Okay, I have not played TS3 in a year, and even then it was a nostalgic toe-dip.
Today, I was looking through my TS3 screenshots folder and looking at all the shots from a TS3 story I had posted from long ago when Supernatural came out. And oh boy, the nostalgia!
That had to be my greatest simming--ever.
But it occurred to me that that it was primarily the joy and immersion of telling a story. It is true that my stories are based on game play, but telling a story does distract and interrupt pure game play. There are things you skip, or don't do because you need to get the perfect screenshot, you need sims to do particular things, and you are in a hurry to get your next post up for simmers who are following your story.
I am thinking about playing through that story again, only this time:
NO STORY TELLING!
This time I will focus on just the enjoyment of playing The Sims 3 and the characters I have come to adore.
The story is already written, so I can now just play along the major plotlines and enjoy the game, and perhaps discover new things along the way.
The story: CK213's Supernatural Story Thread
Sithia is a dark fairy, kicked out of the fairy kingdom for the danger she has become to her own people.
With no memory, she goes forward to make a future for herself in Bridgeport and collect sims to help her build it.
So I will now play out Sithia meeting and collecting the sims she met in the story.
I do believe I simply added them to her household for story convenience, but now she will have to work to add them. She had a goal to build a castle, which I cheated a bit by having her farm Tiberium. So no Tiberium either. They will work for it, building skills, advancing their careers, working their business, etc. I will focus more on life outside the household by enjoying the city more and interacting with the other sims in town.
Oh wow!
I just realized that all the supporting characters simply appeared in the game with a backstory already created.
I could play out their lives before they met Sithia.
Also, for the entirety of the story, I did not have Seasons, University, Island Paradise, or Into The Future. So playing again should be different.
And speaking of Into The Future, I did start a sequel featuring two supporting characters on a time travel adventure.
I never finished it, so now I can also play that out after Sithia has achieved all of her goals.
The story did have enemies for the sake of drama, but it would take too much contrived effort to play out their plot lines.
I think I will add them just to have enemies, but I will not play out anything complicated.
The fairy queen and her major domo weren't truly enemies, but I think I will put them on a small out of the way lot just to have them around.
I really like them.
This is going to be epic.
But first, I have to finish my play through of Mass Effect 3 (probably for the last time.)
I will report back from time to time to say how I am enjoying things, but kick me if I start story telling.
Comments
I am beginning to feel hyped now.
I have played quite a few sims since my story sims, but Sithia, Katelyn, Lenny, Zane, Xara, and Yuri, they were a very special group that I really enjoyed playing over any others, besides Melonie.
I am looking over pictures from their Into The Future adventure now.
I think it's going to be so cool to have that to look forward to after I haven taken the Supernatural game play to its conclusion.
I wish I had these bigger pictures for my original story thread.
I still lurk your studio and use the lots you made in the past.XD
Actually had you're studio bookmarked.
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
I haven't been back to my Studio in years.
The good old days when my lots were downloaded in the thousands instead of hundreds like TS4.
Probably because I refuse to pim... market myself on social media.
I'm looking over the story again to get a feel for the milestones I will be playing to.
Meeting all the other characters should be interesting, because it will most likely happen in different ways this go-around.
Sithia had met Katelyn Missoni during regular gameplay in my custom consignment store. I had decided to work her into my story then and there:
Old story sample:
Meanwhile, I had sent Sithia on ahead to the consignment store. Imagine my surprise to find some townie had hypnotized her.
And she just left her there, hanging out to dry. This has to be extremely embarrassing for a faery:
I had to cancel the interaction to snap her out of it. I think some serious revenge is in order here.
A little distraction before she puts a whammy of a spell on her.
She looks high maintenance and reserved. I should make it something socially embarrassing.
"Oh no you don't!"
She blows it back at her.
"Ha! I know magic when I see it."
Sithia is shocked. She has never had anyone reverse a spell on her before.
The shock is followed by a gut-wrenching belch.
"How dare you..."
Sithia's anger fades and she finds herself admiring this woman. She has no magic, but she would be complete if she did.
"AIIIEEE! Bigfoot wants your mummy!"
"Bigfoot wants my mummy? What...?"
"Ah. You're mine now, but what should I do with you?"
"I think I should complete her. She needs me."
"What do you say, Malleable Mimick? Shall we take her?"
"The answer is yes!"
"What is your name?"
"My name is Katelyn Missoni."
"It is wonderful to meet you Katelyn. My name is Sithia."
"Do you want to do magic, Katelyn?"
"I'm a magician, but I'm very bad at it."
"I'm clumsy, and people say I have no charisma and I'm a loser. Some people are very mean about it."
