Sims 2: Bon Voyage, Teen Stuff, & Beyond

I realize that Bon Voyage and Teen Stuff have been out for awhile now on Sims 2, however we just bought it about a month ago when my roommate was looking to keep herself busy during my raids and so decided to pick up sims 2. I decided that it might be fun for a little while for her if she had some new stuff to play with so I got both of these packs (she tends to only like building and even with that tends to get frustrating in the game rather quickly).

So I’ll start with Teen Stuff as that one is small. The set contains a lot of clothing this time around, which unfortunately can only be worn in the teen years. This makes sense given the title of the stuff pack, but some are very cool and would have been nice to keep around for later years. Of larger note are the items which are almost universally pretty cool in design. They are far more stylish than the average sims objects and mostly include desks and bookshelves. However, there are new computer designs, new light fixtures, a new tv set, and even dirty clothes for the floor (clever). Overall, i think this was one of my favorite stuff packs. I thought some of the Glamour Stuff objects were nice, but only a fraction, and kids stuff was nice only for the fact that there wasn’t much for kids. This one brings stuff for everyone at all times, and most of it is good.

Bon Voyage I really didn’t have much expectation for. Just by nature that I do not like going to community lots, I did not like having a shopping district or a downtown to go to… and University was only livable because you actually spent a lot of time in it (not like the other lots where you go to quickly and you leave). I guess I’m a homebody, but I don’t like the load screens at all and it doesn’t help that when I do go through the effort there is little to be done in the new areas that I can’t just do at home. The only real purpose previously has been to get magazines or to buy a cell phone or something silly like that, nothing I would actually do on a regular basis.

However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the vacations… it seems to be a happy medium for me. I do not want to spend all my time there, but I do spend enough there that I feel I get my money’s worth. I’ve also found that as I stay at better hotels, there is more to do on my hotel lot (the 2$ hotel has a spa, a massage, a steam room, and a restaurant). There are a ton of little things to do that I can’t really do at home. There are trinkets to buy, secret areas to go to, you can swim in the ocean or catch fish that you can’t normally catch, eat food you normally can’t eat (can you make them too? i can’t figure out how if you can…. though maybe you need to buy special ingredients?) , play on cool objects, buy cool stuff, learn massages, learn gestures, dances, meet new people, learn teleporting (haven’t yet), etc… and I like the picture taking too… there is just a plethora of new things to do on these vacations and I enjoy it greatly.

I have only gone to the island one thus far, and really look forward to trying out the Asian and camping destinations, but for some reason my sims only have wants to go to the island destination so I’m not sure what’s up with that. The objects in this expansion are kinda cool too… I LOVE the asian theme, and have ideas for a couple of the giant objects, the camping theme is ok, I find a lot of the play objects very funny like the axe throwing target. I also love the new roofs, first new roof added into the game since it’s inception and am happy to see some new variations on that.

They also snuck in jewelry into this expansion which was something I wasn’t at all expecting but am thrilled by. This is something that should have been in since the start and couldn’t believe it wasn’t. They went all out too adding nose rings, rings on different fingers, high ear rings, lip rings, and eyebrow rings. Hopefully they will decide to add belly button rings in the future.

In the next couple of weeks EA will be launching yet another expansion Freetime. I’ve got to admit that I’m thoroughly excited about it. This one concentrates on giving your sims things to do around the house. Obviously right up my alley. This expansion really seems to build off Open For Business with how it seems to be set. Which is odd cause while that expansion was one of my favorites, it generally wasn’t well received. It adds 8 or 9 “hobbies” which look very much like the old badge system, just more clear because it is the stat bars that they’ve always used previously. Most of these hobbies can start a business from (so if you are a quilter you can sell quilts, or sell vases if you are a potter, etc).

In addition to this, they’ve added contests to put your stuff up against (kinda like 4H I guess lol). This will help alleviate the issue of how do you sell a dance other than the naughty way? They also decided to add 5 new professions, some look familiar like entertainer and dancer (we have a few similar already), but architect & oceanographer are nice! Also from the walkthrough they put out on it it seems like they are also adding a new aspiration (maybe related to the hobbies? I couldn’t tell). And a new achievement meter which goes up as you fulfill lifetime goals and you can use those for a new reward system not unlike the business rewards (they showed off the summoning aliens reward and second aspiration reward, am interested to see the rest). It seems that they are really going all out on this expansion and can’t wait to get my grubby little hands on it! Gotta wait a little longer though.