Since the Sims games have always been "life simulators," and they had a dev team willing to do everything from science fiction through Victorian England, it's fair to say that they encompass quite a bit more than most games do, in terms of scope. Yet there are still things that never seem to be done justice, from settings to stories to characters... what are some things you've never really been able to do to your satisfaction in game? The one that springs to mind first for me are stories about wartime (since the military options in-game are kind of a stretch even for peacetime), but there's a lot more out there, I'd imagine!

Pet interactions are very lacking. We got bare bones on that EP.

It's RIDICULOUS that I can't put a computer on a counter (for set design/story backgrounds) with move_object on it should seem like you can plop anything about everywhere but even computers won't go on OSMP trays to be lifted to *look* like it's on a counter. The best I have ever gotten is to place a computer on a desk and then put the counter over the desk to hide it a bit so that most of the computer can pop out.

Other than that, CC has been a saving grace from everything to new objects, mod, and poses story-telling-wise that couldn't be done in a vanilla game.

@Charmful http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=550234

As for the Question, Diving and snorkeling and proper surfing.

That's why I was trying to lead people to broader-scope things that are lacking, rather than things that could be fixed by a mod (or seem like they could be, even if they can't).

Farming/ranching with related animals is something I always wanted to have in the Sims.

Delete roofs by piece. And if you delete entire roof it is practically impossible to build it back as you want.

There is a long list of things that could have been added, but then there is also the player's imagination. I have played the vanilla game for so long that I have become fairly good at using mine. One also learns to use the tricks of the game itself in many cases. Yet mods have solved most problems.

(I have a military hood. The purpose of sending soldiers there: to build a new radar station. No war, just needed because there is more planes flying from Sim City than ever before, since the mayor is such a great diplomat. So the soldiers live there now in order to maintain the radar station, while the hood around it is growing. Strict rules for soldiers: they have to go exercising in the park (using the obstacle course); they have to clean their homes themselves; they have to visit the military club at least once a week and they have to have short hair (males) or tied hair (females). Officers also have to train new recruits).

I do agree about the pets! They could have been and done so much more.

There a lot and probably dozen of things, but the only one I can recal is how cashiers/employees can't sit on a chair while tending a cash register... It must be a pain for them to stand in there for hours without sitting :/

A hack, with a computer's animation implanted should remedied half/complete of that problem.

I agree with Charmful, pets interactions are really lacking. Can't simulate what it's really like having a cat or a dog with the limited scope of interactions with Sims and pets, and pets and their surrounding. I also feel babies/toddlers were underdeveloped. I know they are a masterpiece compared to later on, but I still think it's lacking. Can't simulate a new parent completely obsessed with their baby, and can't really simulate parents hanging out with their toddler, playing. Yes, we have peek-a-boo and tickle, but that gets old eventually. And we can't have mum or dad introduce the baby to their siblings by letting them sit in the sofa and hold the baby for the first time.

Most things I feel I can simulate with mods, or pretend. But the limited interaction range with pets, babies and toddlers is the one thing I frequently wish would be different, because I find it very limiting.

I'd love to have TS3 pets in TS2. They really did a good job of pets with TS3.

They did. Also supernaturals seem lacking to me. TS3 did a good job with those, too.

Yes, definitely pets and supernatural aspects are lacking. Makin’ Magic is still my favourite EP in all sims games, nothing has beaten it so far (TS3 Supernatural is just not that). I don’t really like the alignment thing that limits witches; if a witch mastered witchcraft, they should be able to cast any spell and create any object with ease, and alignment would depend on the amount of good and bad spells cast, but it wouldn’t limit witches. I only know a mod that allows all witches to cast every spell even without skills, which I don’t like, and there isn’t anything that would let them create all the objects, at least I haven’t seen it. And such a classic spell as toadification missing? Very disappointing. I’d like fairies too (but better than in TS3, pranks are not my kind of thing), and aliens that actually have some powers instead of just different appearance.

