact that it is the latest Stuff Pack is an extra advantage, because you'll now know that you have the latest one

out there and you shouldn't be missing out on much. Ceiling are also a great bonus, wherea Apartment Life uses the above

floor-tiles, this one uses plain plaster ceilings, they're optional, and they allow you to put whatever you want on the floor

above.
One down side, there are a few known compatibilty issues since it is, after all, the lastest Stuff Pack.

Kitchen and Bath Interior Design Stuff
This is a great Stuff Pack, which with it's nice casual attire is very encouraging to get you to start making your Sims

lounge about, and give you yourself a break from makinjg movies. But away from that, as the name says, it comes with a huge

amount of furniture for your kitchen and bathrooms making them look as realistic as possible. From unique showers to very

modern fridges, this Stuff Pack is a great addition to your Sims collection.

Glamour Life Stuff
Living the life of a glamour-person may not be every movie-maker's ideal story, but it certainly is for most of them,

especially those who are just strting and like their dramatic stories. However, it has so much to it, this Stuff Pack can

appeal to almost every Sims 2 player. With it's great clothing meshes which are largely recoloured online now and it's

interesting furniture, this Stuff Pack is a great one to have, and not only that, but it also comes with some good

architectural content.

Teen Style Stuff
Equally as good as Glamour Life Stuff, it has three themes these are Skater, Goth and Socialite. The Skater is the rebellious

teen who like to do what they're told not to, the Goth is dark, and keep to themself and the Socialite is all about going out

with friends and getting themself known. How much more realistic could you get? Not only that, but each of these styles come

with their own clothing, hairstyles, architecture and furniture. You can get your Skater a clothes-rack that was once a

skateboard, or you can give your darker Sim and red and black wardrobe. The clothing you get in Create-A-Sim is amazing too,

for the Skater you get those type of clothes, with the hree-quater lenght pants and what not, with the Goths you get the

dresses, outfits, fishnets and leather vests, and the Socialite can wear whatever they like, and their relaxed cltohing

reflects that. To sum it up, this Stuff Pack is a bunch of goodie for your Teen Sims, and let's face, who doesn't make a Sims

movie based on teens? This is definitely a Stuff Pack to have, and is highly recommended just for that reason. However in the

custom-content world, it is even better, with recolour that require things from this Pack to conversions from clothing from

this Stuff Pack to make it look good on adults, just so they're not left out either.

Celebration! Stuff
This is a nice Stuff Pack to help your Sims celebrate the important things in their lives. It comes with a huge amount of

content, making back-yard get-togethers, birthdays and wedding much better. You can get a variety of bithday cakes, some new

decorative stuff, and a huge amount of clothing. This Stuff Pack comes with a lot of content, and a lot of it has been played

with online, so you can have your celebrations much more realistic too.

Family Fun Stuff
Originally, all of this content was in the Open For Business Expansion Pack, but something made them take it out, and perhaps

that is obvious. It comes with a lot of strange content, you can have wardrobes shaped like a water-wave, or for some reason

you can dress the whole family in orange. For the movie-maker, this isn't a serious consideration, and the content should

only really be used for young children, as it would seem very unuaual having a pink, horse-shaped scultpure in your parents'

room. In the grand scheme of things, this Stuff Pack is only good for building up your collection.


I hope you've read it all, and I do hope I've helped anyone who was wondering what Expansion Pack / Stuff Pack to get for

making a movie.
Hope you have fun, and enjoy,
TrivialSim (bbbe99)

I would say

Open For Business =7
H&M Fashion Stuff = 6
Kitchen And Bath Stuff = 6
University = 6
Apartment Life = 5


I really, really want Seasons and Freetime. Nightlife seems cool because of the variety of cars and the dating system. Bon Voyage would be cool because of the beaches. I have no desire to have pets.

Since I've gotten apartment life it kinda changes the look of the game, like on the neighborhood screen it now has a place where it says things like "This will allow you to adjust weather for the neighborhood once you install Seasons" and that's just a constant reminder that I don't have seasons, which annoys me. haha

Here's my rating of all EPs and SPs. (I've got all of them but haven't installed M&G Stuff yet... :D)

EXPANSION PACKS

1. Seasons. Can you reject the snow? Also the mini-games and country furniture are good. Putting leftovers instead of throwing food away. The beautiful music also. It's simply the best!

2. University. I've always wanted my Sims to live alone freely, and this is the chance! (Also more time in an age group to max skills sooner). Influence makes Sims have fun torturing townies. And this is the ONLY EP which has all the music that I love! Go for Uni.

3. Apartment Life. So many improvement to Build mode that I can't resist! So many useful items in Buy mode that I must buy! How else can I say? The ceilings? Witches? Or Sims being killed by a cute bed? Definitely a great EP.

4. Open for Business. Now my Sims can finally open an art gallery! No more paintings in every wall tile. Also the Servo from TS1 and many good objects.

5. Nightlife. Cars? Dates? Yeah, the luxury has come! The objects are simply great. Also inventory and Turn on/offs. Vampires can bite you when you never expect them. But the music are simply remixes.

6. FreeTime. Hobby, hobby. It's good when your Sims has more leisure time, but not when it overwhelms the Want-Fear slots and make them forget everything else. The music is bad.

7. Pets. Sure, dogs and cats are cute. But you probably won't like random strays that spawn into your lot. The atomic objects are rarely used also. Pet interactions are far more limited compared to Unleashed. The only thing I fairly like is the music.

8. Bon Voyage. "Exotic Destinations". Of course, they spawn when you create a hood even if you don't create a destination. Furniture are bad except the Japanese ones. Little and bad music. Jewelery isn't a nice addition.

STUFF PACKS

1. IKEA Home Stuff. Simply because of the modernity and simplicity of the furniture!

2. Celebration! Stuff. Now my Sims can throw a proper formal wedding party. Nice dresses also.

3. Mansion & Garden Stuff. Ceiling fans and huge stairs. Also the roof slider and different flowers that none of the EP/SPs provided.

4. Happy Holiday Stuff. Bows and stars in the bedroom, Christmas trees in living room. Combined with Seasons, they're simply the best.

5. Glamour Life Stuff. Shiny furniture - all I always wanted. Now Sims can live the celebrity world too.

6. H&M Fashion Stuff. Stylish clothes and modern shop objects - what more can you wish?

7. Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff. New additions to the most important rooms, although the recolors are fairly limited.

8. Teen Style Stuff. Not really happy with this one. The only good objects are TV and stereo. A SP shouldn't have itself seperated into many themes, especially when there are only 60 objects.

9. Family Fun Stuff. Although children now have many more toys to play, the silly amount of walls added is a downpoint. And you can bet that I'm not happy when downloading the patch.

I hope that EAxis release some more SPs for TS2... So I can add them to this list! :P

Sorry, I was unaware that EA said they would release more SPs for Sims 2.. when/where did that come from? I was under the impression that everything for the game was dropped.

For reference, I have Uni, Nightlife, Pets, Seasons, and Freetime.

#1. Seasons. I haven't played many of its features so far, I've barely even touched gardening, but ... The sole reason I enjoy Sims 3 is for the gardening and fishing challenges. In every other area, I prefer Sims 2 in the long run. So... Sims 2 with gardening and fishing? No-brainer! What I HAVE experienced on the pack is excellent. There's some nice new items, I love the outerwear, and the new "features" are exciting without being annoying. More on this later.

#2. Nightlife. I almost consider this part of the basegame... I can't imagine doing without its features, and my sims don't usually date much. I haven't experimented with vampires yet, but I have a mind to do just that... It's not that this expansion pack is very creative, it's very similar to what Hot Date did for Sims 1 (Hot Date was my second favourite expansion pack there, too) but it just seems so vital. Plus I love that exercise sphere. So much.

#3. Freetime. And this one's floating between 2 and 3... Really, in terms of features, it would ordinarily be higher. I LOVE the hobbies, I LOVE the secret clubs, I love all the new activities and I love the new items.

I cannot stand, I cannot stand at all, how much attention-whoring these features have in-game. This is a problem Seasons cleverly avoided.
Experiencing an aspect of a hobby for the first time? BOOM PHONE CALL. And note that just about every single activity is hobby-related. Eating? Cuisine. Fixing the broken sink? Tinkering. Playing chess? Playing absolutely anything, actually? Games. I wish this game had a Caller ID mod... And that's not the only phone call. You get another when they get a tiny bit more interested, which is very easy to do with normal sim life, and then someone will ask if they want a magazine subscription, and then someone will barge into their house to hand them a membership card! So annoying!

Incidentally, is it even possible to have Free Time installed and have a sim that does NOT get a Cuisine membership card by the time they die? Without a bunch of cheats, anyway?

So while I loved all the features, I hated how the pack wouldn't STFU about them. Oh, and the surprise gift you get moving in? It was cool the first time. Not so cool for the other fifty.

#4. Pets. At first all I could say about this pack was how buggy it is. (Very.) Maybe I downloaded a fix? Because some of the really bad bugs aren't... hah... bugging me anymore. Others are, and that's frustrating, but really, I don't think this pack has enough features. The interactions with cats and dogs get repetitive within the first sim day, and you simply cannot keep an agressive pet in the same house as another pet -- even if you teach them both fully that fighting is wrong, they'll still fight! Total bullocks! This caused my best pet to run away...

But I like the cat/dog customization a lot, and although I think pet jobs are a silly idea, I may as well try them out some day.

#5. Uni. Briefly I wanted no expansion pack more than this one, because of its architectural options. But this is the worst offended of just not bringing enough to the game... and it's quite understandable. It's all about university life, but... when your sim's not at uni, you won't notice ANYTHING from this pack.

On the plus side, it brought in some kickin' punk hair and some really nice careers. I don't dislike uni as a pack; but the uni life is boring, excessively long, and way too easy.

Pets and Seasons, they complete the game the most... but I like them all the same except AL ant FT

FT flatout sucks
AL's only good feature are the Witches

Actually, they WEREN'T going to release some new SPs, they just said although Sims 3 has come out, they would not drop Sims 2. As long as I recall correctly :D

Very interesting idea for a thread! I didn't vote in the poll (since I couldn't find it!), but I am more than happy to share my thoughts on the various EPs and SPs! For starters, it's hard for me to pick just one favorite EP. They're all pretty good. My top five are Nightlife, Seasons, Pets, Bon Voyage and Freetime.

In Nightlife my favorite thing, hands down, is the fact that it allows sims to own their own car. It's beyond me why they didn't include that in the base game. I mean, unless you live in a big city (or you can't drive for whatever reason), you probably aren't going to be using taxis as your main form of transportation (and the Sims 2 neighborhoods seem to be very much suburbia rather than big city!)!

Virtually all of my sim families own cars, and if a lot is not big enough for at least a one car garage (even if a little remodeling is done to make the house a bit smaller), I usually won't even consider using it (on rare occasions I make an exception and use a lot that has room for a driveway but not a garage. But if the lot doesn't have room for even a driveway, forget it!).

In Seasons, my favorite thing is, well, the seasons. I like that it makes the game much more realistic weather-wise. I tend to coordinate the seasons in my game with the seasons in RL. So, for example, when it's summer in real life, it's summer in my game. My one exception is vacation neighborhoods. Since Twikkii Island is designed as tropical location, it's always summer there. In Three Lakes, it's usually fall or winter, since I invision a mountain location as having that type of weather. As for Takemizu Village, I just go with whatever I feel like at the time!

In Bon Voyage, my favorite things are vacations and honeymoons. I like that my sim couples can now go on proper honeymoons (and possibly come back with a little "souviner" if you catch my drift! ).

My favorite thing in Pets is the pets. When I first got it, I had to restrain myself from adding a dog or cat to every sim household! While I've heard horror stories about Pets, I personally have never experienced problems because of it. So take it from me, getting Pets does NOT mean you are doomed to a game full of problems!

Can you guess what my favorite thing about Freetime is? Yup, the hobbies and their related objects. I like that my sims can now do more hobby-wise than just paint, read, or play musical instruments. I also like that cooking now does something other than just keep sims nourished and, in some cases, make them fat.

As for the other EPs, I like them, too, but not quite as much as my top five. In particular I like that Apartment Life added the option for sims to have closets rather than dressers (although unfourtnately my sims cannot use closets due to a conflict with a dresser hack I have installed. I'm not willing to go without the dresser hack, so my poor sims have gotten used to the idea that they have to stick with dressers.).

That's another thing that I think should have been included with the base game. Yes, EAxis, most people have dressers, but most people have closets, too!

Moving on to the SPs....I don't have all of them yet (I'm still missing Happy Holiday Stuff, Glamour Life Stuff, and H&M Fashion Stuff), but of the ones I do have, Celebration Stuff and Kitchen and Bath Stuff have to be my favorites. As a huge romantic, having lots of stuff with which to plan the perfect wedding for my sims is right up my alley. The only thing I don't like is the wedding dresses that came with that SP (in fact, I actually like the bridesmaids' dresses a lot better!). Much too blah for my taste. I don't really like the wedding dress that came with the base game either, so I use custom wedding dresses.

With Kitchen and Bath Stuff, I like that I can finally give my sims some decent-looking kitchens and bathrooms. I also like the bathrobes that came with it. My more modest sims are glad that they now have an underwear option that doesn't involve them actually having to prance around in their underwear!

There aren't any SPs that I strongly dislike, but I was a bit underwhelmed by both Family Fun Stuff and Teen Style Stuff. The latter added hardly anything, and as for the former....I don't know what they were thinking when they chose the clothes that would come with it. Those kids pjs and dress-up clothes are cute, but the rest is just....ugh (especially those awful kids swimsuits!)!

I was also a bit underwhelmed by the Ikea Home Stuff SP, but for a different reason. Upon getting it and exploring the stuff that came with it, I realized that frankly, Ikea furniture is, for the most part, not my taste!

