The Comparison Thread

"SimsLovinLycan;c-17279556" wrote:
TS4's traits are really, really weak compared to TS2's personality point system and TS3's trait system thanks in large part to the way that ambient emotional influences are handled. In TS2, we had Environment and Comfort as needs that could go down or up depending on the decor or the furniture they happened to be sitting or laying on. In TS3, Environment and Comfort were shifted into the moodlet system, but they didn't take over the sim's whole universe.

In TS4, environmental moodlets are completely out of control...especially the Happy ones. The ambient Happy moodlets are too strong, too numerous, and they NEVER wear off! They override negative emotion moodlets way too easily, buff other positive/productive moodlets like Focused and Playful, and they didn't even have the decency to give us a booster emotion for the negative emotions!

I've been complaining about this for years, but this is only because the traits system is so heavily dependent on the emotions system. The emotions system IS our sims' personalities in terms of gameplay, really. All Happy sims act the same and want the same things, all Sad sims do the same things and want the same things, all Flirty sims do the same things and want the same things, same with Focused, Uncomfortable, Energized, Embarrassed, and so-on. I mean, they didn't even program in different whims for sims in different moods based on their personality traits. Like, why is an Evil sim just as inclined to want to hug and compliment people when they're happy as a Good sim? An Evil sim should want to torment other sims when they're happy, not get all snuggly and nice with everyone!!

In the other games, a sim's personality shines through more in TS2 and TS3, while TS4's emotion system is a pale and sickly substitute for actual personality for our sims beyond our own head-canon. I mean, when you have to use a cheat from a mod to have your sim express anything beyond sickeningly bland positivity that would make Barney the Dinosaur go, "Oh. O.K., this level of good feels is just plain unrealistic, you guys!", then you know something went horribly wrong with this game's development...

exactly.

ive said this before, as im sure numerous people have, i could create a sim with no personality traits and it would be exactly the same as one with traits. a screenshot was posted earlier in this thread from the advertisement for sims4 where it was stated our sims will have "vibrant personalities with memories and real emotions who can multitask" to paraphrase.

.................................

really? is that so EA? are you sure? positive?

what we actually got is the horrible stereotype: of bipolar people and PMS. moodswing city. i know bipolar people and as a woman myself have experienced PMS and i can tell u neither the bipolar people or myself or other women's moods swing as horribly frequent as these sims. in fact as im sure alot of simmers would have noticed in their day to day travels that in most cases you cannot tell a person is bipolar or pmsing unless its super super SUPER extreme (but i digress, thats irrelevant to this topic). sure, i, like most people experience subtle mood changes based on my surroundings or what ive eaten and experienced for the day HOWEVER if im proper angry i will stay angry regardless of my surroundings. i may be calmer in a nicer environment but ill still be angry and it may take a few hours to calm down. if my family passed away a nice room may make me smile but it wont remove the fact my family is gone and ill still be devastated.

i give props to them for trying something new, i really do. the sims is 20 years old, in its 4 iteration and facing competition. it will take more than gorgeous graphics to keep people entertained, especially in the era of instant gratification but it didnt work. we all know it would take a massive update to fix the current personas of the sims and lets be real, given past history would probably break the game with bugs and glitches but something needs to be done. step by step. one update at a time. slowly implementing change is better than pretending there is no problem

reading some of the replies since my above post has made me come to the conclusion that strangerville had to be ea taking the p***. while i thoroughly enjoyed it, someone there had to realise the possessed sims being all the same is what the normal sims are like all the time. they all act the same and react the same to everything. if whims are on they all whim the same. whims are described as 'things ur sims want to do but u dont have to' and its been clear to me for a long time whims were an afterthought, a half baked attempt at capturing the sims 2 and 3 satisfaction/reward point system thing. its abundantly clear when sims leave their home lots and roll to buy pools, tvs, stereos etc because there isnt one on the lot. pure lunacy IMO especially since, dear sim, THAT ISNT UR HOME LOT!@ U DONT *OWN* ANYTHING ON THE LOT!!!

multitasking is also a joke. i tell my sims to read a book, and they dont even finish it. they dont autonomously tend to their needs. they just get lower and lower until theyre standing around about to wet themselves then flail their arms about because 'oh no i need to pee'. sims in sims 3 would for example: start a painting, if they needed to pee they would then im pretty sure theyd resume said painting.

its a joke. and i for one would be happy with massive downtime for things to be fixed