Guess Who Forgot To Turn Off Her Alarm?
May. 23rd, 2025 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chick*raises hand* So after going to bed at roughly 1:30 AM, I got woken up at 7 AM -- and then couldn't get back to sleep, despite my best efforts. *sigh* I mean, I probably didn't make things easier for myself by getting up to go pee after the alarm sounded, but I needed to use the bathroom! And sometimes I can get back to sleep despite that, so... *shakehead* Ugh. I wish me getting enough sleep wasn't so much of a crapshoot sometimes.
Despite the unwanted early awakening, however, I ended up having a pretty solid Friday off:
Tumblr: Decent day over on the tumbls:
Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – Got a bit of a later start on it than I wanted (got distracted reading tumblr user bluerose5’s posts about Wyll from Baldur’s Gate III), but I did make some good progress on editing the second post detailing the Ghostbusters Mega AU sitting my drafts over here before lunch – largely tweaking word choices and rewriting bits for clarity (like how the gang got Bumby’s copy of Doc’s book off the police, and how exactly Smiler’s eldritch god nature started manifesting right before their fight with Gozer). Wouldn’t say it’s fully done (especially since the tags aren’t sorted yet), and when I went back to re-read the first post (also still in my drafts) to check something, I saw that one could use another round of editing too, but we’re inching closer to this AU being ready to get posted over here!
Valice Multiverse – There was nothing going on over here when I checked in tonight, so I went searching for some sort of RP Meme to reblog – and, over on “rpmemelibrary,” I found one all about drinks! Specifically, stuff like what your muse drinks to start their day, how do they feel about chain coffee shops versus independent shops, what drink will your muse absolutely refuse to have, etc. I thought it was interesting (especially since, as I have noted, at least one of my Smilers works in a coffee shop), so I stuck it into the queue. We’ll see if it gets any attention!
Sims 4: After a solid playsession today, I am pleased to report that:
First, the Building Save Smiler’s newly-restored yellow eyes DO seem to be staying put in their face, as when I loaded up the game, they still had them on the family portrait that was presented to me on the start screen, and in their thumbnail when I clicked on the house! Which suggests the same would be true of any other Smiler I make (at least so long as they’re a spellcaster or vampire, anyway)! Yay! Now I just have to fix the whole “these glowing eyes aren’t actually glowing anymore” issue, and I am set!
And second – THE POLYHEART OT3 HOUSE IS DONE! :D Yes, after spending an hour this afternoon making some final tweaks to both the exterior and the interior, I am satisfied with its condition and am declaring it finished. *nods* Let me take you through what I did in this final build session:
A) Exterior – I FINALLY finished off the landscaping around this place, along with a few other little tweaks:
I. I adjusted the placement of the Shaggi-lucious bushes just outside Victor’s window so they followed the curve of the heart better and painted some dirt under them (they just look a tiny bit better/more realistic if you do this)
II. I darkened up the path to the picnic area a bit with some more painted dirt – I decided it deserved to be as dark as the other paths (plus it looked better)
III. I added more irises lining the diagonal wall next to the picnic path to go with the red, blue, and yellow ones outside the kitchen window (one in every swatch color, even that weird one with the blue grass – I tried to put that one roughly in the middle), adjusting their positions so they were nice and close to the house without clipping into the wall and appropriately spread out to cover the whole area, then made sure they all had dirt under them
IV. I also made sure to paint dirt under the “aster-nots” on either side of the front door and under the flower cart and the bunny topiary “pushing” it by the side of the greenhouse (realism!)
V. I put even more dirt around the base of the tree and the wildflowers behind the barbecue, mixed in with some “Dew or Die” dead grass terrain paint (it’s shady under that tree, so it felt appropriate), then chucked a couple of rocks around the trunk (a normal-sized pair and a single shrunken one) for some more visual interest over there
VI. I finally accepted there was no place for them and got rid of the three “Passion’s Kiss” bushes I’d shoved into the notch between the two bumps on the heart-shaped greenhouse – they just didn’t look good there, and there was nowhere else on the lot where I could put them (maybe in another build!)
VII. I changed the color of the left-hand “The Wall Flower” three-flowers wall decoration on the side of the greenhouse door (that one is now a trio of yellow, purpley-pink, and green flowers on blue stems) – side note, doing this caused the door to glitch out, so I’m starting to wonder if any time a door or window glitches out in this game, it’s because you changed something about a decoration that is TECHNICALLY too close to it. I shall have to see if hypothesis holds up in future builds!
