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Original Poster
#1 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 4:51 AM
Default Everything you need to know about The Sims 2 FreeTime
The Callumus from BBS wrote a short summary about Free Time in his post.
Here's what he sent.

Quote:
I thought I'd compile all of the info and facts into one handy and clearly presented list. I plan to add to it as more information comes in however. I hope you find this useful to you! FreeTime looks set to be the best Expansion Pack ever. Please note that information can change and be updated at any time, however I aim to be as accurate as possible.

Main
- New sub-neighborhood: Desiderata Valley!
- 5 new careers! (Oceanography, Dance, Intelligence, Entertainment and Architecture)
- New creature: Genie in a bottle. (The Genie is an NPC however)
Objects
- 124 new objects!!
- Objects include hobby items, cars, telephones, nursery set, kitechen appliances, lights, furniture and decorations.
- Special craftable objects that can only be made by certain hobby workbenches in similar fashion to OFB.
- New walls and floors.
- New hairstyles and clothes for all ages, including the winners of the H & M Runway designs!
- New neighborhood decorations include railways and observatories.
- New aspiration and career rewards.
- Special computer object, which cannot be bought in Buy Mode. (For all newly moved in families, an NPC by the name of Mr. Humble will leave a package containing the Llama computer at the Sim's front door. The Sims 3 is pre-installed on this machine only!).
- New video games, including MySims, Spore and Fifa 08
- There's also a painting of a TS3 neighborhood, which asserts that the game will feature contiguous neighborhoods.

Aspirations
- New Lifetime Aspiration meter (This meter is between the influence and normal aspiration meters and rises with special events in a Sim's life such as a first kiss or wedding. Every time the meter rises you gain points which can be spent on special perks, in similar fashion to Open For Business. One perk track focuses on the Grilled Cheese Aspiration. Another focuses on slowing the decay of certain needs.).
- Success in the lifetime aspiration meter allows Sims to choose a secondary aspiration (This is the only other way to select the Grilled Cheese aspiration. Choosing a secondary aspiration merges the two together, so wants/fears and aspiration based bonuses from both aspirations are avaliable to your sim).
- Sims now have a Weekly Goal, which can be fulfilled to gain rewards (At the end of every week, a pop-up message will appear saying what the sim's new goal of the next week is).
- Sims have special bonuses that differ based on aspiration.

Hobbies
- There are 10 hobbies.
- Progress in each of these hobbies is tracked by meters (that resemble the skill meters) in a new section of the simology panel identified by a kite icon. There are 10 stages of each of these meters.
- Success in these meters allows a sim to join secret societies, each with their own club house secret lot with objects based around the club's particular hobby and where sims can meet other sims who share the same interests and skills.
- Sims can enter competitions to win prizes, such as trophies, and can also win simoleans.
- New Talent Badges. (Including Sewing, which determines which objects you can create).
- Sims can create internet blogs and browse websites about their hobbies.

Relationships
- Sims now have Lifetime Friends. These friends are indentified by yellow smiley face icons. Lifetime friends have special interactions and the relationship is less likely to decay with them.
- Sims can now age together at the same time with 3 other friends, allowing other sims to grow up with your sim.

Misc
- Custom radio stations
- Sims can now watch movies on the T.V.

I love it :lovestruc :lovestruc
Mad Poster
#2 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 5:11 AM
Yes, it's looking very promising and I think it will definitely be the best EP yet!
Test Subject
#3 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 6:42 AM
OOooo, sounds awsome! :D
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 6:48 AM
The best EP yet?...I doubt it, but I'll get it because I really
like the new features. :D
Field Researcher
#5 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 10:55 AM
I love the idea of livetimes friends - I mean I have some friends in real life I only talk to a few times a year, but they are super good friends and I am very close with them even though we don't see each other all the time.

And having some of the townies age with you - that sounds wonderful.

I can't wait for my sims to have hobbies.

For new or updated skins, please visit my website: Pink Rabbit
Alchemist
#6 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 11:16 AM
It does sound like it's going to bring more stuff than the average EPs....I mean just look at all the changes to a sim's stats and aspirations, for once. Actions and interractions make the most of an EP's worth for me so I think I'm going to like this :D

and YES! No more sims who age but their friends are stuck as kids etc. I've always wanted a good way to do this!

If wishes were fishes we'd all cast nets
#7 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 11:31 AM
Ok now am definitely looking forward to this EP.. I never bought BV as it just didn't appeal to me, and I got hold of seasons a little while after it came out, but I reckon this one is gonna have to be a pre-order so it comes ASAP!
#8 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 12:31 PM
I definately think this is the best EP yet! I love EPs that make the game more realistic :D:D:D
#9 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 12:42 PM
Maaaaan. The next month can not fly by fast enough. I WANT this expansion pack!
Lab Assistant
#10 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 5:52 PM
I can't wait for this ep! It sounds awesome!
Scholar
#11 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 5:56 PM
This is very promising, can it take the place of the best EP ever? (Seasons... to me anyway) LOL We shall see. Can't wait to play it.
Mad Poster
#12 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 7:14 PM
Well to me it's going to be the best EP because there's just so many more essential things added to it that beats the other EP's. Of course the weather feature in Seasons is still high up there. And the beach lot and jewelry CAS option in BV is definitely awesome.
#13 Old 23rd Jan 2008 at 7:52 PM
I'm so excited about this EP! It really does sound like it's going to be the best one :dance:
Forum Resident
#14 Old 24th Jan 2008 at 5:56 PM
I am thoroughly excited about this EP. BV sounded very dull to me (though I did hear there were more turn-ons and offs? I do want that.) This one sounds like it has a lot of stuff I'll like (and some stuff that doesn't appeal to me personally, but I know will work great for others).

