To any Sims fans, which of the Store worlds is the best value for money/has the most content etc? I already have Monte Vista, Hidden Springs, Barnacle Bay…considering Midnight Hollow?
Signal Boost This, Guys- I Made a Film!
Tomorrow, at the London MCM Expo, they’ll be doing a presentation for the 48 Film Race, which my team entered (The Muffin Men). We got into the top 10, and they’re showing our film at midday in Theatre B. If anyone’s going, or any of your friends are, please come and watch us! It’d mean so much to all of us, and it’s only five minutes!
I’ll be there, and it’d make my day, truly, for one of you to come and say hi. I’ll be the one with the really short hair and the butterfly dress on, so please come and say hello- I’d love to see you!
~ Viki.
Notes From Project Dawn Has Begun!
I’m over here at boolprop and at my new blog quantumandquartz.wordpress.com, and I’d love to see you all there!
~ Viki.
The Spares Have Been Rescued!
So remember how I said I was locked out of my User Profile and lost all the spare files? Well, some wonderful I.T people helped me out, and I have them all back. Everyone. from gens 1 through 10. Needless to say, I am ecstatic, so that not only means that I can replace the screenshots on the side stories with new ones, I can also put EVERYONE up on the Exchange for download when I have a spare moment.
In the meantime, I’m working on Jack’s story and preparing the new town. I’m liking it so far…
Side Stories, Generation Two- Joshua and Thalia
Thank you so much for the follows and likes! Next up is Gen 3, and somehow, Tyler sneaked in. Whoops.
Joshua and Thalia
They don’t realise it, but they balance each other out perfectly: not just in personality, but in looks.
It was like someone had taken a good, hard look at their parents and had decided that they needed to measure out their aesthetics equally, and created three people who managed to be walking paradoxes: the same, but not the same. To a casual observer, they don’t even look like siblings. They’re two different sides of the spectrum, dark and light, good and evil, white versus purple. But then they take a closer look.
First up is Joshua, and you can’t miss him, no matter how hard you try. Tall, tanned, and a sheet of silky white hair falling to his shoulder blades that shines like moonlight. Everyone’s in slight awe of it, and anyone else would be mobbed by people wanting to braid it, or to ask him questions, but this is Joshua and they don’t. All they ever get if they drift within two hundred metres of him is a pointed look from a purple iris that doesn’t need to speak to convey “Back off or I’ll do something unspeakably painful to your internal organs.”
Needless to say, he doesn’t have many friends, but he doesn’t care. He knows he’ll need them later, what with ruling and building his own evil empire and all that, but right now he’s content with the great outdoors and the company of the fish in the rivers. He never catches much, so that’s why he sticks at it: his inner perfectionist won’t allow him to give up until he’s mastered the art of coaxing unsuspecting creatures on to a barbed hook, then letting them suffocate in the burning air. Quite a fitting hobby for an evil emperor, really.
The middle child is Thalia, and if Joshua is darkness masquerading as the moon, Thalia is light.
She has her mother’s brown and red streaked hair, and kindness radiates from her like a beacon. She’s the one who’s all about human contact, about feelings, the sibling who always makes eye contact and looks genuinely pleased to see you, the one who throws her arms around the objects of her affections and doesn’t let go, even if the recipient is one less than willing older brother who makes the token snide remark, then returns the hug after a couple of seconds.
She always means well, even if she isn’t the most tactful or eloquent in her methods. Thalia never deliberately tries to hurt anyone’s feelings, but clumsiness isn’t only channelled through the feet. Sometimes it gets misdirected to her mouth and the words just come tumbling out, like watching an ink bottle being knocked on to a white carpet: nothing you can do but try to clean up the damage. She isn’t clumsy with her music, though: she can pick out a tune on her piano as effortlessly as drawing breath, sending a river of notes dancing through the house, filling the halls with music. Often, when sitting at her window on the second floor, she likens herself to a princess in an ivory tower, beautiful and lonely, waiting for her prince on a palomino horse to breeze in on the music and carry her away, even if he has to get past her brothers first.
