The Sims 2: Free Time

Overview

With main locations like school campuses, downtown social facilities, retail shops, dwelling companies, and trip resorts already addressed within the six main growth packs that preceded it, The Sims 2: FreeTime is all about offering sims with new pursuits and actions within the locations they already go.  New interest pursuits reminiscent of tinkering, athletics, and delicacies are entrance and middle right here, with nearly each current side within the sport expanded with new interactions, but it surely additionally consists of main enhancements to the Aspiration system and getting old mechanics within the sport.

FreeTime requires the bottom Sims 2 sport to run, and though it may be run with out entry to any of the previous growth packs within the sequence, its broad vary of content material for all character age teams integrates nicely into all of them.

As a result of modular nature of the Sims 2 growth packs, the obtainable patch for FreeTime doesn’t essentially embrace bug fixes for any beforehand launched entry within the sequence.  EA’s official suggestion is that gamers obtain and set up particular person patches for every growth that they personal.

Hobbies

With FreeTime put in, practically each current leisure exercise within the sport is recategorized into one in every of ten completely different hobbies.  Sims who’ve an excellent time partaking in these actions will steadily achieve enthusiasm for the related interest, and as their curiosity stage builds, they will unlock entry to secret objects, group membership homes, and particular advantages.  Enthusiasm dwindles over time if sims cease actively pursuing these pursuits, although the unlocked perks are by no means revoked.

Reaching most enthusiasm has its personal reward, nevertheless: characters engaged in interest they really love can get so focussed that their regular Want bars will deteriorate rather more slowly than regular.  Sims who get “within the zone” achieve a glowing white aura and develop into extremely productive, able to blissfully working within the backyard, at a crafting desk, or beneath a damaged down vehicle whereas the hours whiz by round them.

Characters can doubtlessly max out their enthusiasm for any interest, however everybody has one explicit subject that they are significantly enthusiastic about and might construct enthusiasm for rather more shortly.  Favourite hobbies are randomly assigned to each character within the sport, making them one of many only a few character traits which the participant can not modify in the middle of regular gameplay.

Arts & Crafts

Sims who spend their time portray, photographing, and inspecting fantastic artwork will develop an affinity for this interest, as will spending time with the brand new Pottery Wheel and Stitching Machine stations.  These crafting benches even have their very own Expertise Badges which permit devotees to realize expertise and learn to create extra subtle sculptures and textiles.  If a participant has put in the Open for Enterprise growth pack, these items may even be bought to different sims via a character-owned firm.

Delicacies

Characters achieve enthusiasm for fantastic eating not solely via consuming, however via studying the subtleties of getting ready the right meals themselves.  Discovering the flexibility to whip up delicious appetizer plates is a positive method so as to add some aptitude to a social gathering, and true gourmands can put their abilities to the take a look at by submitting their dishes to cooking contests.

Movie & Literature

Each tv now gives the choice for sims to observe motion pictures in a wide range of genres to go well with their tastes.  FreeTime additionally overhauls the novel writing function in order that sims really produce particular books which seem on bookshelves all through the sport, full with titles, summaries, and plot components chosen by the participant initially of undertaking.

Health

Figuring out in entrance of the tv, swimming round within the pool, and doing yoga unlocks entry to energy-boosting protein shakes, the flexibility to exit for a jog, and new train gear.

Gaming

True avid gamers aren’t restricted to console and pc video games; additionally they get pleasure from enjoying pool, card video games, mahjong, chess, and the fictional “Mushino”.  Apply makes good, so probably the most hardcore gamers have the best likelihood of profitable money prizes in tournaments in opposition to their friends.  This growth pack additionally provides a number of real-life EA video games as purchasable titles for the characters to get pleasure from, together with the then-unconfirmed Sims 3.

Music & Dance

FreeTime provides the violin and synthesizer to the listing of playable devices, and sims can at all times have enjoyable dancing round their dwelling stereos, however this interest actually advantages from the band mechanics added in College and the downtown nightclubs in Nightlife.  Even for these with out, enthusiastic sims nonetheless have the chance to earn fame and fortune in dance competitions.

Nature

Outside mountaineering, birdwatching, cloud watching, and bug amassing are all included as enjoyable out of doors actions, however gamers with entry to the Seasons growth pack will be capable to construct enthusiasm via many extra actions like constructing snowmen, raking leaves, and tending their gardens.

Science

Stargazing sims will uncover that telescopes have been upgraded with choices to seek for planets, constellations, and different celestial phenomenon, and as their enthusiasm grows, they’re extra more likely to make discoveries that’ll earn them grant cash from the native astronomical society.

