We need a personality overhaul

It does bug me that the current traits are too uneven, some define personality as a whole (e.g. Kind, Evil, Lazy), some affect only one aspect (e.g. Jealous only affects romantic aspect) or only one activity (e.g. Bookworm). Even with current traits there should be some kind of hierarchy of them, like an archetype, then traits affecting general behavior, then trais focuusing on specific activities and likes. Right now certain builds feel like "I'm Jen, I love donuts, my gran and picking nose". More depth needed indeed.

Yes, they need to dial up the traits to 11. The sims all act the same pretty much and this has always bothered me. And, we need more traits. twice as many, really.

Insecure, shy, absent-minded, shallow, selfish, curious, faithful, hyperactive...

Hmm...

I have tried the “likes cats”-trait recently and when there was a cat in the household it was quite nice. Interactions and other things that made it feel pretty special. I seldom have pets in my households because they require so much attention and time but with that sim it felt pretty easy. Don’t know how much impact that trait has when there are no cats around.

That said, there are still several things that makes me want to climb the walls when it comes to sims. There are several traits that I feel like they don’t do too much so I feel hesitant to use them on the sims I play often. I do not wish to waste a slot. Art lover has not done much for me, perhaps I missed the details when playing, it has been a while now.

Yes, I am hoping for a complete trait/personality overhaul. I especially want the traits we have now to be further developed to make them more distinct and have more impact on the behaviour and emotions of our sims. I really miss the depth of TS3 traits e.g. how neat/perfectionist sims were the only ones that automatically made their bed etc. I want a greater variety of interesting traits too e.g. neurotic, brave, brooding, proper, socially awkward, shy, loyal, cultured, eccentric etc. I am also hoping for a fear emotion and likes/dislikes, favourites, memories etc. and turn ons/offs (with a better romance/chemistry system in a Romance GP. I really miss my sim couples cuddling in bed). All of this would really help give sims more personality.

I found this quote written by @Hestia in a thread about the "Bookworm" trait. (Hope you don't mind me crossposting it)
It pretty much speaks for itself; The Sims 4 traits barely even scratch the surface of something like a personality when compared to The Sims 3 (The Sims 2 as well what with the attraction system and character points)
And I agree with what they say here as well: "Don't fix what isn't broken!"

"Hestia;c-17215535" wrote:
I agree. This is an issue with all the traits in general as they don’t affect personalities in such depths as we had back from The Sims 3.

The Sims 3 Bookworm
https://i.imgur.com/Hfg94ux.jpg

The Sims 4 Bookworm
https://i.imgur.com/EjqAnq6.jpg

Unfortunately, TS4 is more about emotions and less about unique personalities. This is why it’s so easy to encounter Sims that barely has any difference to another one with different traits. They are all basically identical.

I agree. Even just preferences/turn on and off aspects would greatly affect interactions between Sims (something that traits used to influence a lot).

"sueplayssims;c-17216810" wrote:
For me, it's not necessarily needing more traits, but I'm desperate for Sims to act more like their traits. It can really restrict me from getting in to my story because of how lacking in personality Sims can sometimes be. Like why would my mean Sims go around hugging each other on free will? And a noncommittal sim constantly wants to try for another baby with her husband.
I now play with a mod which encourages more 'personality' to come through in gameplay and I have noticed a good difference. But these simple gameplay features should have been part of base game. I find I have to use my imagination to fill in some parts of my Sims lives and personality at times instead of the game giving me these features.

@sueplayssims what mod do you use?

We definitely do need one. We also need emotions overhaul.

you forgot the Slob and Glutton trait, they add lot of personality to the sims, I like having sims with both traits, they just eat and fart rinse and repeat. i even have sims who eat meal three time in a row nonstop autonomously thanks to Glutton trait.

"izecson;c-17217181" wrote:
you forgot the Slob and Glutton trait, they add lot of personality to the sims, I like having sims with both traits, they just eat and fart rinse and repeat. i even have sims who eat meal three time in a row nonstop autonomously thanks to Glutton trait.

Those are from the base game, and yes they're good traits. I was talking about the traits that came with the packs.

Yes, we need more traits. I have to differ with those extolling the virtues of the Sims3 traits. I never found them to be all that they were said to be. For instance, I had a Sim who stomped around all of the time. At first I thought it was her hot-headed trait that made her stomp, (since it was suggested by the EA team, their traits would help define them even down to their walk style). Then I took a better look at the rest of the Sims in that household only to learn they ALL stomped around. None of them behaved according to their traits, with the exception of the Frugal Sim who would often clap hands to cut off the lights, TV or any other electric item in the room being unused. That was funny. But, the rest were lacking. So was the vastly improve AI. My Sims were just as unintelligent as they were in Sims2. Big, Big, disappointment.

I think sometimes nostalgia overtakes us when we're dissatisfied with the here and now, in this case Sims4. I played Sims3 every day, but always had a love/hate relationship with it. It wasn't all it was advertised to be, which was a huge let down. Thankfully, I went into Sims4 less naive. I knew the base game would be bleak, for instance, and wasn't disappointed. What I looked for, was to see if the Sims, themselves, were more fully developed, as in able to autonomously carry on conversations over dinner — which was lacking completely in Sims3. The sad thing is the devs gave everything to the open world, and left the Sims themselves to be little more than pixalated automatons. I'm happy to say Sims4 Sims while different in their antics from Sims2 Sims, are very able to carry on in the background without me. :)

Sorry for the rant, but I do heartily agree we need additional Traits. I'd like to see Retiring (Shy), since we already have its opposite. We need Loud and Quiet, since some people really are those traits. I like what they did with Erratic. At first I was dismayed it was changed out from Insane, but it's better in the long run. My Global Superstar's dear mother is erratic. She's rather funny to watch. I love it when she arbitrarily decides to tell herself a story. She's also prone to removing her clothing and walking around in the altogether despite the fact she has four sons still in the household. :o