Oh, the hobbies! Hobbies to make things, hobbies to break things, hobbies to get more skills! Hobbies to share things, hobbies to wear things, hobbies to pay them bills!
Sewing drapes & clothes in the game seemed really cool to me, so I worked hard on getting Vampira here enough badges to make clothes. She got up to her silver talent badge and has enough enthusiasm for sewing that she gets "in the zone"--a white glow that keeps her focused on her task by slowing her needs decay. As you can see, she learned to make this sexy dress. When you unlock the "custom clothes" ability on the sewing machine (by getting a silver badge), it lets you choose to make something from your custom clothing sets. After you make the clothes, they're in your inventory, and you can set them out and sell them in your OFB (Open for Business) shop or click on them & add them to your wardrobe, like Contessa Kana did. Stupendous!
Many of the hobbies seem like they will be profitable enough to make businesses out of them, if you have OFB. Although I'm not sure how much time I want to spend making drapes. A car lot for a tinkerer might be cool, though. I'll have to give that a shot next. Overall, this xpac seems focused on one main thing: slower decay of needs & friendships, two things that seem to aggravate most players when they want their sims to actually do something other than use the toilet (Yeah, I know The Sims was originally "The Toilet Game." That doesn't mean that's all I want them to do). The Best Friends Forever (BFF) feature, like "The Zone," keeps good friendships from decaying so you don't have to spend as much time on them. I'm not sure if this makes the game more or less realistic--do you spend less time with your true friends, or more time? Hmm...
Anyway, something I didn't mention the last time was that the head of the tinkerer's club, Mr. Humble, appears on your lots to give you a special gift. There are screenshots of this gift in my flickr slideshow for FreeTime--view them, if you dare!
Aside from the new items that are included in FreeTime (which I really enjoy, as I love new items), there are also some new features, like being able to modify the terrain of your neighborhood. They also added Advanced Neighborhood Options (a little house symbol with dots under it that appears middle-screen-ish on your neighborhood screen) that lets you connect neighborhoods from other xpacs. I haven't yet tried either of these features, but they sound pretty good on the surface. Still longing for the day when I can have a text search option for game items. Ah, well. Maybe they'll have it in The Sims 3.
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