We need to talk about Heirlooms!
One feature I was really looking forward to with the Life & Death EP, was the possibility to set Heirlooms as part of a last will. I've not seen much posting regarding this, and I think we could focus a bit more on it. Maybe most of us went busy with funeral events, and saved will reading and heirlooms for later?
Heirlooms opens for rather cool family stories, especially for those playing legacies or at least a couple generations. Initially I thought of heirlooms from the view of the giver and heir, but now I tend to see it more from the perspective of the Heirloom itself - the item. Because when any item is given Heirloom status, it will start a brand new journey - as an item.
Heirlooms keep track on their history. Pointing at it will give info on previous owner(s). The current owner can even claim that the specific item should gain more value because of it's Heirloom status. The Heirloom allows a sim to memorize the former owner - and this can be affected by what relation they had.
If I got this right, each sim can give Heirloom status to max 5 items (10 if having the Materialist trait). Such a limit sure makes it quite exclusive. And, sims can start making Heirlooms long before they hit the final life stage. At least from teenage stage, but I read something even involving kids. Maybe you need to be a teenager to start working on your Will. If you change your mind, you can start over or remove that one item by selling it.
The only category I found not included (this far) is rugs. Clicking them will simply give the options as if it was the floor you clicked. There are some very nice carpets that it would make sense passing on to a certain heir, but let's focus on all the possibilities instead - nearly anything in the catalogue is included. Even a wall crack can be set as Heirloom... Not sure who would do that, but there might be a nice story behind it - I can only imagine the main heir's face during the will reading :)
However, an Heirloom won't always be the largest and most golden object. They can be minor items that hold a certain age and story - at least in your imagination. How about the toddler potty that Bella Goth used as a toddler? Or Malcolm Landgraab's favorite teddy bear toy? Items from most categories can be set as Heirloom. I guess items that were achieved through hard work, and not just bought from the catalog might be a popular Heirloom. And of course whatever was successfully crafted.
I'll focus on Heirlooms and last Will for my elders, to start with. Playing rotationally, it will take quite a while to get to the Will Reading, anyway.
I would love to read about other simmers' Will Reading and Heirloom ideas and stories!
