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Scholar
Original Poster
#1 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 1:53 AM
Default Your favorite features of Sims 2!
I know we have a pet peeves thread (and for good reason,) but I was wondering about your favorite features in the game!
For me, the aliens are some of my favorites. Seriously.
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Inventor
#2 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 2:08 AM
Animations and details to even littlest objects, like 3D cables behind tvs, water flowing on roof during rain, car windows actually reflecting its surroundings. Ever looked closely at animations sims do when they make coffee? Or when they prepare food and actually opening cabinet and taking stuff out of it?
Scholar
#3 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 2:13 AM Last edited by Squidconqueror : 29th Jan 2020 at 3:01 AM.
Yeah Sims 2 is the most detailed and realistic Sims game as far. I was about to comment about something like that I just didn't know what to type. I like that teens could get pimples and the children running to hug their parents at work and the variety of play interactions they have like cops and robbers, red hands and Mary Mack. The variety of interactions and their animations would change to reflect what they're talking about and doing.The babies are the best in the series as far. They could get sick and pass it on to other sims.The sims could cheat at chess depending on their personality and I was surprised when I had found out while they're eating food on the table that you could throw food at them. It's little things like those that makes the Sims 2 so great,the most interesting and fun and so ahead of its time for a life simulation game made in 2004 and what's more is that's only a small small handful of the features in Sims 2. It has so much more that i'm not even sure I could even name them all without missing the other. It also has the best and the most realistic genetics out of the four.
Forum Resident
#4 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 2:15 AM
The little things, like the way they walk over the toys, reminds me of my childhood bedroom. I love how they shoo each other out the way when someone stands in front of the television and the way their heads turn to look at people who walk across the room when they are supposed to be studying their books. All makes them come alive to me. I also love how you can see the buildings next door from your lot, so if you build a few lots with rivers and forest it begins to look like one large stretch of land. Likewise, I love that when you're in a grimy run-down city, all the ugly buildings next door make feel like an overcrowded city slum.
Scholar
#5 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 2:44 AM
One of my favorite little details are all the Sims TV stations. From the ridiculous music videos on the dance channel to the bad medical dramas, insane cooking shows, and kids tv programs it's all really detailed and very funny.
Top Secret Researcher
#6 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 3:03 AM
Family relationships. The way they love (and sometimes hate) each other and will autonomously become closer with some people than others. That, and watching kids play together. I never get tired of that.

I've got one or two things on MTS, but most of my stuff is on my main site here:
http://simcessories.blogspot.com/
(Now recruiting budding creators.)
Mad Poster
#7 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 3:52 AM
I think I watched hours how Maxis hair moves when sims eat and talk and do other things. This is not plastic, this is real hair.
Mad Poster
#8 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 3:58 AM Last edited by AndrewGloria : 30th Jan 2020 at 12:59 AM. Reason: Silly little typo!
I love that Sims can develop into really complex, multi-faceted characters; sometimes infuriating, often adorable, but always, always, worthy of my love. TS2 Sims aren't realistic -- they're "REAL".
Quote: Originally posted by Squidconqueror
I like that teens could get pimples
My teens hate that!

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 10:56 AM
The fact that they sometimes do not act according to your pre-conceived notions. Such as, parents don't automatically love their children to death-they develop dislikes for their actions, do not approve of them, and sometimes even yell at them or cut them off because they've done something horrendous to tick them off.
And that they have favorites even when they're not supposed to.

Receptacle Refugee & Resident Polar Bear
"Get out of my way, young'un, I'm a ninja!"
Grave Matters: The funeral podium is available here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e6tj...albits.zip/file
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Mad Poster
#10 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 11:25 AM
The way Sims keep surprising me - I just love that they will be unpredictable at times. An unexpected flirt, fight or a sim running out to a townie walking by in order to greet the townie with a bow (especially if that bow has not been mastered).
Also, the amazing animations - I have a particular fondness for the elder straightening up and pulling in that tummy when a pretty young romance sim walks by
The game also has so many features - from owned businesses to hobbies, from gardening to selling a masterpiece of art, from difficult to easy sims - I can't see how I could every tire of them.
Oh, and then I like building too and may perhaps succeed in building something really special one day
Forum Resident
#11 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 12:42 PM
My favorite thing about sims 2 is the ability to create your own custom neighborhoods with the map templates in game and the ones I created in Simcity 4. I have a lot of maps I made through SC4 and the ability to decorate them with in game and custom deco.
I also love the way you can play families in rotation without your other playables having relationship changes for not playing them.
Mad Poster
#12 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 1:22 PM
Quote: Originally posted by pianogrinder
I also love the way you can play families in rotation without your other playables having relationship changes for not playing them.


