I don't feel anyway towards it. I like my makeover of them better and will continue to use mine. I've remade most of the premades to match their sims 2 counterparts.
I thought I was the only one who did that. xD
I remade over 100 characters from TS1, 2 and 3.
The way I see it, people hated the way they looked and complained - EA changed them - now people hate the way they look and complain. I think that poll is probably rather accurate even if it is small as those who are indifferent or like the new change will be less likely to speak up on forums and in comments than people who feel strongly about the issue or hate it. That's why negative views on any forum for any topic will seem more common than positive views.
This is true. Complaints are always louder than compliments. It is unfortunate too.
Features I'd like brought back from the dead.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
I don't feel anyway towards it. I like my makeover of them better and will continue to use mine. I've remade most of the premades to match their sims 2 counterparts.
I thought I was the only one who did that. xD
I remade over 100 characters from TS1, 2 and 3.
Heck no. I don't make them all match Sims 2 specifically. But I make sure they match the general look and that their lore is in tact. But I only do it with the handful of sim families I care about. 100 sims, daaang... Impressive.
Features I'd like brought back from the dead.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
Features I'd like brought back from the dead.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
I love Mortimer's new look but I'm really not a fan of the rest. I feel like a lot of the interesting facial characteristics are gone and they look more generic now. Especially Bella, she's got that standard CAS randomized face that comes with no chin. The lack of chin really bugs me and her eye shape used to be quite unique but now looks bland. I don't understand why they didn't just update the skin tones and just tweak Mortimer. Also, isn't he supposed to be much older with white hair? I also don't like the Adult facial lines around the mouth and nose area in general, they make the front of the cheeks look puffy and not like a natural aging progression, and I dislike them even more so on Bella. So I'm fine with Bella being a Young Adult forever. She's iconic and practically immortal anyway.
I will probably swap out the new Goths for the old if I make a new save.
Haven't really paid much attention to the Goths so here's my two cents.
I actually prefer the new Bella Goth, the old one looks too much like a Barbie doll (the mushy looking hair doesn't help either), and looks underdeveloped. Plus I like the slightly darker skin tone.
Mortimer has a better face, makes him look older and I think he just looks better older.
Cassandra, the new one looks like a completely different character altogether. I think I prefer the older one's hair style over the newer one but I think both are still cute.
Same is said about Alexander. He looks like a different character entirely, and I think I prefer the older one more.
I do. I say it's broke. Or isn't. Wasn't. But now is. Broke. Broken...
On a serious note, SOMEBODY decided that the original S4 family ain't good enough and Maxis listened and took action AND months for this make-over too be completed without adding one single sentiment and/or like/ dislike. Ah! A bunch of empty shellfish named Goth. How innovative.
Indeed, as others mentioned, a skintone update would have been sufficient. Little darker here, bit whiter there, whatever. Absolutely, make it match the skintones of the Goths and Calientes from previous games, if it's such a big deal.
But no, let's alter the ENTIRE genetic make-up of these 8 year old families and replace them with a bunch of ... impostors?
Sure, the studio consulted a handful of content creators and ethnic specialist or whatever they're called....to get it "right". Right for who?
Why not consult me instead? Am I not good enough? I'm mixed race. (I'm half human half beast).
Here's what I'd tell Maxis:
Dear Maxis. Leave as is. However, IF you still feel so compelled to change every iconic detail about these sims because of whoever is throwing yet another tantrum, I've got the solution: Put them on the gallery. Put the "other sims" on the gallery instead of replacing perfectly fine original families with this lot. Let the complainers do some work for a change. Seriously. Let them open the gallery, find the new "Goths" and replace the original ones that live in Willow World, instead of everyone else always having to go out of THEIR roundaboutway to make old stuff work again.
Yours sincerely,
That Annoying Dude.
I can imagine that over half the community is in panic now: HELP! Where can I get the original family?! Please share!! Somebody PLEASE!! WHAT DID THEY DO TO ALEXANDER???? HE'S NOT.....CUUUUUTE!! AAARRGGHHH!
