Do I want this game?

[Grubnessul]

This may be like asking in the Vatican whether becoming a Catholic would be a good idea, but here it goes.

Sell me this game? I've been playing EU4 for years now and love it, however, it is starting to feel like more of the same and I need something fresh. Especially since the number of new counters just keeps going up per update...

So, in a nutshell, would I buy this game, will I get a Banquet of Chestnuts on an obscure moon of Jupiter 5 with green skinned alien nuns worshipping a space dragon or something like this:

 

[Rubido]

Well, i also love EU4. And Stellaris, in my opinion, has the potential to become the best game Paradox ever made. As you already here, just read some of the latest Dev diaries about upcoming Banks update. One of them just about banquets. )

 

[stumason]

I also love EU4 and CK2 (in fact, most PDS games!)..

Stellaris isn't quite up there atm with those two games, but it's still got 700+ hours out of me and the next update/DLC looks to be amazing, so I would recommend it but with one caveat - use the Alphamod!

 

[Slarkon]

Wait a few more months for more updates/fixes

 

[General Retreat]

Part of my problem at the moment is that I'm so hyped for the amazing new features that are coming up that it's making current playthroughs feel rather flat.

"Well, yes I can brutally crush primitive races under my tyrannical yoke and cast them down in the chains of oppression and slavery... but I can't yet send my cyborg caste to devour them as livestock and then ship the resulting McXeno nuggets across my empire for sustenance. Sigh. What's the point if you can't do the job properly?"

EDIT: Just to avoid sending mixed messages, I'd 100% recommend the game. It's just there's a whole lot of cool stuff just out of reach that most of the board is salivating about at the moment.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/stellaris-developer-diary-archive.882950/

Check out December 8th onwards.

 

[stumason]

Part of my problem at the moment is that I'm so hyped for the amazing new features that are coming up that it's making current playthroughs feel rather flat.

"Well, yes I can brutally crush primitive races under my tyrannical yoke and cast them down in the chains of oppression and slavery... but I can't yet send my cyborg caste to devour them as livestock and then ship the resulting McXeno nuggets across my empire for sustenance. Sigh. What's the point if you can't do the job properly?"
.

Yep, you and me both bud. Kinda forced myself to play it last night but only because there is no date yet for 1.5, so needed to get my space fix, but it has certainly lost its charm when I know what is coming down the pipeline.

 

[LastLeviathan]

I would recommend it along with the Leviathans DLC. It's a great game as it is, and certainly worth the money now. The game will only get better as the updates come, not unlike their other titles (CK2, EU4, etc) and I agree with the first post that it has the potential to be one of the best if not the best PDX game so far.

 

[StJimmyRocks92]

Personally I would just wait until 1.5 comes out and then see what people think of it (I'm sure it will be great but there's always a chance of something going wrong). It's going to change s lot.

 

[GamerSteve]

Stellaris is a good game.

However, I don't think it has the complexity of the other pdx titles. I don't play EU 4 at all, but compared to CK 2, Stellaris is incredibly simple. Right now, at least, there is really only one thing to do - conquer every world held by anyone other than your empire or your allies. CK 2 has that (counties not worlds but same otherwise), but it has so much more. I just 'conquered' Lombardy last night from being a one-duchy duke by winning the electoral monarchy lottery. Such a thing cannot really happen in Stellaris. I find that the early and middle game are fun but once you are the big bad in the galaxy, and no one can really stop you, the game becomes stale and not worth continuing. I play co-op so my friend and I usually go until we get the 'win' notification, but the last 30 or so worlds are very repetitive to do. Combat is also extremely simplistic and pretty much boils down to bigger fleets win. The idea of things like flanks, rounds of initiative, morale -- none of that is really implemented in Stellaris (for fleets, anyway). Some of it may exist for armies but they are mostly irrelevant to the game. In fact you don't even need to use armies. If you have enough ships you can force a surrender by just blockading enough enemy planets with your fleets.

