Pets: First Impressions

[Ricalynn]

I haven't really gone to any of my existing files to see if they are completely bonked but I have been playing around in the new town, Appaloosa Plains.   The town seems to be full of houses with giant rooms and quite a few of them only have one bedroom.  All the space is great for adding terrariums, pet beds and anything else you want.   I'm a big fan of some of the things they seem to have added as far as decoration as well.   I've already managed to scout possible dynasty spouses and the lot to start from.   

It seems that most people have an animal of some kind.   The minor pets spawners are everywhere.   I found 7 birds, an iguana and 8 wild horses in my first day.  Wild horses run through town whenever they want.  Horses owned by townies also seem to go where they will.  I haven't seen too many cats roaming around but that doesn't mean they're not doing it, too. 

Starter homes are all most likely very big spaced one bedroom houses.  Some of them can be completely redone and have more than one bedroom if that is your wish.  Some others are trickier.   By far my favorite things about existing houses just happens to be some of the barns.  There is even one house (Parrott Household) that has a green house that looks like it used to be a barn before they threw up all the windows. 

I've been having a lot of fun and part of me just wants to collect every bird, lizard, rodent and turtle I can.  The catch, however, is that you can only have one of these minor animals per terrarium/cage/tree.   Birds will fly around the room they're in and if you put arches instead of doorways, they'll fly through them into other rooms before returning to their tree.  When you pick up one of the spawned pets, it seems to be quite easy to capture them or befriend them to add to your collection.  There doesn't seem to be anywhere to sell them so they have to be sold via inventory.   My only beef so far has been that the Blue-Yellow Macaw I got was worth only §40 while the amazon I got was worth §515.  Macaws are apparently very common in Sim-land. 

This is all I've noticed so far but I'm sure I'll have more to add later. 

What about everyone else?  What have your experiences been like?

[MarianT]

I just adopted a kitten, and adoptions are free! Of course, you have to buy a food bowl, bed, litter box, and scratching post.
I really like being able to control the pet. It's great to be able to send a cat to the scratching post instead of moving the post all over the house in the hopes the cat will go for it instead of the furniture, which was what happened in Sims2.

As Ricalynn said, there are several starter homes with big rooms. There's a large lot suitable for legacies/dynasties, and several single people.

[Metropolis Man]

I just created a character for an upcoming Arc Builder Lifetime Wish walkthrough for the Guide, Rayne Cummins. Have not begun playing him but started writing the article. I'm very excited about the new content.

[sosobaggins]

I read somewhere that in the 3DS version one could play as a pet and eventually 'adopt' a human family, is it the same for the PC version? Are there new LTW that came out with this EP that has to do with pets or a new career like a vet?

I have to wait a very long time before I get a new copy of the sims so far less for any of the EPsN so right now I'm getting my daily 'fix' from you guys. Please post tons of pics and start on some stories involving the pets soon. Can't wait.
 

[Ricalynn]

As far as I can tell, you have to have 1 Sim in every household.  There is a limit of up to 6 big pets(horses/cats/dogs) per household and it seems like you can have as many minors as you can fit on your property.  There isn't a vet profession and unless you got the limited edition, there really isn't a pet store either. 

[MarianT]

When creating a pet, don't bother with the "neat" and "non-destructive" traits. You can train your pet to have these. They get 3 in CAP and you can add two more. I'm not sure how many traits are trainable.

[ficklemuse]

I'm not sure how many traits are trainable.

My dog earned the "Playful" trait from playing with the balls in the park.

[folcon]

When creating a pet, don't bother with the "neat" and "non-destructive" traits. You can train your pet to have these. They get 3 in CAP and you can add two more. I'm not sure how many traits are trainable.

I should point out that "Genius" seems a little pointless too as there is a LTR that looks to do the same thing.

[Schipperke]

I created a dog and a horse in Create-a-Sim and was told they couldn't live on their own but I could merge them with an existing household.  The two animals brought over $15,000 to the household, which I thought was quite nice and more than paid for their equipment.  The relationship between the horse and dog was shown as "littermates".   

And I agree with MarianT about not assigning your dog the non-destructive trait.  My dog had earned that trait by the end of the second day, and I wasn't even trying for it.

[Pam]

I just created a character for an upcoming Arc Builder Lifetime Wish walkthrough for the Guide, Rayne Cummins. Have not begun playing him but started writing the article. I'm very excited about the new content.

Rayne Cummins.  Hahahaha!!  That's priceless.

[folcon]

Rayne Cummins.  Hahahaha!!  That's priceless.

I don't get it.  Though Evan Almighty...or whatever his last name, might work.

[samoht04]

I don't get it.  Though Evan Almighty...or whatever his last name, might work.

Rayne Cummins = Rain Coming (Noahs Ark, 40 Days/Nights of Rain) 

[folcon]

*facepalms*  okay...I feel dense for not seeing that.

[Xazeal]

Aw, I'm getting jealous now. Us Europeans won't be getting the game until tomorrow At least I hope I will. I preordered it, and just received an e-mail telling me the game is on it's way... It better get here quickly.

Ah well, I have the CAP demo, so I'll just play around with that until then. For those who have the game, are there any changes between the demo and the final product used in the game?

[Pam]

My first impression is that the pets are entirely too cute and I can't focus on my Sims' needs at all.  It's all about the foal, puppy, kitten in the house!