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1: Europa Universalis IV
2: Hearts of Iron 4
3: Hearts of Iron III
4: Crusader Kings 2
5: Europa Universalis III
6: War of the Roses
Forgot to rank Vic. 2 and Cities, but Vic is a close 3 and Cities is a 4.
2: Hearts of Iron 4
3: Hearts of Iron III
4: Crusader Kings 2
5: Europa Universalis III
6: War of the Roses
Forgot to rank Vic. 2 and Cities, but Vic is a close 3 and Cities is a 4.
Games I still play :
1. Stellaris
2. EUIV
3. CK2
4. Cities Skyline (as long as there won't be an expanded management in the base game...)
Games I have a fond memory of :
1. Victoria II (just because it aged)
2. EU : Rome
3. Sword of the Stars 1 & 2
4. Magicka 1 & 2
5. EU 1
6. CK 1
7. EU 3 (bureaucrats were driving me crazy!)
8. Victoria I
Those I didn't play or understood much
1. HoI 2
2. HoI 3
3. Sengoku
4. March of the Eagles
1. Stellaris
2. EUIV
3. CK2
4. Cities Skyline (as long as there won't be an expanded management in the base game...)
Games I have a fond memory of :
1. Victoria II (just because it aged)
2. EU : Rome
3. Sword of the Stars 1 & 2
4. Magicka 1 & 2
5. EU 1
6. CK 1
7. EU 3 (bureaucrats were driving me crazy!)
8. Victoria I
Those I didn't play or understood much
1. HoI 2
2. HoI 3
3. Sengoku
4. March of the Eagles
Cheers, from a fellow old-timer.
My rankings are from Paradox "prehistory", and skewed by my predominant experience as a beta tester, rather than as a casual gamer...
1) EU II - the perfection of EU I. The two combined are the basis of the franchise. All preferences mentioned by everyone posting in this thread are contingent on the quality of EU I / EU II.
2) Vicky I - not because it was a great game, but because it showed over-reach of game design in terms of uber-realism, which will be a useful lesson for later releases...
3) CK I - which was superb, except for the the crusading and alliance system which fecked up everything, But, introduced the notion of rpg play, directly
4) HoI1 - ... Well, what to say... I very strongly felt that the EU game engine was totally inappropriate for a WWII game. How wrong I was as the HoI franchise persists, and is very successful.
Despite my disagreement with the creation of HoI, the treatment of political characters in "the government", shared with Vicky I, is very important for the development of the successor games...5) EU III - the destroyer of historical determinism. All prior titles shared a deterministic nature, that allowed a player to consider what really happened in history, and to play their game based on future knowledge (of events, rulers, etc.).
I should say that my rankings of 2-5 are really a tie...
In terms of my personal enjoyment, I investigated EU I economics (which got me into the EU II beta
); and of becoming the EU II FAQ-meister and bug forum moderator as a result of beta-testing; having flame wars with Greven, the designer of HoI I about the tech-tree (and our happy make-up ); participating in the endless discussions about the world market in the beta Vicky I, and best, my long-term beta test in CK I, "The Marrying Game", where I tested the long-term strategy of marrying off children to other dynasties - revealing that some huge % of European nobles were from my blood-line...Cheers,
State
1. Crusader Kings II
The best of the best. Complex without being needless complicated, full of variety and character, gorgeous to look at and covering one of the most interesting periods of human history. Really it is the personalities that shine through the most - CK II is practically an RPG, and as an AAR writer and reader that is a huge plus for me. The only major flaw I have with the game is the absence of any naval combat, which takes away a little of the fun in playing Venice or Genoa.
2. Victoria II
A great game, again covering a fascinating slice of human history. While it is more abstract than most of the others it does win points for having no leader cap - I like to know who is leading my armies and navies.
3. Hearts of Iron II
Beginning to show it's age now but still a lot of fun, and far more manageable than the later Hearts of Iron games. The period doesn't grip me as well as some others but that isn't the fault of the game.
