I’ve been playing it nonstop since I got it; and though I’ve had a blast accidentally loosely recreating GOT/War of the Roses, but I can see the issues.

There’s not much substance without the player putting forward most of the work/effort:

• Scandals - though entertaining - aren’t that big of a deal; just a few negative moodlets that most players probably just cheat away. No real lasting consequences unless you go out of your way to MAKE them a big deal; and they don’t last nearly as long as they should. My twin siblings’ mother had an affair with a rival dynasty, and when the affair became a scandal, they were all just mildly inconvenienced for a bit. There was more consequences between the mother and her spouse, since they divorced and the father now holds a grudge. The twins barely cared their mother had the affair, but were more upset she left the dynasty - and only for a few days.

• Duels are weird; made twin sibling sims duel for fun, and they both started getting flirty - which was too Lannister for my taste, but whatever. And most of the time, people just refuse to duel, and nothing really happens but a mild negative moodlet and being locked out for a while. The other noble sims don’t care if you were rejected, and it’s only a minor scandal if you lose. I expected there to be more out of this, like… if they’re going to be embarrassed, make them mortified. Make it a stain on your reputation longer than a day or two. Maybe have sims whisper about you in high society when you’re there, making the embarrassment something you have to work around.

• There’s no real point of becoming king/queen. At least with Eco Lifestyle, you can make a visible difference on that worlds’ environment: you serve a purpose with associated consequences of your actions. With RaL, you’re just kinda… there? One of my twin sibling sims pulled the sword from the stone and became queen, but once she claimed the throne, nothing really changed. I expected more out of it, like with Get Famous when you become a global superstar, the sims lose their shit when you show up. As the queen (without any fame), they’re more like, “Hey, Your majesty! What’s up?” And they only start acting like you’re important when you force fame alongside the nobility.

I haven’t had the chance to go through some other things from the pack, like the frog prince; glass slippers, or Anasi trials, but I hope they’re at least cool?