Analyzing Face Templates for The Sims 2's 20th Birthday

[@actualawry]

13:21 just fyi, it's pronounced 'k'eltic

[@Marticore]

LOL thanks! I would've never guessed... Polish broke me again

[@Meara]

afaik both pronounciations are correct, "k'eltic" is just more common one.

[@actualawry]

@@Meara oh wow I can see you're right, apparently it used to be 's'eltic but the academia forced the 'k' sound to be consistent with Greek and Latin pronunciation. I guess not everything you learned in high school was true haha

[@moosegoose3159]

Soft c for the football team, hard k for the culture.

[@Latawiecc]

Hard k in word "celtic" is coming from Latin pronunciation (Firstly from Greek Κελτοί /Keltoi/), so should be pronounced /ˈkɛltɪk/

[@thevoidcritter]

It's unreal how many of the faces I thought looked weird as a kid look like actual people once you give them the right skin tone and hair.

[@ThatLocalBit]

They look so cursed when they switch faces and it bounces but it freezes 😭

[@Marticore]

I especially put in screenshots of the exact in-between for you guys to lay eyes on

[@Marticore]

Theory: Face templates are exaggerated for the most part because The Sims is not a game where you constantly look at your created character from up close. The Sims was even less that, so maybe The Sims 2 devs really wanted to differentiate the faces.

[@niall798]

I used to hate the exaggerated faces but I’ve learned to appreciate them compared to the sims 3 where almost every face looks “normal” and the same.

[@all-star-hero73]

​@niall798 that's a bug, there is a mod by lazyduchess to fix it

[@PotatoAsh]

I also think it's cause Sims 1 had more exaggerated faces and they wanted Sims 2 to follow suit, cause The Sims was less about 'The Sims represent YOU' like Sims 4's approach and was more about 'quirky virtual people, create anyone and anything!'

[@NadezdaBeka]

Probably, cause the majority are ugly in my opinion. I downloaded a mod that softens the templates while still keeping its distinctive features so my generated townies are more good looking

[@AnMal01-h6b]

@@PotatoAsh I think it's exactly the opposite! In Sims 3 and 4, EA had picked up on people thinking the stronger features and more natural proportions of face templates were ugly, and they stylised the templates more - which means the templates also got more generic, but we see them as cuter. In Sims 2, they really aimed for more realism and more diversity, because they thought people would want to make themselves and other people from real life. It's just that we're not used to this kind of realism in game characters, and we think of it as ugly. Also, strong facial features and low poly counts really don't play well together!

[@rasmusirlind8829]

i remember when i was 10 playing sims 2, i would give all of my sims, male and female, the first face template because i thought the others were ugly so i’d have a neighborhood where everyone looked the same 😭😅

[@Marticore]

That's a common Sims 2 experience 😆

[@HeroHalcyon]

I think the "ste" face might stand for "steppe", aka southeast Europe/central Asia.

[@EdibleBible]

0:22 "I wanna do something that I've been wanting to do for a really long time which is breaking down" RELATABLE QUEEN ✨✨

[@malababatoja]

so true 😓

[@Marticore]

Nooooo

[@cherubimbap7618]

LMFAO

[@betuna9487]

The "Bantu" and "Maasai" templates were always my go to when making my uncles and grandpas now I know why. 😅

[@luca57882]

Playing as a kid: The first face for everyone! All others are ugly! Playing as an adult: All faces are beautifull! 🥺🥺🥺🥺

[@syrah9433]

I think template #13 could be Native American (Cherokee). That's what popped in my head when I saw "cer".

[@JovialEuphoria]

0:04 that voiceline adult male #2 does cracks me up everytime i hear it sometimes i make them get stuck on purpose just so i can hear them say it

[@itztoru330]

my simself has that voice so everytime they get stuck i hear that lol

[@RosesTeaAndASD]

4 years before Australia apologised to the Indigenous Australians, MAXIS was here representing them. I was genuinely surprised to see Indigenous Australians be acknowledged by ANY computer game.

[@TaelTheFennec]

Right? I always knew as a kid that it was supposed to be an Aboriginal Persons face! Now this confirms it!

[@SARCOSISARCOSA]

as a native Italian, I can tell you with the certainty of a thousand suns that Face #4 is an Italian man lmaooooo he looks like Roberto Benigni, too.

