I want to start by saying that I absolutely love this game, I have 1200+h in CKII and now I'm hooked on CKIII.
The goal of this thread is not for everybody to agree with my points, but to create a discussion about some aesthetic decisions and give feedback. There will also be some minor aesthetic bugs. It's in Roman Numerals to emphasise that it's not an order of importance, just an order of when it was added to the list.
POSITIVE
I : Everything mostly, the game is gorgeous, clear and evocative. The next points will be specific coups-de-cœur
II : This is a huge coup-de-cœur and all around one of my favourite aesthetical change : Custom Realms keep their original realm colour. This is especially great after having created a thread about the random realm colour in CKII. The new forums removed the ratings, but there was more than 40+ 'agree' reaction, so I was not alone in wishing for this. There's even a big flavour event when you take the decision, I adore it.
III : How the traits impact the visual of a character. In CKII, I used to recognise characters by their name, now in CKIII I can easily recognise a character by it's 3D model, they're all distinct and interesting, the poses also help. Bonus : Searching for 'Hideous' characters is always funny.
IV : The traits are clear and evocative, the artwork is stunning. Lunatic is my absolute favourite.
V : Normandy is not called Normandy until they are a Norse / Norman realm.
VI : The Seljuk Coat of Arms
VII : The Army Quality Symbol is really intuitive and clear.
VIII : The new Empire-Rank Title Crown, it was hideous in CKII and now it's great. [This one is contested in the comments, let us know what you think!]
IX : The War Screen is a great addition, it's clear and useful. This screen is even better in 1.1.X
X : The Main Menu with your character, spouse and heir is brilliant. The main menu is even better in 1.1.X
XI : The character selection in 1.1.X+ is beautiful, the stained glass like dates, the dynasty banner behind the character, this is great!
XII : Everything in Northern Lords. That flavour pack really delivered, not only on the aesthetic but in great immersive new mechanical additions. The new paintings, event background, beards, clothes, music, even the flavour text. It's a superb addition to the game and really sets the bar high for next flavour packs!
NEGATIVE
I : The Scandinavian Elective is known as 'Thing' but without context, it looks like a placeholder word, there are posts on reddit that think it's until they find a better name. I suggest renaming it to 'Þing', exact same word, but the spelling indicate that it's not the English word for 'something'. Update 1,3 : Now, some events refer to this as Ting, and technology refer to it as Thing, I still think it all needs to be Þing.
II : The 'Kingsguard' perk is a too direct reference to GoT, I reckon it would be better to have it written 'King's Guard'. It would make for a softer reference, like the 'Marshland' instead of 'Swamp' in the Shrek event.
III :Ragnarr Loðbrók name is well written on his character sheet, but it's anglicised in his sons' invasion name 'Lothbrok's Sons Invasion of X' Patched in 1,2!
IV : At least two traits use flora & fauna from the Americas, Compassionate and Desert Warrior
I suggest changing the Monarch butterfly to an Euroasian or African one for Compassionate like the Papilio Machaon. (Here's my take on it)
Suggestion to change the cactus of Desert Warrior to a palm tree, like it was in CKII
V :There's no boat diversity for the different culture unit packs. Flavour packs (like Northern Lords) added this for Vikings!
VI :There's no other option in the 'cloak' section than 'Royal Cloak'. No bear pelts, fur trimmed cloak, etc. Wow did Northern Lords deliver on that one!
VII : Councillors don't keep their unique pose in their own character sheet, they only have it in the council view. That would help to know which character is a spymaster at a glance if you're looking in another Realm court.
VIII : Many counties don't have their own Coat of Arms, like Rouen and Paris for notable examples.
IX :It wouldn't be a negative if there's historical background that I haven't found, but what's on the Umayyad Coat of Arms? In CKII it was one of the most interesting and powerful, now it looks like a Lacrosse Team.
Updated in 1,3, now it is an extremely cool wing symbol
X : Hair clip through the Imperial Crown a lot, I suggest raising the inner-red-part a little bit. Also, the texture is not detailed enough, it looks a tad plastic. It's also a bit too large. Well, it's just not on par with the other crowns in the game.
XI :Weird one, but William the Conqueror loses his beard when he dies. Update 1,3 Corvus : William is now clean shaven, which is culturally appropriate for normans, but grows a full beard at the instant of his death, which is the reverse problem from before. Weird thing is, now many historical character completely change hair/beardstyle when they die. All the sons of Loðbrók and Hæsteinn being notable examples. Update : Acknowledged
XII : This one isn't that serious, but I would like an option to display dead character with their eyes closed. That way, you don't only rely on the grey portraits to know if they are dead. (and the very little skull icon)
XIII : There's no option to remove all the 'you's that replace your character name. I would rather see "Culture Head : High King Sæmundr 'the Dane' of Danelagen" than "Culture Head : you". Side comment; every 'you' in the game is not capitalised, but when there's no word in front of it, it should be ex. "Culture Head : You" Implemented in 1,1 !
