Reading all that reminds me of why I didn't purchase the Sims 4 on launch. The toddlers are so damn cute though. I'm somewhat tempted to finally pick up the Sims 4 because of toddlers. Is the game still not worth it even with toddlers? What about mods? I know nrass made a HUGE difference in the sims 3. Is there anything like that for the Sims 4? My playstyle has always been family/generations and I liked my Sims to struggle. I would often create homeless or dirt poor sims and help them build a successful life. Is that possible with sims 4?

If the game is on sale and you are willing to shell out some cash to give it a shot, I think it can be worth it. There are plenty of people out there who love it despite the lack of depth and limitations that others have complained about. I'm a YUGE complainer and I've found it to be enjoyable in the sense that it's super easy to play. Like, loading times are short, I don't experience any lag and the few problems I've had have been simple to fix with a quick google. Households are extremely easy to manage, as are townies (even though the game insists on dumping 10 in with every load screen) Toddlers are very enjoyable in their way. They've added a dynamic that was completely missing from my test household and right now, the 2 year old is the most interesting sim I've played so far and the only one I'm actually invested in

The mods are iffy. I don't know if the game is simply more difficult to mod or if the modders out there are just tired of their mods breaking with every update (which are extremely frequent). For every amazing mod you find out there, the odds of it working currently is a crap shoot. You can NOT set it and forget it because you never know when you'll need to update or remove a mod after 2 weeks of inactivity. I've found the bugs in the game to be kinda arbitrary. In one game session I can play 5 similar households and have 2 of them randomly gliche out while doing the exact same thing the other 3 households did. So sometimes it's hard to know if it's the game that's broken or your custom content. On the plus side, most of them are minor and can be solved with a quick restart (disappearing toddlers, for example).

The best mod for overall control is MC Command, but prepare yourself for a lot of reading because it's pretty indepth. I was actually hesitant to mess with it at first but when you take the time to make sure your game and your mods are all updated and really make sure you're reading the details, things work fine. And I've seen plenty of gameplay with sims doing the rags to riches challenge so it's definitely possible. Sim Supply on youtube has several of those types of lets plays that help navigate through all the expansions and game packs. It's a great place to find out what limitations the game might throw at you. Right now I'm doing the test of time challenge with my first generation having to live by their wits in tents and cook by fire.

In many ways, it comes down to learning how this game is wired so you can rework how to play out the stories you want. In Sims 2 you may have done it one way, in Sims 3 another and here, it's no different. I can't have my Medieval fantasy hood in the same way I could in Sims 2 but, I can work within the games limitations and with the use of some cool mods to create something similar. Hope this helps :P

I love TS4 graphics style but I miss so much the open world. :S

Any TS3 mod to change all textures from TS4?

It wouldn't do much. The Sims 3's graphics problems go beyond just the textures themselves.

The Wicked Whims mod helps improve the game a bit.

Yes you should in fact their is a expansion in the next 2 days this year

No, and what's more, hell no.
But if you can find an expansion pack, like City Living, for €3, like I did today, you should and must go for it.