(no subject)
oh, sims community, how i missed thee.
EDIT: yeah, I was lured away by real life and school, but now I've been sucked back in. I can't play for real until June or so, though, because: a) this laptop sucks, and b) if I started playing now, I would probably fail out of school, hah.
It's been nice catching up with some of my favorite sim stories though. And it's nice to see that although the sims 2 community is stagnant and some creators have noticeably disappeared, the fandom is still strong. Based on what I've seen and heard, I don't think I would like The Sims 3 that much if I were to get it; I'm just too attached to the gameplay and options of TS2. On the other hand, I'm also scared that if I were to start playing ts3, I would like it too much to play ts2 with much satisfaction again. TS2 is juuust riiiight, in my opinion.
Plus it has those delicious Maxis 'hoods. Yup, I'm one of those people obsessed with the premades. I just find it very fun to play out the storylines set up for them, sometimes 'according to plan' and sometimes not, and see what other people have done with them and how they've characterized them. Plus it's fun to do makeovers, both of the Sims themselves, and their horrid houses. :D
Man, I'm itching to play though. I saw that someone uploaded a mostly glitch-free uberhood to MATY, and I can't wait to play with a megahood, which is something I never did before. Plus it got me thinking about how all the neighborhoods and sub-neighborhoods are geographically situated in relation to each other. I even roughly sketched it out. This is what I came up with:
Downtown is downtown Sim City, the capital and political and economic center of this particular region of SimNation (still fiddling with this in my head). and Belladonna Cove is a small city just to the southwest of Sim City. Its urban area is immediately adjacent to Sim City's, its mixed-housing area faces the cove, which is to the south, and its more rural farmlands are further west. The ritzy 'Hills' area is further north, with a mountain range behind it. On the other side of these mountains lies a commuter suburb, originally known as Sunset Valley, until it was merged with the historic Old Town (which has been mostly demolished or renovated since then, with the growth of nearby Sim City and the consequent demand for land in the area) to form what we now know as Pleasantview. About an hour's drive northwest of Sim City along the Will Wright Memorial Highway will lead us to Main Street, which runs north-south, with the ritzy homes to the west, closer to the bay, and the trailer homes and condos to the east. Crossing the bridge leads us to the village of Bluewater Village, set on a small island off the northwest coast of Pleasantview. Founded by the Landgraabs as a way to oppose the influence of the Goths in Pleasantview (then-Old Town), it has since been incorporated into the larger Sim City network, but it has also become a must-go shopping destination for Sims from all over the world, with its tax-free laws and its innovative designs.
Remember we mentioned the mountain range between Belladonna Cove and Pleasantview? Well, nestled in those mountains somewhere is Sim State University; teens who live in Downtown, Belladonna Cove, Pleasantview, or Bluewater Village tend to choose to go here since they have "in-region" tuition.
Now let's travel far north along the coast, to the delta of the River Simomon. Here in the sleepy countryside lies Riverblossom Hills, founded from the ruins of Riverview (TS3) after a geological catastrophe broke much of the land away. This far north, the climate tends to be a little colder: residents of Riverblossom Hills enjoy a lot of rain, but on the bright side, it never gets hot enough for sunburns here. If we travel along the Simomon river, we will see that its current gets weaker, and so the residents of the ancient, almost-mythical Veronaville built a canal along which to found their little hamlet. This town is ruled by the Capps to the north of the canal, and the Montys to the south of the canal. It's even colder than Riverblossom Hills, with an extra-long winter and a very mild summer.
Note: I imagine that Riverblossom Hills is about a 5 hour drive north of Sim City, and Veronaville a 7 hour drive east of Riverblossom Hills. So Veronaville would be about an 8 and a half hour drive from Sim City? And the elite Academie Le Tour lies south of the Simomon River, east of Riverblossom Hills but west of Veronaville, and closer to it. Unfortunately for Riverblossom Hills and Veronaville teens, unless they're legacies (heh), they will have a tough time getting into the hallowed halls of Academie Le Tour, and regardless, they will still have to shell out exorbitant amounts of simoleons to attend.
Now let's travel along the Will Wright Memorial Highway, about a day's travel, southeast. This brings us to the remote little desert town of Strangetown, where some very strange things are rumored to happen. Not only has that made this a key military outpost, it's also made it a center of scientific and paranormal studies. Nearby La Fiesta Tech (an hour away), aside from providing some of the only fun for Strangetown teens, hires many Strangetown residents. It also has a reputation as a big party school, and Strangetown teens benefit from the 'in-region' tuition.
Now, Desiderata Valley is located somewhere among the mountains that separate the Sim City basin from the southern desert region. It's closer to Strangetown, but still pretty far away (8 hours?), since Strangetown is the outermost Sim settlement in the desert. As a result, it has some wacky weather too, with an extra-long spring, a late summer, and a very mild winter. The teens who live here don't have any advantage with in-region tuition anywhere.
It's going to be difficult to keep sims from sub-hoods that are supposed to be really far away from each other from getting to meet each other and getting too close (does anyone know a hack for that?). I intend to keep the story-lines mostly in-hood. But it's also going to be fun to imagine that some sims 'run away' to somewhere, have to move somewhere for work, e.g. to be closer to Sim City, etc. I wonder where the people in RBH/Veronaville/Desiderata Valley can be said to work. I guess I can always just pretend that there are smaller cities nearby, e.g. "Miniopolis" near RBH, and "Alphaville" near Desiderata Valley.
I have a really fun storyline planned out already for Veronaville, involving teen pregnancy, a few tragic deaths, domestic abuse, etc. :P I'm not really sure what to do with Mercutio and Tybalt though; I do like both of them. What do you normally do with them?
