strangetomato | Sims talk: Free Time

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Sims talk: Free Time

I've been pretty excited about this expansion pack since I first heard it mentioned as a possibility. I'm sure that you've noticed that I fully enjoy the leisure activities already available in the game, and these things are especially great for storytelling. More hobbies means more possibilities for creating unique character details.

These are the things that I'm really looking forward to:

- The sewing machine!
- More things to cook.
- The messy art supplies on the desk.
- An actual object where toddlers can interact.
- Some really nice clothing - sweater vest and cardigans.
- Don't Wake the Llama game.

Have you watched the teaser video on the TheSims2.com? There is a little Grunt brothers cameo appearance in it, about 3/4 of the way through. Well, not really, but there are three guys working on a car together, and they have the same hairstyles (in the same colours) that the Grunts do (well, the "Buck" has the hair that I put on him, but close enough). You can see it here.

The new arts and craft objects really excite me the most. My Buck Grunt really NEEDS a sewing machine, and you can bet your ass that he'll be getting one as soon as it's possible. He'll be sewing up some mighty fine curtains. The sports thing, while less exciting to me as a person, will make it possible for Johnny to be into sports a little more than just "in theory". And maybe we'll see him coaxing his less athletic friends into playing with him, despite their protests.

It's kind of funny that I'm already planning how I'll use this EP, since I haven't even installed Bon Voyage yet, even though I do own it. Why am I so reluctant about it? I just have a bad vibe from that EP. Is it just me? I do really want to have some of the details, but maybe not others. I want to get those massage tables really badly, and the sauna (sauna woohoo - awww, yeah!), but I don't want vacation obsession to infect the game, and I'll miss the honeymoon limo. Destination weddings, on the other hand, would be nice. I'll have a few weddings coming up (not exactly soon, but still). Why am I such a wuss about BV? I'll be eating up Free Time as soon as it hits the shelves.

How do you feel about Free Time? Do you have (or plan to get) Bon Voyage?

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After you said that about your country, I checked your profile, and I had no idea that you were in Mexico. It amazes me how spread around the world everyone on here is. We have quite a few latitudes separating us! I'm now envying how long your days must be (or, at least, how consistent the length of the days would be). It's gets dark at 5:00 pm right now, and that really does something terrible to the mind.

I'm the same way that you were about Bon Voyage, though I was given a copy. I was very tempted to install it for certain reasons, like I mentioned, but all the bugs and the drama over Secur-Rom have turned me off, even if it's mostly supposed to be fixed now.

New careers? That's always a good thing. I'd love to see a community service type career, where you work for non-profit organizations, and things like that, since I fall into that general realm of employment. I could probably think of other careers that I would like too, but not right off the top of my head.

A gorgon would be pretty cool as the new creature, if that's true.

I'm especially interested in a gender-bending machine, if by that you mean something that would switch the sex of the sim (I always make a distinction between gender and sex). That could be very interesting indeed, but might it be too risque for them?

I agree. Lots of benefits for storytellers with this new EP. It should be very interesting.

The Grunt clone of Ripp in that video is more like a clone than the other two. He has a similar nose and chin, but he seems a little broader and butchier to me. He's not quite as gaunt looking as the real Ripp.

LOL! It's a glitch that come with the tents. If you get two sims with enough relationship levels into a tent to simply chat in it (sim can either talk or sleep on tents, not much else) they can randomly get crushed/in love lol It's kind of funny tho a bit risky, as you may imagine.
I think it got fixed with the patch tho, but because for unexplainable reasons I can't patch, I still have the glitch. :P

Wow. That is risky! I hate when sims randomly fall in love when you don't want it to happen. That happened with one of the sims in Strangetown, and since it was on a community lot, it got saved by accident. I'm usually more careful. Is there any way to erase it from the memories, I wonder? I InSImed them back to friends, but they still have the memory and think about falling in love with that sim all the time! I suppose I can live with it, but it's very annoying.

...dude. I'm already spastic over having a vampire sim for the first time. If there's an option to get a mummy, Frankenstein's monster, or fairy into the family, you bet I'll ~~kidnap~~ ~~scam~~ ~~con~~ convince one to shack up with one of my sims.

I really can't see the Grunt brothers doing that, at least the way I've interpreted them.

