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At the Beginning…ahem…Okay, I Admit it, it’s the Sixth Generation…

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No, you’re not on the wrong page. The family is at the sixth generation (seven, if you include kids) and was not intended initially to be the subject for a blog. During one day’s gaming I discovered that, as in life, things in the Sims sometimes don’t turn out the way you expect them to.

The idea for this blog started when I posted a thread on the Sims 3 forums. I have been playing Sims 3 for a long time, and I’ve always pottered about with the same old sim design: Artistic, Green Thumb, Good, Athletic, Genius, etc. Through trying to create an easy time for myself by avoiding all those nasty, unsavoury bad traits, I had inadvertently made my game a boring, sterile environment. That was until…well, why don’t I just re-post here what I wrote on the forums:

Sorry for the length. I realise, having read through this, it’s probably going to come across as boring, but I really am in a bit of a dilemma. I was also hoping to hear from anyone else who’s been faced with a similar predicament (especially legacy players) and hear how you’ve managed to resolve it.

I should start by saying that I’m playing a legacy and have just reached generation seven, and that in order for the town to remain varied (and provide plenty of options for potential future partners for my sims) I am using the Story Progression mod. It’s been brilliant and highly effective in maintaining my little town where the game’s in-built story progression often failed. It’s also full of surprises and I can barely keep up with what’s happening day-to-day.

Anyway, I digress. Generation six are now young-adults, and there are five of them in total. I chose a girl called Hazel to be the sim I continued playing with, so that she could directly continue my legacy. I chose her when she was a teenager, and her being the third child in the family, she had two little brothers who were nothing more than toddlers when I made that fateful decision.

I should also state that I usually run an orderly household. The children are well looked-after and nobody tends to get stuck with any particularly bad or obnoxious traits. For the last three generations at least, the Zavala’s have been, for want of a better word, stable. And yes, quite, quite boring. In fact, it took some real determination to keep the legacy going. The same routine is pretty much run each and every day, with a few exceptions made for holidays or parties, etc. But nothing untoward ever happens.

Well, enter Lawrence Zavala, the fourth child born to Sadie and Nathan. I figured when he reached young-adulthood he would be destined to leave the family home (as capacious and luxurious as it now is) and go out into the big, wide world whereupon SP would give him his own little life (and maybe make him miserable in the process). He was a ‘spare’, and really I had no intention of doing anything other than raising him and then kicking him out. This means that I gave him traits that I wouldn’t normally pick: slob, rebellious, etc. Traits that if I were to give them to a sim I wished to keep, might rock the boat and cause irritation. It was nothing more than an experiment on nothing more than a ‘throwaway’ sim.

The trouble is, I really found myself liking Lawrence. In fact, I like Lawrence more than any sim I’ve ever had. His habits are positively horrifying: he belches (almost constantly, and then congratulates himself over it), he farts, he leaves puddles all over the bathroom floor whenever he chooses (and to be honest, this is rare unless I force him) to take a shower. He leaves his dirty clothes lying around (how he manages this one, I have no idea, as the hamper is right next to his bed) so that others have to pick them up, and he licks plates clean with the kind of fervour that reminds me of a thirsty dog drinking water. In other words, he’s a pig. But he’s a rather wonderful, lovable pig all the same. He’s also surprisingly sweet to his family, and I have never, until I had him, seen a teenaged sim read a book to a younger sibling (although Nathaniel also picked this habit up eventually). He also looks the part, and has a rather adorable (and I dare say ‘attractive’) face.

Well, when the time came, I did what I had to and kicked him out. SP stuck him the in the same house as his highschool girlfriend (that he stole from his cousin, and now mortal enemy) and her mother, and I got on with raising my seventh generation. It’s not until his father, Nathan, popped his clogs, that things became truly interesting.

I decided, for the first time ever, to hold a funeral for poor Nathan. He’d been a good sim, and I figured I owed him enough to honour his memory. Hazel called all of her relatives, and the poor widow, Sadie, prepared food for the occasion. All the sims showed up, cousins, aunts, uncles, and even family friends, and on that sombre night, all were respectful for the deceased and kind in their condolences to his surviving loved-ones. Hazel was particularly grief-stricken, and she headed straight to Lawrence for the kind of comfort that only a sibling can provide.

