#rurple recommends

[rurpleplayssims]

Now I've not watched a gameplay machinima for a while but I've been poorly with a nasty cold for the past week, so I've started watching a new one; Asylum Challenge, by @antisocialbunnysims.

I was CRYING with laughter 🤣 at some points (most notably the fire in S1, Ep 7), and the storyteller in me loved the pure chaos (because TS2 said so) that went on in the first season, and then the way it was more machinima based in the second season. I've not finished watching it all but I'm here to recommend you check it out. (I apologise for the bad pixel quality for the above picture, I used a stretched thumbnail image)

Another recommendation is a single machinima /build video that is called Sink Hole, which you can view on YouTube.

I first saw this ages ago, probably the first video I saw on her channel and loved it. 😍 Long standing followers of my blog know how much I love a Pleasantview-based story. I know quite a few, and not just Pleasantview stories and you can check them out here.

Needless to say that both of these have been added to my Rurple Recommends page.

📝Please check out both of these series! 😊 They're so funny and excellently made!

[rurpleplayssims]

Brilliant episode, AS ALWAYS! (of course my novel-length comment is there! 🤣) Guys, please check out this series, even if you’ve never played the Sims, it’s so good! 😍

Episode 15 "Daddy's Little Girl" premieres tomorrow at 5 pm EST! hope to see you there 🥰💖

[sometimesvillainous]

Tag Meme!!!

Tagged by: @villainoustrash!!!

Relationship status: Been in a relationship for 2 1/2 years!!!!

Favourite Colors: Rurple and pink!!!!

Lipstick or chapstick?: Mmmmmmmmmmmlipstick i guess both are good tho

3 favourite foods: MMMMMMMPROBABLY SUSHI, PASTA WITH TOMATO SAUCE, AND FRUIT LIKE MANGOES KIWIS OR BLUEBERRIES

Last song I listened to: Everyone is Gay by A Great Big World

Last movie I watched: A Monster in Paris (that was just after work about 12 hours ago, I’m still love Francoeur with all my heart!!!!)

Last book I read: OKAY SO LAST WEEK I NEEDED TO KILL ABOUT 40 MINUTES IN TOWN SO I STOPPED BY THE BOOKSTORE AND PICKED UP A SWEET SCI-FI NOVELLA AND IT’S SEQUEL CALLED BINTI AND BINTI: HOME BY NNEDI OKORAFOR AND THEY’RE SO GOOD..... U KNOW A BOOK’S EXCELLENT WHEN IT HAS U TAKING SEVERAL EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTERS IN LESS THAN 100 PAGES...... I REALLY RECOMMEND THEM...

Last thing I googled: my last two googles were ‘sga acronym’ (i’m not very acronym savvy) and ‘ryouko ookami punch’ (i have vague memories of fighting @lizerd behind mcdonalds at 4am or something)

Height: 5'5″! Average!

# of blankets: 1 currently! Summer’s starting soon, and then I’ll suffer with my window wide open!!!

Dream trip: Japan, India, or an RV ride with the siblings!!!!

I TAG U, THE READER!!!! (non-obligatory, just keep scrolling if u feel like it!!! c: )

[rurpleplayssims]

STORY RECOMENDATION TIME! (again)

'Dossanina' by @holleyberry

This was the first Sims 2 story I stumbled across on tumblr.

This was the story that opened my eyes to TS2 stories on here.

This made me keep looking out for amazing stories I've found since.

I love this story so darn much!

You can read it here! Please do so!

It starts off in the present day with Don Lothario happily married to Cassandra Goth with children of their own. Life appears perfect for them but then Cass goes to the park and discovers another familiar looking child in with a woman she knows was linked to her husband.

Then it goes back to how Don was in college and the story follows Don from there. I would say Don is easily the main character in this series.

It made me look at Don's character differently. The actual TS2 makes Don look like a woohoo-machine and like he acted like he didn't care who he was hurting. This Don is different and I think he is the Don I admire the most. It shows the realistic side that Don was meeting girls, dating them and being atypical decent guy.

It shows how he's known Nina and Dina for years, and shows a time when Dina got married to Michael. It shows the almost toxic relationship between Cassandra and her mother, the beautifully famous Bella Goth. Cassandra is shown as painfully shy and unsure of herself. Nina is a typical romance sim who loves woohoo but isn't into marriage and long-term relationships. Dina is shown as a family sim, caring about Alexander and NOT the gold-digger she is set out in the game to be.

