• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

PARAfel

The Samier
55 Badges
Jan 12, 2018
267
164
  • Crusader Kings II
  • Europa Universalis IV: Third Rome
  • Crusader Kings II: Jade Dragon
  • Europa Universalis IV: Cradle of Civilization
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Cadet
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Colonel
  • Crusader Kings II: Reapers Due
  • Europa Universalis IV: Rights of Man
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Together for Victory
  • Crusader Kings II: Monks and Mystics
  • Cities: Skylines - Mass Transit
  • Europa Universalis IV: Mandate of Heaven
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Death or Dishonor
  • Age of Wonders III
  • Crusader Kings II: Conclave
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Expansion Pass
  • Europa Universalis IV: Rule Britannia
  • Cities: Skylines - Parklife
  • Europa Universalis IV: Dharma
  • Cities: Skylines Industries
  • Crusader Kings II: Holy Fury
  • Europa Universalis IV: Golden Century
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Expansion Pass
  • Prison Architect
  • Europa Universalis 4: Emperor
  • Battle for Bosporus
  • Europa Universalis IV: Cossacks
  • Crusader Kings II: Horse Lords
  • Europa Universalis IV: Common Sense
  • Crusader Kings II: Way of Life
  • Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado
  • Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone
  • Cities: Skylines
  • Hearts of Iron IV: No Step Back
  • Hearts of Iron 4: Arms Against Tyranny
  • Victoria 2
  • Darkest Hour
  • Europa Universalis IV
  • Crusader Kings II: Charlemagne
  • Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods
  • Europa Universalis IV: Art of War
  • Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise
  • Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations
  • Europa Universalis IV: Res Publica
  • Victoria 2: A House Divided
  • Victoria 2: Heart of Darkness
  • Cities: Skylines Deluxe Edition
  • Crusader Kings II: Rajas of India
  • Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome
  • Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham
Hi guys im doing a new opinion question here...I know that the PDX is suffering a crisis in which is involved in EGS and Tencent Games, and i know that the public opinion of the customers are very low in some games.

For this i will give a opinion try for the customers to say what should be improved in the games and what is the best one and the worse one, this public opinion audiction maybe will work if this post become popular...I wait for that :p

CK2 x Vic2 x Hoi4 x Eu4

What is the best? What is the worse? What should be improved in these games?

I wanted your opinions...
 
I think for me, contrary to popular belief, as of right now, I think Imperator will age the best. And it's my favorite. Too bad it had a rocky launch that may hurt its numbers for a while.

The "least good" is EU4. I feel the game has reached the end of its cycle. And they should really start working on EU5. The game became fun with so many dlcs, but is built on the wrong foundation (like initially was the problem with Imperator before 1.2). And I think it's too late to revamp EU4's mana system or its very abstract development system.
 
The Paradox game I have most played is EU4 but in my opinion the best game is CK2. Although I haven't played all their games, I don't think they have made anything bad, but not the sort of types I am interested in. My opinion of course.

I do agree with Nc-Rm that EU4 has reached the end of its cycle, just like EU3 did, & both got worse as time wore on, as they were dumbed down. Weirdly CK2 is as strong as ever.
 
Depends on what you consider if choosing the "best".

Best simulator for socio-economics would be Vic2. It has some big flaws in the actual simulation which are borderline arcane magic but despite these flaws there aren't many games which try to tackle such a endevour on such a big scale.
Best total war simulator is HoI4 - well that's what the game was designed for after all ;)
Best story teller sand box is CK2.
Best map painter is EU4 - HoI4 is close to that but in EU you can paint the map in different ways (domination, religion, culture).
 
Last edited:
CK2 is my favorite Paradox game. Possibly in top 5 of my favorite games of all time.
I cannot say if it is the best game, since I don't know what criteria people consider.
I know that CK2 gave me the most fun experience with all the stories and shennnigans that can unfold.
 
CK2 x Vic2 x Hoi4 x Eu4

I haven't really played Vic 2 but of the other three, it depends largely on what you want.

Crusader Kings 2 is a very simulation-oriented, in a way to produce strange and varying stories. It has lighter strategy side than the other two, and is somewhat more chaotic. For example, you may have a perfect plan on how to claim the throne of England, and then your guy contracts the plague and dies. Or goes insane. Or you succeed but proceed to only have daughters without being able to switch the succession laws to agnatic-cognatic. You can't always fight fate! But Crusader Kings 2 is also a game where failure can be interesting in its own right, because the (relatively) complex character interactions can spin into memorable stories of considerable variety. Despite the game being very dynamic, it has some major scripted events like the great hordes of Seljuks, Timurids and Mongols arriving to Europe.

