Not really my thing. Those are really too much over the top, and seem to override the traits. And remind me of very over the top moodlets. Really don't see the appealing. I was more than happy with the sims 3 animation-reaction to events or raits than these "emotions". Are quite unuseful to me.
I do not like the emotions system, they switch too fast and I hate that the UI TELLS us which emotion they are in. I don't want to be told my sim is feeling sad, happy etc, I want to be able to see it by looking at them.
It's a shame that what EA marketed as this huge feature is the number one thing disliked by everyone on the forums, and all Sims players.
Personally, I like this emotion system better than the mood meter of Sims 1-3. If a Sim was sad, they'd actually LOOK sad! Same with looking angry, embarrassed, and uncomfortable, and the 🐸🐸🐸🐸 walk is hilarious to me when they gotta "go/"
I honestly have no idea where the "clone" opinion comes from. They act like they always have, just a bit more exaggerated, and I think it's better that way, as it makes it more like "The Sims" in my opinion.
It's good in the sense that Sims will show the same emotion regardless of the interaction they are performing, but it is overshadowed by the fact emotions are over-the-top many times to the point where your Sim acts almost unrealistic.
The clone argument comes from the fact your Sims will act entirely from their emotions, rather than traits or any other personality system. The traits are basically only there to determine your Sim's emotions as well. So, in the end, it's all about emotions, and if every Sim's animations and behavior is determined by the same emotions, you will end up with Sims that act all the same. Whereas, in past games, it felt like there were more variables that determined how a Sim would behave at any given time.
Emotions were a step in the right direction, but they were by no means polished enough to actually advertise the game with. I don't know if they put all of their apples in one basket, so to speak, as far as emotions go, but that's simply not enough to design a whole Sims generation around. Aside from that, and this is kind of off topic, but take a look at TS4's product overview description.
Sims with Big Personalities: Create and control a new generation of Sims with big personalities, new emotions, and distinct appearances. Smarter Sims are more relatable, have the ability to multi-task, and come to life with new emotions and lively animations. The Sims provide you endless possibilities to create rich, entertaining, and weird stories. Powerful Creative Tools: All-New Create A Sim and Build Mode have been reinvented to be more powerful, intuitive and fun than ever before. You have the control to sculpt Sims with tactile precision. Effortlessly construct the home of your dreams with the all new, room-based Build Mode. Styled Looks and Rooms inspire you with curated outfits and designs to add to your Sims and homes in The Sims 4. Vibrant Worlds: Explore lively, beautiful worlds filled with rich communities of Sims. Choose among beautiful and diverse lots for your Sims to build their homes and explore activities. Expand your social circle and interact with other Sims in the neighborhood and hang out in community parks and venues. Share Your Creations: The Gallery allows you to see, share, and download new content without ever leaving your game. Get inspired by rich content created by The Sims community and add new experiences to your game.
Virtually everything it advertises there is something we ALREADY have received, not once, but twice, and it is arguable that the past games handled those areas much better. So, for some people that dislike the way the emotion system works and how Sims behave, it really feels like there is not much else to pull them in. Unfortunately, people think that adding content such as restaurants and so on will enhance their experience, but as time has proven again and again, they will be back in a few weeks complaining they are bored.
I actually love emotions! It's not perfect, I agree. It needs improvements, but it's a great concept. They actually seemed much better in the first gameplay demo, I really don't understand why they changed it. What I like the most about them is the little details they put in the sims actions and facial expressions. I remember sending 2 of my sims on date and I was really impressed by the way they were looking at each others between conversations. While they also are in the previous games, I feel like they are much more detailed in TS4. What most people seem to dislike about them are the mood swings and how over the top the emotions are. It's probably a matter of preference, I understand why some people don't like them. We all play the game differently. Some people are more focused on the world itself and the gameplay possibilities, and others are more focused on the sims themselves and enjoy the interactions between them, or would simply prefer something more realistic.
I really like the emotions, even if there are some things I think could be improved :
- I think the environment has too big an impact on emotions, at least we can disable the auras, but well decorated should not override emotions that easily
- I wish there were a first more subtle version of the emotion (like there is a "Very" variation), which would make transitions smoother in my mind
- I would prefer if "happy" was a true emotion, when something memorable happens (new friend, babies, promotion, etc), and most of the basic +1 happy/+1 uncomfortable moved to a mood meter, which would just boost true emotions (good mood = boost positive emotions, bad mood = boost negative emotions).
I really like the emotions, even if there are some things I think could be improved :
- I think the environment has too big an impact on emotions, at least we can disable the auras, but well decorated should not override emotions that easily
- I wish there were a first more subtle version of the emotion (like there is a "Very" variation), which would make transitions smoother in my mind
- I would prefer if "happy" was a true emotion, when something memorable happens (new friend, babies, promotion, etc), and most of the basic +1 happy/+1 uncomfortable moved to a mood meter, which would just boost true emotions (good mood = boost positive emotions, bad mood = boost negative emotions).
