TS2: Seasons Preview
Gardeners World
I'd like to start this section with a quote from my Pets preview: "I have a sneaky suspicion that gardening and harvesting could have a place in a future pack". Was I right or was I right? :-)
Gardening is indeed here, and it's landed with a bang! If you liked that aspect of the Sims 1 Unleashed EP then you are going to love this!
In Seasons, gardening comes in the form of growing fruit and vegetable which can either be sold or used to create new foods and ingredients. Fruits such as apples and lemons can be grown on trees in orchards, while tomatoes and eggplants are grown in the ground. Sims can visit/join the Gardening Club, where help is at hand to get them started and to develop their skills and reap rewards from the fruits of their labour.
Keen gardener Sims will earn skills from doing what they love to build up a gardening Skill Badge, similar to those from Open for Business (bronze, silver and gold). Having greater skills in gardening will result in less time tending plants and better yields (and better resale value) from your crops.
Greenhouses are a new build mode tool with which you can build with three colors of glass wall and roof, to any size and shape you desire (seen here in environmentally friendly green). Planting in greenhouses increases the window of opportunity for growing crops and gives better results than growing outdoors, but they are an investment too as they aren't a cheap option.
I mentioned earlier while explaining the Fall season that leaves could be composted, and this is where that pays off. Composting ground before you plant in it greatly improves the growing conditions. Plants need to be tended to, watered, sometimes sprayed with pesticide and ultimately harvested too, before you can reap the rewards of your labor.
Planting should be done during certain Seasons. Learning the art of gardening includes planting and harvesting at the right times, which greatly affect the quality of the ingredients produced. The nutritional value of veg is explained in the next section, but suffice to say that a little time spent getting dirty hands will pay off for your Sims in many ways!
Sprinklers are also a great way to reduce work and can be purchased as either 90, 180 or 360 degree varieties. You place these in such a way that the surrounding plants will be watered (a perimeter marker appears when moving them in Buy Mode).
As sprinklers spin, spraying their goodness around the garden, the recognisable psst, psst, psst sound of spraying water can be heard on the Lot! Granny here is trying to tend the plants while they are running, which isn't her best idea of the day!
I think kids and animals can also play in them, but time didn't allow for me to fully investigate!
Once harvest time comes around, Sims will gather up goods which then appear in their personal inventories. These can be moved to the 'fridge or new food items later.
Once harvesting is complete, although the Seasons might force some plants to die back, they should spring to life again to bear more fruits in future.
From what I could gather though, the hired gardener will not tend these food bearing plants, but the final release version will reveal all!
Gone Fishing!
Fishing in Seasons seemed to me to be an entire science of its own! I have to admit that I'm no fisherman, so choosing lures and casting off was a new experience for me, but these are things you must to be successful by the pond.
Like gardening, Fishing has its own Talent badge which you can earn as you improve your fishing skills. I did manage to catch a Bass which I cooked up later to provide the screenshot used further below, but I also pulled out an old boot, which was mounted on a plaque and hung on the wall in the house :-)
As your skills improve, more lures become available and bigger and better fish will be caught.
Food & Drink
There are some new foods in Seasons, which are created as a result of gardening and harvesting. I mentioned before that when gathering foods they are put into a Sims inventory, and as you can see here, you will then have the option of stocking these in the new Juicer, or in the family fridge. Here I had a collection of tomatoes and eggplants after harvesting my test garden!
I mentioned too that leftovers could be stored in the fridge and reused, and there is also the new "Perfect Packets" Hot Chocolate Maker to help warm your Simmies when returning from the cold, winter air. Kids cannot use this machine, but they can gain the benefits from the drinks it produces.
Juice
Ahh. The juicer! This was a very late in the day find for me which held some very pleasant surprises! The fruit and veg which you harvest can be used in this machine to make new drinks and juices. These can be combined in different types and quantities to create some special blends!
Apples and lemons can be combined to make a special lemonade for example, but better still, certain juices have bonus effects for Sim activities.
Sim kids drinking apple juice will have a short period of boosted study time, and if you can harvest some top quality crops you may be able to create uber juice!
The dev's kept most of the juice details close to their chests, so when the first Seasons developer chat comes around, ask them for more info on them.
Tell them Steve sent 'ya!
The vegetables that your Sims can grow are considered "fresh produce" and will help create better meals for your family. If your fridge is stocked with fresh goods it means that the dishes your Sims make from them will have glittering stars around the plates, like the one our granny is eating here. This denotes that it's a fresh meal, and the hunger rewards are much higher than usual.
Just another example of the benefits of growing home produce!
Fish
Fish can be caught in ponds and can be used to stock the fridge for cooking meals (or sold). If your fridge has a supply of fish (there are several varieties, but I only had time to catch Bass), you will be given more options to use them when cooking and barbecuing.
As you can see here, my Simmie had the opportunity to prepare himself Stuffed Bass, a new and very generous meal in terms of hunger reward (if it's cooked properly.. mine burned).
I also cooked some fresh fish on the BBQ. Shrimp I think.. I clearly failed to take any notes on that :-(