Victoria 3 is many things. After putting about 200 hours into the game, I want to give you a thorough review of its mechanics. Do you agree or disagree with my conclusions?
Your words ring true - the numerical score you assign is very very very generous! Personally, feels like a 4 r/n, but I suspect it will turn into a 6 when i get more playtime
I am One Khar Dhos, You are One Proud Bavarian, but You might hear, long before see if I'm laughing out loud, watching you play Victoria. Your energy, attitude and vibe is marvelous, sir. 🤗
I'm excited for the first DLC: a little bird told me they will add a Market Room where you can look at all the merchants as they make deals - and it will only take 18 months to develop!
@@diogoalbanez8953 I don't really understand why people hurt themselves like this. PDX is just doing their jobs. Getting all nerd rage isn't helping you
@@derekskelton4187 PDX should stop with producing hollow, unfinished and buggy basegames that only become fleshed out after months of post-launch development.
It's giving me the same vibes as EU4 when it launched. Paradox as a studio has grown so much since then, both the developers and the number of players playing their games, that people seem to forget how EU4 felt at launch compared to what it's been for the past few years. I mean, the old school colonization and base tax system was just pitiful compared to what it is now. Sure the current systems are imperfect, but at least they're not "Here's a static number, you can increase it by 1 with a building."
I think wanting any PDX game to be anything else is just foolish. They make something fun and expand on it. I honestly wouldn't want to play a PDX game that came out polished because I doubt it's gonna improve. But Reddit loves to hate
"how many troops a General brings to a battle" I have spent 10 hours in this game, and I have not yet understood why my General with 60 mobilized battalions on a frontline facing an enemy general with 10 will only ever find himself in battles where my dude fields 6 battalions and the other dude fields 8. It seems *INCREDIBLY* arbitrary.
Maybe they are supposed to not "overstack"? Hard to tell but yeah it'd be nice to have more information about warfare. I for example had 2 fronts, 3 general and I was able to assign 2 generals which made me worried because that came down to 20vs36 then instead of 40vs36 (let's leave aside the face I had space marines and netherlands had no ammo) but then the 3rd general just assigned himself to the front? and then so did the 3rd one but just fucking why?
@@Kaiserboo1871 i dont need a micro system, I dont want a micro system. I want a screen that explains to me why is the fight happening as is, In a way that I understand it
@@FlodurT I think there should be a micro system purely for when mechanics break so the player can override it. Its kind of refreshing for a paradox game to not be so micro intensive with military.
@@roflocopter1337 I think it is easier to fix the mechanics than adding an optional micro system. But I also agree, and even expect that some more control over what happening will be added in the future.
I think it's a shame how Paradox's business model works. A game comes out and only after years does it actually become feature-rich and worth playing thanks to DLC and mods. I'll probably pick this up, just in about 2 years.
@@ComeInToMadness Because Victoria 3 is cornering a huge portion of the niche grand strategy audience due to the fact it's the third iteration of the game. If someone was to release a huge game like Victoria 3 without the huge backlog of game Paradox has, they'd likely spend tons, get little returns and the game would fail. Which, guess what, is what generally happens.
@@sneedchuckington It was released in 2012. Grand strategy was more popular back then. Grand strategy is becoming more niche every year as other genres become more popular like battle royale. It's why grand strategy games turned to a DLC model.
@@dzello not true at all, grand strategy is becoming more and more popular, there more and more high quality strategy games, in 2012 grand strategy games were small games with little budget, today we can see big games like Vic 3 with realy good graphics and a big budget, also no one likes battle royal anymore
Really great points on this review! Excited for everyone to finally get to play Vic3 and I have faith paradox can make this from a great economic and political game to a great all round game!
I'm about 5 hours into Vic 3, I just wish there was a simple production screen like Vic 2 where I can see everything product available on the screen, every product I produce, every product my country needs and all that other crap
Doesn't market kinda do that? It's definitely clearer when you have a small customs union but when you're in a larger union then you base your needs off of the market don't you? I could be wrong, I'm making a pwoerhouse out of the fake country Belgium but I honestly don't know how...
