World Adventures: First Impressions

[Metropolis Man]

I'm creating a new Sticky for many of us who will be taking delivery of the new expansion soon. I thought this would be a nice, organized way for players who have had a chance to dive into the new content to express their feelings — good and bad — about World Adventures. Let's keep this thread focused on new World Adventures stuff only and not questions/comments regarding the vanilla game. 

[Saltypaws]

I can't say I am impressed as of yet.  I have already lost two families.  There is a saving issue that I am not quite sure of, can't even get on Sims3 forums.  Would probably get lost anyway.  I will say, the graphics are wonderful, but I can't afford to lose anymore families right now.  This is the first time I have really had any problems with any of the games.

[Metropolis Man]

So far I'm liking the expansion. I'm still in the dark as to whether or not I need the 1.5/1.6 update or if all that content is already rolled into the expansion. I'm off to bed in a little bit. If anyone knows the answer to that let me know.

My photographer got some basic skills in Sunset Valley (fishing/cooking) for 3 days and then called on her cell phone for a trip to Egypt. I immediately went to the bulletin board right in the Egypt base camp to tackle the first opportunity. I think it's called the Tomb of Discovery. I completed that Quest which led to another Quest. My photographer was exhausted, so I put her to bed and I'll tackle the 2nd Quest tomorrow. I'll have to remember to take more pictures and work on the photography skill in tandem with the questing so I do double duty. I've only had her take one shot. The questing is great for old seasoned role playing gamers like me.

[Pam]

I cant say I am impressed as of yet, I have already lost two families, there is a saving issue that I am not quite sure of, cant even get on Sims3 forums, would probably get lost anyway, I will say, the graphics are wonderful, but I cant afford to lose anymore families right now.  This is the first time I have really had any problems with any of the games.

What do you mean you "lost two families?" 

[Pam]

I've visited France and China so far, and I must say World Adventures is absolutely delightful!  I'm having some graphics issues, but it's the fault of my computer and not the game.  I'll be ordering a new graphics card in the very near future.

The Expansion Pack flows smoothly with the vanilla Sims 3 game.  I was very happy to find that I can play any of my existing families and not have to create new Sims.  My Legacy family was the first to go on vacation because I'm sentimental like that.  I took all five of them and it was a bit too much to control, so four of them went home early.  Now I'm just going to take one at a time for awhile.  It'll be good because each Sim in a family has specialities.  The cook will enjoy trying new foods and buying recipes, while the fisherman will love testing new fishing spots and catching new types of fish.  There's really a little of everything.

It's familiar enough that I don't feel like I'm learning a brand new game from the beginning, but there are plenty of new things that make it surprising and funny.  The expressions on my Sim's face while she tried to learn how to sing a song were priceless!  As was pausing to scratch her bottom while clearing rubble in a tomb. 

I'm very pleased and having a great time!

[Metropolis Man]

I can't say I am impressed as of yet.  I have already lost two families.  There is a saving issue that I am not quite sure of...

I'm 99% certain that all of the tech problems players are experiencing with World Adventures are due to installing the patch and then installing the expansion. I know Pam did it this way. I wrote down a handful of the new features from the long patch list in the link I provided yesterday as to things I should look for in the expansion — they're all there and I never patched. The reason I'm not getting an Update notice at the Launcher is because the game obviously does not feel I need a patch. So, I think the thing to do is forget about the patch and just install the expansion on top of vanilla.

[Saltypaws]

I agree Pam, it is wonderdul, but the error on saving has resulted in the loss of two families.  I went to The Sims 3 site and everyone else has the same problem, so I uninstalled the game and installed again and did not put the patch in and so far so good.  So at this point, I assume it is the patch, until it happens again and maybe it wont, but I do love the game and the game is smooth and runs well, so will just have to be on the watch. 

[Metropolis Man]

So at this point, I assume it is the patch...

Unquestionably. Think about it. EA releases this enormous patch the same day as World Adventures. Why would they do that? Why would you need both? That patch is clearly intended for players who were not installing World Adventures. The problem is we had to come to this conclusion ourselves. There should be a notice right by the Update button — "Do not update if you will be installing World Adventures."

[Honeymooners]

OK so here is the start of my loves and dislikes- I am not posting any spoilers
Loves :
You can cancel the newspaper
the adventures themselves are a blast! I agree I love the RPG aspect combined with the sim aspect. 
New modlets, lifetime wishes , and traits
LOVE LOVE LOVE the new happiness rewards! 
Love new clothes and objects!
There are just so many layers to this EP and it came out at the perfect time just when bg was starting to get a little stale

dislikes- just one so far
 not much for the kids to do on adventures

Bring on the challenges!

