Ang Plays The Sims

Yet another video game obsession from Ang(ela)/ohsoang.

[angplaysthesims]

Birch Household

Raffia Quinta house, Oasis Springs 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom

Besides redecorating, the only major change I made to this house was to turn the second bathroom into a home office.

Larissa Birch Career: Painter/Master of the Real Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire Traits: Romantic, Gloomy, Good

Griffin Birch (toddler) (Parents: Larissa Birch, Don Lothario) Traits: Charmer

I had originally made Larissa with the intention to see if I could make a pregant teen without any mods. But the instructions I went by---basically get a young adult pregnant, then age her down in CAS with the cas.fulleditmode cheat---but apparently you can no longer make edits to pregnant Sims, and that doesn’t work anymore! 

But that’s ok, I only wanted to try to do it just to see if I could. And I couldn’t. So I had her have a baby with Don Lothario, who I feel like is the kind of guy who’d have a bunch of illegitimate kids running around, ya know?

My headcanon, Larissa is young and naive and easily swayed by someone as charismatic and selfish as Don Lothario. She wants him to love her and commit and be a part of their family, but of course he’s noncommittal. So she’s raising their son mostly alone. Don comes by to visit now and then, so he’s not the worst deadbeat dad. I headcanon that he sends Simoleons when he can too (Don ended up being a food stall vendor in this world state).

[angplaysthesims]

Voss Household

17 Culpepper House, Spice Market, San Myshuno 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom

I started with the apartment bulldozed, then based the layout on this build, with some changes of course.

Nicole Voss Career: Barista Aspiration: City Native Traits: Cheerful, Vegetarian

You can make a household with a teen and no adults! (Create a household with the teen you want and an adult that you can later delete in CAS, and voila, a household with a teen and no adults.)

Nicole Voss was orphaned as a teen. She was able to become an emancipated adult and thus gets to live on her own. She got her new apartment and furnishings with the settlement money from the wrongful/accidental death of her parents, but she now goes to high school and works as a barista part-time to make ends meet. 

Nicole is a sweet and sensitive young lady who cares about human and animal rights (maybe a political activist career in her future?) and is just Trying Her Best. She loves to rock out with loud music and hang out with her many friends in the Spice Market. 

Her boyfriend is Kameron Gilman. 

[angplaysthesims]

Lawson-Gilman Household

Old Salt House, Spice Market, San Myshuno 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms

Only major change to the original structure was to add another bedroom and bathroom to the second floor. 

Borrowed some design ideas/elements from this beautiful build. 

Caitlin Lawson (far left in screenshot) Career: Tech Guru/Start-Up Entrepreneur Aspiration: Super Parent Traits: Geek, Cheerful, Genius

Rosalie Lawson (child, second from right) (Parents: Caitlin Lawson, Travis Scott) Traits: Cheerful

Trey Gilman (third from right) Career: Business/Management Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy Traits: Self-Assured, Cheerful, Family-Oriented

Kameron Gilman (teen, third from left) Career: Manual Laborer Aspiration: Bodybuilder Traits: Good, Active

Drew Gilman (child, far right) Traits: Good

Harper Lawson-Gilman (toddler, second from left) Traits: Angelic

This is my blended step-family.

Trey Gilman was a widower (his first wife was the mother of Kameron and Drew) and single father. Caitlin Lawson was a single mother (her daughter Rosalie’s father is Travis Scott). 

Caitlin was originally in the Criminal/Oracle career when she was a single mom trying to make it in Jasmine Suites in the Spice Market of San Myshuno, raising her daughter alone. She eventually cleaned up her act, quit the crime, and joined the Tech Guru/Start-Up Entrepreneur career to put her tech skills to good use. Caitlin met Business/Manager Trey Gilman from the Arts Quarter and he was smitten with her more than she was with him, at first. But she came around and fell in love with him. 

Trey and Caitlin got married, moved into the Old Salt House in the Spice Market, and had a child together, Harper Lawson-Gilman. 

Kameron Gilman is the boyfriend of Nicole Voss. 

