Would this be cool or too much depth for sims?

KirbySkywalker

I was just thinking about a D&D style create a character. Not so much for skills, but for deeper traits and a variety to the sim NPCs.

I didn’t really think too in depth but something along the lines of choosing your S.P.E.C.I.A.L in fallout, or picking your stats in Baldurs Gate.

Like you could have 100 points to distribute. You could spend points to be totally attractive and make flirting more successful but you would have to consider how many points you want to put into intelligence (skills gain faster for smart things), strength (working out and athletic careers are easier), Creativity (skill gains are faster for artistic stuff), Wisdom (you are better at parenting and tutoring) etc...

Then if you picked a negative trait like clumsy it would balance out by awarding an additional 5-10 Points.

As it is now any sim can do anything and achieve anything. If you make a gross lazy slob sim they can get to the top of any career or get the best dating partner just as easy as any other sim. That’s boring.

Also a likes/dislikes system on top of it. So if your sim is only 4/10 attractive but 10/10 creative, they can still pull an attractive partner if that sim is into creative types. Or vice versa.

I think it would be cool if we could make our sims more deep.

So_Money

I've had these same thoughts and I'm all for everything you're suggesting. I'd be in favor of anything that would help differentiate one sim from another. Deeper creation with stats and more impactful traits is the way to go.

Simmerville

Agreed :-) In fact, this reminded me slightly of the ts1 personalities, where we shared a set of points between various traits. And yes, wpuld be better if sims needed certain trauts to do stuff.

dreamprisoner

I'm for anything that gives sims more personality, better traits, attraction system, likes and dislikes.

SailorCeti

I partially agree. I miss favorite foods, music, and birth sign. At the same time, I already run two D&D campaigns. I don’t want sims turning into a third one. Part of its appeal to me is it’s simplicity.

KirbySkywalker

@Metaphasic I was expecting many would feel that way. I think sims is considered a casual game after all.
I certainly wouldn’t like anything to become grindy.
Personally I just want my sims to feel deeper and more unique and individual. And I think it would be more exciting if sims could fail at a career or a romance, outside of having the lazy or commitment issues traits.

Things like dating would be so much more exciting if some risk was involved. As it is now you just queue up romantic interactions with any sim you want until the bar is full and you become soulmates.

Sim_Man17

Seems a little RPGish, but I'm liking it. To an extent.
Anything that gives our sims more personality, character, intelligence, and/or Depth is definitely needed and alright in my book.
I can see it now.
Sims gaining experience or Happiness Points and spending it on capabilities and/or efficiency.

Strength = Athleticism, Martial Arts, Climbing, and other physically related activities.
Intelligence = Logic, Science, Handiness, Robotics, Gardening, Spell Casting, and other activities that require mental effort.
Morality = Doesn't involve any skills, but does effect how other Sims treat your Sim and will build up your sim's character/personality and perception of things along the way.
Creativity = Painting, Drawing, Sculpting, Writing, and other activities that require imagination.
Luck = Doesn't involve any skills, but does involve how your sims do while building up their skills and how things will work for them along the way.
Appeal = Charisma, Humor, Mischief, Acting, and other social related skills.
Wisdom = Parenting, Teaching, and other skills regarding Guidance and Philosophy.

So. SIMCLAW!

Plus, some of these branches can collaborate with other branches and work efficiently with Personality Traits.
Like sims who have the Genius trait will be better off or more efficient with the Intelligence and Wisdom Branches.
While Active sims are more likely to do well in the Strength Branch. Plus, negative traits can also effect these branches. Like Clumsy sims are less likely to fair well with the Strength Branch and Stupid Sims won't do well with Intelligence and Wisdom.

I'm always looking to make our sims more intelligent, deep, and human.

