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Combining Paradox developed and published:
1st. CK2/PoE/PoE2/Battletech/Stellaris
2nd. HoI3/Vicky2/EUIV/Magicka/Combat Mission
3rd. Majesty 2/Cities Skylines/HoI4
Distant 4th as of now but waiting on years of DLC before I judge. Imperator
Some of the other unlisted games like Warlock and EiC, even King Arthur, scratched a specific itch for a play through but I wouldn't replay em.
Looking forward to VtM and Empire of Sin but slightly less so after Imperator released so devoid of full features.
1st. CK2/PoE/PoE2/Battletech/Stellaris
2nd. HoI3/Vicky2/EUIV/Magicka/Combat Mission
3rd. Majesty 2/Cities Skylines/HoI4
Distant 4th as of now but waiting on years of DLC before I judge. Imperator
Some of the other unlisted games like Warlock and EiC, even King Arthur, scratched a specific itch for a play through but I wouldn't replay em.
Looking forward to VtM and Empire of Sin but slightly less so after Imperator released so devoid of full features.
Ok. But only "current version of the game"
God tier:
CK2: the game is just perfect, they had a great dev team and Holy Fury its literally the holy grail of DLC. I hope the next patch/dlc that will be released in 2020 its as good as HF.
Good tier:
Stellaris: I just love this game, even i havent finished a campaign yet. It combines the best features of space-themed games with science fiction. How not to love this one.
Eu4: Some months ago i didnt liked this one but somehow im starting to like it, maybe because owning all DLC changes everything, maybe because i understand it better after finishing a campaign...
Victoria 2: Old but good, how not to love this game.
Cities Skylines: this game is just perfect, but the last DLC was meh. Idk what the devs were thinking.
Ok tier
Hoi4: This game is good. But the AI is still unbalanced in a game were the AI easily can pull a WC, Germany is unnecesarily overpowered.
Why this game even exist tier:
Imperator: why they hyped this so hard and delivered a game so incomplete? I'll still waiting for the first DLC to try this again.
God tier:
CK2: the game is just perfect, they had a great dev team and Holy Fury its literally the holy grail of DLC. I hope the next patch/dlc that will be released in 2020 its as good as HF.
Good tier:
Stellaris: I just love this game, even i havent finished a campaign yet. It combines the best features of space-themed games with science fiction. How not to love this one.
Eu4: Some months ago i didnt liked this one but somehow im starting to like it, maybe because owning all DLC changes everything, maybe because i understand it better after finishing a campaign...
Victoria 2: Old but good, how not to love this game.
Cities Skylines: this game is just perfect, but the last DLC was meh. Idk what the devs were thinking.
Ok tier
Hoi4: This game is good. But the AI is still unbalanced in a game were the AI easily can pull a WC, Germany is unnecesarily overpowered.
Why this game even exist tier:
Imperator: why they hyped this so hard and delivered a game so incomplete? I'll still waiting for the first DLC to try this again.
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1. CK2
2. Stellaris
3. HOI4
4. HOI3
5. EU4
6. EU3
7. Victoria 2
And I like each one of them. Although CK2 is quite far above other games on that list for me.
2. Stellaris
3. HOI4
4. HOI3
5. EU4
6. EU3
7. Victoria 2
And I like each one of them. Although CK2 is quite far above other games on that list for me.
1. CK2 - Most polished of the titles and unlike the other Pdox titles I've played it doesn't have overtly broken mechanics or reliably lie to you every game. Plus it has the best stories and a lot of flexibility.
2a. EU 4 - I have the most hours in this because I played it first. Recent patch trends have been incoherent, troubling, and continuing the trend of telling the community "we care more about esoteric exploits than that the game has lied to you in multiple proven/documented ways the past 3+ years". Bonus points for showing idea group data and then nerfing average-to-below idea groups while leaving some in the top 5 untouched. Double bonus points for the broken corruption model + stating that supposedly players needed incentive to use TCs, when players were previously moving their capital to use TCs for years.
