From what I have read, I feel it's all willy nilly. It seems to be a bunch of coded random phone calls that the game has no idea what has been happening with any Sim. So, it just makes up stuff and ask the player to comment, yes or no. It won't matter if you told a Sim to start a relationship with someone and or have a baby with someone or get married or whatever. The game will still play the game as it has always done and stick that Sim you just advised with any other Sim, usually some old dude from the bin. So, you wasted your time and advice if you told a caller to yes, go out with so and so and or marry so and so etc. It won't matter because later you might wind up seeing them with some random old guy from the bin.
What happens if a player deletes all the townies because we get tired of the game generating the same type and or actual clone Sims? Well, all that advice is down the drain isn't it? It's fluff and nothing more. It's what some gamers call 'busy work' when developers add things that really don't matter that much and just giving players some busy work to make them think the game has depth.
I'm not a fan of story progression and especially if TS4's is also playing my own Sims in other households and or Sims I leave in the houses even if unplayed. There are dozens of reasons players leave the premades in some of the houses so there will at least be some stability in the neighborhood and not so much culling going on, imagine if those households changed as often as they did in TS3. But from what I read not only does this story progression mess with those Sims we may place in houses (played or unplayed) and or the random townies but our own played Sims when we rotate or even while still playing them currently. That's just a mess and all willy nilly.
Maxis' reputation is faltering badly. Though the other games had bugs and some problems, TS4 is famous for being a big fat mess.
