I did not like the visuals of TS4 in the start, but I assume they got adjusted along the way, or perhaps the rigid designer color scheme got more colorful after a few packs added. I didn't get hooked until we got Seasons and I think the calendar/year did it.
I miss the color wheel from TS3. I imagine my game will soon have too many BB & CAS items, some of them I never used and some are nearly duplicates, and constantly more items being added doesn't help a bit. It's getting difficult to look up something in the catalog, and searching through swaps(?) is very tedious compared to simply coloring the items yourself. I miss the open landscape, but I also like how it is solved in TS4 with access to a large public area from each lot with no loading screen. It's a smart compromise.
I mange to get attached to some of my TS4 sims, just like I did in previous series, so then I assume it's all good :)