100 Loves Challenge

Three weeks ago, I started a new series with The Sims 2 on my YouTube channel entitled "100 Loves Challenge" and decided to have it as a Premiere every week.

I have always enjoyed playing with Sims who have the Romance Trait in The Sims 2.  They just seem to want to love and be loved and having more than one partner is normal to them and they think that other Sims feel the same.  Unfortunately this is not the case and jealousy can rear its ugly head if the Romantic Sim gets caught out on a date with another Sim by their current partner.  This can cause a lot of drama with face slapping and the “wronged” Sim walking by the Romantic Sims house every day stealing the newspaper, kicking over the dustbin and leaving flaming bags of poo on the doorstep.

Obviously there are a lot of challenges about, especially with The Sims 4 such as the 100 Baby Challenge and Rags to Riches.  These challenges I believe have also been played in The Sims 2.

However, I cannot find a “100 Loves Challenge” for The Sims 2 so I thought I would make my own.

At first, I only had one rule and that is for your Sim to have the Romance trait but then I thought of a few others, just to make the challenge a little bit harder!

If you would like to download the 100 Loves Challenge pack with all the rules, you can get it here:

DOWNLOAD CHALLENGE

I have also included a chart in this zip file which shows you where your Sim can woohoo and with space for you to write down the names of their conquests and a space to tick/check where your Sim has woohoo'd with them.  Of course, you don't have to use it if you don't want to but if you're anything like me, I like to keep a running tab on things!

Also included is a little house (4 Casanova Way) for your Sim once they have graduated from University if you want to use it.  It's just a copy/remake of one of the cheap houses from Downtown which your Sim will be able to afford with just the main necessities but again, it's up to you if you choose to use this one or a different house.  

Here's the trailer for episode 4:

If you want to watch this Premiere or indeed any of my other videos, please head on over to my YouTube channel here - I would love to see you!

Happy Simming!

- Minicart (Jules)

The Big Brother Challenge

I have noticed that there are a lot of challenges that have been devised for the Sims games by players.  The 100 Baby Challenge, Not So Berry, Rags to Riches and Black Widow to name a few are all popular challenges and real life ones such as "Big Brother" and "I'm a Sim, Get me Out of Here" have also been popular.  Even EA/Maxis have devised some Scenarios/Challenges within The Sims 4 game for players to complete such as Proud Parent, Too Many Toddlers, Plant a Sim and Family Fortune.

Back in the day of The Sims 2, a challenge was placed on the old BBS website called The Legacy Challenge.  The player would have to place a Sim on the largest lot possible, not having much money left to build a house, more like a one room hovel and then work their way to get money to build up their home.  Marriage would be to a townie and the oldest son would stay on the lot, the remaining children leaving to be placed in the sim bin and forgotten about.  This would need to be done for each generation up to 10 generations or more.

I rather liked the idea of this challenge but didn't like to let my Sims go into the wilderness and be forgotten about.  So, when the University expansion pack for The Sims 2 was released, which was the first EP for the game, I decided to try the Legacy Challenge but with my own take on it.

Firstborn sons will always return to their birth home to continue the family name but other sons will be placed on their own lots, albeit a little smaller, which I call a sub-Legacy.  Daughters will marry and take on their partners names, creating a new legacy family on a large lot.  I never use townies for marriage but create partners for my Sims at University where they will meet and gain skills and relationships, giving them a good start in life.  I play rotationally and for three days for each family, allowing all of my Sims to grow up or age together.  Although it may sound a little old-fashioned having the first son return home and daughters taking on their partners names, for me it made it easier to keep track of families and new legacies within the game.  You can download my rules here if you are interested in playing this way.

I have been wanting to try the Big Brother Challenge for a while in The Sims 2 and finally got around to doing it after watching the real life show earlier this year just to get a feel for it.  Although there are certain rules for the Big Brother Challenge in The Sims that have been devised by players, I decided to create my own for my challenge which you can find here.

I built a Big Brother House and then created 8 Sims separately in CAS and moved them all in one by one.  For me, I had always thought that the Sims in 2 were a lot smarter than in 4 and although I still believe this, Sims in 2 are not as smart as I had previously believed.

At first the Sims seemed to be having a lot of fun, chatting, keeping their needs up by making group meals and showering but then something went wrong.  In a later episode, one Sim decided to take out the trash and, as the door was locked (my fault), threw the trash on the floor.  Of course this caused bugs and Sims freaking out.  They had never bothered about the trash before and now, all of sudden, it was a thing.

Here's a clip of episode 1:

If you would like to watch my Big Brother Challenge in The Sims 2, here is the first episode:

I would love to know what you think of my Big Brother Challenge or challenges in general within the Sims games!

Dag! Dag!

- Minicart

Different Juices for Different Effects

I was looking over on Tumblr and came across a post by someone who shared a Sims 2 Wiki article about the fruit juice in The Sims 2.

In case you didn't know, we have a juice extractor, The Main Squeezer 235X, where we can make apple juice, lemonade, orangeade and more, which is great for the gardeners in the game who like to grow fruit and vegetables.  I already knew about the pureed boot which is a boot that you can get during fishing.  What I didn't know was that if you combine certain fruits and vegetables, you can get different effects, which is really cool.  So after 20 years of playing The Sims 2, I've found something else out.

As you will see from this table screenshotted from the TS2 Wiki article, there are a few combinations that give different effects, much like the nectar making in The Sims 3 that gives different nectars:

I did have a look on YouTube to see if anyone else had done a video about this but I couldn't see anything so thought I would make my own.

My Sim earned a random skill point with the Eggplant Juice, had an energy boost with the Pepper Punch and even managed to get to platinum aspiration with the Strawberry Lemonade even though she was nearing a nervous breakdown!

Although I was unable to try out the Orange Juice, Strawberry Juice and Tomato Juice, all of the other combinations seemed to work really well.  I really liked the Strawberry Lemonade as having platinum or gold aspiration allows your Sim to use the lifetime rewards, such as the Smart Milk for toddlers.

If you would like to see the effects that different combinations of fruit and vegetables have on a Sim, then check out my video below - the pureed boot is not to be missed!

Let me know in the comments section below if you have ever tried out these fruit and vegetable juices or if, like me, you never knew about them!  I would love to know what you think.

Dag! Dag!

- Minicart (Jules)