Sims 2 Glitches

So, possibly because I use XP, I end up with a lot of glitches on my computer. I don't really mind, though, since I know how to get by. However, I think I may have ended up with more than my fair share of The Sims 2 glitches.

Okay, for one thing, the game has always been kinda weird on my computers. First the old one, and now my laptop. Coincidence? Well, they are both XP.

Hmm, where to start...oh, perhaps with that the game COMPLETELY STOPPED WORKING FOR A LONG TIME. I had to go without it for nearly a year until I decided to just reinstall it already. I should explain what happened when it wouldn't work. The game would be loading something, usually CAS, and once two vertical bar-things were lit up, it would crash. This happened two or three times. I tried to load a lot, and that failed at some point. Then I tried to load a neigborhood, and that failed. So after that I gave up. So, nearly a year later, I reinstalled the game - all eight expansion packs, and both of the stuff packs I have. I moved the downloads in, and it stopped working. I uninstalled, reinstalled, and this time didn't move my downloads back, and whaddaya know, it worked! Glitch-free, for a while...then eventually I was looking through the trees and one looked all messed-up, like it was white. The texture was gone, and the replacement was white with black words that were related to the tree (wth?) and there appeared to be a red X across the texture file, as if someone went into paint and drew simple red lines from one corner to the other. Weird.

So, this happened to the guitar, and one of the workbenches, and I became busy and didn't play as much. Then, last summer, I switched computers. DUN DUN DUN! (idk)

It seemed alright for a long time. The game functions normally, except some weird things. There were, I think, two times when I ended up with bizzare glitches. The first was a plantsim family. They had a plantbaby, but the "There's a new baby in the family" box stayed up, meaning I had no access to the save option, or buy or build mode. That sucked. I had to leave the lot. But first, I decided to look at the sim's family tree to see if the baby was there. What I saw was strange, and gave insight into how the game works:

Weird. Cool, though, although I really wish I would've saved before making them have a plantbaby.

Now, just yesterday, I started playing as this family. I was planning for them to become a large family, but now I'm not sure that will happen. You see, I realized I forgot to add a sink, but as soon as I did, these boxes kept coming up saying what games I had installed. It went through the list, and I was hoping it would stop, but it just started over. I exited that lot, and I don't remember if I saved. I built these apartments, and tried them out. Then, to show my little brother the awesome nightclub I built that the apartments were next to, I went to that lot, but the second the lot loaded, the sink thing happened again. Why did I put a sink in a nightclub bathroom anyways? I don't usually put sinks in bathrooms. Well, I quit out of the game without going back home to save, and I have yet to try to play again. I'm just hoping the game works.

Oh yeah, I forgot the picture of the second glitch:

*sigh* I spent so long on that house. It was such a nice house, and it was affected by glitches. What a shame. I wonder if the glitch will keep doing that when I start the game up again, or if the game will even start? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to try later. But now, it's lunchtime.

Another Videogame Rant

So, for quite a while I brought in sheet music I had found to my piano lessons, all from video games. It was months before my teacher showed any interest at all in the subject, when she brought up Scribblenauts. And then I realized - she thought all games were first-person-shooters.

I began to wonder - how many adults think all videogames are violent and influence young people to do bad things? There are so many other genres, such as puzzle games (such as Tetris and Bejewled) and RPG's, most of which fall into the adventure category (too many to list here). Then there are platformers (like the Mario series) and arcade games (Pac-Man is my example here). There are simulation games (The Sims) and even more RPG's (like Lego Star Wars). Then, there are first-person-shooters (like Halo), which are what most teenagers play. I am a teenager, however, and I dislike those sorts of games. So why must all adults assume all games are violent? Tetris sure isn't violent! And what about games like Earthbound? Although it has fighting, you can hardly call it graphic, or even violent. Certainly not the sort of thing that would influence children to love violence. Oh, the poor misnomers like Chrono Trigger, that are wonderful (I haven't actually finished it though) but because of something in the name it is assumed to be violent. Well, Chrono Trigger is somewhat violent, but it's definately not even related to first-person-shooters.

