Was Open world really that bad?? Could it be made to work?

There were definitely issues with the open world in 3, especially if you had a lower end PC, but I did love being able to send my sims to different venues & still be able to follow them all, or see what's happening at the park or the gym while my sims were at work or doing menial tasks. I think an open world could work again, if the town was cut up into smaller neighborhoods, like they have in 4.