How could the Outdoor Retreat GP be improved?

Chazzzy · January 2020

I feel like there are not enough unique things to do in the Granite Falls world. I also would like for my Sims to be able to live in Granite Falls full-time (without mods). Compared to Jungle Adventure, OR is boring to me. I’m not sure what they could add to make it more worthwhile to send my Sims on vacation here.

That being said, I’m curious how you all think this particular pack could be improved. And yes, the recent survey inspired this question lol

Sharonia · January 2020

It needs some outdoor activities. There is literally nothing to do there but fish and pick flowers. I get bored of my sims being there after a day.

musteni · January 2020

Opening the waters for old worlds would make Granite Falls more fun. There are really nice places to go swimming or even boating. Of course it wouldn't be OR specific thing...

I made the biggest lot there a farm with a karaoke bar and that gives sims some entertainment.

Chazzzy · January 2020

Sharonia wrote: »

It needs some outdoor activities. There is literally nothing to do there but fish and pick flowers. I get bored of my sims being there after a day.

Is this the pack that came with the horseshoes? I set one down and my Sims were constantly playing with it, I guess because there’s literally nothing else to do lol

What other things to people do aside from weenie roast when they camp/hike? I’m drawing a blank.

Chazzzy · January 2020

musteni wrote: »

Opening the waters for old worlds would make Granite Falls more fun. There are really nice places to go swimming or even boating. Of course it wouldn't be OR specific thing...

I made the biggest lot there a farm with a karaoke bar and that gives sims some entertainment.

Oh they can’t swim there can they? Forgot about that. And using boats like in IL would be nice.

Mariefoxprice83 · January 2020

The pack would definitely benefit from more activities. Something for families to do, in particular, and things to do when it's raining or snowing. A shop to buy insects and plants for herbalism.

fullspiral · January 2020

It would be nice if they could canoe on that big lake. But NOT just one person out on it. I mean a couple and maybe their kid or toddler in a lifejacket in the boat too!

It would also be nice if the actual "Hiking" worked and that you could "hike together" The "star-gazing/cloud-gazing" animation is awful since both sims just do the exact same motions at the same time, most of the time.

I like the campfire songs and guitar-playing, and story-telling around the camp fire. Those are all good things for camping,

But like most packs in the Sims 4.....they need options to enjoy all that the worlds offer them TOGETHER, instead of it always feeling like they are doing everything alone even if a sim is grouped with them. They don't communicate about anything they see or do.

It would be nice if they could go camping with someone without having to have that person move in and be part of the household. IIRC, when you do that, that other sim is nowhere to be seen after the 1st day.

They could implement the snow-shoeing option from the survey for GF. They could implement kid camp activities so the kids could go to the main station and learn things about GF and it's flora and fauna. Or anything really. Kids can just go do some craft/activity related to GF.

They could do what other campgrounds do and have some activity for all campers to join in on. Like a big cookout on their first night to meet other campers. Some sort of "festival thing" like they added to IL. Attend or not...up to the player.

Just off the top of my head...

RememberJoy · January 2020

When I send a sim there it's usually to gather herbs and insects, but I can see how opening up the lake and adding a row boat from which sims can fish could be an interesting addition.

But honestly, what do people do when camping irl? Fish, hike, campfire, get eaten alive by mosquitos. Seems OR covered it pretty well.

Simmerville · January 2020

What I miss the most is a few animals wandering the woods. Like a fox and a shy one that would be hard to spot. Not like the human bear that will run over to where your sim is.

There could also be small rabbit hole caves to explore.

And, I'd like to have a couple extra lots in there, for building activity lots. If you combine OR with clubs, there should be a different kind of housing, but your only option would be to rebuild the existing main community lot or delete one of the 4 (?) rentable cabins. A yoga center would be so cool in the woods.

Swimming in the lakes would be cool to, although most sims would probably only do so in Summer.

DeKay · January 2020

I don't know. Outdoor activities are boring. I guess maybe it will be more fun if they added some sort of objective/mission like in Jungle Adventure. Cuz in OR, it is just fishing (which they can do else where) and collecting bugs (which gets boring after a while and is not really needed unless you're a collector).

Lemon405 · January 2020

It needs a few more lots, and a sub-neighborhood that is residential. They also need to go back and make the lake swimmable, introduce kayaks, and maybe expand the wilderness area with mountain-biking trails.

Sleeping bags, maybe log rolling? Or how about an outdoor obstacle course?

They could theoretically introduce horse riding as well, though I suspect they’d be limited to the world and trails and people would have fits about it. But at least you’d get them in game finally.

Oops! Almost forgot the most important thing!

Raccoons to dig through your garbage!

This is the kind of mild disaster we need more of in game!

Dianesims · January 2020

I think they could add snowshoeing and sledding in the winter and other activities like scouts gatherings, swimming in the lake (and walking or ice skating on it in the winter), fishing with boats in the lake......

