Europa Universalis 4

IMO they made some progress with Victoria 2 but they really got it together for CK2. If EU4 meets the same level of quality as CK2 I’ll be very happy.

I really like this section from the preview, as it directly addresses something that always been a major complaint of mine:

In EU3, you never really won a war until you occupied half your enemy’s country. So as France, even though you had taken Normandy and the Aquitane from England and they had no hope of landing a large enough force to retake those regions, England would never negotiate or settle. You basically had to seize London before King Henry even considered offering concessions.

EU4 fixes all that by not just measuring the outcome of a war based on the absolute strength of the two combatants, but also by considering what they are fighting for. When I took Normandy from the English, I had won a major victory because I’d declared war specifically over Normandy. England wasn’t totally beaten, but I went to the peace table with a big edge because I’d already taken my objectives by force. This should make those routine endless, apocalyptic wars of EU3 a thing of the past, and encourage more varied international relations. Now “limited war” is a real strategy.

In fact, I’d often use a console cheat to force the AI to make peace after suffering what I viewed as a sufficient drubbing. If I’ve won multiple huge battles and occupied everything I’m after in a war, that should be enough to force concessions, especially given the time frame of the game.

Paradox is doing a live stream of EU4 right now. Holy crap, it looks good. I mean both from a visual point of view but also from a gameplay/UI perspective.

I totally think Paradox should go forward with the Europa Universalis Musical. As far as April Fool’s stuff goes, the documentary is pretty damn funny. Good job keeping a straight face delivering those lines, Johan. I hope you have a singing part in the full release… ?

I would totally buy this product:

The Crusader Kings Z screenshot is also amusing:

Someone just linked to me the social media campaign trailer for EU4. I signed up but wow, do I really dislike the look of the new maps. Hopefully it is something A) you can adjust; B) I adjust to be able to enjoy. Reading the dev diaries, though, it does seem like this is going to be the most stable launch for an EU game yet.

I can’t see what’s wrong with the maps.

Yes, what about the maps don’t you like? The screenshots and video diaries look pretty good from where I’m sitting.

It’s basically the CK2 map, which I think is gorgeous.

Chalk me up as curious as well, I think the map looks amazing.

What I don’t like about the maps as I have seen them so far?

  1. The maps overall to me are more painterly and stylized, although not radically so. I thought it was a huge improvement when EU3 dropped that for a more natural look and I am disappointed to see them move back in that direction.
  2. The nation- and province-name presentation is much more garish than in EU3. For me personally, it feels more like I am having to look around them to see what I want to see, rather than having them compliment the information the map is presenting.
  3. The integrated terrain is much more prominent, to the point of completely breaking up map flow. I mostly played in political mode in the previous EU games and where it was discernable in the EU3 maps, the terrain completely dominates those screens I have seen of the map.

This looks like the cleanup crew after a German outdoor rock festival.

I also hope they don’t spend too much time putting the game back on historical rails and making the rulers as ultra-important as they were previously. It’s a day one for me anyway; I have spent more time playing games in the EU than any other game not named Everquest. This may just be a personal predilection of mine that I get over as I spend time with the new game. All of the designer diaries I have read seem fantastic, though, and I am major-league excited for the new one to hit.

Up for presale on steam. $39.99, or 10% off if you already own an EU game on steam.

Thanks for the heads up. Picking this up is a no-brainer for me, it’s far and away my most anticipated game this year.

Game will unlock on August 13th. “Ooh, so exciting, isn’t it?”

All of the previews based on that big media LAN MP game of EU4 have really made me want to play a Paradox game in multiplayer for the first time ever. I guess the potential has always been there for that, but it sounds like it might actually get realized this time.

Looks like it’ll require Steam no matter where you buy it, if you’re used to buying standalone editions from Gamersgate or wherever.

If it genuinely requires steam then that will be a first for a paradox game.

It uses Steamworks, they were able to replace all their netcode using it which is where all the features like dedicated servers and hot-joining running games comes from. I’m pretty excited about it since I have something like 200+ hours in EU3 multiplayer.

…And in the UK it is priced at £34.99 ($54)! Got to love regional pricing…

Previews (of near-release code) are starting to pop up and are sounding very positive. There’s a multi-part, multi-hour Let’s Play done by Quill18 and a new video Dev Diary discussing changes in relation to warfare.

Needless to say, I’m pretty damn excited for this game. Just a little under three weeks to go!