Should've been the other way 'round shouldn't it?
Or wait, better still, one should just learn how to use CAS. It's not that hard. Again, don't be lazy, do the work. It's all there, one nudge away from being utterly spoonfed. It takes less than a second to change a skintone because-in case folks have forgotten- we were given this wonderful skintone update a while back. Less than a second.
But no. Maxis went for an entire new level of nerf: Let's "kill" the Goths because somebody wasn't very happy.
Hooray.
"Oh but these are new and ethnically correct Got..."
NO! I DON'T wan't to hear it. These are not THE Goths. These came from an Alien planet called "TaNN~TrOOm".
Anyway, nevermind my longwinded nonsense. I saved original Bells long time ago. She's the only woman I care about. Like in life...
I have just only updated Bella's skintone and makeup by sliders and nothing more. Here is the effect. Ok. She could have been darker, but I just would like to show that sometimes less is more...
They made Alexander with completly wrong facial features when he age up and wrong skin color (he is supposed to have the same skin color as his dad). It's a problem with all the toddlers/children Sims. Alexander look so wrong. Bella look too old for a young adult, too much wrinkles and the skin tone need to be more warm. Mortimer (better than the old version, but need a longer face and a more dense mustache) and Cassandra look ok.
I think the lore update is a failure.
Post edited by Skyrryx on
Thank you @83bienchen for modding the game. Whims Overhaul is essential for my gameplay.
I do feel if they were to base them off an earlier iteration, that iteration should have been TS1 (at least for Mortimer and Bella). The unfortunate thing about Sims 2's CAS is that all sims end up looking the sameish due to the limitations of the tech, and most "decent" looking faces are variations on face 1 and 2. In addition, it did not do ethnic facial features well. In TS1, the heads, while fixed, were more unique in appearance, allowing for different shapes, proportions and details.
For example in TS1, Brad Burb has a squareish head, Cornelia Goth has a smaller, roundish head, Jeff Pleasant has a very egg shaped head, Diane Pleasant has a more heart shape with highly defined cheekbones that could cut cheese, and Michael Bachelor has a roundish head that is East Asian in appearance (in the game files, it lists Bella's and Michael's heads as being Asian). In TS2, everyone has the same similarish base of rectangular/ovalish due to the limitations of CAS, that none of them look like themselves (though it's not noticeable since they decided to kill off all the characters from TS1 and replace them with their trashy soap opera children, and the one person who fully makes a return is the sim who has a head suited for TS2's CAS, Mortimer).
I did some tweaking of mine (I don't intend to keep Cassandra and Alexander as I prefer to start with the parents' younger years and childhoods), but I believe the bustier wrap top and pencil skirt in red would make a better substitute for her dress without looking too formal and out of place. Also, those heels seem more suited to clubbing then for wearing everyday, so flats seem more appropriate. Also, lighter tights, and less clunky jewelry - rememeber, she is supposed to be athletic and elegant. I'm not sure why they changed her nose, since it was already similar to the Sims 1 version, less defined bridge included, and instead gave her the most generic nose shape in the game.
While completely different, I think the Mustache with the goatee better suits Mortimer as the pencil mustache is way too thin, while the full mustache is way too full. His head seriously needs to be made more rectangular, with more emphasis on the forehead. The age details could be better toned down too.
One thing I've noticed is that they've continued the trend of overdoing the gothic thing to the extent that all of the outfits of everyone is either black or dark red, leaning way way to hard into Addams family territory.
Cassandra used to be one of the prettiest Sims ever when she grew up and you took her glasses off. Now she's still pretty but just ordinary looking. They could have just changed their skin tones (except Alexander who did not NEED to be changed) and left the rest of their features alone. They also gave Bella a breast reduction and increased her waistline. The worst thing, though easily changeable, is that they gave her the same hairstyle that they MADE FOR that woman in Tartosa. They could have made a new hairstyle just for Bella, something that resembles her old Sims 2 hairstyle.
Just a make over ins't enough. When they talked about improving the lore, I thought they meant tweaking family trees, relationships etc. But I should've known better...