"What you do is not real magic. I can show you real magic. Leave it all and come with me."
"Leave all that I know and come with you?"
"Absolutely."
I had made up Katelyn practicing Ambitions magic on the fly, so I will play her as a magician in my prequel play.
Only at low skills though because she is supposed to be bad at it.
I loved that one too.
That one would be tougher to play because I don't have any of those save files anymore and Vael was born in the game.
I am thinking of finishing it in The Sims 4 though. I stopped the story after they graduated University. Vael and Amir never married or had children. Mrs. Wellington must be fit to be tied. "Finish my story plum it!"
Forget about finishing Mass Effect 3.
I am prepping to jump into this game.
I loaded up my master file of my madeover Bridgeport
I had forgot that I had put in some Into the Future rabbit hole buildings, but I will just pretend that it's Emit Relevart influence because he is trying to change the future by introducing his time's technology and culture into the past.
I needed to put in the location for Sithia's future castle, to be built on the ruins of an old one.
Also the temporary lot she will live in until she can afford that 60 x 60 lot.
I checked in on Lenny Shutter and got him some photography skills.
And entered him into the photography profession.
I went in to give Katelyn her own place.
She also checked out a show, but she couldn't join in because she wasn't talented enough yet.
This lot always had glitchy shows. Maybe they don't do well on the second floor.
She's going to give it up for real magic anyway, so no biggie.
Though I think I've had enough of prequel play already.
I am ready to bring in Sithia.
Your Casino/Performance lot is one of my favs. Showtime can be pretty glitchy on its own.
S3 simblr: http://simplysimming.tumblr.com/
S4 simblr: http://simlogic.tumblr.com/
The Cowboy and the Mermaid
Oh my gosh I SO understand this @CK213 ! So much truth!!
A current story of mine has been going on for a LONG time! (I think I'm nearing 2 years of writing it) and while I LOVE it so very much, and it will always be near and dear to my heart, one thing I've decided that after this certain event going on...My two main characters will get married and I will be playing out their future no longer as a full blown story.
It's time. And I feel comfortable doing it and I think my readers will be just fine with it as well. (I hope...)
I'm just sadly, burned out. All good things must come to an end and many times I hate it...
But I do want to explore other story options and play more of the things that I never knew even existed IN the game and rediscover The Sims 3 all over again.
Kudos to you! And I will do my best to keep up with your casual stories.
I really like Supernatural.
Alchemy, the life states, magic, it's really mixing well with how I am playing the game.
They are making use of the Casino as they try to come up with the Simoleons for that huge castle, plus the temporary home they will live in first.
I am enjoying it so much.
I have just made a major advancement in game play. They have the temporary home now and Katelyn Missoni has just moved in. 3 more companions to go. It nice that's it's not playing exactly the same, which helps keep it interesting in addition to the nostalgia.
I did have some awesome natural game play when I was first playing these sim in a story that I might not match, but its been fun so far.
I should report the happenings with some pictures.
Yeah, I have Roaring Heights.
I remember looking at some of the lots while making over Bridgeport. I can't remember why I did not use any.
Now that I think about it, I should consider placing some of those Art Deco starter homes. I tweaked a few and really liked them.
So much fun right now.
I was weird starting up as I looked around and saw no Vampires in Bridgeport, but then I remember my Bridgeport master was created with the help of Edna Mode and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I've just discovered that one (Vladimir Schlick) escaped, so Katelyn Missoni will probably hunt him down when she becomes a witch.
Wow, that's a long time for a story.
Wrapping them up is hard to do. I've only managed to wrap up two of them to my satisfaction. The others were either abandoned, or ended "kinda sorta".
Whoops, scratch that!
So much has changed in Bridgeport since I last played these sims.
I forgot that one of the companions (Zane) is a vampire. I can't have Katelyn taking out Vladimir while living in the same house with another vampire.
So I guess Zane is going to be in hiding from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Zane was an underground Vampire anyway and he had given up preying on other sims.
Enjoy your game. It is funny what gets us excited about this game. It is almost always an idea I come up with that is like, "Wait, that would be fun. I totally have to do that." I love the "choose your own adventure thing the sims 3 has going on." Your characters were always so much fun to read about, I still have a Cairo in a save that I will have to finish playing out sometime.
About to post some now.
I've been going over what happened in the story and deciding what game play goals I would have and what parts I will just assumed happened and won't even try to play out.
Actually, I was keeping and eye out for Lenny Shutter, because he was the first sim Sithia met in the story.
I had established Sithia on her tiny squatter's lot and set out for her to find a source of food.