Sharonia · January 2020

Chazzzy wrote: »

Sharonia wrote: »

It needs some outdoor activities. There is literally nothing to do there but fish and pick flowers. I get bored of my sims being there after a day.

Is this the pack that came with the horseshoes? I set one down and my Sims were constantly playing with it, I guess because there’s literally nothing else to do lol

What other things to people do aside from weenie roast when they camp/hike? I’m drawing a blank.

I actually have no idea. I'm not an outdoors person myself. Surely there must be more to camping than just fishing and picking flowers though. What I don't like about it is that some activities can't be done together like hiking. It just makes no sense for a group of campers to all go off hiking alone in different directions. I want to my sims to interact and do things with each other at granite falls. I added a spa to my granite falls just to fill the void of having nothing else there.

Gordy · January 2020

They wanted to make the place a quaint, private area so you can get in touch with nature and collect things. But since you can do most of that stuff in your backyard, it's pretty lame. So I think adding attractions and world-exclusive junk would spice things up. I'd look to Three Lakes from Bon Voyage, which included axe-throwing, befriending Bigfoot, log-rolling competitions, unique food recipes, and buying souvenirs.

Maybe put in a lounge/bar, and that lot could have an axe-throwing or archery range. Occult enthusiasts could search for Bigfoot and maybe follow clues to his location. On certain days, the national park can have a festival, where you can buy food and souvenirs, pick up Herbalism tips, and compete in log-rolling, archery, axe-throwing, potato-sack races, cooking competitions, or wood-working.

Karon · January 2020

I want a residential portion of both Granite Falls and Selvadorada to be patched in. I don't need it to be a full world, but an extra neighborhood for them... maybe 5 lots each. I was so angry when JA came out and the latin-community was relegated to being randomly generated/boring/ugly sims.

Also, having more insects in other worlds + herbs in other worlds would be really cool... Like expanding this feature/tying it up with other packs.

@Simmerville I hate the human bear... It should've been Claire The Bear from Sims 1. Like... a real bear.

@Lemon405 Maybe a summer camp for kids would be cool. Like, you can travel with only your kid and then there would be other kids form other households to interact and new activities to do. Maybe a fat-kids summer camp, a scouting summer-camp, a girls-only summer camp, a boys-only summer camp, a nerdy/improve their grades summer camp...

Chazzzy · January 2020

Karon wrote: »

I want a residential portion of both Granite Falls and Selvadorada to be patched in. I don't need it to be a full world, but an extra neighborhood for them... maybe 5 lots each. I was so angry when JA came out and the latin-community was relegated to being randomly generated/boring/ugly sims.

Also, having more insects in other worlds + herbs in other worlds would be really cool... Like expanding this feature/tying it up with other packs.

@Simmerville I hate the human bear... It should've been Claire The Bear from Sims 1. Like... a real bear.

That would be nice!

Chazzzy · January 2020

Gordy wrote: »

They wanted to make the place a quaint, private area so you can get in touch with nature and collect things. But since you can do most of that stuff in your backyard, it's pretty lame. So I think adding attractions and world-exclusive junk would spice things up. I'd look to Three Lakes from Bon Voyage, which included axe-throwing, befriending Bigfoot, log-rolling competitions, unique food recipes, and buying souvenirs.

Maybe put in a lounge/bar, and that lot could have an axe-throwing or archery range. Occult enthusiasts could search for Bigfoot and maybe follow clues to his location. On certain days, the national park can have a festival, where you can buy food and souvenirs, pick up Herbalism tips, and compete in log-rolling, archery, axe-throwing, potato-sack races, cooking competitions, or wood-working.

Potato-sack racing!!! Didn’t realize I needed this until now lol

Lemon405 · January 2020

Karon wrote: »

@Lemon405 Maybe a summer camp for kids would be cool. Like, you can travel with only your kid and then there would be other kids form other households to interact and new activities to do. Maybe a fat-kids summer camp, a scouting summer-camp, a girls-only summer camp, a boys-only summer camp, a nerdy/improve their grades summer camp...

@Karon You forgot pear-shaped townie camp! 😂😂

But seriously, yes. More insects, more herbs, less stupid bear suit.

I didn’t even consider an archery target object, or bringing back the axe throwing like @Gordy suggested either!

Outdoor Retreat has so much potential that was just outright missed. 😑

And I completely agree about JA too...

I am not a fan of exclusively vacation worlds for this iteration of the game. They really needed to just add Vacation Rental as a lot type, and then provide us with expanded buildable lot options for the worlds. That way we could have had the option to either live, vacation, or both.

