Video Game / The Sims Medieval

For a time the people were happy, but it could not last. You watched as their civilization was overwhelmed with violence, disease, famine, and Dire Chinchillas. Reflecting on these events led you to an epiphany: people are dumb. If you could just reach out, give a gentle push in the right direction...

— Patrick Stewart, opening cinematic

The Sims Medieval (2011) is a standalone expansion of The Sims series which takes place in a medieval fantasy setting. The player takes on the role of "The Watcher", a benevolent deity that guides the populace by controlling "heroes" in order to inspire the kingdom along the path to glory. Throughout the game you can control up to ten Hero Sims, using them to complete quests and various tasks that further the kingdom towards the "Ambition" you have chosen for it. These ambitions can range from developing culture, to amassing wealth, to dominating nearby countries, with several more options in between.

While the gameplay of The Sims Medieval is similar to that of its parent series in that the player controls of the actions of various Sims whose name, appearance, and personality traits are fully customizable, it streamlines many aspects of the previous games to allow more time for the completion of quest-related tasks and daily responsibilities of the Hero Sims' various jobs. For example, the only two "Needs" retained from the previous games are energy and hunger, with other activities such as urinating and relaxing instead giving positive buffs that make it easier to win sword-fights, craft armor at the smithy, write epic poetry, and a myriad of other medieval-themed duties. This game has a Darker and Edgier tone, with themes such as murder, religion, and alcoholism that were not present in previous entries in The Sims series.

The ten classes of the game are:

• The Monarch - able to fight, give royal orders, set taxes, and make deals with foreign politicians, they are the central figure of the kingdom.
• The Knight - able to fight, train other fighters, hunt and go on quests. They greatly help with the kingdom's Security.
• The Spy - able to fight, craft poisons, pick locks, eavesdrop on people, and even play around with the kingdom's politics. Usually takes a sneaky approach to quests.
• Peteran Priest - preaches to the people, blesses them and marries the characters. Peterans are more Low Church, directed at the people and believe in generosity and humility - visually, they're monks.
• Jacoban Priest - scares the people with his speeches, blesses them, can marry the characters. Jacobans are more of High Church, believing that you need to control the populace with terror, fire, and brimstone. Their temple is a large cathedral.
• The Wizard - studies magic, casts spells, gathers herbs, and prepares alchemical elixirs. They are known to be the keepers of high (and sometimes dangerous) knowledge in the kingdom.
• The Physician - prepares salves, tonics, medicines, and tends to plague-ridden Sims. As expected, they boost the kingdom's Well-Being.
• The Bard - entertains the kingdom by playing music, acting in taverns, reciting poems, and performing plays. They are a large contributor to the kingdom's Culture.
• The Merchant - buys and sells various wares, and trades with foreign lands. Can help complete quests for the kingdom using financial means.
• The Blacksmith - smiths weapons, tools, and armors for the kingdom, also a bit of an inventor and Gadgeteer Genius. You'll want a good Blacksmith to keep your heroes supplied with the best equipment possible.

The Sims Medieval was released in March 2011 by Electronic Arts. An expansion pack, Pirates & Nobles was released in August 2011.

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The Sims Medieval features the following tropes:

• Absurdly Low Level Cap: Maximum hero's level is 10. However, beyond that, every additional level up still gives the hero more daily income.
• Achievement Mockery: Some achievements are ones that are not very good. A noteworthy one is "Have 25 people die in your Kingdom," which since the maximum population of hero Sims is only 10, 25 deaths have to come from either questing so badly you have to remake your heroes multiple times, or killing off a majority of your original NPC population, which weakens your kingdom.
• Acting Unnatural: A Spy who's doing something like eavesdropping or stealing from a messenger post will do a "stealth walk" that's so over-the-top it should logically be more noticeable than a natural walk.
• Aerith and Bob: You can have a household with names like Bob and Chris alongside Ignotius and Aife.
• All Beer Is Ale: Though several different varieties are possible if you have the right ingredients.
• Alliance Meter: The Pirates and Nobles expansion has the War Effort Gauge, which tracks whom you're supporting in the Aarbyville-Tredony War and which moves to one side or the other depending on what choices you make during war quests. There are different benefits for supporting Aarbyville, supporting Tredony, or staying neutral, and each approach eventually unlocks a Faction Specific Ending.
• Always Gets His Man: If you do something illegal (brawling in public, for instance), or if the Monarch orders you to the stocks or the Pit, the constable will find and arrest you. It doesn't matter if he's currently busy elsewhere, or if all the stocks are currently occupied. As soon as the constable can arrest you, he'll do so, for he has a long memory regarding such things.
  • I Fought the Law and the Law Won: It doesn't even matter if your crime has no human victims and no witnesses. Rob the Messenger Post in the dead of night and fail? You're going to the stocks anyway!