2b. HOI 4 - Bad as some of the trends in EU 4 are, aside from corruption/religious conversions the core mechanics still work. Such is objectively false in HOI 4. Occupations and peace conferences are both designed poorly *and* carry objective bugs. War contribution is a complete joke. Similar to EU 4, the game lies to the player...this time in both achievement descriptions (at least five of them outright lie about requirements) and in national focuses (can create faction =/= can create faction). Since some of these are so ruinous they force player to either restart runs or spend longer in current run than restarting would take, it gets downgraded past EU 4 still. Bonus points for marking a bug report as "resolved", despite that doing so necessarily concludes that Curacao isn't in the Caribbean. More bonus points for recently stating incoherent logic as a basis for "artificially extending a particular war arbitrarily"
.
So yeah. CK2 is pretty good. The rest have shown either steady decline or never functioned properly to begin with. You could make a case for moving EU 4 lower though since it did falsely advertise cross platform MP.
I've not played enough Vicky 2 to have an opinion. On principle and lack of trust, I will not buy Stellaris or Imperator. I don't consider their odds of being good especially high given the design philosophy stated for them. However, this does mean I'm ignorant of those three for differing reasons and they might be at least average-to-good, so I won't place them in rankings.
2a. EU 4 - I have the most hours in this because I played it first. Recent patch trends have been incoherent, troubling, and continuing the trend of telling the community "we care more about esoteric exploits than that the game has lied to you in multiple proven/documented ways the past 3+ years". Bonus points for showing idea group data and then nerfing average-to-below idea groups while leaving some in the top 5 untouched. Double bonus points for the broken corruption model + stating that supposedly players needed incentive to use TCs, when players were previously moving their capital to use TCs for years.
2b. HOI 4 - Bad as some of the trends in EU 4 are, aside from corruption/religious conversions the core mechanics still work. Such is objectively false in HOI 4. Occupations and peace conferences are both designed poorly *and* carry objective bugs. War contribution is a complete joke. Similar to EU 4, the game lies to the player...this time in both achievement descriptions (at least five of them outright lie about requirements) and in national focuses (can create faction =/= can create faction). Since some of these are so ruinous they force player to either restart runs or spend longer in current run than restarting would take, it gets downgraded past EU 4 still. Bonus points for marking a bug report as "resolved", despite that doing so necessarily concludes that Curacao isn't in the Caribbean. More bonus points for recently stating incoherent logic as a basis for "artificially extending a particular war arbitrarily"
.So yeah. CK2 is pretty good. The rest have shown either steady decline or never functioned properly to begin with. You could make a case for moving EU 4 lower though since it did falsely advertise cross platform MP.
I've not played enough Vicky 2 to have an opinion. On principle and lack of trust, I will not buy Stellaris or Imperator. I don't consider their odds of being good especially high given the design philosophy stated for them. However, this does mean I'm ignorant of those three for differing reasons and they might be at least average-to-good, so I won't place them in rankings.
1. CK2 - Most polished of the titles and unlike the other Pdox titles I've played it doesn't have overtly broken mechanics or reliably lie to you every game. Plus it has the best stories and a lot of flexibility.
2a. EU 4 - I have the most hours in this because I played it first. Recent patch trends have been incoherent, troubling, and continuing the trend of telling the community "we care more about esoteric exploits than that the game has lied to you in multiple proven/documented ways the past 3+ years". Bonus points for showing idea group data and then nerfing average-to-below idea groups while leaving some in the top 5 untouched. Double bonus points for the broken corruption model + stating that supposedly players needed incentive to use TCs, when players were previously moving their capital to use TCs for years.
2b. HOI 4 - Bad as some of the trends in EU 4 are, aside from corruption/religious conversions the core mechanics still work. Such is objectively false in HOI 4. Occupations and peace conferences are both designed poorly *and* carry objective bugs. War contribution is a complete joke. Similar to EU 4, the game lies to the player...this time in both achievement descriptions (at least five of them outright lie about requirements) and in national focuses (can create faction =/= can create faction). Since some of these are so ruinous they force player to either restart runs or spend longer in current run than restarting would take, it gets downgraded past EU 4 still. Bonus points for marking a bug report as "resolved", despite that doing so necessarily concludes that Curacao isn't in the Caribbean. More bonus points for recently stating incoherent logic as a basis for "artificially extending a particular war arbitrarily"
So yeah. CK2 is pretty good. The rest have shown either steady decline or never functioned properly to begin with. You could make a case for moving EU 4 lower though since it did falsely advertise cross platform MP.
