First Dates & Rushing Things

Previously on the Silverdust Legacy:

• Alice learns the violin and improves remarkably
• Alice gets halfway through her young adult life

Let's See What Happens Next:

When TS4 first came out people were complaining about how hard the relationships were to nurture and have them grow. This was within the first week of play and there is a learning curve to learning how to make your Sims fall in love quickly and simply.

My first test subject was some red headed sim whose name I don't remember anymore. I do know that it took meeting and failing four other sims before Alice found a sim that would accept her affections. I thought for sure this sim would be the one for her. And the interactions for dating were so adorable that I couldn't help myself from taking a couple of pictures. The first kiss interaction that you get is so adorable and awkward. It reminds me of teenagers and how everybody does end up acting like teens whenever they get their first kiss with a new somebody. It is always a little odd and thrilling at the same time. It is the little details that make these sims feel so much more lifelike than their TS3 counterparts and I love it!

I didn't really get pictures of stuff that happened before the date because I didn't realize that the action of dating took you to a different spot. So, I had set everything up to happen at the nightclub, but luckily the lounge in Oasis Springs looked really nice for the shots above. I was mostly taking these pictures for the memory album so none of the shots are really good.

I was surprised to get a reward for having a silver date though. I was not trying to get the best date ever because for whatever reason, I had decided to take things slow even though Alice was inching her way into adulthood. The red rose looked rather nice on her table, but she refused to eat on it until I adjusted it to be at the corner. You really need bigger tables to set decorations on, but I was just so happy that I finally got enough money to get her a table that I didn't really care. She lived in a two room shack for a while.

Technically, I broke the Legacy Challenge rules by creating and playing with the Newbie Family and the Pleasant/Burb households for a little while. But I don't really care about that detail because I have aging on only for the active household. What I did find surprised me though. Even though you are playing with other households, your sims still gain relationships with other sims when you aren't playing them. This includes romantic relationships.

And that was how Alice met Conrad Gomez. I figured going on a little date with him wouldn't hurt, just so I could see what other sims were out there before committing Alice to a lifetime of monogamy.

It turns out that they were able to hit it off and flirt with each other so well because Conrad was a music lover. That's when I had the epiphany that traits really do matter in this game. The traits determine how they act and how they respond to other sims. Because Alice was a snob, she had a really hard time relating to other people that weren't snobs, but because she was in the Entertainment career and had a growing skill in the violin, that helped Alice relate to Conrad. I could queue up the interaction to talk about music stuff for hours with him and Conrad wouldn't get bored. It was a match made in heaven and it made their relationship grow very quickly and organically. So, if you are still having trouble with relationships a month in, look at their traits and find out what their interests are via skills.

So, that was when I decided that Alice and Conrad were going to get together instead of whomever the redhead was up in the top pictures. I hoped that Conrad felt the same way about Alice, so I had her propose boyfriend status to him and he said yes! They got so excited and kissed afterwards. It was just so adorable! They said goodbye to each other at the bar and I took Alice back home to plan a romantic proposal at the park on the weekend since she had to work for the next three days and there just wasn't enough time to get her happy and ready for a date after work. Next time there will be talk about engagements, weddings, and working on getting that second generation!