The Lawson Legacy: Generation 8.4
Last time, the generation eight kids all managed to survive their teens with their sanity reasonably intact. And now for university...
As always, we start with a round-up of how everyone looks as a young adult. Huw turns out really quite well, especially given his not-so-appealing beginnings.
Helena is gorgeous - and not as naked as this picture suggests ;) She's wearing a strapless dress, promise! If I named a runner-up to heir, it would have to be Helena. She's pretty and fiesty... but she's very similar to Grace in appearance.
Harrison's a good looking young adult. His colouring works very nicely and he has great bone structure.
And finally, the generation eight heir: Hunter. It was pretty much a given from the moment he became a teen. He's ridiculously pretty, the combination of s3 skintone, grey eyes and red hair works brilliantly... and his nine neat points make him a true Lawson. Oh, and he's a romance sim. They're my favourites ;)
The first of their dormmates is a familiar face: Dickson Ebadi, last seen fighting Guillaume several times a day when the seventh gen kids were at uni.
The second is Clay Mendoza, another young adult who has been seen around the legacy from time to time. He's actually good friends with the kids' mother.
Dustin Barrie hasn't been seen before. He has fantastic genetics, but none of the boys find him at all attractive.
(As an aside, seeing this picture again, I was horrified because I thought I'd taken it with the walls down. Except that's the pool table, innit? *facepalm*)
The final dormie is Chaz Appleby. With that name, I just had to give him a surfer look.
Harrison approves.
And so do Hunter and Huw. This could get interesting...
The kids head out for their first community lot excursion, and Hunter turns the head of Tyrone Reikiate, last seen wooing Gaius. He and Hunter have three bolts of chemistry.
Moments later, it's Grayson Jitmakusol who is caught under Hunter's floppy-haired spell. Grayson was Fiyero's first kiss, so he takes it back another generation ;)
It turns out that Dickson doesn't only hate Guillaume. He hates pretty much everyone.
The cow mascot isn't much better. Poor Harrison doesn't deal well with conflict.
Chaz heads into the photo booth. Which of the three Lawson boys has he chosen?
Ah, good choice, Chaz. If you end up with an heir, you get a proper life. If you end up with a spare, you rot in an unplayed house until your death. Pleasant, right?
And so Hunter loses his v-card. He's a romance sim, so I doubt this'll be the last time he uses a photo booth for a purpose other than it was intended.
Did I mention that these guys have three bolts of chemistry as well? After so many generations where I've struggled to find partners for my heirs with two bolts, Hunter has three with seemingly half the male population of Sim State University.
Speaking of, meet Timmy Justice. He has a cool name, and he's another three-bolter. Right now he's talking to Huw, but stay tuned.
Huw's lack of nice points is starting to show. I doubt he cares.
Back to Timmy! Hunter invites him over to the dorm for a date.
Geez I love the strutting walk that romance sims do when they're moving in for the kill.
It's a dream date (of course). Timmy is extremely pretty, so he goes on The List. It's just a pity about those eyes. It took a couple of generations to breed out those weird black chunks after Abbey brought them into the legacy.
Another night, another outing. As a romance sim, Hunter is more interested in dates than homework, so he sticks to turning up at class (usually) and befriending his professors to boost his marks.
This is Ashley Pitts, one of the playable frat boys, and he's yet another three-bolter. They have a date on the lot, but it won't go any further than that.
Self-sim spotting! I was amused when she dashed up to admire Hunter.
Lying on a bed and talking about lubrication can only mean one thing ;)
They're quite a sweet couple, really. Apart from the fact that Hunter has zero interest in settling down just yet.
Dickson's not the only person in the dorm with a temper. Helena doesn't like the look of his face.
He doesn't much fancy hers, either.
Well that was inevitable.
Woohoo! Go Helena! I was expecting her to get her butt kicked, given that I have the fight club hack installed and Dickson has a lot more fighting experience.
At least she just fought him to sleep, not to death. She'll leave that kind of thing to Germanicus.
Semester two of the kids' freshman year begins and they all celebrate by heading out on another outing. This is Wilder Matsumoto and he has - you guessed it - three bolts with Hunter! He's also pretty cute, and I miss having brown haired Lawsons.
Tiffany Sampson is the poor sucker who the Lawsons always spy on through their telescope. Hunter's not a big fighter compared to the blonds of the generation, but he doesn't like being poked.
Well, not in that sense, anyway.
First dormie pass-out of the generation and it's Chaz who takes the honours.