Sports activities

A number of new social interactions like “Play Catch” and “Toss Soccer” can be found, together with soccer objectives the place characters can compete in opposition to one another in penalty kicks.  The basketball hoop from the unique Sims additionally makes a return with the flexibility for 2 sims to observe or have a “Horse”-like taking pictures match.

Tinkering

Just about each equipment within the sport has an added possibility for sims to “Tinker” with them.  This sometimes ends with the merchandise breaking, however that simply provides mechanically-inclined characters the chance to observe their restore abilities and increase their Tinkering enthusiasm even greater.  Notably formidable sims may even buy a damaged down outdated wreck of a automotive and whereas away their days off restoring it into a completely purposeful — and fairly priceless — car.

The day by day newspaper has sections for interest fanatics of all stripes.  As sims develop into extra taken with their hobbies, they will additionally achieve the flexibility to speak about them with others, browse the web for internet pages about them, and write their very own blogs for enjoyable.  All of those actions assist preserve their enthusiasm stage between main initiatives.

Lifetime Aspiration Meter

The Aspiration system has been an integral a part of The Sims 2 since its preliminary launch, with nearly each facet of the characters’ lives revolving round their particular person ideas of success.  Earlier growth packs launched the idea of a Lifetime Aspiration: a single lofty purpose representing that particular person’s deepest need which, if fulfilled, would put the character right into a implausible temper for the rest of his or her life.

FreeTime extends that very same idea to characters who could not have realized their single biggest need, however have efficiently happy many dozens, and even tons of of smaller ones over the course of their lifetimes.  The Lifetime Aspiration Meter is a graduated bar showing beside every character’s Temper and Affect bars which collects Aspiration Factors from each particular person Need the sim is ready to fulfill.  If sims are ever lucky (and long-lived) sufficient to refill all the bar, they may obtain the identical “Platinum Temper” for the rest of their days.

Aspiration Perks

Moderately than being an all-or-nothing proposition, the Lifetime Aspiration Meter grants particular advantages for passing ten marked milestones alongside the way in which.  Every rise in rank provides the character an Aspiration Level which could be spent in one in every of 4 completely different areas.

Maybe probably the most fascinating is the flexibility for sims to realize entry to an extra pool of Desires and Fears by choosing a secondary Aspiration to pursue.  Although the pull of this extra Aspiration isn’t fairly as robust as the unique, mixing completely different units of needs collectively leads to a a lot wider number of character personalities.

Aspiration Factors may also be spent to gradual the deterioration of the Want bars, enhance job efficiency, or unlock perks particularly associated to their Major and Secondary Aspirations.  Fortune-seeking sims, for instance, can achieve the flexibility to earn cash by providing monetary recommendation over the web, whereas Information sims can vastly increase the velocity at which they decide up new Talent factors.

Ageing

A major disadvantage to the getting old system in The Sims 2 has been that whereas player-created households would age over time, the unplayable NPCs populating the neighborhood districts would keep eternally unchanged.  From the participant’s perspective, the youngsters of their sim’s properties would age via their teenagers and into maturity whereas remaining buddies with the identical ten-year olds they befriended in grade college.

With FreeTime put in, sims graduating from one life stage to the following have the choice to convey as much as three of their pals together with them.  Which means that youngsters can doubtlessly make NPC pals in elementary college who maintain tempo with all of them the way in which into the twilight years of outdated age.

Miscellaneous Additions

• 5 new careers paths: Structure, Dancing, Leisure, Intelligence, and Oceanography
• New actions for toddlers, together with the flexibility to be taught nursery rhymes and an exercise desk the place they will doodle and play with blocks
• Characters with excessive Lifetime Aspiration Meters and powerful enthusiasm of their hobbies could obtain three needs from a particular NPC
• Thrifty sims can save money and time by storing leftover meals within the fridge to eat later
• A brand new pre-made neighborhood named Desiderata Valley, full with new properties, NPCs, and playable households

Trivia

• In late Might 2008, EA launched a patch for FreeTime which rendered the sport fully unplayable for a fantastic many customers.  The issue lay in an unadvertised “replace” to the sport’s SecuROM copy safety which triggered it to refuse to load the sport because of an “emulation software program battle” even when no such software program had ever been put in on the system and the sport was being run straight from the retail disc.  Customers who contacted SecuROM straight have been supplied with a hyperlink to a hard and fast copy of the sport’s executable file, and EA quietly printed an up to date patch with the repair about two weeks later.
• Together with miscellaneous fixes for a large number of bugs and reminiscence leaks, the FreeTime patch additionally addressed a number of issues with the Kitchen & Tub Stuff pack that prevented sims from utilizing interactions like “Tinker” and “Put Away Leftovers” with the added home equipment.