4. Europa Universalis II / Europa Universalis III
A tie for what are two quite different games. I have a deep nostalgic fondness for EU II even though I recognise its age (the first AAR I ever read was an EU II one.) EU III is a better game in many ways, but doesn't quite have the same appeal. Again I like the historical period but perhaps less than some others.
5. Crusader Kings I / Victoria I
Another tie, both earlier versions of my top two that I like and nostaligic towards and probably wouldn't merit so low a score otherwise. Victoria does have one minor point over it's otherwise superior descendant though - there is a wider variety of ships. I still miss protected cruisers.
6. Europa Universalis Rome
I feel guilty for putting this game so long because I think it has a lot of good aspects and the period is one of my favourites. However the almost total lack of control over character development (compared with the CK games) means I can't really put this one higher.
7. Stellaris
Very early to rank this one properly so it may fall or rise. So far I rather like it, even if (for obvious reasons) it has little 'period feel'.
8. Europa Universalis IV
I hate the leadership cap and EU IV is particularly severe in that respect. I also never find the trade system intuitive.
9. Hearts of Iron I
The first Paradox game I ever owned. I have not played this game in years, as its sequel completely superseded it but I do have fond (if vague) memories.
10. Hearts of Iron III
Over complicated and exhaustively slow (possibly depending on computer) micromanagement to the extreme, it also suffers from surprisingly unattractive graphics in murky shades and a non-intuitive interface. Easily the Paradox game I have played least, behind even Stellaris which I have only owned for a few weeks.
The best of the best. Complex without being needless complicated, full of variety and character, gorgeous to look at and covering one of the most interesting periods of human history. Really it is the personalities that shine through the most - CK II is practically an RPG, and as an AAR writer and reader that is a huge plus for me. The only major flaw I have with the game is the absence of any naval combat, which takes away a little of the fun in playing Venice or Genoa.
2. Victoria II
A great game, again covering a fascinating slice of human history. While it is more abstract than most of the others it does win points for having no leader cap - I like to know who is leading my armies and navies.
3. Hearts of Iron II
Beginning to show it's age now but still a lot of fun, and far more manageable than the later Hearts of Iron games. The period doesn't grip me as well as some others but that isn't the fault of the game.
4. Europa Universalis II / Europa Universalis III
A tie for what are two quite different games. I have a deep nostalgic fondness for EU II even though I recognise its age (the first AAR I ever read was an EU II one.) EU III is a better game in many ways, but doesn't quite have the same appeal. Again I like the historical period but perhaps less than some others.
5. Crusader Kings I / Victoria I
Another tie, both earlier versions of my top two that I like and nostaligic towards and probably wouldn't merit so low a score otherwise. Victoria does have one minor point over it's otherwise superior descendant though - there is a wider variety of ships. I still miss protected cruisers.
6. Europa Universalis Rome
I feel guilty for putting this game so long because I think it has a lot of good aspects and the period is one of my favourites. However the almost total lack of control over character development (compared with the CK games) means I can't really put this one higher.
7. Stellaris
Very early to rank this one properly so it may fall or rise. So far I rather like it, even if (for obvious reasons) it has little 'period feel'.
8. Europa Universalis IV
I hate the leadership cap and EU IV is particularly severe in that respect. I also never find the trade system intuitive.
9. Hearts of Iron I
The first Paradox game I ever owned. I have not played this game in years, as its sequel completely superseded it but I do have fond (if vague) memories.
10. Hearts of Iron III
Over complicated and exhaustively slow (possibly depending on computer) micromanagement to the extreme, it also suffers from surprisingly unattractive graphics in murky shades and a non-intuitive interface. Easily the Paradox game I have played least, behind even Stellaris which I have only owned for a few weeks.
wait my bad, those are the ones I play the most currently
HOI3, lost more than 8 yrs to it, and it changed my life forever
V2
EU3
HOI1 started me out
HOI2 The game that eventually caused me to find this forum
If ranking by the number of hours I've put into them?
