When I originally started this topic I had written down that I wanted every trait to be based on a stat. I quickly realized that wasn't going to be possible, as well as that would limit the diversity of the traits.
Some people mentioned using traits as flags for certain stats, which I think is all well and good, but I still believe traits should confer a bonus or penalty and be meaningful.
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I'll go back to the boobies traits...
cause I like boobies.
Say a girl had few points into the breasts stat. She would end up with the "Small Boobs" trait. Well, what does the "Small Boobs" trait offer? We could say that it's tagged as a fetish and she'll earn a bonus for her customers who like that fetish.
Now let's say we had a girl who's breast stat earned her the "Big Boobs" trait. Would that be a fetish, or something pretty common in what customers are after? Instead of being a fetish, maybe it instead adds to her "Looks" stat.
Next we come to the girl who's been blessed (or cursed) with "Abnormally Large Boobs" as it's currently called. Well, that's certainly a fetish, but does it improve her looks? Perhaps her big titties are a pain in the neck, and the trait decreases her Agility, while also fulfilling a fetish.
Finally we come to the girl with the breast stat somewhere between small and big... Normal Boobs. Is that a trait? Why would someone get a bonus or a penalty for being normal? Here there really isn't a reason to apply a trait... her tits go unnoticed. (My apologies to all the ladies out there with normal boobs, I still wuv you!)
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Now then let's go back to the girl with the "Big Boobs" trait for a minute. She's got just the right size breasts to earn her this trait. As it so happens, she has enough points in the "Looks" department from items, other traits and her base stats, that her +looks bonus from her "Big Boobs" traits, pushes her "Looks" stat to a whole new plateau earning her the "Great Figure" trait, which increases her Charisma stat helping her to attract more customers.
That is what I mean by traits being affected by stats, and those traits in-turn affecting other stats.
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One thing that always bugged me was the Adventurer and Assassin traits. Two traits that basically do the same thing, (+combat skills/stats) and that I've seen, multiple times, both of them on the same girl.
But when we think of the two, they are completely different kinds of people, who happen to share similar abilities. But while an adventurer may seek out battle, they do it for completely different reasons than an assassin. So how do we differentiate the two, while keeping their core ideals?
Let's say that both traits require a certain amount of points in combat stats, whether it be Magic Ability, Combat Ability, a Combination of the two, or perhaps more appropriate an average of the two. (Allowing both mages and adventurers to have the traits without worry of the other ability.)
So they both require x number of points, how do we keep them seperated? Well, we have two other stats we can look at here, Obedience and Spirit. Until someone clarifies what Spirit actually is, I'll use it as a substitute for Morality. It's fairly obvious, that a divide in Morality would separate the two traits, a murderer of people see's things a bit differently than someone who see's conflict for treasure and excitement. Even if we ignored the Spirit stat and stuck with just Obedience, is an Assassin going to be loyal to a lowly brothel owner? Perhaps they might, but for simplicity's sake, let's say they won't for now.
We've just separated those two traits, based on stats that are already in the game. Even so, we could add a new stat that would be more relevant to good vs evil, if Spirit wasn't in fact that stat already,
which is an assumption on my part.
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This brings us to the caveat about moving
all the traits to be based on stats. Changing every single trait to be stat based can quickly lead to the creation of too many frivolous stats. Already there are 32 stats (including skills) that are part of the character editor, there are also other stats like "Looks" and "Pregnancy" as well.
Any trait that would be modified to be stat based, and any stat that would be created to accommodate this should be weighed on it's own merits and what synergies it would provide to other stats and traits.
For this I'm going to give one last example...
Say there was in fact a "Morality" stat, and say we had a girl who was tagged with the "Not Human" trait. Also for the sake of argument she did not have the "Cat Girl" or "Construct" trait. She instead, was marked with the "Demon" trait. And furthermore the "Demon" trait happens to confer a penalty of -100 to the "Morality" stat.
What happens to her if over the course of the game she gets her "Morality" stat to Zero? (Assuming a -100 to 100 value range for the "Morality" stat.) Does she remain a demon? What if she stays a demon until her "Morality" stat reaches 50, where upon an event notification reaches the player and she is transformed into an Angel, removing her "Demon" trait and replacing it with the "Angel" trait.
Using that same method, we could turn our Assassins into Adventurers and vis versa. And with enough prodding turn our Angel back into a Demon.
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Right now there is no "Angel" trait, nor a "Morality" stat. And some traits are truely unique to their own set of circumstances, like "Not Human," "Sterile" & "One Eye." Others are conflicting with stats of their own. Does the "Lesbian" trait affect the "Lesbian Sex" skill, or should the skill, when high enough, apply the trait?
Some people have pointed out that some traits are redundant, and some are so unique unto themselves they could not be stat based.
This is why I removed the wording that suggested that all traits should be stat based.
I'm going to steal some wording from a few games here... but what if we start first by looking at the traits and when they would occur.
Start by separating traits into Common, Uncommon, Rare and Unique.
Common traits would be the ones to be most reasonably affected by stats.Uncommon traits would occur when a girl meets certain requirements such as giving birth, or being a virgin.Rare traits would be those that affect few girls, and not always stat dependent. such as being a "Demon" or having "Scars." Traits which themselves are mutable with time and effort, and perhaps a bit of coin.Unique Traits would be perminate marks upon a girl, that would be defined in her character profile, such as "Not Human" or "Construct."---
There are already a lot of traits and stats in the game. And I can understand why the thought of adding more, or changing their nature would not appeal to some people. But I would also like to point out that 1.30 is going to bring some drastic changes to Jobs in this game. In my opinion from what I've read on the dev forums, there will be far too many jobs, but I will reserve judgment until after the new version is released.
But I also believe, work on this game isn't going to stop with 1.30, and that there will be a 1.40 and even a 1.50. The more planning and work that goes on with this game, the better and better it will become.
Finally I apologize if anyone here feels like I'm stepping on anyone's toes with the changes I've proposed here.
Thank You.