Memories, opinions?

[Le Carrera]

So what is your opinion on the memory system in TS2?

to ME it does not make sense,,,

[FuzzehPeach]

I like the memory system, I try to make it a challenge for me to not let my sims have any bad/red memories. Stupid 'Vermin!' memory always ruined it for me.. :P

[k24601]

I have mixed feelings about it, it's amazing how...how far back some people in real life can remember to...and it can be funny and strange what sims remember.

I disagree with you though on some things, being taught to walk is a big step in toddler's life so it kinda makes sense to me that they would make a memory for that....I dunno about remembering it forever but yes it's a big deal for a sim and so is just seeing snow for the first time or even seeing a dog on a walk - sim or not. It may seem "stupid" to you but I'm sure I'm not the only one in real life that has memories about supposedly insignificant things - there may be things that are insignificant to you but they aren't to others.

So I find the memory system quite realistic in that way. I just hate that you have to go into simpe or get a special mod to remove all memories when what you really want to do is just remove specific (bad) ones....simpe takes too long though so the mod's memory wipe is easier. I try so that my sims don't have any bad memories, but I don't always succeed.

As far as I know, none of my sims have a burnt toast memory so I don't know what the deal is with that but you know what? I'll always remember that I burnt a pizza once. It was kind of a crappy moment for me when it happened but it's one of those things that now when I think about it... I can laugh about it. Another example I have for you is that there was this guy..I can't even remember his name, all I remember is that he was my brother's friend once a long time ago and I was younger then, we were living in Germany, ect. It is tied into my first kiss memory. I barely knew the guy and he gave me my first kiss, it's a very precious memory to me even though I often wish that I had gotten to know him better and I wish we had been able to keep in touch. I never saw him again and it makes me really sad sometimes. It doesn't matter if a person is a stranger or not, if you remember even the slightest thing about them for whatever reason, then you'll always have that memory. I've often thought about "my brother's hot friend that gave me my first kiss".

Sure it's not usually a big deal but this thread reminded me that once some woman in a store helped me out by getting something for me that I couldn't reach. So, even though she's a a stranger and I don't think about her _much_ I do have a memory of her....and I'll have that memory stored away in my mind forever unless I get amnesia or something. Hahaha. Anyway, my point is that it's not big reach to have a memory of a stranger, even if you can't remember or never knew somebody's name you may remember what they look like and their voice or something like that.

Although not a big deal, because I love cats I have a memory of seeing a big fluffy Black cat outside. It's a completely random memory and of no significance to others, I'm sure....but it is of some small significance to me.

[el_flel]

If we're going to be nitpicking about how unrealistic it is that sims can remember what they did as toddlers then it's also unrealistic that sims accurately remember everything chronologically, because human memory is extremely fallible. However, I doubt that the sims' memory system was supposed to be based off real life, but was implemented so that the player could keep track of a sim's history.

Memories were part of the problem IIRC in not being able to properly delete a sim or move them between neighbourhoods. I liked being able to see what my sims had gotten up to though. I also don't think it was necessary to remember every single sim they met, that just seemed redundant when your sim will have all of those sims in their relationship panel. Memories did come in very handy for finding out how many woohoo-partners my romance sims had to accumulate before achieving wants :D

[Nalia]

I am with El on this.

I like the memory system in TS2, it has been quite helpful all these years I keep playing the game, plus I love the fact my Sims have them. The "burnt food" memory is pretty significant if the whole house catches fire and you want to track down the culprit who started it in a first place. The random dog encouter makes sense if you suddenly see your Sim playing happily with a Wolf, or with neighbour's puppy: memories can tell you if they met while your Sim was downtown or not. Even in a "static" world of TS2, when compared to TS3, Sims do have things done when you look the other side.

I fully agree some memories are redundant (and this is where Pescado's Lot Debugger comes in handy), but for their greatest part are useful and helpful.

[vhanster]

The "burnt food" memory is pretty significant if the whole house catches fire and you want to track down the culprit who started it in a first place.
Burnt food won't result to fire, but causing fire while cooking leads to burnt food.

[Kailacat]

I happen to like the memories. I still remember when I was potty trained (or I've heard stories about it) but not when I learned to walk and talk. I also remember the time I burnt eggs when helping Mom make breakfast. I think they did a good job with the memories. I certainly can't imagine playing without them.

[kennyinbmore]

I haven't played TS2 since TS3 came out, but I do remember I rarely ever looked at the memories of my sims

[mangaroo]

I rarely look at memories, but when I do, I really need the information they contain to answer questions like "why is Sim A furious with Sim B?" and "did you meet Sim C before or after you went to Uni?"

I play all households rigidly synced, so every game-born Sim's memories make sense as a personal and collective history. However, if I played multiple households randomly, I think the memories would be more surreal: woohooed with Amy, Amy died, woohooed with Amy's great-granddaughter....whut???

