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Emotion System: The Dark Side Needs More Power
SimsLovinLycan
Posts: 1,910 Member
The emotion system in TS4 isn't bad...but it also isn't quite the amazing feature that people had hoped for either. People are saying it's shallow, it's weak, it feels like a bunch of RPG status buffs and not much else...but why? We can argue that some of the emotion-dependent interactions aren't all that great (Emotional toilet use, anyone?) or there should be more of them, but there's more to it than that.
The reason why TS4's emotion system really feels lacking is because it's heavily weighted in favor of positive (Happy, Flirty, Playful) and helpful (Inspired, Focused, Energized) emotions, while negative emotions are either hard to come by without emotional artwork or special traits (Angry, Sad, Bored) or too easily resolved (Tense, Uncomfortable, Embarrassed). Add that to the fact that burying negative emotions is as easy as putting up a few paintings and using decor that's anything but the cheapest, and the fact that negative emotions lack a baseline booster like Happy for the positive emotions and...well, you can see how the system can become so lopsided as to begin to feel shallow and inconsequential to the player.
So, what can be done to get this fixed? Simple: The Dark Side needs more Power. It must equal the Light, and not be so easily squashed by it. Part of that is going to be adding a baseline booster emotion for negative emotions. Uncomfortable and Tense have great potential in this area, especially because they are nearly as easy to come by as Happy. Another would be nerfing the happiness aura given off by having nice decor so that it doesn't override negative emotions unless coupled with another positive emotion (Inspired, Playful, etc.) and a Happy moodlet from some other source or two Happy moodlets from another source.
I also think that adding new sources of negative feelings would also help the balance out. For instance, adding a "fears" system to balance out the whims, where having a a fear be fulfilled would result in a negative moodlet (Sad, Angry, Embarrassed, Tense). Adding more activities and even some careers which could benefit from going in with a negative mood would also help. Maybe if the political career is brought back, the darker branch could rely on going in to work angry, for example. And when magic is brought back into the game, maybe Black Magic could be more effective or the skill level could go up more quickly if your sim is angry or sad while studying or casting spells...And, yes, more interesting emotion-based interactions
The key here, though, is balance. If the Dark Side continues to be too weak compared to the Light, then the emotions system will continue to feel shallow and lopsided. Negative emotions are just as important as positive ones to our experiences and lives...and those of our sims as well.
The reason why TS4's emotion system really feels lacking is because it's heavily weighted in favor of positive (Happy, Flirty, Playful) and helpful (Inspired, Focused, Energized) emotions, while negative emotions are either hard to come by without emotional artwork or special traits (Angry, Sad, Bored) or too easily resolved (Tense, Uncomfortable, Embarrassed). Add that to the fact that burying negative emotions is as easy as putting up a few paintings and using decor that's anything but the cheapest, and the fact that negative emotions lack a baseline booster like Happy for the positive emotions and...well, you can see how the system can become so lopsided as to begin to feel shallow and inconsequential to the player.
So, what can be done to get this fixed? Simple: The Dark Side needs more Power. It must equal the Light, and not be so easily squashed by it. Part of that is going to be adding a baseline booster emotion for negative emotions. Uncomfortable and Tense have great potential in this area, especially because they are nearly as easy to come by as Happy. Another would be nerfing the happiness aura given off by having nice decor so that it doesn't override negative emotions unless coupled with another positive emotion (Inspired, Playful, etc.) and a Happy moodlet from some other source or two Happy moodlets from another source.
I also think that adding new sources of negative feelings would also help the balance out. For instance, adding a "fears" system to balance out the whims, where having a a fear be fulfilled would result in a negative moodlet (Sad, Angry, Embarrassed, Tense). Adding more activities and even some careers which could benefit from going in with a negative mood would also help. Maybe if the political career is brought back, the darker branch could rely on going in to work angry, for example. And when magic is brought back into the game, maybe Black Magic could be more effective or the skill level could go up more quickly if your sim is angry or sad while studying or casting spells...And, yes, more interesting emotion-based interactions
The key here, though, is balance. If the Dark Side continues to be too weak compared to the Light, then the emotions system will continue to feel shallow and lopsided. Negative emotions are just as important as positive ones to our experiences and lives...and those of our sims as well.
