Gothique Library CARNAGE!

As I stated in my previous post, Willow loves to visit new places to cast fire blast spells, just to see what happens.  This episode is no different.

In the little town of Dragon Valley, there are two libraries.  One that shipped with the world and the other is one I purchased from The Sims 3 Store entitled "The Gothique Library".  It seems to go well with the theme of Dragon Valley and witches.  So, Willow decides to travel there as she has never been there before.

The Gothique Library fortunately has a body of water nearby and is situated near a river so Willow knows that if she does set herself on fire, she will be able to extinguish herself quickly.  Of course, the same would go for any other sim that would be set alight too.  All they would need to do is jump in the river, or so you would think...

Willow proceeds to cast a fire blast spell on the steps of the library and a few more around the bottom of the steps, just for good measure.

Soon enough, some sims come running but instead of trying to put out the fire, they do what comes more naturally to them, they scream and shout, wave their arms around in the air and jump up and down.

Soon enough, one sim is engulfed by the flames and shortly after, another bites the dust.

Willow watches as the Grim Reaper reaps yet two more souls, cackling away like the evil witch that she is.

- Minicart (Jules)

 

The KEY to the INNERMOST CHAMBERS

 

After sleeping the night in a tent at a nearby campsite, John returns to the tomb to continue on his quest to obtain the spear from the treasure chest.

But first, John must enter the large room which holds a treasure chest, some floor panels and a movable statue.  This room is also full of traps so John must be guided on the green or jade, path in order not to be hit by the darts.

First of all, John opens the treasure chest which contains a star key and even though he does have a few skeleton keys in his inventory which would open these star and moon shaped keystones, one can never have enough keys, especially when you're an adventurer!

John proceeds to move the statue and after placing this on floor panels together with standing on some other panels, he eventually manages to "hit the right button" and a staircase opens up allowing him to move deeper into the tomb.

As John descends the staircase, he sees a locked door with a star keystone.  He immediately places the star key into the lock and the door opens, revealing a dive well and 3 treasure chests.  In front of the chests however, there is a large boulder.  No problem for John as he has Pangu's Axe to annihilate it!

The treasure chests hold some money, ancient coins and a dive well fragment.  Nothing really of any large value but still treasure all the same.

John dives into the dive well and searches through the pitch dark depths.  He finds a secret tunnel which he swims through and comes out into a long corridor which holds some coffins.  One coffin is blue, another green and the rest are white.  John decides to open the green coffin first as it is the colour of jade, which seems to be the theme of this tomb.  John is correct in looking in this coffin as he finds a Key to the Innermost Chambers of the First Emperor!

Walking to the end of the corridor, John goes through another door which leads him to a floor panel which he can stand on.  This unlocks a secret door to the corridor which he has just been in which contains the 6 coffins.

John proceeds to look in another coffin or two.  Will he find more treasure or will he find a mummy?

- Minicart (Jules)

BURNING to DEATH!

After Willow extinguishes herself in the river, she returns to the police station to find what looks like four remains of sims, albeit no names are attached to these lumps of charred bodies.  Confused, Willow decides to travel to the local school, somewhere she hasn't been before.  New places always hold excitement for Willow.

She proceeds to cast a few fire blast spells around the main door of the building and before long, a few sims gather, screaming and shouting and waving their arms about as usual.  Willow is having a lovely time casting spells and consuming Essence of Magic Elixirs in-between.

Just lately however, Willow isn't really paying attention to where she stands.  She seems more content in casting fire blast spells and tends to stand in the midst of blazes whilst she casts the next spell.  This really isn't a good idea but Willow being Willow does what she wants.  To her own detriment I might add.

This occasion is no different.  Willow casts yet another fire blast spell in the midst of an inferno and catches herself alight yet again!

This could be the end for Willow.  There is no water around apart from a fountain that is unusable and she isn't able to put herself out.  The only water she can see is a river quite far away.  Willow jumps on her broomstick and makes her way around the roads to the river.  Running across the field and up the mountain, she decides it would be better to turn around and make her way to a swimming pool.  

Screaming and waving her arms in the air, she finally arrives at the sims house, only to be saved by the householder who happens to have a fire extinguisher.

Willow goes home to freshen up and as she is a bit of a sucker for punishment, she decides to return to the school where various sims are still there shouting and screaming and a couple of fires still burn brightly.

Willow again proceeds to light a few fires and catches a few sims alight.  It seems her aim is getting better.  She decides to stand and practice some magic while all mayhem breaks loose.

Not one, but two sims burn to death in this blazing inferno that Willow has created.

Once the Grim Reaper has reaped the souls of these two unfortunate sims, Willow proceeds to show him an internet cat video.

- Minicart (Jules)

Gardening in The Sims 2

 

I really enjoy gardening in The Sims 2.  It is somewhat different to what we had in The Sims 3 and now, in The Sims 4.