I've not played enough Vicky 2 to have an opinion. On principle and lack of trust, I will not buy Stellaris or Imperator. I don't consider their odds of being good especially high given the design philosophy stated for them. However, this does mean I'm ignorant of those three for differing reasons and they might be at least average-to-good, so I won't place them in rankings.
Pretty much agreed. Though HOI4 has been my most played PDX game recently.
I also do own Imperator, but that game needs serious work before I put more time into it.
Despite all the flaws and even some very questionable design decisions, grand strategy scratches an itch most games can't. I do enjoy the odd HOI 4 game now and then despite its problems, because there are few things like it. Same goes for the other Pdox games - while the way they run is similar, the in-game options and emphasis are often quite different. I wish they weren't so flawed, because absent those there's a lot of great things to experience.
EU4
Despite how flawed it still is it's easy to get sucked into, though the internal mechanics ultimately make me give up on every game I start. After you complete your goals and don't want to conquer anything else there is basically nothing to do apart from clicking development buttons which, especially exacerbated by the fact that you can basically develop every province with similar characteristics exactly the same as any other which makes for no genuine distinction between owning province A or province B, makes it extremely meaningless.
EU3
It was great at the end of its life cycle.
Vic2
It's very immersive, until you get to the late game. If you play a nation that can control its factories, at least.
EU2
I played it for quite some time before EU3 was released, it was great fun. The music was extremely immersing and whenever you advanced to a new century it always felt meaningful and exciting. It puts into perspective how generic the music in recent titles feel. Obviously it's unreasonable to compare a regular modern day composer to the literal best composers who've ever lived but it's still a high-water mark Paradox will never live up to again.
HoI4
The base game is alright but has a very fugly map (Ryukyu islands!? No Rhine border???) and a general feeling of being unfinished/underdeveloped. Mods, Kaiserreich especially, make it a good game that's very easy to get sucked into but vanilla doesn't have even remotely the same pull for me. Particularly regarding the mentioned map.
Stellaris
It's fun in the beginning but then the tedious micromanagement in wartime and with designing ships, moving pops, etc. suck the fun out of it. Also the slowdown is too noticeable. It has, or maybe had is more correct, probably the greatest potential of any Paradox game ever released and of many games released in recent times.
Sengoku
Fun to play around with but nothing spectacular. By no means as bad a game as others above it, just very limited in scope.
CK2
I always leave this game, confused, after trying to pick it up. Vanilla, modded, doesn't really matter. I've never gotten into it and I don't understand why everyone finds it so great.
Imperator: Rome
The game is a steaming pile of shit. You can play around with it for a while but everything feels aimless and meaningless. Every nation plays basically exactly the same and you can basically do the same thing with whatever start you choose, just with a different initial difficulty.
Despite how flawed it still is it's easy to get sucked into, though the internal mechanics ultimately make me give up on every game I start. After you complete your goals and don't want to conquer anything else there is basically nothing to do apart from clicking development buttons which, especially exacerbated by the fact that you can basically develop every province with similar characteristics exactly the same as any other which makes for no genuine distinction between owning province A or province B, makes it extremely meaningless.
EU3
It was great at the end of its life cycle.
Vic2
It's very immersive, until you get to the late game. If you play a nation that can control its factories, at least.
EU2
I played it for quite some time before EU3 was released, it was great fun. The music was extremely immersing and whenever you advanced to a new century it always felt meaningful and exciting. It puts into perspective how generic the music in recent titles feel. Obviously it's unreasonable to compare a regular modern day composer to the literal best composers who've ever lived but it's still a high-water mark Paradox will never live up to again.
HoI4
The base game is alright but has a very fugly map (Ryukyu islands!? No Rhine border???) and a general feeling of being unfinished/underdeveloped. Mods, Kaiserreich especially, make it a good game that's very easy to get sucked into but vanilla doesn't have even remotely the same pull for me. Particularly regarding the mentioned map.
Stellaris
It's fun in the beginning but then the tedious micromanagement in wartime and with designing ships, moving pops, etc. suck the fun out of it. Also the slowdown is too noticeable. It has, or maybe had is more correct, probably the greatest potential of any Paradox game ever released and of many games released in recent times.
Sengoku
Fun to play around with but nothing spectacular. By no means as bad a game as others above it, just very limited in scope.
