The horrifically awful interface completely ruins this game into sheer unplayability. A complete waste of money. Not since masters of Orion 3 have I seen an interface designed so poorly.

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Bjørn Kopperud

To steep learning curve with a non functionall tutorial.

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2013

Verified Purchase

If you expect to get anything out of this game you have to read a lot of guides/forums, watch Lets plays or something similar. The game has a tutorial. But its not working. This isnt acceptable a year after release.

The game itselfs are more about finding wifes/husbands for your family than anything else. You use a lot of time looking on a variety of statistics and not a lot of time actually playing.

I would say its mostly for people with history interests and not something you relax with.

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2013

Verified Purchase

If you like a GREAT strategy game, with an unusual AI, in a very challenging age, this is your best choice. One of the best Paradox's games in a complete pack with ALL the ad-dons necessary for enjoy it at most.

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Douglas Ray III

Know What You're Getting Into...

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2013

Verified Purchase

This review is geared towards people considering a Paradox Interactive game. Those of you considering getting the game who already have played a Paradox game probably know what you're doing, so what I'm about to say is really only for people who have never played anything by them before.

First of all, Paradox games are what I would call rather demanding as far as a learning curve. They make one instruction manual generally and don't bother to update it. Similarly for the tutorials, in the two games I have played, they create one and then as they expand upon the original content. The tutorial, which already was insufficient, becomes broken, and new players will be completely lost with what is going on when the game doesn't respond to their attempts to follow the instructions as presented. Their games tend to generally have very poor documentation in general, and a player's best help is the relatively active game forums Paradox runs themselves. There are guides and wikis scattered about, but because of the vast depth of the games, they are regularly obsolete and what was a meaningful strategy in the past has become invalidated. There are many tricks and actions going on behind the scenes that are undetectable outside of digging through the code directly, or communicating with others who have.

All that said, I have found these games unmatched in their quality and how engaging they are as far as grand, armchair strategy goes. Admittedly, it did take me over 300 hours to get a firm grasp beyond that of a beginning player. The frustration of having dozens of hours of planning and intrigue backfire on you is difficult to express, but if you keep at it, you will find it more than enjoyable, but again, this is only if you can stomach the distance being asked of you. You will definitely need help to win at this game if you haven't played other Paradox titles before. There is no other way around it.

While I rate my purchase at 5 stars, I will confess that I will no longer pay full price for these games. In fact, I only purchase when they are at 75% off or better. I already had most of the titles included in this pack, but this Amazon deal was so superior that even buying most of it a second time, I was still able to save more than 80% getting the little that I didn't have. Fortunately, the game is deep enough to where when an expansion pack or dlc comes out, you probably won't be hurting so bad you'll feel you'll have to buy it right away. The sales on STEAM are frequent, and by the time you see a 75% off sale, you'll probably still be trudging through what you already have. I am now at 400 hours and haven't used ANY of the extra content besides the face packs and music, which act passively in the background. All the other content such as republics, Muslims, Rome, Ruler Creator etc. I haven't even bothered using yet because of how much there was simply in the initial game. I should also point out that if you don't want any of the major dlc like those listed above, the AI still has access to everything - you only can't use it. In other words, if you decide ahead of time that you won't be playing Muslims, you are missing out on absolutely no mechanics by passing on the Sword of Islam dlc.

At 75% off, I would say the titles I have played, namely being Europa Universalis III and Crusader Kings II are unrivaled and purchases that can't be passed on, even if the developers have the mindset that it is okay to rip off your arm and beat you with it were you to boldly even dare to consider trying out their rather brutal strategy games.

It is also a good idea to seriously consider a solitary life, because you won't have time for children, work, or a spouse once you've mastered the mechanics.

Hope this has helped.

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alexsavory

Fraud alert

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2015

Have you all lost your mind? This game is utter crap or starters. It is completely broken secondly. Thirdly, the price is a rip-off by a seller who obviously made a lot of fake reviews to enhance it's price tag. IT is not worth 128 dollars. It's not even worth 1 dollar. Just to show you how much of a con this seller is he expresses you get ALL the DLCs (Downloadable content) but this game only had 1 expansion (DLC) called Deus Vult with only 5 patches that fix nothing; not multiple DLCs which the seller clearly suggests. So you literally are getting conned out of your money by the seller AND the developer.

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Kyle

A bit unfriendly at first, but the underlying game is great

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2013

Verified Purchase

Having played Europa Universalis III, I know what Grand strategy games by Paradox Interactive can be like.

You won't be able interact in the middle of a battle and win through tactics, you won't be able to start wars willy nilly, upon death you will likely see most of your conquests undone... but this adds to the intrigue of the game.

You will be confused at the array of things when you start, so the best decision would be to start small. Create your own ruler, you can start with a historically accurate one, but this is about you. I made mine a lustful 50 year old man eager to spread his seed, an independent count in Ireland.

For an example of some stories this game can lead to, I call this one that happened to me the "Reverse Oedipus"

>"Playing as the King of Ireland and married to the Duchess of Flanders. Have lots of kids, but they all want to stay at her court so I don't get much of an opportunity to interact with them.

King dies and I realize that I've received someone with pretty much useless stats. Time for some damage control.

I am now playing as a 47 year old king with a 47 year old wife, with 3 daughters and 1 son. My daughters are all married, but my 15 year old son lacks a betrothal so I tackle that first.

He gets a nice strong woman with stats in the teens. He comes of age and I grant him a county. Things are going good.

His county promptly gets smallpox the next month.

Perhaps he'll live through it? Nope.

Crap. I could work some assassinations and get a daughter a matrilneal marriage, but that'll take time.

Time for a divorce. I apparently am not pious so I need to buy an indulgence for my sins, which nearly bankrupts me.
Yay! Divorce goes through and I can go wife hunting!

Hmm... looking through the list for a nice young woman with high fertility. Find one with Midas Touched, Strong, and stats in the teens.

Huh... she's pregnant. Is she someones lover? don't see anything indicating. She also seems to live in Ireland. Oh well, I'm pleased with what I'm seeing.

Marry her and notice she has a former husband... My son.

Welp I guess there were plenty of signs, I was just blind. The woman worthy of my son, was most definitely worthy of me.

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Brian Bunge

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2014

Verified Purchase

Great vidyah game at a good price.

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