What is most important for depth?

Louise_G0325 · December 2017

Depth is a broad term and encompasses many things, thus only one of the following options would not fully flesh our games out. However, I'd like to hear what you think should be addressed first and is the most "important" for you to enjoy your game.

Edit:
I didn't explain "consequenses" very well, but unfortunately I can't edit the options.
Consequenses would make choices your sim makes affect them later on in a good or bad way, ex. never studying in school makes job progress increase much slower, making enemies can have unforseen consequenses, etc. It is supposed to add challenge and give a point for doing good/bad things. (Ex. getting an F grade now has almost no effect on a sim's life and neither does an A grade, so you can easily just not make them do their homework at all; being a criminal doesn't get you in jail etc.)

GrumpyGlowfish · December 2017

A tough one, because all of these need to be fixed! I was torn the most between personality and meaningful life events, but chose the latter in the end.

While sim personalities leave a lot to be desired, at least they do exist in some form. The same can't be said for sims properly reacting to and remembering things happening around them. We need memories of important events, not just moodlets, because moodlets last for a few hours maybe, sometimes days, and then they're gone forever. But you don't just stop grieving over your deceased mother or being angry at your cheating husband after two days.

In TS2 sims would occasionally remember things from the past and react to them again, whereas one of my sims in TS4 couldn't even be bothered to react once when her daughter was burning to death right next to her. Parenthood made a step in the right direction by introducing values that can be taught to children and will stay with them for the rest of their lives, but we need more of that. And once we have it, they can start fleshing out personalities to make sure not every sim reacts the same way to everything.

SimAddiction101 · December 2017

This was hard to vote for. It was a three way tie between personality, more meaningful life events, and fleshing out the lifespans. I love the Sims 2 turn on/turn offs and the traits from Sims 3 and the fact that you can have five traits because three just doesn't cut it. Ultimately I voted for more meaningful life events/memories because it will make things better and more realistic.

Louise_G0325 · December 2017

It is a difficult choice! I want all of these fixed, but I think that if the sims' personalities are fixed first, I can get more attached to them now and thus enjoy the game more as I play out their lives. It's important for many players to feel attached, otherwise they don't really care about what happens to them, thus the game gets boring more easily.

Dannydanbo · December 2017

I choose "fleshing out" because all the stages need tweaking but kids, teens and elders need a lot more work to improve them and set them apart from the other stages. Plus, if the stages are all fleshed out more it should affect all those other choices to a better degree including relationships, personality and emotions. Fleshing out is more all inclusive whereas the others concentrate on just one aspect.

CK213 · December 2017

@SimGuruLyndsay ‏
@SimGuruRyan
@SimGuruGraham
Up there is the list to turn a game with many wonderful features into a wonderful game in total, imo.

All these points are what this game needs most.
Right now personality is tops on my list because these sims don't feel as unique to me as past sims games.
I would still love to see a whim bubble dedicated to trait related whims since sims have one dedicated to emotions. This will bring more attention to the personality of your sim.

I think consequences has a low score because it's described kind of narrowly and can be a part of relationships and life events.
There should be consequences for declaring another sim a nemesis. They should be proactive in getting payback for negative incidents.
There should be consequences for the choice you make related to life events.

EnkiSchmidt · December 2017

Tentatively going with relationships. As a free will off micromanaging sandbox player I feel emotions and personality often get in the way, as do consequences. The game cannot know how each of my sims will react to the death of another, to time-outs (focused, really?!) and the like and it has even less way of knowing what kind of society I play in.

So I thought "What EP did I have the most fun so far?" and the answer was Get together and the rather open political career from City living. Both are focused on relationships between sims, though of a different kind than romantic ones. Family, co-workers, ex-roommates in college, rivals, research teams, people that do not neccesarily like each other but are in for the same goal or simply all the kids in town who have seen the monster under the bed... a web that covers all my sims and gives them a shared history. At the point the sims world comes to live for me.

