Forum Discussion

Simmerville's avatar
Simmerville
Seasoned Ace
9 days ago

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! 

    • Simmerville's avatar
      Simmerville
      Seasoned Ace

      Ah, that's smart! Thanks for sharing. Especially the nectar rack might be of interest to many of my future heirs :)

    • elliebreton's avatar
      elliebreton
      Seasoned Ace

      Ooh... does this mean we can put stuff in a box which cannot be designated an heirloom and get it passed on that way? (Such as photos). That would be awesome. My sim also has a wooden sculpture which cannot be an heirloom (I think it was made when he was playful maybe) so I will have to try it out with that too.

  • The kind of things I want to leave as heirlooms are not necessarily valuable in money but valuable because they are personal and bring memories - so, the scouting awards my child sim gained, old family photos, a cheerleading award, awards gained from reaching certain levels at work, the tiger plushie from For Rent, the tentacle gained from defeating MOTHER etc - things that not every sim gains in their lifetime.

  • One of the few things that don't seem to be able to be left as heirlooms is photographs. I am very disappointed by this. It is one of the main things I would have thought would be passed on to another generation so that they can see what great-great grandma used to look like.

    • Simmerville's avatar
      Simmerville
      Seasoned Ace

      Oh, that is a surprise! But thinking of it, most of my houses have so many photos, they are far beyond the limit of 5, and besides, each photo is not very valuable (max §30?), and it is very easy to create copies of existing photos. But yes, if there is just one very old photo with a certain story it would be nice if we could give it heirloom status. Hoping paintings will work better...

  • EgonVM's avatar
    EgonVM
    Seasoned Ace

    Some more observations.

    1. Complete that Soul's Journey, because reaching the Quite a Journey tier allows your sim to make more Heirlooms.
    2. In wills, sims can pass on other sims' heirlooms, even when they're alive. Could be a nice way to return the special childhood toys to the children...
    3. Speaking of children, they can also designate heirloom objects. They just can't inherit those.
    4. All objects that can be made into heirlooms have the Heirloom Eligible tag in build mode's description.
    5. Not all crafted objects can be made into a heirloom. Photos for example. Paintings for example can.
  • It's worth mentioning that CC items (at least those created before the L&D patch) can  not be set as Heirlooms as part of the new in-game feature.

    In my game I use lots of CC for items which I consider of higher value - like old Medieval age objects or royal regalia and deco objects covered with gold. Old paintings and other costly art objects, too. I imagine some very old furniture is valuable thanks to their age. I keep notes of how these items were passed down through families, not included with any in-game feature, though, but note on the side. I made my own system where items (CC) are already registered by me as heirlooms. These items can  not be covered by the new Will system either. Because of this I will see the in-game Heirlooms system as a different routine coving more personal items.  

  • More Heirlooms Mod by Zerbu

    By default, a Sim can have a maximum of 5 heirlooms. Sims who have reached the “Quite a Journey” stage of their Soul’s Journey can have 8, and Sims with the Materialistic trait can have 10 (these don’t stack, so the Soul’s Journey perk is basically useless for Materialistic Sims).

    This mod triples the amount of heirlooms Sims can normally have - to 30 with the Materialistic trait and 15 without - and allows Sims who have reached the stage in the Soul’s Journey to have unlimited heirlooms.

    https://zerbu.tumblr.com/post/765964718909292544/the-sims-4-life-and-death-mod-more-heirlooms