1. Crusader Kings 2 (My first Paradox love, and I always return to it.)
2. Victoria 2 (Truly a life changing title.)
3. Europa Universalis IV (I loved this one, but never had many people to play multiplayer with, so I didn't play too much.)
4. Hearts of Iron IV (This one is still amazing, but I haven't had as much time to sink into it as previous titles.)
1. Crusader Kings 2 (My first Paradox love, and I always return to it.)
2. Victoria 2 (Truly a life changing title.)
3. Europa Universalis IV (I loved this one, but never had many people to play multiplayer with, so I didn't play too much.)
4. Hearts of Iron IV (This one is still amazing, but I haven't had as much time to sink into it as previous titles.)
1 Eu4, because of Jan Mayen
2 Ck2, because of killing relatives
3 Hoi 4, because of Stalins facial hair
4 Vic II, Awsome
5 Hoi 3, did not understand shit
2 Ck2, because of killing relatives
3 Hoi 4, because of Stalins facial hair
4 Vic II, Awsome
5 Hoi 3, did not understand shit
1. EUIV -it's just so good
2.Stellaris -well, space games are always somewhere on top of my lists
3.CK II - having glitterhoof as an lover is the best thing that has happened to me
4.HOI IV -having it more about managing resources for war effort than actual war waging, makes that game stand out between ww2 games imho.
2.Stellaris -well, space games are always somewhere on top of my lists
3.CK II - having glitterhoof as an lover is the best thing that has happened to me
4.HOI IV -having it more about managing resources for war effort than actual war waging, makes that game stand out between ww2 games imho.
1. CK 2
2. Mount and Blade (Warband, Fire and Sword)
3. Victoria 2
4. Stellaris
5. Hearts of Iron 3
6. Europa Universalis 3
7. Hearts of Iron 4
8. Europa Universalis 4
9. Victoria
I like my incest simulator, what can i say.
If ranked by playtime
Mount and Blade series over 3000 hours
Crusader Kings 2
Victoria 2
Hearts of Iron 3
Europa Universalis 3
Stellaris
Hearts of Iron 4
Europa Universalis 4 mainly on discovery and trading.
2. Mount and Blade (Warband, Fire and Sword)
3. Victoria 2
4. Stellaris
5. Hearts of Iron 3
6. Europa Universalis 3
7. Hearts of Iron 4
8. Europa Universalis 4
9. Victoria
I like my incest simulator, what can i say.
If ranked by playtime
Mount and Blade series over 3000 hours
Crusader Kings 2
Victoria 2
Hearts of Iron 3
Europa Universalis 3
Stellaris
Hearts of Iron 4
Europa Universalis 4 mainly on discovery and trading.
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1. Stellaris. I wasn't certain I'd like it, but it's so good it's addictive. It's my current favorite. But it's a close tie with:
2. CKII. My all-time favorite Paradox game. Like others, I have hundreds of hours in it. But this is also a close tie with:
3. EU4. A beautiful game and hard enough to make me scream at my computer! (Don't worry, I like that in a game.) I love the rich history and being able to pick a country anywhere and just "make history."
4. Mount and Blade Warband with Clash of Kings mod.
5. Sengoku. I love the idea of this game and truly wish Paradox would develop it more.
6. EU3. The first Paradox game I ever played. I saw a guy playing it at school one day a few years ago. I asked what it was and he said, "Never mind, you wouldn't like it. It's really hard." I took that as a challenge. It's still installed on my computer and I still play it.
7. The other titles. I have a number of WWII games and other stuff that a friend was sending me for awhile. They're not really my thing.
Edit: I also own Rome. I've played it a couple of times and I'm hoping, someday, Paradox will put some more dev time into it.
