By Alec Meer on June 1st, 2011 at 10:35 pm.
I began installing the Pride of Nations demo earlier, but became so distracted by the oddly evocative awkwardness of the install screen (see below) that I haven’t actually played the thing yet. AGEOD’s latest is a 19th Century-set, turn-based grand strategy affair of vast scope and depth if perhaps not graphicsability (as has always been their shtick), with the demo containing five tutorial levels and then 12 turns of you trying to be king of the bloody world. Yes, you. Big on diplomacy and low on objectionably scripted enemies, it all sounds rather fine on paper. If 750MB of downloadery is beyond your ability, perhaps you’d like to watch the below walkthrough video to get a sense of how it plays. Just don’t call it Rise Of Nations. I just had to go and correct every instance of its name in this post because I made that rookie mistake.
First, here’s that install screen.
These two chaps rather look as though they’ve had a falling-out and are now studiously pretending to ignore each other. Make friends, chaps! There’s no need to fight! Oh, riiiiight. Wargame. Goddit.
Next, the video walkthrough:
“Let’s choose Belgium.” Something about the sentence tickles me in a way I don’t even begin to understand.
I really should sink myself into something like PoN soon – I’ve let my strategy powers turn weak and flaccid of late. They need a monstrously unforgiving workout. Six Gun Saga is the other contender-current for that, once I manage to wade through the manual.
Demo here, in case you missed the last link and are busily penning a comment telling me that I didn’t include the link and should be shot.
01/06/2011 at 22:42 Vinraith says:
I’ve been really looking forward to this one, for all that I have a stack of grand strategy games demanding my attention from the last couple of years. If I can tear myself away from Close ombat: Wacht am Rhein I’ll definitely give the demo a look, AGEOD hasn’t failed me yet.
01/06/2011 at 22:55 LazerBeast says:
I just got back from a mini-vacation and this story reminded me I have the demo downloaded. Excellent.
01/06/2011 at 23:11 Oak says:
I haven’t played the demo yet but would like to point out that the campaign lasts 1,680 turns. That’s one thousand, six hundred and eighty turns. That’s enough turns to supply the next eight Total War games with turns. That’s more turns than there were years between the birth of Christ and the publishing of the King James Bible.
Anyway, pretty excited.
01/06/2011 at 23:25 James Allen says:
Pride of Nations is great fun. Why don’t you follow my progress with glorious Russia: part one and part two.
02/06/2011 at 17:29 oatish says:
Dude, love your review site.
Great to see you around the web.
01/06/2011 at 23:33 Spinoza says:
Definitely one to buy for me, specially as the price is really low,thought demo appear to be bit laggy (?) ,for lack of better word.Hopefully they will sort it out for the 7th release.Truly ,AGEOD didn’t failed yet.
Now , if only I will find time ,between War in the East , CMBN and Hearts of Iron III, to play this. But no doubts ,Vainglory of Nations is building up to something very special.
02/06/2011 at 09:51 d32 says:
20 euro low? :(
02/06/2011 at 10:31 JB says:
For this sort of game (“niche”, I guess) it is cheap enough. Isn’t War in the East about $80 US?
01/06/2011 at 23:55 danimalkingdom says:
Okay, someone tell me:
Pride of Nations
Victoria 2
Hearts of Iron
Strategic Command: World War One
AGEOD’s American Civil War
I want to start a grand strategy game, can anyone recommend one? And by that’ I mean which one is most accessible to newcomers raised on Civ and Risk? Which one has the friendliest interface? The best AI? But really, which one gives the most involving experience?
02/06/2011 at 00:11 MMMMMONTYKILL says:
You should get Arsenal of Democracy, which is a Hearts of Iron 2 game. Based on your criteria any AGEOD game would likely cause you a stroke.
02/06/2011 at 00:40 Fede says:
@Monty: Just wondering, why AoD? HoI seems rather unfriendly to me, have they been able to make it friendly with AoD?
EU3 should be friendly enough to start, and there are plenty of gameplay AARs that help understand it better.
02/06/2011 at 00:57 MMMMMONTYKILL says:
I think Hearts of Iron II might just pip EU3 in terms of accessibility if only because it focuses on an era we’re pretty much all familiar with. AoD is the most refined version of HoI2, which is why I suggested it.
EU3 would also be a very good choice though, you’re quite right.
