Starting the Game

OK, I'm not going to go through the options on the main menu. There is a manual that came with the game (printed with the CD version, .pdf with the download version) - read it and make those technical writers earn their pay.

When you first install and start a new game, you only have two options: do the story or free-play with the apartment scenario. The story is a very good tutorial on how things work in the game. And, much more importantly, completing it will unlock the Backyard and Penthouse scenarios. If you just want to free-play in all three scenarios, go to the cheats page to find the changes that you will have to make to the game.cfg file to unlock them.

Unlike free-play mode, story mode has actual conversations between the characters and missions that you have to complete in order to finish. The conversations take place when you have reached certain points in the game and they appear as written dialog on the bottom of your screen. In both story-mode and free-play mode, the characters have their own "language" (kind of like the language they speak in "Age of Empires"). It doesn't actually mean anything, but you can tell what a character is doing by their tone of voice. Anyway, in free-play mode you're pretty much free to do whatever you'd like with your characters and you won't get any missions or dialogs on your screen.

I'm going to assume that you have patched the game to v.1.2 or higher and will play through the story. If you haven't patched, do it. If you don't know, look in the lower-right corner of the main menu screen to see your version number. If you have patched, click the "Story" button and let's get started. First off, there is only one difference between Josh's and Anna's stories and that's a mission where you have to talk to some other Singles at the bar. In Josh's case, you speak to two guys and a girl; in Anna's case you speak to two girls and a guy. It's the same conversations, just different people doing them. So the choice boils down to whether you feel like paying a male or female character. Pick one and go for it. If you don't like it, you can always start another game and choose the other character.

In either case, sit through the introductory video and let's get into the game. The introductory video is the same for both; only the names have been changed. The short version goes like this:

Josh is a musician, living and loving with Anna. Josh blows it royally with Anna and they break up. Josh moves to the current town where he meets Kim. Kim has a roommate that Josh has not met, but wants a third person to share the expenses, so Josh moves in. As it turns out, Kim's other roommate is none other than Anna (surprise, surprise), so Josh must do whatever it takes to win back Anna's love.

During the story, you may only control the character you chose at the start. You have no control over Kim and the other character until you complete the story, at which point you will enter free-play mode and can control all three.