The Sims Medieval Review
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
to be fair i never really fancied this game from when i hear about it, the sims for me raises the question as to why you would want to make your character go to the toilet, when you most likely have a fully usable toilet in your own home. though i can see this one might tug some interest strings as its not just house building and kid making.
"Like The Sims 3, each Sim under your control has two traits and one flaw and these determine how it goes about its business."
I just wish TS3 worked that way - or are you referring to the console version which I am not familiar with?. In the PC version at least you there have five traits from which you can freely pick, with no reason other than sheer sadism to pick bad ones. The only limitation there is that some are mutually exclusive (e.g. Good vs Evil).
I just wish TS3 worked that way - or are you referring to the console version which I am not familiar with?. In the PC version at least you there have five traits from which you can freely pick, with no reason other than sheer sadism to pick bad ones. The only limitation there is that some are mutually exclusive (e.g. Good vs Evil).
A few mistakes in this review:
-The game is not made by Maxis, it's made by The Sims Studio.
-The Sims 3 does not require "choosing two traits and one flaw", it requires choosing five traits.
-"All of gameplay elements [from The Sims]" are definitely not "preserved"; for many players, building houses and raising families was a major part of the gameplay, and The Sims Medieval does not allow either.
-The game is not made by Maxis, it's made by The Sims Studio.
-The Sims 3 does not require "choosing two traits and one flaw", it requires choosing five traits.
-"All of gameplay elements [from The Sims]" are definitely not "preserved"; for many players, building houses and raising families was a major part of the gameplay, and The Sims Medieval does not allow either.
Yes, The Sims Medieval is more shallow than my other current time sink: Dragon Age 2. On the other hand, it frequently makes me startle my family with sudden laughs. There are many, many little injokes and absurdities, and the game does not yet bore me.
So to rephrase the existential question near the end; "Who watches the Watcher"?
Really, I can only see playing S:M one way. I would play it straight for a couple of hours, get bored, and then do what I *always* do in Sims games: act like a total sadist.
Really, I can only see playing S:M one way. I would play it straight for a couple of hours, get bored, and then do what I *always* do in Sims games: act like a total sadist.
I'd recommend waiting for a price drop. To me it feels like a game you'd pay $30 for, not $50. There's no building to speak of, and a lot less customization and freedom in general, so it has considerably less longevity than other Sims games, IMHO.AC10 said:
"See our Total War: Shogun 2 text review here." Orly?
OT: I have the game, and I like it -- in small doses. It really seems more designed for the piecemeal play style than the classic Sims games, and the mission style seems to support this. Especially since you only get a limited number of points to use for quests, and when they're all gone, the only thing you can really do is to start a new world (in the same setting) with a different cast of characters. Of course, that's when the Ambition thing kicks in -- you're supposed to pick a different Ambition each time, so that you end up doing things quite differently in subsequent playthroughs.
And yes, the trait system is quite different from TS3. It's actually an interesting departure, forcing you to choose a flaw to complicate the lives of your sims (although you can transform that into a positive trait via certain quests).
Whether people will like it depends on what they liked about the other Sims games. This one has none of the building aspects (all the buildings come fully-formed; you can't move walls around or add rooms or anything) and somewhat limited furniture placement options (while there's quite a few things that can be placed, it hardly seems worth it a lot of the time; buildings come furnished with the essentials anyway), but the Live mode is essentially the same, with most of the same Sim-to-Sim interactions as in other games.
But ultimately you can't get too attached to the characters, since you can only play them while on a quest, and there's an invisible timer running all the time while on a quest (if you take too long to complete it then your Sims start to lose focus -- though there's usually still quite a bit of "screwing around" margin), and when you run out of quest points there's not much more you can do with those characters. (Apparently, finishing the first ambition will unlock a "free time" quest which relaxes these restrictions, but it also removes the daily tasks, which help define and differentiate the characters' roles in the first place.)
So, I don't regret buying it, it's still a lot of fun, but some people might want to wait for a price drop before joining in. And people who prefer a fully open sandbox rather than a more directed experience might want to steer clear.
I'm not really sure why there are so many complaints about the camera, though. Sure, it's a bit limiting when you're in the "inside view" to not have full rotation, but outside in the world you can pan, zoom, and rotate to whatever level you feel like, just like the other games.
OT: I have the game, and I like it -- in small doses. It really seems more designed for the piecemeal play style than the classic Sims games, and the mission style seems to support this. Especially since you only get a limited number of points to use for quests, and when they're all gone, the only thing you can really do is to start a new world (in the same setting) with a different cast of characters. Of course, that's when the Ambition thing kicks in -- you're supposed to pick a different Ambition each time, so that you end up doing things quite differently in subsequent playthroughs.