[Metropolis Man]

Has anyone noticed that their food goes bad in the fridge too quickly since installing the expansion? I made some sushi around 5pm, put it in the 2nd tier fridge, and by 6am green clouds were coming out of the fridge.

[Pam]

Has anyone noticed that their food goes bad in the fridge too quickly since installing the expansion? I made some sushi around 5pm, put it in the 2nd tier fridge, and by 6am green clouds were coming out of the fridge.

Yes!  And I hate it!  I've got the most expensive fridge and leftovers go bad within a day or two.  I haven't decided if it's a glitch or a fluke or if they really mean for it to be this way.

Metro - We need to start having individual topics for things like this so they can be easily seen by others instead of all piling up into a generic World Adventures thread.  If you'd help me spread the word and split topics, I'd appreciate it!

[Metropolis Man]

Yes!  And I hate it!  I've got the most expensive fridge and leftovers go bad within a day or two.  I haven't decided if it's a glitch or a fluke or if they really mean for it to be this way.

Let's pray it's a glitch. It's obviously not a fluke if both you and I are experiencing the same thing. It's awful. I count on that god meal bonus for breakfast and my photo tourney character is sometimes eating a breakfast that goes bad while he's eating it from when he cook it the night before. That's ridiculous.

Metro - We need to start having individual topics for things like this so they can be easily seen by others instead of all piling up into a generic World Adventures thread.  If you'd help me spread the word and split topics, I'd appreciate it!

There's plusses and minuses to both approaches, but whatever you would prefer, Pam, I aim to please.

[RCHaynes]

Do the folks here have any 'pull' or presence or what have you with EA dev/support to get bugs noticed or investigated?
Can we nominate someone to be loud and boisterous on the 'official' boards?

I'd also make this suggestion to keep these under control (shamelessly ripped off from other games that get buggy releases, and patch fixes)
A sticky for World Adventures Issues
Locked and modded first post that lists the bugs

• food placed in refrigerators spoils faster than intended _11/17/09

then later it can become

• food placed in refrigerators spoils faster than intended _11/17/09^{patch 1.8}

And folks reply to have a 'bug' added to the modded Master list. Once the mod adds it to the master, delete the post in the interests of keeping it clean, short and to the point.
Just a thought, to try and keep forums, topics and threads under control. Yes, it's administrivia in the worst sense.... but it can escalate FAST if not wrassled into submission early. The 'fix' list for 1.6 was 5 pages long....

[Metropolis Man]

Do the folks here have any 'pull' or presence or what have you with EA dev/support to get bugs noticed or investigated?
Can we nominate someone to be loud and boisterous on the 'official' boards?

Honestly, I don't know if it matters, RC. The official EA forums probably get 10 times the traffic as Carl's site and I'd be REALLY surprised if many people had not already complained about the food thing. Those of the forums that the EA developers look at. And at least for me, I try and steer clear of those forums.

[RCHaynes]

But I can't see the EA forums at work....
I only ask because of past experience with some games giving credence to some fan-sites as a source of good data from people committed to playing and having fun with the game without resorting to the "OMG! they broke the game!!" posts that have no detail. Things like EQ Traders for Everquest come to mind... one of their mods ended up as a developer for EQ.
I guess I was mostly asking if this was a private gripe session that any one official would ever see or not. Seems Not.
I shall bring some of my rant-&-rave there. I'm assuming they have some kind of a bug submission interface??

The second part of my post was just a thought. This may be too small to warrant that kind of Technical board/topic/forum. I liked this one best of the fan sites because it's so comprehensive and well written. It just might be easier in the long run to have 1 dedicated place to put bugs/issues.

Otherwise back on topic! Having fun in WA. I created an Athletic/Adventurous/Disciplined/Friendly/<something> to approach vacationing in China and pursuing Martial Arts. I'd have to confirm with a non-Athletic roll practicing Martial Arts and a non-Disciplined one playing out Professional Sports, but they don't seem to enhance each other, directly anyway. Playing with the Adventures given by the Adventure board or from the locals is fun, and the little dungeon crawls are a blast! I've not found much on the 'special' merchant in China I want. Doing the little random excavations and buying relics is giving me a fun little hobby as well.
It seems to have introduced a few unwanted and undersirable side effects, but overall I'm enjoying the new content a lot.

