The green rivers are still there, but the O’Flanagan’s tasks have gone. Tom O’Flanagan’s pub is about to become a sad and lonely place – nobody can go there to drink and Homer can no longer promote the bar. Tom can still work there, of course, but he’ll be all alone from now on.
The question still remains – will the rivers change back to their normal blue and will we see an update sometime later on Thursday US time? Nobody but EA knows for sure.
St. Patrick’s Day is going on a little longer than most of us expected. While there was an update on Monday US time, it was a little like the pre-St. Patrick’s Day update – with nothing new happening immediately. That means players still struggling to get to level 10 in regular gameplay to build Willie’s Shack had a bit of extra time to do so and still finish the St. Paddy’s Day quest, your Springfield citizens had a few extra days to drink pints of Guinness together at O’Flanagan’s – and Springfield’s rivers remain a nauseating green beyond St. Patrick’s Day itself.
So when will we get our blue rivers back? The best guess based on recent experience is sometime in the afternoon of Thursday, 21 March US time. Apart from re-bluing the rivers, exactly what will happen then is still anyone’s guess – it may be level 27 or it may be an Easter update or it may be both (I’m taking the fight between the Easter Bunny and the Leprechaun in the opening credits of last week’s episode as an indication that an Easter update is still a possibility – but maybe I’m reading too much into it!)
And for those who are still not sure why the rivers are green in the first place, it’s a Chicago St. Patrick’s Day tradition. Here’s a link sent in by Edd explaining everything: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a466465/chicago-river-is-dyed-green-for-st-patricks-day-pictures.html
The Leprechaun and and Fruit-Bat-Man are both limited-time items, so if you want them, you’d better decide quickly. That’s because Monday, 18 March is quite possibly the day they’ll no longer be available in your premium store.
St. Patrick’s Day is Sunday, 17 March and we’re all assuming that the event will wind up sometime on Monday. After all, it’s not really a big event, and there’s no reason for it to be around much after the day itself. You’ll get to keep everything you’ve acquired once the event is over, though. But the quest will probably end and nobody new to the game will be able to get Tom O’Flanagan, O’Flanagan’s Pub, the Wishing Well, or the Leprechaun. That means you’ll need to hurry through the quest so that you can get the Shamrock Topiary before the event ends if it’s still going on for you.
Fruit-Bat-Man is part of an episode promotion and, if the past is anything to go by, this costume for Mr. Burns will also no longer be available after Monday, 18 March. If you’ve bought it, it’s yours for the life of the game – but new players and those that haven’t bought it will no longer be able to do so. They’ll also be wondering how you got the Fruit-Bat-Signal.
When on Monday will this happen? For international players, we’re taking Monday, 18 March in the US – and exactly when on Monday is anyone’s guess. Again, based on past experience, updates seem to come through in the afternoon or the early evening. But it could be any time.
When we left off in part 2 of the St. Paddy’s Day walkthrough, your characters were partying for the second time at O’Flanagan’s Pub. But now the party’s over, everyone’s seriously hungover, and you’re into the final stage of the quest. This stage only involves Willie, Homer, and Tom.
An important note to new players: you won’t be able to complete the St. Paddy’s Day quest until you reach level 10, build Willie’s Shack, and unlock Willie. The St. Paddy’s Day quest won’t unlock him – you can only do that in regular gameplay. If you don’t have him yet, take a look at the walkthroughs page to see how far away you are from getting him – and then spend lots of time on your game over the next week or so to make sure you unlock him in time.
So, on with the quest:
1. St. Paddy’s Day Part 7 Homer and Willie need to be free at the end of the second party at O’Flanagan’s Pub to kick off the next stage of the quest, which begins with Homer putting his foot in it:
Needless to say, this doesn’t make Willie very happy…
Willie: I’m not Irish, I’m Scottish! We’re totally different kinds of English-haters!
Homer: You both talk funny. that’s pretty strong evidence you’re the same people.
Willie: Now I’m looking for a fight!
At that point, Willie’s task comes up. If you already have Willie, this is what you’ll see:
If you don’t have him, you’ll need to go back to your regular gameplay and progressively unlock all the buildings up to Willie’s Shack until you do (level 10 is the minimum level you’ll need to be to do this – it may come later.) Once you have him, though, you can send him to drink and look for a fight at O’Flanagan’s Pub (4 hours – keep both Tom and Homer free as he finishes to be safe).
2. St. Paddy’s Day Part 8 Homer encourages Tom and Willie to put aside their ancient cultural differences, which leads to Willie going for another drink at O’Flanagan’s Pub – this time without looking for a fight (4 hours – keep Tom and Homer free when he finishes)
3. St. Paddy’s Day Part 9 To thank Homer for helping them to resolve their differences, Tom and Willie make Homer a Shamrock Topiary, which they put in your inventory:
All you need to do then is place it. As you can see here, I’ve put mine outside O’Flanagan’s Pub:
And that’s where the St. Paddy’s Day quest ends. Time for a drink!
About time for a walkthrough – or at least the first part of one. For those who like their game storylines to be a surprise, please hurry away quickly. There are now more than 250 posts here, so there’s probably something you haven’t read yet.
As you all know, Homer kicks off the St. Patrick’s Day storyline in a conversation with Lisa, that begins like this:
And he continues:
Homer: Too bad you can’t pub crawl in a town with only one pub.
Lisa: Didn’t you and Grampa buy a pub when we went to Ireland?
Homer: I miss that place. Sometimes I wish you could build the buildings you wish we’re built.
And there begins the quest:
1. St. Paddy’s Day Part 1 Homer prompts you to build O’Flanagan’s Pub ($1900 and 24 hours, unlocking Tom O’Flanagan at the end of the build – keep Homer free as it finishes)
2. St. Paddy’s Day Part 2 Tom arrives a little confused about where he is, but at least Homer is there to welcome him to America. Tom’s first task is to clean beer mugs while he wanders around your town (8 hours – keep Homer free when he finishes)
3. St. Paddy’s Day Part 3 Homer is happy there’s another pub in town:
Homer: O’Flanagan’s Pub is open for business!
Tom: Hold on, laddie! Runnin’ a pub is no picnic! It’s hard work – work that takes arbitrary lengths of time to complete!
Homer: I’m a guy that takes six hours to lounge in the pool but only six SECONDS to clean up nuclear waste. I know arbitrary, okay?
Tom: And there’s other tasks that might seem, well, a wee bit pointless. Like they don’t necessarily aid in running a business…
And at that, Homer promotes the bar while Tom dances a jig (12 hours each – keep Homer, Tom and half of Springfield free as they finish)
In St. Paddy’s Day Part 4, you’ll be having a party at O’Flanagan’s Pub, and it will help if you have as many of the following characters ready to go there as you can: Homer, Ned Flanders, Apu, Grampa Simpson, Comic Book Guy, Principal Skinner, Edna Krabappel, Cletus, Willie and Barney.
Part 2 of the walkthrough very soon…
Thanks to all your comments and messages to go and look at the game, because there’s been an update. Here’s the official announcement:
“Shake your shamrocks! Springfield has a taste of Ireland with a new storyline, characters and buildings to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.”
But what exactly does that mean? well, for starters it means:
- a new limited time building and character – O’Flanagan’s Pub and Tom O’Flanagan
- a new limited time premium item and a character to go with it – the Wishing Well and the Leprechaun
- a new character set – Irishmen:
- a new decoration – as promised here, it’s the 50-foot magnifying glass for $3,000,000
- and the rivers are green.
There are also some new decorations – but as these come as part of the quest and are not decorations you can buy in your store, more on those later.
So, no level 27, but a bit of fun for the next week or so.
