Hi @elulu8 - good questions. 🙃
To answer your most recent questions, there are a few lots in San Myuchino that are not designated as apartments and you could replace the default lot with a vet clinic if you want to. And in one of my households, I have a sim with two big dogs and who is a vet with her own clinic in Brindleton, so I can vouch that it’s also really easy to live in San Myuchino and travel to a vet clinic in a different neighborhood as well. And yes pets are definitely allowed in apartments!
Right now there seems to be a bug (in my game at least) that is preventing dogs from being able to autonomously use elevators to relieve themselves outdoors, but that hasn’t always been the case, so presumably it’s temporary - and I’m not even sure if everyone is experiencing that same bug. (I just use the whistle icon to call them to me while I’m outside the apartment and then ask them to do their business, so the workaround is pretty easy cheesy if you do find that you have it. The dogs will go back inside on their own when they’re done so you don’t have to go through the hassle of putting them on a leash.)
Regarding Sims 5, I’ve heard unofficial rumors that the base game might be released later this year to coincide with the Sims 20th anniversary but it seems pretty late in the year for that to still be unofficial. In any case I think your should be able to get a lot out of Sims 4 even once the Sims 5 base game does come out. Ive actually been playing since the original Sims was released my freshman year of college, and one thing I remember about the transition from one Sims version to the next is that the base game always seems to lack a lot of the functionality I’m accustomed to enjoying when it’s first released but before there’s much additional content available, so I would alternate between the previous version and the newest for a while.
All three of the expansion packs you’re considering are excellent choices. City living expands gameplay thru the rent feature and includes more active shared community spaces in addition to the various festivals throughout the week that are a lot of fun and can be enjoyed by households that live in every neighborhood. I really enjoy the periodic ‘seasonal’ variation to gameplay that Seasons adds, in addition to the ability to enjoy all of the different holidays (plus it includes a calendar function so you can customize and modify the holidays exist in your game). And get to work has the three active careers, all of which are fun, and allow you to follow and actively play your Sim at their workspace. I think the scientist career in particular has a lot to offer (bonus: it made me laugh a lot, the first time through). Those are just highlights from my perspective, to add to the awesomely detailed feedback you already got from @RandomBuzziness. Honestly, I think you should get all three!
😁
Note on edit: revised a couple of the more egregious voice to text translation errors I missed initially. 🙄