Harrison was still rolling wishes about his teen snog, Mark Trimble. Mark has been dating Lawson teens since at least the D-Generation, so I thought it was about time he made it to university. And so Harrison invites him over...
...and he turns into this appalling thing. I have so few original Maxis sims in game, that I completely forgot about the broken face templates. What an unpleasant surprise.
Meanwhile, Hunter is out on yet another manhunt. Cowboy dude here catches his eye...
...while Hunter catches the eye of Marco Schmidt, one of Fiyero's exes. You guessed it: three bolts.
Back at the dorm, and it seems that Harrison is a lot less shallow than I am. Either that or he's just feeling desperate.
Apparently it's the former. I have to say, it's kind of cute when teen crushes turn into adult loves.
Downtown, Hunter is admired by someone he doesn't share three bolts with, for a change. It's a pity the grand vampires wear outerwear. Contessa Opal Cameron looks a bit stupid in that jacket.
Not to be outdone by Harrison, Helena decides to invite her teen girlfriend over for a visit.
Aged up, Elizabeth looks much the same (unlike Mark *cough*). Very pretty.
With Elizabeth finally legal, she and Helena don't waste any time.
I'm glad your first time was good for you, guys, but can you quit it with the scary eyes, Helena?
You know a romance sim really likes a guy when he starts to fear getting engaged to him. You know he really likes him if he actually wants to as well.
I don't really blame him. Chaz is pretty damn cute.
ROGERRRRRR! Legacy mascot, reporting for business!
I see the unsavoury charlatan for the first time in my game, and he's missing his moustache :( I googled, but couldn't find an explanation. If anyone knows what might cause it (hack conflict, presumably), please let me know!
For some reason, Dustin mysteriously moves out of the dorm. He's still alive and well - he just got sick of the Lawsons, I guess.
Helena's a family sim, so one woohoo in a photo booth and she's ready for marriage.
Hunter and the Contessa got on brilliantly when they met downtown, so he invites her over for a visit. More family friends can never go astray.
Cheek-kissing a vampire in greeting seems a little dangerous.
I've had this game for a million years and this is the first time I've seen a vampire turn into a bat.
Hunter is completely unphased by Opal's scare tactics.
And then this happens.
And this.
And this.
And, rather inevitably, this.
Meet the first ever supernatural Lawson. He makes a damn hot vampire, yes?
Unfortunately, the downside to vampirism is frying one the way to class.
Sophomore year begins, and Hunter is still trying to work out that whole sun = bad thing.
He has his fierce look down pat, however.
In case you were wondering, dorm life continues as always, with Helena and Dickson providing much of the entertainment.
Dustin's replacement is Thomas Stuckey, and he's super cute. Unfortunately, not one of the boys agrees with me.
Sophomore year means more dormie pass-outs.
Harrison is fond of pranks. Thomas is not as enamoured of them.
I find it interesting that Harrison's response to Hunter becoming a vampire is to want to join him, while Helena and Huw are terrified of doing so. At first, I thought it was because Harrison's a pleasure sim, just like the grand vampires. But Huw's a pleasure sim too - and with fewer nice points - so perhaps it's a twin thing. I hope so, because that makes me happy.
You know you've reached a certain point in university when the dormies start passing out in piles.
After happily spending her first two semesters fighting with Dickson, on an outing to the campus gym, Helena suddenly decides that it's Harrison whom she really hates.
Hunter's too busy getting romantic with Chaz to notice.
Harrison has just as few nice points as Helena (three), so he's not about to take her crap.
...And it turns into a fight. I'm a little stunned. The Lawsons often fight with outsiders, but they don't usually turn on their own!
Helena wins, which is no surprise at all.
Hunter spots Roger at a skating rink. I'm desperate to get Roger into the family somehow, but the H-generation boys are just as uninterested as all those before them.
Being a vampire is fine, but apparently being a witch would be taking things a step too far. (Please note the romance sim still wanting to get engaged...)
Once the sibling fighting begins, it doesn't stop. Ever. The dorm is one continuous dust cloud these days.
And then suddenly Chaz keels over beside the mailbox.
Normally dormies are expendable, but in Hunter's mind, this one is not.
In another first for the legacy, Hunter pleads with Grimmy... and wins.
It must be love, because he almost turns to dust in doing so. He was seconds away from making the ultimate sacrifice.
Apparently spending your life attacking your younger brother doesn't yield a great reputation ;)
And, on that note, we leave Hunter to his coffin, and the rest of the Lawsons to cause havoc on their own for a while.