For a large group of gamers out there, January 12, 2017, marks an incredibly exciting day. Sims may not be the most played, sought after, or celebrated game, but it is popular and incredible nonetheless.

Toddlers are now available for download as long as you own the Sims 4 base game.

NOT spending money? EA? Not charging us? WHAT?

That's right. I was shocked too.

To give you an update on the pricing, Sims 4 was originally released at the high and unsettling price of $59.99. It now runs at $39.99, but was, surprisingly, even lower for the recent holiday season.

I am one of the members of the Sims community that has stuck faithfully by Sims 3's side, but it might be the time that I cheat a little.

My first experience with Sims 4 was terrible. To my 2014 eyes, the graphics were cartoony, the lack of toddlers was underwhelming, and I found the new setup rather overwhelming.

After 6 hours of gameplay, I easily found my mouse clicking uninstall.

The huge disappointment with this was that Sims is known for being as realistic as possible. There is this experience that comes along with it. Some of us play to escape our own lives, create new ones, or erupt hell upon Sunset Valley. No matter how you play, I think everyone can appreciate the authenticity point the game hits. Without toddlers, it seems more like a game and less of an experience.

Fret no more, because they have arrived!

But, is it worth the re-download or the purchase, for those that never bought it in the first place?

Well, I saw the headline on my origin account and I can't tell you how easy it was for me to click the install button.

EA, at the point of Sims 4's release, mentioned that time and some game-related technical issues were part to do with the lack of toddlers. Apparently, it takes two years.

There seems to be a theme with releases in the modern day. This is cell phones (Yes, I mean you Samsung Note), video games, furniture, books, nearly everything is released because of time restraints. A company promises EarPods in October and we don't see anything until December. (Apple, come on).

There is a pattern. Now, don't get me wrong, I am thankful. But I would be more impressed with waiting a few extra months or years to get a complete and solidified game, book, object, etc.

There are needs for updates and patches, of course, nothing is perfect, especially not video games. However, I think not introducing the game so early and including this important detail might have saved EA from customers returning to their roots: Sims 2 or 3.

Now, after spending these last two years not only playing Sims 3 but also World of Warcraft and a crap-ton of Battlefield 4, I have found that my reaction to the once "cartoony" graphics is no longer such.

Loading the game, my feet were tapping and I found myself with the urge to relieve myself. If that doesn't say how important toddlers are, I don't know what will.

Entering the create a sim page, which I previously detested, wasn't so bad either. I found the detailed physical sliding of body parts to be rather easy and enjoyed scrolling through the gender options.

By the way, for those of you who don't play Sims 4, I am incredibly impressed and happy with their integration of these options. I didn't even know that they had introduced this into the game. For Sims 3, I downloaded a mod (game modification) to ensure that I could have same-sex couples that could birth children or hire a surrogate.

(Hiring a surrogate is rather expensive, so I found myself often just using the available mod to allow same-sex couples to have children via natural birth). These adjustments to Sims 4 have taken my want of mods completely away.

Now, on to the actual toddlers. I found them to resemble tiny children rather than actual goo-goo ga-ga toddlers like in the Sims 3. In fact, the toddlers stand in CAS (create a sim) rather than sit like those in the game's previous versions.

The hairstyles are very few, but that was no surprise. I will applaud them, however, on the styles themselves. I found them to be modern and incredibly cute on the little ones. The clothing options were wonderful, and a nice upgrade from the Sims 3. There were only three shoe selections, but with the number of patterns and colors to choose from, there aren't any complaints on my end.

There were some great personality options that had equally adorable animations to go along with them (EA did an incredible job with all of the toddler animations!)

Speaking of the animations, the more I play the more I am willing to give EA a solid grade A on them.

Toddlers require their 'toddler' beds to sleep in and can only be fed in high chairs or by having the food dragged to their inventory to eat. (But they usually knock the food off of the surface, making a mess if you create them in CAS without building a relationship first).

One really wonderful aspect that was added alongside the toddlers is their relationships with their parents. On Sims 3, it was rather easy to maintain a good relationship with your toddler. I'm not even really sure if there is any way to negate that relationship besides ignoring the baby.

On Sims 4, however, you must build your relationship with your child before doing certain things like teaching them to talk. The child, no matter which personality you choose, tends to cross their arms and pout, unwilling to comply. (For any parents out there- here we have realism, no?)

Sims 4 has these wonderful little quirks, but the addition of the toddlers really sent it over the edge. The mother reading the baby to sleep, the baby bouncing as they ‘dance’ to music, having a nightmare and wakes up running to mommy's room crying to wake her up where she has to comfort them. The arrival of toddlers has allowed me to grow attached to my Sims, even more so than playing Sims 3. There are more things to teach them like imagination and mobility. EA has made the skills a lot more general, and some increase skill levels for the toddlers as they age up into children. Instead of teaching a toddler to talk, you help them gain skill in "communication." And instead of teaching them to walk, you teach them "mobility." All of these little details add SO much to the game and increase the experience and realism.

Sure, with the Sims 4 it isn't necessarily an open world like its predecessor, nor does it let you create your own patterns and colors. But the game does go into depth with emotions and, now with toddlers, allows heart strings to be tugged at.

So, all in all, toddlers were quite a wait. But, boy, they were worth it.

For those of you that have $39.99 or a birthday coming up, I'd say Sims 4 is worth the cash. It is a game that has thousands of possibilities and can be played any way you find fit. You don't ever need to spend any more money unless you really want some new content, but I recommend waiting for Black Friday/Cyber Monday for those.

If your computer can't successfully run Sims 4, try seeking a friend to build you a new computer after you've saved over a few months. Or, maybe scour craigslist for some used parts, and then hand them over to your tech savvy bud. (Maybe a good topic for next week?)

And for those of you that uninstalled as I did two years ago, go for a reinstall and try the toddlers out. I doubt you'll be disappointed.