Will you try a wider array of characters this time around?

[Evangeline]

My favorite CK2 playthrough was when I started as a lowly count in Eastern Africa, in the corner of the map, right after all the cool tribal warrior lodges and Eldership succession had been introduced (Eldership became my favorite succession type, it involves a lot of partying with the old folks to make them like you). I quickly conquered my neighbors, became king, and over time conquered all of Africa. It was such a fun combination of religion + succession type + rain events down there, plus defending against Jihads (which was also fun). Eventually I got tired of everyone always looking the same due to here being only so few black faces in CK2. With CK3, I'll no longer have that issue - everyone will be unique.

I'd also like to play in the Far East, but in CK2, Far Eastern religions were done very badly I think - just the most offensive stereotypes and misunderstandings and complete re-interpretations all mixed together. Whenever I gave it a try, I just got annoyed, so I stayed out of that region. I hope this is better in CK3, but don't expect it. (No big deal, just a bit of a bummer.)

I also really loved my Russia playthroughs and getting all the Russian achievements.

By the way: if you haven't played specific areas/religions/nations, it's very possible that you've missed out on some unique UI design, events and even music that never plays in the regular game. I love such little touches.

 

[Karlington]

I'd also like to play in the Far East, but in CK2, Far Eastern religions were done very badly I think - just the most offensive stereotypes

What were you thinking of here? I'm not challenging you, I just never really played eastern religions much.

 

[Evangeline]

E.g. turning holy figures such as Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyel (the Christian equivalent would be Jesus Christ and Mary, one prays to them daily) into in-game characters with crappy stats who do nasty things, can be married, imprisoned, tortured, raped, etc. - I'm not easily offended, but that just makes that region unplayable for me in the earliest start date (which is usually the one I choose because I like building up holdings and tech from the group up). Then there's the existence of Hinduism as a religion at all - that was just an ignorant term used by the British for any religion followed beyond the river Indus - religions that could be diametrically opposed in their differences in terms of rules, practices and deities, or total lack of deities. Then there's the fact that the game treats Eastern monastic communities exactly like Western secret societies, even though in order to become a monk or nun you'd have to entirely give up all of your possessions, family, home and sexual relations - pretty hard to do that when you're also still the King of Bengal, making babies and waging wars. Or there's the concept that "the more karma the better" (ridiculous, you'd want to become free of all karma), as well as "the ideal is a balance between good and bad karma, so if you have too much good karma you need to commit some bad deeds to restore balance again" - equally ridiculous. And lots of other small things that just display zero research and love and care put into that culture.

But it's no big deal, CK2 is still one of my favorite games, and I never expected from a game titled "Crusader Kings" to offer lots of insightful accuracy when it comes to India, etc. Still: if they've done a better job in CK3 I'll be super happy.

 

[Hyardgune]

I've enjoyed playing a lot of different starts in CK2. I'll probably do Ireland at first to learn the new mechanics and then I'll go back to doing what I love best... crushing the Abramahic religions. I'm excited to try out the expanded Africa. Definitely a Persian restoration. Mostly though, endless pagan armies crushing the cross and crescent.

 

[Froggie]

I will play different regions to find what I like, but in CK2 I usually gravitated towards my homeland.

The biggest incentive to playing globally for me will really depend on achievements as I will try to "catch em all". I really hope CK3 achievements are more location/character focused rather than tedious things like "have 6 children each with max stats in each trait"

 

[Tuo]

In CK2, I've always gravitated towards the peripheral realms (in relation to Catholic Europe), and I'll likely do so again in CK3, with some forays into Iberia and Holy Roman Empire as exceptions. I enjoy playing with the different outside pressures present in different regions, not to mention differences in the gameplay within the realm itself.

 

[ChromePoison]

I dearly love CK II - I still maintain it is Paradox's best game - and have put many hours into it, but I will admit to being a fairly conservative player. I don't like map painting and I do tend to roleplay my characters to some extent, making realistic goals for them and basing event options on their traits, etc. I usually play in England, Scotland, France or Brittany - occasionally Navarre, the HRE or Scandinavia, and a couple of Byzantine games, but rarely further afield than that. I've never attempted a proper playthrough as an Indian, Steppe or Muslim character.

With CK III releasing with all cultures and religions playable by default, and with the map looking a lot more fleshed out and less skewed towards Europe, do you think you'll try playthroughs as more 'exotic' characters? Will those of you who, like me, have never played 'East of Suez' try Turkic, Persian, Indian and perhaps even Tibetan characters? I know there's a reasonably small forum community who are aficionados of some of the Jade Dragon content (the only DLC I don't own) so I'd be particularly interested to hear from them with regards to interesting characters they'd recommend.

I'm sure I'll revert to type and end up playing as Konan first, to get the hang of things, but I do hope to build myself up to playing as someone in India or Persia.

What about you?

I’ve got about 800 hours in CK2 and still never played as a non-Christian or non-pagan with the exception of literally one playthrough as Zoroastrians. I’m definitely gonna try out the Muslim and Indian characters at some point in CK3.

 

[Arona]

I have played only on historical character and it has been William the bastard. But mostly i play a custom ruler. And have played all regions. My favorite playstile is put unfiting character in the region and trying to rise to power from lowest rank. Like catolic persian in India. Or beduin Jain in Norge . Or romova Saxon in the byzantine empire. All characters in that style to make things intresting. I do not see relive history but create it myself.

 

[SMiki Lorebringer]

I have played only on historical character and it has been William the bastard. But mostly i play a custom ruler. And have played all regions. My favorite playstile is put unfiting character in the region and trying to rise to power from lowest rank. Like catolic persian in India. Or beduin Jain in Norge . Or romova Saxon in the byzantine empire. All characters in that style to make things intresting. I do not see relive history but create it myself.

Aztecs in Canaries say hello!

 

[Tanis.UK]

I think a couple of my early play throughs will be somewhere in east Africa and somewhere in east Asia, after I've had a good look around a couple of the faiths and got a feel for the game of course

 

[junassa]

I've played pretty much everywhere (but never really any nomads or MRs), but only 1 campaign in India. I'll probably start on the new areas and proceed from there.

 

[Cyhort]

The only kind of character I never played in CK2 were Muslims, partly because the decadence mechanic never appealed to me. I usually just think up a story I want to play out, create a custom character that starts that story, and I play from there. I'll probably start out CK3 with a Catholic ruler, maybe in France or Ireland, because I really want to explore the custom heresy mechanic. Other than that, I'll probably do a pagan reformation run and try my as-yet-incomplete goal of wiping Christianity and Islam off the map as far as game mechanics allow. So, to answer the question, no, I don't really see myself expanding too much from what I already do in CK2, but what I do in CK2 is very diverse.

 

[Meezermouzer]

In CKII I've typically played the long game as a count in France, HRE, the British Isles, Scandinavia, or Italy. Wanted to play in the Iberian Peninsula but never enjoyed the constant holy wars. Similarly, I was always interested in playing a Sheikdom but was never a fan of the decadence mechanic and I typically got conquered relatively quickly so I stopped. Supposedly decadence is gone now with clan governments which is encouraging. So with CKIII, I think I'm going to do the unusual and actually start a kingdom playthrough first, probably as one of the Jimenas, and then a ruler from the Rags to Riches bookmark--Emir Yahya and Duchess Matilda.