This is mostly set before the actual TS2 starts and I LOVE the backstory and buildup because it shows Don working hard in his career, his frustration at being moved to Pleasantview for his job and his wingman Goopy GilsCarbo.

It hilarious at times, it's emotional and it's STUNNING.

Please give it a read!

It inspired me to write my own version because I related to this one so much.

EDIT: I should admit here that I kinda copied how Don's condo looks in my story to how his Pleasantview condo in this story looks! I'm sorry I preferred it that way!

[rurpleplayssims]

Added some more updates to my Rurple Recommendations page! 😊

I’ve not read them all yet, but as you can tell, I’m on a Strangertown/Strangetown binge! 

Go check them out!

Strange Things by @carversims  

Strangertown by @ Isabella-Goth

Strangertown by @toolicious

Strangertown by @simminglytimeladies

Road to Nowhere by @simstationdance

EDIT: I forgot to add this one!

Postcards from Nowhere by @nineyellowgirl 

[rurpleplayssims]

I agree, this was one that inspired me a lot to write my own story and to not write it all on Tumblr as I knew mine could be wordy!

LOVE this story! Go give it a read guys.

Features Cassandra Goth, Don Lothario and the Calientes ect :)

The midnight express

Cassandra Goth boards a mysterious train to get to a town that should not even exist…a town where things unheard of happen, and creatures only known from movies are alive…Strangetown.

“But if there is any chance my mother is still alive, I need to look for her. I need to find her.”

Link to the story: https://cindysim.home.blog/the-midnight-train/

[rurpleplayssims]

Some updates to my Rurple Recommends page 😊

If anyone has any TS2 story recommendations, please let me know!

Updates: I’ve added @anibats’s Pleasanview series, @grimbunnies and @chrisnewbie‘s Strangertown as well as Strangetown Monty! 

[rurpleplayssims]

Hi Jess! I've been a long time reader and your Rurple recommends series is the best! I was wondering if you can reccomend any Strangetown LP, preferably video, but any will do~ There are so few of them and I'm struggling to find anything. Thank you, you're the best <3

Hello @luxtallis! 🙋‍♀️

That's very kind of you to say 🥰 and I'm glad you're enjoying my Rurple Recommendations. I've been quite lazy really as I've not written a full review in ages!

I'm not a big watcher of traditional Let's Plays, but there are a few I do like and follow. They are mainly Pleasantview-based but some series do crossover, which makes it more realistic to me.

I have found the following :

Strangertown by @chrisnewbie (Tumblr)

Let's Play Pleasantview by @anibats (YouTube)

Let's Play Strangetown by @pleasantsims (YouTube)

Let's Play the Sims 2 Strangetown by Mystic's Library (YouTube)

Early Strangetown by @jules-cant-build (YouTube)

My not so Stranegtown by Sophie the Puffin (YouTube)

Various Sims 2 content by @cozy-sims (YouTube)

Various Sims 2 content by @plumbella (YouTube)

The Sims 2 Strangetown by Sundog Sims (YouTube)

I should add that some of the above I haven't watched myself or read the entirety of the series but seriously, there's loads of Tumblr, Dreamwidth and YouTube that I've not discovered yet!

Keep looking and if you fin anything exciting, let me know and I'll add it to my Rurple Recommendations page.

Hope this helps and Happy Simming!

[rurpleplayssims]

STORY RECOMENDATION TIME! (again) 'Pleasantview...With A Twist!' by @vixsims

Again, I did review this story before but I don't think I did it justice and therefore I'm going to recommend it again! 😇

Easily one of favourite things about this series is how PRETTY and BRIGHT the pictures, life and how inclusive the stories are!

You can find the beginning of the story here.

I don't want to spoil anything but the mix of realistic everyday life with some TS2 gameplay features sprinkled on top!

Vixsims has made this a gameplay story telling simblr with re-rolled aspirations and assigned traits (from TS3) to each of the sims.

Also a fact that I love how there is more diversity with what sim's gender preferences are, which is something that in the vanilla game is sadly lacking.

Not a dull moment in this series and I look forward to every update! Please give this a follow and a read! It's awesome!

[rurpleplayssims]

Whoa this is good!

