HOI IV should provide a usable tutorial.

[Granite]

This is one area that Paradox games have always struggled. It's gotten better over the last couple of releases, with CKII and EUIV both providing tutorials that are functional for teaching the most basic mechanics.
However, HOI can, and should, do better. Given that Paradox has expressed a desire to get new players into the series, I think the stage is set to enter a bright new age of fleshed out tutorials that explain the majority of mechanics to players, not just 'essential' ones.

 

[Oakfan]

Only way you can have a build a good tutorial in a sandbox game is to have a seperate scenario, scripted to hell and back.

............rather have the man hours spent working on balancng/debugging the game.

EDIT: on a side note, feel free to disagree but "put your name on it". At the minimum, lets see your argument. I am always open to changning my mind.............hmmmm going to add this to my sig

 

[Aries666]

Couldn't agree more, the HOI3 tutorial with the "angry man" was terrible.

 

[Sanny]

I second this!

Surprisingly it's an area which is lacking in Paradox's recent games.

 

[Evan05]

While good tutorials are good for initial pointers, they are very scripted and actual experience playing the game (even if you have no clue what you're doing) can teach you a lot more.

I did the tutorials for both EU4 and CK2, but they don't even come close to teaching me as much as just fumbling around with the mechanics in an actual game taught me.

 

[Qemarar]

I seem to remember the EUIV tutorials being okay. It introduced how colonization, troop building, declaring war, and diplomacy worked. I think one thing HOIV would benefit from is detailed tool tips. It helps new players immensely if they know what a specific action/item does and why.

 

[Raptor83]

Video tutorials would IMO help - they would show individual featues, without need for "Tutorial scenario" and would be easier to change/add as necesary (due to patches, expansions etc.).

 

[Giovanni1234]

The tutorial will be marco antonio on youtoube like hoi 3

 

[hewhoispale]

EU4's tutorials provided decent instruction on how to operate the game, not necessarily play it. Though, I do have to say that CK2's tutorial was leagues better than than those before it, and EU4's was better than CK2's.
I think that instruction on how to operate the game's mechanisms combined with good tooltips & UI feedback would be sufficient. Making a set of in-house how to play Youtube videos would probably be a good way to expand on such an tutorial without having either be overwhelming to someone approaching the game. Making an all inclusive in-game tutorial would be a sizable investment, and telling new people to watch 2 hours of Youtube videos first would be a unfriendly barrier to entry.

 

[mdw1985]

A good tutorial is more than obligatory. I don't want to read up forums and wikis to learn, how the game really works. Selling HOI4 without tutorial would be like selling an IKEA kitchen without any manual, how to use and build it up...

 

[sshellokitty]

I learned how to play EU4 from YouTube lol. Seriously though it is definitely needed. Some of us could probably care less and will use past experience and tinkering to figure out most things. However, this isn't going to cut it for everyone. In my opinion scripting alot of it is perfectly fine, and there are plenty of historic-type scenarios that could lend themselves well to teaching mechanics.

The tutorial should not tell the player every single aspect of the game though. A firm understanding of the mechanics should be given with the more nuanced aspects being left to player discovery. I feel that explaining every single thing makes a tutorial boring and ruins some of the emergent gameplay.

 

[FOARP]

To be honest, I almost never use the tutorial if I can get away with it. If I have to use the tutorial, then the game has an over-complicated control system.

 

[Peter Wass]

A good tutorial is more than obligatory. I don't want to read up forums and wikis to learn, how the game really works. Selling HOI4 without tutorial would be like selling an IKEA kitchen without any manual, how to use and build it up...

Who reads IKEA instructions? you might find out what all the extra bits are for.

 

[mdw1985]

Who reads IKEA instructions? you might find out what all the extra bits are for.

i guess, that i know now, how your kitchen looks like

 

[TheOrangeGuy]

Maybe total war style tutorial would be a good idea? One for every major, a voice explaining your nations role in the world, future possible ambitions and what needs doing right away to start reaching that goal. "The Austrians are currently weak, with a strong army you could convince them to join our empire" then explain how to put weapons on production and raising divisions.

 

[adam_grif]

They should, but the problem with Paradox games is they are constantly under development even post-release. They will need to constantly modify and update tutorials, which they have been very bad at in most of their recent releases.

 

[Raptor83]

They should, but the problem with Paradox games is they are constantly under development even post-release. They will need to constantly modify and update tutorials, which they have been very bad at in most of their recent releases.

Which is why IMO, separate video tutorials for each major feature makes more sense - less work to redo 2 videos, than reballance ingame tutorial scenario.

 

[sshellokitty]

Maybe total war style tutorial would be a good idea?

What might be really nice is an in game encyclopedia like TW has. That would be awesome IMO.

 

[DunkFunk]

The days of in game tutorials are just about over i think, with the content players themselves are putting out on youtube or on these forums they render anything else obsolete. Tutorials of yesteryear just can't cover all the in depth mechanics in a reasonable timeframe.

Paradox games for me have always been about going balls first and making an absolute mess of it.

 

[sshellokitty]

The days of in game tutorials are just about over i think, with the content players themselves are putting out on youtube or on these forums they render anything else obsolete. Tutorials of yesteryear just can't cover all the in depth mechanics in a reasonable timeframe.

Paradox games for me have always been about going balls first and making an absolute mess of it.

I dunno about that. A tutorial is definitely something that is very important for a game AND a game designer. It is a way for the designer to connect with the player to explain what the heck is going on . Plus, you want the player to understand how to play because it is very frustrating as a designer to have an exasperated player who can't figure out a mechanic because you did not explain it properly. You only get a brief window time to captivate a player and keep them playing. If they get super frustrated then the window is shut and you may never get that player back.

Also, a tutorial is something really easy to mess up even though it may seem pretty straight forward to make. It is just really hard to explain something to someone when you have been working on it for months on end. You tend to generalize and think the player will instantly understand you. It also doesn't help that the tutorial gets put off towards the end of development because more pressing stuff takes priority.