The Sims 2 Presents: Foster's Valley!

[Sparky]

I got another "do you want to playtest a new game" email from EA, responded, and this time I got in. Coincidentally the place is like 15 minutes away from a vintage computer fair GM and I were going to hit this weekend anyways so driving 2 hours for this thing is trivial. I do have to sign a non-disclosure agreement saying I won't blab about their projects though.

[Cassini90125]

I'll do the honorable thing and not ask you about it, then. Dang, I wish I was going...

Everybody's out, by the way. No one was lost or left behind. The next step is figuring out where to put them. The game includes a bunch of custom neighborhoods but frankly I have no reason to pick one over another.

[Sparky]

I just reread the reply email I got and it says that its for playtesting SimCity. Isn't that an existing game? If so then this must be a new installment of it or something.

[Cassini90125]

There is a new installment, SimCity Societies, which is being released on the 13th:

http://simcity.ea.com/about.php?languageCode=1

Obviously I won't be buying it but it does look intriguing. I have a copy of SimCity 4 but I've never used it.

[Sparky]

I don't know what game it is now, the email said SimCity and then the non-disclosure agreement thing said it was that Sims Castaway thing (isn't that already out)? But I'm not interested in either of those so I decided not to go; it'll be better to go to that vintage computer thing on Saturday anyways.

[Cassini90125]

I think Castaways is part of the Sims Life Stories series but I could be mistaken. Not something I'm interested in, either.

[Cassini90125]

I hate posting back-to-back.

Okay, here's what's been going on. I picked out a new neighborhood template and installed it; it runs smoothly, and it's roomy enough for everyone plus some additions. Everybody is in the process of being relocated. It's the same Sims that you're familiar with; the only difference is memory loss and their ages have been reset to Day One, so it's pretty much like starting over. I don't consider this much of a price to pay. While processing one of the non-Foster's characters and reestablishing his personality, it occurred to me that if I wanted to make any changes to him, now would be the time to do it. And that's where you guys come in.

The personalities of the Foster's characters have been the subject of - how shall I say it? - lively debate and strong opinion here on the Never Forgotten Forum. We each know our favorite characters best, or at least we think we do. Take Wilt for example. I think we can all agree that he's a pretty nice guy, but how nice is he? For that matter, where does he stand on the scale between Outgoing and Shy? What are his turn-ons and turn-offs? What's his level of interest in, say, Politics or Fashion? Can such things be quantified, for him and the other characters as well? Sure they can. Take a look at this:



This is from the game's User Interface. It's fairly self-explanatory, I think, at least parts of it. The statistics shown are for a Sim named Ronald Delmastro, who lives in the Valley and has met some of the Foster's characters but is not otherwise connected to the show. He's a little on the Neat side, slightly Shy, pretty Active, pretty Serious, and dead center between Grouchy and Nice. He's in good physical shape and his Zodiac sign is Cancer. Ron is straight (not shown on the display), is attracted to blondes and women who wear glasses, and turned off by being overweight. He has zero interest in work and a great deal of interest in crime and travel. Ron has the Family Aspiration; every Sim has one of six Aspirations, chosen when he/she becomes a teen, which I discussed briefly here on the old forum.

Some further info on all this:

Personality traits influence how fast a Sim learns various skills; Neat Sims, for example, learn Cleaning faster than Sloppy Sims, and the really Neat ones enjoy tidying up. Personality traits also have an effect on a Sims needs, such as hunger, energy, and the need for some company. The more closely two Sims personalities match, the better they're likely to get along or be attracted to each other.

Zodiac signs also influence relationships, both for friendship and love. Some signs attract, some repel, some are neutral. All signs are neutral to themselves.

Turn-ons and turn-offs include:

Black hair
Blonde hair
Brown hair
Red Hair
Custom Hair
Grey Hair
Fitness
Fatness
Cologne
Stink
Formalwear
Swimwear
Underwear
Facial Hair
Glasses
Vampirism
Make-up
Full-face Make-up

I think that's all of them.