VIII. I squeezed in the “Florist’s Dream Watering Can” (an old-fashioned watering can being used as a flowerpot) next to the little “gardening supplies cubby” by the big square planter in the greenhouse using ALT – it was a bit tricky to place, but I found a spot eventually!
IX. I added the Outdoor Retreat “MegaCooler” (the fancier-looking electronic one) in the “green lid” swatch to the side of the pool area, right next to the left-hand pole of the string of fancy star lights “archway” that leads into the eating area, then moved the Seasons water balloon bucket over so it was slightly in front of the right-hand pole, mirroring the cooler (I just felt like the gang needed a cooler, and that it made a little more sense nearer the pool than the barbecue area)
X. And, after feeling like the outdoor eating area needed SOMETHING to jazz it up, I went ahead and changed the tiles there from the plain terracotta tile to the fancier “Masterpiece Mosaic” version I had around the pool – I thought it would be too busy for the eating area, but without it, the place looks too plain, and I don’t really have room to chuck in some plants or anything without blocking some of the chairs (though I try, and found some Lovestruck planters that I like rather a lot – might have to try and use them in another build!)
B) Interior – I also made a few small-but-significant last-minute changes to the inside of the house:
I. I moved the knitted pride flag decoration I added to the left-hand hall so it was next to the bedroom door, rather than across from it, then adjusted that picture of the lady with the wacky blue hair on a yellow background so it was more properly centered on the opposite wall (I though the pride flag made more sense next to the door, and the picture just looked better centered)
II. I adjusted the placement of the big fancy “branch” triptych picture in the right-hand hall, outside Victor’s room, so it lined up a bit better with the other set of three pictures nearby (it just looked kinda weird otherwise)
III. I put a Werewolves “Moonwood Mill Print” picture featuring a butterfly in a silver frame on the bit of diagonal wall next to the grandfather clock next to Victor’s room (I’ve been wanting to put something on there for AGES, and a butterfly picture felt very appropriate given it’s right outside Victor’s personal space)
IV. I swapped out the “Panels of Perfection” multi-canvas painting of the winding river over the dining table in the kitchen for a giant picture of some chocolate chip pancakes and bacon from Dine Out – while I really liked that river picture, I thought the breakfast scene was just more fun, and went well with the “fried egg” rug under the dining table
V. And the biggest change – I moved the couch back slightly in the living room so I could fit in a coffee table! Because the longer I looked at it, the more I thought “the couch is too close to the TV and they need a coffee table.” After a bit of a search, I went with the Paranormal long oval coffee table in the purple swatch with the flowers painted on the top (the couch is from the same pack, so I figured I might as well match it), then – after an even longer search – plopped the base game “Feng Shui Planter” on top of it for a little centerpiece (it felt right to have SOMETHING on the table, and it was one of the few decorations short enough to not block the view of the TV)
And that was that! :D Well, except for going through the house taking pictures both normal and Sim’s-eye view (I am having SO much fun with the “Free Camera” mode now that I know how it works), and saving the whole lot to my Library (and goggling at just how many packs I used to build it – I threw a little bit of EVERYTHING into this house, seriously). I haven’t put it up on the Gallery YET, but if anyone expresses some interest in downloading it, I will. *nods* Anyway, I plan to do a proper photo post on tumblr in the near future to celebrate the house being 100% done (maybe I can start the draft of that sometime during this long weekend?), but for now, have a handful of pictures to whet your appetite:
Seriously, isn’t the bunny topiary paired with that flower cart so cute? :D Really glad I stumbled upon that. And really glad that I FINALLY managed to finish this house! I love you dearly, Polyheart OT3 House, but I’m ready to move onto new builds – and hopefully, at some point in the near future, Live Mode.
Writing: I did indeed start “The Van Dort Vacancy” today, typing up the first page of Chapter 1 right before my workout! :D This story opens much like the last one, with the trio preparing to have breakfast before getting on with the business of the day – only this time, they’re all at the MOJ, with Smiler’s mother Carol preparing the meal (“eggy toast,” the local version of French toast), the “business of the day” is taking Victor back to his house and Alice to her new living situation at Elder Gutknecht’s, and everything is from Victor’s perspective because, well, it’s a story focused on him and his situation post-Emily. About time he got to be the POV character! Though, honestly, I’m worried I’m a little rusty when it comes to portraying an accurate Victor – it’s been a while since I watched Corpse Bride, and spending the last few years working on the “Londerland Bloodlines” series means I’ve grown very used to writing in Alice’s POV first and foremost. (Which is probably why I defaulted to her POV for the first two VITD stories, honestly.) Hoping I can turn things around with this story when it comes to getting into his head – though I suppose finding the time to watch the movie, or at least some clips longer than half a minute, wouldn’t go amiss. Never hurts to have a refresher!