I do sincerely hope they add more emotions through a patch. I'm ok with the emotions but a lot of the time I ignore them, because for the most part I can get what I need to get done regardless of the mood. It does take away some realism in my opinion because as mentioned above, multiple times, sims wind up all having the same emotion and/or whims due to that emotion, when I really wish emotions were triggered less frequently and more due to their traits, and less so by their environment. Of course, if a sim dies, or ends a relationship, that should trigger emotions no doubt (which strangely....does not seem to happen all the time, in these cases) But, if the sim was heartless (evil, mean spirited, maybe noncommittal) it would affect them less. Bottom line I think they need more tweaking, and the ground states (fine vs. uncomfortable) should be present more often and emotions saved for more particular/special cases.
I think they're just a gimmicky thing and as a whole I don't care for them. I found them rather shallow, they change at the drop of a hat, and then you have those big obnoxious words telling you how your sims are "feeling," the annoying musical mood stingers (I know you can disable them, but I still think they were more of an annoyance than anything) and then there are the wacky overdone animations to go with them that make all of the sims look like a bunch of hammy silent movie actors. Added to that is the fact that there aren't many negative emotions and that the silliest things make them emotional. (Emotional over your decor? Seriously?) It's one of the things that has actually turned me off of this iteration. I always thought emotions were handled fine in previous games. I know my sim is sad, I don't need big letters telling me "SAD" next to his/her picture.
Then again, I'm not a terribly emotional person in real life. So, to have the entire focus of this game be something that I don't really care much about even in daily life is a bit of a turn-off.
Since I play a lot of homeless or rags to riches stories when I read about emotions I was truly excited. It bothered me a bit in TS3 that Sims didn't seem to show appropriate emotions for their surroundings. They reacted to living in a shack or a mansion in the same way.
I thought...finally...these guys are going to feel sad sometimes for living in a hovel......I couldn't have been more wrong. I honestly didn't expect what we got.
I really don't like so much of my screen "real estate" being taken up to tell me what my Sim is feeling. In the past all I had to do was watch my Sim's face and their thought bubbles and I knew exactly what was going on with my Sims. That other piece of real estate is that conversation panel at the top of the screen. Again if I watch my Sim I know what's going on. Did the devs think I needed this because all these years I've been clueless as to what was going on?
The emotions don't always seem appropriate to the situation and they change much too quickly. They have tweaked and added a bit to them since release but if they were going to use emotions as the main selling point why not actually use them? They didn't even add fear....but then again what is there in the game for them to be afraid of?
And death by emotions?......I can't talk about that because in over a year and a half I still haven't had one.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
Since I play a lot of homeless or rags to riches stories when I read about emotions I was truly excited. It bothered me a bit in TS3 that Sims didn't seem to show appropriate emotions for their surroundings. They reacted to living in a shack or a mansion in the same way.
I thought...finally...these guys are going to feel sad sometimes for living in a hovel......I couldn't have been more wrong. I honestly didn't expect what we got.
I really don't like so much of my screen "real estate" being taken up to tell me what my Sim is feeling. In the past all I had to do was watch my Sim's face and their thought bubbles and I knew exactly what was going on with my Sims. That other piece of real estate is that conversation panel at the top of the screen. Again if I watch my Sim I know what's going on. Did the devs think I needed this because all these years I've been clueless as to what was going on?
The emotions don't always seem appropriate to the situation and they change much too quickly. They have tweaked and added a bit to them since release but if they were going to use emotions as the main selling point why not actually use them? They didn't even add fear....but then again what is there in the game for them to be afraid of?
And death by emotions?......I can't talk about that because in over a year and a half I still haven't had one.
I prefer them to form emotions based on other things than their environment to be honest. Because people can be totally happy living in a trailer or a shack and totally unhappy living in a mansion.
I enjoy the emotions but think they need a few changes.
The most pressing ones being a stack of happy moodlets over-riding a sudden death of a loved one. The grief/sad moodlet should always over-ride a stack of happy positive moodlets.... always, even if only for 4 hours. It's different if after the death the player directs the grieving sim to do specific things to reduce the sad moodlet but watching your sim smile while standing over the urn of their just-dead soul mate is wrong.
I also think a flirty sim should not flirt with just anyone if they are married and they should not get a whim to woohoo with 'someone'. The whim should have the spouses name on it.
I like the different ways sim will do things depending on their current emotions, such as eating. The sad eating animation is actually pretty cute. The stressed/tense sim that slams the fridge door always makes me jump, but that's good. I like it when my sims 'act up'.
