Update: there are now 4 people frantically trying to fuck each others wives
At least the upside with Paradox games is that you only need one person with all the DLC to play them in Multiplayer.
come on its not that boring.
the game is free but the 40$ worth of DLC isn't.
god bless you paradox
Yeah but the base game is 40 dollars but since it's free that means you're saving 40 dollars to spend on the dlc so really you're just wasting free money
No shit? This isn't a charity offer.
Play it, keep playing it if you're fine with vanilla, stop playing if you hate it, if you really like it then buy a DLC that interests you. If you like playing Christians a ton then just buy the one or two DLC for them, if you want to explore new regions then buy Old Gods, Horse Lords, Rajas (why) or Sword of Islam.
The learning curve put me off but if it's for free I don't have much to lose.
tbh I think a lot of people greatly over-hype the learning curve.
There are a lot of mechanics and complexity to handle that you'll eventually get to, but the games themselves are not very hard especially depending on who you play as. It's kind of the reason posting giant blobs is often discouraged in paradox games discussions, and it's because usually they aren't impressive.
It's really not that hard of a game. I can't recommend it enough though, I have thousands of hours on it and I'm still not bored. The modding community is great too, there's game of thrones, warhammer fantasy, witcher, the last airbender, lotr, elder scrolls mods and many more.
to be clear, that wasn't a complaint just a statement of fact, I love that they did this but its also well known that the base game of all paradox games are fairly incomplete without dlcs
They are, but they go on sale often enough now that it's really not an issue with the older games. And even a free Paradox base game is worth the installation time and dipping your feet in.
These are the "essential" DLCs that flesh out the game and it's roleplaying mechanics.
Monks and Mystics 7.49
Reaper's Due 4.99
Way of Life 3.99
The Old Gods 7.49
The Republic 4.99
Legacy of Rome 2.49
Sword of Islam 4.99
= $36.43
Add or subtract a few for personal taste and it would still average around the $30-$40 range.
You've got what I would call more than a complete game with that entire package.
It might've worked if it was about $60 less. When your DLC bundle is $84 half off, I've already given up on buying it.
But as said before, the majority of that DLC is unnecessary
It's already turned me way off of buying any of it, because I have no plans to get that far into a game where I need to spend $40 half-off for "essential" DLCs. I genuinely just decided not to buy a game because it was $40, let alone buying that much worth of just DLC.
https://the0xymoron.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/alex-from-target-dave-from-costco-zellers-walmart-sears-ikea.jpg
Nothing like having a free give away of ice cream that's barely even cold. Fucking prick haha am I right?
the strategy market is very different from the majority of the games market. while Paradox definitely went overboard with their cosmetic DLCs for a while, they've changed that aspect of their DLC policy. Most strategy games tend to be priced higher because they are niche products. The "Scourge of War" series for example is a real-time tactical series where the scenarios are extremely detailed and realistic and take literal hours to complete (some can take 12+ iirc). The base Scourge of War: Waterloo is $50 bucks, and each of the 3 expansions is $20. It's a niche product and their pricing reflects that, they need to be able to recoup costs.
These are titles that people spend hundreds, if not thousands of hours in.
Sure, but taking a look at something like Civilization 5, if someone wants to get into it, here's my recommendation list:
Base Game ($30)
Brave New World DLC ($30)
and you're done. Bonus points for imo the latter being not all that necessary unless you wanna join a big, 8-man multiplayer match because other people tend to have it. $30 and you've basically got all you need (the game has also been given away free multiple times), $30 if you want some minor extensions and a religion feature.
The Civilization games are not most strategy games. They have a very broad appeal. While Paradox has gained a bigger market share for itself, the very nature of their games are still more niche than something as simple as Civilization.
You've got the big 3 strategy series that have a wide appeal: Total War, Civilization, and PDox games. Total War and Civilization are very easy to pick up and play, they are not all that complicated. Not that that is a bad thing! It's just by design they're not going to have the same sort of depth as something like Scourge of War or The Campaign Series: Fall Weiss, and that's ok. Paradox is more complex than those other two, not as easy to pick up and play as a Total War or Civilization game. They're on the easier side of accessibility for Grand Strategy. They're priced like other grand strategy games as a result, since grand strategy is a more niche genre than what Civ goes for. Do I entirely agree with PDox's DLC policy? No, they were going extremely overboard for a while and some of the expansions aren't worth it. But tbh I don't feel like the pricing is all out there, they just make a lot of expansions.
Yeah sorry I can't justify $70 of important DLC no matter how few people play the game, because currently that DLC is standing in the way of me giving a shit.
But as people keep trying to tell you, none of it is necessary and besides two or three they're all based on just expanding the new areas instead of fleshing out your average game.
I totally understand where you're coming from, 70$ DLC is an absolute piss take joke, I'd sooner laugh my ass off at the idea than buy anything that silly expensive
But at the same time, if you aren't that serious about the base game you'll likely never even be affected by not having it really. I don't know how important it really is, but I doubt it's so absolutely detrimental that you can't play it at all.
It's like, you want to enjoy Skyrim or Dark Souls, but you don't really care about it that much, so you just don't buy the DLC. Yeah, its only 10$ or some shit for like 5 more levels, but you aren't serious about the game.
Prices increase as demand decreases, this is like basic macroeconomics. on the whole paradox games are niche games, thus they are priced for a lower demand. EUIV, another Paradox game, averages roughly ~15,000 players with spikes that put it near 25,000 players, however for the past couple of weeks they've consistently had over 20,000 players. Paradox games are niche. Less niche than other grand strategy games, but on the whole it's a niche genre.
Considering how niche this type of series is, I can still somewhat see 70$ DLC for the insanely die-hard fans
if you're going to get thousands of hours out of it you may as well at that point tbh
I mean jesus, for hardcore grand strategy games the Gary Grigsby games are $80 bucks each.
That's really not the gist of what I'm getting from the first page of this thread, it seems more to me "yeah there's a large base experience there without it, but the shit you actually want is locked behind DLC"
And we're telling you you're wrong, none of the DLCs add that much
Eh there are some that do like the old gods and sword of islam.
But still, for your first playthrough or two you should be playing a catholic in Europe. That's still a good 10-20+ hours, and hell, at that point you can prioritize for yourself what DLC you want based on what game mechanics you want expanded.
And there's also a large modding community, you don't get all mod features without the relevant DLC of course, but you've still got a wealth of content in the base game.
I wish they made any DLC more than 2 years old free. This way the fans buy the dlc as it comes out, but new players don't have to look at hundreds of dollars worth of DLC and be put off by it. Sounds like a win win to me.
So you want to just wait and play games for free basically?
If this was a thing, the base game would NEVER go on sale at any cost, keeping the up front buy in $40 perpetually, when in reality you could end up getting CK2 on sale for like $10, and pick up 3-4 of the most worthy DLCs for $20.
And then it means if you buy the game on release and just wait, you can just play all of the content for free down the line anyway. It makes no sense.
No, I have over a thousand hours on ck2 and all of the DLC and I buy them as they come out, however I do sympathise with people who are put off by it.
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