What is happening here?
A mix of
Let's Play and
Story Telling.
I use story telling to immerse me in the game, so I occasionally dip into story telling to flesh out my character's personality and motivations. I call this Immersion Buffing and it really helps me get into The Sims 4.
For the sims 3, I kept a thread documenting my experiences with the game. It became a historical record of sorts as the EPs, SPs, mods, CC, and Store content came out. I believe it helped immerse me into the game and also reminded me of how much fun I was actually having . It was great to share it all with others. I would like to do the same for The Sims 4.
However, this is a reboot of my Sims 4 Simming Moments thread that I started when the game launched.
The original thread is full of false starts, reboots, and me complaining about and experimenting with the game.
I never allowed my sims to age, start relationships, get married or have children. None of it was normal game play for me.
So the old thread is now considered an Archive of my early explorations with TS4 before I was truly and securely hooked.
Thanks to Toddlers and The Sims 4: Parenthood, I believe The Sims 4 is now in a state that I can play normally and enjoy.
Let's begin. Again.
Table of ContentsPg. 1 Introduction/ Table of Contents/ The Mega Reboot/ Miss Peregrine/ A Night Visitor/ Hard Times/ The Herbalist/ Parenthood: Meadow Thayer/ How Difficult Could It Be?Pg. 2 Zane Delacroix/ Double the Trouble/ The First Birthday Celebrationhttp://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/15811788/#Comment_15811788Pg. 3 Toddler Stuff/ Overwhelmed/ Primal Natures/ My New Computer /The Truth about Cats & Dogshttp://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/15985142/#Comment_15985142Pg. 4 The Cat Girls of Windenburg/ Ling Chen and Olivia Banks/ Sacrilege/ Melonie Bloom/ 2017 top 10 Simming Moments/ Diamond Eyeshttp://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16198200/#Comment_16198200Pg. 5 Gamma Vareen/ Angry Girl (AKA Michelle Brooks)/ The Others/ A Peculiar Slice of Life/ Jungle Trials/ Teen Meadow/ Growth Spurtshttp://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16360376/#Comment_16360376Pg. 6 Seasons!/ Home and Hearth Day/Seasons Micro Reboot/ Technical Difficultieshttp://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16564702/#Comment_16564702Pg. 7 All Aboard!/ Status Update/ NEPS: One Foot in the Grave/ The Banks Family/ The Banks Family continuedhttp://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16586124/#Comment_16586124Pg. 8
So... What Happened to Summer?/ Brindleton Bay Blue/ Darkling/ Darkling, continued/ All Hallows. Evehttp://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16630651/#Comment_16630651Pg. 9
Old School Calientes/ Hooked on the Banks/ A Banks Christmas/ More Bankshttps://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16655747/#Comment_16655747Pg. 10
A New Year/ Maxis Monthly Stream/ Get Famous/ Get Famous Test Drive/ Cybercafe 2.0https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16744258/#Comment_16744258Pg. 11
Strangerville/ Dana Scully/ Thea, Lionel, and Fox/ Living for the Weekend/ On a Whim/ Pleasure Principle/ Covert Operative/ Bill and Bunny Happy https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16981338/#Comment_16981338Pg. 12
Bill and Bunny Happy/ What Did You Do, Bunny?/ Alien Compound/ Island Living/ Moschino Stuff Pack https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17017788/#Comment_17017788Pg. 13
Prepping for Realm of Magic/ Discover University/ Catching Up/ ROM Mansion/ Let's Play!/ Witches in the Junglehttps://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17237932/#Comment_17237932Pg. 14
Witches in the Jungle/ Uni Student Shopping/Slice of Life/Meaningful Stories https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17326696/#Comment_17326696Pg. 15
Smuggsworth Prep/ Ambrosius and Janay/ Shall We Continue?/ Tiny Living Builds/ SW Journey to Batuu/ Prepping for Batuu/ Playing the Most Hated Pack/ Star Wars: Journey to Batuu/ Uninstalled TS4https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17428868/#Comment_17428868Pg. 16
Personality Overhaul/ Jounery to Batuu: The Return/ Going to GeekCon/ Mission 3/ To University/ Before the Uninstallhttps://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17694880/#Comment_17694880Pg. 17
The Forgotten Batuu Posts/ From Britechester to Mt Komorebi/ Snowy Escape/ Komorebi Wrap Up/ Komorebi Edits/ Shorter Teens/ Komorebi Edits Pt 2/ Dream Home Decorator https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17736530/#Comment_17736530Pg. 18
