Crusader Kings

by Atari

Product Features

• Play as the leader of a glorious dynasty in this strategy game
• Europa Universalis engine focuses on feudal kingdoms of medieval Europe
• Increase the greatness of your lands and treasure coffins; amass prestige
• Build cathedrals and castles; appoint vassals and battle traitors
• Introduce laws and set taxes; interact with 100s of courtiers and nobles

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002W37X8
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.3 x 7.5 inches ; 6.4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: September 21, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,448 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Play as the leader of a glorious dynasty, amass prestige and piety, and the world will whisper your name. Increase the greatness of your lands and your treasure coffins. Build cathedrals and castles. Appoint vassals and battle traitors. Introduce laws and set taxes; interact with hundreds of courtiers and nobles.

Crusader Kings is a strategy game based on the Europa Universalis engine that focuses on the feudal kingdoms of medieval Europe in the time period of 1066 to 1453 A.D.

Product Description

Crusader Kings is a unique historical role-player that puts you into a feudal society fraught with dangers. Travel to medieval Europe between 1066 and 1419 A.D. -- here you will build a dynasty. Gain wealth and favor from the nobles, while earning Prestige and Piety. Unlike other strategy games, the goal here is not to expand your territory but to expand your reputation. Use everything from diplomacy to warfare to create a respected royal line.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Poor User's Manual hurts a good game, November 15, 2004

By 

Brent E. Novak "mylos parents" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Crusader Kings (CD-ROM)

So far this is a very good game, but very frustrating, because the user manual is pathetic. I'm still not sure what some of the information icons mean. This really detracts from the play, since the first three days I had the game, I was still trying to figure it out.
If you don't mind trying to figure out how the game actually works, and you enjoy strategy games, then this is a pretty good buy.

There are several new nuances that are new to the strategy game genre - how to keep your blood lines going during the plague. What happens if your only son is Schizo, or your wife is infertile.

Do not expect to dive into the game and take over the world - It is not a military strategy game. Just like in real life, you aren't going to conquer everyone. It is a game of nuances.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New patch makes a WORLD of difference..., March 13, 2006

By 

Dale D. Whitehead "DDW" (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crusader Kings (CD-ROM)

As pointed out, this could have been a great strategy game at release. Unfortunately, it didn't make the cut due to poor execution of certain ideas (like Crusades) and many bugs.

Now that the 1.05 patch came out, I bought it and it's a great game now. The bugs are 99% gone, and many of the other problems have been fixed / tweaked.

The depth of the game is staggering, which is great if you are a medieval history buff. all of the famous dukes/kings are there, as are their families. The system could still be improved further, but as I said the downloadable patch makes the game enjoyable (finally) and very addictive!

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great game ruined by a poor company follow-up, September 19, 2005

By 

TrezKu13 (Norfolk, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crusader Kings (CD-ROM)

I won't lie - "Crusader Kings" is a fun game. I've spent hours playing it, and have enjoyed my time.

What's so fun about it? Well, it's quite different from your average strategy game, and especially those based in the Middle Ages. You can play any European nation (READ: Christian) from 1066-1419, but there's more to that. You don't have to be just the king of the nation, you can be a duke or a count as well, depending on who runs what. That's right, embroil yourself in feudalism. Forget the king...it's good to be the duke! As you rule, you have to keep in mind not only how much you're making and how big your army is, but you have to remember to watch the loyalty of your vassals. That is a major asset to the game - loyalty loyalty loyalty. It's basically like the badboy rating in "Europa Universalis II" and "Victoria" - you get too greedy, or your ruler gets bad traits, and your vassals start to tire of your rule. Empires get difficult to manage when you lose them faster than you build them. You also have a court, filled with courtiers who can be assigned roles such as marshal, diocese bishop, steward, chancellor, and spy master.

That brings me to another interesting point: there are traits attached to your rulers and court members, and they affect how well they perform tasks or how other rulers will react to them. These traits include lustful, cruel, zealous, the list goes on. These were a very nice touch, as they add personality and flavor to the people behind the throne. Another interesting system in the game is the gene system: characters' have their own pictures, and if you marry two people together, their children will bare resemblence to their parents. Someone summed up this game perfectly when they said it was like the Sims meet Medieval Total War.

However, Crusader Kings falls short of it's real potential. It's really not a complete game, and suffers from a crash-to-desktop (CTD), most often occuring during saves. And, of course, the manual is about as helpful as if they had stuck a wad of toilet paper into the game box. Players are recommended to throw out the manual (or eat it if you're low on cash and get hungry) and go to the forums or online for help from other players. Also, Paradox Entertainment has, as usual, been very slim with their after-release help with the game. Victoria, for example, has stopped being fixed after four patches, and Crusader Kings' latest two patches were only in the beta stage. Thus far, no further updates have been announced, and players are banned from asking when the next patch is at the forum. Even funnier, however, was when I tried opening an inter-game movement to fix the CTD problem. My thread was locked and the administrator said to go to the tech forum - problem is, every game has it own tech forum. When I brought this up the administrator claimed that not only do players make up CTD's, but that since not every single CTD is reported it probably isn't even a problem. Of course every single CTD isn't reported - you'd need an entire forum just to discuss the CTD's in Paradox's games. I find this, and the lack of patches for past games despite the pleas of players, Paradox Entertainment basically clogging their ears and saying, "We can't hear you! La la la la la la..."

To be truthful, I would not spend too much money on this game. It's not worth $40, as it is not the finished version of a game I expect when spending that kind of money. It is a fun game, but corporate laziness ultimately limits what we really could have had. If Paradox Entertainment tried to go through the Game Design major at my school, they'd probably get a D+.