Hullo all,
I just have a very quick question for Paradox, or any other developers with know-how who could shine some light on it.
For me the ideal game would be a perfect blend between the world of CK2 with the direct interaction with the world of M&B. I know i'm not the only one because I've seen mentions of it occasionally in posts. I'm also pretty sure it will never be made, which makes me very sad. My question is why will it never be made? Is it too complex? Is the market too small to justify the level of investment it would take?
So does anyone else secretly lust after such a game? Such realistic total immersion and control, a kings-eye view, preferring it to the idea of being a semi-omnipotent ruler who sees all and knows all? Do any devs anywhere have any thoughts on the problems such a game would present? I'm eager to know. Is the whole thing far too ambitious? Are there things that could be salvaged?
Let me know your thoughts.
I just have a very quick question for Paradox, or any other developers with know-how who could shine some light on it.
For me the ideal game would be a perfect blend between the world of CK2 with the direct interaction with the world of M&B. I know i'm not the only one because I've seen mentions of it occasionally in posts. I'm also pretty sure it will never be made, which makes me very sad. My question is why will it never be made? Is it too complex? Is the market too small to justify the level of investment it would take?
Things in CK2 like instant communications, full knowledge of the world and characters, annoy me, but if you mix it with a game like M&B...... let's say you're playing a game as a king - you have your court following you where you go, you can go to a castle and feast, plan, tourney, etc. You can go to someone elses castle and waste their money by having to feed you, you can journey across Europe to the Holy Land to fight the infidel invader in defence of Christendom. It is you, not an icon on the screen, a character with no real attachment. Same for everyone else, they're more than portraits and numbers.
Want to forge a claim? Summon your chancellor and tell him you think your ancestry gives you a claim over the Kingdom of Wherever, and tell him to scour the land for evidence, and off he goes.
Want to delegate any task? Summon one of your councilors or courtiers and speak to them to give them the job. There are no skill levels visible to you, you can only go on how they've behaved in the past. Add in skill based tournament results, so martial would count, for example for a way to judge someones martial ability. There can be other things that help you gauge skill levels in other fields, like when talking to someone, if he's an arrogant oaf you can be fairly certain he has no diplomacy skill. If he is a successful merchant or his lands are wealthy he would have good stewardship.
You see a woman, you're feeling lustful? Great, go for it, sire as many bastards as Henry I or be as chaste as Edward the Confessor. No waiting for events to fire, you directly control your actions so you decide what events happen by making them happen.
Want to marry her? Great, but there's no list of her skills, only what you are able to determine from talking to her to get an idea of her abilities. Dispatch a trusted courtier to negotiate with her father.
Want to go from a M&B style 1st/3rd person walking around a castle to a CK2 style map view? Call over an attendant and have him place a map on the table, an old timey map, not a modern map. Gives you a chance to get an idea of what's going on, to the best of your spies knowledge, perhaps its where you might find some realm-wide options, but it's not the default view, because you are the King, not a disembodied overlord looking down on all Europe.
Want to fight? Tell your Marshal to raise the levies and assemble a force just outside the town of Whateverville, go to the armory, get your sword, go to the stable and mount up, ride out to lead your men, or if you're not up for a fight instruct your marshal to head to Whereverland and fight. If you do lead the troops you can do from the back, issuing orders, or from the front, getting covered in blood. All choices have risks.
Want to plot? Send a note to accomplice telling him to meet you in the cloisters of the Cathedral of Whateverville, in a dark corner in hushed tones you ask him what he thinks of Count Herman the German, suggest a plan to send him to meet his maker, uh oh, a monk overhears, quick, kill everyone! Oh no, he escaped and told Herman, the barons rise in revolt at your perfidious nature.
Someone sent an assassin to kill you? In your castle you are walking up the stairs to your council chambers when out of the shadows a mysterious assailant emerges and slashes at you with a dagger before fleeing. You collapse to your knees and feel the warm trickle of blood seep through your clothes as darkness begins to descend over your vision. A courtier finds you and raises the alarm, but it's too late, the game switches you to your heir as he receives word and thus must head to the nearest place he can be coronated.
