Nightlife Rocks (Gasp!)

[Motoki]

I'm not saying it sucks, I'm saying it hasn't changed my game enough.  Half the reason I'm currently reading this board is to find new ideas for what to do in Nightlife.

LOL me too. I think I've been spending more time here lately because I'm finding it more interesting than the game. 

[miramis]

Oh yeah. What annoys me the most is when people go "EA/Maxis" or "EA/DICE," because the developer and the publisher aren't the same entity.

I do that with EA/Maxis, and I do it because I know they are different.  I began with 2 days of installing Uni, at that point I said to myself - no way am I going to blame this on Maxis, this is EA's fault for pushing the product out the door before it was ready -  to my mind putting the EA first lays all the blame at their feet.  On the other hand if I want to say something nice I'll just say Maxis. And now I'll shut up before I make even more of an idiot out of myself 

[sara_dippity]

I'm finding plenty to do in Nightlife! The ability to let my sims pick their own mates is cool enough, fits very much into my style of play. I just had a blind date for the first time today, I'm having fun seeing what happens if I don't just shoot for a dream date, but let the sims do their own thing. I haven't even touched vampires yet. I love group outings, there are all kinds of things to do to go out for fun. It's really what I needed, I was getting very bored of the old skill building, education, corprate ladder routine. I haven't even started to do the kinds of things that I usually do when I'm getting bored, finding the weird things to do kind of stuff. I haven't even wanted to play Diablo.

[nothingbutsims]

Half the reason I'm currently reading this board is to find new ideas for what to do in Nightlife.

The whole chemistry thing and the new romantic interactions are keeping me coming back.  I love the slow dance - it's so realistic in its emotions, that it almost gives me the chills.  They've added a new dimension to the game with the chemistry.  Someone in another post said that some sims just can't seem to find that special someone and have to settle for less - just like in real life, while others have found the sim of their dreams.  Maybe you've exhausted all the gameplay options - I think we all do that at some point - but aren't you attracted by the chemistry they've added?  Someone also said that two of their sims had four lightning bolts for each other!  That I haven't had yet and I'm very anxious to get that kind of chemistry between two sims.  I'm a Taurus and we can be quite romantic when we're not being bull-headed so maybe that is why I find this EP so attractive.  But beyond the chemistry and the interactions, there is dating, group outings, family outings, awesome new items to decorate with (build a downtown lot to your own liking - I had a blast with that).  I've got a house with a bowling alley in it.  You can have fun just building with all the new stuff they have.

[miramis]

I thought the Downtown lots were very good, much better than they used to make.  One thing I just realised a day or so ago, was that when you put your lots in the lot bin and then place them, the lot stays in the bin like the Maxis Dorms do.

[Zythe]

The game seems to run faster now, and I love going downtown. I have to say, I'm very pleased indeed with NL.

[Motoki]

I don't see what the big deal is about the whole chemistry thing. From what I understand, all it does is let certain sims whose aspirations and turn ons (and possibly star signs and interests) do certain interactions with lower friend points than it usually requires. Half the time they fail anyway. That's pretty much all it does from a functional standpoint. There's absolutely no requirement or need to match up sims by chemistry and not that great of an advantage for doing so.

It seems like people who are getting all excited about the chemistry feature are playing the game where they are only coupling their sims with ones they have good chemistry and you can play that way if you want, but the game by no means requires you to do so.

[sara_dippity]

I thought the Downtown lots were very good, much better than they used to make.  One thing I just realised a day or so ago, was that when you put your lots in the lot bin and then place them, the lot stays in the bin like the Maxis Dorms do.

If you make your lot catalog folder (in documents) read only and all files in it, all the lots do that.

[sara_dippity]

It seems like people who are getting all excited about the chemistry feature are playing the game where they are only coupling their sims with ones they have good chemistry and you can play that way if you want, but the game by no means requires you to do so.

Well, yeah, but the game doesn't require you to do anything does it?

[J. M. Pescado]

Technically, no game requires you to do anything. You always have the option to not play.

[Motoki]

Smartass 

Well there are some things in the game you can't do, without hacks anyway, and there are rules. Anyhow, I just feel like their should have been better bonuses for matching up sims with good chemistry and greater hurdles for forcing sims together who have lousy chemistry. I think they just chickened out on that because they were afraid of pissing off everyone who has existing families and suddenly found their couples incompatible, but I also think it would have made for a more interesting and challenging game.

Of course this is all my opinion and technically no bulletin board requires you to do anything. You  have the option not to read it or to dismiss it or make fun of it or tell me how wrong I am etc. 