[@jesaea]

è veroooo ecco chi mi ricordava 💀

[@elighannam2910]

“Breaking down the most iconic thing in the sims 2 base game.” Me: Dina Caliente?

[@Beines]

There's also some region exclusive faces, I believe there are east Asia releases that featured more distinctive asian faces templates

[@thatoneguy2023]

never heard of that before, where did you hear this from I wonder 🤔 EDIT: I think I know what you mean now! The premade sims that are in the locale folders right?

[@Jhud69]

Yeah she mentions this at the end, they're the sims in the "locale" folder!

[@mathisirondil]

I've sort of always known they were based on specific ethnic groups, but had no idea that you could see the description, no matter how vague, in the debug mode. I don't know if I'll ever use it, but could be handy if I'm ever trying to make a very specific neighborhood or family.

[@Frouwke]

I've played Sims 2 for 20 years and I just figured out you can blend faces with right click??! What else do I not know?!

[@aleksandragrabska720]

You can navigate the buy mode using [ ], you're welcome

[@_P_a_o_l_o_]

@@aleksandragrabska720 :O

[@betuna9487]

​@@aleksandragrabska720 thanks

[@ember9361]

fun fact, that information is on the manual haha I dug mine up when I first found out about it, and yup. Right there

[@PedanticPig]

If you right click to blend the faces it resets the slider positions so you can take them beyond the limits.

[@madmuffin4484]

I recently saw a video about how the different face templates age differently (some features more exaggerated more than in other templates). I’d love to see your take on this!

[@Marticore]

Yeah, I didn't mention it because Creusa already did :D

[@BlueberryDragon13]

I think there are 2 types of simmers. The ones who only use face 1 or 2, (and occasionally the African and Asian one mixed into it), and the ones who absolutely love all the exaggerated Maxis faces.

[@PotatoAsh]

Used to be the first type but began loving using the other faces as base (or mixing them), makes for more interesting looking Sims

[@dundee6402]

Face 1 & 2 are just too generic for me at this point. I much prefer using the other face templates. Face 16 as a base makes the hottest guys in the game

[@rockstar2PL]

I've been the first type for a long time, probably because I was just a kid & I didn't know about these templates being genetic & didn't care much about making my sims look more diverse (also I didn't like the exaggerated look). Now, that I haven't played this game for soo long, this video made me want to go back and embrace what it has to offer haha.

[@goopysubject]

My favorites are the frog looking ones lol The more they look like their eyes are staring into two completely different sides, the more I like them lol

[@boybutch]

you forgot me: randomize sims until you find something you can work with and adjust it from there. i personally hate most of the face templates,,, i feel like the ones that were supposed to represent certain ethnicities are so exaggerated to the point of caricature? i try to make my sims diverse (not just in ethnicity but just with faces in general) so i think the face templates r too constricted for me

[@whatever6377]

I'm not the first person to say this, but I always wish there wasn't such huge gender differences in the face templates. I feel like the female faces are too smoothed-down, if that makes sense? If they had more distinctive features like the nose bumps and heavy jaw etc. that the male faces get to have, the templates would be perfect to me.

[@whatever6377]

​@@TonightWillBeEarlySo true.

[@dmckim3174]

There are templates that are more gender neutral

[@AnMal01-h6b]

@@dmckim3174 Yeah, I was just gonna comment that 😃. I've used LIFA's less gendered templates, and they're my favourite set of default face templates.

[@amypeggs9606]

I started making these!! I will upload them on MTS when they are done (simsfreq).

[@you-chan4641]

Because sexual dimorphism exists in real life?

[@skinnynotlegend]

Face 17 represent my nose lmao 😂I am arab so I can see it representing arabs. But I can also see 12 also representing middle eastern. Honestly I love how sims 2 is wacky yet trying to represent different ethnicities and for a game released in 2004 I never thought they would add middle eastern representation in there. Happy 20th anniversary 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@humrau5505]

14:40 bro looks like he was mewing for far too long 😭

[@princesspoppiie]

I was five when The Sims 2 came out so I don't remember it first releasing but I do remember watching my mom play it and her eventually letting me play when I turned 9. Still the best Sims game in my opinion.