YouTube: Well, I was going to watch the GrayStillPlays video of the day, but I got a look at the art style of the game he was playing (Get Da Milk), and – uh – well, it seems a bit on the old “racist” side, so yeah, that didn’t happen. *sigh* Between this and me noticing what looked like more AI-generated thumbnails on his vids, I am starting to rethink watching Gray’s stuff… Fortunately, I had a back-up video I’d just added to my Watch Later – “All Skill Mastery Perks Explained And Rated | The Sims 4 Guide” by Petey Plays It! Petey giving us the skinny and his personal ratings out of five for each of the “skill mastery” perks your Sims can unlock while training high-level skills (or by buying and drinking a certain potion from the Aspiration Rewards Store) if you own Businesses & Hobbies. These perks grant the Sims who have them unique interactions (though some of the perks have very similar effects, with each one covering either a certain group of skills or certain types of objects), and if a Sim is an elder, they can pass them on to younger generations via a unique social interaction. Of the ones on offer, Petey particularly liked:
I. “Skillful Sleep” (which causes a ghostly projection of your Sim to appear and start wandering around training random skills while your Sim sleeps – you can’t control the projection, unfortunately, but Petey seemed to consider this an overall minor problem)
II. “Mental Muscle” (which makes Sims who have it ripped when training mental skills like logic or rocket science – Petey just thought this one was fun and commented that isn’t “hot nerd” the goal for people today?)
III. And “Spacebender” (which allows Sims who have it to teleport around pretty much at well – and who doesn’t like a good teleport option?)
By contrast, Petey particularly hated:
I. “Stellar Stamina” (which is SUPPOSED to reduce a Sim’s energy need decay as well as making them more resistant to exhaustion, but according to Petey’s testing, it doesn’t affect the need decay at all, so…)
II. And the very similar “Secret Spice” and “Final Touch” (which allows Sims to improve the quality of food and objects respectively – unfortunately, the latter can’t take something beyond “Excellent” quality, and the former, while it can make food “Impeccable,” is bugged because Sims can’t currently eat “Impeccable” food for some reason).
Yeah – most of the others feel in the “meh” or “probably useful under specific circumstances, but otherwise” categories. Bit of a shame, really, but then again, Sims 4 often has trouble living up to its potential. Still, if and when I do get this pack, now I have a better idea of what perks to go for with my Sims! Thanks Petey!
Workout: Got on the bike for the last time this particular week, pedaling through three more videos by Proxy Gate Tactician on good old Baldur’s Gate III:
A) “What Happens in Baldur's Gate 3 If Every Origin Character Dies?” – Proxy considering what happens if every Origin character (explicitly Astarion, Lae’zel, Shadowheart, Wyll, Gale, and Karlach; implicitly Tav and the Dark Urge as there was no mention of the custom player characters showing up) dies on the Nautiloid before the events of the game properly start (aka, before the ship crashes into Faerun)! The sequence of events they came up with after examining various bits of potential evidence in the game is as so:
I. Losiir (the githyanki warrior who shows up to play Lae’zel’s role in the Prologue should you pick her as your player character) manages to get to the helm and connect the nerves, but dies when the ship crashes because for whatever reason the Emperor refuses to save him (because you always find him dead on the beach post-prologue if you’re playing Lae’zel)
II. Either goblins searching the crash site or the Emperor (your nominal mind flayer ally in the game) looking for someone to take care of his precious artefact (containing Prince Orpheus, the githyanki who’s powers allow everyone in the party to remain free of Absolute influence) get the artefact to Minthara, the only tadpoled companion available, who takes it back to Moonrise and gives it to Ketheric Thorm, helps advance his various goals (including kidnapping and tadpoling poor Isobel and securing the Nightsong, Aylin), then gets betrayed and turned into a zombie
III. Ketheric then takes it to a meeting between him and his co-conspirators in the Absolute scheme, Gortash and Orin, and gives it to Gortash for study, who takes it back to Baldur’s Gate with him
IV. Ketheric and Orin then attempt to betray Gortash – Ketheric hoping to overwhelm him with the army he’s gathered under the Absolute’s banner, and Orin by sending Bhaalite assassins after him – but he manages to survive and instead betray them (using the fact that he too can control the tadpoled Isobel to force Ketheric to surrender or see her hurt, and using his popularity with the people and his Steel Watch defenders to overwhelm Orin and the rest of the murder cult)
