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Warning: Sim Stuff Ahead

So, I got 4.7 out last night. Exhausted myself doing it, but I was so close to finishing that I couldn't stop. Especially since I knew I'd get little computer time today.

(Dad's in town, so I offered to take him to the movies today. We went to see the Incredibl Hulk. I liked it quite a bit. I think I favor Iron Man a little more, but it was still pretty darn good.)

I'm really anxious to see reactions to this one. The whole storyline had been pretty much planned from the moment Ian threw me a want to get engaged to Lisa. It feels like it took forever to get to the point where I could tell that story. I feel like I neglected Ian in some of the previous updates, partially because I was too afraid of giving some of this storyline away.

I really didn't want to make Lisa out to be a complete bitch. I wanted to show her side of the story as well, beyond the whole 'heartless romance sim' aspect. There was more to it than that. I think it came through pretty well for her.

For Ian, I hope I got across what I wanted to about his character. About why he was so 'emo'. Most of the responses I've gotten so far have focused on the shock of what happened to him at the end, and I guess that's to be expected. I'm more curious about what people thought about HIM, not the way he died.

The next update is probably not going to be out until mid to late July at this point. I want to finish up the BC if at all possible and I've got a trip coming up next week that will probably get in the way. For the next update there are a TON of tricky, plotty scenes that need to be shot still, so, it's going to take a while.

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I've started reading your legacy from Chapter 4 (and I'll catch up with the rest once school's out) and I really enjoyed your latest episode.

I felt pretty bad for Ian the whole update and how he couldn't see that people DID care for him (like Persephone sp?). He mistook her concern for pity and it was really heartbreaking how he met his end all alone and desperate for someone who'd listen to him.

You did a great job portraying his emotions. I'm not "used" to your characters yet, but I was still truly shocked and sad by his end.

Did you start at the beginning of chapter four, or one of the middle entries? I've been curious if people who pick it up in one of the later chapters can make heads or tails out of the story.

I know I'm pretty proud of some of my later chapters, but I don't feel right recommend that anyone start there, so I feel like I have to point folks towards the prologue which is weaker (especially in the picture department).

With Ian, I'm not sure it was that he couldn't see that people did care for him as much as he couldn't face their pity. A lot of the comments I've been getting mention that they thought I was going to have Ian 'turn to the dark side'. That surprises me a bit, since I've always thought of Ian as someone who was troubled, but still loyal to his family.

Anyway, I'm curious to find out what you think of the earlier chapters when you get time to look at them. :)

Oh, I've read the prologue and the first generation too, of course. (I loved Charlie the "placement" dormie). So, I know about Taylor's story and why Ian's death at the hands of Krystal was a very bad thing for the family. Hee Hee, I just got curious and read chapter four after looking at your teaser pictures :D.

Ian didn't give me the vibe of turning to the dark side. As you said, he was troubled because he was terribly jealous of his siblings, but at the same time he was loyal to them. That's why he was suffering so much (or at least that's the impression I got).

Like I said, I felt bad. I was one of the loudest "emo" screamers against Ian, and now he's gone... I always found him annoying because he had no reason to be envious of his brother, I guess. I mean, he wanted to be heir, but then he decided that he was happy for Elijah right? (Or maybe I read the Twikki Island vacation scenes wrong, but I remember him being glad that he wasn't heir...)
Well, I understand his reasons for being so, but to me, it was a pointless waste of energy on his part- instead of trying to be happy, he wasted all his time being upset at things he had no control over.

(I think that last sentence is the most eloquent thing I have ever said, lol.)

With the Twikkii Island conversation between Ian and Elijah, I think that Ian had more or less come to an understanding about why Elijah had been chosen as heir over him. That didn't really ease his feeling of inadequacy, though. Very often with emotions, logic doesn't figure into the equation.

I think in real world terms, Ian would have been diagnosed with some form of clinical depression. Even though he had no real reason to be upset with his life, his emotions got in the way of really appreciating what he had.

