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注册日期: Nov 2001
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 [发现] the Sims Unleashed...
on vacation后,以为马上就是the sims online, 没想到还有add-on...
http://pc.ign.com/articles/364/364890p1.html
The Sims Unleashed
Your little pets finally get pets of their own.
July 15, 2002 - We just had a chance to check out the latest addition to the Sims universe during out trip to Maxis last week. The new expansion, The Sims: Unleashed, finally gives players the chance to bring pets into the homes of their Sims. Producer Jonathan Knight says it's "something that not only the fans have been asking for from the beginning, but a lot of the people that worked on The Sims wished they had included it in the first game." And now they're finally doing it.
Jonathan describes Unleashed as "The biggest pack we've done in terms of the quantity of stuff we're offering people." Like all Sims games, this one adds plenty of new objects and items. But the new game is focused on two primary additions -- pets and community areas -- and one minor one -- gardening.
Jonathan began by jumping right in to the Goth house and calling up some transportation to the new community lot. (For the final, transportation will probably take the form of a city bus.) As in Vacation the whole family heads out to the community lot as a group. In the new lot, you can find the pet store and start shopping for your pet.
The first thing you need to decide is whether or not you want a dog or a cat. There are other types of animals here, to be sure, some of which even provide specific benefits (talking to the giant parrot is a charisma-building exercise, for instance -- anyone who spends all day talking to a parrot has got to be charming, right?). Lovebirds and parakeets and fish give you a little latitude, but the dogs and cats really seem to be the focus. (Puppies and kitties are probably better terms to use as there are no adult animals in the game.)
There are over a dozen breeds each for the dogs and cats. Prospective pet owners can choose between Dalmatians, beagles, French bulldogs, spaniels, rotweillers, labs, greyhounds or German shepherds, for instance. We didn't see as many cat breeds during the demo but we did catch sight of a little black Halloween cat, a Siamese cat and a few others. When you've bought your pet, you'll need to choose a name.
Once purchased a dog or cat becomes a regular member of the family, complete with an icon in the family window at the bottom of the screen. "You're not going to take direct control of the dog and fulfill all of her needs like you would with a Sim," explains Jonathan, "but she has these needs -- hunger, social and hygiene -- like everybody else. She has relationships with everybody in her family"
While you'll merely want to shower your pet with affection for the first few days, the trials of pet ownership will soon force you to take drastic measures. In other words, sooner or later you're going to have to keep them from pooping in the house. You could lead by example in this case, but since most of us can't seem to keep from peeing our pants at least once a day, we might need to take another tack.
There are three main skills that each pet should learn. Their trick skill enables them to learn cute or otherwise interesting tricks, while their basic obedience skill determines their overall behavior. Finally, the housebreaking skill determines whether or not your pet does its dirty, sinful business in the appropriate places. If you're far too busy, then you can even hire a pet trainer to take the burden off your hands. These skills have a practical use within the game but are also the basis for competing in local pet shows. Your pet can win ribbons in any of the skill areas and you can store these ribbons in the new awards cabinet.
As in Black and White, you'll need to praise and scold your pet accordingly. In fact, Jonathan says, "That's the primary way that you train them to behave the way you want them to." As he was explaining this, his dog took a poop on the sidewalk. Since Jonathan wants the dog to keep going outdoors, he praised the dog. (For the record, there's no San Francisco-style poop handling involved.)
Acquiring pets and much of the socializing with them takes place in the game's new community section. The neighborhood view has been expanded greatly to show 30 separate lots on a single screen. These lots are divided between residential and community uses and you can rezone them as needed. Community lots can contain any number of features and services from parks, to shops, to farmers' markets.
Like the pets themselves, the idea of the community zone reinforces the social aspects of the game. As I said, your whole family will travel to the community lot together like in Vacation. But unlike Vacation, the inhabitants of this new area won't be random strangers. Instead, people from your neighborhoods will populate the community lots.