Pets were disappointing too, there aren’t many interactions, especially between animals – play and sniff are the only positive ones. I would like pets being able to sleep right next to a sim, which would increase the social need for both the pet and the sim.

As for other things, I’d like scuba diving and mermaids, horses, farms... Something like the Superstar EP in TS1 would be interesting too. Oh and sofa beds! It’s a small thing, but it’d add realism to my game considering that I’ve spent most of my life sleeping on sofa beds.

Disabled sims. I can interpret low active points as this or that health condition, or introduce rulesets to simulate different neural states, all I want, and I believe there's CC wheelchairs and so on for staging storytelling; but when you come right down to it, all sims are identically abled, and they don't have ramps or wheelchair-width doors because they don't need them. It limits the kind of representation I can have in my hoods.

I think the complete opposite! I'd love TS2 pets in TS3! lol Though not anymore, I'd rather play TS2.
aaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwe

For me, it's body types. I know that there are CC body types but it's all FAR too much effort for me, with having to track down special clothing which might not be to my taste, worrying about skins being "showerproof", etc, and none of the available body shapes are quite what I want anyway. I really like the way they implemented the combination of fatness and fitness in TS3 and 4, and I'm a little sad that this will never come to TS2.

To a lesser extent, tattoos. I don't NEED tattoos but they would be a nice addition.

I don't mind the lack of disability because I'd love for there to be a lack of disability in the real world I occasionally give my sims a temporary impairment like broken limbs if they've been fighting, but only ever temporary.

The ability to mortgage property. It super unrealistic to endow a sim family several tens of thousands of dollars after creating them and have them buy a cheap starter house. It would be better if they started with very small amounts of cash and be able to borrow money for a home or simply be able to rent (which they already have to ability to do with AL).

I'd say celebrity is another thing that's lacking... there are professions (politics, entertainment, show business, etc, not to mention almost all Level 10 jobs) that would be famous, but there isn't much of any mechanism for the different lifestyle fame allows/requires. Unless you take advantage of glitches like the "Make Me Beautiful" glitch, there's no adoring public or the like, and even then, it falls short of any "real" celebrity.

This is has always bothered me too! The fact that TS2 Pets uses a country style theme for the neighborhood music makes it a very appropriate EP to include them.

Thank God we have Sun&Moon over at the Plumb Bob Keep and Rebecah to take care of all that!

That is what I mean when I said modders took care of most.

There is a celebrity cone mod (Simslice? not sure) I read about - I am not using it myself, but apparently the crows goes wild when your famous Sim appears

Transsexual sims.
Different heights for sims.
Ability to visit other sims' houses.
Ability to visit home businesses.
Farming. There are amazing mods/CC for this, but I still miss horses from Sims3.
Disabilities and sicknesses.
Dragons. Ok, it's a weird wish, but we have all sorts of magical creatures, why not magical animals?

I think celebrity would be hard to implement, it's certainly badly done (IMO) in sims 3. So I quite like that it's left for the player to decide. Then again I never played TS1 Superstar, so I don't know if that was done better.

You can't truly do unrequited love or one sided because the romantic system relies heavily on friendship. Sims are generally receptive to the advances of Sims they like. On the flip side, the system also makes love/hate relationships impossible.

I'm not familiar with TS3's celebrity system, but Superstar was really fun and handled well.

Booney, different heights for Sims can kind of work in theory. It requires using the stretchskeleton cheat and some SimPE fiddling. Although, of course, some interactions don't line up between Sims of great height difference. Short Sims end up making out with tall Sims' necks or collarbones... which is like... Eh. Idunno. Call it foreplay.

http://chickadeelee.livejournal.com/27149.html

http://modthesims.info/t/132248

Here are two links that might interest you.

Guess it could be used to have toddlers and children with different heights. Adults can stay as they are. No weird interactions, please.

I absolutely do that - with a spreadsheet. I'd like that in game.