A few questions from a potentional buyer. Okay so here i am sitting skimming through some reviews considering buying the sims. so far so good. it has received very good scores..... now... a few questions. 1) Online strictly or not? (Prefer it to be online) 2) the recent "sims2 virus" i read about on slashdot.org ... addressed yet? 3) What is happening in this video? why did the guy shrink and the other guy become so tall? ((Click)) 4) i find it odd that considering the game has been out for a while now the price STILL hasnt dropped. EDIT -- added a few more: 5) Scripting vs things happening by themselves. Ok so i havent exactly played the Sims 1 ... didnt exactly hate it but it was a chore. My question here is do the sims do their own thing or is the game scripted.?? what i mean is do i have to walk over to "Those two people over there" and things happen or will they do their thing anyway? So i was watching this video (Click) and around 6 or so minutes into the movie he "Makes" him "kiss her" ... sounds to me like a script or rather there is no "Indepedant AI" for the Sims... 6) am i playing a God or am i the sims pupett? i keep hearing "The sims want you to help them fulfill.. blah blah"... sounds to me like i am just "Aiding" or "Guiding". or rather being used. god i hate that word. lol. any way. 7) What i found daunting in the little time i played sims 1 was the chore of building the **** house and decorating it and doing LITTLE things!!!
1) Online strictly or not? (Prefer it to be online) - Sims2 is exclusively played offline, afaik. It has an inbuilt custom content browser which enables you to log into the official Sims2 website to download content ( skins, houses, etc ), but it's not played online. 2) the recent "sims2 virus" i read about on slashdot.org ... addressed yet? - It's not really a virus, depending on how you look at it, but hacked objects/mods that get transferred from one downloaded house to the entire neighbourhood. The problem is that if a house architect puts a hacked object into a house, then uploads that house for others to download ( through the Sims2 Exchange at the official site, for example ), the code/mods spread into the game of the person who downloaded it. If, for example, I build a house with a hacked object in it, and package it for you to download, you'll automatically get the hacked object. I think with the proper amount of precaution and wise judgment, this can be avoided. If you're altogether too unsure, just don't download houses built by others. As far as I know, Maxis are working on restructuring the Exchange so you as the downloading person can see if there are mods/hacks in the house you want. 3) What is happening in this video? why did the guy shrink and the other guy become so tall? - I couldn't see the video, but it sounded like someone used the body cheat that influences the height of a Sim. It's a cheat code you manually enter into the console, so you can determine the height of a Sim yourself. 4) i find it odd that considering the game has been out for a while now the price STILL hasnt dropped. - Can't speak for other countries, but where I live ( Germany ), the original Sims still costs 40, which is the equivalent of around $40. *shrugs* They want to make money. The game is, what, not even half a year old? Give it some time. 5) Scripting vs things happening by themselves. Ok so i havent exactly played the Sims 1 ... didnt exactly hate it but it was a chore. My question here is do the sims do their own thing or is the game scripted.?? what i mean is do i have to walk over to "Those two people over there" and things happen or will they do their thing anyway? - The game is not scripted. That's the fun in Sims2 ( depending how you like this kind of stuff ). You have the choice of turning on or off "Free Will". Turning on free will gives your Sims a modicum of choice in what they do and the results can be pretty amusing most of the time. Turning it back off gives you, the player, the utmost control over their lives. 6) am i playing a God or am i the sims pupett? i keep hearing "The sims want you to help them fulfill.. blah blah"... sounds to me like i am just "Aiding" or "Guiding". or rather being used. god i hate that word. lol. any way. - You are God ( unless you turn on 'Free Will' and let them run havoc ). The game gives your Sims a set of "aspirations" they want to fulfill, aside from the regular 'mood' barometer. Personally, it made the game more fun for me. Examples? Romance Sims wanting to Woohoo ( *cough*havesex*cough* ) with more than one Sim, Knowledge Sims wanting to read, learn cooking, cleaning, Family Sims wanting kids, etc etc, and you as 'God' have to find ways to fulfil that want. 7) What i found daunting in the little time i played sims 1 was the chore of building the **** house and decorating it and doing LITTLE things!!! - If you don't like building houses, well, the game does come with a few 'pre-built' ones. If you're careful ( because of the 'virus' you mentioned ), you can download houses from various places, and the choices are infinite. My advice to you? If you're really unsure and don't feel like shelling out *amount of money you pay in your respective country* for the game, find someone who already has the game, invite yourself over, and ask them to let you play for an hour or two. Personally, I love the Sims2, so I'm biased.