But I really like the 'This is you' and it's variations on the character screen!
XIV :The Religious Clothing (what the Court Chaplain / Shaman wears) is not available in the Barbershop. Take a look at this mod for the choices that, in my opinion, should be available if you're a Temporal Head of Faith. Added in 1,3 Corvus!
XV : Normandy should have a different Coat of Arms if it's not Norse / Norman in 867.
XVI :The Danelaw decision is great, but the Coat of Arms is underwhelming, it looks Catholic.
Updated in 1,3 Corvus to a beautiful new design!
XVII : Many Coat of Arms have religious symbolism in it that are not removed even if the Realm is not of that Faith. Example : Kushite Abyssinia with a Cross in the Coat of Arms. (Renamed Egypt in this example) Many Coat of Arms in CKII removed the religious symbolism if of another faith (Vladimir, for example)
XVIII : Harald 'Hardråde' is written as Harald 'Hardrada' in the character selection, and as Harald 'Hard-Ruler' in the game. (Oh and sometimes, he starts the game without the 'Hard Rule' perk) In CKII, it was written Harald 'Hårdråde'
XIX :Arabic and Turkic cultures sometimes don't display the Dynasty Coat of Arms / Name instead of the Realm Coat of Arms / Name. Edit : According to the wiki 'If a Clan ruler is a Dynasty Head, their Realm will be named after their Dynasty rather than the Primary Title.', but sometimes this feature bugs until the game is reloaded.
XX : Education traits have a goldish grey background instead of the corresponding colour (purple for intrigue, etc.). I understand that they want this background colour to be 'Education Trait', but colour-coding would be helpful. Bonus Suggestion : A Gold frame around these traits, so they are identifiable as Education Traits, with the background colour-coded. Something like this, but with a thin gold frame around the background. Implemented in 1.1 ! But, the colours are a tad too bright.
XXI : Rally Points should use the County Coat of Arms or the Realm Coat of Arms instead of a random colour.
XXII : The Health indicator doesn't have enough variations. It's especially important between 'Fine' and 'Poor'. In 'Fine', there's no risk of random death, and in 'Poor' there is.
XXIII : Women can't wear Imperial Crowns (except the Byzantine one). The Northern Cultures (Norse, Irish, etc.) don't wear a crown by default when they reach Empire-Rank.
XXIV : There's not enough Icons for new Faiths. 1,3 Corvus added more, but a lot more are still needed!
XXV : When you're at war, there's an indicator above the Coat of Arms of your allies and of your enemies on the map. I find the Ally Indicator great, but I find the Enemy Indicator weird, it's a .gif of semi-realistic fire and the swords are too small. The swords are perfect now!
I suggest making the Enemy Indicator in the same style as the Ally Indicator : Two Crossed Swords (bigger and clearer) with a Red aura instead of fire
XXVI : Young children should use the pose they have in the Main Menu (sitting down) in their Character Screen instead of standing upright.
XXVII : The Robertine Dynasty is one of the most important French Dynasty, and their Coat of Arms is frankly lacklustre. I support this suggestion.
XXVIII : The Main Tabs (Realm, Warfare, Council, all the F1-2-3.. tabs) don't really fit with the rest of the game. I haven't found out exactly why yet, I reckon it's just that they're too brightly coloured compared to the rest and the icons are too simple. They just don't look medievalish. The Holding symbols, while in the same genre, are more textured and are less distracting.
XXIV : Some Faiths have mandatory haircuts for their Monks, like the Buddhists and Celts, that are not in the game. Another exemple are Orthodox priest that shouldn't be clean shaven. I suggest looking at these two suggestions : Buddhist, Celt. In CKII, your haircut / beard was changed when you entered a Monastic Order.
XXV : Reformed Faith Court Chaplains lose their custom title (ex. Riksgoði, Court Shaman) and are instead called Court Chaplain. Also, there's no option to rename the Temporal Head of Faith title.
XXVI : Minor mistakes in non-English languages, like Château written as Chateau, and Île-de-France written as Ile de France. If somebody create a thread about these minor mistakes (in any languages), let me know!Note : Also noticed that they wrote Faereyjar instead of Færeyjar Færeyjar was fixed in 1,2! As of 1,3, the county of Sjælland is still written as Sjaelland, even though the duchy is correctly written as Sjælland. Also, in the Holy Sites screen of Ásatrú, they wrote Jorvik instead of Jórvík.
