Chapter 1.4 – Bitter Work

So last time first-gen spouse Kyla got pregnant with her and Emerson’s, uh… fourth child, in an attempt to get a second girl. Since I’m doing strict equality (boy-girl) we need a girl heiress since I started with a male founder. Wish me luck!

Everything was progressing smoothly, when suddenly…

“GRAWWWR”

Kyla?? What’s with the face? You’re scaring me!

“RAWRR SOMETHING IS THREATENING MY BABIES”

“What? Mom, what’s wrong?”

“ADRIAN GET AWAY FROM THERE!”

“Pfft, why? Did you see a bug or something?”

“AAAAGH! KILL IT, MOM, KILL IT!”

*intense run-away-from-fire face!*

*intense extinguishing face!*

“Hmm, why are all my kids frantically running out of the house? Did Kyla make tilapia again?”

“So that’s what causes fire! I’ll have to make a note of that!”

…I didn’t know the chemistry lab could catch on fire. No one told me that!! It’s a good thing Kyla was home; this game lets children be unsupervised, and the triplets usually are for around 3 hours a day! This thing is dangerous!

But… he needs to make potions for his Whiz Kid aspiration, so I put him on it again immediately after this picture. Back to work!

Everyone is working tirelessly through their crippling exhaustion at their various wants, whims, aspirations, etc., etc., etc. In this picture, aspiring Whiz Kid Adrian reads, and Emerson, still unable to experience writer’s block despite me enacting all the advice I’ve gotten and read, turns to drinking (milk).

You guys, this is hard. None of these aspirations are easy–even getting an A is ridiculous, promotions are hard… Everything keeps breaking and getting dirty… Everyone has a permanent “boy that food sucked” moodlet and a “eww this toilet is gross” moodlet. It’s just a horrible scene.

This is the kind of thing I’m talking about. Passed out in a puddle.

You guys, I used to be such a good sim wrangler. I would take over my mom’s and sibling’s games and BAM sims would get promotions and be happy–everything would fall into place. I have no idea how it came to this.

“It’s nice of you to invite me over, little girl, but… don’t you have any kids to play with?”

“Kids? Kids are a myth. Now do you want to hear a story about a pony or a joke about boogers?”

Anne is trying to be a Social Butterfly and needs kid friends, but… I can’t… find any children in this town. It’s been too long for the premade sims to still be kids, and no townie kids have shown up, no matter how often I hit the park. Are they in the library? In bars? In a bunker, hiding from Anne? I have no idea. Things got desperate.

“Hey, there, Arthur old buddy, put ‘er there!”

“Um, okay…”

“Art, can I call you Art? You’re a kid, right, aren’tcha, Art?”

“Anne, I’m the same age as you!”

“Perfect, howsabout we get to know each other better, have a long chat over a cup of milk, really get down to brass tacks?”

“Wh… what??”

“You’ll be my best friend, right Art, best friend forever? Right? Smile for the camera, Art.”

“Oh, uh… sure!”

“Thanks, thanks a lot, now get out of here.”

Yes. BFFs with her brother. They also became Partners in Crime, which was so cute. Anne got an option to stuff geeks in the locker, but Arthur, a Geek himself, had the option to locker-stuff jocks. Just a cute little detail.

SCREEEEE EEEE REEECHHH

As for Arthur, in a desperate attempt to avoid making his family gouge their ears out to end the pain of listening to an amateur play violin, the little aspiring Artistic Prodigy has been banished to outside the house to play for his required 10 hours of musical instrument playing.

No one was bothered for once (yay!), but don’t worry, he felt bad about his playing anyway and got a bad moodlet for his very own (grrrr!).

Kyla, working her way up through the culinary career, stymies when it comes to reading books about mixology, and tends bar. Like everything else, she is bad at it.

“Ow! Baby! It hurts!”

Please don’t mess this up, too. Fingers crossed for a girl!

“Aww, aren’t you just the cutest little boy!”

NOT ANOTHER ONE! Kyla!!

At least it’s just one this time. I named him Louis because I am not continuing this A name thing. Well, we’ll just have to try again.

“Hey, Em, wanna… you know…” *wink*

“BOY, DO I!”

Shh, no one tell him why.

Baby number 5 is a go! (I can’t believe I am saying that.)