(TS2) Pleasantview+ Prologue Part 2

[rurpleplayssims]

😇I've been busy again...Enjoy! Please let me know any recommendations I can read and review! 😇

@holleyberry @potentialfate-sims@deedee-sims @bigmouth-sims2 @reginacyrkonia @sims-for-semi @arielovessims @cindysimblr @vixsims @pleasant-lives @dunne-ias @simnationlifebefore for all the amazing simblrs mentioned above, that ALL produce brilliants stories and content!

I love you guys :) 🥰😘

[rurpleplayssims]

It's another recommendation time! :D This Sims2 story is called 'Thirty' I believe and it's set in a yearly basis in Pleasantview written by @dunne-ias.

You can read in order from this page.

I stumbled across this one and therefore spent the entire afternoon/evening reading this!

Yes (OF COURSE) it's another Pleasantview based one! (duh!) but yet another take on the same set of characters!

I love it! Especially as it doesn't paint people as perfect, it shows all the nitty gritty of a person and accepting their flaws and improvements! Please give it a read, link is to the first page/prologue.

(Reuploaded this link as wanted to add a picture and tumblr was being awkward with the original post!)

[rurpleplayssims]

NEW STORY RECOMENDATION TIME! 'Pleasantview: Secrets' by @pleasant-lives

This story is very beautifully made, written and presented!

Stunning set design, realistic views and I love how the story is set up and the way the magic is mentioned is so respectful of the lore - I love it!

Also I always appreciate (and I'm learning quickly as making my own sims 2 story) when creators/writers put the sims in custom realistic poses, even if it's just crossing their legs or the right expression at the right time.

I also like Uberhood-style stories that don't just limit the characters to just Pleasantview (for example).

In this story you have the Veronaville teenagers and the Summerdreams, as well as Olive Spector from Strangetown.

I love love love, how there is a banner picture for each chapter and how easy the story is to read!

You can find the index page to read the story here.

Please give this story a read, it's so good!

[rurpleplayssims]

THIS STORY IS AMAZING OMG I LOVE IT SO MUCH - I was so emotionally invested in it I was crying in moments of it. Superb work! This needs more praise! :)

The midnight express - Prologue

“Is it true? Is Strangetown real?”

Dina smiled. “It’s a story, my dear.”

But if there is any chance my mother is still alive, I need to look for her. I need to find her.

[The midnight express]

(Comments should be enabled without registration. If not, please let me know).

[rurpleplayssims]

STORY RECOMENDATION TIME! (again) 'Potentially Pleasantview' by @potentialfate-sims

Another excellent sims 2 Pleasantview based story here! (and I think my last recommendation for the day! 🤣)

You can read the story in chronological order here.

The story is set in a gameplay round with a chapter for each season and set of characters its based around.

My favourite one has to be Don and Cassandra's first chapter as Cassandra (I don't want to spoil it!) takes Don off guard when he feels he should confess to her. You can tell he truly cares for her.

The story shows the Pleasant twins as young adults at college and how after discovering Daniel with Kaylynn, Mary Sue has allowed herself to indulge in her hobby of pottery again...despite having apparently fallen out with Angela, her 'favourite' daughter.

It shows the real implications of real life implemented in the sims which I love. I love a good sims 2 story when you see the realism and real human elements in the characters and their choices. You see the conflict as well as the joy.

A very good read, a work in progress.

Please give it a read!

[rurpleplayssims]

STORY RECOMENDATION TIME! 'SimNation Life Before' by @simnationlifebefore

Now I did write up a review of this series before (at the start of this simblr in early February) but I didn't have many followers then and I forgot to add images. After re-doing my review for 'thirty' and seeing how MUCH activity I got from it, I am going to spend my afternoon redoing those early recommends.

As the name suggests, these are a series of stories documenting the life of well known Sims 2 characters BEFORE the actual game starts. I love these types of stories because everyone has their own take and opinion of how characters got to where they are at the start of TS2.

These stories in particular are deep, meaningful, realistic and emotional.

You can find the stories here.

You start of with following the young Jennifer Pleasant and her boyfriend John Burb. Then a timeline of events occurs and you can see (as you read each story) how each event is either major or minor to each character's setting.

For example, a big event happens in the Burbs and you can see the ripple effect of how others have dealt with or been involved with that said event - not going to spoil it!

Please give these stories a read, they are so well written and just when you think you know what someone is going to do, you are surprised by another twist, good luck or tragic event.