@@tropicalfruit4571 indeed, that is what the market screen is for. The buy orders tell you how much demand there is for a good in your market and sell orders tell you the supply in your market. If buy orders exceed sell orders, then the price of a good goes up. If the opposite is true, the price goes down.
@@tropicalfruit4571 Its about seeing the information at a glance. In Vic3, I need to do a lot scrolling and clicking to see what's happening in my market. While in Vic2, all that information is present on the trade tab at a glance. You can see supply, demand, and a colored arrow reflecting the price trend.
Honestly, even though warfare seems to suck at it's current state, I'm glad that Paradox tried something else with it. I feel like it has tons of potential to be way more fun than the hoi4/vic2/eu4 warfare system, all we need to do is hope that Paradox fixes the bugs and polishes it as well as the game more.
Especially if you've played Victoria 2. It's the worst version of EU4/CK2 style warfare. When you consider this period historically with long years of peace between major powers due to balance of power and many smaller military maneuvers overseas, this system feels way more accurate to the time period too...when it works.
@@TheSpecialJ11 the peacefulness of the era Is extremely exaggerated but nonetheless the war system seems to have a very flaccid base, remember we are stretching into both WW1 and the interwar period both times of constant violence and warfare
As a veteran pdx games player I agree with your review 100%. There is one thing that really keeps me optimistic about the game and it’s the feeling I have when playing it. It gives you a real sense of immersion in the Victorian age. I am going to spend hours on it like I did when EUIV came out.
Really appreciate your take OPB. I shall be waiting this one out for a good bit of time. Looking forward to more CK3 content from you. Including the LP.
This review was very helpful and detailed. Paradox should have your unbiased council on board for future games/dlc as it would be a great help for the quality of these games
Something also needs to be done about the way in which provinces are acquired by AI after wars. For example Mexico in my gameplays usually ends up with a random state in the mid-west surrounded by the US on all sides. Egypt normally takes Constantinople and another random Anatolian province completely ignoring a natural expansion into Ottoman controlled Middle-East and Anatolia.
I just want to say that I’m so glad I found your channel all the way back when crusader kings 3 was being developed. You have become the number one objective source of information pertaining to paradox in my eyes. Keep up the good work!
They learned at some point of Hoi4's lifespan that the modders will just finish the game for them for free. They're leaning on the modding community even harder these days
Great review. Even as a hardcore paradox gamer with thousands of hours I will wait this one out a little bit. Rome burned me too hard, and the CK3 drought is still making my throat thirsty.
For my pocket the price is a bit steep, so I at least don't need to be in such a hurry. But I hope to play the game in an even better state and quality than it is. It is a very promising game, that is what a gem is, polished or not, a lot of potential. I can't wait to make the Soviet Union come sooner, and stronger. Who knows if the czar family will get-off easily this time around.
You've captured my experience for sure. The warfare bugs! I ended up fighting a triple alliance in an overseas war, each target capitulated one by one, and every time all my generals moved back to home HQ. Your videos have been super helpful in teaching me where to look for the information that really matters, thank you.
My other issue is that wars are extremely unpredictable. Going after a single german minor which doesn't have allies while playing as prussia often causes half of the european majors to intervene and cause a 20 year stalemate of a war. Also, certain nations have way too high an army count and others have way too low. Russia has comparable troop counts to the other majors, when in reality it should have a lot more. Austria has wayy too many troops, which makes forming germany really difficult. When at war troop counts are also a poor way to decide wars. I've had fronts where the advantage is supposedly 50% but my troops are still constantly losing battles and not doing anything. Other times the enemies would have half the troops that I do and the advantage would still be close to 0%. It makes going to war impossible.
Victoria 3 is a game of trying to figure out why everything is falling apart and becoming unproductive while having no actual clue of your own goods production and how much is being used or needed by your industry. Honestly, HOI4 has the best UI in showing, very plainly, the resources you extract, how much is going for exports, and the amount you have for personal use. The production tab will then show how much of a resource you have available after being allocated and how much you are missing and will need to import. There's also the whole logistics tab showing your stockpiles, how much of it is missing and being used up, and how long it will take to replenish under current production. Fiddling with the production methods in Vic 3 can be fun in seeing progress until you realize that you will have to constantly check over each tiny selection to see if you can provide the input or not (doesn't tell you how much you are missing overall or need to import either). The profit predictions being so erratic and unreliable doesn't help much either. It's difficult to know what to build exactly while you are nose diving into bankruptcy and all that the tutorial suggests is that you should fix your unhealthy economy. Such useful information. The game brings depth to the system without any legible feedback. Too much tedious production observations and tweaking. Resource extraction and production is incredibly vague. I'd likely be able to try out the war system more if everything wasn't so unintuitive.
