I haven't got the game yet, but I'm keeping well informed as I read as much as I can about the game. It's difficult seeing so much disappointment, but I'm honestly not surprised because I myself was already disappointed knowing what the game is missing. The best phrase I saw that summed it up for me was "they are called expansion packs, not completion packs". That is to say, we should not have to wait for EPs to make the game feel complete.
Unlike many I don't think the camera controls will be that much of an issue for me. From what I hear, the TS4 controls sound like the way I use the TS3 controls anyway. I turn edge scrolling off, and use the right mouse button, I click and hold the scroll button, I use the <> keys on occasion, and I use ~123 and wasd extensively.
I think the weewee walk is going to get very old very quickly. Much like the stride of pride. Annoying. That said, it's not like you have to worry as much about your sim getting slowed down by their walk, because they're not wasting time travelling all over the countryside to get to places. Travel time was a killer, and teleportation and the jetpack were lifesavers.
When I think about it, the smaller world option doesn't sound so bad. I was always looking for ways to make my Sims 3 worlds more streamlined and efficient, smaller, less taxing on my system (It's a great system, but Sims 3 is taxing on just about any system).
The loss of pools doesn't bother me too greatly - I built them, but rarely actually used them. When I think about my sims in SSV the main lots that they used were the Big Park, the Library, the Gym and the Shops. The only reason they visited anywhere else was for the rabbitholes, or to track down a sim I needed them to talk to, and less lots to search makes that a whole lot easier, though I don't think it will work this way, so no problems there.
The loss of Toddlers is unforgiveable.
The loss of CASt is unforgiveable, though it will at least refocus the game from an aspiring architect's paradise to the doll house that it was originally meant to be.
I love the look of the new career system, and can't wait to try that out.
I'm also looking forward to trying out skilling up a sim, and completing collections. At least we still have that, and it is new and different, not all the same things as before.
The action queue looks like it will be annoying (only 5! and some actions superseding others) but I think I can learn to live with that.
The moodlets panel will annoy me no end, so I'm hoping that they patch that asap.
I love that they included breastfeeding, but I'm sure that they could at least have included some coding to send the mum to a lounge chair or rocker to feed the baby. I mean, if sims can walk around on the phone, and then hang it back up, surely they could have done similar for the Mum (phone is an object, baby+crib is an object, so why not?).
I like that they brought back the dual relationship bar, and I do look forward to finding the fastest way to fill that up
The graphics doesn't bother me that much. It's different, and cartoony, but then I didn't like Sims 3 graphics compared to Sims 2 either. That's the least of my worries.
Emotions to me just seem like a different way of distributing moodlets, but different in a good way. Not overly different in concept though, just a slight change in user interface and a slight change in mechanics of what it means for game play. I think I will need to play the game to get a real feel for it though.
I still think it falls down in comparision to Sims 3 base game, which I have been playing a lot recently for a project I am working on, but will reserve judgement until I get a chance to play. On one hand I am dying to get it to try out the new things, but on the other hand I want to hold off until the first challenge is posted in the hopes that the price will drop.