I have just only updated Bella's skintone and makeup by sliders and nothing more. Here is the effect. Ok. She could have been darker, but I just would like to show that sometimes less is more...
Literally every single fan update on the forums and Twitter, including this one, looks 1000% better than the update we just got from EA. Every. Single. One.
EA needs to let creators do these fixes just like they finally gave in and let creators design the houses in all their new worlds; they are not very good at this job, and creators will happily do it for free.
In view of the Goths being such an iconic family in the franchise the more considerate of the community approach would have been to first set up a forum poll, like we can, by an appropriate guru. A, 'we are thinking about changing the Goths, what is your opinion?' kind of thing with a range of responses to choose from. Maybe include some sample shots as well.
I really dislike the new look for the Goth family. I wish there was an option where we could choose which one we have in our new save files. Now I'm going to have to delete them in every new game and try to replace them with the old ones somehow. I'm glad that other people like the new Goth family though! They should be allowed to have their preferred version, just like I can use the old version since I prefer it.
Wait, something occurred to me. (Hey, it happens.) Sims 4 is (and always was) meant to be an "alternate timeline" kind of thing in the series, right? Is that no longer the case now, or what? If it's not changing, why would anyone particularly expect any of the pre-mades to closely resemble their counterparts from earlier games, anyway? And if that's not the reason they're being "updated"... then what is the reason? And if it IS changing, why now, so late in this particular game's lifetime?
FYI: Just because you can see my signature, don't assume that I can see yours.
Because I can't; I keep all sigs turned off.
So here's how I feel about this entire make-over thing:
It's sort of comparable to a TV show you've been watching for years; You're familiar with the cast, you may even have grown fond of the characters. Suddenly, after all those years, the entire cast is replaced with actors who ethnically "LOOK" more accurate "because that's how the characters were originally written ". Wowee, thanks Production Company. You should've considered that while in pre-production a decade ago.
Here's the thing: I've already accepted The Goths as the characters they represent in this particular world given to me all those years ago. There was nothing wrong with them. Why change them? It almost feels like betrayal. Almost. Why now? Did players actually complain? Were The Goths not "realistic" enough?
The Sims 4 Goth family will never, ever look like the Goth families that inhabited the worlds in Sims 1 (same low poly face syndrome), Sims 2 (same long face syndrome) or Sims 3 (same plum face syndrome), because newsflash: Different art style. Different facial structures. Different shading, lighting, absolutely everything different.
Is it so hard to accept The Goths and Calientes etc. for who they are in THIS iteration? I mean, folks who think the Townies are not good enough will drag them all the way trough CAS anyway.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with what this new family LOOKS like, I'm wondering what the issue was with the original Sims 4 Goth family in the first place?
Having said all that, I don't play with any of the Townies, I create my own cast, although I always enjoyed having original S4 Bella around. Attractive an enigmatic looking Bella is now replaced with some ordinary looking lady who lives across the street, probably pretending to be a secret agent, but really she just works as an accountant. For a small company that produces...cheap cat litter trays. At least new Morty looks like he could be original Morty's handsome sibling. The kids....I mean...sure. I don't recognize them. I don't get it, but then again, I'm not very intelligent.
But hey, just because I don't get it, doesn't mean I really care.
So...here's my Goth story and why I am totally biased to the old look.
First, to be completely honest, I have never much cared about Sim NPCs, save for the "special" Occults in Sims 2, (who couldn't be played or changed and needed to be pursued and befriended to be granted the same "Occultism".) But in Sims 4, something about the interesting characteristics of many of them and recognizing them around town for many, many years (I play the same long save with aging off) has grown on me and somehow put a few pumps in my cold, dead, still heart. I always loved their house and allowed it to stay, with them in it, whilst the majority of all other NPCs got booted out of their lots or moved around to other places. The Goths were the one "normal" family, (or not so normal,) that I took to. And they started getting my attention in ways I didn't expect.
