A small note from a guy who didn't vote for this project

[unmerged(34416)]

I haven't played EIC, but AFAIK, it's not developed by Paradox, but rather only published by the company.

That's right, it's not by Paradox, but it is from Paradox... if you see the distinction. They put their name on it.

The basic game concept is ok, but it's only halfway towards a playable game. The one thing about it that stuck out is that total domination is not desirable - in other words capturing all the ports doesn't lead to success. Sadly the game is pretty much in pre-alpha stage. The basic game engine is there, but the gameplay isn't.

Anyway, I just saw it was a Paradox game (only the publisher) and I've liked that genre, so I just went and bought it without looking into any more detail

 

[UniversalWolf]

I think Victoria 2 could well outperform Victoria 1 simply because every Victoria fanatic on every nerdy message board on the web has been musing about how great it is for the past few years. It's developed a significant reputation, even among people who've never played it.

 

[Sling Shot]

Well, I know I'll do my part.

 

[Alerias]

I think well see a bald head CEO in Stockholm next year.

Victoria's rough launch, with it being leaked early and such, definitely hurt sales, but it may not have hurt the brand as much as they think. I brought Vicky very late in the sales cycle for example, and they didnt make much money with me. I was going to buy Day 1, but I was put off by Johan's forum comments saying he would not waste much time patching the game given it was pirated early. Time has proven it was ultimately probably said just out of frustration, but back then I didnt want to encourage such logic. What matters though, is that ultimately they put out and made Vicky a great game after some patches and an xpack.

The other aspect that scared people away is micromanagement. The HoI3 engine been used pretty much guarantees, however, that youll be able to automate everything you cant handle. This in itself opens the game up to many people who couldnt do it all. Though the system is still ruff in HOI3, itll improve and has great potential.

Frankly, it may be a risky move, but risky investments are those who can pay off most.

 

[unmerged(56465)]

I think well see a bald head CEO in Stockholm next year.

Victoria's rough launch, with it being leaked early and such, definitely hurt sales, but it may not have hurt the brand as much as they think. I brought Vicky very late in the sales cycle for example, and they didnt make much money with me. I was going to buy Day 1, but I was put off by Johan's forum comments saying he would not waste much time patching the game given it was pirated early. Time has proven it was ultimately probably said just out of frustration, but back then I didnt want to encourage such logic. What matters though, is that ultimately they put out and made Vicky a great game after some patches and an xpack.

Wow, I didn't know about any of that.

 

[gianlucad]

Then you ARE going to shave your head. :rofl:

 

[unmerged(23611)]

First off I am a big Victoria fan. I think there are a couple of things that will help Victoria 2 do better and one or two things that may hurt it.

First, when it was initially released it got pretty bad reviews because of the number of bugs. Interestingly, HOI3 was not too impacted by the bugs in terms of reviews on the major portals such as IGN. They barely mentioned them in fact even though it was released in a similar state. I think the game reviewers get the idea that Paradox games are pretty much continual works in progress more. I remember at the time, my own experience with HOI1 at release (my first Paradox game EU2 I got late enough that the worst bugs were already fixed) had convinced me to wait 6 months before buying Victoria in the discount bin. Just to support Paradox there is no chance of that happening for Victoria 2.

I think the Victorian setting does not have the instant appeal of Europa Universalis or Hearts of Iron settings, but its had tremendous word of mouth appeal since its release and Paradox's following has grown significantly.

Victoria was a hard game to get into. At least to me, it had a much steeper learning curve than EU2 and HOI1. There was also a great deal of micromanagement, which turns some people off. Though in the end both of these elements contributed to Vicky's endurance (maybe the micromanagement not so much).

The combination of word of mouth from Vicky 1 and the success of Paradox over the last few years will I believe help make Vicky 2 profitable, though its unlikely to be as successful as either the EU or HOI titles.

My principal concern is the rocky start to HOI3, which I hope does not create a negative backlash on the part of some of the newer players who've been migrating to Paradox over the last few years.

In the end all we can do is buy the game, to support what is one of the very few company's where the CEO effectively allows himself to be over-ruled by the lead developer based on the fan feedback in the forums.

That's what makes Paradox such a great company.

 

[alpaca]

Hah, you should definitely seed this to all gaming mags around the world, I'm sure a lot of them will take it up and it sounds like a good publicity stunt even if that's not the intention

"Game developer Paradox' CEO may lose his hair about their newest project Victoria 2" :rofl:

 

[sirsri]

That's right, it's not by Paradox, but it is from Paradox... if you see the distinction. They put their name on it.

The basic game concept is ok, but it's only halfway towards a playable game. The one thing about it that stuck out is that total domination is not desirable - in other words capturing all the ports doesn't lead to success. Sadly the game is pretty much in pre-alpha stage. The basic game engine is there, but the gameplay isn't.