Lynnwood who writes the Gieke Legacy told me when I started this challenge that since Kyla had triplets, that meant she’d only have to go through pregnancy once!

Hahaha! She’s obviously never seen me play before. MORE BABIES, MORE!!

“How does Adrian work this thing? Hey wait, why are my feet getting hot?”

“Haha! Dad to the rescue!”

“AAAAGH! WHO IS THAT?”

*cough cough* Emerson exists, I swear! He’s just writing… all the time… Still working on that writer’s block. Any day now!! *cries*

“Oh, Mr. Roboto, you’re so funny! Let’s be friends!”

…Is it bad that I just now realized you can gain social and creativity from toys?

Oh, and here’s Louis! I grew him up a little early because I hate babies. He wants to be a Rambunctious Scamp, and is Outgoing.

I gave him a colorful look, because he’s the fourth boy and who cares. He got blue eyes and red hair again (argh!) but his skin color is Emerson’s, not Kyla’s, so that’s a little different. He has Adrian’s smug face, too.

Baby 5, away! Please, baby, help me out…

“Aww, mommy’s little boy!”

OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD

He was welcomed with open arms, though. Everyone was happy to see him and got all these adorable moodlets from meeting a new family member.

I named him Evan. He is Emerson and Kyla’s last child. Why last? I still have one space open, right? (And I’m just crazy enough to run a household of eight sims.)

Well, there’s the little matter of age…

Emerson and Kyla had eighteen days, and those days are gone. Emerson is becoming an Adult, young no more…

And Kyla… Kyla is old. She’s already 100!

Sigh. She had her Evan on her last day of Adult, and that’s it. That was my last chance at another girl. Anne is it when it comes to next heiress.

“Kneel before me, for I am Anne! The cutest, funnest, awesomest kid ever! Be my friend or die!”

I guess I like her. She’s not as cute as Arthur, or as sneaky fun as mean little Adrian, but she’s all right. And she’s my next heiress by default.

The triplets are about to grow up into teenagers. Next time, I guess, we’ll see where the next stage of their lives takes them. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 1.3 – Three Different Ones

So, last time, this happened…

Yeah, triplets–on my first try! I’m so lucky… *cringing*

Oh, and the bassinets are misleading–there are two boys and one girl: Arthur, Anne, and Adrian. I, um… I would not have given them all A names if I knew it was triplets. Let me explain myself.

First there was one baby and I noticed the popup references “life, the universe, and everything” so I named the baby Arthur in appreciation. Then there was another baby. “Aww,” thinks I, “boy-girl twins! Cute! They should match!” And I named her Anne to match Arthur.

Then there was a third and I panicked and just picked SOMETHING WITH AN A, ANYTHING and I actually forgot what it was until he grew up into a child. So. That’s what my state of mind was during the birth.

“No three babies here!! Just me and my best buddy! Hahahahaaaaaa!!”

There follows after this a period of little picture-taking, but much frantic directing of my sims to not starve, miss work, or pass out in their own pee puddles. Triplets is a lot worse than I expected. No one was happy.

“Who’s mommy’s little snuggy-wuggy! No, seriously, which one are you? Oh well, you’re my honey baby anyway!”

Well, actually, Kyla was happy. Even though pregnancy still knocked her down for a good day or so after the birth, she never griped. She loves her babies and made good friends with them all. Emerson changed them, fed them, then fled the room, but was mostly unscathed overall.

I, on the other hand, hated the babies. Their cries are so piercing and annoying! I always skipped the baby stage in Sims 3 so struggling through it now was just… ugh, horrible. Still, it makes for some cute pictures.

Awwwww! Look! It’s only cute because you can’t see his brilliant red plumbob.

Seriously, though, I did a lot of speeding through the baby stage. So much that, well, I missed the kids growing up.

I heard some ominous music, looked up, and there they were… marching towards me with the heinous intent to ruin all my careful plans.

“There’s no way you can manage three kids at once,” they seemed to say, “your much hoped-for reputation as a successful, competent sim wrangler is dead in the water. We three angels of destruction will tear down your ivory tower and eat it for breakfast!!!”

*cries* And I was doing so well…

Exhibit A in stuff I had to change… Their room…

I had to throw in three beds instead of the one I had planned. It’s a good thing they grew up between bill times, because those things are killing me.

On a side note, everyone loves these beds and frequently eat, read, and chat on them. Never mind if kids are trying to sleep!