[angplaysthesims]

Ripley Household

Dusty Turf lot, Oasis Springs 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

Their home features a space shuttle with a control center outbuilding, underneath which conceals a private scientist lab.

House floor plan originally based on this build.

I’ll call this the “Ripley World State” for Sims 4, since the first household I made was for my original Sim, Anais Ripley.

Anais Ripley (2nd from left in screenshot) Alien Career: Scientist Aspiration: The Curator Traits: Neat, Cheerful, Geek

Anais is the first alien Sim I’ve made. She’s in the Scientist career (Get To Work DLC), the first time I’ve explored the Get To Work career options. I have since played all 3 (Scientist, Doctor, Detective) and Scientist is by far my favorite.

Rogelio Kline (far right in screenshot) Alien Career: Astronaut/Interstellar Smuggler Aspiration: Nerd Brain Traits: Active, Genius, Family-Oriented

Liara Ripley (child, second from right) Alien Traits: Cheerful

Tali Ripley (toddler, far left) Alien Traits: Angelic

[ohsoang]

Not much updating about it, but I have been playing a ton of Sims. I have a world state I’m doing now with ~12 households that I’ve started (plus all the usual townies of course). And counting.

I hadn’t done any cheats before, so I’ve been exploring a lot of those. As much as can be done on PS4. Sadly, can’t do mods (that I’m aware of). And PS4 doesn’t have all the DLCs available, but I’ve been enjoying the ones that have been slowly released.

It bothers me that playing any of the City Living apartments with the Needs TLC lot trait would bother my Sims so much in previous world states, so this time I tried a Sim with the Slob trait, and gave him the Carefree reward trait so he wouldn’t get tense with the bugs and mice. But alas, he gets dazed from the smells, and still notices when an infestation is happening, even though it doesn’t make him tense. So I’m still really disliking the Needs TLC lot trait. Most of the time, my Sims are happy enough to override any discomfort, but not always. Verdict: not worth it. I’ll put townies I’m not playing in those apartments.

I was also worried about having any Sims live in the Lively Neighbors lot trait apartments, since I hate them getting woken up. But I finally put a Sim in one of the Chic Street apartments, and I actually feel like she doesn’t get bothered by noisy neighbors any more often than any of my other apartment-dwelling Sims. Verdict: Lively Neighbors isn’t so bad, don’t be scared of living there!

I’ve made a lot of really nice houses and apartments over the last several months, so I recently made a dumpy trailer house, and actually found that A LOT of fun to decorate. I should get some screenshots, I know. I still used furniture with at least some comfort ratings, poorer plumbing and appliances with upgrades, and plenty of “messy” decor for environment happiness bonuses, so my Sims do enjoy living there. Aesthetically, it’s just not so fancy like I tend to lean toward.

I even managed to make a household that’s just a teen with no adults, which has been kind of fun to play. I used a money cheat to get her apartment set up nice, and then took all her money away so she is kind of living paycheck to paycheck with her part time barista job and going to high school. She busks for Simoleons on the weekends.

I made a household with 2 parents and 6 adopted kids. One I aged up to teen right away, 3 are children, and 2 are toddlers. Busy house!

I had 2 single-parent households with kids and eventually had the parents marry each other, so they have the whole blended family thing going on.

Don Lothario has several illegitimate children running around my world state, lol.

The Parenthood DLC was released for PS4 not long ago, which had prompted me to make more households with kids than I had before, just to see what all is new. I read PS4 should be getting Outdoor Retreat this month, so I’m psyched to check that out.

[ohsoang]

So, I discovered that in the Sims 4, you really can have too many happiness boosts for your Sims.

I had a family that adopted a toddler, and while the mom had a +3 happiness boost from the new adoption, she was in a room that was Beautifully Decorated, with a lit fireplace, having recently eaten some high end gourmet food, and maybe some other happiness boosts like Home Turf and if she recently used the bathroom (bidet and fancy soap upgrades), I forget all exactly but she was VERY Happy.

And her new toddler told her a joke, and Mom instantly died from being Hysterical.

Instantly. Died. From being Hysterical.

