(Sims 4) Choosing a Mate

[Zanriel]

How do you go about choosing who to pair your Sims up with? I find this to be one of the toughest decisions and it drives me nuts!

In Sims 2 you could scan a room and it would light up the person your Sim was most attracted to. That was way cool. If you liked them too, get 'em together!

In Sims 3 you had the hearts come up and then there would be a moodlet when they were nearby. You couldn't always tell where the attraction moodlet was coming from but it wasn't hard to figure out after a while.

Sims 4 doesn't appear to have any type of system like that, or if it's there I'm missing it. You'd think if Sims liked each other they'd get the Flirty emotion or something, but nope, that just seems to happen randomly. Maybe I'm missing something.

So, any tips? I mean, I could decide for them, but is there a way to tell who your Sims like the most? Who do THEY want to be with? Or do they not care anymore? How do you decide who to pair your sims up with?

Thanks.

[HelenP]

I don't think there is a preference system at the moment, it may come in with a later ep, but I have never seen any sign of the sims having a built in liking for another sim. 

There is at least one obvious problem, when a Good sim meets an Evil sim, the good sim gets a sad moodlet.

When I am choosing a partner for a sim I try to find out all I can about them in terms of career and traits and then decide if that sim will work in the game I'm playing.  Personally I don't like to break up a marriage so I try to choose single sims when possible but that's just me. You can sometimes find out a trait quite quickly, usually if your sim receives a 'rude greeting' or mean interaction early in the conversation then you are talking to a mean sim.

[Roxanne07]

There isn't an attraction system in TS4, but what I like to do is have my sim become acquainted with a few potential mates, and wait to see who (s)he wishes to be with. I like to follow sims' whims, so it works for me, although it is not that ideal. And it's completely random!

[WickedSimmer87]

Im pretty superficial when it comes to choosing mates for my sim. Imagine what kind of kids they can have. I mean, if the marriage doesnt work out, just divorce and find a better father figure 

Sometimes i choose just to "do the deed" to get an heir, and then find a proper husband 

(im not like that at all, by the way!)

I know i went abit off the topic, but oh well

[Zanriel]

I reinstalled Sims 2 and I still have to say it has about the best attraction system. Scope Room, Check Sim Out, you get the lightning bolts next to a person's picture, it's all right there.

Even in other ones you get whims (wants) saying they want to kiss the person or ask him/her out on a date. With Sims 4 I don't recall ever seeing a whim like that unless the person has a Family trait or something, then they want to kiss/date everyone.

It's tricky for someone who's riddled with indecision like me. I have 6 characters I've been making into games since Sims 2 and two of them are always together, but the other four? I can't ever decide so they end up staying single, or they get romantic and then break up. I feel bad for 'em, poor lonely Sims not knowing who they want to be with. Kinda silly ain't it?

There's Zanriel, the artsy/musical/genius/friendly type, and Vixen who's more of an artsy/musical/romantic/outdoorsy type. They're always together.

But Tal, he's kind of a slacker/ladies man, and Eva, she's playful, bubbly, and a little out there. Then there's Kevin, a nerd's nerd, and Amber, a type-A go-getter.

I guess that answers my question putting it out there like that. Tal and Eva often pair up, and Kevin and Amber often pair up, but it makes sense that way. If Amber's a go-getter she'd want someone like Kevin, a nerd who doesn't mind getting lost in his projects and who can help bring in the big bucks with his wild inventions. Tal's about as laid back as they get, so he'd be the one who could put up with Eva's quirky, playful nature. She'd always be wanting to have a good time, which Tal would be more than willing to go along with. But would Tal want to settle down? Probably not. So maybe there'd be a little soapy drama now and then.

Thanks, good talk. We should do this again sometime.

[edit] Root = Room... too much Person of Interest.

[Roxanne07]

Even in other ones you get whims (wants) saying they want to kiss the person or ask him/her out on a date. With Sims 4 I don't recall ever seeing a whim like that unless the person has a Family trait or something, then they want to kiss/date everyone.

I've seen romance-related whims with sims without romantic traits or aspirations ("Have First Kiss with X", for example) . Although you'd have to encourage romance between them first.

[Magpie2012]

I've also had the romantic whims pop up. I usually start off by asking all the sims if they are single, since that is in the romance interactions, if my sim is attracted they usually get a whim about that sim pretty quickly.

[meubanks]

As an aside I think the attraction systems in TS2 and 3 came with expansions also. I'm certain it was not in TS3 at launch, and while I inclined to say the same thing about 2, it was too far back to remember so I won't swear to it.