This is worse than Sims 3, but still has some value!
SIMULATION (6/10)
This is where it has failed. The main genre of the game is simulation, but it has been cruelly abandoned when the developer pay too much attention to the RPG element. You can't choose or switch career for your Sims, you can't build your own house or castle, you can't create your dream family, you can't go to the exotic foreign land you've always heard about, and most importantly: you can't aged, or so to say: you can't have a 3 generation household. You can only have a child and if you don't die, your family will live forever. If you die, your child will step-up (or miraculously change into an adult) and take on your died Sim's career. Some elements still retain such as: Create A Style tool, Trait (and a new Fatal Flaw), Customize looks (Clothing, Face, Make-Up),... But you will sorely miss the Sims 3 if you like the left-out elements.
GAMEPLAY(7.5/10)
Luckily, the RPG style is very detailed and well-built, but let's talk about the bad things first. There are 10 class (or profession) for your Sims like Knight, Monarch, Wizard,..., so in short you can ONLY control 10 different Sims in the game. You can't control your Sims' family. You can only control 3 different Sims at 1 time, and trust me, it's more than enough. Why? Each of them live in different house, and switching between them is a pain in the ass, not to say there're responsibilities your Sim must fulfill each day (much like job nowaday).
The goal of the game is to build your Kingdom. To do this you must complete Quest to gain resource, such as Resource Point - used to build building, and 4 aspect points of Health, Security, Culture and Knowledge. If they're high they will provide good effect, and vice versa.
Your Quest Preformance will be affected by how focused your Sim are. They're like Moodlets from the previous Sims 3. If you do something nice, you will be more Focused and the performance will go up. If they're not so good, it will go down. Your Focus Meter will also affect the outcome of most of your profession activity.
To be able to control your Sim, you must always be doing a Quest. Sometime Quest require more than 1 Hero to do, or a Hero has to be at least at Level 5,... And the great feature is that a Quest can have different approach, such as you can choose to Slay or Save the Dragon, so it has some replay value.
Each Hero has a unique set of skills and action that only that Sim can do, such as the Monarch can send someone to the Pit, Knight can spar with other swordsman, Wizard can cast Growth spell to grow plant,... The effect of the skill is better with each level your Sim is at. To gain level your Sim must gain EXP through completing Quest task, doing your profession task, fulfill responsibilities,...
There is a greater tactics element in this game than in the previous Sims 3 game. If you don't recognize this, you'll find this game really hard. First is the trait system. Your Sim has 2 normal trait - which is not good and not bad, and a fatal flaw - which is very bad. How you choose them will affect the Hero greatly in the game. Like the Merchant, if you choose the Greedy trait, you will easily gain more Focus when selling something. Second is how you deal with responsibilities and Quest task simultaneously. There will be more than 1 point where your Sim has too much to do in 1 day that you can't even do a Quest task. It's up to you to organize the day for your Sim.
TECHNICAL (6.5/10)
The Sims series has never been a pleasant game when it comes to performance. This game is not an exception. The game is laggy when switching house, often long loading time (even when changing clothes), and MANY, MANY bugs. This game has more bug than the previous Sims 3, there are even some Quest bug, such as you're supposed to talk to this Sim, but he's not even in your town, so you have to invite him over. And then there's the "forgetful" bug, where your Sim tend to forget what you told him to do. And the most frustrating bug is the "path finding": you love her so much, and you decided to marry her. You told her: "Let's have a marriage here". She's agreed. You're so happy, but then you're waving your hand, saying that you can't get to her?! So the wedding has to be canceled... This is the bug I've seen more than 10 times. And there're so many other bugs I've seen in the game.
Also the graphics is not on par with the performance. The game is laggy still the graphics looks outdated. The sound effect is poorly designed, except for the sound when you're using the chamberpot (seriously). The more you play the game, the more laggy it becomes.
RATING FOR THE SIMS FAN: 7/10
RATING FOR COMMONER: 6/10