First of all from build mode you have to place earth dirt, one square at a time, just like laying a foundation.  Then the Sim can fertilize each square before digging and planting the seeds.

There wasn't much to choose from by way of seeds.  When starting out, a Sim can only plant tomatoes, however, once a gold talent badge had been acquired for the gardening skill, a Sim could then plant tomatoes, cucumber, strawberries, pole beans, peppers and eggplant which was the majority of seeds available.

Purchasing a ladybug loft will keep all the bad bugs away from your plants and having a compost bin allows your Sim to compost all kitchen waste, and even the newspaper, to use for fertilizing the earth next time you want to plant something.

Gardening seemed a lot harder in The Sims 2.  If you overwatered your plants, they would drown and die.  Talking to your plants kept them happy and vibrant, allowing their health level to increase, but this could only be done once you had a gold talent badge for gardening.  Once this is achieved, it is a lot easier to keep your plants happy but until your Sim gets to that point, keeping your plants happy is hard work.

There were three trees available in gardening in The Sims 2, namely Ambrosial Lemon, Ambrosial Orange and Ambrosial Apple, all of which can be purchased fully grown from the gardening section in build mode.

These trees need to be trimmed, which is something we didn't have again in future The Sims releases.  Trimming your trees keeps them happy and of course, as with all plants in The Sims 2, talking to them keeps them healthy and all plants then give great quality fruit and vegetables.  All produce can be placed in the refrigerator for future use and if you have a juicer, fruit and vegetables can be placed in there for a fresh and healthy drink!

Bushes, such as rose bushes, and hedges all bought from build mode would grow, spurting out little shoots that had to be trimmed.  This is something that we never had again in The Sims.  Weeds would also grow not just within plants but on the grass too.

I have quite a few little snippets of gardening in The Sims 2 so decided to pop them all in a video.

Do you enjoy gardening in The Sims 2?  Or perhaps you prefer gardening in The Sims 3 or maybe 4, or maybe a mixture of each?  Let me know in the comment section below!

Cheers!

- Minicart (Jules)

SEARCHING for the Spear

 

After returning to the elderly sim with the activated key, John is told to re-visit the tomb of the first emperor to search for a spear.

John heads back to the tomb and makes his way to the locked door.  He places the key into the keystone and the chain of the door breaks, opening up a couple of rooms that hold treasure chests.  John can see that the spear is in one of the treasure chests from the glow emanating from it.  Unfortunately, there is a fence that John cannot pass.

A treasure chest lays in front of him and so he proceeds to open it, hoping that this will allow him entry to the room with the spear.  Alas no, but two secret doors open, revealing two more rooms that John will need to investigate.

He enters the smaller room, checking for traps on the way.  After finding a trap on the floor and the wall, he places his hand in a hole in the wall which activates a switch, opening up a staircase going down, deeper into the tomb.  This switch also activates two more traps in the walls.  This tomb is full of dart traps so John must be extra careful of where he treads.

Heading down the stairs, he comes to two doors, one blue and the other green, with a plaque on the wall.  The plaque reads that the First Emperor always said that the path of the righteous is paved with jade.  As jade is green, John realises that he must go through the green door.  He also realises that the rooms have green walkways.  Obviously this must mean that John should stay on the green path to avoid the dart traps.

John makes his way through the green door which activates and disables a few more traps and also opens something else in a darkened room where John has not been before.  This must be for something else later on in the adventure.

John stands on a floor plate which activates something else but John is unaware of what it is.  He then makes his way along the corridor and up some more stairs where he stands on yet another floor plate.  This opens a secret door which leads him back in the small room upstairs.  He has come full circle and needs to sleep.

As he makes his way through the secret door, he gets caught by a dart trap and collapses (after walking around the tomb to find somewhere where he can collapse) for a few minutes.

Needing desperately to sleep, John makes his way back to a small camp site, avoiding the zombies as he goes, to rest for the night.  In the morning, he will continue his adventure.

- Minicart (Jules)

Willow CATCHES ALIGHT!

 

In the last episode of The Evil Witch of Dragon Valley, Willow created an inferno at the Police Station and then went on to the Bistro to see what mayhem she could cause there.

Quite a lot of Sims turned up to this spectacle of fire, even bringing their children and babies, which they left on the grass with a bottle while they jumped around, waving their arms in the air and screaming at the sight of the blaze.  With babies crying and children screaming, the Bistro turned out to be quite a mess of flames and burned Sims.  However, this didn't deter them from asking Willow if she would pose for a photograph in between the fires going out.

Willow, being an evil Sim, takes great pleasure from seeing others suffer and she tends to take her time with casting fire blast spells as she is very busy heckling other Sims and laughing maniacally at the suffering she bestows upon them.  Because of this, unfortunately no-one died so Willow decided to return to the Police Station to see if she will have better success there.