But perhaps my most interesting moment with an EP or SP was wth University. For the longest time, I swore to myself that I wouldn't get it. From what I could tell, it didn't add that much in the way of furnishings and clothing and stuff, and I couldn't really see myself spending that much time playing the colleges. Plus, I felt I could live without my sims going to college, and from what I'd read, Young Adult sims aren't that different from Adult sims.

Gradually, however, my resistance to Uni began to fade. First, I began to get curious about the Young Adults. Similar to Adults or not, I thought it might be fun to play them. Then I started being curious about what the colleges were like. And then I began getting annoyed that some of the CC I really wanted was stuff that I couldn't get....because it required ALL the EPs to work. So I had to pass it up all because of one little EP (I DID throw caution to the wind and get a few of them, figuring that since I was without just one of the EPs required the CC would still work okay. It did, but I didn't want to push my luck!)!

And then something happened that completely took me by surprise. Whereas before I was simply curious about a few things involving Uni but could live without it, suddenly I found that my stance on Uni had changed. I wanted that EP. So I got it......and guess how I have been spending my Sims 2 playing time lately? That's right, playing the colleges! I just can't get enough of them! Deciding to cave in and get Uni was the best decision regarding Sims 2 that I have ever made!

The expansions I have are:
Nightlife
Apartment Life
Celebration
Teen Style

And Pets but I lost it so its not installed on the laptop.

#1 Apartment Life
Pros
Shelves. I really culdn't live without shelves. Its realistic because houses in real life have shelves and its a good think to shove clutter upon to make the house looked 'lived in'
The new furniture. That gigantic television is he best thing ever. I have a habit of watching the telly like my sims, as I like all the shows that are on. I am yet to have any of my sims watch the yummy channel though lol.
APARTMENTS! This is seriously an awesome feature to add to your game, and I couldn't live without them. You can a wide range of apartments, from £800 trailers on trailer parks to £6,000 luxury suites in the big, shiny hotel/mansion places. Its fun to bash on the walls of loud neighbours when they have their music pumping out at volume 1,000.
MONEY ADVANTAGES!!!!!!!!! This is a majorly awesome feature to the game. Before, if you made a family of say 8 or so, you would still only have 20,000 for your family to buy the house and furnish it, so without cheats life woul be quite hard. But in apartment life, say if you create a family of 8, you could get up to £40,000 pounds as your familys starting income, which is enough to buy a nice house and throw some nice furniture into it.
I highly recommend you buy this EP!!
Cons
The only con I can think of is that if you have an already slow computer this EP is most likely to make your game run slow. Apartments were living hell on my old computer, as it used to take forever to navigate aoround the apartments. I now play it on my laptop and have absolutely no problems AT ALL! Its fast and fun to play.
#2 Celebration Stuff!
Pros
Wedding gear! Your sims can now have beautiful, weddings. Before, your sims couldn't have mush of a wedding because there wasn't any nice arches,or seats, or bottles of wine to have a toast. I love this EP and couldn't live without it beacuse of parties and weds. With this stuff pack you can throw the party of the century.
Smart suits and dresses! There are some really nice formal wear and dresses that come with this expansion, by far the nicest Maxis dresses made. There is also some nice hair, I especially love the one with the bob with flowers wrapped around it.
Cons
Some people may think this stuff pack is a waste of computer space beacause you don't use the stuff in it very often. Reconsider, as this stuff pack is a game enhancer and without it you couldn't throw good parties.

#3 Nightlife!
Pros
Cars! This is a cool addition to the game, and makes it incredibly realistic as most of us in real life own at least one car (we own three lol) The only bad thing is that if you don't have much cash your'e stuck with a minging old banger.
Pleasure items! Bowling alleys and pool tables boost your sims fun. The other items are okay, but IMO they are definetley not as nice as the ones in apartment life.
Dates! Your sims can now go out to have a meal or have soapy nights in with their love. Its a really nice dating system cause its now easy to have dream dates (I get dream almost every time)
VAMPIRES! I love the supernatural creatures, and vampires are my fave out of the bunch. They have some really cool icon poses and I laugh every time they flinch because of the light. Its hard to get your sims to be vampires though, because the only non-cheat non-item way is to fall in love with the countess who is also hard to hunt down.
Cons
The two cons I said above about the furniture and vamprism are the only cons I can think of. The furniture is pretty dissapointing (unless your sims are late night partiers with nothing better to do) but the pros still outweigh the cons.

#4 Teen Style Stuff
Pros
PROPER TEEN BEDROOMS yea they are quite nice. Maybe a little modern, but they are a nice feature to the game. Your teens can now have proper teenage bedrooms yay! I really love the new little television that comes with this game as its modern and cool.
SEXY T-SHIRTS The girl teenagers now have some really nice little tops to go with the small ripped shorts. This is a good addition to the people who are yet to discover custom content
Cons
The bedrooms and sweet clothes are all there really is. The stuff in the pack is a little too modern for me, I prefer exotic looking beds and old musty looking rugs to the hip, patterned teen ones.

#5 Pets
Pros
NEW PETTERS FOR YOU! There are some really sweet looking pets in this EP and I personally love the cats the most. The dogs are sweet aswell but some of the breeds have weird tiny eyes which creeps me out.
Cons
Many people say this EP makes their game buggy and slow. Myself, I didn't experience any of this except in the apartments.
Thats all you get You only get pets and pet related stuff in this pack, which is pretty boring in itself.
THEY WILL RUIN YOUR HOUSE! Pets destroy almost everythong you own, so whilst you are at work/school your beloved pet at home is destroying your £5,000 sofa. Unless you have enough time to train your pets and don't care about your sms going into needs faliure, they will continue to destroy your house.

I hoped that helped some of decide about expansion packs

Buy your cats scratching posts and your dogs chew toys and they will not destroy your furniture. If you buy a pet at the pet store, you can design it, so you can change the eyes to a size you don't find creepy.

There is a male vampire, so you have two sources of biting.

I think all the EPs are good, if you're willing to learn how play them. That said, I am resisting buying OfB, BV, and FT, because I've got more to do with my sims than I have time for with the EPs I've got!

^Lol on the old computer I brought all that stuf for the pets but they still went and destroyed our sofa. I meant the premade breeds before you mod them etc. they always have midgetised eyes.I always change that, however, though it still annoys me like crazy. In a way, I still miss my petz disc but if I had limited space on my comp it wouldn't be one I would install. Its only me who uses this laptop and its just got emulator/sims/petz junk on it lol.

Lol I did once come across the male vampire but I was playing with a man....and I decided that my bloke was going to refrain from being gay cause he had a pregnant wife at home....I lost that when I uninstalled AL and Pets on the old comp beacsuse I couldn't find the gifts.
I'll probably get Seasons, Uni and OFB from Amazon tonight, I have enough mons so I'll ask my Dad to by the stuff and I'll give him the money lol. Its been well over a year since I last brought an EP

I don't have any SPs, I don't really see the point of buying them when I can download prettier things from MTS for example.
I'll just comment on the EPs I do own (I don't have FT, Pets and OFB)
Nightlife :
Of course, like everyone else I love it! The cars, vampirism, downtown, dates etc... make the game so much more interesting!
Apartment Life :
I like it, it brings a new dimension to the game. Plus witches/warlocks are totally awesome
Bon Voyage :
I don"t really use it. I only had 1 vacation trip since I had the EP. I hate loading time more than anything so I don't usually go on vacations with my sim families
Seasons :
At first I was sceptic but I really love it! It's really great to play with the weather and stuff. Also gardening and fishing is a lot of fun
University :
At first I loved it since I am in college so I thought it was fun. But now I am bored, I find it too long. Most of the time my sims fill in their grade in less that 2 days so after that I get bored. Plus ALL my teens have a want to go to college so I am tired of sending them all so they end up staying in the uni sim bin forever

You don't need to have your sim fall in love with them. They just need to be friends with a high relation score. I read that it helps if your sim has high logic points. Don't know if that's true, but the only two vampires I have (Nina C. and Mortimer G.) both had high logic and it was pretty easy to make them vamps. Too easy for Nina, because I wasn't expecting it.

---
OFB: I never really appreciated it until doing the Build a City challenge. Making businesses and running home businesses really opened up the game play for me. If I could only have one EP it would be this. (I can't get Seasons until I get a better computer, but from what I've read about it, Seasons would probably be my essential -- but until then, it's OFB.)

Nightlife: I love sending my sims downtown, playing dates, and vampires. But I have Double Deluxe so I don't know what Sims would be like without it.

Apartment Life: I adore the witches and I also really like playing apartments. 'Course that's for the torture aspect because I usually make flophouses, council housing, and tiny trailers for my sims. Oh - and the garbage chute. Every sim home has the apartment garbage chute. They complain at first, but never having to take garbage out ever again is worth it.

The cons are that witches showing up at community lots cause a huge drag on my laptop and the evil witch leaves cockroaches at my businesses.



University: I had to learn to love playing Uni, but even without sending my sims to college, I loved it for the musical instruments and the 'play together' function.

The con is that without mods every teen will want to go to college and cry if they don't.

Pets: This isn't essential, but I think it fills out the play a bit. The con is that it seems to flood the wants and fears and I hate EP's that take over the game like that. I actually like that they destroy furniture and need to be trained -- even though my sim lost a very nice bed because I didn't stop the pack leader in time.

Don't have Seasons, BV or FT.

Stuff Packs
The only stuff packs I don't have are the holiday one and Glamour Life.

Ikea: My favorite for inexpensive modern items that my sims love.

Mansion and Garden: Lots of fun over-the-top pieces and the roofinator thing to easily modify roof slope is great.

I don't know if any of the other stuff packs are essential because there's so much nice custom content.

Same here! I never noticed the changes except for the downtown place...all the dating and stuff is just so normal to me.

Thanks for pointing that out! Lol my married sir decided that she was a hard hitting 3 lightning bolts so he really had a major crush on her.... thats the best part. I influenced her to go and bite everyone in the lot and she did :D

'K, so just yesterday, since I was at Walmart and they had a copy of it, I finally broke down and bought Apartment Life. I installed it last night and mucked about with it a bit before I fell asleep. (With the game running and my laptop on my lap, no less.) I haven't completely explored all of its aspects yet, but I thought I'd write down some initial thoughts for other people who might be thinking about buying it. Some of its features -- like ceilings and walking to work/school, both of which I love -- I got because I got Mansions & Gardens before Apartment Life, but of the AL stuff that, AFAIK, isn't in M&G:

--It has some nice new hairstyles. (Although I'm really not really wild about Maxis's colors; I'm hoping there are some nice retextures out there...) There is also quite a bit of new clothing. Most of the styles aren't entirely what I like, but I think they would most likely appeal to younger folks than middle-aged me.

--I find myself liking the new Buy Mode objects in general. There is some nice upscale furniture and deco, some fun shabby-chic Bohemian stuff, and I kind of like the "Gearhead" stuff, too; it will be fun to use to decorate the houses/rooms of Tinkering male Sims, I think, of which I seem to have a lot, lately. And the playground stuff will be very nice, for me and the way I play, on community lots; I plan to update my hoods' parks when next I play "for real," so that kids will have something other than swing sets to play on. Oh, and the big aquarium is fun...and kind of mesmerizing to watch, like a real aquarium of large size. Oh, and closets and their woohoo interaction...although I do think the closet doors are stupidly expensive. $1,000 for closet doors seems a bit steep to me, given that the upscale dressers in the game cost a lot less than that. (Hell, you can buy a CAR in the game for less than that...)

-- It appears to have a ton of nice new Build Mode stuff, too, which is always a plus for me, both to use as-is and to use as a "base" to create CC. I haven't systematically gone through all of it yet, but I liked a lot of what I did run across and/or thought that it had potential, from a creating point-of-view. It has lots of new walls and floors and some very nice-looking doors and windows. And the spiral stairs, which aren't too exciting to me, since I've had CC ones in my game for a long time. But the AL ones are nice-looking.

-- Neighborhood deco! I always wanted alleyways and such... and there they are. I now have plans for the business district of one of my 'hoods...

-- I resisted buying AL for a long time for two reasons. One was that I was afraid that the painstakingly-constructed hack cocktail in my up-to-Freetime game wouldn't work anymore, but that fear went away because when I got M&G I had to update my "big hacks" like ACR and Inteen to AL editions anyway, and my older, un-updated stuff all seemed to work just fine. (Including Community Time, thank God!) But the other reason was because I just wasn't really interested in housing Sims in apartments. From what I'd read, it was sort of like playing the dorms at Uni...and that does seem to me to be the case, with just a few differences. I haven't entirely come to a firm judgment on the whole apartment issue yet. I DO like it that, since I don't let every Sim keep their $20,000 hand-out, it gives my single Sims (both the poorer working-class stiffs and my loaded swinging-single Romance Sims) a living option that offers on-lot social opportunities and that can be cheaper, if necessary. And it's quicker for me because I don't have to build or take up a lot with housing for Sims who'll stay single or at least childless...although I don't have too much control over the latter, really, given that I let ACR run wild. I DON'T like it that, although the apartment shows furnished and deco'ed in Build mode, when rented everything but the kitchen/bath fixtures and the closets go away. It threw me for a bit; I thought something was wrong until I finally realized the logic of it. Still bugs me, though. Everything else...Well, I haven't played enough yet to figure out whether or not I like it. I have a suspicion that my ultimate judgment of apartments will be an apathetic "Meh"...but who knows? I thought that about gardening and fishing from Seasons, too, and I turned out to really like them, so...Yeah.

-- I haven't delved into building my own apartment building yet; I just copied five or six buildings from Belladonna Cove to the lot bin and then plopped 'em in my testing 'hood to play around with them with some test Sims. And I think it's kind of funny that most of them come with playgrounds but hardly any of the pre-made apartments on those lots (except the trailer park, oddly enough) are large enough to accommodate kids + parents. Weird.

-- The concept of uncontrollable roommates sounds like fun (in the "recipe for potential disaster" sense of the word; I'm guessing they will work like pets), and I'm looking forward to trying it out...if I can find an apartment that's big enough to house two not-romantically-involved people, that is. :\

-- I haven't messed with the witches at all yet, but am looking forward to doing so. I used to dislike supernaturals, so I wasn't interested in witches, either. That was another reason why AL didn't interest me when it was released. But now that I've tweaked how I play supernaturals, I really like them. So, I'm looking forward to having a new type to throw into the mix.