[AlexandraSpears]

I remember my second birthday, but vaguely. That was thirty-five years ago.

[ani_]

Memories did come in very handy for finding out how many woohoo-partners my romance sims had to accumulate before achieving wants :D That's pretty much what I used the memories for. If I wanted to know had Sim A kissed and Woohooed with Sim B. It's hard keeping track sometimes. Other than that, I didn't really use them or looked at them.

I think the reason many of the memories are so silly is because there isn't much to record otherwise. The drama is in the player's head, and you can't record that.

I remember my second birthday, but vaguely. That was thirty-five years ago. I remember my first one, and how I tried to grab the candle and got my hand burned. I guess that's my burned toast memory.

[Yukkuri Shiteite ne]

The only problem is the spamming with meeting people and VERMIN! I don't run out into the streets and yell "OMG THERE WAS VERMIN INVADING MY HOUSE WHEN I WAS A LITTLE TODDLER, BUT NOW I'M AN ELDER!" (Im not an old person :|)

[k24601]

LOL Yeah, in that way it starts to not make sense and gets annoying, the sims memory system is both realistic and unrealistic in certain ways. People may have memories of seeing bugs and stuff but it doesn't have to be a big deal or is only a big deal to those who hate bugs...ect. hahaha and I, for one, usually have to be reminded that I've already met so-and-so friend of my father or stepmom and therefore I should already know who they are, so-and-so is a distant relative or a friend of my mom or stepdad, ect.

Seriously, how many people can remember every single person they've ever met or are supposed to know in their life? Especially if they only saw that person on a regular basis when they were very very young and can't remember back that far or only saw the person once. I mean, like I said, there's been people I only saw once in my entire life and I'll always remember them but that doesn't mean I remember every single person.

[aaries16]

I love the memories. And I do look back on the memories from time to time. In fact, I just had an elder sim die at about 75 years old and right before his death I looked through all his memories, I really enjoyed that. Now the one group of memories that I find most annoying and unrealistic are the ones like "cousin A made dean's list 1st semester sophomore year". I know that I made dean's list about half of my semesters in college but I don't remember which semesters those were and I'm positive my family doesn't either - especially not my cousins. The only memories that matter is that "my cousin went to college" and "my cousin graduated from college."

[jodemilo]

I find some of the memories fairly trivial however overall find them absolutely essential to what makes TS2 different from TS3, and possibly better in that respect, as it gives sims a little more "soul" than the 2 dimensional characters of TS3 (in my opinion).

Of course you can always put Pescado's FFS Lot Debugger in your game to zap the "boring" and "dead" memories if you wish, as well as wiping corrupt ones. It seems to have prevented my hood from imploding anyway.

[Nalia]

Burnt food won't result to fire, but causing fire while cooking leads to burnt food.
Either way, if there is no female around to take control of the situation males will end up being ashes.
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1236/liuuni1.th.jpg (http://img139.imageshack.us/i/liuuni1.jpg/)
Stupid guy dances and screams for the fire he caused while cooking (with zero cooking skills, mind you) but he is unable to extinguish it till his sister comes to his rescue.
If I recall correctly his memories showed the burnt food first, and the fire second. I might be wrong though.

[A.G.Doren]

On the practical side I find it extremely helpful in relationship to lifetime goals and letting me know what happened at times when I wasn't minding my sims very carefully or if a sim of yours pops downtown while you're playing another sim meets someone and has her first kiss and woohoo all in one little outing. Memories are pretty convenient for those things.

Also I have an elder sim that is rapidly approaching the end of her life. Looking back through her memories has been a nice experience and I even had her call up some old friends she had lost touch with that I had forgotten about.

The guy was someone that she had had a meh' date with, and ended it early. But since she was out she stayed out and met her husband that same night. They've been married for 75 sim years now and wouldn't have met him if it hadn't been for that lame date. So I had her call that guy up and renew their friendship. It was a nice little bit of maudlin sentimentality that I enjoyed very much and it wouldn't happened without the sim memories because I had forgotten all about that dude.

I was also terrorized by a giant roach once when I was Arizona. I've yet to forget it and I doubt I ever will.

So I think sim memories are cool.

[treegirl17]

Memories is important to me. I like have all the toddler ones the children study ones and teen go steady ones etc etc leading up to college and family stuff!

[zumppe]

The memories are absolutely essential to me, I use them all the time. Without them, the sims would feel like two-dimensional barbie dolls, and I wouldn't play at all.

[jooxis]

Well then I'm weird because I find the memories useless :p

The thing is that they all have more or less the same memories (learned to walk, got an A+, burned food, etc...) and all the "interesting" bits of information are actually in my head and don't get recorded as memories in the game.

I already keep track of who kissed who and who woohooed with who in my notepad that I use when I play the game anyway :)

[vhanster]

I remember my second birthday, but vaguely. That was thirty-five years ago.

You do? That's amazing. I don't even remember mine- and that's only 14 years ago... :faceslap: