Sic Semper Regium - A Bad Long Live the Queen Review

That's probably a bad English to Latin translation but sue me. But yeah, Long Live the Queen.

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So, this game is a bit old and I uh... I don't know what exactly what to consider this game. It's technically a visual novel but it's pretty neat since it's kinda a more like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel with RPG elements. Though, RPG elements tend to override the CYOA part. But it could also be considered a simulator with all the stats involved and heavy theme of the time and problem management.

Anyways, you play as Elodie; a 14 year old princess to the Kingdom of Nova. Your mom just met an untimely demise and now the kingdom holds it breath as they wait for you turn 15 and claim the throne as Queen. Good news, it's a 40 week wait. Bad news, you get to shoulder some of responsibility of being a Queen already, along with all the assassination attempts and civil wars. You think you're going to start off with the know-how on being a monarch? HA, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN THAT TOO IN THE NEXT 40 WEEKS. HAVE FUN JUGGLING THOSE AND YOUR EMOTIONS AT THE SAME TIME! LONG LIVE THE TEENAGE QUEEN!

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The new curriculum looks tough this year...
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So, you have 40 weeks to live and learn before becoming the Queen, and I mean live and learn. Each week, you'll assign yourself 2 classes to learn in before being presented with an event, then to a weekend activity.

Classes range are put under four trees: Social, Physical, Intellectual, and Mystical. Inside those trees are a wide gambit of classes that will teach Elodie all the skills she may need to rule the kingdom or live for another week. This allows for you shape Elodie out to being the Queen you want. Sadly, there way too many classes for you to have a well rounded Elodie and not suffer an unfortunate accident or "accident" later on. Long Live the Specialized Queen!

You may be becoming a Queen, but you still have time to deal with girl problems.


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Next, after Elodie's done with her classes for the week, we get a taste of story. Family comes over, talk about Elodie's dead mom, have party, and so on. It helps giving a heads up on how you're doing and what's coming up next. You'll sometimes be presented with a choice like going to a friend's party that's a long walk through bandit infested territory or writing Elodie's regrets that she won't be able to make it. Sometimes, you'll have to pass judgement on peasants who broke the law. These choices could affect your kingdom's neighbors and peasant's view on Elodie. Most of the time, you'll go through a skill check. Pray to God you pass, failure could have ramifications for Elodie in the future or kill her now. Either or, the it's amazing how will the story holds with all the choices you make.

Now this wouldn't be so bothersome if it didn't mean you handicap yourself in a class to learn a class one time and pass a check. You might have to save scum a run through to stop learning how to sword fight so you can practice accounting and not go into debt while at the same time having the threat of a neighboring lord or lady readying to challenge Elodie to a duel. It's going to be impossible to pass every skill check, so be prepared to accept failure a lot. Long Live the Threatened Queen!

NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING WRONG.
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If you managed to have Elodie survive for the week, you'll get a chance to choose a weekend activity. You can meander around the castle, play with your toys, watch your Dad be King, and even pay visits to The Dungeon. More activities come available as she becomes more skilled in certain classes. These won't kill Elodie luckily, but they will affect Elodie's mood.

Elodie can be VERY moody. Her mood is determined in 4 sorts of "tug of war" between Angry and Afraid, Cheerful and Depressed, Willful and Yielding, and Pressured and Lonely. Which ever mood is holding the pull from the center her mood for the week. So if the tug between Angry and Afraid is the most of centered and is leaning towards afraid, Elodie will be afraid for the week. Her mood mostly effects how much she'll learn in certain classes for the week, which can either boost or waste a week of education.

As mentioned previously, weekend activities affect her mood both positively and negatively, making it hard to have a balanced mood. To add into the mix, certain events after class may affect her mood. All of these combined can have Elodie drop from cheerful to depressed quite quickly. Long Live the Bi-Polar Queen!

Don't be surprised if you find Elodie in this situation quite a bit.
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You're going to die a lot in this game. It will be cruel and it will be merciless. It could easily be described as a trail and error at most times. But luckily, to help ease your struggle, there are multiple endings, deaths, and even costumes that add bonuses to Elodie's skills! Gotta find them all!

So, would I recommend this menagerie of a game? Yeah, pretty much. Despite it's lack of action, it's a pretty difficult game to master. It's like a game meant for a spreadsheet analyst to play yet can still be appealing to a larger audience. Not to mention it's cute, quirky, and quite aware of the jokes about Japanese... er, culture? Yeah, culture, let's call it culture. Long Live the Recommend Queen!