Pets Gripe

[Darby]

Okay, so who here has played Pet Stories? I got it recently, and I have to say, I am thoroughly pissed off with the Pets EP now. I've always been annoyed with how "light" it is, compared to what we had in Unleashed. They could have put so many more interactions in, especially between the pets themselves. But I've lived with it.

Now I see the agility training equipment and dog shows, DOG SHOWS, in Pet Stories, and I cannot believe they didn't give us that in the Pets EP!!! (We need an "outrage" smiley.)

I don't usually grumble about this sort of thing with regard to the game, but this one is all over me. I don't suppose it's possible to hack the dog shows from Pet Stories to the regular game, is it? If so, I imagine it would have been done by now. *pout*

eta: Well, and I guess there's the whole copyright thing too. *sigh*

[M.M.A.A.]

Okay, so who here has played Pet Stories? I got it recently, and I have to say, I am thoroughly pissed off with the Pets EP now. I've always been annoyed with how "light" it is, compared to what we had in Unleashed. They could have put so many more interactions in, especially between the pets themselves.

Now I see the training equipment and dog shows, DOG SHOWS, in Pet Stories, and I cannot believe they didn't give us that in the Pets EP!!! (We need an "outrage" smiley.)

I don't usually grumble about this sort of thing with regard to the game, but this one is all over me. I don't suppose it's possible to hack the dog shows from Pet Stories to the regular game, is it? If so, I imagine it would have been done by now. *pout*

eta: Well, and I guess there's the whole copyright thing too. *sigh*

Yeah me too, I got it like a year ago or less and when I wanted to get the stuff from there to sims 2, I was really annoyed by the fact that none of it or most of it was never included in Pets. If you go to MATY, there are threads discussing this. Some people tried to get the training course objects into the sims 2, but they said that the coding was difficult. *Not trying to direct people to where the stuff is.*

[Darby]

I imagine the dog show routines would be even more complicated than the training objects.

Well, I'm going to have to get over it, but damn. I'll just have to be content with Pet Stories itself for dog shows, but the thing about Pet Stories (as I'm sure you noticed) is that there's no elder stage for human sims. Elder pets yes, but I guess humans die after adulthood? Annoying. :rolleyes:

[M.M.A.A.]

I imagine the dog show routines would be even more complicated than the training objects.

Well, I'm going to have to get over it, but damn. I'll just have to be content with Pet Stories itself for dog shows, but the thing about Pet Stories (as I'm sure you noticed) is that there's no elder stage for human sims. Elder pets yes, but I guess humans die after adulthood? Annoying. :rolleyes:

Yeah, me too, I always wondered why there isn't an elder stage? Maybe there is some sort of a fix somewhere.

[Darby]

I figure it has to do with all the extra coding they had to include for pets. The Stories games are quite lean, compared with Sims 2, and they needed to keep it that way.

When I think about it, it even makes sense that it's the human elder stage they decided to cut, rather than the pet elder stage. Human elders need clothes. Pet elders don't require anything new.

All my complaining aside, I think the Stories line is rather fun. I like Story Mode scenarios now and then, even if they're a bit simplistic and cheesy. I'm just not sure I want to continue in freeplay mode. Thinking about extracting the sims. Or maybe play to the second, or even third generation, with a one child per family rule to reduce the population, and then extract them to put in the full game. :)

[julmoo]

I never noticed that human Sims had no elder stage. Are there other life stages too?

I only played the Sims stories for a very short time but I am not really impressed with both the PEts EP and the pet stores.

I don't know what others do but to me the interactions with pets are so limited, in my game they are just a piece of living furniture that eats money...I'm not really fond of them

[Peni Griffin]

The more your sims interact with the pets, the more interactions they get, just like with other sim organisms. A lot of people don't like pets, but most of them, it seems to me, haven't fully explored them, either. Pets are great with children, especially toddlers; they do lots of cute things on their own, like playing with the catnip mouse and terrifying the womrat; they give shy sims an excuse not to come inside when they visit ("Oh, don't mind me, I'm playing fetch with the dog); they dream of cheeseburgers...tons of fun.

For some good close-ups of what cats are doing down there at floor level, check out this sim blog:
http://mswn.livejournal.com/tag/bacc%3A%20mckim

[Darby]

I never noticed that human Sims had no elder stage. Are there other life stages too?

Elder is the only one they left out, looks like. Well, and YA, of course. And it's only Pet Stories. Life Stories and Castaway Stories both include the elder stage.

[julmoo]

That is weird. Maybe the Sims get shipped to Twikii Island when they grow up to Elders and we never get to see them xD

I don't have the pet stories any longer, maybe someone can play a family and see what happens. This really interests me!
*off to the Sims wiki*

Peni I know that pets have various interactions and that they do random things on their own, I have the Pets EP since the day it was released and played the pets to death. I still don't really like them.
Mostly I get some pets because I think "Well, I guess I should use that EP sometimes"

Oh well, to each their own. The wolves do look kind of cute...

