The Lazlo Legacy—Harmony 3.1

I admit that when it comes to playing the Sims, I can be a control freak regarding Sim marriages and babies. My favorite part of the game is seeing how the genetics play out through the generations, so I am always eager to see the nooboos. Take Guardian and Leeann for example. I picked her out when she was only a toddler and stalked the poor girl until she married Guardian. I’ve already picked out mates for Harmony, Grace, Summer, River, Leaf, Charity, Hope, and Serendipity (don’t worry Honor, Love, and Courage, I’ll find someone for you too). I’m too impatient to let the game play itself out and see who a Sim’s wishes and circumstances lead to as a mate.

This week was a brutal reminder that the best laid plans often go awry. If last week was an up close and personal experience with the Punishment System, this week was even more so with the Romantic Reputation System. Unfortunately, my Simmies weren’t the only ones who got their hearts broken.

We start the week off with Harmony aging up to young adult. She had a birthday party, but for some reason, I didn’t take any pictures.

I want to see Harmony get married, too, Fortune. And I want an extra slot in the house for Guardian and Leeann’s baby, so Harmony is moving out.

Harmony moves in with her boyfriend, Alan Murphy, and his family on Alan’s young adult birthday. Even though I moved her in, I told myself they wouldn’t get engaged or married until one of them rolled the wish.

Surely, it wouldn’t take long for that to happen, right?

Alan lives with his dad, Colin; Colin’s girlfriend, Bree Villareal; and their daughter, Lorelei.

Colin, Fortune, and I are all on the same page.

Neither Alan nor Harmony had rolled the wish to get married yet, but Bree did. Colin popped the question.

Colin and Bree stole the show this week. I like this couple. I see them as the mature couple who have been through all of the relationship drama and are just ready to settle down with their true soul mate.

In case you were wondering, Strict Family Values is still in tact. Harmony and Alan will sleep in separate beds until they tie the knot.

The next day is Graduation Day for Alan. The entire family gets the day off work to attend the ceremony at City Hall.

Colin autonomously brought baby Lorelei to the ceremony. I would show more pictures, but I didn’t realize the family would spin into their Formal Attire, so both Harmony and Bree showed up in their wedding dresses.

Colin rolled the wish for a Bachelor party, so I thought why not? I haven’t thrown a Bachelor or Bachelorette party yet, and I was curious to see how it went.

Colin calls up some friends and zips down to Irish Green. The guy in the blue-striped sweatshirt is the famous Harry Chesterman.

Colin seems to be one of those laid back parents, so he introduces Alan to his first taste of nectar.

Guardian crashed the party, and I realize he’s wearing the same top as Harry Chesterman.

Nectar and pizza? Is that all there is to a Bachelor party? Where are the party dancers? It then dawned on me that I hadn’t planned an actual Bachelor party. In the party planning screen, I selected Destination party. That explains why teenagers were available on the invite list. I would have expected them to be greyed out. Doh! I have to do this all over again.

So the next night, I plan an actual Bachelor Party at the Dog River Bar and Hotel. This is another lot that comes with Harmony. I know I’ve definitely picked Bachelor party this time because teens are greyed out in the invitation menu, and the only attire choice is “Dress to Impress.”

Colin even gets a nifty outfit to show that he’s the groom.

Only Alan could pull off this monstrosity!

While the boys are partying it up, Lorelei has aged up, so Bree works with her on her toddler skills.

Colin’s oldest son, Gary, shows up to the party. You can tell he and Alan are brothers by that chin. Gary lives in his own home with his wife Dalma.

This is Mark Irvine, Jessica’s dad. He is by far the most stylish elder I have ever seen. Not bad looking either, he must have been something in his day. (Out of curiosity, I checked him out in CAS with Master Controller and discovered that he is actually a mature adult.)

And yes, the party dancers do show up. Had I known they were going to be cheerleaders, I would have had the party at Irish Green again.

The party dancers seem to be too much for my puritanical Lazlo men. They head for the door. (Why is Fortune always scowling?)

Fortune and Guardian were hasty. The guys had more fun with the fizzy nectar than with the party dancers. Unfortunately, this was the high point of Alan’s week.

When Alan got home, Harmony accused him of cheating.

