• Vehicles • Fashion • Recipes • Blogs • Hunt • Travels • Sport • Fun • Handmade • IT • Education
Mini-Games
x

x
zakruti.com » Humor, fun and entertainment » Lazy Game Reviews
The Sims 2 Holiday Edition is HIGHLY Confusing

The Sims 2 Holiday Edition is HIGHLY Confusing

FBTwitterReddit

video description

Rating: 4.5; Vote: 2
A retrospective look back at what I consider to be the MOST confusing Sims release: The Sims 2 Holiday Edition. All of 'em! There were a good half dozen or so individual releases of this in 2005 and 2006, so let's get to the bottom of all this Christmas simming silliness. All right I can’t put it off any longer, we’ve gotta talk about what is probably the most confusing release in the entire Sims series:. The Sims 2: Holiday Edition! Mostly doing this as a personal sanity check, I’ve been meaning to get to the bottom of this for years. But also cuz I’m taking time off for my birthday and Christmas as I always do in December, so this is just a quickly-made video to fill a time slot before I return and waste more of my life talking about yet another Sims 4 thing. I’d much rather talk about the most confusing Sims 2 thing! And I don’t mean confusing in like a “who the heck signed off on this nonsense” type of deal. It’s not a Sweet Treats or Batuu situation. No, I mean confusing in the sense that referring to. The Sims 2 Holiday Edition could mean. a whole number of things. Like more than I ever realized back in the day when it first came out in 2006. Er, 2005. Wait, wasn’t there a holiday stuff pack? Yeah that, but what about the Holiday Party Pack? No no, the Christmas Party Pack, which I guess is just a pack, not a bundle? Wait, these two are base game bundles though, right? What’s this one then, and what about the stuff pack? Ah crap, this other bundle also includes the stuff pack plus the other bundles? If that’s the case then what’s the Festive Edition? Ahhh! And if you’re like me you’ve probably confused one or two of ALL of them at one point or another, passing up certain editions because you thought for sure you owned it already, only to find out it was a different thing later on. An irksome situation to find yourself in as a collector, made even more confusing since every one of these holiday-themed releases were straight-up omitted from the official Sims 2 website just a couple years after their release. My assumption is that the holiday packs were only meant as limited time thing, but I’m just spitballing here. What I know for sure is that. Sims 2 Holiday Edition(S) Explained The Sims 2 released in 2004 to immediate acclaim from critics and players alike, selling over a million copies within 10 days of its release. And surpassing 4 million units by the following January, with a massive spike in worldwide sales across the 2004 Christmas season. So EA did what EA does and signed off on new paid content, with. The Sims 2 University and Nightlife expansions hitting the following March and September, respectively. But then they tried something different for that Christmas, a smaller pack released separately that wasn't large enough to be a full expansion, it was more like a pack of. stuff. Hmm, a pack of stuff, let’s call it a party pack! In what appears to have been intended as a one-off seasonal bonus add-on. The Sims 2 Holiday Party Pack went on sale in November of 2005 kicking off this whole thing. Purchasable either directly from EA or in a slim cardboard sleeve at select retailers. Though of course, they didn’t miss the opportunity to bundle it together with the base game and release. The Sims 2 Holiday Edition right alongside it. Which again, far as I can tell was also meant to be a one-off sort of release to boost sales during the 2005 holiday shopping season. But I guess it sold pretty well because the following year they did it again, this time around with an actual stuff pack:. The Sims 2 Happy Holiday Stuff. Effectively a re-release of the Holiday Party Pack in full-sized retail packaging this time, along with another 20 or so new items bringing the advertised total to 60 instead of 40. Making it even more confusing, there was also a digital-only Happy Holiday Mini Pack available to those who’d already purchased the 2005 non-stuff pack stuff pack, exclusively through the Sims 2 website. And following in the prior year’s footsteps, this also launched alongside a bundled edition in 2006, once again called. The Sims 2 Holiday Edition. But the cover differs slightly from the 2005 version juuuust enough to make them distinct if you’re really paying attention. And finally, all other packs you may see online that are kinda named similarly stem from different worldwide releases of the same packs and bundles. The Sims 2 Christmas Party Pack is the UK/EU retail version of the original