She supposes Joshua can be Rapunzel: his hair is longer than both hers and Tyler’s, and actually braids pretty well. Not, of course, that anyone’s allowed to know that- it happened once and only once, and the sole proof is buried deep inn a cardboard box in her wardrobe, showing the two of them with plaited hair adorned with flowers. But that’s Joshua all over, kindness hidden, deep down, so small that it takes a practised eye to see. Catch him on the wrong day and he’ll round on you like a rabid dog, eyes flashing, words wounding, but sometimes, when the temperature is just right (warm enough to forgo a coat but still cool enough for long sleeves), the sky is the perfect shade of blue, and life decides to work exactly the way you want it to, the mask crumbles away,
They all fit together in a weird sort of way. Joshua is darkness, Thalia is light, and Tyler is somewhere in the grey area. He has a vicious temper and can sulk for days on end, but he cares about nature, the environment, even the stray cats that wander into their garden every so often, feeding and encouraging them. He complains bitterly about pollution every time they use the car, and will quite happily walk for miles instead of using an oil-fuelled vehicle. He’s the one who insists on composting and not killing bees because they’re an endangered species, “and if they die, we’ll all starve to death.” Between the three of them, they cover the entire light spectrum, black, white and grey, so when Tyler is teased about his hair colour, it’s 6’0 tall Joshua who steps in to defend him and threaten them.
(“What did you do when people laughed at you?” a twelve year old Tyler is asking, lavender-pale eyes shining. Joshua, three years older and two heads taller, doesn’t even bother looking up from his sketchbook, littered with concept art of vaguely impossible looking cars. “Hit them,” is the offhand reply as he absently shades in a wing mirror. “Then when they’re on the floor, hit them again.”
“That doesn’t exactly help,” Tyler mutters, before leaving to bandage his wounds. What he doesn’t know is that Joshua finds the kids the next day and scares the living daylights out of them until they agree to never hurt his brother again, and throws in immunity for Thalia for good measure. On the plus side, they never go near Tyler again, but Joshua holds notoriety all across town for being the only person who could shut up Appaloosa High’s most feared bullies with a single glare).
It’s Thalia who soothes and consoles, smoothing back her brother’s hair and explaining that it’s a rare family that he should be proud of, that their grandfather was ecstatic when Tyler was born because none of his children had the strange hair that glows like obsidian when the light hits it right.
And then there’s Tyler, right between the two, halfway from old enough to look out for himself, and halfway still their little brother who needs defending, even when he’s twenty years old and they’ve all gone their separate ways, he can still turn up on Thalia’s doorstep and be tackled with a hug from his sister and his multiple nephews and nieces before being dragged off for multiple rounds of home made cake, even if Thalia uses rather questionable ingredients in the icing. He knows he can turn up at Joshua’s house at two in the morning, soaked to the skin with the weight of an heirship resting too heavily on his shoulders, and the door will always swing open, with light the same colour as Joshua’s hair spilling out into the freezing air. He’ll be standing there, same as always with an exasperated look on his face and a roll of purple eyes, but the hand that will latch on to his wrist and tug him into the warmth of the house is never forceful or biting, but gentle, with the faintest hint of concern. When he’s shoved on to the sofa and has a towel chucked at his head, with an order to “Dry off or you’ll catch sodding pneumonia and I’ll end up having to be heir after all,” it always makes Tyler smile, because it’s the same old Joshua: rude, grumpy and a mouth like a sailor, but his words never quite have the edge to them that they need to hurt properly.
Besides, he’d never want it any other way.
Side Stories, Generation One: Callie
I’m back! So, one other thing before I get to the real post: remember Tarnished? That crazy long story legacy I planned and never did? Well, I’m actually going to do it, or at least the first gen. Apparently I could write that for my Creative Project at uni, spanning two or three generations, and my tutor said I should try Gen 1 as a test, to see how it would work. Though I think it’ll be on a new blog, I’ll let you guys know when it’s up.
Oh, and I updated the navigation page, which should have been done months ago…
In the meantime, enjoy another story:
Callie
She doesn’t see herself as paranoid or excessively phobic. Callie sees herself as sensible, smart more aware than the idiots she surrounds herself with on a daily basis. After all, they’ll be the ones who cry when their entire house floods because they all assume someone else has switched the sink off.
They be the ones complaining when they slip and break an arm because school insists they attend during the winter, in the middle of a raging blizzard. After all, these are the sort of people who don’t see large bodies of water as lurking death traps. Really, it’s just common sense.
Rarely does anyone take her seriously. Her siblings openly mock, dismissing her perfectly valid points as ridiculous. Her friends are a little more restrained, only rejecting the slightly more extreme reactions, but honestly, surely it’s better to take five minutes out of your day to check for gas leaks than hypothetically strike a match and flatten the whole street?
He mother doesn’t buy into it at all, says that there’s no need to imagine the worse all the time, that the world really isn’t as lethal as Callie imagines it to be. She worries about her youngest daughter constantly- on multiple occasions, Callie hears her argue with her husband that her neuroticism has gotten out of hand, and that she needs help. Her father, unsurprisingly, is an ally: his own paranoid nature coincides with Callie’s own, and he thinks she’s smart to realise just how many of the world’s pitfalls she can find and avoid. And, of course, he’s right. He agrees with Callie, and as far as she’s concerned, she’s always right.
