These Are A Few of My Favorite Things…
by Kassadee Marie, HSM team writer
With so many new and wonderful items offered last year, it’s really, really hard to choose favorites. Even trying to make a choice leads me to think of all the other great items that have been offered and I wish I could list them all. There were over 50 personal estates released, many with matching furniture bundles, more clothing items than I care to count, musical items, companions, locomotions, active items and more. And as for public spaces, we were given a wide variety there too, and most of them had games, especially shooters. Even some older (and not so old) favorites were updated.
What follows are my personal choices; I’m sure you have your own.
Private space: Juggernaut’s Palace of the Seven Winds. It’s not the first space where we could fly, but it’s t
he first where we could fly as our own avatar — and it’s so natural, if such a thing can be said about human flight. Not only the look of flying is natural, but the controls for it. It seems all one has to do is jump and then everything else just flows. The space is huge, beautiful, exotic and fun. The matching furniture is fantastic, and I love all the food items in the feast. There are several wonderful themed tunes to play while you are there, diurnal controls are provided, and you can change the color of the walls, built in furniture and banners.
Heavy Water’s Avalon Keep is a close second choice for a private space. Not only can you fly there, and earn questing rewards and other rewards as the owner or a guest, but the space is being expanded periodically. There have been two expansions already. The first was the dungeon with the crystal game expansion and the second was the King or Queen’s private chambers expansion.
Furniture: Codeglue’s Oriental Decor Bundle. I’ve written about this pack several times. It’s wonderfully priced at only $3.99 for nine pieces and works well in almost any space — especially the Asian-themed ones, of course. My very close second choice is Game Mechanics’ Elegant items line. All of the pieces are very nice, especially the unique canopy, and the table is simply wonderful! You can change the color of the table cloth from pink to blue to green or red (and the vase color and style along with it) and the number of place settings from four to none. My only suggestion would be for them to make more items in this line and to have all the pieces offered as a bundle.
Clothes: I probably bought fewer clothes this year than previously, because I mostly chose to spend my money on other things and because I have so many clothing items already that my wardrobe storage is getting nearly impossible to deal with. There were some things I couldn’t resist, though, and two of the nobility dresses and matching shoes from Heavy Water, were some of them. I also picked up Mrs. Gingerbread from JAM Games, who looks hysterical dancing Gangnam style, and several new hairstyles from Granzella, who does a wonderful job with hair designs.
Musical Item: Loot’s RadioIO. Okay, I haven’t actually bought it yet, because I haven’t felt like I could afford $14.99 for the bundle so far. However, I have to have that jukebox, so I will be buying it. I’ve wanted music (that’s nearly unlimited) for so long for all of my spaces and I really, really want a jukebox for my ‘fifties diner. There are nine different items in the bundle from a mini boombox to a reel-to-reel, or you can purchase any of them individually, except for the jukebox.
Companion: Juggernaut’s Sprocket O’Cog. Back in February, when the Welcoming Committee was active, we had a “Meet and Greet” on the 17th of March, which is St. Patrick’s Day, of course. I ran into the stores and picked up the St. Patrick’s Day hat from Codeglue, that comes with red hair and then I picked up the adorable Mr. O’Cog. He drew a lot of notice and comments with his rainbow and pot o’ gold spouting animation. I enjoyed watching him and hearing people’s responses to his antics very much.
Locomotion: Konami’s Anime Animation Pack. I bought this pack of one dance and several poses for a specific reason, but I’m having a lot of fun with it every day. I use the dance as a kind of “neener, neener” response to trolls and I enjoy all the poses, but one very much. The “piece sign +” pose can be used with the other poses, which is great entertainment. I adore all the wing locomotions available from various developers, too. It’s hard to pick between them, with all the choices in colors, styles and animations. Every time I see one that I haven’t seen before, I think, “Oh, I want that one!”
Active Item: Juggernaut’s Snowball pile. I love to invite people to my Winter Villa and then hit them with a snowball when they arrive, as soon as they have fully loaded. After that, and once I show them where to “pick up” their own snowballs, a running snowball fight ensues all over the estate. (It’s perfect for running and hiding all over there.) Hitting an object or wall (even invisible ones) shows a splatter of snow, but the snowballs appear to go right through the avatars. What’s really entertaining is that “hits” can move other avatars around with some collision detection. Everyone enjoys all the antics, and the fight can last for an hour or more, which a long time for a little Home mini-game.
Public space with game: Mercia. I don’t game nearly as much as I used to, but when I do I love to play role-playing games. Not only do I enjoy Mercia very much – the first game of it’s kind on Home – but I love the rewards. Lockwood was unbelievably generous with their themed reward items. Almost everyone I know has used them at one or more of their personal estates. They look especially good at the Sunlit Meadow. In addition, Winter 2012 is another public space that came very close to being my favorite. I have no problem with a re-skinned space from last year. It seems familiar, in a friendly way, but all the games and the rewards are new, so that makes it really enjoyable. The dancing game is my favorite, but I like the kissing game too. And be sure not to miss the sleigh ride through the air.
Freebie: Djinn Lamps. I’d like to give a special mention to Juggernaut once again for giving us the four best freebies, ever. These items work in any private space, are very entertaining, are attractive in and of themselves, and are the greatest reward items ever offered on Home, in my opinion. Did I mention they’re free?
January 4th, 2013 by Kassadee Marie | 4 comments
Home is endlessly entertaining to this California girl. Kassadee has been in Home for about four years, and loves almost everything about it (with a few notable exceptions). She spends way too much money there, and perhaps too much time... Someday she will travel the world and write about the people she meets and the places she sees.
This is a great read! I love your list but I think I’m the opposite of you on how much fashion I’ve bought last year. xD
Thanks for sharing this.
It’s a bit different, but I think novus prime was he first space where you could fly as your own avatar. that’d cover both public and private spaces. I wish I could finish Mercia, though. The portal to the queen beetle never works for me
I don’t consider that flying; it’s space walking.
We somehow did not think to bundle the Elegant Line of items. Honestly we did not expect people would get as excited about them as they have. I promise we will do more and we will bundle as much as we can. The bundles are all doing extremely well. So we will give the people what they want.
Thanks for the mention. A great article as usual!