Well, in any case, let me introduce them all.

This is Arthur Hall, the first born. He’s a Geek with the Artistic Prodigy wish. He’s also the cutest of the three–he has Kyla’s face. They all have Kyla’s skin tone and Emerson’s red hair and blue eyes, but no one got freckles. *pout*

Second is Anne Hall, whom I named after famous colonial poet Anne Bradstreet, NOT after Annie Hall, though of course I didn’t realize the similarity until it was too late.

Anne is Creative with a wish to be a Social Butterfly. I heard that one was a pain, so… yay. Anne has Emerson’s sharp features, but she’s also a little heavy set, like her mom. (The boys are rail thin, like Emerson.)

Since I’m doing strict equality heirship (boy-girl-boy-girl) currently Anne is the only one eligible to be heiress.

This last kid, the youngest, is Adrian Hall. He’s got mostly the same face as Anne, but yeesh, he makes a lot of creepy smiles. He’s Mean with a Whiz Kid aspiration. He might be my favorite? I like bratty sims.

Things went back to normal pretty fast, and by normal I mean everyone working furiously on their aspirations and jobs!!

“These pancakes need some zing… I know! Pepper! Oh, and wine!!”

Kyla continues to work at her job, culinary, which she is surprisingly bad at. She keeps making “okay” food and then everyone mopes around upset because “okay” means “tastes like garbage” in this game.

“Really, Mother? The cow jumped over the moon? Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“I don’t know, that’s what the book says…”

“Oh, Mother. You’re so silly.”

“Hey! Don’t question the book!”

Kyla’s personal aspiration is to basically be a good mommy, so she’s trying to read to her kids and help them with their homework. Some kids are more receptive than others.

“Hey, lady! Hi! Wanna be my friend?”

“Oh, uh, sure, I’ll be–”

“Awesome, stay here. HEY LADY! YOU DOWN THE STREET! WANNA BE MY FRIEND?”

Anne is out front, accosting every person who walks by in an attempt to meet enough people for her social aspiration. She’s not bad at it, though with her Creative trait, seems more like she should be an artist? Like Arthur!

“Arthur, you are KILLING my ears! They’re dying right now!”

“Sorry, this is harder than it looks–”

SCREEEE EECH SCREEE

The children’s violin is a horrible choice if your sim doesn’t have a room all to himself because it makes other sims get upset, wakes people up, etc…

So I just had him draw. It’s quiet, and little kid pictures are a lot cuter than little kid violin playing. Arthur’s aspiration seems to be fulfilled by flailing wildly at the art table and slinging macaroni everywhere. Woo! Go for it, since the art table isn’t a cleanable object!

…By the way, does it bug anyone else that kids can’t clean the sinks and toilets anymore? Their parents are always busy and everyone keeps getting the creepy-crawlies because their hineys are touching ick. I don’t want to hire a maid, you kids need to learn how to pick up a sponge!

And Adrian’s job is being a snooty brat, though by him playing so much chess I discovered Ponder Moves gives an automatic “focused” mood, good for kids going to school.

Speaking of school, boy is that a whole mess of goals to complete and hoops to jump through. You can do your homework every day, but it’s not enough to get you an A anymore. You have a bunch of things to accomplish to get to B and then A requires extra credit.

One thing I will say… Accomplishing aspirations and promotions is a lot harder in Sims 4.

Take poor Emerson! He has to get writer’s block for his lifetime aspiration–but he doesn’t! He’s almost up to level 8 writing, has all kinds of books written, a bunch of career rewards, etc., but has never had writer’s block. He’s too inspired, I guess. He spends all his time writing in an attempt to force writer’s block, but… so far no dice.

“Well, hello pretty lady. You’re my wife, right?”

“Yeah, we’re married… I think…”

Emerson was working so hard at his writing that he and Kyla, uh, sort of stopped loving each other as much? They stopped being soulmates! This is a legacy, we can’t have that! No divorce or anything allowed! So I had them get re-acquainted in their jammies one Sunday morning.

Move along, nothing to see here…

Though they both seem to be on the same level now! Good woohoo moodlets all around.

“Aww, how sweet, Adrian! Hey, get off my wallet!”

We really needed to find Anne some more friends, and I wanted Emerson to hang out with his kids, since, he… sort of barely knows them. Of course, there were no kids there (I swear I’ve seen some before!) and the triplets wound up playing with each other.

