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Sims' Inner Life

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Rukola_SchaafRukola_Schaaf Posts: 3,065 Member
edited November 2017 in The Sims 4 Packs Discussion
current test phase november 2017



previous test phase june 2017

after the Parenthood GP & the accompanying patch there was a thread made by I8PIKACHU about how it's equal if the sims get parented or not, how things learned within the adolescent phases don't matter at all after the sims grow up to YA & beyond
Parenthood -- where nothing really matters
i commented in that thread two times about how the traits themselves were not changed & improved
i was about to comment a third time as an answer to a comment by JimG72 <<<, who has criticized the negative posts about how traits are not working by describing in detail an own test with traits,
but then i thought i should maybe just do my own traits test instead & so i am doing it

here i will post the continuous results of that traits test

i didn't play the game for a long time now, & the last times i "played" it was actually doing testing if the game is playable for me in some way
so this will be another test of that sort

i also didn't buy anything new for the game since Dine Out, so i am not testing the new Parenthood GP, this test has to do with how traits are working now & how they should work on their own as traits defining sims as what they ought to be - distinguishable personalities, distinguishable already because of their different traits alone

& i didn't play toddlers at all since they were patched in
i didn't play them because i know their traits are way better & more interesting designed than the traits of all other ages & i wanted to spare me yet another negative experience with the shallowness of those usual traits

- - -

here's a link list to the current traits test within this thread :

* Christobel Daubney / part 1 <<<
* Christobel Daubney / part 2 <<<





- - -

i play TheSims since 2000 & though there were always some things i wanted included or improved i never had any real problems to accommodate to how to play the game in an enjoyable way in all 3 previous games - with TS4 it's very different

my playing style is diverse, i play autonomous sims, rotational with & without aging on, one sim, one family, family oriented sims with focus on their offsprings, career sims with focus on their promotion in job & of course trying out the contents of a new expansion
in previous games i played a sim between the wishes of that sim & the interactions which were enabled with the progress of that sim in relationship, job, skill ...

but now i have problems with TS4, especially regarding sim's wishes
i find the 3 slots for wishes insufficient
the moods of sims change more often than the wishes do
& wishes especially regarding buying a thing are the most dominant, which i find very troubling

currently i am playing a sim who wishes again & again to buy a chess table although he has already one, i wonder how many chess tables would be sufficient ? & it's not really enjoyable to play that because TS4 sims don't react to those new objects in their home bought for them & often after the thing they wished for is bought, they not even care to interact with it - that makes them nothing but spoiled, i don't like to play such sims

also most troubling were the wishes & objectives for family oriented sims who wished to buy children related stuff instead to wish for interactions including family members, their children, the main events in life of those family members
as i played them, i have always forgotten of a birthday & was never reminded by a sim in his/her wishes although family oriented, the result was then always sims pouting & sad because their family members have forgotten their birthday
i not even got as far as to make a birthday party because, why bother if those sims not even care for their family members although pretending in theory to be family loving sims ?

currently i play a sim, who is not family oriented & not romantically tending, he is a genius, snob & cheerful
after a time in which he got promoted often in his career i have tried to lead him gently towards a family, cause i want to play that family as a lineage
a family includes of course a partner, so i tried to nudge him towards several females in his surroundings, so he could choose on his own which one of them he wishes to spend his life with
yesterday he indeed wished for being engaged to one of those sims - i was very happy that this was his own wish, because i had played several sims with different traits & family constellations & they couldn't care less for what was going on with the other sims in their families, so i don't want to play that sort of a family anymore - that's not a family but only loosely acquainted roommates

so now he got engaged, the center of his dream is there at his house, he is happy to be engaged but ... not one thought of his, not one wish includes HER, there is not even a notice in that engagement happy moodlet that SHE is included, it just says that he is happy to be engaged - seems like it just doesn't matter to whom :confused:

& now i have not one wish, where he would like to marry her, not even a wish to interact with her in any way
but i have the options to marry her straight away or to marry her in a ceremony, party included & of course to woohoo & try for baby

one of his current wishes is to rave about interests to SOMEONE - & that's my problem, there seem to be so few wishes included in TS4 that are targetted to a certain sim - i am happy that at least that sim wished actually to be engaged to that particular sim & not just to be engaged, but that is really very rare occurance

2d0mbr6.jpg


& i wonder if there is a difference in TS4 between sims that move towards a particular sim on their own & sims that are assigned to do it by me, the player without any doing by the sim, be it wishes or autonomous actions

so currently i could marry him off BUT without that he wishes for a marriage, for a wedding party, for being married to that particular sim
& i dislike that very much
i think that if there are the options about marriage towards a particular sim, then the active sim has to realise that the relationship with that other sim is a very special one & then the wishes have to be regarding that other sim & not just whatever sim
i find that detachment, that indifference really very disheartening to play

i definately would prefer to have that sim wishing for interactions with a particular sim & not for some interactions with whatever sims
that is what makes the sims in this game in its current state so indifferent towards nearly everything, there is so little that is targetted towards certain sims & there are only so few wishes
it makes me feel while playing this game that those sims are most happy only dancing to stereo, watching TV, trolling forums & that's it
everything else seems not to be really enjoyable to those sims, they do not long to do anything else (besides of buying 1x1 pool :tongue: ) - they can do it if i would direct them but it's then my doing, they are indifferent in doing it, spoiled at best if it benefits them, not grateful in any way, giving no feedback
the result is that i feel like i am playing with liveless puppets, not sims with their own mind & interest, although of course i play always with free will on



so, how are your experiences & thoughts regarding wishes of sims ?
does it matter to you if sims' autonomous actions, the options for interactions & their wishes are in harmony with each other ?


