Sims: Medieval, and why it is Awesome.
One thing appears to remain the same about playing a new Sims game: they always leave me dreaming in Sim-style. Which, is creepy. Sorry EA Games.
My current analysis of Sims: Medieval is that a) It's SO MUCH FUN, and b) I need to strangle someone into giving a more clear walk through on this damn thing.
And yeah, the strategy guide website I found isn't quite as helpful as I was hoping for. >.<
So in Sims: Medieval, you start off with a kingdom and a Monarch: male or female, it's your choice. They *say* you can make your Monarch/kingdom evil, but I have an 'evil' game where it's being ruled by Lord Voldemort and anytime he does something mean or indifferent, he loses popularity. And that's when the game *lets* me have him do evil things instead of forcing me into a nicer decision. Losing popularity doesn't seem like a big deal, but a new quest starts popping up after the first few called 'Royal Assassination' where it literally says 'Seriously, you can kill the Monarch in this one.'
Sims: Medieval doesn't work like the old Sims computer games. Instead it's more like the console games (for anyone who's played them), where you role-play as a specific character and then you get choices for that character to make. Instead of Households, you (eventually) get ten Heroes: the Monarch, the Knight, the Spy, the Wizard, the Physician, the Bard, the Merchant, the Blacksmith, the Peteran Priest, and the Jacoban Priest. Each one is stationed in a specific building, which you get by earning RP points when running quests. You can enter the buildings to change the decor if you want, but generally you only play as a certain Hero when running a quest. There are lots of peasants running around too, but you only have control over the Heroes.
It's kind of obnoxious in a way, since I'm used to playing Sims2 where I get to create a Household however I want it and then go play with every character I made for that Household. Here, you literally only get your ten Heroes. That's it.
Character creation is ... I don't know if I like it. It's *incredibly* detailed, and very easy to make pretty people. You can change the finer details like the color of the base and highlights in their hair, and the color of their accessories and outfits. But because the detail is so fine, it's really hard to make them look like people. I tried to make a Lady Kimberly Hart for my first monarch, and ... yeah. That looked *nothing* like Kimberly. x.x
The game runs through quests. You pick a quest, pick a Hero to run the quest as from the ones available under that quest, and then you go. The quests are set up as a series of actions you have to go through to finish the quest. Unfortunately, they don't always tell you *how* to do an action - such as where you're supposed to find leeches to collect them when you play the Physician. Also, during each day you're on your quest, you have two daily duties you have to perform. Not performing them gets you arrested and thrown in the stocks. And if you make the mistake of giving your Hero the trait of being Dedicated, like I did, they start deciding to give themselves *more* duties for the day after you finish the first two. Damn workaholics. >.<
But, once you get the hang of the gameplay style, this is SO MUCH FUN. The monarch can have people arrested and thrown in the stocks, where you can throw an egg or a tomato at them. They can also have them thrown in the pit, where a giant claw that reminds me of the sand monster from Return of the Jedi - only blue - eats them. You can spit at people and call them names. Anywhere remotely approaching a bed - such as a this gypsy merchant's tent - is a place to WhooHoo, and it offers options of who you can sleep with. (Although heads up, because WhooHoo leads to babies in this game.) People break out in random swordfights just because they can. There are crazy inventers who claim they have a 'landmine' to destroy your enemies, and then hand you a pile of poo. (Literally.) The Physician throws leeches in people's faces to heal them, or straps them down to a table and slaps leeches all over them (as many as you declare should be used) to drain their blood and shove a funnel in their mouth so they can be medicated. People sleep just about anywhere. There are messenger pigeons and chamber pots. Strangely, these chamber pots never need to be emptied, and unlike the old Sims, they don't insist on kicking everyone out of the room before they use it or take a bath. o.O And no one whines about their Hygiene anymore. I mean, they're happy when they're clean, but they don't get bitchy because it's low. You don't even have to think about it.
Oh, and then there's my favorite part: See, I've always said that I play the Sims because it appeals to my god complex. Getting to control their little lives and tell them what to do makes me feel better after a bad day, y'know? Well in this game, they have a religion based around someone called 'The Watcher'. The Watcher is symbolized as a single eye with rays of light coming out from around it. The Priests pray to The Watcher, the characters call to The Watcher ... And yeah, the intro flat-out tells you 'You are The Watcher'. (It also tells you that you've realized people are dumb and that you can't trust them alone while showing someone accidentally lighting a building on fire and a guy getting caught cheating.) You even gain levels as The Watcher as you play, starting off from Peepsmith. Which does occasionally lead into weird dreams about being a Sim yourself with your own Watcher controlling your life and is totally creepy, but otherwise it's all highly entertaining.
Basically, I recommend Sims: Medieval for anyone who enjoys appeasing their god complex and torturing people. Also anyone who has a good sense of humor, because this game is *hilarious*. If there's anyone out there interested in getting it, you'll be happy to know that it's for Mac or PC, and best of all, it's a self-sufficient game that runs off the disk. You don't need any previous versions to play it. ^_~
And now, back to my kingdom. -Rubs hands together gleefully-
My current analysis of Sims: Medieval is that a) It's SO MUCH FUN, and b) I need to strangle someone into giving a more clear walk through on this damn thing.
