I finally got to play in Aurora Skies yesterday and at first, I thought it was dreary, depressing and ugly. Then I really started looking at it seriously for doing my favorite thing, remodeling and building. I was pleasantly surprised to find the interiors of most of the houses was actually quite acceptable. Yes, I COULD remodel, but it wasn't a have to do it because I can't stand this ugly place kind of thing. They weren't all to my taste, of course, but definitely able to live in them with little or no changes. (Changes were better beds and appliances)
I didn't know what each of the rabbit holes were until I actually put in a Sim and checked around. For the most part I don't like doubled buildings, especially the grocery store/diner, but I must say the design of them was really interesting. I LOVE the military/police, and have visions of how I want to remodel it already. lol I love the school but found it really depressing so I changed the colors of the sidewalks and it was instantly perked up to acceptable and like what a school, vs a prison, should be. With a little shifting and moving of buildings and lots I was able to place the day care center on the same street as the school and it just fits in so well there! So then I went around and changed the color of most of the sidewalks around buildings and the place came alive for me. While I understand there are many lands in rl where you don't have plants and greenery due to climate, and sometimes don't even have such things as sidewalks, I found the dark grey of everything was not something I could live with. Now that I've changed that I am perfectly happy with the town.
A big surprise for me was the Art Gallery! No ugly toilets and weird sculptures, but HUGE wall hangings. EA recolored a lot of their patterns and used them as if they were huge paintings or textile art and then placed park benches around recolored with even more patterns. I had a field day saving these patterns and finding even more choices for recolors. This is going to open up so many decorating options for clothes, furniture and just about everything and even made a darned good museum as well. I happen to love textiles so this really touched my heart, and placing it close to the schools was great.
That's something else I wanted to mention. When we worked on Union Cove we really wanted everything to be really convenient and easily accessible and have things "fit" with one another. That's why the gym is close to the stadium and the library close to the school. EA must have been checking UC out because they seemed to follow that plan much better than they have in the past. Most things are conveniently accessible and pretty much logically placed. Ok, there were some things that just didn't fit and feel right to me, but for the most part it was well done.
Did I change more things besides recolor sidewalks? Of course I did! There were a lot of buildings missing for various skilling opportunities, (not enough bars, no horse ranch), and there were some things that just annoyed me enough I had to, or will change. All in all though I'm glad I had the chance to buy this. I like it MUCH better than Monte Vista.
Oh, and well done on the geothermal stuff! Reminded me of Yellowstone with the white calcite deposits on the dark rock and I love the whole fyord look.