Excellent review. Balanced highlighting the pros and cons. I am not surprised that the game has issues due to the complexity of it and I believe that these issues will be handled both through patches, and most likely in paradoxes case, dlcs.
I have always tended to be an optimist when it comes to products by companies like Paradox, I always hope and pray for a game to be good and never understood the people that hope for a games complete failure... It really gets hard to like a quality product when the quality product is locked behind a mid 50 dollar base game and 100+ dollar dlc.
I fully agree with the criticisms you listed. I do want to ask, does anyone else highly dislike the fact that economic migration also doesn't happen cross markets? To me it feels unrealistic to base it off of turmoil alone; just look at countries like Argentina or the US. They were lands of opportunity at the time, they didn't just receive people due to turmoil, but also because they were more attractive to live in economically.
Exquisite Review! Difficult accesibility into vital information such as pop needs, available workforce numbers in the state, analytical understanding on why pops are radicalized, quick view on other markets, understanding on how attitude of countries changes and why etc. are so upsetting.. On the other side when things start to click after you understand the systems it is a very satisfying game. I also like the many different journal entries and decisions that provide quite a goal to the otherwise sandbox experience. Completely agree that the economic system is the best in any game and i especially like the comparison with Anno 1800 and that it is even more tied to all the other systems. Finally WAR critique is also 100% on point. I trully believe that if you dont spend at least 100-150h with the game, you cant really judge it fairly.. (especially if you play a Vic game for the first time).
I understand what they were trying to do with the military in the game, trying to bridge the gap in military thinking between the Napoleonic Wars and World War 1, but this was not the way of going about that, it's a shame that the overtly simple military gameplay lets down the otherwise fantastic economic and social gameplay of Victoria 3.
I really think One Proud Bavarian's crackpot continued suggestions for micro without micro were perfect Honestly I think if One Proud Bavarian was made lead developer the game would have literally been perfect, he has no ideas I disagree with at all
I'm still a newbie, having put only 19 hours into the game, but so far I agree with you completely. I think the biggest problems are the difficulty of finding pop information, the lack of diplomatic options, and some stupidity in the AI. I'm sure Paradox is aware of these issues, since they're so obvious, so hopefully we'll see some fixes soon.
I really agree with you, even when I ABSOLUTELY love the game, some information is really difficult to access to, needing over 10 hours of playing to understand how it works and where to access it.
Some of this could have been avoided if people had taken the feedback from the leaked build seriously. Most of the major problems the game currently has existed back then as well.
Very comprehensive and informative review. I'm sure this game was incredibly complicated to make and try to balance, I'm sure it will improve with patches as time goes on.
As an unanimously beloved girl once said: How dare you??? *sourface* I'll wait for the eventual gamepass release. Heard enough to affirm my expectations of vicky3. Yet another rough game with missing obvious features that made the predecessor great. By the time the game is a polished gem I may have won the lottery to afford all the DLCs too.
I think think this review is very fair to the game as it stands! I've been greatly enjoying the complexity of politics and economy and the amount of choice you are given to influence that over the game. This game has a lot of good potential on top of an already compelling base launch. I just hope the devs get the feedback they need to make the game stay true to the vision while also much better for the players
I agree with every single point here. Although I would also it’s super fun in spite of these flaws. My friends and I have been powering through desyncs (and already finding ways to fix them like going through the end of the month) and we will take the time to troubleshoot these issues because we’re having so much fun playing.
An unpolished gem can't be sold for 50€. Accepting a sequel which lacks parts from its predecessor and hoping for a future DLC and immediately stating "I'll surely buy it" is ruining the overall gaming industry. For this price, people SHOULD EXPECT MORE. One thing is delivering a sequel on parallel with its prequel and adding DLCs to support it. The other thing is delivering an empty (or shallow) game and sell its omissions because "people will surely buy them anyway".
