Mostly Complete

I guess this post contains spoilers of sorts if you haven't done the quests yet.  If you don't want to know  anything at all about what happens in the Skyrim DLC then you should probably stop reading right now. 

Lord Harkon is dead and Skyrim is saved from eternal darkness.  So, aside from a couple of side quests, Dawnguard is over and done with. I've had the DLC disabled in my game ever since I started a new character that, on returning to Whiterun after killing the first dragon at the Western Watchtower, walked in on a vampire raid inside the gates that had already killed Adrianne Avenicci and the annoying Nazeem.  Then she went to Riverwood and arrived in the middle of another raid.  And then to Whiterun stables to use the cart to go elsewhere and there were more vampires.  She was only about Level 10 and not much use at all against them.  Thankfully, now I can head back to the towns without a rash of vampire attacks taking out my townsfolk. 

Also, it happened a while ago but Miraak is dead too and the Dovakiin learnt to fly dragons.  So, aside from a couple of side quests, Dragonborn is over and done with.  I will miss the bizarre world of Apocrypha, the endless library of forbidden knowledge.  Always made me feel like Alice in the original Wonderland (definitely not the Disney version).  Guess I can use this stack of Black Books to go back if I choose.

And I've built all three houses available through Hearthfire, and made Thane in the three holds, as well as adopted two children.  So, that's that all the Skyrim DLC mostly complete I guess.  Time to get back to the main quest. 

(Will) Wright Reading Room

And so to Sims ... and back to Riverview to try out some of my new store content with some farming families.  I started a game there after Pets came out since Riverview seems to suit the animal theme so well (and Appaloosa Plains took so long to load that I gave up).  I made a start on revamping the town centre back then but ran out of steam with the library and art gallery as they needed a major rebuild.  Nothing from my lot library would fit so it was start from scratch when I went back.

Anyway, here's my update of the (Will) Wright Reading Room, that I've been working on the last couple of days.  It borrows heavily from the library I created in January for Moonlight Falls (but on a smaller scale).

Roof terrace with quiet spots for reading and writing.  

And on the inside, it's pretty much the typical library space.  

Download (Will) Wright Reading Room

http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=7203969

(oh, yes, it appears I can now upload to the Exchange)

100% Complete

Thanks Lara.  It was awesome ... but now it's over.  There's no more adventure to be had.  No more treasure to be found.  No more tombs to raid. 

Fools Again

It must be April because the fools have come out of the woodwork again.  EA's COO posted a bizarrely defensive and unapologetic We Can Do Better statement in anticipation of 'winning' Consumerist's Worst Company in America award for the second year running.  

Granted EA are not actually the worst company in general terms (because there are plenty that are far worse for society as a whole) but this poll is all about how consumers see the world.  I can only agree with Consumerist when they say ... 

"Following last year’s surprise Worst Company In America victory by Electronic Arts, there was hope that the video game giant would get the message: Stop treating your customers like human piggy banks, and don’t put out so many incomplete and/or broken games with the intent of getting your customers to pay extra for what they should have received in the first place. And yet, here we are again, with EA becoming the first company to ever win a second Golden Poo from Consumerist readers."

Yes, EA, you can do better ... much, much better (since it appears you can do no worse).  Get the message this time because this one comes from your customers (yet again) ... and you want them to continue to give you all that money you love so much, don't you?  Criticising a poll for being rigged because you don't like the result is a bit lame, by the way.  Most importantly, make sure 'doing better' doesn't mean scoring a hat trick.

Strangely Lucky

Finally started a game in Lucky Palms to try it out since I've had it sitting there for a while.  I was looking for somewhere to test my game before going back to a saved game and doing more building.

I don't think Lucky Palms does the desert theme as well as Al Simhara, even allowing for the different country and the lack of interesting bits like pyramids, tombs and sphinxes.  Whilst it's big and the layout is good with plenty of space for a variety of lots from the expansions, the desert landscape looks like an after-thought.  As usual with EA worlds, the standard lots are fairly average with their lack of attention to detail or design.  But there are a couple of areas that are surprisingly good like the docks area and the park next to the wishing well.

Overall, it made me nostalgic for Strangetown from TS2, which was much smaller but at least had some interesting spots to explore ... and some far more interesting pre-mades.  I hate how the pre-mades in TS3 worlds that are recreations of favourites from TS2 share very little but a name with the originals. Anyway, I don't think I'll be hanging out in Lucky Palms for very long.

Here's my work-in-progress down at the docks ... 

Update: You can't be that surprised, Mares.  I did say that I wasn't keen on the desert landscape back when I got it.  Maybe living not that far from a real, but very different, desert landscape has affected my expectations!  Anyway, thank you for the congrats on 10,000.  

10,000

Pageviews, that is.  At least according to Blogger.

So what else does Blogger have to say?  Most visitors are from the US, UK or Australia and come here via Vidkid20's Sim Lair using Firefox or Chrome.  Incidentally, there are still plenty of people searching for tickling in Skyrim and Sims 3 Medieval ... and now Sim City.  A few looking for my builds (thank you).  Should get back to those, I guess.