[Metropolis Man]

Nice job creating the new WA section, Carl. I noticed it right away and threw a few obvious topics here.

[Carl]

I've been pretty busy lately, but the few hours I've had to play thus far have led me to feel really good about buying this expansion. That is, even though I was kind of obligated

I was excited about Martial Arts, so sent my Sim to Shang Simla the first day after I made him. It was exciting to go to the new area, and while I fumbled around a bit I managed to get through the dungeon there, and complete a couple of quests. Unfortunately, only on my second trip did I earn enough points to get the Visa level upgrade. It feels exciting to gain that level, because the three days you're in a destination feels way too short.

Short, especially when I was also trying to learn Sim Fu. My third adventure was a 5 day stay and I did a chain of quests. I love the new adventure journal. It's cool to track my visa level and shoot for level 3.

I'm really happy with how it feels like most any skill you have from home can come into use in the travel locations. I needed charisma and fishing for two of my quests. Gaining lifetime wish points is also really exciting with all the new options. It's cool to know I can have a lot more time to spend adventuring with hardly hungry and steel bladder, and needs like energy and fun can now be helped, to boot!

I'm going to do some ranked tournament matches soon with him. It's really refreshing to have all these new things to explore.

[Metropolis Man]

I'm having fun with my Gallo brothers that I created this morning to test out the new Nectar making skill and write an eventual walkthrough. They have identical traits — Green Thumb, Loves the Outdoors, Over-Emotional, Ambitious, and then Ernest got Natural Cook while Julio got the Handy trait.

Ernest has made a couple rounds of Goopy Carbonara and for some reason nothing has spoiled in the fridge yet. I don't know why.

Pam mentioned not having to water anything with the new patch and it's true. Really bizarre. A nice time-saver but a bit unrealistic. Maybe the watering comes in at a later growth stage since the brothers just planted their first seeds.

[Honeymooners]

Metro I am really looking forward to your walk through on nectar making.  I tried to start it but I got a little overwhelmed with all the other new stuff.  I think it would be really cool to do a legacy with nectarmakers.  Just to see how old your nectar can get kwim?

[Metropolis Man]

Metro I am really looking forward to your walk through on nectar making.

Things are slow going for the Gallo brothers. They still haven't made it to France yet and I'm in the middle of week 2. But, both of them have almost mastered gardening and by the time they do eventually learn nectar making in France, they'll have some perfect grapes to use for their first round. I wonder how much nectar made from perfect life fruit will sell for?

-------

EDIT: Oh, my lord. I've made some incredible blunders in my first nectar-making journey. Time for a redo. Nectar is all about aging, so I need to get the brothers right over to France ASAP next time around. Carl, with Thanksgiving coming up I probably will not be able to get the walkthrough to you until the week after Thanksgiving. Hope that's okay.

[Honeymooners]

I looked into it and there are other types of grapes in France and you have to mix them with different kinds of fruit to get different outcomesl.  I might actually buy the Prima guide to keep it all straight.

[bshag]

I sent my Christopher Steel to France to learn nectary and he took right to it.  He harvested some different kinds of grapes in a vineyard next to the nectary then went diving in a pool in the basement and came up with a very old vintaged "nectar" (cough, ahem). 

After going home, I used the basement tool, which is awesome btw, and he now has his own nectary going on.  He bought books on nectar making while in France also.  The process of making the nectar is hilarious.  He also is now growing his own grapes, 3 different kinds and on next visit he'll be harvesting more.

I am really loving this game, even though the start was rough.  It seems though patch 1.7 fixed the save error problem, unfortunately not soon enough to keep from losing my precious Brooke and her whole family.  Ah well, I've started over many times in sims 1 and 2 so this isn't any different I guess. 

[Metropolis Man]

I sent my Christopher Steel to France to learn nectary and he took right to it.  He harvested some different kinds of grapes in a vineyard next to the nectary...

What a great idea. I would have never thought of doing that.

After going home, I used the basement tool, which is awesome btw, and he now has his own nectary going on.  He bought books on nectar making while in France also.  The process of making the nectar is hilarious.

It is. How about that train whistle?  Crazy. I'm really curious about all of the factors that affect value — basement, ingredients, time, type of storage unit, etc.

[PJSim]

I really, really love this EP so far. So many different things to do.