--The addition of this EP, since I now have all but Bon Voyage, made my game run slower. Not slowly enough to be annoying to me, but loading times did increase by a noticeable amount. I don't think this is entirely AL's "fault," though. I think it's merely a consequence of an older machine, a lot of EPs and a few SPs, the fact that I keep a spreadsheet and genealogy database software open at the same time to track my playing, and, currently, too much CC that wants pruning, particularly the "get rid of hairs that I never use/don't like in game project" that I've been putting off...oh, forever. But I could be wrong. It does add a lot of stuff, so maybe it is partly the EP's "fault." But that would also be understandable, since it does add a lot of stuff. You can't have your cake and eat it, too, after all.

-- I like the jumping rope thing, since it gives Sims, including children, an entirely free Body-skill building option. (Yes, I know you can work out to TVs/radios, but I build small houses with small rooms for playing purposes, and there isn't always room to work out...plus, you have to have/buy a TV/radio, and not all of my Sims get those.)

--I'm really liking the reputation thing, I think, although I frankly don't yet understand how it works/how it's accumulated. But one of my test Sims already got "free samples" of things (like an expensive TV) from a friend of hers. I'm assuming this is because she somehow managed to accumulate a high reputation just while I was testing stuff with her and her husband and their friends. It reminds me of the dating gifts from NL, only without the dating. (Which is a good thing, for me, since I'm currently bored of dating.) Another testing Sim got a discount on Buy Mode stuff and another got a higher pay rate at his job, all I think because of reputation, so those were very nice, too. I thought reputation was going to be like influence from Uni, which I hardly ever use, so I was "meh" about reputation...but it's not the same, and I think I really like it.

-- I like all of the new interactions, and there are a lot of them, more than any EP that I have ever added. I mean, I suppose they'll become ho-hum after a while, but it was fun to watch my test Sim go to a community lot and get a bunch of "Tough Handshakes" from people he knew...and some he didn't know at all. And the new cuddles and kisses are all adorable...although they, too, might become ho-hum after a while. But for now, they make me go, "Awwwwww!" in an embarrassingly squee-ish sort of way.

--Finally: Being Able To Move Stuff Up and Down on Walls = YAY! :D

And that's all that I've discovered so far. Overall, I like the EP quite well, and think it was money well spent. I think that in the end it will become one of my top three, along with Open For Business (my favorite) and Seasons...although I think it's kind of ironic that its "main attraction" -- apartments -- is probably going to be the thing that I'm most "meh" about.

ETA: 3/14/11: Have played some more, have some more notes.

--New music! ...Well, actually, I'm not sure if this came with AL or M&G (which I got via the "Fun With Pets" collection), but I have new Build Mode/Buy Mode/Neighborhood View/Loading Screen music. I don't always play with the game's music on; by default, I have it turned off. But I guess installing AL turned it back on again. Since then I've left it on to hear the new tunes. I like them. Once they become ho-hum, I'll turn the music off again. But, like I said, I'm not sure if this came with AL or with M&G/FwP.

--I had some sort of issue wherein when I went to load my game, it seemed to have forgotten that AL was installed, although the files were all on the hard drive...I think. Weird. (And probably my computer's fault, not the game's.) So I uninstalled/reinstalled AL, and then it worked fine. The really weird thing is that, once I did that, the game runs a lot better. In my initial notes, I had said that things were lagging, but now they aren't. Not noticeably, anyway. I guess something didn't install right the first time, maybe? Well, whatever the case, I haz no noticeable lag anymoar, except...

--Had my first witch appearance while I had one of my families visit their neighborhood's rec center. It was the Infallibly Good one. And her cat. There was lag while she appeared, which I had read happens, but it wasn't too much for me, maybe 30 seconds? (And for the record, my laptop = 7 years old, running WinXP, 2GB RAM, 128MB video card, and I have no clue what its processor speed is. So it's certainly not top-of-the-line now, although it was when I bought it. :lol ) My rec center lot is big, too, 5x5 with lots of stuff on it, so perhaps the lag will be less on a smaller lot. And then once she was fully materialized or whatever...she went swimming in the rec center pool. I thought it was amusing. That's the only contact with magic that I've had yet. I just haven't gotten 'round to messing with it.

--The new Peek-a-Boo interaction with the toddlers is adorable! I actually had the option added to the pie menu when I installed M&G/FwP...but it was broken, and I was terribly disappointed. Installing AL fixed it, and it's sooooooo cuuuuuuuuute! I can watch them do it all day.

--Likewise, the new skills (Fire Safety, etc.) that can be studied I also got with M&G/FwP, but they were only accessible from individual books lying around, not from the bookcase. That was kind of a pain. Also, Sims didn't roll wants to study the new skills, either. But installing AL fixed both those issues, too. Yay!

--Since I have now used it, I can confirm that the playground stuff is really nice. It's especially nice that children have some children-only fun stuff to do now. And that they can build Body skill while doing it.

What is your most favourite/least favourite expansion pack, and why?
My fave is definitely Seasons. The rain/ thunder is such a neat feature, and quite realistic. Snow is awesome, although can be a little annoying at times, but an overall win. + The items and other neat features like gardening and fishing is wicked!

Apartment Life is another of my favourites, I just think it adds a realistic touch. I also love that you can visit neighbours and use all their stuff xD.

An EP I could probably live without is Pets. Although I do love the pets, I just don't have them all that often in my game.

What is your most favourite/least favourite stuff pack, and why?

Fave pack would be Happy Holiday Stuff. It's like a mini EP. ;D

I only have two stuff packs, so I couldn't really pick one I dislike.

If you could rank how much you like each expansion or stuff pack in order, what would your order be?

1. Seasons
2. Bon Voyage
3. Nightlife
4. Uni
5. Apartment Life

If you had to remove an expansion, which one would it be, and why?

Pets, although I do like it, I don't really use it as much as the other ones. I'd miss it if I didn't have it, though.

Its not AL, its your computer (how I know- experience lol) Computers which have a lot of stuff on don't really agree with AL, as they lag then, and oldish computers don't either.

I used to play Sims on my Dad's computer (7 years old now) and Double Deluxe used to run slightly slowly, but only used to lag on community lots. But when I installed AL its used to lag all the time, on apartment lots aswell. I then installed pets which didn't make it run slower.
But now I play Sims on my laptp which I got in October '10 and it works perfectly. Since installing it I have installed Uni, OFB, Seasons and Teen Style and theres no prob. I only use my laptop for petz and sims, so I don't have a problem for space.

I'm glad your'e enjoying it, though! I used to feel like the only one who REALLY liked it. I adore Peek-a-boo, too, its so damn cute when they do it autonomously <33

EXPANSIONS
Definately FREETIME first because of the restorable car, train table and I LOVED the idea of the secret memberships to secret lots!
Secondly PETS because you can buy pets (Duh!)
Thirdly SEASONS because of all the weather and stuff.
Fourth NIGHTLIFE because of the great clubs and diners (Reds Famous 50's diner is my FAVORITE!!!)
Fifth UNI because I really liked the really plain houses and dorms in the campus!
Sixth OFB because I enjoy making buisneses (Tip: selling cars is hardest!!!)
Seventh BONVOYAGE because the hotels are nice.
Eigth APARTENT LIFE because there wasn't much I liked in that!!!
STUFF PACKS
Firstly MANSION AND GARDEN because at the same time that I got that I got seasons and it went well with it (also like the solar!)
Secondly KITCHEN AND BATH because I liked the Kitchens and houses that came with it.
Thirdly IKEA because I liked the idea that you could get real life furniture
Fourth GLAMOUR LIFE because it went well with K&B
Fifth CELEBRATION because of the houses!
Sixth TEEN STYLE because of the really cool surfer furniture!
Seventh H&M FASION because of the clothes
Eighth FAMILY FUN... well not really my type exept for the vacation clothes and ship stuff

And that's all :D

Turn boolprop on, walk sim over very close to door, shift-click, and you can rent furnished apartment.

Yeah, I know that now, having actually read HP's little tutorial. So, that's been good. I still don't understand why it wouldn't have been made a regular option but...whatever, EA!

I did notice that the rent doesn't go up when renting furnished, so maybe that's the reason. Maybe two "rent calculation algorithms" would have not worked. So...yeah, whatever. I just manually charge Sims who rent furnished apts/houses a reasonable amount of extra rent and move on.

ETA, 'cuz I forgot:



Actually, I think the issue was a faulty initial install of AL, which is likely my computer's fault. When I went to play again, the computer seemed to have forgotten that AL was installed, even though the files seemed to be there. So, I uninstalled/reinstalled the EP and after that I had no noticeable lag whatsoever. My game took the same amount of time to initially load and to load a lot as it did before. Playing a big apartment building will lag slightly, but that's just because the lot is large and because my computer's specs are not top-of-the-line; I have the same "problem" with large dorms and large community lots.

I know I just saw this thread and it's nearly a month old but I would like to add my input.

Most Favorite EPs:

1) University: Young Adult Stage and clothes. I love the increased skilling I can get done to access the Uni-only jobs after graduation. I also almost always have my Playable Sims scope the gym and their dorm for potential mates. Also, if I forget to do it before they go to college, once they get there they buy their cell phone, handheld video game and MP3 player from the kiosk.

2) Free Time: The Hobbies hooked me. The ONLY thing I don't like about the enthusiasm levels is the level that allows them to browse the Web about their hobby. THEY DO NOTHING ELSE. U have to tear them away from the PC.

3) Seasons: I love the weather and the clothes that they wear for Fall and Winter.

4) Nightlife: I have just started going Downtown with my Teens to get their cell phone, and handheld video game and MP3 player before going to college.

5) Apartment Life: Rod Humble's PC. If I have a family with a Teen, I have the Teen take the PC with them to college along with their phone, game system and MP3 player. I don't like that u can't replace it if it breaks, or when only one is delivered in a multi-Teen house.

Least Favorite EPs:

Pets. They come all the time, and the dogs dig up holes all the time. Too much of an annoyance and distraction to me. I didn't reinstall it last night when I did a massive uninstallation/reinstallation of the TS2 Holiday Edition, EP's and SP's.

OFB: I initially didn't like this one but bought it anyway just to have the complete series. But once I saw a business lot, it gave me ideas for other ways to play the game.

EPS:

1. Bon Voyage - I just love Twikki Beach!

2. Seasons - Well...I just love it :D!

3. FreeTime - More interactions and fun things to do.

6. Nightlife - Go clubbing
{ 6. OFB - I need to use it more

7. Pets - Not as good

SPS:

1. H&M Fashion Stuff - Nice meshes

2. Teen Style Stuff

3. Celebration Stuff

Worst EP:

Pets - They kill your home, make babies block your way, look cute and that's about it!

Worst SP:

Celebration Stuff - Just download some CC! Sooo much nicer and cheaper.

I got Nightlife + Celebration Stuff in Double Deluxe so I don't know what the original gameplay is like.

Expansion packs in order:

1. At the top, shining, haloed, glittery and beautiful is Apartment Life. Throughout my Simming life, I've wanted to be able to have several families on the one lot, and this gave it to me! Along with witches, but I'll let that one go (ha, ha, ha).

2. Second, it has to be University, because I'm a bit of an academia-geek and lovelovelove the Young Adult phase. Really extends playtime with a Sim, and has made careers a little more realistic.

3. Then, Seasons. I was so enamoured by this, the first time I played I kept screaming "IT'S SNOWING!" and confusing my parents. Well worth a buy, if only for the penguin.

4. Freetime comes next. Much appreciated for its hobbies and new objects, but loses a few points because of annoying phone calls and house visits to tell me how skilled my Sims are.

5. I figure I should like Bon Voyage more than I do, but I just don't use it as much as the others. I do love the objects and build items, though. Beautiful.

6. Second to last is Nightlife, more likely than not because it didn't install properly on my PC so I don't have the best feelings towards it, personally.

7. The one I'd remove if I had to choose ... Pets. It's my most recent addition, so that may have something to do with this positioning. But I'm also not that much of an animal person (I know! I'm sorry! )

The only stuff pack I have is Glamour Life... and it's alright! I wouldn't recommend against buying it, though I'm not sure I'd have purchased it myself (it was a gift - much appreciated, I hasten to add!)

Edited to add: just realised I missed off Open for Business! I do like it, honest ... I'm just not very good at building up businesses, I don't think.

I have all the EPs except Apartment Life. I also had Double Deluxe, though, so I don't know what's Nightlife and what's not. Otherwise, my favorites:

1. Seasons: Gardening can get a little old when you do it on every lot, but I *love* the sparkly food from homegrown meals, so I have to do it! The non-sparkly meals look so unappetizing in comparison. I also love the weather. Rain and snow and falling leaves! The penguin who comes around when it's snowy is beyond cute-- wish he were adoptable!

2. Open for Business: I love setting up and designing home businesses. It's fun to make bakeries and fruit stands and whatever else. I almost never do shops on community lots because I can't stand the loading times, so there are lots of converted garages and carefully locked doors during business hours!

3. Freetime: I like the ballet barre, and the restorable car is fantastic for skillbuilding, an affordable ride, or a high-profit sales item. I liked the crafting stations (pottery, sewing, robots) a lot at first, but I use them less and less as I get tired of them.

4. University: Fun as a change of pace from the families of my main hoods. I've only ever used the dorms-- what's the point of living in a house?

5. Bon Voyage: I like it well enough, but the loading times keep me from sending my sims on vacation too frequently.

6. Pets: If I could get rid of one EP, it would be this one. The pets are cute, I guess, and I like pets in real life; but in the game, they just don't add much besides extra chores, and their stuff takes up a lot of room.

For SPs, I have a few, but the standout is definitely IKEA Stuff. The furniture and deco items are cheap and better looking than most of the Maxis stuff, and I use them constantly.