EDIT: yeah, I was lured away by real life and school, but now I've been sucked back in. I can't play for real until June or so, though, because: a) this laptop sucks, and b) if I started playing now, I would probably fail out of school, hah.
It's been nice catching up with some of my favorite sim stories though. And it's nice to see that although the sims 2 community is stagnant and some creators have noticeably disappeared, the fandom is still strong. Based on what I've seen and heard, I don't think I would like The Sims 3 that much if I were to get it; I'm just too attached to the gameplay and options of TS2. On the other hand, I'm also scared that if I were to start playing ts3, I would like it too much to play ts2 with much satisfaction again. TS2 is juuust riiiight, in my opinion.
Plus it has those delicious Maxis 'hoods. Yup, I'm one of those people obsessed with the premades. I just find it very fun to play out the storylines set up for them, sometimes 'according to plan' and sometimes not, and see what other people have done with them and how they've characterized them. Plus it's fun to do makeovers, both of the Sims themselves, and their horrid houses. :D
Man, I'm itching to play though. I saw that someone uploaded a mostly glitch-free uberhood to MATY, and I can't wait to play with a megahood, which is something I never did before. Plus it got me thinking about how all the neighborhoods and sub-neighborhoods are geographically situated in relation to each other. I even roughly sketched it out. This is what I came up with:
Downtown is downtown Sim City, the capital and political and economic center of this particular region of SimNation (still fiddling with this in my head). and Belladonna Cove is a small city just to the southwest of Sim City. Its urban area is immediately adjacent to Sim City's, its mixed-housing area faces the cove, which is to the south, and its more rural farmlands are further west. The ritzy 'Hills' area is further north, with a mountain range behind it. On the other side of these mountains lies a commuter suburb, originally known as Sunset Valley, until it was merged with the historic Old Town (which has been mostly demolished or renovated since then, with the growth of nearby Sim City and the consequent demand for land in the area) to form what we now know as Pleasantview. About an hour's drive northwest of Sim City along the Will Wright Memorial Highway will lead us to Main Street, which runs north-south, with the ritzy homes to the west, closer to the bay, and the trailer homes and condos to the east. Crossing the bridge leads us to the village of Bluewater Village, set on a small island off the northwest coast of Pleasantview. Founded by the Landgraabs as a way to oppose the influence of the Goths in Pleasantview (then-Old Town), it has since been incorporated into the larger Sim City network, but it has also become a must-go shopping destination for Sims from all over the world, with its tax-free laws and its innovative designs.
Remember we mentioned the mountain range between Belladonna Cove and Pleasantview? Well, nestled in those mountains somewhere is Sim State University; teens who live in Downtown, Belladonna Cove, Pleasantview, or Bluewater Village tend to choose to go here since they have "in-region" tuition.
Now let's travel far north along the coast, to the delta of the River Simomon. Here in the sleepy countryside lies Riverblossom Hills, founded from the ruins of Riverview (TS3) after a geological catastrophe broke much of the land away. This far north, the climate tends to be a little colder: residents of Riverblossom Hills enjoy a lot of rain, but on the bright side, it never gets hot enough for sunburns here. If we travel along the Simomon river, we will see that its current gets weaker, and so the residents of the ancient, almost-mythical Veronaville built a canal along which to found their little hamlet. This town is ruled by the Capps to the north of the canal, and the Montys to the south of the canal. It's even colder than Riverblossom Hills, with an extra-long winter and a very mild summer.
Note: I imagine that Riverblossom Hills is about a 5 hour drive north of Sim City, and Veronaville a 7 hour drive east of Riverblossom Hills. So Veronaville would be about an 8 and a half hour drive from Sim City? And the elite Academie Le Tour lies south of the Simomon River, east of Riverblossom Hills but west of Veronaville, and closer to it. Unfortunately for Riverblossom Hills and Veronaville teens, unless they're legacies (heh), they will have a tough time getting into the hallowed halls of Academie Le Tour, and regardless, they will still have to shell out exorbitant amounts of simoleons to attend.
Now let's travel along the Will Wright Memorial Highway, about a day's travel, southeast. This brings us to the remote little desert town of Strangetown, where some very strange things are rumored to happen. Not only has that made this a key military outpost, it's also made it a center of scientific and paranormal studies. Nearby La Fiesta Tech (an hour away), aside from providing some of the only fun for Strangetown teens, hires many Strangetown residents. It also has a reputation as a big party school, and Strangetown teens benefit from the 'in-region' tuition.
Now, Desiderata Valley is located somewhere among the mountains that separate the Sim City basin from the southern desert region. It's closer to Strangetown, but still pretty far away (8 hours?), since Strangetown is the outermost Sim settlement in the desert. As a result, it has some wacky weather too, with an extra-long spring, a late summer, and a very mild winter. The teens who live here don't have any advantage with in-region tuition anywhere.
It's going to be difficult to keep sims from sub-hoods that are supposed to be really far away from each other from getting to meet each other and getting too close (does anyone know a hack for that?). I intend to keep the story-lines mostly in-hood. But it's also going to be fun to imagine that some sims 'run away' to somewhere, have to move somewhere for work, e.g. to be closer to Sim City, etc. I wonder where the people in RBH/Veronaville/Desiderata Valley can be said to work. I guess I can always just pretend that there are smaller cities nearby, e.g. "Miniopolis" near RBH, and "Alphaville" near Desiderata Valley.
I have a really fun storyline planned out already for Veronaville, involving teen pregnancy, a few tragic deaths, domestic abuse, etc. :P I'm not really sure what to do with Mercutio and Tybalt though; I do like both of them. What do you normally do with them?