Played the Sims 2 for the first time, shocked at how hard it is

@thenightcourt

What motive or motives do you have the most issue with?

How many Sims and what ages are they?

"Seera1024;c-18077732" wrote:
@thenightcourt

What motive or motives do you have the most issue with?

How many Sims and what ages are they?

I’m playing the Broke household with 4 sims, and it isn’t a single motive, it’s all of them lol. Time management is my issue, I think :)

"PlayerSinger2010;c-18076713" wrote:
I honestly HATE how hard it is! I rely on BoolProp to cheat their motives whenever I play.

I use Maxmotives lol

I've been loving on Sims2 again ever since my Sims4 game lost the ability to zoom in and out, or use 1st person mode (but to be honest the only fun for me in sims4 was testing out mods that I hadn't already grown tired of), and was amazed at how much more engaging it is. It could be the only Sims game I play and I'd be happy.

As for needs decay, something I had never figured out until just recently, is to check out the aspiration rewards. You click that when the icon is glowing, and you can use points (king of like vampiric or magic points, which purchase those traits or bonuses?) to buy slower fun-and-social decay under one category, or slower hygiene-and-sleep decay or whatever combo it was, and what I do first, is get slower decay on all needs. Then I go for financial or career advantages.

It really helps a lot!

"Sunflowergal227;c-18078256" wrote:
So continuing this thread...
i have played TS2 since i first heard about it for PSP, switched to pc immediately after. I've been playing it for years, and it is not necessarily hard (although i may be used to its difficulty!) I enjoy that life throws curveballs at you: like one can lose their job if they choose the wrong choice in the chance card. Although, lately i have been hitting ignore because i don't want them to lose their dream job. But anyways, i also like that sims have a more chance of dying! For instance pregnant sims, they get really hungry easily, and they can also die unexpectedly. If their wife/husband is able to withness their death, they have a chance to save them if the friendship is high enough. i also like the environment motive: as it does inspire people to decorate more. I like it's difficultly and the ability to balance needs and wishes.

You do know about the aspiration rewards? The middle column is work related, and one of the perks is 80% chance of being right on the chance cards.

TS2 is so easy to me now, that I could probably do stuff in my sleep. First when they are standing outside waiting to go in the house, stop all the socializing, send them to the bathroom. Don't let anyone cook anything. Make someone serve Cereal for breakfast. Send the kids on to school if the bus arrives. Get them out of the way because you want the adults to meet the neighbors and spend a lot of time socializing with them because in TS1 and TS2 Sims need friends for promotions.

Unlike TS1, TS2 Sims will at least talk to your Sim if you make that phone call and not curse out your Sim because they interrupted their TV program....lol. TS1 is harder than all four of them. TS4 players complain of how easy it is to build relationships and get married or whatever in TS4. They should try TS1 and find out how hard Maxis could actually make it, if they keep requesting different opposing relationship points. One Sim feeling closer to the other Sim than vice versa. TS1 is a very true and best example of just how hard Maxis made the game in the beginning.

After the Sims have eaten something, I make them watch TV..the cooking channel to at least get one cooking point. It gains fun and comfort and a cooking skill. Easy Peasy.

Don't let anyone cook anything without a smoke alarm in the rooms that have a stove, a kid stove and or a fireplace. I learned that lesson twenty years ago. On day one.

There is absolutely no reason at all any Sim should die in TS2 on the day they move in. It's not that hard, TS1, yes, never TS2.

No cooking until they have some cooking points and then there is still a risk of fire burning up your Sim if they cook something for the first time. Salads, sandwiches and cereal...and no grilling outside without smoke alarms.

As stated before, Active Sims take more care, they need more food, more sleep, more hygiene requirements. Sloppy Sims won't care they are that dirty, and or the house. Lazy Sims need more comfort and want to lounge a lot...let them it builds comfort faster than sitting. And remember furniture matters, the points on furniture and appliances matter in TS2 and were very low in TS1...it was very hard to find any chair in TS1 that was above 3 points and then those Sims won't stay seated when commanded. At least TS2 Sims will sit until you make them stop. :)

"Cinebar;c-18089139" wrote:
TS2 is so easy to me now, that I could probably do stuff in my sleep. First when they are standing outside waiting to go in the house, stop all the socializing, send them to the bathroom. Don't let anyone cook anything. Make someone serve Cereal for breakfast. Send the kids on to school if the bus arrives. Get them out of the way because you want the adults to meet the neighbors and spend a lot of time socializing with them because in TS1 and TS2 Sims need friends for promotions.

Unlike TS1, TS2 Sims will at least talk to your Sim if you make that phone call and not curse out your Sim because they interrupted their TV program....lol. TS1 is harder than all four of them. TS4 players complain of how easy it is to build relationships and get married or whatever in TS4. They should try TS1 and find out how hard Maxis could actually make it, if they keep requesting different opposing relationship points. One Sim feeling closer to the other Sim than vice versa. TS1 is a very true and best example of just how hard Maxis made the game in the beginning.

After the Sims have eaten something, I make them watch TV..the cooking channel to at least get one cooking point. It gains fun and comfort and a cooking skill. Easy Peasy.

