5 years ago

Dear Maxis, please add more traits and aspirations!

The following image is taken from Carl Sim's Guides
https://preview.redd.it/ei8dlazq4ut41.png?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=ade4b31522f4b400e3e48b29e1672b6942919fee

The Sims 4 not been adding many traits with every expansion. The current traits tend to give moodlets and don't affect the gameplay dynamically. The Sims 3 had so many traits with every expansion that not only gave moodlets but affected the way the Sims all interacted. In The Sims 3 the brooding trait for example use to realistically let those Sims take longer to shower which concurs with someone who would spend a lot of time pondering on things.
https://media.tenor.com/images/5ac91c699e262e65d3445e8bb09ff694/tenor.gif

Let's look at the technophobe trait. I used to love using that and making a technophobe sims destroy electronics everywhere to upset other sims. (Any emotions/ moodlets? No, just pure behaviour due to a trait)I remember the absent minded trait which would be so challenging for me when I played with Connor Frio from Sunset Valley. I had to actually keep focused on the game to help him complete tasks (he has really genetics so I used to use him a lot) so I can fulfill my storytelling.
https://media1.tenor.com/images/8e662531884f9744c46606e1aeea94c6/tenor.gif?itemid=9715513

I miss the unlucky trait because I used to have fun leaving those Sims on their own to fall into misery without me having to actually force drama for the sake of storytelling. From fires starting abruptly, coffee machines breaking down on them to the house getting robbed as if jinxed. (by the way WHERE ARE THE BURGLARS AND POLICE ARRESTS IN TS4 ALREADY??!?!?) I miss the way traits used to affect the world around the sims versus a moodlet appearing for some fleeting hours! I had to force a Sims to get mortified last week so he could die and lend some credibility to my family legacy I'm doing, then get another to jump into the shark pool ninneteen times before she finally got mauled to death. I think the morality of Sims is too protected in The Sims 4 but that's whole other rant. Nevertheless, dear MAXIS, we need more traits and aspirations, sincerely a longtime fan.
https://media1.tenor.com/images/2872567668232e4cf665d2adcba26f98/tenor.gif?itemid=11955164

DoloresGrey
Seasoned Newcomer
5 years ago
But first we need those current traits to be actually meaningful. Because they do literally nothing. Except changing mood and that I absolutely hate. I sincerely hate the emotion system.
simgirl1010
Hero
5 years ago
Here's the entire video for anyone who missed it.

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/974514/more-traits-needed-carls-guide#latest
CrispTears
5 years ago
Yes, please! I mean the mods out there are amazing and do so much for our games but I'd really love to see what EA could come up with.
Fanphoria
5 years ago
I'm much more interested in aspirations than traits tbh, but I support the overall sentiment lol.
Purrloin9
5 years ago
I agree with needing more traits/aspirations, but I also agree with what's been said before, that we need traits that actually do something and aspirations that aren't just pack tutorials.
mariefoxprice83
New Vanguard
5 years ago
I'd love to have both more traits and more aspirations. I'd especially love more aspirations tied to jobs.
renato007rigin
5 years ago
I think at this point it doesn't matter how many traits exist because it will be always affected by the stupid flopped and broken emotion system that in my opinion is the reason traits don't shine and eventually sims will end up being all the same no matter how different I made them!
Deafsimmer
5 years ago
This. ^^^
82356gj6gz
5 years ago
"Renato10;c-17463871" wrote:
I think at this point it doesn't matter how many traits exist because it will be always affected by the stupid flopped and broken emotion system that in my opinion is the reason traits don't shine and eventually sims will end up being all the same no matter how different I made them!

Yes. For example I could make a 'jelous' sim, and sure they get 'tense' while their lover is gone, but that's it. I want them to get like straight up angry and fight other sims for talking to them. Even being cheated on only makes them angry for a few hours and then it's business as usual. The emotion system can really work against any chance of good AI.

Traits like book worm, or cat/dog lover should skew a sims actions toward doing things related to that trait alot more often than other things. Instead we a rectcled social interaction, that looks and sounds the same as another social interaction, with a pen/cat/dog in the thought bubble. Really, what's the point. They don't act any different than any other sim, so the trait is completly useless.

They need something like the interests that they had in.. 2(?) Where they could just randomly pick up an interest while doing something and all of a sudden WANT to do something. Whims I guess sort of like that except there's like what 5 of them that cycle through, and are completly arbitrary, having to do more with environment and buffs than any hint of a personality. But we will not see anything like this in the game anymore, I think; definately not in sims 4 anyway. Disheartening.
SerraNolwen
Seasoned Novice
5 years ago
I doubt anything can be done about the traits unless they overhaul them, which I don't expect by now. Since the traits mostly give moodlets and don't affect behavior (and no longer even give new whims, in case of newer traits), they really don't make that much of a difference, which saddens me because it means sims I don't control are basically all the same outside of looks. I do think an interest system similar to sims 2 would help greatly and, since it would be a new system, I think it could be added. I also wish we add more aspirations, similar to what we had in Sims 3, but I doubt it will happen, and it's not nearly as important as working on the sims' personalities.