V. The Absolute starts trying to break free, and the Emperor keeps it from killing Gortash when he goes to confront it; he proposes an alliance, and Gortash accepts
VI. The pair, along with their allies, manage to defeat and subdue the Absolute to their will, and thus all of Baldur’s Gate as well – but, rather than ruling as equals, as the Emperor promised, the Emperor takes the throne for himself and tells Gortash he can be his lead general; Gortash, pissed, attempts to kill him, but the Emperor manages to control him and make him kill himself
VII. The brainwashed citizens of Baldur’s Gate are forced to fight the githyanki armies trying to stop the Emperor, and a new Ithillid Empire dawns...as the Absolute had quietly planned
So, basically, if everyone dies, shit sucks. Unsurprising, really. XD
B) “Unveiling Baldur's Gate 3's Top 10 Bizarre Spells” – Proxy’s take on some of the weirdest, and often worst, spells in the game! Includes such things as “Shapechanger,” a high-level Transmutation Wizard spell that allows you to turn into a fairly useless blue jay for five turns (at least it doesn’t consume a spell slot); “Grasping Vine,” a buggy summoned vine that can pull people toward it – but can also apparently move and have weapons equipped (I don’t think THAT was intended – also it only has three hit points unless you make the game HARDER; it’s possible this has been patched though); “Divine Intervention,” a one-time-use only Cleric spell that can instantly drop a load of AOE damage on enemies, instantly heal and restore all the spell slots in your party, give you a chest full of good loot, or grant you a magical mace (one of the good spells, it’s just really hard to figure out what you want to spend it on); and “Enthrall,” a level 2 spell for Warlocks and Bards that reduces someone’s cone of vision and makes them look at you...but sometimes it doesn’t work and it only works outside of combat apparently (which really sucks because I was going to pick it as an appropriate thematic spell for Smiler, but if it isn’t actually that useful...maybe I’ll see if there’s mods that make it better). Some interesting stuff here, and a good primer on some spells that you maybe shouldn’t bother with – and a couple you definitely should.
C) “Finding the Hidden Fail-Safes in Baldur's Gate 3” – Proxy checking out how many “failsafe” (aka “you killed the person who was SUPPOSED to do this thing, so here’s the backup character we made to keep the game going”) characters Larian stuck into the game SPECIFICALLY to make sure that the party you have with the refugee tieflings at your camp after killing all the leaders of the goblins who want to raid them goes off as planned! Turns out there’s a lot – not only does every tiefling in the grove who attends the party have a backup should they all die before the party, there’s TWO backups for leader Zevlor – if he dies, one of the other tieflings in the grove, Asharak, takes over his position; if Asharak also dies, a new tiefling scout named Cerys (who usually only shows up in Act II) arrives to take care of things and kick off the party. Proxy also discovered the existence of “Gerson The Bent” while they were doing all this – a tiefling scout specifically designed to show up and report to any of your party who is, for some reason, hanging out in the grove while the rest of your team goes and murders all the goblin leaders, that said goblin leaders are dead and the way is clear, triggering a sneaky loading screen that allows all the tieflings to move to new locations in the grove in preparation for the party. Neat! :) The one downside was that, at the time the video was filmed (Patch 3 took care of at least one of these issues), once your character arrived in Act II and found Cerys and some of the other refugees at Last Light Inn, Cerys would act like she’d never met you and that Zevlor was still alive, if missing, and all of the “replacement” tieflings would be gone. Probably because none of the developers had really expected someone to go through and methodically kill all those tieflings just to see if they had backups. XD But still, it was a very neat video – really emphasizes the care Larian put into making the game!
*nods* Yeah, that all worked out pretty well, honestly. And now I am going to wrap things up for the night before getting to bed -- after making sure my alarm is OFF, thanks. Tomorrow is a Cleaning Saturday With Laundry (meeeh), though at least that means I get to listen to my beloved Oxventure Presents: Blades In The Dark while I clean. Other things I hope to accomplish are perhaps playing some more Sims 4 (I have an idea for a house remodel in Copperdale to help prepare for a future save file I've been pondering), working some more on "The Van Dort Vacancy," and keeping up with my Subs and maybe some more CaFae Latte. We'll see what the day brings! Night all!
