How is this game now?

[Slavicist]

As a historian I am a huge fan of the idea of Imperator, but i was worried by the dwindling numbers.

The developers re working their asses of trying to improve this game in a much commendable way than perhaps any other PdoX title save for Stellaris. I really hope this a bright future and many years of great support...the ratings are up, but what is the statistical situation now?

Is Imperator (hopefully) saved?

 

[AggaWackTan]

Getting there, so many things have been overhauled there are some balance issues. I think the modding scene is quiet because long term, they know they can't plan much due to so many base game changes are on the way. If 2.0 is as good as it looks the game will still have weaknesses, but could then be counted as a pretty great game. As a lifetime Rome fanboy I find it hard have anything good to say about government models, but I'm still hopeful. I would recommend, but as usual, be prepared to ride the paradox train of waiting for overhauls, paying for DLC's.

Add-on: Optimistically I do believe the playerbase will jump after 2.0, especially due to the new UI. By looking at the dd's I can imagine playing with it will change the feel of the game immensely.

 

[Yaiko]

The game improved since launch by a good measure, however MASSIVE improvements are coming out in the next patch so much so they dubbed it I:R 2.0

So check back when that update hits. It looks hopeful.

 

[KaiserBismarckll]

As a historian

A legitimate historian playing PDX games, eh? Not something you see every day.

Don't worry, between the work done so far, the expected huge improvements for 2.0, and telltale clues from paradox that they want to build the Imperator:Rome franchise into something that will stand the test of time, this game will no doubt be excellent one day, probably one day soon.

 

[Polymorphic_nw]

I’m very into history and started playing around the CK3 release. I have more hours in Imperator. It’s a great game. I never played it before the major mana changes, but now it’s pretty dang solid. I love it. It’s a shame the numbers are dwindling, but when 2.0 comes out, I expect they will come up a fair amount.

 

[Reman]

Warscore costs after the first 50-100 years are absurd, to the point where you can only take 2-3 provinces per war in heavily populated regions. Enforcing land changes on the scale of the Second Punic War are impossible without at least half a dozen wars. This makes expansion very tedious and ultimately unfun, which is a big problem considering it's the main activity the game is based around. It's been like this since 1.0, and they actually made it worse with the warscore cost nerfs in one of the recent patches. The Diadochi will be getting a special CB to get around this when battling each other in 2.0, but standard wars with any other nation will still be tedious slogs unless there's a new mechanic the devs haven't announced yet.

 

[MrReaper182]

I really enjoy the game but then I'm not one of these people who put off a game by bad reviews as I make up my mind by playing a game. What other people think of a game means nothing to me. The only thing that matters if if I like it or not and I like the game. Some of my all time favourite games had very bad reviews. Play it and judge it for yourself. Don't ever let other people tell you want you should and should not like.

 

[LSF]

I really enjoy the game but then I'm not one of these people who put off a game by bad reviews as I make up my mind by playing a game. What other people think of a game means nothing to me. The only thing that matters if if I like it or not and I like the game. Some of my all time favourite games had very bad reviews. Play it and judge it for yourself. Don't ever let other people tell you want you should and should not like.

What you said could be reasonable if there were two dozens games in the market. Then one try everything to see what is good or bad according only to one's personal preferences.

But with thousand and thousands games no way other people's reviews are useless.

For example I never played a shooter game up to now. If I want to start playing this genre right now would you just tell me to ignore reviews and try every possible game until I find one that fits my tastes?

 

[Hendreforgan]

Whilst I might only call myself a history buff I almost always play as my favourite Carthage which is a City State/Empire I do know an awful lot of . . . but that is where reality fades away into fantasy.

It isn't just that you can make decisions that your "real" historical counter-parts would never dream of doing but the rest of the world about you also jumps on the same bandwagon when the huge changes you make alter them well beyond anything remotely historical . . yet the game started by placing every city state or country in the form they were at the time the game starts. Classic case then of "what if"?

After finishing many games on v1.4 when I moved up to v1.5.3 I did find that there were changes and these seemed to prompt more opportunities to be more bold. In my first game (still playing) in this version on the 18th February 460 my Carthage, still very recognisable as a City State with a big bunch of Allies but almost no expansion at all, destroyed Rome and her allies completely.

I thought then that this would be interesting to watch a map of the "known world" unfold with no Rome in it . . . and, by year 500 of the game, I'm looking at a massive reappearance of Etruria as it passifies it's northern neighbours and is about to overwhelm Luciana to the south . . . as Carthage I now know what alternative enemy the game will give me.

Across the Adriatic Sea it's Macedon that is emerging powerful and stable from the chaotic mess that was the endless wars amongst the Greeks. it now counts the original big Greek City States as conquered subjects or vassals and stretches almost all the way up the Northern shores of the Adriatic . . . and as my Carthage owns a big section of Central Italy will they one day cause me issues directly or by making war on Etruria? Along the North African shoreline my eventual annexation of my allied city states mean I now stare into my neighbour of an extremely small Cyrenicia of only three territories with a massive Egyptian Empire just the other side.

Will I, I hate to say, later in the game regret taking out Rome too early rather than simply containing them to outside my immediate sphere of influence?

Like I said . . . this is where reality fades away into fantasy!

 

[Valentinius]

It's gone from a real disappointed "meh" to "hey this is pretty good". I think other paradox games still have better realised visions for what they want to be, but 2.0 might knit the sack.

 

[Jayavarman]

I am waiting for 2.0 before playing again.