The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 5: The second death

A few hours later, death visits again.

Now I have two lovely tombstones in my graveyard.

The graveyard is still quite empty, but two tombstones is a start.

After death visited this time, it was Game Over because a child can’t be left on a lot by themselves.

But Sims Social Services will be taking good care of Moriah…

Hopefully better care than I took.

 

Previous: The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 4: The first death

 

So this is the end of this blog series.

I will update you if more sims move into the Spooktastic mansion, and if they are haunted by the tortured souls buried there.

 

Happy Simming

 

The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 4: The first death

Another few days have transpired in Oasis Springs.

And one sim has expired.

But before we get into that, here’s an update on what happened before then.

Addison is struggling to study through his stench.

But Moriah is able to gain social skills by talking to her bear.

Emerson gave herself a pep talk to try to calm down. I don’t think it worked.

Addison grows hungrier and hungrier.

Both Moriah and Emerson dressed and attempted going out.

Pretty in putrid pink.

Someone scrubs up well with access to a bathroom.

I was starting to become bored watching them, a feeling that gave way to sympathy.

I had to curb this emotion before I let the sims go free, so I began filming Moriah to see if I could capture something interesting to show you.

That’s when tragedy struck.

And so the first of two are dead.

Who will be next?

 

Previous: The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 3: The cracks

 

Happy Simming

The Sims 4 Simageddon: Update

Death has touched the family, but who is his first victim?

Find out tomorrow…

 

The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 3: The cracks

Welcome back to my blog series The Sims 4 Simageddon.

So, it’s been a few weeks in Oasis Springs, and the cracks are starting to show.

Although Emerson and Moriah are managing to get some quality shut eye…

Emerson having not-so-sweet dreams.

 

Moriah comfortable in her bed.

 

… Addison isn’t too comfy on the couch.

Addison is in the study, with only a couch for comfort.

 

Since they both have beds, Emerson and Moriah have taken to staying in their PJs.

Emerson dressed for success, haunted mansion style.

 

Moriah looking stylishly sweaty.

 

Without bathroom facilities, Moriah and Addison have wet themselves…

Addison’s first of many accidents to come.

 

… but at least Moriah is managing to make light of the situation.

Moriah enjoying playing in her own puddle of pee.

 

Her brother can’t find the silver lining as easily, but is living each day as a brooding teenager.

Addison sad about the limited reading material.

Moriah and Emerson also have their moody moments.

Moriah defeated in her filth.

Emerson fed up with the haunted mansion heartache.

Addison sums up his family’s collective anguish.

Addison with a roof over his head, but no food on the table.

I plan on playing this out like a Best of Three scenario: two victims are burried while the lone survivor is set free for a few short days to regain their strength before embarking on another game with two others until the graveyard is full…

 

Previous: The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 2: Spooktastic, a tour of the mansion

Next: The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 4: The first death

 

Happy Simming

The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 2: Spooktastic, a tour of the mansion

 

Previous: The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 1: In the beginning…

Next: The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 3: The cracks

 

Happy Simming

The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 1: In the beginning…

I haven’t played The Sims 4 in a while, and was looking for some fun things to do in the game, instead of just playing out the life of a happy little family.

After reading a blog post on Vexing Point, I decided to be cruel for once.

I enjoy building and furnishing houses, especially ones with a quirky style, so I decided to build a haunted mansion, complete with a graveyard.

The backyard of Spooktastic. Yes, I named the haunted mansion.

Notice the empty graveyard. This needs to be fixed.

Enter the cruelty.

Meet Emerson…

… her son, Addison…

… and his kid sister, Moriah.

Notice the separate rooms.

What the photos might not convey is the Sims’ lack of access to the rest of the mansion.

Emerson’s survival will be slightly prolonged due to her access to her ensuite in the master bedroom, which will fulfill her bladder and hygiene needs.

Moriah is having the most fun, as her room is littered with toys that are stimulating her learning and social needs.

Both Emerson and Moriah also have beds.

Addison, however, might perish first, with only a couch, a desk, and a bookshelf to amuse himself with.

Stay tuned for a mansion tour and an update on their survival.

 

Next: The Sims 4 Simageddon Part 2: Spooktastic, a tour of the mansion

 

Happy Simming

The Sims 4: A Well-deserved Break (Part 2)

For the first time in a long time, I have managed to play The Sims for a whole day. And it was very satisfying. I didn’t even feel guilty about not doing work, because I have practically none to do at the moment.

What I love about each new generation of Sims games is the new way EA Games presents the game’s logo. How gorgeously simple is this?

And the new plumbobs are pretty cool, too. I especially like the way they sparkle like big green diamonds as they rotate above a sim’s head.

