It was serendipity. As soon as I saw that Kiwi_tea had released his version of Riverblossom Hills, and that at the same time, Tamo had put up a wonderful pair of cat-eye glasses for download, I knew it was finally time to make a TS3 version of one of my favorite TS2 Sims, Franchesca Mortinez.
Those of you who remember Fran might recall that she never wore cat-eye glasses (just nerdy ones), but when I transitioned her to Young Adult for my Gnomesby ‘hood (which never came to fruition), she was wearing them. In fact, I even have a picture:
So in my mind, grown-up Fran has always worn those. As for the rest of the family, I didn’t create them, because I knew it would take all day, and I was itching to play. So it’s just Fran, all by herself, in this very rich re-imagining of her old town.
I figure she left town to go to college (and then dropped out after a few years, because she didn’t know what she wanted to do), and came back to Riverblossom, but by then the whole town had changed completely, and her family had moved elsewhere.
She couldn’t even find her old house — that whole neighborhood had been bulldozed and all of the roads re-routed. Now there was a whole mess of cherry trees and a park, next to the home of a Simbot. You know that saying, “You can never go home again”? Well, it was true for Fran in the most literal sense.
But Fran didn’t want to leave town just yet. She felt a particular tie to Riverblossom and wanted to reacquaint herself with it, if only for a little while. Unfortunately, the only two houses she could afford were both dingy and dilapidated and overgrown with weeds. She purchased the less dingy of the two.
Aside from being a pit, the house had been pelted with meteorites, so the lawn was littered with huge chunks of rock, which Fran sold for a decent sum.
The interior was full of ash and debris, and it took Fran the better part of a day to clean it up. She didn’t seem to mind it, though.
The paperboy tried to hide the paper in the thicket, the little hooligan.
I love how excited Sims get when they find someone who shares one of their traits.
She just looks so happy!
The guy’s name was Phillip something-or-other (I should have taken notes. Wait! I found him…Kiwi’s Pasimfic Wiki is awesome!). The two seemed to hit it off, and Fran was on her way to making her first new friend in Riverblossom, when Phillip suddenly ran off the lot and disappeared. Mere minutes later, he called Fran on the phone. I think he likes her!
Fran was hungry but was too scared to cook anything in her falling-apart kitchen, so she called a cab and asked to be taken to the nearest eatery. It happened to be a place called the Red Shed.
Fran was checking the place out when this charbroiled lady walked in. She’s Professor Von Threadneedle, and I suspect she had a little accident with the inventing station.
There are all kinds of colorful characters in Riverblossom. Apart from the usual suspects like the Greenmans and O’Mackeys, there is a host of custom NPCS (I saw a firefighter named Bernadette Burns, heh) and interesting playable characters that are very Maxis-like. Fran didn’t seem to care much for the Simbot that lives in her old neighborhood, though.
She didn’t care much for the grilled cheese she ordered, either. What’s with that neon orange cheddar? It looks unnatural.
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Very nice world! And fun update. “Hooligan”. HA! “…staring at his eeevil jumping calves.” Ha ha!! Made me laugh, you did! As always. ;)
Heh, glad I could make you laugh, WM! :)
Ooooo I have never seen an evil sim so evil he glows red, that is so cool.
the hood is gorgeous. shame it crashed on you!
Yeah, I guess they only glow red if they’re the Emperor of Evil? So maybe you don’t even have to have the Evil trait, just attain that level of the career. So many things I still haven’t played with in this game…
Ooooooh, nice! And Fran’s back! I remember Fran, Bernie and the gnome incident best out of all the Fran stories (er, my memory is working for once, maybe I should give it a medal). And, after a couple of weeks of trying, I finally got my Sims 3 working again, but on my Ma’s laptop. Mine just refuses to read the disks.
Hee, your memory *should* get a medal for remember the gnome incident — that was a long time ago. Glad to hear you can play S3 on your ma’s laptop, but I wonder why yours won’t read the disks? I would think you could get replacements from EA if that’s the case…maybe?
I like this world – I just barely remembered Riverblossom (I hardly ever played it). It was nice to see an up-dated version. Fran is even prettier S3 style. You play the part of an excellent tour guide Jenba.
I particularly liked the evil jumping jacks. *rofl*
And how strange is it that poor Fran’s family never even bothered to leave a forwarding address?
Glad you enjoyed the brief tour, Velvet! Fran probably knows where her family is; she just wanted to visit Riverblossom again. Actually, I just needed an excuse to not re-create her entire family (there were a lot of them!).