I recently got Apartment Life, and I think I like the furniture it comes with more than the feature of living in apartments. I love the playground equipment, the spiral staircase, the wall-bed, the clothes, and a bunch of other things. I haven't really gotten into having a sim in an apartment yet.

Apartments have their annoying features as living spaces, but they also have lots of story and game mechanical uses. Watch out for the way they drain your net worth! If you live in a house and you move, you recoup most of your investment, but if you live in an apartment, your rent vanishes into the ether once a week. And you don't realize how much you rely on the ability to tweak your residence as you live in it (this is the only place to put that bookcase, but it blocks a window - never mind, move the window over one square; new baby, time to convert the study and stretch it by two squares) until you lose half your building options.

Personally I think AL is worth it just for the new animations, but I'm a sentimental sucker.

Ive got Nightlife, Seasons and Glamour Life. Seasons is by far my favourite, but the other two are great aswell, so I don't really have a least favourite.
I love the collections and gardening in Seasons, the weather is just something that should have come with the base game for me, ha ha! It adds a bit of variety to the game, and that's important when you stick with one family like I do.
I used to have Pets a few years ago, but it killed our computer, so I actually got rid of the entire game, base and all! (We've upgraded our computer now though, faster, more RAM, etc.). Pets was a huge disappointment to me. It is good, it is nice to have animals and design them too, and the objects were nice, but I never had enough time to play, train or care for pets while I was dealing with getting my Sims promoted or getting the kids through school. I was also sad that I couldn't control them. Even if it was just to order them to eat when they need to or to pee outside, it would have been an improvement.
I guess (from what I've heard/read) that Bon Voyage is kinda pointless for me personally. I like to actually make progress in my Sims' lives, making money and babies (lol) and I think the novelty would wear off quickly.

I'm thinking about getting another EP. Here's what I've narrowed it down to, I need some more advice:

University - Depends how many days each Sim is at university. I can currently get through one Sim's childhood in one night if I set my mind to it, so unless it's like 15 days I think I could handle it. I like my Sims to max careers and if this would help unlock new ones and climb the ladder faster it would be great. But it wouldn't add any new features to the game in general since the EPs I already have are after that.
Freetime - I think the pop-ups and hobbies would get on my nerves, but a friend of mine has it and I've seen the new objects. They're awesome, there's so much more to do! But like I said about Pets, my Sims rarely have any free time.
Apartment Life - Sounds awesome, but the whole witches and warlock thing is wasted on me. Gathering ingredients for the juices in Seasons is a pain in the butt for me, so goodness knows how I'd fare with that! Also, the limitations with building and furnishing put me off. But the ceilings, multiple families and the whole modern feel are attractive to me. One more thing, though: living in an appartment kinda knocks off the option of growing crops, making Seasons (which I love every aspect of!) pointless on come lots. Or have I got that wrong?

So advice would be appreciated. Also, I'm after Teen Stuff and H&M Stuff. Is H&M Stuff the one that adds accessories? Because I'd like that. Bear in mind, my computer, although it's better than it was, isn't very good. We got it upgraded a good 2 years ago; it's our only one (I know people who have 5...) and I have a lot of stuff stored on it - not much custom content though, mainly schoolwork and art/stories. If you think that a certain EP is more demanding than the rest, or would collide with what I already have, please say.
Thanks.^^

I feel your pain on the computer. We also only have one, as far as games are concerned (the laptop is dedicated to word processing ONLY; I even took off Solitaire) and we never have the latest-greatest. Fortunately, since all these games were made several years ago, even a slightly outdated system can run them these days.

You might try buying up all the EPs that sound remotely interesting to you at this time, when they can still be had cheaply, so you can add them as later computer upgrades make it practical.

My advice, for what it's worth:
University students spend eight semesters of 65 hours each plus up to 72 hours grace-time afterward on campus. How many days this works out to be depends on the player because the semester clock keeps running on University Community lots.

If you take a student from the dorm to a Downtown lot the semester hours freeze and he's returned to the same space time continuum just as he would be from a normal residential lot, but if he goes, for example, from the dorm to the student union to the gym to the library to the dorm, spending two hours at each community location, six semester hours will have passed for him by the time he gets back to the dorm, although the dorm clock will have frozen at the time he left. If his class time comes up while he's on a UC lot, he'll autonomously go to class unless his mood and motives are low or you cancel the action, be gone for the appropriate period, and return to the lot he left with motives and GPA adjusted to recognize the class time; then, on returning the dorm, will go again when class time rolls around. Once you graduate, you can hang around doing whatever or you can pick up a phone and return to the main neighborhood.

It is important to note that at University, you skill faster and you skill on UC lots. If while at the library your student studies mechanical, at the gym goes swimming or works out, and at the student union plays guitar, he'll return to the dorm with mechanical, body, and creativity improved. You also aren't confined to the dorms: once you have enough money, you can move into a residence and keep a garden there, improving your gardening skill. If you go to a University lot with a fishing pool, you can fish, take the fish home, and eat it. So if you're a skilling fiend, University is for you.

Beginning with sophomore year, sims get five want slots. At the beginning of junior year, they get the option to change their aspiration without using the Orb. At the beginning of senior year, they gain two locks for their wants/fears panels. At graduation, they acquire six want slots. This can be an enormous boon to daily play; I always feel cramped with my CAS-created adults and their four wants/one lock restrictions.

Many people say that University is boring and others of us dispute this (there's a whole thread on this). If you focus on one sim at a time it probably is. If, however, you send a bunch of playables to college together, the gameplay is a lot of fun, you have lots of social opportunities, and you can graduate with a large circle of friends. Most of my students graduate with about a dozen (some of whom, however, are family members).

A graduated sim may get hired pretty high up on the career tracks for careers appropriate to his major. An Economics major can start his working life as the President of a company, for example. If your focus is on getting promotions, you may like that a lot, or you may find it makes getting to the top of a career too easy.

If you are looking to get out of a skilling/promotion rut and actually have time for gardening and training pets, University would provide a good opportunity for that, as it really takes the pressure off later years, and inserts a liesurely expanse of time at the beginning of the sim's adulthood, which doesn't count against the adult's allotted days, and can be used for matchmaking, setting up professional rivalries, and experimentation. If you're happy with the way you play now, you may find that adding University removes too much of the challenge of moving up the corporate ladder by frontloading your sims with friends, dates, and skill points. It's my own personal favorite EP because I'm all about building social networks and stories.

Apartment Life might work better for your playstyle. You can grow things on Apartment lots - IF you build an apartment to suit. The game doesn't automatically let you build apartment lots, but there are friendly tutorials here that will assist you. The witches show up a lot on Community lots, but they mostly play with the weather and bugs - you don't have to talk to them any more than you have to talk to the vampires in Nightlife. Living in an apartment has a smaller upfront cost and a larger day-to-day cost - rent is easily the highest bill you'll ever pay, and it's due every Monday morning - and having a mix of apartment dwellers and householders in your game can create significant differences in how the families play all by itself.

However - if your computer has a problem with tall buildings and deep basements, you will have to limit which apartments you use, as a lot of them can be annoying to play in exactly the same ways.

I only just got Freetime myself, and I've hardly experienced anything of the hobbies yet. The secondary aspirations may be of more interest, given your playstyle. What hadn't been clear to me before I got it is that, in addition to the benefits and change in want-rolling habits that come with the secondary aspirations, it becomes possible to grant your sim benefits with your aspiration points which relate directly to work and their needs. All sims (not just financial ones) can accrue work benefits, like accruing vacation days faster.

I suggest reading the wikis on each one, and buy according to your tastes; bearing in mind that any EP you buy has the potential to be the one that expands your tastes.

University (my personal favorite) is 75 Sim hours per semester for 8 semesters, or 4 years. Graduating University opens the following careers: Artist, Natural Scientist, Paranormal and Show Business. It also adds the Young Adult age group which has the ability to gain skills and make friends before hitting the working adult careers. If you gain the skills and friends needed in University, you can start at level 6 or higher in whatever job your Sim gets. Both Teen Style and H&M add accessories.

This should help explain about the EP's and SP's if you still need to choose which ones to get http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_2

Thanks for the advice, I'll have a read up. It's probably going to be either University or Apartment Life - or both? Ha ha! A couple of stuff packs will be helpful, too.

If you spare the money for Stuff Packs, I'd suggest you invest in Expansion Packs instead: more game feautures, more fun.

My favorite EPs:

1. University - I like the young adult stage and the fraternities and sororities make it more fun.
2. Nightlife - I like going to clubs and having more places to hang out with all my sim friends. And the cars are awesome!
3. Open for Business - Having your own business puts a new spin on the game and I love those awesome robots.
4. Pets - I could not imagine life without my cat so it was nice for my sim to have a pet too. There were some things I didn't like about pets though. I wish you could take your pets with you to college. I can understand no pets in dorms but if you live in a house, you should be able to take them with you and don't have to leave them alone to suffer abuse from my psychotic little sister who thinks she's a fishie. I also didn't like the fact that there was not much variety in the type of pet you could have. What about people who like reptiles, amphibians (not me), horses, bugs and spiders, and other types of animals for pets?

EPs I wish I had:

1. Apartment Life - I like the idea of witches and living in apartments; but unfortunately it only comes in DVD Rom.
2. Free Time - I always though that there should be more activities for my sims when they are not at work. I was told not to get this one because of the incessant phone calls.
3. Bon Voyage - I like the idea of vacations and the beach, BUT I heard lots of bad things about SecureRom and how it can mess up your computer. So, I'll pass on this one probably.

The Worst EPs I have:

1. Seasons - It makes loading on my computer take forever even though my computer far exceeds the system requirements. I don't like the sunburn and frostbite. I also hate how my sim cannot stay in a hot tub for 1 minute without going into heat exhaustion. I know a lot of you are all about the pretty graphics, but I prefer gameplay to the pretty scenery. On the plus side, I did like the skating and ice skating rinks. They were pretty cool, but the aspect of season that makes me not want to uninstall it is gardening and the new education and gamer careers.

2. The "Stuff Packs" - major waste of money. Enough said!

I haven't bought any of the packs yet, but it looks like that Nightlife and Seasons are at the top of a lot of lists. I'll have to thinking about getting either or both. Thanks guys!

I couldn't imagine paying full price for the stuff packs. The H&M Fashion Stuff is not all that bad. You get three different department style fashion store lots for different neighbourhoods with a runway, manequins, new clothes that are actually decent and double storey windows and doors.

Celebration stuff is light on quantity but it has some worthwhile party gear.

Kitchen and bathroom is nothing special. You get a towel rack with plain towels for decoration purposes only. You can get your sims to "view" the towel rack and a speech bubble appears above their head and you just know they are thinking "Yeah, what the hell am I looking at? You paid how much for this? My stomach's empty damnit." There's nothing else worth mentioning.

Eps

Apartment life brings the ability to place two items on the same wall and adjust their height. Which is a handy tool. Witches and broomsticks, spiral staircases, heartshaped bed, secret door, 45 degree camera angle, multiple families on the one lot. That, nightlife and OFB seem to have the best features.

I haven't played university long enough to understand its appeal. If you like being a poor student in a shabby dorm with excess responsibilities this is the game for you. I don't know what else it does.

With excess responsibilities? What responsibilities do your students have, Josepina? And you don't have to live in the shabby dorm. You can pledge a Greek, or you get grant money each semester, geared to your grades, which will enable you to move into a residence, possibly with roommates. You can also spruce up the dorm. University works best with a lot of playables, as you have all that extra time to build and break relationships, set up storylines to be continued in the main hood, and really get to know your sims. All of which is kind of wasted if they only have relationships with dormies when they move out.

Plus, zombies, influence (a lifesaver for pregnant toddler mothers - invite your friends over, influence one to fix the exploding sink, one to play with the toddler, and one to clean, then fix supper for everybody, eat, and fall into bed), six wants and two locks for graduates...

There's a "Univeristy is boring? Why?" Thread that will give you a wide variety of takes on this EP.

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=430214

Well my impression of it is more acheivement orientated. The students are not only responsible in going to school, they are required to study as well as live with complete strangers and have social responsibilities. All the while living in a dorm that is designed very inefficiently to achieve these goals and with so little money there is no choice but to get a job. I found it daunting. But that's just one person's opinion and there seems to be a very amusing sounding thread devoted to people's opinions on this topic which I can't seem to find using 'University is boring?' as the search phrase.

I vote Seasons. I had NL, OFB and Uni before I had Seasons - and Seasons made a bigger impact on the game and game play than any of the others. You get the weather, which adds so much depth to the game. You get four new careers that don't require Uni degrees. You get the autumn skilling boost. You get gardening, which can be a full time occupation for your sims (even without OFB- you can sell produce through Buy Mode and make money) or just a way to make a little spare cash, add sparklies to the foods and spend time doing something fun. You get plant sims, who aren't the most interesting sims, but they can spawn plant babies without an (in-game) mate and they're great if you're running a farm. You get SAVING OF LEFTOVERS! Yay! No more packing excess foods in inventory to keep it from rotting; no more pulling parents away from changing diapers to make a lunch meat sandwich for a child (kids can take leftovers from the fridge.)

If you get Seasons, you might want to pop over to MATY and pick up warmthfixes and antiweatherreaction (prevents sims jumping out of bed at three in the a.m. to look out the window and declare "It's snowing!")

Second vote is OFB. I had NL before OFB and NL was all right. Then I got OFB and was like wow, this is better than NL. You get get about any kind of business you can think of, including home businesses; you get the crafting benches and all the things they make; and you get servos, who are less annoying than vampires (vampires must remain in coffin from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or their motives starting falling. Phone rings -vamp pops out of coffin. Door bell rings -vamp pops out of coffin. Vamp gets bored or something -vamp pops out of coffin. The only thing that takes away the annoyance of constantly putting the vamp back in his box during daylight hours is picking up some sort of hack to make vamps stay in coffin. So much for immortal, impervious vampire sims. And they don't even have to drink blood.)

