Late Night - Vampire - Kendrick Daye

Ah, vampires. I was so excited when I found out Late Night would include the vampire, but I was also apprehensive. Despite the fact I'm very fond of vampires in TS2, there are aspects of the townie vampires that drive me nuts. There are also aspects of all the vampires I hate, such as being totally out of commission during the days.

So, I approached TS3 vampires not really expecting a lot. And was I surprised. So, meet Kendrick Daye, self-employed artist who really wants to be a vampire.

When I created Kendrick, I'd already seen the vampires with the glowing red eyes, so I was curious what I'd get if I gave him dark violet eyes and freckles. You'll notice throughout the pictures that follow that Kendrick's hair keeps changing, that's because I just couldn't decide what would look best on him. The hairstyle in the last few pictures is what I finally decided on.

So, I put Kendrick in Bridgeport and started running around trying to find a vampire for him to befriend. I've discovered, however, that if you want your future vampire to make friends, it might be best not to give him the shy trait. Where I thought the new trait would be good for an artist, I didn't realize it'd make making friends almost impossible.

This is just another picture of some of the cool things in Bridgeport. I know Valpre is doing a story set here, and I can see where it'd make a wonderful backdrop for future stories.

So, needless to say, I tried to get Kendrick into the Plasma 501, the vampire bar, but no go, so off I went with him to one of the less classy hangouts. Yeah, I know there are a ton of pictures around the web of people dancing on tables, but I just thought I'd add my own to the mix.

With the shy trait, as well as just trying to find a vampire in the bar on any given night that would hang around long enough to even be greeted by Kendrick, it took me days for him to finally become even slightly friendly with this vampire. I thought I'd rather have him changed by a female, so that, too, took a while to find.

So, after at least a week of trying to build the friendship to a point where she'd even consider changing him, I finally got the option one night.

Imagine my surprise when she bit his wrist and not his neck. I really hadn't expected that, guess they weren't that good of friends that she'd consider biting his neck.

As soon as she finished biting him, he was engulfed in red haze and bats, but that's all. No change is completed that night.

The first night after she bit him, he had dreams of teeth and woke up complaining the insect bite he got somewhere itches.

The second night, he started to dream about bats, but in the morning, he was still a mortal Sim.

On the third night, however, he woke up in the middle of the night and started to change.

Overall, it was pretty cool looking.

The new vampire skin tone is much better than the grayed out tone from before, and his dark violet eyes became seriously cool looking. All in all, I was very much please with his look. And his freckles are still there if you get close enough.

No coffins for these vampires. And even cooler, he can hang around during the day and do his thing. If he's indoors, no problem whatsoever.

And when he sleeps, he can get his "V's". (eye roll)

Before he changed, he got a package in the mail that consisted of three plasma fruits. After that, he could go to the grocery store and get them.

Yup, reflections! A much improved vampire.

Okay, so once he'd gained his vampire status, I moved him out of Bridgeport and into Sunset Valley with the rest of my families. Early on, he met Leighton and I had him read his mind.

Then I decided to scope for mortals who Kendrick might be able to feed from, rather than the plasma fruit. As far as I'm concerned, Kendrick can definitely have warm blood that doesn't have to come from the fridge or a fruit. The woman glowed like a neon sign, so I had Kendrick approach her. Of course, he has to get permission to feed from her, he can't just take.

Apparently, she wasn't interested, so he was stuck with juice from the fridge. Again.

I have the Fast Lane SP and Kendrick is very rich. Not from being a self-employed artist, but because he was born that way. (Motherlode still works.) What better for a rich vampire than a sleek black car.

The new look of Sunset Valley in my world, and as you can see, Kendrick can still be out in the day. For a limited time. If left too long their needs start to fall rapidly. But it's nice to not have to rush them to a coffin every day.

More of my Late Night adapted Sunset Valley. I do need to get some subways put in, though.

So, I decided as a rich vampire, Kendrick must have one of the new butlers.

Fortunately, because he could go out during the days for limited time, he was able to take his paintings to the consignment shop from Ambitions and make more than just selling them out of his inventory.

Okay, this is Kendrick's final look. Because of his long hair, I missed the tattoo on his neck before this. All vampires have them. Comes with the new skin. Guess it's the "Mark of a Vampire."

A better look at his skin. Also notice, the new overlay doesn't pale out his tattoo on his chest like the old TS2 skin overlay did. Kendrick also makes use of the muscle slider.

During the evenings, vampires learn a skill faster. Notice the double plus signs and the bat, that's to indicate quicker learning of the piano skill.

