Royal Court at $29.99, worth it?

[Mr.BigPig]

I'm not agaisn't Role-Play features, but I don't like the direction the game is taking to comic situations, memes and so. Of all events I've seen in the court, the vast majority of them were about fetid odor (I have seen this 4 times in a row), childish discussions, etc.

I'm sad because the game foundations are amazing but the post-release development is taking an uncertain course.

I want more strategic features: new government types, college of cardinals, imperial features, war reworks, regencies, coronations, laws, and a long, long list of things the game needs much more than 3D environments.

Also, the game needs serious difficulty balance. Starting with Asturias, I always manage to create Empire of Hispania with my first ruler. This was almost impossible (for me) in CKII.

That being said, I'm glad with this DLC because it is something I always wanted since CKII, just not fond with the comical tone.

 

[Jernau_]

It's 30 beers at my place, while somewhere you can even get 60 of them for that price.
Anyway, I don't think this is a good argument. If something is obviously not worth $30, why pay $30 for it?

That being said, I do like Royal Court. I would've been happier with a lower price tag, but oh well.

Then you likely pay less for the expansion due to regional pricing anyway.

And yes everyone would like everything to be cheaper, but thats not going to happen. There will always be stuff you can afford and other stuff you cant afford, or some stuff you think is worth the money and other stuff you dont think is worth the money. I just dont feel the need to spend my life telling everyone about what I dont think is worth the money.

 

[Trunting]

My opinion: No, it should be priced 23.99.

 

[DreadLindwyrm]

Loving it so far, although I've not managed to get more than a couple of generations in before having things go *badly* wrong due to mishandling succession and ending up in an inescapable cash spiral and being sat on one county whilst emperor.

Culture so far has been fun, the court has been interesting, and trying to recover artefacts has been a bit of a scramble. I'm not quite sure what my ideal culture looks like yet, but I've tried out a couple of variations.

The price may feel steep at first, but the amount of play I expect to get should make up for that.

 

[sreckom92]

Then you likely pay less for the expansion due to regional pricing anyway.

And yes everyone would like everything to be cheaper, but thats not going to happen. There will always be stuff you can afford and other stuff you cant afford, or some stuff you think is worth the money and other stuff you dont think is worth the money. I just dont feel the need to spend my life telling everyone about what I dont think is worth the money.

Obviously, everyone is free to do what they want with their own money.
My opinion is that that Royal Court is overpriced.
It's still not something that will make me leave a negative review. In fact, pretty much all I can say about the DLC is positive.

 

[Delinard.]

Well here is a comparisson if you think it's worth it

 

[Jernau_]

Obviously, everyone is free to do what they want with their own money.
My opinion is that that Royal Court is overpriced.
It's still not something that will make me leave a negative review. In fact, pretty much all I can say about the DLC is positive.

Thats perfectly fine, but sadly there are a lot of gamers that dont think like you.

 

[Draky]

I'm really surprised by the price tag on this DLC, $29.99. That's almost the price of a standalone game. Is this DLC really worth it?

I have to admit that I think the dev attention toward this DLC was pretty misguided. The content, in isolation, looks cool. It also doesn't really seem to fit with the game, so I'm a little confused by the direction to add in a 3D environment to a map-based game.

It seems like there were more fundamental, underlying issues in the base game that really should have been fixed before setting out to do this tangential expansion:

- It still pisses me off that if I conquer England as one of the Lodbrok's sons that I have no way of generating new Norse characters to hand out the counties, for instance. Introducing knights gives you Christian Anglo Saxons that only have good military points. Also, unlike CK2, it's pretty difficult to recruit landless characters from independent courts.
- Tech progress is painfully slow and almost all of the base game's features are tech blocked in the earliest start date.
- The Pope always calls a pointless and hopeless Crusade for the Holy Land within a decade of the game starting.
- In addition to the pointless, hopeless Crusade, AI armies act dumb. They don't engage with the enemy and will literally sit in the county next door instead of joining a battle that they could have easily won if they actually got involved.

Where is this game going exactly? It does not give me confidence that we are being sold on a very expensive DLC with completely disconnected features while the game continues with all of its underlying problems.

I think an easy way to comprehend how flawed this DLC is is to do 2 mental exercises:
1) Compare the featureset of the CK3 with it's two DLCs to the featureset of CK2 with half of it's dlcs (think the state of CK2 in 2015).
ew2) Think of the game you could buy for 30 USD (2 200 RUB) (2200 RUB (2 200 RUB)) (2200 RUB (2 200 RUB) (2200 RUB (2 200 RUB))) (2200 RUB (2 200 RUB) (2200 RUB (2 200 RUB)) (2200 RUB (2 200 RUB) (2200 RUB (2 200 RUB)))) instead and how much more time you can spend in them/how much more innovative they are/how much more resources were poured into them. I mean how much does Battle Brothers, just for comparison, cost in the US with all its' dlcs? 20 bucks? And that game has 20 times the n content the ck3 has compared to ck2

 

[Shogun96]

Not worth it. Not even remotely. 30 euros is basically the price of a full fledged indie game (Hollow Knight costs 15 euros btw). The DLC is good, I like every aspect of it. But I really feel scammed (got the dlc through royal edition).

 

[Koba133]

Then you likely pay less for the expansion due to regional pricing anyway.

And yes everyone would like everything to be cheaper, but thats not going to happen. There will always be stuff you can afford and other stuff you cant afford, or some stuff you think is worth the money and other stuff you dont think is worth the money. I just dont feel the need to spend my life telling everyone about what I dont think is worth the money.

but you feel the need to tell us that ?