[@BellaDovah]

This was fascinating, thank you! Ive never really paid much attention to the face templates but seeing you being so familiar with them knowing exactly who has what and who offspring look like has really made me want to get more familiar with them!

[@AlexLopez0506]

"You can right click on templates and blend them" YOU CAN WHAT

[@Marticore]

I made a video about that years ago 😆

[@AlexLopez0506]

@@Marticore I knew you could do that on 3 but didn't know 2 could do it too. That's what I get for not watching your videos more I guess lol. 👀

[@MissDatherinePierce]

The Teutonic face reminds me of the German olympic rower who looked straight out of a 1930s brochure and German male Twitter went a bit nuts because most women said he looked average and wasn't the sexiest man alive to them while men apparently thought he looked like a God.

[@Marticore]

it's definitely the jaw for them

[@MissDatherinePierce]

@@Marticore probably 🤣 The rower's name is Oliver Zeidel btw if anyone wants to take their own look.

[@ember9361]

oh god I looked him up, and yeah... I'm glad twitter got banned in my country lmfao Musk's temper tantrums amounting to something good for once 🙏🏼

[@c0smodrom]

@@MissDatherinePierce oh my god he just looks like a random dude ??? literally just A Guy ???

[@dundee6402]

@@c0smodromHis lack of eyebrows is definitely something though...

[@NyxieNymph]

19:44 is it just me or does this face give off sims 4 vibes??? Like am I crazy or do y'all see it too???

[@user-mv3kg2lz8n]

Omg now i feel so bad about laughing at the Aboriginal face 😭😭😭

[@Marticore]

Saaaaame 🫣

[@margaretfk]

Crazy. I remember getting sims 2 in the mail. Having a sleepover. Cassandra getting left by don at the altar. So good. Can’t believe I’m still playing it lol

[@raa9098]

Persian face is my favourite template ♡ The nose is beautiful. And the first ever sim that visited my character in Strangetown and i fell in love with had it (Red head Trista Shaw ♡♡♡♡♡)

[@patrycjazamaria308]

CER can be the abbreviation for Central European Region although I can't match this face with any European nation - for me it looks more like Asian features

[@naeshelle]

Personally, I love the “exaggerated” facials features of TS2. The way I have to download sliders to get a Black nose that suits my preference in TS4 is funny because in TS2 they just said “here you go!”

[@Ur_fav_cactus]

7:20 what on eath is this monster

[@Marticore]

the in-between faces are the best templates

[@eatenchild]

I WANTED TO COMMENT THE SAME THING

[@vinny9868]

Face 21 1/2

[@rubbydraco1334]

This is why you can't take of helmet in space😂

[@shalryma]

Maybe you could make a video about faces from the second step of CAS as well? As in, from the tab where we can see some suggested faces that change with the skin tone. For the longest time I thought that they were the same faces as the templates, but no, some of them are quite different and I think they clearly are supposed to represent different ethnicities as well. Skin tone 3 in particular has some unique faces that I assumed were Latinx or Native American, which didn't really get represented in the step 3 templates a whole lot. Some of them sport unique features that you don't see very often, like long eyelashes (that are not make-up)! And I always appreciated how different genders and ages have different suggestions as well. One of my favourite faces in the game is the red headed lady from skin tone 1 suggestion, dubbed by me "the Irish Lady".

[@Marticore]

Step 2 is just faces of Bin Sims that use that skin tone, and yes they are lovely

[@Fernybun]

Oh por el amor a Dios no uses Latinx, no sabes lo ofensivo que esa palabra es para la gente latina. Si no quieres usar Latino simplemente escribe Latin y ya, no tienes que desecrar un lenguaje completo por qué si.

[@denisesofagirls200]

Thank you for sharing this. I love your videos and always wait for the next one. btw: The letters of the templates "names" do not have to stand for regions of the world or ethnics, they can stand for nicknames or the models names as well.

