Gardening in The Sims 2

 

I really enjoy gardening in The Sims 2.  It is somewhat different to what we had in The Sims 3 and now, in The Sims 4.

First of all from build mode you have to place earth dirt, one square at a time, just like laying a foundation.  Then the Sim can fertilize each square before digging and planting the seeds.

There wasn't much to choose from by way of seeds.  When starting out, a Sim can only plant tomatoes, however, once a gold talent badge had been acquired for the gardening skill, a Sim could then plant tomatoes, cucumber, strawberries, pole beans, peppers and eggplant which was the majority of seeds available.

Purchasing a ladybug loft will keep all the bad bugs away from your plants and having a compost bin allows your Sim to compost all kitchen waste, and even the newspaper, to use for fertilizing the earth next time you want to plant something.

Gardening seemed a lot harder in The Sims 2.  If you overwatered your plants, they would drown and die.  Talking to your plants kept them happy and vibrant, allowing their health level to increase, but this could only be done once you had a gold talent badge for gardening.  Once this is achieved, it is a lot easier to keep your plants happy but until your Sim gets to that point, keeping your plants happy is hard work.

There were three trees available in gardening in The Sims 2, namely Ambrosial Lemon, Ambrosial Orange and Ambrosial Apple, all of which can be purchased fully grown from the gardening section in build mode.

These trees need to be trimmed, which is something we didn't have again in future The Sims releases.  Trimming your trees keeps them happy and of course, as with all plants in The Sims 2, talking to them keeps them healthy and all plants then give great quality fruit and vegetables.  All produce can be placed in the refrigerator for future use and if you have a juicer, fruit and vegetables can be placed in there for a fresh and healthy drink!

Bushes, such as rose bushes, and hedges all bought from build mode would grow, spurting out little shoots that had to be trimmed.  This is something that we never had again in The Sims.  Weeds would also grow not just within plants but on the grass too.

I have quite a few little snippets of gardening in The Sims 2 so decided to pop them all in a video.

Do you enjoy gardening in The Sims 2?  Or perhaps you prefer gardening in The Sims 3 or maybe 4, or maybe a mixture of each?  Let me know in the comment section below!

Cheers!

- Minicart (Jules)

SEARCHING for the Spear

 

After returning to the elderly sim with the activated key, John is told to re-visit the tomb of the first emperor to search for a spear.

John heads back to the tomb and makes his way to the locked door.  He places the key into the keystone and the chain of the door breaks, opening up a couple of rooms that hold treasure chests.  John can see that the spear is in one of the treasure chests from the glow emanating from it.  Unfortunately, there is a fence that John cannot pass.

A treasure chest lays in front of him and so he proceeds to open it, hoping that this will allow him entry to the room with the spear.  Alas no, but two secret doors open, revealing two more rooms that John will need to investigate.

He enters the smaller room, checking for traps on the way.  After finding a trap on the floor and the wall, he places his hand in a hole in the wall which activates a switch, opening up a staircase going down, deeper into the tomb.  This switch also activates two more traps in the walls.  This tomb is full of dart traps so John must be extra careful of where he treads.

Heading down the stairs, he comes to two doors, one blue and the other green, with a plaque on the wall.  The plaque reads that the First Emperor always said that the path of the righteous is paved with jade.  As jade is green, John realises that he must go through the green door.  He also realises that the rooms have green walkways.  Obviously this must mean that John should stay on the green path to avoid the dart traps.

John makes his way through the green door which activates and disables a few more traps and also opens something else in a darkened room where John has not been before.  This must be for something else later on in the adventure.

John stands on a floor plate which activates something else but John is unaware of what it is.  He then makes his way along the corridor and up some more stairs where he stands on yet another floor plate.  This opens a secret door which leads him back in the small room upstairs.  He has come full circle and needs to sleep.

As he makes his way through the secret door, he gets caught by a dart trap and collapses (after walking around the tomb to find somewhere where he can collapse) for a few minutes.

Needing desperately to sleep, John makes his way back to a small camp site, avoiding the zombies as he goes, to rest for the night.  In the morning, he will continue his adventure.

- Minicart (Jules)

Willow CATCHES ALIGHT!

 

In the last episode of The Evil Witch of Dragon Valley, Willow created an inferno at the Police Station and then went on to the Bistro to see what mayhem she could cause there.

Quite a lot of Sims turned up to this spectacle of fire, even bringing their children and babies, which they left on the grass with a bottle while they jumped around, waving their arms in the air and screaming at the sight of the blaze.  With babies crying and children screaming, the Bistro turned out to be quite a mess of flames and burned Sims.  However, this didn't deter them from asking Willow if she would pose for a photograph in between the fires going out.

Willow, being an evil Sim, takes great pleasure from seeing others suffer and she tends to take her time with casting fire blast spells as she is very busy heckling other Sims and laughing maniacally at the suffering she bestows upon them.  Because of this, unfortunately no-one died so Willow decided to return to the Police Station to see if she will have better success there.

She casts a few fire blast spells but unfortunately no-one turns up.  Maybe Sims are getting more wise to Willow's antics and have decided to stay away.  I suppose you can't blame them really but I'm giving them too much credit as, whilst Willow returns home to feed her beloved familiar cat Tabitha and of course, the cow plants, a Sim turns up at the Police Station to do the usual jumping about and screaming.

Willow decides to go back to the Police Station and cast a few more fire blast spells.  A couple more Sims turn up, much to Willow's delight, and she casts a few fire blast spells at them as well.

I have said this before, if you live by the sword, you die by the sword and this could be very true in Willow's case with regard to fire.  Willow tends to stand in the midst of blazes when she casts spells sometimes and this time is no exception.  Whilst casting her final fire blast spell in the midst of a blaze, she catches alight.  There is no option to "extinguish self" and she just stands there with fire billowing from her back.

Is this the end of Willow Mendip?

- Minicart (Jules)