• Anachronism Stew: The game is called The Sims Medieval but parts of it seem more at home in the Renaissance or even 18th century (especially with the Pirates & Nobles expansion).
  • For a case that’s even further forward, in Pirates and Nobles, when listening in on a conversation between two guildsman, the Spy may comment "they say loose lips sink ships”. Said phrase was actually first coined during World War II.
• And That's Terrible: In one of the new quests from Pirates and Nobles, you can have one of your heroes become a guildsmen. Along the way, you come across various volumes of "guild exploits", the first of which details how guilds take away children to become servants and ends with the statement "It is so sad."
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: Achieving achievements usually gives you either new outfits or new items for Buy mode. (Even if you're using a cheat to get all clothes available for everyone, unlockables still need to be unlocked.)
• Animal Nemesis: A Sim with the "Whale Ate My Parents" trait holds a personal grudge against all whales for reasons that should be obvious.
• Armor Is Useless: For a Spy. They can buy armor, but they resist damage even when fighting without it, and the resistance increases as they level up.
• Artificial Atmospheric Actions: Though not as much as the other The Sims series, it has its moments.
  • In the Death of a Proxy quest, there is a scene where the Monarch, frustrated while searching for a new Proxy for the Jacoban religion, must look at a statue of some kind to move on. Orville, the person who will become Proxy, will also comment on the statue, even if he is not at the same location as you.
  • Knights and Spies when you aren't controlling them will sometimes repeatedly sharpen their swords.
  • Owners of hawks and parrots will call, dismiss and re-call them repeatedly, without giving them any instructions.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Sims who go to watch sermons by either priest have a tendency to get up in the middle of them to have conversations, engage in pretend swordfights, or argue with each other.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: The Monarch is one of the only 3 classes capable of combat (outside of fistfights). Also, the knight is the leader of the guards, not just a random Sim with martial skills. Last but not least, the Spy apparently has some authority in the court, since they're able to propose edicts and vote on them; Presumably, the Monarch gave them that power so they'd have an excuse to keep an eye on the court.
• Badass Bookworm: Wizards, and anyone who's Scholarly. Particularly if they're both Scholarly and Adventurous.
• Badass Normal: Every (non-wizard) hero has their moments of this. Of special note is the physician, who defeats a witch through the power of medicine.
• Bawdy Song: One of the songs the Bard can sing is called "Ne'er to Woohoo Again".
  • There is also a random event that can occur during sleeping where the sim listens to a bard singing. The player can choose between a bawdy song or one about pirates. Ironically, if the player chooses the former and the event fails, the sim is left so unsatisfied that they literally feel the intense need to kiss or woohoo.
• The Blacksmith: One of the ten available Hero Sims is The Blacksmith, whose duties are to craft weapons, armor, magic staves, and help the kingdom fend off occasional dance-crazed Golems.
• Booze-Based Buff: Drinking an Ale or Wine gives Sims a positive moodlet; however, drinking too much cancels out the positives and can even make a Sim pass out. (And never drink Mystic Grog; it leaves you groggy.)
• Bottomless Bladder: Since the Bladder need is removed, Sims now have this; you can choose to send them to the chamber pot for a small Relieved buff, but they never need it.
• The Cameo: Patrick Stewart narrates the voice-over for the base game's opening cinematic. Donald Faison, best known for playing Turk on Scrubs, appeared in TV adverts for the game.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In one quest, you are heckled by a peasant in the town square. Later, he gives you a long-lost Jacoban artifact.
• Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: Most quest dialogue that tells the active Sim to do something "right away" doesn't really mean it but there are some exceptions where your Sim will be punished for not doing the thing as fast as they can.
• Cooking Mechanics: Sims have the option of cooking in a cauldron, oven, or spit, all of which produce different recipes (a lot of them) that have effects on a Sim's mood. Cooking Gruel or Roast Rat is convenient since it doesn't require you to have ingredients in inventory, but you'll receive a minor Focus loss from it, while a more complicated or expensive meal gives you a positive. (There's no Cooking skill; whether your meal is Bland, Yummy, or Marvelous depends only on what it consists of.)
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: The Peteran and Jacoban religions
• Darker and Edgier: The game contains darker elements that the main series does not. Executions, the plague, alcoholism, political intrigue, dire chinchillas... It also features religion, something the main series skirts around.
• Deadpan Snarker: All of the hero Sims can get their moments, depending on the decisions the player makes.
• Department of Redundancy Department:
  • In the Dangerous Minds quest, when the Merchant gets the quest goal to give the teacher his bag of mice, he says "I'll be happy to get rid of this creepy, squirmy, mouse-filled bag of mice."
  • Also, some of the text for buffs just repeats the buff's name, like "Looking for a Fight: (Sim Name) is looking for a fight!"