I would get Seasons first; the amount of background it adds to your game is superb. Having the change of seasons is terrific; it adds so much atmosphere to the game, I can't imagine an future Sims game that wouldn't have seasons.

My next recommendation would then depend on your playstyle and what you like.

NL: If you like to go to community lots a lot/want the ability to go on dates, get NL.

FT: I like FreeTime for the hobbies it adds, making me feel like my sims have a little more that's different between them.

OFB: I personally don't like OFB all that much, but I don't like running home businesses - a lot of people love that one for the ability to build an in-game economy and do create-a-city challenges. If that's your style, OFB's a great choice for you.

If you like supernaturals, then I'd get NL for vampires or Apartment Life for witches; witches are my favorite supernatural. (If you want to base your decision on supernaturals, I'd say AL>NL>Pets>Seasons>>>OFB or Uni, but that's just me.)

AL: The witches are the main appeal here; I don't actually play apartments all that much.

Uni: I like the careers Uni adds, and you can use the time at Uni for things like building a hobby, badging, or finding your sim's perfect mate (or trying to have them WooHoo 20 other sims or get a big head start on 20 simultaneous lovers. I'd get Uni before OFB.

Pets: Pets themselves aren't that great after the novelty's worn off, but I do like playing my werewolves (modded, of course.) If you really want animals in-game, get this one, but I'd definitely place it behind a lot of the others.

BV: My sims got stuck on vacation the first time I ever tried to send them, so my view of vacations is probably negatively unfairly skewed. However, I don't think BV adds a heck of a lot to the game, and Bigfoot as a supernatural is completely bleh for me.

So, I guess my overall ranking personally is: Seasons>NL>FT>AL>Uni>Pets>BV or OFB (I'd have to look at the objects/clothing again to figure out which one I'd rather have.) Your mileage may vary, depending on some of the factors I talked about above.

Dear god, I didn't even know you could get a job in University - unless you mean working in the cafeteria/as a barista/etc.?

Of course the dorms are designed badly - all the buildings that come with the game are designed badly! And the first semester is very, very tight if you're going with a sim who was never played before, because all you have is the $500 stipend. You can start with a fair amount of money - up to $3,500, which is enough to move into a residence and improve the furnishing some - if you earned scholarships as a teen; but if you're living in a dorm, you don't actually need money! You can skill and do stuff for grades on University community lots, so you don't need to buy your own computer, musical instruments, exercise equipment, or bookcases, but can go to the library, gym, student center, etc. This also shortens your semester. The food made by the dorm chefs is monotonous, but free. And dates are cheap if you choose the right venue. Plus, all the playables on a lot share the same money pool, so joining a Greek or having high school friends or people from the family bin move in with you benefits everyone.

Relax with it and explore more (this is my advice for any EP, actually; they're all fun if you let them be), and don't worry about your grades. As long as you pass, you'll get your grant money. Not everybody has to make the dean's list, and there's no penalty for not doing a term paper or assignments. For sims who get wants to do them, though, that 3,500-point morale boost is great.

I'll see if I can find my own thread and go back to where I mentioned it and put in a link. No promises, though.

Yeah the cafeteria, every 20 seconds you get 10 smackaroonies. So use more than one preplayed scholarship earning sim, and join a sorority makes the game less stressful. Good tips.

Edit: I shamefully forgot to mention my absolute favourite Apartment Life feature (aswell as The Sims in general) that is built-in wardrobes with mirrored doors. Love it!

Expansions:

1. Seasons: Also adore the new objects, hairstyles, clothing, careers (FINALLY EDUCATION!)
2. Apartment Life: Although I think renting an apartment for four weeks will be the same price of buying a house, unless it's
a trailer or small apartment, I love how you can move paintings and wall decor up and down the wall, the fact that neighbors can watch the kids,
and the new neighborhood puts a knot in my stomach for the loss of Bella .
3. Freetime: Big fan of new activities, especially that you get to choose a friend to age with you (although I usually age group of people up with my sims for realism..)
return of the genie lamp, do not like that if you don't do some activities for a period fo time you lose interest in them.
4. Bon Voyage: The only reason this is no 4 is because of the camera, and the fact you can order picture albums and go on a real honeymoon, and tents! Yay, anyone else make a
nomad family? Otherwise eh little boring.
5. Open for Business: This would be no. 4, but the camera is my fave item in all the eps so :/-love that you can make over or mess up your neighbors hair and face,
running businesses, and etc.

Here are my faves and dislikes:

Fave Expansion packs:
1. Seasons
*'cuz everyone likes it, duh!
*the penguins are so cute
2. Open for Business
*'cuz you can WooHoo in an elevator
*'cuz you can live off in a room surrounded by flowers -- no food needed.
3. FreeTime
*I have a thing for guys in soccer uniform
*'cuz I love SecuRom!
4. Apartment Life
*'cuz my Sims like it when their neighbors make noise while WooHooing
*'cuz green skin is so en vogue for 2011
5. Nightlife
*Vamps, tramps and dates with a gramps!
*'cuz people give you free stuff after you go out with them

Worst Expansion Packs:
6. Bon Voyage
*Vacations are actually nice...especially if you like loading screens every now and then.
*Why name someone 'Witch Doctor' when he's neither a witch nor a doctor?
7. University
*Do you honestly think school is fun? Do honestly think sending Sims to school is fun? Something's wrong with you.
*Maxis finally lets Sims commit murder. Introducing --the Cowplant!
8. Pets
*'cuz nasty wolves come and trample on my garden...and it's much more difficult to edit when you're in an apartment!
*'cuz it doesn't have llamas in it

Of course I'm joking with the explanations. If I would have been honest, I would have said what everyone else said in this thread.

The rankings though, are true.

I was thinking of getting Uni this week, but judging on what you guys are saying, I might not...
I want Seasons because it looks like so much fun! <3 But... I can't find it anywhere.

The only EPs that I have are Pets, Nightlife, and OFB. I agree, Pets is a bit dull, considering the fact that you can't control the pets, and they don't really do much. :/

Uni does seem to be a love-it or hate-it ep. I don't know where you live, but in the U.S. Seasons is still offered as a direct download from EA Games (currently $9.99).

Are you serious? :O Sweet! I need to go download that! :D
Thanks!

Mew, I use a handy cheat boolProp controlPets on, works like a charm You still can't cancel the action, but it is nice to have in the game.

~123blissb

Yep,

put

boolprop ControlPets on
boolprop PetActionCancel true

in your userstartup.cheat file, so they are always on. Been playing with that for years.

http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php...erstartup.cheat

I have University, Nightlife, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage and Apartment Life.
My favourites are:

1. Seasons! The weather makes the game so much more realistic. My oldies are now able to have a good life where I don't kill them as soon as possible now when they can have their garden and culture strawberries and other fruits. Pleasure!
2. Apartment Life! Love the furniture, the new interactions and the witches. And my Sims really enjoy living in apartments when they have just become adults. Yayy!

I also like Pets, although the pets can be REALLY annoying and in the way sometimes. But for me it's still a must have. University is cool, I can't see why so many people seem to dislike it! I always collect all my teens and move them in to college and sometimes I play with 8 Sims in a household and it can be entertaining to see them fight, love etc. "Of course", I have cheats like InTeenimater and other so it probably makes it alot funnier than if I wouldn't have downloads.

The other two games, Bon Voyage and Nightlife are not installed. Nightlife is fun, I like the vampires and the clubs but I don't take my Sims to Downtown very often because I have to load like 3-4 minutes which is too long for me so instead it takes needlessly much space on my computer.
Bon Voyage was the most boring one I've played. It's a few years since I played it last but this game also took me a lot of time to load and I didn't like the stuff there very much.

AAAND, don't buy the stuff packs, that's my advice. I had IKEA home and Teen Stuff which came with the University and I really liked IKEA but Teen Stuff didn't have much stuff and it was ugly things that at least I don't use. To me, the stuff packs are a waste of money!

My faves:
1. Apartment life!
Oh come ON, who doesn't like apartment live?!

2. University.
I love it. Period. It's awesome, and the pillow fight is good for sleepover scenes in your movies, too.

3. A tie beetween Seasons/Pets.
Seasons - It's more realistic to have seasons in the game, and the new town with it is good too. The only thing is after a few sim days the seasons start to get boring! And then they just go around....And around....AND AROUND.
Pets - I think the reason pets is on the list is because I am a crazy animal/cat lover. If I didn't have that in me it would be my 2nd least favorite.

My least favourites:

1. Bon Voyage.
I know a lot of people will hate me for this but to me, Bon Voyage is just boring for me.
Bottom line: Try harder next time, EA.

2. Open For Business.
It kinda sucks. Well, it's the same scenario as Seasons. It's fun for a while then it just goes around....and around.... and- Oh you get the picture!
Plus it's hard as hell to get a good store without having to make your own sims run it alone.

3. Alot of people might OR might not agree with me on this....
FREETIME.
Ugh! I can't even say it without shuddering! It makes me sick that they had nothing else instead of this! This.... THING is awful and is done at the last minute it seems! It's like the head of EA sat down and said :
' Okay guys, we've only got what seems 2 days, so make up the most coolest last minute thinking so the players will eat it all up! We've got AL on the way so HURRY! "
Also, all movie makers DON'T INSTALL IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's really annoying if your sim is "In the Zone " (ack!) and then some weird dude comes up to your house and says something complete rubbish for no reason. Then it gives you some "card" to go to the "Blah blah blah my muse blah"
Don't buy it. It's a waste of your time.

Edit: I change my mind about the seasons going on and on and on. I also apologize about the rage on FreeTime, I didn't really make a point, I just kinda raged. I just get irritated easily. (I take after my dad.)Now I think about it, FreeTime isn't as bad as I stated, but it in my opinion it isn't going to be on the best expansions. I'm still sticking to the point I made about how it isn't good for movie makers like myself.

Well, we're in agreement on University (though I'd put it ahead of Apartment Life), but you totally lose me on FreeTime. I installed it recently and Grandma's Comfort Soup and the secondary aspirations totally make up for the stupid hobby people, so far. But I don't make movies.

Nope, can't agree. Pretty much any annoying thing from any of the EPs, including the hobby visitor and zone effects of FT, can be managed with mods.

My contribution to this thread is to say I can't imagine playing anything but the full game. I don't think of EPs as "games", but rather expansions (go figure) to the one big game that is Sims 2. For me, to not have all the EPs would be to have an incomplete game, period.

That said, if I had to choose a favorite (and I'm SO glad I don't!), I suppose it would have to be Seasons. Weather is just too basic to not have, and is something I enjoy very much in real life as well as in the game. I also love for my sims to be able to live off the land, with gardening and fishing!

The EP I use least is OFB. Just not into the owned business thing at all. Even that is something I plan to learn how to do, though. Even more importantly, I recently realized that it's OFB that makes merged 'hoods possible! For that reason alone, I could never see myself ever uninstalling this, my "least favorite" EP, much less any of the others. :lovestruc

Do you run into many issues/conflicts/bugs having all the eps installed?

I agree having all the eps and stuff packs is the best way to play (if your finacial and system requirements allow). The catalog items have been portioned throughout the eps and sps. It's a clever way to sell a product but makes it difficult if you don't have a very good computer.

Josepina, no, I don't have any issues that I think are in any way related to having all EPs (and SPs too, btw) installed. Which is not to say this game, wonderful as it is, isn't buggy as all hell. My game is fully patched, and heavily modded to make up for all the potentially game-killing screw-ups (and annoyances) it shipped with. I even have clean templates installed right now, because I don't feel we can rely on the original templates to be stable for long-term play, even if all VBTs are assiduously avoided.

I think it important to note that my base game and all EPs are the early standalone editions. I don't trust the more recent combo packs at all, and am glad I don't have any of those. From what I've heard, it seems like the did weird things with those combo packs, mixing up game features in ways that don't match what they did in the original EPs. Makes for some annoying installation issues, and weird bugs. Also, some hacks/mods aren't compatible with them. I always encourage people who don't yet have the full game to seriously consider paying a little more for single-edition versions of all EPs.

Thanks I'm not far off having all the eps and was curious. I do have the Double Deluxe combo pack and haven't had any installation issues or bugs or problems wih hacks, yet (knock on wood).

I'd also like to say that freetime is worthwhile. There is many new activities for sims, sewing, pottery, ballet beam, hobby train set, full size steam train for hood, remote control car and helicopter, junk car to restore, exercise bike, games rack for business, basketball hoop, soccer net, synthesiser/mixer, violin, juice bar, cooking stove as a hobby, ant farm? (ok that one is ridiculous), plus activities for children and toddlers. There's hobby specific decorations to make the activities look more visually interesting. And a canopy crib, recolors for the dj booth (including pink), pink phones. And this guy arrives at all your properties to give you free computer for no apparent reason.

I don't really understand the benefit of being a hardcore hobbyist, reading hobby magazines, talking to family and friends and trying to hook them into reading your hobby mags, joining a member only hobby club on a secret lot, developing enthusiasm etc. As well as sounding a little kooky it seems very involved and a lot of work. However new activities with new animations to make the game more interesting is not as bad as some might claim. It is a great addition to ofb and you can make and sell more varied stuff.

Welp, now that I finally bit the bullet and got all EPs/SPs except the Holiday one that I have zero interest in, I can make an "official," ordered list. And I'll try not to be too verbose.

I should note that there isn't an EP that I don't like; they all add something interesting to the game, IMO. My ratings are strictly based on the usefulness that I get out of a given EP's features, given my play style. So, my top 5 EPs are the ones that I can't/won't play without. The other three are the ones I could let go of if I had to (although I have no intention of letting ANY of them go). But I LIKE them all.

EPs:

1) Open For Business
This is my favorite because I love running businesses and experimenting to see what is possible in doing so. It also gives me my favorite furniture style: Mission. And it opened up an additional whole new world: Crafting as one's sole income-generating occupation. And Servos. Servos are way better at nannying and cleaning and repairing than any nanny, maid, or repairperson you can hire. With Paladin's Servo stuff, particularly the recharge station so you don't have to have them stand out in the sun, they're the perfect servants. And, aside from the cost of building them, they're free. And they're playable, so you can control them. They're also great employees, and if you want to you can make them look human and...and...and...Yeah, I love OFB. I wouldn't play without it.