A little help well i have had th sims for a while now and i think it is pretty good, i can answer a few of your questions so here goes. 1: The sims can do things independantly, if you chose the option free will. if not you have to order them to "talk to others sims and kiss others sims and so on" personally i have never put on freewill only if i have one or more people in the family. I dont put it on because teh sims tend to do silly things such as if there hunger is down low and so is there hygeine they will have a shower first therefor starving themselves to death. 2: No you do not have to build your house if you dont want, there are already made house designs that you can move into they are wallpapered and floor tiled all you have to do is furnish it, i change the walls floors and windows because the design isnt very stylish but if you arent to fussy about that you can just furnish. So there is the option of moving into already made houses or designing one yourself. 3: I watched that video and the reason that one got talller and the other one got shorter is beacuase the other guy put a spell on him, you probably already realise that but the video is just demonstarting that the sims have a mind of there own they can now feel hate and love, and things like that. I have nver heard of that cheat code but i dont know much about that sort of stuff like cracks and codes and stuff. 4: I live in australia sydney and the prices are usually around $75.95 which is pretty good, i got the sims2 for my birthday and my dad still hasnt told me the price of it. But i think it depends on where you live. sorry i couldnt convert that to pounds or euro 5: in my opinion i think you play the god, because you can choose wither your sim has one lover or 2, things like that. ( you play the puppet if you have it on freewill) well i hope that helped and i really cant say wither you should buy the sims or not beacause it really depends on your personality, if you are into killing and death then you shold get like MEDAL OF HONOUR or somthing like that. But i think the sims2 is pretty fun.
So then its purely a simple player game. Well that pretty much kills it for me. That means theres cheats out there for it. Which I will be forced to use (theres no way in hell i can stop myself from cheating). Within 30 minutes i'll be so bored of the game... oh well. i was hoping i'd try it. :( Guess i'll save my $49.99 for something else.
Well I don't know that the cheats make the game boring. Maxxis certainly is not shy about people using the cheats, they even mention at least one in their user manual. It's not your traditional game where you have a specific goal to reach. It's open ended. You could have all the cheats that exist out there and still find the game interesting. However considering some of the things you've said, such as not liking to build and decorate houses, not liking "puppets" you need to direct, and not liking Sims I, well I think you wouldn't like this game.
Well i was too sleep last night so i just ran through the tutorials. I was rather frustrated that those CHEAPSKATES at maxis couldnt make the tutorials voice instead of the darned text. I'll tell ya one thing. Sims 2 has MORE buttons to click and more things to maintain. Another thing. The camera. Oh the camera! let us all pray. Ya it allows flexibility but why doesnt it save its position? I suppose I have to "Get used to it". That is NOT an excuse. Having cheats in the game that ruin the game is not exactly a good practice. One reason i asked i asked if this was an online game is that. Online games DO NOT allow cheating under any circumstance. Honestly at first I was under the impression Sims 2 allowed you to walk over to a strangers house, kick back, socialize. Now i know the harsh reality. It all happens on your own computer .. ALONE! In any case. I went out and bought it. I am pushing myself to play it and TRY to enjoy it.
I know you can activate a Sim 1 style camera in the options. You might want to try that That was the point I was trying to make. Cheats don't necessarily ruin THIS game. It's not like say, Diablo, where a cheat could turn you invulnerable and get you all the best stuff in the game. There is very little point to the game after that, as it's just a pointless stroll through various dungeons killing everything without effort collecting various baubles you have no interest in. However Sims 2 is not quite the same. You could use a hack to let's say give you max "stats" but thats not necessarily a good thing and might even be counter-productive. This game is not about acquiring stats anyway. I suppose you could make yourself top of your career, give yourself all the money you want, and max all your needs and aspiration. That would certainly make the part of the game that is acquiring these things boring, but you might find another part of it interesting. It's open ended. It's what you want to make with it. Or in other words, think of Sims 2 as more of a toy than a game. Ps. Read this thread for some ideas, but IMO you shouldnt make yourself enjoy anything. Lifes too short for that J