She casts a few fire blast spells but unfortunately no-one turns up.  Maybe Sims are getting more wise to Willow's antics and have decided to stay away.  I suppose you can't blame them really but I'm giving them too much credit as, whilst Willow returns home to feed her beloved familiar cat Tabitha and of course, the cow plants, a Sim turns up at the Police Station to do the usual jumping about and screaming.

Willow decides to go back to the Police Station and cast a few more fire blast spells.  A couple more Sims turn up, much to Willow's delight, and she casts a few fire blast spells at them as well.

I have said this before, if you live by the sword, you die by the sword and this could be very true in Willow's case with regard to fire.  Willow tends to stand in the midst of blazes when she casts spells sometimes and this time is no exception.  Whilst casting her final fire blast spell in the midst of a blaze, she catches alight.  There is no option to "extinguish self" and she just stands there with fire billowing from her back.

Is this the end of Willow Mendip?

- Minicart (Jules)

CAUGHT in a DART TRAP!

John proceeds to descend the stairs in the tomb of the first emperor and stands in awe of the vastness of the chamber.

On entering, John is told that he has searched the tomb and to report back to the elderly Sim.  However, John decides to search further before returning to report on what he has found.

A pushable statue stands at one end of the room and a locked door is visible at the end of a small corridor.  Two treasure chests lie in the middle.  Hopefully John can retrieve a key to the locked door from one of these.

The player (yes, me!) looks around for traps but doesn't find any.  Now, when looking for traps, it is advisable to move your cursor over the ground very slowly in order for the cursor to recognise any traps that may be there by turning the cursor into a little star.  If you go too quickly, traps can be missed.  Unfortunately in this case, the player moved a little too quickly.

John proceeds to walk towards the first treasure chest but unfortunately gets caught in a dart trap!  This puts him to sleep for a while but doesn't harm him any way.  This is very fortunate for John as if you have ever played The Sims 4 Jungle Adventures, traps like these can poison your Sim and having been given just a few hours for it to get worse, you must purchase an antidote via computer otherwise your Sim will die.  This antidote costs 1,000 simoleons so unless you are rich...

After awakening, John looks (very slowly) to see if there are any other traps of which he finds three more.  He then opens the treasure chests one by one, to see what treasure he can find.  Unfortunately, the key to the locked door isn't inside either of these treasure chests but he does find an artefact and some ancient coins.

John then pushes the statue on to the floor plate behind it and a staircase opens up to a room below on the other side of the chamber.  John proceeds to go down the stairs and enters a corridor which contains two floor plates that he can stand on.  Each of these plates opens up another staircase to the first room where he finds more ancient coins and disarms the dart traps.

As John can do no more until he obtains a key to the locked door, he reports in to the elder Sim who is most pleased with John and gives him a key to the First Emperors Secret Rooms, the key to the locked door!  However, there is a snag.  The key will not work unless it has been blessed with an incantation.  John needs to speak with Ho Sung Kim who will bless the key and then return to the elder Sim for more Simoleons and further instructions.

After completing this part of the adventure, John is told by the elder Sim to re-enter the Tomb of the First Emperor to retrieve an ancient spear.

- Minicart (Jules)

Police Station INFERNO!

As we all know, Willow is very fond of fire.  There are a few places in the little town of Dragon Valley where she has lit fires and killed quite a few Sims.  However, there are some places that she hasn't experimented with, one such place being the Police Station.

Now, one would think that lighting fires outside of the Police Station would be a very silly thing to do.  But, we are talking about The Sims and Sims police aren't the brightest of bulbs in the pack.

So, after playing with Tabitha for a while and chatting with the butler, Willow makes her way to the Police Station.  

After lighting a few fires outside, quite a few Sims come running, waving their arms about in the air, jumping up and down and screaming, as per usual.  Willow continues to light fires about them, consuming Essence of Magic magical elixirs inbetween to fill her magic bar until she receives a telephone call from her agent.

An opportunity of a radio commercial is being offered for simoleons and fame.  Willow accepts.

She then continues to light more fires at the Police Station, setting Sims alight and fire blasting bushes and dead leaves with the fire blast spell until the area looks like a blazing inferno.  Leaving these poor Sims to get on with putting out the fires and/or burning to death, she then pops along to the Business Office to record the commercial.

Unfortunately, no-one dies at the Police Station so after recording the commercial for Llama Musk perfume, Willow decides to venture to the Bistro.  Another venue she hasn't tried out yet, but she won't be eating there...

- Minicart (Jules)

Kids Stuff 2

 

Following on from my video "Kids Stuff", I have captured more things that kids done in The Sims 2 which we don't have in The Sims 4 and most things that we never actually got again, even in The Sims 3.  Simple things like playing games with friends and siblings such as cops 'n' robbers and running to greet a parent home from work were little details that made The Sims 2 so great.

