The Sims Medieval

I guess It is time to preface this review by admitting some embarrassing truth about my gaming history. My first experience with the Sims series had been but for a few hours' foray into the game that started it all, the one made when Will Wright twirled his magic moustache and sold his soul to the devil. But the premise of being a poking voyeur to the daily trials of little computer people intrigued me, enough not to hand over the scrapings of a month long lunch allowance to Half-Life at the time. Never mind that I eventually came to regret that decision, but feeling rather strange for resorting to vicariously living through a life simulator to fulfill my needs for social acceptance, and confident that my social life has not degenerated to the point of deriving any mirth in potty training my computer counterpart, my interest in the Sims waned quickly. Now that all my friends have either abandoned yours truly or are dead, I feel born again to once again reacquaint with the Sims series and experience what the fuss was all about. And, to that end, what a coincidence that 'the Sims Medieval' was released just as I was dusting off my original copy of the Sims!

The game charms itself to your good graces innocently enough, with the promise of light hearty rendition of Renaissance faere vibe to the usual Sims gameplay. The music definitely helps in this regard, although whether it is truly Medieval or more Renaissance may be a bit too much of a quibble here. To begin the game proper, there are a number of 'Ambitions' scenarios, which chart the overall goals that your kingdom will have to accomplish over the course of completing quests within. In the beginning, all of the Ambitions are locked, of course, and the only accessible one acts essentially as a tutorial, giving you a chance to create your own monarch, a 'Hero Sim', or select from a batch of premade ones to be your avatar. Your starting domain, which aside from the looming castle being an abode for your monarch, is a sorry barren state of nowhere, and it is your job, of course, to make it a thriving kingdom. And no sooner you fiddle around familiarizing with controls and furiously closing tutorial tip pop ups than your character is entered into the obligatory quest, the first of many to come and comprising the majority of the gameplay.

The quests have points associated with them, with limited quest points available in each overarching scenario. How you decide to spend them, to activate which quests over another, depends on your kingdom's Ambition goals and attributes, which make up a general overview of your domain's welfare such as its health, security, knowledge, etc. The quests, upon their completion, reward you with 'Realm Points', which allow you to purchase and place new buildings, some of which are tied with new 'Hero Sims' being ushered into the fray. Moreover, they allow you to upgrade the attributes that in turn affect in a general sense how your Sims subjects are faring. For example, if you notice your Sims keeling over in bouts of plague and impairing your ability to complete your quests, then you'd be well advised to choose a quest that rewards you with a health boost in your kingdom. Some of the quests will be available only to a specific tag team of your 'Hero Sims', in which you control two or more Sims on a quest path, and the subsequent rewards are more or less in line with the professions of the participants.

In a way, starting with an Ambition, followed by quests, which reward you buildings and more Sims to play with, and in turn opening new types of quests, increasing your kingdom's size and reputation and so on, is a good framework of a positively reinforced cycle that entices the player to not mind the inevitable grind, at least for a while, unless you have some sort of ocd. Daily character specific tasks, or chores, that you are given to complete add to some variety to the proceedings, in addition to increasing the 'mood' of your Sims and thereby raising the chance of the success of your active quest. These tasks also rather ham-fistedly remind you of the particulars of your profession, and how to use them effectively to earn Simoleons (Sims currency), gain experience points, and so on. A lot of cogs and gears are whirling under the surface to construct a believable image of the Medieval setting as imagined through the Sims perspective.

The wrench to this whole setup, however, is the fact that the game, by swamping you with things to do and pleading for your attention at every step of objectives and milestones, dissuades you from the freedom of any meaningful non-linear emergent gameplay. It is as if the developers have brainstormed all these ideas and were so convinced of their importance to the game's enjoyment to impinge them on the player, you soon chafing under the effects. Aside from the rigid task mechanics that demonstrate a  gameplay function, there is a decided lack of activities during quests to undertake other than rote fedex routines and picking herbs, which by the way, is the most effective means of earning income. That some of the most exciting and interesting events is put to written descriptions along with static sketches of implied action tells you how much of an investment is required of you to imbue any significance into mere trifling examples of non-interactive fiction.

In between the quest objectives you often find yourself fast forwarding to pass time. In both the quests and daily tasks, even if we excuse the dearth of variety,  the game just doesn't reach as deep into the Medieval lore to capture its atmosphere as what my expectations painted such a life would've been like. Moreover, a lot of the activities or perks are associated with each profession, so the entire content available is diffused over the ten or so Hero Sims that you create and control at any one time, and at a piecemeal pace laid out in separate but monotonous quests.

The buildings you can place, while richly clad in details and ambiance, are largely prefab scaffolds that can only be decorated; the number of accessories and decorative items and placeholders are decent, but some are barred under lock and key until you manage to trudge through Ambitions scenarios, nevermind all the quests that necessitate the completion of each. It is true that your Hero Sims earn experience points and eventually become efficient in tasks and affluent, but by then all the novelty of overseeing their lives wears off along with any sense of challenge, entering into the uncanny valley of impromptu role playing amid precipitously diminishing returns.

I am certain that all games of the Sims ilk hit a wall at some point where its gameplay goes as far as the amount of included in-game doodads that allow visual customization and interesting scenarios for your computer people to participate, often at their peril. The previous Sims instalments had a myriad of expansion packs and custom content to prevent the ennui of the familiar from creeping in and reach a good balance in the repetition of tasks to grind through to new rewards and challenges. While I am also certain that the Sims Medieval would also be recipient of such support in the future, I can't say whether its effect would hold true as long for its replayability for how it manages its content.

At the conclusion of each Ambitions scenario, you are asked to scrap almost all the accomplishments and history that you've amassed through your Hero Sims in your kingdom, and start afresh on a new unlocked scenario with a new cast of characters, the rest remaining disconcertingly déjà vu. You can export one of your characters to usurp the royal throne in this new land, but this is overwhelmingly self-defeating to the purpose of forming what amounts to be even a haphazard personal bond to your character and its environment; a sobering reminder that the Sims that you've spent an inordinate amount of time attaching any amount of personal connection and care are decidedly less than what you've given any damn for. As I bade a hollow adieu to my Sims and embarked upon the same land awaited by the same superficial supporting cast, I was compelled to say the same goodbye to the game itself altogether. I did.