[nothingbutsims]

It seems like people who are getting all excited about the chemistry feature are playing the game where they are only coupling their sims with ones they have good chemistry and you can play that way if you want, but the game by no means requires you to do so.

No, you could play two totally incompatible sims and have a laugh at how miserable they are together, if that's how you want to play.  In any event, the chemistry is here to stay and it's new and exciting.  And sure, I'll be the first to admit, the sims I have played so far have all had good chemistry.  I have yet to put together a bad couple.  But do I want to?  Probably not.  Why?  Because that's not the way I enjoy playing my game.  And you are correct, I am not required to play it that way - it's just my choice.  That's what makes this game fun.  It's whatever you want it to be.  I would be interested to know, however, if anyone has an incompatible couple and what kinds of new interactions they have come across.

[Kitiara]

You know, I'm going to be another party pooper. Not because of bugs or because of what other people are saying, but because quite frankly, I'm bored with it already.

I was thinking of saying the same thing, but it felt too curmudgeonly a thing to say.  Dates got boring quickly.  I have a Pleasure sim, and every time his only viable want is "ask sim on date" I think, oh no, not again.  Even with the new Groups, skilling in University community lots is still boring.  It's more fun to set a Sim skilling at home and then forget him a while and pay attention to someone else.

I don't really like the new Pleasure aspiration very much.  So far the only long term Wants I've encountered were "go on X dates," and dates just aren't that interesting.

I think I was hoping Chemistry would do more than just make interactions available and succeed at lower relationship levels.  I was hoping it would make romantic relationships harder, so that you really had to seek out a Sim with whom you had mutual attraction.

 - Gus

You need to try the e-mail challenge.

Smartass 

Well there are some things in the game you can't do, without hacks anyway, and there are rules. Anyhow, I just feel like their should have been better bonuses for matching up sims with good chemistry and greater hurdles for forcing sims together who have lousy chemistry. I think they just chickened out on that because they were afraid of pissing off everyone who has existing families and suddenly found their couples incompatible, but I also think it would have made for a more interesting and challenging game.

Of course this is all my opinion and technically no bulletin board requires you to do anything. You  have the option not to read it or to dismiss it or make fun of it or tell me how wrong I am etc. 

Well, I don't happen to agree with you, but that doesn't mean I think your opinions are wrong (and of course I don't think mine are wrong). I just wanted to chime in because I love discussing things with people who feel that disagreeing is not always a bad thing. Debate can be fun; it has certainly made this thread more interesting. Unfortunately I have little to add because I do not have NL yet, but I have enjoyed the exchange of differing ideas and look forward to its continuance.

[ElviraGoth]

I'm actually enjoying NL more than I thought I would.

Had a sim in the Electro-Dance Sphere who had only 2 body skill points.  She was doing the easy spin, lost it after while, got thrown to the side inside the sphere and spun around for a minute or two before finally getting thrown out and on the ground.  I had to laugh!  She got up, rubbed her sore butt, and got back in.

Also had a college kid fall asleep in his food.  And had a pair of UNI sims (my born-in-game guys) who sang a karaoke duet and sounded pretty darn good!  I had a couple of sims in TS1 who tried karaoke and they didn't sound near as good, even though they were max creativity.

I've had the game a week and hardly delved into the downtown area, but I've been sending my UNI kids there after they have most of their studying done so they can have some fun without losing UNI time, and I'm getting a kick out of watching what they do.  I think this EP offers more in the way of my entertainment while watching my sims, rather than what I do playing them.

And since I don't use a lot of hacks, I haven't missed much in the way of losing abilities.  Need the savethetrees and lobonanny, but I haven't seen yet if they were ok, so I haven't put them back in.  But pianofix was a must, and it appears to work ok.  So I have some minor inconveniences, but I had them before I got the hacks, so I can live with them for awhile.

But I do keep checking this board for updates on the status of the hacks I DO use.

Programming can be a nightmare, even for the best.  I'm sure these guys are doing the best they can under the circumstances.  I do think they should have more time to test and let the game out for beta testing, since the bugs are sure to show up for someone who isn't privy to all the code.  And sometimes, it's a case of "I know this has to be written like this to work", when actually the problem may come from a variable that's being given a bad value in an entirely different part of the program.

But as for this EP?  I have to say, yes, it's a very good addition to my play. (And now I know why there were those little lightning bolts in some of the boxes on the loading screens.)

