Chapter 39 BTS/picspam
So, about time to have some picspam and BTS for chapter 39, don't you think? I don't have all that much actually, now that we're back to a more observational style, I'm using most gameplay pictures. But I'll babble on for a bit.
As you know by now, there are again three children in this generation, as dictated by the alphabetacy rules (if a generation has less than three children, you get minus points). I had to help Cho and Nicholas a bit with this last one, as I suspected that they might not get a third one by themselves, or it might take some time, and I didn't want to space the kids any further than they already were.
Anyway, there are no Family sims other than Dirk in the family, but clearly they still enjoy meeting Desdemona. And even though Cho is Romance and married, I don't think she ever rolled a baby fear.
I was a bit taken by surprise when I saw that Desdemona had blond hair. It took me a while to realize that Cho must have it as a recessive from Marylena. I was first thinking of making it a plot point: having Nicholas get suspicious about who the father is (since, well, Eric has blond hair too), but in the end decided against. I think Cho and Nicholas have had their share of drama, thank you very much.
A bit more Desdemona spam, as she's just so damn cute. And I love the toddler animation with the jack in the box, I know I always have to take pictures when someone is playing with one.
As for George, then, he really went swimming. Multiple times, actually, and freaked me out. Thankfully he only got his motives tanked and didn't go beserk. I'm not sure what's up with that. Fairly recently I got a mod that stops the auto-chores so that he wouldn't drive me nuts making meals all the time, since there usually aren't that many other chores to do. After all, the family has both a maid and a gardener. So maybe now that he has more freee time in his hands, he opts for swimming? Or, it could be that since taking care of the garden is basically his duty, and the pool is so very close to the garden, when he stops gardening perhaps the closeness of the pool attracts him to it. I'll have to try and keep an eye on him, that's for sure.
George also had this other slight problem: he'd get stuck with a non-want/non-fear, which felt a bit worrying as I constantly keep an eye on the 'hood now. But I eventually got it rolled away when I just kept fulfilling his wants or re-rolling them otherwise. Hopefully that one stays away.
Chunni's death was of course really an accident. I have the caged pet fixes in, so I don't know how she starved so quickly. I got the pop-up that Chunni needs to be fed, and I swear I sent George to it right away. (Usually I didn't even get the pop-up, she was fed quite regularly.) He was free, but upstairs, so maybe he bumped into someone on the way or something, but the next thing I knew was a crying George by the bird's cage. I felt so sorry for them both that I briefly considered quitting without saving, then remembered this is a legacy and slapped myself on the wrist. So old age for Chunni it was story-wise. Poor Chunni, and poor George. Rest in peace, Chunni.
One of the reasons why I like playing the whole 'hood is that a lot of the friends my sims bring home are actually other sims that I play. And well, since this is a legacy, they'll be extended family, too. Of course, by now any reader are likely completely lost on who's related to whom and how, seeing that I'm really starting to need my notes and family trees to keep them straight. But that's alright.
The same goes for both Dirk's and Dorian's friends. I had a bit of a giggle at the scene where Dorian and Dane had a discussion about how icky girls are. What caused the giggle was that having seen them grown up, I happen to know that both boys became (straight) Romance sims. :)
Nicholas is still on his badge-mission. I think I need to send him to run businesses more, even give him one of his own, since the time he has at home isn't going to cut it. Well, I do like Nicholas so I suppose he can get some extra time. And, note to self, it's orangeade that helps with badges, not orange juice like I first thought. Pepper punch helps too, with the energy boost, but that wasn't what I after.
And yes, he did make his LTW too, and an impossible want at that. It's a nice feeling, having on of those down. Although, they could co-operate and not make a weird pose when I'm trying to document. :P
Dirk, stop that, this is a legacy and not a horror movie!
Speaking of Dirk, he really didn't have too good luck with the ladies, I didn't make that up. First there was Melody, with whom he seemed to have an initial attraction, but it didn't go well from there. I think she went on to annoy him, and he Did Not Like it. Of course, she's playable, so not technically legacy legal either.
I suppose it's not much of a loss, really. I've seen Melody being mean in a lot of stories, and it seems this one is no exception. It's not fair to make poor, nice Cissy cry, Melody! Shoo!