I’ve had sims get hysterical before, and I know that /can/ kill them, but so far I had managed to get them to a mirror to calm down pretty quickly when it happens. Not this time.

Died instantly.

[angplaysthesims]

Taking a little break from the Hesperias and trophy hunting (86% complete!). This is a completely new world with a new Sim, Anja Hawke! I regret giving her the Hawke surname because it could be confused with Dragon Age 2 but it’s too late to change it. So I will just refer to her as Anja. As an experiment, I won’t be giving her any career. Instead, she started out as a bit of a scavenger, digging up collectibles to sell, as she leveled up her skills that would let her do stuff that can be sold/published for money. So, instead of the usual careers, she’s a freelance writer-painter-programmer. Her primary source of income since I started her a couple days ago has been writing and publishing romance books. After I got her max leveled in writing, I’d write/publish a book a day, and then spend the rest of the day leveling up her painting skill and selling her paintings. Painting skill was maxed, so I’ve moved on to having her level programming and she just started writing a mobile app. Progress! She will probably do music once programming is maxed. After 2 days of playing her, she’s earned enough to nearly complete Fabulously Wealthy. The freelance work is very lucrative. Without a standard career, she’s just churning out money-makers and leveling her skills. She’s maxed Cooking, Logic (she finished Nerd Brain during this time too), Painting, Rocket Science, and Writing. During this time, she had also been dating several people. The one who stood out from the rest was Ricky, because Ricky is the first time I have knowingly encountered an alien in this game! He’s Romantic, Creative, and Jealous. I don’t dig the jealous thing, but I was curious enough about the alien thing to advance the romance. Now they are living together. I’m having her mentor him to get his skills up so he can be a writer-painter-programmer too. Eventually they will probably have some alien-Sim hybrid babies. :) That’s Anja and Ricky in the screenshots. And Anja’s cute freelance romance writer cottage. It has since expanded a little bit to accommodate a desk and computer for Ricky so they can both do their freelance work.

[ohsoang]

Rest In Peace, Zsazsa Hesperia. My first Sim. The founder and matriarch of the Hesperia dynasty.

Zsazsa was a retired Angel Investor and bestselling author. She completed several aspirations, maxed out about half of all the skills, and—through her tireless efforts and extremely extended lifespan—has built the foundation of a very wealthy and successful family dynasty.

Zsazsa is survived by her 2 daughters, Zoraida and Zanne, and their spouses Gideon and Niko. Her grandchildren Cyrus, Nicolette, and Milo, and great-grandchildren Beau and Otto.

Zsazsa was preceded in death by 6 wives who she loved dearly.

[ohsoang]

Nicolette’s twins finished their child aspirations, so I aged them up to Teens.

Beau is the artísté. Creative and Art Lover traits. Painter Extraordinaire aspiration, of course. He’ll be going into the Painter career (last career I’ve yet to finish and get a trophy for).

Otto is the cool guy. Cheerful and Genius traits. Friend of the World aspiration. He’ll probably go into the Secret Agent career.

They look like their father. And they appear to have identical features. I wasn’t sure if they would be identical twins or not. It’s hard to tell at toddler/child stages since they all kind of look the same.

[angplaysthesims]

I moved Zanne, Niko, and Milo from the Fountainview Penthouse in the Arts Quarter of San Myshuno to a lot in Newcrest, next door to the Hesperia Estate.

Part of the reason was because San Myshuno can be really glitchy, and the last time I played the family, my game kept crashing during Saves, so I’d have to replay entire days at a time because I’d lose my progress. Several times. Haven’t had that issue in Newcrest.

The other reason is because I wanted more space to build them a house I’d really like. The Penthouse had to have 2 floors, and I don’t really like playing with multiple floors. It annoys me when the “camera” lags with floating up or down.

Since they moved and I could build them a custom place, I also got Mansion Baron aspiration completed for everyone in the family. They’re not nearly as wealthy as the main Hesperia Estate, but Zanne had fully leveled in the Entertainer/Musician career quite awhile ago, and Niko recently fully leveled the Athlete/Pro Athelete career. So they’re doing really well financially.

