.
Quote from: eyebiter on September 18, 2014, 06:40:30 PM
Aiming for the 'niche' pays off for million-selling strategy game
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/225929/Aiming_for_the_niche_pays_off_for_millionselling_strategy_game.php
Good for them! This "niche" stuff is largely nonsense. If you make a good, fun game, and you support it properly, it will succeed.
Now that is a well done game O0
...and i don't play it. It just sits in my hard drive. Wonder how many of the 1000000 is like me.
I am. Odd that it seems to be the most well-received Paradox title and it's the one that I simply cannot get into. I understand the mechanics well enough. I just find it tedious and unsatisfying. It's frustrating because it's a game I desperately want to like. I bought all the non-music DLC up to the India one. I read all the AARs and find them in turns interesting and amusing yet when I play, it just seems like I do nothing but marry off relatives, hire tutors, and try to manufacture wars which never seem to occur. I just click end turn over and over and over again until I turn it off out of boredom and leave it for 2-3 months until I try to fire it up again only to be disappointed once more.
Quote from: jomni on September 18, 2014, 07:41:47 PM
...and i don't play it. It just sits in my hard drive. Wonder how many of the 1000000 is like me.
+1
I own it and don't play it either. And I even purchased all the DLC.
Quote from: jomni on September 18, 2014, 07:41:47 PM
...and i don't play it. It just sits in my hard drive. Wonder how many of the 1000000 is like me.
Add me to that list.
I saw that. A stunning achievement for what we consider a "niche" publisher, as eyebiter noted.
I think it depends on how you approach the game. I love CK2 for the same reason that I loved to play Wargame ALB: not so much for the actual gameplay aspects as for the reason that is it a wonderful story creator. In many ways it reminds me of a P&P RPG: the fun is had not in rolling dice or winning fights, but in watching the game weave a unique tale based on the player's choices.
Great to hear about this success for Pdox, and well deserved. CKII is an absolutely stupendous game -- Pdox's best to date, in my opinion.
EUIV is the game that sits mostly unplayed on my harddrive. I want to get into it, but CKII just seems so much richer. Can't wait for the Charlemagne add-on.
Well deserved. A unique game with superb gameplay. One with endless re playability.
Quote from: sandman2575 on September 18, 2014, 10:14:27 PM
EUIV is the game that sits mostly unplayed on my harddrive. I want to get into it, but CKII just seems so much richer.
Same for me. If EUIV was released first it probably would be getting a lot more attention because it is also a great strategy game. But CK2 is just too much of a mega-hit to be ignored for long! For every two hours I put into EUIV, I put three times that into CK2.
I played Crusader Kings and enjoyed it, but it didn't last too long.
I see the genius/fun, but it never addicted me. Good-not-great would be my pronouncement. Thankfully Paradoxe's sales have proven me wrong. O0
This game really enhances a glass of Scotch (or 3). Seriously. It's a sublime gaming experience, slowly getting your buzz on with good booze while watching the story unfold.
This is probably in my top 10 games of all time.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 18, 2014, 07:49:52 PM
I am. Odd that it seems to be the most well-received Paradox title and it's the one that I simply cannot get into. I understand the mechanics well enough. I just find it tedious and unsatisfying. It's frustrating because it's a game I desperately want to like. I bought all the non-music DLC up to the India one. I read all the AARs and find them in turns interesting and amusing yet when I play, it just seems like I do nothing but marry off relatives, hire tutors, and try to manufacture wars which never seem to occur. I just click end turn over and over and over again until I turn it off out of boredom and leave it for 2-3 months until I try to fire it up again only to be disappointed once more.
Well there's the problem! You keep hitting end turn! :crazy2:
I don't think there's a mystery to it's success:
1. The game worked really well on release and was playable.
2. It's fun to play. The original was fun too. They kept everything good that was in the original and improved it, not swept it away because of some 'new vision of the game'.
3. It has a savegame Delete Button.
Quote from: bbmike on September 18, 2014, 08:01:32 PM
Quote from: jomni on September 18, 2014, 07:41:47 PM
...and i don't play it. It just sits in my hard drive. Wonder how many of the 1000000 is like me.
Add me to that list.
Me as well. I fire it up every so often, but never get very far. Maybe its time for me to go through UCG's CK2 AAR (http://grogheads.com/?p=400).
Quote from: Ian C on September 19, 2014, 05:15:57 AM
I don't think there's a mystery to it's success:
1. The game worked really well on release and was playable.
2. It's fun to play. The original was fun too. They kept everything good that was in the original and improved it, not swept it away because of some 'new vision of the game'.
3. It has a savegame Delete Button.
Add to that the fact that CKII is visually gorgeous, even more than EUIV. It's just a pleasure to look at the different map modes with all the different crests of kingdoms, duchies, etc. And the UI is pretty darn great when you consider how complex the game is from an organizational standpoint (dynasty lineages, succession lines, 'de jure' territories, and so on).
Really I can't praise CKII enough -- it's a masterpiece.
But I do get why some folks have trouble getting into it. There's an element of "OK, now what?" with all Pdox games I think, given how open-ended they are. There can be a lot of waiting around for something to happen.
