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Whim, Aspiration, and Career Goals: A Quick Guide
SimGuruGrant
Posts: 392 SimGuru
Hi Simmers -
We build big games with a lot of stuff to do. There's a LOT of content in The Sims 4 that you might not know exists if we didn't point it out. One of the ways we do this is with our Goal systems. These goals create what we call a "breadcrumb" trail to the content and, when completed, give you a nice reward to change your strategy, options, and story in the game.
Today, I went in game to snap some screenshots to go over some of the things you might have missed for our goal systems.
I told my Sim to take a Brisk Shower. This gave her the Energized Emotion. Sims always have two basic Whims, which are the little fluffy clouds above their Portraits. However, when Sims have any Emotion other than Fine (which is our neutral Emotion), they get what we call an Emotional Whim. This Whim is in the far left and is based on their current Emotion.
Emotional Whims are designed to point you towards content that you can ONLY do while in the Emotion, OR ways to fix your current Emotion. If your Sim is Sad, for example, you might get a Whim to Water your Garden with Tears. Fun Inside Joke: We jokingly referred to the Emotional Whims as "Hot Whims" in development. We're not sure why.
If you hover your cursor over any of the Whims (the fluffy clouds), you'll find information on the Whim. You'll find the high level subject, where it came from (An Emotion, Trait, or Aspiration), how much Satisfaction you'll receive for completing it (more on that in a second), and a detailed explanation. See the little red x? If you ever don't want to complete a Whim, or want a different one, simply click that X.
My other Sim has the Angler Aspiration. So, you'll see that her Whim is based on her Aspiration. Basically, we try to give you Goals that we think you want to complete. Also, notice that because she is Inspired, she has a different Emotional Whim.
Let's look at Aspirations a bit! If you click the big star icon in the bottom right, you'll see Aspirations. This will tell you what your current Aspiration is, how much Satisfaction you have, your current milestone's goals, and buttons to change your Aspiration and buy Aspiration rewards.
If you hover over the big gold button inside the Hexagon, you'll see what Milestone you're in and the Reward Trait you will receive if you complete the Aspiration.
If you hover over the goals, you'll see detailed information on what you need to do in order to complete it. You'll also see how much Satisfaction you'll receive.
Are you tired of your current Aspiration? Want to change things up? You can switch and you won't lose progress. Click the star button on the right side of the panel and you can see this new menu. You can click on other Aspirations to see what Goals they have and generally snoop around. One thing to keep in mind - You ONLY get the Bonus Trait for the Aspiration you select in Create a Sim. So, if you start as an Angler, than change to a Creative Aspiration, you'll still only have the Aspiration from Angler. You can receive really cool reward Traits for completing all the Aspirations, so experiment and try stuff out.
When you're out and about and you make progress towards your current Aspiration, you'll see a short tool tip in the bottom right corner that is there to say "Hey! Good work. You're making progress on this thing." Our UI is just so nice.
So, let's say you have been completing Whims and Aspiration goals and have a lot of Satisfaction. Let's go spend it! Click the little gift package icon on the right side of your Aspiration panel to see the Aspiration Reward Store. Here, you may buy Potions that change your Sims' weight or current Emotion. OR, my favorite, you can purchase permanent Reward Traits. These are VERY powerful and unlock some really cool stuff. You can really change your storytelling or game strategy with these. Experiment, mix, and match, and see how many you can earn before that fateful day comes and Grim sweeps your Sim away.
If you ever want to see your Traits, both Personality or Reward, click the Traits button.
So, careers. Careers have quite a few tidbits. In the top right you can see hours to work, days of the week, yadda yadda. See that big colorful Performance bar? Hover over it. You'll see the Ideal Mood. This is the Emotion your Sim should go to work in. So, my Sim here who is a writer? She should go to work Inspired to increase performance. See the Daily Task? If she does this, it'll also boost performance.
The goal beneath this? In this case, Practice Writing for 3 hours? You CANNOT be promoted until you accomplish the goal. The ones above? Those are optional and will just help you move things along (though at the higher level careers you definitely need to do so!).
I think that's it for now. Any questions about Whims, Aspirations, Careers, or Goals? Now, return to your regularly scheduled programming.
