I've seen that @Brindleton did a "favorite neighborhood" poll, but they didn't include BV and the 3 Uni-hoods, I was curious to see what the outcome would look like if they had included those too. (I consider the Uni-hoods as a "separate neighborhood", as it comes with premades with unique personalities/etc).

Actually I have several favorites starting with Pleasantview, but the one I dislike the most is Veronaville. I moved all the Veronaville sims to Pleasantview. My game has Pleasantview as the main hood, and the other (main) hoods are now business districts.

@LaBlue0314 I like adding all of them to a main neighborhood too. Its quite fun to have all of them interacting with eachother. I had a save file were I was playing the Sunset Valley that was recreated in Sims 2 and I was planning on reaching Pleasantview's timeline, but I had to format my notebook and lost my progress. Now I'm doing the same, but this time I'm using a Sims 1 recreation to SIms 2. There's less sims there, I would feel really overwhelmed having to replaying almost 30 families to reach the point I was. Maybe in the future, once I forget my SV. haha

Hi :)I usually make my own but when playing the pre-made, I like Pleasantview the most. :)

My favourite is Pleasantview with Strangetown a very close second. :) It's not that I dislike Veronaville, it is just that I like my Sims to go downtown and I can't really do that without some fight breaking out. :D At the moment I have just tried merging Pleasantview and Strangetown (downtown district) and am really enjoying playing the game but takes ages to round the houses! :)