The community garden has plenty of fruit and vegetables to pick. It was so dark, like, winter dark.
But I noticed a familier sim standing nearby.
Katelyn Missoni!
Well, I was open to things unfolding differently, so introduce yourself to Katelyn.
I had her open with a fairy trick.
It didn't backfire on her this time.
Katelyn fell for it.
They both got a laugh at that.
In the story, they had met at my consignment store.
So I am going to assume Katelyn is telling her about a great place where she can make her magical elixirs and sell them.
So she takes her there and shows her around:
They do some fortune telling...
Tell ghost stories.
And begin the start of a great friendship.
Sithia returns to her lot for some sleep.
The next day she sets off to find out ways to make what these humans call simoleons.
They throw away things that can be sold for simoleons.
She did go to the consignment store first and got sick from an elixir she was attempting to make.
She stopped by this park to pick flowers she could sell for a nice amount of simoleons.
I love this park so much as it changes with the seasons.
She also stopped at the arcade to play some fun games.
She loves whack-a-gnome.
Is that Katelyn over there?
So much in common!
So yeah, really enjoying the game so far and I can't wait to have all the companions back together again.
I'm on it!
Or I should be. Most of my Saturday is wasted already.
I felt so exhausted and fell asleep for a few hours. I could have been playing.
Loading my game now.
This looks like story telling, but I am just reporting on major milestones in my game play and what it's like just enjoying TS3 without all the character development, character motivation, plot set up, and all the other story telling devices.
I was getting impatient with finding Lenny.
He's the sim that gets my game rolling.
So I had Sithia do some dumpster diving at his apartment.
Lenny conveniently shows up.
She's all smelly now.
How about cleaning up in one of these human beehive cells.
It's great when a plan falls together.
Is Caroline Custard visiting Lenny too, or just tagging along?
Well, it's not everyday you see a fairy in Bridgeport. She's probably just curious.
Not only can she clean up, she can have something to eat as well.
Lenny made a salad:
Caroline found some waffles.
It will be great to finally get things going.
Now down to business.
She introduces herself and finds Lenny quite attractive.
A double bonus.
Now take him.
He's enthralled.
Now all we have to do is ask him to move in.
And we are off.
She can now leave this tiny lot.
Lenny brought in 5000 simoleons.
And he has a car!
This is great.
I believe Stihia likes the city.
She just doesn't want to live so close to it and she prefers a natural environment.
They are way up here in the hills.
Oh yeah, we can start bringing that in now.
This is the location where she will build her grand castle.
For now she has her little fairy castle.
It's comfy.
Lenny gets a sleeping bag.
They make the place more livable as they earn more simoleons.
Lenny is enthralled, so giving up his apartment, his career, and his lifestyle to serve this fairy seems like a great idea.
And now to why he is really here.
Conjuring up useful items is exhausting.
Sithia doesn't have time for this.
Let Lenny do it.
Edna Mode married Barry Tenderlove and they just had a baby.
Her Roommate, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, moved out and moved in with William Fangman.
She actually turned him back human in earlier game play.
But now this going to create some drama because, in my original story, Jannet Merrick moved to Bridgeport and hooked up with William to use him as muscle for her own schemes. She is going to be at odds with Buffy. I am looking forward to bringing her back.
Yeah, I'm not crazy about some of these story progression match ups.
I really dislike Ace Wild. He was fooling around with a bunch of sims and now he has one of my favorite sims pregnant.
I don't want a bunch of Wildlings in my game.
I am getting a bit frustrated now.
I am having the hardest time finding Moon Stone. I am trying all the methods I can think of: Consignment store, Werewolf hunt, miner, conjuring kettle, Supernatural spawners, etc.
I need one to turn Katelyn into a witch. I was lucky to find one to turn Lenny into a werewolf. I thought he would be a great help in finding another moon stone. After Katelyn becomes a witch, I can advance my game by bringing Zane and Xara to Bridgeport.
Awesome!
AWESOME!!!
save error 12...
Now that is something I haven't seen in a long time.
I built a new computer and reinstalled the Sims 3 quite a while ago.
Love it!
But I only played TS3 long enough to make sure it worked.
And I haven't played for an extended amount of time since.
I totally forgot about SAVE ERROR 12.
I had hacked my TS3 exe to be large address aware ages ago and never had save error 12 again.
I forgot to do it for my new computer.
I had just completed a major milestone with these sims and could not save.
Fortunately I only lost minor progress.
I believe I've fixed the exe and deleted all the bad save files.
I will try it tonight to see if it saves now.
Seems like you're having fun with this new save.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
@igazor has mentioned that before.