i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
Post edited by Rukola_Schaaf on

Comments

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    fullspiralfullspiral Posts: 14,717 Member
    Good post. I don't like the "wish" system at all. It is not based at all on the sim you create, but rather, it is based on the emotion system governing the game. (For instance, a loner sim should not want to hug someone just because they are happy.) It does not matter what traits you give a sim, they all get the same wishes.
  • Options
    EllessarrEllessarr Posts: 2,795 Member
    i play TheSims since 2000 & though there were always some things i wanted included or improved i never had any real problems to accommodate to how to play the game in an enjoyable way in all 3 previous games - with TS4 it's very different

    my playing style is diverse, i play autonomous sims, rotational with & without aging on, one sim, one family, family oriented sims with focus on their offsprings, career sims with focus on their promotion in job & of course trying out the contents of a new expansion
    in previous games i played a sim between the wishes of that sim & the interactions which were enabled with the progress of that sim in relationship, job, skill ...

    but now i have problems with TS4, especially regarding sim's wishes
    i find the 3 slots for wishes insufficient
    the moods of sims change more often than the wishes do
    & wishes especially regarding buying a thing are the most dominant, which i find very troubling

    currently i am playing a sim who wishes again & again to buy a chess table although he has already one, i wonder how many chess tables would be sufficient ? & it's not really enjoyable to play that because TS4 sims don't react to those new objects in their home bought for them & often after the thing they wished for is bought, they not even care to interact with it - that makes them nothing but spoiled, i don't like to play such sims

    also most troubling were the wishes & objectives for family oriented sims who wished to buy children related stuff instead to wish for interactions including family members, their children, the main events in life of those family members
    as i played them, i have always forgotten of a birthday & was never reminded by a sim in his/her wishes although family oriented, the result was then always sims pouting & sad because their family members have forgotten their birthday
    i not even got as far as to make a birthday party because, why bother if those sims not even care for their family members although pretending in theory to be family loving sims ?

    currently i play a sim, who is not family oriented & not romantically tending, he is a genius, snob & cheerful
    after a time in which he got promoted often in his career i have tried to lead him gently towards a family, cause i want to play that family as a lineage
    a family includes of course a partner, so i tried to nudge him towards several females in his surroundings, so he could choose on his own which one of them he wishes to spend his life with
    yesterday he indeed wished for being engaged to one of those sims - i was very happy that this was his own wish, because i had played several sims with different traits & family constellations & they couldn't care less for what was going on with the other sims in their families, so i don't want to play that sort of a family anymore - that's not a family but only loosely acquainted roommates

    so now he got engaged, the center of his dream is there at his house, he is happy to be engaged but ... not one thought of his, not one wish includes HER, there is not even a notice in that engagement happy moodlet that SHE is included, it just says that he is happy to be engaged - seems like it just doesn't matter to whom :confused:

    & now i have not one wish, where he would like to marry her, not even a wish to interact with her in any way
    but i have the options to marry her straight away or to marry her in a ceremony, party included & of course to woohoo & try for baby

    one of his current wishes is to rave about interests to SOMEONE - & that's my problem, there seem to be so few wishes included in TS4 that are targetted to a certain sim - i am happy that at least that sim wished actually to be engaged to that particular sim & not just to be engaged, but that is really very rare occurance

    2d0mbr6.jpg


    & i wonder if there is a difference in TS4 between sims that move towards a particular sim on their own & sims that are assigned to do it by me, the player without any doing by the sim, be it wishes or autonomous actions

    so currently i could marry him off BUT without that he wishes for a marriage, for a wedding party, for being married to that particular sim
    & i dislike that very much
    i think that if there are the options about marriage towards a particular sim, then the active sim has to realise that the relationship with that other sim is a very special one & then the wishes have to be regarding that other sim & not just whatever sim
    i find that detachment, that indifference really very disheartening to play

    i definately would prefer to have that sim wishing for interactions with a particular sim & not for some interactions with whatever sims
    that is what makes the sims in this game in its current state so indifferent towards nearly everything, there is so little that is targetted towards certain sims & there are only so few wishes
    it makes me feel while playing this game that those sims are most happy only dancing to stereo, watching TV, trolling forums & that's it
    everything else seems not to be really enjoyable to those sims, they do not long to do anything else (besides of buying 1x1 pool :tongue: ) - they can do it if i would direct them but it's then my doing, they are indifferent in doing it, spoiled at best if it benefits them, not grateful in any way, giving no feedback
    the result is that i feel like i am playing with liveless puppets, not sims with their own mind & interest, although of course i play always with free will on



    so, how are your experiences & thoughts regarding wishes of sims ?
    does it matter to you if sims' autonomous actions, the options for interactions & their wishes are in harmony with each other ?