Fantastic review. Vicky 3 looks like Crusader Kings 3 - fantastic, invitive, and beautiful groundwork for a game, but 5-deep nesed menus and the weird interplay of mechanics and systems in some areas really hold it back. I haven't kept with CK3 (too many games to play) but knowing paradox, vicky 3 will be fixed and made great over 2 years with $120 worth of dlc
I get that the profit-based-large-company condition pushes PDX to live off of permanent income from consumers (i.e., DLCs), especially since this is industry standard for such a capital size, but I also can't take away from them the fact that they have built the most complex industrial simulation to date, and that the long work-in-progress, improve-from-feedback cycle is the best way to create a wonderfull ecosystem of replayability
It’s a paradox game so it could be good to wait and just let them fix the bugs, order improvements. Most paradox games get updated systems over time, new features
From watching all the Dev Diaries since the announcement I knew this game was basically going to launch in Beta. Fairly, some people aren't going to like that but I don't really see how they could have refined the systems without years of play testing. I would rather they take a few swings to see what hits to possibly find something new then just releasing the same game with better graphics. As long as my computer can run it I will give it a chance. If you play the game and think you have an idea to improve it, go put it on the forums because more than any other Paradox game they will want feedback on what works and what doesn't.
Sorry, but like, I get your point, but even basic things like the berlin conference, or specific contries flavor, like bismark feels like a side character; the game has so many flaws in every areas that there is no "forum" talk that will put this game back on track, and worse, they will sell the "solutions", which is just another word for scam
@@Fafuncho I know people don't like Paradox's DLC method but the alternative is updates every 12 to 18 months with no community interaction except for the 2 months before the expansion. That's what I've seen ever other strategy game do. I like that Paradox games constantly reinventing themselves over the years instead to 2 expansion and the sequel.
@@davidunderwood9728 i like that they reinvent themselves too, but having 1848 revolutions absent from the game about the 19th century is just lazy. why do these nations have no flavour? why does oyo in africa have the same technology as russia at the start of the game? at a certain point it goes from dlc stuff to negligent
I completely agree but still despite the need for refinement I’m having more fun with Vic3 than almost any game I can think of in the last few years. It’s absurdly engrossing and addictive.
All I know is that I’m having fun. The economic experience pulls you in every direction and you have to make choices and probably won’t have everything. I wish the political and diplomatic systems were the same, not everything on the table. This would also help make revolutions more viable as a way to shake things up.
Great video and great video library on the game. Looking forward to the tutorials, as even after watching so many videos I am still struggling and find it very difficult.
It's missing many of the features you describe simply due to one thing I think. They will all be added for $10-$20 at a time! lol Thank you for a detailed view of what we have to look forward to, and work against, in this game. Even with it's starting faults, Vicky 3 will still be a time and money investment I look forward to making ASAP.
This is the most accurate and the fairest review so far. Victoria 3 is far from a bad game, it can be fixed for sure. This is nothing like Imperator at launch which needed major changes. Victoria 3 feels completely different from that experience. I don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong, just many bugs and weird quirks and UI problems. Well no, I think there's one thing that's fundamentally wrong and it's how heavy it relies on its own system. There's no scripted events and RNG seems almost non-existent apart from warfare. 99% of the peaceful game relies on maths and predictable results.
So honestly this is a game I should give about 6 months to a year? The mechanics look really awesome, but I can wait and I would much prefer to have a polished experience. I also somewhat despise the province system and their massive sizes (which the bordergore footage in this review demonstrated amply), so I hope to wait for a more granular overhaul mod. Overall, this review seems very fair and balanced!
We'll see if they drop the ball post-release like they did with CK3. Great start with it's first few updates, first expansion was very lacking for it's price and still feels half-baked. Both flavor packs were okay but they've since risen to unworthy prices.
The last two CK3 expansions have been some of the most flavorful and content rich DLCs ever made for a Paradox title, and they are definitely better than anything we got over the course of CK2's development cycle. Remember, it took *_6_* years to get proper crusading mechanics in CK2, and those came alongside the game's very last expansion. CK3 shipped with them, as well as an infinitely more detailed culture and religious system, as well as a much larger and more accurate map. If you don't like Royal Court, it's because you don't appreciate the role-playing potential it brought, which is strange as Crusader Kings _is_ an RPG series.