Interests, like Personality, has an influence on how well two Sims will get along. The higher the level of interest in a given topic, the more likely that Sim is to bring it up in conversation.

Aspirations, like everything else it seems, also add to attraction for friendship and love. Additionally, Aspirations determine what a Sim wants and what he can do to score Aspiration Points, which can be traded in for useful goodies of various sorts.

Whew, that's a lot to digest (and a lot of typing). Anyway, I would love to get as much feedback on this as I can before I start returning our favorite characters to the game, so if you can take the time to think about all this for a bit and post something about it, I'd appreciate it. If anything I wrote here needs further explanation or clarification, by all means feel free to ask.

[Ub3rD4n]

Well, I think that Wilt should be about as outgoing as you can get! I mean, he may have a phobia of public speaking, but I don't think that has much to do with how outgoing you are. Bloo and Cheese would be pretty outgoing too. I can see them getting in some people's faces. I always saw Mac as shy, so, I dunno...

Of course, Bloo should have crazy amounts of playful, and laziness. He'd be pretty grouchy, though. And Wilt would be as nice as possible.

That's all I can think of for now.

[antgirl1]

One time when I had a Wilt sim, I maxed out the niceness bar. XDDD

[Lynnie]

What exactly does "crime" mean? Level of interesting in studying it (like working in the law force), or level of interest in being involved in it? I'm thinking it's the prior, but I want to be sure.

Wilt is definitely very high in niceness. I personally would also say he's neat, very outgoing, very active, and mid way between playful/serious. I think he has a high interest in the environment, a high interest in entertainment, a semi high interest in health, a high interest in animals, and a very high interest in sports.

Bloo would be very sloppy, very outgoing, mostly lazy, very playful, and moody (halfway between grouchy and nice). I think he has high interest in crime (either definition), high interest in money, no interest in the environment, high interest in entertainment, semi low interest in sports, mid-range interest in animals, no interest in either work or school, and very high interest in sci-fi, food and toys.

Ed would be very neat, very shy, somewhat active, midway between playful and serious, and mostly nice. I think he has high interest in animals, toys and entertainment, semi high interest in food, low interest in sports, and no interest in the paranormal or sci fi.

Coco would be mostly neat, semi shy, very active, semi serious and mostly nice. Knowing her background, I think she has high interest in the environment, semi high interest in entertainment, high interest in animals, high interest in food, and semi high interest in health.

Herriman would be very neat, mostly outgoing, very lazy, very serious, and mostly grouchy. He would have a high interest in politics, money, culture, and work, a semi low interest in health and the environment, and no interest in animals or toys.

Cheese would be very sloppy, very outgoing, very active, mostly playful, and mostly nice (I'm guessing there's another section to the game where you determine their intelligence, he also has a very teeny tiny brain, if any at all ). I think he would have little to no interest in pretty much all the interests except food and toys.

Bendy would be very sloppy, semi outgoing, semi lazy, very playful, and mostly grouchy. I think he would have a high interest in both food and entertainment, but I can't decide on the others.

Berry would be semi neat, very outgoing, semi active, mid range between playful and serious, and mostly grouchy. I think she would have a high interest in food, a semi high interest in the environment, an semi high interest in fashion, no interest in animals, and a semi high interest in sci fi.

Mac would be semi neat, mostly shy, semi active, semi serious, and mostly nice. At the age of 8, he has no interest in politics or fashion, little interest in money, health, and school, semi high interest in sports, food and animals, and very high interest in toys and sci fi.

Madame F. would be mostly neat, very outgoing, very active, very playful, and mostly nice. I think she would have very high interest in animals, food, sports and culture, semi high interest in entertainment and money, and little interest in fashion and politics.

Terrence would be very sloppy, semi outgoing, mostly active, very playful, and mostly grumpy. I think he'd have low interest in pretty much everything except food, crime and sci fi.

And as for the other human, well, I'm sure you'll make her perfect in every way, so no need for my input.

These are just my opinions of course. Have fun!