    fullspiral wrote: »
    Good post. I don't like the "wish" system at all. It is not based at all on the sim you create, but rather, it is based on the emotion system governing the game. (For instance, a loner sim should not want to hug someone just because they are happy.) It does not matter what traits you give a sim, they all get the same wishes.
    that is the problem which many peoples don't see, the game have poor mechanics which are rushed, then instead of the sim have more "realistics wishes" like being tied to the sim life he have just wishes who are tied to the emotion system and some really, really random times tied to relationships, the game priority are the emotions, 99% of the game mechanic is build over emotions and not the sim itself, the sim never was the focus on this game as they "lied in claims".

    that is one of the reasons many things don't make sense and many peoples get easy angered, because you don't see any connection between the sims, they don't have proper memorys they are tied to emotions and some linear things sims in sims 4 have much less freedom on they will and less "brains", to have decisions.
    tumblr_mfiuwmQOLI1qgap4ho1_500.gif
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    Rukola_SchaafRukola_Schaaf Posts: 3,065 Member
    edited June 2015
    after about 20 wishes regarding the playfull mood in which the sim was previously & after some interaction with Annika,
    he produced finally the wish i was waiting for - To Marry Annika -
    2vl09kz.jpg

    after that i went to prepare my game for the upcomming change - the foundation of a family with a prospect of children
    i exchanged every sim currently living in the neighborhoods & placed then a chapel where the sims could marry
    after i've finished it i went back to the sim & ... all wishes were reset, the wish, so hard to get to marry her was gone ...

    now the entire work with the wishes has to be done again
    here how it looks currently
    cucxu.jpg
    although very flirty the sim wishes
    a) to improve an object
    b) to chat with Rodrigo (a sim he met very briefly ages ago)
    c) to flirt with SOMEONE (that means if some other sims would be there he could flirt with those sims as well & his wish would be fulfilled)
    d) & the current autonomous interaction is talking to Annika

    & what's even more frustrating

    the number of points he would get for the wedding, 100 points
    he can get also if he
    - improves 2 objects (2x50)
    - flirts with 4 random sims (4x25)
    - talks to 10 sims (10x10)

    that's surely unbalanced

    after clicking again & again & again through more of those completely irrelevant wishes of his i had enough
    & i closed the game ...

    i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
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    MsPhyMsPhy Posts: 5,055 Member
    If I don't like their whims (mine always want swimming pools), I delete that whim so they'll roll another. If their whims go along with what I'm doing with them at the time, I'll try to fulfill them. If they don't go along with what I'm doing at the time, I ignore them.
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    Rukola_SchaafRukola_Schaaf Posts: 3,065 Member
    MsPhy wrote: »
    If I don't like their whims (mine always want swimming pools), I delete that whim so they'll roll another. If their whims go along with what I'm doing with them at the time, I'll try to fulfill them. If they don't go along with what I'm doing at the time, I ignore them.
    the wish for a pool has nothing to do with the sim, every sim rolls that wish

    i don't want to ignore what's there
    i want to be motivated by a game to do things
    i want to use what's there, to make things with it & enjoy it

    i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
  • Options
    GoodFairyGoodFairy Posts: 205 Member
    I totally agree with you, @Rukola_Schaaf! Actually, this is also my biggest problem with this game. In the The Sims 2 I liked to steer the sims life in a direction THEY wanted it to be. And usually their wishes and lifetime goals have been very specific for each sim. They felt unique because there was a huge variety of wishes/fears and lifetime goals. Their wishes have always been related to that aspiration. The Sims 4 sims have all the same goals for one aspiration. This is pretty boring and very linear. I loved to play the family aspiration because, some wanted to celebrate golden anniversary, some wanted to marry off 6 children, some to have a lot of grandchildren and so on. It was very diverse. They never wished to flirt with SOMEONE, but with their spouse or marry them or have children with them. All The Sims 4 family sims wish for, is to buy loads and loads of toys. :disappointed:
    (*) My Origin-ID GoodFairy684 (*)
    You find my sims in the gallery tagged with #SimsFairy.
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    GoodFairyGoodFairy Posts: 205 Member
    Ellessarr wrote: »
    ... they don't have proper memorys they are tied to emotions and some linear things sims in sims 4 have much less freedom on they will and less "brains", to have decisions.

