Forum Discussion
Traits is a big thing I really, really want to see overhauled. And not just a little bit, I think there's huge potential to advance it and create more distinct and complete sims.
TS1 had a simple traits system, you'd choose core personality traits like messy to tidy, or mean to friendly, on a scale, I think 1 to 10. It was pretty simple and not enough by itself for a modern sims game, but it did represent something important - everyone is somewhere on a scale for these core personality traits. The TS4 system is certainly a lot more advanced, but at the cost that making a sim who loves art, loves animals and is vegetarian with the current traits system leaves them with nothing in their personality for how tidy they are, how energetic they are, or how fast/slow they learn, or how mean/friendly they are, etc. Huge amounts of core personality stuff is missing for that sim. This isn't really a complete personality. So, I would like CAS to include a selectable range of values for core personality traits for all sims, like TS1 did. So friendly/mean, lazy/energetic, tidy/messy, etc. are all present and contain some values for all sims. This seems more realistic and complete. The traits we have in TS4 like animal lover or kleptomaniac can then be added in addition, not instead of these other values.
Dietary things should just be a panel with checkboxes I think. All people like different foods, so should all sims. Likes/dislikes could be set in CAS like the attraction system, or also created later by gameplay events. An EP or game pack focused around food could be a great place to introduce this.