2) Freetime
Yes, the hobby calls/visits are annoying. Hack it out. It's easy enough to do. For me, the secondary aspirations and lifetime aspiration benefits trump any and all such annoyances, even if you don't hack the annoyances out. Secondary aspirations are SO VERY USEFUL, if for nothing else other than knocking a Sim out of an "aspiration rut," like the Fortune Sim who wants to buy hundreds of paintings or the completely woohoo-obsessed Romance Sim or the Knowledge Sim who rolls endless utterly boring wants to sit on his/her ass and read-to-skill or Pleasure Sims and all their inane, immature wants...Well, anyway. Give 'em a nice Grilled Cheese secondary aspiration and all's well. Oh, and I also like the additional crafting opportunities, given that I love that aspect in general. And with the lifetime aspiration benefits, Sims can go permaplat without achieving an LTW, which is helpful for the way I play where, among other things, if a Sim is fired from a career, they can never enter it again.

3) Bon Voyage
This is my most recent EP acquisition, having only gotten it about a month ago or so, so perhaps it's artificially-elevated in position, but...I don't think so. I confess that I really like it. Although their limitations are kind of frustrating, I really like building and playing beach lots. And I LIKE sending Sims on vacation. I'm currently in the process of building my own custom island paradise as a template that I can re-use because I'm not that impressed with Twiikii Island. (Mostly because the big hotel lots tend to lag on my aging computer, so I'm making an island destination with pretty much all small, non-laggy lots.) Doing this is A LOT of fun and it's eating all of my Simming time at the moment. Also, I LOVE pretty much ALL of the furniture and build mode stuff that came with the EP, particularly from a recoloring possibilities standpoint. I LOVE the new trees, both on-lot and neighborhood deco...and I also like the new beachy neighborhood deco like the pier pilings and the breakwater. I like the new radio stations, too. (Yay for big band!) I even like the clothes, especially the swim trunks for guys, which I usually don't pay any attention to at all. Yep, I like BV a lot. MSD's surfing add-on is just the icing on the cake.

4) Pets:
I confess that I don't use pets a whole lot. And some of the stray behavior is annoying. (But, thankfully, hackable.) However, I DO like werewolves. But this EP is on the "indispensable" end of the spectrum for me for one reason only: it adds the individualroofslopeangle building command. Yes, I know M&G gives you an individual roof pitch adjuster, but it limits you to a maximum pitch of 52 degrees. Sometimes, when I'm doing funky roof things in the process of building a lot, I need more than that, if only temporarily.

5) University
I'll admit that, unhacked/adjusted, the whole college thing isn't as fun (Mostly because it's too long, IMO), but WITH adjustments and with Inteen so that my older co-eds can shack up and start families if that's their wont...I love the whole college thang. I also love some of the build/buy stuff it came with. I confess that I like the funky 70s stuff, since I grew up in the 70s, and I really like fountains. And I can't live without the concrete modular stairs, so this one squeaks into the "indispensable" category.

6) Seasons
I guess I'm not as impressed with it as some people. Yeah, it's nice to have weather, but it can also be annoying at times (Just like real life, I guess! ). I do like Plantsims, and I do get quite a lot of use out of gardening and fishing but, in truth, I could probably live without all of it...although my monastery wouldn't be the same. I also might be a bit biased against Seasons because it added the whole "country" theme to the game. I HATE kitschy country style IRL, so I'm not about to sic it on my Sims. I don't even like seeing the stuff in the catalog.

7) Apartment Life
I made a lengthy post about AL when I got it, and most of what I wrote still holds true. In short, I tend to like the details of the EP like shiftable wall stuff and the whole networking/reputation thing. But the "big concepts," like apartments and witchcraft? Mostly meh. The witchcraft is too labor-intensive for my likings, and big apartment buildings, like big hotels, tend to lag on my aging computer so they become more annoying than enjoyable...although I do like to build small detached single-family rental houses for those who can't afford to buy a house, as well as duplex townhouses on small lots. But given all the above...I could live without AL. I do really like some of its furniture, though, particularly the Boho stuff.

8) Nightlife
Yeah, it has some fun stuff. Like vampires. I like vampires a lot...but I could live without them. Chemistry is useful and nice but, again, not necessary. Cars are fun...but for me not necessary, especially not with the "Walk to Lot" and "Walk to Work/School" features that later EPs added. Nightlife's "big concept" -- dating -- I could at this point ENTIRELY live without, given the way I play. I usually use a shopping district as a "Downtown," so that additional townies aren't generated, so I don't need that subhood, really. And the Pleasure aspiration that this EP adds is my least favorite aspiration. So, in the end, Nightlife is my most expendable EP. Although, like I said, I have NO intention of getting rid of ANY of them. In fact, I don't think I CAN get rid of Nightlife, since I originally got Deluxe.

SPs:
(I want to say up front that I got the SPs mostly so that I could have the object meshes to recolor. My ratings are based on what I see as their usefulness in that regard. With a few exceptions, I generally can't care less about anything in an SP except the object meshes.)

1) Mansion & Garden
It is the one SP to rule them all. Probably because it's more like a mini-EP, even down to changing the game engine if you don't have AL. And I like everything it includes, from the plants and terrain paints to the ceiling fans (though I wish they were animated) to the solar panels/windmills (LOVE them!) to the cornices and other architectural stuff to...well, everything. Even the hairstyles, which is something that usually doesn't affect me one way or the other.

2) IKEA
It's ALL nice, simple buy-mode objects, and I intend to recolor the living hell out of most of it! Fun! Plus, it's just nice to have some nice-looking-but-inexpensive Maxis furniture/objects in the game.

3) Glamor Life
Again because of its rather nice build/buy stuff that can be made even nicer with some good recoloring. And a new fountain. Squee!

4) Teen Style
I like the furniture meshes this comes with, but the colors leave much to be desired. But that's fixable, according to me. Like, there's this "goth" end table that I really like the shape of, so I just need to de-goth it, color/texture-wise.

5) Kitchen & Bath
In general, I tend to only use buggybooz's kitchens in the lots I play, so this EP's new large appliances and counters, while nice, are neither here nor there for me, personally. However, I like the new small appliances better than the base game ones. And, a rarity for me, I like the clothes. Yay for bathrobes and new underwear (Yes, I know there's tons of custom stuff...but I'm not generally into downloading clothes.). Also, I like the towel racks for bathrooms.

6) Family Fun
I do like the "castle" bedroom set for kids. It reminds me of my daughter's bedroom which, although she's 14 now, she still hasn't changed out of "princess" style. She likes her silly plastic castle loft bed, the nut. Other than that, this one's pretty "meh" for me, although I do like the "tropical" outfits for the whole family. They go well with Bon Voyage, now that I have it. Also, I think this one added some music that I like to some of the radio station. (Specifically, some Barenaked Ladies tunes to the pop station. Yay for BNL.)

7) H&M
Clothes...not my thing. Believe it or not, I wanted this one mostly for the lighting and display stuff to use in businesses, particularly once recolored.

8) Celebration
Pretty darn useless, IMO. It's nice to have some more formal wear for the guys but...the "wedding dresses" don't look like wedding dresses, dangit! (Thank God for CC. I don't download much in the way of clothes...except wedding dresses/ballgowns, for which I am a total sucker. I'm like a 12-year-old girl that way.) And the objects...meh. I never use most of them and have little-to-no interest in recoloring them, either.

Well, it is worthwhile if you're into "get rich quick"/"skill up fast" schemes, and makes life for artist, novelist and ctafter sims easier.

Is there any reason to get Pets if you don't care about the animals or the werewolves? I'm mostly into Sim interactions so are there any cool things I'm missing out on by not having that EP?

I have just reinstalled AL and, boy, is the game empty without it! I love this EP and it's the best EP after Seasons and Pets.

omglo, I don't think Pets adds any new interaction, so there isn't anything you're actually missing out (except pets, but, meh ).

Pet dishes and beds for your toddlers to use in those high-stress households. If later EPs give you these things in the catalog, or you have other ways to access them, or you just don't want them, and you don't like pets...well, there you go.

Pets is the EP that seems to always magically fix any of my problems, but I've said it many times that it's one of my least favorite EPs. Unless Pets are an active part of your gaming, it's not really worth getting. Whereas with other EPs (Uni, NL) there's a ton of new gameplay, objects, clothes and interactions that you can use without necessarily directly interacting with the new gimmick.

Thanks, I guess I'll pass, then. I've got modded floor blankets for the toddlers, and don't mind forcing someone to drop what they're doingp and grab them a bottle if necessary.

*Seasons: Weather and that you can have all the seasons and do more activities, especially garden. But the bad side is, is that you can get hurt by lightning. Well I think you can but, probably. And I'm not sure if its just along with seasons or it was in the base game but you can get the flu or a different sickness. Never had my sim die though..

*Nightlife: New town, you can have cars and more people in the town, but you'll only see more in the night life part of town.. if that makes sense. The bad side is that you have to wait for the other town to load to go to it and stuff.

*Bon voyage: I actually haven't played it so I can't say its good OR bad but what I saw on videos and heard in reviews is that you can travel to different places and get new stuff, take interesting pictures and its more scenery for you to make videos.

If a sim is struck by lightning (or for that matter get shocked while fixing an electrical appliance) while his motives are low he will die. Otherwise, he gets all scorched-looking, with wild hair, and his hygiene and bladder scores take him down to "desperation." The scorched look remains until the next time that sim takes a shower or bath.

Dormies will often run around looking scorched for days until they take a shower on-screen. Townies seem to be immune to lightning, probably because they're so seldom on lots where they have the opportunity to shower that if they weren't, your playables' relationship panels would be full of scorched-looking people all the time.

Hi iCad,

I enjoyed reading your thoughts about all of the games but I just wanted to let you know the M&G ceiling fans are animated. :lovestruc You can even change the fan speed but you to be in live mode to turn them on--just have your sims click on them and you'll get the option.

It would be great if there was a mod that allowed you to interact with objects while you build on unoccupied lots. I'd love to be able to animate objects like fans, fountains and be able to turn lights on and off to see what they'll look like without having to move a sim in before I'm ready to.

Well, I only have Sims 2: Double Deluxe for the PC installed, so of course, I only have the Sims 2 base game, Nightlife, and the Celebrations SP. So far, I really like it all! I mean, it's definitely a step up from my old game for the PC (Sims Life Stories), and it still has the dating function, but this time, you have totally awesome places to go to!

I do have to say that Pets does seem to be the worst one to get, but I think I might still ask for it for Christmas. I mean, if I don't wind up liking it, I could just 1. not give any of my Sims pets, or 2. Uninstall the game and give it away.

Also, Sims Uni seems to be getting a bad rap here. I think I'd still like to give it a go. Is it any fun at all?

If you read the entire thread you'll find that every single EP is somebody's favorite and somebody else's waste of disc space. Personally, I love University. I think it's got the most bang for the buck of them all! Though Nightlife is close, because I can't imagine simming without dating and lots of community lots.

But I'm patient and willing to play a long-haul game and structure my neighborhood around the needs and possibilities of Sim State, which is the breeding ground of stories. From my point of view, the people who say "it takes so long" are being silly - it's the slowing down of time in University that makes it worthwhile! Whereas I'm unwilling to even try Open for Business because running the businesses really would take too long for my play style - and that seems silly to people who love OFB. Who's right? Both of us, of course!

Read a bunch of these and see which people seem to have tastes and playstyles similar to yours. Those are the people whose opinions should be taken seriously. Also, look in threads that specifically refer to certain EPs, and see what other people have done with those EPs. The ones that engage your interest the most are the ones to get first.

@Peni Griffin: I had a similar thought about OFB as in I couldn't imagine wanting to play businesses for fun, a bit to much like real life for me. However I ended up getting the EP for the servos and much to my surprise I really enjoy the businesses and disliked the servos. I would also say I like the furniture it added as well as the architecture and decorating items. The real selling point for me though are the workbenches for flower arranging, toy making and robot building. They really added a new dimension for me in keeping my Sims busy.

I know you play one day rotations and I can see how that could be an issue in trying to run a business but you still might find some value in the EP for other reasons. Just sayin' it's not like you have to like OFB or anything.

I'm a big fan of University myself as it fits in with my play style and I can't imagine denying them a young adulthood. My Sims do most of their dating and partying during Uni and usually find their future spouses there. Once they are full adults and starting families and careers there's not much time for dates and parties, funny how that works out.

I've got everything that is available to me as a MAC player which means no FT or AL and the only SP's available are Family Fun, Holiday stuff and Glamor Life. The only one I could do without is the Holiday stuff, I've got the outfits and bad elf hats hidden and the only deco I use is the occasional Xmas tree. I got it primarily so Santa could visit remembering how cool that was in TS1. This Santa however brings you a lame gift and then usually spends hours using your toilet. Plus in TS1 you had to put out the cookies, have a fireplace and everyone had to be in bed before midnight, here you just plop down the tree make the Santa cookies and he shows up regardless of time or if anyone is up. Just seemed more magical the other way and he brought cool gifts.

I know several people have listed that they don't like BV but I wouldn't play without it. I like for my Sims to take honeymoons or have an elopement and currently I've got Elders trying to spend their kids inheritance on travel. Plus it added sunbathing and with a hack my Sims can now lounge about their pools and get a tan and my Uni students tend to plop down a towel almost anywhere at the first sign of nice weather. I'm also seriously in love with MSD's new surfing mod. I don't use the Far East destination very much but I think that's more due to my own personal travel likes rather than anything else.

Seasons is just a given for me. Without it you could just have a Sim live on an empty lot, why do you need a house if there are no elements to be protected from? Plus the fishing and gardening I couldn't not have those.

