A RUMOUR about the next expansion pack

[Motoki]

Is it just me, or were the TS1 pets like TS2 toddlers except with even less interactions?

They'd need to do a lot more with it than they did in TS1, and I don't mean just zombie vampire dogs.  

I think breeding would be interesting, but given how many different dog and cat breeds there are and how greatly they can sometimes vary, not to mention there's pretty much an infinite amount of combinations, it seems a bit complicated for Sim genetics.

[ZiggyDoodle]

anyways, what would you all consider "Pets done right"?

Keeping them right where they are now:  TS1

[Jelenedra]

Well coloring and the like would probably best kept at random or something.

As for everything else... floppy ears v. straight ones, with floppy being dominant and tails being bushy v. straight and hangs down v. curls up along with hair: long v short and straight v. wiry.

It wouldn't be too hard if they simplified it a bit.

[Renatus]

Pets would have to be as customizable as the sims themselves. I wouldn't care if the pets available were more or less randomly generated but I would not be pleased if I couldn't import custom skins (fur colours) and eyes at least for them.

I'm of two minds about the idea of a pets expansion. The part of me that never stopped being ten years old is gleeful about the idea, but the rest of me remembers the bit of Unleashed I played on my sister's computer and how bloody annoying it was and how pointless the pets turned out to be, mostly just accessories that could make messes. The rest of me also knows how it would break my heart for little pixel animals to die, and I would have to wait for or force a way to keep them alive forever. Forget robots; the cat can be the family heirloom.

I hope farming and farm animals will be included. I'm a long time Harvest Moon fan and I've been wanting to recreate it in Sims 2 for ages.

[Jelenedra]

Well, I'm sure that if there is a Pet expansion pack, we will be expecting a hack from JM that's "You don't paper train the dog, in Sovet Russia, the paper trains YOU!"

[anelca]

well as i was typing, Renatus came along and put it better than i was doing

nowt much to add but, well, i don't like Uni much and certainly can live without involving zombies, but i got the EP for some of the other features/objects et al

maxis and EA aren't going to get it right for all of the people all of the time. if they ever brought out a celebrity/showbizzy type EP i doubt very much i would get it, but i know others would leap at it.

so at the risk of developing a wooly coat and a certain tremor to my voice....yeah. i wouldn't mind pets

[Jelenedra]

As long as they include my puppy, I'll be happy. *cannot wait to get home to her American Eskimo Spitz*

[Lion]

I agree with Pegasys that it is hard to imagine how going on vacation would involve a strategy or challenge, but it can be interesting if it includes weathers, and bad weathers will ruin your sim's vacations, like rain on the beach or the snow melting on the ski resort.  Also it will be interesting if sims can run hotels, ski resorts, and amusement parks (RollerCoaster Tycoon!), more playground activities for children. Also to catch fish for money or to eat (yummy!) and win fishing competitions. 

If they add pets, they better let them breed and grow and die.  I don't have unleashed, but I can see how boring it is from your descriptions. Also it will be fun to raise farm animals, grow harvestable crops and stuff to eat/sell.  I wonder if we can cross-breed them.    And the pet show mentioned before is a wonderful idea. They should definitly have personalities. If a lot of plants and introduced, maybe they could add making potions to it too  . (I don't have makin' magic so I don't know much about what you can do with it.)

[Jelenedra]

Does anyone else miss the apple jelly maker from.... hot date? Unleashed? I can't remember which.

[radiophonic]

I agree with Pegasys that it is hard to imagine how going on vacation would involve a strategy or challenge, but it can be interesting if it
[...]

But pets would be challenging?

[Ashleigh]

Now vacations AND animals together in one expansion pack, that would be interesting.

Mmm. The possibilities of new deaths would be ENDLESS with that one. The more deaths, the better.

[Dea]

Pearlbh, I thought I recognized your name without the av I wasnt sure though...

I turned all pets into sims when MM  came out...I hope they arent as annoying

[Ellatrue]

Does anyone else miss the apple jelly maker from.... hot date? Unleashed? I can't remember which.

YES

[mistymage]

I'm all for a sims pet expansion.. especially if it were a sims zoo/safari/big game hunting pack    Think of it:

Own your own tiger.. better than a guard dog.. unless you forget to feed him!

Train a monkey to pay the bills at the box!

Rabbits getting in your garden? Shoot'em and stew'em!

Tired of a sim? Send them to a community zoo.. oops all the cages are open.. run simmy run!

A new business just opened down the street.. Sim Morty's Taxidermy To Go. Want a rhino head, deer head or a sim's head on your wall? Just stop by and pay a bounty!