Dream Home Decorator/ Cottage Living/ Family Bonds/Komorebi Vacay/ Progression/ Uni: Meadow, Zane and Cassandra/ Chemistry and Attraction https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17901013/#Comment_17901013Pg. 19
The Goths/ Graduation and Orientation/ Brindleton Bay Blues/ Moving Day/ Banks Style/ One More Adventure/ Haunted Smuggsworth/ Dark Academia/ Club Academia/ Dorm Life https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17957524/#Comment_17957524Pg. 20
Dorm Life/ The Great Outdoors/ The Mystical Mastery of Magic/ Resurrection/ Forced Progression/ Katie Seymour/ Windenburg to Henford/ Country Girl/ Gone off the Rails/ The Drama Majorshttps://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17980908/#Comment_17980908Pg. 21
Modeling Career Test/ Midpoint/ Foxbury/ Riya, Vaughn, and Sheldon/ Goodbye High School Rabbit Holehttps://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/18136667/#Comment_18136667Pg. 22
The Bella Goth Chat/ TS4: For Renthttps://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/18263334/#Comment_18263334
Comments
Like The Sims 3: Generations, The Sims 4 Parenthood will probably be the pack that gets me immersed in the series.
https://youtu.be/MIW6kougM6w
Up until now, I have been playing the same sims since the launch of the game. Never aging, never getting married, and no children.
I've started their lives over again several times. Simming for me was just checking out the features in the latest EP, GP, and SP.
In between the packs, I was just making sims, admiring them, but not really enjoying the game play and the life stages.
I was very interested in this game pack from the start, but now that my plans are starting to take shape, I am fairly excited about playing it.
The plan is to take all my never aging, always single, Young Adult sims and aging them down to toddlers. I will give them parents and raise them to young adults again.
I was inspired by this crew.
I can now play out my sim's young lives and even give them siblings with lots of new game play.
I have yet to play toddlers, children, or teens, so I am about to really start playing TS4, finally.
I have a lot of sims though, so I am not giving everyone families.
I am bringing in Miss Alma Faye Peregrine to help me out.
She's going to run a home for peculiar sims.
My cat sims and Meadow Thayer will live there as toddlers.
My cat sim's backstory is they were illegal genetic experiments created by a mad scientist. They were taken away from him.
Meadow isn't peculiar like the other sims that will be living there, but my current story is that she is fascinated by cat sims.
Now her new story is she grew up with them in an orphanage.
Gamma is an alien, so she's in.
I will also have a vampire and probably a plant sim.
So yeah, it will be a home for peculiar sims.
I gave up on making the house look like the one from the movie.
I'll just let it evolve into its own thing. I still have lots of work to do.
My first wave of sims are ready to go.
I can't dump them in all at once because I don't want birthdays happening on the same day. So I am introducing them in waves, and days apart in the waves.
Meadow and Zane will be the first to arrive at Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children as toddlers.
Zane is a vampire and Meadow is... Meadow.
We really need more hairstyles for toddlers.
Melonie, Ling, and Cairo have CAS generated parents and will be living in homes around the various neighborhoods.
I get to play Miss Peregrine before the Parenthood game pack arrives.
She needs to build up some basic skills such as cooking, gardening, handiness, and charisma.
Her neighbors on the island have formed a welcome wagon and are dropping by.
She really could use the company.
Her social need is getting low.
Who goes straight to her fridge.
Where is the fruitcake?
There are a bunch of freeloaders on this island:
Miss Peregrine is Unflirty, so Clara Bejergsen's flirtations with Mr. Bejergsen is putting her off.
A cup of Earl Grey sets her right with a confident mood.
Who did this?
They are the worse welcome wagon ever.
At least she can get started on her handiness skill.
It will be good when the children arrive. They will keep her company instead of the locals.
This house is a little more cheerful in mood compared to the Peregrine house from the movie.
Tim Burton manages to bring a dark creepy edge to whatever movie he makes.
I did find these gargoyle wall decorations. They help with the creepy factor.
I tend to be lazy about finding curtains for windows.