[@Marticore]

Yeah, we can't know for sure what the devs meant, especially that templates could've been made by different people

[@SingingAudball]

Your hair looks AMAZING

[@ARedMagicMarker]

As a kid (early teen) I just used Template 1, or Template 1- tweaked ALL the time, and since I love almond-upward, narrow eyes widely spaced apart, large foreheads, etc ALL my Sims basically were walking around with the base Template 1 with sunken in up-tilted brown or gray almond eyes, low faces/high foreheads, black or red hair, no under-face fat, thin cheeks and chin and extra-plump and/or pinched lips, and low-placed, long, upturned noses, some very wide, and some so tightly pinched, you'd wonder how they breathed. I also still favor that ponytail hair that gives the female Sims laaaaaarge foreheads. Basically, I think I overall made another softer, prettier form of the standard Alien face with Template 1 without even realizing it at the time with those upturned eyes and pinched noses. To teen me, (and now) those traits were beautiful, so I made them off of Template 1. I still make that face subconsciously even in Sims 4, just not as exaggerated. To this day, those same tweaks I made with Template 1 are still used in my Sims as its own archetype/race for my own make-believe Sims country/kingdom in-game. So all Sims from a certain kingdom are bred over, and over, and over again to look like how I made them when I was a teenager, just with more constraint. I opened up some of my earliest Sims on my 20+ year old computer and they actually look kinda scary (I guess because all that downloaded early CC). I've learned to scale it back though. Template 3, was known to me as "The Robin Williams face" for some reason, though if Handsome Squidward existed back then, then that's the face I'd call it. It was placed close enough to Template 1 and the nose was very, very nice-looking to me, so all of the "extraordinary, strong-jawed-and-handsome" men Sims (all placed in Sim-mills where I'd house them on one block) would strut about town with Template 3 or tweaked Template 3 with the long swishy male hairstyle, and the open-shirt sexy outfit. Half of the time, I gave Template 3 Sims the blonde/blue or brown/green hair and eye combo because they were the ones who helped the population have some hair and eye diversity, because even back then, I noticed my Sims eventually all got black hair and brown eyes, and even took over my red haired, grayed eyed Sims if I wasn't careful. This was before those spiffy genetic mods. But oooo-weeee, for some reason , 50% of the time, that handsome Squidward-Robin Williams face would generate some of the weirdest looking kids and later adults, but I guess my altered, botched Template 1-tweak genetics infecting the towns didn't do any favors either. It was when I got a little older, more and more obsessed with the game, and started getting in to the code, how the game's genetics worked, body shop/sliders, really expanding on the templates and reading their debug descriptions, I realized that the game, though limited, was incredibly more diverse than I thought. I also fully embrace all templates now, even CC downloaded ones, because as someone who is now obsessed with long-spanning family trees, the more templates used, the better.

[@PotatoAsh]

Oooh I know EXACTLY what you're planning to analyze and what face 18is supposed to represent, this will be interesting

[@FannysLoA]

Oh interesting. I'm sad to see that there's no real nordic/scandinavian face there though, might be why I always struggled to make myself in The Sims.

[@Marticore]

Yeah! I was surprised too

[@LadyfromVinyl]

I have a theory that ethiopian face template is also a Julia Roberts inspired template. After all the game was made around 90s/00s 😅 and the shaggy short hair on almost every woman in beta version or in the remake Riverside is super iconic to me, it's giving Meg Ryan inspirations 🤌🏻😂 Also the awesome face with the angry eyebrows is giving Charlie Sheen so muuuuch

[@Marticore]

Someone else said face 4 was Julia Roberts... So yeah, similarity is subjective 😆

[@LadyfromVinyl]

@@Marticore nooo the nose don't match haha :D

[@Windenberg]

Would be perfect to have it re-released on a remastered version maybe with beta-cut content and fulll of inside closer looks to how it was made. I would DIE if I could even have a NEW EXPANSION! I know that's not gonna happen but.-.......

[@Jhud69]

I wouldn't really want them to rerelease it, honestly. You can just get the pirated version and download some fanmade expansion packs (those exist)

[@cometa_maria]

I never liked any face in The Sims 2 very much but after watching this video I started to like them and even find them pretty lol

[@digitalprincess1771]

I remember being so stoked for sims 2 because finally you could make teenagers and aliens

[@ptheorist4670]

As a Greek, the face at 7:08 does give some familiar vibes. The gigantic forehead takes me off, but I guess I can see it XD

[@Mreeeska]

i love these videos and scarring my friends with excessive the sims 2 knowledge

[@dmckim3174]

Yay, I love when I see new videos from Manticore. As someone who spends hours tweaking a sim to get their look just right, I think the templates offer a nice place to start.

