The Battle of the Aspirations

[windy_moon]

* technical error with original post, edited! *

You hate Family Sims.  You love Family Sims.  You have a whole neighborhood of Family Sims.  You think Fortune Sims are self-centered.  Romance Sims are hot.  Popularity Sims are boring.

The Battle of the Aspirations touches a good chunk of posts on this board.  I don't know that it has ever had it's own thread yet so.....

Me first.

I like all of the aspirations.  I don't have NL installed yet, so I can't speak to Pleasure or Grilled Cheese, but I'm expecting to like them, too.

I think my favorite Sims are Fortune, when they are married to Family.  I like the landscaping wants!  (I can do without the $6000 sculpture want, though  )  It's only money.  If they are going to work so hard toward that next promotion, why not indulge in a fancy piece of musical equipment, or cram the yard with every toy money can buy?  (I don't notice the Family Sims leaving the toys alone after the Fortune Sims acquire them!)

Lately, I've been steering a lot of my Sims toward becoming Knowledge Sims.  Their homes are so peaceful.  Chess boards, bookcases, telescopes.  No TVs or music blaring.  Quiet meals.

But, how much fun in a Popularity Sims house.  Permenantly installed buffet tabled, "burned out" phone lines, a party a minute!

And Romance. 

So, what are your favorite Aspirations? What do you hate? Whom do you like to pair up?

[Motoki]

I've always liked fortune myself too. They are even easier to deal with now with the inventory too. If you get them happy enough they'll get other wants like lovey dovey ones and such. The herbiforous wants do annoy me a lot though. They are a pain when dealing with a small lot or a pre-furnished and landscaped one. I used TwoJeffs hack to squelch them.

[reggikko]

I used to hate Romance, but NL has made them fun. I guess I do like all of the Aspirations now. Popularity annoys me more than the others.

My favorites are the Knowledge Sims. Fortune and Pleasure make a good combination. Fortune loves to buy the fun stuff and Pleasure loves to play with it. Right now I play a pretty good mix of all the Aspirations, which keeps the game interesting.

[Andygal]

I like Knowledge and Family sims.

My least favourite are popularity and Romance sims.

I don't know how I feel about Pleasure or Grilled Cheese sims yet. I haven't played with them enough to know.

[MissDoh]

It would be really hard for me to say which I prefer but I do have a little more fun with Pleasure Sims.

Their needs are all about fun things like watching tv, jumping on the coach, having a bubble bath, be a dj, all fun fun fun 

My second favorites are knowledge Sims which are a complete opposite of pleasure Sims, I love to make them stargazing and love the fact they just love every paranormal side of the game.  Then there are those wonderful romance Sims who unfortunately create chaos around them (even if it is really not their intention, they want every Sims to be in love... with them).

Popularity, fortune and family are the ones I find the less interesting but depending with which aspiration I match them they can be fun too.

I never ever make 2 sims with the same aspiration be a couple and get married, I find it dull that both would have the exact same wants and fears.  For me the phrase "opposite attracts" is a way of life in my game.  I like to have as much variety as possible in my game so there is an equal amount of all the aspirations according to gender.  Same goes with zodiac signs but that is another story.

[Motoki]

I hate knowledge. I am SO sick to death of them constantly wanting to be saved from death (um unless force the issue yourself it's pretty damned rare) and see a ghost, even if the damned house has no tombstones. It's not as bad for uni graduates, but for ones who aren't, that's pretty much almost consistantly half their wants.

[baratron]

I love Romance sims, because I'm a Romance sim in real life .

I also love Knowledge sims, because most of my friends and both my partners are Knowledge sims .

I hate Family sims, because in real life I have very little interest in children. I'm slightly more interested in them in the game, but nowhere near as much as most of you. The majority of my families are adults only - sometimes adults with teens, but the only family with actual children I play regularly is the Specter household, which in my game has Olive Specter, her husband Scot (former handyman), her son Nervous Subject, his husband Pascal Curious, and their two alien children. Having the grandparents around and a stupid amount of money makes their game weird and a bit different. Other than that, kids are a novelty.

Fortune sims? OK, but not my sort of people. (We live in a house that's furnished entirely from Ikea - and frequently boggle at the prices of furniture in other shops. Why pay £1500 for a sofa when it won't last any longer and looks no better than one that cost £300?).

Popularity sims? Yeah, I quite like them. Their needs are very similar to the way I used to play sims in Sims 1, where most of my families were friends with everyone else in the Neighbourhood. So I find them easy.

Pleasure sims? Haven't played them yet, as I only got Nightlife yesterday.

[Motoki]

I love Romance sims, because I'm a Romance sim in real life .

 

Don't know if I even want to go there. And remind me not to go clothes shopping or near a photobooth with you.