I am glad I bothered for this house. Still lazy though, I didn't bother for every window.
I think a lot of impromptu conversations will happen here.
I edited the dining room to allow access to the sun-room/greenhouse instead of from the living room--like in the movie.
Tea, conversations and naps, in addition to growing profitable plants.
I love this (CC) wall paper, but it only comes in purple. Strangely, it is named blue floral.
Royal or Navy Blue seems to be Miss Peregrine's favorite color, judging from the outfit she wore in the movie.
I don't have anything like that outfit as far as style goes, but I needed to get rid of that black Victorian dress.
I think she was supposed to be dressed for the 1940s.
Vintage Glamour apparel helps, but this is a little too formal.
This is a little too edgy, although the outfit in the movie was edgy too.
Oh, now she's feeling awkward.
Really? It's not that bad.
I guess it is.
Peculiar and particular.
Well, take it off.
I decided to make the pond double as a pool.
I doubt Miss Peregrine would wear a two piece swim suit.
I will change it to a one piece.
She had better enjoy this time she has so far.
She's going to be swamped with toddlers next week.
The pond turned out very well from that jagged water-filled hole in the ground.
The property is close to finished.
I love these gum drop shrubs.
Done, until we get Parenthood.
I will most likely do more tweaking as I play.
I have already added a small mudroom off the kitchen since posting this.
Yeah something is going on either with the forum or Photobucket.
I'll wait to see if it sorts itself out. It's kind of random.
It will be interesting to see where it goes.
I am already looking at Zane and Meadow and thinking pair up where I handn't before.
I've just had a brainstorm too.
Since my sim's home, other characters, and villains don't look like the poster above, I am going to pretend the book and movie is actually written by her and is inspired by her life story.
So...
I was looking at the house from this angle and notice the footpath seemed a bit dark. I am really running through Miss Peregrine's motherlode money with all these touches, but I have to add those lights. The game said no to more lights however, because Miss Peregrine was about to receive a night visitor.
Vladislaus Straud.
It looks like Miss Peregrine attracted the vampire of vampires.
I wasn't that surprised though.
The guy even sent her a text message complimenting her on her neck.
And now he's here:
Stalking his way through the back door.
It's good that there are no children here yet.
I wonder how they would react if they caught a vampire sneaking into the house.
We don't have evil Hollowgasts like the Miss Peregrine book and movie...,
but we do have vampires.
Too bad she doesn't have a crossbow.
It wouldn't do her any good now since you are pretty much helpless in your sleep.
Oh, he's gone all Nosferatu on her.
Okay...
I am going to have to work this little incident into my story-line somehow.
It does present a little wrinkle down the road.
It should be interesting.
Aw, I feel sorry for her.
Time to research about vampires.
So we are getting Diaries/Journals back!!
I had posted the following on the ideas forum, asking for the return of sims writing in their diaries.
I had a lot of game play suggested in it, but it looks like we are just getting the emotional control portion of it.
I am glad to see it return.
[Admires handiwork]
La la la laa la la...
La la la laa la la...
continue:
La la la la la...
La la la la la...
La la la la laaaah la...
[Screeeeeeeeech!!!]
What?
BILLS!!!
Oh boy, and you with no job.
She owes 10,000 Simoleons.
She's been writing children's books, but hasn't built up enough published books to make any serious cash.
She's going to have to go out in the world and hustle.
She was lucky to have access to a loft condo in San Myshuno from which she could take UFO and Dragon Fruit cuttings.
It's still not enough.
Times are desperate so she risks going to the wishing well for more cash.
She received some compromising information from the wishing well.
Perfect information for a little blackmail and some revenge.
"Vladislaus Straud, we meet again.
Only this time I know things you don't want known--so pay up or else!"
"Curses, Miss Peregrine!"
It's nice to have the power back on, but it's bittersweet.
She only have 300 Simoleons in the bank, so it's already time to start hustling again to make the next payment.
But first she will unwind at the Spice Festival before starting all over again tomorrow.
Here's hoping the next several patches and packs makes this the best Sims game ever.
I know it's already the best Sims game ever for others, but I need a little more.
The recent additions have given me a lot of hope. I am really looking forward to the next pack.
I believe it's going to be a game changer.
I am already looking ahead for other ways it might be useful.
