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It's time for your
Sims to pack their bags and go on a "Bon Voyage!"
These pictures are
exclusively from Simfantastic 2. They may
NOT be
redistributed
on any other site. You may however link to them or this page.
 Recently on
Friday,
July 20, 2007 I was lucky enough to get an exclusive look at EA in
Redwood City, California along with other Sim fansites. I was invited
for the second time (Thanks to Andrea and Angela) to this event to
get a look on the 6th expansion pack for The Sims 2, The
Sims 2 Bon Voyage. This time you will be able to do what your Sims
have always been waiting for, go on a vacation, or Bon Voyage.
Once you get to see all the details and great media that go along
with this article, you'll be dreaming for the release date of the
game. From a drop dead gorgeous ocean on a tropical island to the
high peaks of the mountain winterland, this EP has everything
needed for the perfect getaway! The Sims 2 Bon Voyage will be
washing away into your house on September 5, 2007!
-When viewing the images keep in mind they were taken by a digital
camera, and they were cropped.
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VACATION
DESTINATIONS
First is first; To go on vacation you need several Vacation
Destinations to travel to. For a start to access the
destinations you will be able to add any of the three destinations
from a base neighborhood with a new button in the top navigation
for vacation. You can choose from the three pre-made places which
are Takemizu Village (The Far East), Three Lakes (Mountain
Winterland) and the Twikkii Island (Tropical Island). You may
choose to add one of the destinations or add them all at once to
your neighborhood.
Takemizu
Village
In-game description: Combined with beautiful
scenery, serene locales, and delicious foods, the Takemizu Village
offers a peaceful and relaxing vacation for your family and
friends. Learn about local customs and history while enjoying
beautiful sights. Come stay at this tranquil vacation spot that
promises not to disappoint.
This neighborhood / travel destination offers a beautifully
designed selection of places to stay with its far east customs. It
also specializes in certain items designated for this area. For an
example most of the buildings include a brand new roof type
(Pagoda Roofs) for
you to make new sloped roofs commonly seen in the Far East, which
is why they are there. You can make these new roofs yourself in
Build mode just like any other roof along with many new roof
textures to go along with it. (P.S. You may also use the new roof
textures for any other type of roof.) Other examples are having
the ability to serve tea, there is a new shrine that you can make
wishes in (or even make things worse), and there is a new
beautiful Zen Garden that you can rake to help it progress and
even meditate on it. |
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(QUICK
GREAT FACT!
Usually when going on vacation you just take your family, well
now in Bon Voyage you can even take people you know with you on
vacation too!
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Three
Lakes
In-game description: Planning on roasting a
marshmallow under the stars? Or are you looking to try your skills
at log rolling or axe throwing? Three lakes provides the perfect
vacation destination for those who seek and enjoy the great
outdoors. With fresh air and nature all around you it's nearly
impossible not to savor every second.
If you're looking to travel down into the country or the great
mountains go ahead and take a tent to treat your family here for
the perfect place of activities. This travel destination is based
on the greatness that comes with the classic cabins and old
fashion places along with different customs and entertainment.
Each travel destination has its own interactions and different
behavior. For example here there is a new dance that you can join
in with a group called the "Slap Dance." Some other interesting
facts are that you can now actually sleep over community and
residential lots by using a tent so there is no need to worry
about loosing energy while visiting a location. Also you can also
dig from any spot of the ground and find "treasure" and other
interesting items (You can dig on any lot). One last thing that is
sure to catch your eye is the wonderful new creature that shall
come out with out suspecting it. Newly added to this expansion
pack is Big Foot. I personally did not get to see him myself but I
know he exists! So look forward for this great creature this
September! |
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(QUICK
GREAT FACT!
There are now many new activities for your Sims to enjoy
including axe throwing and log rolling.
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Twikkii
Island
In-game description: If you've never been to a beach
then you'll definitely won't want to miss spending your next
vacation on Twikkii Island. You'll be dazzled by the rolling
waves, exciting culture, and the world famous Pirate Wreck. So
come visit and take a break in a beach hammock, shop for some
stylish local goods or get a soothing massage.
This
vacation spot / destination is my favorite place to visit when
it comes to a tropical island. From the beautiful beaches and
the extravagant hotels, this island is the perfect place to
relax. One of the main new features that you'll notice is the
use of beaches and oceans. Now when you place a lot on water
you will be able to have an interact-able beach and ocean. The
interactions include watching waves, combing for seashells,
sunbathing, building a sand castle, and swimming of course!
Now for even more relaxation you know there needs to be a
massage table! Depending on who you want to massage your Sim,
the number of different massages and the skill of which the
person knows each one, changes the final outcome. If you want
your Sim to be good at it, you'll need to learn the different
types and if not just pay for someone else.
To finish the final aspects of what makes this island worth
staying is the Pirate Ship along with some other little
aspects. The ship is quite large located on the beach where
your Sims will be able to visit (not stay over). You'll be
able to do so much on the ship and if you don't want to do
anything then there is no need to worry since the ship itself
is beautifully construction. Also, what's a
vacation spot without some nice green nature to add to your
scenery? Now there are so many new trees and plants that you
can add to any lot and are even available in the neighborhood
along with other decorations to place across the land. |
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WHERE
TO STAY
Wherever you go, you can't get away from the essence that captures
you into a hotel! There are plenty of pre-made hotels in the game
along with a couple of ones you can place where you'd like from
the lot bin. They are not residential or community lots though.
They are what are called "Specialty Lots," which means the places
to stay. Unfortunately for some people you can't create your own
hotel / specialty lot, but there is always a way to get around it.
Luckily you can make a hotel but all you need to do is use the
cheat code to change the lot zoning and it will work fine.