[mistymage]

I prefer playing knowledge sims.. they are easy to play and keep their wants high.  But if I were to catagorize myself.. I'd fall into the Family aspiration.

I hope that in Sims 3 (yeah, I'm thinking ahead) that you can have 2 aspirations.. or at least more ways to change your aspiration in the game without resorting to cheats. 

You've fulfilled your LTWs .. you've been both Hero and Master Criminal.. now it's time to try to woohoo 20 sims before dying

~misty

[veilchen]

I like the knowledge sims. The saved from death want is definitely annoying, as is the get abducted one. That one usually pops up after a knowledge sim has been abducted, but with TJ's little tweak, not a big problem for the females, for the males I just ignore that want (I play on a one baby maximum, if they want more they have to get lucky and have twins). Ignoring that particular want, or any annoying knowledge want,  is not a big deal, with all their skill wants, they usually go permaplat very quickly. The ghost want I have no problems with.... you know... the unfortunate incident with the townie....I don't know why it happens in all of their houses officer.... what cow plant?...ahem...

I don't like the family sims, mainly because of their wants (one baby max, remember?), and also because romance sims and knowledge sims make far superior parents, at least in my game.

I like the romance sims because they make the game more interesting, especially with NL.

The fortune sims are just plain funny. They provide the comic relief in my style of playing.

I don't know that much about the pleasure sims yet, to new.

[Motoki]

I like the knowledge sims. The saved from death want is definitely annoying, as is the get abducted one.

Oh yes, forgot about that part. Once one person in the neighborhood gets abducted they all want to be abducted and often want family members to be abducted too. Same thing with zombies and vampires too. Once one person becomes one, they all want it. The zombie wants still don't even work either.

[Bangelnuts]

I prefer playing knowledge sims.. they are easy to play and keep their wants high.  But if I were to catagorize myself.. I'd fall into the Family aspiration.

I hope that in Sims 3 (yeah, I'm thinking ahead) that you can have 2 aspirations.. or at least more ways to change your aspiration in the game without resorting to cheats. 

You've fulfilled your LTWs .. you've been both Hero and Master Criminal.. now it's time to try to woohoo 20 sims before dying

~misty

I Like Romance Sims,Popularity Sims,Family,and Pleasure Sims .Fortune drives me insane because they roll the same wants over and over and over again. Knowledge  sims constant want to see a ghost I have solved I send them on a nightly Jaunt to the cemetary where I have 8 dead sims in repose. to be saved from Death takes alot more work and the insimenator. other than that they are fairly easy to keep happy. as far as LTW's go  career wants are relatively easy to fulfill  as long as your sim has high skill levels the top of the chosen career isnt to far in the distant future.for my Romance Sims if they roll a Career LTW first I leave it alone so they reach perma plat easily. I save the woohoo wants and such til after they are permaplat. the best parents in the game Ironically is the Romance sim. I didnt use to think so until I got Justin and his children from Brynne and his father. My Romance sims love their kids to no end and as long as their wooho wants are met you see a lot of wants roll for their kids. Justin is permaplat in my game as is his father So I see alot of family oriented wants. come to think of it I have alot of perma plat's on my custom hood. Grilled cheese is hysterical as you watch the poor sim go through their day driving other sims crazy talking about grilled cheese sandwiches and serving up platters of the sandwiches to sims who arent hungry and never eat them they will even serve  a sim they are furious with a grilled cheese sandwich,I tested the aspiration on a college dormie to see what would happen and I laughed so hard  I almost fell off the chair . I have since changed her back to her original aspiration

[Torkle]

I like all the original aspirations, but Pleasure and Cheese don't do much for me.  I've only run one sim with the Pleasure aspiration and I had a terrible time keeping her in the green.  All she wanted to do was blow bubbles all day.    And Cheese is just monotonous.  

I'd love to see a different "backfire" aspiration instead of Cheese - something more like Psychotic.  Big points for making enemies, getting into fights, getting caught cheating, pranks, drinking the essence of other sims, and making zombies; major fears of making friends, getting hugged, having a good conversation, etc.  

[Bangelnuts]

I like all the original aspirations, but Pleasure and Cheese don't do much for me.  I've only run one sim with the Pleasure aspiration and I had a terrible time keeping her in the green.  All she wanted to do was blow bubbles all day.    And Cheese is just monotonous.  

I'd love to see a different "backfire" aspiration instead of Cheese - something more like Psychotic.  Big points for making enemies, getting into fights, getting caught cheating, pranks, drinking the essence of other sims, and making zombies; major fears of making friends, getting hugged, having a good conversation, etc.  

