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long post incoming. this is some nonsensical ramblings written at 1am
the sims 2 (PC, 2004)
this is my favourite sims game, mostly because of its rich lore and amazingly small details. yeah, this was the first 3d sims game to hit the PC market (with the sims for home console being the first in the series in general) but more importantly, it included two of the greatest mechanics the series has ever seen: wants & fears and memories. wants & fears work kind of like wishes in ts3 and whims in ts4, but far more in depth and impactful. every sim has an aspiration, and most of their wants will be drawn from that. knowledge sims want to meet aliens and improve their skills, romance sims will want to make out with anyone who walks by and are scared of commitment. sometimes a sim with want and fear the same thing, showing inner conflict. they may want a child but also fear having one, for example. filling your aspiration metre means you'll be able to unlock rewards and be able to use said rewards, and if your aspiration's too low the therapist will have to pay a visit.the memory system is also fantastic, even if its the source of a lot of game corruption. the fact that your sims will gossip about their memories with other sims, and that gossiping can get back to the sim in question, god its so good. not to mention how much it does for the lore of the game.
actually, lets discuss that lore, shall we? i wont discuss veronaville much cuz,, eh,, shakespeare.. but oh lord the pleasentview and strangetown lore. this was the game that kicked off the bella goth mystery, something that's still a huge talking point within the community. did the calientes have something to do with it? theyre part alien, after all. don lothario, local womaniser whos seeing 4 women at once? bella was last seen on his balcony. what about mortimer? he was her husband, and yet went after the younger dina caliente immediately after she disappeared. and lest we forget the pleasant family, with a mum far too distracted by work, daniel pleasant cheating on her with the maid, and the two sisters, angela and lilith being this close to killing each other. not to mention the broke family, in which brandi's husband died under 'mysterious circumstances'
oh, and strangetown? a murderer, olive specter, who sits and stares at the graves of her victims all night, and when she dies she gives her inheritance to her forgotten son, that forgotten son being nervous subject, who is also the son (and clone) of the grim reaper, now being experimented on by the beaker family. the game kinda implies hes gay & is in love with pascal, who comes from a family with a, um, fascination with aliens. the beakers are mad scientists, only wanting to excel in their careers & experiment on nervous.
this isnt even all the families and their histories. these are just some highlights. i dont even care that the game doesnt have story progression because i actually want to play these households.
and let me explain just how detailed this game is by one example: every chess table in the game has 64 object slots. with cheats enabled, you can place anything in those 64 slots. you may ask why. the reason is so that it can simulate a realistic game of chess by moving the pieces into realistic places. other notable examples are, neat sims autonomously cleaning windows, shy sims having a different dance animation to outgoing ones, sims actually using the kitchen cabinets.
oh, and not to mention that you can build stores and physically buy stuff at them in the basegame. in fact, you have to! once you create your sim, if you want more clothes you'll have to buy them at a clothing store. your fridge will run out of stock so you'll have to go grocery shopping & hey! sometimes you just want a new game, so why not stop at the game store too? the fact that this is just in the basegame is amazing to me. the sims 2 is a beautiful blend of realism and weirdness that feels right.
sure, this may not seem that impressive but no other game in the series has gameplay as deep as this, lore as interesting and as many details. and thats why i love this game. i'll talk about my beef with the sims 4 sometime in the future, but i genuinely cannot fathom how one could prefer that game over this unless you literally just want a building simulator. i just love the sims 2
rambling over for now. i will try to sleep.
Comments
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bibi
i agree 100%
rammie
this was a great read! thank u for this