Despite the unwanted early awakening, however, I ended up having a pretty solid Friday off:
Tumblr: Decent day over on the tumbls:
Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – Got a bit of a later start on it than I wanted (got distracted reading tumblr user bluerose5’s posts about Wyll from Baldur’s Gate III), but I did make some good progress on editing the second post detailing the Ghostbusters Mega AU sitting my drafts over here before lunch – largely tweaking word choices and rewriting bits for clarity (like how the gang got Bumby’s copy of Doc’s book off the police, and how exactly Smiler’s eldritch god nature started manifesting right before their fight with Gozer). Wouldn’t say it’s fully done (especially since the tags aren’t sorted yet), and when I went back to re-read the first post (also still in my drafts) to check something, I saw that one could use another round of editing too, but we’re inching closer to this AU being ready to get posted over here!
Valice Multiverse – There was nothing going on over here when I checked in tonight, so I went searching for some sort of RP Meme to reblog – and, over on “rpmemelibrary,” I found one all about drinks! Specifically, stuff like what your muse drinks to start their day, how do they feel about chain coffee shops versus independent shops, what drink will your muse absolutely refuse to have, etc. I thought it was interesting (especially since, as I have noted, at least one of my Smilers works in a coffee shop), so I stuck it into the queue. We’ll see if it gets any attention!
Sims 4: After a solid playsession today, I am pleased to report that:
First, the Building Save Smiler’s newly-restored yellow eyes DO seem to be staying put in their face, as when I loaded up the game, they still had them on the family portrait that was presented to me on the start screen, and in their thumbnail when I clicked on the house! Which suggests the same would be true of any other Smiler I make (at least so long as they’re a spellcaster or vampire, anyway)! Yay! Now I just have to fix the whole “these glowing eyes aren’t actually glowing anymore” issue, and I am set!
And second – THE POLYHEART OT3 HOUSE IS DONE! :D Yes, after spending an hour this afternoon making some final tweaks to both the exterior and the interior, I am satisfied with its condition and am declaring it finished. *nods* Let me take you through what I did in this final build session:
A) Exterior – I FINALLY finished off the landscaping around this place, along with a few other little tweaks:
I. I adjusted the placement of the Shaggi-lucious bushes just outside Victor’s window so they followed the curve of the heart better and painted some dirt under them (they just look a tiny bit better/more realistic if you do this)
II. I darkened up the path to the picnic area a bit with some more painted dirt – I decided it deserved to be as dark as the other paths (plus it looked better)
III. I added more irises lining the diagonal wall next to the picnic path to go with the red, blue, and yellow ones outside the kitchen window (one in every swatch color, even that weird one with the blue grass – I tried to put that one roughly in the middle), adjusting their positions so they were nice and close to the house without clipping into the wall and appropriately spread out to cover the whole area, then made sure they all had dirt under them
IV. I also made sure to paint dirt under the “aster-nots” on either side of the front door and under the flower cart and the bunny topiary “pushing” it by the side of the greenhouse (realism!)
V. I put even more dirt around the base of the tree and the wildflowers behind the barbecue, mixed in with some “Dew or Die” dead grass terrain paint (it’s shady under that tree, so it felt appropriate), then chucked a couple of rocks around the trunk (a normal-sized pair and a single shrunken one) for some more visual interest over there
VI. I finally accepted there was no place for them and got rid of the three “Passion’s Kiss” bushes I’d shoved into the notch between the two bumps on the heart-shaped greenhouse – they just didn’t look good there, and there was nowhere else on the lot where I could put them (maybe in another build!)
VII. I changed the color of the left-hand “The Wall Flower” three-flowers wall decoration on the side of the greenhouse door (that one is now a trio of yellow, purpley-pink, and green flowers on blue stems) – side note, doing this caused the door to glitch out, so I’m starting to wonder if any time a door or window glitches out in this game, it’s because you changed something about a decoration that is TECHNICALLY too close to it. I shall have to see if hypothesis holds up in future builds!
VIII. I squeezed in the “Florist’s Dream Watering Can” (an old-fashioned watering can being used as a flowerpot) next to the little “gardening supplies cubby” by the big square planter in the greenhouse using ALT – it was a bit tricky to place, but I found a spot eventually!