I love how everything blends together. You will get adventures/opportunities that require you to go somewhere else; many of the "old" skills are very useful in the new locations; you can bring home new veggies to plant in your garden.

I'm playing a house with a traveling Sim and a stay-at-home gardening and cooking Sim, he's bringing home lots of things she can use.

[Pam]

I'm playing a multi-Sim household, too.  They take turns traveling.  Right now, three of them are in China doing various things.  One fishes, another collects gems, and the third is working on Martial Arts.  They bring home something new every time, too.  I just built a separate nectar cellar/relic museum on the lot on Sunset Valley.  The lower level has the nectar making machine and nectar racks and the ground level has many display cases with statues and gemstones.  It's pretty cool.

[Metropolis Man]

This isn't really a World Adventures comment, but the whole food spoiling bug seems to have surfaced after that expansion. Or maybe it's just the buggy patch. Anyway, I did an interesting test that you can repeat for yourself to clearly show that the food spoiling is a bug and not intentional on EA's part:

* Make a meal
* Have your Sim grab a plate, but cancel the cue so he doesn't eat it and leaves it untouched on the table.
* Put the leftovers in the fridge, but leave the single plate on the dining table.
* They'll spoil at the exact same time

Lesson Learned: Refrigerators have no function at all! 

[PJSim]

Oh this is definitely not intentional, you can also tell by how random it is.

I can usually fix the problem by buying a new fridge as long as it's a different model from what they had before. But if they go traveling the fridge no longer works when they return. Same thing when I exit the game; when I enter a saved game the fridge is often broken again.

[kat]

I just wanted to say....I am SUPER EXCITED as I have JUST bought World Adventures!! Courtesy of my christmas bonus :-)
i can't wait to load it on and play it, but unfortunately will have to wait, as we are on holiday at the moment.
Just wanted to share my excitement with you all - look forward to playing the new challenges!

[Tweetybird100]

Well, I did have a few gameplay glitches at first and I'm currently having some minor graphic issues, but aside from that, the expansion pack deserves two thumbs and two big toes up!   EA really improved on the vanilla game and well done to them now for trying out such a great new idea!  

[Shakros]

My favorite thing about the WA EP is that you can travel whenever you want for as long as you want and when you go home not one minute has passed! (excluding the minutes taken to initiate the travel and return from traveling, of course)

[jmz95]

My favorite thing about the WA EP is that you can travel whenever you want for as long as you want and when you go home not one minute has passed! (excluding the minutes taken to initiate the travel and return from traveling, of course)

Well, technically, not as long as you want, but once you get your Visa up, those 18 or 21 days for a single sim can be amazing!

Note: Not sure what the max is for a single sim with Visa level 3 and the different Lifetime Rewards and item you can buy to extend your stay, but I know it's somewhere around 18.

[samoht04]

I was too patched up for mine and had to downgrade! (I got it months after it came out)

[Carl]

My favorite thing about the WA EP is that you can travel whenever you want for as long as you want and when you go home not one minute has passed! (excluding the minutes taken to initiate the travel and return from traveling, of course)

Well, technically, not as long as you want, but once you get your Visa up, those 18 or 21 days for a single sim can be amazing!

Note: Not sure what the max is for a single sim with Visa level 3 and the different Lifetime Rewards and item you can buy to extend your stay, but I know it's somewhere around 18.

Yeah it's 18 and can theoretically go up to 72, I've never heard of reports higher. But it's nice of the developers to let large families stay longer, after all with all the micromanagement you might want to let yourself and a couple of your Sims rest while on vacation.

[Sarah]

I can't say I am impressed as of yet.  I have already lost two families.  There is a saving issue that I am not quite sure of...

I'm 99% certain that all of the tech problems players are experiencing with World Adventures are due to installing the patch and then installing the expansion. I know Pam did it this way. I wrote down a handful of the new features from the long patch list in the link I provided yesterday as to things I should look for in the expansion — they're all there and I never patched. The reason I'm not getting an Update notice at the Launcher is because the game obviously does not feel I need a patch. So, I think the thing to do is forget about the patch and just install the expansion on top of vanilla.

Forgive me for ignoring the rest of this thread and leaping on your post but next week I'm having a computer delivered, and I was wondering whether I should install the Sims 3, update it via the launcher, THEN install WA; or should I install Sims 3, WA straight away and then see if there are any patches to download?
I'm going to be starting over from scratch and it'll be the first time I play WA so even if things do go screwy I won't be losing Sims I've gotten attached to, only EA made Sims ^^

[Pam]

When I reinstalled my game, I installed Sims 3, World Adventures, and High End Loft one right after the other.  Then I launched the game and did the update it recommended.

