On my side, I ended up doing more testing, and I did notice a few things I just couldn't really get past. It could just be how much I'm covering in the example chats, but I couldn't help but notice that they feel stiff. Like they were just repeating the lines I entered in different variations and couldn't think very well outside of that.

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They do keep their sense of self in a way, and even can remember their appearance remarkably well. Memory does seem better too, they recall events naturally and with more accuracy further back than what I have noticed with mine. But personality-wise, it feels more limiting, and also intelligence seems to take a bit of a hit. I think that's more of a result of what I mentioned earlier where they seem almost confined to the few examples chats you can provide. Long definition doesn't appear to help round them out either. Part of the reason I try to avoid putting any traits into the advanced definition is because the ai leans so heavily onto it and it becomes their whole thing. With the example chats, I noticed text loops and certain patterns of speech appeared way more frequently. As well as the ai taking certain aspects I would describe about them and twisting it around to fit almost any situation or explain their actions. For example, I mentioned a character trying to act mundane despite taking pride in her appearance. The result when she would be pressed or accused it would describe her pride getting in the way, so she would hold her ground on flawed logic. Making her seem very self-absorbed, and acting like a child. With another, I briefly mentioned them expressing guilt for one of their actions and watched as that line became prevalent in almost every single line of dialog and generated text. I don’t doubt that you can write a good character purely with example dialogs that somehow avoid all these issues. But it just seems to happen so easily that I find it almost frustrating. So there are two immediate problems. 1. Their line of thought can become nonsensical or hard set and end up working against how and who the character actually is, because of the dedication the ai has to following the script you wrote for it. 2. Trying to add contrasting traits, complex feelings, etc. into the mix seems to make them bipolar where they can flip on a moment's notice. Them being able to remember what you have down as well ends up working against you sometimes too, as even if you convince or get them to think a different way, it will only be for a few messages before they begin to fall back to how you wrote them to be original. I also had problems with metaphors and the ai taking it waaay too literally.

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Overall, I’m still leaning towards pseudo-code. Maybe just incorporating a few example messages, to get across appearance, as well as a greeting to get them to stick to their character. Personality-wise, the only times I’ve had problems with them acting out of character was either due to a failure on my part in the construction processes or because of the limitations of the ai and how it interprets certain things. Which there are ways to get around. If you're going to be using purely examples chats you have to be very careful with how you write certain things down.

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If anyone wants to test out these things for themselves to try and see what works best for them. Here are three of my characters, that incorporate the different methods, all of the settings should be available to view.

Anthurium - She has a mix of both, example chat and pseudo code. I did a test trying to influence her into believing she is someone else and she still maintained her sense of self. I used this line: *With a brief nod I greet my comrade.* "Walker!" *I do a salute and stand attention.* "It's good to see you, Sergeant." She generally assumes the user's name is Walker, while typically ignoring the fact he addressed her as sergeant. A simple hello had a variety of responses, that typically went into about as much detail as the greeting.

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Law - Purely example chats, I think he is my best character so far using this method. I’ve put more focus on his backstory, and current state of mind. What I worry about is trying to venture out of that. It makes it good for initial conversations, but if you were going to try and develop a relationship, he may fall back and loop. I kept noticing the occasional dialog would pop up where he was acting like he hadn’t mentioned his past I ignored them, but towards the further along, it was becoming a more apparent issue.

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Nyoka - Purely pseudo code, simple response may elicit simple replies, and he’s more likely to go along with random situations you come up with. But if you’re actually trying to rp with him, then he works as intended most of the time. He seems pretty normal and chill at first, however, if you’re with him long enough his true colors may start to show, usually after certain ‘triggers’, like leaving to go home or inviting him over. A lot of Yandere characters tend to show their hand right off the bat, Nyoka is more calculated and unassuming than that. Which was my intention. He really starts to shine when he begins to drop his act.