All of these little snippets I have placed in this video entitled "Kids Stuff 2", even if only for posterity.  I am sure that I will get even more bits and pieces and odds and bobs as time goes on.

I hope you enjoy this little video and that it brings back some good memories for you if you ever played The Sims 2 or, if you've never played this version of The Sims, that you enjoy watching some cool stuff from an old, but still very popular, game.

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Cheers!

- Minicart (Jules)

TOMB of the First Emperor

The opportunity for work that John must fulfil in China is getting a little long-winded.  He has sparred with a couple of Sims, namely Maya Wang and Shen Su but the opportunity has still not completed.  He calls for a third Sim to hopefully complete the opportunity but by this time, John is too tired.  Cancelling this opportunity is now a better idea as John still has a small adventure to complete before he returns home.

He needs to give some common relics to an elderly Sim which he does so and then is given a task to retrieve a relic from Hui Young Kim which was loaned to her years ago.  John is able to recover the relic and gives this back to the elderly Sim who in turn, gives him a key to the Tomb of the First Emperor which is where the Terracotta Army is situated.

So now this small favour for an elderly Sim has turned into a decent adventure!

John travels to the tomb and enters via the stairs below the terracotta army statues.  A small room below contains a few decorative items and a keystone on the wall.  Here, John proceeds to place the key in the keystone and immediately a staircase opens into another room below which holds treasure chests and a locked door.

It seems that what looked like a very small tomb is in fact a large one and hopefully full of treasure.

- Minicart (Jules)

For WHOM the BELL TOLLS!

 

In the last episode, we left Willow at the Day Spa, casting fire blast spells and generally having the time of her life.

Now while Willow is having so much fun with her fire blasting shenanigans, she doesn't even think if the Sim she is setting alight is even a friend or maybe the spouse of a friend.  In fact, she doesn't seem to care.  She just casts these spells haphazardly, one after another, consuming Essence of Magic elixirs inbetween to refil her magic bar.

As I have mentioned before, the term "sitting duck" is prevalent in these situations and this day is no different.  One Sim decides to pass out.  Obviously passing out is not something that one chooses to do, it just happens.  So, if you have a weak stomach, you really shouldn't be in the vicinity of fires started by an evil witch.  This particular Sim however doesn't take heed to such advice and becomes another "sitting duck", or in his case, a "sleeping duck".

Luckily for him however, a do-gooder proceeds to extinguish the fire which engulfs the poor Sims body, not realising that he himself is burning alive as he tries to help the poor soul on the ground.

Whilst the fires are burning, Willow decides to practice some magic with apparently, not a care in the world.

As the fires are extinguished with the presence of the Grim Reaper, Willow realises that she has killed one of her best friends and fellow witch, Suzy Sackholme, along with her partner.  For once, this causes Willow to mourn, which is something that is very rare.

Maybe we should take pity on Willow or maybe she got what she deserved.  

- Minicart (Jules)

Martial Arts Tournament

 

John has an opportunity at work which he must fulfil in China.  He needs to set up a Martial Arts Tournament with a spar contender, namely Maya Wang but unfortunately she isn't available at that moment in time.  So John decides to see what other adventures there are in store for him.

He secures an "adventure" from the board at base camp.  Now, I wouldn't call fishing for koi an adventure but John does what he is asked, earning more simoleons and gaining some fishing skill.

He returns to the base camp and finally secures a tournament with Maya Wang.  After a lot of fluffing about, she arrives at the base camp and John proceeds to spar with her.  Luckily for John, he wins the sparring match.  Normally, once an opportunity is executed, a message will show to say that he has to return to work to complete the opportunity.  Unfortunately, this didn't happen so I assumed that John would have to spar with another Sim.

He proceeds to call another spar contender and Shen Su arrives at the base camp.  John spars with Shen and again wins the match but unfortunately it seems that John is still not yet done.  How many times must he do this?  Hopefully no more than 3 but then I could be wrong.

John will continue with this quest next time but if it's going to take too long, he feels that cancelling this opportunity would be best.

It's a pity if this happens though as this could secure a promotion at work for him.

- Minicart (Jules)

ENGULFED in a BLAZE!

 

Having killed one Sim at the Day Spa, Willow is feeling a little chilly so heads home to warm up.

Greeted by her familiar Tabitha, her beloved cat, she decides to better her relationship with her by giving her treats and playing games.  Willow also takes this time to practice some magic in order to progress to the next level of "wand" spells, thereby gaining strength and notoriety as a witch.

Now Willow, being evil, loves starting fires and causing misery to other Sims so it isn't long before she decides to return to the Unity Day Spa to cast a few more spells and generally cause havoc.

