Chapter 1.1 – So Much Beauty in Dirt

Hello all and welcome to my newest Legacy, now in Sims 4!

I’ve been writing legacies since roundabout Sims 2 time when I was in college, and I published one a little back when Sims 3 came out (remember that release?) but then work took over and time got away from me.

Well, now I’ve got more time, and I’ve got Sims 4, and I’ve got a hankerin’ for some writing! So let’s get to it!

So this time, due to the small amount of lot choices (seriously, it’s like 10) Pinstar has directed us Legacy challenge folks to find a 50×50 lot, bulldoze it, and buy this most fetching piece of armor to suck our simoleons down to a paltry $1,800. Turns out, though, there are only TWO such lots in the game (srsly) and one of them houses the Landgrabbs.

So… we can live without Landgrabbs, or choose to use the same lot pretty much every Legacy family will live on.

I say, who needs ’em? That sprawling desert lot is MINE! And it also belongs to the family that will soon rule Oasis Springs as its new royalty, or so I’d like to hope…

The Hall Family!

Complete with a quirky, super-excited, buckets-o-fun founder, Emerson Hall!

“Meh.”

Maybe not everyone shares my enthusiasm, but we’ll see how things go as the family progresses.

Emerson (named after Mr. Ralph Waldo, of course, the patron saint of lawn-living) aspires to be a Bestselling Author, with a bonus trait of Muser. His traits are Creative, Snob, and Gloomy because real art is sad.

I like to start out with a sim who isn’t your typical bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, ready to take on the world guy. I like to make grumps, scaredy-cats, pests, etc. This time, I start with a stuck-up crybaby. Love it.

(I originally was playing Emerson right when the game came out, knowing I’d want to play a Legacy, but once the rules came out, it turned out I was breaking so many of them (for one, he was engaged to Dina Caliente, a playable sim) that I figured I’d do best to start over.

That and my game didn’t save. Seriously, I lost around eight hours. Be careful about leaving the game open for a long time, guys… Turns out on my computer, that means “stop writing to the save file” which is a mistake I’m glad to have figured out sooner rather than later.)

Anyway!

This lot is massive! It’s absolutely perfect for a legacy! Emerson’s children and children’s children and children’s children’s children will live and grow and learn and look out over that endless desert vista. Beautiful!

I bet the Landgrabbs had a nice house here. Of course, we will have to start out the same way all legacies do…

Lawn living! Oh the nostalgia!

“Nostalgic? Hardly. This ceramic lapine scarcely brings thoughts of home or childhood to mind; rather, one is reminded of heavy-handed hacks harkening back to simpler days in hopes we’ll drop our guards long enough to shell out a sadly overinflated $70.”

(Hmm, that’s annoying, he had a little thumbs-down thought bubble for his critique, but it turns out they don’t show up in pictures. But plumbobs still do.

Is this the end of “thought-bubbles taken out of context” jokes that are the bread and butter of so many legacy writers?? YOU’RE KILLING ME, SIMS 4!)

Enough, enough, let’s get to playing.

Emerson wanted to kick things off with a nice book. Me, I think it’s time to get him off this dry patch of dirt lawn and get out and meet some ladies people.

To the park! And look, there’s a girl over there playing chess!!

Oh, uh, my mistake. It’s a man. A very sad man. And then there’s the man in the background in fishing waders. Are there any women here?

Well, learn something Emerson, while I look around.  

Angry old lady. No.

Nancy Landgrabb (fresh from moving into the only other huge lot in the game). No.

Sweet, she likes books, but… she’s still an old lady! No!

I, uh… Hmm. Well, maybe, she looks younger (how young? It’s impossible to tell) and her lack of makeup and unpronounceable name tells me she must be a townie. Emerson, go say hi!

“Hi, my name is Emerson, and I just… just moved in… why are you walking away? Please, talk to me!”

“As if!”

She just walked away, rolling her eyes… Emerson, don’t let it get you down! Check it out! The ladies have arrived!

See, they do exist! There’s three non-old girls here! Okay, maybe most of them are playable sims and therefore ineligible, but still! Hope is alive!

Except…

They…

…are all…

MARRIED!!

The game oh so helpfully spawns MARRIED townies, even townies with kids. While I appreciate the realism, and it also ensures that kids will exist in a world that can’t make new babies (don’t get me started), it means that just because someone’s a townie, doesn’t mean they’re fair game. In fact, practically everyone seemed to spawn as part of family already. Even that eye-rolling girl was a married mother of one.

Emerson didn’t meet a single eligible sim, except for one…

Kyla “socks ‘n’ sandals” Yeager. She’s so fashion-challenged she’s definitely a townie, yet she’s SINGLE! Single! I can’t believe it! Since Emerson was almost dead from hunger, I sent him home, but not before he met her!

She made herself right at home on Emerson’s little kid bed when she arrived at his dirt patch house, and they get on really well. I know so far that she’s a bookworm and active, and she seems nice… She’s super cute. My only fear is that she’s an adult already, but it’s almost impossible to tell in game, so I guess I’ll find out.

“What’s wrong, hun?”

“I’m just not sure about the direction my life is going in. Instead of spending the day tucked away in the library reading and writing, I’ve been chasing angry married women all over town in the baking hot sun.”

“It could be worse. It could be snowing.”

“Uh… I guess that’s true…”

“Or I could be angry, too, but I’m not. I’m happy.”

“Haha, you know, I guess that’s true, too. That… that sort of cheers me up. Maybe this town is all right, after all.”

Well guys, I may not know yet if I’ve found the one, but Emerson likes her and that’s all that matters right now. I’m gonna see where this goes and give an update soon.

Good luck to all of you guys in finding “the one” in the game, too! ‘Til next time!