TS1: The Quest for the Beanstalk
Yesterday afternoon, Rob installed my TS1 games for me. I often feel like I should play TS1, but can't be bothered to sit through the lengthy installation process. Rob has more patience than me, and sat there doing it.
So I've been messing about with my favourite expansion pack, Makin' Magic, trying to get a beanstalk to the secret lot where I can steal beans from a giant. I've never so much as had a beanstalk - or any of the super-special-magical items, like the crystals or solar flowers - because when the game first came out, I was ten and had no idea what I was doing.
And I had no idea that the beanstalk lead to giants and bean-stealing until I read the sims wiki on how to get these magical artifacts.
So I set about making it my challenge to get to that point.
I decided to use Elden Hick, a premade that comes with the Unleashed park. He lives in what is essentially a trailer with his Mama and three dogs.
I'm definitely thinking of recreating him for TS2 - I know other people have already, but I want to make my *own* version for my game.
In order to get a beanstalk - or any other kind of magical plant/item - to appear on the lot, 15 spells or charms have to be cast. It's only 10 on a magic town lot, but those cost tons of magi coins, and I didn't feel like it.
I have never managed to achieve this many spells on either lot. So this was the first time fiddling with all of the ingredients and such in a way that would be beneficial.
I'm not going to lie - I did cheat. The sims motives go down so quickly! But even with cheating, there were plenty of hiccups, as you'll see.
I didn't *just* make Elden work for his 15 spells. I let him have fun, too! Mostly to meet people he could later cast spells on...
And yes, that is Mortimer Goth in the go-go cage.
One of the spells involved falling in love, another was marrying them. So I chose Claire Charming for Elden, another premade.
She moved in, brought a dog with her, and I used another spell to turn that dog human.
Behold! The beginnings of a beanstalk!
I was so happy, seriously. First time casting 15 spells, and I get a beanstalk. I expected to have to do it a few times before a beanstalk appeared.
Unfortunately, this is where things started to go a little wrong...
Elden died.
One of his spells backfired, a toadification spell, and he turned into a frog, and I couldn't find him anywhere on the lot. If I'd been able to find him, Claire could have kissed him and everything would have been fine.
Only the game glitched, Elden didn't transform back into a human, and starved to death. The reaper came and took him from the very corner of the lot, and I couldn't see a frog anywhere.
And there are no spells in TS1 to bring back the dead, unlike in TS2.
So I had to accept my losses, and continue without him.
Claire took over as chief of magic, and the beanstalk began to grow - very exciting!
Now, I'd read somewhere that beanstalks would only keep growing through the use of magic - so another 15 spells and so on. But I read somewhere else that the beanstalk had a pre-determined height, and would not continue to grow once it had stopped.
Unsure of what to believe, I sent Claire off to gain more ingredients to cast more spells in hope of a bigger beanstalk.
She's dispersing sleeping clouds here, one of my least favourite tasks ever - even ten/eleven years later!
Claire enchanted objects, cast spells and charms, gave shows in Magic Town, won duels, and the beanstalk grew.
I don't know whether it's because of the magic or not.
I decided to keep casting, and if I hit another 15 spells, hoped the beanstalk would shoot up, or I'd get another one. Or another magical item, I wasn't too fussy.
At this point, I was attempting to get as many of the ingredients at home as possible - churning butter, bee-keeping and spinning our own golden thread. It was then I remembered you can get pixie dust by having a child play with the purple toybox - and that meant finding Claire a new husband.
Enter Mortimer Goth.
If he was married to Bella, he's now a bigamist, but who knows. He moved in, left Bella and Cassandra at the old place, and began to lead an innocent life surrounded by magic when he had no wand himself.
His addition to the family used two spells, which was perfect for our magic count, really.
Have another picture of Mortimer in the go-go cage, just because I think it's hilarious.
The beanstalk's pretty tall now, but I can't tell if it's still growing. It's currently not tall enough to do anything with - and after almost setting fire to it twice with back-firing enchantment spells on the gnomes at the bottom - I'm really worried I won't get it to grow any bigger.
Maybe its height really is pre-determined.
That didn't mean I was going to stop trying!
Also, enchanted gnomes can swim in the nectar press, how cool is that?!
That's the reason I started building the gnome army in the first place - so I could enchant them all and rack up the spell count.
The Enchantment spell used relatively simple ingredients I could get on the home lot, so I could spend less time running back and forth to Magic Town.
Only it comes with a massive disadvantage.
When an enchantment backfires, it causes a fire. I've learnt the hard way to enchant gnomes - and flamingos - away from the house, but that doesn't stop the sims flocking to the fire like moths to a light bulb.
Mama Hick got a little bit too close.
She joined her son in the graveyard, and now no Hicks live on the Hick lot.
Well, none of the original Hicks anyway - Claire and Mortimer have the last name, but genetically, they're not Hicks.
And yes, I'm pretty sure that gnome in the nectar press is smug that his comrades caused a fire on the lot.
So here's where I left off, with Mortimer and Claire having baby Eldena, Luna the dog-turned-human dressed as a werewolf thanks to the Beauty or Beast Charm, Bonehilda and the three dogs. I still haven't managed to steal beans from a giant. Or even get that far.
It's been fun though!
I'm now planning to go and mess about with magic in TS2. It's not as cool or fun as it was in TS1, but it's still pretty neat.
Hope you all had a good weekend!