And this poll is missing Four Corners, Bitville, Garden Heights and Mesa Flats ;p (I know, most Sims 2 players barely know these exist, and they arent natively part of Sims 2 itself). I'll say a bit about each neighbourhood.Pleasantview is rife with dramas and everyone is interconnected, but I feel its best for returning players from Sims 1. Its also the neighbourhood that Bluewater Village, Downtown and Sim State University connect to canonically, so its the most important one, but im not always in the mood for the more realistic approach PV has.Strangetown is the hotbed for the strange and bizarre sims, the only thing letting it down in PC is its small size; without making a custom neighbourhood and adding new lots, your not going to be adding all the extra canon people from the PSP version, or giving homes to graduates of LFT, the matching college for StrangetownVeronaville ive never had much love for. The fact that every premade there is literally part of three families, and the architectural styles, and the fact you cannot play without some brawl or roaches infesting all your lots because of trashcan kickers, it always puts me off longterm play. At least its matching uni adds some diverse playables to the town, who must wonder 'why did I settle down HERE of all places?'Sim State University is a fun place, its premades are all so normal and relatable. Ive taken a lot of them through college and into the main neighbourhoods, and its nice seeing them out and about in community lots afterLa Fiesta Tech has gotten a lot of play from me due to connecting to Strangetown, and like Strangetown, it has some of the more interesting student characters, like the only other playable pure alien in the game, and the lazy guy that mostly just exists in his frat house, and the stuckup german woman who finds everything provincial. I just wish Strangetown was better equipped to house them after (not a problem for meanymore as I merge all the neighbourhoods now)Academie Le Tour is...'ehhh' for the most part, its more serious than the other two, and connects to Veronaville. I have played all of the sims living here to completion, just to populate Veronaville with diverse residents, and the only family that really interested me here was the Sharpe family, due to its drama potential. In one of my games, the poor nerdy brother got beaten up by Jonah, moved out, then spent the rest of his semesters building robotics in the dorms, eventually giving every dorm the security bots that shock aggressors like the evil mascots. He made a little legacy there.Downtown has no sims living in it sadly, but does have a good spot for a lot of uni graduates and family bin people to move into; its always where I move the Traveller and Roseland family to.Bluewater Village is a place I'll never quite get to explore fully, as I generally find the OFB stuff too in your face and demanding, thus I still have not really done much with it. I do however like a bunch of the premades; one of my first ever Sims 2 games was with the Larson Twins, and Chester Gieke as a roommate that moved in a bit later. I also like the lady that sells flowers. Several of the people here feature in Sims 4 as cameos in item descriptions that tells what some of the residents got up to after Sims 2, so thats neat.Riverblossom Hills is notable for being the only town with a premade playable occult, and its a bit of a wacky town. Like having that one family with the drama of having the wife abandon her family to...become a literal pirate? xD The only thing I dont really like about this neighbourhood is how pretty much EVERYONE has one of the new careers, it isnt too balanced out that way. Bonus points for the Ottomas family, playing this family is always pure chaos, as no home in the town has the room to house them properly.Desiderata Valley is total filler, ive seen people try to recreate almost all the neighbourhoods from TS2 in TS3, and Desiderata Valley is always left out. For the most part its just....another town, that doesnt change things up enough. Would have been better as a sub-hood to me, as a little forgotten corner of Pleasantview where everyone living there is attuned to their hobbies.Belladonna Cove is great, the town just feels so much more alive than the others, due to great world building. There are visible high class areas and slummy regions, even a section of the park thats clearly where all the downtrodden gather. The only thing I dont like is the careless building of its graveyard, I dont think its possible to ever see its intended grave placement. I have also never really seen the regular homes of this neighbourhood, for me its all about the apartments.__________________________Four Corners, the main neighbourhood of Life Stories, is rather small, but due to this, you quickly get everyone in town knowing each other, and thanks to the story mode, you also really feel like you 'know' most of the residents. I want to get them all into proper Sims 2 with the townies intact one day. I like this little town enough that ive built the whole lot inside Sims 3. The homes are all really colourful too, they really pop out in comparison to Pleasantview homes.Four Corners has a Freeplay alt which counts as its own neighbourhood; in this alternate reality version, Mickey, Agora, Dylan and Sharon are all gone, thier homes mysteriously intact and still furnished and 'lived in', and Riley, the main character, starts off in the family bin with a different lifetime wish and in deep red aspiration. I always percieve this version of the neighbourhood as a darker timeline when Dylan and Agora's plan works, and people die as a result. It at least explains why Riley wants to be a cop now, and starts off depressed. I always resurrect Bailey in the Fortuna family in this version, as theres no reason he should be dead in BOTH neighbourhoods. Add a little positivity to the darker version of Four Corners, right?Bitville is great, its small like four corners but has so much going on for a neighbourhood its size; even the neighbourhood view looks so packed. Its supposed to be a haven for nerds and tech enthusiasts, if it were remade today it'd be very modern I think. The only thing I dont like is that the premades didnt get the same amount of care that Four Corners got; several sims have no bios or even family bios, and everyone but the main character and his eventual girlfriend starts off unemployed and with no skills. SimPE has to fix this in cases, like the old rich doctor, he needs to be edited to actually have his high paying doctor job.Garden Heights is Dog City. Sims 2 Pets totally failed at the pets thing, by barely giving you any premade pets to showcase them, and generally not adding much to the game, you had to go out of your way to add the titular pets to your worlds. Garden Heights is all about the dogs, with dog shows, dog training parks, and most playables owning one. You meet all the residents except one during the story too, so your familiar with almost EVERYONE in town by the end. The design of the houses are also pretty neat, Garden Heights has its own 'character'Mesa Flats is meant to be 'Cat City' to match Garden Heights, but really, theres not that many cats around. Given how independent cats are, its no surprise that the story here is more 'normal'. Mesa Flats is the second desert neighbourhood, but isnt anything at all like Strangetown. Its more like Lucky Palms really, and has a very artistic looking style to its homes. If this town was included in Sims 2 naturally without having to import it into the game, I think it would be many a player's favourite.Arbor Falls is the final Sims 2 neighbourhood, and is a better attempt at Freeplay than Life Stories did; its a fullfledged neighbourhood, just like in Sims 2, with no story or goals, with a diverse cast of playables and their pets, and its own unique townies. Not many of the playables are 'notable', they are all largely just normal everyday folk, all but one of whom have pets. Its a unique looking town too, I feel it would be a sister town to Hidden Springs.Clearly the best neighbourhood is the Tutorial though; a small selection of custom NPCs, and three seperate Tutorial Joes, two Tutorial Janes, and all the building space you could ask for, on a small island nation :D___________My vote still goes to Strangetown however. Too many good memories of the place, like my family of bigfoots that I made, each with a different aspiration, or the werewolf family, or the inventor that made 20+ Servos for the town before mysteriously dying, leaving a legacy all over town with a small servo workforce, some of whom were experimental occult models.

Popularity Contest: Which is your favorite neighborhood?

Bmm209
5 years ago
I always make my own neighborhoods and play in them so really its mine thats my favorite! I say the college I guess because there is one blue haired guy in the directory I usually make one of my sims fall for.
miwa09
5 years ago
I barely use any of the pre-made neighbourhoods (except the universities... man, I should've voted one of those!) but Pleasantview has interesting families and backstories, so I'm just voting that.
karon_shiruba
5 years ago
@BohoFlower yes, the continuity makes PV the best. I wish they had added other families from SIms 1 like the Mashuga, the Roomies, Hatfield, etc to other neighborhoods.
Wixomrie
5 years ago
Pleasantview just has this charm to it...I can't really explain it! Lol! :D Veronaville would be second. They both have a storyline that's "alive" (if you get what I mean). I still play the other hoods, but only Pleasantview gets me super excited every time I think about it!
EgonVM
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
Belladonna Cove, because there's so much flat land and you can also place a lot of beaches. Plus there's a secret tucked away from the camera's reach. Desiderata Valley comes in second.