After casting a couple of fire blast spells, a couple of Sims turn up to shout and jump about.  As we know, this is the worst thing a Sim can do, especially with an evil witch on the lot.  The best thing a Sim could do is to just stay away unless of course they want to help by putting out the fires or other Sims but even this, as we have seen in the past, can turn out to be fatal.

Of course, you always get at least one do-gooder join the party, ready with fire extinguisher in hand, standing in one space for a period of time.  And that's the problem.  For them anyway.  Standing in one spot for a period of time can only mean one thing.  The evil witch has time to cast a fire blast spell at your feet, causing a terrible blaze that can engulf you and lead to your demise.

So whether you are a Sim trying to extinguish fires or just standing jumping about and screaming, you're a sitting duck where Willow is concerned.

And that's exactly what happened at the Day Spa on this particular day.  One do-gooder and plenty of other Sims jumping up and down, waving their arms in the air and screaming.  Willow has a field day!

But, will anyone die?

- Minicart (Jules)

Snow in The Sims 2

Getting snow in The Sims 2 was a little different than in TS3 and TS4.  You couldn't skate on an icy pond like you could in TS3 although there was an ice skating rink venue that you could place to send your Sims to.  Much like in TS4 where the ice skating rink shows up in parks in various worlds.

You could build a snowman and create a snow angel and of course have a snowball fight, just like in future games although building an igloo wasn't a feature until The Sims 3.

A couple of things I do miss from The Sims 2 regarding snow that we never had again was when it starting snowing, children and adults alike would run to the window and look outside.  Children would get excited and so would some adults.  They would also get a memory of "first snow"!  However there were adults that weren't very happy with this and would shake their heads, just like in real life!

Another thing was the way Sims would walk in the deep snow; I don't believe we have had that type of animation since.

And of course the penguin!  Who could forget that lovable penguin that ventured onto your lot when it snowed!  If you had a snowman in the yard, the penguin would walk up to it and chat to it.

In this video I have pieced together all the little video snippets that I have of snow in The Sims 2.  I hope you enjoy it!  Don't forget to comment below and let me know what you think!

Cheers!

- Minicart (Jules)

 

Delivering the Ancient Writings

 

The Resolute Fist Retreat holds many treasures and also traps that John has overcome.  There is a long corridor at the side of the Retreat that John needs to go down to reach the door at the end.  However, it is full of fire traps.

Being an adept in the martial arts skill however, John is able to easily pass through these traps, disabling them on the way, to reach the door at the far end of the corridor.  A treasure chest lays within where John collects more loot and safely places it into his backpack.

John decides to spend the night at the Retreat and in the morning delivers the Ancient Writings, earning simoleons and ancient coins.

Completing this adventure, John embarks on a new one but first he must set up a Martial Arts Tournament with a spar tournament contender for an opportunity he received at work.  Unfortunately however, Maya Wang isn't available.

Hopefully next time, he will be able to set up this Tournament to get ahead with his job and maybe earn a promotion.

- Minicart (Jules)

Unity Day Spa INFERNO!

 

Willow tends to have her favourite spots in Dragon Valley to light fires, such as the graveyards, park and grocery store.  She has killed many Sims in these places and seemingly enjoyed every minute of it.  One place that she hasn't been to for a long while is the Unity Day Spa.  She had forgotten that she had great success in killing a Sim there quite a while ago and so decided to give this community lot another shot.

Willow was going to take Tabitha with her but decided against it as Tabitha was quite tired and needed to sleep.  Besides, she didn't want Tabitha getting hurt.

After lighting a couple of fires, not surprisingly, a few Sims turned up on the lot to shout, scream, jump up and down and wave their arms around.  Sitting ducks, (which is a phrase that I use quite often these days), Willow lights a couple of fires very near these Sims to see if she can catch them alight.

As is quite normal in these situations, the Sims just carry on jumping around and screaming.  Sometimes they run off still on fire and return to their homes where you can see the flames emanating from them through the windows.  But not today.  Today they are sitting ducks.  One Sim passes out as the Grim Reaper returns to the realm of the living to reap yet another soul.

- Minicart (Jules)

Overcoming the Fire Traps

After finding and retrieving the Ancient Writings of Qin Shan Hu, John decides to venture further through the dungeons of the Resolute Fist Retreat.  

There are two more doors that he hasn't been through.  One is open which has a long corridor leading to another door but is full of fire traps.  The other door also contains corridors with fire traps but there are holes in the walls that John can inspect.  Maybe these will disarm the traps, enabling John to get through.

Our hero proceeds to inspect the holes and does in fact disable a few of the fire traps.  However, not all are disabled (again due to the players 'misunderstanding' of the message on the plaque by the door) and so John attempts to cross these traps.  As John is proficient in the martial arts skill, he does this with ease, rolling through the flames like a ninja.

At the end of the corridor another door awaits him which leads to a small room containing yet another treasure chest.  John collects the loot and safely packs it into his backpack.

