Thoughts as I listen, Pausing at Important Moments: In depth analysis team awesome GO!
First of all, loving the soundtrack, subtle, yet classical, yet still interesting, like the later Russian composers I adore. Also, I've noticed this before, but can I just say I LOOOVE the Paradox logo all done up for CKII? Cause I love it. The platypus is still that little touch of absurdity, at first glance it still looks abstract, yet it looks very period. Whoever designed that specific page did well.
Henrik! Your last name looks a lot longer than how you say it... I can't pronounce Swedish!
First of all: Unilateral Relations. That seems like a LOT of things to calculate. However, it being a fixed value will actually speed this up a LOT compared the CK1, so there's a balance there. Taking away Stability is an odd decision, but I suppose all those things are covered mostly by relations. However, having a Tyranny/Infamy type thing would have been handy, imho.
Gotta love traits effecting relations! Seems much more balanced to have fixed values. I mean, in CK1, your Arbitrary, Reckless duke will eventually declare war on your king just because he's Generous and Wise, because that -0.1 relations hit per month adds up. Or, well, subtracts down, but...
Ok, on to the game-screens. Kaiser Ludwig III of the Holy Roman Empire. Already I'm excited for this game, just on the basis of that name. It's everything that's right! The German title, the numbers, it being called the HRE, not Germany, such an improvement already over CK1. And it tells you who you're about to inherit! That is handy.
And then BOOM! Super info, just from holding the cursor over the portrait! (Btw, portraits are shaping up nicely.)
Ok, First thing on the list is ID. Handy for on-the-fly save-game modding! However, slightly mood-breaking. Is there going to be an option that makes that go away? I don't wanna see my character's ID's every time I scroll over him...
Age. Pretty straightforward. Ooooh, that reminds me: Is it possible for you guys to put a character's Birthday somewhere on their sheet? I remember trying to snatch up Bill the Bastard's daughters in CK1, waiting with tense breath for them to turn 16, only to miss it by a month, and have them married off to Alfred the Dirty Saxon.
Learning: I have no idea what this is. We can only speculate...
Health and Fertility: I must agree with the others, I kinda liked having these hidden. At the very least, I would go the Magna Mundi way, and instead of showing us the values, describe it. Healthy, Sick, Near Death's Door, Virile, Sterile, Very Virile, Somewhat Virile, stuff like that. I would be happy if you did the same with Loyalty too, actually.
And then OOOH BOY, you're on the road to inherit a lot more than you thought!
My first thought at seeing that hella-long list is: how are they organized? Is it by the age or health of the current holder, or ideally, some matrix of age and health combined, to tell you how likely it is for the current holder to die soon. Oh, and does this mean that you're next in line, or just that you're one of the first x people in line to inherit? Cause that is a LOT of peepz.
Ok, let's look at the character info screen in detail! You get the Dynasty and the tiny Dynasty coat of arms. Von Wittelsbach. I approve. Always liked them Bavarians. Religion and a little symbol.
I would have made the Catholic symbol simpler, as it doesn't need to be differentiated from Protestant, only from Orthodox, which has the extra arms anyways. Unless heretics get special crosses too, which I doubt.
He's reigning in Munchen, Oberbayern. I assume Oberbayern is the county, as Munchen is the barony? I like that a lot too. I am getting more and more excited about this here game!
The traits are all very reminiscent of CKII. A little more complicated emblems, which means they're going to be a bit more difficult to memorize, but I approve, over all.
Sand timer for age. At first looked at it and went "Wait, turn number? What is this, I don't even... ooooooh." Money, Prestige, Piety, all the same as before. Hasn't been put into the scenario's yet, I suppose. Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, and Intrigue, with the number in brackets including the advisors. The number range appears the same as in CK1, on first glance.
Little row of counties, showing all your holdings. Very neat and tidy, I approve.
But then we get to the pictures of people. Oooooh boy, there are 2 things here I disapprove of. 1st of all, the women backgrounds? Placeholder, I hope.
Secondly, the blood symbol. In CK1, the symbol to show that you were of the same dynasty was a little blue shield with a red blood drop in it, in the lower left corner. It was pretty. This? This is large, obtrusive, and UGLY. It's also on the right side, where the stacking pictures hide it. I demand a prettied up version of the CK1 blood icon, in the same spot too. Yes, this is important to me.
Ahem. Moving on.
Kaiserin? Never heard that before. I suppose it must be accurate? No comment beyond that.
I like the little cobwebs in the Liege spot. Different tabs for Vassals, Court, and Allies. Allies seems like it'll be pretty empty most of the time, is it worth a whole tab? I suppose it's cleaner this way than the alternative.
Those dudes. They have titles. (Approve of Herzog, Burgomeister, Bishop and Prince-Bishop), btw. However, what are they doing in the Court? Is this what happens when you make land-owner vassal your Marshal or whatever? And what do those arrows mean?
Oooh, you can see all the factors affecting your relations! That is very nice, just like Doomdark said.
Going over anyone's portrait even for a split second will bring up all their un-related titles? Coolio.
Margrethe Ylving is still a Princess of Denmark. what makes one a Prince/Princess? Being the son/daughter of a King? is a Prince's children a Prince?
Oooh, Graf's! This makes me happier and happier.
New kingdom time.
Orthodox cross? Disappointed. The two crosses look practically identical. Greek titles are sweet, again. Gonna be gooing over those for a long time when the game comes out, I'm sure.
What is State Diplomacy, which is affecting relations?
Employer, Host, and Liege are different. I don't understand the in-game differences...
The Death Skull is ugly. Why don't you just grey out the portrait? Or at least put it on the left side of the portrait, so you can see at a glance when the portraits are stacked who's dead.
There's that Personal Diplomacy. I'm beginning to have a bit of an idea of the difference between State and personal diplomacy...
Very ornate, almost Baroque backgrounds on the shields on the map. I would personally have preferred simpler, more fitting to the time period.
Boom, clicking on a province time! Far left, the big shield, I assume, is the coat of arms of the county. At the top is the CoA of the dude ruling the county. For each barony, I assume the left-most CoA is the CoA of the barony, and the right one is the CoA of the ruler, meaning the whole place is owned directly by the King of Serbia? And then the far right, you have the Duchy and Kingdom the county belongs too. Nice.
Ok, the Bulgarian province makes things a little more confusing. There are two CoA's up at the top, 1 for Vidin and one for Bulgaria. Does that show the CoA's of both the owner and the owner's liege? And if the Duke of Vidin does own the province, is that truly the King owning all of the baronies? Or is the left barony CoA the owner and the right one the Liege...
That's all I got folks!
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