I can't see them doing that in any variation. Unless it would be something the General insisted upon, then to ensure they do it stand over them with that disapproving stern parent look. Ripp would so be whining about it too, I'm sure! "Stupid fucking family project. Stupid fucking hunk-a-junk car. Stupid fucking Tank." ~~Because he'd blame Tank. Somehow.~~

Well, it's on snootysims.com which is usually very reliable. I've only seen them be wrong/misled once-twice (can't even remember the specifics), and he's basing it on the title apparently having been leaked in the pre-order section of a lot of online game stores.
I can actually think of about enough stuff to fill up a stuff pack. :D Decor, buffets, appliances, more toilets and tubs, more hot tubs, more stuff for the swimming pool? I don't know if they'll go beyond that and add actual new interactions etc. That'd break their previous theme of only having 'stuff' in the stuff packs and saving the big things for the EPs, but then again this IS the last one for Sims 2. Maybe they'll end with a bang. Here's to hoping!
It's funny that you mention tea. I spent most of my own (coffee) breakfast fantasizing about having a fully functional complete tea service for my Sims. Like you said, the ceremonial set is nice, but it's not really something that every Sim home can have. I assume you've seen that tea icon that came out when London got attacked? I love it: http://www.livejournal.com/userpic/32023179/1088707

Ramen to that. :D I've not yet finished my dastardly plans to breed Bigfoot, but. Half-monster babies ftw!

Don't forget tent woohoo! That's likely what spawned that glitch.

Oh, I'm an idiot! I thought you meant EP, not SP! Heheh. Yeah. I rule at reading, aparently. Yes, I can definitely think of enough things to fill a stuff pack, and I think it's a good theme. I really expected them to get around to doing a baby-themed SP, since it seems like a popular idea. I'm not too worried about it, myself, since babies aren't that exciting to me (not enough to warrant a whole SP to themselves). The bath/kitchen thing sounds better. Cool new fridges and bathtubs (with feet!) would be great. I use a lot of Holy Simoly stuff right now to fill that void.

I hadn't actually seen that tea icon! That's awesome (Go, London!), and it is basically my life philosophy. Tea eases the pain. I love coffee too, but tea just has something extra. I'm drinking a giant mug of it right now.

I didn't think it was possible to breed Bigfoot?

*grin* We can never have enough different woohoo locations.

Yeah, Ripp is far too lazy to enjoy doing something like that.

I suspect it's not possible to get Bigfoot pregnant, but I'd be very surprised if it's not possible to knock someone else up with Bigfoot spawn via the Tombstone of Death and Life. Hmm..

I shall go investigate this now and report back with my findings!

I tried woohoo on a tent, couldn't get it!
I tried with a marred couple (100/100 relation) and actually thought it wasn't possible. Is it!?? *confused*

And probably Buck and Tank are far too neat to get dirty fixing a car! LOL!

Anyways .. I can't even imagine what kind of fantastic creature could be related with hobbies and such! Interesting! ;)

Yup! That's part of the beauty of these "Internet Times", how we get in contact with people from so many places. Yikes! 5:00 P.M.? That's pretty early! Right now, the sunrise is at 7:15 AM and it gets dark at 6:15 PM, although as soon as we change to our "lovely" daylight saving time (which is generally hated in this country), it'll get dark at 8:20 PM. Sometimes even later, and that messes up the children's sleeping schedule pretty badly.

Yeah, I don't want to get my CD drive disabled by Sucku-Rom. This computer is almost three years old, and although I strongly think it should last more than five years, I have this "theory" that somehow computers are designed to break down after a couple years of use. I just don't get why my previous computer just died if I only used it for Office (No internet at that time). Anyway, I'm a bit OCD about making a million backups of my reports from work, so I'd hate to have my main source for making them disabled from a Sims Game.

I really, really hope FT won't have this issues, otherwise I'll have to read the instructions at MATY to avoid Secu-Rom. I think this EP is worth it!

According to S2C, the new careers are Psychology, "Circus", Modeling, "Gangster" and Groupie. Except for Psychology, those careers are a bit odd in my opinion, specially the "Groupie" one :P.

Yup, it's meant to change the sex of the sim (I also do that distinction, after taking Gender Studies at College), but I think it's just a rumor. I agree it's too risque, even for a Sims game, but who knows?

Hmmm... now that you mention it, he looks a bit different. Then again, this could be the same deal as the "whole Plesantview Bella vs Strangetown Bella" mess, in which they are supposed to be the same character but with different looks (for me, Strangetown Bella = Pleasantview Bella, BTW), as in they tried to replicate the Grunts for the trailer (because they are familiar faces for most players), but didn't care about making them look *exactly* the same.

I recently got BV and I don't exactly have issues with it. Sims rarely roll wants to go on vacations. And I think the whole "gesture" obsession is cute.

The voodoo doll is hilarious. The first person I had my sim try it on was the Witch Doctor. Big mistake. I got nervous and thought he took the voodoo doll away, but *phew* he didn't.

I have a family on a beach lot, and it gets annoyong when they stop everything to build sandcastles (and in my case, with my evil alien and his kids, destroying them - gotta love an alien sim's extreme personality!) I love beach lots, though, so beautiful.

In order for me to even get Free Time to function on my computer, I'm going to need to upgrade my RAM. BV definitely made it lag, but I also have Windows Vista, so that explains a lot.

