Belladonna Cove: Watervista Place = Baba Yaga's Hut

[strangetomato]

I've always been fascinated with the odd little witch cabin on the "hidden" (it is if you don't have a camera mod, anyway) Watervista Palace lot on the edge of Belladonna Cove. It really begs for more development, and gets me thinking about the witches and their mythology. I've been planning to build up more of a hidden town for the witches out there, where the Cordial's actually live, when they're not blending in with the rest of society as normal sims.








Do you see them? Perhaps if we pull the camera away a little...




Look at the base of the stairs! :D

I always thought this pair of staircases seemed like they were meant to look like feet, but this confirms it. Those darker patches of terrain are obviously references to the clawed chicken feet of Baba Yaga's hut.

Here are some artistic interpretations that I dug up through google image search:




Now that this has brought it back to my memory, I remember this little bit of folklore from some computer games of my childhood (the King's Quest series, maybe? They were full of myths and fairytale stuff from different sources). There's something extremely terrifying about a house with legs, not to mention the skulls. It's strangely familiar, even the first time you hear about it. I think it must be part of our collective landscape of nightmares that we have as children. 

Now I'm going to need to find some cc skulls to try to bring out this look a little more. Have anyone extracted the skull from the Resurrect-O-Nomitron, I wonder?

Don't you love finding things like this in the game? I'm always impressed at all the small details the designers have worked in there. ^_^


ETA: I just did a search on this, and there's also a very small entry (it's actually in fine print) on it in the Sims Wiki.

... and the Baba Yaga connection was already mentioned on MATY, MTS2, and a bunch of other places, so this isn't really breaking news.











Comments

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Oh, cute. I think I saw those tracks when investigating the lot myself, but I forgot about it.

I do love the tiny little half-hidden details like that, like the jokes in descriptions, little fun things in some sims' homes, etc. I understand the scarecrow can actually scare your sims, for example, but I've never seen it happen in my game, only in others' pictures (could be because my SO doesn't like the scarecrow, and absolutely hates the pictures of it moving, so he doesn't like me using it much - he's gonna be mad at me for sharing that with you, too :D).

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Also, yay King's Quest! I love me some old school adventure games. *is waiting excitedly for the remastered Monkey Island 2*

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I am a super huge fan of the King's Quest series, up to number IV, when they switched to better graphics and more of a point and click interface. I adored the old system where you have to think things up and type them in. I think those games tapped ito the same part of my brain that the Sims series does, because I was always thinking about how I'd just like to play with the characters actually living their lives in that world (and come to think of it, I'm sure I did that at least once or twice). ^_^

I was also a fan of the first Police Quest game, but I never played Monkey Island or Space Quest or even Leisure Suit Larry (which I was always curious about as a child). Maybe I should to look them up and play them now. Oh, and I did play Disney's The Black Cauldron, which was in the same format, more or less. And I loved Peasant's Quest, which is a wonderful parody of those games.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Haha, Peasant's Quest is the best. I love all the parodies of old games on Homestarrunner.com (and I love old games, so, yeah, that's probably why).

If you wanna give Monkey Island a try, I recommend the special edition a try. It's completely 100% true to the original, just with updated graphics, sound and user interface. It is point and click, not text-based like the really old Sierra games, but the storyline is absolutely hilarious. Trust me, it's completely worth it. :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I nearly died laughing when I first played through PQ. So many times they get things so very right. It's exactly the stuff we'd always make fun of as kids.

Thanks for the recommendation! I just might do that, since the original isn't quite old enough to turn up for free download on Abandonia yet.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

I suspect that the reason it's not up as a free download is that they're making money off the game again through these remakes. Why waste good potential, eh? I don't think any of LucasArts' old games are up for free, though, not even the ones from the 80s.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I know I was getting a leg vibe from those stairs, but it didn't pick up on the claws on the ground cover. It's pretty awesome.

I had no idea about the scarecrow thing! Now I'm going to have to try it! :P (LOL at your SO getting mad at me playing with them in my game! Oh those silly SOs...)

There are a lot of little things I've yet to try. I still haven't seen a sim child give someone a shock using a rug, for one. Maybe I need to start a list of things I still need to try in the game and then work on completing it.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Oh, I meant he wouldn't like me telling you/anyone that they, well, creep him out. :) Haha.

You can make them do the shock thing yourself, the option comes up as Prank... Shock when they're standing on a rug. :D

I've yet to SEE a toddler escape from the crib, although I've had a few do it when I wasn't looking. :P

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's funny. I thought he hated them so much he just couldn't stand the thought of people using them out there... somewhere. XD "Not in my world, dammit!"

I know you can do it, but I always forget to try it. Do you need two children or just one child and anyone else?