    This is a big issue for me, too! There doesn't exist a memory system. For me screenshots do not compensate for actual memories. Now additionally to the unspecific wishes, it gets even harder to connect to them, because you cannot see and thus related to their story. How was their childhood? How was teenage life? who was their first kiss? The birth of their first child. The promotion they worked so hard for. Everything is missing, and it sometimes feels, like it never happened. If you would get them a new job, divorce them and abandon their children, they would just feel a little sad for like 24hrs and there wouldn't be any sad memories left over. I bet they wouldn't even wish for getting back together or anything related to that. Just wishing for an at least 1x1 pool....
    (*) My Origin-ID GoodFairy684 (*)
    You find my sims in the gallery tagged with #SimsFairy.
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    Rukola_SchaafRukola_Schaaf Posts: 3,065 Member
    GoodFairy wrote: »
    ... the family aspiration because, some wanted to celebrate golden anniversary, some wanted to marry off 6 children, some to have a lot of grandchildren and so on. It was very diverse. They never wished to flirt with SOMEONE, but with their spouse or marry them or have children with them. All The Sims 4 family sims wish for, is to buy loads and loads of toys. :disappointed:
    at least 1/4 of the wishes are to buy something, which makes all sims appear materialistic & shallow
    & the wishes to do something with a specific sim are extremely rare

    the sims wished in the previous games to flirt with someone too, but only if they didn't knew anyone whom they wanted to be involved with or if they were an overall flirty type

    & sometimes i have the feeling that TS4 sims wish something very specific but they are unable to formulate that wish because the wishes they have been given by the devs are mostly very general, regarding an unspecific someone
    those sims look accomplished but are actually underneath coarsely underdeveloped


    GoodFairy wrote: »
    ..., and it sometimes feels, like it never happened. If you would get them a new job, divorce them and abandon their children, they would just feel a little sad for like 24hrs and there wouldn't be any sad memories left over. I bet they wouldn't even wish for getting back together or anything related to that. Just wishing for an at least 1x1 pool....
    yes, it's just horrible to play it :confounded:

    i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
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    mtwtfss71mtwtfss71 Posts: 173 Member
    I agree 100%, OP. Even though Maxis claims they went back to the roots and focused on the Sims themselves with this iteration, this version focused and continues to focus on anything BUT the Sims themselves (not counting CAS). The lack of depth, memory system, personality (traits don't mean squat), and relationship (not necessarily romantic) to other Sims in their lives has turned these Sims into Schizophrenic Psychopaths.

    Now... what might have been interesting is if they made the Aliens be the Schizophrenic Psychopaths and gave our human Sims their humanness back. That, I could get into.

    As it stands now, I don't really feel like TS4 is an actual game.
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    GoodFairyGoodFairy Posts: 205 Member
    What makes me feel so sad about all this is, that I really WANT to love this game! I fell in love with it's gorgeous art style and I love that sims now look unique again (CAS is so awesome!). But unfortunately it's just the shiny outside and the soul inside is missing. Nevertheless, I still like to play the game.
    (*) My Origin-ID GoodFairy684 (*)
    You find my sims in the gallery tagged with #SimsFairy.
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    NeiaNeia Posts: 4,190 Member
    edited June 2015
    I tend to forget the whims when I'm playing, they are too much short-terms to my liking, especially those related to other Sims just passing by your houses or to buying things.

    I would love it to be expanded in an EP with a fourth slot which would work more like TS2 wants, proposing some more medium or long-term objectives, ideally related to a new memory system. So instead of having whims based on current emotions/current sims in proximity, it would be based on past experiences and aspirations of the Sim.
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    GoodFairyGoodFairy Posts: 205 Member
    Neia wrote: »
    I tend to forget the whims when I'm playing, they are too much short-terms to my liking, especially those related to other Sims just passing by your houses or to buying things.

    I would love it to be expanded in an EP with a fourth slot which would work more like TS2 wants, proposing some more medium or long-term objectives, ideally related to a new memory system. So instead of having whims based on current emotions/current sims in proximity, it would be based on past experiences and aspirations of the Sim.

    Quoted for 100 % support!
    (*) My Origin-ID GoodFairy684 (*)
    You find my sims in the gallery tagged with #SimsFairy.
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    FairyGodMotherFairyGodMother Posts: 7,406 Member
    I make my Sims to be Doctors (the one's I actually play) and give them the genius trait. I noticed with the last one (current one I have been playing now) that I actually forgot to put a radio in the house. I didn't even miss that for a while but wondered why she always went to the chess table when her fun was low. That builds it up quick, LOL. When I had the radios or stereos in the house, they ALWAYS went straight to it to dance!

    I always start with them watching the news on the TV, so if she automatically goes to watch TV its the news, unless she is energized then she watches sports. Guess it depends on your mood?

