1. Anyone try to build/decorate yet? Is build mode limited, or did they put most of the TS2 EP improvements into this base game?
I love building and I'm tinkering with it in the game trying to get used to the new tools. It's... different. I'd almost say it's "worse" than S2.
Full flights of stairs are gone, only the connecting stairs remain, and you place them by choosing how wide you want them (1-8 tiles) and whether or not you want the railing. (If you choose no you can any railing you want manually.) Half-walls? Gone.
"Stages"/Split-Levels? Gone.
Roofs are trickier to build and can't be built over "nothing" (so, say, you can cross a gap between walls.)
And as I said before cars only park on a single "space" which is nothing more than a parking stall bumper on an "invisible driveway." You place this bumper anywhere (any angle, even diagonal!) and then "paint" a driveway in. However, as I said, it's impossible to build a multiple-car long driveway as the bumpers cannot block one another's path. (Even though as I understand it the game doesn't actually animate the car driving out of driveway.)
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Also, are the walls/floors and furnishings decent? Like, does anything actually MATCH? Or did they just put the usual stupid stuff in there, like lips sofas and walls that don't match a single floor in the portfolio?
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All objects can be manually recolored. You click on it and you can change it to any color you want and even change the "texture" of some items. (make it look like wood, metal, rock, etc.)
I see that you guys think the doors/windows are lame...what about the stairs? Did they put spiral stairs in, or are they pulling that crap again where they are going to hold out such a simple convenience until the last EP?
No spiral stairs.
2. Can you build apartments?
No multiple-family homes. (Well, theoretically you can, but there's nothing preventing Sims from wandering to other "apartments.")
....well, actually, I can. EA is the same company that no doubt leaves objects out of EPs intentionally so they can put them in stuff packs and charge $30 for them.
Yeah, that's what sucks about this. Losing
everything we've gained over the last several years and starting back at square one just so they can pull more money out of us.
Including making us pay for additional content.
(the object store at EA.)
Having something as simple as weather in this game would've been nice. And CHRIST! It's beyond absurd that walls can't intersect at different heights.
(Meaning no attached garage onto a house on a foundation, no split levels, etc.)
How many EPs are we going to wait for weather? For half-walls? For more useful driveways? For the ability to do split-levels?
Ugh. This is so frustrating. And it's the community's fault for lapping up the EPs like they were crack.
Oh, and you can't start a new "empty" neighborhood and built it up from scratch. There's only the base neighborhood (Sunset Valley) and there's no way to build a "new empty lot." You're stuck with all of the lots they've given you with the base game, and there's LOTS of empty space on this map nor are there many empty "cheap" lot for starter homes.
Really, what were they thinking in THAT regard?
I believe there is a new neighborhood template that's available to download for free from the on-line store. I tried downloading and installing it last night, but nothing happened, so I'll try again.
Then yesterday I created adult twin brothers and move them to a house. Today I played the same neighborhood for an hour. When I tried to load the twin's household, they were already senior citizens, and I hadn't even chosen the careers and skill sets.