For those who loved HOI 3 and bought HOI4

[Pete Dero]

My own viewpoint -- I honestly believe each new iteration of HOI has improved on what came before it. HOI4 > 3 > 2 > original.

I am thrilled with HOI4, despite its shortcomings. I loved HOI3, especially the superb BlackICE mod. But I'll never go back to it now that 4 is out. I agree with several of SDR's criticisms and yet still prefer 4 over 3 by a country mile. I think the dev team achieved what they set out to accomplish: to streamline HOI without sacrificing depth. I think 4 is as complex as 3 and don't at all buy the claim that 4 is somehow 'dumbed down.' The challenges have shifted, and in my view, in the right ways.

Right now, the AI is indeed pretty raw. It's going to take time (and probably mods) for it to improve. But I haven't put HOI4 down since it launched. Haven't even played another game. It's flawed and rough, but it's brilliant.

+1. What he says. Exactly.  Sandman, are we related?

If you look at the current state of HOI4 and compare this to what happened with the released HOI3 I think the future looks bright and I'm already enjoying the present.

The final version of HOI3 is deeper and more complex but HOI4 is more fun. 
I'm thinking more about the greater picture (what country should I take over to get me my missing oil and rubber) and less about taking notes about in which corps I should place my next available division.

BlackIce will be released for HOI4 so if you like a more complex game it will be available shortly.


To SirAndrewD : If you are invaded a popup shows up at the right side of the screen.  Other info will also show up there (naval battles that are going on - areas where your airforce is outnumbered - ...)

[SirAndrewD]

Wow. Refunded? So you played for less than 2 hours?

Yes, initially.  The gift copy my wife then gave me, with her telling me to actually give the game a better chance, got a further 34 hours. 

To SirAndrewD : If you are invaded a popup shows up at the right side of the screen.  Other info will also show up there (naval battles that are going on - areas where your airforce is outnumbered - ...)

Yeah, I did notice the little box popups warning of naval invasions, battles and air superiority.   They're very easy to miss when you are trying to do micro, but I was wrong to not point out that they're there. 

They don't help when the invasion comes through allied territory though, and the British are very very prone to do early, 39/40 mass invasions through Italy.

[Jarhead0331]

Wow. Refunded? So you played for less than 2 hours?

Yes, initially.  The gift copy my wife then gave me, with her telling me to actually give the game a better chance, got a further 34 hours. 

Sounds like a special lady you've got there.  O0

[SirAndrewD]

Wow. Refunded? So you played for less than 2 hours?

Yes, initially.  The gift copy my wife then gave me, with her telling me to actually give the game a better chance, got a further 34 hours. 

Sounds like a special lady you've got there.  O0

You aren't kidding. 

Of course the deal is I have to co-write some articles/reviews with her for her freelance work, but oh well.

[sandman2575]

Sounds like a special lady you've got there.  O0

Seriously! Your wife was encouraging you to play HOI4! 

There is no set of circumstances, in this world or in parallel quantum universes, where my wife would do that. In fact, she would gladly drown my PC in the bathtub if she could do so without harming our relationship.

[acctingman]

I feel the need to chime in there (since I'm getting married in 45 days). 

My soon-to-be wife isn't a gamer, not even close. She's played a Tomb Raider game on my old PS3 a couple times in the last 6 months, but she is totally ok with my game time as long as I don't hibernate downstairs too long (and don't ignore her too much).

When she does venture down she always comments on why is it so dark down here?! I respond by telling her trolls prefer dark, dank caves. 

[bobarossa]

Just wanted to thank the HOI3 lovers who responded with their impressions of 4.  You've made good points, including reminding me of the state of HOI3 (and 2 and 1) when it was released and how much they improve with time.  I think I will wait at least 6 months for the inevitable tweaking to occur and see where it is then. 

[jamus34]

If the Stellaris updates are any indication you may not need to wait that long.

I think Pdox "gets it" and is listening to all criticism and addressing as they can.

[sandman2575]

Really, the lesson here is simple. If you loved HOI3, you will clearly love or hate HOI4.

[SirAndrewD]

Sounds like a special lady you've got there.  O0

Seriously! Your wife was encouraging you to play HOI4! 

There is no set of circumstances, in this world or in parallel quantum universes, where my wife would do that. In fact, she would gladly drown my PC in the bathtub if she could do so without harming our relationship.

She likes to hear me go on about games.  She's a gamer herself, just much much more on the console side.   Her backlog is obscenely worse than mine, so badly she's only just now getting into Dragon Age. 

We have our house set up so there's a mutual PC/Console area, and since she's a freelance writer, she spends most of her time working in there with me, so it's not like we disappear for long stretches. 

She keeps encouraging me to write reviews for her various blogs, but I end up spending too much time playing and not enough trying to be coherent with my thoughts.  So far the only extensive review I ever wrote for her was a very, very long and detailed diatribe on my eating of a Wal-Mart freezer section $1 Chimichanga.

[acctingman]

Sounds like a special lady you've got there.  O0

Seriously! Your wife was encouraging you to play HOI4! 

There is no set of circumstances, in this world or in parallel quantum universes, where my wife would do that. In fact, she would gladly drown my PC in the bathtub if she could do so without harming our relationship.

She likes to hear me go on about games.  She's a gamer herself, just much much more on the console side.   Her backlog is obscenely worse than mine, so badly she's only just now getting into Dragon Age. 

We have our house set up so there's a mutual PC/Console area, and since she's a freelance writer, she spends most of her time working in there with me, so it's not like we disappear for long stretches. 

She keeps encouraging me to write reviews for her various blogs, but I end up spending too much time playing and not enough trying to be coherent with my thoughts.  So far the only extensive review I ever wrote for her was a very, very long and detailed diatribe on my eating of a Wal-Mart freezer section $1 Chimichanga.

I bet that was an "explosive" review! 

[sandman2575]

I didn't know women came in that flavor.  No one told me when I had to decide on a marital ice cream cone years ago.  *jealous*

(I love my wife to death of course -- it's just, she is very, very far from being a gamer.)

[SirAndrewD]

I bet that was an "explosive" review! 

You bet it was.  As I dug further into the "chimichanga" I took a lot of inspiration from Hunter S. Thompson, and H.P. Lovecraft  for the content.

I didn't know women came in that flavor.  No one told me when I had to decide on a marital ice cream cone years ago.  *jealous*

(I love my wife to death of course -- it's just, she is very, very far from being a gamer.)

Ha!  Yeah, I got lucky on that case.  What's funny is we were best friends since our mid teens but never got the bright idea to start dating each other till we were just shy of 30.  We still can't figure out what the hell we were waiting for.

[acctingman]

I bet that was an "explosive" review! 

You bet it was.  As I dug further into the "chimichanga" I took a lot of inspiration from Hunter S. Thompson, and H.P. Lovecraft  for the content.

I didn't know women came in that flavor.  No one told me when I had to decide on a marital ice cream cone years ago.  *jealous*

(I love my wife to death of course -- it's just, she is very, very far from being a gamer.)

Ha!  Yeah, I got lucky on that case.  What's funny is we were best friends since our mid teens but never got the bright idea to start dating each other till we were just shy of 30.  We still can't figure out what the hell we were waiting for.

too busy gaming  ;)