Simmingal · January 2020

some possibilities that come to mind:

1.more woodworking stuff your sims could make

2. more cabin furniture and build things to make cabins

3. werewolves could be there in the woods i mean true some people would hate another occult but would fit right in
or bigfoot or such

4. or even just actual bears not costume

5. birdwatching be nice add here

6. interactive animals in general

7. log rolling

8. slap dance

9. open water lakes since tbh what is the point of lakes if I can't swim and boat in them

10. ladders (jk more of base game update if anything but many cabins here have them so idk man)

11. making rafts? (if boats are too similar now)

12. axe throwing

13. board games? are rather usual cabin holiday entertainment cause kids get bored

14. hunting? either by old or new methods or both it should be pack for hunter gatherer not just gatherer gatherer

15. make residentials possible there because lowkey this is the type of place I live in and it seems stupid to vacation

16. honestly some things in winter vacay theme would fit in here too

17. also now that we have off grid carrying water from lake to use water cause that is one annoying part of cabin life in many of them

18. making hot chocolate perhaps? for cozy needs

Lemon405 · January 2020

Simmingal wrote: »

some possibilities that come to mind:

1.more woodworking stuff your sims could make

2. more cabin furniture and build things to make cabins

3. werewolves could be there in the woods i mean true some people would hate another occult but would fit right in
or bigfoot or such

4. or even just actual bears not costume

5. birdwatching be nice add here

6. interactive animals in general

7. log rolling

8. slap dance

9. open water lakes since tbh what is the point of lakes if I can't swim and boat in them

10. ladders (jk more of base game update if anything but many cabins here have them so idk man)

11. making rafts? (if boats are too similar)

Maybe no dances or songs... anyone remember the Sea Chanty vacation plague from Sims 2? The last thing I want is every Sim in game randomly cutting loose with a slap dance. 😂

Simmingal · January 2020

Lemon405 wrote: »

Simmingal wrote: »

some possibilities that come to mind:

1.more woodworking stuff your sims could make

2. more cabin furniture and build things to make cabins

3. werewolves could be there in the woods i mean true some people would hate another occult but would fit right in
or bigfoot or such

4. or even just actual bears not costume

5. birdwatching be nice add here

6. interactive animals in general

7. log rolling

8. slap dance

9. open water lakes since tbh what is the point of lakes if I can't swim and boat in them

10. ladders (jk more of base game update if anything but many cabins here have them so idk man)

11. making rafts? (if boats are too similar)

Maybe no dances or songs... anyone remember the Sea Chanty vacation plague from Sims 2? The last thing I want is every Sim in game randomly cutting loose with a slap dance. 😂

idk man i love me some dance styles even if it is silly thats lowkey what saved JA for me since tbh i hardly use vacation aspects of it

Amapola76 · January 2020

Oh, this is such a good question. I actually chose Outdoor Retreat as one of my three upgrade options, mostly because it's one of my favorite packs, but I honestly didn't have anything specific in mind at the time. But after reading through the comments here, I would say my top choices would be: more lots, sleeping bags, archery, boats (particularly canoe), and yes, above all else, definitely the ability to swim in open water. More animals would be great, as would the ability to travel more easily with non-household members (true for all the non-residential worlds).

I am also intrigued by the idea of making it a combined residential/vacation world with the addition of rental lots. I also really wish it were possible to at least do short outings/day trips to Granite Falls. I have yet to find a good way to take a short Scout trip there, which seems like a real missed opportunity. Or when you have clubs devoted to outdoor activities, but can't call the club to meet in GF, that always makes me sad.

WallSims4ever · January 2020

There are so.many activities they could add, such as tree climbing, tug of war, zipline and canoes. There could be some sort of event there (like the festivals in City Living and Island Living) where sims would compete in activities like these. They could also make the lakes in there swimmable.

elanorbreton · January 2020

I replaced most of the rental Lots with community ones. I have a park for kids, a scout camp with activities like painting, science table etc.

I added a log cabin bar and a rustic spa.

If I could choose improvements I would have had hiking together, chatting and pointing things out and maybe sometimes holding hands during the walks.

I would also have added hand held torches for night time walks. And some special places to hike to, such as castle ruins to explore.

Plus: kayaking (I can dream lol) maybe some hot springs (easy peasy to do since we have hot tubs), bird watching, survival skills like making a fire and building a shelter plus making your own spear and trying to fish that way.

Mountain climbing would have been perfect for outdoor retreat.

BlkBarbiegal · January 2020

Gordy wrote: »

They wanted to make the place a quaint, private area so you can get in touch with nature and collect things. But since you can do most of that stuff in your backyard, it's pretty lame. So I think adding attractions and world-exclusive junk would spice things up. I'd look to Three Lakes from Bon Voyage, which included axe-throwing, befriending Bigfoot, log-rolling competitions, unique food recipes, and buying souvenirs.

Maybe put in a lounge/bar, and that lot could have an axe-throwing or archery range. Occult enthusiasts could search for Bigfoot and maybe follow clues to his location. On certain days, the national park can have a festival, where you can buy food and souvenirs, pick up Herbalism tips, and compete in log-rolling, archery, axe-throwing, potato-sack races, cooking competitions, or wood-working.

fun ideas

catitude5 · January 2020

It could have been prettier.

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How could the Outdoor Retreat GP be improved?

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