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First info I found from Hands On
kittana514
Posts: 1,413 Member
http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/sims-3/1067984-get-hands-sims-3-ambitions-4.html
How interactive are the new careers?
- I'd spent my time playing on the investigator, stylist and architect careers. The new careers are fully interactive, there are tons of new objects for each of the "professions" (as they are called in-game) for example there is a large desk to draw up designs for new houses and styles (architecture and sylist). For example, if you are a "Private-eye", you can break into people's homes and snoop around. Dig through their trash and mailbox for blackmail evidence. You will get calls with different job offers, for you to accept them.
What new hairs are in the game?
- There is around six hairstyles per gender (not sure how many with hats), most of the female's are shoulder or lower-neck length are kind of wavy. The male's are short and stylish. I like both sets of gender hairstyles.
What new traits are there - what do they do (description of them)?
- There is a new trait named "dramatic" which I gave my stylist, and she pretended to faint on the shop floor, which was quite funny . I'm pretty sure there's one new trait for each career, although that could be debatable. There's also an "eco-friendly" trait, with new recycling bins to put into your homes, and will get a positive moodlet if they carpool with other sims or take their bike to work/venues.
What's the new furniture/plants like?
- There are TONS of new objects for the home, including modern and stylish new lounge sets. I'm pretty sure there's about 3 new beds available. OOH, and there's a new laundry system. This is optional, you can put in a washing machine and dryer (or go to the new laundromat in town), and when your sim changes or hops in the shower, they will leave a small pile of clothes on the floor which your sim can pick up and drop into the hamper, washing machine or washing line (for eco-friendly sims). Should you choose to have a washing machine and dryer in your home, your sims will get positive moodlets for each time they do a batch of laundry. There's also a trampoline...which my sim fell off and hurt himself! .
How is the tattoo system?
- I hadn't played around with the tattoo system much, but Grant did. He showed us where you can put tattoos (there are about ten different places you can put tattoos). You can scale the size and customize them fully. I put a llama tattoo on my first sim's arm.
Is the Renovation mode good? How have they combined everything together from build and buy?
- Renovation mode is just like build/buy mode in my opinion, although you get either interior or exterior design jobs depending on your client. My first job as an architect was to install new windows and doors to fit the inside of the house. Overall I'd say the renovation mode is no different to the buy/build modes, but the gameplay is extremely well put together. Such as taking photos of your projects for your portfolio.
Is CAS in the game good?
- Assuming you're referring to the stylish career, CAS in-game is basically a wardrobe with your customer in. It's just like the normal CAS but you choose outfits and hair. My first job as a stylist was to put together a senior citizen's outfit for a new elder. I'd put a couple of outfits together, but having little to none experience and artistic skill my first customer had stepped down from the block looking like a clown; literally! .
Is Twinbrook a nice town? What style does it follow? Are the new rabbit hole styles more modern?
- Twinbrook is a huge new town, which had been flooded (if I read the town description correctly this morning), and is now half-swamp half-town. The swampy areas are very dank and misty. The other side of Twinbrook has brand new shops such as the Laundromat, The tattoo parlour and stylist shop and much more. I really enjoyed having a look around Twinbrook, and the place looks really great.
There has been talks about a consignment store - does it work well?
- There is a consignment store in-game, although I don't know much more about it. I didn't visit it. Sorry!
How does the self-employment work?
- Grant said something about going to city hall and registering yourself as self-employed, I don't know much more after that. Again, sorry!
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I also just remembered that Grant Rodiek said that your sims can "woohoo" in the time machine, and if a child is concieved it may come out older (or younger) than your couple! I thought this was such a funny and clever idea.
I like the time machine idea.
I like the idea too because we can now have our sims meet on another community lot.
The Sims Team really do listen because I have seen so many people including myself provide details of how we would like laundry to work in the game and they followed that.
"when your sim changes or hops in the shower, they will leave a small pile of clothes on the floor which your sim can pick up and drop into the hamper, washing machine or washing line (for eco-friendly sims)."
I remember reading that suggested idea from a simmer before...so cool!
I am so excited for this game to come out.
OMG YOU CAN DIE FROM METEORS!
Tidus said "Grant told us about meteors (and the new "death by meteor" ) and earthquakes. He showed us a small house fire (what the scale of the event was totally random).'
Thanks Tidus
Picture the scene: you're playing The Sims 3. A family member or loved one peers over your shoulder and asks "what are you doing?". What's the answer? In my case, it's almost always "I'm waiting for my Sim to finish work". Sound familiar?
Well this scene will be changing very soon. As soon as you install The Sims 3: Ambitions, the answer will become "I'm waiting for my Sim to start work".
It's impossible to understate how much this expansion pack could change the way you play your Sims game. I only played for a couple of hours and I found that the new careers, or "professions" as they're called in the game (to distinguish them from the rabbit-hole based careers) are extremely involved.
Of the new professions, I played at least a little bit of the following:
Stylist
Interior designer
Fire-fighter
Private Investigator
Inventor (self-employed)
Ghost hunter
During the 4 hour preview session in London, I got plenty of hands-on time with the game. Plus, we were treated to a demo from Grant Rodiek, the producer of Ambitions, who showed us some of his favourite aspects of the new expansion. So, without further ado, here's a little bit about those professions:
Stylist
The stylist has the power to transform your townies' clothes from threadbare to designer flare, their hair from looking like hay to "hey good looking" and their makeup... is also something you can edit in this particular profession.
As a stylist your Sim will have working hours when they should head down to the salon. How much or how little work your Sim does is your choice. You could just hang out with your co-workers, and mess about all day. Or you could wait for a potential client to come in through the door. During your working day, you'll get special assignments to make over certain Sims. These pop up like opportunities.
