Posting in case useful feedback for devs, although expect horse somewhat already bolted. I enjoyed CK2 (465 hours of playtime is a game I enjoy!), but it was a game for me that never quite did RPG "right", but the RPG elements meant it couldn't be a "kingdom-builder" like Imperator:Rome, for example, without a whole lot of kind-of-RPG activity that often felt like "busywork" in-between. Boiling it down, my best guess is the reason CK2 never quite achieved the kind of fun factor that every other Paradox game since and including EU2, except CK1, has was because it felt like I had to "play a spreadsheet to play the map". Many times, events were fairly one-dimensional, and didn't really link into a deep narrative for my characters that I'd expect from an RPG.
That's not to say that even if CK3 is CK2+, I won't get it and enjoy it (I'm sure I will), but I think with a bit more boldness in game design, the "Medieval ruler RPG" angle which is the CK's franchise raison d'etre could be a bit more exciting (noting these are just ideas, and could be rubbish - always hard to tell until they're actually done). Things like:
Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of players love CK2, and if the core CK2 fanbase thinks the "more RPG, less spreadsheets/lists" approach isn't what they're keen on, then I'd recommend sticking to their preferences - I'll always recommend paying attention to the core audience first, and this is the only PDS game where I'm almost definitely not it (although, as both a big fan of strategy and RPGs, I'm hopefully not too far off).
That's not to say that even if CK3 is CK2+, I won't get it and enjoy it (I'm sure I will), but I think with a bit more boldness in game design, the "Medieval ruler RPG" angle which is the CK's franchise raison d'etre could be a bit more exciting (noting these are just ideas, and could be rubbish - always hard to tell until they're actually done). Things like:
- Doubling down on the RPG elements - making relationships a bit deeper than a simple balance between positive and negative factors, that can be pretty easily gamed (ie, in CK2 it's fairly straightforward to get most characters onside by playing the spreadsheet, and marriages are similarly done by looking at lists - not how it works now (even with the likes of online dating).
- This, however, would also require removing the "player knows everything about them and their relationships and their realm and their relatives and most things about their courtiers, all the time". This is a holdover from the strategy game side that, at least in my opinion, serves the RPG side of CK2 poorly.
- Very few great RPGs happen in one place, and as far as I'm aware, almost no great RPGs involve players being able to act anywhere in the world instantaneously, or have much information beyond their immediate surroundings. It'd present more than a few design challenges, but making CK2 characters inhabit a place, and really only know about that place, would go a long way towards boosting the RPG elements. If a player wants an army to behave a certain way, then they have to lead it themselves. If not, then they have to trust in whoever they've appointed to lead it.
- This can also make raising levies much more interesting - think about the scene from Lord of the Rings where the Rohirrim muster, and Theoden finds out who's coming and with how many men. Declaring war is much more interesting and risky when it's not clear exactly how many men are going to turn up to fight. Yes, this introduces random elements, but to channel Fred Wester, if a lot of the fun in CK2 is the challenge when you get a club-footed incompetent heir, random elements are clearly a key pillar of CK2's design.
Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of players love CK2, and if the core CK2 fanbase thinks the "more RPG, less spreadsheets/lists" approach isn't what they're keen on, then I'd recommend sticking to their preferences - I'll always recommend paying attention to the core audience first, and this is the only PDS game where I'm almost definitely not it (although, as both a big fan of strategy and RPGs, I'm hopefully not too far off).
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