Sims Sunday: Chasing Bella

This was a really frustrating week in gaming. But let’s start at the beginning, with two random things that I loved this week.

I love this woman, standing alone in the middle of the desert for no apparent reason except that the game’s NPC logic told her to.

Second, I love this guy, who is their maid. He runs everywhere, and I think the combination of that hairline and that outfit is just absolutely wonderful.

Now back to the frustrating. Bella Goth is kind of a “thing” with the Sims franchise. She is one of the most recognizable characters, going back to the first incarnation of the game (released February 2000). She’s one of the game’s most popular and prolific Easter eggs, and she is a figure of mystery.

You can imagine my excitement when I noticed that, in the town’s crazy-ass sci fi graveyard, one of the headstones belongs to Bella Goth. This means that Bella will periodically incarnate as a ghost, and that in theory I could add her to my family!

Pretty exciting stuff if, like me, you have been playing this franchise for the last 12 years (more or less).

I set Girbitz Jr. to the task of fishing up some Death Fish and skilling up to Level 10 in Cooking, so that he could make Ambrosia to revive Bella.

His favorite reading spot is in their breakfast… um… pod.

While that was going on, I turned my attention to Fern, and fulfilling her Lifetime Wish to hit Level 10 in the Magician career.

Not only did it happen… I was able to snap a picture! Amazing.

The kids grew into teens, and I started to waffle about which one should be heir. How to handle that whole, like, situation.

Hoisin is the only one of the triplets to have inherited the blue skin. Looks like he also inherited his mother’s hair color, eyes, nose, cheek bones, and chin.

Darling little Hat is the most attractive of the three. She inherited her father’s ridiculously oversized ears, but you can barely see them in her hair. She also has her mother’s nose, but somehow it kind of works for her.

Oh, and then there is Hart. Hart got everything from his father. He’s like a mini-Sebastian, the poor bastard.

One possibility is to set up a challenge where everyone (but the heir) has to actually marry out of the family. I came up with this idea after Senior Prom, when all three of the triplets fell in love with Significant Others.

I invited their beloveds over one by one. Hoisin’s girl seemed like the nicest.

She also has an intriguing combination of gold eyes and dark skin.

Hat’s boyfriend also has dark skin and gold eyes, but for some reason I think it looks prettier on a girl.

Last but not least, Hart. Before I invited his girlfriend over, he had a Wish to change his hair style and dye his hair. Okey dokey!

Huh. Didn’t really help.

Anyway, his girlfriend’s looks are… off-putting. Between her silver eyes, her arched eyebrows, and her lightbulb-shaped head, she really looks like an alien.

Back to the Bella situation. Every night around midnight, one of the ghosts might manifest at the cemetery. Sometimes it’s earlier, sometimes it’s later. Sometimes there are no ghosts. Basically I sent Girbitz Jr. there to camp out and wait for her, night after night.

He spent so much time there that I finally bought the property and placed a desk and computer, so that he could work on his novels while he waited.

There she is! Quick!

According to the internet, if you place a dish of Ambrosia before a ghost, they will autonomously pick it up and eat it. So that is what I did.

And… she floated right past it. So I set it down in front of her again.

No good. She floated to the street and took a taxi into town, not to be seen again that night.

While waiting for her to reappear, Girbitz Jr. meets a lot of random townies. This fellow is a four-star celebrity vampire named Benny Benton. I call him Ben Ben.

Girbitz Jr. was fascinated enough with Ben Ben that I started to consider romantic possibilities. But then Ben Ben started acting like a real jerk, and when Girbitz Jr. apologized, Ben Ben was all “UGH YOU SUCK.”

Aw, Girbitz Jr., you can do better!

The next time Bella appeared, I sent Girbitz Jr. to interact with her. Even though he didn’t really want to.

Long story short, I can’t add her to the family with TestingCheatsEnabled, she wouldn’t take Ambrosia as a gift, and she only allows Girbitz Jr. two or three interactions before she ignores him and wanders off. So… I’m not really sure what to do about that.

SIGH.