The Larsons: Week 1

We've not left Bluewater Village but are now at one of the first houses upon entering the town, coming down from the hill with the windmills. I have named this street Windmill Square, and placed this modest house at No. 1 Windmill Square. The Larson twins have only just moved in. 

Maxis have not furnished it other than a few cheap kitchen items (but no fridge) and a toilet, shower and sink in the bathroom. The twins have just a little over 9,000 Simoleons left after buying the house, and need to be careful about spending as long as they do not have jobs. According to their Maxis-written bio, they "moved out of their parents house and are now trying to make it on their own in the "real world." Using "monetary donations" from house parties they threw. They are finally ready to get down to business!".

To add a little to their bank account, Jodie digs for treasure in front of the house, but all she finds is a tattered old map. She could sell it for 400 Simoleons, but who knows - it might come in useful at some stage, and so it is put in her inventory for now. 

Tessa Ramirez, Stephen Tinker and Dina Caliente come over to welcome their new neighbours. 

"You look so much alike, you must be twins!" Mrs. Ramirez remarks. "Well observed," Jason replies, "we are - and Jodie is my big sister, older by three minutes!" 

The siblings both have the Fortune aspiration, but neither of them is interested in running a business. Jason dreams of being Captain Hero one day, while Jodie sees herself as Chief of Staff at Pleasantview's General Hospital. 

Contrary to that, her bio reads "Being the oldest of the twins, Jodie feels it is her duty to take charge, but will her pushy personality overwhelm her "little brother" and cause their business to bomb?" while about her brother, Maxis have written "Jason is the younger of the twins (by a whopping 3 minutes) and much more carefree than his sister. Will Jodie push him to the edge or will he rise to the challenge and help their business succeed?"

Jodie wakes up well rested in her new, comfortable bed on Tuesday morning.

The bills want paying, and Jason takes care of that.

Since neither of the twins have found a job in their desired career, they decide to visit 250 Main Street in Pleasantview to meet some people and make use of their free time while it lasts. 

Several residents of Pleasantview and Bluewater Village are here, such as Don Lothario, Gilbert Jacquet and Dirk Dreamer.

Dirk even turns up at their home right after the taxi has taken them back, and spends the rest of the afternoon and evening with the Larsons.

All of Wednesday is spent at home, speaking to friends on the phone, studying skills while they have the time and it is autumn. At 7:00 pm, Jason is picked up for work as a Security Guard - he found the job only this morning. Jodie is on her own, working on her body skill until she is tired and goes to bed.

It is 2:00 am on Thursday morning when Jason returns from his night shift with a promotion to Cadet. He has just about enough time to get some sleep before he's off to Police Academy for the day. 

An ambulance pulls up in front of the Larson's house at 7:00 that same morning. Is anyone ill or injured? No - Jodie has found a job as Emergency Medical Technician.

She returns with a colleague in tow (who is sent on her way immediately) and a promotion to Paramedic.

As for Jason, he is dropped off after work with his second promotion of the day and heads straight back to work for his third shift today, now as a Patrol Officer. His friend Vyn Scott can only be greeted fleetingly. With the twins being on such a roll career-wise, the Simoleons come rolling in, too, and their account shows over 9,000 Simoleons - time for some home improvements and to fulfill some of the "buy me" wishes our Fortune Sims are well known for. 

Meet Nurse Jodie, ready for work bright and early on this Friday morning! 

A car was high up on both the Larsons' wish list, and so a car it is. In quick succession, items such as an armchair, better dining table and chairs as well as a more expensive book case than the IKEA one were wished for, and bought.

Saturday turns out to be an eventful day - in various ways. First, Jodie is promoted to Intern...

...and her brother to Desk Sergeant. Both work a while on their skills before going to bed relatively early.

Then, an uninvited and unexpected visitor appears - Gordon King, the "King of Thieves", as he fancies himself, notorious in all of Pleasantview and Bluewater. 

The Larsons' car is the cheapest on the market, but that's fine for Gordon - it's all about proving to the criminal world that he really IS the King of Thieves, even daring to steal from someone who works on the force.

Of course Jason calls for enforcement, and his colleague comes running up to the house just as Gordon starts running out of it.

