My Impression of Pets So Far...(and other stuff!)

By my mother's generosity, she gave me her copy of S3Pets yesterday when my pre-ordered copy had yet to show. So far, I absolutely love Pets! Not really shocking, since I'm pretty easily impressed (hey, a trait!) and I was a major fan of S2Pets, but I am seriously in love with this game. Now my favorite EP is tied between LN, GEN, and Pets.

Since I somehow got my game to work perfectly without flaw for the first time ever, I'm going to walk you guys through the steps I took before/during install. It'll be very brief, and I know the regular commenters know how to backup the game and all that jazz, but I still wanted to review so any lurkers who don't know how to do this will learn. Feel free to skip down. :) Oh, and I'm not fantastic at troubleshooting, so if you see a term or something that's inaccurate, let me know and I'll fix it:

1. Locate the Sims 3 file (User<My Documents<Electronic Arts<The Sims 3)
2. Right click on file
3. Select "cut"
4. Locate/create file labeled "backup" (or another name, so you know what it is)
5. Paste Sims 3 file
6. Load game (BEFORE install. This way, the game can create a new Sims 3 file)
7. Adjust the settings (graphics, display, etc.) to your liking
8. Create a new game (even if only a placeholder. I didn't save my new game, but I don't think it made a difference)
9. Exit game
10. Install Pets. Before installing, make sure to read the link in #11. If you will die without your CC furniture (not that I could blame you), hold off on installing.
11. After installing Pets, do NOT re-insert your third-party custom content, with the probable exception of  CAS stuff. More information on this here. 
12. Save frequently and have fun! This is more of a suggestion, but I've noticed that if I simply do all my saves by "Save As" (i.e. Appaloosa Plains 1, Appaloosa Plains 2, Appaloosa Plains 3) it takes less time to save and my game runs faster. :) 

So, now that the "instruction guide" is out of the way, I will give all of my thoughts on Pets. The ~*SQUEEEE*~, the grrrrr >:-(, and the "eh." Just to shake things up (and because I've already shown I'm in favor of Pets), I'm going to start with the "grrrrr >:-(" first.

Sims 3 Pets grrrrr >:-( s

• NO custom content, which I had ironically grew more comfortable downloading over time, and had accumulated enough of it to permeate my in-game project. "Oh, it'll be fine," I said to myself. "I can make sure the game works, and then slowly work my CC back in! It's not as if EA HAD THE DECENCY TO LET US ALL KNOW THAT OUR CC WILL STOP WORKING." If needed, I could always just start a new one, but grrrrr >:-( !!! I'm having my bitter EA gamer moment.
• No Twallan. I know that will be corrected soon, but...grrrrr >:-( !! Actually, this would warrant more of a :'(, but I don't have that category.
• No _ani mods. grrrrr >:-( !!!
• No mods of any sort. GRRRRR >:-(
• No in-game project. I'll have to start a new one, probably (or wait for a user-made patch to correct the EA patch that messed up the game for third party CC users). I know it's not EA's job to accommodate to us, but grrrrr >:-(
• Some of the new hairstyle and clothing options just make me want to *headdesk* and grrrrr >:-( !!!

Sims 3 Pets "eh."s

• The world is nicely done, but it's a bit hard to navigate at first. Eh.
• I haven't found any parks yet, other than dog/cat/horse parks. What about a park for normal sims? Eh.
• They also don't have a "Can't stand animals" trait. I love animals, but some of my sims may not. Eh.
• So far, I've been trying to adopt/buy a foal and it appears that I can't. Eh.
• They have a dive bar, a stylist salon, a fire department...basically everything that came with AMB and LN. And yet, they don't have the acting rabbit hole. Why, EA? Why? Bridgeport can't possibly be the film and acting base for everything, can it? Is this your passive aggressive way of admitting you made the rabbit hole too large? Eh.
• The horses have weird and awkward portraits. Eh.
• Horses are weird. Well, they are weird in the sense that they require a crazy amount of space, or they can't do anything. I have completely cleared a section of the yard and she still can't play with her horsey ball. Hopefully it's a glitch. Eh...and :'(
• Speaking of glitches, sometimes my puppy will play with his chew toy, and sometimes he won't. Btw, please tell me you gave cats a cool moodlet for the catnip toy and it just hasn't shown up due to a glitch. Please. If you want to fix this glitch *HINT HINT*, here's a video of cats on catnip (literally). So...eh.

Sims 3 Pets ~*SQUEEEE*~s

• The world (and the rabbit holes that come with it) look great! The homes are becoming increasingly more realistic. My favorite is the Riffin home. Not sure why, but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. The runner up would be the Single-ton home, just for how modern it looks and feels without sacrificing that Midwestern feel. ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!
• It's not an entirely lush world! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!
• The horses are adorable! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!
• I thoroughly enjoy playing as a horse so much, that I've somewhat abandoned my real sims for the horse! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!
• Puppies and kittens are adorable, and even cuter when they goof around! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!
• Did I mention horses are awesome? ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• Falcons and pygmy tortoises! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• Skintone diversity! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• Community lots I actually want to visit! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• Horse ghosts are at first creepy, but then become adorable. ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• The dive bar (which I turned into a sports bar) looks awesome. ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• It runs smoothly and doesn't crash! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• EA SP hasn't done too much damage so far! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• I don't know if this was on purpose or not, but the cashiers, mixologist, and paparazzis all had appropriate attire and names for the environment of Appaloosa Plains. ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!

And since I don't really plan on making a mini-series about the expansion, I didn't take too many photos. However, the ones that I did take are pretty darn adorable if I do say so myself! ;)

This is Cassidy Wells. She's a flirty animal lover looking for a man to settle down with...and give her 5 simspawns. Here she is wooing a ~mysterious man~ at the Watering Hole Saloon.

Get...

Me...

...OFF!!!

Aaand a dead foal. Here are my reactions in a series of emoticons: 0_0  :O  :(  >:(  :/  :|  :)  :') 

In case that needed breaking down:

0_0 - WHAT THE $@#@#$ IS THAT SCARY THING?!?!
:O - Is that...is that a dead horse??
:( - Even worse...it's a dead foal.
>:( - WHY THE #$@$@# IS IT RED?? WHY DO I HAVE THE OPTION TO BOTTLE FEED IT? WHO STARVED A BABY HORSE?!?! *gets shotgun ready*
:/ - I refuse to find this unfortunate "accident" adorable. It's animal cruelty.
:| - Still not amused.
:) - Aww, it's kind of cute when the live horse nuzzles the dead one.
:') - SQUEEE! Can I resurrect it?

And now for the "other stuff"...

-My cold is getting better! :) Soon I'll be able to return to the academic world. Joy of joys.

-I don't really like to do "advertising" on my blogs, but this project is awesome! I always enjoy Simmerville's projects, and this time, she's doing a project called SimBasic, which is essentially putting eight sims on an unoccupied island and creating a small town out of it. It's incredibly fascinating, and it makes me want to try it myself! :) You can find the first post here.

So, do you guys have Pets yet? Do you plan on getting it soon, or are you going to wait for a "patch" to fix the EA patch?

Happy simming,

Cheezy :)

*merrily goes back to life as a horse*