Alan and I were both like, “Uh, what?” I have had my eyes on Alan the whole time since Harmony moved in. He has not cheated on her at all.

I had to consult Alan’s scrapbook. Notice he now has the “Cheater” reputation. He also has seven active romances. I’ve done some research and found out that EAxis has borked the Romantic Reputation system. Having more than one romantic interest at a time is considered cheating. Excuse me, EA? Sims have no commitments to Romantic Interests. That’s why there is a Go Steady option. Alan obtained all of these Romantic Interests through Twallan’s Story Progression. Every few minutes or so, the mod randomly pairs up two Sims. It’s not completely random. I do believe Twallan factors in traits and zodiac signs to determine compatibility, but the point is the same. Alan did not seek out these relationships on his own free will. The mod “pushed” him into those relationships.

I’m not even upset that the mod created these relationships. I am upset at EA’s implementation of jealousy. Calling up or inviting a Romantic Interest over isn’t always a booty call. How else is he supposed to use the “Let’s Just be Friends” interaction? (Sidebar: If breaking up with a Romantic Interest is called “Let’s Just be Friends,” I wish they had called breaking up with a steady, “It’s Not You, it’s Me”). Anyway, it should only be considered cheating if he performs a Romantic Interaction with someone other than his partner. And someone who doesn’t have a committed partner should be able to perform romantic interactions with whomever he or she pleases. *Sigh*  Ok, rant over.

I’m afraid this is going to be a problem for my other Lazlos as well. Two of Alan’s romantic interests are River’s girlfriend, Lil’ Piddy and Leaf’s girlfriend, Jessica Irvine. And both of them have romantic interest with Grace’s boyfriend, Sean Bumgarner, and Summer’s boyfriend, Randell Albright. What a mess! The only one who managed to stay out of this love decagon is Hope’s boyfriend, Barry Chesterman, because Hope nabbed him as soon as he aged up. (No, you haven’t missed anything, I’ve played ahead.) It’s too late for Alan and Harmony, but for Lil’/River, Jessica/Leaf, Randell/Summer and Sean/Grace, I’m going to clear out all of their other Romantic Interests with Master Controller. I’m also putting their households on Stasis so that they don’t develop new romantic interests when I’m not looking. 

I digress. Poor Alan is going to have to work to get back into Harmony’s good graces. He’s also going to save up Lifetime Happiness Points for the Clean Slate reward.

Alan tries to smooth things over with flowers, but Harmony wants no parts of it.

Poor guy. I really feel for him. He didn’t do anything wrong. He’s just a victim of random dice rolls. (I know I could also fix their relationship with Master Controller, but I’m intrigued by the challenge of Alan having to  woo Harmony back. It should make for an interesting story line.)

He tells Harmony to calm down, and that was the wrong move. Calm down? She’s just getting warmed up!

Look at Miss Thang with her hand on her hip. I think she’s got some sistah girl in her! (Sorry about the stink cloud, though.) Had Alan actually cheated on her, I would have been quite proud of her.

Alan begs Harmony for forgiveness, but she won’t listen.

I can’t even try to mend things from Harmony’s end. The game won’t let me perform any romantic interactions because “Harmony is too upset to be romantic with Alan.” Though I am frustrated that I can’t mend the situation, I do admire the realism.

While all of this is going on, Colin rolls the wish to speak to Fortune. I imagine the two men want to put their heads together to figure out how to reunite their kids.

Bree chooses wisely to stay out of the mess and take Lorelei for a stroll.

Alan needs to get out of the house to clear his head, so he decides to get a tattoo. He’s pretty ripped for a skinny guy, isn’t he?

Aw, yes, the Grim Reaper tattoo was a no-brainer.

Since Colin had a Bachelor party, Bree throws a Bachelorette party. Her little outfit is cute.

Tracey and Faith show up, and Leeann arrives later.

Colin’s daughter Alice from his first marriage (to Alan’s mom) also shows up. To clarify, Alan has four siblings. Gary, Alice, and Alan are all the products of Colin’s marriage to a woman named Jennifer. Jennifer has since remarried a man named Justin Ervin and produced a son named Adam. And you have already met Colin and Bree’s daughter, Lorelei. To keep Alan’s siblings in sync, I turn aging off on their lots when I’m not playing his.