It started, like many things do, with Cassandra. I used to use a modded game many years ago, so when a new EP came out, I would load a separate vanilla game that I had on the side, to test it, so I could identify if there were any game bugs as opposed to possible glitches caused by my CC or mods. This ended up being the save that I stuck with, eventually. Here's what happened:
When Cats and Dogs came out, I was really excited to see the docks and the stray cats so I randomly grabbed the Goths and went to BB. Cassandra came across this little cross-eyed stray who seemed to take to her...
His name, the name that the game gave him, is Monster. It was fate, and I knew he was meant to go home with them. He still resides in the Goth mansion to this day.
When Realm of Magic came out, the game chose to make Cassandra a Spellcaster, which I thought was absolutely fitting. She was becoming more and more interesting to me, so I sent her to University with some of my weird college Sims. (Sorry, no pics of that, I didn't get to play that dorm very much.) But she is on my radar for the future.
Now, because I play one save and keep aging off, I do go around to households to age up Sims when I'm ready, and refresh their outfits. I aged up Alexander Goth, and then came across him in San Myshuno, looking disdainfully at the street art. I decided immediately that he was more interesting than I had anticipated:
Finally, the tale of Bella. To preface this, I just need to say that her fate was the result of a dev contest that was an NPC popularity poll that was shared on these forums a few years back, and we got to vote in segments through process of elimination. Vlad lost to the Bjergsens (Yes, this is important) and, of course, Bella Goth won the finals for the crown of most popular premade. I was to have my revenge on Vlad's loss, so I took it to my game...
I decided that if Vlad couldn't be the most popular, he would instead control the most popular Sim in the nation. So he set out with an emergency gathering of The Vampire Inner Council to the Goth house, where it just so happened that Bella was out front by herself. (I swear, the game either knows me or truly wants these things to happen, lol. Well, the Vamps surrounded her and she was embraced:
She showed up at Vlad's mansion once she had fully transformed, and after a Vampire makeover, she was taken by the entire Council to wreak havoc on the Bjergsens, who she had known in mortal life. She did not partake of their blood like the others and got pretty angry being surrounded by wicked deeds. I will spare all of the glorious details (and bazillion screenshots) .
She challenged Vlad to a battle, trying to save the Bjergens and fight for her freedom, but lost. However, she fought well. Vlad respected her feisty spirit, and agreed to leave the Bjergsens in peace in return for her surrender to be his Queen and ambassador to mortal society. She reluctantly acquiesced.
She is now one of them, a prisoner to her fate.
As for Mortimer, well, he called up Bella because one of Dracula's Brides was apparently stalking him for dates and he asked Bella what she thought of her and if he should go. I took it as a sign that he was trying to let Bella go, sadly, not understanding her situation, or the fact that he was now in danger himself. Bella told him to stay the heck away from that monster woman.
Alas, that is where the tale currently sits. We shall see where it goes from there, but I have grown attached to the fate of the old Goths in my game and I just won't be able see the new ones the same. Maybe I'll put them in my game as a Multiverse twist and have the Vampire council eat or enslave them. Or maybe new Mortimer will worm his way to another fate, he does look a little sly. We shall have to see.
Ever since 2014 when Sims 4 reintroduced Bella, I always found it strange that she was already a wife & mother. Because up until that point, I only experienced Sims 3. That's when Bella was a little girl with her brother Michael Bachelor & her other Bachelor family members. Also, Mortimer was a little boy living with his largely extended Goth family. I think one of his family members was a Vampire. Anyways, I have always prefered Bella to be single & free in my Sims 4. I do wish that they brought back the Bachelor clan, they were cool.
Alexander: Looks okay, he looks really bad when aged up though.
Cassandra: Looks okay.
Mortimer: The one I actually kinda like. I think this look suits him.
Bella: Don't like it, the old look of Bella is iconic. This one maybe feels more like she was in the older games but this Bella had been around for 8 years.
Nice to see a comparison picture like this.