“Port! Starboard! Poop deck! Make the sails do a thing!”

“Anne, this is a spaceship…”

“How dare you talk back to your captain! Walk the plank!”

“Grrrr, I’m an alien, coming to get you! Rarr!”

“An alien! Take care of it, Captain Anne!”

“Pew pew! Take that!”

“Aww, you’d never really hurt me, though, right, Anne?”

“I’ve got the alien in a headlock! Get him, Lieutenant Arthur!”

All in all, though, the kids had a good time at the park, and they gained some skills. The monkey bars earn them motor skills.

Am I alone in saying WHOA that they can do this with no motor skill? I could never do this game as a kid; I always fell off.

“Hi, you’re cute!”

“Hehe, you’re adorable yourself, little girl!”

“No, I mean like cute. Wanna be my boyfriend?”

Anne meets people and spends… a long time… chatting up this guy, named Rowan. He’s a teenager and a townie, so who cares, go for it. It’s never too early to start thinking about options, right? Especially since Anne is my only prospect right now…

At the end of their day at the park, the triplets have dinner–hamburgers that they just found sitting out on a bench.

Where… where’s Emerson?

“Oh Kafka, you set my soul aglow!”

Oh, of course, he’s off in the adult retreat, a little mini lounge and library in the park. He’d been reading for quite a while I guess; I didn’t see him slip off. Well it was getting late and people were getting tired, so I sent them home.

“Uh oh, what happened with mom while we were gone??”

Oh! Um! So…

“Mom? What the devil is going on? What or who is that?”

“Hmm? What? I have no idea what you mean…” *innocent whistling*

I couldn’t help it, guys; she wanted another baby, I wanted another baby (come on, we need a second girl!) so I just, you know… Plus I love big families! Kyla loves big families! Just… don’t tell Emerson…

Here’s hoping this one comes out a girl! Next time, you’ll find out… 🙂

Chapter 1.2 – Reduplication

Welcome back to the second installment of the Hall of Fame Legacy!

When we left off, Emerson and his best shot at not dying alone, Kyla, were still getting to know each other and became friends. I figured out her final trait: she’s Active, Outgoing and a Bookworm. One of those people who reads on the treadmill, I guess.

Anyway, she’s cute, she’s single, Emerson’s rolling wants for her, so say cheese, Kyla, ’cause you’re not getting off this lot unmarried! At first she seems receptive…

“Tell me more about my eyes, Emerson.”

“They’re deep brown pools of… uh… gorgeousness?”

“Teehee, go on!”

“Your hair is… well, it’s really hard to see under that hat, but I’m sure it’s nice.”

“Heehee! You’re such a charmer!”

“Oh, Kyla, you’re so wonderful! I’m so into you, I just–“

“What?! You mean all this flirting is because you like me?? Ugh, dude, how dare you think this meant something! Feeling NOT mutual, pal!”

“Maybe call me when you’re not gonna get all weird on me, okay? I’m going home.”

“I’m an idiot, oh God, I’m really such an idiot…”

Well. Is it me or does “confess attraction” fail a LOT? Consider Emerson’s heart crushed. He’s deeply embarrassed now, and it looks like we’ll be spending another night lawn-living thanks to Kyla “don’t say you love me” Yeager.

I get it, Emerson. Hide from the world. It can’t hurt you in there.

“And, and then, she pulled away and just, like, left, and I didn’t know what to do, and I just needed someone to talk to…”

Is he running to another woman? A friend? Hardly. He has no friends! He got out of bed sad and rolled a want to call the Sadness Hotline. What, is that like… a suicide hotline? Is he THAT upset? In any case, he cries into his cheerios a little, then takes an inspiring shower and heads off the to library to practice writing some more.

It is around this point that I realize I never had him get a job. Dangit! We have no money!!

Emerson cheered up substantially once he got to the library. Not only was it well decorated and his tenseness at not creating went away, but his snob sense started tingling. Snobs love being around other snobs; it makes them feel confident. So there he was, banging away on the keyboard, feeling like a million bucks for the first time since he moved here, when who did he see…

Kyla! We have another chance!

“Fancy meeting you here, Kyla.”

“What?”

“I SAID FANCY MEETING YOU HERE!”