I've had UNI since it came out, and I've nowhere near done everything that has to offer.  I figure the EP's are just nice additions to my regular play, there to give my sims some extra spice to their pixelly little lives, so I don't exhaust every option the EP has to offer right away.  I haven't done much with the Greek houses or secret society (mostly a lack of interest on my part), but I will at some point.  And I don't get obsessed with giving them everything they want, either.  Hell, I don't get everything I want, why should they?

It's only a game.  And to keep me interested in it for this long means it must be pretty good overall.

[Gus Smedstad]

I'm having fun seeing what happens if I don't just shoot for a dream date, but let the sims do their own thing.

I'll have to try that.  Doesn't it crash and burn pretty quickly?  The time limit is short, in my experience Sims rarely fulfill their Wants autonomously.

It seems like people who are getting all excited about the chemistry feature are playing the game where they are only coupling their sims with ones they have good chemistry and you can play that way if you want, but the game by no means requires you to do so.

Actually, I'm OK with that as a house rule.  As a game The Sims 2 is so ridiculously easy that you have to make up your own restrictions to make it more interesting.  So a self-imposed restriction of "don't date anyone you don't have at least 1 bolt (or 2) of Chemistry" sounds like it might add some fun to the game.

I play with a lot of rules like this.  For example, when my Sims hit college, I won't have them do class-related stuff like term papers or assignments unless they have a Want for it.  Since it's trivial to get a 4.0 grade if you make any effort at all, it becomes a game to see which Sims will graduate with based on their own "efforts."  I do make them study the required skills, since many aspirations never roll "get a skill point."

I have yet to put together a bad couple.  But do I want to?  Probably not.

Not me either.  I do like Sims picking fights on their own, but I the idea of forcing Sims to fight myself turns me off.  The main exception is if a Family Sim catches a spouse cheating, I feel it's in character to ask for divorce.  Of course, the last time I did that, the Sim in question couldn't stop thinking of her ex-husband, the cheating rat, and she acted on her Wants and ended up reconciling with him and then re-marrying him.

You need to try the e-mail challenge.

No offense to our Glorious Presidente, but the e-mail challenge is too weird and divorced from "real life"  for me to enjoy.  I had some fun adapting the Bachelor Challenge to university life.  Among other things, running it in a dorm meant I didn't have to give the Sims cash, so when Scott and Allegra ended up hooking up at the end they weren't ruined by too much money.

I have enjoyed the exchange of differing ideas and look forward to its continuance.

As I said before, I'm more interested in finding new ways to enjoy the game than in defending the idea that Nightlife is "bad" somehow.

And since I don't use a lot of hacks, I haven't missed much in the way of losing abilities.

The hacks I like fall into 3 categories:

1) Bug fixes.
2) UI improvements.  I.e. don't interrupt me to ask whether a Sim is home or not.
3) Things which add challenge.  Pretty much unheard of, except for the Romance mod.

 - Gus

[Motoki]

Well, I don't happen to agree with you, but that doesn't mean I think your opinions are wrong (and of course I don't think mine are wrong). I just wanted to chime in because I love discussing things with people who feel that disagreeing is not always a bad thing. Debate can be fun; it has certainly made this thread more interesting. Unfortunately I have little to add because I do not have NL yet, but I have enjoyed the exchange of differing ideas and look forward to its continuance.

Heh, that bit of sarcasm I wrote was mostly aimed at Pescado. :p It just yanks my chain when people say crap like "Well you don't have to play/listen to/watch it". Well no shit, of course I don't. 

Like Gus, I want to make clear that I don't think the game or the expansion is bad, and I don't even think the chemistry feature is bad. Nor do I have any problems with people loving the game, the expansion or that feature to death. If something appeals to someone far be it from me to interfere. I'm also not one of those internet debate types who love to flame people and convince them how "wrong" they really are.

I was just explaining why I found the chemistry feature a bit of a letdown. I was actually playing according to chemistry when I first got the expansion until I found out how it really worked. I thought it was more of a requirement to follow it or at least a real uphill battle to not follow it, when it turns out not to be the case at all. And I thought the lightning interactions made your relationship go up faster, I suppose in a roundabout way it still can in that you can do some better interactions sooner, but it's not the way I thought.

I actually am quite aware that a lot of this game is what you make of it and you have to make a lot of stuff up. I know that all the personality I give my sims in my head in reality for the most part doesn't exist. There's really only a few varieties in personality types, the rest is in our heads. But for me, I personally just don't see the point to bother to check out a bazillion different sims to find just the right one with the right chemistry when all I get for it is the ability to, say, get the kiss option (which may well fail) at 25 instead of 30.