Carefully looking around, John finds another secret door which he nearly missed.  Using his strength to open it, he finds himself in yet another room containing treasure and ancient coins.

But John isn't done yet.  There is still the long corridor containing deathly fire traps with a door at the end.  Will he manage to defeat the traps?  If he does, what will he find?

- Minicart (Jules)

Death at the Fall Festival

 

In this episode of The Evil Witch of Dragon Valley, we see Willow up to her old tricks again.  In fact, she never really stopped.  Being evil is Willows speciality.  Not only does she annihilate Sims, she laughs at their misfortune and demise.  It's a wonder that Willow has any friends but of course the Friendship elixir helps with that.  Being a friend of Willows means that you stand less of a chance of getting burned to death.

As it's Autumn in Dragon Valley, the Fall Festival has come to town.  Full of Halloween fun things to do such as pumpkin picking and the Haunted House, the Fall Festival is also a great place to start fires.  Especially near the haystacks which lay conveniently by the Haunted House attraction.

Willow, being evil, takes advantage of this and proceeds to light a couple of fires.  Four in fact.  Just little ones which turn into an inferno.  A few do-gooders come by and try and put out these fires to no avail.  Even a ghost tries to help.  However, Willow has got this!  And before long a poor Sim who just happened to be in the vicinity of an evil witch perishes by the blaze.

Another Sim therefore bites the dust and the flames are put out with the grand entrance of the Grim Reaper.

The Grim Reaper reaps very quickly in The Sims 3 and with a wave of his scythe, he is gone in a puff of black smoke.

So Willow has struck again and goes on to create more devastation.

- Minicart (Jules)

Building a Car

 

When The Sims 2 Freetime was released, we were given the One Man's Junk Car that Sims could build from scratch.  This was a hobby item which allowed Sims to gain the mechanical skill.

The Sim had to work on the car engine and body parts and in the end gained a totally usable car which the Sim could take to have a car alarm installed.

It took a long time to build the car and sometimes whilst working on the engine, the car would backfire and set off black smoke at the Sim.  It was well worth it in the end though, to have a totally usable car to get around in.

This car was reintroduced in The Sims 3 Roaring Heights pack which was only available from The Sims 3 Store, albeit it looked a lot different.

This video takes you through a Sim building the One Man's Junk Car in The Sims 2 and as it took a long time for him to build it, I have edited it through.  However, you can see that he worked on it through day and night and the seasons!

Cheers!

- Minicart (Jules)

The Ancient Writings of Qin Shan Hu

At the Resolute Fist Retreat in China, John is on a search for the Ancient Writings of Qin Shan Hu.  He has been given a keystone which unlocks a door in the depths of the retreat and is faced with a large room containing stone statues and yet another locked door.  There is however another door which is unlocked so John proceeds to venture through this one first which leads him into a corridor with many doors which, one by one, he enters into. 

After finding a secret door and taking what treasure he could find, he decides to advance further into the depths of the Retreat by entering the other, previously locked, doorway and descending the stairs.

John is now faced with a dive well and three more doors, each with a plaque which contains a helpful message.  John decides to take the middle door.

Now, as a player, you can place your cursor over things that, if there are secret doors or traps, will give you a little starry thing to let you know that something is there.  This room contained many traps but only on the dark tiles of the floor, not the lighter coloured ones.  However, John doesn't know where these traps are and I, as the player, didn't want him walking into them so I decided to let him inspect them one by one, just so that he knows not to walk into them, after all, they were fire traps and could kill him.

Well, there was an easier way.  I could have just guided John over the lighter coloured tiles to lead him to the statue which he could have pushed to the tile in the middle of the floor, breaking the traps on the way.

I should have done that.

Burning to death, John's quick thinking of using a shower in a can puts out the flames, only to be consumed again by more fire which rages up instantly about him.  Ignoring my instructions to walk away, I lost count of the amount of shower in a can's that he used.  Luckily, I was able to cancel out the use of these shower cans and get him to safety.

Looking back, this was quite an easy quest, made harder by the players inability to take note of the writings on the plaques by the doors.

John now enters a room behind which houses a treasure chest containing the Ancient Writings.  John takes them and puts them in his backpack.  However, this adventure isn't over.  There are more rooms to enter and possibly more treasure to find so John stays and searches further before returning the Ancient Writings.

- Minicart (Jules)

Tabitha

 

I haven't posted in a long while about the Evil Witch of Dragon Valley, so I thought it was about time I started again.

A great deal has happened in the little town of Dragon Valley since the last time I wrote.  Willow has become more skilled and proficient in her witchy abilities, so much so, that she has started more fires and killed more Sims than I care to remember.

In this episode, Willow decides to get a cat.  Now this is no ordinary cat.  This is a witches cat, or a "familiar", as is more commonly referred to.

Willow has named her Tabitha (from the old American TV series "Bewitched").  A befitting name for a cat who is a witches familiar.