Well you never said he was officially dead, but I'm sure everyone will miss him if he is. Personally, I never found him to be 'emo', just sad. He always came off as a broken soul.

I liked him as a character. He is completely different from the rest of his family (minus Jeremiah, he too had 'luckier' siblings). I think that he never deserved to die in the way he did, but maybe to meet the girl of his true dreams when he's old and gray.

I'm not sure what you mean by Jeremiah not being 'lucky'. He married his high school sweetheart and is a very content family sim with two sons (and more on the way, actually).

Did you actually mean Nathaniel? Nate I see as being right where he wants to be in life. Some people are okay being single. :)

I meant Jeremiah. The way I don't see him as lucky, in the past, is that he was always in his twin brother's shadow.

I have always felt that Ian was an unnecessarily tortured soul. I thought that he projected his own feelings of inadequacy onto his siblings. He embraced middle child syndrome with little reason to do so as his parents were quite good at expressing love to each of them. He tortured himself and never quite felt that he deserved any better than Lisa. I think that this makes his death all the more tragic. The fact that Kirstial killed him so swiftly and brutally says that she didn't even concern herself with him enough to use him before she killed him.

This is what I got from him.

As I said to Josh, I think in real world terms, Ian was dealing with some form of clinical depression. Logic really didn't enter into the equation when his emotions were involved.

I think the key line for me was when he was going into Kirstial's hosue and bemoaning how jealous he was of his siblings, but how much he despised himself for even feeling that way. He did torture himself, but he so desperately wanted the 'dream' that he saw Elijah getting without even seeming to try.

In the past I always saw Ian as a question mark. It wasn't so much that I thought Kirstal would turn him to the 'dark side' as that I believed she would be able to use his vulnerabilities against him and his family. How that happened was a bit of a shock. His jealousy of his siblings has always been seen but in this chapter we saw just how deeply and wrongly they ran. He was projecting his own feelings of self loathing, believing that other's would see him the same way he sees himself and therefore have reason to pity him. Everyone has their own demons some are just better at hiding them than others.

I read it, but haven't had the brains to do a real comment yet... So you can have the topic-specific comments here, and I'll go back through the chapter and do a whole comment later I guess.

I wanted to smack Ian sometimes but... I know people like him in the real world, and I wanna smack them there, so he's in good company. I think that love, or wanting love, makes a lot of people--even really well-adjusted ones--do dumb things sometimes, and it can be hard for someone who really wants that to see their friends, siblings, etc. being happy with someone, as I know from personal experience. If you add other issues to that, it's that much harder. So, while I might've been annoyed with him a bit, it was certainly realistic and written well.

As far as what happened to him, well, I think it's a good reminder that Kirstial is a villain.

For Lisa... I think she was just stuck in between wanting to do what she thought might be the right thing and her actual nature. I suppose she could've handled it better, sure, but it definitely didn't come across as the whole "I'm a Nasty Romancer, Live With It" thing to me. In fact, at least in this chapter, I honestly think she showed she genuinely cared about Ian even if she couldn't be what he wanted.

I think the whole concern about Ian turning to the dark side stems from his fear and hatred of death that came up when his grandparents died at Miranda's party. At that moment I was concerned that perhaps he would end up trying to cheat death and in that way become a tool for Kirstial.

Ian has always struck me as a moody and troubled kid. He clearly felt alienated from his family for some reason or another. Perhaps because he was just quieter than Elijah the outgoing romancer and Miranda who talks a mile-a-minute and never takes a breath. It was clear that he really wanted "the dream" but wasn't sure how to get it and ended up placing all of his faith in chemistry. He never understood that chemistry isn't everything and he got blinded chasing after the dream. So it was a real shock to his system when the dream didn't work out, even though intellectually he knew there were problems.

Basically, Ori, I think you did a great job writing him and a great job of reminding us just how nasty Kirstial can be. You had lulled us into complacency since she's basically just been really petty since she lost her powers and became focused on raising Ophelia.

