The park (I think called “Lost Willow Park”) is flippin’ gorgeous. Rosy couldn’t catch any fish there until her fishing skill improved, which it did just before she had to stop and grill some hot dogs or die of starvation.
Another indulgent scenery shot of the park.
This is where Don Lothario lives! In a granary! Weird, huh? I was curious about his living situation, so I had Rosy pay him a visit. Also, I was thinking all along that he had to be the TS2 Don Lothario’s dad, since TS3 is a prequel to TS2, but I have since read that Riverview Don is THE Don Lothario. Apparently he was teleported to Riverview (and TS3land) by some very ticked-off ladies. So…wow. I did not know that!
A very strange random room in the granary attic. Makes me a little sad for Don. I’m not sure why!
I couldn’t figure out if any of the people who were at the granary were living with Don, or if they were also visitors. They seemed very eager to chat with Rosy, however, while Don sat by himself and watched TV. This made me sad for Don, too. Rosy looked uncomfortable, like they were asking her weird questions.
Things break down a LOT in TS3. Seriously, Rosy has to call the repairman almost once a day. I’d have her take a Handyman class if she had any money, but she keeps having to pay for repairs, so she’s broke! And she doesn’t make much at her job.
By the end of the Monday-Friday grind, Rosy was ready for the weekend! She missed her new best buddy Don, so she invited him over for a chat. Well, the chat led to some friendly hugging, which led to Rosy complimenting Don on his sparkling personality, which led to Don hugging her amorously.
I hadn’t planned on Rosy falling in love so soon, if ever. She was going to be my gardener/angler/explorer and probably end up a spinster. Which is cool by me, because not every Sim needs to spawn, right? But she and Don got along SO WELL. They were best friends before they even started flirting. OK, so Rosy initiated it by complimenting his personality (apparently that’s a “Romantic” interaction), but he started the hugging!
It looks like Rosy is sneering, but that’s her flirty-face.
Whoa, Don…what do you mean you don’t want to hold hands? Is that just a little bit too intimate? Are you afraid that Rosy might do something awful to you like those mean Pleasantview women did? Have you…changed?
Don diffused the tension by changing into his shorts and playing in the sprinkler. Rosy joined him, and the two best friends had a blast. “Just don’t crush my lettuce, please!”
Well, that must have put him in a good mood, because he got all lovey-dovey in the living room afterwards.
Emboldened by Don’s embrace, Rosy asked him to go “steady”. He explained that he was a little leery of the idea, but…why the heck not! (I thought he was going to say “no”, since it was revealed at that precise moment that he has the trait “Commitment Issues”, but what do you know, his Best Friend status changed to Boyfriend right after.)
Rosy’s apparently a bit of a firecracker and wanted to Woohoo with Don immediately. It must be that famous Lothario charm.
Don stayed the night but refused to use the shower, despite the green stank waves emanating from his body. He just kept brushing his teeth over and over.
After spending the entire weekend with Don, Rosy decided she wanted him to stay forever. So she proposed to her stinky boyfriend out in the yard. I have no idea where she got the ring. Will he say yes? Will he run screaming into the night? Stay tuned!
Oh, and for the record, Rosy has discovered 4 of Don’s traits so far (through interacting with him): Charismatic, Flirty, Hot-headed, and Commitment Issues. Yep, sounds like our Don so far!
Love YAY WORK!!!
And green stank–ha ha ha ha!
Yr updates are funnah!
Lol.
I kinda wanna play now.
Oooh, OOOH!!! But I’m trying to hate this game!!!!!!! LOL! :)
But really, I suppose it does lend itself well to singular main-character storytelling, since it’s so legacy focused and all.
I love Rosy! She’s adorable with her YAY WORK! And her flirty face is hilarious! :) And I can’t wait to see if she gets shot down or not!
I love the driving pictures, the FARMLAND! You know, even the skins are growing on me a little, or maybe it’s the lighting on them that looks good (specifically the one where they’re standing in front of the window being lovey).
The makeup is still bad though – terrible! As is the facial hair *cringe*!
Anyway, I’m supposed to be hating this game, at least hating it until they fix some major issues. It’s just not usable for the way I play. But man, oh man, you’re making it look good!
More please :)
I love reading your blog, can’t wait to find out more about Rosy!
Isn’t the farmland gorgeous? I swear I’ve taken more pictures of scenery than of actual gameplay, haha! And if all the farm stuff in Riverview isn’t just /screaming/ farm-type expansion pack, I don’t know what is.
Glad to hear you’re enjoying the game more! I enjoy it too, actually. You just have to sort of.. not compare it to Sims 2 (especially since we have so many expansions and all sorts of CC for Sims 2) and not try to expect huge leaps of technological greatness beyond Sims 2 and it’s an enjoyable game, for a base game. It’s a bit sad that we can’t really compare it to Sims 2/say that it’s a big step forward (like Sims 1 to Sims 2 was), but I guess that’s not surprising given how cheap EA seems to be. Give the players only the tiniest little bit for their money/for free, then charge them up the rear for anything extra!
