What about SH4 improvements that really count?

Ok, I've heard that SH4 will have prettier graphics, prettier graphics, prettier graphics, prettier graphics, and prettier graphics. To make my point short, the focus has been mostly on improved graphics (plus some talk of UI, lifeboats, rescue missions, and more radio traffic). But what about improvements that really count, such as gameplay? I am talking about improved ai, improved realism, small and important gameplay details, etc. There has been very little mention of this that I have seen. I know that pretty graphics sell games, but graphics alone do not make a game enjoyable. It appears that the developers may have put too much time and effort focusing on pretty external graphics, while possibly neglecting important gameplay features. I can't say for sure because I don't have SH4 yet, and I hope I'm wrong. Playing the game using free roam camera isn't exactly important if it sacrifices realistic gameplay development. Silent Hunter is supposed to be a simulator, not a first person shooter. If SH4 were to be released so it could be easily modded, maybe I wouldn't be so concerned. But as I am a SH3 modder, I can say that there are too many important things hard-coded (such as ai behavior) in SH3. And I'm fairly sure SH4 will be released the same way. I guess all we can hope for is that they will release the SDK for SH3 so we can fix it right.