I have a pleasure sim at Uni and she is easy to keep happy. she is content as long as she gets to go downtown and have some fun..her inventory is chocka block full with gifts from dates she has been on. the only sims i keep her away from are Vampires. as she frequents night clubs where they go. and  I keep an eye out for Mrs. crumple bottom who can spoil a dream date in a hurry and knock it down to great date with her whacking she does with the purse. I must say buying a toy for a college dorm seemed a bit odd but oh well she has her toybox and is happy

[Dark Trepie]

Knowledge sims are simply the easiest sims to play in the game for me.  All of their wants are reasonable.  And the only time they ever want to buy anything is when they want to upgrade their bookcase or telescope.  (of course, now with NL they also want to buy a car.  But any old car will do for them)

I like Family sims.  They have managable wants.  And often find themselves paried up with a Knowledge sim in my game because the two make a good match.  Though they do annoy me sometimes.  Like when the Knowledge and Family sims have romantic wants for each other.  The Knowledge sim will spin Talk to, Flirt with, Kiss, Make Out, and Whoohoo in that order.  But the Family sim will more likely then not spin Talk to, Flirt with, Kiss, then throw a big monkey wrench into the works and have every want spin up with Tell Dirty Joke, Play with, Appreciate, and so on, totally killing the mood for the poor Knowledge sim.  They're nothing but damn teases.   

Fortune sims are manageable.  They're quick and to the point when it comes to job promotions.  Only wanting to make the exact number of friends and gain the exact number of skill points for that promotion.  And I like that aspect of them.  What I don't like is when they spin up a want for something that let's say costs $3000 and they only have $2000.  Where's the scense in that?  And they constantly want to upgrade everthing on the lot to the next highest dollar amount, totally screwing up the family's net worth and forever dooming them to live in that cramped up starter house.  But hey, at least it has a lot of nice trees!  On second thought, I don't really like Fortune sims.  If I had let Jennifer Burb have her way the Burbs wouldn't be living in the nice house that they are living in now that had the space they desperatly needed.

Popularity sims?  Meh...  They're less annoying than some others though.  They're a nice alternative to Romance sims.  They have most of the same wants, they just don't want to Woohoo everything that walks by.

Romance sims?  I have absolutely no use for these guys.  I mean whats the point them?  They offer nothing to the rest of the nieghborhood except for causing drama in the other families in the form of infidelity.  And you pretty much HAVE to do this to keep them happy.  I have better things to do...

Pleasure sims?  If they didn't keep spinning up stupid wants like Watch TV, Jump on Couch, and whatever and actually want to do something usefull I might like them a little more.

And lastly Grilled Cheese...  Hey, at least their wants are easily fufilled.  And they're compatible with all of the other asperations.

Wow, didn't know I would go off on such a tangent there...  At least I made my point I guess.   

[veilchen]

Live and learn. I didn't know that about Mrs. Crumplebottom, you know, knocking the date meter down with her interference. Makes sense though, who enjoys getting whacked with a purse :D. I better hightail it over to TJ's forum and get the zapper. I hope it works for Crumplebottom, although I think I read somewhere that it does.

Motoki, the want to have everyone around them abducted/zombiefied/vampirized is a pain in the neck, but I can live with that. I regulary ignore the zombie want anyway, so I wasn't even aware it was broken. I once turned a YA into a zombie (well, she kicked my trashcan, okay) and I felt terribly guilty, seeing the poor wretch dragging all over the place looking hideous. I know she was just a pixel person, but still, wow what a guilt trip :D

[katemonster]

I'd love to see a different "backfire" aspiration instead of Cheese - something more like Psychotic.  Big points for making enemies, getting into fights, getting caught cheating, pranks, drinking the essence of other sims, and making zombies; major fears of making friends, getting hugged, having a good conversation, etc.   

Oh my god, I'm sure that's the most unhackable thing that's ever not been hacked, but it sounds awesome! Especially if you could use the biotech station to be a bioterrorist and start a lethal flu pandemic!

Ahem.

I tend to end up with a serious excess of knowledge and family sims. (I made myself and my boyfriend in the game--I am knowledge and he is family. We are married with four butt-ugly kids, oh well.) I like knowledge ones cause they are made happy by peaceful solo pursuits and don't constantly have to be inviting more sims over for me to deal with--I guess cause they are made happy by the same things as me. I like family sims cause I like to have lots and lots of kids because I'm captivated by the multigenerational aspect of the game. But they do get monotonous because I have so many so I am trying to get a better balance.

I tend to pair up knowledge with family sims, probably just because I have so many of both. I don't like having two knowledge sims together cause it gets boring (and I do get sick unto death of the "be saved from death" want) but I'll put two family sims together if they're both lovely and I don't mind having their genes passed on to a bazillion kids.

Fortune sims get boring cause they always have the same wants--plus, I tend to put my sims in really small houses, and usually there is no space for the crap they want. I do like that they are pretty much guaranteed to want the skills that will get them promoted.