Also, I haven't mentioned, but Late Night added the piano, drums and bass. All are learned individually and the skills are specific to each instrument. Just because your Sim can play the guitar well, does not automatically mean he can play the piano worth crap.

I can't control the butler, and in this case, she turned out to be a royal pain in the butt. Obviously she had no idea what a shower was. There must be a bed made available for butlers because they live in the home. She had both a bedroom and a bathroom. It didn't seem to make a difference to her, although she would sleep when exhausted.

Eventually, I had Kendrick fire her. She just wasn't work the hassle of dealing with her. In the case of butlers, from what I've seen, please give me back the TS2 butler, I really liked them.
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Late Night - Actor Scott Phury

When I got Late Night, I'll admit it, I really wanted to mess around with the vampires. Since I do a vampire story, and it's one of the things I missed from Sims 2, it seemed the most logical place for me to start. But then again, I wanted to see what the game had to offer day and night, so I created Scott Phury (I was reading J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series at the time), actor. His top is one of the new clothing choices that came with the game - quite nice, actually.

So, I started by wanting to get into one of the nicer nightclubs. This was considered the happening place for the evening, so off Scott went for a nice night out. He had one celebrity point and money so I thought he'd either get in or be able to bribe his way in. Until he came up against this bouncer. She bounced him right on out of there without his getting in.

Frankly, if I'd seen this chick, I would have ran away from the door.

He might not have gotten in with one celebrity point, but this paparazzi chick did start taking pictures of him.

So, since poor Scott couldn't get into the nice places, I sent him to one of the regular bars where he ran into his first vampire. I was curious if all vampires had glowing red eyes after this encounter and a few others, but no, red glowing eyes are not the norm.

I'll admit, I really like the looks of the vampires this time around. They got rid of the bad Gothic, bleh-spewing, cape wearing creatures. The skin tones are nicer and I really do like the eyes.

Notice that one of the two people running through each other have a need bathroom balloon. Since they can and do drink from the bars autonomously and apparently just being a Sim in this world make their bladders fail at an alarming rate, and since they don't seem to have any idea how to get to a bathroom, there are a lot of bladder accidents happening, no matter how nice the bar is.

Okay, a cool trick now is you can buy a drink for someone. Scott stayed at the bar until he received a tray with two glasses. He then took the tray over to his drinking partner and she took one drink and he took the other, the tray disappearing. They can then stand around and talk. Like sitting and talking, you can choose to change the subject to whatever you wish. It's a nice social I think adds to the game.

The elevators have a nice look and are a good addition. Unlike TS2, when you select to enter the elevator, it asks you where you want to go, giving the name of whatever floor is available to play.

The nice bars will generally have a piano player, and the ability for your Sim play an instrument. I haven't gotten around to trying, but I believe you can choose to jam with the piano player.

The bartenders, or mixologists as they're called, if they're skilled can have a nice variety of drinks to choose from. Some are mood drinks, I believe some are skill improving drinks and some will actually change the character's traits temporarily. It's a learnable skill as well, and then the Sim can moonlight as a bartender. It doesn't interfere with their day job (I don't believe but I haven't been playing much since I got Late Night so I haven't seen a lot of what the EP really has to offer). I believe it just gives them the opportunity to earn more money. I'm trying to give Mack Stone the skill because although the PI business does well enough, he's going to need some extra money if he's going to remain rich.

Don't remember exactly where I ran into the bubble bar at, but you can choose the flavor you want your bubble to be, I, of course, chose chocolate. There are some rather fun expressions and movements they have to go along with the bar. And it does improve fun very quickly.

The subway is way cool. In Bridgeport they're spaced around so Sims can easily and quickly travel from one location to the next without waiting for the taxi. I understand there is a way to add them to existing neighborhoods as well, but I haven't done it yet. I do want to get them added into Sunset Valley where my Sim families live.

Musicians can play for tips in the subway as well. I don't know if it was a bug that has been fixed, but Yuri went into a subway to play and in one day he made 8,000 simoleans.

So, as much as I like the elevators they can be a pain in the ass. Scott lives in the only available apartment in his building for a playable Sim and I'm not even sure which floor it's on, but I do know that by the time he gets out of the apartment, the elevator comes to the floor and he gets to the car pool, he can be late for work. I've found it's easier just to start him out about 15 minutes early to the front of the building.

However, if you are running late, and he gets caught in the elevator door, you'll become late enough to get the missing work warning.

This move was chuckle worthy the first couple of times I saw it, but by the 1,000th time, I was frankly beyond tired of it. It'd become simply an annoyance.