However, I do find the early phase super fun and the mid game also fun but not as good as early phase. It's just that once the whole galaxy is owned and all planets colonized, once the only means of expansion is conquest, well... after you eat a couple of empires and become the biggest, you are basically unstoppable and at that point the game is over. I guess CK 2 can be like that too, but because CK 2 has an 'end date' you won't always get to that point. Whereas Stellaris goes on forever so there is no time limit, and the only way to 'end' the game other than just stopping out of boredom, is to get the victory screen, which comes from brute force conquest.

 

[Arnovitz]

There is a lot of potential in this game and I am looking forward to the Banks update which will somewhat mark the one year anniversary of its release. That said, I stopped playing it a couple of months ago out of frustration over some bugs and its general lack of depth. I've sunk about 400 hours into it and even created some mods, but just got tired of dealing with the poor QA work.

I'd say wait until after the Banks release, let the bugs get ironed out, let the mods get updated, and probably around late spring, early summer this game will be in great shape. Of course, keep in mind that you will need to buy some DLC to get the full experience, especially with the upcoming pop updates.

 

[Tim_Ward]

Might as well wait for 1.5 at this stage.

 

[safe-keeper]

I would watch some YouTube videos to get a better idea of what the game is like, but short answer, yes, you do. It's like someone took the 4X genre and added a Paradox-level of depth. Graphics are good, soundtrack is fantastic, and in my eyes it's big fun already. Has that sense of wonder that you should expect from a game where you just invented FTL and have started exploring the stars.

It isn't as deep as EU or CK yet, but if you read the past two dev diaries, the next patch and DLC alone will really improve things.

 

[Dr. B]

It has potential still.

Game was not so good when it launched, someehat better now. First patches was mainly about fixing.

1.5 update brings promise of a deeper, better game, where relentless conquest actually has consequenses, and different playstyles may be viable. We are excited.

You should wait to play the game until about 2 weeks after 1.5 has been released (after hotfix/patch). If you play it now it will be cool in the beginning, but as a veteran player you may be disappointed after a little while.

 

[Meneliki]

If you're coming from EU4, the first thing you're going to notice is the huge disparity in the overall level of complexity... for you, Stellaris is probably going to feel like Pong. However, many of the initial bugs have been fixed, and the game is becoming more and more deep/fleshed out with every patch/expansion.. so yes, if you like EU4, you'll like Stellaris. The game is getting deeper and better all the time(and we all know PDX's policy on supporting their games), so when you consider that Stellaris smashed all previous PDX sales records you can feel safe assuming that it's future is very bright. I'm sure that given enough time, it's level of depth/complexity will approach that of CK2/EU4.

TL;DR - Yes. Buy this game. But as other people have said, there's a HUUUUUUGEEEEE update just around the corner, so waiting for that wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[Darustet]

Can definitely recommend Stellaris and like the rest of the thread, I can confirm that there is some epic stuff coming with Banks this spring.

Since everyone else already gave good points about waiting 'till Banks comes out, let me offer another point of view. While the end game can become a bit boring with vanilla after a few games, that's coming from us who have already logged hundreds of hours into the game and seen everything there is to be seen. You, as a new player, can play for quite a while before that happens, then dive into the mod library and the Banks might just be out before things start to get a bit too stale. Playing on medium sized galaxies can also help, since you don't need to spent half the time in the end game, which is the weakest part of the game.

 

[Alblaka]

Imagine EUIV at ~1.2 with only the first DLC and put it into a space setting whilst removing all historic aspects/events.
That's Stellaris currently.

It's DEFINTELY worth it's price, since you will easily be able to sink a few dozen hours into it, as it is. BUT then it becomes stale, moreso then EUIV/CKII.
But then, the same as the two afromentioned applies; new DLCs and changes to core game mechanics alter the way the game works and make it all interesting again.

If you like Grande Strategy games from Paradox, I would recommend you to buy Stellaris, if just for the 'one more one the shelf' option. By now, I can freely rotate between CKII EUIV and Stellaris in term with their expansion packs.
(I.e. I finished 2 EUIV games in November-Januar, then moved on to playing CKII currently (going for Iron Crown this time), whilst watching for the Stellaris 1.5 to come out in 1-3months)

 

[Grubnessul]

Well, that was helpful! Thanks ladies & gents!