@@DovahFett i love the rpg element of the game but honestly royal court seems lacking in the court aspect. So much potential wasted. On the other hand, fate of iberia is a very good dlc for a flavor pack. Revolutionary struggle mechanic is trult something
Lower your production methodsin the baracks. Lower military spending. You can also lower the baracks levels (essentially deconstruction) to cut the cost completely. Some laws and having the military interest group happy will lower military equipment costs.
The politics are a little too easy. I got US slavery abolished in 1839 and ended segregation before 1850. It's fun to imagine but its not very believable. The unrecognized powers are more challenging. Victoria 2 made my eyes bleed, but this game is very accessible even though it's so complex. 20 hours in I think I know more about how the game works than I do from the 1000 hours I played Hearts of Iron 4.
On day 1 I wasn’t very fond of it. Playing the Chile Tutorial on normal diff was too easy. I became a powerhouse and ended as #6. Had 2 revolutions but they were struck down quickly. Gave it another chance yesterday and sent Chile the full communist anarchist route. It was very fun. Now with Russia. It’s very different Start because you have a really big agrarian powerbase but it’s harder to liberalise. Aside from the wacky military and all around ai and diplomacy, the economy is good enough to entertain imho. Edit: also something weird: as communist anarchist Chile I warred Brazil to change their government to be similar to mine. After winning they stayed the same absolutist empire as before, only changing slavery to forbidden and a few institutions.
Political system need a big rework. So many things that’s going wrong with it. For example in a game with France I had something that made me out of my rp so deep I wanted to reload the game: I had Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte leading the orleanist party… I assume it is because he is monarchist but how funny it was to watch him criticise the Bonapartist party… They need to work a bit harder on political history of main countries… in France there is no possibility to form the Second Empire with him. Furthermore, there is nothing in 1848 in Europe to simulate the springtime of the peoples. Revolutions appear only when we really want it so we have to destroy our country’s economy to make them happen… I also would like Paradox to create a DLC that deepens the political system with clear parliaments (with seats linked with regions political opinions) and clear gouvernements (Prime minister, most importantly if your country is a parliamentary monarchy). Anyway, political system is on my opinion the most broken thing of the game. I could also add the war/peace system: a shame that in a war Prussia invade Bavaria and with France I stand with Bavaria. Prussia beat Bavaria and annexed it and after that I kicked Prussian ass but Bavaria was not freed…
I feel like most paradox games, come out as unpolished gems that are vast vutr not very dense(by paradox standards not deep). As years go on it gets more and more content like eu4 or hoi4 and becomes a true gem
The game seems to be severely lacking in diplomacy and warfare. I know it's mainly an economy simulator, but if I wanted a game that only focuses on the internal affairs of a country, I would've played Democracy 4. Victoria 3 is supposed to be so much more than that. I also dislike the fact that there is no historical railroading at all. Africa always looks like a mess, same with the US, Japan, Italy and Germany. I HATE border gore, and Victoria 3 seems to have plenty of it. Anyway, with some patches and mods this game could be fantastic. It has a lot of potential, but that's it.
Two of the biggest issues that I have noticed people commenting on is the UI and its inability to properly work well without in-depth Victoria threes economy system is. Which the UI for Vicky 2 was far more manageable due to having so much more information in front of you. And the next thing I've seen is the war system. Lots of complaints about that.
I wouldn't care so much about the shallowness of the physical war system if what we got was at least consistent, which it patently isn't... THAT is a real issue.
I think one of my problems with game is UI looks like it was designed for a touch pad or play on console from the couch. Buttons and interface is comical big for PC. I would like to see a Small UI option that actually scales well. Since currently the option to scale is very wonky.