02/06/2011 at 00:58 Malawi Frontier Guard says:
EU3 is good. Mind that “Europa Universalis 3 Complete” does not include the latest two expansions. I don’t know what the Expert’s Opinion is on which expansions to get for a beginner, but I recommend just getting all of them. Divine Wind especially makes everything look much nicer.
Hearts of Iron 3 is not a good game to start out with compared to HoI2, but there’s a demo. You might want to have a look at that.
02/06/2011 at 01:21 James Allen says:
The most accessible grand strategy game I’ve played is War Plan Pacific. Those ones you mentioned are a step up from that one.
02/06/2011 at 02:00 Martel says:
I had this very same question a few weeks ago. I waffled around a bit looking at various articles (including many RPS articles and comments), and tried a few demos. I ended up settling on EU3, which I got the super version for $30 on Steam, and I don’t regret it one bit. The wiki had some good information, and I stumbled terribly through my first game, but my 2nd game is going along great.
If you do get EU3, it was recommended in some RPS comments to start with Portugal to get a feel for the game, which I did, and I think it was a perfect way to start. Basically my first ever ‘grand strategy’ game, and I’m very happy with my purchase. Makes me excited to try out some more, but with all the options and replayability in EU3 (with the expansions) I don’t see myself needing any other of those games for awhile.
02/06/2011 at 02:15 Zwebbie says:
danimalkingdom: Victoria II isn’t a bad place to start, I think. It definitely has a better tutorial than any other Paradox game out there, and a lot of its gameplay is you manipulating and stimulating things that are automated, which means it’s harder to seriously mess things up than in other such games.
02/06/2011 at 08:39 GreatUncleBaal says:
@Danimalkingdom:
I agree with Zwebbie about Victoria 2 being a good place to start – you can dip in and out of the bits of the game that interest you and the rest runs along fairly well without you (once you’ve got the concepts you can improve things immensely by taking more control yourself). I’ve gotten back into it recently and as more stuff sinks in, I’m having even more fun with it.
It also depends on what you want out of your strategy game – something like American Civil War (or Rise of Prussia, also by AGEOD) is much more focused on actual battles – moving pieces around a board, cutting supply pathways, besieging towns – than a game like Victoria 2, which has economics, diplomacy and trade going on, but perhaps isn’t as detailed in its combat mechanics.
Most of the games you’ve mentioned have demos, and I would certainly recommend giving them a look first, to see if any of these games have the feel of what you’re looking for.
02/06/2011 at 14:13 James Allen says:
War Plan Pacific just went on sale this month.
02/06/2011 at 00:48 MMMMMONTYKILL says:
I think Hearts of Iron II might just pip EU3 in terms of accessibility if only because it focuses on an era we’re pretty much all familiar with. AoD is the most refined version of HoI2, which is why I suggested it.
EU3 would also be a very good choice though, you’re quite right.
02/06/2011 at 01:00 Bootstraps says:
Agreed. At this point there’s no real point in playing plain old HOI2, as AOD is like HOI2.5 – better in pretty much every way. Much better than HOI3 too…
02/06/2011 at 00:55 Carra says:
You can play Belgium… but can you play Flanders?
02/06/2011 at 01:10 MMMMMONTYKILL says:
You can’t play Belgium, unless you mod the game.
02/06/2011 at 11:53 Lacessit says:
Playing Belgium probably entails starting the game and then walking on it for more than a year, coming back, and discovering that the AI has not only survived but is investing in geneticly engineered potatoes.
02/06/2011 at 12:10 Carra says:
I thought it were genetically engineered cucumbers.
And playing Belgium would probably end up with a civil war after a year.
02/06/2011 at 06:10 Notelpats says:
Belgium !? How rude !
02/06/2011 at 09:06 Jajusha says:
Hardest thing for me in previous AGEOD game was getting familiar with the chain of command system. Particulary in Pride of Russia and American civil war. Don’t know if it was the interface or just me plain sucking, but felt like a primitive tribesman trying to do an equation. No such thing here in Pride right?
02/06/2011 at 10:02 soulblur says:
I miss Rise of Nations. Why don’t they do a proper sequel to that?
02/06/2011 at 10:33 JB says:
After playing Revolution Under Siege, I’m really looking forward to this. The diplomacy and trade, not just WARWARWAR!
And the colonial side of things sounds lots of fun. Preordered.
02/06/2011 at 19:00 Redcoat-Mic says:
The game has taught me that Wales is in fact 90% Vietnamese.
11/06/2011 at 18:29 ix says:
I’m not sure I want to pacify Indochina.
This is my problem with semi-historical games. It all hits a little too close to home.