Is it like World Adventures quest-wise? Is the building like Sims or SimCity? I love all games Sims. Will this live up my expectations?
I havent’ picked it up yet and probably won’t for a while since this month has been so full of awesome games I had to have. I’m dreading my wife’s next look at our checkbook!
But I’m looking forward to other’s impressions. This looks like a really interesting concept for the franchise.
I’ve pre-ordered it - it doesn’t come out until the 25th here 
It’s more for my girlfriend (honest - I’ll be busy with the 3DS), but from what I’ve seen it’s more of a management sim, sending your subjects out to do quests and so on.
I really wish I hadn’t seen this thread. I already made plans for the next six months. Looks like I’m going to have to cancel them.
Pretty much. There are seven available quests at any given time and some will have an effect, positive or negative, on the local population. Exactly who can do the quest depends on the quest; some are only available to the king or queen to solo and some are available to any player character with up to two sidekicks.
You could call it SimKingdom. You don’t design buildings but rather place them onto pre-chosen locations in your kingdom, then chose the sim (you are presented with two randomly-selected sims or you can create one) who is the boss of that building then decorate the building. Player sims and NPCs go about their daily lives, get married, and (I assume) eventually die. Each building costs a certain amount of resource points, which are acquired through quests.
The only Needs everyone has are food and sleep but some have additional needs through their Fatal Flaw. For example, a Drunkard needs booze on a regular basis. Fatal Flaws, however, can be turned into a Legendary Trait by facing the flaw through a special quest.
Forgot to mention that most quests have two or more ways to complete the quest; you select which route you want to take when you select the quest.
IGN just reviewed it:
8.5
“People are dumb.”
Whatever you do, if you have a female Sim, do not woohoo unless you are prepared to have a baby. Stupid not-having-effective-contraception medieval times.
I’ve played it and I don’t like it. Very little customization and I think the quests are just meh. If I’d bought it myself I probably would have felt obligated to give it more of a chance. But the little I played did not leave me wanting more.
I am firmly in the Meh category as well - I wanted to like it (I love the Sims, I love medieval stuff!) but I find that it feels very limited and a little too “railroaded” to be fun. I really dislike the camera angles (or lack there of) and the way the game handles quests. I’ll hold out hope for some excellent mods, but in general, I would have prefered a “Medieval town” expansion to Sims 3 then what this ended up being.
I’ve only played the first quest line so far, but I’m really worried about the longevity of the game. To score the maximum on each quest, you have to take as long as possible to complete each stage. This has me thinking someones realised “We’ve got a £10 expansion pack - how do we pad it out to justify a £30 price tag?”
Also I’m supposed to be the fucking King! Who the hell do they think they are pissing in my bucket?!
After a few days (I only get to play a couple of hours a day) I have to agree with all of this. And there doesn’t seem to be any dungeons. It also makes my hope of a Sims World Adventure Expansion Expansion fall. I wished for an American pack with NYC and Las Vegas and LA. Or a European pack with London and Amsterdam.
Still playing, though.
Oh but don’t take too long. My first wizard was executed for dereliction of duty because I couldn’t figure out how to get pieces of souls.
From what I’ve seen second-hand, the quests have a certain amount of irreverence and humour which is typical of Sims games. Last night my girlfriend was swapping wards with a half-man half-crab cave dweller, and got given a moustache for her efforts.
One of the dances is reminiscent of certain knights riding in search of the Holy Grail. The kingdom 'tis a silly place.
I have to say I’m enjoying the game, though it seems most view it as ‘meh’.
I’ve always wanted a civilization type game that allowed me to really dictate the social aspect of a civilization, and this is closer than some as we are the ‘watcher’. I like that I control the kingdom and that I can get into the game and live as a hero. But, alas there is no starting at the beginning of time, researching techs and setting true social policies for the civilization (I try to set a good example with my gay monarch and female priest, but one can do so much to promote liberty.)
Granted, I hated it at first, the camera controls bugged me and I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to be doing, but now that I’ve got the hang of it I’m liking it.
My advice would be to not move around the screen like one would with the Sims, instead to click on your heroes portrait, the button for destinations (i.e. the docks/forest etc…), and the map button. For example, it’s much easier to click on the monarch to get the ‘order food’ option than trying to scroll around to find the maid to order her to make some delicious seed stew.
Also, taking longer on each quest is a good idea. I tend to work on doing the two daily wishes, leveling and earning money to pimp out my heroes house and usually wait until I get a ‘this many hours left to complete this section of the quest’ buff in my focus section before starting on it. This way I complete the quests at platinum level (the level rises if you keep focus up).
The Monarch is so far my primary and I think I started loving him when I got to the quest that brought him a love interest, though the Physician is fun. Once you learn how to use the leech-torture-bed you can have hours of fun and make money while doing it!
I would like to re-revise my opinion of the game. Still hate the controls, still wish for dungeons (maybe later?), still hoping for a World Adventures expansion but. . …
I can’t stop playing it. I only get to play it a few hours a day so I’m still doing New Beginning. Almost done and I’m torn between doing New Beginning again the right way or seeing what’s behind one of the locks.
It took a while for me to get the hang of it and maneuvering around the kingdom is a pain but I really love my Monarch, blacksmith, physician and Peteran Priest. Need to play the wizard and spy more. Find the merchant a lot of work and so cannot stand even the concept of the Jacobian priest that I haven’t ever played him-- I also made him a vain and greedy letch. I’m sure if I’m forced to play him he’ll be hitting on all the handsome guys.
Doing the dailies first took me quite a few plays to catch on to. Once you learn this lesson you have a lot more time to play with the sim and check things out. I’d like to see If I can get my Monarch to throw a feast at which all the food was picked, killed and cooked by her.
Found a way to make the game a little more challenging.
It’s the “hubris” character flaw. Everytime you succeed at a task, even one as small as picking flowers, you get a -5 cumulative focus flaw that lasts for 3 hours. That’s right cumulative up to a total penalty of -40. You really have to plan your day in advance to keep racking up the focus points. It gives a nice level of strategy to the game.
I find this game terribly addictive, but I admit I’m still not clear what I’m doing, actually. I mean, you complete quests, I get that, but it seems like every time I get up one of my kingdom traits (culture, well-being, etc), I perform a quest which lowers one (or more) at the expense of another. Is there a method to this madness or is it just kinda random?
I haven’t done any systematic checks but I can tell you that if any one of them gets too low a Kill the Monarch quest appears. If you do it, your king or queen is toast!