Holiday Party Pack from the US, sold in a proper DVD case instead of a cardboard sleeve. The Sims 2 Festive Edition is the UK version of the. The Sims 2 Holiday Edition in the US, the 2006 one not the 2005 one far as I can tell. And it’s not to be confused with. The Sims 2 Festive Holiday Stuff, which is the UK version of the US’s Happy Holiday Stuff Pack and not the Happy Holiday Mini pack. Phew! Told you it was confusing! All that being said let’s start the dang game and see what this headache-inducing mess of releases actually gets you! -”Sul-sul!” And welp, it’s. The Sims 2 base game with a buncha Christmas crap added to it! Gameplay And Pack Contents And not just that, but items related to Hanukkah, New Years, Kwanzaa, and a little Halloween for good measure. But the emphasis is absolutely on Christmas, with a new Santa Claus NPC and gift-giving mechanics and whatnot now part of. The Sims 2 experience. Something I remember being excited about back then when I pirated a copy from Demonoid or Blackcats-Games or something. It was the first time I saw sims celebrating a holiday in-game, at least explicitly. There were certainly a number of celebration-themed items in the past, but the Holiday Editions, all of ‘em, removed all ambiguity and made sim holidays canon. Oh and to be clear, despite the crapload of Sims 2 holiday packs, all you need is the 2006 Happy Holiday Stuff Pack, or your regional equivalent. To my knowledge, that includes all the earlier holiday content in a single stuff pack. It also comes with this handy instruction booklet covering every new object and piece of clothing in the pack, and wow do I miss having this with every new Sims thing! About the only stuff not covered are the new holiday events, to the limited degree they occur in. The Sims 2, at least. For instance, Santa Claus doesn’t visit on a particular day. Instead he spawns whenever there’s a Christmas tree on the lot and there are freshly-baked Santa Cookies nearby. The Jolly Old Saint Home Invader himself then makes an appearance that evening and drops off gifts, so long as there are cookies leftover for him to chow down on. Otherwise I hope you have some use for a lump of coal cuz that’s all you’ll get. Then there’s the New Year’s Bash party, a timed event sims can throw via the telephone, bringing about Father Time a little after 8PM. And then at midnight, the punctual old dude gets transmogrified into Toddler New Year. What the heck, somebody call social services! It’s chaotic enough with one toddler in the household, much less a dancing baby in a tophat! Otherwise yeah, the rest of the content is a grabbag of gaudy red and green holiday bric-a-brac, enough to make your home look like a Michaels seasonal section after an earthquake. Trees and lights and stockings and garland and reindeer and wreaths, plus a crowd of candles for the different December-focused holidays. And if you’re playing on period-correct hardware like I am here, be prepared for that framerate to tank, there’s nothin’ like a forest of bedazzled cacti and pine trees to ruin performance. Also I have no proof that this weird dancing snowman ruins FPS, but just lookin’ at it I don’t trust it, and I’d like to accuse it of crimes. But yeah, while just over 60 individual items are in the pack, that number includes all of the individual clothing and hair items for sims of different ages. Plus variations on certain objects, like having alternate Christmas tree designs, frosted windows and doors, and slightly revised wallpapers that all kinda blend together. So it kinda’ve feels like less than 60 items, and the majority of it can’t be interacted with at all, but whatever! Whatever! I Miss The Sims 2 From a certain point of view, this was the very first stuff pack in. The Sims series, if you consider most of this came from that original Holiday Party Pack. So yeah, I cut it all the slack, it’s perfectly fine. And it brings me back to a time when I was eager for anything and everything new for. The Sims 2. The series was not nearly as greedily-designed and derisive back then, and getting new content packs at all was exciting no matter what it was. And hey, at least you got new gameplay with Santa and Father Time and New Years parties, plus having fireworks and party favors, this being their introduction into. The Sims 2. It’s simple but satisfying stuff, and I can’t help but feel happier upon revisiting this one. Especially since I’m so unequivocally uninterested in the current iteration of the game here at the end of 2023. Anyway whatever, that’s all beside the point, all I really wanted to do here was say how ridiculous I find this whole release of the game and explain all its confusing iterations. The Sims 2 Holiday Edition! There’s too many of ‘em!
Date: 2023-12-22

