Last Introduction

Welcome to you all who have followed this four-lecture course. Hopefully, this course will have enlightened you on the playing of this game and has influenced your assessment of it or inclination to add it to your shelf.

In this final part, we will be looking at the following topics.

The Secret Society that I nickname "The Llama Club" following the llama motif on their smart blazers.

After University looks in detail at the new careers that are available with the right degree.

Inherited Concepts looks at what you have been used to at college comes with you to the neighborhood.

"The Llama Club"

When on a community lot, you will see various sims dressed smartly in slacks and dark blazers bearing a llama head motif. These are members of the college's secret society. They are so secret, you cannot even see their meeting place on the campus view. At times, sim students might want to become one of them and this is not too difficult a task. However, some of your dorm mates could even be in the secret society.

Just because you don't see them wear the blazer does not mean that they are not members of the secret society.

By becoming friends with three members of the secret society, knowingly or unknowingly, you will get a visit from one of the society members who will handcuff you, lead you out of the dorm or Greek house where you live and whisk you away in a limousine. No, you are not being expelled or penalised for setting off that sprinkler in the dorm, you are in fact being initiated.

At SSU, you are taken to the Landgrabb Building where you will meet other society members and find some objects that are only normally available as career and/or aspiration rewards.

After University

Congratulations! Your sims have left university and have turned from being young adults into adults. If your sim didn't graduate, you will have inherited a fourth fear. However, if your sim graduated, you have a degree and the diploma shows up as a reward object that they can place on their walls. Just remember if you move house to take it down. If a sim has the right degree, it allows them to take one of four new careers.



Natural Science, Show Business, Paranormal and Fine Arts are now different avenues open to your sims. These come with their own 10-level career tracks and reward objects ranging that include a very strange cow-like creature that can eat people but dispenses the elixir of life, a DIY plastic surgery kit whereby you can change your face in ways that makeup and a good hairdresser cannot, a spooky device that will help bring your beloveds back from the grave either as humans or immortal zombies to a camera that allows you to pose your sims in group photos.

Inherited Concepts

Not everyone has the privilege of a University education. Nevertheless, TS2U brings a lot of what students can do into the neighborhood as well.

Most interactions make the move across to the neighborhood. Sadly, it appears that "hang out" is not available here and is only a campus-thing for young adults. Also "streak" does not appear to be an option. That means grandma can't strip off and run naked around the local coffee shop. The other ones interactions do appear to have made the transition. This does mean that your teens can throw a waterbomb at grandma but watch out, grandma might have a joy buzzer and get her own back. You can always make up for it with a pillowfight later.

Architecturally, all the changes available on campus are available in the neighborhood. Multi-level columns and doors make their first appearance as well as two themed collections being medieval for your classical castle-esque designs and retro for your 60s-throwbacks. There is the usual increase in floor and wall coverings that are not really classified, plus more doors and windows.



A new aspiration reward object is a printing press that allows you to make your own "funny money". Don't be too greedy as using it too much can cause it to overheat and catch fire. A sprinkler might be a good idea to counter this and avoid the FDSC calling over on a regular basis to put it out ... unless you want to befriend the firefighter. Also, if you are burgled, it will be the thief's first target.

It might not be a good idea to advertise to the SCPD that you have one in the house either.

In your community lots, you can build gymnasiums and libraries but the difference is that you don't get to see your skills go up. You can build pool halls and your PC/video games store can branch out to also include the electronics stand that sells handheld games consoles, cellphones and MP3 players.

For part time work, you don't have to go to university to be a "barista" in a coffee shop or tend a juice bar. You can have these in your community. Also, you can set up your own band or perform on your own and with luck, the tips will help pay your bills.

You can merge households as you could at college. That way, several people can live on the same lot and not necessarily have to get on with each other. Another welcome new feature is for wardrobes and dressers to keep all of the clothes that have ever been stored in there, including work uniforms. In this case, Elias Selby is wearing what the late Ramsay Bartlet used to wear.

Final Evaluation

Personally, I believe this is an excellent expansion pack for TS2 and enhances the gameplay off campus and on campus to a - deliberate pun intended - major degree.

However ...

It is not perfect and I would have liked to see skill-learning on community lots in the neighborhood and the ability for all ages ranges to hang out and have a "group chat".

Architecturally, I would have liked to see spiral staircases and elevators (lifts) for those people who live in tall buildings. I would also have liked to have seen more textures suitable for flat roofs and the means to give different angles to your hipped and gable-end roofs.

Graduation Day

Congratulations upon your completion of this course. I have enjoyed having you with me throughout this course and I believe you are now qualified to evaluate TS2:University yourself and I hope it will give you an education as it has given me. In the Autumn, I will be back to review "Nightlife", the next EP for this excellent life simulator. In the meantime, I am going away on a sabbatical for TSZ. Will someone make sure my taxi doesn't go without me? Until we meet again. Class dismissed.

Written at 08:28 on Saturday 19 March 2005 by Andy.