The character values will come in handy for when we get University. I will certainly use Get Together groups and Character values to have my sims form their own secret societies, maybe even fraternities and sororities if they return.
I keep going into CAS to look at the new households I have saved there.
The toddlers are so cute. I'm tempted to sneak one or two in the orphanage just to play them.
I can wait until Tuesday though. I shouldn't play the game at all. Miss Peregrine is all set and I have some chores around the house to do.
Right now I need to go take my old books to Half-priced books to see what I can get for them. I time to de-clutter my life and I do have things I can jettison.
My Newcrest neighborhood is ready to go.
There is an obvious theme throughout this neighborhood.
This house has come a long way since its humble beginnings.
I gave it a basement today and I will give it a Parenthood makeover tomorrow.
I will also bulldoze the 50x50 version and plop down an upgraded copy.
This was just a tryout to see if it would fit on the lot.
Miss Peregrine came across some grow fruit from my old Herbalist shoppe.
Herbal Remedies will be yet another income source for this household. She will also grow more blueberries.
So off she goes to Granite Falls to collect plants and insects:
She really needs casual/outdoor wear because she is physically active.
It wasn't all just plants and bugs however.
She also managed to crank out another book in her time here.
Her social needs have been an issue the whole time I have been playing her.
I have to take time out to chat someone up.
One milestone for this trip was meeting the hermit in the woods.
Her social needs were more than fulfilled with the long chat she ( I ) had to endure in order to get the recipe for Fungal Infusion out of her.
And back to home sweet home.
Things are going well for the most part.
She is ahead of the mortgage, more books have been published, and her garden is thriving.
Despite being active, she is having trouble with weight.
I didn't tweak the default body she was given in CAS.
The hips are a bit wide and make any weight gain look more excessive than normal. I plan to CAS edit her.
Painting is a hobby she does once in a while.
Writing and Gardening looks like it should pay well. Herbalism might come in handy, but I don't think she needs it for income.
She's killing all of Spike's plants by taking cuttings from them.
He's really nice about it.
It's wonderful to have a gardener.
Now she can do more of this.
Oh, I did pick up the bowling stuff pack by the way.
I had Miss Peregrine try it out.
I don't believe it will be a venue that she frequents.
It's doesn't seem like a place for the kids.
The children will be her world.
]
This place looks better suited for young adults.
However, I am sure this will be the place her teens will break curfew.
Tomorrow is the day.
Parenthood arrives! I am so looking forward to it.
Parenthood has arrived and this is the official start of my game play scenario.
It's more game play than story, but I hope to keep myself (and you, hopefully) entertained with story elements as I go along.
Miss Peregrine's first ward arrived today: Meadow Thayer.
I was pleased to find that she could simply take over guardianship of Meadow by clicking on her.
Miss Peregrine has the Super Parent aspiration and one of the requirements is that she becomes a parent.
Meadow clearly doesn't have time for a Meet & Greet.
She's off & running.
She's off to the dinning room where a partially eaten BLT lay waiting.
It's a snatch and grab and she's now heading to her escape route:
Through the kitchen and the mudroom,
She arrives at her hideout to enjoy her plunder.
Delicious.
Wow that was fast.
"Do you want some more?"
I'll take that as a big yes.
Miss Peregrine was set to get her another sandwich, but Meadow was given a peanut butter and jelly sandwich automatically.
Strange.
She doesn't mind chasing a BLT with PB&J.
Consider it dessert.
Miss Peregrine retrieves her journal to make an entry.
"Meadow Thayer arrived today."
"She's an abandonment case.
Her parents died in a car accident and custody of Meadow went to distant relatives.
Meadow was dumped four months later on the lawn of complete strangers in another state."
"They were tracked down, and from what I understand from the caseworker, the child was abandoned for superstitious reasons. Her 'guardians' claimed Meadow is an Indigo child, as related to them by the birth mother. I am aware of the term, but I am not certain what it means."
"Her mother referred to her as Indigo, but they called her Creepy."
"They said she would stare off into space as if she was seeing things that could not be seen."
"They actually believe the child was attracting ghosts and demons to their home without any evidence of paranormal activity.
So they abandoned her."
"The stupidity!"
[Sniff]
"Anyway, that's all behind her. She has a new home and more children will arrive to give her plenty of playmates and much love."