And yes, the trait system is quite different from TS3. It's actually an interesting departure, forcing you to choose a flaw to complicate the lives of your sims (although you can transform that into a positive trait via certain quests).
Whether people will like it depends on what they liked about the other Sims games. This one has none of the building aspects (all the buildings come fully-formed; you can't move walls around or add rooms or anything) and somewhat limited furniture placement options (while there's quite a few things that can be placed, it hardly seems worth it a lot of the time; buildings come furnished with the essentials anyway), but the Live mode is essentially the same, with most of the same Sim-to-Sim interactions as in other games.
But ultimately you can't get too attached to the characters, since you can only play them while on a quest, and there's an invisible timer running all the time while on a quest (if you take too long to complete it then your Sims start to lose focus -- though there's usually still quite a bit of "screwing around" margin), and when you run out of quest points there's not much more you can do with those characters. (Apparently, finishing the first ambition will unlock a "free time" quest which relaxes these restrictions, but it also removes the daily tasks, which help define and differentiate the characters' roles in the first place.)
So, I don't regret buying it, it's still a lot of fun, but some people might want to wait for a price drop before joining in. And people who prefer a fully open sandbox rather than a more directed experience might want to steer clear.
I'm not really sure why there are so many complaints about the camera, though. Sure, it's a bit limiting when you're in the "inside view" to not have full rotation, but outside in the world you can pan, zoom, and rotate to whatever level you feel like, just like the other games.
wait in so many ways, like until it's free, this game is so buggy, they didn't have no-where near enough time to finish making it, and it's repeatative sleep inducing game play is... I don't have a rude enough word to discribe!AC10 said:
Wow, some of the humour in this game looks pretty dark...
I'm not a huge sims fan, so I think I might pass.
I'm not a huge sims fan, so I think I might pass.
I've loved The Sims games forever, but I didn't like Sims 3 very much. I had really enjoyed Sims 2 and all it's expansion packs, and for me, the Sims 3 did not live up to that high of its predecessor. That being said, while I do find something intriguing about the concept of this new Sims: Medieval title, I'll probably pass on it as well. Or at least wait for a reduced price. Then again, its probably just because I've been craving Sims lately, but my operating system isn't compatible with the ones I like (curse you Windows 7!)
Holy CRAP...! A Sims game that differs in a non-insignificant way from the original game? I almost would have thought it impossible for the series to actually find something NEW it could do and just wrote this off as another re-released skin/object pack from the first or second game, which is basically all Sims 3 has done so far.
I agree with everything except for the idea that loading your game is a pain in the ass. I've reloaded Medieval a few times while playing and it went smoothly. What issue did you run into in that area?
The camera is a pain in the ass. It's by far the one thing that annoys me the most about the game. But I did find that I could zoom out a good distance without going into Watcher's Eye mode. The only problem is, though, if you zoom out too far, you'll get that eyeball icon (similar to the spyglass icon of TS3) that will be trying to lure you into the overhead stare. My view was never really obstructed; however, I did run into an issue where the camera would readjust itself like mad, pivoting and raising/lowering in huge amounts when I'm just trying to make subtle changes.
It's very humorous and has a lot of surprisingly dark and/or mature comedy elements, though. I like how much of a change of pace it is from a normal Sims game.
The camera is a pain in the ass. It's by far the one thing that annoys me the most about the game. But I did find that I could zoom out a good distance without going into Watcher's Eye mode. The only problem is, though, if you zoom out too far, you'll get that eyeball icon (similar to the spyglass icon of TS3) that will be trying to lure you into the overhead stare. My view was never really obstructed; however, I did run into an issue where the camera would readjust itself like mad, pivoting and raising/lowering in huge amounts when I'm just trying to make subtle changes.
I say wait for a price drop. Personally, I love the game and am too much of a zombie fan of The Sims franchise not to have it pre-ordered. But if you can wait it out, getting it cheaper would probably be best.AC10 said:
It's very humorous and has a lot of surprisingly dark and/or mature comedy elements, though. I like how much of a change of pace it is from a normal Sims game.
You know, I thought about getting Sims 3 for the 3DS, but if this exists then I don't see why I would need two new Sims games. But is there really no mode that lets you just play regular Sims with this medieval backdrop? It's great that Maxis is aiming for innovation, but I was looking forward to just making a dude and guiding him through his life as a blacksmith/knight/wizard/whatever.