I figure that here's how TS4 could have retained all the GOOD things about "The Sims 3" (open worlds, for example) without any of the BAD things about it:
EA/Maxis should have made TS4 a 64-bit game instead of 32-bit! For one thing, 64-bit means that TS4 would be able to make use of more than 4 Gigabytes of RAM. For another thing, the game would be taking full advantage of 64-bit processors. Ah, but wouldn't Maxis lose a lot of customers by choosing to have TS4 be 64-bit? I think not. I believe that these days, most people have computers with 64-bit processors AND 64-bit operating systems. Indeed, anybody who has more than about 4 Gigabytes of RAM *has* to have a 64-bit OS!