By Jim Rossignol on August 18th, 2011 at 4:38 pm.
It’s tough to make Paradox’s glacial but intricate historical strategies look interesting in a trailer, but those plucky chaps have had a go for their Gamescom flag-waving attempt. Crusader Kings II, which puts you at the controls of a medieval European dynasty, is really all about the menus, and the trailer doesn’t deny that, but it does editorialise a bit and try to show how the game is telling the story of the 1066 Norman invasion. It doesn’t quite go for the big finish, but that’s history. The game is still a way off, too, as it’s due early 2012.
Right, so anyway, I’ve actually run out of trailer reblogging juice today, so this will have to be the last one, ‘lest my glands need replacing. I’ve got Red Orchestra 2 and Trackmania 2 betas to wrestle with, too. So serious business ahead, indeed.
18/08/2011 at 16:44 Paool says:
Always wanted to try a game like this. I hope the have some real dumb downed difficulty settings for first timers.
18/08/2011 at 17:08 Archonsod says:
To be honest the main difficulty in Crusader Kings is less running the kingdom and more attempting to raise your heir while keeping them as far away from your insane bishop as possible, and hoping your spymaster isn’t the kid’s father to boot.
18/08/2011 at 18:48 kublakhan says:
Difficulty in Paradox games is usually based on what country you pick — I’m sure there will be easy choices for newbies, such as France in EU.
18/08/2011 at 20:17 Zwebbie says:
Losing is half the fun of Crusader Kings. I still remember how I thought Jerusalem would be a cool country to play, and before ten years were over the Saracens had taken half of the kingdom and all the 7-year olds I appointed as counts and countesses (in the assumption that surely my young niece wouldn’t rebel) were rebelling.
Paradox games aren’t that difficult, but in the past they’ve been plagued by horrible tutorials, or in the case of the original CK, no tutorial at all. Victoria II was a major step up, though, so I’m not afraid for CKII. And you just need to run a kingdom or two, maybe three, into the ground before you get a hang for these games.
18/08/2011 at 16:45 Renfield says:
I missed out on the original, so ‘early 2012′ can’t come fast enough. Also, “In the South, the Saxon crumbles before the Norman” is RPS header material.
18/08/2011 at 18:05 Jae Armstrong says:
Well, it’s not like you can’t get the original still. The complete package is £15 on GG.
Just make sure you get the expansion and are patched up to current before you start playing, for the love of God…
18/08/2011 at 22:35 Renfield says:
True, although assuming the sequel is an upgrade, it makes more sense to save my excitement, and more importantly my *time* for no. 2 at this point.
18/08/2011 at 16:55 Xercies says:
I’m quite looking forward to this one actually, the first Crusader Kings sounds really interesting, but its always better to go for the sequel. i hope someone makes a Song of Ice and Fire mod for this one to
18/08/2011 at 17:02 Colonel J says:
Wait…there’s a SoIaF mod for the original? Why was I not told this before.
Must try it, is it any good?
18/08/2011 at 17:06 Teddy Leach says:
It’s very good actually. But take care if you’re offended by spelling errors.
18/08/2011 at 17:10 Abundant_Suede says:
I suspect Hearts of Iron 2 fans will differ with you on that point. (HOI3 generally considered disappointing by the community).
The original Crusader Kings still available on Gamers Gate. It’s not like the graphics are radically different. Great game, worth playing for the dynasty mechanics alone, although the interface is messy and the strategy outside of the familial politics isn’t as engaging as, say, EU3.
I’d look for a digital pre-order special that includes the original game to tide you over. They’ve done that before.
18/08/2011 at 17:10 Fede says:
Aww, I missed it somehow. Guess it’s this one.
Edit: CK is still worth it, if you can manage and won’t be intimidated by clunky interfaces like Dwarf Fortress. I started playing it not much more than a year ago, and it was lovely :) There was also a thread in the old forum with suggestions and similar.
18/08/2011 at 17:43 Torgen says:
Get the CK1 package with Deus Vult if you buy. DV cleared up a lot of stuff and incorporated suggestions from the players (so I”m told, I bought the package deal)
ALSO, go read the player-written stories from games in the Pardox forums. The one where the Saxons flee England instead of being enslaved by William, and set up a Baltic empire is good enough to be published.
18/08/2011 at 18:16 imirk says:
Link to AAR?
18/08/2011 at 18:18 theleif says:
@abundant_suede
“I suspect Hearts of Iron 2 fans will differ with you on that point. (HOI3 generally considered disappointing by the community”
That was true at release, but now I’d say it’s generally considered the better game.
