I thought I would create this thread as a variant of “What happened in Your Game Today?”
Serial and non-serial updates are welcome, but I know that merfolk are in other people’s games. Are they vendors? Are they playing the Violin or Guitar just because? What do you see your merfolk doing while playing another household in Rotation?
While I’m telling my story, I often check on my merfolk as they wander through the neighborhood.
Tip: The Merfolk don’t have to be your played household and they can even be a premade townie!
My Only Rule: Keep the updates focused on merfolk!
The Zalrian Pod has a long history with Damion that isn’t very good.
Arihi outsmarted Damion, becoming a mermaid to be with Calum without Damion getting anything. Arihi is the only one that got everything she wanted without paying the price for Damion’s Magic. So, it’s possible that gave Damion greater motivation to go after her son.
Damion failed to hold onto Kemps’s Voice. Kemps did go to Damion on behalf of Kali and was manipulated by the human witch. So, Kali might also be the one to blame for Alex’s situation…
Alex is essentially permanently mute because of Damion, who likely wanted his voice because he couldn’t keep Kemps’s Voice. Again, Damion probably wouldn’t want the Voice of Kemps’s Nephew if Kemps didn’t go to him in the first place. Damion had a lot of layered motivations to take Alex’s voice. And these motivations are why he may never willingly return it. Too many Zalrian Merfolk escaped Damion’s clutches, and Damion has the chance to actually keep Alex’s voice indefinitely. That might cost Damion later…
Damion took Stevie’s ability to love. Granted, he was looking for an escape from heartache after his Charmer’s Lullaby was rejected.
Damion also took Kari’s ability to love. She also traded that for the confidence to be more charismatic and become popular.
Damion took Ukupanipo’s free will and turned him into a sea monster who’s only purpose is to do to his bidding.
I don’t think any merfolk are upset about Evil-Alex’s fate, but Damion did the same thing to him he did to Ukupanipo… only he went so far as to transform him into the thing he hated most before turning him into a sea monster…
But, Caleb isn’t on bad terms with any of the merfolk and as the Patriarch he can keep Damion from making more enemies or causing problems for other merfolk.
Anyways, the only pod that isn’t living in Zalia Grotto is the Vatore Pod, and I’m pretty proud of how I developed their home to make more grottos for future merfolk.
A fun discovery, you can have multiple homes on a single lot and each home can have its own unique lot traits AND lot challenges. This is huge! There are certain lot traits that affect the entire neighborhood and other traits can be difficult to choose between. It’s possible to have a single lot support several different combinations of things. I created 2 npc grottos for Kari and Stevie, so now I have the neighborhood set up for teens to appear and I can visit their grottos for alternative traits when doing things in the Zalia Grotto. I can also hire Stevie as a bartender for the common area all my merfolk will share!
I ultimately decided to turn the lot my Zalrian Pod Moved to into a settlement for all my merfolk. I'll probably write something more detailed later. But for now, here are the teasers:
So, one of the modders I support is Serinion, and they make some amazing mods. Some things are simple, but they make a world of a difference. Other things are functional, and the functional items will always be included in the builds my merfolk live in.
The 3 big mods I use from Serinion are the coral reef beds my merfolk sleep on, the coral reef chairs my merfolk sit on, and the debug coral that comes in different colors.
Aside from the coral bed Kemps is sleeping on, I also use the castaway under sea toy chest, castaway seashell toys, and the castaway kids activity table for the twins. I honestly haven't found anything more fitting for merchildren under the sea. In the spoiler, I caught Kemps laughing in his sleep. He was dreaming about dragons. :D
I was taking some screenshots of other rooms, and when I got to the sleeping area for the twins, I noticed that Zeph woke up. Dylan wasn't far behind his twin. He almost woke up at the exact same time. I guess Dylan decided to sleep in a bit later, but not by much.
Alex and Zeph were the first to join their dad dancing.
Note:I try to edit out the lowest part of my merfolk's tails because their simulated underwater environment isn't actually underwater. I feel like the clipping breaks the illusion. I'm going to include these in the extra and because it was too cute of an interaction between Alex and his little brothers to delete.
