The Sims

[Casino Bride]

nadia said:

When I call each individually they do that, but when I choose "throw a party" when I click on the phone and invite them, I don't recall anyone of them confirming.

Oh, sorry, you're right - when it's the party invitation, it says something like "break out the refreshments and the party music", etc. But, if someone can't or won't come, it will say so (like "this person doesn't know you well enough yet" or something like that). So there is still usually some indication.

Put them all in the hot tub. You'll get a roof raiser party by the time it's over.

Yeah - unless it's outside and there's a thunderstorm! I had a guest get struck by lightning and die. Kind of a party killer, I must say.

[nadia]

casinobride said:

Yeah - unless it's outside and there's a thunderstorm! I had a guest get struck by lightning and die. Kind of a party killer, I must say.

Oh, that just made me cackle.

[Sunbaby]

Oh yeah, thunderstorms! I don't have Seasons (yet but soon I hope) so each day is summer for my Sims.

[dandesun]

A great way to warm up Sims of any age is to give them a bath. That always works. Obviously there are other options for those older than toddlers (Kids jumping on the bed? Warms them up in a big way. Working out warms Sims up, drinking tomato juice, romantic interactions, etc) but I think the cure all for every age is a bath.

[nadia]

My Sims like going in backdoors. There can be a front door that's much closer, but they'll almost always opt to walk all the way around the house and go in and out of the back door. Anyone else have that? Why is that?

[joysurrender]

I think Sims like to go in through the most expensive door, so if the back door costs more, they'll use that one. I notice it a lot with the double glass doors, like you'd use to go out onto a patio.

[Casino Bride]

Did anyone get the new EP, FreeTime? I'm wondering if it's worth getting and if my PC can take it.

[lemuralley]

I did! It's, um . . . well, I haven't really decided if it's worth it or not. Sims having hobbies, and in particular a predestined favorite, adds a depth to their personalities that they were lacking before. The new interactions are interesting; a sim that has at least a 3 in Nature interest can go hiking, a fitness one can go jogging, etc. They have secondary aspirations now, too, so you can have a fortune/romance sim if you like. I haven't played with much of the new stuff, actually. I'm trying to hook up some sims so they can have babies and I can mess around with the new toddler table and interactions. Right now I'm annoyed because I finally figured out that this one sim's hobby interest is Science, so I bought him an ant farm -- and then my game crashed. Sigh.

[Casino Bride]

lemuralley said:

Sims having hobbies, and in particular a predestined favorite, adds a depth to their personalities that they were lacking before. The new interactions are interesting; a sim that has at least a 3 in Nature interest can go hiking, a fitness one can go jogging, etc. They have secondary aspirations now, too, so you can have a fortune/romance sim if you like.

That does sound very interesting, lemuralley - thanks! Sorry your game crashed. I hope it's not another case of having to wait for a patch.

[Deleted]

I have Free Time too and I think it's worth shelling out a few bucks for. As lemuralley said, it adds a lot more depth to the sims' personalities. I love the secondary aspirations. There are a lot of new objects and interactions, and each hobby has a secret lot which you can go to if you build enough enthusiasm for the particular hobby, which is quite fun. Sims can watch movies now too and read specific genres of books. You can enter cooking contests and dance contests now and subscribe to various different magazines and so on. It's pretty good value in terms of the extra gameplay you get.

I've played a lot over the weekend and haven't had a single crash or any major bugs at all.