CK2
I always leave this game, confused, after trying to pick it up. Vanilla, modded, doesn't really matter. I've never gotten into it and I don't understand why everyone finds it so great.
Imperator: Rome
The game is a steaming pile of shit. You can play around with it for a while but everything feels aimless and meaningless. Every nation plays basically exactly the same and you can basically do the same thing with whatever start you choose, just with a different initial difficulty.
Only listing PDS titles here
1. would be CK2. Cost me a lot but every DLC was worth it considering my high hours played. Too bad I've done almost everything in this game twice/thrice and I rarely play it anymore which makes me a bit sad.
2. Stellaris. I totally ignored that game until 2.0...wish I had known earlier of Stellaris. DLCs are the best of all PDS titles both in cost and new and meaningful expanded content.
3. shared bronze medal for EU4, HoI4 and Imperator. I like them all and play them about as often as the other depending on what setting I want and what mood I'm in and whether a new update/expansion was released. All three fun games!
1. would be CK2. Cost me a lot but every DLC was worth it considering my high hours played. Too bad I've done almost everything in this game twice/thrice and I rarely play it anymore which makes me a bit sad.
2. Stellaris. I totally ignored that game until 2.0...wish I had known earlier of Stellaris. DLCs are the best of all PDS titles both in cost and new and meaningful expanded content.
3. shared bronze medal for EU4, HoI4 and Imperator. I like them all and play them about as often as the other depending on what setting I want and what mood I'm in and whether a new update/expansion was released. All three fun games!
1. EU IV by a large margin. The sheer variety in countries and starting situations is hard to beat. Also the only one I'm in any way decent at in a multiplayer setting, so there's that too. Will need to try playing Mutapa again, I messed up by choosing expansion instead of exploration, meaning I couldn't block off the European colonizers in time.
2. CK II. I'm ok at the game, but wouldn't say I'm exactly amazing at it by a large stretch. Luckily it's like Rimworld or Dwarf Fortress in a way, in that some of the roleplay that results from losing can be just as fun as building up a kingdom.
3. HoI IV. I used to really, really like this game, but MtG has made naval affairs a labyrinthine nightmare for me. I liked the ability to edit ship classes, but how naval fleets themselves work now is a bit confusing to me.
2. CK II. I'm ok at the game, but wouldn't say I'm exactly amazing at it by a large stretch. Luckily it's like Rimworld or Dwarf Fortress in a way, in that some of the roleplay that results from losing can be just as fun as building up a kingdom.
3. HoI IV. I used to really, really like this game, but MtG has made naval affairs a labyrinthine nightmare for me. I liked the ability to edit ship classes, but how naval fleets themselves work now is a bit confusing to me.
To do this objectively I've thought about two personal factors. 1. My playtime and 2. Mods.
1. Vicky2 the most playtime in a paradox game for me, and the only one where I only play it with mods that tinker round the edges for balance rather than completely change the game.
2. Euiv mostly I play vanilla (with all dlc) has the second highest playtime, and is very enjoyable.
3. HOI4 flawed, I don't play vanilla, exclusively my playtime is with kaissereich.
3b. Eu3 the first paradox title I played and was exceptionally good, but it's unfair to compare it to the current gen of paradox games.
4. Stellaris and ck2. I occasionally play them sometimes vanilla sometimes modded but never really got into them.
5. Imperator. Too flawed in its current state, and no mod that gives me the urge to play it to the extent of the other titles.
1. Vicky2 the most playtime in a paradox game for me, and the only one where I only play it with mods that tinker round the edges for balance rather than completely change the game.
2. Euiv mostly I play vanilla (with all dlc) has the second highest playtime, and is very enjoyable.
3. HOI4 flawed, I don't play vanilla, exclusively my playtime is with kaissereich.
3b. Eu3 the first paradox title I played and was exceptionally good, but it's unfair to compare it to the current gen of paradox games.
4. Stellaris and ck2. I occasionally play them sometimes vanilla sometimes modded but never really got into them.
5. Imperator. Too flawed in its current state, and no mod that gives me the urge to play it to the extent of the other titles.
1. CK2
Best game in the stable, best peacetime mechanics! Most events, most fun RP stuff all around best Paradox game of all time hands down not even close!
