So, Gen 5 is about halfway through childhood in current gameplay. I’ll be in a position to lay down my story explanation for the elfland shakeup.
Background reading if you haven’t tracked this conversation:
SimDjinn, This is YOUR FAULT,
and The Plan.
I’m having mixed feelings about doing it as I see the characters develop, but I think it would work if I went that way.
After I spent so much time playing around in the Harry Potter world, yesterday the most fabulous little world showed up on Mod the Sims: Avalon! THIS is what I was looking for when I started messing around with the Harry Potter world. And the HP world is awesome, but:
A) It’s Harry Potter, and I don’t really want to do anything with the story
B) It’s from back in World Adventures
C) I’d have to add all the lots to this new world, but I already hunted them down, downloaded them, and installed them. Compared to that, placing isn’t a big deal.
So if I’m going to do pure fantasy, I’m inclined to go with Avalon. I can keep Hogwarts around and poke at it to see if I can come up with something fun to do with it.
As far as the sims in the town, I could:
1. Start with a brand new population and only bring along the Samples and a couple of families close them. Download fresh, current-generation cross-pollination sims and elfify them. Most of the ones I have have kind of run through their stories anyway.
2. Keep most of the current town population and turn them into elves.
3. Leave everyone as they are, but cull the population of sims the Samples have never met, then introduce a bunch of new elves to create a town of mixed genetics.
4. Hold off to do the elves in a different game.
As far as the town itself, I could:
1. Stay in Sunset Valley, which could add its own fantasy elements as it suits my whim.
2. Move to Hogwarts World.
3. Move to Avalon.
4. Move to Lunar Lakes, where anything can go on both the science fiction AND fantasy axes.
5. Hold off for the upcoming Supernatural expansion and move to Moonlight Falls, the town that comes with it. It is apparently inspired by the US Pacific Northwest, which would be pretty. And I suspect the expansion will be out by the time Gen 5 are adults.
I am not committing to doing only one more move. It seems to me that about the max I can expect to run in a given town is three generations.
There’s also the option of, whether I move the Samples or not, just leaving them as they are with no elves and cutting the legacy off at 7 generations to move on to other stuff. In a lot of ways, this seems like it would be truest to them and their personalities. The only reason I hesitate on doing THAT is that I’m tracking Pinstar points, and I feel like I lose my scoring rights if I don’t make it to Gen 10 like a proper Pinstar legacy. I’ve come this far tracking all the !@#$ points. I don’t want to invalidate it! Heh.
I am going to put up a poll to get you guys’s advice on what YOU think would be fun.
I think you should do the elves (so to speak) because it just sounds sooo cool! Either elfify them or mix the dna for future generations, either way.]
Avalon looks lovely. I would move to Avalon until things bog down again and then move them to Moonlight Falls. (Moonlight looks so pretty! I'm totally going to use that town at some point, either in my wishacy or my next challenge.) I'm loving Lunar Lakes, but it might be more scientific than you're looking for.
So fun!
Thanks! I think you're leaning in the same direction I am.
The more I think about it, the more I don't want to turn the Samples into elves. In addition to the skintones, exotic hair colors, and ears, I'm tweaking the facial features to make the eyes a lot larger and using different eyes (either default or contacts). I think it would be very interesting to mix these up and give the final half of the Samples more of a genetic legacy flavor.
Since Avalon is a blank slate, I can decide how much I want it to be a High Fantasy town and how much I want it to stay rooted in the modern world. I could build a town that is sort of like the ad copy for Hidden Springs (since I don't own it and haven't actually played in it) — a sleepy town with secrets to find as you dig deeper.
I vote for not elfing them, but moving them into an elvish setting (maybe to get away from the paparazzi?)…I agree with DragonWife that Lunar Lakes is a little to sci-fi-y. Whatever you do, it will be awesome!!
That's tough. On the one hand, I respect wanting to do right by the story. On the other, I will miss the Samples if you cut them off.
If you have to do that much work on them, it might be easier over all to just start with a new family. Or perhaps you could compromise? Send one member of the Samples away to meet the elves, and leave the rest behind to play as a semi separate story? I think that letters back home, or the like, could make for a very interesting story telling device.
In your comment, are you implying that you might breed 'elvish' traits into the Samples? That could be quite cool to watch.
I don't feel that I'm being hugely helpful here. I guess over all it makes more practical sense (in terms of effort expenditure) to start over with new sims for the elves, even though I will miss the Samples, unless you feel that keeping the Samples and Elf-ifying them would be a good choice (and you do already have an idea for this, from the sound of it).
As far as neighbourhoods go, I kind of want to try Avalon myself, so it might be interesting to see it in play. And Moonlight Falls looks really interesting, and presumably elves will fit in well with the 'feel' of the neighbourhood.
I think over all, Avalon would be a good choice for now.
My reasoning for transforming the Samples is that a 10-generation legacy is a multi-year endeavor at the rate I can play and post. Being the mom of a toddler means that I CAN'T do marathon sessions even when I want to. So I created these genetic experiment elf sims, and I love them, and I don't think I want to wait two more years to get to play with them. But I'm terribly attached to the family, and I want them to get all the generations coming to them.
However, I don't know why I initially thought I needed to change the SAMPLES into elves. When I was first thinking of this, I latched on to the idea that this was an alternate fantasy universe where EVERYONE had metallic skintones. But now I don't see why that's so important. The Samples could move to a town that, like Hidden Springs, happens to have some unusual surprise characters. In fact, Hidden Springs might also be a good choice, and I could edit the green-skinned natives. However, if I'm going to shell out half the cost of an expansion for a new world, I hadn't been intended to make it Hidden Springs (I am notoriously cheapskate about this game b/c it seems like it could eat your whole income if you let it).
I'd need there to be enough elves in the town of the appropriate age for my heir to be able to find a mate, and I like my characters to be able to choose their own mates.
Supernatural looks to be scheduled for a September release, which even at my speed of play would be after Gen 5 become teens and possibly after they're adult. It might still be doable. In the meantime, I'm going to load up Avalon and start playing with lots.
That sounds like a great idea! I also voted for the Samples staying "regular" sims. I am already excited to see what is going to happen once they moved – by the way, Avalon is an excellent choice,it looks just beautiful.
The more I try that idea on for size, the more I like it.
The more I think about it, the more I think Moonlight Falls might be ideal for the way the Gen 5 personalities are shaping up. The question is whether I can wait until September. Also, it's been my policy to never buy expansions until they've had a chance to sit around and have a few debugging patches released. EA is legendary for releasing stuff with some scary bugs, so it would be a risk :).
My story is starting to evolve as week speak!