We build big games with a lot of stuff to do. There's a LOT of content in The Sims 4 that you might not know exists if we didn't point it out. One of the ways we do this is with our Goal systems. These goals create what we call a "breadcrumb" trail to the content and, when completed, give you a nice reward to change your strategy, options, and story in the game.
Today, I went in game to snap some screenshots to go over some of the things you might have missed for our goal systems.
I told my Sim to take a Brisk Shower. This gave her the Energized Emotion. Sims always have two basic Whims, which are the little fluffy clouds above their Portraits. However, when Sims have any Emotion other than Fine (which is our neutral Emotion), they get what we call an Emotional Whim. This Whim is in the far left and is based on their current Emotion.
Emotional Whims are designed to point you towards content that you can ONLY do while in the Emotion, OR ways to fix your current Emotion. If your Sim is Sad, for example, you might get a Whim to Water your Garden with Tears. Fun Inside Joke: We jokingly referred to the Emotional Whims as "Hot Whims" in development. We're not sure why.
If you hover your cursor over any of the Whims (the fluffy clouds), you'll find information on the Whim. You'll find the high level subject, where it came from (An Emotion, Trait, or Aspiration), how much Satisfaction you'll receive for completing it (more on that in a second), and a detailed explanation. See the little red x? If you ever don't want to complete a Whim, or want a different one, simply click that X.
My other Sim has the Angler Aspiration. So, you'll see that her Whim is based on her Aspiration. Basically, we try to give you Goals that we think you want to complete. Also, notice that because she is Inspired, she has a different Emotional Whim.
Let's look at Aspirations a bit! If you click the big star icon in the bottom right, you'll see Aspirations. This will tell you what your current Aspiration is, how much Satisfaction you have, your current milestone's goals, and buttons to change your Aspiration and buy Aspiration rewards.
If you hover over the big gold button inside the Hexagon, you'll see what Milestone you're in and the Reward Trait you will receive if you complete the Aspiration.
If you hover over the goals, you'll see detailed information on what you need to do in order to complete it. You'll also see how much Satisfaction you'll receive.
Are you tired of your current Aspiration? Want to change things up? You can switch and you won't lose progress. Click the star button on the right side of the panel and you can see this new menu. You can click on other Aspirations to see what Goals they have and generally snoop around. One thing to keep in mind - You ONLY get the Bonus Trait for the Aspiration you select in Create a Sim. So, if you start as an Angler, than change to a Creative Aspiration, you'll still only have the Aspiration from Angler. You can receive really cool reward Traits for completing all the Aspirations, so experiment and try stuff out.
When you're out and about and you make progress towards your current Aspiration, you'll see a short tool tip in the bottom right corner that is there to say "Hey! Good work. You're making progress on this thing." Our UI is just so nice.
So, let's say you have been completing Whims and Aspiration goals and have a lot of Satisfaction. Let's go spend it! Click the little gift package icon on the right side of your Aspiration panel to see the Aspiration Reward Store. Here, you may buy Potions that change your Sims' weight or current Emotion. OR, my favorite, you can purchase permanent Reward Traits. These are VERY powerful and unlock some really cool stuff. You can really change your storytelling or game strategy with these. Experiment, mix, and match, and see how many you can earn before that fateful day comes and Grim sweeps your Sim away.
If you ever want to see your Traits, both Personality or Reward, click the Traits button.
So, careers. Careers have quite a few tidbits. In the top right you can see hours to work, days of the week, yadda yadda. See that big colorful Performance bar? Hover over it. You'll see the Ideal Mood. This is the Emotion your Sim should go to work in. So, my Sim here who is a writer? She should go to work Inspired to increase performance. See the Daily Task? If she does this, it'll also boost performance.
The goal beneath this? In this case, Practice Writing for 3 hours? You CANNOT be promoted until you accomplish the goal. The ones above? Those are optional and will just help you move things along (though at the higher level careers you definitely need to do so!).
I think that's it for now. Any questions about Whims, Aspirations, Careers, or Goals? Now, return to your regularly scheduled programming.
Post edited by SimGuruGrant on
24
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