Round 4: Bennett
Welcome back! It's been a while... I haven't actually played this game since roughly around the time of the last update in...*checks*...June, wow. But I had some pictures still and felt like posting them, so here we are.
I'm not going to do a big recap on everything, but here are some general refreshers for the island:
- A ship of singles on some sort of dating cruise crashed off the coast of an isolated island and the survivors have shaken up life for the locals by assimilating (in the case of Jessica, story mode's protagonist), stubbornly clinging to their normal lifestyles as much as possible (in the case of the rather useless castaways household), or living somewhere in between (in the case of David Bennett, alternate protagonist, and Earnest Langsford, lone castaway presumed drowned by everysim else).
- Local culture involves a class system where the chief and shaman are at the top, and lowborn and outsiders are at the very bottom. Some changes in status are possible, usually through marriage or (less common) adoption, and (rarely) changes can be decreed by those at the top. This was seen recently by former shaman Amanaki bypassing tradition to assign an outsider as his replacement, causing some controversy among the locals.
- In between there is plenty of relationship and baby drama, as is so common in a Sims game. ;)
- David's mission is to bring civilization to the locals and money in his pocket via his new hyena training and breeding business. So far it's slow going with skeptical locals and not super fertile hyenas. But he has high hopes that things will turn around soon!
- Current hyena population on his lot: Patupaiarehe (f), Korowai (m), and puppies Cascade (f) and Nepeta (f).
- David is very good at beachcombing, so if this hyena gig bombs out, at least he has some skills to fall back on.
- He also works in the Gatherer career, so between skilling for that, going to work, and training hyenas, it's been tough to squeeze a social life in there too, though he is excellent friends with Jessica and gets along okay with the other outsiders, plus a handful of natives.
David: Hey boy! Still glitching with that stinky reaction, are you? Well I'm just about out of hyena soap, but I do have one more idea to try...
Korowai: Rut-roh...
David: Robby, my man! Have you heard the rumours of a pirate roaming these waters recently? I would be very nervous living on the coast as you do. Wouldn't a nicely trained guard hyena help you sleep soundly at night?
Robby: I've always wanted a puppy...
David: My first customer! Lay those sweet shells on me!
Robby is an excellent choice to pawn off a perma-stinky hyena, because with only 2 neat points, he's not going to mind so much.
And hopefully moving Korowai to another lot will solve this weird, mildly annoying glitch.
With many influential natives expressing a distaste for these foreigners, most commoners on the island suppress their curiosity and simply avoid the outsiders. Rewha, however, has had an accidental encounter with one of them, and it pushes him to seek out the only outsider he knows how to find. (Other than the shaman, that is, but she is far too important for him to even dream of approaching without an invitation.)
Rewha: He said he came from the ship too, and he was looking for his daughter. He was certain she survived...do you think it possible?
David: I guess anything's possible if we're still seeing Sims from that wreck wash up. Did you get his name? What does he look like?
Rewha: Truthfully, all you outsiders look the same to me. He said little except that he was searching for his daughter. Usually I wouldn't involve myself, but seeing as I also was a father...before the curse...
David: Understood. Fortunately it isn't that big of an island. I'll keep an eye open for him, and maybe mention it to the others next time I see them. Though between you and me, they probably won't be much help.
David: By the way, how'd you like to take a hyena home with you? I'll give you a discount for being such a nice guy and bringing me this information!
Though glad to have sold a hyena (just to Robby-Rewha isn't a sucker), David is now down one breeder, so he heads out to the swamp for a hyena stakeout.
It takes a few hours, but soon enough he meets one!
And it's even male.
Seems perfect until dawn comes and the hyenas clear out before he has a chance to bribe it home.
At least there is plenty of pretty scenery to enjoy.
(The swamp is my absolute favourite lot, even though there's hardly anything to do on it but watch the bubbles pop.)
David: Sales are a lot like surfing, you know? You have to keep your balance, watch the customer so carefully, and then-crack! You land your hit, just like a homerun, and the money just comes pouring in. Sorry, did I say like surfing? I guess it's more like baseball...
Sandra: Oh dahling, I don't care what sport you mean as long as it brings in the cash!
David: Yeah? Well after this big sale I'm sure many more customers will be bursting through my door, throwing their shells at me for a guard hyena of their very own.
Sandra: *swoons*
Funny how a Sim she's previously written off not once, but twice, can suddenly seem so attractive even in the midst of his own stink cloud, when he starts talking about Sandra's favourite subject.
And why David even tries pursuing somesim so obviously shallow is something even he has to wonder as he washes off the swamp residue.
Sandra: Not only a born salesman, but a natural treasure-hunter as well? My stars, I can't believe I never knew what a talent you held, David my dear!
David: Yeah, she's shallow and clearly more interested in my monetary worth than my winning personality, but does the fact that she's smoking hot make up for that?
David: You bet it does!
This picture is a bit weird and abrupt, but so was the situation that led to it. I've mentioned before that in this game community lots seem to get going while I'm still on the loading screen, and with a mod to encourage more visitors, the loading time is greatly increased, so I can hear Sims interacting long before I can see what's going on.
So what I heard this time was a big fat BOINNNNNNGGGG followed closely by the sounds of slapping. Turns out David harboured a bit of a crush toward Tumata through some mild flirting a while back, and caught her in the middle of flirting with Patariki. You don't think that's maybe a bit hypocritical of you while you're happily flirting with Sandra, David?
Tumata: I CERTAINLY FIND IT HYPOCRITICAL!!
(Note how Sandra is still in mid-caress, ha ha! Tumata wastes no time in giving David what for.)
David: You know, I once thought you and I might have made a nice couple, Tumata, but I'm glad you were here to show me how wrong I was!
Sandra: You tell her, dahling!
She had her doubts before, but now Tumata is convinced: These outsiders truly are crazy. She is not getting involved with any of them again!
As the sun comes up, David finds himself staring deep into the swirling pools of lava. There is something mesmerizing about the molten liquid...drawing him in...
Sandra: David! Dahling, you just about fell in there! What were you doing so close to that hot little pool there?!
David: Sandra! You saved my life! I...I...
David: ...will you marry me?
Sandra: Would you look at that charming old rock! I just knew you were somesim special, David.
Sandra: Of course I'll marry you!
*proceeds to attemt to push him back into the lava*
Sandra: Ha ha, just kidding, dahling.
David: I didn't ask for an orangutan's opinion on my spontaneous yet monumental life choices!
David: But maybe I should head home to bed. Near-death experiences plus sudden proposals are surprisingly exhausting!
Though, it might be hard to sleep with this new jewellery poking him all night...
Notes:
- Cascade grew up at some point either this round or at the end of the previous. I really don't remember. But our final hyena count is definitely two adults and one puppy now, all female, so David had better track down that handsome red-eyed fellow if he wants to keep calling himself a breeder.
- That's all I've got except that I need to show off how improved the pathing is in this game. Check it out:
Gridlines are intentional to show that David is on a little slope. Sims 2 would have him throwing a fit trying to get to that easel, but look at him happily painting away!
Yeah, I'm easily impressed. :D
Next time: Earnest Langsford continues his exploration of the island.
Crossposted: LiveJournal | Dreamwidth