CK2 is unusual among the other three games I've played of this list that it has proper internal politics, of the feudal nature. Most of your country won't be run by you but by your vassals who are "full actors" in the game like yourself (and you can indeed play as a vassal instead of a sovereign, should you so wish). Vassals can join factions that demand more favorable legislation or try to depose their leader, and managing them is a big part of the game's appeal to me. You can, of course, just execute the troublemakers, but the game punishes excessive tyranny hard.

Hearts of Iron IV is a war game. All the resources at your disposal are intended for warfare and there's really nothing but preparation for war and then prosecuting it to a bitter end. It's markedly less dynamic than the other two games: the player can twist the rails a bit but AIs are railroaded to specific paths (national focuses) that force it to act in a certain way, or by choosing one of a limited set. You can't choose so freely what to do: no matter how hard you try, lots of things will be impossible or possible only with certain constraints. But in exchange, you get a far more detailed war game than the other two can provide, so if you want to focus on the specifics of eg. what equipment you produce and what kinds of divisions your army has, it's much better than the other two. But if you want to play around with a "simulation box" to see what kinds of outcomes you can get, it's not your game.

(addendum on Hearts of Iron IV: it has an excellent alternative history mod, Kaiserreich, which I recommend trying and that is about 90% of my HoI 4 gameplay time by now!)

EU4, I'd, is somewhere between Crusader Kings 2 and Hearts of Iron 4 in feel. It's a much more "pure" strategy game than the silly chaos of CK2 is, but it is not as much about warfare as Hearts of Iron IV is. The game's much more dynamic than HoI 4 is, so you'll see more variety in outcomes, there's not as clear scripted paths for countries to take even though the general trends are usually the same (eg. Spain is almost invariably a major colonial power) and there are a few scripted sequences: for example the Protestant Reformation will practically always happen and different countries will be more likely to join it (Sweden very often, Spain almost never).

And of course, the games take place during different time periods, from Medieval (CK2) to Early Modern (EU4), Late Modern (Vicky2) and World War II (HoI 4), so when making your choice, pick one that doesn't annoy you.
 
Last edited:
I only play extensively CK2 and EU4. But I have tried Stellaris, HOI4 and I:R for enough hours to make a fair comparison.

The best Paradox game is CK2. It generates an ever different story the player grows attached to that he can influence but never determine. Even if I would turn it much harder to grow territorially and specially to keep large swathes of land, CK2 is much more than a map painter, which is a feat in itself. The shortcomings of CK2 lie in the management of the realm, which is pretty limited to a few laws to pass and buildings to build.

The weakest of Paradox titles is I:R - already based on latest patch - where there is not much to do other than grow the fastest the largest, the countries feel all the same, there is almost no intrigue, no complex relationships between countries, the events are bland and uninspired, the characters lack depth or influence and is not capable of generating an interesting story outside the pure conquest of new territories, which can be defined as "rinse and repeat". However, it shines where CK2 fails: the internal management of the country. I'd love such management detail plus I:R graphical map - not the insane amount of territories - was added to CK2.
 
Last edited:
Its my list of current generation of PDX games (aka not counting HoI3 etc.):
EU4
Victoria 2
CK2
Stellaris
Imperator Rome
Hearts of Iron 4

I would place V2 at the top, if not the fact that EU4 is so far better at replayability. Other than that V2 is superior from any other PDX game in every field, outside of UI and warfare.
 
I have only played Stellaris and CK2.

What I like most about Stellaris is the options for empire customization, the random map generation and the exploration phase. It's really good in terms of flavor. Also, the game mechanics feel somehow "smoother" and more intuitive than a lot of the CK2 ones... I can sort of tell that CK2 is the older game, but this is admittedly subjective. There is also much less RNG in Stellaris than in CK2, which is good if I want an experience that feels more "strategic" than CK2 typically is. What's bad about Stellaris is the performance, the AI, the bugs and the micromanagement.

What I like most about CK2 is the focus on individual characters, which combines roleplaying elements with internal politics. The situations that happen in CK2 feel more dynamic and the world feels more alive than in Stellaris (at least after the exploration phase in Stellaris is done). The AI in CK2 may not be very smart, but given that CK2 is generally a less complex game than Stellaris, especially when it comes to the economic system, this is muss less noticeable and annoying than in Stellaris. There really aren't many outright flaws in CK2 other than some bugs/exploits that should still be fixed and maybe some system interactions that could be tweaked a little bit to make more sense. Compared to Stellaris, it gets a little bit boring after a while to always play on the same map... Yes, there is an option to randomize, and I use that option a lot, but the province layout still stays the same and I can sort of tell that it's not really the way this game "wants" to be played.