Comments and reviews: 19


Can't speak for anyone else, but I would honestly much prefer that LGR do reviews of old TS1 and 2 expansions/stuff packs or even re-review TS3 content than yet another TS4 expansion.
Even putting aside is TS4 actually a good game? and were the older Sims games better? arguments, Clint obviously has his heart more in the older games and it shows in how much happier he is here than in TS4 videos, and I think there is some value in going back to the older content with a more retrospective and/or critical eye.
reply

YO! I remember getting the holiday edition for Christmas and being so fricking pissed you can't use it like an expansion pack! eventually they did release a stuff pack expansion that has the content of this but then that makes this redundant.
The content it adds is just kind of annoying and clutters your buy menu so I've just gone back to the regular base game ever since.
reply

TS2 Holiday Edition was my very first sims game, gotten as a Christmas gift in 2006 by my mom who had no idea what it was or what she was getting me into, and this video makes me so unbelievably nostalgic. I remember reading the manual over and over and over again for HOURS at my grandparents' trying everything to pass the time so I could get home and play it
reply

WHELP. NOW I HAVE TO GO ONLINE AND ATTEMPT TO FIND THAT SIMS 2 HOLIDAY STUFF AND THAT MINI PACK CAUSE MY ONLY SIMS BRAG I HAD WAS THAT I HAD ALL THE SIMS 2 STUFF AND EXPANTION PACKS IN SEPARATE BOXES.
SO THANKS LGR FOR MAKIN ME A LIER!
EDIT: As an aside i like you blond santa with the giant beard. Also, why did that snow man have boobs for eyes?
reply

The other thing about the full Stuff Pack is that at least when I got it, it was 10 instead of the standard 20 for Sims 2 Stuff Packs. As someone who loves winter, it was a blast to plop down a custom snow ground texture and decorate everything all the time long before Sims 2 Seasons came out.
reply

thank you for this very necessary deep dive. i got the 2005 holiday base game bundle for christmas as my first-ever own sims game and it was lit but then i remember being confused by all the stuff packs after and probably convinced my mom to buy the same thing i already had. sorry mom
reply

Your party was a snoozer! Still a funny review, and nostalgic. I was able to run the sims 2 on the new EA app, which is insane! it didn't work on origin before, but now presto it's working. Slight annoyance though because I did install it one CD at a time.
reply

Woah. 20 years since the release of the first Sims game. I feel especially old I played the first one endlessly as a kid. I remember thinking omg we must've set the game up in the wrong language! , not realizing Sims just speak unintelligible Simlish lol
reply

I had a minor role in Sims 4 and the Katy Perry-pack. ;w;
Yes, I made quite a lot of toilet mazes and horrible ways to kill the Sims when I was playing around, but mostly I spent my time on the art and the animation, specifically limbs.
reply

I noticed one thing vs this and the happy holiday stuff and the ultimate edition. Santa I swore used to drop off gifts for multiple family members, ultimate does one, Santa dropped down the chimney but doesn't in ultimate. Etc
reply

Wow, if i saw all this nonsense on the store shelf - i would've thought it was some pirated mod item compilation and walked right buy it. How did they managed to mess up something as simple as a content pack, repeatedly?
reply

Happy 37, Clint! I hope you had a great birthday and a merry CHRIIIISTMAS! I have been binging your christmas videos the last week, and man. It was some of the best stuff to get me in the right mood.
reply

I don't know if you remember but at one point after Sims 3 release, EA gave away all the Sims 2 stuff as a free download. That'll never happen again as they milk the mediocre Sims 4 for all they can.
reply

LGR, i say this from a place of love and respect: i know you hate the sims 4 for good reasons, its warrented, but i do so enjoy watching you suffer through sims 4 stuff lmao. Suffer with us LGR
reply

10: 10 I'm very close to being able to say I'm in my mid 40s, which I'm pretty sure should be impossible. the steady forward march of time is more like a casual walk, then a sudden sprint lol
reply

Okay different names for different territories/regions/nations is fine, but I'm pretty sure the rest of it might be legally questionable, at best.
. but this is EA, so that's to be expected.
reply

Fun fact - for some reason for some people [me included] the Ultimate Collection doesn't include all the outfits but you can find them - look for Skell Repository Completer Asian set for example
reply

I didn t play ts2 until I played ts2. I love ts2 game. Makes me really see how much the sims has fallen. I really appreciate that people have made it playable for modern pcs.
reply

I have 2 Complete sets of SIMS 2 in a Rubbermaid box a neighbor was throwing away 3 years ago.
2 Copies & I think 2 copies of All Add-On Packs. Never played the game
reply
Add a review, comment






Other channel videos

34:26
Unreal Tournament 2004 20 Years Later: An LGR Retrospective
51:22
Opening Lots of Retro Tech Oddities & LGR Mail!
20:47
The First Dune Game 32 Years Later: An LGR Retrospective
25:47
Titans Sphere - The Failed 3D Game Controller for PC
28:10
The Most Unwanted, Boring PC: Dell OptiPlex GX270
32:14
SimCity 3000 25 Years Later: An LGR Retrospective
23:51
LGR Thrifts [Ep. 50] Richmond Superstars
27:22
Weird Old Computer Mice: Radios, Moods, & Memory Sticks
12:11
LGR - The Sims 4 For Rent Review
10:22
The Sims 2 Holiday Edition is HIGHLY Confusing