CK3 - Dev Diary #0 - The Vision

[Serenity84]

Will you focus a bit more on historical accuracy overall? I'm not demanding a 100% accurate representation and some exaggeration is needed to tell these stories, but CK2 can be a medieval parody sometimes. You already said that there won't be crazy supernatural events at the beginning. But there are also other things that feel a bit too modern or out of place. Over the top court physicians come to mind, whereas medieval medicine was pretty interesting and not always as primitive as leeches.
Same with game mechanics. We already know decadence won't be in CK2, but that's a very good example where some literary device was generalized into a mechanic that eventually sort of worked, but wasn't all that good.

Or you mentioned witchcraft with regards to religion. While there was a common belief in the existence of witchcraft, the Catholic Church actively discouraged that most of the time and considered it a superstition. Contrary to what many people think there was very little witch hunting in the middle ages. This is only changed in the late middle ages and the bulk of the witch hunts happened centuries later. It's things like that I'd like to see more accurately represented in the game.

 

[Pied-Noir]

But hopefully you will provide bloodlines? This is my favorite part of the game. Especially deciding who I marry to whom or to be more precise whom I am breeding with whom.

I'd be genuinely shocked if bloodlines weren't in - it's a big part of the focus on dynasties and characters, and is something that will go hand-in-hand with the new cadet branch system.

What I do find bizarre is the lack of inventory/treasury and Great Works. Both were fun/interesting additions to CK II and seem like obvious ideas to transfer to the sequel. Along with a revamped papacy system I don't understand why these aren't lock-ins for release. They've been talking about doing the papal mechanics justice since CK1 (the Deus Vult expansion, ironically!) but haven't. I don't get it...

 

[PDX-Nicou]

Will there be a DD tomorrow or they'll be now on Thursdays?

Is there will be DD tomorrow?

Hey folks,
We will let you know as soon as we have a regular date to announce
So far, the aim is to publish a new Dev Diary every week. Be assured you will be on for a new DD next week!

 

[Lord Lambert]

I would say - please confirm all the start dates! I feel like all the start dates from CK2 are equally important, so it's better to understand early what to expect

The start dates were already confirmed to be 867 and 1066

 

[Kit_EA]

I'm sceptical about that satanism etc won't be in CKIII since those were my favourite but I'm intrigued to see the depth of CKIII.

Yea, I think removing them is kinda a mistake. They could have just do supernatural and historical game modes instead.
Though we must keep in mind that we don't know how long it takes to write all these supernatural events.

 

[AzorApie]

The main design goals with Crusader Kings III were:

• Character Focus: Crusader Kings is clearly and unequivocally about individual characters, unlike our other games. This makes CK most suited for memorable emergent stories, and we wanted to bring characters into all important gameplay mechanics (where possible.)

Fair enough.

• Player Freedom and Progression: We want to cater to all player fantasies we can reasonably accommodate, allowing players to shape their ruler, heirs, dynasty and even religion to their liking - though there should of course be appropriate challenges to overcome.

Probably the most problematic point. What's the point of the setting if the characters don't behave like Medieval rulers? From the screenshots of the game and the interviews, adding perks to their families, leveling up skill trees...

• Player Stories: All events and scripted content should feel relevant, impactful and immersive in relation to the underlying simulation. That way, players will perceive and remember stories - their own stories, not the developers’ stories.

Is it not a strategy game anymore?

• Approachability: Crusader Kings III should be user friendly without compromising its general level of complexity and historical flavor. It’s nice if it’s easier to get into, but more than that, it should be clear what everything in the game is, what you might want to be doing, and how to go about it.

Lowering the access level of the game for noobs is one thing, lowering the learning curve is another.

 

[Serenity84]

They already confirmed that that there be some kind of powers/perks/abilities that can you unlock for your entire dynasty if you do great things. That's basically bloodlines. Just not necessarily historical ones

Lowering the access level of the game for noobs is one thing, lowering the learning curve is another.

CK2 has a very bad learning curve. Getting into the game is hard because there is so much to do, but once you understand it it's pretty easy to master most of the systems.
And tons of things just aren't explained anywhere in the game. That also falls under accessibility.

 

[TheDungen]

Greetings friends!

It’s my pleasure to finally be able to talk about what I’ve been working on ever since Stellaris came out (and before) - Crusader Kings III, of course! CK3 draws on the wisdom gained over CK2’s seven long years of expansions and patches - all the things we simply could not do in that game - and represents the natural evolution of Crusader Kings. Yes, CK3 is an evolution, not a revolution; it’s better across the board and does not alter the core CK experience. That said, we did not carry over everything from every expansion and update to CK2. Rather than trying to do full justice to the less appreciated systems, we decided to go deep rather than wide.

The main design goals with Crusader Kings III were:

• Character Focus: Crusader Kings is clearly and unequivocally about individual characters, unlike our other games. This makes CK most suited for memorable emergent stories, and we wanted to bring characters into all important gameplay mechanics (where possible.)
• Player Freedom and Progression: We want to cater to all player fantasies we can reasonably accommodate, allowing players to shape their ruler, heirs, dynasty and even religion to their liking - though there should of course be appropriate challenges to overcome.
• Player Stories: All events and scripted content should feel relevant, impactful and immersive in relation to the underlying simulation. That way, players will perceive and remember stories - their own stories, not the developers’ stories.
• Approachability: Crusader Kings III should be user friendly without compromising its general level of complexity and historical flavor. It’s nice if it’s easier to get into, but more than that, it should be clear what everything in the game is, what you might want to be doing, and how to go about it.

