Again, I think Sims 2 was, in all ways but gameplay, the best game in the series. Sims 3 sacrificed things to be able to handle an open world and it was a valid sacrifice but it made certain things worse.
Sims 4 has three things that are better than 2 or 3: You can at any time move to another world without losing relations or progress (which actually is huge! and a true improvement on all levels), the VASTLY superior Build Mode and of course the graphics.
Every. Thing. Else. Is at best a little bit worse than in Sims 3, and often radically worse than Sims 2.
And that includes not only details in animations but yes, the slightly naughty humor, the off the rails item descriptions... and so on. Things have either been sacrificed to accommodate an online play style that never happened or as sacrifice on the altar of "We hope no parent anywhere will object to us".