And that's when Dylan joined the dancing. I swear. The twins are extremely connected on some deeper level. It was like Dylan woke up knowing that his brother already woke up, and he joined the fun with him so naturally. The two of them are truly inseparable.
I doubled checked the sim profiles of both Dylan and Zephyr while playing Alex. It turns out that Alex Adores BOTH of his little brothers. I saw him get the sentiment for Dylan, but it seems he's just as protective of Zephyr too. I wanted to get a screenshot of their sim profiles, but the game appears to not let me do that on the pc. Might be a difference in how screen captures work.
The family fun aside, I discovered that I could not have multiple families living on the same lot if the home was a waterfront lot. So, I moved the Zalrians to Journey's End and renamed it Zalia Grotto. I have plans to have Dylan and Zephyr as well as their Cousins to move into the grottos across from their parents when they get older. For Alex, I think I'll move him out of the main pod grotto when he gets older. He'll still be in the Zalrian Pod, but he'll have a home that isn't entirely under the sea.
At least, that's where my thoughts are headed. Depending on how the story progresses, and especially when he gets his voice back, that might change. Alex can only live somewhat on land if he remains without his voice. As long as he's in the Zalrian Pod, he will be subject to Kemps's Patriarchal Powers.
Anyways, it was important to me to make it look like the main home belonged on land since that was the only place I could build it the way I wanted to. I will need to travel to another lot to make everything work the way I want it too for the story, but that's not entirely a bad thing. It also means more time spent building!
The exterior is still kinda plain, but it's got a good shape to work with.
I miscalculated the time in game, so I might use this as a chance to experiment with a few things and work on making progress on a few different things. I may be sharing a few extras before the next chapter. Time will tell.
Thanks to a bit of magic from the Realm of Magic, my merfolk can enjoy certain electronics under the sea. Alex watched the twins play a game, and I thought his reaction to their game was so funny! It's one thing to see your sims play the video game, but it's another see your sims react to other sims playing a game.
@GalacticGal Thank you for being so understanding. I will be caught up with your story soon, I hope. The thread it gets shared in moves so fast that it becomes easy to fall behind.
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On a side note, I just realized something.
Ember wants to restore Alex's Voice. Alex exchanged his voice for immunity from Kemps's influence. If Ember restores Alex's voice, that would likely also mean that Alex's Deal with Damion would be undone. The end result could be a greater rift between Alex and Ember because it's Alex's Deal with Damion that allows him to go on land without first going to Kemps. Ember might have a goal that could make it harder for them to be together...
Definitely a lot of story potential that comes with Kemps making the decision to revoke the shapeshifting power from his pod.
@Metior_Ice I find that I have to write up what happened in my gameplay, within a day or two, lest it fade away. I'm also very tired of accidentally missing an Accolade that's been awarded. So far, this go-around, I only have one chapter that doubled up on the Best Song given. Phew. Also, don't rush on my account. I'm a patient person, I have to be given who I am, as in I take my own sweet time doing things, sometimes. LOL Not anybody special. Just me. ;)
@GalacticGal I’m itching to share the next chapter I’m working on, but I’m trying to make things current so I can continue playing the game.
I typically do the new gameplay after the chapter, and the last time I played, I took sooo many screenshots.
Been busy writing and catching up with all the stories I’m following. Progress has been steady.
But, I think I’ve decided. Dylan and Zephyr will have very few instances where they will have a human form, if at all. I think, keeping them in their mermadic form, is something I want to do, and thanks to MCCC, I can actually make this happen.
On the console, I couldn’t make sims leave a lot once they appeared, so I couldn’t even entertain the idea. So, I can keep things more consistent with the story.
The Expanded Mermaid Mod will also help, and I’ve been looking at more poses I want to try.
I just need to finish my next chapter. It helps me keep track of the story to alternate between writing chapters and gameplay. That’s why I’m still in the spring season of my current save!
"Metior_Ice;c-18343523" wrote: @GalacticGal right now, these are just some of the ideas circling through my head, but the more I think about the idea, the more I like it.
Apologies for the edit. I found an auto correct error and could not ignore it.
Don't apologize. I edit my stuff a lot. Things I missed prior to hitting post comment that come glaring back at me. LOL No worries.