Popularity sims are boring cause they are the same people I can't stand in real life--as some random person once brilliantly put it "socially-addicted co-dependent morons". Usually easy to keep them happy though.

Romance sims are fun! I don't have very many because I'm so fixated on pairing my sims off, but I should have more. They rock. Except it's annoying when they have wants to flirt with six different people, so you invite one over, flirt with him--and then where a normal sim would spin up a bunch of new wants concerning *that* sim, a romance sim will just lose interest and want to have someone else over to flirt with. Makes it hard to get them into platinum romantically, whereas it's really easy if they only have *one* partner. They are inconvenient if they can only be kept happy by homewrecking--but that's why you just need MORE of them, so they can keep each other happy without breaking up marriages. Also, I need someone to cause drama, as my neighborhoods are too placid and so long as nobody hacks a bioterrorist station for me that can start a lethal flu pandemic, I need drama wherever I can get it.

Pleasure sims are cool because their wants are always 500 points and easy--although since they get the points as soon as they start the activity, mine just jump back and forth between various amusements all day long and never do anything for an extended period at a time. So they take some micromanagement, which is annoying.

Is that all? I haven't subjected anyone to a grilled cheese aspiration yet. I imagine it would get boring.

I have taken to using TJ's college adjuster to randomize every sim's aspiration when they hit teenagerhood, because it's hard to pick and also because I need to have a balance and not let my neighborhood be overrun by knowledge and family sims. Sometimes their personality or upbringing will incline them towards a particular one but usually I let the adjuster pick.

[gali]

"Benes" for you all!....

[Bangelnuts]

"Benes" for you all!....

  no thanks

[veilchen]

"Benes" for you all!....

LOL, why thank you Gali, but can I have a cookie instead? My, you're up early on a saturday, what is it, like 6 or 7 in the morning where you are?

I bet your favorites are the fortune sims, you know, always shopping and redecorating

[gali]

"Benes" for you all!....

  no thanks

OK, I'll compomise with 5-stars.... You can't push it away - too attempting....

Edit:  No, Veil, I am fond of the Knowledge aspiration too....  - Yes, it's 6 AM, and just am drinking my coffee (slept over 6 hours). 

[lauraglenn]

Fortune and Family are my favorites.  The combo together is great.  I have a "try for baby" problem as I tend to keep my sims pregnant all the time.  I just love the kids    Now I'm starting most of my kids as Knowledge sims to get the aspiration points for all of the skill building they do in prep for Uni.  I don't like Romance sims especially now with NL.  My Romance sims are outcasts!  Everyone is furious with them. 

[Bangelnuts]

Fortune and Family are my favorites.  The combo together is great.  I have a "try for baby" problem as I tend to keep my sims pregnant all the time.  I just love the kids    Now I'm starting most of my kids as Knowledge sims to get the aspiration points for all of the skill building they do in prep for Uni.  I don't like Romance sims especially now with NL.  My Romance sims are outcasts!  Everyone is furious with them. 

I have Romance sims galore in my neighborhood and I dont have the furious problem after learning how to work their wants aaround the fury and jealousy that occur if caught.I have one Romance sim who goes to the bordello regularly and is happily married and since he a this point could careless about falling in  love he only wants the woohoo and the make out sessions , so the bordelo is a discrete way for him to cheat without the entanglement and fury that falling in love would bring him from other sims as in spite of his woohoo desire he is deeply in love with his wife and has tremendous chemistry with her. he also has five kids at home he loves very much and a sixth on the way so this may surpise you  but out of six want slots  four of his wants pertain to his kids 1 pertains to his wife and one is all about being a Romance sim. he wants four of 5 kids to get an a+ report card  he wants to woohoo with his wife and he wants to make out with 5 different sims. so he will be headed for the Bordello when I enter his  house next to satisfy the make out issue his kids wants are done deal all 5 are A+ he is perma plat already so not much is going to phase him enough to send his aspiration status south. His fears pertain only to hids family not the romance issues. once a Romance sim reaches PermaPlat they are the easiest sims to deal with and make the best  parents.

[reggikko]

I've found that Romance Sims can be kept quite happily monogamous, especially with NL. I have a married couple that are both Romance. When their Aspiration level gets a bit low, just have one ask the other on a date. No need to even leave the lot. You get them both into full platinum in no time.

Romance and Fortune are two aspirations you have to train a bit. If you don't ever give in to their more annoying wants, they'll start spinning new ones. And I agree with Veilchen. Romance Sims make awesome parents. I didn't play Romance for a long time but I rather like them now.

[Andygal]

I have a married Romance couple with twins. I don't like Romance sims in general but these two have gorwn on me. A woohoo a day keeps them both happy. And they have 3 lightning bolts for each other, they are my only 3 bolt couple (off the top of my head at least). They were in love the night they met. She got him as a date from the gypsy matchmaker.