[dieKristina]

I like the Pets EP okay, but they could have done much more with it. The interactions are way to few and there´s just not much enough for the pets (especially dogs) to do on their own either. I wish they had made at least 10 more interactions between sims and pets and 5 more between the pets themselves. More different toys for the pets would also be very welcome as well as the ability for cats to chase mice and climb trees. Another thing that bugs me is the fact that the pets can´t share a bed with a sim and that they can´t sit on a sim´s lap. I personally have no idea why they didn´t make that possible - it would be so lovely to have those interactions! :lovestruc

But I still really like the EP, since the pets are adorable and I prefer to have limited pets than no pets at all. I´ll not buy Pet Stories, however - that would probably make me even more frustrated over the Pets EP´s limitations. And just to look at the pictures of the pets in sims 3 makes me extremly jealous - I would love to have that EP for sims 2!

[Darby]

^^ All that. :up:

What we got with the Pets EP is all great. There's just not enough of it.

Love the idea of cats and small dogs being able to sit on laps, and it would be funny to see large ones trying to.

I've long wanted to see pets be able to share beds and doghouses too, and to be able to groom each other. They definitely skewed pet interactions toward hostility way too far.

Cat chasing mice, yes! Although I'm happy to not have to clean them up constantly like we had to in Unleashed.

Main thing is that I'm just really really disappointed that they'd put something so very cool as dog agility shows in a "lite" version of the game, and NOT give us that in the full game. :(

[joandsarah77]

I would love it if the dog shows and training could be hacked and added to the game. Animals should have also had something added if they had careers, such as a police dog should be able to take a burglar down. It should have been included in the Pets EP along with the tree climbing, mouse chasing and the lap sitting I see mentioned. Also if the cat owner is on the computer the cat should have been able to get on their laps or key boards to get attention and like TS3 cats lay on their backs on lounge chairs. My cats do all of the above all of the time. But the lack of lap sitting for cats was the biggest oversight. Only one of them will let me do something close to the Sims 2 hug, but even my 'non affectionate' cat will sometimes sit on my lap, while my other two would live there.

There are a few extracted pet objects from Pet Stories and converted ones from TS3 and I have seen a hack to allow a cat or dog sleep at the end of a child’s bed- on here I think
.

[Darby]

Absolutely, pets in the security track should definitely be able to attack and/or run off burglars. Even the cats, because that would be hilarious. :lol: Or better yet, sims ought to be able to train pets themselves to do this. I'd have a breeder training security pets to sell at a premium! :D

I have a few things extracted from Pet Stories, but they're pretty meh. I love the hack that allows pets to sleep at the end of kids' beds, though.

For pet beds, btw, I also love Paladin's one-tile pet beds. Have you seen those? Nicely space-efficient for cats, small dogs, and puppies/kittens.

[julmoo]

I really love Paladin's pet beds <3

It makes no sense to have an enormous pet bed for a tiny kitten, chihuahua or adult cat.
The "bed" pet bed mesh is too adorable.

You can actually assign a pet bed to a certain animal, that way each cat/dog has their own bed <333

Did nobody else figure anything about the elders out?
I couldn't find anything on the internet and this really interests me.

Edit: Woops! After googling in German and reading on a German fansite I found out that in the pet stories you get a message two days before the Sim would be supposed to age up to elder. It reminds you of the possibility to use the elixir of life. If you do not use the elixir, then you die.
Nannies and repairmen are adults in the game too.

I think it's idiotic to leave the elder life stage out. Just add less clothes etc to reduce the bloat.

[Darby]

I couldn't remember if Paladin's pet beds are assignable, or if I had a separate hack by Inge for that, but either way, it's one of my "must haves"!


Did nobody else figure anything about the elders out?

What's to figure out? There just aren't any elders (humans) in Pet Stories. Do you mean, do the adults simply die at the end of the adult stage, as I was wondering earlier? I'll find out, eventually, as I do some freeplay. Well, IF I do some freeplay. I haven't decided for sure if I'll continue with it.

[julmoo]

I don't have any of Inge's hacks but in my game the pet peds can be assigned, yeah.

I just edited my post xD
They die :/

[Orilon]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Orilon/Claudio.jpg

This is an example of what an adult's life bar looks like in Pet Stories. I didn't play Pet Stories in Free Mode long enough to find out what happened when an adult reached the end.

[M.M.A.A.]

The more your sims interact with the pets, the more interactions they get, just like with other sim organisms. A lot of people don't like pets, but most of them, it seems to me, haven't fully explored them, either. Pets are great with children, especially toddlers; they do lots of cute things on their own, like playing with the catnip mouse and terrifying the womrat; they give shy sims an excuse not to come inside when they visit ("Oh, don't mind me, I'm playing fetch with the dog); they dream of cheeseburgers...tons of fun.