And you needn't worry if you're only playing with a few families. "The way we're building it out," Jonathan says, "you'll go to the park and meet the neighbors. In this new, expanded neighborhood, you're going to have lots more neighbors. We're going to ship with houses full of brand new families that you've never seen before. We're going to do the Goth's parents, for instance." Time freezes at home once you're in the community lots as well, so you won't need to worry about getting laid off or losing relationships with people who didn't show up in the community lots. The only downside is that you can't save your game in the community lots
"We're really integrating the dogs and the cats into that whole social experience", says Jonathan. "At the end of the day in The Sims,"he continues, "you're trying to make more friends to get a better job to make more money to buy better stuff. Pets are a way to help you make and maintain friendships." That's as clear an explanation of the purpose of the game as any. As a result, the overall pet-centric focus in Unleashed is simply a means to an end.
First off, pets will help you maintain relationships and pet owners will see their own relationships with other Sims degrade more slowly. Dogs and cats are now also topics of conversation between people. If you talk about dogs with another dog owner, you both receive a big relationship boost. Conversely, if a dog owner and cat owner talk about their pets, they take a relationship hit. The animals themselves also get into the act: "If I pet Mortimer's dog and the dog doesn't like me, Mortimer's going to come over and slap me around and get mad at me"
The team has also included a few relationship filters so you can better manage your friends. As we've played the game over the years, our relationship lists have grown much too large. You can now simplify things by viewing just your family relationships or just the long-term friendships in addition to viewing all the relationships at once.
There are also new pet-to-pet socials as well that let your pets relate to others of their type. Jonathan let us take a look at one of his favorite moments in the game -- two dogs getting to know each other. Apparently smelling another animal's ass is a surprisingly enjoyable and satisfying experience.
Since your family will likely spend the whole day at the community lot, the team has made things as convenient as possible. Over 125 new items have been included, many of which help take care of your family's basic needs in the community lots. There's a brand new decorator set with a French Quarter them and you can find all manner of tables, chairs, fountains, espresso machines, pastry carts, and a host of other items to make your community lot more appealing.
As you might suppose, many of the new objects are just for the pets. Food bowls, catnip, dog beds, treats, chew toys and squeak toys all go into your inventory and can then be given to your pets. Larger items like doghouses, pet baths and pet gyms can be purchased and placed in your home. You can also buy scratching posts for your cats to use. Regrettably, there's no added depreciation to your furniture for having a pet (there's too much user-created content to possibly patch it all).
But the team has made a few changes to existing objects to accommodate pets. "Toilets are retrofitted so that if your pet is hungry or pissed off, they'll drink out of the toilet," says Jonathan. "If they find trash piles, they'll dig in them and spread them around. They'll dig up your flower beds if they're not happy, that sort of thing." Fishbowls and birdcages are also fair game for hungry cats, so you'll need to take care to keep them fed. Mice will also join along with the game's current pests (the roaches) in response to your house's cleanliness. Cats can help keep the mice under control.
The team has also added a new spiral staircase that...well, you know what a staircase does. In any case, the fans have really been asking for that one.
Unleashed is also adding "a new entry into the food chain." Unfortunately you can't eat your pets, but you can "literally live off the land," as Jonathan puts it with the new vegetable garden. Cheap garden plots can be placed outside of your home and you can use vegetable seeds (purchased at a local market) to plant crops. Jonathan planted a few tomatoes while he explained the process. "Over time I water them, I take care of them, I weed them and fumigate them and they yield little crops. I can harvest these." You'll also need pets to keep gophers and rabbits from disturbing your garden.
The garden also ties in to a new object, the pantry. This new object (which comes in two styles) holds both the seeds and vegetables for you. You can even see the items in the pantry once you've added them. The pantry then becomes a bit like the refrigerator and you can grab snacks from it as needed.
For the first time since Livin' Large, Maxis is adding five new career tracks to Unleashed. With ten job levels each, there are now fifty new jobs your Sims can hold (or not, depending on your priorities). Jonathan walked us through the first of these job tracks, Animal World. You'll begin as a dog walker and progress to veterinarian and eventually work your way up to lion tamer. (Little known fact: all vets are aspiring lion tamers.) The game will also include career tracks for working at the Circus or in the Fashion, Education and Food/Culinary industries.
Unleashed should ship later this September and will, no doubt, quickly find its way to the top of the NPD lists alongside its other brother and sisters. Look for more information between now and then.
-- Steve Butts
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2002-07-17 07:12
我照样会掏钱的
