Paradox Fantasy Game

[Ivashanko]

I actually think most if not all suggestions have been somewhat reasonable.

I think a decent amount of the suggestions are unrealistic. Some people are asking for the world and they won't get it.

I know you and others probably think I'm just being a killjoy, but people's unrealistic expectations have doomed games in the past. Heck, Paradox has effectively said that they've doomed at least one former project: East v West. In an interview a Paradox employee openly said that allowing every Cold War era country to be playable is very difficult from a development standpoint, but I personally have found that the suggestion to limit the number of playable countries is oft met with fierce backlash.

A premade world would completely gut the potential of such a game. To the point that I don't even know how you'd generate hype for it or ever expect it to succeed. If they had to do a premade world it'd have to be based off an existing fantasy world that people like because otherwise nobody cares about some bland fantasy world and they'd need really high quality writers to make up for it and make a really unique world.

On the other hand Stellaris has more than proven the ability to make a great generated world with every trope anyone could want and so many opportunities to create the special world you want to play in.

I don't like Stellaris largely because the start up is the same as basically every other 4x game.

Tbh I don't care if the world is pre defined or not. I care very much that the gameplay isn't like civilisation. I'd kill for a fantasy Crusader King game. If the game world's history can be simulated anew a la Dwarf Fortress then fantastic, but if it cannot be I'd much prefer a pre set world than a Fall from Heaven style blank slate.

If Paradox does end up making a FFH style game, that's cool. I won't buy it but I hope others like it.

 

[Capage]

This is an interesting topic. Making more grand strategy games in general is. Because playing them takes a lot of time and having 5 continuously updated and expanded games is more than enough for most players. It's also demanding for Paradox and it certainly limits the space the team has for developing new ideas. That's partially why Imperator got abandoned.

Also, there's Age of Wonders, which is kind of like a fantasy civ/4x game. There are also fantasy mods and I think many paradox fans are satisfied with them. A new fantasy world would be a hard sell and I think that resources to overcome this initial phase and build up decent lore (as happened with Stellaris) just wouldn't be worth it in this case.

But I still see two potential products satisfying demands of this thread.

1. A fantasy stand alone expansion or spin-off for CK3
This would benefit from many robust systems already developed for the game and adding thing like a tool for creating randomized worlds, a magic system and fantasy races wouldn't be as demanding.
CK3 modders probably would embrace the way this expansion would make things like magic easier to work with. Players playing fantasy mods requiring the expansion for it's new features would boost the sales.
It could also use the lore from Warlock. That would be a cool revival.

2. Age of Wonders spin-off
Taking Age of Wonders and creating a game, which upscales the focus from battles and management of single units to management of fantasy politics and economics would be cool too.
(Btw from what I've seen Age of Wonders 4 has been taking some notes from PDS games).

I think both of these would have to be smaller scale projects than Stellaris or CK2 with shorter lifespans too. Unless they would happen to be hugely successful. In that case a full-fledged grand sequel could follow.

 

[Gurkhal]

Seems like Age of Wonders 4 kind is the game I asked for given that its supposedly to be very heavy in customization. My computer can't play it on recommended settings but once I get back to work and start earning my wage, I may be able to upgrade my computer for this interesting game.

So, not a Pdx fantasy game but a fantasy game with much of the design philosophy I asked for before.