Sims dream, and discussion about premade reluctance.

[strangetomato]

I had a dream about sims last night. I was playing the game, though of course it was more like this very large scale thing that I was observing in the dream. I think I had discovered a new premade character, possibly a university student, who was a pleasure sim and she had the LTW to "Have everyone's phone number." I think it was to be filled by meeting every sim in the game! :P I was excited to have discovered a new LTW in the game (and poor Pleasure sims need more than the two they're given). The character was a female with short black hair and pretty plain clothing. Nothing special, but I liked her. She was throwing a huge party.

Then the dream got weird and I was trying to screencap some of the odd scenes at this sim's party so I could share them. There was something about a General Buzz type character making out with a sim that looked like Bowser or a Sesame Street monster. Yeah, like I said, it got weird fast.

I've been playing through all the university characters lately, trying to get all the university premades out into the adult world for the current timeframe of S,HWC, to be replaced by the younger generation (any sims that were children or toddlers at game start). It's pretty fun, and I'm playing up the entire uberhood to be at roughly the 14 day mark (using the lot sync timer), but I'm finally feeling that reluctance some simmers mention about not wanting to play the premades because they feel it's ruining the stories and not using the "right" path for them. This usually doesn't bother me, but I tend to look at the S,HWC universe as my more or less official take on the premades, so I do feel this desire to set them all on some sort of best path for my take on things.

This is, no doubt, ridiculous. Many of these characters have at least two different paths that would be equally pleasing to me, and some of them are just complete wild cards. I've already played through a lot of it with the original versions of these hoods for my story and I liked that direction, but the second play through invariably brings new ideas and new chance happenings, ACR surprises, etc. No two plays through this game will ever be the same. That's part of what I like about it, and really, it's also part of my idea of the story universe that some rare sims are aware of the infinite versions of themselves out there, like their version of quantum physics.

Has anyone else had that feeling about the premades? I love trying different variations, but working on a complete uberhood has me feeling like I have to get this version "right."

Comments

[skellington7d.livejournal.com]

and really, it's also part of my idea of the story universe that some rare sims are aware of the infinite versions of themselves out there, like their version of quantum physics.

I've thought about this exact same thing! And with TS3/TS1 thrown into the mix, there can even be universes where Bella/Morty live happily ever after.

I am definitely set in my ways for how to play the Caliente/Goth/Lothario households, but I have a lot of fun exploring with the other families.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I definitely view Sims 3 as an alternate universe and it very much plays into the take I have on those things in my story (some of it was mentioned with Mr. Humble and the Cordials). I don't want to say too much more (in the off chance I might eventually try to finish my story - yeah, It's almost a joke at this point), but I do see Bella and Morty in Sims 3 as a sort of "do over" where they get a chance to be happy in the end. Sims 2 seems to stack the odds against them in most play throughs. In the same sense, Sims 1 is a universe where they're always happy and remain young forever.

I'm curious to know how you play those households in your "official" take on them. I'm assuming Dona ends up with Mortimer, based on some of the things you've posted before, but I have no idea on some of the others. It'd be interesting to see what you do without constraints to work within, like you have with the prequel.

As for me, I never used to pair Dina with Mortimer. I greatly resented that setup for years, even without any attachment to the Goths (never played them in Sims 1), but I do tend to play them together in my story versions. It just seems to make the most sense, and part of my approach in my uberhood is following through on the initial story prompts as they are implied to happen. Though I always have Cassandra get left at the altar by Don, even though I get the impression that that scenario is set up to be more 50/50. I just don't see Don ever getting married.

[skellington7d.livejournal.com]

I see Dina and Mortimer being intimately involved, but I think Cassandra being left at the altar (and Nina's involvement with Don) throws a wrench in their wedding plans.

It's always intrigued me that we're supposed to assume Dina was responsible for Bella's abduction because she's got an alien on her family tree. So I imagine if that gossip got out around Pleasantview, things would get unbearably bad for her, whether she had anything to do with the abduction or not.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

The scenario that I see a lot of the time in other people's games is that Cassandra does marry Don and Dina does marry Mortimer and then Dina and Don continue to do their thing behind both of their backs. It's an interesting one, especially given the soap opera nature of Pleasantview. I've played that one out, with Cassandra eventually catching them and divorcing Don. Once again, even if she marries Don, I don't see it lasting.

I'm not sure if the alien heritage is the key reason to suspect Dina (the timely arrival in Pleasantview with an eye on Mortimer sticks out a little more for me), but it does add an interesting layer to it. For me, it gives her a better reason for doing what she did, and a means of having it happen. I actually wrote something to link the two events just recently, though I'm not sure if I'll use it in the story or just make a little short out of it.

It's interesting to think of the alien background being problematic for Dina and Nina. I've always imagined it as being more of a well-kept secret for them. It's certainly an interesting tidbit that makes for good storytelling material.