I had that happen just the other day! And I did see it, but I didn't get a pic. I was so disappointed. You really have to let them bawl for a while before they'll attempt it, I think. My toddler was stuck in there with a stinky diaper, and so he decided to take matters into his own hands and go seek help. :P

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Ha, he just came home, and he says the idea that they're out there does unnerve him slightly. :D

You just need one child and I think anyone else, I know it definitely works with adults.

I'm probably not patient enough to wait for it, usually my sims have a very tight toddler-training schedule so there's no time for them to sit around in the crib. :P Do they have to know how to walk to do it, or is that one of those spaghetti-twins type myths?

[simsinthecity.livejournal.com]

I actually noticed a patch of road out on the other side of the sea while I was in my Survivor neighborhood (which has the Belladonna Cove base) and I wondered if there was a house there in the real neighborhood. Now I really want to check it out!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's worth checking out, for sure. Just a small cabin inside, but such an odd place.

[aledstrange.livejournal.com]

OMFGs! XD I never even saw that before (and I do have the camera mod lol), so just checked on it in the game. Really odd lot, but very interesting.

I wonder how do sims even get there! train or brooms!? lol (I can see a witch living there, for sure)

And, btw, don't know about extracted skulls, but xanathon has a skull lamp at mts
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=156834

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I think the sims would need to use brooms to travel to a community lot. I played a sim out there when I first installed AL, but I don't recall ever trying to make him leave the lot, but I've since played a sim on an isolated island in Elsewhere and she couldn't leave unless she used her broom.

That's a cool lamp. Thank you for sharing that! I also found a skull by Windkeeper, so I should be able to piece something together.

[aledstrange.livejournal.com]

I've since played a sim on an isolated island in Elsewhere and she couldn't leave unless she used her broom
wow Really? I was kind of joking (for the location of the house) but never imagined sims couldn't leave a lot if it's isolated. (at least not in sims 2, in sims 3 probably for the way it works)

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

I know there are lots in custom neighborhoods that sims can't leave, so they have to be entirely self-sufficient. plasticbox has one in her Elsewhere neighborhood -- it's that little house on the island. No delivery, no firetrucks, no leaving... but they do get mail and the newspaper! Apparently by rowboat? ^_^

Edit: I fail, I didn't fully read Strange's comment mentioning the same island house! *blush*

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Haha. Why be embarrassed? It's not like anyone will post your embarrassing error on simsecret or anything? :P

I think the thing about that island on Elsewhere (that's where my witch sim, Gloria Bless, lives), is that there's no ROAD there at all. The bills and newspaper are linked to having the mailbox and garbage can, but those're the only NPCs that are allowed. (And, yes, they can swim or else hold their breath for a long time. XD)

This lot in Belladonna Cove has that little strip of road, so I think it will be treated as an ordinary lot.

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

Heh, they just like to pick on you! I didn't even notice the dessert/desert thing, to be honest. Though I picked up a spelling error in that secret today that showed your Titania and another one.

I wonder how plasticbox placed a lot there without a road. I was going to use that neighborhood for my VDSL, but decided to go with Baskerville instead, thinking it would be easy to place beach lots in Baskerville... ^_^;; But I still think Elsewhere looks really nifty. Have you had any issues with it?

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

OMG awesome!!!

How is it, that after so many years of playing this game, that it can still surprise us? I think that's so cool. :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

That's one of my favourite things about the game, for sure. ^_^

[fantasyrogue.livejournal.com]

Baba Yaga and her chicken hut were actually in Quest for Glory 1 and also.. 4, if I remember correctly. Great games those. As were the King's Quest games, actually (I have the entire collection, a newer one as I stupidly gave my old one away to some neighbour kids on urging of my mom...)

I love old mythology, folkore and tales. Great stuff.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Right you are! And I didn't even play that, so maybe I'm just remembering it from the back of the game box. I do recall seeing that around that time, so that's probably where I picked it up from.

There's something similar in King's Quest 4, but the witches are in a cave and they share a single glass eyeball between them in order to see. I guess they were based on the Graeae of Greek mythology. They were also quite terrifying.

I should find a collection of those games, so I can play the newer ones.

Have you ever played 5 Days a Sranger? It's a freeware game in the same style, and again, terrifying, even to me now. (Well, more the sequels, but still...) If I had played that as a child, I would have slept with one eye open for the rest of my life, I think.

I'm a big fan of that stuff, too. A lot of my photo and printmaking work was about that at one point. I was really interested in the stories of martyred saints, too. All that stuff is super interesting to me.