Louise_G0325 · December 2017

@CK213 Thanks for tagging the gurus! It's nice that someone else thought it worthy to be tagged since I always tag them in my own ideas so it's refreshing for once hahahahah

JoAnne65 · December 2017

Other. Namely: all.

alan650111 · January 2018

I ended up going with memorable life events though it was tied with fleshed out personalities. This game really needs to differentiate between each sim as much as possible. I love this game but diversity of each sim is where it most struggles. Good thing I have a huge imagination.

Louise_G0325 · January 2018

Thank you for everyone who is explaining their vote! It's good to hear why everyone wants certain things and how it contributes to the many play styles and enjoyability etc. I think these explanations and votes can be useful to help clarify to the devs what to focus on, regarding the core of the game.

icmnfrsh · January 2018

I chose meaningful life events because a lot of events in the game seem to just give a temporary moodlet, and once it's gone, it doesn't seem to affect gameplay all that much. Maybe if we had a memory system that ties into a sim's personality (kind of like Inside Out), it would be better. Some of the things in Sims 2 like the lifetime aspiration bar were good too, providing boosts to sims if they have a generally fulfilling life.

All of the other things you stated are good too, of course. Fleshed out life stages and more in-depth personalities would help a lot. Parenthood was a step in the right direction regarding the life stages, and the phases are somewhat true-to-life and add a little depth to kids and teens. It's pretty nice. And the character values system is pretty great too.

ChadSims2 · January 2018

I'm going with Personality as I feel this is currently the game biggest weak point no matter the traits right now Sims all act the same. A trait overhaul making each one meaningful and actually do something to make our Sims unique and not carbon copies no matter the traits they have is desperately needed as well as turn ons/turnoffs likes and dislikes.

For example my lazy Sim should complain if I make them wash dishes never make the bed if that was a thing and so on but traits mean nothing now I don't even notice them.

plushtrap_107 · January 2018

I would like Personality too. I'd like my Sims to have favourite and disliked colours and music, for example. A Sim could turn the stereo on to his favourite music and if he walked into a room and his disliked music was playing, he could get a tense moodlet or change the stereo to his favourite music again.

Also, a Sim could get a happy moodlet if he was in a room that was decorated in his favourite colour and a tense moodlet if the room was decorated in a colour he disliked.

Louise_G0325 · January 2018

plushtrap_107 wrote: »

I would like Personality too. I'd like my Sims to have favourite and disliked colours and music, for example. A Sim could turn the stereo on to his favourite music and if he walked into a room and his disliked music was playing, he could get a tense moodlet or change the stereo to his favourite music again.

Also, a Sim could get a happy moodlet if he was in a room that was decorated in his favourite colour and a tense moodlet if the room was decorated in a colour he disliked.

I also like the idea of favourite colours! I thought that it was a waste in TS3 that favourite colours didn't actually do anything. I'd like if sims can compliment someone if they are wearing their favourite colour or if their house/room is decorated in that colour etc.

NyteRose · January 2018

All of them, but I'm leaning more towards Personality, Relationships and Emotions

SarahsShady · January 2018

My imagination isn't as active anymore, so I'm in great need of a huge fix of this game to keep me interested. I want truly different sims. Really, they are all the same annoyingly smiling creatures that get happy way too easy. It feels like no matter what traits I give them they all end up doing and wanting the same stuff. I want stories to build on and sims that know they are related. I want my sims to get upset when they bump into an old flame. I want to see a cloudy day in the TS4 world, it kills me there isn't any weather, but at least let us have a bit of a change in atmosphere already. Ok.. back to the main subject.
Bottom line The Sims themselves need to be worked on, they are all the same and that makes the game boring, no matter how many stuff packs come out.

plushtrap_107 · January 2018

@Louise_G0325, those would be a good ideas too

They would help Sims have more interesting interactions with each other.

cjose · January 2018

I miss being able to have all those characteristics you could have in the sims 3. I do love the new walks that you can use to express a personality though!

DcD2510 · January 2018

All would be good, but I chose personality.

poltergeist · January 2018

voted for personality. sims all act the same and traits don't do anything.

