The Awfulness of Maxis-created Lots

I certainly think there's something to the notion that they just don't care and figure then players will replace the lots anyway.

With that said, some of the lots are well done. I guess it's the inconsistency that bugs me the most.

I'm planning on going through and tweaking/remodeling most of the premades. I won't bulldoze them completely though or make them unrecognizeable, because I tend to like them. I just want to flesh them out more. The community lots especially.

I hate how empty and boring they are... I get that if there's a new pack that brings a new world with it they can't use other packs than base game and the pack that the world came with because not everyone has every single pack in the game. It's just why do you have to make so big houses if you can't fill up the whole 10x10 kitchen with something that makes it worth having that gigantic kitchen. I hate the empty space and I'm too lazy to decorate the houses myself.

One thing that frustrates me so much is that one house in Brindleton Bay where one of the windows is on a different level from the others...

I either renovate or tear down the lots I don't like. The gym in Windenburg was bulldozed to make room for a nice bowling alley,and I renovated the Rattlesnake Bar into a pizzeria named Coyote Pizza. One building in Brindleton Bay was bulldozed and replaced with a Showbiz Pizza Place building,and the Garden Path House was transformed into a gift shop. Bulldozing and replacing lots I don't like makes the worlds more interesting.

That gym is honestly one of the most frustrating parts of the game lmao

I tend to get rid of the gym in Willow Creek. It doesn't feel very gym-like and its design is just really awkward. Also, depending on the atmosphere of a playthrough, I'll also get rid of the Blue Velvet for a build of my own that has a more grungy, industrial vibe to it. I don't have too many qualms gameplay wise or design wise with the Windenburg gym, though. The locker room on the basement level makes a cool transition area from the front door to the gym proper...though, I can see how it can be annoying for players who just want their sims to get to working out already.

I usually only use the pre-built homes as temp housing (with a few exceptions), and either abandon or remodel them as needed...or, I'll just use them as a holding place for NPC's I want to have more interaction with. With pre-built venues, I'll destroy the ones I find ugly, boring, or repetitive. After all, I've got to put my Goth/Vampire bar somewhere... ;)

I tend to rehaul a lot of pre-made Maxis lots.

For whatever reason in the majority of games most of the lots just aren't good or forget a few things. In the Sims 2 there was a restaurant that didn't even have a bathroom. :neutral: Sims had a bad time wetting themselves and crying about it. Haha.

I'm probably a little strange, but I like most of Maxis builds. (granted, I added a door to that wall in the gym) ...And I hate most of the furnishing choices and emptying them and redecorating is always one of my first tasks, but I'll also admit I'm a 90's kid so my taste is probably questionable anyway..or at least that's what people tell me about us 90's kids :D I tend to like lighter, airy colors and bold bright ones too. All the browns and burnt oranges they use icks me out.