However, as I found out, there is more than just creating a cat in CAS.  Once you have the pet in your home, there is so much more you need to buy such as a pet bed, toys, feeding dish and litter tray.  And of course, as Willows house is quite large, these things need to be purchased more than once to be placed on each floor of the house.

But, it's all worth it in the end as Willow feels stronger with her familiar around and Tabitha seems happy too!

- Minicart (Jules)

Resolute Fist Retreat

 

In this episode of The Sands of Time, John continues with his adventure to the Resolute Fist Retreat to search for the ancient writings of Qin Shan Hu.

This monk retreat is situated at the top of hills in China and John has to climb a fair way to get to it.  Once he arrives, he proceeds to climb the many stairs to a room which contains a kitchen and bathroom to the side.  More stairs take him up to bedrooms, more like dormitories, on the top floor.

John has been given a keystone and he searches high and low to see if there are any secret doors but alas, there are none.  He wonders if there are any trigger items, such as flushing the toilet that would open anything but after trying, nothing works.

After looking around outside and the surrounding grounds of the Retreat, John notices a floor plate at the bottom of the steps which he had run right past when he arrived.  However, as he was getting tired, he decided to sleep in one of the beds and start afresh in the morning.

After getting a good nights sleep, John proceeds to return to the foot of the Retreat and step on the floor plate.  A stairway opens up and he cautiously descends the steps down into the depths of the retreat.

Luckily no traps await him, just a couple of rubble piles and a locked door.  After clearing one pile, John notices a hole in the wall which after inspection, opens a secret door that leads to a treasure chest.  The other rubble pile reveals some more treasure.

Now, the only thing that remains is the locked door...

- Minicart (Jules)

Kids Stuff

 

As with my Bits 'N' Bobs video, there are a few things that kids done in The Sims 2 which are unrelated to each other but put together as another 'odds and bobs' make a great video.  Most, if not all, of the things shown in this video were ever given to us again, such as showing off to parents and jumping up and down on the bed.

The dancing with dad clip, where the child stands on her father's feet while he dances with her brings back so many memories of me and my father, who used to dance with me like this when I was a child at family get-togethers.

So much detail was put into The Sims 2 which made it a really great game to play.  Even today, I think it surpasses The Sims 4 for detail and gameplay.

Let me know what you think!

Cheers!

- Minicart (Jules)

Toy Making in The Sims 2

 

When Open for Business was released for The Sims 2 in 2006, we were given appliances in game to allow Sims to craft items for a home or community based business.  This expansion pack also introduced talent badges.  These badges were earned the more experience your Sim gained in a certain craft.  Once a bronze badge had been earned, the Sim then went on to earn a Silver Badge and then a Gold one.  Each badge enabled the Sim to create even better items within that particular craft or to be able to plant a wider variety of seeds and talk to plants in the gardening skill.

One such item that was introduced was the Toy Making Bench.  Sims can craft toys on this bench and work their way up from a simple brick to a water wiggler toy.  All of these toys can be played with by children and some can be played with by pets!  Adults can also play with the kite, as seen in the video.

As all of these toys were only in The Sims 2 (apart from the brick which made an appearance in The Sims 3), I decided to make a video showing how these toys were made and adults and children playing with them.

I hope you enjoy my Toy Making combo video!  Let me know what you think in the comment section below!

Cheers!

- Minicart (Jules)

Bits 'N' Bobs in The Sims 2

 

I have been playing The Sims 2 again in earnest for quite a while and it's amazing how, just after 20 minutes of gameplay, so much can happen as The Sims in TS2 are so quirky!  

I always have OBS running so that I can catch all the little things that happen and also the stuff that we don't have in TS4.  In fact, most of the things we had in TS2, we never had again.  

I have been uploading these snippets to my Twitter and TikTok accounts and Simmers have been loving them!  Some of the stuff is related, such as snow snippets and gardening but there are other things that remain one-offs.

As I have loads of "one-off" video snippets, I decided to put them all in a video and upload them to YouTube.

So "Bits 'N' Bobs" came about through having many snippets of little bits and pieces and things and stuff we had in The Sims 2, all unrelated and bunched together in a bigger video.

Now you may be thinking, "if I can see them on Twitter and TikTok, why would I want to watch your video on YouTube?".  Well, first of all, you may not have or even like Twitter and/or TikTok but there's also a catch!  I haven't uploaded ALL of the snippets to Twitter and TikTok, only some of them.  I kept some back for the YouTube video so there will be clips that you won't see on my other social media accounts!

If you're into The Sims 2 or have never played it, I hope you enjoy watching my Bits 'N' Bobs video!  If you do, be sure to follow me on my other accounts (if you're into Twittering or TikTokking) for more Simlish Shenanigans!

Cheers!