Anyway, I just saw it was a Paradox game (only the publisher) and I've liked that genre, so I just went and bought it without looking into any more detail

I disagree. I think EIC after the first patch or two (which were within a couple of weeks) it was complete. It's no Vicky HOI or something. It's short, you can optimize your playing (as in get the maximum profit per hour) pretty quick, but it's fun, and short. And that, by todays standards isn't bad. Not everything is aiming to, or should be epic. Just as RPG's have in many cases moved away from the tediously long FF/DQ with insanely hard things to complete. There's a market for some of that, but the more action market has its place.

 

[joeenochs]

Hi Fredrik,
I agree that Paradox will never make money with this.

But we might both be wrong of course and risk taking is, what allows the creation of great games. As some other guy suggested, you might need a different name for it though.

But the reason for my post is something different. King wrote in some other thread, that Victoria 2 is tentatively due for Q2/2010. This shocks me. I want to see a great HOI3 with a lot of bugfixes, tweaks and two or more expansions. I think I will buy all expansions because conceptually HOi3 is exactly the game I was looking for.

This game (HOI3) has such a great potential. I want to see it living up to this. HOI3 might be Paradox's cash cow for the next years, so give it the attention it needs and do not rush out another Victoria, but take your time. You won't make any Victoria fans happy with a rushed out Victoria either.

 

[ComradeOm]

First, when it was initially released it got pretty bad reviews because of the number of bugs. Interestingly, HOI3 was not too impacted by the bugs in terms of reviews on the major portals such as IGN. They barely mentioned them in fact even though it was released in a similar state

That's simply incorrect though. HoI3 has got a few gameplay bugs and optimisation issues but, from what I've read on the forums, it in no way comparable to that state that Vicky, HoI1, CK, etc, were released in. The Clausewitz engine does seem to be considerably more stable than its predecessor

I'd definitely like to see work on the engine's optimisation, and that's the prime reason why I'm holding off buying HoI3, but I'd be happy if the game is as stable on release as EUIII

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

Hi Fredrik,
I agree that Paradox will never make money with this.

But we might both be wrong of course and risk taking is, what allows the creation of great games. As some other guy suggested, you might need a different name for it though.

But the reason for my post is something different. King wrote in some other thread, that Victoria 2 is tentatively due for Q2/2010. This shocks me. I want to see a great HOI3 with a lot of bugfixes, tweaks and two or more expansions. I think I will buy all expansions because conceptually HOi3 is exactly the game I was looking for.

This game (HOI3) has such a great potential. I want to see it living up to this. HOI3 might be Paradox's cash cow for the next years, so give it the attention it needs and do not rush out another Victoria, but take your time. You won't make any Victoria fans happy with a rushed out Victoria either.

HoI3 will be grand after a couple of patches, but yeah, I'd rather wait a little longer and get the game in a better release state. I would imagine that PI will be all too aware of how most people felt about the HoI release though, and I doubt they will repeat the mistake.

 

[joeenochs]

HoI3 will be grand after a couple of patches, but yeah, I'd rather wait a little longer and get the game in a better release state. I would imagine that PI will be all too aware of how most people felt about the HoI release though, and I doubt they will repeat the mistake.

Yes, probably they are aware. But they are also in an even bigger dilemma. With HOI3 Paradox could be pretty sure, they would sell a decent number of copies, if just because it is the successor of a very succesful series. With Victoria they have to consider to be in an even smaller niche of the market as they are anyway with their kind of games, so extending the development cycle and investing money in polishing might be an even bigger risk.

In fact with HOI3 the bigger risk was not to focus on release day quality, because Paradox is pretty much identified with the HOI series (and EU of course).

 

[Skyman]

There are also certain side benefits to producing games with niche appeal even if they don't sell particularly well. If it wasn't for Crusader Kings I never would have checked out and eventually purchased EU3, HoI2 (then 3), Rome, or Victoria. Vicky 2 might introduce gamers who are just into the Victorian era to this whole subgenre of PC gaming.

 

[unmerged(18239)]

Here's another one who doesn't believe you will make a profit with Viky2. But, many thanks for making it anyways! This will be a great game. Many thanks as well for paying this much attention to the fans on the forums.

 

[XHR]

Haven't read the thread, just the initial post - hilarious

I have always thought of trying Vicky and now I have a reason to start with Vicky 2 :rofl:

 

[unmerged(158456)]

I gonna buy this game even if i download it before =)
...
Victroia 2 - It's game which you are must have!

 

[Woody Man]

I gonna buy this game even if i download it before =)
...
Victroia 2 - It's game which you are must have!

Wait, what?

 

[ComradeOm]

Wait, what?

I'm sure he means that he'll download it legally from GamersGate first and then pick up a hard copy in the stores...

 

[Trevor Distance]

I'm sure he means that he'll download it legally from GamersGate first and then pick up a hard copy in the stores...

That's certainly a very optimistic way of interpreting it.