• Doomy Dooms of Doom: Doomsword, Doomplate, and Doomstaff, all of which are top-tier gear. However, they come at a cost, giving a hefty mood debuff when wielding them in combat.
• Dramatic Reading: One of the quests requires the Monarch to dictate his autobiography to the adviser. When the redaction is finished, the Monarch reads it aloud in this kind of voice.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the Imposter King quest, the Monarch is given an offscreen death without any explanation for how he/she was killed, and the investigator for the quest, if they attempt to publicly accuse the usurper, are thrown into The Pit and eaten in less than a minute.
• Drunken Master: Having a few drinks gives a Sim the "Buzzed" and then "Tipsy" buffs, which increase focus and hence the likelihood of success for various activities, on top of the possible bonus from the brewing recipe used. Having more drinks can either lead to an even larger buff or backfire if the Sim gets weepy or passes out.
• Duel to the Death: Monarchs, Spies, and Knights are able to do this with other fighters if you accept the possibility of them losing and dying. Though it is never required by quests (which mostly require a regular duel instead, only causing wounds upon defeat) and never initiated by NPCs.
• Easy Amnesia, Tap on the Head: The process by which the wizard forgets a spell is to whack him/herself in the head with his/her staff.
• Easy Exp: When something is a Responsibility, your Sim gets XP for it, even if it's ridiculously simple. Thus you get Monarchs receiving XP for writing new laws (which doesn't sound easy for the Sim himself, but requires no player effort and only very brief real time) and Knights receiving XP for sharpening their sword. There's also some low-effort (but correspondingly low-XP) tasks mixed in with larger ones in quests.
• The Emperor: Monarchs get this title when they annex a large number of the surrounding regions.
• Endless Game: Ambitions end, but you can still keep playing with the Sims in the kingdom, you just don't get any achievements. Additionally, once you finish New Beginnings, you unlock the Eternal Kingdom "ambition," which is basically a free-play mode with no objectives.
• Eternal Sexual Freedom:
  • Medieval Sims never seem to object to public displays of affection, premarital relations or same-sex relationships any more than their contemporary counterparts...
  • You can have the queen get pregnant by the royal advisor (or anyone else, really; the advisor is just one of the most convenient people for the monarch) out of wedlock and their child is still heir to the throne. ^note  If we are working off Divine Right to Rule and the player is basically God...think about the average Sims player. If you don't like a Sim, they will wind up dead. No Exceptions. So the locals probably assume that if a illegitimate child has the right to rule, they will continue living. If they don't, then they will do something stupid and die.
  • Clerics aren't forced to vow of chastity and aren't supposed to stay bachelors. A Peteran priest can French kiss his girlfriend (without being married) inside the church in front of his flock right before giving a sermon, and nobody will react.
• Evil Weapon: Comes up in the "Animuslaver!" quest in the form of a cursed sword. The Doomsword and Balmung also qualify, and the former even curses its wielder.
• Faction-Specific Endings: The Pirates and Nobles expansion has different quests for ending the Aarbyville-Tredony War on in favour of Aarbyville, in favour of Tredony, or neutrally, depending on where the player is on the Alliance Meter. Each ending comes with an achievement, and there's a fourth one for getting all three.
• Fake King: In the Royal Assassination quest.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Tredony has quite a few similarities to a Renaissance Italian city. (Someone apparently forgot it wasn't The Sims Renaissance.)
  • The Jacobans and Peterans are essentially expies of the Jesuit and the Franciscan orders.
• Fed to the Beast: Sims that have been sentenced to death are fed to the Pit Beast, a giant, tentacled beast that lives in the Pit of Judgement.
• Flat "What": Several events including a wacky dream will cause the "Wait, What?" debuff, which is only a minor focus loss but lasts for over a day.
• Forced Tutorial: This game has a rather notorious one in which you can't save during it! Better hope the game doesn't crash during it otherwise you'll be restarting it from the very beginning.
• Fractured Fairy Tale: The Legend of the Talking Frog quest. Sure, you can kiss the frog to change him back. You can also cook his legs and feed them to the king. The latter approach is justified because the frog was The Evil Prince before he was transformed.
  • One possible result for attempting to rescue Hansel and Gretel from a witch is for your Sim to find out that she really is a witch...but also really the kids’ granny and really pissed off that you interrupted. Cue 24-hour “Cursed” debuff.
• Frothy Mugs of Water: Unlike the main line of Sims games, Medieval averts this; Sims brew and drink actual Ale and Wine rather than "juice kegs" or "nectar", and Drunkard is an available Flaw.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Seen notably in the Monarch's Petitions; they can come from anyone, and while they rarely come from other Hero Sims, they do come from foreign territory leaders or NPC's who spawned from a quest and have a different background than the petition indicates, leading to things like "Why is the ruler of Crafthole asking for my permission to tear down rude shrubberies?" Another case is the "Pay Taxes" Responsibility; unlike the dreaded Bills of previous Sim games, Sims can commit tax evasion with no financial or legal consequences, just the same mood debuff they get for missing any responsibility.
