Anywho. I'm pretty much hyped about all the new hacks I just installed for TS2. Stuff that makes the game more challenging, such as actually having to pay §2 for each copy of the SimCity Times, making that A grade harder than ever for Sim kids and teenagers to achieve, adding an extra §100 for every bill they pay, longer seasons, no §20,000 handouts for every Sim that moves out of his/her main family etc. . My game is very screwed, if you will. : D
Now's the bittersweet moment : ( I'm uprooting my old Sims from Springfield, and I will plonk them in the new neighbourhood once it's ready. The bit I hate most is that I have to transport the pets separately : ( which means the poor darlings will have to re-establish relationships with their owners all over again! T__T
But what's worth celebrating is that I'm very very very stoked about the new neighbourhood, complete with its subneighbourhoods! For now I won't be playing much of the Zimmermans, the Ottomases, the Axelrods, the Lees and the Byrons, but rather I will concentrate on city planning, building University towns, Shopping Districts, Downtowns and etc., starting with Flabliki's new and improved Pleasantville, a serious makeover/improvement from the default Pleasantview that was shipped with the game. Which is pretty shit.
Well since I feel like it and it's my freakin' blog, I shall once again tell the story of my Sims.
1) The Zimmermans
The oldest damn clan I've ever played. I created them in the middle of last year and started with only one pathetic guy called Denzel (or was his name Isaiah? Can't remember LOL) and §20,000 (which is the default starting fund for every new, freshly-created family. Which isn't a lot if you look at the standards of living in TS2.). I managed to keep on living their lives, expanding the family and so on until I'm at the 4th generation with only one living heir, Mitchell Zimmerman. He is married to Sharla Ottomas (from a Maxis-created family that shipped in with Seasons EP. I will never name any family "Ottomas" and any girl "Sharla". Seriously!) and lives in the clan's property with two dogs and a cat.
2) The Axelrods
First cousins of Mitchell. Complicated family history; I shall start with Mitchell's aunt, Becky.
Becky married a widower, Jimmy Axelrod, who then had a daughter Jaden. Becky and Jimmy later had a son named Marc, and sometime in Marc's childhood and Jaden's teenhood, Jimmy died in a "pool ladder accident" (a Simmer term for deliberate killing of a Sim by drowning him in a ladderless pool!).
Becky never really remarried but had an affair with Irfan Wilson, an affluent businessman with prime exotic genes and tons of Simoleons. An illegitimate daughter, Dani, was born as a result of the fling.
It was completely unexpected, but Irfan got serious with another rich, affluent lady named Yvette... something I can't remember. Taylor I think. He left Becky and married Yvette, leaving Jaden, Marc and Dani in her care while having another daughter, Amy, with his new wife. Becky soon died of "drug overdose" (in reality, I killed her the same way I did her husband Jimmy, but who cares? Just pretend it's a drug overdose.).
While Jaden was more pragmatic and took her now-orphaned younger half-siblings under her wing, Marc, in his teens by then, couldn't accept the death of his mother, blaming it all on Irfan and Yvette. To this day he remains an enemy of the Wilsons.
While Marc and Dani are single, Jaden is now in a romantic relationship with Brandy Ecstasy, and is the boss of Die Cast Guitar Dealers. They are the first homosexual couple I have ever played, and to be honest there is no difference at all, except they can't have babies on their own.
4. The Wilsons
The second richest damn assholes in town (the first being the Zimmermans), the villains, the homewreckers, whatever you call 'em. Irfan is already long dead (I didn't kill him, he died of old age), that old man, but his wife, Yvette, is still alive (and youthful!) because she takes The Elixir of Life on a regular basis. For those who want realism, just take it that Yvette takes botox jabs and liposuction on a regular basis. Her daughter Amy is not at all proud of her parents' ways, and her greatest wish is a reconciliation with the Axelrods.
5. The Byrons
The Byrons are a newer family I had intended to play in the now-defunct Weinigville. They are currently in their second generation, consisting of Jake, his wife Cecilia and children Natalie and Kirby. They are related to the Lees - Jake's sister is Deena Lee.
6. The Lees
I didn't choose the surname; she just fell in love with an NPC called Quentin Lee and hence took his surname. Anyway there isn't much to say except Quentin's wife, Deena, is Jake Byron's older sister. They have a teenaged daughter, Christel, and twin boys Cordell and Cody.
7. The Ottomases
The clan I dislike the most so far largely because they are the creation of EAxis. And you know, despite being the so called creators of this prodigious game, EAxis is really retarded when it comes to creating Sims and giving names. The whole family is fugly and they have the dumbest-sounding family name ever. Ottomas. Sounds like a hybrid between a massage chair and an escaped terrorist. Anyway the reason why I introduced them in the game anyway was 1) I was bored, 2) I wanted to introduce some shit genetics for my Sims, because so far all my own Sims are too beautiful and perfect, 3) I'd like a considerable pool of Sims for me to massacre any time I wish. The Ottomases are father Peter (WTH), mother Samantha, sons David, Tommy, twins Georgie and Stevie (sorry, ran out of names, I gave the twins their names since they were born in-game) and daughter Sharla, who is now married to Mitchell Zimmerman. Oldest son David has had a previous relationship with Audrey Bingham but they separated some time ago. Third son Tommy is currently engaged to Sydney Garrett, a random NPC the resident Matchmaker introduced.