I also like how certain emotions will give quite substantial skill boosts. A 40% skill boost for being very happy while chatting to yourself in the mirror to raise charisma skill... yep, I'll take that! Good thing is I can also ignore the moods/skills boost of I want to play a different way.
I totally agree with your post. Some tweaks are definitely needed. I'd like to see some of the other emotions such as tense, sad, angry....stick instead of being over-riden by the stack of happy moodlets. I'd also like to see my Sims react more to death and jealousy, cheating etc. If you're close enough they react, but it's still not what you'd expect for an 'emotion' driven game.
i would like to see many things changed about emotions, the list is long
but i'll write only one thing about the inspirational mood which vexes me every time i play such sims
* inspirational emotion should be split clearly about whims
cooks shouldn't wish for gardening, writing, painting & playing instruments
painters shouldn't wish for gardening, cooking, painting & playing instruments
musicians shouldn't wish for gardening, cooking, painting & writing
writers shouldn't wish for gardening, cooking, painting & playing instruments
* gardening should be moved from inspirational to happy mood
gardeners should wish for gardening related activities
i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
The trouble is it's all too happy, our sims live in a world where nothing bad lasts too long, there are too many "happy"buffs. My sim comes home from work angry (a rarity) but after going to the toilet everything's peachy again because of the buffs from the upgraded toilet and sink! All the little +1 buffs for basic everyday stuff should go, instead there should be negatives for not having washed or brushed teeth (except slobs) and a myriad other things that basically make the world too "happy happy" instead of having a more challenging environment. Our sims emotions should be affected by the people around them and what happens in their lives, not by looking at a painting or switching on a buff item.
I feel like they need to come up with an Emotions EP to add new emotions like jealous and afraid/scared, as well as expand on already existing emotions to make them more prominent and believable in this game. And name it Get Emotional haha
Seriously, tho
Intel i7-6700HQ; nvidia gtx970m 3 gb; 1tb HHD and 256gb SSD; my drivers are always up to date.
I feel like they need to come up with an Emotions EP to add new emotions like jealous and afraid/scared, as well as expand on already existing emotions to make them more prominent and believable in this game. And name it Get Emotional haha
Seriously, tho
Great idea but just what would they be afraid of? Maybe the dark? The ghosts aren't scary.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
Eh. There isn't even a negative event in the sims 4 that I know of... at least having a burglar (it was sometime a little depressing in the sims 3 having my sims robbed, expecially the poorer ones, but it was fun having the police or a courageous sims fight with the bruglar! )
I think emotions have potential, but when I look at how it is right know, I hate it. When it was announced I thought that it would give us new sims, intelligent and unique. That's not the case, they all feel the same and their traits doesn't influence at all this system. It feels empty. For me it's the same as in the Sims 3, but they just changed the name of moodlets for emotions...
I like the concept but dislike the implementation.
I'm honestly baffled by the way emotions are handled. There are so many things you can do to artificially put your sim in any (positive) mood you want and they just keep adding more with every pack. You can use lamps, incense, aromatherapy, showers, ice cream, bath soaks, etc. to make your sim feel any way you want and I'm just like...why? Why do I care that my sim is energized right now? Why do I care that they're inspired? You could argue that those emotions help them build skills but skill building is only a small part of the Sims experience for me, and being able to do it slightly faster is not much of a draw. I do like that the flirty emotion gives them more success with romance because I feel that's a more interesting and realistic result. I know skill building and crafting are important to a lot of people, but to me having more complex and realistic ways for the sims to act is the most important part of the game.
Emotions should not be a means to an end (that I can't seem to figure out), they should be the RESULT of an event that has happened in a sim's life. I want my sims to be in certain emotions because of interesting gameplay events, not furniture.
Other people have made really good points about how positive emotions stack too much (I hate the decor one), and I think this is a big part of it too. One example for me is the Mom in my main family has done the Master Chef aspiration so her meals always give the family +3 happiness buffs. That's the same level of happiness that marriage or a new baby brings, and it kind of cheapens those events that my sims are equally happy from eating her tuna casserole. I want my sims to be "fine" more often and happiness to be something I have to work for, so that I can actually be excited for my sims when something good happens to them. I would be OK with all the less significant happiness buffs going away and only big life events like First Kiss or Promotion causing it.
Comments
It's good in the sense that Sims will show the same emotion regardless of the interaction they are performing, but it is overshadowed by the fact emotions are over-the-top many times to the point where your Sim acts almost unrealistic.