Sit next to each other, you idiots! They spent around an hour shuffling around the library, and Baldy McAngrypants there kept joining in the conversation and making it awkward when Emerson and Kyla flirted. I… I kind of hate how random sims will butt in on your conversations.

To avoid that business, I had Emerson ask Kyla out on a date, which she accepted because she was feeling flirty and I am not letting that chance go by. They went to the Rattlesnake Juice bar.

About the date mechanic… it’s a little weird seeing all the hoops you have to jump through (tell a story! have a deep conversation! flirt while flirty!) but on the other hand it’s nice to see a really clear way you’re graded. I avoided dates in Sims 3 since I could never get them to work out, so at least I know what to do here.

By the way, this was a killer date.

“MWAH MWAH MWAH”

“Oh Emerson! You’re so much more interesting now that I’m feeling frisky!”

What a difference a mood makes! She couldn’t get enough of him! She agreed to be his girlfriend, which gave the date a massive boost, and it went uphill from there.

We got a first kiss…

…and then some!

The sight of that pink sock flying through the air put my heart at ease. I think this’ll really work out, which is great, because I don’t really have any other options at this point.

They had an awesome, gold medal date, despite Blue Shirt Girl autonomously joining in on their conversation and making everything “extremely awkward” because they were all over each other and she was a third wheel.

I’m on her side, though–I know when I see two people kissing in a bar I immediately go over to them and start telling jokes about ducks. They’re the ones who should have the decency to listen! SO RUDE!! /s

The date ended there because both parties were about to pee themselves, but Kyla came over on her own the next day. Things were different between them this time. I don’t think he’ll be lawn-living tonight.

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways! Whether ’tis nobler to shake the darling buds of May, or make me a willow cabin at your gate in glorious summer by this son of York, uh… wait, I lost my place.”

“What I mean to say is… you inspire me, my muse! Marry me!”

“Emerson… I…”

OH NO OH NO OH NO

“Of course I’ll marry you!”

DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THAT

“Yes! Yes! No more chasing married women for me!”

“Of course not, hun, you want to live, right?”

“Eep.”

They got married right then, right there, because Emerson had about $90 to his name and a proper wedding was out of the question. I feel like it’s the lot in life for a first generation legacy sim–their life is never the best or brightest, but it’s always full of heart.

The ceremony is pretty sweet and surprisingly long. Confetti falls from nowhere and cheesy music plays. Ah, all the best Sims tropes.

Anyways. Let’s spend the cool $20k she came in with.

I’ll be the first to admit it–I am no good at making houses. I frequently have my husband do them for me, but he’s at work so I took a stab at it. I was really upset at the lack of an auto-roof tool… I can’t seem to make them look good without it. I made the house sandy colored to match the desert.

I like Oasis Springs. I grew up in semi-arid parts of Southern California and seeing the mountains at a distance through the haze is really familiar and nice. I thought I would miss having a nice grassy lot, but it doesn’t bother me at all. Throw a few cacti in and it feels like home already.

Which is good, considering what both of these guys were yearning for. They’d been at “very flirty” for a while with some red-hot whims. Finally I can let them at each other. Get to making the babies!

And that brings me to Kyla… Now that she’s married in, I can see her aspirations. It’s not what I expected. I can also see her age, which, sadly, is as I’d feared…

Generation One Spouse: Kyla Hall, née Yeager. (Yeah, I had to edit her last name in CAS. Thanks, Sims 4. Thanks so much.)

Yes, she’s an adult, not a young adult. Great. I couldn’t TELL! In Sims 3 you could see the wrinkles at least. And she only has 18 days… she’s due to turn old right when Emerson turns adult. Sigh.

Aside from that, her traits are Active, Outgoing, and Bookworm, which are nice. And then there’s the bonus trait she gets from her aspiration… Domestic. Yes, Kyla’s aspiration is Family, and, more specifically, Successful Lineage. She wants a legacy! Well, that’s perfect! She’ll get it! …If she lives long enough.

On the makeover front, I cleaned up her look a little, but I let her keep the hat because it’s cute. The pink socks had to go, though.

 

“Hey, Kyla, what’s up?”

“Uh… Who are you?”

“Remember, I’m Raelyn? The girl you were hanging out with last night?”

“What, uh… Oh! The girl who third-wheeled my date!”

What is she doing here?? Who let her in? Why is she in the fridge?!