And well, then there was Cassidy. She seemed a nice girl, but really, I think she was really much more interested in Benjamin than Dirk.
I mean, they did kiss but...
I don't think Dirk wants to go between them, right?
Well, while Cassidy is a townie (or downtownie I think actually) and in principle legacy legal, I haven't really been spouse hunting seriously for Dirk yet. I have at least something I want to try for him during college, and that doesn't involve teenage sweethearts. I think it's kind of nice that with ACR, Dirk is able to try things out, and not be a totally confused Family sim afterwards.
Dirk didn't exactly appreciate Cho and Nicholas deciding to have a little makeout session before opening the store. On the plus side, he didn't get angry either, only embarassed. Yay for ACR!
I think he did enjoy getting to help with the bakery, though. It's good practice for when he grows up, since yes, he's my designated heir.
As I said to esmeiolanthe, the discussions in the chapter were mostly just plot. Technically Dorian and Desdemona are eligible too, but if I were to choose one of them, I'd lose the point for Eric being in the bloodline. And, as Dirk rolled Family and I haven't had a Family sim in the main bloodline before, that pretty much sealed the deal for me.
Again, I'm a bit happier with the bakery now, it's prettier, and I was able to reduce the number of different foods actually baked, which makes running the place easier. But I'm sure there'll be more makeovers in the future.
I think that just about covers my BTS for this chapter. As a progress update otherwise, I'm sort of alternating between several things according to what I feel like at each moment. I'm writing the recap chapter, and I'm on 46 slides written currently, and storywise in generation A college years. I'm playing the winter rotation in Alphabetia (and noticing how much faster small households are to play than big ones). I'm also slowly building a new downloads folder, for when it's time to rebuild Alphabetia.
I'm noticing that I'm sort of running out of unique stuff for all new sims, especially hairstyles, but wouldn't want to download terribly much for the old 'hood anymore. And I'm noticing that it's going to take a long time to completely rebuild a downloads folder. But, it's going to be better organized, have less useless stuff, and I'll get to have lots of pretty things. So I think it'll be worth it.
It's a good thing I'm not in a hurry.
As you know by now, there are again three children in this generation, as dictated by the alphabetacy rules (if a generation has less than three children, you get minus points). I had to help Cho and Nicholas a bit with this last one, as I suspected that they might not get a third one by themselves, or it might take some time, and I didn't want to space the kids any further than they already were.
Anyway, there are no Family sims other than Dirk in the family, but clearly they still enjoy meeting Desdemona. And even though Cho is Romance and married, I don't think she ever rolled a baby fear.
I was a bit taken by surprise when I saw that Desdemona had blond hair. It took me a while to realize that Cho must have it as a recessive from Marylena. I was first thinking of making it a plot point: having Nicholas get suspicious about who the father is (since, well, Eric has blond hair too), but in the end decided against. I think Cho and Nicholas have had their share of drama, thank you very much.
A bit more Desdemona spam, as she's just so damn cute. And I love the toddler animation with the jack in the box, I know I always have to take pictures when someone is playing with one.
As for George, then, he really went swimming. Multiple times, actually, and freaked me out. Thankfully he only got his motives tanked and didn't go beserk. I'm not sure what's up with that. Fairly recently I got a mod that stops the auto-chores so that he wouldn't drive me nuts making meals all the time, since there usually aren't that many other chores to do. After all, the family has both a maid and a gardener. So maybe now that he has more freee time in his hands, he opts for swimming? Or, it could be that since taking care of the garden is basically his duty, and the pool is so very close to the garden, when he stops gardening perhaps the closeness of the pool attracts him to it. I'll have to try and keep an eye on him, that's for sure.
George also had this other slight problem: he'd get stuck with a non-want/non-fear, which felt a bit worrying as I constantly keep an eye on the 'hood now. But I eventually got it rolled away when I just kept fulfilling his wants or re-rolling them otherwise. Hopefully that one stays away.
