Was Europa Universalis III Worth 50p?

[Darkspire]

Hi. Really like strategy games, got a bit bogged down with TW Rome, not the map, just the battles, strategy was fine from my end, just found the battles a little long winded, single player though, never did try MP. I am an avid DW player and really enjoy CIV4 but am a real 4x player at heart, found a boxed copy of Europa Universalis III in a charity shop for 50p, It was in really good condition though so I gave them a fiver, and having had a read of the manual it seems to be pretty comprehensive. What are folks views on the game? Also having outlined what I like will it be worth what seems to be a mountain of a learning curve?

Darkspire

[Martok]

What are folks views on the game? Also having outlined what I like will it be worth what seems to be a mountain of a learning curve?

To give you short & simple answers to both questions: 

1.)  Generally quite positive. 

2.)  Yes.  (Distant Worlds has often been referred to as Europa Universalis in space.)  :) 

[Darkspire]

Thank you. The disk is in the drive and installing now. Just finish the current game of DW and I will give it a go  :)

Darkspire

[Martok]

You're welcome.  Now good luck, and have fun! 

[Nefaro]

I don't think the EU3 series really hit it's stride until after having a number of expansions, as per usual with Pdox games of the time. 

If you only have the original one, you're missing out on a good deal of fixes & little stuff.

[Steelgrave]

I would have to know how much 50p is in real money before I could answer  8)

[Nefaro]

I would have to know how much 50p is in real money before I could answer  8)

pocket change

[Philippe]

Half a quid is a pretty good price for EU III.

Just be aware that you'll need to get the all of the other expansions because the game system evolved a fair amount between each one.  Things got re-thought and re-tooled to such an extent that by the time you get Divine Wind loaded in you're playing a different (and much better) game.

You can get all the EU III material on Gamersgate.  The sprite and music pack dlc are not essential, though they do look and sound very nice.  I should mention that I had originally refused to buy EU III because I couldn't stand the look of the thing from the screenshots I saw.  Just before Divine Wind came out I picked up a package with all of them and was pleasantly surprised that the general look had been overhauled in one of the later expansions, and after Divine Wind some of the game mechanics issues had been reworked to the point that I haven't looked at EU II and its subsequent incarnations since.

Some people expressed a lack of interest in Divine Wind because they weren't that interested in playing in East Asia.  As it happens I have never gotten around to trying out China or Japan because I've had too much fun with what the system did Europe (including cleaning up an annoying glitch in the Holy Roman Empire).  Divine Wind is a necessary improvement of the basic game system, that just happens to include some Far East material.

It took over two years for them to finally get EU III right.  I certainly won't be rushing out to get EU IV at release because I'm expecting it to need as least as long to mature.  But I will get it eventually two to three years from now, and I'm sure that when I do I will enjoy it.