Ten Days With Castaways: Virtual Villagers 2 Playthrough, Part 1
Over the last couple weeks, I have decided to chronicle my experiences with a group of villagers in the hit game, "Virtual Villagers 2" by Last Day of Work (and available from Rampant Games). Of course, me being who I am, I couldn't help but inject a little bit of role-playing and my twisted imagination to abuse the game a little. Or a lot.

Since the game allows you to rename your little villagers, and you begin with seven... stranded castaways... hmmm. That gives me an idea...

So here's the story of ten days on Gilligan's Island, as simulated by Virtual Villagers 2.

Day 1: So Sit Right Back, And You'll Hear A Tale...
I start with three (consenting...) adults and four children. The tribe is named "S.S. Minnow." The adults of the tribe are Mary Ann, Ginger, and Professor - though Mary Ann is only barely an adult. The oldest children - both male - are Skipper and Gilligan. Then there's little 9-year-old Thurston, and young Lovey.

I set Mary Ann to fishing duty right off the bat, as I figure not starving to death would be a good start for the game. The Professor (who's name - never mentioned in any re-run I recall - was "Roy") I naturally set to doing research. I assigned Ginger the duty of gathering firewood. She grumbles, but recalls playing a cave-woman in a movie once, and quickly gets into the role.

After making sure the jobs have "sunk in," I scour the island for collectables and mushrooms, and set the kids to gathering them up. I manage to score a rare, collectable butterfly right off the bat. Go Gilligan! He's making himself so useful. His mother would be proud. (Incidentally, according to always-reliable Internet sources, Gilligan's first name was "Willy." Uh-huh. O-kay.)

After a little while, the Skipper (who's name in the show is reportedly Jonas, not that I ever heard that without looking it up on the Internet) has his 14th birthday. This is good, as he can now contribute to the tribe as an adult. Unfortunately, as an "adult" now, he can no longer hit Gilligan on the head his hat, as that would be child abuse and would probably give this game an "M" rating, not to mention causing Family Services to come to the island and remove Gilligan from the home... oh, wait, I think I have just found a way off the island!

Right about this time, the Professor and Ginger get it on. The only place they can get any privacy is a horrible little broken-down hut on the beach, with a sunken ceiling and the walls caving in. I am not even going to speculate what caused the "honeymoon hut" to be in such a state! The Professor says, "Thank you, ma'am." and goes back to trying to figure out how to create cold fusion with palm fronds and coconut milk. Ginger emerges from the hut with a baby in her arms, after a grueling one-second pregnancy.

With Ginger now out on maternity leave for four hours (two years of game-time), the Skipper takes over her taxing firewood-gathering duties. After the fire is going, he sets to work building a new hut. Probably for him and his little buddy. For parties with Thurston, Lovey, and Mary Ann while Ginger and the Professor are having horrible arguments over finances.

We do have a couple of mishaps. All that diving into the ocean to throttle fish has given Mary Ann a case of the sniffles. I really don't see the Skipper as the healing type, so I pull the Professor off his normal research duties to try and play doctor. I mean, to act as a doctor. He manages to cure Mary Ann, so she happily rushes back to the ocean to go wrestle more fish for the tribe to eat.

Little Thurston likes running around the island. He's the best runner on the island. He asks to organize a race against everyone on the island, and I agree. Unfortunately, he sprains his ankle very bad, and decides he no longer likes running. Now wherever Thurston goes, he is... not running. Hmmm. He was always a lazy millionaire off the show. He's now got the lazy part covered!

Finally, another opportunity that presents itself. A crate washes up on shore, at the Professor's feet. I tell him to go ahead and open it. It is full of gears and cogs, and ups my tribe's technology
rating significantly. I use it to increase farming technology. So they don't have to rely on fish and coconuts so much.

Day 2: Gilligan's Love Child...
Thurston's a grown up, and he's a lazy drifter. Not like Gilligan, who is similarly useless but energetic drifter. The two of them are just bumming around the island. I set Gilligan to the task of picking up driftwood, which he pursues for a few minutes, and then gets bored and quits.

Thurston, on the other hand, I set to work as a healer. If he's not going to move fast, he may as well be of use standing still. I set him about the task of cataloging all the strange plants on the island. It takes a lot of babysitting to get him to do it, but eventually he succeeds and I get a reward for identifying all the plants on the island! On top of that, Thurston is now an "adept" healer. Good for us!

The sea is now choked with algae, and there are no fish to be found. I set Mary Ann, Ginger, and Gilligan to harvest coconuts. They get pretty good at it, and harvest plenty of food. The Skipper keeps on building. That's what he does - he builds. He gets the new hut completed, and is now working on fixing up the "honeymoon hut" to make it a nice place to take a girl. Or at least a more sanitary place.

I encourage "Willy" Gilligan and Mary Ann to get together. They don't need much. Hey, you always KNEW that was going to happen eventually on the show, right? Within minutes, Mary Ann is carrying Gilligan's love-child. Carrying, literally, in her arms. Must be something the professor invented to speed up pregnancies. Either that, or the "honeymoon hut" is actually a dicount baby-warehouse, and I've got villager sexuality figgered all wrong.

Our seven stranded castaways have now grown to nine, and Gilligan's Island is a happy, fun place to be and to have children. An island paradise.

Until day 3, when the dream becomes a nightmare!

... To Be Continued.....


(Vaguely) related uselessness...
* Tamagotchi Villagers
* Dead Villagers
* Virtual Villagers II Developer's Diary
* Virtual Villagers 2 is #1
* The Return of the Villagers: Virtual Villagers 2 - The Lost Children
.

Labels: casual games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:30 AM (Permalink)