>>11863476 (OP)The first one was made by a man with a vision.
It was special because it was something unique: it was a game about EXPERIENCING life. It was about things that happen TO you, not about you taking action in the world, and they somehow managed to make that fun despite it being almost antithetical to what a video game is in the first place.
Limited control over your village, just one free bridge woven organically into the "plot" and once it's down, it's there forever. Uncuttable shrubs stop you from digging or planting trees or flowers where you want. Essentially zero control over what neighbors you have or wear they park their houses, or when they move in or out, and why should you? They have just as much right to be here as you do, you're just another rando like everyone else in this forest. Villagers will force you to buy stuff from them whether you like it or not. They'll paint your roof and if you don't like it, you can wait as long as it takes for Tom to get your paint colour in. They even put in a mole that shouts at you if you don't play the game exactly the way they want you to.
Ever since then, the game has just been slowly transforming into another generic sims game, until the most recent one, when they finally just gave you total power over the earth itself