The ideas are endless.
 

~misty

[Baddmark]

Maxis won't miss a trick.

EP will contain dogs, pigs and parrots.

To get cats, snakes and goldfish you will need to buy another add-on pack.

You wait and see!

[Database]

The ideas are endless.

The sheep will go mad! I love it!

[sudaki]

I'd love the option to raise animals or grow crops for cash, or to eat...

I just had this great vision of clicking on a cow and having a pie menu pop up: feed cow, pet cow, talk to cow, slaughter. What kind of skill points might one gain from slaughtering a cow? Mechanical?

I'm of two minds about the pet thing really. I kind of liked them in TS1, but then there were the hideously annoying things like the millions and millions of strays. Vacation was pretty useless as far as the vacations were concerned (although I liked my Sims having a display rack full of old boots) but I liked some of the new interactions for children and between children and parents. That's mainly why I bought it, after Hot Date made it impossible to do ANYTHING with kids. Not that kids did much of anything in TS1 anyhow, but hey.

[knitro]

I'll be happy with a pet EP as long as they can do more, like play fetch and stuf... and the include parrots that do more! honestly! also...witht he time line...each type of pet should have a different time line....since parrots live ALOT longer than dogs...ya know...dpending on the pet...(can you tell i like my birdies!)

Also farming would be way fun! cows and stuff and the planting and growing, i miss that...then you could sell the stuff in your store! that would rock...

K

[Paperbladder]

I'm with the minority here, I actually thought Vacation was OK.  It was more about the stuff than actually sending your sim on vacation.  Now, if we could have only fused elemetns from OFB with it...

A pest pets expansion would only be worth it for me is if they added something else like some more skilling stuff and stuff from HP and LL.  Unlike other people, I really liked those expansions just because they actually added content to the game.  I still want my mad scientist to make potions like they did in LL, Preserves with HD, and Ride a Mechanical bull in HP.  I remember that one time I actually replaced the "stripper" in HP with Bob Newbie in a speedo.

[vcline]

I'd like to see something that had historical period stuff.  I suppose that could be taken care of by custom content, though.  I miss my Roman Sims! 

[vector]

z0mg liek petz n stuff lolololololz0r.

 

I didn't really like University, liked Nightlife less, really didn't like OFB. I made the tragic mistake of installing the stupid Christmas pack. I'm having trouble imagining that I'll like any other expansion pack Maxis have to offer, to be honest. It's now become an exercise in what can be broken in the most inane way possible, and how the act of simply playing the game can be made as painful and non-fun as is humanly attainable.

[trancejeremy]

I love Nightlife - it added cars, restaurants, a DJ Booth, the attraction system, and dates. Conversely, I despite Uni, all it did was add 100s of useless NPCs.  And I can't graduate sims from college, because if I do, their UI gets so big it blocks up the entire screen. (Well, not quite, but I don't know why they had to expand it upward to accomadate the extra wants, not just move the bar to the right)


I do suspect the next ep will be pets. The reason it hasn't been announced yet is that everyone will spaz out and forget OFB or the shopping packs.

And then EA will take a page from Bethesda and MS and sell cat and dog armor for $2 each.

[greeneyedsims]

their UI gets so big it blocks up the entire screen. (Well, not quite, but I don't know why they had to expand it upward to accomadate the extra wants, not just move the bar to the right)

You can hit F10 and the UI disappears and you can still use your mouse to click on objects/Sims for interactions as if the UI was still on screen.  You can just hit F10 again to bring it back and check their Needs panel and other stuff.

I'm not thrilled with a pets expansion either, but I desperately want a farming ep.  I miss the whole gardening/harvest aspect.  And mixing that with OFB would be terrific. 

I seriously think that a lot of the people begging for pets now will be so darn frustrated with it once they get 'em, they'll be clogging up the boards with all kinds of complaints.

There's so much to focus on already in the game, I can't see having to control pets too.  Part of me hopes Maxis can change my mind on this.

--green 

[Jysudo]

You can get Echo's Harvest mod at Mts2. They are really good to set up as tools for a farm.
But I find harvesting tiring and time consuming but its fun to watch them water the plants and the plants grow/bloom.

I really hate pets and don't understand why people like them so much... I am fine with just having trained the pet brick...
Unless I can train the pets to bite ugly townies... that would increase the attraction of this pets thingy in the sims for me 

[laeshanin]

Unless I can train the pets to bite ugly townies... that would increase the attraction of this pets thingy in the sims for me 

This is a splendid idea and one worthy of plenty of attention. Why stop at townies, though? The applications are endless.