How to play a different country?

[Joria]

I completed the first game and unlocked two new things/challenges/countries.  Only it's all the same.  No monarch, only a throne room and the exact, same quests.  What did I do wrong or is this the way it is?  Just repeat it all over and over?

[Jonna]

Yeah that's one of the things that bothers me.  Some of the quests, I think, might be unique to the ambition but I don't know for sure, and I don't know if anyone would know that for a while (because wouldn't a person need to unlock each ambition, then do a million "rerolls" of quests to see if there are any unique ones?).  I think part of the "strategy" is playing the quests to achieve the ambition -- so one ambition, you try to drag everything out into Platinum.  In the other ambition, you try to conquer/annex the other territories.  You'll probably see new quests in the latter one, because your focus will be different from the first ambition (you'll be spending points annexing the other countries and thus gaining new quests instead of just spending them on buildings).

[WebbyMom]

Joria, you're right - same buildings, same sorts of quests (depending on your choices of which ones to do when with who and how). See this post for more info.

[Joria]

Thank you Webbymom.  However, that just caused my opinion of the game to tank somewhat.  I was hoping it would be a different place, new landscape rather than same old, same old.  I can see where there WILL be new quests, but not sure that's going to be enough to hold my interest.

I had really hoped I would be able to bring each of my characters up to level 10, or closer to it than I did.  My monarch made 10 very quickly but I never even played the wizard, Jacoban or spy.  I suppose I could have opted for quests to do that but I was interested in raising the level of each character.  I am not sure that's possible given how fast the game moves along, and once you've finished the ambition that's it, game over for that spot.  Well, not quite because you DO have an empty slot for the character that leaves the country to found a new one.  Hmmmm.........

[Katluvr]

Based on my (very happy) experience with an MMORPG who shall be nameless, new content is continually being added via patches in between major game expansion packs to keep the game fresh.  I think RPGs in general can become very repetitive after a while.  I would hope that EA will either add content via patches or, more likely based on what I've seen of TS3, via expansion packs so they can earn some more simoleons.

Right now I think the replay value is limited to the new kingdom ambitions and perhaps some number of unique quests associated with the ambitions.  EA has also allowed several choices, such as hero or approach, when selecting quests - so in theory you could play the same quest again with a different hero or approach and have a different experience.  It seems they've also built in an incentive for completing ambitions (new hair, clothing, and furniture options).  Perhaps there are better things to unlock the more ambitions you complete.

[HtFde]

Right now I think the replay value is limited to the new kingdom ambitions and perhaps some number of unique quests associated with the ambitions.  EA has also allowed several choices, such as hero or approach, when selecting quests - so in theory you could play the same quest again with a different hero or approach and have a different experience.  It seems they've also built in an incentive for completing ambitions (new hair, clothing, and furniture options).  Perhaps there are better things to unlock the more ambitions you complete.

Well, the quests are quite different with a different hero - especially some who specifically allow a choice between, say, three heroes compared to one where a generic hero can enter. Also - in some quests you often have choices to make that will alter the course of the quest. Admittedly .... going through all permutations is not as much fun as doing something new but I found a few new twists very interesting when I redid a quest with a different hero.

It's also a far cry from the randomly rolled, say, Private Investigator jobs in The Sims 3 - if I never ever have to solve the toothpaste mystery it'll still be way too early.

[Saltypaws]

Your absolutely right HtFde.  When I finished the first Ambition and went to the next, there was some new quests specific to that game.  On the quests that I already did, on some, you have an option for more than one scenario, so I choose the other one and the outcome is totally different.  I am sure we will get the hang of it soon, we are all still learning.

[AriaGirl77]

Looking at the Prima Guide on the quest section it shows that for each quest whatever choice you make alters the path that the quest takes entirely.  So for example if you choose to play the physician for a particular quest you'll end up doing something totally different then if you play the Monarch.  And then within the quest if you choose choice A it will take you down a totally different path than choice B.

Just looking at the Hamfast quest in the Guide the three possible end results are: Declare victory to Hamfast, Administer cure on Hamfast, Discuss Village with Hamfast, Send Hamfast to the Pit or Watch Hamfast die.  Five different outcomes to the same quest depending upon which choices you make!

So basically the quests are like a choose your own adventure novel where each time you get an option you end up with a totally different story.