• Gender Is No Object: Obviously, both male and female Sims are available for every Hero profession. Some quest Non Player Characters are always male or always female (specifically because they're always the same person), but non-quest NPCs, foreign territory leaders, and Royal Advisors can be either.
• God Is Good: The Peteran religion believes in a benevolent deity that watches over and guides the world.
• A God Is You: "You are The Watcher." See opening cinematic (link at top of page) for the rest.
• God Save Us from the Queen!:
  • A Monarch with the Evil trait and/or the Bloodthirsty or Cruel Fatal Flaw.
  • Monarchs in general, whether they have those traits, can very easily become this, because they're given some of the cruelest interaction options in the game. In the expansion, there's a mission which when the Monarch realizes that their kingdom is plagued by good-for-nothing refugees and the Royal Adviser is complicit with this, the Monarch proceeds to walk around the kingdom murdering the refugees, sending the lucky ones to the stock, torturing an ambassador to death with a dire chinchilla, and poisoning the adviser's drink with an exploding wine while rigging their ship with explosive for a good measure.
• The Good Chancellor: One NPC is a Royal Advisor, who's always loyal and helpful to your Monarch. Though one could possibly have the "Evil" trait, they would be an Evil Advisor in name only, since they would be no more likely to plot against the kingdom. (Although they're not always nice; most of their quest dialogue is very snarky, even for a World of Snark.)
• Good Flaws, Bad Flaws: Some Fatal Flaws are better or worse than others in terms of how they affect gameplay and how other Sims react. "Weak Constitution" has so little effect on a Sim (unless the kingdom has low Well-Being, in which case s/he will get sick more often) that it's effectively a Good Flaw, while some flaws, especially on certain heroes are bad enough to actually make the game harder. (For example, a Monarch or Physician who's a Misanthrope will never be able to escape a debuff because there are always people in the Throne Room and Clinic.)
• Ye Goode Olde Days: Definitely tends towards the more idealized view of Medieval life, though touches of Dung Ages are also apparent; ignorant and filthy peasants appear in some quests. However, food and starvation are never a problem as your heroes can always subsist on infinite amounts of gruel or flat bread, and NPCs also never die of starvation. Diseases are present and give terrible debuffs but they never kill (this is probably Justified for gameplay reasons, it would be frustrating for your heroes to suddenly drop dead in the middle of a quest)
• Healing Herb: The Physician uses herbs to create healing items. Not a case of That Old-Time Prescription, as most of the plant names are made up and the two that aren't, Belladonna and Nightshade, are poisonous in the real world. And the same thing.
• Heroic Sacrifice: One letter that Sims with the Hopeful Orphan trait can find is from their father, saying that he's glad he saved them even though he wasn't so lucky.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Played for laughs during one of the story quests of Pirates & Nobles. The titular factions are meeting in the player's kingdom for a peace conference, and the player can optionally tell his/her guards to disguise themselves while guarding the conference; If they do, the guards agree to get "subtle disguises". When the conference starts, you'll see that the guards are wearing jester's costumes.
• Improbable Infant Survival: Like previous Sims games, while adults can die, children can't. Adults can't harm them, and since they're never playable they can never starve to death, jump in the Pit or otherwise suffer the effects of the Videogame Cruelty Potential. They can catch diseases (not particularly obviously, but you do sometimes see them getting treated at the Clinic or have an interaction that infects a playable Sim) but they're never seen dying of those, either.
• Informed Equipment: Swords and other weapons aren't visibly carried by your Sim (while some outfits include swords, not all the outfits for sword-users do), and are only shown when they actually draw the sword to sharpen or use. Inverted by some outfits that show weapons you can't use, like a Spy outfit with two daggers attached in spite of the fact that the Spy, like the other sword users, has a longsword.
• Initiation Quest: The Pirates & Nobles expansion has one each for the Tredonian Guild Consortium and the Pirate Tribunal, which is repeatable and can be taken by any Hero Sim that isn't already a part of one of the two. Each consists of the Hero doing various tasks for the faction to prove their devotion, ending with one that's specific to the Hero's class. Completing the quest gives the player Allegiance towards the appropriate faction on the War Effort Gauge and gives the Hero a Certificate of Title that grants certain perks, such as Pirates being able to go on raids or Guildsmen getting discounts at the Village Shoppe.
• Instant Messenger Pigeon: The pigeon mailbox that acts pretty much the same as a normal mailbox/telephone in The Sims. For example, if your monarch sends a pigeon-delivered invite to foreign dignitaries, they will be on the castle doorstep within the hour. If you send a personal message during the night, you even get a notification a few minutes later with the receipient complaining that it is way too late for letters.
• Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: Some of the pathfinding issues of earlier Sim games still apply; fences are knee height at best but Sims will never climb over them. They also have trouble walking around other Sims a lot. As in, good luck trying to get them to walk into or out of the massive Throne Room doors when even a thin person or child is on one side. They look like they have enough room to use the other side, but they act like there's an elephant there.
• It's Personal: The leaders for the Pirates and Guildsmen each have a personal vendetta against each other for one allegedly killing the other's family.
• It Tastes Like Feet: Eating the Flat Bread or the Field Rations gives the buff "Tasteless Treat: That tasted like sheep hooves, but worse!"
• Killer Rabbit: Or rather, Dire Chinchillas.
• Lampshade Hanging: In the "Contents: Genie" quest, you get to ask townspeople what they would wish for, and the wishes lampshade things that are missing from The Sims Medieval that were in other Sim games, such as transportation ("I wish I could ride a horse just once in my life"), the ability to add onto your house, and children growing up.
  • When freed by the wizard, the Genie will remark "Oh, and the next time you find a genie? You can always just use a wish to free us."
• Look Behind You: How the Spy distracts other Sims to pickpocket them.
• Lovable Coward: The Cowardly trait creates this, as it basically makes a Sim nervous and fearful but not necessarily dishonorable. Even if a Sim is both Cowardly and Evil, the traits work in different and non-overlapping ways (a Cowardly Sim is afraid of the dark and less likely to succeed on dangerous tasks, while an Evil Sim likes to see mishaps happening to other Sims and gets more fun out of Mean interactions), so they wouldn't be a Dirty Coward, unless the player chooses to or has to make them screw someone over.
• Lovable Rogue: Pirates, if you're leaning towards their side in the war. The Spy also qualifies, at least in some quests.
• Mage Tower: Wizards get to live in a building with three stories which admittedly isn't very tall as far as "towers" go, but it's still one more floor than anyone else gets (including the Monarch who only gets two).
• The Magnificent: Monarchs get these for raising their Character Level. When a Monarch reaches level 5 they receive "the Great" after their name and when they reach level 10 they receive "the Illustrious."
• Marathon Level: 4-point Quests like "Animuslaver!", "Secrets" or "The Dragon of (Kingdom Name)." Even if you aren't trying to get Gold or Platinum (which actually takes longer as you have to balance completing quest tasks with keeping your Sim in a generally good mood), these quests will take days of in-game time and probably a few hours of real time.
• Meaningful Name: The most basic mineral a blacksmith uses is called Cruddium. One quest has an internal monologue from the blacksmith where they note that it is a better crafting material than an otherwise unseen mineral named Crapite.
• Monster Is a Mommy: In one event for jumping into the Pit of Judgment, when you're fighting against the Pit Beast, you can find a small tentacle which turns out to be its baby. You then steal the baby to make it your house decoration.
• Money for Nothing: If your kingdom isn't well-off enough for really good gear to be available in Live mode, about all you can do with money is buy things in Buy mode. Which you don't even need because everything a Sim uses in his profession is already in his house and the versions in Buy mode are mostly aesthetic upgrades. It's fun to buy them, but you can still end up wondering what to do with a few thousand Simoles.
• Mushroom Samba: One of the Bard's quests requires to get high (by eating an old moldy loaf of bread) in order to get inspiration to write a theater play.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Some Pirates in Pirates and Nobles, as well as the evil sorcerer. The witch's name is randomly generated though so her name isn't usually frightening.
• Nap-Inducing Speak: Buzz Killington, to the extent that Pirates think asking you to listen to him without falling asleep is a suitable test of your endurance.
• Noble Bird of Prey: In Pirates and Nobles, your hero can have a Peregrine Falcon. A Gyrfalcon is occasionally available, and a Red-Tailed Hawk is given to your Monarch in the war quest "The Incident."
• Oh, My Gods!: Sims often say "By the Watcher!" In a specific message in the Power Grab quest, you also see "Oh my Watcher," though that version is less frequent.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Numerous in the descriptions and interactions. "The Village Shoppe" comes to mind.
• Permanently Missable Content: The quest to annex Effenmont consists in arranging a marriage between the monarch player character and an Elf prince/princess. If the monarch gets married before the quest becomes available, you won't be able to begin the quest, obviously. Being unable to annex Effenmont prevents energy potions from spawning in the market; it also prevents to get the highest score rating if playing the scenario where you have to annex other territories. You "can" divorce the Monarch's spouse just for the purposes of this quest, but it will give them a stinging 2-day debuff.
• Pirate: The Pirates and Nobles expansion pack adds pirates, but there were already some in the base game.
• Pirate Parrot: The Parrots in Pirates and Nobles. You can even send them off to find treasure!
• Politically Correct History: Very much so, as the gender equality and lack of negative reactions to same-sex relationships which characterise the original three games strain plausibility a bit in a "Medieval" setting.