Also, this would be better asked on a technical thread rather than a WA impressions thread.  We have a whole technical section for things like this.

[Sarah]

Thank you for the fast reply; and I'm sorry about posting in the wrong place.

[Taxingwoman]

My impressions: I'm really enjoying it, however this is the first time ever that I have had "bugs" with a Sims game. My computer is way above the specs needed, but I have had some problems since installing High End Loft and World Adventures.  My abililty to fish goes on and off. Sometimes a Sim can fish, other times not. The game will suddenly cut out for no reason, which is annoying. I save fairly often now to get around that. I lost an entire family, which was a drag.

Oh! and in regards to spoiled food in the fridge, you can use it for bait when you go fishing and it works really well. You get rid of the mess and no waste!

[Pam]

We have a thread about problems fishing that you may find helpful, Taxingwoman.

[RoyalPlumbob]

I LOVE all the new features in the expansion! (Although I live in Mexico and got it very late )

Travel: Well, I liked the locations, all of them have their own touch; Egypt is the great land of adventures.
I love taking my VERY weird family in its second generation to camp a night or two outside an oasis.

China is the very beautiful, serene and ancient enviroment.
I like this as a relaxing and meditation place for my sims.

France the most "cultural" of all, a romantic rendevouz for my sims.
Making nectar and visit local areas are my favorite activities.

My only problems with the expansion is the replay value and glitches.
I´ve had glitches that were annoying, an error 12 (I think), a family living in China once (I had to restart the trip), and a block when trying to travel to France.
The replay value, does not exist (more or less) because the tombs and objects (unique) do not reset. A way past this is moving your family to a new neighborhood, but it is quite difficult to leave behind everything.  THIS is my biggest problem yet, if someone knows a way to make the tombs reset, please post a thread.

[Swede1992]

Save error 12 is not caused by WA (although I can see how the addition of simultaneous neighbourhoods could add to it).
I gave a brief explanation on some tips in limiting exactly that save error a while back. Look at my post in this thread.

[rozzie62]

I've visited France and China so far, and I must say World Adventures is absolutely delightful!  I'm having some graphics issues, but it's the fault of my computer and not the game.  I'll be ordering a new graphics card in the very near future.

The Expansion Pack flows smoothly with the vanilla Sims 3 game.  I was very happy to find that I can play any of my existing families and not have to create new Sims.  My Legacy family was the first to go on vacation because I'm sentimental like that.  I took all five of them and it was a bit too much to control, so four of them went home early.  Now I'm just going to take one at a time for awhile.  It'll be good because each Sim in a family has specialities.  The cook will enjoy trying new foods and buying recipes, while the fisherman will love testing new fishing spots and catching new types of fish.  There's really a little of everything.

It's familiar enough that I don't feel like I'm learning a brand new game from the beginning, but there are plenty of new things that make it surprising and funny.  The expressions on my Sim's face while she tried to learn how to sing a song were priceless!  As was pausing to scratch her bottom while clearing rubble in a tomb. 

I'm very pleased and having a great time!

[Pam]

Welcome to our Forum, rozzie62.

You quoted my post, but didn't add anything for your own comment.  What did you want to say?

[jeanamariex3]

I know the Expansion Pack is two years old now, but I just started playing today. (I bought WA yesterday).

Wow! You guys weren't kidding when you said "Traveling is very buggy!" I was playing the Caliente Sisters, and had them travel through France, to get the Adventurous trait a go. (I changed Luisa Libros' Loser trait to adventurous since Loser just isn't very nice). *Facepalm* Lesson Learned. The different fruits growing is very varied. Growing plums and different sorts of grapes, pomegranates. The nectar making is fun too. The poorer quality the nectar, the more names I came up with, based on the real life foods I don't like: Hot Dogs, Meat Loaf, Spam, Vienna Sausage, Big Mac, Whopper. I am digging the fortune cooking making too. I love writing my own fortunes. I've come up with some pretty funny fortunes.

Overall, despite the bugs, I'm really liking World Adventures. I have to try out the Martial Arts still, but once I get my Sim to learn and master Sim-Fu, it will make a really awesome story I'll share with you guys. I'm hoping the traveling bugs won't effect my story telling.