XXVII : 1,3 Corvus & Northern Lords introduced new Norse realm CoA, which are great, but they haven't updated the featured character screen, where they still use the old realm Coat of Arms.
XXVIII : The sons of Ragnarr Coat of Arms have not been updated with Northern Lords. Before, Hvitserk and Ivaring used Norse iconography, but af Munsö and af Sigurdr used Western European imagery such as lions. I reckon it would be better to change these to the new Norse symbols introduced in 1,3.
XXIX : The Poet trait is great, but, like Reaver being called Viking if you are Norse, it should be called Skald when you are Norse.
XXX : Before 1,3 Corvus, the Coat of Arms of Norse Holy Orders or the Fylkirate used to be the Norse Raven, which was perfect. But now, it is a random star. Update : Paradox staff acknowledged the problem!
XXXI : The 'Southern Baltic Empire' is quite a long and generic name for such an interesting region, I suggest taking a look at that thread for some ideas even though it is closed.
XXXII : There's a congenital and non-congenital version of Melancholic, Lunatic and Possessed. There should be a round behind the non-congenital one and a losenge behind the genetic one, like the other congenital traits. I made a suggestion for this.
Let me know what you think and if you have any feedback, I can add it to the original post.
The goal of this thread is not for everybody to agree with my points, but to create a discussion about some aesthetic decisions and give feedback. There will also be some minor aesthetic bugs. It's in Roman Numerals to emphasise that it's not an order of importance, just an order of when it was added to the list.
POSITIVE
I : Everything mostly, the game is gorgeous, clear and evocative. The next points will be specific coups-de-cœur
II : This is a huge coup-de-cœur and all around one of my favourite aesthetical change : Custom Realms keep their original realm colour. This is especially great after having created a thread about the random realm colour in CKII. The new forums removed the ratings, but there was more than 40+ 'agree' reaction, so I was not alone in wishing for this. There's even a big flavour event when you take the decision, I adore it.
III : How the traits impact the visual of a character. In CKII, I used to recognise characters by their name, now in CKIII I can easily recognise a character by it's 3D model, they're all distinct and interesting, the poses also help. Bonus : Searching for 'Hideous' characters is always funny.
IV : The traits are clear and evocative, the artwork is stunning. Lunatic is my absolute favourite.
V : Normandy is not called Normandy until they are a Norse / Norman realm.
VI : The Seljuk Coat of Arms
VII : The Army Quality Symbol is really intuitive and clear.
VIII : The new Empire-Rank Title Crown, it was hideous in CKII and now it's great. [This one is contested in the comments, let us know what you think!]
IX : The War Screen is a great addition, it's clear and useful. This screen is even better in 1.1.X
X : The Main Menu with your character, spouse and heir is brilliant. The main menu is even better in 1.1.X
XI : The character selection in 1.1.X+ is beautiful, the stained glass like dates, the dynasty banner behind the character, this is great!
XII : Everything in Northern Lords. That flavour pack really delivered, not only on the aesthetic but in great immersive new mechanical additions. The new paintings, event background, beards, clothes, music, even the flavour text. It's a superb addition to the game and really sets the bar high for next flavour packs!
NEGATIVE
I : The Scandinavian Elective is known as 'Thing' but without context, it looks like a placeholder word, there are posts on reddit that think it's until they find a better name. I suggest renaming it to 'Þing', exact same word, but the spelling indicate that it's not the English word for 'something'. Update 1,3 : Now, some events refer to this as Ting, and technology refer to it as Thing, I still think it all needs to be Þing.
II : The 'Kingsguard' perk is a too direct reference to GoT, I reckon it would be better to have it written 'King's Guard'. It would make for a softer reference, like the 'Marshland' instead of 'Swamp' in the Shrek event.
III :
IV : At least two traits use flora & fauna from the Americas, Compassionate and Desert Warrior
I suggest changing the Monarch butterfly to an Euroasian or African one for Compassionate like the Papilio Machaon. (Here's my take on it)
Suggestion to change the cactus of Desert Warrior to a palm tree, like it was in CKII
V :
VI :
VII : Councillors don't keep their unique pose in their own character sheet, they only have it in the council view. That would help to know which character is a spymaster at a glance if you're looking in another Realm court.
VIII : Many counties don't have their own Coat of Arms, like Rouen and Paris for notable examples.