It was during their conversation that I saw the option to ‘Ask to move in’. I figured what the hell? I clicked on it hoping that Lawrence could return for a few days just to help out with the family. The first child of the seventh generation had been born, and I could do with a pair of helping hands. And yes, I missed Lawrence and wanted his belching, farting antics to lighten the mood a little. So that very night, Lawrence once again became a part of the main Zavala household.

The next day, all felt well and secure within the house, and every sim was busy doing something. Sadie was training her youngest, Oliver, on the treadmill. Lawrence was calling his girlfriend to, I imagine, ease any tensions now that he’d moved out (temporarily, of course !), and Hazel and her husband Paul were off flirting with each other in the jacuzzi. Everything was peaceful and boredom had, with its beige, chequered trousers and colourless personality, settled right back in.

I had no idea this night was about to become one of the strangest in my simming history.

It happened without music, strangely, and I didn’t even notice anything was amiss until I saw Sadie turn transparent and slowly begin to levitate. Grim showed up with his scythe, and with one smooth swish of it, she was gone, disappeared into the nether. The household once again became a haven of pure misery, and adult and child alike wept every. single. time-wasting. chance. they. got. I went straight into damage control mode and tried my best not to let their bereavement interfere with their routine. I sent the kids to bed at the right time. I made the adults clean the house and then sent them to bed too (can’t have them late for work after all!). I was determined to get everything back in order. However, SP and the game had other plans.

I received an urgent pop-up: Corinna, Lawrence’s girlfriend, had gone into labor and had a little girl! You have to be kidding, I think to myself. He was only gone one day, two at the most! I had never even considered the possibility that he’d managed to get her pregnant in the same amount of real-time it takes me to make a sandwich and a cup of coffee. The truth dawned on me nonetheless, whether I wanted it to or not. SP did what it’s supposed to, now that the parents are living in different households, and offers me the baby. It takes me a good while to make the decision. Do I want yet another baby in the house? What will happen to the routine? I hadn’t planned for this! I decided that Lawrence, slob and farter extraordinaire that he is, would never abandon his daughter. I click ‘yes’ and suddenly I’m sending my sim off to the hospital (where’s she’s been rather heartlessly dumped outside) to pick up his new and unexpected bundle of joy.

The story doesn’t get any weirder, but it does get slightly more disastrous. The next day I call Corinna over hoping to get a good glimpse of her. I want to see how well she mixes with my household. Lawrence, the old Casanova, sends her a ‘Woohooty’ text, and five minutes later they’re celebrating his seductive charm in the igloo Sadie built, whilst Hazel’s child plays happily just metres away (yep, it gets worse than that).

After they’re done, Corinna begins to mingle with the (now shocked and possibly traumatized) members of the Zavala family. And manages to upset them all. Not one conversation is had where she is received well. The only person she can communicate with it seems, without immediate offence, is Lawrence, who I’m certain is capable of finding anyone agreeable. So not only has he managed to turn the house upside-down, he’s also managed to pick the most anti-social girl in the entire town, as his partner.

The plan was to kick Lawrence out (plus three others) and stick with Hazel, where she would live out her comfortable, unexciting life with her husband, Paul, and produce the next generation, who would also live totally unremarkable lives. Now I have six sims, two of which I have absolutely no plans for, and being the simming control-freak that I apparently am, I’m having to play their lives by-ear.

So I now face a dilemma, and I ask this: what to do? Do I move (my beloved) Lawrence out with his daughter so they can move back in with her mother? Do I move the mother into the main household, bringing my total number of sims up to seven? Do I instead throw Hazel and her husband out with their daughter and concentrate on Lawrence and his new family? I am genuinely enjoying this experience, but I am completely at odds as to what to do.

Also, I would love to hear any similar stories. The game can trip you up when you least expect it, and I would like to hear the experiences of other simming control-freaks who’ve been faced with similar surprises.

So this was the dilemma I was faced with: remove Lawrence and send him and his daughter back to live with his fruitcake girlfriend, or remove Hazel, Paul and their child, Sequoia. It was all very stressful for a simmer who controls every one of hers sims literally within an inch of their lives.