"That was fast. I imagine that you have to go potty now."
"Good. We will take care of that and then it's off to bed with you."
It turned out to be an angry poop.
Meadow gets really grumpy when she's tired.
This is the players first in-depth play with TS4 toddlers. Toss in Parenthood and this should be a very entertaining scenario to play out.
Miss Peregrine needs to go to bed as well.
She's exhausted.
So Meadow arrives, we get the Super Parent aspiration started, and make an entry in a journal.
I haven't even begun to explore Parenthood yet. We are in for a long ride.
The Gieke Legacy ‡ Wishing Upon a Star 2.0 ‡ Operation : Pollinate Newcrest
ORIGIN ID - Lynnwood84
Meadow woke in the middle of the night.
She set out to wake up Miss Peregrine right away.
I love seeing situations where sims act out on their own.
This was so cute--the first time.
The second, third, and fourth time on the following nights--not so cute.
Yes, I am still new to the world of toddlers.
I am currently questioning my decision to play a household with more than one.
Still, this is what I wanted for my game; the more annoying the toddler stage, the more you appreciate the child stage.
I think I will love Meadow as a child.
This is the bonding period I wanted for sim children though, so being very needy is part of it.
Miss Peregrine awakened far earlier than Meadow.
It's a very good thing because she has things she needs to do.
Attending to her own needs is one of them.
The plants in the greenhouse are infested with bugs.
The gardener didn't show up.
This was when I realized that it was Saturday. Apparently they don't work the weekends.
This is bad.
She also desperately needs to raise those parenting skills.
It might help her out a lot when there are three toddlers, maybe even four, running around.
It won't happen this generation, since all my families are already created, but the next generation will start learning their parenting skills before a child arrives. Perhaps they will skill up to levels 3-5 first.
It makes me wish I had skilled up Miss Peregrine first before starting this.
She's really missing the gardener right now.
She stabilized the garden just in time for Meadow to wake up angry.
Meadow is really hungry and we just got our first warning about her being taken away.
That would be horrible and probably devastating to Miss Peregrine.
Eat up.
she takes this time to evolve and harvest some plants.
Wham!
Right to the floor.
Alright, time for some distraction.
Meadow has the Wild trait.
She's a handful, but her attitude is so cute.
We have to raise this child to a teen so she can help take care of the others.
It's messy, but Meadow hasn't even shifted to second gear yet.
I have recently learned that working on their thinking skills cuts down on nightmares.
I really hope this is true.
Stacking blocks only made her angry.
She had an angry wish to demand a drink.
I remember suggesting that toddlers get wishes and game play like other sims do since simmers were complaing that toddlers were pointless and boring. I really like that they have wishes. They feel more alive.
This is too cute.
I do believe that I will have to cut back on these chair interactions.
They are too time consuming.
This garden must be bugged (no pun intended).
I don't remember the plants failing so much before I installed Parenthood.
Something similar happen with retail abilities after a patch. It's like performance levels were demoted.
Someone needs some attention.
And someone needs to eat.
And someone needs a bath.
And someone else needs to eat.
I'll be glad when I have earned my toddler stripes because I am feeling stressed already and the worst is yet to come.
Sleep while you can, every moment helps.
Miss Peregrine does have some aspiration points. I will start using them for no sleep potions.
Meadow needs to go to bed.
Mommies lil' mess maker.
And I should end here because this is getting long.
I am really tempted to rush things and get the other children in here, but I am sticking to the slow and steady.
I want to build relationships and skills and I want a diversity of ages.
Do you play with aging off?
Um CK, if I were you I would take sage advice from simmers posting above. I've played toddlers for awhile and they are so adorable they make me giggle. But, I have a household with 3 toddlers and 2 adults and it is mayhem, lol. The parents are smelly, hungry, exhausted and cranky but the kids are well taken care of. Just remember, after a couple of days, toddlers learn so much and then you get a break, until then, oh boy.
Again, so wonderful to see you are finally enjoying simming again...I'll be looking forward to the next installment.
Oh and btw, I adore that house but am not waiting to get yours, I'll be using ideas from your house and build my own. I won't be uploading to the Gallery as I use way, way too much cc.
Edit for typos.*sigh*
I am way ahead you.
Already planned out.