The Sims 3: Ambitions Hand-on Session in Taiwan

Twinbrook, one of the couple pictures I took of the Sims 3: Ambitions.  I was really focus on playing, I had forgotten to take more.

So we got to play The Sims 3: Ambitions on Friday, May 21, 2010. When I got there the game has already been turned on, so I just sat down and started playing.  By the way, we had this Hand-on session in a restaurant, so we ate quite a lot of food during the session.  I was kind of stupid that I had forgotten to take pictures, just a couple.

 

First thing I noticed was there is a new neighborhood, it’s huge and the PM in Taiwan told me that it is inspired by the towns of Southern America .  The name, which I looked up later is Twinbrook, because I was playing The Sims 3: Ambitions in Chinese.  It’s pretty and big, which I don’t like.  My sims always live quite far away from the town and it usually took about an hour for them to get to work and places. :P  The view of the town is beautiful, but it’s just too big.  I really didn’t see much, because I want to get into the game right away, but from what I saw afterward on the other people’s computers, the houses are more country looking.

 

Then I created a sim to play in the game.  I noticed that there are a few cute hairs for both man and woman.  I especially like to one with a hair band on the top.  It looks really cute for adult and child alike.  However, the only new outfits are the ones related to the jobs.  I’m quite disappointed by this.  I guess I just have to spend more money on Simpoints.

 

There are a few new traits, the names I have gotten it from Sims3Cri, because I only know them in Chinese.  

 

Born Salesman, my sims weren’t tattoo artists or stylists, so I’m not sure what it does.

Eccentric, I didn’t know what this was when I choose it for my sim.  I just thought to use all the new traits.  But it really helped when my sim was learning to be an inventor.

Eco Friendly, one of the sims that I played has this trait.  When she hang her laundry on the drying rack, she was happy, because “even it took longer to dry, it’s more eco friendly.”

Dramatic, not sure how it works

Perceptive, not sure either.  But probably has something to do with Private Eye.

Savvy Sculptor, by the name, it should be good if you want your sim to be a sculptor

 

Evanell and I had a goal, which is to make a robot.  And the computer that she was playing with wasn’t working too well.  So, I was the one that is supposed to work on it.  But we also wanted to play ghost hunter and doctor.  So, my sim was a ghost hunter by night and an inventor by day, and I also added another sim to be a doctor.  Thanks to the cheat code. :D

 

 

The Taiwan cover of The Sims 3: Ambitions.  Evanell came up with the name. 

It means "Dreams taking off". 

 

Inventing:

So, to be an inventor, you just need to purchase a table that is a lot like the craft table in Open for Business in the Sims 2.  There are a few options when you click on the table, invent and work on all the stuff your sim has invented before.  However, you will need to have junk to do inventions, which you can get at junkyard or purchase it at the table.  So, my sim worked on inventing a lot.  She made quite a few toys and something that will emit fragrance when a sim walk over it. 

 

I don’t remember at what level, but my sim could demolish things around the house.  I bought a table just to see what would happen.  So, my sim put the timer on the table and run away to wait for the table to explode.  But nothing happened, she walked back to check on it and it exploded when she was by the table and she was caught in the blast.  Nothing happened, she looked just like she was electrocuted.  After a shower she was back to normal.  Then I had her demolished a dryer I put on the front porch beside a washing machine.  This time, she wasn’t caught in the blast, but the washing machine caught on fire.  There was a firefighter girl came to the rescue, but she wasn't dressed in firefighter gears.  I guess she was the new firefighter.

 

When your sim reaches inventing skill level 8, they can make a driller, which is quite big.  If you make your sim drill at night, all the neighbors will come out and complain.  We didn’t know what the driller is for, because the only interaction we have with the hole that it drilled was to filled it up.  However, I read on the Sims3Cri’s blog after I got back, I realized that if you drill holes on 2 sides of the neighborhood, you can travel around really fast.

 

At level 9, you can make time machine.  When my sim got in to the time machine, you can choose to go back to the past or travel to the future.  You cannot go with your sim, you just wait for them to come back and the window on the top will tell you what happened.  One of my sims got in and went to the past, and strangely, she got a daughter when she came back and the daughter was a child.  I am not sure if it was a bug a glitch or something. 

 

So, my sim just kept working to reach level 10.  At this time, Evanell was also playing inventing and her sim kept catching on fire and had to get into shower to extinguish the fire.  My sim has only caught on fire once.  And one of the fellow player even had her sim died in the fire during inventing. 