Don't let anyone cook anything without a smoke alarm in the rooms that have a stove, a kid stove and or a fireplace. I learned that lesson twenty years ago. On day one.

There is absolutely no reason at all any Sim should die in TS2 on the day they move in. It's not that hard, TS1, yes, never TS2.

No cooking until they have some cooking points and then there is still a risk of fire burning up your Sim if they cook something for the first time. Salads, sandwiches and cereal...and no grilling outside without smoke alarms.

As stated before, Active Sims take more care, they need more food, more sleep, more hygiene requirements. Sloppy Sims won't care they are that dirty, and or the house. Lazy Sims need more comfort and want to lounge a lot...let them it builds comfort faster than sitting. And remember furniture matters, the points on furniture and appliances matter in TS2 and were very low in TS1...it was very hard to find any chair in TS1 that was above 3 points and then those Sims won't stay seated when commanded. At least TS2 Sims will sit until you make them stop. :)

At least 3 points mechanical before the repair anything electronic. And make sure they are in a good mood first just in case as that will keep the from dying if the get electrocuted. Raise their motives before trying again. No shame in calling the repairman either.

My upgrade order and reasons:

1. Kitchen: better appliances mean more filling meals means less chance of fire.
2. Bedroom. Bed only and better bed means less time sleeping.
3. Bathroom. Less time dealing with bladder and hygiene

Beyond that dependent on what else they need or want.

At least one toilet per 3 Sims. I usually only do full bathrooms and not half bathrooms so my shower to sim ratio is the same. Any fewer and you have to be more attentive as to the bladder levels.

Red hands builds fun super fast, if available. Does require some build up of a relationship.

Play without mods for some time. This let's you figure out normal game behavior based on how you play. That way you recognize a mod conflict or issue and not mistake it for regular game behavior.

Digging for treasure raises fun but will tank hygiene. Useful for easy quick money before skills are earned if you're holding off for a specific job.

"clop1000;c-18121588" wrote:
The aging system and the need are just awful. Is it even possible to play this game without mods or buy only the most expensive items in the game?

Btw what are the best mods that increase lifespan of the sims? (I want something akin to the sims3 longest lifespan, when you have time to play with your sims).
What are the best mods that increases the needs meter?


Btw does the cheat code "Aging -off" works only for your active family? And any other preexisting sims will die?
Won't it lead that the neighborhood will be quite empty?

How do I reset the neighborhood to its initial state? Delete game files from "My documents"?
How do I may a backup?

Several posts in this thread deal with how to deal with motives.

It is possible to play the game without mods or buying the most expensive items in the game.

Just takes more time to manage their motives. But yes, to make things easier, you do have to work towards earning the better items in game that will fill their motives faster so that they can work on the things you want them to work on and not just fill their motives.

I've got several Sims who do manage to be successful with what I want them to do with their life, despite having cheap to medium priced items in their house. I just have to do more micromanaging in those households than I do in a more established household that has gotten a lot of expensive items.

There are several mods out there that affect the lifespan. Most just change the number of days a Sim is in a specific age group. In Sims 2 this does mean that these mods do not change the remaining days in an age group for existing Sims. Only new Sims and existing Sims will be affected AFTER they age up again. There are a handful of mods that do modify the process of the aging up that would affect existing Sims. But those mods don't properly display how many days left they have. So it depends on what you would accept. The mods that affect number of remaining days could easily be modified to mimic the Sims 3 age span - just add the YA and Adult spans in Sims 3 together for the Sims 2 Adult age.

No mods affect the length of needs meters. Which means it's likely not possible. You'll just have use motive cheats and work towards being better at managing your Sims motives. The SimBlender mod does let you set motives to full, half, or empty (among many other things) but nothing increases the length of the needs.

Aging off will only affect the house you play. Sims 2 Sims only age when you actively play them or if they are on the lot you are playing (ie: Sims visiting your lot or the same community lot your Sims are visiting are not invincible, but they won't die of old age or age up to the next age).

The ONLY exception is when you age up a playable and the prompt to age up a Sim comes up. But only townies will be in there and not other playable Sims.

The original neighborhoods - Pleasantview, Strangetown, etc, can be reset. There are instructions out there for how to reset them all over the place. You can't reset a custom neighborhood back to square one unless you delete it and make the neighborhood again.

For back up, it depends on what you are wanting to back up. But if it is your saves, that would be the folders in the Neighborhoods folder. You would just make a copy of the Neighborhoods folder and that would back up all of your saves.

"clop1000;c-18121588" wrote:
Btw does the cheat code "Aging -off" works only for your active family? And any other preexisting sims will die?
Won't it lead that the neighborhood will be quite empty?

Ah yes. The Sims 2 handles other sims differently than the next games. Of course they'll build relationships, buy new things, and die if they are unlucky enough when visiting your sims, but other than that, they remain frozen. No aging, no death, no skill gain, no pregnancy progression, no time moving forward.
In a sense, it makes the game more difficult. In The Sims 4, if your household is in miserable state, you could just rotate away and then come back and everything will be manageable. In The Sims 2 however, you will still be coming back to that same miserable state, thus there's no other way than to get everything in order. Yes, you could move them out and then back in, but then you'll lose all the stuff that's not in any sim's inventory.

there is a story progress mod for sims 2 it in beta but is free