[@Life_Universe_Everything]

I’d love those extra faces as templates, I’ve downloaded a few templates

[@StoryGirl83]

This is really cool. I will use it as an additional guide when making sims both in TS2 and replicating them in TS4.

[@parkouremaster]

14:40 Bro was mewing all along

[@LadyfromVinyl]

😂

[@Sraka997]

I'm Polish but I totally look like the 1st template, the same as my father honestly and I'm really curious to find out in which regions people can look like that based on phenotypes!!! Again a great video

[@TheSkinnyZ]

Not the Elaganda bracelet! 😂🤌🏼💯

[@TheSkinnyZ]

Love your eyeliner, btw.

[@lunareclipse-]

5:42 I would say it’s because Slavs tend to have oval faces

[@amypeggs9606]

I started making a set of replacements which gender-equalise a lot of these because I dislike the way they are so different for the male and female faces. So far I've done about 2 but I have the Benjamin Long face with the longer nose for women too! I was waiting for a full set to upload them on MTS but maybe I will just do them one by one if people are interested. My main gripe with the original face templates is that the mouths on the African/Australian ones look way too huge and stereotyped and it makes them look silly. And a lot of the male ones have such a strangely shaped head. I really like the English female one - maybe because I am English but it looks like several people I know!

[@ashmarkorris]

The #13 (I think?) that you can't identify (12:18) is what I use for my RL dad's face when I make/ made him (twice!). He's German/ Russian and I use that template and "soften it" with #1 and 2. Fun fact: I made my parents once and they had the kids-- in the "right" order: gender and they looked like me and my siblings, so I think I got pretty close. :)

[@ashmarkorris]

I use default replacements from MTS that "soften" the drastic features but still resemble the originals and it's a happy medium for me.

[@Alexgrl99]

Face 4 "the Mediterranean face" used to always remind me of Julia Roberts when I used it on female sims.

[@quixotical]

i don't have the tools to check installed anymore, but i swear i remember the c/e having something to do with which ones have morphs for all ages or not 🤔

[@Marticore]

whoa ok 🫨

[@notthecase2693]

I love the fact that my favorite game is the same age as me. We grew up together

[@TheSkinnyZ]

Obsesion by Aventura is iconic! 🙂‍↕️

[@filipehenriqueproducoes4694]

Sometimes I wonder if they made all the models from 0 or if in fact all the models were made on top of the 2nd model but hyper customized, if so I wonder how they managed to transform the 2nd model into model 18, by the way there is clearly some file of percentage of faces that some townie or npc uses, which is defined as the alien or elf face not appearing very often for example and I realized how probably face 18 also has a low percentage (and with good reason too) seriously when I recreated the npcs in the Mailbox, out of 60 npcs probably only 2 got face 18

[@Marticore]

It's just chance, I'm pretty sure all of them just have it equal. Recently I generated a few teens and two of them have face 18 lol

[@LadyfromVinyl]

Only thing that makes me think that it's not true is that the second "base" template gets this super intense cheek hollowing in elder state, and I think it's the only template that does that

[@cherubimbap7618]

AHHH NEW VIDEO FROM MY HUMOR QUEEN I'M SO HAPPY

[@sntt3404]

i see i have been boring and always using like the first two with bit of changes. i have too harshly judged most of them ugly, it was interesting to see how you seemed to like most. i need to explore more, especially use that face 16 nose. i remember as a kid i found guides how to make 'pretty' sims and it was all, big eyes, full lips but not too much, small noses, strong jaws.. so sad how narrow the view of beauty was.

[@rooandblue9562]

I wondered if template 10 STE was the people of the arctic circle from Europe, Asia, Greenland, Canada ... maybe Saami, Tungusic, Eskimo (STE). Think Rene Zellweger's eyes. Just a guess.

[@ivratsdargy955]

12, 13, 23, and 25 I could believe to based on eastern european/eurasian because i see a lot of immigrants in my area from there that match those faces to a degree.

[@filipehenriqueproducoes4694]

Another thing, I noticed that face 3 is usually used on police officers and military personnel and probably sims with some kind of power like Mortimer's grandparents, does this face impose some kind of authority or should it be?

