Buyer's Remorse?

I also like realistic game ans somehow I can't play without Generations. I like the careers, the parties, the interactions (I use the "give gift" a lot), the clothing, the items (have you noticed there is a video camera? I tend to forget it myself). I agree some interactions are annoying, I use mods to modify them. in general I like this EP.
If your going for realistic - I would definitly choose University life - one of my favourites: awsome and useful objects, interactions, clothing, hairstyles, and I feel like the whole system is just lacking once you get use to this EP, I mean, it brings smartphones... and that's only playing the EP itself, but also the University world/experience/and its townies is pretty cool for itself.

@Avatarit I know, right? Not only within the confines of Sims 3 and expansions, either. lol I want to pick and choose things I want from every installment!! I want to make my own game!! lol

I would agree with you 100% about the preside over royal court thing and imaginary friends. You can mod them out, by the way, although I haven't done it and so am not the person to tell you what you want to use to do it. Honestly, though, I don't think there's one single expansion where there wasn't SOMETHING that I wished wasn't in there, and yet I like all the expansions. You may or may not have been any happier with a different one.

I've always considered Generations to be a beefy stuff pack in disguise. Can't say it's a favorite of mine either even if I do use some of the features. I was under the impression though that the majority loves this pack. *shrug*

If you use mods such as NRaas, NRaas: Retuner I believe has a tuning setting to turn off the royal court thingy. It can also remove the chance to receive the doll through the mail. I know you already said you found mod solutions but Retuner is a good one-stop shop for most tuning needs. It just requires different pathways depending on the desired result to tweak settings. If you're interested, I can help.

:warning: If your sims ever get the opportunity for a 'Free Vacation', do not take it. It's been known to glitch out and the parents will not return if I remember correctly.

Ambitions, Seasons, & University are all good packs. I personally find a use for all of them no matter how big or small. I recommend looking up guides/reviews if you really want to check out features first. This could have saved your purchase regret with Generations.

• Ambitions is a top favorite of mine just for self-employment alone which can also be expanded upon with the use of mods.
  
• Seasons is up there too because the weather really is a complete game changer.
  
• University I look back on fondly waiting for it to release and then exploring the pack... But I put Ambitions and then Seasons first. Keep in mind, Seasons is very demanding so make sure your computer can handle it.
  

Now, for those reviews/guides. :) There are others out there too... a quick Google search should pull up some.

Ambitions
Carl's Game Guide
https://youtu.be/3uyIXahNs08
Seasons
Sims VIP Game Guide
Carl's Game Guide
https://youtu.be/DPsri_-tIXk
Univeristy
Sims VIP Game Guide
Carl's Game Guide
https://youtu.be/KXZxhmbbHk4

There are simmers who feel the same way as you and try to keep their games more realistic. I personally play a variety of saves; some are as realistic as I can make them, while others are fantasy/fairy tale type saves. As you’ve discovered, mods will help you adjust or tune out the features that you don’t want in your game. I personally like Generations overall—for the objects like the treehouse, video cameras and costume chest, the after-school activities, the day care career, and other interactions like teaching teens to drive, asking a parent-in-law-to-be for a Sim’s hand in marriage, pulling pranks, taking infants and tots for stroller rides, etc. It adds those little details to my families’ lives which I enjoy. There are aspects of Generations I can't stand, such as the autonomous and often nonsensical scolding, but I’ve modded things to suit my preferences. NRaas Retuner is highly recommended for tweaking features to suit your style of play.

I think all 3 EP’s you’re currently considering are among the best TS3 has to offer. I like them all for various reasons. However, Ambitions offers Simbots, Seasons brings back aliens, and Uni has PlantSims; so you may want to learn how to tune out or avoid those as needed to keep to the more realistic side of things. Other than that, deciding which EP you’d like to purchase next will depend heavily on what theme you would most like to add to your gameplay experience.

Ambitions is indispensible to me because of the self-employed feature and the ability to consign goods/crafted items. It adds a new world, new careers and professions, new traits and skills, the real estate system, laundry, etc. Being able to blow things up is also fun, lol. Seasons comes with weather and a holiday to celebrate for each season, festivals and contests like pie-eating and apple bobbing. Plus a ton of objects and activities for each season, including roller-skating, fireworks, pumpkin-carving and snowboarding. University has the new world/campus to travel to and several majors to pursue there. There are new careers, traits and skills, and a lot of new objects and activities from bowling and ping pong to bonfires and juice kegs, which you can add to your home town so they’re not limited to university living.

Reading up on all the EP features or watching reviews and walkthroughs may help you decide which packs would appeal to you most, if you haven’t done so yet. The following links have a basic run-down of features included to start you off:

http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims_3:_Ambitions
http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims_3:_Seasons
http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims_3:_University_Life

I kind of feel bad for slightly trashing this EP considering I decided to give imaginary friends another try recently after all these years. Poncho has easily become a sim I will remember in my current legacy. He even has a little bit of a following on my blog. :D His bunny suit from Ambitions is a staple so he never really takes on his doll form. Now if only I could make mermaids less annoying...
https://78.media.tumblr.com/e0eb80949898a7bef10c263ddb941dd6/tumblr_p869heFeK61ssiu0eo1_1280.png

I personally am one of the wierdos who adore the IF’s, I also tend to love every EP and SP (in 3)...but then I’ve been told I’m exceedingly easy to please (Sims 4 annoys me though so...).

Historically, back when the EPs were being rolled out, the sequence went something like this: Pets isn't ready (that was the next one), it keeps getting sent back for further work and delays, so let's release the one after that early even though it's half-baked and full of bugs. That would be Generations. From a programming perspective, it's the worst EP of the lot as so many of its features are broken or require mods to reel things in for those so inclined. Can't say I would play without it now, but many of us were miffed over what it could have been but never was as an EP even back then.

It has what remains one of the greatest trailers ever associated with it, though. I still get choked up every time I see this one. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hajq1nwsAM

I've got all the Expansions and couldn't play without any of them. I have changed the Imaginary Friend settings in the mod to 100% chance of my new babies getting an Imaginary Friend.

BUT

I feel the need to repeat what has already been said -

DO NOT accept FREE VACATION. Occasionally it does work as intended and you can get a false sense of security - but mostly it breaks the game.

Apparently even the modders haven't been able to fix it so it is broken. Totally broken.

I am always wary of sending children to boarding school too. But then I fixed that problem to my own satisfaction by building my own boarding school and rotating my young sims through it and teaching them skills while they are there. That includes all the young townies. It gives them all a chance to get to know each other and makes for a much more interesting game. My boarding school does not require generations as I built it myself.

Enjoy whatever pack you get.

Happy Simming

I own Supernatural and I love it! (except for the stupid werewolf!)

But even I don't like the Royal Crown or the imaginary friend/doll thing. I dislike them both! I'm going to have to mod them out.