Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, or Pets?

[Samantha]

Well, I always thought that my TS2 collection was as complete as it was going to get, and I was happy with that. In total, I have University, Nightlife, Best of Business (OFB + H&M Fashion + Kitchen & Bath Interior Design), and Apartment Life.

BUT then I got a debit card, and realized the joys of not having to ask my parents when I want to buy something online. So I was thinking about possibly buying another expansion pack off of Amazon as a Christmas present to myself. The issue is that I don't know which one I should get. I want one that will add the most to my gameplay experience (LTWs, careers, furniture, etc).

Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, or Pets (or any other that I may be forgetting)? Which one adds the most to gameplay for you guys?

Obviously, too, there's the whole Fun with Pets Collection with Family Fun Stuff (wut?) and Mansion & Garden. What's up with Mansion and Garden, BTW? I remember there being something in it that changed something or something, and made it difficult to install CC or patches or something (I'm very informed, if you can't already tell). Is it even worth it?

[Zoe]

Oh, I'm not too helpful with this kind of stuff. I don't really pay attention to the added LTWs, careers or furniture as much as I do the interactions and aspiration rewards.

I'd say that Free Time has a lot of new possibilities. You can sculpt, enter cooking competitions, get badges, get memberships to "hidden" clubs, play sports, and there are also some new instruments that come with it. But you probably already know that. 5 new careers are added: Architecture, Dance, Entertainment, Intelligence, and Oceanography. And 5 new LTWs: Become City Planner, Become World Class Ballet Dancer, Become Prestidigitator, Become Head of SCIA, and Become Hand of Poseidon.

To be honest, my favorite out of them all is Seasons just because it's seasons! Snow and falling leaves just adds a certain beauty to the game. It gets a little boring having the same blue sky every day. It also adds 6 careers: Adventurer, Education, Gamer, Journalism, Law, and Music. And 6 new LTWs: Become Space Pirate, Become Education Minister, Become Game Designer, Become Media Magnate, Become The Law, and Become Rock God. I also love the gardening feature.

Those are my two favorites, but the others also add a lot to be desired. I found that with Bon Voyage, I don't really use the vacation spots as much as I should because it gets a little tedious (although it does add a few nice furniture pieces--no new careers or LTWs, though). And Pets are cute, but I also don't use them very much (also some furniture, kinda retro).

EDIT: I'm not too sure about the M&G causing problems. I had it installed for a few months and didn't notice anything, but that was last year so I don't really remember much.

[LadyofShalott]

It's hard to just pick one that adds the most gameplay. Like Zoe said, they all add something new and interesting to the game.

Freetime probably gives you the most stuff with all of the hobby things (my personal favorite is the car you can build). I didn't realize it came with new careers or LTW's though. Then again, I have had it for a long time.
And then there's the secret lots and everything. Those aren't that great. They actually get really annoying when you have a person come over at 3 in the morning, saying you've been invited to a secret lot and following your sim everywhere until you greet them. The same goes with phone calls to order hobby magazines that come in any time of the day. And let's not even get started on the notifications that pop up when your sims start losing hobby enthusiasm.

Hmm I hope that didn't turn you off of buying it. It's still a great game and one of my favorites. It also gives you secondary aspirations which can be fun to play with. I think it comes with a whole new premade hood too, if I remember correctly. I don't play premade hoods, but it has some awesome houses that I steal for my own hood.

Seasons has to be my favorite though, simply because of the weather. I don't think I could play without the weather/seasons anymore. It strangely adds so much to the game. One of my gripes about Sims 3 now is that there are no wheather or seasons. (Slip 'n Slides? but how can you tell if it's hot enough to use them? And if it is hot enough to use Slip 'n Slides all year around why are some people wearing long sleeves and scarves? IT BLOWS MY MIND!!!). *ahem*
But besides that, it doesn't add much of anything else. Gardening, if you like that. I've never been able to keep my plants alive to like it.
Oh! and it also comes with Riverblossom Hills. It's been always one of my favorite premade places. I don't know why. I think it's because it's supposed to be set more in the country than the suburbs. Kind of like my town. ;D

Pets has always been another favorite of mine. I'm a huge animal lover anyway, which makes me think that's why I like it so much. The animals are just so cute! And then there's the penguins that come by and talk to you're snowmen (oh yeah, that's with seasons too... hmm i don't know if they would be there if you only had pets), and skunks that will spray unsuspecting nannies if they're there at the right time. And I love the werewolves, it's the only supernatural creature that I play, besides aliens.

I've only had Bon Voyage for a few months, but it probably adds the least. The vacation hoods are kind of fun, but I'm already pretty bored of them and I've only had two people go on vacation. I thought I would love the beach lots, but they're really really annoying to place, and there isn't that much you can do on them.

Sorry for my little very long ramble there. I actually never intended to write that much. ;D

I haven't heard much of anything with M&G messing up CC. It might conflict with some mods if you have a certain version that's not compatible with M&G. Inteen is one that comes to mind that you might have compatibility issues with. I don't really know though, I had M&G installed before I ever started downloading CC.

[chimerafifteen]

Have to say Seasons if my fav. ; but to be honest, I've got everything installed except Happy Holidays (pc issues) and I love them all !!!!
Sorry I don't post alot and real life has been getting in the way.... but I do alot of 'lurking' and reading here.

[Caitlin]

This is my order of recommendation:
1. Free Time
2. Seasons
3. Bon Voyage
4. Pets

I love Free Time the most because it adds the secondary aspiration and benefits (I think). Add with all of the hobby furniture and it makes me an extremely happy person.

Seasons is only good for the seasons. That is really the only reason I have it. I also like being able to have a garden and go fishing, though, so I can feed my poor Sims that way if I feel like it.

Pets and Bon Voyage are a waste, in my opinion. I never take my Sims on Vacation, and those damn pets always go on my lawn and dig holes (I actually eventually installed a hack to stop them from doing this, though).

[Samantha]

Thank you guys! Your opinions have been very helpful! I'm definitely between Free Time or Seasons, leaning towards Free Time right now. But I hear so many people say that they love Seasons, IDK. Depending on how cheap I can get the games, perhaps I'll throw in for both.

Oh, the Mansion and Garden thing had to do with SecuROM, I think. (EDIT: That might have been BV, actually. But there was something about M&G that was causing problems, I think.)

Yay! I'm excited for Christmas break now.

[Cayla]

Well I cannot consider Seasons considering I do not have it, but definitely free time. I use most of it's features without having to load another lot (like in Bon Voyage).

Pets is mainly useless unless you really want pets in your game.