I suffer from a bit of insomnia and Paradox games are great for relaxing my mind. Strange as it sounds, watching England destroy my entire Castilian navy is ... relaxing.
2. CKII. My all-time favorite Paradox game. Like others, I have hundreds of hours in it. But this is also a close tie with:
3. EU4. A beautiful game and hard enough to make me scream at my computer! (Don't worry, I like that in a game.) I love the rich history and being able to pick a country anywhere and just "make history."
4. Mount and Blade Warband with Clash of Kings mod.
5. Sengoku. I love the idea of this game and truly wish Paradox would develop it more.
6. EU3. The first Paradox game I ever played. I saw a guy playing it at school one day a few years ago. I asked what it was and he said, "Never mind, you wouldn't like it. It's really hard." I took that as a challenge. It's still installed on my computer and I still play it.
7. The other titles. I have a number of WWII games and other stuff that a friend was sending me for awhile. They're not really my thing.
Edit: I also own Rome. I've played it a couple of times and I'm hoping, someday, Paradox will put some more dev time into it.
I suffer from a bit of insomnia and Paradox games are great for relaxing my mind. Strange as it sounds, watching England destroy my entire Castilian navy is ... relaxing.
Well, how should I do this?
- I'm going to just list games from PDS, since that's really what people are interested in (and which I have played the most).
- I'm going to ignore games from the CD era, since I gave away most CDs when I went without Windows from a couple of years. (Regarding the old games, I would rank EU2, Vicky1, and HoI 2 fairly high, in that order, and EU1, HoI1 and CK1 low.)
So, over to the PDS games in my steam library.
1. EU4 - Feels most polished, most fun, and most varied.
2. CK2 - A franken-game that managed to become greater than its parts. Still fun to play, but feels a bit samey after some generations.
3. Stellaris - This is a game that I wanted to love, but just like. The worst thing is that I can't really say why.
4. Vicky2 - I love the Victorian feel, and that it focus on industrializing our nation, I loath the war fighting part, the clunkyness and that it's not enough sandboxy compared to EU4/CK2. (I there a nice alt setting mod for Vicky 2 where things are more balanced?)
5. EU3 - Outdated, but was still a decent game. That it's this high means problems lower down.
6. HoI4 - Bought it when I was bored/waiting for patches back in March. It has some nice and interesting features. However the two big minuses is that I'm not really a fan of the total war thing of its settings and the AI is a retarded cripple as of patch 1.3.3. If they fix things with the next expansion it will probably climb up a bit. (Probably up to 4th or even 3rd place.)
7. EU: Rome - It just didn't pull me in.
8. HoI 3 - No, too much micro, and the helper AI wasn't good enough to handle stuff I didn't want to.
EDIT:
It seemed that I viewed Vicky 2 through rose-tinted glasses. I went and played it and was disappointed, hence I will down rank it from 3rd to 4th.
- I'm going to just list games from PDS, since that's really what people are interested in (and which I have played the most).
- I'm going to ignore games from the CD era, since I gave away most CDs when I went without Windows from a couple of years. (Regarding the old games, I would rank EU2, Vicky1, and HoI 2 fairly high, in that order, and EU1, HoI1 and CK1 low.)
So, over to the PDS games in my steam library.
1. EU4 - Feels most polished, most fun, and most varied.
2. CK2 - A franken-game that managed to become greater than its parts. Still fun to play, but feels a bit samey after some generations.
3. Stellaris - This is a game that I wanted to love, but just like. The worst thing is that I can't really say why.
4. Vicky2 - I love the Victorian feel, and that it focus on industrializing our nation, I loath the war fighting part, the clunkyness and that it's not enough sandboxy compared to EU4/CK2. (I there a nice alt setting mod for Vicky 2 where things are more balanced?)
5. EU3 - Outdated, but was still a decent game. That it's this high means problems lower down.
6. HoI4 - Bought it when I was bored/waiting for patches back in March. It has some nice and interesting features. However the two big minuses is that I'm not really a fan of the total war thing of its settings and the AI is a retarded cripple as of patch 1.3.3. If they fix things with the next expansion it will probably climb up a bit. (Probably up to 4th or even 3rd place.)