I feel like the game is 60% done, and a huge amount of content and details is missing from the game. Not to mention the balancing issues, and the AI doing very random stuff. The historical aspect of the game is also very elementary. The borders/provinces shapes of Europe is not even made historical accurate in 1848, which again reflect the lack of detail in terms of the historical aspect. These are all issues that can be fixed with time, so I agree that this is indeed a very Unpolished Gem. It has the possibility to be a great game after the devs put alot more work into it. It kinda reminds me of when Vic 2 was released and I first played it. Completely shit game on release but one of my favorite games of all times today. My first game in Vic 2 I played as Denmark, and after 5 years my entire population had migrated to Greenland xD 7.5/10 is very very genoures, I would give it 4 at best atm, and the possibility to reach 7.5 when the devs actually finish making the game. So for now the game is very bad, but I have high hopes that it will and can be great with time like many other Paradox games.
Fiddled with the game a bit today, and I agree quite a bit with this review. The main thing I have a hard time getting over is how most countries are already rolling. Political parties already exists, militaries are already in play, part of the tech tree is already researched, you already have a bunch of buildings. Not to say you don't make choices, or you can't start a beginner friendly game, Cape Colony is about as beginner friendly as it comes, it's just you are not starting from scratch and going down a tree, like so many strategy games, including paradox. You take a nation already developing, and decide where you want it to go next.
I think it's good though. In EU4 you'd start at an almost even level everywhere which is sort of weird because if magically Nepal fought Bohemia or sth they could win and idk if that would be the case irl. But besides that all non-european countries fall behind with tech because of the systems implemented in the game which results in more developed countries just ebign simply better. It works surprisingly well but I think for a game about imperialism and such it'd be silly if countries had the same tech - some countries are just stronger
@@tropicalfruit4571 Just to be clear, I don't think it's bad, it just takes a lot of adjusting, at least for me. Just so used to start at point A, get to point X. It does mean that each nation is it's own thing and situation, which is fun. Just a larger learning curve than I am used to.
Compared to Victoria 3, declaring war in Victoria 2 seems more easy, Victoria 3 is as confusing as Victoria 2, even that have some of the same mechanics like sphere of influence, instead of spreed sheets, Victoria 3 full the screen with numbers, influence, diplomacy, money, I had no idea how to rise the taxes or declare war even that the UI seems more simplified.
Every single Paradox game releases as a trial-version beta. You have to wait a couple years and buy the "full experience" with half a dozen DLCs before it really becomes a "full" game.
Victoria 3 is many things. After putting about 200 hours into the game, I want to give you a thorough review of its mechanics.
Do you agree or disagree with my conclusions?
just bought it. I'll let you know my opinion after i have 200h in it, which is in about 5 years :)
You nailed it
I think your 7.5 is a bit generous. I gave it a 5.5
Your words ring true - the numerical score you assign is very very very generous! Personally, feels like a 4 r/n, but I suspect it will turn into a 6 when i get more playtime
I am One Khar Dhos,
You are One Proud Bavarian,
but You might hear,
long before see
if I'm laughing out loud,
watching you play Victoria.
Your energy, attitude and vibe is marvelous, sir. 🤗
I'm excited for the first DLC: a little bird told me they will add a Market Room where you can look at all the merchants as they make deals - and it will only take 18 months to develop!
lmao
To be a paradox fan is to live in perpetual pain
@@diogoalbanez8953 I don't really understand why people hurt themselves like this. PDX is just doing their jobs. Getting all nerd rage isn't helping you
@@derekskelton4187 PDX should stop with producing hollow, unfinished and buggy basegames that only become fleshed out after months of post-launch development.
@@naam_loos Months? You mesn years right?
This is an excellent and very fair review. Everyone in the Victoria 3 team unquestionably *needs* to see this.
Unpolished on release really seems like an industry standard these days.
But CK3 felt quite polished upon release
its becoming a massive excuse for these companies, and their fanbase keep eating these excuses, because they gonna buy the dlcs anyway, absolute cuck
Dude have you played any other paradox games ck3 is like the only exception
Ck3 is only shallow if you power game. Eu4 and hoi4 are also shallow if you go by that mindset.
it's not unpolished it's really good
I think calling it an unpolished gem is the perfect description
Now time for PDX to cut it into a crown Jewel
@@sneedchuckington Piracy rocks
@@sneedchuckington I do not 💀
I got into paradox games around 2017, when Hoi was popping off
It's giving me the same vibes as EU4 when it launched. Paradox as a studio has grown so much since then, both the developers and the number of players playing their games, that people seem to forget how EU4 felt at launch compared to what it's been for the past few years. I mean, the old school colonization and base tax system was just pitiful compared to what it is now. Sure the current systems are imperfect, but at least they're not "Here's a static number, you can increase it by 1 with a building."