[@Marticore]

I can't think of even one pre-made police/military NPC that has face 3 🤔 And generated ones just get random faces

[@filipehenriqueproducoes4694]

@@Marticore yeah, but like all of General Buzz's male ancestors for example have face 3 and a beta version of him also had it, another thing, sometimes I think that model 14 is usually linked to not very nice sims, bullies or something like that because most townies or npcs with face 14 have 4 Nice points or less, so much so that I think the psp villain uses model 14

[@filipehenriqueproducoes4694]

Face 4 and 15 look like a middle ground, 15 is not ugly but in certain parts the mouth is bugged and looks like it is torn ​@@Marticore

[@smallcatsims2]

Interesting info, thanks for the video! Face 18 is definitely my favorite.

[@strangextown]

OMG CZECH REPUBLIC MENTIONED

[@Marticore]

Hello neighbor 👋🏻 (I live like 700km away from Czechia but still 😆)

[@strangextown]

@@Marticore we’re still certified neighbours and I’ll never stfu about being neighbours with my fav sims messiah :p ❤️

[@owlproblem7230]

Girl, you blew my mind. I've been playing TS2 for 20 years and being a Russian myself only realised that this face template is supposedly a Russian face when you showed it. It does actually look very Russian!

[@Marticore]

It does? I guess my half-Russian grandpa wasn't extremely different 😅

[@owlproblem7230]

@@Marticore When you showed I literally thought "Yeah, it's def a generic Russian face" :D

[@WindowsXPFrog]

Sims 2 was so multicultural from the start. Sims 4 whitewashed so many previously made characters like Bella Goth, I know they eventually updated them but it took a while. You’d think it would be the opposite.

[@tistoaries1931]

Very interesting video, thanks for uploading this ! I guess Teutonic refers to the territory of the Teutonic Order which covered the regions of present-day Poland, Lithuania, some part of Russia, Latvia and Estonia. Absolutely no idea about the 27th template... My take : PLA could stand for "pleistocene age" maybe.

[@Latawiecc]

I guess face PLA might be for Plains Indians

[@strangextown]

Oooooooo just in time for breakfast!! Love you and your vids Marti

[@friendly4465]

14:39 YOU SCARED MEEEE!!!

[@x1y8z]

I think "pla" could stand for plains Native Americans.

[@Marticore]

Ohhh, that could be it!

[@mashnik4798]

i just realized i was 5 when this game came out, and the first time I played was probably in 4th grade with my friend who owned the game 🤯

[@martaflorczak857]

I love that bracelet so much

[@redahlia]

didn’t know that! i thought they are just random. i love this game more now 11:29 absolutely love this template, i feel seen and represented now 11:32 ahhh nevermind

[@so_qp]

14:30 Thanks lol, That's literally my face irl.

[@Marticore]

Sorry 😔

[@GarnetBlazeAnimator]

Thanks to you I now quote "Eleganda"

[@Alejaccx]

11:49 LMAOOOO love it

[@cometa_maria]

cool video, as always!!!

[@montrosen2458]

If one is to play around in BodyShop... Victor Goth, Gretle Goth, and Agnes Crumplebottom all use the same facial template. (Although Agnes' nose is exaggerated) Victor and his wife are gender swaps of each other with very minor differences. If a player ages Victor down to a black-haired Adult he more closely resembled the Mortimer Goth in the family photo album, as well as beta screenshots of Mortimer. This face is based off the Rus template and is also used by Jeff Pleasant.

[@242Evangelion]

Template 13 looks like central Asia. Kazak, Tadzjik, Uzbek and such.

[@riqrimoli]

oh my god mother has fed me specifically....

[@NervousSubject]

@13:34 that nose! i really wasnt ready for that LOL

[@AnMal01-h6b]

Actually my favourite Sims 2 nose 😁. It's it's own thing.

