Yea, I reckon the handle is supposed to be the Hapbspburg chin.
Revolting. But genuine.
Revolting. But genuine.
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Hmm, I own too many mugs...
I see this future game differently than the OP but just clicking disagree looks like piling on, so here's my post.
Just because the topic is non-historical doesn't mean it's not worth trying. It looks to me like the Pdox teams are taking lessons from everything they have done before and following a nice reasonable evolution of the Grand Strategy genre into a brand new product concept.
It can be scary that our favorite, beloved historical GS game house is trying something new, and in the OPs case trying something he would never even consider playing, but it's also a good thing they are about to do so. For instance, I have never gotten into WW2 games except the old board game Risk (they are all too complex with far too many counters, or they are too much like Risk... which I have zero interest getting into again). Nevertheless, HoI4 really looks like it will be a wonderful game when it comes out, and I don't mind them putting resources into it.
It looks like they have put a lot into Stellaris already, and on first read I seriously doubt this will be a failure either. But focusing on potential failure is wrong headed. Entrepreneurship is too powerful a force to fear, and if PDox succeeds with this I know for certain I will get another generation of history GSG over the next decade, an updated modern game engine CK3, finally turn Rome into a series (though I suspect a Rome2 is secretly in development already), and later on EU5, HoI5, V3 and S2.
I see this future game differently than the OP but just clicking disagree looks like piling on, so here's my post.
Just because the topic is non-historical doesn't mean it's not worth trying. It looks to me like the Pdox teams are taking lessons from everything they have done before and following a nice reasonable evolution of the Grand Strategy genre into a brand new product concept.
It can be scary that our favorite, beloved historical GS game house is trying something new, and in the OPs case trying something he would never even consider playing, but it's also a good thing they are about to do so. For instance, I have never gotten into WW2 games except the old board game Risk (they are all too complex with far too many counters, or they are too much like Risk... which I have zero interest getting into again). Nevertheless, HoI4 really looks like it will be a wonderful game when it comes out, and I don't mind them putting resources into it.
It looks like they have put a lot into Stellaris already, and on first read I seriously doubt this will be a failure either. But focusing on potential failure is wrong headed. Entrepreneurship is too powerful a force to fear, and if PDox succeeds with this I know for certain I will get another generation of history GSG over the next decade, an updated modern game engine CK3, finally turn Rome into a series (though I suspect a Rome2 is secretly in development already), and later on EU5, HoI5, V3 and S2.
- 1
I think it's great that PDS is making a space game, for a bunch of reasons:
- As others have mentioned, this is a game they say they've wanted to make for a long time. This is a good thing - a motivated team working on a dream project is good
.
- A space game unfetters the design reigns a bit which allows them to try things they may not be able to try in a historical game, but will help them learn new ways of developing GSG gameplay mechanics that could benefit the historical games (for example, we're seeing pop-style gameplay cropping up outside Vicky for the first time, but also in a different and evolved way).
- It's still strategy - I wouldn't say it's going away from their core gameplay at all (anything but), it's just the setting that's mixing it up.
- It's good to try the occasional new thing to stay fresh and get new ideas (for this reason, I think Runemaster was a good thing, even if it never comes back and doesn't get launched - as a studio, they'll still have deepened their understanding of development, and Podcat has said Runemaster helped the Clausewitz engine develop further as well).
- Imagine if PDS had never tried anything new - we'd never have had Vicky with factories and pops, or HoI (HoI in is a bit different from the 'empire building' nature of CK/EU/Vicky).
Nothing wrong with having your personal preferences, of course, but we should also respect those of PDS (for example, I was also hoping Stellaris was a historical game, although the more I hear about it, the happier I am that it isn't).
PDS is still making its core historical GSGs though. EU4 came out in 2013, and HoI4 was originally expected to launch this year (they just got a bit too ambitious with it and it took a bit longer, which shows a commitement to historical games, rather than the opposite). Next year, when Stellaris launches (assuming no delays), they'll also launch HoI4.
I'd also bet good money that at least one of their other two products that's coming along is a historical GSG.
- As others have mentioned, this is a game they say they've wanted to make for a long time. This is a good thing - a motivated team working on a dream project is good
.- A space game unfetters the design reigns a bit which allows them to try things they may not be able to try in a historical game, but will help them learn new ways of developing GSG gameplay mechanics that could benefit the historical games (for example, we're seeing pop-style gameplay cropping up outside Vicky for the first time, but also in a different and evolved way).
- It's still strategy - I wouldn't say it's going away from their core gameplay at all (anything but), it's just the setting that's mixing it up.
- It's good to try the occasional new thing to stay fresh and get new ideas (for this reason, I think Runemaster was a good thing, even if it never comes back and doesn't get launched - as a studio, they'll still have deepened their understanding of development, and Podcat has said Runemaster helped the Clausewitz engine develop further as well).
- Imagine if PDS had never tried anything new - we'd never have had Vicky with factories and pops, or HoI (HoI in is a bit different from the 'empire building' nature of CK/EU/Vicky).
Nothing wrong with having your personal preferences, of course, but we should also respect those of PDS (for example, I was also hoping Stellaris was a historical game, although the more I hear about it, the happier I am that it isn't
).PDS is still making its core historical GSGs though. EU4 came out in 2013, and HoI4 was originally expected to launch this year (they just got a bit too ambitious with it and it took a bit longer, which shows a commitement to historical games, rather than the opposite). Next year, when Stellaris launches (assuming no delays), they'll also launch HoI4.
I'd also bet good money that at least one of their other two products that's coming along is a historical GSG.
A member of PI (think it was Castellon but i'm really not sure) said that it sold "surprisingly well" in a forum post.
As for the thread i don't think it's too big a deal if at least one of paradox's other two games (Tiberius? and Dallas) are historical grand strategy.
Tiberije actually being there to defend his thread is really nice to see though. Not everyone actually do that.
Since they are making games that they'd like to play themselves it's only reasonable to try new things. E.g. Johan has been with the company for so long that it's unreasonable to expect that he'd be interested doing just the same thing all over again.
In any case their current game portfolio is still mostly sequels.
They've always learned something from their ventures. Sengoku flopped but largely the same mechanics turned into a masterpiece with CK2.
Stay hungry, stay foolish.
In any case their current game portfolio is still mostly sequels.
They've always learned something from their ventures. Sengoku flopped but largely the same mechanics turned into a masterpiece with CK2.
Stay hungry, stay foolish.
I dont think they got pre ambitious with HOI4 but they used they resources elsewhere Rune for instance (another attempt to do something completely different) and Stellaris. If they used 50% of their resources on HOI4 game would be perfectly polished and published by now.
- 1
They have independent teams on each project. HOI4 was announced too early.
I am a massive history buff and I'm still hyped as all hell for Stellaris. I don't see why liking history and liking space have to be mutually exclusive.