Nightlife is also a must for dating, cars and the downtown area. I use all the subhoods in my game I have Sims living in them in addition to owning businesses. My load times are only a couple of minutes though.

Pets, what is life without a pet? Not every family in my game has a pet but not all of them deserve them either.

I don't play with any supernaturals, well except aliens and then only after I found a good default skin, eyes and a decent PT, so they were never a selling point for me.

Since there are existing hacks/mods to deal with pretty much every annoyance that each EP might have I wouldn't hesitate to add one. If they were to suddenly release AL or FT for MAC tomorrow I would be the first in line to snap them up. I don't think I would buy any additional SP's though if those were released I don't feel I'm missing out on anything by not having them but I feel that way constantly about the EP's.

D'oh! I never thought to have anyone click on them! I guess I just assumed that if they were animated they'd be like fountains and turn on automagically in live mode. You learn something new every day. Thanks for the tip!



Yeah, I would like this, too. It'd be nice if lights could be turned on and off in build mode, too.

I'm actually beginning to think in terms of: Well, if I ever finish up Drama Acres and want to do a Build a City or Test of Time or something I'd need OfB for that...and Bon Voyage sounds tempting sometimes...and they'll only get harder to get...So I'm keeping my eyes open for those things and for M&G when I go to used book stores. The information about the ceiling fans tipped me over the edge on that one.

But I spend so much time on this game I'm a little embarrassed to do the simplest thing and search on E-bay like I did for the others. Or rather, got my husband to do. I just don't like taking up so much space on the computer with a game I'm not sharing with him. It's one thing to have a room full of tabletop RPGs and board games we can do together, another to take up RAM with a game he's not interested in that I play alone while he's at work or watching TV or asleep. And I'm happy with my game as it is right now; it's not like I'm constantly wishing the Munnys could go on vacation.

Oh, you should definitely get whatever EPs you don't already have. As you say, they will get harder and harder to find over time.

I recommend Amazon.com. They've got used copies like EBay does, as well as new ones.

How much hard drive space do you have available on your computer? Unless it's tiny and/or close to maxed, the addition of an EP or two won't affect things much at all.

I'd definitely recommend M&G, especially if you're a builder. It has some nice stuff in it. The solar panels/windmills are ubiquitous in my neighborhoods, and it's a nice touch that they reduce your bills. Also, all the EPs/SPs are still available on Amazon, so...get 'em while they got 'em. I live in a very rural area; Amazon and other online places are my only resources.

OFB...Well, I love it, but I love running businesses. However, I think I like the crafting stuff even more. I get bored with jobs or farming for money. Crafting offers a new dimension, even if you never do owned businesses of any kind, home or community.

Bon Voyage...I'm really glad I got it. I would think that you, especially, might like it since I believe you like to do ethnic stuff? BV has nice Asian stuff, both in terms of decor/furniture and clothing, plus tiki stuff and mountain-y stuff. (I love its build-mode stuff, personally.) And I find it fun to have/build non-vacation beach lots, though I have to be careful because due to their rather large, un-Lot-Adjusted size, they can make the game lag on my poor aged laptop. I can definitely see that the "vacation" aspect might become boring/repetitive eventually -- There's only so much to do, and only so many times you want to do it -- but the vacation-y stuff can be used elsewhere in non-vacation settings. Not just the beach lots and all of their actions (like building sand castles, sunbathing, combing for shells, swimming in the surf, etc.), but things like saunas (in which couples can woohoo) and massage tables and hot springs and log-rolling pits, and the axe-throwing game (for when one is feeling like something slightly heavier than darts) are fun in non-vacation community-lot (owned and otherwise) settings and even in some residential settings. So yeah, I'm a BV advocate.

Not that I want to be a "pusher," of course. I'm just saying. And like someone else said, now that I have all EPs/SPs, my game doesn't seem to take up more RAM than it did when I only had up to Freetime, less BV, and only Celebration for SPs, which was my configuration for most of the time I've played, and my computer is certainly not high-end by today's standards. The only change I've noticed is that larger lots will tend to lag more than they used to, but that's generally only on lots that have a "5" as one of the dimensions, which I don't use that often anyway. However, it is "forcing" me to create my own beach vacation destination. The hotel lots in the Maxis beach destination all tend to lag too much on my comp to be enjoyable. But I'm having fun doing it, so it's all good.

@iCad as a word of advice on BV there are two fixes that I consider essential both found here http://www.simwardrobe.com/. One fixes a major glitch in the housekeeper at hotel lots to where she wouldn't actually clean anything and the other makes the bellhop fix broken stuff instead of just standing about. I'm not sure the hotels lag due to your system they lag for me as well and no other lots do not even really big dorms. It's a mystery to me, I ended up building smaller intimate resorts myself.

One other thing unless you get the antivacationactions mod from Pescado don't let anyone visiting Twikki Island learn the sea chanty. It is viral and pretty soon everyone in your entire hood will do nothing but stand about and sing it, constantly . Even with the mod it's banned from my game, you have to go out of your way to learn it from the pirate ghost so easy enough to keep it at bay. I ended up deleting a hood after just one Sim learned the song and spread it to everyone in a matter of days, it's worse than the flu.

I don't pay much attention to trying to get the vacation memories. My Sims tend to use them as romantic getaways and since I built some restaurants and a nightclub here and there they tend to date a lot . They always have a good time and come back fully platinum so I must be doing something right. I never do longer than the minimum 3 nights either so I don't usually get bored with it.

Yep, I got those shortly after I got BV because I wondered why the housekeeper just stood there. I did a little research and voila! But thanks for the tip!

As for the lag...Well, it only started for me after I installed BV. Now, big apartment buildings, dorms, and hotels (especially beachfront ones) with lots of NPCs on them will lag to greater or lesser degrees. The apartment/dorm lag doesn't bother me too much, but the beach lot hotels will slow down enormously, to the point that it's just not fun to play.

Maybe there's a glitchy thing going on, but I'm thinking it's my system. I play on an 8-year-old laptop that used to be high end, but isn't now. Beach lots do seem to eat more system resources. When I've been on one and checked to see how much memory the game was eating while there, it's always a lot more on a beach lot than on a non-beach lot of comparable size. So...Maybe it's a little of both.

I wonder if there's a way to control the number of NPCs show up on a hotel lot? Things seem to be fine until there's 15 or so of 'em hanging out there, plus the bellhop/maid and any playables. Maybe I should noodle around with the Visitor Controller, see what happens...



I haven't gotten anyone to learn the sea chanty yet, but I'll keep your warning in mind! So far, I've only gotten the pirate ghost to appear once, but no sea-chanty-learning yet. I do confess that I love the local gestures, especially the mountain "chest pound." (Yep, all us folks who live up in the mountains do that. And we all wear lumberjack outfits, too. Obviously, the people who designed the place have never been to a Colorado mountain town; our fall/winter uniform of choice is a ski parka, shorts, and flip flops. No lie! Speaking of which, someone needs to make a skiing add-on, like MSD's surfing add-on. ) Anyway, I love watching the gestures spread virally through the home neighborhoods. Maybe I'll get sick of them eventually...but I haven't yet.

I'm actually pretty sure you can do that without the Pets expansion pack. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure.

I really like the Open For Business expansion pack. To be honest, I haven't elaborated too far into it but I really like the idea of opening one's own business. I also find University quite fun, although it's slightly repetitive, I kind of like the break you get from some of the responsibilities of taking care of sims. It's been a while since I had a chance to play TS2, so I can't honestly remember the details of the University expansion, but I remember having a good time with it.

- Seasons is a great EP. I just love rain and snow IRL, and to have weather in the game is a real nice touch. I also love University. One of the best expansions ever created.
- For my least favorite, I'd have to say... I honestly don't know. I really like all of the expansion packs. I would have to choose Bon Voyage, I don't have it, my friend does, vacationing isn't my sort of thing.

- My favorite SP is probably Teen Style Stuff or H&M® Fashion Stuff. Having a variety, even a small one, of clothes in the game is a good thing.
- Least favorite SP is... Mansion and Garden Stuff. I don't have it, but my friend does, and I can't really say I like it. Then again, I'm not really a garden person. That's just me.

In order of greatest to least, I would rank the above listed EP/SP's as:
- University
- Seasons
- H&M® Fashion Stuff
- Teen Style Stuff
- Mansion and Garden Stuff
- Bon Voyage


If I had to remove an expansion pack, I would probably remove Seasons, since my computer doesn't fully support it.

Well, I just recently completed my collection of all the EPs and SPs. I'm not sure which is my favourite or least favourite, since each one adds something I like. But anyway...

Best EPs:

Nightlife - probably one of the most, if not the most, essential EP. Between the karaoke machines, bowling, card tables, pool tables, dating/chemistry stuff... It just really seemed to add a lot of life to the game, and to the community lots especially. I'm not surprised they ended up packaging it with the base game, since I'd say it has some of the most important stuff in it.

Open for Business - this one is also quite a fave with me, since it was the first EP I got. Running a business can take up a lot of time, and it can get quite repetitive, but I still love it for the amount of detail. The hilarious sales animations, the ability to choose your employees' uniforms, and the great crafting stations (including the ability to make robots and "evil" toys) made this EP a real winner.

University - Perhaps it just made me nostalgic for my real life days in university, but I actually liked this EP a lot more than I thought I would. Again, it's the little details that make it special: the ability to join Greek houses, the secret society, the dorms, the band instruments... I was also impressed that they included three different campuses instead of just one. I know some people disliked the mascots and cheerleaders, but I liked how it took the level of goofiness a bit over the top. And I swear, when my favourite Sim finished her graduation party and I saw that little cutscene showing her leaving the campus, I actually wept. University also offered the most hilarious interaction ever: Ventrilo-Fart!

Apartment Life - this really felt like the grand finale EP, simply because of the sheer amount of stuff they tried to jam into it. Some of it worked better than others. The magic system wasn't too deep, and the witches appearing on community lots was annoying. But I love the ability to make my own apartments, since it can change the gameplay quite a bit, and I like the other apartment-related details, like the landlord and the Murphy bed and radiators. The idea of "social classes" was also really interesting, and I wish they would expand on this idea in future Sims games.


Slight-Less-Than-Best EPs:

Seasons - Yeah, I know most people love this one, but I live in a city where it's winter for half of the year, so snow might not thrill me like it thrills some people. I also didn't think the Sims' reactions to the weather made sense: they'd be looking out at the rain even if they weren't near a window, and they didn't seem to mind getting all wet. Also, they seem to forget to remove their outerwear or put it on at the appropriate times. I thought the outerwear was very cute, however, and I love how much extra atmosphere the weather effects add to the game. I just prefer EPs that add more goals for me to pursue, and Seasons was a bit weak in that department. I wouldn't want to play the game without it, though.


Bon Voyage - This one I really had mixed feelings about. My Sims tend to focus on domestic life, so vacationing isn't really my thing. But I enjoyed trying to collect the various vacation momentos, and it's a great EP if you want a temporary, dramatic change in scenery. The thing that almost ruined Bon Voyage for me was the way the various gestures would spread around, and then my Sims would want to do them ALL the time, usually at the most inappropriate times! And the "unsavoury charlatan" seems to appear at EVERY community lot I go to. I think I would have preferred if those features had been contained to the vacation lots, instead of constantly popping up in the game all the time. It still has lots of content I like though; the beaches, the pirate ship, the hammocks...and one of my favourite items ever: the Voodoo doll!


Free Time - Well, Free Time does have a lot of great items in it, including a violin, a great board game for children, and an old broken down car that you can actually fix up until it becomes a real car! Unfortunately, the "hobby enthusiasm" system seemed rather pointless. The game will constantly remind you when your Sims are losing or gaining enthusiasm, but there isn't really a lot to be gained from increasing it, and nothing to be lost by losing it. But I do appreciate the new Aspiration Benefit points, since they can make your Sims less needy as well as add other useful perks...

Pets - This was the last EP I got, and I was reluctant to get it. But when I did, I was all, "Squeee! Kitty's chasing his tail!" Seriously, I thought the pets were completely adorable, and they have lots of great animations. I also like the ability to train them to be good or naughty. And watching the cat jump into the car and ride off to his job never gets old. But even though I liked the actual pets, the selection of objects seemed paltry compared to the other EPs, and there's just not that much new gameplay to it in general. I'm still happy to have it, though.

ive got all the sims 2 stuff for PC. And i can say, i dont understand why they ditched the sims 2 and made the sims 3. The sims 3 is boring but expanding, but the sims 2 had it all. They should have brought in like airports and trains and such to the sims 2. I wish they did.

My reviews of sims 2 expansions:
Sims2: One of the best games ever. Great graphics that totally smashes the sims 3.
Nightlife: I love how this brought in city type stuff to the game.
University: I love how it made it more realistic and brought colleges and universities.
OFB: I love to have business type stuff in games, along with a mall with elevator.
Pets: I love how it brought pets, but i got mad about certain securom issues.
Bon voyage: I love the vacation island type feel. I miss the sims 1.
Freetime: I could kind of care less for this, to be honest it should have been a stuff pack.
Seasons: One of my faves. It brings rain and snow!
Apartment life: My all time fave. A must have along with nightlife if your a die hard urbz fan like me!

EA and maxis for the sims 2. BAD job for the sims 3.

I actually really love Seasons, it is definitely a favorite.
My next one is a tie between Freetime and AL...although AL definitely seems to take the cake. Freetime's hobbies are cool but it really could have been done better, i love that my sims can now do all these things but you just get bored after a while...plus...wth?? How do i get rid of them pestering me about losing enthusiasm? I can't get rid of this! It is about as annoying as the phone ringing at all hours of the day!

