My tips as someone who has played a LOT in the past 16/17 years:
- When you first play, cheat. Cheat a lot. Figure the game out, have fun, build them a mansion and buy an oversized ice cream machine. Make your sims build rocket ships and travel to the moon. Try different aspirations that you're interested in.
- Then play without cheats. None at all. Try and aim for the life your sim lived after motherlode, complete aspirations without cheating and see where it takes you.
Ps. You don't have to cheat to be rich. Choose the Kleptomaniac trait and steal from others to sell, marry rich sims and kill them for their money, collect as many items as you can and sell them.
It's great fun when you play like that, but I definitely think you should discover the game using the cheats first