So Scott finally got 4 points in celebrity and now every time I turn around, someone wants to take his picture. Fortunately, Scott's a trooper and likes to pose for the camera.

This guy was the bartender in the bar Scott was eating at. Oh, yeah, you can eat at the bars, too. Things like hot wings, nachos, onion rings, etc.

In Bridgeport there's this food truck that'll drive around town. Sometimes you can see it parked and go up and order something quick from it. I found this one outside a bar one night.

Once I moved Scott out of Bridgeport and into Sunset Valley, I noticed the paparazzi and the bouncers were randomly created by the game, and to my amusement, they were now normal sized/looking Sims. There are a number of fat paparazzi, but the breast augmentation seems to be missing. Apparently, plastic surgeons aren't as popular in Sunset Valley as they are in Bridgeport. Scott's eating at the bar by the way, while she's snapping a picture of him.

I've never seen anything that came from the paparazzi taking pictures except a positive moodlet for being recognized. Outside of that, as far as I'm concerned, the paparazzi are just a useless annoyance.

Then, there are the constant requests for an autograph. They can get annoying as well because they will interrupt other things. You can cancel autonomous requests, however.

Oh, yeah, I didn't even go into the acting portion of the game. Oops, well, I guess I'll handle that when I do a post on Scott like I do with the other families I'm following. Getting Scott four celebrity points seemed important for an actor, but I'll admit, getting those was easy, getting it up to five seems to be taking a bit more time.

One advantage of celebrity points is Scott has an agent who calls with opportunities all the time. One was to do a commercial for Doo Peas Corporate Towers and he got paid a nice, hefty sum for that. I've found that since the acting career pays very little in the early levels, doing the opportunities for the agent can really give the Sim an advantage, and a lot of money - more than he'll earn acting.

Next up is my vampire.
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Actors, Vampires and Impressions - Late Night

Late Night. Many have called it the best EP to date. I'm not sure I'd go that far, since I've made it clear how much I like World Adventures, but it is better than Ambitions simply because it adds some rather nice game play features. As a teller of vampire stories, obviously the addition of vampires is beyond cool, and they're worlds better than Nightlife gave us.

Over the next few postings I'm going to cover some of my general impressions of the game, the acting career which folds into celebrity standing and, of course, a vampire.

I'll start with the big news that you now have more versatility in creating your Sim in the first place.

In CAS you now have new sliders for breast size and muscle definition. Yup, they're cool. And the boys at EA had enormous amounts of fun with the breast slider in putting together Bridgeport. Apparently they believe in silicone bodies.

The breast slider pushed all the way to left gives you a practically flat-chested lady.

In the middle is the normal Sim body.

All the way to the right.

The muscle slider is available for the female as well, I just didn't use it because I'll cover it with the males.

Okay, switched directly to male and got this.

Pushed the muscle definition all the way to the right.

Normal sized guy with the slider in the middle.

Now the slider's all the way to the right.

The game comes with a new neighborhood, Bridgeport. I don't know why EA couldn't have made it a sub-hood, essentially the vacation hoods are sub-hoods, Bridgeport could have worked just the same, but for some reason, EA feels that it has to be all or nothing these days. It would have been great for it to have been like Downtown for the Nightlife EP. But nope, not to be. My Sims play in Sunset Valley - I've tried other hoods and always send them back there.

But, I wanted to see what was new and cool in the game, so I loaded Bridgeport and created Scott Phury to test it out. Eventually, I saved a copy of him to the library and moved him into Sunset Valley with everyone else.

Bridgeport is nice, not my kind of place for either me or my Sims to live, but really nice. I need grass, not concrete. As always, there's an impressive view to be found if you just stop and look around.

The dark, cloudy, hazy sky tends to make me think weather might be on its way to the game. Usually the days are bright and blue, even if there are enough clouds to make the sun a bit less than bright.

The copper topped building you see is City Hall. One of the interesting aspects of Bridgeport is that more than one rabbit hole business can be in one building. For example, the nice expensive restaurant is in the same building that houses the business career. The military, police and city hall all are all together.

This is the view of the city from Kendrick's penthouse. The apartments are really small this time around, and as far as I can see, you can only have one playable family in any given building. The building fills up with non-playable Sims - mixologists and bouncers for example.

Looking the other way.

Same view at night. The way the buildings light up is really nice.

Pigeons! Yeah, but they're really just a decorative item that moves around in a very small tight circle. I'd say it's most likely those five are placed together. They don't do much, the Sim can't step on them or interact with them as far as I can tell, they just add a citified element to the surroundings. I noticed at one of the apartment buildings I could hear them cooing when the Sim was standing in front of the building.
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