But, sometimes, it gets too much, being able to see the world for what it really is. So when she can’t face the screaming panic rattling its way through her head, she paints. Often, she paints out her fears, teasing them out of her skull and on to the page. This works some of the time, calming her mind, ridding it of the panic like draining pus from a wound. Afterwards, she’s left with something that looks like a hellish nightmare, the scenes of her suffering that only paint can cure. No one is allowed to see these: they all end up locked in a box under her bed, in a vague hope that that will keep the fear contained.
Other times, she draws nothing of substance, just swirling abstract shapes that have no pattern or rhythm to them, just dancing tendrils of colour, splashed on to the page. If she doesn’t give her thoughts form, they can’t manifest into anxiety, and that’s all the encouragement she needs to keep drawing, painting and sketching for days on end that leaves a tornado of colours in her wake. Nobody else likes her abstract art as much as the nightmare ones: they claim they’re almost “too,” obscure, like they can’t see the point of them.
Callie doesn’t mind, though. After all, no one sees the point in her fears, either.
Side Stories, Generation One- Naomi
Oh look, it’s your favourite blogger, back from the depths of coursework hell hiatus! So this is another little side story for you guys, and a little update on what my next projects are going to be:
- My absence is due to a deluge of uni work, but as of the 25th, I will be free to write more Sims things! The end is in sight!
- The Laflamme side stories will continue to be posted here until they are all completed.
- Photography posts will also stay here, since all of the others are already grouped under the “Freeze Frame Happiness,” tag. I recently got a new camera, so I have some new stuff to post!
- Another legacy IS going ahead. It won’t be on this blog due to lack of space- check it out here and subscribe for future updates! Also, please tell me if the background colour is too harsh on the eyes. Plus keep an eye out for a new thread on the boolprop forums!
- I’ll probably end up posting some original writing on there as well, because why not.
- If anyone can tell me how to change the font on these posts, my eyes would thank you. They can’t read this very well.
- So, with that all said and done, enjoy the next side story! 🙂
Naomi:
Sometimes she wonders if she’s adopted. All she has to do is look around her.
First are the most obvious signs: she lives in a world of purple and white. They’re everywhere, from the colour of her father’s hair to the pale fibres of her mother’s jacket. Her siblings personify the shades, each sporting a mane of glaring white hair (much to the dismay of her father) and a pretty set of purple eyes. Two of those were closer to a misty shade of lilac than the favoured set of genetics, but even so…
She, at least, had those- she can spot them in her mother’s face every time she looks her in the eyes, her only reassurance that Naomi Laflamme is her real name, not a pseudonym stamped on a faceless baby. Her hair remains a mystery even now- her mother never confesses to bleaching hypothetical blonde hair lighter. Her father becomes offended at the mere notion, and descends into a rant about how “he doesn’t let Bridgeport determine beauty for him.” He’s always been a little too focused on work, and, in reality, will probably always be. She knows it’s not a lack of priorities or love that keeps him away from the empty house, but ambition and the struggle to survive, and somewhere, deep down, the pursuit of fame and fortune.
She’s too kind to point out that he’s chasing a pipe dream with stars in his eyes and reality chained to his ankles.
Aesthetics aside, she knows she’s different from the others. Artistry runs through their veins with paint for blood, and their cheap walls are plastered in canvas, notepaper, scraps of newspaper, hopes, dreams and fears pinned down on a massive noticeboard. Every time she picks up a paintbrush, her curse seeps through it, warping the wood, tarnishing the bristles and corrupting the paper until anything she produces is an interpretable smudge that melts together until it becomes a sludgy, ugly brown tone that even her mother would struggle to call abstract. She never understood the triplets’ obsession with the desolate scrub land they call a moor- to her, it’s just another dirty, dangerous place for her luck to desert her, leaving a bruise in its wake, if she was lucky, or a broken bone if she wasn’t.
She finds it hard to keep up with the stupid jokes the triplets tell, because what on earth is she meant to find amusing in such juvenile humour: petty name calling and prank wars, day and and day out. She isn’t an intellectual: she’s not pretending to find more intelligent humour funny, she just simply doesn’t understand why pushing your brother into the lake (fully clothed) is amusing,
There is one thing that does interest her is cars- how they work, how they run, even down to the most trivial things like the choice of glass used for the wind shield. She’s pretty sure that no one else gets excited over what colour paint she’s using for her latest pet car. and realises that not many people would rather spend their weekends scouring the local junk yard for spare parts. Those places fascinate her- like a graveyard for broken things, she explained it once. After all, what was more beautiful than salvaging a battered, unloved appliance and repairing it, mending the cracks and soldering connections until she’s left with something that’s entirely hers, reborn with her significant stamp of care.