    I put a cheap computer on the dining table (she is poor and just starting out) and she never goes to use it unless she needs to build up her social meter. To me it takes a while on the social skill with the computer so I will have her call someone to chat or if its too late at night, I have her send a few text.....that works too, LOL

    I get the whim for the chess table too even though she has one. I just "x" out of any whim I don't want to fool with. Most the time I don't even pay attention to them. At least in my game, I notice the moods do not change every second like before, LOL

    I forgot my Sim's Birthday one time and yep, she was so sad. So now I just have her bake a cake, invite someone over, and blow out the candles. I don't throw a party but if you have someone over, that will make them happy, LOL

    I have them "elope" because I am just not one to mess with parties. I am not good at following goals, I prefer to do it my way as much as I can. LOL

    My Sim's usually stay late at work, so there is no time for play (wow, I went from being a woohoo'r all the time to never letting my sim get any) ROFL

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    Rukola_SchaafRukola_Schaaf Posts: 3,065 Member
    the wish with the additional chessboards is new
    i have played several genius sims & they previously never wished for additional chesstables
    i guess that wish is now bound to the lot the sim's on, they wish it always when not on the home lot, which is plum, cause the table is at home & since sims don't have memories, so they just don't know where they are & what they have
    previously, before the last one or two patches they wished for playing chess not buying a chesstable

    i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
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    esharpmajoresharpmajor Posts: 1,055 Member
    Agree wholeheartedly with OP. I've gone back to S3 and it has confirmed my feeling that the whims, traits and Ltw in s4 are severely lacking in impact on the sims personalities. I like to let my sims tell their own story, I like to let their desires lead my gameplay. I s4 this simply isn't possible. The sims don't even recognize when a Ltw has been completed. They roll no wants relating to it, and have no inclination to work toward it autonomously. This is part of why they feels soulless IMO. Ltw are purely a goal for the player, not for the sim. I feel the developers hand at every turn, and it hampers my connection to the sim and ruins the illusion of them havin a unique life. Moods should never have been considered a replacement for personality. Rather than be an amazing new feature, they're nothing but a buff system that replaces meaningful gameplay and destroys my emersion. No memories, no preferences, no hopes and dreams, no personality, no thank you.
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    NeiaNeia Posts: 4,190 Member
    Agree wholeheartedly with OP. I've gone back to S3 and it has confirmed my feeling that the whims, traits and Ltw in s4 are severely lacking in impact on the sims personalities. I like to let my sims tell their own story, I like to let their desires lead my gameplay. I s4 this simply isn't possible. The sims don't even recognize when a Ltw has been completed. They roll no wants relating to it, and have no inclination to work toward it autonomously. This is part of why they feels soulless IMO. Ltw are purely a goal for the player, not for the sim. I feel the developers hand at every turn, and it hampers my connection to the sim and ruins the illusion of them havin a unique life. Moods should never have been considered a replacement for personality. Rather than be an amazing new feature, they're nothing but a buff system that replaces meaningful gameplay and destroys my emersion. No memories, no preferences, no hopes and dreams, no personality, no thank you.

    I think those can still be added with EP, at least I hope that's what they will do. On TS2 I remember the Sims themselves were more complex after all the EP than in the base game. I don't know how it went in TS3, maybe someone can tell about it.

    I think the points I miss the most are :
    - an attraction system, turns on/off
    - memories
    - wants/more medium or long term objectives that have an impact on Sims
  • Options
    esharpmajoresharpmajor Posts: 1,055 Member
    Quite right @Neia I don't think this issue is insurmountable, it's just a question of 'will they make this a priority?' I hope they decide to address this flaw through both patches and future content, until then, sadly, I will be on the sidelines. I do so want to have a modern, smoothly running game. I actually quite like the Pixar style and I love the cas, but what's the point in creating awesome looking sims if they are all going to behave the same way? It ruins the replay value for me almost entirely. Until things change I've had just about all the fun i can playing s4. I may sometimes load it up and play my star wars save, but that's purely a light hearted joke sort of game, where I just let my clone wars sims live autonomously. I watch for maybe half an hour, take some silly screen shots, murder a storm trooper or two and then quit. I can't enjoy generational play, because the whole draw of that for me was watching them develop and become unique sims with each generation wanting different things out of life. Now it just feels like rinse and repeat.
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    NeiaNeia Posts: 4,190 Member
    I agree making Sims really different is a bit complicated currently. But they can't do much with just the traits alone, if they make them matter too much, the Sims will be too much exagerated. I don't want my bookworm to do nothing but read or my slob never moving. But if they don't matter enough, Sims become bland.

    I still see the effects of traits currently, but it's basically more a "on average, over a long period of time, this Sim will tend to do this more". If I spot a Sim washing the dishes, it's more likely to be the neat one, my family Sim is spending more time with the family, but overall it's rather subtle. The emotion trait are probably the easier to spot, but I'm not sure the random moodlet is the best way to go, sometimes it feel a bit too much random :)
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    esharpmajoresharpmajor Posts: 1,055 Member
    Currently it feels to me that all sims have an equal likelihood of performing/rolling every action/want, but having the corresponding trait increases the frequency. That means that while an active sim might want to go on more runs than your average sim, they will want to lounge around just as much as anybody. Because of this, in my experience the differences in behaviour are only noticeable when paired with a sim of the exact opposite traits.