I agree that Mortimer looks pretty good. Might want to actually use this new version of him instead of the old one. Heck, maybe I even now got an "excuse" to bring him back to my save game (died of old age, got culled which I was rather salty about but I didn't know about that mechanic back then). Now someone called Mortimer Goth is back and the neighborhood can put on their tin foil hats and speculate. Bella and co especially.
Don't care for new Bella at all and the kids are pretty meh too. There's just this... I dunno, generic townie-like look to them. The old versions looked more "hand crafted", distinctive, whereas these look more like random mixture of genetics (especially highlighted with aged up Alexander, they certainly didn't pay attention to how he looks then).
I don't really care whether they are more consistent with the old games and whatnot. You can always edit them yourself plus TS4 is its' own tittle, its' own alternative universe, and these characters have existed since 2014 so no wonder many people have grown used to or even attached to this iteration of them.
The way I see it, people hated the way they looked and complained - EA changed them - now people hate the way they look and complain. I think that poll is probably rather accurate even if it is small as those who are indifferent or like the new change will be less likely to speak up on forums and in comments than people who feel strongly about the issue or hate it. That's why negative views on any forum for any topic will seem more common than positive views.
[...]
And that is exactly why game devs should not cater to every single complaint people have but stick to their artistic freedom. Because trying to "please everyone" or "not offend anyone" is a VERY slippery slope. And kinda extra baffling in a game like this in which the players themselves have so much power. I understand and fully encourage adding OPTIONS but there's been several times when players had the options to deal with their issues with the game and still decided to be vocal so then EA caved in and then ruined it for other people.
I really dislike the new look for the Goth family. I wish there was an option where we could choose which one we have in our new save files. Now I'm going to have to delete them in every new game and try to replace them with the old ones somehow. I'm glad that other people like the new Goth family though! They should be allowed to have their preferred version, just like I can use the old version since I prefer it.
There's another solution that would be less tedious. Save a copy of one of your existing saves and use that as your starting point for all new games. Making a template save was one of the first things that I ever did with TS4. I updated the template over time. However, I never wanted to have to redo all of those townies and their homes from scratch, ever again.
Comments
I thought I was the only one who did that. xD
I remade over 100 characters from TS1, 2 and 3.
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/997947/cas-qol-improvements
This is true. Complaints are always louder than compliments. It is unfortunate too.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
Heck no. I don't make them all match Sims 2 specifically. But I make sure they match the general look and that their lore is in tact. But I only do it with the handful of sim families I care about. 100 sims, daaang... Impressive.
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
Who gets to decide if it's broke?
| Picture in Picture mode | Custom Paintings | Preset scenarios for resident sims | Placing my own lots |
| Saving my own Buy Mode collections! | Saving an outfit in CAS | CaSt. Smaller is ok | Open World |
I will probably swap out the new Goths for the old if I make a new save.
I actually prefer the new Bella Goth, the old one looks too much like a Barbie doll (the mushy looking hair doesn't help either), and looks underdeveloped. Plus I like the slightly darker skin tone.
Mortimer has a better face, makes him look older and I think he just looks better older.
Cassandra, the new one looks like a completely different character altogether. I think I prefer the older one's hair style over the newer one but I think both are still cute.
Same is said about Alexander. He looks like a different character entirely, and I think I prefer the older one more.
I do. I say it's broke. Or isn't. Wasn't. But now is. Broke. Broken...
Indeed, as others mentioned, a skintone update would have been sufficient. Little darker here, bit whiter there, whatever. Absolutely, make it match the skintones of the Goths and Calientes from previous games, if it's such a big deal.
But no, let's alter the ENTIRE genetic make-up of these 8 year old families and replace them with a bunch of ... impostors?
Sure, the studio consulted a handful of content creators and ethnic specialist or whatever they're called....to get it "right". Right for who?
Why not consult me instead? Am I not good enough? I'm mixed race. (I'm half human half beast).
Here's what I'd tell Maxis:
Dear Maxis. Leave as is. However, IF you still feel so compelled to change every iconic detail about these sims because of whoever is throwing yet another tantrum, I've got the solution: Put them on the gallery. Put the "other sims" on the gallery instead of replacing perfectly fine original families with this lot. Let the complainers do some work for a change. Seriously. Let them open the gallery, find the new "Goths" and replace the original ones that live in Willow World, instead of everyone else always having to go out of THEIR roundaboutway to make old stuff work again.