In an odd way, it’s a resurrection for a discarded soul, and no matter how stupid other people may find it, every time she finishes a project, she can’t help but feel she’s saved a life.
Still, it’s always lonely being the odd one out, the blonde sheep of the family, if you will, so she confides in Callie on day, since, sort of, she’s the odd one out too. With a crippling list of fears as long as her arm, she doesn’t exactly blend in with one party mad sibling, and three brothers who love the outdoors. So, oddly, a bond begins to form, the two outcast sisters clinging to each other for comfort. After she pours out all her woes to her youngest sister, the girl frowns, scrunches up her delicate nose and absent-mindedly dabs some paint on the canvas in front of her. The windows are all open, of course. Can’t be too careful with those toxic paint fumes. “Maybe,” she says. “You’re the balance.”
When her idea is met with confusion from her older sister, who sits cross-legged on the be, a smudge of brown in a room of pink, she elaborates. “Well, think about it. If we’re all dreamers, who’s the one to keep us grounded in reality? If none of us think about boring, everyday things, who’s going to make sure we can carry on dreaming? Who remembers to pay the bills and buy the food and check our emails? Someone needs to be rational to balance out all our creative energy.” She shrugs and turns away, back to her canvas. “You might not realise it, but you’re the one that holds us all together.”
And when she puts it like that, being different doesn’t seem half bad.
The Laflamme Legacy, Chapter 10.9- Not So Humble Endings
So…I realised this will be the final chapter of the Laflammes. Wow. It’s been a long journey, to say the least. But lets get the chapter done before we say our goodbyes. We’ll start off with the spare updates today:
Cass: “Why does he insist on making his own music. We have a CD player here. That plays better stuff.”
Oscar: “Shut up, Dad. I’m playing for my fans.”
Cass: “What fans?”
Oscar: “The ones that voted me as heir.”
Touché.
Cass: “I wasn’t aware dead paparazzi came with the pool when we bought it.”
It’s a small blessing, but it does so much for morale around here.
Cass: “Well, I suppose now’s a good time for a photo opportunity…this plumbob is drowning me! Help!”
Sunburned Paparazzi: “I’ll just pretend I didn’t see that.”
Mimi’s plans for finding a husband aren’t exactly going well.
And as you can see, neither was her attempts with Malcolm.
Mimi: “My eyes are up here.”
Oh perfect. You just couldn’t make it to the end of the chapter, could you?
Summer: “AND she died in her swimming costume!”
Garnet: “I had that wonderful dress all planned for this, too…”
Noel: “Oh, this again?”
Garnet: “NO! Please don’t say that, Noel! You’re such a young cat…you should be happy and innocent!”
Priorities, Garnet. Anyway, I didn’t get any shots of Grim this time for some reason, but RIP anyway.
Don’t you start with the “pouty rockstar,” faces. Summer’s already got that covered.
Willow: “WHY DIDN’T WE HAVE A POOL?!”
BECAUSE YOU SPENT ALL YOUR MONEY ON A CASTLE IN FRANCE. GO BACK TO YOUR GRAVE.
Mimi: “I’ve resorted to sending secret admirer texts like a pre-teen. How degrading.”
Malcolm still not answering?
Mimi: “Nope. Doesn’t mean I’m giving up, though.”
Violet: “Can’t…breathe…need water!”
One of the Wolffs: “Nothing to see here, just some homework being done.”
OotW: “Nice day, isn’t it?”
You’re a helpful one, I can tell.
Mimi: “For God’s sake, Violet, we can’t have any MORE deaths this chapter!”
Violet: “You saved me…I thought I was going to crumble into dust out there!”
Mimi: “Nah, I’d never let you die. I’d be stuck with Oscar, for one thing.”
Mimi: “Now remember, this is why you need to keep bottled water with you all the time. Because you can’t rely on other people to know why the girl with the weird scale leggings has collapsed.”
You’re possibly the most sensible Sim to ever grace this legacy.
Uh, you might want to pay attention to what you’re doing, Violet…
Violet: “I should hang out with my sister more often. No curfews.”
So you got your dress back, then?
Garnet: “Of course I did! First thing I did was go shopping: how do you expect me to haunt the place if I don’r look my best?”
You would have loved Willow.
Cass: “NOEL. YOU HAVE A BED. USE IT.”