    Perhaps it might help if the sims not only were more likely to do things, but also LESS likely to do opposing things, in an attempt to create more balanced/impactful traits. Who a sim *isn't* can be just as important as who a sim *is*. (Correct me if I'm wrong, that's purely observational.)
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    Rukola_SchaafRukola_Schaaf Posts: 3,065 Member
    Currently it feels to me that all sims have an equal likelihood of performing/rolling every action/want, but having the corresponding trait increases the frequency. That means that while an active sim might want to go on more runs than your average sim, they will want to lounge around just as much as anybody. Because of this, in my experience the differences in behaviour are only noticeable when paired with a sim of the exact opposite traits.

    Perhaps it might help if the sims not only were more likely to do things, but also LESS likely to do opposing things, in an attempt to create more balanced/impactful traits. Who a sim *isn't* can be just as important as who a sim *is*. (Correct me if I'm wrong, that's purely observational.)

    i doubt that this would be enough

    with the active trait you picked one of the few traits best defined in this game
    the other being cook & genius

    all other traits are either very wide defined or nearly not defined at all or purely decorational even

    wide as eg creative sims although combined with a specific aspiration still wishing for the full scale of all creative things to do - painting, playing every instrument, cooking, gardening & patched in at some point also writing
    but lacking regarding handiness, as if people who tinker on the workbench wouldn't be creative
    & why there is the combination between gardening & creativity escapes me, to design a garden ok, but to spend time tending the garden is creative ? i suppose the devs just didn't know where to put wishes regarding gardening & ended up with creativity
    if gardening is creative then why not fishing ? or colecting stuff ? or buying even ?

    not well or nearly not defined at all as all traits regarding relationships & related to an inner emotional state like cheerful, gloomy, hot headed, self assured, perfectionist, ambitious, childish, snob, good, mean ...
    purely decorational like outgoing, noncommital, loner, hates children, family oriented, evil, bro, slob, neat, materialistic, loves outdoors, lazy, insane, glutton, clumsy, childish, music lover, geek, foody, bookworm, art lover, romantic, goofball - those traits though coming with additional interactions & animations & even wishes don't help to form a personality at all, they sometimes boost moods & add here & there an additional animation available only with that trait but have no impact on life of that sim
    even the romantic will behave, wish & is able to lead a life of any other kind, it doesn't define anything really if i compare that to what it could be or how it was defined in the previous games
    in the previous games trait definitions were less detailed but clearly distinguishable, with TS4 the traits related actions & moods are muddled to a mush of fleeting moods all over the place with only few exceptions

    i wrote in those forums about those matters meantime several times
    & at this point i give that game until the end of this year to overhaul those traits from the ground up,
    if that doesn't happen then i will move on for good because this game offers that way nothing exceptional anymore if compared to other games genres like RPGs or strategy or management related games
    TheSims were up till now very special, it gave me the opportunity to design people in detail with a complete set of external & internal being
    with TS4 the external was stripped down & limited & the internal as discribed here just unsatisfactory lacking in every respect
    all that makes the sims themselves gone - it's a shame :confused:


    i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
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    Rukola_SchaafRukola_Schaaf Posts: 3,065 Member
    Neia wrote: »
    I agree making Sims really different is a bit complicated currently.
    But they can't do much with just the traits alone, if they make them matter too much, the Sims will be too much exagerated.
    I don't want my bookworm to do nothing but read or my slob never moving. But if they don't matter enough, Sims become bland.
    the problem is the combinations of
    in most cases very vague defined traits, with too few specific things to do regarding those traits
    with too few slots for wishes to appear
    with too few wishes in general
    & in many cases too unspecific wishes

    & additional the infinitesimal amount of wishes & interactions to wish for regarding relationships in general makes them especially superficial

    combined then with all the wishes to buy something
    & then the fleeting & changing moods
    the result are superficial, spoiled, moody sims with a hang towards insanity

    I still see the effects of traits currently, but it's basically more a "on average, over a long period of time, this Sim will tend to do this more". If I spot a Sim washing the dishes, it's more likely to be the neat one, my family Sim is spending more time with the family, but overall it's rather subtle. The emotion trait are probably the easier to spot, but I'm not sure the random moodlet is the best way to go, sometimes it feel a bit too much random :)
    before developing those sims with emotions the devs didn't bother to consult any expert about the subject
    they wanted to make sims more realistic, more detailed, feeling more alive to the player, yet they thought they can still just refrain to their gut feeling of a game designer & programmer
    it's arrogance & it shows in the results

    & yes, sims learn & repeat what they have done previously, but the number & depth of possible personalities are limited in the current state of this game & the lenght to get a sim to behave like it should be is too subtle & takes too long, even people in real life learn quicker because they learn differently than it is programmed in TS4


    there had to be an entire EP with tons of new interactions, traits, wishes & an overhaul of that emotional system
    but i am not very optimistic that TS4 will ever get anything like that


    i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
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    GoodFairyGoodFairy Posts: 205 Member
    Who a sim *isn't* can be just as important as who a sim *is*.

    I agree to that. I think, it was a bad decision to get rid of fears, cause this would also add to more defined personalities. To me it's another feature they got rid off, in order for the game to be less rude/cruel. The thing is, that this kind of stuff made the game interesting and diverse. You can't have light without darkness.
    the problem is the combinations of
    in most cases very vague defined traits, with too few specific things to do regarding those traits
    with too few slots for wishes to appear
    with too few wishes in general
    & in many cases too unspecific wishes

    True!

