I'm fluctuating between feeling like Katluvr and those who are really enthusiastic about it. So, kind of tearing it down, here's my pros and cons.
First I absolutely am in heaven when it comes to the appearance of the characters. They are gorgeous and it just goes to show that EA really could make Sims have more style, better facial features and better ways to change things in CAS. Most of the hair styles are fabulous and very much like you see in things like the Bayeux Tapestry, as are the clothes. They really did a top notch job there. If I could have those features come over into Sims3 squeakyclean and I would be in heaven. I'd like to eventually see more clothes and items and I'm sure that will come along. Even so, there is so much to choose from and just by changing colors/fabrics you can come up with some really fine looks.
My second point, on a personal level, is it has given squeakyclean and I another way to bond. She absolutely loves creating Sims but is only so so on playing the game itself. I love making characters as well, but it is easy for me to allow her to create my Sims characters, including trying to figure out which of the quirky traits are best and which fatal flaw is the least obnoxious. The age gap between this teen and I is only chronological so we had a great time playing together on one pc till 2 am. She has a great sense of color and style and I don't, I'm very patient and willing to stumble through the learning process and she isn't. Works great. You really can't make a bad Sim and I think you'd have to work really hard to make an ugly one. No Arlo Bunches here, although I bet you could make one. The amount of change in their personal endowments is limited to fat/thin, muscular/puny. Oh, and if you have a really pretty, slim, young lady and you slide her into fat it is really amusing to see the omg look on her face. She is totally horrified to see her cleavage drop downwards as she grows outwards. We laughed like loons over that one.
So here comes my first "con". I really love building. I really am NOT fond of the inability to do more than put an all over design on a wall, and not a terribly terrific design at that, and am even less fond of being stuck in a castle that is so small and not at all the way a real castle would be laid out. The graphics are great, but it is very limiting when you are stuck with pre-made buildings that are way too small to begin with. I imagine though, with the quality of the graphics, it would really chew up memory and slow things down tremendously if you COULD design your own things. At least there is quite a bit of leeway in being able to recolor things and you can come up with some unique looking rooms by shifting some of the furnishings and eventually being able to buy better items.
squeaky and I had hoped we could build up a story line as you can in 3. Sorry, not happening. We wanted to build Tortall, and all the wonderful characters in it, and then play them into our own fanfic. (Those of you who are Tamora Pierce fans know what I'm talking about). We did make some characters to match the books but they follow their own prebuilt story line as they do their quests and while you control what they do you don't really control the story that much. As an rpg it is only so-so in my opinion. It is rather like Sims meets Ultima, or Sims meets Age of Civilization, without some of the great features of those early games. Still, it's fun because it rather IS like Sims meets Monty Python. I can almost hear the coconuts now.
It took me awhile to get the knack of doing the quests and going from quest to quest. I'm still a bit shaky on that. I'm not terribly good at strategy and this game seems to need quite a good deal of that. You can play an enjoyable game without being a strategy master, but I think being a strategist would add a bigger dimension to it. As you do your quests there are things you can do to help your Sim stay well fed and improve their own personal level. Eating gruel is not fun so hunting and fishing are a good way to get the protein you need to stay healthy without spending a lot of money, (which you have very little of if you don't motherlode), at the market. Of course, the better your larder is stocked the better you will eat. At first it set me back to have to have my monarch make her own food but later, as she helped and befriended servants, all she had to do was stock the larder and "call for food" which you do by clicking on the person and selecting it. Your servant then says they will make it right away and voila! Often the entire populace of the castle sits down to a meal together for good food and conversation. You also can "discover" wild flowers and then "collect" them. At first I thought this was kind of dumb. What good are wild flowers? Well, at some point you need to give one to someone and additionally, when you collect from a bush you get seeds, grass weeds, moss and flowers. All of which can be sold. Also, the seeds early on are another food source slightly better than gruel.
Just for kicks I tried "testingcheatsenabled true". Nope, doesn't work. I never tried motherlode but my characters are doing quite well without it.
Here's the thing I absolutely hate about the game. The camera. You can't just turn things around to get a different view. If you are in the castle you can go up or down and side to side, zoom in and out. But wait, what's that around the corner? Too bad, you will never get a clear view of it. It is one of the most difficult features for me to wrap my brain around, although as I played it did get better and less confusing. You have two ways of looking at things. You can look straight on through your Sims' eyes or can use a world mode where you CAN turn around and look for places to go. You can also get to where you need to be fairly quickly by selecting where you want be and choosing to go there. Then you watch your Sim run off to get there.
The interactions between the characters is a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed beating up the bully and pointing him in the stocks where I had to throw eggs at him. You don't really control the fight scenes much when you duel or fist fight but there are quite a few options that are really funny like the name calling. There is a health bar when you fight so you can see if the battle is going in your favor or not, just like in many rpgs. You can also buy healing salves and energy drinks to keep you going.
I originally thought this game would totally pull me away from Sims3. It won't. If I could have built my own story line it would have, but as it stands it will just be a different way to play Sims off and on. There is so much more you can do with 3 on every level that it won't be all that hard for me to put Medieval down and continue working on one of Metro's challenges or on my dynasty or build projects. However, it is SO different that it will provide a great break when things get tough or frustrating with 3. Definitely beats endless games of solitaire to get over being annoyed at a recent glitch or stupid mistake you made.
Bottom line, do I like it or hate it? Still not sure. Doubt I'll ever "hate" it but not sure I'll totally "love" it. Like it? Yep. Enough to go right back to playing it right now. (Can hardly wait to see what Carl and Metro come up with for the guide etc!)