Overall, I like CK2 better currently.
 
I own most games and i have to say that the worst one its Imperator.

Released in 2019 instead of the long awaited Victoria III because they believed that they could make a good game about the Roman Republic times, hyped into the stratosphere by the marketing team (well, thats their work and they did it well!) but the devs were unable to deliver a decent game. I played 20 hours or on the first week and i havent touched that failure of a game since then. I know that they have improved the game a lot with all these free updates but i dont want to be dissapointed again so im waiting for the first DLC...maybe the game will be good then, i hope.


The best PDX game of course its CK2, they have/had the best dev team of all Paradox Games and they knew the playerbase well, i'm not a guy who watches streams but i did when they released Holy Fury. I have played over 3k hours and i still sometimes find "new" events and "new" stuff to do.

Honorable mention: Victoria 2...
 
  • 1
Reactions:
Crusader Kings 2 is the best imho, followed by Imperator, EU4, HOI4, Stellaris.
 
We just have a new "worst" Paradox game....that new Stellaris mobile game. :p
There will be no competitor to "the worst Paradox game" for awhile....hopefully....
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Best -> Least best:
CK2 -> Vic2 -> HoI4 -> Stellaris -> EU4 -> Imperator: Rome -> CK2 mobile game -> HoI4 mobile game -> Stellaris mobile game(which is totally outsourced and pay 2 win :p).
 
Stellaris hands down is the best. However imperator might replace that, I think it's already much better then eu4, though does still need alot of work.

Worst game for me is probably CK2, I just cant seem to get into it (though I actually started a run recently and am trying to give the game another try).

These opinions will be unpopular for quite a few people (particularly the crazy CK2 fan base lol) but this is how I feel.
 
Stellaris hands down is the best. However imperator might replace that, I think it's already much better then eu4, though does still need alot of work.

Worst game for me is probably CK2, I just cant seem to get into it (though I actually started a run recently and am trying to give the game another try).

These opinions will be unpopular for quite a few people (particularly the crazy CK2 fan base lol) but this is how I feel.

I think Imperator is one of their worst games. Just a glorified map painter, though with a glorious map. CK2 is their best game, reason being it is the most flexible, & am expecting its sequel to be announced today.
 
Crusader Kings 2 is best.
It may be not as ambitious as Vicky 2 or EU4 in terms of being grand strategy, but it has a solid engaging basic gameplay, idea and developed to realize most of it's potential from what basic CK2 could do (unless they will develop game even more). It is just outright a winner as a game in terms of becoming best out of it.
 
I think Imperator is one of their worst games. Just a glorified map painter, though with a glorious map. CK2 is their best game, reason being it is the most flexible, & am expecting its sequel to be announced today.

Lol hello ck fan, and I also disagree which is of course okay.

You were right they just announced ck3! Congrads! Who knows maybe I'll get into ck3
 
Lol hello ck fan, and I also disagree which is of course okay.

You were right they just announced ck3! Congrads! Who knows maybe I'll get into ck3

Sorry you are not a fan of the game, but hopefully Imperator will be given more love & improve. I like the period but just get fed up having to chase the game to expand as in most paint mappers. The reason I like Crusader Kings, is on the one hand you can expand to your hearts content, whilst at the same time could have it all crashing down, & unlike other Paradox strategy games this can actually be fun building up again. If you lose land in the likes of EU4, HO4, Imperator etc you would be devastated losing your empire.

This is probably the only time I was pretty certain it was the game being released, as usually wrong. The reason being the wording in the PDXCON agenda, which more or less told me it was this game being released. A professional organisation like Paradox would have every word tested to be correct, so it was deliberately worded as Crusader Kings on Sunday & not 2.
 
Crusader Kings 2 is best.
It may be not as ambitious as Vicky 2 or EU4 in terms of being grand strategy, but it has a solid engaging basic gameplay, idea and developed to realize most of it's potential from what basic CK2 could do (unless they will develop game even more). It is just outright a winner as a game in terms of becoming best out of it.

Amen. CK2 RPG element is what makes the game unique and special. Lets hope they capture this into CK3 and PDX doesn't make a medieval EU4 or a medieval Imperator :(