Now, you might say: “Cool, but I took the time to master CK2, bought all the expansions, and now it provides me an enormous breadth of options. Why should I buy CK3?”

That’s a fair question! As I mentioned earlier, we decided not to carry over all features from CK2, so if you play CK2 primarily for, say, the nomads or the merchant republics (the only faction types that were playable in CK2 but not in CK3), you might be disappointed. There are likely other features and content that will be missed by some players, but, in return, we believe that everyone will find the core gameplay far more fun and rewarding! To be clear, CK3 is a vastly bigger game than CK2 was on release.

I know this dev diary was short on details, but don’t despair - they will be revealed over the coming months!

If you haven't seen it already then this (and the one on a similar subject before it) discusses how losing/failing in RPGs make for a more compelling experience. Well worth watching seeing how much RPG CK has in it.

 

[Nosretepdrakcir]

Hey folks,
We will let you know as soon as we have a regular date to announce
So far, the aim is to publish a new Dev Diary every week. Be assured you will be on for a new DD next week!

Well hello there! Nice to see a new face. I suppose we'll all be seeing a lot more of you in the near future. Looking forward to it.

 

[MarkFranz]

As I understand it, at the start of the game there will be no supernatural events. Okay What about modding opportunities? To be extremely precise, will it be possible immediately after the start to create a mod with a trait that gives the character immortality? As a player who prefers to play with immortal characters, I would really like to know.

 

[Skyfus]

That’s a fair question! As I mentioned earlier, we decided not to carry over all features from CK2, so if you play CK2 primarily for, say, the nomads or the merchant republics (the only faction types that were playable in CK2 but not in CK3), you might be disappointed.

We'll be disappointed for as long as we remember the lack of nomads or merchant republics; no doubt the moment we forget, they'll be included in a new DLC. That's how it works, right?

 

[AzorApie]

They already confirmed that that there be some kind of powers/perks/abilities that can you unlock for your entire dynasty if you do great things. That's basically bloodlines. Just not necessarily historical ones

Not necessarily. Beyond the gameplay in itself(if it's stuff like "your family built a lot of castles over the ages, you get the builder perk" I am on board, if it's level up and veery 100 years you get a perk ti buy then it's stupid), bloodline and their perks made sense because except PCS everything else was sjtff based on people recognizing how your ancestor was cool and having biases towards you.

If the new perks are "get strong heirs" then it's completely ridiculous.

 

[Kit_EA]

Is it not a strategy game anymore?

I hate to ruin it for you but CK2 never really was that much of a strategy game to begin with. It takes much more from RPG aspects.
Most strategic element (size of your army, allies, money, etc.) was deeply tied into your character (what vassals opinion of you, who did you marry, character focus, etc.).
So I dunno what are you taking about.

 

[crowdemon]

Since the announcement of CK3, I've been looking forward to learning more about the game.

 

[Serenity84]

If the new perks are "get strong heirs" then it's completely ridiculous.

There are tons of bloodlines in CK2 with ridiculous effects. They hand waved it away with "people think that you can do great things because of your ancestors", but many of them have very real bonuses

 

[dray]

How aggressive will the DLC policy be, I'm a bit worried these days that the DLC strategy is tempering my enjoyment of your games, I stopped playing EU IV and HOI because I decided I was only going to play CK II and buy those DLC's, I do enjoy your games but I'm not going to sugar coat the fact that the DLC strategy for me is a bit too much.

 

[AzorApie]

I hate to ruin it for you but CK2 never really was that much of a strategy game to begin with. It takes much more from RPG aspects.
Most strategic element (size of your army, allies, money, etc.) was deeply tied into your character (what vassals opinion of you, who did you marry, character focus, etc.).
So I dunno what are you taking about.

Don't understand how it being tied to characters and having RPG elements has anything 5o do with it being a strategy game. Maybe it wasn't so much of a GSG, but lots of strategy games aren't.

But if the devs are saying that their game is about creating your own religion and getting your family of superhuman mutants and NOT strategy then it is a different matter entirely. Not even a bad thing, but they should clarify that in the future.

 

[General Karthos]

I guess my only concern is that you're going the game approachable the way you did with EU IV and lose what made its predecessor great in the process of making it more accessible to newcomers. I don't have any problem with increasing the game's audience, but a sharp learning curve isn't a bad thing. I couldn't get past the massively dumbed-down feel of EU IV; the game just seemed to lose everything I liked about EU3. Fortunately, I still had (still have) EU3 Chronicles, and if I don't feel like playing Stellaris or CK2, that's always waiting in the wings. (Civilization as well. If I really want a simple experience, I can go to that or Total War.)

 

[Grzegorz Grzybek]

This. I liked the CK2 UI but that UI on the screenshots was just bad. It might fit the overall darker style of the game but the CIV6 characters and the vivid political map colours completely ruin that style

Did you notice that the worst (IMO) screenshot is gone from https://www.crusaderkings.com/#media? (the one with event window and Civ6-like graphics).

 

[DominusNovus]

please stop bringing this thing back. it doesnt actually confirm that itll be back. the only thing it actually says is that paradox and they alone decides what terms will show up in game. this like so many other statements is incredibly vague to let both sides read what they want into it.

Agreed. Henrik or Doomdark or whomever was interviewed should take the time to explain to us what happened there. What did RPS ask them, specifically, and what did they say, specifically. If the answer to the question did not accurately reflect the intentions for the game, why was it said? Give us the whole story, rather than just making us second guess and try to read tea leaves. Will the content be in the game?

I really have little patience for either a “wait for it all to blow over” or a “need to know basis” approach to information like this, which are the two main explanations I can see for their continued silence on the issue.