I think wanting any PDX game to be anything else is just foolish. They make something fun and expand on it. I honestly wouldn't want to play a PDX game that came out polished because I doubt it's gonna improve. But Reddit loves to hate
"how many troops a General brings to a battle"
I have spent 10 hours in this game, and I have not yet understood why my General with 60 mobilized battalions on a frontline facing an enemy general with 10 will only ever find himself in battles where my dude fields 6 battalions and the other dude fields 8. It seems *INCREDIBLY* arbitrary.
That’s why we NEED a micro system.
Maybe they are supposed to not "overstack"? Hard to tell but yeah it'd be nice to have more information about warfare. I for example had 2 fronts, 3 general and I was able to assign 2 generals which made me worried because that came down to 20vs36 then instead of 40vs36 (let's leave aside the face I had space marines and netherlands had no ammo) but then the 3rd general just assigned himself to the front? and then so did the 3rd one but just fucking why?
@@Kaiserboo1871 i dont need a micro system, I dont want a micro system. I want a screen that explains to me why is the fight happening as is, In a way that I understand it
@@FlodurT I think there should be a micro system purely for when mechanics break so the player can override it. Its kind of refreshing for a paradox game to not be so micro intensive with military.
@@roflocopter1337 I think it is easier to fix the mechanics than adding an optional micro system. But I also agree, and even expect that some more control over what happening will be added in the future.
Solid review, hopefully the devs see this so they can start focusing in on the issues. I really see this game growing into something special.
I think it's a shame how Paradox's business model works. A game comes out and only after years does it actually become feature-rich and worth playing thanks to DLC and mods. I'll probably pick this up, just in about 2 years.
If it wasn't like that, grand strategy games would not be made because their audience is too niche now.
@@dzello considering Vic3 is peaking around 70k players at launch. It's about time we stop using the "it's niche" excuse
@@ComeInToMadness Because Victoria 3 is cornering a huge portion of the niche grand strategy audience due to the fact it's the third iteration of the game. If someone was to release a huge game like Victoria 3 without the huge backlog of game Paradox has, they'd likely spend tons, get little returns and the game would fail.
Which, guess what, is what generally happens.
@@sneedchuckington It was released in 2012. Grand strategy was more popular back then. Grand strategy is becoming more niche every year as other genres become more popular like battle royale. It's why grand strategy games turned to a DLC model.
@@dzello not true at all, grand strategy is becoming more and more popular, there more and more high quality strategy games, in 2012 grand strategy games were small games with little budget, today we can see big games like Vic 3 with realy good graphics and a big budget, also no one likes battle royal anymore
Instead of an unpolished gem, I prefer to call it an uncut jewel. The problem is it will be another 500 years before humanity invents faceting!
Really great points on this review! Excited for everyone to finally get to play Vic3 and I have faith paradox can make this from a great economic and political game to a great all round game!
I'm about 5 hours into Vic 3, I just wish there was a simple production screen like Vic 2 where I can see everything product available on the screen, every product I produce, every product my country needs and all that other crap
Doesn't market kinda do that? It's definitely clearer when you have a small customs union but when you're in a larger union then you base your needs off of the market don't you? I could be wrong, I'm making a pwoerhouse out of the fake country Belgium but I honestly don't know how...
@@tropicalfruit4571 indeed, that is what the market screen is for. The buy orders tell you how much demand there is for a good in your market and sell orders tell you the supply in your market. If buy orders exceed sell orders, then the price of a good goes up. If the opposite is true, the price goes down.
@@tropicalfruit4571 Its about seeing the information at a glance. In Vic3, I need to do a lot scrolling and clicking to see what's happening in my market. While in Vic2, all that information is present on the trade tab at a glance. You can see supply, demand, and a colored arrow reflecting the price trend.
