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Is TS4's broken personality system irrepairable at this point?
Nate_Whiplash1
Posts: 4,126 Member
People have been complaining about this for ages, but I don't want to be vague. The specific problem is that Sims have default personalities that override traits. For example; no matter what traits you give to your Sims, their overriding trait is to be social and happy. If you need proof of this, create a Sim that has only negative traits (dastardly, evil, etc) and then send them to the bar---they will happily choose to chat up everyone in the bar, the same as any Sim with all good traits.
This must stop. All defaults need to be removed, and Sims should act solely upon the traits they were given, and nothing else. Until this happens, the game will always seem boring and predictable, because you already know what any Sim will do in any given situation.
This must stop. All defaults need to be removed, and Sims should act solely upon the traits they were given, and nothing else. Until this happens, the game will always seem boring and predictable, because you already know what any Sim will do in any given situation.
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Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
I'm sorry, but problems with mirror bugs or lactose intolerant traits are not game breakers, they're slight inconveniences at best
1) We need the diametric personality sliders (Sims 2 style) e.g. active-lazy, outgoing-shy, neat-messy. This is the CORE Personality. Sims AI (what actions they choose by default), as well as the animation styles that are used (such as how they react or talk with other sims), are DETERMINED first by the core personality. I detest that EA threw this amazing personality system away in favor of Sims 3 traits
2) HOWEVER, traits still have their place. Traits ON TOP of personality adds additional flavor.
A good question: why can't traits alone suffice? Answer: the act of forcing the core personality into a diametric slider of extremes (e.g., strong active, neutral, or strong lazy) as well as over a fixed number of dimensions (5 aspects of personality in the sims 2) that is consistent for ALL SIMS no matter the future expansion packs make the personality ACTUALLY PROGRAMMABLE AND LOGICAL.
It's reasonable to make animations and AI decisions by saying....okay, if your Sim has at least 7 out of 10 in the direction of active, we're going to give them the quick get-out-of-bed animation instead of the slow get-out-of-bed. Basically, every Sim can get be bucketed into one of the extremes or neutral for every personality aspect.
With traits...there is an effectively infinite number of them, and they range in type. A "vegan" trait is different from a "neurotic" trait which is different from an "ambitious" trait. Sure, you can program specific quirks or abilities for each trait, but they range in type and not every Sim has a degree of strength in every single trait. This makes programming animations and AI difficult for every single trait. The problem expands when you add additional traits.
We need a return of personality points AND traits, along with prefereces/likes/dislikes for interests, activites, foods, and a sophisticated attraction system.
Personality,depth,humor,consequences,lore,customization.
We’d love to hear more about it! Let us know what a higher level of challenge and depth in the Base Game would look like for you. What would you expect from it? How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?
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I would love to see this happen. Having a fix set of characteristics your sims will have, regardless of their traits, and being able to pick where they stand regarding it, and also having traits to fill the gaps that don't fit those categories. It would be awesome.