IX. I added the Outdoor Retreat “MegaCooler” (the fancier-looking electronic one) in the “green lid” swatch to the side of the pool area, right next to the left-hand pole of the string of fancy star lights “archway” that leads into the eating area, then moved the Seasons water balloon bucket over so it was slightly in front of the right-hand pole, mirroring the cooler (I just felt like the gang needed a cooler, and that it made a little more sense nearer the pool than the barbecue area)
X. And, after feeling like the outdoor eating area needed SOMETHING to jazz it up, I went ahead and changed the tiles there from the plain terracotta tile to the fancier “Masterpiece Mosaic” version I had around the pool – I thought it would be too busy for the eating area, but without it, the place looks too plain, and I don’t really have room to chuck in some plants or anything without blocking some of the chairs (though I try, and found some Lovestruck planters that I like rather a lot – might have to try and use them in another build!)
B) Interior – I also made a few small-but-significant last-minute changes to the inside of the house:
I. I moved the knitted pride flag decoration I added to the left-hand hall so it was next to the bedroom door, rather than across from it, then adjusted that picture of the lady with the wacky blue hair on a yellow background so it was more properly centered on the opposite wall (I though the pride flag made more sense next to the door, and the picture just looked better centered)
II. I adjusted the placement of the big fancy “branch” triptych picture in the right-hand hall, outside Victor’s room, so it lined up a bit better with the other set of three pictures nearby (it just looked kinda weird otherwise)
III. I put a Werewolves “Moonwood Mill Print” picture featuring a butterfly in a silver frame on the bit of diagonal wall next to the grandfather clock next to Victor’s room (I’ve been wanting to put something on there for AGES, and a butterfly picture felt very appropriate given it’s right outside Victor’s personal space)
IV. I swapped out the “Panels of Perfection” multi-canvas painting of the winding river over the dining table in the kitchen for a giant picture of some chocolate chip pancakes and bacon from Dine Out – while I really liked that river picture, I thought the breakfast scene was just more fun, and went well with the “fried egg” rug under the dining table
V. And the biggest change – I moved the couch back slightly in the living room so I could fit in a coffee table! Because the longer I looked at it, the more I thought “the couch is too close to the TV and they need a coffee table.” After a bit of a search, I went with the Paranormal long oval coffee table in the purple swatch with the flowers painted on the top (the couch is from the same pack, so I figured I might as well match it), then – after an even longer search – plopped the base game “Feng Shui Planter” on top of it for a little centerpiece (it felt right to have SOMETHING on the table, and it was one of the few decorations short enough to not block the view of the TV)
And that was that! :D Well, except for going through the house taking pictures both normal and Sim’s-eye view (I am having SO much fun with the “Free Camera” mode now that I know how it works), and saving the whole lot to my Library (and goggling at just how many packs I used to build it – I threw a little bit of EVERYTHING into this house, seriously). I haven’t put it up on the Gallery YET, but if anyone expresses some interest in downloading it, I will. *nods* Anyway, I plan to do a proper photo post on tumblr in the near future to celebrate the house being 100% done (maybe I can start the draft of that sometime during this long weekend?), but for now, have a handful of pictures to whet your appetite:
Seriously, isn’t the bunny topiary paired with that flower cart so cute? :D Really glad I stumbled upon that. And really glad that I FINALLY managed to finish this house! I love you dearly, Polyheart OT3 House, but I’m ready to move onto new builds – and hopefully, at some point in the near future, Live Mode.
Writing: I did indeed start “The Van Dort Vacancy” today, typing up the first page of Chapter 1 right before my workout! :D This story opens much like the last one, with the trio preparing to have breakfast before getting on with the business of the day – only this time, they’re all at the MOJ, with Smiler’s mother Carol preparing the meal (“eggy toast,” the local version of French toast), the “business of the day” is taking Victor back to his house and Alice to her new living situation at Elder Gutknecht’s, and everything is from Victor’s perspective because, well, it’s a story focused on him and his situation post-Emily. About time he got to be the POV character! Though, honestly, I’m worried I’m a little rusty when it comes to portraying an accurate Victor – it’s been a while since I watched Corpse Bride, and spending the last few years working on the “Londerland Bloodlines” series means I’ve grown very used to writing in Alice’s POV first and foremost. (Which is probably why I defaulted to her POV for the first two VITD stories, honestly.) Hoping I can turn things around with this story when it comes to getting into his head – though I suppose finding the time to watch the movie, or at least some clips longer than half a minute, wouldn’t go amiss. Never hurts to have a refresher!
