What I Played Today: February 21

Guild Wars 2, Pixel People, Sims 3

I am inching really close to level 80 in Guild Wars 2. I finally helped those dumb frogs and now I have to go through the sewer and find some monster? I don't have time for no monsters. I'm busy grinding food!

I downloaded this goofy game on my phone, Pixel People! It combines all the obnoxious constant clicking elements of Farmville with the combination and discover of Doodle God! It sure does fill the time!

Also realized I hadn't played Sims 3 in a long time. So after a ton of updating, I turned it back and looked at how ridiculous the character I created looked. I tried go to a bar, and it didn't work, because some people don't think I'm cool. I'm cool! I then remembered that maybe I had a mode that slowed down time, and had forgotten how to use it, then I quit! Sims 3! It is a video game!

What I Played Today: May 24

Sims 3

I played for about 21 sim hours today. I spent the day doing pretty much nothing, doing some gig work, eating some pancakes, buying some books, and waiting for the club to open, because my fake sim self is all about the club.

What I Played Today: May 10

Sims 3

I played more Sims 3, mainly because I am apparently in the mood in blatant escapism. This game causes a lot of things to just go right; relationships develop easily, jobs come quickly, opportunity for change is everywhere. Somehow I managed, through a bit of senseless flirting at a sports bar, to become a minor celebrity, known about town and able to get into the cooler bars (which is good, because it is so hard to get into bars). Now to utilize that notority to trick non-celebrities to do things, after I use my celebrity girlfriend.

One interesting thing I noticed about the booze is that certain kinds will actually change the Sim’s traits, making him a party animal and also insane. So my guy had a radically different personality for an evening, which caused some interesting dynamics when the morning came. The traits are kinda wonky, as one of them will occasionally force the Sim to randomly argue and shout at whoever he is talking to, which completely tanked a relationship I was trying to form.

Oh, I also found a mod that slowed down how quickly the clock ran, which really improved gameplay, allowing me to actually get a significant amount of stuff done during a given day. It feels about right, although sleeping takes an absurd amount of time.

What I Played Today: May 9

Sims 3

I somehow acquired a couple of Sims 3 expansions, and now I’ve gotten around to playing them. The one I was most interested in because it actually started to meld the experience towards a life I want to be living is the Late Night expansion, which adds a very San Francisco-like town to live in, apartment living, and a lot of bars and cultural hotspots. I started a very obvious self-insertion character and had him living it up in the big city, partying the evenings away and always being tired. One of the jobs is a private investigator, which really frees up the character to just adventure like crazy, because there are no set times, you will just occasionally be asked to take on a case, which always ends with a healthy chuck of change and a chance of a promotion. It’s a good choice when you just want to see what is out there without worrying about responsibilities and stuff, although it is harder to keep your needs steady.

The world still spins too fast though, and there are a lot of kooky things, like the time my character got stuck on the second floor of a building for four in-game hours because he couldn’t figure out how to use the elevator. And when I’m trying to have my virtual avatar pick up a floozy at the bar and he can’t seal the deal because a) it takes over an hour of game time to buy her a drink, and b) his growing exhaustion meant he needed to hit a bed post-haste, and with not enough time, it was very likely the Sim would be going there alone. There has got to be a way to slow down time in these games if you want to; I’d rather play a really interesting day than a fairly dull week in which I’m just fulfilling my basic needs.

What I Played Today: April 12

AaaaAAaa, Sims 3

I jumped off a few buildings today, this game is still confounding to me. It seems really great, but the controls are bendy and I still don’t know how to stick the landings. I’m also mad at this game for updating what has felt like a half-dozen times in the past couple of weeks, because Steam does so automatically when you sign in without bothering to tell you, which tanks my broadband because for some reason my Internet doesn’t understand how to multitask. And when I found out all these updates were for this lame Portal 2 potato ARG, I just got grumpier, because it meant it wasn’t a substantial or worthwhile upgrade. (Potatoes? Seriously?) But I did draw my attention to this game and got me to try playing it again, so…

Also booted up Sims 3, because I remember I went through a lot of effort to get it when it came out, and then completely forgot about it. My previous games were wiped when I switched computers, so I started a new town, and immediately grumped out when I found the customization options lacking. There were just not enough styles available, and every face looked the same to me, which I found terrifying.