[donotrefreeze]

You know, even though I've had WA since it first came out and have bought every EP since, I have to say World Adventures is still my favourite one. I've played about 10 different explorer sims and I never get bored of visiting all the countries and exploring all the tombs. Then there's learning new recipes, growing new fruits, catching new fish, making nectar, learning martial arts or photography, creating a room in your house specifically to display all the relics you've collected.. I still love it.

I think I'm VERY fortunate not to have experienced any travel bugs as of yet. Touch wood!

Also, adventuring is actually a SUPER easy way to make money. Too much money, if I'm being picky. I played a sim recently with the Seasoned Traveller LTW, and after moving her into her house I spent all but about $200 of her remaining money sending her on her first trip to Egypt. By the time she got back from that first 3 day trip, she'd earned $5000-ish from her adventures, and by the time she'd sold all the relics in her inventory that I didn't want to display, she was up to $16,000. From ONE three day trip!

[xFezIsAFreakx]

I barely realised these threads for 'reviewing' each EP existed! xD I shall write in the threads for the EPs I have played a lot with so far. 

I adore World Adventures! I did have that bug where you arrive at your destination and there is actually no sim there, the time is set to 00:00 and you just cannot do anything. That was in my legacy file and it really annoyed me, because I reckoned that would mean I'd never, ever be able to travel in that file. One patch later and it was fixed!

I've only been to France and Egypt so far, and am planning to take one of my sims to China soon. I do like Egypt better than France because I feel there's just so much more tomb-related danger in Egypt.  France is still beautiful and Champs Les Sims is a very charming town. I plan on sending the majority of my honeymooning sims there.

The founder of my legacy and her husband went to Egypt, and the husband has completed the Business Abroad adventure, which was very, very fun although I'll admit that I did have to google walkthroughs for some of the tombs.  I had a lot of fun either way. After completing the adventure, he got Visa Level 3 and I bought the most expensive vacation home there. (Acatia Palace, I think?) It was absolutely stunning! I like it a lot.

I think this will forever remain one of the best EPs (even though we haven't seen the remaining ones to come out yet) simply because of how much work EA put into making the destinations as beautiful as they are and especially with the complexity of the tombs. I've seen some pictures of the larger tombs like the ones in China and experienced ones in Egypt like the Great Pyramid and they just make me go 'wow' because when I bought the game I really was quite new to TS3 in general and I could barely imagine something so awesome and detailed in a game!

My laptop, which is quite old and also quite bad quality, has handled all WA features extraordinarily well! I do experience that odd two-minute-long freeze while in tombs but really it's not a big problem.


I love WA. I reckon it's my favourite EP so far, with Late Night hot on it's heels.

[arvelmartin]

What do you mean you "lost two families hmmm...?

[readingpuppies]

I'm completely disapointed

[FyreByrde]

I am completely in love with all the puzzles and the collecting and....it's just fun to play (even with the glitches). Obviously I have the issue of having a really old base game, and none of the updates in vanilla mode, but I will happily buy newer expansions for their built-in patches, just so I can play World Adventures.

And now I sound like a raving lunatic. LMAO 

[JodySuzanne1305]

Is it just me? Or, was anyone else disappointed with France? Not the features, adventures or nectar making, but the look of it. I was expecting the city of Paris, but obviously it's French country side. Which goes along with the Nectar making. I was seriously expecting an Eiffel Tower too. Since they didn't and it was just countryside, I would have rather it been Italy. Anyone else? (Sorry if France is your favorite. To each his/her own)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Harmlessoldlady]

Yep I like France. I sent a couple of honeymooning couples there, and it was sweet. Some of the available vacation homes are very interesting, the one with the tower out back, and the huge chateau. Tuatha's tomb is very complex and challenging...need a Ghost Potion for at least one of the tight squeezes. Landgraab chateau has several difficult adventures, lots of traps and I had to look up a solution on a walk through to solve one. I think one of my favorite bits of scenery is the old Aqueducts. I remember being able to build aqueducts in Sims 1. I even went so far as to purchase the Provence Build/Buy set to augment the French feeling of my vacation home.

China is prettier, but also all those hills make it difficult to navigate and the NPCs get stuck regularly. The windcarver from Future helps with some of China's less accessible areas. I really enjoy learning Martial Arts and sparring with and training other Sims.

Egypt has more tombs, more adventures, and really great scenery, too. Abu Simbel is impressive.