How I’ve missed Fran!! But that bites that her family totally bailed on her … and they didn’t even have the common decency to tell her where they moved to! I can’t believe she’s taking it so well.
Fascinating custom hood though. Sorry that you crashed though. :( Are you saving frequently? I find that if I go more than 10 minutes without saving, the game will crash.
She probably knows where they moved to — she just chose not to go there. :) I probably should have thought of a better reason why I didn’t re-create the whole family. But oh well. ;-p I do save frequently — well, at least every 30 minutes since I use Twallan’s Saver mod. But maybe I need to save more often than that?
lovely! Good to see Fran again. I downloaded Riverblossum but didn’t actually created a neighborhood in game and explore. Next on my list!
I had to go grab that lighting mod you mentioned. Beautiful pics! Do you use any camera mods? I don’t have any in and I often feel frustrated at the movement.
I’m still struggling with the game. I want to want to play, but I can’t seem to emotionally connect with the sims 3 sims.
I do use a camera mod — right now it’s HystericalParoxysm’s Late Night Camera Fix. It helps a ton! The un-modded camera drove me absolutely bonkers, so I feel your frustration. I hear you about struggling to connect with Sims 3 Sims, too…I haven’t quite gotten to where I am connected to them as much as TS2 Sims, but this project is helping. I’m even getting used to how the toddlers and kids look (though they’re still not as cute as TS2 kids).
I was dead curious about this world, I’m glad you decided to *play guinea pig* and download it – it truly looks fabtastic. I have no idea how you keep all these projects on the go, unless that’s how you keep yourself interested in it all? I know someone else that does that… name starts with *W*… know her???? :oP
Love Fran’s overjoyed *I’m having a poo* face when she found something in common with the blond blokey with the pudding basin hair! I’ve never seen a truly evil sim in my game either, but you gotta love the fact that he’s doing excercises whilst exuding evilness. It’s what keeps us all coming back for more ;o)
LOL…yeah, I think WebbyMom and I approach the game in a very similar fashion! That is most definitely how I keep my interest in the game. If I stick with one thing for too long, boredom sets in. ;-p And LOL at “having a poo” face! That’s perfect.
“The paperboy tried to hide the paper in the thicket, the little hooligan.\” – Made me cry with laughter! I just love the way you write Jen and this lovely story has peeled me about of some serious post surgery boredom. The town looks great, I might just check it out myself :)
So glad you’re doing well after your surgery, LemonJelly! And I’m happy my blog entertained you for a little bit. :) Definitely check out Riverblossom if you get the chance — it’s a lovely world!
Fran looks awesome in TS3! I love those glasses, too. It’s so nice that we’re getting items like that for TS3.
Oooh, Riverblossom Hills is intriguing. I may have to check it out. :P
I love evil sims! My one legacy heiress had Death run screaming from her. It was hilariously awesome. Wimpy Death is wimpy!
LOL! I have never seen Death running from Evil Sims. Hilarious! And Riverblossom is very neat…definitely worth checking out.
Fran’s really cute (in both versions of the game!). That stinks though that her home got so drastically changed and her family up and left. :( Poor girl.
Whew, that really is a dilapidated house, isn’t it. *grimaces* Nice though that at least the objects that did such damage were also able to be sold for a tidy sum. ;)
Maybe the paperboy was afraid of what was lurking in all that overgrown dead grass and didn’t want to go all the way up to the porch. *wink*
At least the professor was walking IN and not OUT. I’d be afraid to eat there if that were the case! Ew, that cheese looks scary! *wrinkles her nose*
Not a bad way to furnish, if that’s all you can afford. Looks like she even found a used computer! The little daisy on the table is kinda sweet/sad.
Does that professor blow herself up a lot? Or just not care that she’s walking around in her skivvies?
Huh. None of my evil sims have ever glowed red. *pouts* And they were EVIL too! (Although I don’t know if they were Emperors of Evil, so it must be from the job, not the characteristic.) Hehe, good for Fran, not being intimidated by his evilness!
Beautiful sunset shot! (Gotta look for that lighting mod.) Love the office building there! Looks like a neat world. I’ll have to check it out and maybe my Fountleroys will find themselves replaced. *nod*
Another fun comment to read, Aer! Thank you. :) I’m not sure what the deal is with that professor…I think she blows herself up a lot AND doesn’t mind running around in her skivvies. I also think it might be a game glitch, as I read something on Twallan’s site about the “burnt” outfit being put into a Sim’s regular wardrobe or something. Weird!