And yeah, the strategy guide website I found isn't quite as helpful as I was hoping for. >.<
So in Sims: Medieval, you start off with a kingdom and a Monarch: male or female, it's your choice. They *say* you can make your Monarch/kingdom evil, but I have an 'evil' game where it's being ruled by Lord Voldemort and anytime he does something mean or indifferent, he loses popularity. And that's when the game *lets* me have him do evil things instead of forcing me into a nicer decision. Losing popularity doesn't seem like a big deal, but a new quest starts popping up after the first few called 'Royal Assassination' where it literally says 'Seriously, you can kill the Monarch in this one.'
Sims: Medieval doesn't work like the old Sims computer games. Instead it's more like the console games (for anyone who's played them), where you role-play as a specific character and then you get choices for that character to make. Instead of Households, you (eventually) get ten Heroes: the Monarch, the Knight, the Spy, the Wizard, the Physician, the Bard, the Merchant, the Blacksmith, the Peteran Priest, and the Jacoban Priest. Each one is stationed in a specific building, which you get by earning RP points when running quests. You can enter the buildings to change the decor if you want, but generally you only play as a certain Hero when running a quest. There are lots of peasants running around too, but you only have control over the Heroes.
It's kind of obnoxious in a way, since I'm used to playing Sims2 where I get to create a Household however I want it and then go play with every character I made for that Household. Here, you literally only get your ten Heroes. That's it.
Character creation is ... I don't know if I like it. It's *incredibly* detailed, and very easy to make pretty people. You can change the finer details like the color of the base and highlights in their hair, and the color of their accessories and outfits. But because the detail is so fine, it's really hard to make them look like people. I tried to make a Lady Kimberly Hart for my first monarch, and ... yeah. That looked *nothing* like Kimberly. x.x
The game runs through quests. You pick a quest, pick a Hero to run the quest as from the ones available under that quest, and then you go. The quests are set up as a series of actions you have to go through to finish the quest. Unfortunately, they don't always tell you *how* to do an action - such as where you're supposed to find leeches to collect them when you play the Physician. Also, during each day you're on your quest, you have two daily duties you have to perform. Not performing them gets you arrested and thrown in the stocks. And if you make the mistake of giving your Hero the trait of being Dedicated, like I did, they start deciding to give themselves *more* duties for the day after you finish the first two. Damn workaholics. >.<
But, once you get the hang of the gameplay style, this is SO MUCH FUN. The monarch can have people arrested and thrown in the stocks, where you can throw an egg or a tomato at them. They can also have them thrown in the pit, where a giant claw that reminds me of the sand monster from Return of the Jedi - only blue - eats them. You can spit at people and call them names. Anywhere remotely approaching a bed - such as a this gypsy merchant's tent - is a place to WhooHoo, and it offers options of who you can sleep with. (Although heads up, because WhooHoo leads to babies in this game.) People break out in random swordfights just because they can. There are crazy inventers who claim they have a 'landmine' to destroy your enemies, and then hand you a pile of poo. (Literally.) The Physician throws leeches in people's faces to heal them, or straps them down to a table and slaps leeches all over them (as many as you declare should be used) to drain their blood and shove a funnel in their mouth so they can be medicated. People sleep just about anywhere. There are messenger pigeons and chamber pots. Strangely, these chamber pots never need to be emptied, and unlike the old Sims, they don't insist on kicking everyone out of the room before they use it or take a bath. o.O And no one whines about their Hygiene anymore. I mean, they're happy when they're clean, but they don't get bitchy because it's low. You don't even have to think about it.
Oh, and then there's my favorite part: See, I've always said that I play the Sims because it appeals to my god complex. Getting to control their little lives and tell them what to do makes me feel better after a bad day, y'know? Well in this game, they have a religion based around someone called 'The Watcher'. The Watcher is symbolized as a single eye with rays of light coming out from around it. The Priests pray to The Watcher, the characters call to The Watcher ... And yeah, the intro flat-out tells you 'You are The Watcher'. (It also tells you that you've realized people are dumb and that you can't trust them alone while showing someone accidentally lighting a building on fire and a guy getting caught cheating.) You even gain levels as The Watcher as you play, starting off from Peepsmith. Which does occasionally lead into weird dreams about being a Sim yourself with your own Watcher controlling your life and is totally creepy, but otherwise it's all highly entertaining.
Basically, I recommend Sims: Medieval for anyone who enjoys appeasing their god complex and torturing people. Also anyone who has a good sense of humor, because this game is *hilarious*. If there's anyone out there interested in getting it, you'll be happy to know that it's for Mac or PC, and best of all, it's a self-sufficient game that runs off the disk. You don't need any previous versions to play it. ^_~
And now, back to my kingdom. -Rubs hands together gleefully-