I agree in some aspects, Chronix. I think out of what TS4 DOES, it's the best in the series, but what it doesn't offer holds it back in some ways. It might result in a lot of people resorting to playing the older games to get their fix.
I love this game, anway. It's very seamless. The new update fixed the hangups on the loading screens but I still have issues during gameplay, but it's a new game, so I'll deal. I've played 20 hours (on record) of this game since last week.
That might not be a lot to some (and some of my OLD gaming times
) but this is the most I've gamed on ONE game alone in a good while. I'm addicted to this game.
I've been playing around with the 'Friends' tv set lot and cast and it's so fun! I realised with it how much bigger households make the live mode less boring. Imma need to jam pack my households now to keep me on edge.
I think this game has the potential to be better but never on the level of any of the previous games (yes including TS3 gloamingtheplain 
It has potential but unfortunately, certain limitations will never allow it to better than previous titles.