EDIT: I just read that you can't climb beanstalks grown on regular lots - only on magic residential lots! Time to uproot the Hicks and go to Magic Town...
So I've been messing about with my favourite expansion pack, Makin' Magic, trying to get a beanstalk to the secret lot where I can steal beans from a giant. I've never so much as had a beanstalk - or any of the super-special-magical items, like the crystals or solar flowers - because when the game first came out, I was ten and had no idea what I was doing.
And I had no idea that the beanstalk lead to giants and bean-stealing until I read the sims wiki on how to get these magical artifacts.
So I set about making it my challenge to get to that point.
I decided to use Elden Hick, a premade that comes with the Unleashed park. He lives in what is essentially a trailer with his Mama and three dogs.
I'm definitely thinking of recreating him for TS2 - I know other people have already, but I want to make my *own* version for my game.
In order to get a beanstalk - or any other kind of magical plant/item - to appear on the lot, 15 spells or charms have to be cast. It's only 10 on a magic town lot, but those cost tons of magi coins, and I didn't feel like it.
I have never managed to achieve this many spells on either lot. So this was the first time fiddling with all of the ingredients and such in a way that would be beneficial.
I'm not going to lie - I did cheat. The sims motives go down so quickly! But even with cheating, there were plenty of hiccups, as you'll see.
I didn't *just* make Elden work for his 15 spells. I let him have fun, too! Mostly to meet people he could later cast spells on...
And yes, that is Mortimer Goth in the go-go cage.
One of the spells involved falling in love, another was marrying them. So I chose Claire Charming for Elden, another premade.
She moved in, brought a dog with her, and I used another spell to turn that dog human.
Behold! The beginnings of a beanstalk!
I was so happy, seriously. First time casting 15 spells, and I get a beanstalk. I expected to have to do it a few times before a beanstalk appeared.
Unfortunately, this is where things started to go a little wrong...
Elden died.
One of his spells backfired, a toadification spell, and he turned into a frog, and I couldn't find him anywhere on the lot. If I'd been able to find him, Claire could have kissed him and everything would have been fine.
Only the game glitched, Elden didn't transform back into a human, and starved to death. The reaper came and took him from the very corner of the lot, and I couldn't see a frog anywhere.
And there are no spells in TS1 to bring back the dead, unlike in TS2.
So I had to accept my losses, and continue without him.
Claire took over as chief of magic, and the beanstalk began to grow - very exciting!
Now, I'd read somewhere that beanstalks would only keep growing through the use of magic - so another 15 spells and so on. But I read somewhere else that the beanstalk had a pre-determined height, and would not continue to grow once it had stopped.
Unsure of what to believe, I sent Claire off to gain more ingredients to cast more spells in hope of a bigger beanstalk.
She's dispersing sleeping clouds here, one of my least favourite tasks ever - even ten/eleven years later!
Claire enchanted objects, cast spells and charms, gave shows in Magic Town, won duels, and the beanstalk grew.
I don't know whether it's because of the magic or not.
I decided to keep casting, and if I hit another 15 spells, hoped the beanstalk would shoot up, or I'd get another one. Or another magical item, I wasn't too fussy.
At this point, I was attempting to get as many of the ingredients at home as possible - churning butter, bee-keeping and spinning our own golden thread. It was then I remembered you can get pixie dust by having a child play with the purple toybox - and that meant finding Claire a new husband.
Enter Mortimer Goth.
If he was married to Bella, he's now a bigamist, but who knows. He moved in, left Bella and Cassandra at the old place, and began to lead an innocent life surrounded by magic when he had no wand himself.
His addition to the family used two spells, which was perfect for our magic count, really.
Have another picture of Mortimer in the go-go cage, just because I think it's hilarious.
The beanstalk's pretty tall now, but I can't tell if it's still growing. It's currently not tall enough to do anything with - and after almost setting fire to it twice with back-firing enchantment spells on the gnomes at the bottom - I'm really worried I won't get it to grow any bigger.
Maybe its height really is pre-determined.
That didn't mean I was going to stop trying!
Also, enchanted gnomes can swim in the nectar press, how cool is that?!
That's the reason I started building the gnome army in the first place - so I could enchant them all and rack up the spell count.
The Enchantment spell used relatively simple ingredients I could get on the home lot, so I could spend less time running back and forth to Magic Town.
Only it comes with a massive disadvantage.
When an enchantment backfires, it causes a fire. I've learnt the hard way to enchant gnomes - and flamingos - away from the house, but that doesn't stop the sims flocking to the fire like moths to a light bulb.
Mama Hick got a little bit too close.
She joined her son in the graveyard, and now no Hicks live on the Hick lot.
Well, none of the original Hicks anyway - Claire and Mortimer have the last name, but genetically, they're not Hicks.
And yes, I'm pretty sure that gnome in the nectar press is smug that his comrades caused a fire on the lot.
So here's where I left off, with Mortimer and Claire having baby Eldena, Luna the dog-turned-human dressed as a werewolf thanks to the Beauty or Beast Charm, Bonehilda and the three dogs. I still haven't managed to steal beans from a giant. Or even get that far.
It's been fun though!
I'm now planning to go and mess about with magic in TS2. It's not as cool or fun as it was in TS1, but it's still pretty neat.
Hope you all had a good weekend!
EDIT: I just read that you can't climb beanstalks grown on regular lots - only on magic residential lots! Time to uproot the Hicks and go to Magic Town...