The client will come along with a story about why they want or need a makeover, along with a list of requirements. These might be something like 3 x everyday clothes, 1 x formal wear, 1 x shoes, 1 x accessory, new hair style, new hair colour, new makeup. That's not a restriction, that's just the minimum you need to do to complete this client's makeover. So if their swimwear was offensively hideous, you could change that as well.
Will your makeover be a hit or a flop?
So you get your client to step up to the new stylists' object, and you'll find yourself in something that looks a bit like Create-A-Sim, but with a slightly different background. It allows you access to change hair, facial hair, eyebrows, makeup, and clothes. There are also some extra hair styles that are only available from the stylist, including a really cute new ponytail style for women. After you've changed all the different things the client asked for, they pay you for your work, and off they go.
As a stylist, your Sim will also have a couple of new socials available to them. They can compliment a Sim on their style to increase their relationship. Conversely, of course, you can also insult their sense of style, which will upset them.
Interior designer
The interior designer profession does not have a special lot or rabbit hole assigned to it. You can join the profession by looking it up in the newspaper. After that you will have certain working hours when you are "on the clock". During that time, available jobs will show up around town.
There's quite a large variety of jobs that might be available, and they will in some cases link in with story progression. For example, a couple expecting a baby might ask you to design them a baby room. A couple whose kid just aged up from a toddler to a child or from a child to a teen might ask you to redesign their child's room to suit their new age group better. On any given working day, there will be a handful of these jobs for your designer to complete for a fee.
There are a couple of restrictions on the interior design jobs. For example, if you remove everything from the house, the game won't let you return to live mode until you've replaced at least the basic items that Sims need to live (i.e. a toilet, a fridge, and one bed space per Sim).
Can you measure up to expectations?
Before your Sim starts the redesign, it may pay off to get to know your client a bit. Learn some of their traits and you might be able to provide them with a design that suits them better. A computer whiz might not have specified that they wanted a computer in their new living room, but you know they'll thank you for it. Your Sim can also "measure up" the house that's to be redesigned. This is just a little interaction that they do, and it has no real effect except that it will boost the final score for the redesign.
When you're ready, and when you know your client, you can hit renovation mode. This is very much the same as build mode and buy mode. As with the stylist profession, the client will give you a list of requirements for the job. In this case, it will be a list of new furniture that must be bought. Again, this is not a restriction, it's just a minimum. The renovation mode also features a budget, visible in the top left corner, which clearly tells you what your client's budget is, and how much you have left to spend. Most clients will like it if you manage to come in a little bit under budget. Frugal Sims will be delighted, of course, if you have plenty of money left over from the budget. However, if your client is a snob, they will prefer you to go over the budget!
If you want to give your makeovers the personal touch, you can actually access your family inventory from the renovation mode. This is great because it means you can place down paintings, sketches, and any collectible items you've placed there. Or if you're Cyclonesue you can put a dirty toilet in the family inventory, and leave it as a charming gift for your client.
After you've completed your fabulous redesign, you report back to your client with a quick phone call, and if they're available they'll come home to check on your handiwork. They'll check it all out, and tell you what they think. If you've paid no special attention to it it'll be "ok", but if you measured up the house, and really got to know your client and considered their personality in your design, they will love their new room, and should pay you a bit extra to thank you for your efforts.
Finally your Sim can take a photo for their portfolio. If you have World Adventures, here's where you can bring in the photography skill, and the nice cameras, to take a professional-looking photo. Otherwise, your Sim will have to put up with their less-than-spectacular camera phone for this.
Fire-fighter
If your Sim likes a bit of adventure and action, or just likes bright flashing lights and loud noises, perhaps they'd enjoy the new fire-fighter profession. Like the stylist profession, this new profession has its own open community lot. The lot contains a fire engine (of course!), an alarm in every room, plus a bunch of recreational stuff for the fire-fighters to use when they're just hanging out.
When your shift starts, you have to head down to the fire station. You can do basically whatever you want there until your shift starts. You could even just sit around eating and watching TV. However, if you prefer to do something more productive, you could maintain or upgrade the fire engine and maintain the alarms around the station. Alternatively, you could hang out with your co-workers, or hit the gym in the basement to keep yourself in shape.
Whatever you're doing, when that alarm starts ringing you'd better get to the fire engine - and fast. Of course, if you're upstairs, you can slide down the pole to get back to the ground floor really, really fast. Well, you could just hang around a bit longer, after all you haven't finished your sandwich yet... mmmm sandwich... ok ready now, did someone say fire?
Save the day! And impress the ladies...
Depending on how well you've maintained your fire engine you'll either zoom to the scene of the fire, or you'll be overtaken by your elderly mother en route. All of the jobs my Sim went on were small house fires, however Grant told us that that there are plenty of other different kinds of fire that your Sim might get called out to help with.
Upon arriving at the scene, your Sim can start to extinguish the fire. Or they can take a few pieces of furniture first. Y'know, you can just tell them it was burnt. They'll never know. Once you've put the fire out, you'll be given a grade depending on how long it took you to deal with the fire, and you'll be graded accordingly.
And for those of you wondering - yes, you can buy the fire pole for your Sims' houses, without them necessarily being in that profession. I had a pole going from my Sims' bedroom into the kitchen. It was sweeeeeet.
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I'm going to cut this review off here, for now, because it's getting rather late and... wow look how much stuff I still have to write about... new traits, laundry, and three more professions, and "more", as they say. So part two, coming soon!
http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/BlackGarden/blog/view-post/post/17464/Ambitions hands-on preview - part 1