IX :
Updated in 1,3, now it is an extremely cool wing symbol
X : Hair clip through the Imperial Crown a lot, I suggest raising the inner-red-part a little bit. Also, the texture is not detailed enough, it looks a tad plastic. It's also a bit too large. Well, it's just not on par with the other crowns in the game.
XI :
XII : This one isn't that serious, but I would like an option to display dead character with their eyes closed. That way, you don't only rely on the grey portraits to know if they are dead. (and the very little skull icon)
XIII : There's no option to remove all the 'you's that replace your character name. I would rather see "Culture Head : High King Sæmundr 'the Dane' of Danelagen" than "Culture Head : you".
XIV :
XV : Normandy should have a different Coat of Arms if it's not Norse / Norman in 867.
XVI :
Updated in 1,3 Corvus to a beautiful new design!
XVII : Many Coat of Arms have religious symbolism in it that are not removed even if the Realm is not of that Faith. Example : Kushite Abyssinia with a Cross in the Coat of Arms. (Renamed Egypt in this example) Many Coat of Arms in CKII removed the religious symbolism if of another faith (Vladimir, for example)
XVIII : Harald 'Hardråde' is written as Harald 'Hardrada' in the character selection, and as Harald 'Hard-Ruler' in the game. (Oh and sometimes, he starts the game without the 'Hard Rule' perk) In CKII, it was written Harald 'Hårdråde'
XIX :
XX :
XXI : Rally Points should use the County Coat of Arms or the Realm Coat of Arms instead of a random colour.
XXII : The Health indicator doesn't have enough variations. It's especially important between 'Fine' and 'Poor'. In 'Fine', there's no risk of random death, and in 'Poor' there is.
XXIII : Women can't wear Imperial Crowns (except the Byzantine one). The Northern Cultures (
XXIV : There's not enough Icons for new Faiths. 1,3 Corvus added more, but a lot more are still needed!
XXV : When you're at war, there's an indicator above the Coat of Arms of your allies and of your enemies on the map. I find the Ally Indicator great, but I find the Enemy Indicator weird, it's a .gif of semi-realistic fire and
I suggest making the Enemy Indicator in the same style as the Ally Indicator : Two Crossed Swords (bigger and clearer) with a Red aura instead of fire
XXVI : Young children should use the pose they have in the Main Menu (sitting down) in their Character Screen instead of standing upright.
XXVII : The Robertine Dynasty is one of the most important French Dynasty, and their Coat of Arms is frankly lacklustre. I support this suggestion.
XXVIII : The Main Tabs (Realm, Warfare, Council, all the F1-2-3.. tabs) don't really fit with the rest of the game. I haven't found out exactly why yet, I reckon it's just that they're too brightly coloured compared to the rest and the icons are too simple. They just don't look medievalish. The Holding symbols, while in the same genre, are more textured and are less distracting.
XXIV : Some Faiths have mandatory haircuts for their Monks, like the Buddhists and Celts, that are not in the game. Another exemple are Orthodox priest that shouldn't be clean shaven. I suggest looking at these two suggestions : Buddhist, Celt. In CKII, your haircut / beard was changed when you entered a Monastic Order.
XXV : Reformed Faith Court Chaplains lose their custom title (ex. Riksgoði, Court Shaman) and are instead called Court Chaplain. Also, there's no option to rename the Temporal Head of Faith title.
XXVI : Minor mistakes in non-English languages, like Château written as Chateau, and Île-de-France written as Ile de France. If somebody create a thread about these minor mistakes (in any languages), let me know!
XXVII : 1,3 Corvus & Northern Lords introduced new Norse realm CoA, which are great, but they haven't updated the featured character screen, where they still use the old realm Coat of Arms.
XXVIII : The sons of Ragnarr Coat of Arms have not been updated with Northern Lords. Before, Hvitserk and Ivaring used Norse iconography, but af Munsö and af Sigurdr used Western European imagery such as lions. I reckon it would be better to change these to the new Norse symbols introduced in 1,3.
XXIX : The Poet trait is great, but, like Reaver being called Viking if you are Norse, it should be called Skald when you are Norse.
XXX : Before 1,3 Corvus, the Coat of Arms of Norse Holy Orders or the Fylkirate used to be the Norse Raven, which was perfect. But now, it is a random star. Update : Paradox staff acknowledged the problem!
XXXI : The 'Southern Baltic Empire' is quite a long and generic name for such an interesting region, I suggest taking a look at that thread for some ideas even though it is closed.
XXXII : There's a congenital and non-congenital version of Melancholic, Lunatic and Possessed. There should be a round behind the non-congenital one and a losenge behind the genetic one, like the other congenital traits. I made a suggestion for this.
Let me know what you think and if you have any feedback, I can add it to the original post.
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