Yours sincerely,
That Annoying Dude.
I can imagine that over half the community is in panic now: HELP! Where can I get the original family?! Please share!! Somebody PLEASE!! WHAT DID THEY DO TO ALEXANDER???? HE'S NOT.....CUUUUUTE!! AAARRGGHHH!
Should've been the other way 'round shouldn't it?
Or wait, better still, one should just learn how to use CAS. It's not that hard. Again, don't be lazy, do the work. It's all there, one nudge away from being utterly spoonfed. It takes less than a second to change a skintone because-in case folks have forgotten- we were given this wonderful skintone update a while back. Less than a second.
But no. Maxis went for an entire new level of nerf: Let's "kill" the Goths because somebody wasn't very happy.
Hooray.
"Oh but these are new and ethnically correct Got..."
NO! I DON'T wan't to hear it. These are not THE Goths. These came from an Alien planet called "TaNN~TrOOm".
Anyway, nevermind my longwinded nonsense. I saved original Bells long time ago. She's the only woman I care about. Like in life...
Okay, scrap that last part.
I think the lore update is a failure.
For example in TS1, Brad Burb has a squareish head, Cornelia Goth has a smaller, roundish head, Jeff Pleasant has a very egg shaped head, Diane Pleasant has a more heart shape with highly defined cheekbones that could cut cheese, and Michael Bachelor has a roundish head that is East Asian in appearance (in the game files, it lists Bella's and Michael's heads as being Asian). In TS2, everyone has the same similarish base of rectangular/ovalish due to the limitations of CAS, that none of them look like themselves (though it's not noticeable since they decided to kill off all the characters from TS1 and replace them with their trashy soap opera children, and the one person who fully makes a return is the sim who has a head suited for TS2's CAS, Mortimer).
I did some tweaking of mine (I don't intend to keep Cassandra and Alexander as I prefer to start with the parents' younger years and childhoods), but I believe the bustier wrap top and pencil skirt in red would make a better substitute for her dress without looking too formal and out of place. Also, those heels seem more suited to clubbing then for wearing everyday, so flats seem more appropriate. Also, lighter tights, and less clunky jewelry - rememeber, she is supposed to be athletic and elegant. I'm not sure why they changed her nose, since it was already similar to the Sims 1 version, less defined bridge included, and instead gave her the most generic nose shape in the game.
While completely different, I think the Mustache with the goatee better suits Mortimer as the pencil mustache is way too thin, while the full mustache is way too full. His head seriously needs to be made more rectangular, with more emphasis on the forehead. The age details could be better toned down too.
One thing I've noticed is that they've continued the trend of overdoing the gothic thing to the extent that all of the outfits of everyone is either black or dark red, leaning way way to hard into Addams family territory.
It's wild to me that we went from the Sims 2 lore to this. What a reversal.
Literally every single fan update on the forums and Twitter, including this one, looks 1000% better than the update we just got from EA. Every. Single. One.
EA needs to let creators do these fixes just like they finally gave in and let creators design the houses in all their new worlds; they are not very good at this job, and creators will happily do it for free.
In view of the Goths being such an iconic family in the franchise the more considerate of the community approach would have been to first set up a forum poll, like we can, by an appropriate guru. A, 'we are thinking about changing the Goths, what is your opinion?' kind of thing with a range of responses to choose from. Maybe include some sample shots as well.
Because I can't; I keep all sigs turned off.
Honestly, you summed up the whole situation.
First, to be completely honest, I have never much cared about Sim NPCs, save for the "special" Occults in Sims 2, (who couldn't be played or changed and needed to be pursued and befriended to be granted the same "Occultism".) But in Sims 4, something about the interesting characteristics of many of them and recognizing them around town for many, many years (I play the same long save with aging off) has grown on me and somehow put a few pumps in my cold, dead, still heart. I always loved their house and allowed it to stay, with them in it, whilst the majority of all other NPCs got booted out of their lots or moved around to other places. The Goths were the one "normal" family, (or not so normal,) that I took to. And they started getting my attention in ways I didn't expect.
