History VideoGame / TheSims2

The expansion packs were named ''University'', ''Nightlife'', ''Open For Business'', ''Pets'', ''Seasons'', ''Bon Voyage'', ''Free Time'' and ''Apartment Life''. The next sequel, ''Videogame/TheSims3'', was released in 2009.

* ArtShift: Not the art style of the game itself, but the quality of the Neighborhood photo albums takes a turn for the worse after ''Seasons''. Whereas with the base game you had well-edited, high quality photos of all pre-made Sim families with [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sims/images/8/85/PleasantFamillyPhoto.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090217231946 each Sim edited into the shot with thought bubbles and doing something indicative of personality]], neighborhoods shipped with later expansions do away with this entirely, [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sims/images/2/2b/AspirFamilyPhoto.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090604024514 showing simpler, lower quality photos with the Sims all bunched up together in one shot]]. The stories of the later neighborhoods and the families living in them also become far less complex and less scripted.

** Inverted with Skip Broke, since he had a suspicious pool ladder accident, widowing his wife, Brandi.

** In the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube versions of ''The Sims 2'', it is very easy to kill your Sims. But a dead Sim is fully playable as a ghost Sim, and can barter for their life back from the Grim Reaper who hangs around a dead Sim's house. The contest of choice? [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext A fiddle duel]].

* PrettyInMink: One of the expansions offers a fur coat for the ladies.

** All Birds Are Parrots: There are five possible bird "species" to stock your birdcage with. Four do, in fact, resemble species of parrot. One, however, resembles a falcon. Yet it's still possible to "Teach Birdname to Talk" and "Play With Birdname" although in real life you would not play with a falcon without protective equipment, nor can you teach one to talk.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Many of the pre-made female students at Sim State University have crushes on Castor Nova, though he doesn't seem to be aware of this, and he doesn't have romantic feelings for any of them. It's up to the player to decide which direction his love life will go.

** Deleting Sims from the bin, despite repeatedly debunked rumours that it corrupts the neighborhood or even the game, is actually completely safe, though a bit wasteful as it's only a "soft delete" which leaves stub references to the deleted Sim in the neighborhood's data. Those "soft deleted" sims count towards the population limit of the neighborhood, which is 32,767 (due to the signed 16-bit integer used) since ''Nightlife'' but was initially limited to 1,000 in the base game and ''University''; trying to create more Sims in a neighborhood beyond that limit simply crashes the game. Deleting files from the "Characters" folder outside the game ''can'' corrupt the neighborhood, but this isn't something the developers intended. Properly deleting unwanted Sims can be done, but this is an elaborate process which requires third-party tools and mods.

They also came with an "Aspiration," an overall goal for their life: [[TrueCompanions Family]], [[ReallyGetsAround Romance]], [[OnlyInItForTheMoney Wealth]], [[PopularityPower Popularity]], [[FreakyIsCool Knowledge]], and (eventually) [[TheHedonist Pleasure]]. Starting with the first expansion pack, this would assign the Sim a ([[RandomNumberGod randomly-generated]]) Lifetime Wish, which keeps them happy for the rest of their lives if they achieved it.

** Sims have set gender preference, but they will easily change it if they are interacted in a romantic way by a same-sex sim. Gender preference would play more of a defining role from ''Nightlife'' onwards.
** Cinematic cutscenes would happen for great milestones in sim's life, such as growing up or [[ItMakesSenseInContext being abducted by aliens]]. From ''Nightlife'' onwards, no more cinematics were implemented at any point.
** Sims would be attracted to one another based solely in Zodiac sign and interest (like in the first game). Since the introduction of Chemistry in ''Nightlife'', Aspiration and physical and mental traits also played a role in attraction, which became more difficult (two sims with negative chemistry would constantly reject romantic interactions).
** Most notably, the three neighbourhoods introduced in the base game all included scripted events and text prompts in order to both act as tutorials and set the intended plots of the characters in motion. Those were never used again in any Expansion Pack.
** Some interactions were replaced or disappeared after the base game, such as the "secret handshake" greeting that two Best Friends gave each other. A player made a mod to reinstate that one.
*** A minor but similar case, the "secret handshake" interaction for Sims in a secret society in ''University'' (the first expansion pack) falls under the "Play" category. A separate "Gesture" category for "special" greetings was added in ''Bon Voyage'' and ''Apartment Life'' but the secret handshake remained in "Play".

* AerithAndBob: You can have a household with names like Bob and Chris alongside Ignotius and Aife.

* MultiEthnicName: The random character generator is notorious for producing townies with names like Juan [=McCullough=] or Kiyoshi Centowski (when the names it comes up with aren't just plain bizarre, like the infamous Goopy Gilscarbo) and having no relation whatsoever between looks and the ethnic background of a Sim's name. For example, the aforementioned Kiyoshi is a Dark-Skinned Blond with blue eyes.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Aliens in this game are basically regular Sims with green skin, lacking the PsychicPowers they'd get in later games. Also, it's the only time aliens are available in the base game.

** Olive Specter is known for genetically being one of the most beautiful pre-made Sims in the game, despite being an elder. It wouldn't hurt to get her to buy new clothes and put eyebrows on her, though. Sadly, although Olive does have nice physical features, her personality isn't exactly beautiful, being an implied serial killer decorating her home with dozens and dozens of graves. Even if she isn't a mass murderer as her storyline suggests, she's still a highly unsettling person. Of course [[EvilIsSexy some people]] [[FreakyIsCool are into that.]]

* TeensAreShort: Teen sims are shorter than those at the adult stage. Though young adult sims (seemingly about 18-21) are just as tall as normal adults. The teen stage does include all of puberty, though, and since the sims don't grow within individual stages, it would have to be somewhere in the middle of the range (so it wouldn't look weird growing from Child or to [=Young Adult/Adult=]) and is thus [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality reasonably]] justified.

* SelfImposedChallenge: Players have come up with numerous challenges to make gameplay more interesting. There's the [[http://legacychallenge.com Legacy Challenge]], the [[http://simscout.blogsome.com/mini-challenge-asylum/ Asylum Challenge]], the [[http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=335038 Prosperity Challenge]], the [[http://www.legacychallenge.com/apocalypse.html Apocalypse Challenge]], and the [[http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,2272.0.html Ethiopian Challenge.]] And these aren't all.

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''2'' is obviously the sequel to the first one, but some of the Expansion Packs can be argued to be based on or versions of the ones from ''1'':
** ''Nightlife'' is the successor of both ''House Party'' and ''Hot Date'', since its theme is socializing with either friends or a partner in an urban setting. Just as ''Hot Date'', it introduces a dating minigame and a Downtown sub-neighbourhood, although it can be seen as an actualization or a better version of ''Hot Date''.
** ''Pets'' is a better version of ''Unleashed'', with more complex customization and psychology of pets. Both introduce cats, dogs and small pets to the game.
** ''Bon Voyage'' is a subversion of this, since the main concept is the same of ''Vacation'' ("take your sims to a different destination on vacation!") but the execution is radically different: the EP from ''1'' centers around a resort and building family relationships, ''Bon Voyage'' on acquiring memories and secrets from exotic locations.

* NotQuiteDead: In the PS2 version of ''Pets'', Sims and pets can't die at all in any circumstances not even for starvation. Instead either a paramedic or a Sim revives the starved Sim or the pet.

* NotQuiteDead: In the ''Pets'' expansion, Sims and pets can't die at all in any circumstances not even for starvation. Instead either a paramedic or a Sim revives the starved Sim or the pet.