What happened in your first ever Sims family?

First family was the Newbies, got TS1 on day one. Found about it doing research for an economics paper in college, it looked interesting and unlike any other game out there at the time. Been regularly simming ever since; TS1 until 2 came out, TS2 is still my go-to Sims game all these years and however many computers later. Tried 3 when it came out, didn't like it - all the sims looked alike and no more albums attached to the households. Gave it a second chance just before TS4 came out, but still didn't like it for the same original reasons plus the one household per game save problem. TS4 has been hit and miss since it came out, even though I have most of the packs. While it's a huge improvement over 3, the albums are still not attached to households and time still goes on even in households I'm not playing. I play rotationally like a writer writes stories, with full control over the characters, so the TS4 system does not work for me. That and it's much shallower than 2, so my interest isn't held for long.