The game is as unplayable with hacks as without? That doesn't make much sense.

Given, there are a few problems with the Sims.

First being, it is absurdly easy.

Sims 1 IS hard. Money isn't as common and sims were harder to ballance.

In Sims 2, money is so easy to aquire that there is hardly any reason to work at anything. And what point is there at working anyways? Items don't progress as evenly as they did in the Sims 1... the starting items are almost as good as the longterm items. (Only the cars and beds have signifigant differences).

The only "hard" part of the Sims2 is meeting certain aspirations. In the beginning, aspirations are easy as hell, but they become harder and harder to get as the 'easy' ones stop appearing and ones you have to work on start.

Second problem comes from the original sims, Turning off Freewill. Freewill is the most useful and annoying aspect of the game. It's great because you don't have to do all those menial tasks for them (go to the bathroom, take a shower, go to sleep, reiniciate conversation) but it gets REALLY annoying when directing multiple sims (although, it is equally annoying when it is off). With Freewill on, Sims have the ability to sortof ignore your commands... or reiniciate the one you just cancelled. Then there is that Drum Set... after I bought one, many of my sims would continually "preform" even if other meters were dropping. (Of course, a sim in a bad mood would 'preform' at will, but I can't instruct him too [skill building and all]) Particularly annoying is my sims refuse to listen to the radio or watch tv (they only need to COMPLETE the action you request... not do it for an extended period of time). This gets EXPECALLY annoying when dealing with the common "there's only one bathroom" situation.

If you have three or more people needing to use the bathroom, Freewill allows them to charge in as long as no one is using it. Also, if someone is using it, freewill allows people to wait by, and block, doorways. Either you can build another bathroom to decongest it, or turn off free will and have everyone wait their turn.

Also, for being so "advanced" I really hate that the sims2 uses the sims 1 grid system, let alone that items can only be rotated in 90deg angles. It's not that grids are bad, but the size of the grid is alittle absurd.

And the Sims 2 STILL doesn't have any ingame reason for using some of the more, expensive, items. Painting walls seems to be purely astetic, with no effect on the sim at all... I mean, many 'things' are just driven by the designer inside the player... but the game offers little to support it. There isn't even a set color palete on anything. It's like EA went out of it's way to muck things up. (I mean, how hard is it to have the colors look similar?). You have to admit that many items are designer oriented, but there is little use for ton's of items if they contrast so sharply with the room.

And more so, why did EA come out with a game that is a DOWNGRADE of it's original? The Sims2 should have come out where Sims 1 left off (meaning Sims1 with all the expansions) and with many of the items Sims 1 had (I really hate the lack of a propper dinning table) instead, EA made Sims 2 like the base Sims 1 and began making the expansions they already made for Sims 1. (Additional note, most of the data in the expansions is just music. WTF.)

(Did I just make a rant? sigh...)

The point is Sims 2 is easier than Sims 1, so easy, that it defies the need for hacks. (Only 'real' issue is ageing, and my only problem with it is the time... it should take longer to age. Others just don't like it but... well.)

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