[fantasyrogue.livejournal.com]

Was that King's Quest 4? I played that game to death and I can't remember that bit XD The Pandora's Box bit I recall though, and the ghosts at the old house. I especially thought the mummy in Pandora's Box's room was scary. And I was always afraid of falling off the cliff going up to Lolotte's mansion. Oh and the forest with those scary trees... and that troll. Ok so as a kid I thought it was a fairly scary game, but in my defense, I was about 9 or 10 years old XD

I think they not too long ago rereleased King's Quest, Police Quest and uh.. Space Quest again. Like, all the games of one series on one disc.

I never played it, I know of it but I never sat down to play.

My favorite of Sierra's adventure games and I'm dunno maybe you'd enjoy them too are the Gabriel Knight ones. They're a bit more mature and are pretty well researched on their topics. Different type of, "mythology", I suppose but very well written. I love those.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the one. I found a lot of it very creepy, too. The music really adds to that, especially when something suddenly appears. That was probably the best of the bunch for me. I loved all the little quests, like the ogre's cabin and being swallowed by the whale. And Genesta's island was beautiful. I really loved King's Quest 3, too, though.

All the orginal games? That's cool. I can download the first in each series on Abandonia, but I'd love to play through all of them.

Hmmm, I'm not familiar with them, but I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the recommendation! ^_^

[fantasyrogue.livejournal.com]

Especially the gruesome ways you could die if you got caught at the wrong moment. Getting dragged around by your braids by the ogre and such. Scary! King's Quest 3 had that tension at the beginning with trying to escape the wizard's home. And I loved making the potions (I love that kinda stuff in games, it's why I adored Legend of Kyrandia 2: Hand of Fate as well, cause Zanthia, the main character, gets to make potions and such).

Yeah, it's on amazon and such it doesn't cost too much either. The downside is that it's a very simple package, a box, a cd with the games on. The manuals are PDF files. It's fairly spare :P But the King's Quest one, for example, has all 7 (we're not counting 8, 8 didn't exist) games on it.

I really do recommend it. Especially start with Sins of the Fathers (the first one) if you can find it anywhere, it's got a good, suspenseful story and good puzzles.

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

I never noticed the "toes" before. Hee hee!

I think this house was mentioned as contender for the MATY House of Phail makeovers (but I think it was shot down because it's an intentional "phail" house, unlike, say, the Curious abode which is just plain old maxis wtf-ery).

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they didn't jump out at me until that moment, and I even played the lot long enough to have a sim abducted and raise the babies to childhood. I feel very unobservant now.

Yeah, I don't really see it as being "phail," but ,then again, I've never had a problem with the Curious house either, aside from the odd routing that causes sims to go up and down the outside stairs before they leave for work or whatever.

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

For MATY, wacky routing is the Root of All Phail.

My main beef with the Curious abode is the odd shaped rooms. They just aren't well suited for housing hordes of alien spawn. I'm fine with the odd staircase behavior as long as there's not a huge bottleneck (and sim tantrums).

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

I saw the hut on MATY's House of Phail, but I don't think any of the makeovers played up on its witchy origins. I'd love to see what you do with it! The Sims 2 Wiki content list has a lot of Halloween stuff which might be a place to start looking for skulls.

I had a book of fairy tales when I was a kid with a story about Baba Yaga. I remember the house picture fascinated me, as did her flying cauldron. The art you found is very cool too, I especially like that first one.

[simsforaranya.livejournal.com]

ZOMG BABA YAGA'S HOUSE. O_O

That house scared me so bad. I think because of the connection to chickens. Yes, I am slightly scared by chickens. Especially roosters. Childhood trauma. XD

[naughtydolphin.livejournal.com]

Oh I haven't seen that before. I don't play in the premade hoods that much. I'll have to check this out!

[silentsteel.livejournal.com]

It's news to me! I can't get the camera over there to check it out . . I'm such a wimp on downloading camera mods. :p

[honorkid54.livejournal.com]

The third picture looks like something from one of my storybooks from when I was a kid. Baba Yaga is from the fairytale called Vassilissa the Great, which is like the Russian version of Cinderella. It's my favorite fairytale :)

I never knew about this house until now. I can't wait to try it out.

[delirium23.livejournal.com]

Wow, Vassilissa. When I was six or seven our class went to see a high school's stage production of the story. Our across-the-street neightbor and sometime babysitter (a boy!) was Baba Yaga in it; that was my introduction to her.

strange_tomato, which camera mod do you use? I don't think mine reveals hidden lots...

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

Wow. I was always disappointed in the lack of an easter egg in AL. I had no idea this property existed (I don't have the gunmod, because I'm a chicken). The chicken feet are obvious though in your first picture. how brilliant!!!

Baba Yaga always scared me as a kid. What a great find, thanks for sharing!

[muslemura.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! I haven't played much i BDC and haven't even seen this lot :) Gotta love the Easter eggs in this game!