He keeps doing this. I have no idea why. His other favourite spot is outside on the porch, where he pretends to be cold and unloved, when he has a basket, several armchairs, two sofas and about six beds to sleep on, if he so desired.
I’m not sure what’s funnier: that Violet is having no luck with footballs this week, or Summer’s face.
Mimi: “Why haven’t I moved out already?”
I decided to send Summer over to see Wednesday, since she keeps having kids and I haven’t seen any of them yet, and I found Odette!
Summer: “I thought you irreversibly glitched in front of the school and were stuck there forever!”
Odette: “So did I. The wonders of mods.”
So this is Denise, and that’s her sister Connie in the background. Platinum blonde hair with Wednesday’s eye colour looks lovely.
Summer: “And they have better doors than us.”
What a lovely family photo. It just needs Ottoline in there.
In other news, Mimi is now a Private Detective. Just to clarify, your job description does NOT include going through Malcolm’s bins for old love letters.
Mimi: “Spoilsport.”
Rachel: “C-can you let me in? I’m freezing to death out here, all alone in the cold…”
It’s 24 degrees Celsius outside. That’s like the peak of British summer.
I thought Summer had managed to turn herself into a genie for a second, but nope, apparently, this is what the jelly bean bush can do. They can also kill your sim, which is why I thought I’d gotten rid of them all.
But here it is…Oscar’s birthday!
Violet: “Ha. Nice hair.”
He rolled Loner, which isn’t too bad, I guess. I quite like the shirt.
Violet: “Wait…you mean you aren’t keeping me 15 forever?!”
Nah, I figured that would be cruel, so here you go. Happy birthday, Violet.
Her final trait is Photographer’s Eye, so I guess she’s keeping the artistic gene in the family. I really like her outfit, too.
I’m assuming this is to counteract Garnet kicking it earlier in the chapter?
Ottoline: “Yes, I scheduled this for your own amusement.”
Shortly before the party, I got this pop up:
Cass: “Happy anniversary, babe. We somehow had three 18 year old children in the space of a year,”
Truly a marvel of modern medicine.
Ashton: “…I seriously managed all this?”
Yup. 11 generations, all starting from one guy living on his luxury private island.
Ashton: “And to think, I’m still more amazing than all of them, and always will be. “
Ramona: “Oh, I don’t know about that. I’m the new guinea pig. Maybe I’ll outdo you.”
Ashton: “Yeah, like that’ll ever happen.”
Violet: “Wait, who are you? And why do you look suspiciously like Dad?”
Ashton: “You don’t recognise me?! Why don’t you have any photos commemorating my existance?!”
Dodgy User Profile glitches and Error Code 12s.
Violet: “You never answered my question.”
Ashton: “Who, me? Oh, just the most important person in your universe.”
And you know what? He’s right.
So this is the end! I honestly didn’t think I’d make it this far, so wow. I’d like to thank every single one of my readers, because you’re the reason I did this. If you’ve been here from the very beginning, or only just joined, thank you all. It’s been a pleasure simming with you.
However, this is not the last you’ll hear of me! I am planning something else Sims related, but it may not be up for a while, since it requires a little designing, and I’m knee deep in coursework again. It won’t be on this blog, since I’m running out of photo space, but rest assured, I’ll post the link here so you can all find it. I’ll also be putting as many Laflammes as I can up for download, and I’ll provide links for that as well when I get round to it.
One last comment? For Ashton’s sake?
~ Viki.
Reviewing- Fallout New Vegas
I know I said the next review was going to be Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, but this game happened. After reading the review, hopefully you’ll realise why.
First up, some stats:
Price paid: £15 for the Ultimate Edition (all the DLC and some extra in game gear)
Strategy guide used: Yes, and I managed to get hold of one of the limited edition ones, too. I treasure it.
Total play time: 113 hours and 12 minutes. Longest one to date.
All sidequests completed: I’m pretty sure I managed to get about 95% of them, but I didn’t explore the entire map, so…
Trophies collected: 59%, and I’d consider going and platinuming it when I’m bored and have nothing better to do.
Platform: PS3
Difficulty Level: Normal
Replayability: High. Even after I’d done most of the side quests and all of the main quests, half the map was unexplored, and I hadn’t done all of the ingame challenges either.