"PhoenixArrande;c-17515419" wrote:
Pleasantview just has this charm to it...I can't really explain it! Lol! :D Veronaville would be second. They both have a storyline that's "alive" (if you get what I mean). I still play the other hoods, but only Pleasantview gets me super excited every time I think about it!

I get what you mean. Not only the fact that families have memories and have their photo album filled with pictures, but there are also things that happen within first days you play with them (Cassandra getting left by the altar, Mary-Sue getting a chance card that either gets her fired or demoted etc) and wants that roll (Daniel's want to woohoo with the maid etc). Plus Pleasantview is full of drama (there is a huge "love network" where even a maid is involved).
Wixomrie
5 years ago
"EgonVM;c-17515824" wrote:
Belladonna Cove, because there's so much flat land and you can also place a lot of beaches. Plus there's a secret tucked away from the camera's reach. Desiderata Valley comes in second.

"PhoenixArrande;c-17515419" wrote:
Pleasantview just has this charm to it...I can't really explain it! Lol! :D Veronaville would be second. They both have a storyline that's "alive" (if you get what I mean). I still play the other hoods, but only Pleasantview gets me super excited every time I think about it!

I get what you mean. Not only the fact that families have memories and have their photo album filled with pictures, but there are also things that happen within first days you play with them (Cassandra getting left by the altar, Mary-Sue getting a chance card that either gets her fired or demoted etc) and wants that roll (Daniel's want to woohoo with the maid etc). Plus Pleasantview is full of drama (there is a huge "love network" where even a maid is involved).

Yep! It's too bad the devs didn't really do all that with the other hoods, but I guess they were trying to leave room for the player to drive the story.
karon_shiruba
5 years ago
"PhoenixArrande;c-17516311" wrote:
"EgonVM;c-17515824" wrote:
Belladonna Cove, because there's so much flat land and you can also place a lot of beaches. Plus there's a secret tucked away from the camera's reach. Desiderata Valley comes in second.

"PhoenixArrande;c-17515419" wrote:
Pleasantview just has this charm to it...I can't really explain it! Lol! :D Veronaville would be second. They both have a storyline that's "alive" (if you get what I mean). I still play the other hoods, but only Pleasantview gets me super excited every time I think about it!

I get what you mean. Not only the fact that families have memories and have their photo album filled with pictures, but there are also things that happen within first days you play with them (Cassandra getting left by the altar, Mary-Sue getting a chance card that either gets her fired or demoted etc) and wants that roll (Daniel's want to woohoo with the maid etc). Plus Pleasantview is full of drama (there is a huge "love network" where even a maid is involved).

Yep! It's too bad the devs didn't really do all that with the other hoods, but I guess they were trying to leave room for the player to drive the story.

@PhoenixArrande I think the downfall on the quality of premade families/neighborhoods started during Sims 2 expansion pack neighborhoods. In the base game everything is perfect, there's scripted events, they have friends, enemies and lvoers outside their households, etc...
Then the EP neighborhoods don't have ANY classic premade family from Sims 1 (I WISH the Mashuga's were in Sims 2/3/4, I loooooved that campy family). They could've brought back the Hatfields, the Charmings, the Hicks, the Roomies (lesbian couple?!), the Maximus, the Snooty Patooty, etc...
Then in Sims 3, most households don't have relationships outside their households, and I think after the 4th world they stopped adding skills, careers, the age is always at the beginning of the bar, they don't know anyone frm other households...
Then Sims 4... Everyone is a sim fresh out of the CAS (at least Evergreen Harbor seems to add families with relationships outside their households).
Wixomrie
5 years ago
"Karon;c-17517233" wrote:
"PhoenixArrande;c-17516311" wrote:
"EgonVM;c-17515824" wrote:
Belladonna Cove, because there's so much flat land and you can also place a lot of beaches. Plus there's a secret tucked away from the camera's reach. Desiderata Valley comes in second.

"PhoenixArrande;c-17515419" wrote:
Pleasantview just has this charm to it...I can't really explain it! Lol! :D Veronaville would be second. They both have a storyline that's "alive" (if you get what I mean). I still play the other hoods, but only Pleasantview gets me super excited every time I think about it!

I get what you mean. Not only the fact that families have memories and have their photo album filled with pictures, but there are also things that happen within first days you play with them (Cassandra getting left by the altar, Mary-Sue getting a chance card that either gets her fired or demoted etc) and wants that roll (Daniel's want to woohoo with the maid etc). Plus Pleasantview is full of drama (there is a huge "love network" where even a maid is involved).

Yep! It's too bad the devs didn't really do all that with the other hoods, but I guess they were trying to leave room for the player to drive the story.