How do you guys play CKII? Do you sit down for 15 minutes here and there, pausing (or not, letting it run)? Do you stay in front of your comps for 4-5 hours at a time 2-3 times a week?
Quote from: Staggerwing on September 19, 2014, 11:34:58 AM
How do you guys play CKII? Do you sit down for 15 minutes here and there, pausing (or not, letting it run)? Do you stay in front of your comps for 4-5 hours at a time 2-3 times a week?
youve got to give it a decent run otherwise theres no immerssion - like reading a book for an hour before bed or for 5 mins a time while sat on the toilet - bed time reading gives the book a better chance to grab you
Quote from: Staggerwing on September 19, 2014, 11:34:58 AM
How do you guys play CKII? Do you sit down for 15 minutes here and there, pausing (or not, letting it run)? Do you stay in front of your comps for 4-5 hours at a time 2-3 times a week?
I don't think CKII can be very satisfying if you're only dipping into it for 15-20 minutes every few days. Esp. if you do an early start, like 11th century (or, really hardcore, 9th century), the game evolves over a long span, and not much is going to happen in 15 minutes of real-time play. When I sit down with it I probably play for about 2 hours or so -- it definitely draws me in, and as you're waiting for one of your schemes to pan out, it very much has that "one more turn" feel (it's not TBS, but you know what I mean)...
Quote from: Staggerwing on September 19, 2014, 11:34:58 AM
How do you guys play CKII? Do you sit down for 15 minutes here and there, pausing (or not, letting it run)? Do you stay in front of your comps for 4-5 hours at a time 2-3 times a week?
As the others have said, you can't really get into a game like Ck2 with a short commitment. I generally play for an hour at a time. It takes the game some time to start generating all the fascinating permutations that occur when royal families start bumping into each other. The key to CK2 is to understand that it runs like a real sim at times in that the player doesn't always have something to do. Instead, you often find yourself just sitting back and watching history unfold one small event at a time. The fun comes in later - when you get to see how all those small pebbles eventually trigger an avalanche that sweeps the player along with it.
Broken record here, but I also play 1-2 hours at a time.
And I wasn't kidding. This is one of those games where drinking while you're playing enhances the experience. I like to stay thematic: Scotch when playing Scotland, Jamesons for Ireland, beer for Germany (HRE), wine for Spain, and so on. O:-)
Never really was captivated by CKII. Maybe it's the lack of empathy for the virtual characters, but I just never cared enough.
It sits gathering dust with about 40% of my purchases.
I'm feeling an urge to fire up a CK2 Scottish campaign in honor of all those Scots who voted "Yes" on the referendum and were disappointed today... Cue obligatory Braveheart "They can take our land, but they can never take our Freedom!!!" clip here.
Do you have a single-malt of choice, Toonces? Too many good ones to choose from, although I'm quite keen on Springbank at the moment. Check it out if you haven't before, great stuff.
I'm pretty flexible when it comes to Scotch.
I had one called Speyburn that I liked a lot.
Quote from: Toonces on September 19, 2014, 08:39:54 PM
Broken record here, but I also play 1-2 hours at a time.
And I wasn't kidding. This is one of those games where drinking while you're playing enhances the experience. I like to stay thematic: Scotch when playing Scotland, Jamesons for Ireland, beer for Germany (HRE), wine for Spain, and so on. O:-)
Cunning plan, whiskey DLC could be the way to go though I'd suggest Bushmills (White, Black or preferably Green) for Ireland :)
^ That sounds like a challenge! ^-^
Last man standing slumped snoring over his keyboard :)
P.S. Toonces and Sandman if you are Laphroigh types and want more peat have a look at The Peat Monster ("says what it does on the tin" to quote an ad) though to be honest I'm more of a lowland malt type myself when it come to whisky rather than whiskey.
Quote from: Toonces on September 19, 2014, 08:55:46 PM
I'm pretty flexible when it comes to Scotch.
A policy I wholeheartedly endorse. O0
The more I play, the more I think CK2 might be Paradox's best game. I like the map in EUIV more, but the gameplay is repetitive. England, France, etc will always be a great power in EUIV. Sure its historically accurate, but it can be boring after awhile. While I've yet to see a game of CK2 play out the same. I've seen Byzantium collapse and be conquered, it convert to Islam, or it remain orthodox and retake the Levant. I've build, fallen apart, then rebuilt an empire in almost every game. You just don't see that sort of variation in EUIV.
Quote from: Staggerwing on September 19, 2014, 11:34:58 AM
How do you guys play CKII? Do you sit down for 15 minutes here and there, pausing (or not, letting it run)? Do you stay in front of your comps for 4-5 hours at a time 2-3 times a week?
I tend to jump in for 4-5 (or more in most cases) hours a few nights a week. I can't even count the number of nights I've lost track of time and looked at the clock and its 1-2am.
I don't normally curse at game characters, but it has happened numerous times in CK2.
Watching your plans proceeding towards fruition and then, "Oh you m^th**f***!^g c#$^biter! I will stab your @#^&^g face off for that, you wh0r3m0$#$ring s&!tbag!!" after some dastardly messages pop up. With an evil grin. >:D