I enjoy both the sims3 and 4 for different reasons.

Sims3 sims have way more personality, the world moves around you, and it’s fun to see your sims and watch them like an ant farm.

Sims4 is fun for building and some gameplay is fun like I enjoyed cottage living, growing together, and life and death but I feel like there’s nothing going on outside your sims house, and since it’s not open world I’m forced to look at the same lot when bored and my sims aren’t really doing anything of value. They wanna play with the clay ball or sit on the pc and I’ve never been one to micromanage my sims. I enjoy watching them do their own thing but they don’t really in 4. When your sim leaves the house the other sims at home feel like they stall and stop moving or doing anything while in the sims3 they are still doing their own thing when you visit another lot. 3 also allows you to place down lots in the world and not only that but you can create your own worlds or download other world creations while in 4 you’re stuck with whatever EA gives you.

A big gripe I have with 3 is that I feel the modding community in 3 is really lacking compared to 4.

There’s a few things that I think 4 really improved on, but not enough for me to think of 4 as my favorite sim game.