7. EU: Rome - It just didn't pull me in.
8. HoI 3 - No, too much micro, and the helper AI wasn't good enough to handle stuff I didn't want to.
EDIT:
It seemed that I viewed Vicky 2 through rose-tinted glasses. I went and played it and was disappointed, hence I will down rank it from 3rd to 4th.
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1. EU4 - I just love it.
2. CK2 - The first Paradox game I played with, it's very good but not as good as eu4.
3. Stellaris - I actually expect it to top Ck2 on my list in some time, but it needs some more polishing as of now.
Rome, Vicky2, Vicky, March of the Eagles - I haven't played enough of them to place them accurately on the list.
2. CK2 - The first Paradox game I played with, it's very good but not as good as eu4.
3. Stellaris - I actually expect it to top Ck2 on my list in some time, but it needs some more polishing as of now.
Rome, Vicky2, Vicky, March of the Eagles - I haven't played enough of them to place them accurately on the list.
1. Crusader Kings II - In its current state, easily the most well-rounded and complete of the lot. It sets the standard for Grand Strategy and its DLCs are worthwhile and do DLC right by introducing meaningful new mechanics, excluding the whole pay-for-aesthetics thing, which I never understood and makes me feel kinda cheated of content that should have been in the "parent" DLCs.
2. Hearts of Iron II - My introduction to Grand Strategy, and quite overwhelming. The historicity of it was awesome and made look for stuff on Wikipedia all the time and I even skripted my own historical events for the regions I was interested in the most.
3. Victoria II - I always loved to see modernity unfold in my little nations, from preindustrialization to a socialist utopia. Although backwater nations needed more ways to catch up through proper management.
4. Stellaris - I'm a total sucker for this kind of game and this one still manages to entertain me; it also manages to disappoint me constantly. There is just so much wasted potential, half-baked ideas and an overall superficial and linear gameplay. Its getting better, though - ver slowly.
5. Europa Universalis IV - Its kind of strange in that I think its actually a lot better than Stellaris, but I can hardly bring myself to care. I guess its the lack of "personality" of the individual realms. CK has individual characters and very distinct culture/religion mechanics, in Hearts of Iron you play historic nations and use historical leaders of a period, which is still very much alive in our collective memory and in Victoria you witness the birth of the modern world (although I think party politics could have been a bit more fleshed out).
My sentiments may change once Meiou and Taxes gets to 2.0. This mod adds a lot of depth to the original game and I'm a huge fan of the dynamic trade system and the interactive estates.
2. Hearts of Iron II - My introduction to Grand Strategy, and quite overwhelming. The historicity of it was awesome and made look for stuff on Wikipedia all the time and I even skripted my own historical events for the regions I was interested in the most.
3. Victoria II - I always loved to see modernity unfold in my little nations, from preindustrialization to a socialist utopia. Although backwater nations needed more ways to catch up through proper management.
4. Stellaris - I'm a total sucker for this kind of game and this one still manages to entertain me; it also manages to disappoint me constantly. There is just so much wasted potential, half-baked ideas and an overall superficial and linear gameplay. Its getting better, though - ver slowly.
5. Europa Universalis IV - Its kind of strange in that I think its actually a lot better than Stellaris, but I can hardly bring myself to care. I guess its the lack of "personality" of the individual realms. CK has individual characters and very distinct culture/religion mechanics, in Hearts of Iron you play historic nations and use historical leaders of a period, which is still very much alive in our collective memory and in Victoria you witness the birth of the modern world (although I think party politics could have been a bit more fleshed out).
My sentiments may change once Meiou and Taxes gets to 2.0. This mod adds a lot of depth to the original game and I'm a huge fan of the dynamic trade system and the interactive estates.