- Minicart (Jules)

Teaching the Basics to Toddlers in The Sims 2

 

Teaching toddlers basic skills such as walking, talking and how to use the potty is a feature that started in The Sims 2.  Obviously as there were no toddlers in the original The Sims, these basic skills were already learned as soon as the baby grew into a child.  The same happened in The Sims 4 when that was first released as toddlers were omitted from the game in the beginning.

These basic skills continued in The Sims 3 whereby the toddler learning these skills would grown up well, unlike in The Sims 2 where growing up well depended on the aspiration level the toddler had at the time of aging.  Nevertheless, having this feature introduced was a welcome addition to the game.

In both The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, to enable the toddler to learn these skills, an active sim must click on the toddler and then choose the option to teach to walk or talk.  Clicking on the potty will bring up the interaction to teach the potty skill.  This takes a little while to do but once the toddler has learned all skills, they can take themselves to the potty, get around much quicker and chatter away to all and sundry.

In The Sims 4, although the interaction for teaching toddlers to use the potty is still available, learning to walk and talk can be gained from the little tablet that you can purchase in buy mode.  Building blocks are also available which will enable the toddler to learn to walk.  This means that the toddler can learn these skills all by themselves without the interaction of an adult sim.  And while they walk around, they get much quicker, to the point where they can run without wobbling.  

Thinking and imagination skills were also introduced with the toddlers for The Sims 4 and although, in my opinion, the toddlers for TS4 are the best ever, I still think that having the parents or adults interact with the toddlers to teach them the walking and talking skills makes for better gaming and better parenting too.

What do you think?

- Minicart (Jules)

Babies in The Sims 2

 

I have been playing The Sims since 2001 when my son borrowed the original The Sims from a friend at school. I had played Sim City for a while on the Sega Saturn and was completely hooked, so being able to play The Sims themselves was even more fun.

In the original The Sims, babies grew straight from a baby into a child by jumping out of their cribs.  One minute they were babies and the next they were children, having to go to school.

The Sims 2 however had a different approach and brought the game up to date with babies growing into toddlers, then children then teens and on to adult then elder.  With the addition of The Sims 2 University expansion pack, a new lifespan of young adult was added which a teen entered into upon going to university.  But I digress...

The Sims 3 gave us babies that grew into toddlers and then children but unfortunately the babies had no limbs.  Other Simmers have called them "burritos" because the babies were just wrapped up in a type of blanket.  No arms.  No legs.  You couldn't even bathe them in a sink.  Then along came The Sims 4 and things got even worse.  Babies in this fourth incarnation of The Sims are no longer offspring.  Although breast feeding was brought into the mix, the babies are seen as objects with the player only being able to interact with the "baby" via the crib or "bassinet" as it is called in game.

When The Sims 4 first came out, even toddlers were omitted.  The "babies" jumped out of the bassinet and grew up into a child - just like in the original The Sims.  Toddlers were added to the game later as a free update.

Although the toddlers in The Sims 4 are the best toddlers ever in my opinion, the "babies" leave a lot to be desired.

I, like many other simmers, would love to see The Sims 2 babies back with their arms and legs and being able to bathe them in the sink, carry them around and play with them.  If you have never played The Sims 2, the little video I made above will show you just how lovely Sims 2 babies were and why simmers today, including myself, are unhappy with the babies of The Sims since TS3.

- Minicart

Cat Pyjamas for Children

 

My new Cat Pyjamas for children are now on my Patreon for early access.

These pyjamas consist of one top with a cat face motif and one bottom part in pink with white polka dots.  Each part has it's own swatch icon thing (whatever you call it) in CAS so they are easy to find!

They are good for both boys and girls and will be released on this blog to the public on the 30th July 2021 on the Sims 4 Custom Clothing Downloads page above.

Don't forget to download my previous releases on the page above as there is a new item being released each week!

Also, remember to follow this blog and/or subscribe to me on YouTube to get notification of future releases.

Let me know what you think of these pyjamas - I would love to hear your feedback!

Happy Simming everyone!

- Minicart (Jules)

Zebra Pyjamas for Children

My new Zebra Pyjamas for Children are now on my Patreon for early access.  They will be released on this blog on the 23rd July 2021 via the Sims 4 Custom Clothing Downloads page above.

These pyjamas come with two tops and two matching bottoms.  The first top has a little zebra motif with a stripey zebra pattern and the second top has a zebra pattern with matching zebra patterned bottoms.  As they are separates, you can mix and match!

The tops and bottoms have their own swatches in CAS with a drop down for the alternative style.

I would love to know what you think of these and whether you will be downloading them once they are released or if you are reading this in the future, if you enjoy them in your game!

Make sure to subscribe to me on YouTube and/or follow this blog to get notification of more custom content.  And if you would like notification of when my stuff is released to the public, follow me on Twitter!

- Minicart (Jules)