  • Justified in that it's a medieval-inspired fantasy setting and not an attempt at historical accuracy, so the creators could pick whatever social rules they want (compare Fable and various other medieval fantasies where no-one bats an eyelid).
• Pregnant Badass: Averted in that it's not for example possible for a pregnant female Knight to do quests.
  • She can still go hunting in the forests. The descriptions of her adventure aren't changed at all.
  • While a pregnant knight can fulfil practically none of her duties, most other Heroes can carry on as normal when pregnant unless they are actually in labour.
• Practice Kiss: In the quest "The Mirthful Love Doctor", the Physician Sim can agree to help a romantically inexperienced Sim learn how to kiss (among other things.)
• Premiseville: Every pre-made foreign territory is this. There's Tredony, Aarbyville, Effenmont, Advorton, Gastrobury, Snordwich, Ticktop, and Crafthole.
• Public Execution: The primary method of execution available is for a Sim to be tossed into "The Pit of Judgement" and forced to do battle with The Pit Beast, a carnivorous tentacled monstrosity. Gathered witnesses will either gasp in horror or cheer on the combatants.
• Punny Name: "Buzz Killington" is a quest NPC, and the last name Landgraab makes another appearance.
  • Achievement names tend to be puns, shout-outs, or both. Like "A Hard Day's Knight."
• Puppet King: Averted with the actual Monarch due to gameplay mechanics. Played straight in "Death of a Proxy" quest, where the Monarch and Jacoban Priest can band together to place an uneducated peasant named Orville in charge of Yacothia so that the Monarch can rule through him.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In half of the quests where he/she is an NPC, the Monarch is this; The other half, not so much.
• Red Light District: Aarbyville, a foreign territory that's in general a hive of scum and villainy, is famous for its "meat trade," which becomes a more transparent Unusual Euphemism for prostitution with every time it's referenced. The Fighter's Guild quest strongly implies that the Knight's student is an escaped Sex Slave.
• Reforged Blade: Both the cursed Doomsword and the holy Angel's Talon can be reforged by a fully-levelled Blacksmith Sim with the right manual and fragments.
• Relationship Values: A standard of the series; this one has friendship meters between individuals as well as a Popularity meter to indicate how much the monarch and the religious leaders are liked overall. Many quest actions rely on getting an NPC to have a positive Relationship Value with you as well. (Including one where the Royal Advisor won't give you advice unless they like you.)
• Rodents of Unusual Size: Dire Chinchillas.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: If you are a monarch, you still get quests and day-to-day responsibilities. Though there is a quest for monarchs to relax.
• RPG Elements: It's the Sims game where they are the most obvious, with a Character Class System and Experience Points; the ten playable Sims gain XP through both professional and quest-related tasks. However, these are largely aesthetic, and it feels like other Sims games most of the time; it's uncommon to die or even fail without intending to and your Focus (e.g. the good old-fashioned Sims gameplay of "keep them in a good mood") is as important as your Level in determining quest success. In fact, a Level 10 Sim with a lot of negative buffs will do worse on a quest than a Level 1 who's feeling great.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: If your Hero is eloquent, a social option is "Pontificate Poignantly."
• Sex Magic: One quest story involves helping a sorceress cast a spell, the final aspect of which involves sleeping with her.
• Shout-Out: A unique NPC is named "Roger the Shrubber", and one debuff has the description "'Tis but a flesh wound," both shout-outs to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
  • When your blacksmith is hammering metal, he/she will get the Hammer Tyme buff, which has the description "Ye shall not touch this!"
  • In one quest, your wizard will have to make a Make-Believe Serum, which has the description "Drink with me, and you'll be in a world of pure imagination!"
  • In another, you get the line "When someone asks you if you're the Watcher, you say YES!" You also get the debuff 'Slimed.'
    • Similarly, you may find a ghost ship. One of the options is to board it, with the description starting, "I ain't afraid of no ghosts!"
  • In yet another, when you play the fiddle well, you get a buff that says "Sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot, now that's some fiddlin' on the spot!"
  • One of the petitions that your Monarch might hear is one about raising the taxes on goats. One of the options is Read my lips..., which is the option for no new taxes on goats.
  • The song used in one of the teasers was "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".
  • One of the over-arching quests/challenges is called "Legen- wait for it -dary.
  • For bonus points, it features a Shout Out to a Shout Out. Partway through the first quest, you'll encounter Builder Vicks and Builder Wedge in the graveyard. "Vicks" is what Woolsey-era translations called recurring Square Enix character "Biggs", and of course the characters are named for ones from Star Wars.
  • You can mine for Adamantium.
  • When you tell your Peteran Priests to pray, they perform the 'wax on, wax off' motion
  • While exploring the forest an opportunity may come up saying you've found a group of tall blue skinned elves dancing around a glowing tree. You are given the option of attacking them and cutting down the tree, or continue watching them silently.