@PhoenixArrande I think the downfall on the quality of premade families/neighborhoods started during Sims 2 expansion pack neighborhoods. In the base game everything is perfect, there's scripted events, they have friends, enemies and lvoers outside their households, etc...
Then the EP neighborhoods don't have ANY classic premade family from Sims 1 (I WISH the Mashuga's were in Sims 2/3/4, I loooooved that campy family). They could've brought back the Hatfields, the Charmings, the Hicks, the Roomies (lesbian couple?!), the Maximus, the Snooty Patooty, etc...
Then in Sims 3, most households don't have relationships outside their households, and I think after the 4th world they stopped adding skills, careers, the age is always at the beginning of the bar, they don't know anyone frm other households...
Then Sims 4... Everyone is a sim fresh out of the CAS (at least Evergreen Harbor seems to add families with relationships outside their households).

Oh dear i never noticed that it was a pattern except with TS4! I never knew what it was that felt missing, but you just pointed it right out! I loved their Pancakes family trailers/pictures and expected it to be just like that in game. You're right they shouldve added more TS1 families...the Snooty Patooty family is my favorite. I tried making my own version in TS2, but it just isn't the same :cry:

To stay on topic: I forgot to mention that I recently became addicted to the Stories games hoods. Riley Harlow and the gang needs more love! :heart:
karon_shiruba
5 years ago
@PhoenixArrande Right?!
Marka93 from MTS built Old Town from SIms 1 in Sims 2 here: http://www.modthesims.info/d/522506/old-town.html
You can find a sub-hood version here (with/without sims): http://www.modthesims.info/d/523417/9-new-shopping-districts.html

Anyway, I agree with the trailers misleading us. I kinda understand why they don't add scripted events, but this problem could be fixed with a toggle option in the games menu. It's simple as that. Like "Play Worlds like Sims 2" would turn on a rotational styled gameplay, while "Play Worlds like Sims 3" would turn on a story progression styled gameplay... Well, I think they could even add a "Play Worlds like Sims 4" were you can't play rotationally cuz everyone ages at the same time, but you don't have story progression too.

Anyway, I think that Marka93 + a group of other simmers have converted the Stories hoods to Sims 2. Look for Hood Building Group on MTS.
Devalaous
5 years ago
"Karon;c-17517233" wrote:

Then in Sims 3, most households don't have relationships outside their households, and I think after the 4th world they stopped adding skills, careers, the age is always at the beginning of the bar, they don't know anyone frm other households...
Then Sims 4... Everyone is a sim fresh out of the CAS (at least Evergreen Harbor seems to add families with relationships outside their households).

This actually isn't quite true, the Sims 3 worlds have quite a lot of back and forth relationships, but it depends on the world. Some worlds are clearly cranked out quickly under an EA suit's whip, some have a lot of hidden love to them. The two most noteworthy labour of love worlds both came out around the same time; Bridgeport and Barnacle Bay. Yes, Barnacle Bay is often made fun of for being incredibly basic; but it was the first DLC world and a shocking amount of care went into its creation as I found when diving the depths of it. Every single person in the world has a detailed bio, right down to the regular NPCs and even every single ghost in the graveyards. In ANY other world, NPCs will have a blank bio, as they were never really intended to be playable. Now when I play Barnacle Bay, I know the background of every NPC, every Townie, every resident, and it feels more alive that way. It even has a Veronaville-style family feud between the Inkbeards and Goldbeards, and a few links to Sims 2. I really got the feeling the team that made the world really cared about it, even if it did kind of get thrown under a bus by EA with the bizarre forced 'everyone is a celebrity' thing, clearly done to push Late Night. Speaking of, Bridgeport has a similar level of love put into its NPCs and townies; so many of them are unique, and start off with relationships and even family ties to others, something most towns never experimented with. To my immediate memory the only other towns that do this are Starlight Shores, where a teenager lives with his grandmother, and has a townie mother, and Appaloosa Plains, where a guy has a firefighter NPC as his brother, and they absolutely hate each other by default. Later store worlds noticably become less detailed, as they stopped giving anyone personal bios past Lucky Palms, so you end up with people just filling out a family with no real idea of who they are, if the family bio doesnt detail them.

Sims 4 definitely could do better, you had Strangerville where it was shown that a lot of the people knew each other, but none of them do at the start, and stuff like the former Landgraab comedian not actually knowing his ex-family or being related, but in some worlds its better, like Windenburg.

"PhoenixArrande;c-17517417" wrote:

To stay on topic: I forgot to mention that I recently became addicted to the Stories games hoods. Riley Harlow and the gang needs more love! :heart:

I enjoy those Stories worlds too, by the time the stories end, you feel you really know most of the residents. I actually recreated all of the playable people from Four Corners in Sims 3 a while back, planning on seeing if I can recreate the story in Sims 3's open world environment later. Still have to make the NPCs and townies though..