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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The Ward Family, Part 1

I'll admit, the above picture is here solely for Drew's benefit.

Fortunately, working on this blog is fairly simple, non-time-consuming since I just take pictures while playing anyway, and I can actually sneak time in to do it during any lull at work. So, since I have it easy with this, I thought I'd take this opportunity to post something for a change. I'm sorry that Guardian's Key and Wake the Dead have suffered lately, but I do hope to get back into the Sims2 game before long and build the set that I need for the next GK update.

Last week I did pick up Late Night and even though, surprise, surprise I didn't start by creating a vampire, I have been playing it. I'll post my stuff on Scott Phury, Actor, before too much longer, I hope.

Gage Ward and his family are the longest existing TS3 family I have. After I created both Gage and Meggie, I spent some time messing around with Sunset Valley checking out what kind of playable characters EA had put into the game. During that time away from them, Gage and Meggie met and when I came back, I got a popup that said that Gage wanted Meggie to move in with him. So, okay, in she moved.

Over their time in the game, Gage has become an Astronaut and Meggie is an acclaimed Romance Writer. Gage also has a lifetime want to have three Visa Points in three countries. We're in the process of working on that. Needless to say, they've also become rather rich. Meggie is also a perfect gardener and has planted every plant available in the game and takes them to the consignment shop to sell. Between that, her writing, his salary, and the money he gets adventuring, they have a boatload of the stuff.

Above, is Gage with baby Grant, and Hamilton and Meggie. Birthday time for Grant.

Hamilton's a pretty terrific kid and he really likes his brother. Meggie has red hair, Gage and Hamilton brown, I'm still trying to figure out where the black hair for Grant came from since Gage and Meggie are first generation for the genetics.

Okay, I love the read to kids ability in the game, and I've found if you do it enough, you can really give a head start on their future.

Hamilton reading in bed. Hamilton's a genius and a virtuoso just to name a couple of his traits. Seriously, he's the kind of kid I would have hated in school, and once he becomes a teenager, which you'll see eventually, he's even more "one of those kids." He's rich, handsome, talented and really well liked. Also with Late Night the game gave him one celebrity point - apparently teenagers can be celebrities even if their parents aren't.

Meggie and Grant.

I told him to sit there while I was waiting for someone to go to the bathroom so they could go out to eat. You'd think he was telling me to shove it, wouldn't you?

Just a cute dad and son picture.

A better picture of Hamilton. He has his dad's looks, but his mom's bright green eyes.

I just love the family fun things to do. Hamilton's tossing a baseball with a neighboring kid, Gage is reading to Grant and Meggie's barbecuing.

Another day, but this one's here because of Hamilton on the trampoline. It's a favorite in the family.

Grant liked to do this autonomously.

Another Grant birthday. I was experimenting with Meggie's hair - this did not last long after this picture was taken.

One of the first things Grant did when he grew to a child.

TV watching time, don't think Grant's too happy with Hamilton talking through the show.

No explanation for these, they're just pretty pictures.

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The Ward Family, Part 2

Ah, my all-time favorite part of this game, adventuring. Yes, I do believe in many ways World Adventures is my favorite expansion. But that's because it combines my two favorite things: adventure games and The Sims.

Beware, pictures galore of one trip Gage took to Egypt.

Typos, you gotta love them. Notice the second to the last sentence:

"A fee paid in Simoleons will be paid upon disbarment of the final trap." Yup, the lawyers are going to just toss that puppy out. :) We won't comment on the overuse of the word "paid" either.

Really should have given Gage the "Brave" trait. Every time he sticks his hand in one of those holes and comes back with creepy-crawlies he freaks. Fortunately, it doesn't stop him from sticking his hand back in. I have enough times something freaks him out and I have to have him meditate to drop the moodlet so he can move forward.

Zenport, it's really cool, actually. The best way to adventure is to start with China since it will give you everything you need to adventure in the most effective way. Zenporting allows a Sim to move around quite freely in and out of the tombs.

Wandering around that basement to "disbar" the traps. Note, traps are not always to easy to find.

"Ward, Gage Ward. Breaking and entering is my new pastime." Yup, you break into this office to get into that laptop.

Hey, Lara Croft never stripped to her swimsuit to traverse a puzzle. Maybe it would have kept her boots from being soggy.

Yup, Gage, this place was pretty cool, but gee, I'm sure you've been in other tombs - wait I know you have.

Pretty, but really, I'm not sure it's that impressive. There are neater places to be found in the three countries.

Good body skills really can come in handy. Gage is athletic, and I believe he's maxed out on body skills, but pushing walls can still be a challenge for him. At least, they don't seem to snap back and smash his hand any more.

As I said, always be on the look out for traps.

Hey, he's a Sim. Got to keep those social points up. So, a call home once the tent is set up in the tomb is imperative. Hope he has free overseas roaming charges.

This is an autonomous action when in Egypt.

However, in this case, I think there must be more than just water in that canteen since he took the swig after seeing this poor soul. Guy didn't even get the goodies before the tomb fell on him.

You can grab this hammer in China during an adventure and it's the only way to get past these boulders, so once again, it's a good idea to start with China.

Yup, he really did do this autonomous athletic trait move after breaking that boulder. Boys.

Whoops. See, I said always watch out for those traps. I missed this one and had him moving the statue from the wrong side.

An apple, a Shower in a Can and a tent for a good night's sleep and he'll be good as new. Since Meggie has perfect apples growing in her garden, I make sure Gage has a number of them before I send him on his adventuring ways. They're free, easy to make sure he has and when perfect do as well if not better than the dried food blocks you can get in the Market Place.

I think there are things in this EP that EA has excelled at. And the tombs are absolutely part of that.

What's an adventure game without something to shove/pull around? Add a maze, and you've got the perfect combo.

Yup, the man's scared to death of creepy-crawlies, but he'll stick his arm in a sarcophagus without thinking twice.

Back out of the tomb, and wow this looks like a great place to fish. He caught a mummy fish.

I love the lighting in this game.

The same table during the day this time. Gage is going home today. I actually took this picture because of the way the sand dunes are reflected in the glass, but it turns out I love his wistful look as though he's really starting to miss his family and wants to get home.

Thought I'd have Gage take a picture of the snake charmer.

Ah, yeah, and these are the results. Sometimes EA's just: "Huh?"

Lastly, there are a number of these "magic gnomes" that you find throughout the game. This is just a quick example of what they do. As far as I can tell, except for popping up in odd places and changing positions, I can find no real use for them. I should also mention, outside of moving the one from the table above because he's in the way when they grill, I never touch him.

Take care,
Lachesis

Next up: Scott Phury, Actor, and some initial impressions of Late Night. I'm getting ready to see about creating a Vampire, so we'll see where that goes. Also, I have lots and lots more pictures I've taken of the other families living in Sunset Valley.
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