 

Then, a terrible thing happened, the power went off and I didn’t save my game.  And because of some problem, I didn’t get to play until about an hour later.  But Evanell kept working her sim to death on inventing skills.  When her sim got to the level 10 of inventing skill, we were excited and wanting to see the robot.  But, there’s no robot anywhere to be seen and there’s no option to make one either.  So, was the video of “Where’s all the superhero gone” is just a computer generated image?  But we checked and there’s an award that you could purchase is to become a friend of the robot.  So, in the end, we didn’t know how to get the robot.

 

Ghost Hunter:

You have to go to the science center to be a ghost hunter and strangely, you need logic to advance in Ghost hunting business.  And your sim doesn’t go to the office but work at home when the time is up for them to go to work.  In the beginning, we didn’t know how to do this, I sent my sim to the cemetery and nothing happened.  You should go to the broad view of the neighborhood and you will see the houses that are being haunted and you can decided which jobs to take. 

 

When my sim got to the house that was haunted, I could see fog on the ground, there are different colors, but not sure if they mean anything.  And the ghosts all looked like the ones in the movie “Ghost Busters”.  And the way my sim did to catch the ghosts are exactly like the move “Ghost Busters” too.  I wonder if the creators are fans of the movie.  There are different types of ghosts, kind, friendly, lost, timid, and jealous are the ones I saw and they are young, old and ancient. 

 

My sim could only take 2 jobs a night and the ghosts your sim caught will be in their personal inventory in some kind of canisters.  One of the wishes my sim has was to catch 25 ghosts and send them to the scientific center for research.  But you can also release the ghosts and the one that my sim released was “at peace”.  Strangely enough, when I was playing ghost hunters, my sim went to the cemetery and there wasn’t any normal ghosts there.  I’m not sure what happened.  Maybe the “normal” ghosts were afraid of my sim because of her profession.

 

And you asked me what about the doctor I played.  Well, I was really focus on inventing, I really didn’t do much about the doctor.  Sorry about that.

 

Laundry

The new laundry is something I really don’t get.  Because when a sim changes out of dirty clothes, and left it on the floor, they still wear the same clothes they changes out.  It just doesn’t make sense.  Or maybe if you have 2 or 3 different looks of the everyday clothes, your sim will change to a different look.  Hmm, I’m not sure.  But it’s quite annoying, because my sims just leave their clothes on the floor everywhere, and you can only do a load, one pile of clothes on the floor once.  If you didn’t purchase a dryer, please buy a drying rack, so the clothes can be hang to dry.  When the sim got the newly washed clothes, they will have good moodlet.  But the good thing is so long as you didn’t buy washing machine, your sim won’t leave dirty clothes on the floor. 

 

Tattoo

So, while I was waiting for the computer that I was playing, I was watching Evanell playing.  She took her sim to the tattoo parlor, it’s in the basement in the same building with the fashion stylist.  When your sim decides to get a tattoo and sits on the chair, you will get into something like CAS mode.  You can choose what to put on and where.  Tattoo can only be placed at the center of the back, nape, chest and the front of your ankles and arms.  I really want to put them on the shoulder or the outside of the ankle, but nope you can’t do that.  And you can make them bigger, smaller, change color and etc.  I guess tattoo isn’t my thing, so I don’t really think it’s such a big deal.

 

Then, since I went to the preview session early, I had to give up my computer for other late comers.  So, I was walking around to check out what other players were doing. 

 

Sculptors can make a lot of sculptures with clay, wood, ice, junk and one other thing that I am not sure of.  And ice sculptures do not melt.  We thought, maybe they should change it to crystal sculptures, not ice.  So, we were talking if there’s Seasons, it could melt. 

 

Interior Designer doesn’t seem to need a lot of work.  All you need is to buy all the things they asked for and you are set.  You don’t really need to put a lot of effort.  But if you want to, you can do that of course, but you have a budget to work for. 

 

My conclusion

I think it’s a hard work.  Just like the Claire, PM in Taiwan said, she works in the morning and she got home and she still need to work in the Sims 3.  It will take a lot of time and patience to build skills.  I’m playing the Sims 3 in legacy style and I’m really tired, or my sims are really tired.  They never get enough to eat, sleep, rest, entertainment.  But I’m afraid that with the Sims 3: Ambitions, they will be doubly tired.

 

Amy, Taiwan

http://amyworldofthesims.blogspot.tw/

http://evanellsims.blogspot.tw/