The clone argument comes from the fact your Sims will act entirely from their emotions, rather than traits or any other personality system. The traits are basically only there to determine your Sim's emotions as well. So, in the end, it's all about emotions, and if every Sim's animations and behavior is determined by the same emotions, you will end up with Sims that act all the same. Whereas, in past games, it felt like there were more variables that determined how a Sim would behave at any given time.
Emotions were a step in the right direction, but they were by no means polished enough to actually advertise the game with. I don't know if they put all of their apples in one basket, so to speak, as far as emotions go, but that's simply not enough to design a whole Sims generation around. Aside from that, and this is kind of off topic, but take a look at TS4's product overview description.
Virtually everything it advertises there is something we ALREADY have received, not once, but twice, and it is arguable that the past games handled those areas much better. So, for some people that dislike the way the emotion system works and how Sims behave, it really feels like there is not much else to pull them in. Unfortunately, people think that adding content such as restaurants and so on will enhance their experience, but as time has proven again and again, they will be back in a few weeks complaining they are bored.
- I think the environment has too big an impact on emotions, at least we can disable the auras, but well decorated should not override emotions that easily
- I wish there were a first more subtle version of the emotion (like there is a "Very" variation), which would make transitions smoother in my mind
- I would prefer if "happy" was a true emotion, when something memorable happens (new friend, babies, promotion, etc), and most of the basic +1 happy/+1 uncomfortable moved to a mood meter, which would just boost true emotions (good mood = boost positive emotions, bad mood = boost negative emotions).
I agree with all what you said !:D
We need more negative emotions, more of a balance.
Then again, I'm not a terribly emotional person in real life. So, to have the entire focus of this game be something that I don't really care much about even in daily life is a bit of a turn-off.
I thought...finally...these guys are going to feel sad sometimes for living in a hovel......I couldn't have been more wrong. I honestly didn't expect what we got.
I really don't like so much of my screen "real estate" being taken up to tell me what my Sim is feeling. In the past all I had to do was watch my Sim's face and their thought bubbles and I knew exactly what was going on with my Sims. That other piece of real estate is that conversation panel at the top of the screen. Again if I watch my Sim I know what's going on. Did the devs think I needed this because all these years I've been clueless as to what was going on?
The emotions don't always seem appropriate to the situation and they change much too quickly. They have tweaked and added a bit to them since release but if they were going to use emotions as the main selling point why not actually use them? They didn't even add fear....but then again what is there in the game for them to be afraid of?
And death by emotions?......I can't talk about that because in over a year and a half I still haven't had one.
I totally agree with your post. Some tweaks are definitely needed. I'd like to see some of the other emotions such as tense, sad, angry....stick instead of being over-riden by the stack of happy moodlets. I'd also like to see my Sims react more to death and jealousy, cheating etc. If you're close enough they react, but it's still not what you'd expect for an 'emotion' driven game.
but i'll write only one thing about the inspirational mood which vexes me every time i play such sims
* inspirational emotion should be split clearly about whims
cooks shouldn't wish for gardening, writing, painting & playing instruments
painters shouldn't wish for gardening, cooking, painting & playing instruments
musicians shouldn't wish for gardening, cooking, painting & writing
writers shouldn't wish for gardening, cooking, painting & playing instruments
* gardening should be moved from inspirational to happy mood
gardeners should wish for gardening related activities
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Seriously, tho
Great idea but just what would they be afraid of? Maybe the dark? The ghosts aren't scary.
I'm honestly baffled by the way emotions are handled. There are so many things you can do to artificially put your sim in any (positive) mood you want and they just keep adding more with every pack. You can use lamps, incense, aromatherapy, showers, ice cream, bath soaks, etc. to make your sim feel any way you want and I'm just like...why? Why do I care that my sim is energized right now? Why do I care that they're inspired? You could argue that those emotions help them build skills but skill building is only a small part of the Sims experience for me, and being able to do it slightly faster is not much of a draw. I do like that the flirty emotion gives them more success with romance because I feel that's a more interesting and realistic result. I know skill building and crafting are important to a lot of people, but to me having more complex and realistic ways for the sims to act is the most important part of the game.
Emotions should not be a means to an end (that I can't seem to figure out), they should be the RESULT of an event that has happened in a sim's life. I want my sims to be in certain emotions because of interesting gameplay events, not furniture.
Other people have made really good points about how positive emotions stack too much (I hate the decor one), and I think this is a big part of it too. One example for me is the Mom in my main family has done the Master Chef aspiration so her meals always give the family +3 happiness buffs. That's the same level of happiness that marriage or a new baby brings, and it kind of cheapens those events that my sims are equally happy from eating her tuna casserole. I want my sims to be "fine" more often and happiness to be something I have to work for, so that I can actually be excited for my sims when something good happens to them. I would be OK with all the less significant happiness buffs going away and only big life events like First Kiss or Promotion causing it.