For some good close-ups of what cats are doing down there at floor level, check out this sim blog:
http://mswn.livejournal.com/tag/bacc%3A%20mckim

They can also guard your sims' home for you: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110727124115AAErZzT

[Darby]

Ignoring for the moment that you're referencing Yahoo Answers ... :P that first answerer does have a point about being able to train pets to be hostile, and if the story about a dog running off a burglar is true, that's an idea to consider.

I've always wanted my pets to be friendly, but as with getting over mean or sloppy sims, perhaps I need to branch out a bit with pet personalities too. Already getting an idea for a crotchety old hermit with a rangy, mean old dog who spends his time threatening all passersby.

BUT STILL, It would have been nice to have pets who're friendly otherwise who can detect when a visitor (burglar) is up to no good and attack. /end harangue ;)

[AlexandraSpears]

So like Life Stories it's just four wants and no fears?

(Never had Pet Stories.)

No Elder stage...? Hm.

[Orilon]

In Free Play mode its four wants and no fears. There is no elder stage, but I never got far enough to find out what happened. I got annoyed by the lack of move objects (never could get it to work in free play mode), Sim's careers getting screwed up if they got their pet a job, and other things. Some mods made for the Pets EP worked with Pet Stories and some didn't.

[DigitalSympathies]

Life Stories was great. Phenomenal, even. I LOVED IT. I haven't played Pet Stories in a while, but I remember talking with a friend about the pet shows and stuff and somebody had converted the objects, but couldn't get them to show up or work or something. :/

[joandsarah77]

My mafia family had an 'aggressive' dog, chosen as a puppy for being aggressive and praised for acting aggressively, you would still see it rolling over to have its tummy rubbed by visitors, ignored the mail lady and passersby. So no you can't have them as guard dogs, it's a hit or miss autonomous action if they will chase the mailman or just go up for pats. The attack robots were far more effective in chasing off paper stealers and bin kickers.

I love Paladin's one-tile pet beds. :)

[strawberrysmile22]

I was one of those people who got the EP and was like "OMFG I CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY IT!!!" But then it ended up being a disappointment. Mainly because the pets were VERY annoying and it seemed like just a responsibility I couldn't be bothered with. I still like the game, just not as much as I thought I would. I hardly ever make families with pets for that matter.

[Darby]

I don't have any complaints about what they DID put in the Pets EP. It just needs more. A lot more.

[nikel23]

Right. They didn't even include any clothes and hairstyles in the EP, and I'm annoyed with the Obedience Trainer's uniform. They made Mary Delarosa look like one!

This also made me disappointed to see how sophisticated the beach features in Castaway Stories than Bon Voyage. In fact, Bon Voyage is the second disappointing EP for me. It's just... why couldn't they include the stories contents to the EPs??

[rogue_55]

I like the Pets EP okay, but they could have done much more with it. The interactions are way to few and there´s just not much enough for the pets (especially dogs) to do on their own either. I wish they had made at least 10 more interactions between sims and pets and 5 more between the pets themselves. More different toys for the pets would also be very welcome as well as the ability for cats to chase mice and climb trees. Another thing that bugs me is the fact that the pets can´t share a bed with a sim and that they can´t sit on a sim´s lap. I personally have no idea why they didn´t make that possible - it would be so lovely to have those interactions! :lovestruc

But I still really like the EP, since the pets are adorable and I prefer to have limited pets than no pets at all. I´ll not buy Pet Stories, however - that would probably make me even more frustrated over the Pets EP´s limitations. And just to look at the pictures of the pets in sims 3 makes me extremly jealous - I would love to have that EP for sims 2!

I wish they had more toys for the pets too. I have never played pet stories, but I played the sims 2 pets on the xbox. I remember in that game you could go to a pet store and buy a variety of pet toys, treats and food for them. Although I love the pets ep, I really wish they added those extra things. I especially miss the tug o' war toy that you could buy for dogs. There was also a ball that you could buy for them to play fetch with instead of using a boring stick. Does pet stories have those things?

[Mootilda]

why couldn't they include the stories contents to the EPs??Probably because the stories content didn't exist when the EP was released. After all, the Stories were written after the related EPs were released. AFAIK, the Stories were not written by the regular Sims team, but were contracted out to another company.

Of course, they could have created a time machine, gone forward in time, gotten the Stories source code, and then ... ;)

[Darby]

After all, the Stories were written after the related EPs were released. AFAIK, the Stories were not written by the regular Sims team, but were contracted out to another company.

:blink: Helps a lot to know that. It's still a sad thing that we don't have dog shows in the Pets EP, but I can't continue to be angry about it, in light of the fact that Pet Stories was created after Pets. Thank you! :)