18/08/2011 at 18:30 Abundant_Suede says:
@theleif
That could be true as far as I know. As for myself, I gave the game a year then gave up on it. Haven’t picked it back up since.
18/08/2011 at 18:33 Xercies says:
I really liked HOI 3 when I played it, though I haven’t played the second one. But I might go for the first CK if its that good. I said that its better to go for the sequels because usually it is improved in a few ways like graphics and AI and stuff.
18/08/2011 at 23:42 Torgen says:
@imirk: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?392855-Homelands-Tales-of-the-Anglo-Prussians
Starts in 1068, he runs it to the end of Crusader kings, converts the saved game to EU 3, and is continuing through THAT timeline. When he hits the end of EU 3, he will convert that save to Victoria 2, and play to the dawn of the 20th Century. Right now, he’s in the year 1370, and, well, start at the beginning and see what a beautiful, totally alien Europe emerged from the game and the awesome writing quality of the author.
19/08/2011 at 01:49 thebigJ_A says:
EU3 doesn’t start until 1399. Or did he mod it?
18/08/2011 at 17:03 alantwelve says:
“I’ve got Red Orchestra 2 and Trackmania 2 betas to wrestle with, too.”
And no doubt after all the recent love shown to Dungeons of Dredmor, you’ll be having a look at this week’s new release of Dungeon Crawl? Won’t you?
18/08/2011 at 17:09 Colonel J says:
Ah Quinns, where are you.
Jim if you’re going to cover the strategy games instead of him you need to upgrade your punning augmentation to give us the bad headlines we’ve become accustomed to.
‘Throne together’ that was one of his for CKII. I miss him. Sort of.
18/08/2011 at 17:10 johnpeat says:
Guillaume ‘The Bastard’ – William is the anglicised version of his name which came later…
QI eh? :)
18/08/2011 at 18:03 Jae Armstrong says:
Let’s not start with this, or we’ll be here all day trying to decide which of the dozen or so spellings of Cnut is the right one.
18/08/2011 at 17:10 johnpeat says:
Guillaume ‘The Bastard’ – William is the anglicised version of his name which came later…
QI eh? :)
18/08/2011 at 19:27 westyfield says:
Let’s not start with this, or we’ll be here all day trying to decide which of the dozen or so spellings of Cnut is the right one.
19/08/2011 at 22:06 Gormongous says:
Anglo-Norman French has a “W” where Cosmopolitan French would be “Gu”. These two versions of words regularly exist side-by-side in English, the former from the Norman conquest and the latter from Plantagenet rule; thus, “ward” and “guard”, “warranty” and “guarantee”.
18/08/2011 at 17:14 oatish says:
CK 1 is really the only Paradox Grand Strategy game I fell into my first / second play through. The intrigue and murder and having shitty fiefs is all awesome and if the sequel cleans the UI we should be in for some good.
18/08/2011 at 17:55 Joof says:
The original is one of my favorite games of all time. I’m really excited for this.
18/08/2011 at 18:40 Abundant_Suede says:
Reply fail
18/08/2011 at 19:28 Malawi Frontier Guard says:
Who cares about this William guy? I wanna conquer the world with Nubia and make all my kings saints and/or inbred heretics.
18/08/2011 at 20:17 faraany3k says:
Crusader King, Is this the title from Russia that i played 5 or 6 years ago on my crappy PC. Oh my finally it has returned with a sequel. I am so happy.
18/08/2011 at 22:59 Unaco says:
Crusader Kings. Is Swedish, from Paradox. You may have played it 5 or 6 years ago on your crappy PC though. It’s not really returning… it’s always been about.
18/08/2011 at 23:06 Unaco says:
I’m slightly worried about how excited I am for this game. It’s not natural I tell ye!
19/08/2011 at 01:17 cvcvcvvv says:
The original is one of my favorite games of all time. I’m really excited for this
shopping
http://bit.ly/n6SVQy
19/08/2011 at 02:16 thebigJ_A says:
Oh god, the spambots have become sentient, and are replacing commentors with pod-people to sell their nefarious wares!
19/08/2011 at 04:17 RadioactiveMan says:
Let’s not start with this, or we’ll be here all day trying to decide which of the dozen or so spellings of Cnut is the right one.
20/08/2011 at 12:23 eselinks says:
I can’t wait for the new assasins creed to come out apparently it is going to be the best one yet I am going to buy this and MW3.
http://www.newlyreleasedgamesreview.com