Genre Weekend 4: Going Medieval
By Angela Roberts
May 16, 2011
This weekend, I purchased a game that I’ve wanted to try for awhile; The Sims Medieval. I’ve been a devoted Sims fan since The Sims came out years ago (hard to believe the first game came out eleven years ago). I’ve been playing The Sims 3 avidly since it came out a couple years ago as well; generally, I have five or six families in play at a time. One thing about this game series; it has wide appeal for creative souls. (Also, it can be a massive source of procrastination for creative souls. Always keep yourself on a strict schedule if you’re going to indulge in The Sims. Otherwise, you spend a lot of time feeling like you’re doing something useful when you’re not.) So, The Sims Medieval definitely intrigued me. And after an entire weekend of trying the game out, I thought it might be interesting to review the game and look at it from the perspective of a Sims gamer and a writer. (I swear this really isn’t just a way to justify all my gaming this weekend. Read above: procrastination. ;-) ) In addition to that, I’ll have my usual TV reviews, in capsule form, and a few geek recs for the week.
A hallmark of the Sims series of games is the immersive gameplay. You literally lose time. I can’t count the number of times I’ve resolved to only play for a half hour and looked up from the screen three hours later. The Sims Medieval is no exception to this; I’ve been up late a couple days this weekend because I’ve been so involved in the game. It’s a different type of gameplay, however, from The Sims. In The Sims, you essentially care for and direct the lives of virtual characters; in the case of the newest games, over generations of the same family. There is no ending to the game; unless everybody dies, you just keep going. The immersion lies in the intricacies of your Sims’ daily lives, and the customization and creative opportunities available. With no specific goal, players often make their own challenges to keep the game interesting. Non-Sims gamers don’t really get this; they don’t really understand the appeal of a game where there’s no winning or losing.
The Sims Medieval addresses some of those concerns by bringing The Sims into a more RPG/Strategy game genre. The gameplay is more directed, with an established story that you’re following and defined goals that can be succeeded at or failed at. In the game, you are the Watcher, a god-like presence who controls the fate of a medieval kingdom through heroes, individual Sims you create. You start with a monarch, building your kingdom slowly through the fulfillment of quests and building key structures. Interaction and building options are limited, however; you can only play with your chosen Sim while on an active quest, and various quests require the participation of specific heroes. Success or failure is based on choices you make, whether in the approach to a quest or in the order of building. It can be really fun, and so far it`s been fascinating.
But if you have little gaming interests besides The Sims, and many Simmers don`t, you`ll find this type of gameplay jarring. This game is not for diehard Simmers, people who would normally not play video games if not for The Sims. If anything, it`s meant to do for gamers what The Sims did for non-gamers; bring them into the world of The Sims. The customization is limited, family interaction is almost non-existent – although Sims can get married and have children, it doesn`t play a huge part in gameplay. That would all distract from the questing.
You will lose yourself in actual gameplay; in The Sims, often your time is consumed by mundane tasks, making goals either ridiculously easy or incredibly difficult. Other than eating and sleeping, you don’t much have to worry about your Sim’s daily life; no telling them to use the bathroom. There is no birth control, though, so woo-hooing (Sim sex) often leads to pregnancy. (Something that gave me the wicked idea of creating a licentious Robert of Normandy and seeing if he can spread his bastards through the kingdom. Perhaps then I can name one William and have him take over from his father. Hey, must amuse myself somehow.)
The graphics are very pretty; they’ve made some effort with the landscape and the lighting that’s pretty impressive. There is a sort of distance between you and your character that reminded me more of the Sims 1 interface than Sims 3 (it can be remarkable to play Sims 2 or 3 for a while and then go back to Sims 1. You’ll be amazed by how small and distant your Sims are.). I found the camera a bit awkward, especially at close range, so I have the camera at a sort of mid-range most of the time.
And there are a lot of rabbit holes. Even the forest is a rabbit hole. This can be frustrating. I did find myself speeding up time a lot in this game; there’s a lot of walking and several tasks that take place in rabbit holes, and you just get impatient.
So, does the game have the potential for repeat gameplay like The Sims does? It does appear to be a long game, but I don’t know if it does. I fear it will suffer from the same problem that the World Adventures expansion pack did for The Sims 3; the quests will become repetitive and boring. I don’t send my Sims abroad all that much anymore because I’ve played most of the quests and explored most of the tombs already over and over. I think the only way The Sims Medieval could keep out of this trap is expansions. Expansions could broaden the game, add quests, add lands, and add customization. Customization has been the key to The Sims franchise’s success, and EA should really not forget that. It hasn’t lasted eleven years for nothing.
Capsule Reviews:
Sanctuary: “Wingman,” an interesting, amusing relationship episode. Also, curiously, a clip show, which I found odd with so much good content coming from the Sanctuary writers lately. Will and Henry attempt to take their new girlfriends on a date, which becomes a double date when they realize they both made reservations at the same restaurant at the same time, and end up side-tracked by a moth man chase. Will and Henry are great as usual, the monster is interesting, but the girlfriends are just ok. I still don’t much like Abby, she wasn’t very useful this episode either, and it looks like she’s staying. Erika is a great match for Henry, but she’s the one leaving. Bummer. Still, a fun episode.
Doctor Who: Neil Gaiman! :-) What a beautiful episode. The imagery was imaginative, the dialogue snappy and bizarre, and the concept was original and captivating. I loved the villain, I loved the running through the halls of the Tardis, loved seeing Ten’s control room again (although another control room would have made a nice dialogue opportunity). The interaction between the Doctor and Idris/the Tardis was fantastic and poignant. And there was such lovely use of Rory! He is so poorly used most of the time by Doctor Who writers; he actually had a real purpose this time.
Game of Thrones: Things are moving along in this amazing series. We stayed in Westeros this episode, dealing with the fallout of Catelyn Stark arresting Tyrion Lannister and with Ned Stark’s increasing distaste with Robert’s rule. There are some really great character moments in this episode. A really poignant scene between Cersei and Robert. Intrigue and drama. Ned finally quitting because of Robert’s insistence on killing Daenerys Targaryen, having finally found out about her marriage and pregnancy from an interesting source that will provide some drama in the future. A lovely morality moment for Tyrion as he has to decide whether he should escape or save Catelyn’s life during an attack. And you can see that decision in Peter Dinklage’s eyes. Seriously, if he doesn’t get an Emmy for this role, he’s been robbed. And the last scene! Anybody else’s heart jump into their throat?
So, Geek Recommendations of the Week:
The next Pirates of the Caribbean movie comes out May 20th! Go on. You know you want to see it.
New group Castle Lights has a nice Coldplay vibe. You can get their EP, Paint the Stars, on ITunes for $4.95.
Fave Podcast of the week: Science Friday. Subscribe for free on ITunes or listen on NPR. This weekly podcast discusses the latest news in science, tech, health, and the environment. A must for the science fiction writer looking to stay informed and get inspired!