Screenshots when the new house a bit more done and polished.

[angplaysthesims]

Milo Hesperia completed all of his child aspirations, so it was time to age him up to teen.

He’s a Cheerful Genius. I have Friend of the World for his first aspiration, and he’s already into the last stage of it. Just needs a couple more friends and to level up his Charisma a bit more. He was an A-student within a couple days.

In the screenshots, his mom Zanne was mentoring him in piano (she mentors for all the instruments) and his dad Niko was helping him with his homework. Niko also mentors Milo in fitness.

I’m torn on whether Milo will be a Scientist or Astronaut. I’ve done Astronaut with another Sim before (Milo would do the other branch I haven’t done yet) but the Get To Work careers don’t entirely interest me (nor am I interested in participating in their workday), so we will see if I try Scientist or not.

[ohsoang]

Um. My first alien abduction in Sims 4.

If she comes back pregnant with an alien baby, I’m going to be very annoyed. There’s already 6 people in this damn house.

[angplaysthesims]

Niko and Zanne had a boy! Milo Hesperia. First time I’ve leveled a toddler to all max skills! I usually get frustrated and age them up at all 3rd level skills. I’m getting better at this toddler Sims thing. They still give me anxiety. But I’m getting better.

[ohsoang]

I did it! I managed to get the toddler skills of both twins up to level 3. This gives them a bonus to leveling up skills as children and makes them happier.

I aged them both up to Children now, so the hardest part is over.

Twins, man. Yikes.

[angplaysthesims]

Some backstory on Nicolette and Akito. I got so gobsmacked that they had twins that I disrupted the order I wanted to talk about Nicolette’s story. Nicolette recently aged up from teen to young adult. She started the athlete career, with the intention to go bodybuilder. When working out at the gym in San Myshuno, she befriended adult gym trainer Akito Ishikawa. Yeah, she finds him kind of douchey but he’s also sweet and kind of cute, and certainly has a trainer’s body. So Nicolette started flirting with him and things started escalating. He starts coming over to her place a lot, they start woohooing regularly. Not dating. Never even a real date. He’s not her boyfriend. Just flirting and woohoo. And then, surprise! Pregnant. They decide she will raise the baby and he’ll visit and all that, but he’s not sure he’s real father material. That’s fine with Nicolette, she isn’t interested in Akito romantically, and she’s got a great support system with her parents and grandmother at home. She’s cool with being a single mom to their kid.

[angplaysthesims]

The twins’ first ~24 hours in game went ok. I managed to get them potty trained by the second day, so they won’t need an adult’s help with that. I have toddlers “grab a serving” of food themselves instead of trying to have adults feed them in high chairs. That seems to work much better and need less involvement with people picking them up and putting them down. And the real food fills them up better than the “quick food” snacks.

Potty trained, fed, and bathed on their first full day. And their father Akito (the guy with sunglasses) visited and met them, played and danced, so that was cute. Nicolette is a single mom. Thankfully she lives with her grandmother Zsazsa and parents Gideon and Zoraida, so there are people to help. With the TWINS.

I’m still not over that they were twins.

So yeah, no disasters yet. But my anxiety levels are high trying to make sure their needs are taken care of. My goal is to get their toddler skills to level 3, we will see if I give up and age them up to children before that or not.

Nicolette will be going back to work (she’s an athlete/bodybuilder), but Zsazsa is retired and now that the twins are potty trained, Zsazsa should be able to take care of them both if everyone else happens to be at work at the same time. But usually their schedules work out that there are at least 2 adults home at any given time.

Beau has the shorter hair and Otto has the longer hair.

[ohsoang]

HOLY SHIT, IT’S TWINS. I was NOT trying for twins or triplets yet.

Nicolette Hesperia is a single mom with twin boys now. Geez. I don’t know if I can handle this. They might get aged up sooner rather than later.

Beau and Otto. Thank you, generated names.

At least they live at the Hesperia Estate, so Zsazsa, Zoraida, and Gideon are there to help. And a butler. They’re aging up to toddler immediately.