strangetomato | 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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I usually have to wait a long time to try a new EP. For some reason, they take AGES to come out in my country, while it's easier to find the SP's.

I recently went to the US and finally got my own copy of Seasons, so I was able to ditch the No-CD patch I had to install to run my borrowed version of Seasons (from a friend). While I was at the store, I also got Glamour Life (and erased all the custom furniture, so I'm gonna use only Maxis stuff in my houses from now on) and took a long glance at Bon Voyage.

In the end, I didn't buy it. I didn't like Vacations very much in the Sims 1 days and the whole Sucku-Rom drama really turned me off getting this EP. My computer is getting old and I don't want to damage it with a Sims Game. Plus I've read there are a million bugs and erros, so in the end I prefer to save disk space and memory for Free Time.

The new turn-ons, the community lot Weddings and the option to walk to them sounded pretty neat, though.

I'm really excited by Free Time, though. There are a ton of rumors around the Net, from new careers (and if they are true I'm already sold with the Psychology one), crystal walls, spiral stairs, Medusa as the new "creature" and even a gender-bending machine! I think those are just hoaxes, though.

But I'm also interested in the new hobbies, the toddler-interactions and in general, more stuff to do for toddlers, kids and elders. And I agree they'll give more options for storytelling.

And yup, I think the Grunts (or their clones) are in the trailer. The kid with the train set that grows up to fix a car looks a lot like Ripp.

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.

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 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).

Sims talk: Free Time

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