  • In one of the War Quests you receive a Dead Parrot from your hunting hawk. Sadly, its description is not "This is an ex-parrot" or "It has expired and gone to meet its maker!" You can also acquire a dead parrot from one of the shops in the village on a random encounter. And of course, the shopkeeper insists that it's "just resting".
  • The quest "Animuslaver!" involves the tale of a well-intentioned king who winds up destroying his family and kingdom by wielding a demonic blade. The king's name? Eric of Melni.
  • If you stroll through the forest, you may run into a couple of time travelers.
  • Also, during strolling around, one can come across a house with an old woman and two screaming children inside.
  • On the Quest 'King for a Day,' if you choose the Physician to become the temporary Monarch, the message "I'm a Doctor, not a Monarch!" will appear.
  • You research the play Much Ado About Peasants by Shaxbure.
  • There are a lot of assistant pigkeepers running around...
  • One of the achievements, accomplished when the merchant trades via boat 100 times, is called "I'm on a Boat!".
  • If your kingdom's culture is very high, your Sims can get an option called "Chosen by the Watcher." If it goes wrong, you get the debuff called "Blinded by the Watcher," with the description "Revved up by a Deus, another Watcher in the night," which sounds like a song that was made popular by Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
  • The music in the wizard's tower sounds very similiar to the music from the Harry Potter movies.
  • The Doomsword is a demonic sword that was broken into pieces and has an eye in its hilt.
  • Peasant Buttercup is among the name pool for randomly generated female NPCs. She seems to have a higher chance of turning up during the "Heir to the Throne" quest, too, which requires the monarch to choose a bride (or, more accurately, opposite-sex spouse) from the village. So, if deliberate, it's quite possibly a Whole-Plot Reference.
  • The songs the bard hero (and really anyone with a fiddle) can play, like "Chatreusesleeves", which is clearly inspired by the famous Renaissance song Greensleeves.
  • Also, many a readable book, like "George George George of the Judgement Pit".
  • One of the thrones added by the expansion pack is by the brand Games With Thrones.
  • The achievement for going on 30 Quests with the Monarch is called "King's Quest".
  • In the Fountain of Legend quest, a sim must perform a certain action three times (the action is related to their Fatal Flaw). For a Fool sim, it's "hunt for snipes in the cave".
  • In Meat Quest IV if you take the option to go spelunking in the cave for meat, you can buy a shiny lamp. Its description text is "May it be a light for you in dark places, when all other lights have gone out."
  • As mentioned above, one of the quest Non Player Characters is named Buzz Killington.
• The Sleepless: Wizards regain energy through meditation, so they don't need a bed for practical reasons.
• Slobs vs. Snobs: While the Pirates and Nobles have more significant reasons to quarrel than this, there are several dialogue boxes to indicate that they also see the other side as slobs or snobs. (On top of that, Entitled and Guild Enemy are conflicting traits—you literally can’t be a snob unless the guild likes you!)
• Small Name, Big Ego: Any Sim with Hubris. Succeeding at any task with success odds will give them the debuff "Blinded by Hubris" whose text is "I'm the greatest! The best around!" even if it was a simple task like picking flowers.
• Speaking Simlish: Like previous Sims games, all audio speech is in Simlish, with important text pop-ups in the player's language. Interestingly, unlike the previous games, the "Gossip" social interaction also gives pop-ups in the player's language, just for amusement as they're randomized and irrelevant to your quest or character.
• Stock Punishment: Standard non-lethal punishment in the kingdom.
• Stupidity Is the Only Option: All of the possible annexation quests for Burdley have this, though not in ways that would be bad for the hero; Instead, they all require actions that would be bad for Burdley in some way. In all of them, Burdley has a nasty squirrel infestation and will join the kingdom if the squirrels are dealt with. The first quest has the hero unleash some dire chinchillas into Burdley's forests so they'll eat the squirrels^note For those who've forgotten, dire chinchillas are extremely nasty and much worse than any squirrel., while the other just has the hero burn down all the forests in Burdley^note  Burdley's whole economy is based on wood crafting and their culture revolves around living in peace with nature, so you've basically destroyed their economy and their way of life, leaving them no choice but to be annexed.
• Take Your Time: The mechanics of the game strongly encourage the player to do this. During a quest, the Quest Progress bar will rise steadily as long as your active hero's Focus is high enough, regardless of what s/he is or isn't doing. Therefore, rushing through the assigned tasks as quickly as possible would result in a mediocre Silver rating, while stretching things out a bit would result in a Gold or even Platinum final rating, where the rewards are significantly greater. This having been said, there's also such a thing as taking too much time to do a quest.