Anyway! Rosy is really cute. That blush on her, was it that shade in CAS, or is the game lighting messing with it at all? Maye it’s just my graphics card, but I’m finding I cannot put blush on my female sims because, even if they look beautiful in CAS, once I send them out into the world it looks like a drunk clown smeared charcoal on them or something. It’s worse in the outdoor lighting (usually they look decent indoors) and it’s driving me mad, but I don’t know if it’s me or the game.
Anyway, looking good, Jen!
*shakes head at Don* Don’cha know that repeatedly brushing your teeth does NOTHING for the waves of stank emanating off yo body, dude?
Please, just tell me that I’m right now – the game is good, isn’t it? I just so wish for that. Everybody seems to be whining, but I think that we can’t have everything at once. It’s obvious that there will be expansion packs that will bring something cool and new. It’s just the base game for now… we can’t expect too much.
Rosy is a real cutie pie. I like the expressions, but what does she do in her new YAY-WORK? I also love her house from the outside. Do you plan to make some inside pictures, too? :)
Love it! Love reading your stories again and seeing you do it so beautifully with Sims 3. The game camera really is better which is so refreshing – and the scenery is gorgeous. Have you done any building yet? I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Oh, I didn’t notice there was page 2, too. Lol. This was a good read! Maybe EAxis made up a storyline for Don in their heads – like he had a few babies in Pleasantview (with Dina, Cassandra, whoever…). His house is very strange, though. Riverview seems like a lot of fun and exploring!
I just had the experience where I wanted to send a sim out fishing, but all the community lots seemed too far away. Then I realized that my sim is really only across the street from the river, and so I had him walk over to the river to start fishing.
D’oh! It was sort of like a light bulb went off over my head.
Your pics are too cute. Haha Rosie, she’s too awesome. Some of those expressions are actually cute, if weird.
Looking forward to more from Rosy and Don! Woohoo!!! Congrats to her doing what many women have done in the past. *LOL* I’m wnodering … with him fearing commitment, if poor Rosy is going to get shot down. But … I do have to admit that I’m looking forward to see Don Jr. ;O))
I love Rosy, she’s great with that Yay Work! LOL
Their expressions crack me up! I almost bust a gut when Don wouldnt hold hands with her. The look on his face is priceless!
Hmm. Will Don settle down once and for all? Good question.
I look forward to hearing the answer!
Cute update Jen! Your pictures look much better, and you’re right Riverview has some gorgeous scenery! And don’t you just love the seamless neighborhood. I never used to take my sims to community lots unless I absolutely had to because it took soooo long to load. Now my sims go all the time!
Which reminds me, I finally got my game up and running. I have a new blog for my sims 3 adventures too. So come see my new sim and the fun we’ve been having!
http://mandies-sims.livejournal.com/
Given the look on Don’s face, I think I’d have to say that he won’t be too thrilled with the proposal, but I’m more than prepared to have that observation blow up in my face. And the pics do look better. Oh, and thanks for explaining things in my last comment, Jen.
The scenery is definitely a step up. It’s like being a vibrant, living world. Just beware the zombies that are supposed to be actual sims. ;) The facial expressions bother me a lot because most sims seem to default to rolling their eyes halfway up their heads. Which is NUTS. It freaks me out for real, LOL!
Have you gone to Sunset Valley yet? THE BEACH IS AMAZING. I’m playing Riverview now and I miss it so, so bad. The beach makes the game for me. Forget everything else, just gimme the beach, LOL!
Some of the traits are disappointing. Commitment Issues doesn’t give you any penalty for commitment and dislike of children doesn’t do much but a negative moodlet when near children. If a female sim is pregnant with that trait, she’ll still be happy. Which is bizarre.
Ooh, yes, I love the beach, too. I just wish they’d given us swimmable oceans.. or at least the ability to sunbathe and build sand castles. But the scenery is faaaaantastic. Easily one of my favorite parts of the game.
And I agree about some of the traits being disappointing. To add on to the ones you’ve listed, Hydrophobic seems to just give a negative moodlet while in the pool, but my sim never balked about getting in and never had a problem with showers/baths. Coward is interesting in some situations (fainting during a fire, for example), but other times (like getting an Afraid of the Dark moodlet) just gives a moodlet and the sim doesn’t even really /act/ like they’re afraid/upset.. the moodlet just drops their mood. Some like Daredevil and Evil have some interesting interactions, but others (Extreme Shower, Evil Slumber, etc) are pretty useless since they’re nothing more than a regular shower or regular sleeping just with the descriptor in the action name. It feels like they could have gone much further with the traits… but fell short in some areas. I hope they plan on adding more traits with expansions (unlike the aspirations in Sims 2, where we got one or two new ones after the base game and then that was it).