The Sims Medieval: A Day in the Life

Now that we have our Monarch installed in her rightful place on the kingdom’s throne, we can get to the good part. Questing! Unlike The Sims 3, you can’t just hop right into Live Mode and start wandering around. You must be on a quest in order to play the game in Live Mode. The Sims Medieval is primarily a goal-oriented RPG. It’s not the sandbox game you may be used to in other The Sims titles. Don’t think The Sims Medieval is linear, however! Most quests have several different approaches using more than one Hero. This means if you play the same quest again with a different Hero or a different approach, the quest will play out differently and have different steps to complete. You can also take a break from your quest at any time and just do whatever you want for a while. As long as you don’t ignore your quest for an entire Sim-day, you won’t be punished for straying off to explore a little, so breathe easy! It’s not as strict or repetitive as you might think!

I choose the First Steps quest which is a tutorial quest. There’s a lot to know about The Sims Medieval, even if you’re a veteran player of The Sims series, so it’s a good way to learn the basics. We only have one approach for this quest. That’s okay, since we only have one Hero to work with right now, anyway.

The first thing Queen Eolwyn is tasked with is Gussying Up in a mirror, then speaking with the Build Master. Gussying Up will boost her Focus which prepares her to tackle her quest. Many Hero buildings have staff to help your Hero Sims perform their duties. The throne room has servants who will bring your Monarch meals and tidy up the castle, a Build Master, and a Royal Advisor.

The Build Master informs Eolwyn that kingdom construction is going well but they’ll need stone and lumber to complete their current projects. This leads to Eolwyn’s next task; going to the woods to collect lumber. The tutorial will show you how to easily get around the kingdom using shortcuts like The Watcher’s Eye view and map tags.

I use one of these shortcuts to send Eolwyn off to the woods. Don’t be fooled by her frilly royal garb! Monarchs carry a sword and armour to engage in combat if needed. Queen Eolwyn is no stranger to hard work and physical exertion.

While on her way to the woods, our queen notices some bushes outside the entrance to the forest and decides to investigate. She discovers some wildflowers and harvests them. Collecting herbs and flowers can be a good way to make a little extra Simoles at the Village Shoppe. Some professions require your Heroes to explore the land and collect valuable herbs and minerals. Physicians must collect herbs and leeches to mix up tonics, health salves and treat ailing patients. Blacksmiths must mine minerals to forge their weapons and armour with. Playing different Heroes completely changes the way you play the game!

Uh oh! While Eolwyn was collecting wildflowers, a ruffian emerged from the woods and threatened her for Simoles! How dare they have the nerve to threaten the Queen?! Remember what I said about Monarchs being able to engage in combat? Eolwyn is about to get the chance to put her sword and combat skills to the test. Such a slight against royalty cannot go unpunished!

If you think combat is just a matter of sitting back and watching your Sim either win or lose at random, think again! There is strategy involved in winning a sword fight. Heroes that can engage in combat have two bars you must keep an eye on while they’re fighting; Health and Stamina. Heroes lose Stamina gradually during the course of a fight, but things like heavy armour can deplete this bar faster, so while thick armour offers lots of protection, it’s not always a great idea to wear the heaviest armour you can find. Balancing protection with weight is important for protecting your Hero from injury while conserving their Stamina. Heroes lose Health whenever their opponent lands a hit on them. If either the Health or Stamina bars empty completely, your Hero will lose the fight, which will give them a negative buff that will lower their Focus, making it more difficult for them to complete their quest. See how everything is connected? Heroes can also be injured and even killed in combat, so be careful!

Queen Eolwyn has an advantage over this common criminal with her armour and expertise but remember that Fatal Flaw we picked? Hubris? Successfully collecting wildflowers due to her high Focus slapped her with the negative Blinded by Hubris buff. She’s gotten overconfident. This could be her downfall in this fight, as low Focus means a Hero will fail more often at many activities.

It looks like Eolwyn managed to overcome her Fatal Flaw this time, however. She had enough positive buffs to mitigate the effect of her negative buff from having the Hubris Fatal Flaw. Balancing your Heroes’ buffs to maintain high Focus is crucial for quest success.

Victory goes to Queen Eolwyn! She sends that rotten scoundrel limping back into the woods to lick his wounds. Next time, he’ll think twice about challenging the Queen to a sword fight. Placing buildings and completing quests that increase the Security Kingdom Aspect will ensure that bandits are kept under control in your kingdom.

Now that the bandit has been taken care of, Eolwyn can get back to business and go collect that lumber the Build Master asked for.

With the lumber collected, our next stop is the cave. The Build Master also said he needed stone and the cave is a good place to collect that. When Eolwyn arrives at the cave, she is greeted by the gravedigger and a few dying Sims who aren’t long for this world. The gravedigger suggests that Eolwyn construct a Jacoban Cathedral or Peteran Monastery in the kingdom in order to give these poor Sims a proper burial. This is just something for you as the Watcher and your Monarch to think about as you expand your kingdom. It’s not a quest step.

What’s this? It looks like Eolwyn has come to a crossroads while exploring the cave. She’s stumbled upon a mysterious chest deep within the cave. We can choose to open it or leave it alone. Since Eolwyn is still Blinded by Hubris (winning that sword fight didn’t help temper her arrogance), I figure she’s feeling pretty confident and would likely take the risk by opening the chest. It paid off for her because she found some Simoles inside the chest and was rewarded with a positive buff to help boost her Focus.

Eolwyn leaves the cave with the stone she came for, a few extra Simoles in her pocket and something new to consider when deciding what she will have built in the kingdom next. It’s always good for a Monarch to consider the wishes of his/her people when making decisions that affect the entire kingdom.