AL has shifting paintings..that sold it for me lol

My Favorite EP is Seasons! Maxis really did a great job w/ this EP! The World becomes so much more alive w/ the season & weather changes. The graphics are amazing, you can easily see the rain or hail falling, and the lightning is really realistic, and I think it's so neat how the sky and trees change with the seasons! I also really enjoyed the gardening & fishing! I don't have a "Green Thumb", but Gardening is like my favorite thing to do, plus my sims get better food! And Plantsims are really fun & extremely easy to take care of. I also really enjoy Freetime & Open For Business! I like the addition of Hobbies in Freetime! The sims have Interests, but it's like the sims don't even follow them, but they do follow their Hobbies. I also really like the new items w/ Freetime, such as the "Build-Your-Own Car", but to be honest what really pushed me to Freetime was the Violin!!! At first I mainly bought OFB for the new foundation, but it's kinda fun to run and manage a business, and earn money w/o a job! I ended up liking the OFB EP more than I thought!My Least Favorite EP is Apartments. It's cool having that new living experience, but the Maxis-made apartments are so small, and I just prefer to keep my sims in a larger roomier home. The only thing I really like about Apartments is the Witchcraft, otherwise I probably wouldn't keep it. My Favorite Stuff Pack is Glamour Life! I love all the clothes, furniture, and art, (I like "High-class"/rich Sims). I have not played the IKEA Stuff Pack, but really really want to because I LOVE Ikea's furniture already! (Maxis even included the Heart w/ hands Pillow :D). I actually like all of the Stuff packs (other than IKEA & Holiday which I have not tried, but want to), I prefer to have many differ furniture & design options! The packs I probably use the least of is Teen Style and Family Fun, because I don't play a lot of large families w/ children.

Expansion List (1. Fav, 2. Least Fav): 1.Seasons 2.Freetime 3.Open For Business 4.Pets 5.Bon Voyage 6.Nightlife 7.University 8.Apartments.

Stuff Pack List: 1.Glamour 2.Kitchen & Bath 3.Mansion & Garden 4.Celebration 5.H&M 6.Family Fun 7.Teen Style

I've purchased more EPs since my last post so the order has changed (plus I found pets)

#1~Seasons
Seasons totally steps the game up one more level due to the fact that it brings a major part of life into the sims. This is the only EP which brings an affect in that everyone in the world experiences, not just people who live in apartments, have hobbies, go on holiday, have pets etc. The only annoying thing about it is in winter when the sims have to change clothes everytime they attempt to go outside xP

#2~Pets
Athough in the last post pets was my least favourite, since I found my disc again and began playing i realised how much I had missed it It doen't slow my laptop down atall and it only annoys me when they scratch crap up (before I've even had the chance to train them not to.)

#3~University
1 single word- COWPLANT. God this babys an essential for a freak like me (and is horrendously helpful with serial killer challenges xP) I also find the uni quite cool- it gives sims that chance to find love of their own age + be a graduate

#4~Apartment Life
I like apartments. Also the very large telly and giant aquarium <3 Then plus those spiral staircases- they are stairs that don't actually look that awful! It can be laggy- it was on my old computer but theres no problem with it on the laptop.

#5~Open for business
I like this EP because of the home buisiness add-on, as its quite a nice thing to see your simmies actually working, although it can be a pain in the bum when your sim is the one at the till and after the shift goes into needs faliure xP I'm a bit lazy so I haven't really used OFB to its full extent.

#6~Nightlife
I like the idea of the dating system and turn-ons and turn-offs, but otherwise I don't use it much. I hardly ever go downtown, and never use the cars to go anywhere. Some of the furniture is good additions to Community lots however.

I recently bought Seasons and now I don't understand how could I survived all this time without it. Love the changing light colors. Awesome.

If you approach it the right way...

But even if you don't like actual YA gameplay, you still get tons of "how did I ever played without them" objects, starting with lowly bare-bones shower, to musical instruments to bubble machine to necrophone&cowplants. Also, a "hang out" interaction and pranks.

Here are my Top 8 Expansion Packs for the Sims 2:


8. Bon Voyage
Less than I expected. I mean, you can't have families living in Vacation Hoods and you can't even play on a lot if even part of the family has gone on holiday. But, it's not that bad, the way you can take vacations is pretty satisfactory.

7. Open For Business
To be honest, I haven't really experianced the features of OfB, besides I can't really put this anywhere else so...

6. Seasons
Seasons is a great EP. Fishing, seasons (duh), and other stuff really enhanced the game. The only reason why I put this at number 6 is because I don't really like it's theme music.

5. Free Time
Free Time is brilliant. Being able to make your own car and even drive it? (If you have Nightlife, of course). That is what I call awesome. Free Time is like an addition of a new car to Nightlife. But aside from that, all the other things make Free Time another great EP.

4. University
University was my first expansion pack ever. It is so awesome. I love it. It has everything you'd expect for a college-themed expansion. One of the greatest EP's I ever had.

3. Pets
Pets is awesome. I love all those cuddly cats and dogs, and those ADORABLE kittens and puppies. Pets is a really good Expansion Pack, what more can I say?

2. Nightlife
The second best. Cars, garages, driveways, dating, everything you'd expect for a night out in real life.

1. Apartment Life
Apartment Life obeyed all of my expectations. Even if making your own custom apartments isn't that easy, it is still the best EP. The way you live in Apartments is everything you'd expect. Pets can live in the apartment, I can't think of anything bad about Apartment Life, apart from the fact that EA diden't really make making custom apartments seeable.

Favs
 

There are a lot of things I love, and I hate about each expansion. I love more than hate obviously or I wouldn't play. lol

University is the only one I have trouble deciding on because while I like a lot of the features and some of the new stuff and swimwear, it takes so long to get through, and I personally HATE throwing parties so it's very hard to put a popular or pleasure Sim into university without making them go in the red because I won't let them have a party or they're too busy to juggle cups. I do however like the whole theme, but I wish it would take less time, 2 weeks would be perfect, and I absolutely despise that cow, I kill him using the cheat every time he comes onto the lot.

Seasons is probably my absolute favorite. I love the whole reality aspect of it. I love it when it rains, and the leaves fall, and especially the snow. The only downfall is the fires when it thunderstorms. I get tired of having my kids stop what they're doing to run out and yell at it like that's going to make it go out.

Apartment life: I love apartment. I love the apartments, and I love downloading custom apartments. It's a lot of fun! The only thing I don't like is when someone comes over, and they stay too long especially if it's an upstairs apartment it will glitch and the person will get stuck in my apartment and complain that I let them sleep over and gave them nowhere to sleep -.-

Bon Voyage: Ahhh, I love this! My favorite is the Eastern Village! There's not much that I don't like about Bon Voyage - well okay there is one thing, when my Sims age up they sometimes get put in a goofy fanny pack shirt and shorts! I hate the fanny packs!!

OFB: I like the stuff, but I haven't made any businesses yet. I want to try, but I never get around to it.

Pets: I liked pets, I don't use the dogs though because they behave worse, and I rarely have the time to praise/chastise them for doing something stupid. If I get a pet it's usually a cat because they don't require being bathed.

FreeTime: I love the expressions! I love the new stuff you can do, and the hobbies. The hobbies add a lot to it, but I have one question, what's a good item to use when my Sim has a love for Science/Medicine? Besides a Telescope (not ready to be abducted yet, so I don't use it much)

Night Life: I love the cars! I have so many custom cars in my game! But, I don't go downtown much - sometimes I do, but I like using the little village. I often create custom village and put a Walmart in lol. I think that's with OFB right?

Stuff Packs: I like them all, although I don't have Holiday Pack. I didn't even know there was a holiday pack until I saw people talking about it.

If I had to do without one I guess it would be Pets. I would miss it best, (and can you believe Pets is the game I bought 3 times! One disc cracked, my old computer crashed, and I lost it during a move, and when I went to reinstall, I was Petless and it bugged me.

Even if I don't play the features, I like my Expansions/Stuff Packs.

I have University, Nightlife, OFB and Pets installed, and I'd be hard pushed to find a favourite. I think the University one is my least favourite - I love the idea, and there's a lot of good objects and interactions, but the fact that the system is very much based on the US college/university system kind of bugs me. Not because it's Amercian OMG (some of my favourite family members are from the USA ) but just because I can't give my sims the same university experience I had. Where are the student clubs- the film appreciation societies, or sci-fi clubs, or paragliding associations? And what's with all the greek house stuff? And the mascots, what? WHY ARE THESE STUDENTS SOBER? D:
I still enjoyed it, mind, but I would've enjoyed it more if the different colleges had included colleges from other countries.
OFB is one I still haven't fully explored, but the ability to make sims self-employed is brilliant and I love all the tiny little shops you can have everywhere.
Nightlife is vital to my enjoyment of the game. Being able to set the turn ons and turn offs makes it much easier to arrange sims relationships, the new locations are much more fun than the base game ones and having vampires is just the icing on the cake.
Pets, yeah I love pets. It is a little thinner than OFB or Nightlife but the world doesn't seem right without any animals in it. I love the flexibility of being able to create your own breeds, the degree to which you can shape the little critters means you can make almost any animal with a bit of ingenuity. And they're <i>adorable</i>. Only slight annoyance is trying to see what you're making in CAP - I have a widescreen and man, that damn console always sticks itself right in front of what I'm trying to see. It's bad enough when it's half a sim hidden but when it's a cat you can barely see what you're doing.

I've bough all the other expansions bar seasons, but I'm trying to pace the installations because otherwise it's a bit overwhelming! I'm not sure about Seasons tbh. Has anyone noticed if it slows up your gameplay? There's stuff in it that I want, like the ability to grow vegetables and fish, but I'm not really that bothered about having weather - it looks pretty but I worry it'll cause things to lag as it's going on all the time.

Some people have reported that heavy snowfall lags their games. My system lags for a lot of reasons, but not for that. I suggest that when you decide to install it, you should back up your game (you should do that before any new installation anyway) and test a few lots with a winter season, playing until you get a good heavy fall of snow. Then you'll know, and will be able to uninstall and restore your saved game without a hiccup in operations if the slowdown warrants it.

Please note, when you install Seasons, that rooms that don't have all four walls enclosed are not weatherproofed! I had the Ottomas family in the Cape Cod house, with the parents downstairs and the kids upstairs, during the summer, and the kids got heatstroke; my university students who sleep in an attic suffer from cold in deep winter and heat in deep summer; and I had to hastily reconfigure the Modern Marvel when my pregnant lady got heatstroke. Overheated sims can die; overheated or hypothermic children will get taken by the social worker.

Also, make sure you patch the game before you play the Ottomases that ship with this EP! The family shipped glitched and there's all kinds of horror stories about them.

What makes you think all those students are sober? I'm pretty sure the pep squad and cow mascots - who don't reflect any American's college experience, I don't think - are continually high. The cheerleaders are mellow, the llamas are on speed, and the damn cow mascots have been freebasing and following it up with Jell-O shots. You can always try making a different kind of college and create social groups, or even households based on the mechanics that run the Greeks, to simulate your clubs and things. I think Academy La Tour was vaguely supposed to represent a non-American University, but you're up against the life experience and limitations of the programmers, most of whom had probably never left the lower 48 states. If you roll with it and experiment, you should be able to tweak their vision into something more fun for you. University is my favorite EP and in a lot of ways constitutes the heart of my game, though it doesn't reflect my own college experience at all. (No D&D group! No SCA!) But the Greeks have a lot of uses, even if you decide to use their mechanics to create a household no American frat boy would recognize.

University= I love YA gameplay but it take much time to graduate, so i use mod to make semester shorter i like dorm life, but i never try greek house. maybe i will try greek house after post this.

Nightlife= my first EP, since i bought the sims 2 Deluxe (and nightlife come with it). very very love it. dating, outing, restaurant, and cars. don't forget ms.crumplebottom. i love how she beat us with her purse.

Open for business= i love business gameplay and servo. but i still need learn how to make good business without cheat. (still using maxmotive while running business)

Pets= well, i'm pet lover, but i think this EP is boring. and i don't like floor rotate feature. it's just annoying.

Seasons= i loved this EP, but not anymore. since i kinda boring watching changing seasons and wants that depends on seasons.

Bon Voyage= i love to have vacation like the sims:vacation. but it take some time to load any vacation lots.

Freetime= aspiration benefit is good feature.. but i don't like about hobby/enthusiasm. it's too annoying.

Apartment life= apartment is boring and witch too.

note: EA did good job until they made OFB EP. after that, i see that they lose their creativity to make any EPs. and i don't like having new neighborhoods for every new EPs because they won't attach in my previous neighborhood.

I'm on the Mac So there were some eps I never got to try but the ones I do have I am absolutely content with and use their features almost every game play.

1: Nightlife: It's great for single and romance sims. It's neat having a chemistry system. Instead of mashing two sims together just because it's nice to have little indicators if they'd do well together. I love having delis and having my families go out for brunch or teens go out bowling or dancing in clubs on the weekend. I love having the cars too instead of taking the taxi. I also love having a down town so sims can live in the city and not suburbia if that's not what their personality is about.

2: University: This adds so much. Sims get a break before being adults and this is the time for them to go to university and really they only have 1 class so they do have lots of free time to date around or chill out with friends. Among objects that came with this Ep that added more were the cell phones (you can go to a lot and invite someone there, multiple people can be talking on the phone at once), Band instruments, pool tables, the bubble hook thing. Also the coffee helped too. Mix that with night life and you can have restaurant cafes, and make bars in the college towns for sim pub-crawls. I think a lot of people find sending their sims to college tedious but there are tons of things you can do with them,personally - I haven't gotten tired yet and I haven't used the fast track cheat yet.

3: Seasons: I love the weather. I love how I can light the fireplace in the middle of a blizzard and not question why I am lighting a fire. Ice skating and hot chocolate in the winter, and then gardening is fun too and gives old sims something to do as well as fishing. I find Old Sims are more tedious to play so giving them things to do moves their play a long without the player getting bored. The relationship/skill boots for each season are much appreciated too.

4: Pets. I got this one randomly because a friend bought it. I never had much interest in pets but they offer another things for elder sims gameplay. Playing a single sim on a lot gets tedious and lonely so adding a cat or dog helps move the game along.

Bon Voyage and Free Time I would have interest in, OFB and AL not so much since I already play apartments with what I have. I have no interest in Stuff Packs - a lot of my content is CC and that is satisfying enough.