Europa Universalis

[ancient doctor]

ORIGINAL: Murat

ORIGINAL: Ozie

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153737

As for Ancient's post above, there was an Imp II, which still was inferior to Victoria. Victoria (and the other Paradox games) are flawed in several ways, but they are still fun and it is hard to beat the lure of taking over Siam throughout the ages and forming the Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere before Japan can even conceive of it

Well OBVIOUSLY you didnt saw that i mentioned ONLY Imp. 1 and for good reason.when it went in the market the game was a revolution on its own implementing excellent features,very nice play,combat map allowing you to play battles plus that it was stable form its release(something that unfortunatelly almost ALL Paradox game dont have)and many many more things which for the time back then(more than a decade)were never seen in this way till then in any similar strategy game.As about its in depth playability well people-lots of them-keep playing it,something which is true for most of SSI games.Imp 2 was an upgrade in some things(especially techs) but in general not what gamers expected after the miracle of Imp. 1 so it didnt make such a success.
Till then the only game working only for that period is Victoria and for the 10 and more years since Imp. 1 came,Vicky was a dissapointment for lots INCLUDING the Paradox funs for many reasons.
So as i said Victoria was and still is a good idea poorly and badly implemented unfortunatelly.If you want more detailed conversation about it i dont have a problem but it want change the fact about that game and the bad results it brought.

[BoerWar]

It's a fun game for awhile, but the AI is pretty stupid so once you figure out the game system you'll probably get bored with it soon after.

[toddtreadway]

Speaking of Imperialism I & II, both of which I loved, I wonder if any developer is working on an updated version of them (Imperialism III?).

And (just curious) how is HOI2 going to be an improvement over HOI?

[1LTRambo]

Thank you all for the information on EU. I went out and purchased EUII as that was the only one available. I enjoy it quite a bit, even though I am still learning how to play it.[:)]

[EarlPembroke]

I followed the original EU on its forum for quite some time before it came out (reminds me of following EiA, in fact). EU2 is better. It is very good, as some pointed out above. If it is too easy with a large Western nation (advances more quickly technologically), try playing as Tibet (you can play with the Pueblo Indians, if you like, but they don't get much in the way of technology or money, so that makes it fairly boring to me.

Anyway, great game - in my top 3 of all time (Imperialism 2, Darklands - RPG, and EU2). The fact you can mod & create your own scenarios is a big plus too. Want to make yourself a general in Napoleonic France? Fairly easy to do with a text editor. (I once created a scenario with my ancestors as Kings of Wales.) The strength of the game is not in part of history (like the Napoleonic Scenario), but in the grand sweep of the emergence of the West, exploration & colonization, Religion has an impact, alliances are done better than other games I've seen, etc. Latest beta patch was Sept 5, which is good considering it's been out for a couple years. The patches now are primarily enhancements as the game is stable. Victoria wasn't as good for me (it was too difficult to play as Texas!). I thought HOI was decent, and Crusader Kings is pretty good too (needs some tweaking that, if it follows the patterns of EU2 & has patches over time, could be even better).

Back to where I started. Now I'm waiting for EiA to come out, ,so I can go back to the EU boards and say: EU is a great game for the 400-year sweep of history, but if you want a great game focused on one time period, you have to try EiA.

[:D]

[fahdiz]

Europa Universalis 2 is most certainly worth getting. It's one of the best non-hex-based historical computer games ever made.

I also recommend Crusader Kings with equal enthusiasm. I'd recommend Victoria, too, but it's rather an acquired taste. As for HoI - personally, I'd wait for HoI2.

[heychadwick]

I've played EU1 a lot and have been thinking about it in the past few months. I tried to load it on my XP machine, but it won't work. I gave up, but am now thinking about getting EU2.

[donkuchi19]

ORIGINAL: toddtreadway

Speaking of Imperialism I & II, both of which I loved, I wonder if any developer is working on an updated version of them (Imperialism III?).

And (just curious) how is HOI2 going to be an improvement over HOI?

Imperialism was one of my favorite games of all times. I loved that game. I was so disappointed when I upgraded my computer and could no longer play it because of a new operating system. (I had given my old computer away). I would love to find a version of it again that I could play on XP. (I lost my original disk).

I didn't care as much for IMP 2. I prefered the 1st one by far.

[1LTRambo]

Again, Thanks for the feedback on EU. It is great. I am currently playing the Ukraine in the Fantasia.[8D] It's quite interesting. Another game I have wondered about is Sid Miers Colonization. That game was tremendous fun but was a Dos game. Has anyone considered updating that one?[&:]

[Hoplosternum]

Well Colonisation works on my work and home XP machines and is still great [:D] I doubt there will be a remake although there were / are all kinds of shareware efforts at making one.