Here is the offending character:

Lawrence Zavala 1

Note the blase pose and the ‘butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth’ expression. Yep, this is one cool cucumber. Lawrence’s favourite activities include dancing to the stereo (clothing optional), Drinking the entire contents of a bar (clothing optional), passing gas in a variety of amusing ways and scenarios (I wish he was always clothed for this one, but who am I kidding?), watching television and basically being an all-round useless bum. With a sim that exudes this much personality and dynamism, how could I possibly even conceive of throwing him out?!

So let’s discuss his traits. He has an interesting selection of some of the worst personality quirks that the Sims 3 has to offer any enterprising young go-getter. He is:

  • A ‘Slob’. I find this one offers the most bang for its buck, as it offers both annoyance value (should your sim ever choose to bathe, expect most of the water used to end up on the floor rather than down the plughole) and what I like to describe as flatulent audio/visual flair. By this I mean the sim can be both seen and heard to pass gas on a semi-regular basis.
  • A ‘Couch-Potato’. This is possibly the least exciting one of the bunch, but should you, for whatever reason, feel the need to sit your sim in one spot for a certain period of time, be rest assured, they’re not going anywhere of their own volition any time soon.
  • ‘Rebellious’. This one is most amusing when trolling forums and will often lead to the desire to slack-off either at work or at school. Your sim will feel the need to ‘fight the man!’
  • ‘Friendly’. Well, I had to give him at least one redeeming trait, and in retrospect I feel it suits him well. For some reason it appears to have made my sim a bit of a doormat, as I watch him say literally two words down the phone-receiver while the sim on the other end talks his poor ear off. I think it’s also made him docile generally, and things do tend to wash over him like water off a duck’s back.
  • ‘Photographer’s Eye’. I fear this one was chosen because, as I said in the forum post, he was meant as a throwaway sim and I needed something to fill the space. Perhaps I thought he could make a living from it when I finally kicked him out?
  • ‘Party-Animal’. This trait was gained when he reached a certain point in the Nerd group. I regret picking this, as it’s turned him into something of an exotic-dancer (especially in his Police uniform), and I would much rather he slobbed around than looked sprightly getting-jiggy-with-it  for the ladies of the household. I really wish now I’d picked ‘Mooch’, but alas, it’s too late now.

Lawrence also enjoys Pop music, the colour orange and sushi.

Got to Love that Racy Sarong!

Got to love that racy sarong! Also, check out the hair on them legs. He could make a bald man very happy if he had a shave and donated the produce.

It occurs to me that I should also introduce you to his family, considering they’ve been around for a while. I’m dreading this bit, to be honest, because it could take me a good week to describe them all and relate everything that’s happened to them. I’ll try to keep it short and to the point, but suffice to say, where Nraas Story Progression mod is concerned, the town is basically out of control. I can’t think of how many babies have been born and to whom, and how many sims have drifted from one lover’s bed right into another, so  family trees are extremely convoluted things in my game. As Sims 3 only appears to be able to recognize blood relations for a few generations at best (my sims have distant cousins that don’t show as such), I’m basically whiling down the days until my family start to in-breed. I think when that day finally arrives, a trip to another town may be in order!

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I was introducing you to the relatives.

We’ll start with the immediate, surviving family:

  • Hazel – Intended to be the sole heir. Now, let us discuss Hazel in-depth…pfft…BAHAHAHA!..HAHAHA!..AHUH…AHUH…HUH…ahem…sorry, that was a cruel joke. It’s cruel because Hazel lacks depth the way Lawrence lacks common sense. In fact, Hazel can be summed up almost entirely by the statement: ‘likes chickens’.  She does. No, seriously, she likes chickens a lot. If I ever lose sight of her, I need not fear, because I can usually find her fondling the hens at the chicken-coup. In fact, I imagine by now they’re thoroughly sick of the sight of her. I’m sick of the sight of her, and I rarely get to see her! And do you know why I rarely get to see her? Because SHE SPENDS ALL DAY AT THE DAMN CHICKEN-COUP! There were supposed to be other facets of her personality, but they’ve been beaten into raw submission by her love of poultry.

