"vampirekim;c-17202661" wrote:
"drake_mccarty;c-17187450" wrote:
I kind of expect another clone of the Vampire Skill system. Probably some reused effects from Vampires as well.
"Cinebar;c-17202431" wrote:
What I fear is the GP just reuses buffs already in game. Since they seem to be on this kick to resell and reuse assets lately. A potion to make tense, a potion to remove tense? Ho hum. It would seem like overkill since there are dozens of ways already for Sims to be tense and to relieve that buff. It seems their special crystals and buff objects (basegame gameplay) has/ have actually defeated any reason to buy something new that can do the same thing. Overkill is never fun.
I agree I could see some of the vampire effects being reused...
Influencing emotions is repeated a lot but emotion is big to the Sims 4. What kind of magic would you like to see?
I'd like there to be spells that take the form of semi-permanent traits (like perks and quirks for fame are rewritable traits). Like with "Quirk-B-Gone" or the celebrity retreat, there'd be simple and easy ways to instantly remove them (probably just in the rewards store). But, for a challenge, there'd also be gameplay mechanics that you could use to address them instead.
Examples:
- A "Love Curse" that makes 95% of attempted romantic interactions fail. You need to succeed in getting a kiss ("True Love's Kiss") to remove it.
- Any "Swan Lake" style curse. Sims with the trait turn into a statue/swan/ogre/bear/dog/cat/whatever the devs would pick at sunrise, and only turn back human at sunset. The important part to me here is that this wouldn't just be an aesthetic irritation - it would need to have gameplay implications (can't do certain interactions, or do anything at all, or if they go in public non-friend NPCs will default to a "fight!" interaction or something). Some hard to find in-game collectible or cultivated plant or something is needed to remove it the hard way. (Bonus: this trait is inheritable, so would pass to kids if you didn't cure it).
- Dancing Curse. Your sim cannot
not dance when within of a music source. Only way to stop dancing is turn off anything playing music in the vicinity (or try manipulating things to get the sim out of range). They add a couple dancing mechanisms so your sim can try to break nearby stereos and things while dancing, but the trait could be potentially deadly if your sim starves to death while dancing or something. Can be removed by getting and maintaining a bored mood for 24 hours (or by a special foot massage if you have Spa Day).
These are just some ideas, but we know how specific traits can get. Maybe a "makes all food taste bad" curse, or an "always triplets" curse or more.
And, of course, you could have the reverse. Charms that do good things. Charm traits that make it so animals (pets, bees, dolphins, etc) will always listen to you. Charm traits that make it so you're immune to death by (fire/drowning/starvation/whatever).
And traits that can be seen as good or bad depending on the game you're playing. Or just create chaos.
Like a trait that makes all (non-relative age-appropriate) sims that meet your sim instantly fall in love with them (one-sided, your sim doesn't necessarily fall in love back) would be super useful for a 100 Baby Challenge or someone playing a Casanova scenario, and terrible for other sims just trying to live their normal lives. And would, of course, create lot of in-game drama with married sims running into a sim like that and instantly being smitten. (A cure to encountering a Narcissus sim could be obtained, again, from the rewards store - but also purchased from a witch. A kind of anti-love or memory-wipe spell, where your sim can erase their feelings for a sim of their choosing). Something like that might be too disruptive for some people's tastes (so it might be necessary to make it something that never shows up in the game unless the player is the one to initially introduce it - an action that is never autonomous), but it could be a lot of fun.
Plus spells to do things that are already cheat mechanics, but currently not in-game mechanics. Like we have stuff for teleporting sims (for aliens and wellness skills). But cheats allow us to summon sims to us - and summoning sims and animals sounds like a fun witchy power. You can already use cheats to summon any sim you want to any lot - it feels reasonable to just give it a UI menu and call it a witch's spell. (BONUS: if you wanted to do something the game cannot do - the witch can summon sims not only by name, but by certain parameters. So a witch could summon a Single Young Adult Male Who Isn't Evil And Has The Romantic Trait if she's feeling lonely and wants to try her luck with a (probably confused) stranger. Or summon a Child Any Gender Who Isn't Mean if she's looking for a playmate for her kid - and the game will either summon an existing sim that meets the parameters or generate one if there isn't one.)
IDK - if it's a lot of stuff like mood manipulation (which we already have potions and celebuserums and those Jungle Adventure berries and MORE for), or just re-using the Scientist inventions for Get To Work, or just adding new menus or a couple new animations to mechanics we already have, I'll be disappointed.
That's not to say witches shouldn't GET an ice spell, or a transfiguration spell, or mood spells, or need spells. Might as well, since the mechanics are already there! It's just to say magic should also be able to do things that are totally NEW.