 

[DreadLindwyrm]

I think an easy way to comprehend how flawed this DLC is is to do 2 mental exercises:
1) Compare the featureset of the CK3 with it's two DLCs to the featureset of CK2 with half of it's dlcs (think the state of CK2 in 2015).
2) Think of the game you could buy for 30 dollars instead and how much more time you can spend in them/how much more innovative they are/how much more resources were poured into them. I mean how much does Battle Brothers, just for comparison, cost in the US with all its' dlcs? 20 bucks? And that game has 20 times the content of ck3

Looks like Battle Brothers costs about $100 total, although I'm not seeing any bundle deals.

 

[Anna_Gein]

I found the price prohibitive so I did not buy the DLC yet. (•_•)

Additionally I feel kind of burn by the massive amount of DLCs following 1.0 release. I took nearly all DLCs for CK2 (I just left alone the Pagan Metal music ones). No matter I like a base game, I do not see myself repeat it again. Certainly not so soon. And certainly not for the same game franchise.

Last but not least, I feel like the DLCs quality have been in decline during the past years. I dont see any DLCs as great as the old Sword of Islam or Old Gods Fury were. I mean, Whether they were DLCs for CK, Stellaris, EUIV or HoI4, most/all recent DLCs were meh at best.

Imho the very notion of DLCs should be questioned. At least in their current format. I feel like EUIV and HoI4 became worse with the last few DLCs. Games suffers from pointless features creeps while losing their focus, their coherence. A game like HoI4 started as a more focused, more intuitive, less micro intensive experience compared to HoI3. Now it is just a conceptual mess that requires even more micro management and more tutorial reading. I wish the game remained as it was after the release of Death or Dishonor.

 

[Ffc]

I found the price prohibitive so I did not buy the DLC yet. (•_•)

Additionally I feel kind of burn by the massive amount of DLCs following 1.0 release. I took nearly all DLCs for CK2 (I just left alone the Pagan Metal music ones). No matter I like a base game, I do not see myself repeat it again. Certainly not so soon. And certainly not for the same game franchise.

Last but not least, I feel like the DLCs quality have been in decline during the past years. I dont see any DLCs as great as the old Sword of Islam or Old Gods Fury were. I mean, Whether they were DLCs for CK, Stellaris, EUIV or HoI4, most/all recent DLCs were meh at best.

Imho the very notion of DLCs should be questioned. At least in their current format. I feel like EUIV and HoI4 became worse with the last few DLCs. Games suffers from pointless features creeps while losing their focus, their coherence. A game like HoI4 started as a more focused, more intuitive, less micro intensive experience compared to HoI3. Now it is just a conceptual mess that requires even more micro management and more tutorial reading. I wish the game remained as it was after the release of Death or Dishonor.

I've a good news for you, I'm pretty sure you can play Hoi4 old version and play Death or Dishnor if you want to

 

[DreadLindwyrm]

Additionally I feel kind of burn by the massive amount of DLCs following 1.0 release.

Massive amount of DLC?

Do elaborate?

Imho the very notion of DLCs should be questioned. At least in their current format.

So how should we get improvements and extensions to the game?
The old "expansion" model was worse, because we got fewer expansions, with less compatability - generally you *had* to have all the previous ones to get the expansion.

 

[Hootieleece]

Massive amount of DLC?

Do elaborate?



So how should we get improvements and extensions to the game?
The old "expansion" model was worse, because we got fewer expansions, with less compatability - generally you *had* to have all the previous ones to get the expansion.

Charging $29.99 for 18 months of work seems like they are returning to the expansion model.

 

[mrstevehazzard]

It's a little expensive. It's fun but all the really interesting stuff comes free with the patch.

 

[Anna_Gein]

I've a good news for you, I'm pretty sure you can play Hoi4 old version and play Death or Dishnor if you want to

I do not recall asking for your ill ill intentioned help.

Massive amount of DLC?

Do elaborate?



So how should we get improvements and extensions to the game?
The old "expansion" model was worse, because we got fewer expansions, with less compatability - generally you *had* to have all the previous ones to get the expansion.

Massive as the long list of available DLCs on the Steam page of CK2, EUIV, Stellaris or HoI4.

I don't have magical solutions. But it is now my firm belief that too many DLCs can actually harm the game experience rather than improve it. It is especially pronounced on HoI 4.

 

[Ivashanko]

with less compatability - generally you *had* to have all the previous ones to get the expansion.

Sometimes less compatibility is a good thing. Having a bunch of semi-compatible DLCs means that the mechanics introduced in those DLCs cannot be fully integrated into the base game, while mechanics that are introduced in must-have expansions means that they can be better incorporated into the overall playing experience.

Paradox is trying to split the difference by putting some must-have mechanics in the patch, and that is a good approach. But it still leaves many DLC exclusive mechanics effectively orphaned and walled off from further improvements. The randomised New World in EU4 or the American-based DLC are good examples of this.

 

[Tullaris]

Its 100% worth it to me. If it's not "worth it" to you, don't buy it. The marginal cost on a software sale is 0. Its like that for all software. However this expansion had a big budget. Dozens of musicians, artists, game designers, event writers. It shows extreme polish. If it doesn't sell x copies, it will make a loss. Its like that for any game. What you consider effort has nothing to do with it.

Now personally i prefer the GSG area, not the RP direction the game is taking, but thats just a creative choice. Perhaps next DLC will focus on fleshing out more strategic aspects.

 

[Derp Throat]

Definitely not worth it. Might consider it on sale.