Hazel Zavala 2

  • Paul – Husband to Hazel and planned father to the seventh generation. Now I like Paul, I really do. Despite him being a generic ‘pudding face’, he’s actually a decent sim to play with. That may have something to do with the fact that he shares Lawrence’s ‘Slob’ trait. Well, that and the fact that he’s also a raging klepto. But all things taken into consideration, he’s capable of some supremely amusing moments. I distinctly remember one that occurred on his very wedding day, when controlling Hazel I clicked on him and chose the action ‘Get Married’, and as she made her way to him, he just stood there serene and totally unflustered against the imposing backdrop of the family mansion and its generously adorned gardens; he was every woman’s dream. If you will, the Oliver Mellors to her Lady Chatterley. Just as Hazel reached him, hand out-stretched, hoping to finally take this amazing man as her lawfully wedded husband, he suddenly let out a tremendous force of air from his lungs, full to the brim with fetid stench! So foul was it that it actually managed to cancel her queued action. I swear, if sound were capable of traveling for miles in Lunar Lakes, it would’ve filled every field, crossed every river and climbed every hill. I have to admit, I was impressed! Other than that, he’s a stable family guy and constantly badgers me into letting him make more babies.

Paul Villanueva

  • Sequoia – Child to Hazel and Paul. I don’t really know enough about Sequoia to fill a decent-sized paragraph. She was a worrisome, rather traumatized child (losing both grandparents during your childhood I guess will do that), so she’s had a rough time of it. She’s intended to be an inventor and so she carries the ‘Eccentric’ trait. Too bad it doesn’t seem to do anything but give her a good head start at her future career. She also bears a striking resemblance to her great-grandmother, Claudia.

Sequoia Zavala-Villanueva

  • Sherita – Fruit of Lawrence’s loins. This is the little girl Lawrence rescued from the pavement outside the hospital on that cold, crisp evening. She’s been furnished with the ‘Insane’ trait, but I haven’t seen her do anything too crazy. Again, I haven’t had this sim long enough to say much of anything about her.

Sherita Choi-Zavala

There are two other main family sims that may appear in the story from time-to-time. These are:

  • Maddox – First-born child of the sixth generation. Maddox has a bad habit of changing his career almost daily. He’s still unattached, childless and generally seems to live a quiet and uneventful existence. He was originally intended to be a surgeon, but SP had other plans and insists he’d make a great acrobat.

Teenaged Maddox Zavala

  • Nathaniel – Second-born of the sixth generation – Nathaniel is of my more sweeter sims. Chunkily-built with a constant smile on his face, he roams Lunar Lakes constantly, and I can always find him on community lots. He’s also unattached and childless. Shame really, because he would make a great dad.

Nathaniel Zavala 1

  • Oliver – Last child of the sixth generation. I made Oliver to be a bit of a ladies man. He’s a good-looking sim with an artistic slant to his personality, so I figured he’d get a lot of requests to: ‘Draw me like one of your French girls, you stallion, you!” from the women of Lunar Lakes. So far he hasn’t, as far as I know, but the day is still young. I sadly forgot to take a picture of him before I threw him out, so that’s something to add to my ‘to-do’ list.

You know, I’ve been thinking long and hard about how to best express the family in blog-form, and I think the smartest thing to do is to report any interesting developments, rather than record every single detail of their day-to-day lives. I only have so many hours in a week, and you only have so much patience (which I’ve probably already managed to exhaust by now, heigh-ho).  I’ll make exceptions during holiday events, because naturally more things tend to happen at those times as family members aren’t at school or work. I also have the family life-cycle on ‘epic’ setting (with a few tweaks made to it here or there), and I don’t think anyone wants to read 42 pages worth of YA goings-on.

I’ve also never run a blog before and everything here is completely new to me, and overly complicated. Apologies if this page resembles a dog’s dinner, but if you could perhaps look past the amateur style and instead concentrate on the words and pictures, it’d probably make for an all-round better experience. Just saying. To be honest, I’ll be amazed if anyone actually gets this far through the first post.

So, I guess all that remains for me to say is that this blog intends to follow our young hero and his family through the hurly-burly world that is Lunar Lakes. I can’t promise it’ll be an adventure to remember, but it will certainly be very windy.



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