Remember when career rewards used to be cool?

I used to love the Paranormal telephone. I used to bring back Bella with it, but she would always come back as a zombie.

I do remember that from TS2. TS2 is one of my favorite games in the series, but honestly the only reward trait that I ever used was the fingerprint scanner that increased cleaning skill.

I do see your point OP. But for me, I actually like the career rewards in TS4, because the rewards are emotional décor. I like to have certain rooms in my Sims house (like an inspiration room) that directly puts that Sim into that emotion so they increase their skills faster like writing, piano etc.

I loved the career rewards in TS2. Especially the surgical dummy and the plastic surgery machine, watching them with the dummy was hilarious sometimes and the plastic surgery machine was so useful for fixing up genetics fails (combined with SimPE to keep them from passing the genetics fail on to the next generation).

"Nix;13322908" wrote:
Oh, I loved those! I was sad when 3 and then 4 didn't have them. They made climbing up all the careers worthwhile.

I used to like trying to get every object before I finished a legacy. ｡^‿^｡

It's little touches like that that the newer games need back.

I know, but at least TS3 had rewards in the form of unique interactions and abilities that were not already in the game. For example, you could start saluting people once you reached a certain level in the Military career, and you did get the special refrigerator that made foods stay fresh forever if you were high enough in the culinary career. I just don't see what the career rewards for TS4 added to the game apart from aesthetics, since there are already actions you can perform (or use the lamps that were rewarded to you in the game if you had TS3) that can recreate the emotions that you need. I guess I'm saying the TS4 career reward don't contribute anything additional to the game, which is disappointing.

That hydroponic garden was my favorite to put in college dorms, especially for the Romance/Pleasure personality sims. Get that charm up so they could get the NPCs to do their homework and term papers. All my Logic sims had the laboratory table, they would make medicine and pass it to the sick sims, get them well. For fun, I used the golfing reward to make a mini golf course and arcade. I keep saying I will continue to work on my Sims 2 world, but now I am out of sorts with The Sims, I don't have the energy to go in and start over.

"agent_bev;816115" wrote:
I finally caved and used the cheat to unlock all the career rewards and they are all plum. They are simply variations of objects that are already in the game, like a different colored stove or a different colored punching bag! Remember in The Sims 2, when the rewards were unique items that did not exist anywhere else in the game and had a special purpose, like the chocolatier machine, hydroponic garden, plastic surgery machine, golf putter, obstacle course, lie detector, fingerprint scanner, surgical table,etc???

In case you feel nostalgic, http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Career_rewards

I do miss them. I get that new rewards usually give emotional auras but TS2 rewards were far more amusing.
The TS4 cupcake machine is kinda like a Schokolade 890 Chocolate Manufacturing Facility remake. We already have a punchbag in basegame when in TS2 it was exclusively a career reward.
We're getting a similar TraumaTime "Incision Precision" Surgical Training Station in GTW, not for training but to perform surgery in sims.

We already have a cowplant in the game and SIM series Drafting Table was made an EP item in TS3 so it'll appear again eventually. The game still doesn't have lots of these TS2 careers so I'll be hoping some of these items make a comeback.

"NOVEMBER_11SARAH;13322906" wrote:
I used to love the Paranormal telephone. I used to bring back Bella with it, but she would always come back as a zombie.

Zombies in TS2 were way better than those plant eating annoying witches target in TS3. My sim tried to stay married to one once, a nightmare. :p But didn't the result of resurrection depended on how much money we gave to Grim Reaper?

Yeah. I think 1000 to 4999 got you a zombie, 5000 to 9999 got you a Sim with their personality reversed, and 10,000 got you a normally resurrected Sim.

Agreed. The career rewards in 4 are a joke. What makes it even worse is that you have to jump through hoops, or cheat to get them. Sims 2 did it right. I loved those career rewards! They were real rewards, not another chair :\ Oh yay.

One of the things I enjoyed was the science stuff that came with Uni, Sims 3. Although lots of it wasn't career rewards, I loved working with the lab stuff and the especially that big, scientific class activity thing at University. I got a mod that allowed it to be buyable and placed one in all my worlds. Really, I made home world Uni's in all my worlds.

I can't imagine how Sims 4 will handle this or any of those types of activities. I don't like how everything is set in stone outside the public spaces.

"qcfrusciante;13323034" wrote:
Zombies in TS2 were way better than those plant eating annoying witches target in TS3. My sim tried to stay married to one once, a nightmare. :p But didn't the result of resurrection depended on how much money we gave to Grim Reaper?

Another reason TS2 is a better game: there was sometimes a chance of failure (see: bonephone, plastic surgery station, science station...any others?), and/or limited uses (all aspiration rewards). I despised the way the aspiration rewards were set up in TS3 (permanent steel bladder, etc.). Just another way for EA to dumb down the game, I guess. :(

I didn't play around too much with career rewards in TS3 but the ones I do remember earning were just new objects (director's chair, trailer) rather than being anything skill-driven like in TS2.

I did find the TS2 FT career rewards mostly 'meh,' but the Seasons, Uni, and base game career rewards were great. Especially because the cowplant would always, ALWAYS kill a sim it ate.

I loved the TS2 career rewards for building up hobby enthusiasm. Without the punching bag & golf putter I'd never have bothered to max a sim's enthusiasm in the sports hobby. ;)