You're kidding me, right?

Oh boy. Generations came via UPS yesterday. Right on schedule, thank you Amazon. I took the day off to lengthen the holiday weekend and hopefully spend some time with my son, which I did. I didn't install the EP until last night. I sort of... forgot about it. My son and I were trying out Rift online. It's Windows only so we had to share my PC laptop and take turns. He has a MacBook and a crappy version of XP to run on the flipside. I have Windows 7 and I'm not looking back. Anyway, so we were doing that. A nice, refreshing, change from the immature, annoying atmosphere WoW has developed into. For me, Rift is more what I look for in an RPG so I might actually play it and smile. So far it's been fun.

Once I tore myself away from killing stuff, I installed Generations. Ho hum, usual install nonsense. Had to patch too. Good grief. Ya know, when you open a game case and there isn't a manual, even a small one, it doesn't bode well. So I guess I go nuts and screw up my sims lives because there's nothing to notate changes. There's not even a Prima guide, which also set alarms off for me. Hrm... I didn't play all that long since it took forever to patch and install the stupid thing, and it was late to boot since I was happily exploring Rift all day.

First thing amiss I noticed was my butler was gone. Again. Look, can we install an EP without screwing over the butler for a change? So I hired a new one. I don't even remember if he showed up. Then I noticed the age meters were not right. I found the new tab and adjusted all the ages accordingly. This is an option I feel should've been in Sims 2 and should've been in Sims 3 from the start. Is it really that hard to let us have a baby for a day and die a happy elder after 2 days? Who the heck wants elders around for 80 days anyway? I swear my sims never die. Cripes. Granny will scuffle around for decades and then I'm forced to... create a mishap so I have room in the house for another sim again. Elders do wear out their welcome eventually. I don't find EA's version of old age entertaining. Not in Sims 2, not in Sims 3. I'll admit to killing my sims off in adulthood, right before they age to elder, just so they don't have to go through it. And I'd rather have a young ghost, not a crotchety one. If the elders were wise and vibrant instead of hunched over and depressing I'd let them live. I don't play games to be depressed. We're aging better these days and it's a shame the game doesn't reflect that. My parents are in their 70s and they're not even close to being like a sim elder. Stop the madness!

OK, so I get past the tweaking and think I have things right as rain again. I decide to take my sims to the dresser to pick out new clothes because I'm sure new clothes came with the EP. Well, I was right, sort of. The ladies got a few cute items. A nice set of trail sneakers. A cute flirty skirt, some odd tops, and some "Mom" clothes. You know, stuff I'd wear. LOL That doesn't mean my sims look like Moms. What fun is that? Mine don't run around in minis and stilettos either, but you find a balance. There are also some more bad hairstyles for women. Helmet hair made the cut I see. Butch and Sally won the hair lotto too from the looks of it. Now the guys got a few nice cuts, surprisingly. There are no new shoes for them. Yep, no cool track shoes for them. They have a couple pieces in the wardrobe I'd use. A couple, meaning 2. No new jewelry or watches. This is all in the YA/A category since that's what age the sims I was playing are. Maybe the kids got a landslide of new stuff, but the older sims didn't and I didn't feel like going into CAS to look. I'll explore more tonight.

Now, let's get back to the dresser and changing outfits. I get done setting outfits for my girl and up pops a message saying she created a new outfit for herself and what a memorable moment it is and do I want to share it. Seriously? An outfit is a Kodak moment? You're kidding me. My guy got the same thing. NO I don't want to SHARE this! Who cares?! They did a few other tasks and memory bubbles popped up for those too. Stop it! EVERYTHING is like a big deal now. It's annoying. But if you want the really good interactions and "memorable moments" you'll have to catch those yourself in the game because it has no concept of what really makes a memory worth sharing or keeping. Lemme guess, when a toddler poos for the first time it will be telegraphed across my screen as something for the scrapbook. Heaven help us.

Gifts are apparently part of the EP. I went into my sims inventories to tell them to read books and eat fruit and there was an extra "give gift" option. Joy. I didn't try it. Later, when I care. My sims haven't started a family yet. They're vampires and have long lives ahead of them. I also saved their wedding for the EP to see if anything spectacular was done with that. I found wedding arches in the catalog, along with a slew of space-sucking, useless ugly objects I'll never use. There's this nice pile of decorative pillows. I thought, "Cute. I'll put those on the bed." No. Forget that. They're HUGE. They take up as much space as the bed. Gosh, they look like pillows you'd put on a bed or couch. There should be a warning on some of this stuff. "Warning: Objects in the catalog are larger than they appear."

Oh, and one more complaint. Why are the 80s coming back in this EP? There's this new... tux (I use the word loosely) for the guys and it's awful. Ruffles galore. Just get one in light blue and you're ready to head to the Footloose dance. Bizarre is one word to describe some of the clothes. Fugly 80s is another phrase that comes to mind. Ya know, 1985 and beyond is tolerable, but before that, no. The 80s were crazy. I have fond memories of the 80s too. That doesn't mean I want my sims to wear that crap or look like complete dorks at their weddings. Oi.

Really the only thing to get remotely excited about in this EP is the age adjusters. I was working that out my own way with just the one slider. Now I won't have to mess with it so much. I can program it the way I like it and leave it. I'm not labeling it as a fail yet, and I will explore it more soon. I just hope there is something else in there to float my boat or things could get ugly in customer service. The good news is I didn't bother with my CC. I just installed and went for it. It all works and is still there. No errors. No oddities. Have no fear for your CC.

Wow, I need to cheer my grumpy butt up.