Dragon Valley or Monte Vista/Hidden Springs

I think Dragon Valley is beautiful and a lot of fun to play. I own Monte Vista and Hidden Springs too, and I've poked at them a bit but haven't played a proper save there. I'm sure I will sooner or later. But my current save is in DV, as was my last one, and I'm not bored yet.

The backstories in DV are also compelling, or at least they could be if you like what you read. Some sims are based on fairytale characters, theres's a whole house full of orphans whose parents probably died of dragonfire, one of the chefs is apparently procuring meat from unknown sources.... Oh, and there's a very human-looking family running the town full of non-humans, if you want some extra drama.

The other intriguing feature of DV is that when your sims interact with dragons, certain needs get replenished and stay full for hours. So with one dragon of each type, sims would never need to do anything else to fulfill their basic needs. This can change your playstyle dramatically, of course, maybe more than you'd want, but it's at least an interesting change from the normal patterns.

The scenery in DV is also beautiful. I just enjoy looking at it. MV is fine, but it doesn't feel special to me.

Thanks @ puzzleaddict. That's what I was hoping and what I thought from what I saw. I just wanted to make sure that it would have that special feel to play in.

I think I will get Dragon Valley first (birthday gift), and maybe get the bundle for Christmas. The green people just intrigued me. I saw them in the trailer but couldn't figure out why they were being featured. I thought they were part alien. I could get good storylines with that as well.

Dragon Valley is a must!!! I wish we could turn off the cars though. Kind of throws the mood off when a vet zooms by your castle. :#

@jojie4

Hidden Springs is a mediocre world, because the official world creators at EA probably were flexing their design muscles at the time. The later Store worlds are more worth the money than the earlier ones, in my opinion. I actually do not own Hidden Springs, but have seen it being played in Let's Plays and Game Reviews, and from the looks of it, it really looks like something a Sims 3 fan can slap together with enough time and dedication. The main reason for the mediocrity is that the rabbitholes are just ones you will find in Sunset Valley.

Now, I do own Monte Vista and Dragon Valley, and I love them both. Monte Vista's premium content is the pizza oven; Dragon Valley's premium content is the set of 3 dragons, and you get an additional baby dragon, the black one, if you also own the Renaissance Faire lot. @Cogitotoro was generous enough to gift me the Renaissance Faire lot. If it weren't for the Store gift, then I probably wouldn't have gotten it at all, let alone the black dragon. Thanks Cogitotoro!

Monte Vista is home to the Monty family from The Sims 2, but you get to play with Patrizio and Isabella and their young children. The Montys are loved there, and it is hinted that they are completely clueless to what will become their fate - the Capps as arch-rivals. Aside from the Monty family, you can also find Goopy GilsCarbo and his parents there. What I plan to do is to have little Bianca Monty grow up and eventually become engaged to Goopy. Then, I will just move her out of the house and let the game do whatever it wants with her. Personally, I think Monte Vista is the perfect location to do the Romeo and Juliet story, because the town's architecture is traditional Italian - very similar to what you will find in Veronaville (The Sims 2). I also own Roaring Heights and plan to play with the Capp family there. Eventually, the Capps will move to Monte Vista and become the arch-rivals of the Montys. Afterwards, I may move the Capps and Montys and Summerdreams (Moonlight Falls) into Veronaville (custom world on the Exchange) to play out the rest of the Romeo and Juliet story.

Dragon Valley has a ton of interesting household descriptions and gameplay opportunities. You can find references to the Loch Ness monster and Red Riding Hood. There is a pre-made family that would be perfect for the Opposite Princess Challenge and a family that would be suited for the Orphanage Challenge. You can also find the Burb family there and play out the Burb family story there before packaging the family and moving it to Pleasantview (custom world by PleasantSims). Some lots in Dragon Valley (residential and community) come with dragon eggs; watch out for them!

My own gameplays are mostly story-driven, so I play Monte Vista for the Monty family and the Romeo and Juliet story, and I like to play the Dragon Valley pre-made families for the interesting backstories, as well as using the Dragon Valley world as the backdrop for fairy-tale gameplays.

@waterywatermelon That's funny, I stay away from the established characters, because I feel like they have to go that way. I figure story progression takes care of them. If I did, it would make Monte Vista much more entertaining.

I own all those worlds but Dragon Valley is my favorite.

I have all the worlds. Dragon Valley is beautiful. I use it as a medieval world. It has a lot of unique buildings and characters. There is also plenty of space. There is the added bonus that you can use houseboats in the water, if you have the expansion that adds them. I love the look of Monte Vista, but I do not enjoy it as much as Dragon Valley. I absolutely adore Hidden Springs. It is a more compact world and is easier to navigate. I do change the rabbit holes to give it a different look. There are hints of a back story about the fountain and why some of the townsfolk are green. I never really spent any time trying to make a story about that. What I really enjoyed was putting the hot air balloon from Aurora Skies up on the top lot of Hidden Springs. I always took my sims there for romantic views.

As it seems that you were drawn to the more exotic worlds first, you would probably enjoy Dragon Valley the most. That's just the opinion of someone who doesn't really know you though. :D