As you know each destination has many differences between culture
and just physical appearance. Of course if you stay at one
vacation destination, for example Takemizu Village, one place will
have about the same general look throughout the entire
neighborhood. So it is not all mix and match so that you can have
the right neighboring places as well. Unless you change it
personally, that is the way it is going to be.
Getting
To A Hotel
Now in real life 99% of the time you will need to book a Hotel
before you go there. Well in the Sims world you can do what you
want. The only difference is that you will save more money if you
book before you visit and it will be more right at the door.
So lets get a look on how you are actually going to get your
transport to your highly anticipated travel destination. It starts
off all with a call from home. When you click on a phone there
will be a new menu called "Vacation." In that section you'll see
an option called "Book Vacation." Now once you've selected that a
new dialog will come up called "Trip Planning." Here there are
many different options that you can choose from to make your
vacation just right.
Here is how its
divided:
When:
This is when you choose the actual day you will leave your house.
You can choose the second you are calling (Now) or from any other
day from the week. Example: Monday, Tuesday, etc.
How
Long: Here you select how many days and nights you want to
stay. The maximum amount of days you can stay are 7.
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Airfare:
This one speaks for yourself, but it tells you how much you will
be paying to fly to your destination (P.S. There are no airplanes,
just a "shuttle" to get you to the airplane.)
List
of Friends: At first glance this may look like your
average call a friend dialog box. Well here you can invite anyone
you know to go on vacation with you, but don't forget to bring
your own family along with you if you want!
Vacation
List: Including yourself you can have 8 guests maximum to
go on vacation, which is more than enough. It shows you the
friends, enemies, and family you have selected to go on vacation
with you. Double check it to make sure everyone is there that you
want.
Now once you're done with that another dialog box will appear
labeled Choose a Lot. This is where you pick the neighborhood
(Vacation destinations) and then you can pick which lot you go to
that is available. Now a wonderful new feature called, Choose Upon
Arrival, lets you actually go to the neighborhood you selected and
pick from the neighborhood view where to go. This is a big bonus
so that you can get a more distinct look and feel of where you
will be staying.
That's it! Its time to go on a relaxing vacation! Once you're done
if you choose to go on vacation "Now" the van / shuttle will
arrive (with a different color per each neighborhood you are
visiting) as your Sims now have suit cases in their hands as they
walk to the shuttle!
(QUICK
GREAT FACT!
You don't need to worry about missing School or Work! Just like
when you go to a community lot, the time at your home stays
still, so the time you leave is the time you come back at your
home!
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NEW
FEATURES / THINGS TO DO
When it comes to vacation one of the first things to come
to mind is exploring and discovering new things all
around. With Bon Voyage you can do just that and keep
track of them. Newly added to the memories section of the
"Live Sim" panel is a new section called "Vacation
Mementos." What this section does is shows a numerous
number of icons that when you hover over them they tell
you what it is. If you have discovered something then the
icon will be fully colored. If you still have yet to
unlock these the icons will be gray with no texture to
them. However to give you a hint you can still hover over
these icons so you can find out how to complete them.
There are 45 mementos total and as you progress through
them you have an overall rank. The more you get the higher
your rank.
Also added is the use of a digital camera. Now your Sims
can choose where and what they want to take pictures of
and depending on what neighborhood you are located in will
change where you can find the pictures. In this case
instead of showing up in the regular snapshot / story
telling mode they are in a new section for vacation
categorized by the travel destination you took them in.
There is also a Misc. section incase you make your own
vacation destination.
One other new aspect is the use of the Collection Rack.
This is an object that you can purchase in buy mode and
place on a wall. You use this item to place collectables
and souvenirs on that you have bought at different travel
spots. Quoted right from the game, "If you fill up your
collection rack with the right combination of souvenirs or
collectables you might get something special." I myself
didn't get to fill that object up, so you never know what
might happen.
If you are choosing to go on vacation and select the
option to choose where you will be going upon arrival then
you will notice something new. For the new destinations
when you click on a lot for its details other than a
description there will be a price range of levels from §
to §§§§§. That will help you decide on if you can afford
to go to that place or not. The reason why it doesn't tell
you the exact money you will need to pay is because the
price depends on the size of the room that you pick and
the items that are within it. So generally the bigger the
room the higher the price, unless there are items of more
value in the room.
Once you are at your hotel and on vacation a new meter
will appear (replacing the age of your Sim) displaying how
many more days are left of your vacation and how long
you've already been there. Once again the maximum number
of days to stay at a hotel is 7 but it is easy as making a
phone call right after you get home to book another
vacation. So there is no limit on how many vacations you
want to take since they don't interfere with work or
school.
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CREATE-A-SIM
To add the finishing touches for an expansion pack there needs to be
new items for every part of the game, which includes Create-A-Sim (CAS).
The average Sims add-on game generally adds new clothes and maybe
some other things, but not new sections. In Bon Voyage you get both
of those. To make it easier to mix and match items and accessories
for your Sims, EA has added a new Jewelry section to the game.
Depending on which gender you choose there are a whole bunch of
jewelry including rings, bracelets, necklaces, watches and more.
Also these new items carry forward the option to choose different
jewelry for each different outfit you choose. For example you can
select a ring for the Everyday category, and choose not to have it
in Swimwear. Or you can just set it to be the same for every outfit.
This is a big bonus for custom content makers or for anyone
interested in having a whole bunch of items to bombard your Sims
with. One last fact is that for certain jewelry you can choose
different items on the left or right side of your Sim incase you
don't want the same thing or you only want one watch so your Sim
looks normal. Traditionally the game adds new clothes, glasses,
hairs, and other facial hair as well. |
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©2007 Simfantastic 2. All rights reserved. Correctly viewed in 1024x768
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