Chunni's death was of course really an accident. I have the caged pet fixes in, so I don't know how she starved so quickly. I got the pop-up that Chunni needs to be fed, and I swear I sent George to it right away. (Usually I didn't even get the pop-up, she was fed quite regularly.) He was free, but upstairs, so maybe he bumped into someone on the way or something, but the next thing I knew was a crying George by the bird's cage. I felt so sorry for them both that I briefly considered quitting without saving, then remembered this is a legacy and slapped myself on the wrist. So old age for Chunni it was story-wise. Poor Chunni, and poor George. Rest in peace, Chunni.
One of the reasons why I like playing the whole 'hood is that a lot of the friends my sims bring home are actually other sims that I play. And well, since this is a legacy, they'll be extended family, too. Of course, by now any reader are likely completely lost on who's related to whom and how, seeing that I'm really starting to need my notes and family trees to keep them straight. But that's alright.
The same goes for both Dirk's and Dorian's friends. I had a bit of a giggle at the scene where Dorian and Dane had a discussion about how icky girls are. What caused the giggle was that having seen them grown up, I happen to know that both boys became (straight) Romance sims. :)
Nicholas is still on his badge-mission. I think I need to send him to run businesses more, even give him one of his own, since the time he has at home isn't going to cut it. Well, I do like Nicholas so I suppose he can get some extra time. And, note to self, it's orangeade that helps with badges, not orange juice like I first thought. Pepper punch helps too, with the energy boost, but that wasn't what I after.
And yes, he did make his LTW too, and an impossible want at that. It's a nice feeling, having on of those down. Although, they could co-operate and not make a weird pose when I'm trying to document. :P
Dirk, stop that, this is a legacy and not a horror movie!
Speaking of Dirk, he really didn't have too good luck with the ladies, I didn't make that up. First there was Melody, with whom he seemed to have an initial attraction, but it didn't go well from there. I think she went on to annoy him, and he Did Not Like it. Of course, she's playable, so not technically legacy legal either.
I suppose it's not much of a loss, really. I've seen Melody being mean in a lot of stories, and it seems this one is no exception. It's not fair to make poor, nice Cissy cry, Melody! Shoo!
And well, then there was Cassidy. She seemed a nice girl, but really, I think she was really much more interested in Benjamin than Dirk.
I mean, they did kiss but...
I don't think Dirk wants to go between them, right?
Well, while Cassidy is a townie (or downtownie I think actually) and in principle legacy legal, I haven't really been spouse hunting seriously for Dirk yet. I have at least something I want to try for him during college, and that doesn't involve teenage sweethearts. I think it's kind of nice that with ACR, Dirk is able to try things out, and not be a totally confused Family sim afterwards.
Dirk didn't exactly appreciate Cho and Nicholas deciding to have a little makeout session before opening the store. On the plus side, he didn't get angry either, only embarassed. Yay for ACR!
I think he did enjoy getting to help with the bakery, though. It's good practice for when he grows up, since yes, he's my designated heir.
As I said to esmeiolanthe, the discussions in the chapter were mostly just plot. Technically Dorian and Desdemona are eligible too, but if I were to choose one of them, I'd lose the point for Eric being in the bloodline. And, as Dirk rolled Family and I haven't had a Family sim in the main bloodline before, that pretty much sealed the deal for me.
Again, I'm a bit happier with the bakery now, it's prettier, and I was able to reduce the number of different foods actually baked, which makes running the place easier. But I'm sure there'll be more makeovers in the future.
I think that just about covers my BTS for this chapter. As a progress update otherwise, I'm sort of alternating between several things according to what I feel like at each moment. I'm writing the recap chapter, and I'm on 46 slides written currently, and storywise in generation A college years. I'm playing the winter rotation in Alphabetia (and noticing how much faster small households are to play than big ones). I'm also slowly building a new downloads folder, for when it's time to rebuild Alphabetia.
I'm noticing that I'm sort of running out of unique stuff for all new sims, especially hairstyles, but wouldn't want to download terribly much for the old 'hood anymore. And I'm noticing that it's going to take a long time to completely rebuild a downloads folder. But, it's going to be better organized, have less useless stuff, and I'll get to have lots of pretty things. So I think it'll be worth it.
It's a good thing I'm not in a hurry.