Still disappointed?

It's mainly the lack of traits yes. But they can fix it, sadly they never did much with traits since launch. Few traits have been added, and mostly it was just some simple moodlet thing like cat or dog lover.

What they need to do is work on adding like 30 new traits and increasing the number of traits a sim can have. At least to 4 and possibly back to 5.

Of those 30 traits, most could be returning from sims 3. I want new negative traits too, to make it harder on sims. They are too darn nice to each other! While that's a positive message and all, we need some drama! Some new trait suggestions:

-Repulsive.
This sim is seen as ugly by others, making it harder to find romance. Sims with the good trait could ignore this affect however, improving that trait at the same time. Friendship should work well enough by default, but snobs would be reluctant. Mean sims are able to make fun of their appearance.
The upside is that it could scare ghosts away, they get extra appreciation during halloween and such. Getting into some jobs could be harder for them too, anything that requires them to be the face of a company.
It's not tied to looks however, you could make a supermodel with this trait. So what your sims find repulsive is up to you. Could just be people wearing ugly christmas sweaters or a specific haircut.

-Disloyal.
These sims can't be trusted in jobs, relationships or friendships. They'll toss anyone under the bus if they can gain from it, they get positive moodlets from that. It's like a worse version of commitment issues. They aren't sad if caught cheating or when seeing their partner cheat however, to them it's the natural order of things.

-Masculine.
These sims act more masculine in various interactions such as flirting. A lot of this is in body language. They favor more masculine activities and won't do more feminine activities on their own. They aren't against other sims doing that, it's just not something they'd do themselves.

-Feminine.
The counterpart to the masculine trait, these sims move more feminine in various interactions and favor more feminine activities and won't do more masculine activities on their own. Both of these traits can be given to any sim, but they obviously can't have both traits.

-Likes a drink.
This sim needs to drink. They want a bar, they want to drink lots of drinks. They get a negative moodlet if they haven't drunk anything in a while. Which get's worse if they keep not drinking for longer. Could be like 3-4 stages of this but if they get past it and thus overcome their habit, you get to select a new trait for them to replace this one. But it will be rough especially in the final stage with a huge negative moodlet.
Seeing sims overcome this might help people dealing with this problem in real life.

-Fool.
These sims aren't too bright, but easily amused. They learn slower and can do some crazy things like prepare unique meals of weird combinations that only fellow fools, slobs and gluttons can eat without getting sick or feeling uncomfortable from a disgusting meal.
They can also do various 'check this out!' interactions with other sims to try and gain their attention.
They are quick to see other sims as their friends which is a bonus however, but also have some low brow humor like 'pull my finger.' that snobs will detest. They can also interact with some objects in ways no other sim can, doing something crazy with it.

-Spartan.
These sims prefer a simple life style and do not like luxury. They get no negative moodlets from cheap beds, showers, fridges and such, but instead get negative moodlets from needless luxury. They do enjoy things like reading books, talking with other sims and building skills with less expensive objects. They actually build skills faster that way.
Some skills are harder for them to gain such as programming, video gaming or such because they'd have a negative moodlet while using such needless things.

-Loves water.
These sims enjoy water like no other, and get unique interactions in swimming pools, bathtubs, showers, hot tubs and at sea.
If there's a pool, they are in it.

Yes, there’s still a level of disappointment for me and I don’t think it will ever go away as long as TS4 is around.

Yeah I love sims 4 but this is probably my only real complaint with the game and it’s a pretty big one. I miss sims having deep personalities like in sims 2 and even 3. As much as I love sims 4 and all it’s additions the traits just aren’t great and sims having zero distinct character to them is a bit frustrating at times. I’m still hoping for an overhaul of personalities at some point but there’s a huge chance it won’t happen. I’d take even added more impactful traits vs an overhaul. The traits we’ve received in packs are awful and useless for the most part. We need more traits and we need more impact with traits. Heck relationships could be better too you shouldn’t want to hug and hang out with a sim that’s your mortal enemy just saying.

This game was originally marketed to be all about the sims themselves. This was the excuse we were given for lack of anything else at launch. However, the traits don't make them near unique enough and the moodlets aren't strong enough and the whims don't do much of anything... TS2 sims had likes and dislikes and wants and fears and all of those things were impactful. TS3 traits worked very similiar to the TS2 system. TS4 should have been even better, new games should expand on the old right? :/ Things have changed over the years, some things patched in for free, others expanded on in EP's and GP's, but the sims themselves are still nothing close to what I thought they were going to be like in the advertising in those early days. I'm still hopeful they will patch in something, especially if they plan to continue this series for another 5 years.

i agree. traits and aspirations need a huge overhaul. we need more of each and different things to establish them. i just wish the devs would stop pumping out new buggy packs every two seconds and actually improve on the game itself :/

Game is a Disappointment with a capital D! EA promised smarter sims. Lie! They are dumber, shallow, boring, and little more than animated window dressing. As has been pointed out, newer versions of a game should be better and more interesting/fun to play than the older ones. There have been however many years of experience, newer technology, and an extensive data base of what works, what doesn't, and what might if adjusted properly. Other than looking prettier, CAS, some parts of manage worlds, and a few elements of build mode, TS4 is overall a retreat from the high bar of TS2. What I was hoping for when the game came out was the best of the prior versions combined into one killer, rock the socks off game. What was delivered was a 'Really? That's it? Surely you jest.' kind of thing. Feels like the ads promised a Shelby Cobra but we got a Yugo.

@Oldeseadogge

I agree, and the worst sin of all is being able to dedicate 5 years (and counting) of development time (almost unheard of outside of MMO’s) to improve the game and never really expanding or deepening the core gameplay in a meaningful way.

Yes, at the end of the day Sims 4 revolves around moodlet-based gameplay. I couldn't care less about moodlets so 90% of live mode is boring for me.

Meaningful traits and memories are what I'd prefer. Stuff that actually has lasting impact.

"rhalius;c-17265375" wrote:

All of these are great, but most will not ever be included due to offending people. It is a different time from 2013 when you could use words like feminine and masculine without someone being offended and upset that you were denying them something.

I really wish we had more trait slots. Three is not enough.

Also, why can evil Sims not be childish? This infuriates me.

Our culture needs some serious growing up! Or maybe time in the army... A game (or anything else) that focuses on offending no one will wind up offending everyone. Time to get back to fundamentals, make a game that appeals to the broad spectrum of regular people, and move on past the whinery.