    Additionally, wishes and behavior do not or in a too less extent relate to the picked trait. Traits do most of the time only influence the mood, the sim will get more frequently than others. And then this mood will (sometimes) influence the behaviour and wishes. The problem is, that ANY sim will get into ANY mood at a certain point, and thus they all start to feel the same.
    (*) My Origin-ID GoodFairy684 (*)
    You find my sims in the gallery tagged with #SimsFairy.
  • Options
    NeiaNeia Posts: 4,190 Member
    edited June 2015
    GoodFairy wrote: »
    Who a sim *isn't* can be just as important as who a sim *is*.

    I agree to that. I think, it was a bad decision to get rid of fears, cause this would also add to more defined personalities. To me it's another feature they got rid off, in order for the game to be less rude/cruel. The thing is, that this kind of stuff made the game interesting and diverse. You can't have light without darkness.
    the problem is the combinations of
    in most cases very vague defined traits, with too few specific things to do regarding those traits
    with too few slots for wishes to appear
    with too few wishes in general
    & in many cases too unspecific wishes

    True!

    Additionally, wishes and behavior do not or in a too less extent relate to the picked trait. Traits do most of the time only influence the mood, the sim will get more frequently than others. And then this mood will (sometimes) influence the behaviour and wishes. The problem is, that ANY sim will get into ANY mood at a certain point, and thus they all start to feel the same.

    So true, I think the creative trait feels underwhelming because of this. With so many skills (3 instruments, 3 cooking, painting, photography, writing), so many careers (musician/cooking/painting/writing) and several aspirations related to creativity, a vast proportion of my Sims are in an inspired mood, even without the creative trait.

    But I guess it also depends greatly on the way we play. Genius/Focused for example also has a lot of things related to it, 5 skills and a bunch of career and still I tend to notice the genius trait of my Sims more. Maybe it's a more complicated mood to get, maybe I'm less actively looking for it. I don't know honestly.

    Some of the traits that did work well for me :
    - Lazy : my lazy Sims oversleep when I'm not looking, and is all stressed when he need to clean things.
    - Romantic : my romantic Sim is a single mother with her child and playing a single romantic mother is rather complicated, she's becoming tense rather often.
    - Hot-headed : angry mood is not an emotion I have often so I know which of my Sims are the hot-headed ones. I think the random moodlet work rather well for this one.
    - Childlish : my childlish are always playing with the children toys, can't miss it. I don't like the "buy a toy" whim though.

    The traits that sort of work but could be more interesting :
    - Active : it works well but there's not that much to do when you're active at the moment (quite the opposite of creative/focused in fact), I think it will be better once we'll have sports

    The ones that didn't :
    - Cheerful : there's already an overaboundance of happy moodlets everywhere, one more doesn't impact my gameplay much

    I don't have a problem of moody Sims though, I'm not using any emotional aura and my Sims are rather consistent in their emotions. I think the positive ones are far too strong compared to the negative ones though. And more precisely it's far too easy to stack a bunch of +1 happy that overrides any negative emotions. I think the more trivial happy moodlets should just boost positive emotions but not overrides negative ones. Ideally I would like small day-to-day problems to boost negative emotions too, like a broken sink should make an angry Sim even more angry. I don't think considering being in a good mood/bad mood as emotions works well.

    The whims don't interest me because all they do is give point to buy things, and most of those feel like disguised cheat codes to me and just drown the personality trait in the UI. That's odd because that wasn't a problem for me in TS2 with the unlockable bonus (the 4x4 mini tree), maybe because those bonus were more aspiration specific or seemed more subtle.
  • Options
    Rukola_SchaafRukola_Schaaf Posts: 3,065 Member
    Neia wrote: »
    ...
    But I guess it also depends greatly on the way we play. Genius/Focused for example also has a lot of things related to it, 5 skills and a bunch of career and still I tend to notice the genius trait of my Sims more. Maybe it's a more complicated mood to get, maybe I'm less actively looking for it. I don't know honestly.
    all 3 active careers from GTW profit from the genius trait
    & all 3 are better executed with the focused mood


    Some of the traits that did work well for me :
    - Lazy : my lazy Sims oversleep when I'm not looking, and is all stressed when he need to clean things.
    - Romantic : my romantic Sim is a single mother with her child and playing a single romantic mother is rather complicated, she's becoming tense rather often.
    - Hot-headed : angry mood is not an emotion I have often so I know which of my Sims are the hot-headed ones. I think the random moodlet work rather well for this one.
    - Childlish : my childlish are always playing with the children toys, can't miss it. I don't like the "buy a toy" whim though.
    what do you mean by "work well" ?

    how do you play eg with the tense mood ?