There is a song I hear, a melody from the past...
When I woke for the first time, when I slept for the last.
25
Comments
& behavioural abhorance of nice, friendly, flirty, playful, talkative
I also second swapping Bored for Tense when fun is low. That never made sense to me either...
I kind of wish sims felt a bit more unique with their personality, as well as a balanced out more difficult emotional system.
SimmerJay CAS Challenge! ✨
I think we need more emotions and they should be a bit less easy to manipulate. I know jobs basically encourage you to manipulate moods, but it just feels unnatural to me. Also definitely more emphasis on negative moodlets, they're too easy to ignore with positive buffs.
Fears
I want fears to be developed through game play, through experiences.
Example:
If a sim had a near drowning experience. Sim survives, the sim will acquire the Hydrophobic trait.
and from time to time, the sim will get a whim to brave that fear.
Same with supernaturals I think only if a Sim had a bad run in with a supernatural in the past, like a sorcerer cursed them/someone they have high relationships with. they will become a Pessimist towards Sorcerers, only sorcerers not all supernaturals.
in order to overcome that fear the sim who is afraid must either:
A: Defeat the life state.
B: said life state could do something positive to change their views.
Remake Evil and Good Traits
Sims with the Evil trait aren't evil enough
I want that delicious, unapologetic, self-righteous, most vile, Evil
Sims who take what they want not giving a care how it effects another person.
Taking Revenge!
like for supernaturals, and magic, I hope when the time comes magic will be dark and twisted.
like Curse ingredients
For a curse that destroys the chances of a couple ever conceiving a child, I imagine:
• Sleeping Curse
• Toadstool
• The Teardrop of a Crying Baby/Toddler
I would happily make a sim baby/toddler cry, to make this Curse.
Slip the curse into Bella Goth's meal and watch her eat it.
I mean how Ultimate!?
it could be a wound that would never heal, of course theres an antidote but the odds of finding it are slim.
My Mood:
well on top of "need" curses, those will act on uncomfortable.
but if they did a curse like I said, the victims, will become depressed(Very sad)
My Mood:
The current voodoo doll barely does anything to the sims. There is no animation on the victim. You just know you kind of did something because when you talk to them you can see their emotion. I believe something similar will probably happen to Makin' Magic in TS4.
Well voodoo isn't really that powerful. That's all it really can do, the holder is basically toying with the doll and the person.
but maybe they can expanded on it.
I on the other hand would reach for something much Darker
Literally rip the heart out of a living sim.
Doing so could disable emotions for the sim.
• never being able to love
• pain (Sadness/anger/tense)
• happiness
nothing.
and if the holder of the heart were to crush it.
well I'm hoping for death, maybe a fate worse than death its self. permanent loss of feelings.
and just imagine all the things you can do with a heart.
control another sim NPC townie or a sim on another lot, as if they were part of your household.
as long as you hold their heart you can summon that sim.
cast curses, decorate your house, Amber's Heart would look lovely on my mantle.
My Mood:
Legacy Photomode
there is Bored in the game, maybe you just didn't noticed because
1. it's seldom
2. it happens not much with it
& instead of Confused there is Dazed
also seldom & also happens not much with it
& about Scared
somehow i think the devs intentionally didn't include it
& prefered to replace reactions to situations which would usually form in humans the Scared emotions with only Tense
no idea what the intention was though
but overall i doubt it very much that there will be new emotions
such basic features, which define how sims act, interact & react to ALL situations have to be made before the release of the game
because every situation has a complete set of animations made with the different 15 emotions available
new emotions would mean that new sets of animations had to be made by recording via motion capturing
There are just so many angry poops and sad paintings you can do before you are bored of it.
For me it would be fun if all of the moods had an impact on whims.
Not just the emotional whims, but also the "regular" ones that I haven't locked.
Now it's too obvious that they are mostly influenced by the latest game.
eks. my non committal sim got a uncomfortable moodlet, about work or something.
no whims about wanting to actually quit work or what career he wanted instead.
I did make him quit his job and the moodlet was still there... :|
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