And I actually have been playing couples that have no or bad chemistry since NL and I've matched some sims who weren't previously couples together with no or bad chemistry too. To be honest, I've noticed no real discernable difference except that if I check them out, they shrug or act like they are going to hurl. Other than that, they are quite happy to woohoo all day long with a sim that makes them wanna hurl. 

Again these are just my thoughts and my own personal disappointment, but sounds like that's not the case for the rest of you guys so that's good, don't let me ruin it for you. 

[JavaChild]

when my Sims hit college, I won't have them do class-related stuff like term papers or assignments unless they have a Want for it.  Since it's trivial to get a 4.0 grade if you make any effort at all, it becomes a game to see which Sims will graduate with based on their own "efforts."  I do make them study the required skills, since many aspirations never roll "get a skill point."

I've just started playing Uni like that myself... Unless they actually roll the want there's no classes, no assignments, no papers - Not even skill accumulation. There's plenty of time for them to earn skills later in life and I was starting to hate everyone coming out of uni with perfect grades ready to just roll right into their dream job. Of course, a lot get expelled now but it's interesting to see who does and doesn't and the story lines are more intriguing for me now. 'Cuz university should be fun damnit!

[Gus Smedstad]

I'm having fun seeing what happens if I don't just shoot for a dream date, but let the sims do their own thing.

I'll have to try that.  Doesn't it crash and burn pretty quickly?  The time limit is short, in my experience Sims rarely fulfill their Wants autonomously.

I tried it with two engaged Sims with 100/100 relationships and 2 Chemistry bolts.  I was right.  They crashed and burned.

On the first date, they spent the entire date talking to other Sims.

On the second date, I cancelled any interaction with other Sims to force them to do things with each other.  They never fulfilled any Wants, and scored very few points, despite doing little except talking to each other.

On the third date, I jump-started it by fulfilling wants until it was "Great," which took very little time, and gave them 5 1/2 hours on the clock.  They still made no significant progress.

You must hand-manage Dates, they just don't know how to have fun on their own.

 - Gus

[nothingbutsims]

Again these are just my thoughts and my own personal disappointment

I'm sorry for your dissappointment, Motoki.  Maybe the next EP will be the one for you.   BTW I enjoy hearing your thoughts - they usually give me a good laugh.

[Kitiara]

Motoki - I actually was trying to say I liked your comments and appreciated the difference from other stated opinions. I am sorry if it did not come out that way. Being nice is not my strong suit.

Gus - I think you quoted me out of context, but since you did not use the opportunity to say anything bad I will just assume you meant it well and move on.




It should all be fun, the only people playing wrong, in my opinion of course, are the ones not enjoying it.

[Motoki]

Being nice is not my strong suit.

LOL mine neither. In fact, I have, ahem, had quite the reputation for being not so nice on some other boards.

I'm actually not always the most articulate in making myself clear either and so when I am someplace where I actually give a shit what the people think, I try to clarify myself if necessary. 

[Gus Smedstad]

Gus - I think you quoted me out of context, but since you did not use the opportunity to say anything bad I will just assume you meant it well and move on.

Yes, I was trying to say that I agreed.  I'm not sure how what I said could be read any other way, but that's how the internet works, right?

 - Gus

[Kitiara]

I apologize, After rereading your posts I found your intentions clearer. Carry on.

[J. M. Pescado]

Well there are some things in the game you can't do, without hacks anyway, and there are rules. Anyhow, I just feel like their should have been better bonuses for matching up sims with good chemistry and greater hurdles for forcing sims together who have lousy chemistry. I think they just chickened out on that because they were afraid of pissing off everyone who has existing families and suddenly found their couples incompatible, but I also think it would have made for a more interesting and challenging game.

I would have thought that'd be trivial: When picking the new attributes for existing couples, always pick them such that they are compatible with their existing partner. Simple, yes?

As it stands, I kinda expected that it would be irrelevant just based on the original Maxian blurb, that high relationship would basically stomp out all the issues involved. In my mind, that basically said "chemistry-whatnots are irrelevant", due to the triviality of 100/100 relationships.

[reggikko]

So far, I love the EP. I actually like going to community lots now! That in itself is a miracle.

As for the chemistry thing, I have a Sim that has been dating around but no one felt "right" for her. I finally gave in and called the Matchmaker. The Sim who showed up for the date is a Townie I never would have even considered for my Sim. The date began at 0/0, of course. They never even left her lot and by the time it was over, they had a dream date *and* were in love. I've never had that happen before.

I'm having a lot of fun trying out different scenarios. My Sim has also racked up an impressive array of gifts (most converted to cash) that really helped out in the lean years.