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Did you guys see that the demo was released yesterday?

http://www.fileplanet.com/224596/220...-Kings-II-Demo

I just booted up the demo and I have to say I am impressed! The tutorial is impressive and quite detailed (but the intermediate and advanced sections could use some more detail), something that should go a long way in making the game more comprehensible. The UI also has a nice amount of changes that will make the game much more of a joy to play.

After spending about four hours trying my hand, I have to say that I am really looking forward to this game's release! It's strange because the mechanics haven't changed that much from the original, but I think the new, slick UI has gone a long way in making the game more transparent, and hence, much more involving.

Having said that, the game still can be slow at time, but I felt that is was now less "spreadsheet slow" and more "Distant Worlds" slow where you are just waiting for something interesting to happen rather than just feeling shut out from the gameplay.

For example, last night I played one of the four character campaigns available in the demo - some queen of Tuscana? in Northern Italy (I didn't plan on getting this involved with a demo campaign, so I didn't really take note of all the official names and titles). Well, she had quite the wild ride under my tutelage. I first married her off to a German duke so that the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire wouldn't inherit her lands in the event of her death. That accomplished, I entered one of those boring periods where there wasn't a lot to do (there are now personal goals you can set for your sovereign, but so far I haven't found them to be all that interesting. Plots - which are nefarious goals - are more interesting, but seem pretty gutsy and risky - such as plotting the death of a spouse. But I need to explore both of these some more), so I fooled around with some minor goals, such as preparing to go to war against the Emir of Sardinia.  Oh, and I also granted my bishoprics a tax-free status...it was fun to watch it go up for a vote.

But then really interesting things started happening. First, my mother informed me that she wanted to be my spymaster. Well, coincidentally(?) my spymaster just happened to die a year or so later (natural causes?), so I put her in the spot to keep her happy. Then, out of the blue, the Lombards declared war on me and marshaled all their forces. I did the same, but in retrospect I think I did it wrong as I raised not just my personal levees, but realm levees, something that I believe ticked off the Holy Roman Emperor because I believe realm levees are reserved for him?  Anyway, there was a huge battle in a province where all the forces converged. It was a real nail biter too. First, we were losing. Then, when my reinforcements arrived, we were winning, and big! But then the Lombards brought in more reinforcements and we were routed (btw: the new battle mechanic is pretty cool - you can watch the battle unfold in the form of a overview plan. Hard to explain, need to get a screenshot, but you can see three wings of each army and what tactic they are pursuing from moment to moment).

What forces I had escaped back to my province, while the enemy laid siege to one of my cities. My marshal was killed in the mege-battle, so I appointed another, a bishop who had a good marshal rating. Well, this ticked off on my of courtiers who insisted he had a better competency. I told him to give the bishop a chance....and I did - resulting in another route.  So I removed the bishop and replaced him with the upstart - who would lose another battle. Unfortunately, my previous bishop marshal, who was demoted to commanding a wing of the army, was captured and found himself in a Lombard dungeon.

Meanwhile, in a bit of good news during this dark war, my queen had conceived a child with her German duke and gave birth to a son I promptly named Frodo. I really would have liked to see a Count Frodo one day!

But I was still annoyed with the state of the war and desperate. So, first, I successfully assassinated the Lombard general laying siege my city. This, unfortunately, hurt my piety rating and did nothing to relieve the siege. Then, in a big gamble, I attempted to assassinate the Lombard king. I failed. Not only did I fail, but my assassin was captured and blabbed my name under torture! This was to be my downfall because I guess I crossed some invisible line. It was at that point my mother and spymaster informed me that I was to be placed under arrest by order of the Holy Roman Emperor and she would rule in my place as regent! Talk about being grounded!

So there I sat, in a dungeon, fuming at my fate. Being completely out of forces, I sued for peace with the Lombard king, being forced to give up my best province. He agreed and even released my captured bishop general. As a way of apology, I granted my bishop a landed title, and made him a prince bishop. He was happy with that.  Least I could do for the time he spent in prison. 