AceOfKnaves

I agree to a point, mainly because the old system in previous games never interested me much but I wouldn't mind having the attraction system back, with a slight overhaul and diminishing the pushy notifications that is. Perhaps it could be a positive emotion upon seeing a sim they're attracted to for the first time...? Not sure. I do like that 4 is less 'grind' and more manageable, but at the same time I miss the consequences certain actions had. Especially in 2 and possibly 3, you could cause serious havoc in a sim's lifespan during a short amount of time. While it could be annoying, it felt a little more immersive and random. You never really knew if things would go your way, at least in my experience. Otherwise, I totally get what you're saying, more individuality would be nice. Imo, the world can still become fairly dull if you're just playing straight vanilla even with packs.

Lauri_Anton

I agree with everything under this post. Simgurus please !!!

LittlBowBub

This would be awesome. Reminds me of sims 2 Hopefully it would actually effect the sims though and not just be another visual thing.

foxx_fennec

I like the idea of more in-depth character creation, but I disagree with the point limit. RPGs include point limits for balance, so you don’t have low-level characters with unreasonably high stats who can kill every enemy their level in a single hit, and so players in a multiplayer game start out roughly equal to one another.

The thing is, the Sims isn’t an RPG. It doesn’t have levels or any of that, and it has never included a cap on how “good” Sims can be created, and doing so would feel unnecessarily limiting.

There’s also the fact that not all Simmers will be happy with a creation system that’s too detailed and time-consuming. It has to be kept fairly simple, though it could certainly do with a little more complexity than we have in TS4.

Something I see as a reasonable solution for the next game would be to keep the trait system but also add four stats, mostly similar to the ones you outlined: Intelligence, Creativity, Social, and Physical.

These stats would affect skill gains, and having a high score in these stats would be equivalent to the childhood reward traits Mentally Gifted, Creatively Gifted, etc.

In CAS, each stat could be assigned a base score from 1 to 5, with skill gain rates for each level being something like this:

1 point: 0.5x skill gain
2 points: 0.75x skill gain
3 points: normal (1x) skill gain (default)
4 points: 1.5x skill gain
5 points: 2x skill gain

Certain traits could increase or decrease stats by 1 each, which would allow stats to fall outside the standard 1 to 5 range. For example, a Sim with 5 base Intelligence and the Genius trait would have 6 Intelligence (2.5x skill gain), and a Sim with 1 base Social and the Loner trait would have 0 Social (0.25x skill gain).

Sims born in game would inherit stats from their parents. Each of their stats would get a random base value somewhere within the range of their parents’ base stat values (not including trait modifiers).

Stats would have fixed values that, for the most part, can’t be changed, but there would be a few ways to change stats:
- Gaining traits with stat modifiers on aging up
- Completing a childhood aspiration. Instead of giving a reward trait, they would gain a permanent +1 increase to the base value of the relevant stat. (Since it affects the base value, it also affects genetics. If the base value is already 5, though, they just get a hidden trait with a +1 modifier instead.)
- - If TS5 doesn’t include aspirations or anything similar in childhood, then simply maxing out a childhood skill would give the reward.
- New Research options on the computer: “Research Intellectual Topics”, “Research Creative Tips”, “Research Social Etiquette”, and “Research Health & Fitness”. These wouldn’t directly increase any skills, but they’d each give a temporary +1 increase to one stat for 24h, boosting skill gains for a range of relevant skills.

SimTrippy

I would love this actually, would indeed make it much harder for them to learn or achieve certain things. But it would also require them to rework the moodlet system somewhat cause as it stands, sims mostly receive the same moodlets, regardless of their traits or personalities. I'd want sims with low social and niceness points, for example, to not care too much when their pets run away (honestly I wish only sims who actually have a good relationship with their pet cared when it ran away, cause some of these pets run away a little too often, especially when they don't get along with the other household pets ). It the moodlets more appropriately match what traits / personality points we give them, then yes, this would be great!

Cynna

It would be wonderful to have that depth of characterization in the Sims. Yes, please! So long as the game doesn't only pay lip service to them and they are actually incorporated into game play.