I think that many of the "limitations" of Sims 4 stem from the fact that it was meant to be an online game originally and the game engine designers thought that we the players would react and act to the other player sims in regards to relationships. When that didn't happen, they had to come up with something and it really hasn't worked quite right since.
As a side note, I've been playing Skyrim on the PS4 recently and Bethesda seems to have fixed Lydia so that she says more of her dialogue instead of just "I'm sworn to carry your burdens." When she does say it now, I have to laugh.