Before we go any further, let me introduce you to my sim, Marvin Gay.

Marvin is a geek, a nerd, a genius, an egghead, a bookworm – whatever you want to label him. To me, he is perfect; he loves working, playing video games, and has worked his way up the Tech Guru career ladder to the position of Development Captain in only one short month.

Marvin’s top skills are cooking and gourmet cooking, gardening, and programming. He is slowly buying higher quality possessions for his humble abode. He is also manually upgrading his appliances himself and improving his Handiness skill at the same time.

That’s one thing I love about The Sims 4: the vast amount of new skills, like Mischief and Comedy.

I love a lot of things about The Sims 4, and some of them align with EA Games’ Top 10 things you need to know about The Sims 4, which are:

1. Sims with Character;
2. So Smart, So Believable;
3. Streamlined and Smooth;
4. Exploration Galore;
5. Create Anyone;
6. Fashionista Made Easy;
7. Move In Ready;
8. Build Quick, Build Details;
9. Sharing is Caring; and
10. Make it Your Own.

Note that I said some of the things I love about The Sims 4 align with these top 10, not all…

Firstly, I do love the new character options, especially some of the new traits. (The “bro” social trait made me giggle.) The new moodlets are cool, too, particularly how they allow your sim to complete different actions. My favourite action is “Pee like a champion” when Marvin is feeling Confident.

Secondly, the “new Sims smarts” are awesome. What I love about this is a sim’s newfound ability to multi task. For some reason, Marvin loves eating and brushing his teeth at the same time. (Maybe I should have doubled up on the Genius trait…)

Thirdly, EA Games has nailed the smooth, streamlined game appearance. The logo, the loading screen, the Create A Sim screen, game play in general – it’s all fantastically, simply, and cleanly designed. But (heard that coming, didn’t you?), with newly designed menus comes unfamiliar interface, along with user frustration.

For example, Marvin moved into an existing house that was already furnished, so I didn’t have to delve into either Build Mode or Buy Mode until he wanted some new things (namely a refrigerator because the smell of his old one was making him sick).

Here’s a handy hint if you’re still trying to find your way around The Sims 4: Buy Mode is in Build Mode.

Then when I got around to placing an item, I had to Google how to rotate them. Turns out a single right click will do it, but if you’re looking for the keyboard shortcut, the keys “,” and “.” will rotate an object in both directions. With the normal camera options enabled, you can click and drag to move the camera without placing the item you’re holding, which I find quite useful.

Another good design feature is the new way of choosing the colour of things in Create A Sim, and in Build and Buy Modes. You simply click on the small rectangular colour palette in the bottom left corner of the item and select the colour you want from the pop up window.

An interesting point is that you can sell items that you sim is using. Poor Marvin was rocketed up off of the couch while he was enjoying the Comedy channel after I accidentally sold the TV he just happened to be watching. (Needless to say that when I went back into Live Mode, he was a bit wobbly on his feet.)

Finally, I love that you can indeed create anyone. The newest feature in Create A Sim is direct manipulation. You literally just grab a part of the sim you’re creating and move it until it looks exactly the way you want it to look.

On top of what I’ve already talked about, I have only discovered a few more bad things about The Sims 4.

Firstly, a noticeable problem – the entire game was blurry. But this was an easy fix: go to the options menu > game options > graphics, and enable “laptop mode”.

Secondly, hitting “enter” no longer centres the camera on your selected sim; you actually have to click on their small icon at the bottom of the screen.

Thirdly, what has happened to TV video gaming stations? I cannot for the life of me (and my video-gaming sim) find a TV video game console in Buy Mode. (But I still think it’s great that my sim can play The Sims.)

Finally, the major change that has me, and a lot of my fellow simmers, up in arms is that the world is closed. Your sim simply disappears off of the lot when they go places, like in The Sims 2. The Sims 4 not having free roaming like in The Sims 3 is a major disappointment. Plus, while your sim is away, you can’t access any of their information panels, like mood or work.

Overall, I had an enjoyable, relaxing day. I’m quite looking forward to guiding Marvin on his life journey, which will hopefully lead to many successes, and not his being eaten by a cow plant.

 

Happy Simming

Images and information sourced from:

The Sims Wiki. 2014. “TS4 Logo.png.” Image. Accessed September 6, 2014. http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/File:TS4_Logo.png.

W. James AU. 2014. “The Good, the Bad, and the Unclear: My First Impressions of The Sims 4 Create-a-sim Demo.” Image. Accessed September 6, 2014. http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2014/07/first-impressions-sims-4-cas-demo.html.

SIMGURUS. 2014. “Top 10 things you need to know about The Sims 4.” Accessed September 6, 2014. http://www.thesims.com/en_AU/news/top-10-things?utm_campaign=sims4-social-APAC.

