In praise of the Choose Destiny system

[an_squirrel]

I am a big fan of the landless half of RtP (not as fond of the administrative half, unfortunately), but I must say the biggest recent feature addition for me is the Choose Destiny system. It has made the game infinitely more playable and enjoyable in the long run. I enjoy being a smaller ruler, playing with duchies and counties, so in the past I would have to deliberately avoid growing my realm to avoid becoming a king or an emperor accidentally and ending up in a rather boring, premature end game. Now with this feature I can play however I want, forge a new kingdom or whatever, and upon character death, set up a new challenge for me within the same playthrough. I also rarely feel the need to interfere with succession anymore just so that I can play using a character I want to. It is all so much more immersive and fun for me now, because much less often do I feel the need to fiddle with the game world and break its authenticity.

So, yeah, that's the post. I think this feature is not getting the praise and attention it deserves, and I wanted to sing praise of it. G'day!

 

[Delterius]

As one of the posters here who focuses a lot on the difficulty angle, I believe that there is a lot of room for features like these which keep the game fresh for longer in less straightforward ways. So yeah well done devs.

 

[laylosigma]

Its defiently a good change, and I'm glad it was added

 

[JonZone]

 

[Videogames]

Yes, this was a really good idea! I similarly like the Historical Character addition, with the option to play as them as adventurers. My most recent run was taking Thomas Aquinas on an insane heel turn, very fun:

 

[Benismann]

This was probably one of the most anticipated features of RtP for me. Yes, it doesnt solve any of the core issues of why you get bored in 2 generations, but at least it lets you play the game for longer.

 

[klopkr]

Yeah I love this feature. It really brought forward some of my old musings on how fun it is to play this game non dynastically and without all the inheritance.

I think it highlights that a lot of the best qualities of CK3 are about painting narratives across the map and not just painting the map (though I wish they made painting the map an actual challenge and mechanically fun too).

 

[MyLordFellington]

Yea it's mandatory when you get too powerful.

 

[Alssadar]

I'm also greatly in favor of it, it allows for a lot of fun plays instead of just being stuck as the same character path the whole game, allowing me to have more character-inspired objectives more than the usual dynasty-planned goals. In a 1178 game, I:

1. Went from being Duke of Flanders to Emperor of the Latin Empire
2. Became his kinsman adventurer and converted Greece to Catholicism
3. Returned as that Emperor's grandson and dealt with how the AI distributed titles
4. Returned to the Duchy of Flanders and failed to usurp the French crown
5. Switched to a countess in the Latin Empire and built up a despotate
6. Switched to an independent kinsman in Anatolia (he had gained independence while I had returned to Flanders), fought in a crusade for Syria
7. Landed brother from the crusade (primogeniture ftw) and conquered Jerusalem
8. Despotissa's granddaughter in the Latin Empire, who gained a second despotate and fought to place an heir on the throne, who ended up being her third son. Designated her eldest daughter to receive her Despotate, as her first son had died and his son (her direct heir and grandson) had inherited a seperate despotate through his father and no longer had claims on the Empire.
9. That Despotissa's great-granddaughter, the grand-daughter of her third son, chosen via Favorite Child. Was deposed by that Despotissa's primary grandson (who had murdered her father and grandfather) and died of disease
10. (First direct succession the whole game): Uncle of the deposed Basilissa, fixed all of the AI's border gore and deposed that Despotissa's primary grandson for his perfidy in killing his father and brother
11. Son of the previous Basileus, went about defeating that Despotissa's eldest daughter's heir, who tried to usurp the kingdom, so his primary despotate was revoked
12. Brother of the previous Basileus, fought second war against that Despotissa's eldest daughter's heir to remove his second despotate

If I had just played with direct succession, I would've just stayed at the top as Emperor and consolidated power and money quite quickly--I probably wouldn't have played until 1453: this produced a much more fun game, jumping around from emperor to adventurer, to emperor, to two vassals of different realms, to two independent brothers, back to a vassal kingmaker, then a deposed empress, and then directly succeeding as emperor for the last three characters; I didn't have the kind of "absolute liege" power that trivializes the game until the 1400's!
Not only does the AI's difficulty in holding their realm title make it fun, but having to put the pieces back from strong vassals, especially in realms YOU had built up and are now playing against, can be an incredibly fun challenge. It also gave some fun to tracking my rivals within the realm: I wasn't just fighting a noble who had been annoying me the whole game, but a branch of my family line whom I personally given a strong demense.
As a big part, this just enhanced my relationships and interests within my realm: besides the initial conquest of the Byzantines and crusader expansions, I was mostly concerned with the internal problems of the Latin Empire, either as a vassal trying to gain pieces of power from inside/neighboring it, or from the top, trying to fight down those powerful vassals that I/the AI had created. It didn't produce a disgusting blob that becomes the bane of historicality in so many games (don't look at how France/England/Ireland sucession worked, the Capets lost the first Hundred Years War) and I was usually under some kind of pressure from somewhere else.

 

[DeanTheDull]

Straight up one of the best features of CK3, and something that I judge any overall comparison between CK2 and CK3 that does doesn't address this. The Choose Destiny system- partnered with the favored heir- is a great enabler for moving up and down the rank ladder without feeling you have to 'fail' to go down from a position of dominance. Excellent for learning to play within the vassal sphere, an excuse to take an adventuring road trip to somewhere else and start working up from there, and even unique inheritance situations such as when a golden child is not the nominal heir.

 

[Aztlantix]

Yes, this was a really good idea! I similarly like the Historical Character addition, with the option to play as them as adventurers. My most recent run was taking Thomas Aquinas on an insane heel turn, very fun:

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wait how did you played as a character that is not of your dynasty? I thought you only get options to continue among relatives chars?

 

[Koronus]

wait how did you played as a character that is not of your dynasty? I thought you only get options to continue among relatives chars?

Sometimes you get historical characters spawn in your realm, those give you the option the change to them instead

 

[an_squirrel]

Sometimes you get historical characters spawn in your realm, those give you the option the change to them instead

You can also switch to any character on game end (or using the switch character button which is in the main menu I think), but that disables achievements. Historical charcters don't, I believe.