So, on to the actual review:
I adore this game. I spent ridiculous amounts of hours on Fallout 3 and I’m impatiently waiting for E3 so Bethesda can hopefully announce something for Fallout 4. That being said, I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this title: from the first few minutes of playing, you can already tell this has an entirely different feel to it that its predecessor. For one, this game actually had an opening cutscene showing the player character, which was a nice was to introduce us to the sheer horror that is New Vegas. I mean, it kinda sets the tone for the rest of the game when you’re shot in the head and buried alive in the opening sequence…
Thematically, it also feels very different. If D.C was apocalyptic wasteland, then Vegas is definitely Western themed, which I wasn’t sure I initially liked, as it felt so alien and grating from what I was used to, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think it was just a matter of adapting. Now, I think I like it better.
Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, the controls are still the same, but I feel the difficulty, even on Normal mode, has been raised significantly, especially early on in the game. The first half, I was constantly being attacked by Legionnaires and accidentally stumbling into Cazador nests, so I ended up dying a ridiculous amount of time, whereas before, I could quite happily stroll along to Rivet City unscathed. I doubt I made it to New Vegas intact this time. Even later on, Deathclaws were the one enemy I could rely on to chew my face off unless I was very lucky/very fast with the Stimpacks every time I ran into one- again, Fallout 3‘s Deathclaws posed no more a threat to me than the odd mole rat. So this time, I had to play smart: food doesn’t instantly heal you any more, instead giving you health over varying amounts of time, so that was another factor that was working against me. Again, all it took was a steep learning curve, but I managed it after dying hundreds of time over. Once you’re leveled high enough, it’s less of an issue, but at the start, it’s a massive problem.
There were a few smaller changes, too- different types of bullets, including exploding ones and ones laced with fire that I had far too much fun with, a new skill called Survival which increased the amount of HP food gave you, the ability to pick wild plants you found growing out in the Mojave, and campfires, which let you make recipes at them, similar to how the workbench operates. I didn’t use it all that often for it to make a huge difference on my game, but I always found it worth checking into every once in a while, just on the off chance that the food I was carrying could be turned into something that gave me a ridiculous amount of health for a long time, or could be turned into various chems I could sell.
One thing I did have an issue with though, was bugs and freezing. I’ve heard that the Ultimate edition, and especially the PS3 version of the game is prone to this, and unfortunately, it hit me hard. Miraculously, I was able to finish on one save file, but I ended up constantly freezing about 50 hours in, or having ungodly amounts of lag. This mostly happened around the Strip, noticeably in Gomorrah, and it was all fine until my game starting freezing up after around an hour of gameplay, an hour and a half if I was lucky. Thankfully, autosave stopped me losing much progress, and the fix was simply a reboot, so not a lot of harm done there.
The bugs I encountered a lot more too, most notably when attempting to finish Veronica’s companion quest. I’m not sure whether this was just an oversight by the developers, me playing the game wrong by not going to get Veronica until late in the game, or a genuine glitch, I don’t know. The trouble came about when I realised I had probably sold the gun I needed to give to the Elder, and killed the VanGraffs so I couldn’t buy a new one, diverted the power elsewhere at HELIOS One, and chosen to delete the data in Vault 22. Basically, there was no way to finish the quest, and I had to get Veronica’s bad end, which saddened me. There was other minor stuff, too, but nothing quite that bad, so lessons learned.
Plot
I felt this plot was slightly less well put together than its predecessors. It starts off simply enough: go find the guy that shot you in the head, then get involved with the whole “Who controls New Vegas,” mess. It’s mostly between the New California Republic (NCR) who seemed like they were trying to do the best they could, but going the wrong way about it, and Caesar’s Legion, a bunch of people who apparently decided they wanted to imitate Romans and wander about the wasteland, pillaging and murdering people for reasons that weren’t quite apparent. I was never sure what everyone meant by “Caesar’s Legion have no substance to them,” until I reached the end of the game: there isn’t really an explanation as to why they feel that their destructive way of life is the best way forward. Honestly, it comes across as downright stupid when you consider that they’re not only going up against the entirety of NCR, plus Mr House and the rest of the families on the Strip if they want to take over Vegas, plus multiple smaller, yet by no means less well armed tribes out there too. The Boomers have rockets and missile launches, and the Legion is one pretty big, but ultimately only one army.
Honestly, after taking a long break from the main quest to go off and do side missions, I felt very detached from the plot, probably because I had forgotten most of what was going on. Don’t get me wrong, it was enjoyable to play, but it felt a little all over the place, and nowhere near as compact. The one thing I felt did well in terms of storyline were two factors: the companion quests, and the DLCs. The companions, yes, all eight of them, actually had compelling backstories that weren’t just interesting, but actually made you care about them, which is where I felt 3 fell down: the companions were just there, and that was that. I found myself getting a lot more attached to those guys than ever before, in between gaping at the screen and wondering how the script writers could ever be this cruel.