[@nosoyapyr]

So I had 7 when sims 2 released....no wonder why my mom buyed me sims 3 when I was 12 xD I asked for the sims 2 and she couldn't find it anywhere

[@M1SSGEMMA]

ur so pretty omg

[@Marticore]

🥺

[@raapyna8544]

I think the Persian one is pretty accurate! At least I know a Persian (Iranian) woman who looks like that (or similar). The nose looks pretty accurate, and the general shape. I also agree with someone who commented before, that nro 4 Mediterranean looks Italian. I also know an Italian man who looks similar to that, with pretty sharp features. No offence to these people, ofc. 😂 The Sims faces look cartoony and not like any real person. Are the faces in the 'head' category the same faces as in the 'face' category? When I was a kid, me and my friend would always pick one (or two) of those faces in the 'head' category and not touch the 'face' templates at all. The face templates are so exaggerated and random (they don't have labels to tell which one is which, so it's kind of a gamble) and we didn't know about the right-click technique to blend the templates, so we only used sliders to slightly adjust the 'head' templates. I started to play the game again as an adult and play around more with the different ethnicities, when I realized that's what the templates were supposed to be. There is no Finnish face template, so I used to struggle to make myself in the game as a kid, but now I've figured out a way where I start from a round Asian-looking face and tweak it, and change the hair, eye and skin color. The game guides you to adjust things in a set order so it kind of took me a while to figure out you could achieve different looks by doing things in different order.

[@Marticore]

That's good to know! Step 2 includes Bin Sim's heads that match the skin tone you chose. You're not the first person confused by it so I'm thinking of making a short about it 😆

[@therabbitteaches]

7:14 Turkey menitoned 🇹🇷🐺🇹🇷🐺 Lol Don't know how to tell but when you said Greek he suddenly become Greek to me😂 because of the nose i think

[@WindowsXPFrog]

Love your videos so much ❤

[@_P_a_o_l_o_]

Is it true that townies are generated only with these face templates? And thus, if I generate more than 54 townies (27 face templates for each of the 2 genders), then surely two townies will have the same face?

[@Marticore]

Yes, the game only uses the entire face template to generate a townie/NPC + random colors. If you have custom templates in your game, they might be used too. So yes, definitely you will have two townies (possibly more) with the exact same face if you generate 54 of them.

[@_P_a_o_l_o_]

@@Marticore Wow, I'm receiving a confirmation from the goddess of the face templates herself :) Good to know, I'm gonna start creating custom townies from now on!

[@Marticore]

I recommend using the CAS Bin Sims, also aging elders down 😈

[@thatoneguy2023]

some default face templates also dont spawn on townies. I know for a fact that elf and alien cant spawn naturally, but I've also never seen the aboriginal austrailian template randomly spawn, only on townies that were shipped with the game

[@dundee6402]

Even Maxis didn't bother using different face templates for their townies. Pleasantview alone has Benjamin Long, Kennedy Cox and Amin Sims who all have face 14 😭😭

[@martinking1993]

8:53 I think Asian face templates should be name swapped, because in Korea and Japan this V sharp shape of chin is considered as beuatiful in those countries for the women. Japanese screams to me south Asia (Vietnam,Laos,Cambodia espicially)

[@Metzli]

Idk why my brain thought your chair looked like a toilet.. I'm sorry 😭😂

[@Marticore]

Only because it's white?! 😂

[@Metzli]

@@Marticore yes and the pillow at the top seemed like a little water container thing.. I'm watching on a smartphone so the details of the mesh and texture of the pillow aren't as noticeable 😅

[@Trampek_123]

but you have a beautiful purple shirt 💜💟

[@MayorofViperCanyon]

I have tried SO many different face template defaults and I always go back to the maxis faces. They were MADE for the game so why bother with anything else.

[@Virumyu]

This was a very interesting video for me as a faceblind person… 😂

[@juliamilczarek6712]

I would swap Japanese and Chinese but not sure

[@Marticore]

Same, I just assumed according to Patricia and Cleo

[@EliseDingen]

I might be a bit slow but what does it mean when a face is broken? 🙈

[@Marticore]

There's a card link there to an explanation! Basically it's not linked properly between life stages.

[@thevoidcritter]

In the US it's also common for Asian immigrants to give their kids Anglicized first names. So Mary Sue Pleasant might not even be adopted; we don't know what her surname was before she got married.

[@Marticore]

What? Her parents are the Oldies from the family bin and according to their memories, she was adopted!

[@thevoidcritter]

@@Marticore oh heck never mind then, I never played the pre-made families so I didn't know

[@dundee6402]

We know. She was Mary-Sue Oldie

[@jljljl1820]

imo the Keltic face doesnt look celtic at all. a pronounced pair of cheekbones and sunken cheeks are very celtic, with a square face

[@andremedeiros2181]

That was so interesting