He doesn't stand a chance against the combined efforts of Jason and his colleague, and is taken away in handcuffs. 

Still, it is a traumatic experience for Jason, and he wakes up long before he is fully rested on Sunday morning. 

Jodie has invited her friend John Burb and his family over, as well as the Dreamers. She is inspecting the replacement car paid for by the insurance when they arrive, and then unfortunately she is off for work and can not spend any time with her guests after having said a quick hello. 

The young people, Lucy and Dirk, head straight for the chess board, but seem to be looking more at each other than at the board.

Jason makes breakfast for everyone and then proceeds to tell the visitors about the "King of Thieves" and his failed attempt at burgling the siblings' home. He is still very upset about the event and gets so worked up he nearly drops his pancakes in his lap.

And then... I discover that Jennifer Burb is his three-bolt lady! She is married, and her husband and daughter are there with her, but Jason is definitely interested and tries constantly to talk to her, but she is nearly always in conversation with someone else.

Finally, his big sister returns from work. Her Sunday shift has paid off: She is now a Resident at Pleasantview General Hospital.

Both she and Jason want to give each other gifts (it is winter now), and it seems to fit the occasion, celebrating a very successful week. 

I enjoyed playing the Larsons than the career-focused week lets on: It was fun to furnish and decorate the modest house according to their wishes, and definitely verv interesting to find out about Jason and Jennifer having 3 bolts for each other - there is potential for some dramatic developments in Pleasantview, but I am not going to force anything.

Malcolm Landgraab IV: Week 1

Many years ago, the Landgraab family came into a LOT of money. They began to call their male heirs Malcolm and settled in Bluewater Village, which in my game is associated with Pleasantview. Malcolm III and Margaret were a devoted couple who loved their son, Malcolm IV. But they died when young Malcolm was only a schoolboy, now to be raised by... well, Maxis does not make it clear, but the white-haired man could be his granddad, Malcolm II, as his maternal grandfather, Blair Buckingham, wears glasses and has different hair in his picture in the family tree.

Now Malcolm IV is on his own. He has inherited the mansion and the money. Here, he is seen with a lady in a hot tub (his own, I suppose), but when the game starts, he has no romantic interest and no friends.

Here Malcolm is pondering the deed to one of his two businesses, the Electronics Supercenter and Club Dante.

This looks like the Electronics Super Center, and Malcolm seems to be having a friendly conversation with an employee. It's the last pre-made picture for him. 

The house at No. 74 Gondola Way can justly be called a mansion, and it is really HUGE for one single Sim.

On the ground floor, clockwise from the bottom left corner are a dining room, bar and kitchen; a spacious hallway with wide staircase and a door leading to the generous back porch, a toilet, another toilet, a small sitting room which also has a door to the back porch, and a sitting room with fireplace and book shelf. 

Next to the house on the left stands a small empty building, obviously meant as a garage, but only with a regular door. On the right, an extension holds an indoor swimming pool as well as the hottub seen in one of the premade pictures. 

Upstairs we find a large bedroom with en-suite bathroom, an aquarium on the spacious landing and an office/study. Doors lead to a balcony facing the road. 

Most of the furniture is expensive, and Malcolm still has more than 28,000 Simoleons in funds - calling him wealthy is certainly no understatement, although I would not go as far as to call him "ridiculously rich", as Maxis states in the family biography: 

"Ruthless. Cunning. Brilliant. Ridiculously wealthy. These are just a few words the locals use to describe the Landgraab family, whose entrepreneurial ambitions can't be stopped by anything but their own mistakes. When you have this much money, you're your own worst enemy." 

According to his personal bio, "The young, handsome, and naïve Malcolm Landgraab has huge ambitions, as well as the lofty expectations of his family to satisfy. With practically endless capital and few scruples, is there anything that will stand in his way?"

The Fortune aspiration suits him, but I am not overly happy about his lifetime want: He is an aspiring Criminal Mastermind.

On this Monday, he looks for a job immediately, but does not find an opening in the Criminal Career. 

The welcome committe consists of Brandi Broke and Checo Ramirez - and a stray dog named Fred! Of course the guests head straight for the hot tub, with Fred looking on.