YouTube: Well, I was going to watch the GrayStillPlays video of the day, but I got a look at the art style of the game he was playing (Get Da Milk), and – uh – well, it seems a bit on the old “racist” side, so yeah, that didn’t happen. *sigh* Between this and me noticing what looked like more AI-generated thumbnails on his vids, I am starting to rethink watching Gray’s stuff… Fortunately, I had a back-up video I’d just added to my Watch Later – “All Skill Mastery Perks Explained And Rated | The Sims 4 Guide” by Petey Plays It! Petey giving us the skinny and his personal ratings out of five for each of the “skill mastery” perks your Sims can unlock while training high-level skills (or by buying and drinking a certain potion from the Aspiration Rewards Store) if you own Businesses & Hobbies. These perks grant the Sims who have them unique interactions (though some of the perks have very similar effects, with each one covering either a certain group of skills or certain types of objects), and if a Sim is an elder, they can pass them on to younger generations via a unique social interaction. Of the ones on offer, Petey particularly liked:
I. “Skillful Sleep” (which causes a ghostly projection of your Sim to appear and start wandering around training random skills while your Sim sleeps – you can’t control the projection, unfortunately, but Petey seemed to consider this an overall minor problem)
II. “Mental Muscle” (which makes Sims who have it ripped when training mental skills like logic or rocket science – Petey just thought this one was fun and commented that isn’t “hot nerd” the goal for people today?)
III. And “Spacebender” (which allows Sims who have it to teleport around pretty much at well – and who doesn’t like a good teleport option?)
By contrast, Petey particularly hated:
I. “Stellar Stamina” (which is SUPPOSED to reduce a Sim’s energy need decay as well as making them more resistant to exhaustion, but according to Petey’s testing, it doesn’t affect the need decay at all, so…)
II. And the very similar “Secret Spice” and “Final Touch” (which allows Sims to improve the quality of food and objects respectively – unfortunately, the latter can’t take something beyond “Excellent” quality, and the former, while it can make food “Impeccable,” is bugged because Sims can’t currently eat “Impeccable” food for some reason).
Yeah – most of the others feel in the “meh” or “probably useful under specific circumstances, but otherwise” categories. Bit of a shame, really, but then again, Sims 4 often has trouble living up to its potential. Still, if and when I do get this pack, now I have a better idea of what perks to go for with my Sims! Thanks Petey!
Workout: Got on the bike for the last time this particular week, pedaling through three more videos by Proxy Gate Tactician on good old Baldur’s Gate III:
A) “What Happens in Baldur's Gate 3 If Every Origin Character Dies?” – Proxy considering what happens if every Origin character (explicitly Astarion, Lae’zel, Shadowheart, Wyll, Gale, and Karlach; implicitly Tav and the Dark Urge as there was no mention of the custom player characters showing up) dies on the Nautiloid before the events of the game properly start (aka, before the ship crashes into Faerun)! The sequence of events they came up with after examining various bits of potential evidence in the game is as so:
I. Losiir (the githyanki warrior who shows up to play Lae’zel’s role in the Prologue should you pick her as your player character) manages to get to the helm and connect the nerves, but dies when the ship crashes because for whatever reason the Emperor refuses to save him (because you always find him dead on the beach post-prologue if you’re playing Lae’zel)
II. Either goblins searching the crash site or the Emperor (your nominal mind flayer ally in the game) looking for someone to take care of his precious artefact (containing Prince Orpheus, the githyanki who’s powers allow everyone in the party to remain free of Absolute influence) get the artefact to Minthara, the only tadpoled companion available, who takes it back to Moonrise and gives it to Ketheric Thorm, helps advance his various goals (including kidnapping and tadpoling poor Isobel and securing the Nightsong, Aylin), then gets betrayed and turned into a zombie
III. Ketheric then takes it to a meeting between him and his co-conspirators in the Absolute scheme, Gortash and Orin, and gives it to Gortash for study, who takes it back to Baldur’s Gate with him
IV. Ketheric and Orin then attempt to betray Gortash – Ketheric hoping to overwhelm him with the army he’s gathered under the Absolute’s banner, and Orin by sending Bhaalite assassins after him – but he manages to survive and instead betray them (using the fact that he too can control the tadpoled Isobel to force Ketheric to surrender or see her hurt, and using his popularity with the people and his Steel Watch defenders to overwhelm Orin and the rest of the murder cult)
