Let’s not be literal, nobody wants an exact copy (well, actually, I do…. But I’m not a normal pdx fan)… but at least put what was already there and build on it/add features… not change the game concept and focus fundamentally… or go for it, but don’t call it “Victoria 3” :/ eh, whatever, it is what it is. A disappointment.
First month stats for paradox sales are hard to find, but the few that are there show similar performance for other games. Given that Vic3 is more “niche” it slightly overperformed, I think. If you have better sources with stats feel free to correct me.
*Sigh* Just like EU3 vs EU4. Look, I’m not saying this game doesn’t have flaws, but going “just make an update of *older game*”, while always appealing in the early days of release, tends to lose steam as more patches come out. Believe it or not, there are still EU3 partisans around. Vic2 is similar, a relic from an older age whose mechanics don’t really translate well.
This is a little off-topic, but music being tied to DLC specifically really grinds my gears. Paradox games ship with nowhere near enough music for one 20-80 hour campaign, let alone multiple. I guess it might be alright if there were dedicated music-DLCs as at least then I would feel like I was supporting the composers specifically, but adding one or two songs to a DLC but not the accompanying free update is just bloody annoying.
I originally thought so too, based on the DDs and artwork, but really there isn't much of a struggle at all, the government just passes reforms. It's more of a game about becoming an innocent multicultural social-democracy than about becoming a revolutionary. It's borderline false advertising.
I think there is truth to this, especially playing with the base game AI. But here’s the thing: to the degree it’s true, it seems completely obvious that it’s true not by design but because features aren’t working as intended or need more development. It’s not like the devs sat down and said “politics and diplomacy are going to be unimportant in this game; they won’t be part of the core gameplay.” They clearly are meant to be, and the next 2 years of development will see a concerted effort to make it so. I don’t think any of this is particularly subjective. Of course people can have different opinions on whether the design choices were good and the issues can be fixed. But it just seems objectively wrong to say the game was designed as a tycoon.
I disagree. The hands-on economy, as opposed to V2's semi-autonomous system, was definitely intentional, and has had the largest change to game-feel in my books. You could also argue that other major systems changes, like the fronts-war system and an economic-IG rather than poltical-party focused political system are fundamental changes to game philosophy, though I probably on balance wouldn't despite liking the ideas behind some of those changes (war) and disliking others (politics).
Bolster trade unions > research socialism > grant asylum to Marx > pass council republic > choose your flavour of red
It's not completely obvious, and it is subjective what the devs wanted, unless you are speaking as a Paradox dev. Thus it's not objectively wrong (adverbs don't make an argument!). Your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's, not more. For example, people who think the game downplays diplomacy will point to the vision statement, which says events outside your country are not the main reason why people should play the game.
The economy is more fun to engage with, but it’s about as top down as vic2 in the early game with state capitalism. Late game it is currently more, but if the devs add some more automation then it’ll be possible to have it run itself and free the player to do other thing in the late game, just like laissez faire in vic2. I don’t think adding that automation would be a change to the game philosophy. But I guess you can look at it both ways.
I find that politics is already as big a focus as the economy for the first 20-40 years. If anything more so. It only fails because you reach a “done” state. But that can be improved.
So these aren't trendlines, but still. According to SteamDB this is the trends in the first three months of the latest PDX releases, pr. concurrent players on steam.