This is definitely the best in the game but they can surprise you on community lots in background.
Mad Poster
#13 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 3:12 PM
I love those community lot surprises!
Lab Assistant
#14 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 3:18 PM
I love how the relationships form even when you're not playing the families themselves. It gets really interesting. I also like how the sims can get wants regarding what is happening around the town (like when someone turns into werewolf, they instantly roll wants/fears about it) even when you're not playing them. It's very realistic and especially good when you're playing in rotations, and you randomly load a family and they have wants regarding someone they barely know (in a good way). It makes it more realistic, without being little too extreme like TS3 where the uncontrolled sims can get babies, married, move out etc (which is of course realistic too but not really suitable for my gameplay).

And of course the neighborhood creation in-game. I can't believe they never made anything similar in other sims games (i know TS3 has world tool but it's outside the game and it's very complicated). It's really a huge plus in my opinion.
One more i could think about are businesses and how you can create almost any kind of business, especially with mods. It really can make the neighborhood more integrated and realistic. Oh, and attraction system!
Forum Resident
#15 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 5:28 PM
I love how when you take them into CAS to dress them or change their hair, they have their own
ideas about what they want to wear. You spend time fixing their perfect wedding gear and they look in the mirror and just say "meh". I've been told this is random, but I like to believe they have self-determination and are somewhat aware.
Mad Poster
#16 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 5:42 PM
I love how well the EPs and SPs fit together. I've posted about this before:

Quote: Originally posted by Bulbizarre
Another thing is that the expansion packs in TS3 just feel so disjointed from each other, and tacking on new features instead of meshing them into the game proper. I think there were actually two different teams that made EPs so maybe that explains it. TS2 isn't perfect on this aspect either, but it feels a little more cohesive overall.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Mad Poster
#17 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 5:50 PM
I like TS2 skilling, because the sims will skill almost endlessly if you give them a task (which is one thing that really bugs me with TS4 because you need to babysit the sims at all times except for a few cases - after maybe an ingame hour they're like "nope, gonna do something else!").

Face expressions and talking. Some are a bit over the top, but at the same time they look so alive and vibrant, and a lot less creepy smiles and stares.

Babies. Only proper babies in the entirety of 4 games, they're absolutely adorable, and they're the only ones that look like they're the same species as the rest of their family. 'Nuff said.

I also like how they seem to be aware of their surroundings even when free will is off. Turning their head when someone walks past, or randomly thinking about another sim, or doing some idles when they're bored.

The neighborhood handling. I know a lot of people like an open neighborhood, but there's pretty much just one use I have for that, which is scenery for pictures. I actually do like how lots are handled individually in TS2, which means you pick it up where you last left it. In TS3 (vanilla) you're more or less stuck to one lot, and in TS4 you instead save the neighborhood, but even if you turn off aging the neighborhood time still runs and sims keep doing stuff, which I find more than a little annoying. I guess I just really enjoy being able to pick up exactly where I left off with each of the lots.
Mad Poster
#18 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 6:32 PM
I like gardening.
I like how CAS can sometimes create a style for random sim. I need just add makeup and accessories.
I like how they greet each other at morning in the family.
Mad Poster
#19 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 7:59 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
The neighborhood handling. I know a lot of people like an open neighborhood, but there's pretty much just one use I have for that, which is scenery for pictures. I actually do like how lots are handled individually in TS2, which means you pick it up where you last left it. In TS3 (vanilla) you're more or less stuck to one lot, and in TS4 you instead save the neighborhood, but even if you turn off aging the neighborhood time still runs and sims keep doing stuff, which I find more than a little annoying. I guess I just really enjoy being able to pick up exactly where I left off with each of the lots.


Plus, at least in TS3, the game has to simulate the entire neighbourhood. And TS3 isn't a very well-optimized game in the first place, so it can be frustratingly sluggish even on decent computers. My super-duper fancy-shmancy brand-new gaming computer doesn't have much problem with it, but I still have NRAAS do its cleanup in the background.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Mad Poster
#20 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 8:46 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 29th Jan 2020 at 9:08 PM.
Furniture (and swatches) - they kinda make sense and each EP adds something new. Sure, there are things I don't regularly use in each pack, but I think I've used most items at some point. There's a bit more room for mix-and-match. In TS4 the BG feels very barren, and the EPs don't really offer much in the way of a set. I sincerely struggle putting together a workable house, because if you don't stick to that one (often incomplete) set, nothing matches. I guess if you have every 30+ packs or so or a bunch of CC you get by, but the problem is that nothing match. It's like they made 50 designers make 3 items each without comparing notes on colors or style. I do like that TS2 offers options. Yes, you can have a very childish themed room if you want, but the game doesn't seem to force it on you. They've added more neutral child, toddler and baby furniture too. The furniture looks a lot more like something you'd put in your own house, (though some of the BG stuff does have a 50-90s vibe regarding colors). As for swatches, I honestly prefer TS2's ability to have 2 separate swatches for each item (though I often wish there were more). You can mix-and-match pillows with couches. You can use repositoried meshes that use the exact same textures, and there is room for a whole lot more mix-and-match. I often find myself using recolors of EAxis furniture rather than CC meshes, because I like a lot of the original meshes (but color options in sims games has never really been EA's strength). I like neutral furniture a whole lot more than the wild designs and garish colors (some of the furniture and clothes in TS4 look okay, but then some of the swatches look like someone picked colors wearing a blindfold). TS3's patterns and color wheel was nice, but when playing I often found myself missing TS2's swatches (making a house takes a lot longer when all colors have to be picked from a color wheel or pattern selection...).

