Paradox games summary?

[celzus]

Hi all.

I've heard many good things about paradox games, especially europa universalis, but, as I came to the official site I saw many many games, and sequels. This leaves me puzzled as to what I should buy. For example. Is it worth to try EU1 before playing EU2 seeing as how EU2 seems to bi an upgrade and contains everything that EU1 already has?

Also, the same for all the other games with sequels like hearts of iron.

And finaly, the other single games like victoria; are they better than EU2, what is the basic difference other than the time the game is played in.

Thanks in advance.

 

[unmerged(32886)]

Hi all.

I've heard many good things about paradox games, especially europa universalis, but, as I came to the official site I saw many many games, and sequels. This leaves me puzzled as to what I should buy. For example. Is it worth to try EU1 before playing EU2 seeing as how EU2 seems to bi an upgrade and contains everything that EU1 already has?

No. Just skip EU1 and go directly for EU2. It's better on all front IMO.

Also, the same for all the other games with sequels like hearts of iron.

I only have EU2, so dunno . But I would say the same as with EU.

And finaly, the other single games like victoria; are they better than EU2, what is the basic difference other than the time the game is played in.

Thanks in advance.

I'll let others comment on this, but let me just say no paradox game (ATM) is better then EU2.

 

[jonti-h]

Well, I have never played EU1, but EU2 is meant to be much improved (and EU3 will be more so ) I would go with that.
The Hearts of Iron series is the same - the later versions are better (IMO) than the earlier ones - much less buggy and more polished.

Paradox unlike a lot of game producers, listens to what its customers want.

Victoria is way different to EU2, it has a lot of micromamagement it is much more of a country simulator than a war game.

The best thing to do is to buy the games (they are all cheap) and see which ones you like.
Gamersgate (www.gamersgate.com) is good to download games as all the money goes to Paradox. If you want hard copy games, try Amazon or Ebay where they have them fairly cheaply.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

You could say the following about the Paradox Games

Crusaders Kings
Is played from 1066 to 1452, the main focus of the game is to manage your dynasty/family. Only at the start of the scenarios (1066, 1187 or 1337) the setups are historical after that all is more random

EU1 and EU2
Is played from 1419 to 1819 (EU2 at least), the main focus is on managing a country through this era. The game has many historical events. I would always choose EU2 before EU1, since EU2 it is EU1 but then more of everything

Victoria and Victoria:Revolutions
Is played from 1836 to 1930, you can play a country but the main focus is on economy. It follows a very historical path most of the time. If you buy it, by Victoria:Revolutions. It is an improvement of the original

Hearts of Iron 1, 2 and Doomsday
Is played from 1936 to 1953, the main focus of the game is on warfare (WWII) with many historical events. Again if you buy this game, get the latest, that is Doomsday. It has all of HoI1 and 2 plus many extra's

 

[celzus]

Thanks all.

I guess i'll start with EU2 and maybe later get doomsday. This seems the best experience based on your input...

 

[BurningEGO]

Doomsday got all of hoi1? Did you ever play hoi1? Hoi1 was, and is totaly diferent from hoi2. Just look at the tech tree, and at the war strategy between one game and another.

About paradox games, there are 2 great games, imo. Those are: Eu2 and Victoria. The rest (CK and HOI) are good too, but not so good as those stated before. If i could only choose one from these, i would definetely pick eu2.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Doomsday got all of hoi1? Did you ever play hoi1? Hoi1 was, and is totaly diferent from hoi2. Just look at the tech tree, and at the war strategy between one game and another.

About paradox games, there are 2 great games, imo. Those are: Eu2 and Victoria. The rest (CK and HOI) are good too, but not so good as those stated before. If i could only choose one from these, i would definetely pick eu2.

Yes, I played HoI1 and I like the techtree and tech-development of HoI2 and DD more then HoI1, but HoI2 is all in all a much improved version of HoI1. But that is just what you and I personally feel and think. And the games aren't that different, certainly not totally different as you say

Telling someone now to buy HoI1 instead of DD wouldn't be a very good advice, in my opinion.