Best of all there'd be no lower limit to what your character starts as, and if you're overthrown or had your lands stolen and you yourself banished you can still work in a foreign court to reclaim your birthright. So you start at whatever level you want, work your way up, lose everything, enlist foreign help to recover your lands, continue working your way up, convert to Lollard, because it just makes sense to you, hire, fire, sire children... It would make it really difficult to know if people pretend to like you or genuinely do, since you don't have numbers telling you exactly what their opinion rating is, which would be great fun.
I could go on giving examples in all areas of the game, where combining both games creates the best gaming experience that anyone ever dared to make in a game. I'm already slightly aware that I've rambled a lot, just trying to pass the time till F1 Qualifying starts.
Want to forge a claim? Summon your chancellor and tell him you think your ancestry gives you a claim over the Kingdom of Wherever, and tell him to scour the land for evidence, and off he goes.
Want to delegate any task? Summon one of your councilors or courtiers and speak to them to give them the job. There are no skill levels visible to you, you can only go on how they've behaved in the past. Add in skill based tournament results, so martial would count, for example for a way to judge someones martial ability. There can be other things that help you gauge skill levels in other fields, like when talking to someone, if he's an arrogant oaf you can be fairly certain he has no diplomacy skill. If he is a successful merchant or his lands are wealthy he would have good stewardship.
You see a woman, you're feeling lustful? Great, go for it, sire as many bastards as Henry I or be as chaste as Edward the Confessor. No waiting for events to fire, you directly control your actions so you decide what events happen by making them happen.
Want to marry her? Great, but there's no list of her skills, only what you are able to determine from talking to her to get an idea of her abilities. Dispatch a trusted courtier to negotiate with her father.
Want to go from a M&B style 1st/3rd person walking around a castle to a CK2 style map view? Call over an attendant and have him place a map on the table, an old timey map, not a modern map. Gives you a chance to get an idea of what's going on, to the best of your spies knowledge, perhaps its where you might find some realm-wide options, but it's not the default view, because you are the King, not a disembodied overlord looking down on all Europe.
Want to fight? Tell your Marshal to raise the levies and assemble a force just outside the town of Whateverville, go to the armory, get your sword, go to the stable and mount up, ride out to lead your men, or if you're not up for a fight instruct your marshal to head to Whereverland and fight. If you do lead the troops you can do from the back, issuing orders, or from the front, getting covered in blood. All choices have risks.
Want to plot? Send a note to accomplice telling him to meet you in the cloisters of the Cathedral of Whateverville, in a dark corner in hushed tones you ask him what he thinks of Count Herman the German, suggest a plan to send him to meet his maker, uh oh, a monk overhears, quick, kill everyone! Oh no, he escaped and told Herman, the barons rise in revolt at your perfidious nature.
Someone sent an assassin to kill you? In your castle you are walking up the stairs to your council chambers when out of the shadows a mysterious assailant emerges and slashes at you with a dagger before fleeing. You collapse to your knees and feel the warm trickle of blood seep through your clothes as darkness begins to descend over your vision. A courtier finds you and raises the alarm, but it's too late, the game switches you to your heir as he receives word and thus must head to the nearest place he can be coronated.
Best of all there'd be no lower limit to what your character starts as, and if you're overthrown or had your lands stolen and you yourself banished you can still work in a foreign court to reclaim your birthright. So you start at whatever level you want, work your way up, lose everything, enlist foreign help to recover your lands, continue working your way up, convert to Lollard, because it just makes sense to you, hire, fire, sire children... It would make it really difficult to know if people pretend to like you or genuinely do, since you don't have numbers telling you exactly what their opinion rating is, which would be great fun.
I could go on giving examples in all areas of the game, where combining both games creates the best gaming experience that anyone ever dared to make in a game. I'm already slightly aware that I've rambled a lot, just trying to pass the time till F1 Qualifying starts.
So does anyone else secretly lust after such a game? Such realistic total immersion and control, a kings-eye view, preferring it to the idea of being a semi-omnipotent ruler who sees all and knows all? Do any devs anywhere have any thoughts on the problems such a game would present? I'm eager to know. Is the whole thing far too ambitious? Are there things that could be salvaged?
Let me know your thoughts.
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