.SimPE - Never thought I'd miss it (alright, I am still using it so not missing it in that regard), but after starting to learn S4Studio to do some conversions I've come to realize just how much more I like the SimPE outlay than S4S. The mesh/recolor part is perhaps a bit easier, but I can't make heads or tails out of all the "click here, do that" in 3-5 layers of mess within the inner workings of a file. Good tutorials seem to be lacking, even for seemingly "simple" things. The 'good, old' TS2 creators were much better at giving an understanding of the program, rather than the "to do this very spesific thing, click that button there". I like tutorials where you learn the why and how of things, not just which buttons to click and in what order, especially if there are multiple options you can choose from.
Mad Poster
#21 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 8:52 PM
I mostly used TS3's Create-a-Style to do ridiculous stuff like create leopard-spotted cars and fur-lined bathtubs. That was fun, but I honestly prefer to use Michelle's gazillion-and-one recolours, even if it takes forever to load all the thumbnails.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Theorist
#22 Old 29th Jan 2020 at 11:19 PM
My favorite things about the Sims 2 are the lifespans, which I genuinely enjoy playing all of... even babies and elders. The humor. The amount of detail that went into creating everything from the movements of the sims to that dripping water sound on the sinks/tubs. The way you really can customize pretty much everything about the game and make it your own. The fact that even after 15+ years, new things about the game are still being discovered by longtime players of the game. The way the uniqueness of Sims 2 can reel you back in even when you think you've completely moved on from playing it (and somehow that 2 or 3 year break from even loading it up sort of becomes a distant memory when you return to playing it).


“Seize the time... Live now! Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.” ― Jean-Luc Picard
Lab Assistant
#23 Old 30th Jan 2020 at 10:36 AM
I forgot to mention about the humor of TS2 too. It's so great and "random" (like TS1 also was)! I feel like the humor in the TS3 and TS4 is really not as good and tongue-in-the-cheek, especially in TS4.

The game has serious moments yet it still provides humor that is funny for all the ages, meanwhile TS4 humor seems to be more for preschoolers (poop jokes, talking toilets..). It's hard to explain but in TS2, the game has lots of dark humor that TS4 lacks.
Mad Poster
#24 Old 30th Jan 2020 at 11:06 AM
Probably sounds weird, but I like that there's fears. I tried playing TS4 for a while and it all felt very shallow and I eventually realised that it was because it didn't matter if I never fulfilled a single one of my Sims wants or whims or whatever, they'd still be fine. But in TS2, if you fulfil their fears or even just ignore their wants, their aspiration level drops, they start crying and throwing tantrums and eventually have complete breakdowns. And even after a visit from the therapist, they wouldn't magically become happy again, you still had to do some work to get them back in the green.
Mad Poster
#25 Old 30th Jan 2020 at 4:27 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 30th Jan 2020 at 7:08 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by thewrittenletter
I forgot to mention about the humor of TS2 too. It's so great and "random" (like TS1 also was)! I feel like the humor in the TS3 and TS4 is really not as good and tongue-in-the-cheek, especially in TS4.


Absolutely! The humor is there, hidden in descriptions or animations - but it's not as "in your face" as in for instance TS4.

There are deeper social interactions, too. In TS4 if their pet is adopted away, they're only sad for the time it takes the moodlet to go away, and then they seem to forget it. In TS2 they seem to have a deeper social behavior, possibly due to memories. Their emotions run a bit deeper than just the surface level. If they're sad because of a loss that happened a week ago in sim-time, or angry because they got into a fight with a sim who isn't even on the lot, it mimics real life much better. I always felt TS3 and TS4 sims were a bit less lively. Yes they have feelings in the form of moodlets, but when those moodlets go away they're kind of back to square one.
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