How should EA/Maxis FIX the TS4 Personality System?
Spoiler
We're already 9 EPs, 8 GPs, and 16 SPs into TS4 and yet our Sims have never felt less lifelike. Imo, TS2 still has the most multidimensional Sims. While it just assumed personalities based on how you rate your Sim out of the 10 measly "qualities" zodiacs stereotypically exhibit (a feature carried over from TS1); it made up for it with aspirations (wants & fears), interests, chemistry (turn-ons & turn-offs on top of zodiac sign compatibility), and how Sims actually react to their own memories and environment.
In TS3, these were all replaced with the 60+ base game traits. You choose five from these and it allows you to flesh out your Sims without regard of their zodiac signsbecause sometimes you can be a Cancer and not be a doormat. These traits affect not only your Sim's wishes and mood when doing a task or dealing with other Sims but it also provides gameplay easter eggs (i.e. Unlucky Sims will not die except of old age). Zodiac, memories, and favorites do make a comeback but they are just something for your Sims to talk about and do not actually affect attraction.
TS4 introduced the emotion system which was supposed to make the Sims more reactive to in-game events and interactions with objects and/or other Sims. It combined the TS2 aspirations and the TS3 moodlets but it's also probably the reason why all TS4 Sims act same-y. Your Sim with the Romantic trait doesn't react any differently from another Sim who is being flirty. With the recent decision to hide whims, TS4 traits have been reduced to just a multiplier that makes your Sim experience an emotion more frequently.
In TS3, these were all replaced with the 60+ base game traits. You choose five from these and it allows you to flesh out your Sims without regard of their zodiac signs
TS4 introduced the emotion system which was supposed to make the Sims more reactive to in-game events and interactions with objects and/or other Sims. It combined the TS2 aspirations and the TS3 moodlets but it's also probably the reason why all TS4 Sims act same-y. Your Sim with the Romantic trait doesn't react any differently from another Sim who is being flirty. With the recent decision to hide whims, TS4 traits have been reduced to just a multiplier that makes your Sim experience an emotion more frequently.
TL;DR Unfortunately, unless they rework how traits affect our poor TS4 Sims outside of the current emotion system, the only way to provide some sort of depth to them is through mods. Some of these mods—Slice of Life, Meaningful Stories, Personality Please, and even that one adult mod—add features that I feel the Sims Studio could expound on and make more robust. That said, which of these features would you want to make into the official personality overhaul?