It started, like many things do, with Cassandra. I used to use a modded game many years ago, so when a new EP came out, I would load a separate vanilla game that I had on the side, to test it, so I could identify if there were any game bugs as opposed to possible glitches caused by my CC or mods. This ended up being the save that I stuck with, eventually. Here's what happened:
His name, the name that the game gave him, is Monster. It was fate, and I knew he was meant to go home with them. He still resides in the Goth mansion to this day.
When Realm of Magic came out, the game chose to make Cassandra a Spellcaster, which I thought was absolutely fitting. She was becoming more and more interesting to me, so I sent her to University with some of my weird college Sims. (Sorry, no pics of that, I didn't get to play that dorm very much.) But she is on my radar for the future.
Now, because I play one save and keep aging off, I do go around to households to age up Sims when I'm ready, and refresh their outfits. I aged up Alexander Goth, and then came across him in San Myshuno, looking disdainfully at the street art. I decided immediately that he was more interesting than I had anticipated:
Finally, the tale of Bella. To preface this, I just need to say that her fate was the result of a dev contest that was an NPC popularity poll that was shared on these forums a few years back, and we got to vote in segments through process of elimination. Vlad lost to the Bjergsens (Yes, this is important) and, of course, Bella Goth won the finals for the crown of most popular premade. I was to have my revenge on Vlad's loss, so I took it to my game...
She showed up at Vlad's mansion once she had fully transformed, and after a Vampire makeover, she was taken by the entire Council to wreak havoc on the Bjergsens, who she had known in mortal life. She did not partake of their blood like the others and got pretty angry being surrounded by wicked deeds. I will spare all of the glorious details (and bazillion screenshots) .
She challenged Vlad to a battle, trying to save the Bjergens and fight for her freedom, but lost. However, she fought well. Vlad respected her feisty spirit, and agreed to leave the Bjergsens in peace in return for her surrender to be his Queen and ambassador to mortal society. She reluctantly acquiesced.
She is now one of them, a prisoner to her fate.
As for Mortimer, well, he called up Bella because one of Dracula's Brides was apparently stalking him for dates and he asked Bella what she thought of her and if he should go. I took it as a sign that he was trying to let Bella go, sadly, not understanding her situation, or the fact that he was now in danger himself. Bella told him to stay the heck away from that monster woman.
Alas, that is where the tale currently sits. We shall see where it goes from there, but I have grown attached to the fate of the old Goths in my game and I just won't be able see the new ones the same. Maybe I'll put them in my game as a Multiverse twist and have the Vampire council eat or enslave them. Or maybe new Mortimer will worm his way to another fate, he does look a little sly. We shall have to see.
I agree that Mortimer looks pretty good. Might want to actually use this new version of him instead of the old one. Heck, maybe I even now got an "excuse" to bring him back to my save game (died of old age, got culled which I was rather salty about but I didn't know about that mechanic back then). Now someone called Mortimer Goth is back and the neighborhood can put on their tin foil hats and speculate. Bella and co especially.
Don't care for new Bella at all and the kids are pretty meh too. There's just this... I dunno, generic townie-like look to them. The old versions looked more "hand crafted", distinctive, whereas these look more like random mixture of genetics (especially highlighted with aged up Alexander, they certainly didn't pay attention to how he looks then).
I don't really care whether they are more consistent with the old games and whatnot. You can always edit them yourself plus TS4 is its' own tittle, its' own alternative universe, and these characters have existed since 2014 so no wonder many people have grown used to or even attached to this iteration of them.
There's another solution that would be less tedious. Save a copy of one of your existing saves and use that as your starting point for all new games. Making a template save was one of the first things that I ever did with TS4. I updated the template over time. However, I never wanted to have to redo all of those townies and their homes from scratch, ever again.