  • Becomes ironic when going for the "No Quest For The Weary" ambition. The description states that one shouldn't waste any time and instead solve quests as fast as possible. To solve the ambition, one needs to get at least 16 quests with platinum which is almost impossible, if rushing through the quests.
  • Averted in some quests with a specific time limit—if you do not fulfill a quest task within a certain amount of time, your sim will be sent to the Pit of Judgment.
• Tickle Torture: In the expansion, this is one of the methods you can use to gather information from a Sim tied to an interrogation chair.
• Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: If you go sailing, one scenario you may find yourself in is an Ultimate Throwdown, with a Dire Whale, Man O'War, a spirit army, the Kracken, Unicorns, Golems, Goblins, a Crab Bandit, and other creatures. The winner? A dire chinchilla.
• Unexplained Recovery One of the War Quests culminates with you blowing up a ship with your adviser and servant on it, killing them both. They're back for no apparent reason in the very next quest.
• Unstable Equilibrium: Because of the importance of focus in success or failure of a lot of tasks. Managing to get enough focus ensure to be more successful in your tasks, which grants higher focus or reduce constant focus decrease which comes from short-term buffs (eating, having a bath, picking herbs, reading, etc). Having low focus increases the risk of failure in your daily tasks, which itself usually causes to lose more focus, either because you fail to complete daily tasks in time (for example, fishing leeches, hunting, brewing potions, converting another Sim to your religion, etc have success chance linkes to your focus), or directly from the mere failure (being badly wounded by a bear or losing a fight have the immediate effect of granting a buff with negative focus).
  • If you are unlucky enough, it is possible to start a campaign while suffering from this trope. If your Monarch starts the first quest while being randomly affected by a disease, you immediatly have a negative focus buff. After a couple of tasks, your Monarch has to take part in a duel; your decrease focus risks you to be wounded during the fight, or even to lose, and each of those two possibilities grant a negative focus buff which can stack the other one...
• Vain Sorceress: A Sorceress (or Wizard) with the Vain trait.
• Videogame Cruelty Potential: It is a Sims game, after all.
  • The monarch can send anyone to their almost certain death in the Pit of Judgement, for no reason at all. As long as they aren't vital to the quest, the monarch can execute them.
  • If you're feeling a little more sporting (or aren't the Monarch), some Sims can be challenged to a duel to the death, including other combat-capable heroes, foreign leaders, roaming pirates and guildsmen, and even the kingdom's own guards and watchmen! A high level fighter with excellent equipment can go on a murder spree across the kingdom as most NPCs don't have the skills or equipment to even come close to standing a chance.
  • Spies can pickpocket other Sims (with an obvious Look Behind You animation) and steal funds from messenger posts. If their focus is too low, however, they may be caught and sent to the stocks.
  • Cruel Player-Character God: What the Jacoban religion believes in.
  • Cruelty Is the Only Option: Depending on how you choose to play out a quest, your hero is sometimes required to be needlessly cruel to get the story to progress.
• Volleying Insults: You have to do this with one of the pirates in the quest to join the pirate crew. Sadly, you can't say You Fight Like a Cow.
• Wandering Minstrel: The Bard Hero Sim, whose duty is to gather inspiration from around the kingdom in order to write plays, perform poetry, and play the lute to entertain the populace.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: Wyrmslayer in "The Dragon of [Kingdom Name]" quest, and Goblinsbane in "Goblins." They remain effective swords to use outside the quest as well, as they're better than the standard longsword and almost as good as the elite gear you find in the shoppe.
• We Buy Anything: The Village Shoppe buys anything apart from quest items. Including pond scum.
• What's Up, King Dude?: Because of the use of Royals Who Actually Do Something, having quest tasks for the Monarch to interact with regular people, or seeing them doing it when you're not playing as them, is a common occurrence. Although there is one quest where you do have to kick commoners out of the Throne Room at the end.
• Wicked Witch: The villain of the "The Witch Is Back" quest. (A female Wizard with the Evil trait is... a female Wizard with the Evil trait. Witches and Wizards are different things for more reasons than gender here.)
• Worst Aid: Physicians can give diagnostics and give first aid to fellow Sims. Note that first aid doesn't actually requires a diagnostic to be allowed, which can give surreal scenes like a physician suddenly twisting the neck of a Sim he just met in the street.
• You All Look Familiar:
  • Borderline case; many villagers are randomly generated so no two kingdoms will have identical populations, but there's a small set of unique villagers (including Handmaiden Margery and Druidess Amelia) that every kingdom gets at least one of, and you can have one of the same model in all the kingdoms you're playing.
  • Your Build Master will always look the same, however he acquires a new name (and new traits) if you play a new kingdom.
• You Have Researched Breathing: As a Spy, you need to get to level 5 to steal money out of the messenger post. The same messenger post that you have been opening all along to get secret messages out of.
• Your Mom: A "Mean" social interaction option is to imply someone's mother is a llama.

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