By the time this week ended, Jennifer had divorced Justin. I assume it is because of the Romantic Reputation system. Sims that don’t marry their first romantic interest are doomed.

Bree asks her good friend Gabriella London (nee Bonita) to give a toast. Gabriella hails from Los Aniegos.

The ladies are more interested in the party dancers though.

More fun with fizzy nectar.

This party dancer is named Chip Offablock. He made a spectacle of himself at the party, but not for the reason you might think.

Asia Johnson decided to crash the party. WTF, EAxis????? It turns out Asia wanted her mom Chanel who was attending the party to read her a bedtime story. I could go on another rant about the bedtimes stories, but I’ll save it for another time. Chanel was too busy to read to Asia.

But Chip was happy to oblige her. Double WTF, EAxis??????????????? This is wrong on so many levels! I actually had to tweet about this. @TheSims3 has this thing going on Twitter where they ask people to fill in the blank to the following statement, “That awkward moment…” I tweeted, “That awkward moment you find the bachelorette party dancer reading a bedtime story to your child." @TheSims3 liked my tweet and re-tweeted it to all of their followers.

I have never been more grateful for the “Stop Doing That” interaction!

Anyway, the next day was Lorelei’s birthday.

Aww, Bree is such a good mom. Bree is a randomly generated townie with both the Family-Oriented and Nurturing traits. I’m surprised she only had one kid. I don’t think she and Colin will be having any more kids, because they are both close to becoming elders.

When Harmony got off work that night, this message popped up. An action to Break Up with Alan was also added to her queue. I could not cancel the action no matter how hard I tried. I read up on this and when a Sim accuses another of cheating, they get the Betrayed moodlet. The Sim being accused has to raise his relationship with the accuser by a certain percentage before this moodlet times out. If the accused fails to do so in the allotted time, the accuser automatically ends the relationship.

I was panicking at this point. I didn’t want Alan and Harmony to break up, I wanted them to get married! Luckily, the Science Lab is on the other side of town from where the Murphys live, so by the time Harmony found Alan, the action had dropped off her queue. Thinking I had a dodged a bullet, I promised myself that I would keep them together as long as she didn’t roll a wish to break up. I really hoped I could repair the damage.

!?!@?#@!@?@!

It broke my heart, but I let her do it. I tell you, I was bummed after that. So bummed, I had to turn the game off for a while. I had really gotten attached to Alan’s extended family. I was looking forward to seeing how they turned out.

As much as I refused to believe it, Harmony kept telling me she was done. For the record, Harmony, Alan is a compatible sign.

I didn’t let her move out. I’m going to keep her with the Murphys until she and Alan make up or she rolls the wish to marry someone else. I did appease her and let her go to a bar.

She spilled her sorrows to the bartender.

A cute bartender, named Mikel Pratt. I imagine Mikel was telling Harmony that Alan was no good and that she could do better. She’s a gorgeous, smart girl and any guy would be lucky to have her.

In her tipsy voice, in between sobs, she would slur, “You really think so?”

The next day was Colin and Bree’s wedding day. They decided to have a simple backyard ceremony.

Poor Harmony. This should have been her wedding day, but here she is sitting at a table, eating cold turkey alone.

Lorelei got all dolled up in her flower girl attire.

Here’s the lovely bride. This dress is totally Bree, elegant, simple,

and sexy!

That’s the joy of a woman who’s been waiting to exhale!

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Colin Murphy! I would have never thought my first Generations-style wedding party would not involve a Lazlo, but I’m glad someone got a happy ending this week. Colin and Bree deserved it. They endeared themselves to me. As much as I like them, I’m not spinning them off into their own blog. They will stay around as long as Alan is a contender for Harmony’s heart. And speaking of contenders…

The next morning, a new housemate arrived.

Welcome to your new home, Mikel! So, Harmony, who will it be? I’m still rooting for Alan because he has distinctive genetics and I like his family. Mikel has the same face that you see on half the townies. However, I promise not to push her in either direction. We will let her wishes dictate who she ends up with. Up next, it’s back to Faith’s house. Stay tuned!

Completion Challenge Scoring:

Unique Traits: 27

Careers:  3

LTW: 6

Skill Challenges: 14

Paranormal: 1

Miscellaneous: 2

Total Points: 53