Then another crisis: I fell ill in prison with a high fever. Things didn't look good.  But I recovered.

That scared me, so I immediately purchased a papal indulgence and improved my rating with the pope in asking forgiveness for my (assassination) sins.

Then another crisis: my mother died after about a year as regent (the stress?), making my marshal the new regent.

My next strategy was to start repairing relations with the Holy Roman Emperor to get me the heck out of prision...but I happened to glance at the clock and saw it was 4:30 in the morning!  You can always tell a good game in the making by this time dilation effect.

So that was my six year adventure in CKII. It was more fun than I expected and I am definitely looking forward to its release. I can't wait to do a full AAR chronicling a game in detail.


Comments (Page 1)
2 Pages1 2 
on Feb 05, 2012

Sounds great. I can't wait either.

on Feb 06, 2012

Yeah, I had a blast playing the Duke of Bohemia.  I'm really looking forward to the full game.  Incidentally, on the startup screen where you select one of the four characters available in the demo, try this:

  1. Select one of the four characters.
  2. Click Play.
  3. Quickly click on the province of some other character you'd rather play instead.

Bam! You can play any character you want.

 

on Feb 06, 2012

I gave up on CK II (and paradox developed games since they have stated thats the direction they are going)when they decided Hard copies would require Steam.

on Feb 06, 2012

I dislike how they removed the specific name for weapons (longsword, shortsword, morgenstern, etc.), and went with Infantry weapons III, the generic stuff kills the atmosphere. 

"My dead princess, the dastardly Duke of Ipswitch has challenged me to a duel. I will take my masterwork Infantry Weapon IV, inherited from father to son for generations in our family, and will show him what honor is worth."

on Feb 06, 2012

I downloaded this demo and have been following Crusader King's II's development for a while but, unfortunately, find that I don't really have any idea what I am doing in the game. Are there any YouTube video's that sort of describe how one plays this game? Also, there needs to be more that your King/Lord can do.

Anyways, I'll probably wait until there is a Game of Thrones or LotR mods or when I can just create a new game (ala Civilization). I have no care for these European historical houses and such, seems like they put a lot of work into historical accuracy and depth.

on Feb 06, 2012

I. Am. So. Excited.

 

 

Though I could do without steam... I am not a fan. I just download the game and set my steam to offline mode.

on Feb 06, 2012

James009D
I downloaded this demo and have been following Crusader King's II's development for a while but, unfortunately, find that I don't really have any idea what I am doing in the game. Are there any YouTube video's that sort of describe how one plays this game? Also, there needs to be more that your King/Lord can do.

 

CK2 is definitely one of those monster Paradox games where it takes a lot of playing, along with reading and re-reading the manual, as well as visiting the forums on a regular basis, to get the hang of (oof, that was an ugly sentence).  Right now, there aren't any tutorial vids that I know of, but I am sure that will change when the game is out.  However, there are some "let's play" vids that might be helpful.  Here's one at random:

I had some experience with the original, so I guess I took to this one easier than I otherwise would have.  Best advice:  just play passively and first, and tinker with a few things here and there, such as holding improvements and things like that.  Little by little, you'll discover the game will open up to you.  You will still have to visit the forums a bit to get some questions answered, though.   I've been reading some dev diaries and forum posts and learned a lot more about the game just by doing so.

"Anyways, I'll probably wait until there is a Game of Thrones or LotR mods or when I can just create a new game (ala Civilization). I have no care for these European historical houses and such, seems like they put a lot of work into historical accuracy and depth."

 

All things being equal, I would prefer a fantasy type of setting, but I've always been fascinated by real medieval history (I'm one of those frustrated American medievalists ), so I appreciate all the authenticity Paradox put into this game.  CK2 really is edu-tainment in the best sense of the word.

on Feb 07, 2012

Played for like an hour. Unfortunately this thing is shittily coded so I had performance issues for no goddamn reason and since the demo doesn't allow you to save and restart there wasn't a damn thing I could do about. Finally crashed just now.