Briana2425 · January 2018

It's a toss up between personality and making life events meaningful sims 2 and 3 had both that's why I think I like Sims 2 and 3 alot and it made Sims more emotional than this game which this game should've been more emotional, Ironic.

BooV7227 · January 2018

I voted for personality.

I wish TS4 had used a combination of TS2's personality trait scales (1-10 points between utter slob and neat freak) and TS3's trait system.

Had we been allowed to set the core behavior of our sims with even a simplified 1-5 scale for slob/clean, mean/nice, lazy/active, shy/outgoing, and serious/playful, then on top of that had an array of traits to add to them, 3 trait slots would have been plenty. In effect, each sim would have been allotted 8 traits to define them.
We would not have had a few traits (Good, Slob, Loner? ) because they would have been represented by the scale system, but they could have been replaced with new flavors to add depth of personality (Forgetful: tends to leave the stove on, or rushes to work or school in PJs).

TS2's attraction Turn Ons/Offs are sorely missed, and favorite foods and colors that actually meant something would have been wonderful.

Reward Traits were a great idea, but only gave us benefits and skill bonuses, no valuable flaws (i.e. vampire perks/weaknesses). For example, I would have loved to buy some of my sims a "Snores Loudly' trait with their reward points, and maybe 'Grating Voice', or 'Annoying Laugh'.

Scobre · January 2018

Other, all of the above and then some. I think adding more life states is important too because it is nice to be able to tell more in-depth story beyond just the human Sim ones.

MasonGamer · January 2018

I vote Personality, because things like Favorites can influence emotions.

For example these are my personal favorites, in terms of sims.

Favorites:
Color: Blood Red
Food: Honey Glazed Ham, Reese's & Caramel Cheesecake, Grapes
Drink: NYF Root Beer, Strawberry Milkshakes
Music: R&B, Pop, Classical
Film/Novel: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Romance, Fantasy
Hobbies: Adventure, Archery, Sketching, Soccer, Video Games, Hanging Out With Best Friends/Club
Weather: Sun Showers, Blizzards, Sunsets

each category could influence emotions, positively and negatively.

Color: Blood Red
Food: Honey Glazed Ham, Reese's & Caramel Cheesecake, Grapes
+Happiness when Eating Favorite meal of good quality.
+Angry/Sadness when Favorite food is of poor quality or spoiled.
Void Anger/Sadness if sim is glutton.

Drink: NYF Root Beer, Strawberry Milkshakes
+Happiness when drinking Favorite meal of good quality.
+Angry/Sadness when Favorite food is of poor quality or spoiled.
Void Anger/Sadness if sim is glutton.

Music: R&B, Pop, Classical
+Inspired/Confidence when listening to favorite song.

Film/Novel: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Romance, Fantasy
+Focus boost when eating watching favorite show.
+Anger when another sim tries to make conversation while watching TV/Changes the channel.

Hobbies: Adventure, Archery, Sketching, Soccer, Video Games, Hanging Out With Best Friends/Club
If sim is bored, or in general sim will autominously do their favorite hobbies.
+Fun

Weather: Sun Showers, Blizzards, Sunsets
Calms sim done from extreme emotions.

TS1299 · January 2018

For me I chose Personality. Because imo personality will be the foundation of the depth of the characters in the game. Little Quirks makes these sims interesting, Overhauled traits add depth along with other personalities system. With that establish, sims are already unique, since traits have been overhauled, emotions will be affected depending on the traits, and the traits will overpower the emotions, and lastly, combine emotions with personality will result to an more in-depth sim reaction. A sim who likes cooking will makes friends faster than those who hate cooking. A sim will attract more based on turn on and off will determine how they will respond to other sim.

After those, I think the rest can be added to add further depth to the game, but for me we need those three to be fleshed out first, by first establishing the foundation. The Sims Personality. You can't add depth to emotions if the sims are aren't unique enough to each other won't you? That's my personal opinion about it

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What is most important for depth?

What is most important for depth? 227 votes

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