2. HoI2- Arsenal of Democracy
This is the game that made me explore Paradox as a developer, and has since led me because of it to a host of great games! However, I do think this was the best place the HoI family of games reached its climax if you will, and the following games since while flashier and enjoyable just are not as good....
3. Stellaris- Before MegaCorps, destroyed the game for me.
4. Victoria 2
Very complex, yet very deep and enjoyable game it boggles my mind why Paradox dances around the topic of Victoria 3 as if there is any game in the studio that should be getting a spin off its this one.
5. Eu4- I especially enjoyed watching other people play this game even more than actually playing it, and seeing DDR Jake leave Paradox is a very sad day for me, he was the greatest Paradox commentator and youtube personality they have. But all and all this is my go to game at the moment when I am bored of CK2 as Stellaris is no longer playable for me I find myself playing a lot more Eu4 then I use too.
6. HoI4- while I miss the more enjoyable warfare that made sense in HoI2-Arsenal of Democracy, HoI4 has so much cool stuff, that I really like, its just sad that no matter what you do everyone and there mother gets dragged into the same war, and there is no way to avoid it and then the whole peace mechanics and people who were not part of your war then get the land you wanted just because they put more effort into the big war that had absolutely nothing to do with your war other then your target decided to run for help from the axis or allies!!!
If they ever fix ^^^^ That crap HoI4 would definitely be the best but at this moment it time its just annoying that so many cool things are trapped in a game where there is No way to avoid a huge giant messy war of the entire world....
7. Imperator:Rome when it released I had high hopes for this title as it was probally the most fun paradox game at release I could remember in some time, it was miles ahead of stellaris at release IMHO.... And then the crazy Troll publicity campaign happened, OMG the UI is bad "Standard Paradox UI"??? OMG the mana system "Another Standard Paradox system"??? OMG its an empty game its obvious there going to release a ton of DLC's for it blah blah blah... The standard chorus of hate from the same people....
And then Paradox spends an entire development cycle bending over backwards trying to placate them and the game goes nowhere fast!
8. Stellaris after MegaCorps
Best game in the stable, best peacetime mechanics! Most events, most fun RP stuff all around best Paradox game of all time hands down not even close!
2. HoI2- Arsenal of Democracy
This is the game that made me explore Paradox as a developer, and has since led me because of it to a host of great games! However, I do think this was the best place the HoI family of games reached its climax if you will, and the following games since while flashier and enjoyable just are not as good....
3. Stellaris- Before MegaCorps, destroyed the game for me.
4. Victoria 2
Very complex, yet very deep and enjoyable game it boggles my mind why Paradox dances around the topic of Victoria 3 as if there is any game in the studio that should be getting a spin off its this one.
5. Eu4- I especially enjoyed watching other people play this game even more than actually playing it, and seeing DDR Jake leave Paradox is a very sad day for me, he was the greatest Paradox commentator and youtube personality they have. But all and all this is my go to game at the moment when I am bored of CK2 as Stellaris is no longer playable for me I find myself playing a lot more Eu4 then I use too.
6. HoI4- while I miss the more enjoyable warfare that made sense in HoI2-Arsenal of Democracy, HoI4 has so much cool stuff, that I really like, its just sad that no matter what you do everyone and there mother gets dragged into the same war, and there is no way to avoid it and then the whole peace mechanics and people who were not part of your war then get the land you wanted just because they put more effort into the big war that had absolutely nothing to do with your war other then your target decided to run for help from the axis or allies!!!
If they ever fix ^^^^ That crap HoI4 would definitely be the best but at this moment it time its just annoying that so many cool things are trapped in a game where there is No way to avoid a huge giant messy war of the entire world....
7. Imperator:Rome when it released I had high hopes for this title as it was probally the most fun paradox game at release I could remember in some time, it was miles ahead of stellaris at release IMHO.... And then the crazy Troll publicity campaign happened, OMG the UI is bad "Standard Paradox UI"??? OMG the mana system "Another Standard Paradox system"??? OMG its an empty game its obvious there going to release a ton of DLC's for it blah blah blah... The standard chorus of hate from the same people....
And then Paradox spends an entire development cycle bending over backwards trying to placate them and the game goes nowhere fast!
8. Stellaris after MegaCorps
