Sengoku vs Crusader Kings

[Kamamura]

Since Sengoku took obvious inspiration from Crusader Kings, and is probably a testing ground for the new system that will apear in Crusader Kings 2, how do you think it fares compared to the older title?

For me, it does not have nearly enough charm. Lot's of flavor text is missing (traits, events), which emphasizes the fact they are only stat modifiers and IMO hamper immersion and roleplaying aspects of the game.

Moreover, there is no research in sengoku (less to do), genetic traits I hear were removed, the troop composition is less interesting than CK (only inf and cav vs. knights, pikemen, archers, etc.)

I can't help to feel that some of the EU:Rome lethal blandness founds its way into this game too.

So, what are your impressions?

 

[smokey]

it's a shame that events within the family (wife, kids) are completely missing

 

[Sensational]

Graphically (Map style, overall style, presentation and so on), it beats every Paradox game before it. Depth wise? It's missing flavor, for sure. Every clan is the same, every character is the same, generic traits that don't involve you at all. It's also missing choice, which is probably the most important aspect of Paradox games for me. You basically choose manufactories, everything else is a straight forward blobfest. You don't get to make those important choices that really impact the outcome of the game, colonialism or conquest, trade or production, etc.

I suppose that wasn't very CK specific, but most of it applies.

In the end it's a different experience, but a lot of fun.

 

[unmerged(148076)]

If Sengoku was meant to be compared to Crusader Kings it would've been called Crusader Kings 2. Whats that, they are making one? Oh goody!

I see Sengoku as its own game. Sure its not overly complex, but for someone who hasn't played a character-driven grand strategy game before it makes it easier for me to get into the genre. I'm happy to use Sengoku as a stepping stone to progress into Crusader Kings 2 which from what I can gather will be more advanced and complex.

Paradox Games tend to go up and down on the complexity scale, and for good reason. They attract more customers overall by having a variety of grand strategy titles than having them all set at 100% hardcore. I'm quite enjoying Europa Universalis 3 for example, but I find that I'm struggling to get into Victoria 2 because of its complex systems a player needs to learn and understand.

 

[chatnoir17]

I think simply comparing Sengoku with CKI/II is a cause of misunderstanding of these games. Maybe they are half blood brothers, so to speak. While CKI/II are the court/dynasty managing game in my opinion, the goal of Sengoku is the world conquest. The detailed characters or micromanaging would be also nice for Sengoku, but these features should serve this absolute purpose. On the other hand, what if CK would not have tons of flavor events? The game play with keeping one or two lands over 100 years would be very boring. So the variation of historical events is needed in CK, but Sengoku could do without it in some degree.
I agree that there are only a few events in game, but the event system a la Ck is there. So adding more flavor events are not difficult if we could gather ideas!