I am a fan of Paradox. They make the sort of games I like or at least think I will, rather like Matrix. I do wish that they had made them all turn based instead of pauseable real time like a good many of their customers. But that battle was lost a long time ago [:D]

I know they produce initially buggy games but they always support them and they seem to come right in the end. Unlike Matrix who produce playable games straight out of the box and then tweak stuff, Paradox games tranform from patch to patch [:)] I have not bought HOI and I think I shall wait for HOI2. EU was a good game after the patches but EU2 was the game it was always trying to be. I can highly recommend it to anyone who likes a patient empire builder and does not mind getting knocked a step back for every two you take forward. It's not usually a game where you just get bigger and better all the time.

[ravinhood]

Speaking of "Colonization", you know what I hate most about it?

When it's over! heh It's so much fun, and plays so much quicker than Civilization that it's over before I want it to be, wish yah didn't have to rush to Independence or there was a way around it so I could just keep building up my empire.

Sid Meier makes the greatest strategy games of all time, no question about it. I get lost in time playing all of them.

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: Ozie

While EU2 is great same can't be said of some other Paradox titles. Victoria even with latest patches is still a mess. If you wont to divide your group of divisions you end up loosing the new parted group in to thin air if you didn't remember to push the pause button before doing it!! [X(]

How is that for a great feature![8|]

Your kidding, Vicky is my fave game ever.

And I've never had any bug problems with it at all, though I have read horror stories quite a few times about it. They missed out a few features in the first release - tanks and gas attacks didnt work so in the late WW1 style game it was almost impossible to attack and you had massive battles of attrition - but I found that quite cool in a bizarre way, having huge front lines of units spread out across Europe where if you attack your attack efficiency is at 4% and you get cut to pieces.

With the gas and tanks working you just raise a vast number of Bengali tank regiments as Britain and stomp Germany - or anybody else - flat.

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

Speaking of "Colonization", you know what I hate most about it?

When it's over! heh It's so much fun, and plays so much quicker than Civilization that it's over before I want it to be, wish yah didn't have to rush to Independence or there was a way around it so I could just keep building up my empire.

Sid Meier makes the greatest strategy games of all time, no question about it. I get lost in time playing all of them.

I still have Colonization installed.

Kiss my pinky ring.
[:D]

[meyerg]

Also remember to crank out your elder statesman, expert lumberjacks, master carpenters, master blacksmiths, master preachers, and expert fisherman. Colonization rules, the Dutch are the best at the hardest level.
Don't you love that fountain of youth.
An awesome game that fits on 3 3.5 inch disks (like Warlords 2, another awesome game).
Greg

[Hertston]

Hehe.. there's a blast from the past. I thought Colonisation (I had the Amiga version) was wonderful, and preferred it to any of the Civilisation games.


BTW, Warlords 2 lives again as a Pocket PC game, for those who have one. Details **HERE**


EDIT: I see they are selling a desktop version too (free for PDA version owners)

[Bluestew0]

I was a beta for HOI and am currently one for HOI2. I loved the EU series. I was also one of the many players drooling over the release of Victoria. As some have mentioned previously, Victoria is most definately an aquired taste (I also loved the Imperialism series and wished for someone to expand on that). I was expecting a war strategy game set in the colonial era. What I feel I received was a strange video lesson on economics. With the first patch, once you learned the secrets of the economy, you could become a military powerhouse with most any nation and kick butt, that was fun for a bit. After the 2nd patch, the game was all about trying to get an extra piece of paper so you could convert one of your population to make an extra .4 units of food or something. Supporting your military or any military ventures was a PITA.

Some people really like the game but I found very little in the way of strategy about it. It was more a game of micromanaging a strange economy system than competing for colonies around the globe. I have a nice retail copy of Victoria with the box and now next to useless manual....I'll ship it to the first person who gives me an address. I won't be playing it again.

[Black Cat]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

Hehe.. there's a blast from the past. I thought Colonisation (I had the Amiga version) was wonderful, and preferred it to any of the Civilisation games.


BTW, Warlords 2 lives again as a Pocket PC game, for those who have one. Details **HERE**


EDIT: I see they are selling a desktop version too (free for PDA version owners)

Thank You Hertson !!

Warlords 2 was the most enjoyment I ever had from any game.

[kaiser73]

I have played EU2 a LOT, and liked also HoI. Both in Multiplayers.

To make all save their money:

1) AI in paradox games is ALWAYS retarded. I mean, in EU2 you can start with GrandCampaign as Genoa and conquer all europe. in HoI, i conquered all europe (spain, France, part of SU, all balkans) as Italy at my first campaign with very hard settings...
and no, even with mods, things don't change a lot. AI is so stupid so even when they get 4 times your units (like in CORE mod in HoI), they still lose fast.

2) the games ROCK in multiplayer. Really. Both HoI and EU2 are really fun if played with other players. I could say that their games suck so bad in singleplayer (cause of the very very stupid AI) as they rock in multiplayer.

3) the paradox games are very unstable at beginning. and multiplayer is always a no-go before 4-5 months of patches. Somehow, the MP is always the most unstable thing in paradox games, and the last to get addressed.

In short:
buy EU2 for MP since it's fairly stable now.

for HoI2, wait 6 months if you want to play in multi.

if you buy for singleplayer, expect to beat AI since first match no matter what setting you set.