Similarly, I really liked the epilogue they gave for every possible loose end you felt wasn’t tied up. All of the companions got one, good, bad or neutral, and you got to see what all the different factions got up to, which was a refreshing change from being left in the dark like usual. It somehow gave a feeling that they were actually people, rather than just pixels, in a way: once you step away from the controller, it’s almost like they don’t stop existing just because you’re not there to see it.
Graphics
I actually found the graphics pretty nice for a game that’s four years old. The lip sync and voicing were all fine and not particularly irritating or ear-grating, and of course, there are the usual amusing glitches to be expected in a game this big. What really stood out to me was how different the terrains and buildings look in comparison to 3: before, you’d be constantly surrounded by grey rubble, which, let’s be honest, isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing thing in the world. New Vegas, however, offers up a ton of different terrains, from the bustling cities, to the sandy desert, and my personal favourite, snow on the mountain tops and pine trees in Jacobstown. It was such a refreshing change, and so nice to see. The entire game feels a lot more colourful than before- I remember 3’s interiors being practically identical in most locations, so it’s nice to see a bit of variation.
So in conclusion? You can get this game dirt cheap in stores right now. Get it. It’s a great investment.
The Laflamme Legacy, Chapter 10.8- Winning an Oscar
First up, I sincerely apologise for the wait- I’ve been ridiculously busy with uni work. But on the bright side, I have a few more of those one shots to post!
Violet: “Well, that’s it. I’m leaving home. Tell my parents I would have loved them if they bought me that vanity unit.”
Someone’s sulking, huh? Look on the bright side, at least you got votes!
Violet: “NOT ENOUGH TO MATTER!”
So if you haven’t already guessed thanks to the awful pun in the chapter title, Oscar got the vote. Not that it even really means anything, because I’m not actually playing Gen 12.
Oscar: “Oh, that’s nice. Does that mean I can go and get food now?”
You might have to wait a second- something’s going on outside…
Police Officer: “You got yourself arrested because you were trying to catch a golden jellyfish?!”
Violet: “YES! How else am I supposed to make money? I need to buy a new house so I won’t have to live with the shame of not being chosen as heir!”
Considering you didn’t even bother getting dressed before running away, chances are that’s a blessing.
Summer: “I can’t believe you got caught so quickly! I wanted to see that jellyfish!”
Priorities. Remember those, Summer?
Alice: “Don’t ask questions. I have to seduce a very gullible rich guy.”
So basically, how you found your husband?
Alice: “”Exactly.”
Meanwhile, Summer’s tormenting the maid.
Maid: “Huh? I don’t see any roses on the ceiling…”
Summer: “Just look! They’re dropping their thorns everywhere!”
Maid: “Oh my God, I’m naked! How could you do this to me!”
Nice PJs.
And it didn’t stop there.
Summer: “THIS IS FOR NOT CATCHING THAT JELLYFISH!”
Violet: “Wha-“
So this is what the “Inner Beauty,” spell does. Interesting. Is it bad that she looks a lot like Húbért?
Summer: “Of course not! My beloved was the most beautiful man to walk the earth, and I’ll make sure everyone knows it!”
Garnet: “I never realised how majestic and beautiful this plant was before. Such splendour…its gardener must be trying to make a statement about the beauty of life!”
Yeah, Garnet’s not been doing much since finishing her LTW.
Summer, on the other hand, isn’t doing much of anything either.
Summer: “I’m building up my reputation with the nerds! Soon they’ll accept me as their lord and ruler after I finish SimCity!”
You’re already queen of the faeries, can’t you dazzle them with that?
Summer: “True…I can be QUEEN OF THE NERD FAERIES!”
what have I done
Summer: “So, now we’ve known each other longer than five seconds, can I have a promotion?”
Ernie: “What? No!”
Summer: “Oh, c’mon, please? I’ll give you one of my CDs!”
Circa 2001.
Summer: “I’m timeless, shut up!”
Noel’s been trying to run away from home for some time now. Perhaps not the best idea in autumn?
Noel: “But the leaves go so well with my coat!”
Yeah, so does frostbite.
Garnet: “I no longer have pancakes.”
So make some more.
Garnet: “But they won’t be the divinely delicious ones, crafted by an artist such as me!”
Just because you can’t be bothered to make them, doesn’t mean leftovers won’t taste the same.
The last resort for salt water lead Mimi to the swimming pool, because highly chlorinated water is the next best thing. Violet found a better solution.
Violet: “Filthy river water! Hooray!”
Just wait until she finds out how much bacteria is in there.