Sims Community. 2014. “The Sims 4 – New Features.” Image. Accessed September 6, 2014. http://simscommunity.net/2013/09/11/the-sims-4-new-features/.

The Sims Wiki. 2014. “Animated_sims_plumbob.gif.” Image. Accessed September 6, 2014. http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/File:Animated_sims_plumbbob.gif.

The Sims Wiki. 2013. “The Sims 4 has been announced!” Image. Accessed September 6, 2014. http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:LostInRiverview/The_Sims_4_has_been_announced!.

The Sims Wiki. 2014. “Trait (The Sims 4).” Image. Accessed September 6, 2014. http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Trait_%28The_Sims_4%29.

The Sims 4: A Well-deserved Break (Part 1)

6:30am
My body clock wakes me after only seven hours of sleep. I lie in bed, listening to the calming, rhythmic tick tock of my awesome new clock I received for my 21st birthday a few weeks ago.

6:40am
I finally decide to get out of bed, have a Berocca, and start on the practice exam for Corporate Writing and Editing. I blog for a while first, posting Routines v Bad Habits. Maybe I have a bad habit…

7:50am
I sit at my desk with two slices of fruit toast and set 10 minutes on my phone’s timer for perusal before reading through Question Two of the practice exam. I then set one hour on my phone’s timer and start the question. I finish half an hour later, whereas last time I took 50 minutes. The perusal time really helped; I know what I’m using it for in the real exam in a few weeks.
Since I finished so quickly, I decide to complete Question One as well; the grammar section.

9:30am
I check over the exam answers and find I did pretty well in the grammar section. I almost achieved a perfect score for the punctuation, Latin roots, and sentence identification sections that I previously completed.

9:45am
I’m blogging again. For some reason I am putting off playing The Sims 4… perhaps I have recently discovered that I enjoy blogging, or perhaps I am developing a bad habit…

10:00am
My fingers are getting itchy and The Sims 4 case is staring up at me from next to my laptop. I can faintly hear my name…

 

Happy Simming

The Sims 4: Installing

Sitting down at my desk, I reach for the Sims 4 case. It’s still wrapped in plastic.

Smiling, I dig a painted nail into the dip along the side of the case and rip off a corner of the plastic. I pull the case to my nose and breathe in deeply – the brand new smell of perfect, untouched plastic greets me like an old friend; this is exactly why I buy hard copy games.

I carefully remove the rest of the wrapping, managing for once to keep it in one piece, and set it aside. I crack open the case with a snap and they’re all smiling up at me – eight beautiful sims on disc one, and four beautiful sims on the product registration sheet. I smile back, excited for when I can make my very own.

With a press of a streamlined button, the disc drive pops out of the right side of my laptop. I remove the Sims 3 Into the Future disc and carefully set it aside, then release the Sims 4 Disc 1 from the horrible trappings of its inhumane case and click it into its rightful place. I shut the disc drive and my laptop whirrs responsively.

A wild pop up appears: Steps to Install The Sims 4. I laugh at the ridiculousness – as if I need instructions by this point in my Sims journey. I click Continue and sign in to Origin. After discovering I had changed my password last time and attempting to sign in three times before remembering the new one, I am met with the dreaded road block: a software update. Luckily, I have frankie to occupy my idle hands.

Ooh, this is interesting: a new book. Deeper Water by Jessie Cole.

I open Firefox to Google this newfound wonder. I read the synopsis and decide to use the remaining 19 dollars and some change on my Angus and Robertson gift card to buy this book tomorrow. Unfortunately, it will go at the end of a 23-long line of waiting-to-be-read books.

Huzzah – the Origin software update is T-minus-(almost)-10 seconds to completion. Eight, seven, six, five, three (it skipped cheekily ahead), two, one. I dutifully enter my Product Code, choose the language (I am very disappointed that English US is the only English option), and suck in a deep breath before agreeing to the forever unread terms and conditions, and hitting Install Now…

My breath rushes out and leaves me a hollowed out corpse of a Sims fan when it apparently has an hour and seventeen remaining. But alas, my laptop has underestimated its ability to effectively liaise with my Broadband connection, and soon moves along to halfway… 70 per cent… and I’m still blogging about the process… 80 per cent… still blogging, barely…

Woo – disc two time. I pop out disc one and it is satisfyingly warm. Slotting in disc two, I hit OK, and wait…

My laptop thinks loudly while it races to the end… then starts again… well, at least I’ll get to put all the photos in this blog…

DONG! A pop up in the bottom right tells me that The Sims 4 is ready to play! So why am I still bogging? I’ll see you later.

 

Happy Simming