Haven't even gotten to the point where I'd unpause the game yet either.

on Feb 07, 2012

I played the preview build a few months ago, and it was surprisingly stable on a machine that was well below specs. I haven't gotten to the demo, but I expect it's not overly different from the other build. It was probably the most fun I've had in a Paradox grand strategy in a while. Looking forward to the final version on the 14th.

on Feb 07, 2012

Cruxador
Played for like an hour. Unfortunately this thing is shittily coded so I had performance issues for no goddamn reason and since the demo doesn't allow you to save and restart there wasn't a damn thing I could do about. Finally crashed just now.

Haven't even gotten to the point where I'd unpause the game yet either.

 

Sorry to hear that.  I haven't had any issues at all (and my PC is 4 years old).  Perhaps there is a driver issue?  I've seen some people with old or beta nVidia drivers reporting problems. 

 

Just a heads up:  the manual has been released:

 

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...ings-II-Manual

 

This should help to answer a few gameplay questions.

on Feb 14, 2012

Cruxador
Played for like an hour. Unfortunately this thing is shittily coded so I had performance issues for no goddamn reason and since the demo doesn't allow you to save and restart there wasn't a damn thing I could do about. Finally crashed just now.

Yeah, I have the demo, and it just crawls, even though the graphics are, uh, not that great.

on Feb 14, 2012

Paradox sold out to STEAM.. they started gamers gate.. and a few years later they are requiring their games to run through steam. They can Kiss my @##. I have no love for paradox at this point given the fact that they sold out.

on Feb 14, 2012

They're using Steam as Impulse.  You authenticate and patch through Steam, but you don't need Steam running to play.

 

 

on Feb 14, 2012

Alstein
They're using Steam as Impulse.  You authenticate and patch through Steam, but you don't need Steam running to play.

 

 

Doesn't matter it requires me to agree to steams contract in order to play the game. Don't expect your customers to agree to 2 or 3 different TOS contracts in order to play your game.

I shouldn't need to hire a lawyer in order to purchase a game.

 

Translation of the contract for those who aren't legally inclined:

If we sell the contract or decide for any reason to discontinue you.. your screwed. Go pound sand like those who purchased from Direct 2 drive and got screwed by Gamefly when they bought out the company. Because we write in this agreement that you accept whatever we decide.. and F@$^ you.. cause you already gave us your money. Welcome to Digital distrubution retard.. hope you enjoyed getting screwed by us.

 

Give me some powers as a consumer in the contract or go to He$$.. I'm not buying your game. Currently all services like steam bascially tell you that you accept their terms or your screwed.. thats not acceptable. We the consumers have the power, the sooner the rest of you realize they rely on US for everything.. including feeding themselves the better off we all are.

 

Far as I'm concerned the devs, publisher and everyone involved in CK II can starve to death because they tried to place a contract on me that gave them the right to deny me of what I paid them for.

 Sure the mentally challenged majority will buy the game.. and in 5 or 10 years when they are screwed out of it will say oh well... But I'm not buying something that is determined in legal speak to be a short term lease on a game.

Any questions?

 

Edit: Some Stardock insiders have implied thats the way they intend to go with their games.. and my message is the same. If you present me with a contract that tells me I am powerless to a third party deciding if i get access to my games..You won't have my sale.

 

It would be no surprise at this point.. paradox started gamersgate and is abandoning it for steamworks. I expect the same from stardock.. they started impluse and will abandon it for steam.

 

Regardless.. the entire industry is giving us a fat #$54# up the @#$. Because they all are telling us accept a contract that #%^#s consumers or don't play their games.

 

my response.. keep your games.. live in poverty.. accept that the consumers are the people who pay you.. not VALVE.

on Feb 15, 2012

The final version seems to run better than the preview one so far. Also, the GamersGate version of Crusader Kings 2 doesn't require Steam or anything. Actually, I haven't seen a sign of Paradox Connect in it either, maybe I missed it.

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