SAUNA WOOHOO IS LAME! Hammock woohoo is absolutely hilarious, though. It looks extremely uncomfortable, I was dying of laughter, especially when her husband got off directly after to eat some pineapple dish. - which is one thing I find silly with BV, they have new foods, but your sims can't cook them. D:

In Free Time, I'm really excited for the birdwatching and the new clothes. I love the idea of dancing contests and baking contests and EEK! I'M REALLY EXCITED. POTTERY! VIOLIN! YAY!

Buck and his sewing machine! Making little teddy bears!

When I first got BV, I had problems. (gee that sounds like some kind of disease... lol) I had that bug where it created, like, ten-thousand NPC's or whatever that was. BIG HUGE game lags. Then I got the patch and re-installed it (luckily I hadn't done much yet) and all was well. Even better once I bought the new Alienware and put it on there. ;)

Best parts about BV are beach lots (!!!) the walking to the lots and the digging for treasure. Legacies will never be the same... need money? Go out into your yard and dig for a while... soon you'll find an expensive statue or a treasure chest to sell!

My sims only roll occasional wants for vacations and they roll away fast. I will say that the CONSTANT TAI CHI (once they learn to do that) is annoying as HELL... especially since they change into their workout clothes to do it. I need a hack for "no autonomous tai chi" lol!

Oh, isn't the voodoo doll a riot??? My first sim to get the doll was Pascal Curious. Hee. He had fun with it.

I can't wait for Free Time either!!! I'm excited for all the same reasons you are. :) I just think it'll add some really cool things to the game. :) As for BV, I'm waiting to get that one too as I've heard it's very glitchy. :(

Well, I wouldn't be able to tell you about that, but perhaps it's another bug? Man, BV seems to be riddled with them...

Exactly! *grin* They're way too neat. Ripp at least doesn't mind getting his hands dirty... but he prefers going about it in a different manner! ;)

I know. How could it possibly relate to the theme of the EP? Well, I guess it could be similar to the Servo thing. Or maybe... hmmm. Maybe it will relate to bird watching in some way? Maybe the creature can fly. That would be cool.

I enjoy it too. *grin* The world is so small now.

5:00 pm is far too early for night to descend, and daylight savings time is partly to blame, but waking up in total darkness is worse, so it's a trade off. I look forward to the return of the sun much more than the melting of the snow. It's the lack of sunlight that can bring you down during winter.

Hmmm, yeah. Why would your country even need daylight savings time? I guess they does it to stay consistent with its NAFTA partners to the north. It seems unfair to the people living there.

I think I'll be looking into those directions to disable the Secur-Rom too, and maybe then I'll install both BV and FT in one go. I do think I'm really going to "need" Free Time.

Circus and Modeling sound cool, but they both seem like single jobs rather than career tracks to me (and couldn't circus be under Show Business?). Gangster and Groupie are also single jobs in my mind, and they seem a bit ridiculous. Again, Gangster falls under Criminal, and as for Groupie... well, who actually gets paid to be a groupie? Well, with money, that is? ;)

Yeah, I agree. Strangetown Bella and Pleasantview Bella are one and the same to me too. It was obviously meant to be played out that way, based on the game. I agree about the Grunts in the trailer too. They just resemble the Grunts the way the characters in those old trailers do - the Strangetown one (with the Smiths and Grunts) and the one with Nervous Subject (who looks completely different).

Well, that's reassuring. I was hoping they wouldn't want to go on vacation every day. That wouldn't make any sense. As for the gestures... they sound like they might be fun, but moderation is key. I hope they aren't the only autonomous action that sims do after BV. It probably wouldn't bother me too much, since I just laugh at the constant dirty jokes and pillow fights right now.

I haven't heard much about this voodoo doll. What does it do?

I really like the idea of the beaches. I could make something that actually resembles my home. Well, minus the sand (though they do have that in some areas here).

I have Vista too, but I disable all of the fancy graphics and things like that, so it looks like classic Windows. You can do some minor things like that to spare RAM and help with the lag.

What do they do in sauna woohoo to make it lame? Is it like car woohoo? That's lame to me. They could at least have a hand print on the steamy window, or something. I forgot about hammock woohoo! That's cool. I'd love to have that.

I was really hoping that they could could the food at home. *thumbs down* Someone at MTS2 made it so the foods served downtown in nightlife can be accessed at home, so maybe someone has done that for BV too. I'd look into it. I'm obsessed with food, by the way. You can probably tell by reading my story. *grin*

Me too! I'm so excited about all of those things.

Buck will rock that sewing machine like the hero that he is. No doubt about it.

Hehee. Do we need a support group for people who have BV? That's too funny.

That NPC bug was really scary. I'll never install an EP now until it has been out for a while, thanks to that.

I like the idea of beach lots too, and walking to the next lot is nice. I love the buried treasure! Very cool. I'd love them to have bicycles, and it would have be great to include that in Free Time. It would fit the theme. I would have preferred that to car repair. *yawn*

Yeah, there is much to look forward to with Free Time. I'm so excited!

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Sims talk: Free Time

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