The Sims Franchise

 

The Sims is a longstanding franchise of life simulator games that started with The Sims in 2000.  I had the pleasure of playing the original game when I was a teen.  My younger sister would lock Sims in houses and set them on fire.  I had an artistic lesbian couple I carefully protected and cared for.  From the very beginning, it was a fascinating toy that different people played incredibly differently.  Some people focused on interior and exterior design, others on character creation.  Some carefully fostered family legacies with their Sims.  And some left them in a pool to inevitably drown.  The franchise was off to an amazing start.

It was incredibly basic compared to future releases.  Sims had static faces, their mouths couldn't move, their hands were basically bricks, they couldn't move their fingers.  The camera was always isometric, it wasn't really 3D.  Still, it was groundbreaking at the time, and developed a fan community very quickly.  Sims had 3 life stages: baby, child, and adult.  The Sims grew with 7 expansion packs.

Life By You Hype

 

As a long time The Sims player, I've long since grown tired of EA's monopoly over the life sim game genre.  Before Paradox Interactive's trailer came out today, I was pondering over whether or not to spend another $75 on my Sims 4 game.  Even though I've usually bought my Sims 4 content on sale, it's still been a considerable amount of money over the years, and most of it is just to get more content that should have been in the base game.

Life by You is an upcoming life sim game, by Paradox Interactive, the people behind City Skylines.  City Skylines is famous for replacing EA's old title, Sim City.  They're also famous for Crusader Kings III, a popular title for medieval life sim fans.  They have years of experience, and their game?  It's almost complete.  Life by You is already in Steam, prepping for early release in September of this year.  Usually, I don't touch early release games, but this is going to change the history of life sim games as we know it.  The Sims franchise has had a monopoly for over 20 years, and Life by You may topple it.  It will bring me great joy to test and provide feedback on a game that will be so critical to life sim history.

What does this mean for Paralives?  Paralives is another life sim game that's been in development for 3 years by a small indie team.  Paralives does not have a release date, and certainly won't be ready before Life by You.  I know Paralives was the competitor many Simmers were rooting for, but Life by You is definitely going to come out first.  Is this the end for Paralives?  I certainly hope not!  I've seen artwork and gameplay from both Paralives and Life by You, and they have two very different art styles.  Paralives is really artistic, and Life by You is really realistic.  If Paralives can keep their followers and their funding, life sim players may someday have both.

YuruYuri: Happy Go Lily

YuruYuri: Happy Go Lily is a slice of life anime for a group of middle school students at an all female school.  At least, I think it's an all female school, because I don't remember seeing a single boy in the show.  It's based on a manga that's still ongoing, and I've only seen the first 3 seasons, so my review is based on that.

YuruYuri has been one of my go-to anime to watch when I'm feeling down.  Like Lucky Star, it cheers me up when I'm sad.  Season 1 is just about 4 girls in an after school club, being silly, and a little gay.  Oh yeah, major gay undertones in this anime, like a lesbian sledgehammer.  Another reason why I like the show, of course.  It's all incredibly innocent though, not lewd at all.  The girls don't have sexy times, they just crush over each other a lot.  In all 3 seasons, I think there's only one kiss ever.  Most of it is their very active childlike imaginations.  They are middle-schoolers afterall, still children.

There is no dub available for this show, that I'm aware of, it only comes subtitled.

Uzaki-Chan wants to Hang Out! (anime season 1)

I guess a season 2 came out last year, I only have season 1.  It's a slice of life, romantic comedy about two people who argue a lot.  Uzaki calls Sakurai a loner a lot, but you don't see her hanging out with anyone else, and she dedicates all her time to hanging out with him, and she's s total pill, so I don't imagine she has many other friends either.

I watched this season dubbed, and the voice acting is good.  Uzaki's voice is a little grating, but it adds to her annoying-ness, so I think it fits the character.  Everyone else sounds normal.  Animation is on par for most slice of life anime.

Not my favorite, but it hit my slice of life checkboxes, so I'll prolly sit through season 2.