I have never really played with kids before this playthrough and some things really don't make sense.
First of all it seems developers mean something completely different than me with the word "empathy" since you lose empathy points willy nilly for completely illogical reasons.
Emotional Control also suffers from basically anyting but writing in your journal (which as far as I know is the only thing that boosts it).
The result, of course is that my twins are Very Polite, Very Responsible, and has a HUGE chunk of RED in Empathy.
...What???
It is especially jarring where I get chance cards (which never specifies what you lose, anyway, which I kind of think is a dirty trick in itself) where you basically always loses either Empathy or Emptional Control by doing the actual logical and yes often emotionally correct thing??? Like "Not being a plum to another kid" = Loses Emotional Control. "Not cheat on a test" = Loss of Empathy.
Or something equally nuts.
But again, it almost feels like the developers mean something completely different than the standard definition of Empathy, since my sim kids are very loving, kind and still have a huge red chunk in empathy??
Origin ID: A_Bearded_Geek
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Most of the time to increase empathy I have to play unnaturally. For example send my sim to talk to another in a bad mood, the interactions cheer up, console all help with empathy. I say unnaturally because I may be playing a sim who would never perform those interactions on the sim in question but it's their only opportunity to get some empathy if I particularly want my sims to get that value. Children playing with the doctors play set also get empathy.
I totally agree that the advice options don't make much sense. Once the parent gets to about level eight of the parenting skill they can see the outcome of every advice question and if you want a particularly character value you cam select that one.
Emotional control can be raised by winding down with music and playing instruments. Also jogging.
I tend to roleplay, so there's no way I tell the kid something basically wrong, just to increase a stat.
Personally, I struggle the most with Conflict Resolution, because there just isn't enough conflict in this love peace & harmony world to begin with. As for Emotional Control, apart from the journal, you can also improve this by playing instruments in a certain way, listening to classic music, and jogging to clear your head. The latter is only available to teens, obviously.
There's also a bug in my game where character values affect adults as well. I have an adult vampire who often gets into friendly fights with other vampires to become stronger, and the game keeps telling me that she's losing... I don't know, Conflict Resolution? I'm pretty sure this shouldn't be happening.
Something wicked this way comes!
I don't use MCCC.
Exactly, @dopaminedroid not only is @GrumpyGlowfish right, the skills are VERY unbalanced, but as you said they are also very illogical.
Quick question btw, is your avatar Sim on the gallery? She's gorgeous and would make a perfect wife for Ulrik when he becomes adult
For manners, have the kid/teen set the table after every meal.
When teens, make them clean, too.
It wasn't, but now it is! Link.
Thank you!!
To be honest, I have absolutely no idea what you be the consequences in game of a kid with non empathy, considering that they all behave the same way anyway.
Most traits maxed by one sim: 3. Responsibility, Manners and Empathy, though she had a good amount of green in the other two as well. she actually gained the ability to take others' emotions on herself, I think it was.
Maybe your kids are just sociopaths?
The empathy boost is in addition to the chance card that you'll get during volunteering, so empathy can both rise and fall depending on the card's outcome.
And as you see what’s gonna increase and what’s gonna decrease, it influences what you’re gonna answer when it shouldn’t.
Also, I had my sim read her sister’s diary, her sister caught her and got angry, then their mother could tell of the diary owner for being mean to her sister, but not tell off her sister for reading it, that makes no sense to me either ?
Same, if the girls argue, my sim can only tell one off for being mean but not the other.....
She can’t « discipline recent behaviour » either when one of her daughters gets angry and kicks the trashcan down. I mean why can we discipline some bad behaviours and not others ?
That being said, I really like this game pack!