Europa Universalis 4 or Hearts of Iron 4?

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

Play Darkest Hour

 

[otaats]

I feel like HOI4 will be a perfect game to play once i stop playing EU4 as much.. More clear basics, simpler but nonetheless interesting and fun enough of a game. But, i think it's only starting - many core gameplay features need a rework, and a few giant changes are already announced (such as fuel consumption), so i believe HOI4 will be even more appealing in a year or so, after they polish different gameplay ideas they have for the game.

 

[rttl147]

eu4 = continuous effort over many centhuries to lead, transform and expand your country while paying attention to many aspects of it other than military, such as diplomacy, trade, economy and religion. a lot to focus on, a very wide range of possible goals, hundreds of small wars over a long campaign and usually very rarely large ones. essentially, long and deep but not necessarily intense focus on very rich and in-depth system of mechanics in order to continuously lead your country to whatever goal you have in mind.

hoi4 = 3-4 hours of intense preparation of war, 1-2 hours of very intense focus on conducting war and it's over. peace conference screen for most major nations is when you can already pat yourself on the back or slap yourself on the forehead depending on how the game went the game is all about ww2, ww2 is what you will be preparing for and then what you will be fighting, and then it's done - very different from eu4 where it's a multitude of small goals over long period of time

based on this you can choose what fits you the most. obviously i encourage you to eventually buy both games, but if there's someone who understands financial limitations it's me, so just think about what you're looking forward to more and i hope my short elaboration on the concept of each game is going to prove useful as you consider your options

one more thing to consider - eu4 is mostly about SP, hoi4 is mostly about MP

 

[Zarine]

one more thing to consider - eu4 is mostly about SP, hoi4 is mostly about MP

I wouldn't say mostly about MP for HoI4 but that's clearly the winner for multiplayers and the easiest to find people to play.
After, note that organized MP games usually have high level players and custom rules. It could be hard for a beginner to jump into MP HoI4

 

[rttl147]

I wouldn't say mostly about MP for HoI4 but that's clearly the winner for multiplayers and the easiest to find people to play.
After, note that organized MP games usually have high level players and custom rules. It could be hard for a beginner to jump into MP HoI4

in my personal experience hoi4 SP gets old much, much quicker than eu4 SP. the idea of game being based around decisions of 7 major powers makes the MP so much better for hoi4 in my opinion. in eu4 you have tens and tens of relatively powerful, influential countries, which both makes SP more appealing and MP a little bit less appealing.

that being said, i absolutely do not aim to undermine entertainment that hoi4 SP and eu4 MP provide, which is why i said "MOSTLY about"

and i wouldn't recommend organized MP hoi4 games actually. even for experienced players. once the rules start piling up it becomes clear that most of these are about preventing stuff that host doesn't want to happen from happening. "all welcome" games are great for beginners and in my opinion for all players in general, with the general convention serving as an universal set of rules to prevent most of the ridiculous, annoying stuff from happening while preserving a wide range of possibilities rather than "please let Germany win" written on 14 a4 pages

 

[Fast00000000000]

Having over 1000 hours in HOI4 I have to recommend it. I also have EU4 but HOI4 is more fast paced grand strategy.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

Is it late to recommend Vicky 2 again?

 

[Metroidkirby]

Wait for sales on Steam or Paradox Store, and buy both these games.