 

[BurningEGO]

Yes yes, definetely Doomsday is better then hoi1. But hoi1, IMO, is very diferent from hoi2. Their diference, is a lot bigger then the diference between HOI2 and doomsday itself.

 

[ShrineGuard]

I think the best way to sum it up is that Paradox sequels are not really sequels but rather upgrades (though only within the same game...EU1 to EU2 is an upgrade, Victoria is a totally different game), even though many changes are major enough to render very different games.

In EUs case, I definatly wouldn't pick EU1 over EU2, simply for that reason of improvement. Haven't played EU1 in ages though. I still remember when you could only pick preset countries and the forums were waiting eagerly for EU2

 

[doronz]

I love paradox games. I first started more than one year ago with Crusader Kings, and I really liked it. On Xmas my girlfriend gave me as a present EU2, but I onlyt started playing it in June as I first wanted to explore all the different things of CK. Now I'm playing EU2 all the time, and I can say that it is much better that CK. So, just imagine it. My gf also bought me Victoria about 10 days ago, but I still haven't played it yet, so I can't tell you.
HoI I don't know, we'll see in future.
Enjoy!

 

[ShrineGuard]

I love paradox games. I first started more than one year ago with Crusader Kings, and I really liked it. On Xmas my girlfriend gave me as a present EU2, but I onlyt started playing it in June as I first wanted to explore all the different things of CK. Now I'm playing EU2 all the time, and I can say that it is much better that CK. So, just imagine it. My gf also bought me Victoria about 10 days ago, but I still haven't played it yet, so I can't tell you.
HoI I don't know, we'll see in future.
Enjoy!

The games are all so different despite their historical similarities, that's for sure. I still play EU2 and I got it when it first came out. I only recently got CK, and I enjoy it as a nice change. Vicky is hard to get into at first but then very fun, and I like playing HoI when I feel like being more combat-focused.

Overall, EU2 still gets the most playtime.

 

[idont]

You might also be interested in the Paradox Strategy Pack, which contains EU2, Victoria and HoI.

 

[ConjurerDragon]

You might also be interested in the Paradox Strategy Pack, which contains EU2, Victoria and HoI.

Any idea where to get that when in Germany?

 

[orimazd]

Any idea where to get that when in Germany?

Amazon.com, of course (or amazon.de).

If I bought Doomsday, would I have to buy HOI2 first? IIRC, it calls itself an expansion, and with every other game I have played an expansion requires the original game to install (Warcraft II, Starcraft, Diablo II, Warcraft 3, AOE2, and probably a few more)

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Amazon.com, of course (or amazon.de).

If I bought Doomsday, would I have to buy HOI2 first? IIRC, it calls itself an expansion, and with every other game I have played an expansion requires the original game to install (Warcraft II, Starcraft, Diablo II, Warcraft 3, AOE2, and probably a few more)

No Doomsday is a stand-alone version, it has HoI2 together with the new feautures introduced in Doomsday

So just buying Doomsday is enough

 

[unmerged(32757)]

I love EU and HOI, all versions. To me, CK got boring -- mainly manipulating marriages and succession. And micromanagement is not my thing, so I did not get Vicky.

Another great game distributed by Paradox is Take Command: Second Manassas. It is completely different from those above: a very sophsiticated and realistic immersion in an interesting American Civil War battle. Go to the "third party forums" and click on it. They have a demo. Many people who play it, love it, even if they had no prior interest in ACW.

 

[szmik]

I would buy EU2, CK, HoI2 Doomsday... afterwards I'd try Victoria with Revolutions, the latter is completely different game experience.

2nd versions are much more improved so it's waste of time and money to bother with HOI1 or EU1.

 

[unmerged(32886)]

You've been digging through the files haven't ya !? Oh well, 1 month old is nothing compared to threads YEARS old being revived :rofl: . Just like to add that after having played HOI2, I dismiss them completely. I'll put the cd away and never look back at it again. EU series remains the rocker IMO . As to third parties games distributed by Paradox, I'm currently "exploring" GalCiv2. A sort of galaxy version of Civ IMO. Quite good actually but somewhat boring since Civilization isn't really my thing.
Back to EU I suppose .