V. The Absolute starts trying to break free, and the Emperor keeps it from killing Gortash when he goes to confront it; he proposes an alliance, and Gortash accepts
VI. The pair, along with their allies, manage to defeat and subdue the Absolute to their will, and thus all of Baldur’s Gate as well – but, rather than ruling as equals, as the Emperor promised, the Emperor takes the throne for himself and tells Gortash he can be his lead general; Gortash, pissed, attempts to kill him, but the Emperor manages to control him and make him kill himself
VII. The brainwashed citizens of Baldur’s Gate are forced to fight the githyanki armies trying to stop the Emperor, and a new Ithillid Empire dawns...as the Absolute had quietly planned
So, basically, if everyone dies, shit sucks. Unsurprising, really. XD
B) “Unveiling Baldur's Gate 3's Top 10 Bizarre Spells” – Proxy’s take on some of the weirdest, and often worst, spells in the game! Includes such things as “Shapechanger,” a high-level Transmutation Wizard spell that allows you to turn into a fairly useless blue jay for five turns (at least it doesn’t consume a spell slot); “Grasping Vine,” a buggy summoned vine that can pull people toward it – but can also apparently move and have weapons equipped (I don’t think THAT was intended – also it only has three hit points unless you make the game HARDER; it’s possible this has been patched though); “Divine Intervention,” a one-time-use only Cleric spell that can instantly drop a load of AOE damage on enemies, instantly heal and restore all the spell slots in your party, give you a chest full of good loot, or grant you a magical mace (one of the good spells, it’s just really hard to figure out what you want to spend it on); and “Enthrall,” a level 2 spell for Warlocks and Bards that reduces someone’s cone of vision and makes them look at you...but sometimes it doesn’t work and it only works outside of combat apparently (which really sucks because I was going to pick it as an appropriate thematic spell for Smiler, but if it isn’t actually that useful...maybe I’ll see if there’s mods that make it better). Some interesting stuff here, and a good primer on some spells that you maybe shouldn’t bother with – and a couple you definitely should.
C) “Finding the Hidden Fail-Safes in Baldur's Gate 3” – Proxy checking out how many “failsafe” (aka “you killed the person who was SUPPOSED to do this thing, so here’s the backup character we made to keep the game going”) characters Larian stuck into the game SPECIFICALLY to make sure that the party you have with the refugee tieflings at your camp after killing all the leaders of the goblins who want to raid them goes off as planned! Turns out there’s a lot – not only does every tiefling in the grove who attends the party have a backup should they all die before the party, there’s TWO backups for leader Zevlor – if he dies, one of the other tieflings in the grove, Asharak, takes over his position; if Asharak also dies, a new tiefling scout named Cerys (who usually only shows up in Act II) arrives to take care of things and kick off the party. Proxy also discovered the existence of “Gerson The Bent” while they were doing all this – a tiefling scout specifically designed to show up and report to any of your party who is, for some reason, hanging out in the grove while the rest of your team goes and murders all the goblin leaders, that said goblin leaders are dead and the way is clear, triggering a sneaky loading screen that allows all the tieflings to move to new locations in the grove in preparation for the party. Neat! :) The one downside was that, at the time the video was filmed (Patch 3 took care of at least one of these issues), once your character arrived in Act II and found Cerys and some of the other refugees at Last Light Inn, Cerys would act like she’d never met you and that Zevlor was still alive, if missing, and all of the “replacement” tieflings would be gone. Probably because none of the developers had really expected someone to go through and methodically kill all those tieflings just to see if they had backups. XD But still, it was a very neat video – really emphasizes the care Larian put into making the game!
*nods* Yeah, that all worked out pretty well, honestly. And now I am going to wrap things up for the night before getting to bed -- after making sure my alarm is OFF, thanks. Tomorrow is a Cleaning Saturday With Laundry (meeeh), though at least that means I get to listen to my beloved Oxventure Presents: Blades In The Dark while I clean. Other things I hope to accomplish are perhaps playing some more Sims 4 (I have an idea for a house remodel in Copperdale to help prepare for a future save file I've been pondering), working some more on "The Van Dort Vacancy," and keeping up with my Subs and maybe some more CaFae Latte. We'll see what the day brings! Night all!