Quote:
- New sub-neighborhood: Desiderata Valley!
- 5 new careers! (Oceanography, Dance, Intelligence, Entertainment and Architecture)
- New hairstyles and clothes for all ages, including the winners of the H & M
- New aspiration and career rewards.
These all sound good to me. Especially if there are more toddler and child hairs. There just aren't that many built in to the game. And I like more careers - especially if those careers can be lifetime wants, as well. Variety is good. I hope I like the families in Desiderata Valley.

Quote:
- New Lifetime Aspiration meter (This meter is between the influence and normal aspiration meters and rises with special events in a Sim's life such as a first kiss or wedding. Every time the meter rises you gain points which can be spent on special perks, in similar fashion to Open For Business. One perk track focuses on the Grilled Cheese Aspiration. Another focuses on slowing the decay of certain needs.).
- Success in the lifetime aspiration meter allows Sims to choose a secondary aspiration (This is the only other way to select the Grilled Cheese aspiration. Choosing a secondary aspiration merges the two together, so wants/fears and aspiration based bonuses from both aspirations are avaliable to your sim).
- Sims now have a Weekly Goal, which can be fulfilled to gain rewards (At the end of every week, a pop-up message will appear saying what the sim's new goal of the next week is).
- Sims have special bonuses that differ based on aspiration.
These all sound good to me. I'm not quite sure what to make of the Lifetime Aspiration meter. I like the idea, but I want to see how it's used.

The secondary aspiration is great, if it works well. A more-rounded Sim is great. Like, "I've got enough Fortune, now it's time for Romance" or Family or whatever. This one sounds really, really cool to me.

And I know the weekly goal will drive me batty. Depending on how hard it is, I'll either end up trying to fill it for every sim every week or just ignoring it except when I want rewards. Probably the former - I can't stand to let a lifetime want go unfulfilled, so why should this be any different.

Quote:
- Sims now have Lifetime Friends. These friends are indentified by yellow smiley face icons. Lifetime friends have special interactions and the relationship is less likely to decay with them.
- Sims can now age together at the same time with 3 other friends, allowing other sims to grow up with your sim.
I like both of these, especially the latter. I love their friends growing up with them.


This sounds like a great expansion pack. In particular, I noticed the sewing and architecture. I don't know how full-fledged these will be (after all, what you build with the OFB stations is limited), but they might end up being useful for people who like the medieval or frontier type neighborhoods.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this one.
Mad Poster
#15 Old 24th Jan 2008 at 10:36 PM
As for aging friends, I do wonder that if 3 is the limit, maybe on the next birthday when your Sim meets new Sims, then another 3 can be aged. Hopefully it's 3 per birthday and not 3 for good.
Lab Assistant
#16 Old 28th Jan 2008 at 7:55 PM
i think this sounds amazing! I want it sooo bad. I think that interctions make the best of the game, and i am SO happy you can age some of your friends with you! I have always wanted to do that. Seasons was the best EP..but this might be a tie.
Field Researcher
#17 Old 28th Jan 2008 at 11:24 PM
Note that the new neighborhood is stand-alone (i.e. not a sub hood).
#18 Old 29th Jan 2008 at 8:33 PM
OK, so... I have a question. Do y'all think that the aspiration reward which changes aspirations (I forget the name) will be programmed to change BOTH Primary and Secondary Aspiration? Or that once we picked secondary, we're stuck with it for the rest of the Sims' life?
#19 Old 29th Jan 2008 at 8:40 PM
I'm guessing it's locked, like the hobbies, but I could be wrong. But that's my guess.
Mad Poster
#20 Old 30th Jan 2008 at 12:12 AM
I hope that that aspiration changer reward will change the second aspiration as well. That would be nice. But to be honest, the only disappointment for me right now is the fact that we cannot choose what hobbies we want.
Forum Resident
#21 Old 30th Jan 2008 at 12:30 AM
You can always choose what hobbies you want! It just means that you won't get an added boost. No biggie. Besides, from what I've heard, the more you practice the hobby you want, the better you'll get at it. :] I don't really find it that much of a disappointment myself, since it's not like if you don't do the "predestined" hobby, you'll suffer in other hobbies.

Besides, I'm sure that one of our talented modders will be able to create a hack that'll allow you change it, if it bothers people that much. :]
Mad Poster
#22 Old 30th Jan 2008 at 2:05 AM
Oh I know, and I'm still going to get FT regardless. But yeah, I will get a hack only because I really want that added boost. However, if without the boost it's still not that slow, then I guess a hack won't be necessary for me.
Top Secret Researcher
#23 Old 31st Jan 2008 at 1:54 AM
I suspect that all of the problems will be taken care of by hacks, and for us impatient people who have machines that can handle it- boolprop. I'm sure the sim modder will be updated for second aspirations, or another spawned object, and that there'll be some boolpropped way of fixing hobbies to your preference.

The humor of a story on the internet is in direct inverse proportion to how accurate the reporting is.
Mad Poster
#24 Old 1st Feb 2008 at 6:34 PM
I don't know but from the new comic strip it sure seems like we could choose the hobby by leaning more towards it during the toddler stage.
Field Researcher
#25 Old 5th Feb 2008 at 7:23 PM
Thank you! I'm super excited.
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