TS2 Not Half Bad? Technically speaking I have to admit that this game is not half bad. I have been quite robust in previous times in slamming EA for releasing product that required finishing. I was also less than flattering concerning the prospects that Pets would be playable. I was wrong. I still think that EA (and Maxis) were desperately negligent in releasing Family Fun Stuff on a holiday and leaving it to amateurs to provide fixes for what must still rank as the worst bugs ever to afflict a game (expansion pack) release. But .... I invested in Pets in trepidation because, at the time, I was still without internet access and the thought that I might well make my game unplayable was worrying. It wasn't so bad. First I put all my neighborhoods into cold-storage and played with virgin copies of the default hoods. I also pulled all my hacks. The game played brilliantly. Yes there were little problems that were obviously bugs. Luckily most proved to be minor and I found ways to play around them. Also by trial and error I found what hacks could be returned without making a mess ... and here's my plea to Maxis! Please pay attention to this and when you are designing future games that are promoted as being for the modding community make sure you release sufficient detail to allow mods to be designed within the structure of your design instead of letting the poor modders bang their heads against the wall trying to discover your intentions. What do I mean? The modders had to rewrite every mod and hack after each new expansion changed all the in-game menus and file structures. This need lessened as the number of EPs increased and that is counter-intuitive. Surely more complexity would make hacking harder not easier? Wrong. The hackers, with weary experience, began to see the logic and by pooling knowledge they developed a strategy to future-proof their work. My conclusion is that the game is pretty darn robust. It always was, and (after a sad, but forgiven, glitch with FFS) it continues to be a lot less buggy and reliable than many other high profile games on the market. I don't have any technical answers but I have plenty of glib suggestions (eg place easy to find modder branches within the game code so that the poor guys don't have to do everything three or four times!)
Yeah i critisize TS2 sometimes but it's really a well done game that had to have taken alot of thought. On...Saturday night i think it was i was at my friends house and all they had was TS1 and all the expantions so i played it for maybe 5 mins. before going, this is stupid. TS2 is way more advanced and challenging. Great game keep it up