That cliff-hanger was awesome, srsly.

I'm guessing that Kirstial managed to regain her powers due to all the hate (well, more jealously) that Ian had against his family -- he DOES have great chemistry with Lisa, but I doubt they really love each other emotionally. Oh, and I'm glad you showed another side to Lisa, not just "OMGGG I DON'T WANT TO GET MARRIED I WANT TO CHEAT ON IAAAAN," you actually made me think that she was just confused. congrats on that. :)

From a readers POV, I hope he's still alive. As a writer, I hope (and I hope this doesn't make me sound cold) he's dead -- the plotlines would just amaze me beyond belief. :)

I'm envying where you're going with this storyline, and I wish I had have thought of it. :P

There are always people who take too much emotional baggage on themselves, even when it's not theirs. Ian struck me as one of those. Sure, he was caught between Elijah and Miranda, but he reacted to it in a way that was sort of self-defeating. And that got to the point where feeling bad felt right--he must have known, deep down, that he and Lisa weren't going to work out, and yet he kept up the illusion of happiness because misery made him happy.

I've got some characters rocking that mindset as well, although Spider Jerusalem doesn't take it nearly as far as Ian did. Cassidy, though...

When I saw Ian crackling with electricity on the floor, I knew you were going to end it there. Oh jeez, I don't think there will ever be a time when your cliffhangers do not torture me.

I think you nailed this update really well, and I think it's the best one yet. It really changed the way I view Ian and Lisa (and Romance Sims in general, for that matter). In previous updates, Lisa seemed like a dirty little cheater, but now, I can see that she didn't want to hurt Ian's feelings. But at the same time, she just couldn't control herself any longer. I have to say though, that it was a bit crazy that the day of her wedding was the day she decided to get a man in her bed.

But now, I see that Ian wanted more than love from Lisa, and a family from her. He wanted to be perfect, just like Miranda and Elijah, but Lisa couldn't provide it for him, and somehow, he kind of knew that Lisa didn't want it, but he dragged her along, because the idea of her made him look happy.

And Ophelia, well, I think that she's really going to get a wake up call. Firstly, she's going to regret that moment of romance she had with Robi, because if she had picked up the phone, several things could've been avoided. Second, she's going to realize how dangerous her mother is, and that by her mother hating the Legacina bloodline, she hates the blood that flows through Ophelia. And I think with that, Ophelia is going to come to her senses and join the Legacinas.

By the way, where do you get the Shelby's face layout for toddlers, children, teens and elders? You said before that her face may explode when she becomes a YA, but she looks like Shelby a bit.

I like what docnerd said about taking on emotional baggage. Also Pen's theory about being in the "quiet middle child" role between Heir-lijah and Talker-randa.

Depression could be a good way of looking at it, I suppose. I just remember thinking during a therapy session, "are you really depressed if you have a darn good reason for feeling sad and tired?" but Ian isn't in a situation like that. *sigh* wasn't.

My other comments I'll save for PMs and the boolprop topic thread. Good job with Ian, Ori. Even if (or maybe because) I'm very sad about it, it's extremely well done.

I don't know what to begin to say about it, because Ian breaks my heart. I still feel sad about it, and I've been in the middle of my own writing.

I have said and thought stuff exactly like what Ian said and thought. Yes, it doesn't sound very emotionally mature, and yes, he shouldn't have been involved with someone who wasn't good for him. But how is he supposed to feel? How does he let go and find something better when he doesn't think there is anything better, and how does he believe that isn't injustice that his siblings are happy and he isn't when the apparent evidence is slapping him in the face?

Now you know what I have against three bolt chemistry and True Love. It isn't always a happy thing. It can be a real bitch.

It's too bad that he was also a risk-seeker, because if he had slammed the door on his guests and eaten a lot of ice cream, he might still be alive. I'm in the minority here, I guess and hope, but I honestly don't expect ever to see Ian again. I think that was it. Poor baby. I'm glad Other PB gave him some happiness.

PB

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