Violet: “On second thought, we have a perfectly good hot tub at home, right? Once it’s been thoroughly disinfected, of course…”
Now time for Mimi’s birthday party, where love and joy amongst the family are in full swing!
Ha. As if. You’re looking at the wrong legacy for that one.
Alice: “I heard you have magic that can make people beautiful?!”
Summer: “Well, that depends on your definition of beauty-“
Alice: “Cast it on me! NOW!”
Summer: “Well, if you insist…”
I don’t like that smile on your face.
Alice: “I successfully bullied a faerie into casting magic on me! Hi five!”
Oscar: “Uh, Mother? You may want to look in a mirror…”
Oh wow. Hahahaha.
Oscar: “Don’t suppose I could interest you in any beauty products?”
Alice: “Does plastic surgery count?”
Mimi: “Guess this is a good a time as ever to celebrate not being cursed, right?”
Happy birthday- you’re not dead.
And of course, the stalker-paparazzi are the first to show up. Great parenting, guys.
Rachel: “Bored now. I’ll go and take pictures of an empty ice rink.”
Her final trait is Animal Lover, and in all honesty, I think she turned out quite nicely. I’m not sure who she looks like though: she looks familiar, but I can’t place it? Her haircut really suits her, too.
Noel: “I quit. I’m done. If anyone needs me, I’ll be contemplating why this newspaper is as thick as the phone book.”
Noel: “…and why our kennel is haunted.”
???: “PAY ATTENTION TO ME!”
Willow: “…anyone?”
Go away, Willow. No one like you.
Oscar: “Nope.”
“Nope,” what?
Oscar: “I’m not doing today. It’s too bright, sunny and cheerful, so I’m staying in bed. Can’t risk the heir getting sunburn! And think of all the pollen in the air!”
But think about all the ice cream you could sell!
Oscar: “…Maybe. In a few hours.”
Mimi wanted an elixir for some reason or another, but the shop that sells them is never open. This was about two in the afternoon!
Mimi: “Great customer service, huh?”
Oscar: “Ugh, and now I have to get up to go to work. If I end up dying of hay fever, I blame you.”
You were the one who wanted a part time job, albeit with a slightly questionable uniform.
Violet: “I’m just waiting for fame and success to grab me by the hand and whisk me away from here…y’know, any minute now…my dress matches my scales, what more do you want?!”
I’m not even going to ask what that’s supposed to be.
Summer: “Stew! With purple food colouring!”
God help us all.
Alice: “That’ll teach them to mess with me. I rule them now.”
Ease up there, you’ve still got one promotion to go yet.
Mimi delved into the world of online dating, since there’s nothing better to do until Oscar’s birthday. Message the guy with blue hair!
Mimi: “Or, here’s an idea- why not let me marry someone I actually like, since this is the last generation anyway?”
That’s a point. Besides, I like you, so go ahead. Just please don’t pick anyone too hideous.
Violet: “YOU MEAN I’M WORTHLESS NOW?!”
She stood there, twitching, for at least five minutes. That was scary.
Violet: “I’ve changed my mind. I want to sing for a living, instead of being a legacy wife.”
Sure. Just don’t turn out like Summer, okay?
Violet: “Ancient and insane? …Maybe a little.”
Ah. graduation. Routing failure, sleep deprivation and paparazzi. As usual.
Summer: “If I get drunk fast enough, do you think they’ll let me leave?”
I think she got “Most Likely To Rule The World,” which is pretty cool.
Garnet: “Not as cool as me! Look! I have fans, even after all these years!”
You’ve been retired for about a week. I bet they just miss the lunatic elderly magician that regularly set herself on fire in the park.
Hat Guy: “Oh, she’s pretty. Wonder if I should go over…”
That WOULD have been nice, but apparently now she likes the paparazzi guy. I think his name is Terry.
Cass: “You aren’t calling that boy, are you?”
Mimi: “No, Dad, I’m calling aliens.”
Cass: “Good.”
Mimi: “Oh c’mon, pick up already…god, the connection to their ship is so slow these days…”
Alice and Summer are attempting to get along. Attempting being the key word here.
Summer: “Wait, you like horrendously outdated arcade games too?!”
Summer: “Okay then, let’s see what else you’ve got rattling around in there…”
She didn’t find anything. Sounds about right.
Cass: “What? No, I’m not dating you! The mid-life crisis was last chapter, get it right!”
Cass: “So Mimi wasn’t joking?!”
Summer: “Well, if you’re looking for people to colonise the moon, I think I’d be a great asset!”
Oh God. Quick, read the spare updates before Summer destroys the planet:
Hopefully the next update won’t take as long- please drop a comment in on the way out, to let me know what you think!
~ Viki.
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