“Wow, you guys, you’re just gonna start kissing while I’m talking to you? Awkward.”

GET OUT

“Sup Raelyn, is Kyla here?”

“Yeah, but she’s being super weird, all kissing her husband in the privacy of her own home even though I was dropping in  completely unannounced. You should totally go in anyways, though.”

What the… Everyone go away! They’ve been married for like two hours, leave them alone!

Despite all in the interruptions, Emerson and Kyla are in super good moods. I’ve never seen the “very happy” or “very inspired” emotions before, but all the new loves and getting married and first woohoos and stuff are putting them over the moon with joy.

And that’s not the only first! Kyla got pregnant, first try!

And… here’s where I’d put a picture of a successful pregnancy test… if I had one!

I adjusted the lighting while she was taking the test because, go figure, the bathroom was too dark, but! She glitched off the toilet and I didn’t get any confetti! I feel cheated! This is my first sim conceived in game and I get no confetti!

So here, have some vomit, which, by the way, looks way more realistic and subsequently a lot more gross in this game.

“Whew, that just splashed everywhere, didn’t it? Hehe.”

EWW, there are little flies and everything!!

 

“Em, hun, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it, Kyla?”

“Oh, uh, never mind, I guess I can’t… Well, anyway, let’s go woohoo.”

Is there no option to announce pregnancy anymore? That makes me sad. Even seeing the dad give an awkward thumbs-up was better than nothing.

On the other hand, seeing Emerson strut off to work with a “good woohoo” moodlet is pretty funny. 

Actually, Kyla’s moodlet was better than his was. One of you guys isn’t giving 100%!

“I’m so hungry… but I think I’m gonna barf. Also I’m about to pee myself!!”

Pregnancy in Sims 4 seems pretty rough. There are all kinds of moodlets on her, from happy ones to “something is crushing my innards” type ones. She’s pretty upset, and her cooking didn’t go well.

Kyla, honey, don’t eat that. It’s only “okay” quality which in this game means you’ll probably get food poisoning. Just have some oatmeal before you keel over. (By the way, the oatmeal still gave her a bad moodlet! “Cold in the middle.” Gah!)

She was having a bad morning, but hey, at least she had her husband! And a new interaction called “Share Big News” that I swear wasn’t there before!

 

“Okay, hun, brace yourself! …I’m pregnant!!”

“What? Oh nooo! But we’re so broke!!”

Not the reaction you want, maybe…

“Uh… I mean… that’s great! We’ll make it somehow…”

Sure you will! It’s not like nobody has work for the next few days and there’s a totally empty nursery right there and you’re completely unprepared or anything!

QUICK SOMEONE EARN SOME MONEY

“We’re dead, we are so dead…”

On the bright side, when he’s sad he gets to write sad books! (The game suggested “All the Sickly Horses” as a title which I found hilarious.)

Actually, Emerson has written a ton of books by now, maybe 5, but I haven’t published any because I’m waiting for his job to require it. So… that’s some income we aren’t getting right now. Both he and Kyla have been promoted in their jobs (Kyla is Head Dishwasher (lol) and Emerson is a Blogger) but they spend it as fast as they make it, what with having to outfit a baby room and such.

Goodness gracious, she is huge. Buying all that baby stuff made her reach her second level of lifetime aspiration, and she’s aching to be a parent now, so she’s always happy (when she’s not starving, exhausted, or full of pee).

Emerson has been buckling down on his writing… We can get through this!

  

“Whoa, so that’s the little guy! Wow. I can’t wait to hold him!”

“Or her, Em.”

“Right!”

“Ow! That hurt!”

“What? But I didn’t do anything…”

“Oww! I’m serious; that really hurts!”

“I’m not doing anything!!”

“Not you, the baby’s coming!”

“RIGHT NOW??”

And he is! Poof!

In a shower of sparks, little Arthur Hall is born! His parents are overjoyed! His dad is ecstatic! His mom is… um… still… having babies…

OH CRAP

“Haha! Whoo! Triplets! Who knew?”

AAAAGH! I heard that this might happen with Family aspiration sims! Why, though? Twins is fine, but why triplets?! My first sim born in game is three sims!

“If I don’t see it, it’s not real. If I don’t see it, it’s not real…”

I think we’re both gonna need a moment to cope with this. ‘Til next time…!

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!