    The traits that sort of work but could be more interesting :
    - Active : it works well but there's not that much to do when you're active at the moment (quite the opposite of creative/focused in fact), I think it will be better once we'll have sports
    athletic, energized & bro are going very well together
    it means the sim has to spend nearly all the time jogging & at the gym
    i like to play such a sim, it's very simple because the autonomous actions & the wishes are aligned & if i go out with that sim to that place where he is most happy, the gym his life is filled with satisfaction
    the athletic mood & trait are compared to the other well equipped, it sure could be much more, but i would be already happy if there would be more to do in this game besides of gym, kitchen & laboratory

    eg the painter, the only thing he can do is stand at the easel & paint, then go to the museum & look at paintings
    to add more possibilities to do at the very same easel is not enhancing the life of a painter
    how about being inspired while jogging, small sketches inbetween, folding easels, more expressive talks with other sims, vernissages ...


    The whims don't interest me because all they do is give point to buy things, and most of those feel like disguised cheat codes to me and just drown the personality trait in the UI. That's odd because that wasn't a problem for me in TS2 with the unlockable bonus (the 4x4 mini tree), maybe because those bonus were more aspiration specific or seemed more subtle.
    a very interesting thought, because it never before crossed my mind that they can be played that mechanistic
    in general i don't play wishes as tasks towards rewards,
    but that is probably indeed the only thought the devs produced regarding those wishes, which indeed deminishes them to pure functionality

    for me are those sims' wishes expression of personality of a sim
    if eg the sim doesn't produce a wish regarding a relationship with another sim, how do i distinguish that sim from another one ?
    if the only distinction between sims is their mere look, then TheSims doesn't need any code regarding inner life of sims, then a mere meshes & poses & daily tasks program is sufficient without any care for traits & aspirations & such ... & maybe that's what actually happened to TS4 :anguished:

    wishes are for me thoughts of sims
    i wouldn't use wishes of sims only to gain those points towards rewards

    in TS3 & in TS2 fulfilled wishes not only play towards rewards but they improve the happiness & confidence of the sim & in result that sim is more capable, more successfull in every action
    that is what true confidence would look like if there would be a better connection between traits, wishes & emotions in TS4
    but the emotion confident overrides every other emotion, eg flirty or focused or inspired & disables the sim instead to enable to succeed
    confident disrupts instead to enable
    in RL there is no character, no trait that is confidence, confidence is a state related to other things, other traits, to experience
    the confident trait in TS4 works rather like haughtiness & the damper is the option to discover for the sim something bad about him in the mirror - vain haughtiness

    i think even that the idea to gain with fulfilled wishes points which collected form additional traits has simplified TheSims to a quick mobile game
    those fulfilled wishes had to work towards memory & shaping the characted further, but there is no memory & the character is very lacking, that way there is no other game to play than a quick mobile but it reduces this game to a competition with all those thousands of other quick mobile games out there with points & microtransaction to speed it even further

    i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
  • Options
    GoodFairyGoodFairy Posts: 205 Member
    for me are those sims' wishes expression of personality of a sim
    if eg the sim doesn't produce a wish regarding a relationship with another sim, how do i distinguish that sim from another one ?
    if the only distinction between sims is their mere look, then TheSims doesn't need any code regarding inner life of sims, then a mere meshes & poses & daily tasks program is sufficient without any care for traits & aspirations & such ... & maybe that's what actually happened to TS4 :anguished:

    wishes are for me thoughts of sims
    i wouldn't use wishes of sims only to gain those points towards rewards

    in TS3 & in TS2 fulfilled wishes not only play towards rewards but they improve the happiness & confidence of the sim & in result that sim is more capable, more successfull in every action
    that is what true confidence would look like if there would be a better connection between traits, wishes & emotions in TS4
    but the emotion confident overrides every other emotion, eg flirty or focused or inspired & disables the sim instead to enable to succeed
    confident disrupts instead to enable
    in RL there is no character, no trait that is confidence, confidence is a state related to other things, other traits, to experience
    the confident trait in TS4 works rather like haughtiness & the damper is the option to discover for the sim something bad about him in the mirror - vain haughtiness

    i think even that the idea to gain with fulfilled wishes points which collected form additional traits has simplified TheSims to a quick mobile game
    those fulfilled wishes had to work towards memory & shaping the characted further, but there is no memory & the character is very lacking, that way there is no other game to play than a quick mobile but it reduces this game to a competition with all those thousands of other quick mobile games out there with points & microtransaction to speed it even further

    I agree very much on what you said there. And I wonder, that this topic is not discussed more on the forums. Obviously only few simmers are playing wishes, like we do. I also have the impression that those wishes now are only a little minigame to gain points to spend them on something. I dislike it. I loved the way that those fulfilled wishes contributed to the overall state of happiness, in the same way as fears lessend that happiness level. And that this level of happiness affected how they would develop in live. In the end in influenced their life time span. Now it's very unimportant what's happening to the sim, cause after the short emotion buff, they won't remember that anything happened at all. It's so sad. They are empty shells. They have less emotion than ever...
    (*) My Origin-ID GoodFairy684 (*)
    You find my sims in the gallery tagged with #SimsFairy.
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