People need to see the whole picture. Yes, first-person-shooters are the most common among young people, but adults need not assume that we're all playing mindless gory war games. I play RPG's. I play puzzle games. I play games like Wii Fit Plus. I play The Sims 2. BIG FLIPPIN DEAL. Mother 3's plot was more moving than most, no, any book I've ever read. And people have the nerve to suggest I play those sorts of games I hate.

Disclaimer: I have nothing against those who play first-person-shooters, just the games themselves.

Claus? WTF?

OMG. I have no idea what this is (find the original article here) but is it just me or does that look a lot like Claus? Okay, technically that would be the Masked Man, but whatev. Here's the pic:

W.
T.
F.

They like totally ripped off the Masked Man! And it's even more suspicious because it's Japanese. Nah, just kidding about that last bit. But Japanese people are more likely to have heard of the Mother series, or more specifically, Mother 3. It just came out kinda harsh.

So...yeah...that's all...bye! *dashes out*

I just don't know

*sigh*...

I have been watching a LOT of Simpsons lately. And one day while looking through LuigiWithCheese/TheGreatChickenMiasma's Deviant art stuff (what? she's a great artist, and I love "He Said, She Said". Well, I found this MPreg meme, and I clicked on the link to the original, and there was this list to all the completed ones. And there was this one, about where Cecil got Bob pregnant, and it was just plain funny. I'm not much of an MPreg person, but...lol

And then that artist (can't for the life of me remember her name) made this comic, it was like 17 pages, and it left it hanging so frickin badly I was so furious!!! And I've been thinking about that meme, and that comic, all of the past two days...WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!?! Usually I'm not quite this obsessive over tiny niches in the great awesomeness known as fandom. But that comic was so well done, and dramatic...usually I don't even read that sort of stuff, but this one was so impressive, and I just had to keep reading...but maybe I shouldn't have, because now I feel insane...

Oh well. I already knew I was crazy XD

321 Mother

So a few days ago I found a link to this at Earthbound Central. Very interesting. I only got to finish it now.

I thought it was funny how she saw The Jacket and wanted to say "Who are you and what is your mission?!" but was too freaked out over The Jacket. It's a shame there's not much info on The Jacket.

What I though was interesting were these two parts:

"Americans always get jealous of Japan for all the game stuff they get, and yeah they have cool toys and stuff but I’m really impressed, after what I’ve seen, with the new level that Fangamer is taking this to. They really don’t have anything like it out there, just blatant copyright merch straight from Nintendo."

"...the response was so overwhelming that they thought it would only be a far-off dream for them to, sigh, actually get a Japanese copy of the MOTHER 3 handbook. They all said it made their own official guidebooks look pitiful. I felt it was really ironic. We are always the ones that drool over Japanese stuff. Perhaps we, unlike Nintendo of America, can make their dream come true?"

Something I find interesting is they type of people the Mother series attracts: weird, artsy people. People who take things into their own hands. People who love a good tale. People who love to celebrate all things odd. People who are clever hackers or translators. People who take things into their own hands.

It's incredible how much the fanbase accomplished. Just look at the Mother 3 translation. Not only did they need translators, but hax0rz (did I spell that right?). There is an internet radio for Mother fans. And you only need to glance at the art, music, and fanfics at starmen.net alone. Not that I particularly like starmen.net. But I don't think anywhere near as much would have been done without them. For a fan translation to happen, there must be some organization. Also, the only reason I started doing fanart was because I saw the incredible work there. It's nice how it's organized like that.

However, they're not perfect. The forums - where do I even begin??? Avoid them. Please. The starmen.net forum is unwelcoming and somewhat corrupted. And yet so much of what goes on at starmen.net happens there - something about that doesn't make sense. Like how people post comics there without submitting them to the main site - wtf? Why not add them to the collection so people later on can see them? Like, aren't there more Mani Mani Tales comics added on, but only in the forums? I'm confused. And I don't have time to search throughout that place to see everything. I don't have time in my life to even look at forums, let alone scour them for this sort of thing. I hardly have time for my art and piano anymore. My life feels like it's falling to pieces.

I desperately need balance in my life. Now I've been trying to become more social at school, I've found I'm less focused on other things. My algebra grade is way lower this quarter than last quarter, and I never remember to practice my flute. Now on top of homework and stuff, I have to worry about Christmas presents???