Malcolm can't cook yet, so he prepares sandwiches for everyone. Later, during a phone call he makes his first friend in John Burb. I shall also look out for townie Pierce Buckingham, who I have never been interested in playing - but since Malcolm's mother was a née Buckingham, I might treat townies by that name as relatives. 

Tuesday is quickly told: Malcolm gets up and goes to work - he found a job as Pickpocket. By the way, isn't it odd that someone as rich as he does not have bedside tables and lamps in his bedroom? I have replaced the ugly masks on the wall with pictures (as he was wishing to "buy a painting" anyway) and am certainly going to make the room a bit nicer altogether. 

For now, though, Malcolm concentrates on his career. He returns from the first day on the job as Bagman and has the next day off - a good chance to acquire skills, make friends and visit a community lot. 

One of Malcolm's big wishes is to have a car, and since there is plenty of money, it is no problem to buy him one. Also, using his day off for a visit to a community lot, he drives himself to "Le Magnifique" on Wednesday morning for a spot of breakfast.

The breakfast turns out (as per his wish) to be salmon, and is truly "magnifique" :-) However, there are hardly any neighbours about, mostly townies Malcolm is not interested in, and so he leaves soon afterwards.

He seems just the red sports car type, doesn't he? The garage is now fully functional, of course. 

Tessa Ramirez walks by; she has obviously heard from her husband Checo that Malcolm is a nice person to meet. Well, she certainly did not expect THIS greeting!! Honestly, Macolm, you should be ashamed of yourself - it does not matter how attractive (or not) you find Tessa; a simple "good afternoon" would have been fine! 

Funnily enough, even though he has an indoor pool, Malcolm has no body skill, and when I send him to "dive", he is too scared to jump in. But a little later (it is autumn), he leaves the pool with three body skill points - they will come in useful for advancing in his career. 

Trying to "maintain" (instead of just "wind") a big grandfather clock is not a good idea when one has zero mechanical skill, as Malcolm finds out on Thursday morning. 

It is already Friday when Malcolm returns from work in the very early hours. Thanks to a promotion to Bookie, his good mood persists even though he finds that someone has kicked the bin over. Gang rivalry, perhaps?

Later the same day, he is just about to leave for work when the gardener arrives. He is glad he caught her so that he could give her a generous tip, motivating her to give his garden her best attention.

At 6:00 pm, he is dropped off by the car pool with a promotion to Con Artist (and a colleague who is sent home immediately).

The man who was his first friend here, John Burb, comes visiting on his own accord, followed a little later by Stephen Tinker.

But Malcolm needs two mechanical skill points for his next promotion, and so it is a good thing that John and Stephen have each other to talk to while their host is studying. 

Finally, he can put the book aside and join his guests in the hot tub.

One of Malcolm's closest friends is Brandi Broke, and since he has the weekend off, he invites her and the boys over on Saturday. What a contrast his mansion is to their humble abode! 

He orders pizza, knowing full well that Beau and Dustin will appreciate this much more than anything he could rustle up himself.

Of course, the indoor pool is a huge hit with Beau, while Dustin and his Mum soak in the hot tub, later joined by Angela Pleasant who happened to walk by.

Malcolm begins Sunday with a long, leisurely bubble bath.

He then invites his best friend John Burb over, and of course Jennifer and Lucy are very welcome, too. Over their grilled cheese, Lucy starts to talk about crime - and although Malcolm keeps suspiciously quiet, he does join in when it comes to the topic of justice and punishment. (They really talked nothing but crime all through the meal!) 

Gilbert, his second best friend, is invited over as well. And what looks like the setting for a romance between him and Malcolm turns out to be just Gilbert thinking romantic thoughts all the time, but not about Malcolm, and although Malcolm lights the fire and sits next to his guest on the settee, he does not roll any romantic wishes, and so the two men part as the two friends they've been before this visit, nothing more. 

Malcolm's days were filled with work and skilling, but it was nice for him to share his luxurious mansion with several friends and other guests. As expected, the hot tub was what almost everybody made a beeline for, but there were also some nice meals and conversations. 

So far, there is no love interest on Malcolm's horizon. This may change when I play him next time and spring rolls around, and I can imagine doing something about his two businesses later on, too.