Honestly, even though warfare seems to suck at it's current state, I'm glad that Paradox tried something else with it. I feel like it has tons of potential to be way more fun than the hoi4/vic2/eu4 warfare system, all we need to do is hope that Paradox fixes the bugs and polishes it as well as the game more.
Especially if you've played Victoria 2. It's the worst version of EU4/CK2 style warfare. When you consider this period historically with long years of peace between major powers due to balance of power and many smaller military maneuvers overseas, this system feels way more accurate to the time period too...when it works.
@@TheSpecialJ11 ... "when it works". THAT is the key issue for me holding off purchasing right now.
@@TheSpecialJ11 the peacefulness of the era Is extremely exaggerated but nonetheless the war system seems to have a very flaccid base, remember we are stretching into both WW1 and the interwar period both times of constant violence and warfare
The Franco Prussian war was in the 1870s
As a veteran pdx games player I agree with your review 100%. There is one thing that really keeps me optimistic about the game and it’s the feeling I have when playing it. It gives you a real sense of immersion in the Victorian age. I am going to spend hours on it like I did when EUIV came out.
Out of all reviews I've heard, I trust yours the most.
Really appreciate your take OPB.
I shall be waiting this one out for a good bit of time.
Looking forward to more CK3 content from you. Including the LP.
This review was very helpful and detailed. Paradox should have your unbiased council on board for future games/dlc as it would be a great help for the quality of these games
Something also needs to be done about the way in which provinces are acquired by AI after wars. For example Mexico in my gameplays usually ends up with a random state in the mid-west surrounded by the US on all sides.
Egypt normally takes Constantinople and another random Anatolian province completely ignoring a natural expansion into Ottoman controlled Middle-East and Anatolia.
I just want to say that I’m so glad I found your channel all the way back when crusader kings 3 was being developed. You have become the number one objective source of information pertaining to paradox in my eyes.
Keep up the good work!
Every paradox game seems like unpolished gems
Until the 15thd expansion of course
And we will gobble it up because paradox is the only supplier of the drug we need.. 👌
They learned at some point of Hoi4's lifespan that the modders will just finish the game for them for free. They're leaning on the modding community even harder these days
@@luanandreas Not the EU4 and Stellaris teams, at least not as much as the others.
More like unpolished shit. Although eu4 is awesome and ck3 is a guilty pleasure.
i understand none of this, but your commentary and the style of this video is so goddamn engaging that I just cant pause
Great review. Even as a hardcore paradox gamer with thousands of hours I will wait this one out a little bit. Rome burned me too hard, and the CK3 drought is still making my throat thirsty.
For my pocket the price is a bit steep, so I at least don't need to be in such a hurry. But I hope to play the game in an even better state and quality than it is. It is a very promising game, that is what a gem is, polished or not, a lot of potential.
I can't wait to make the Soviet Union come sooner, and stronger. Who knows if the czar family will get-off easily this time around.
A communist whose #1 priority for rule is murder. Go figure.
You've captured my experience for sure. The warfare bugs! I ended up fighting a triple alliance in an overseas war, each target capitulated one by one, and every time all my generals moved back to home HQ. Your videos have been super helpful in teaching me where to look for the information that really matters, thank you.
An honest and well informed review, now this is what we truly need, an honest and constructive criticism to make this game even better. Props to OPB.
All I need is great military gameplay added and I’ll buy I if it was $100
My other issue is that wars are extremely unpredictable. Going after a single german minor which doesn't have allies while playing as prussia often causes half of the european majors to intervene and cause a 20 year stalemate of a war. Also, certain nations have way too high an army count and others have way too low. Russia has comparable troop counts to the other majors, when in reality it should have a lot more. Austria has wayy too many troops, which makes forming germany really difficult. When at war troop counts are also a poor way to decide wars. I've had fronts where the advantage is supposedly 50% but my troops are still constantly losing battles and not doing anything. Other times the enemies would have half the troops that I do and the advantage would still be close to 0%. It makes going to war impossible.
Thank you so much, it's hard to find reviewers who actually spent enough time to evaluate a game of this genre.
Victoria 3 is a game of trying to figure out why everything is falling apart and becoming unproductive while having no actual clue of your own goods production and how much is being used or needed by your industry.
Honestly, HOI4 has the best UI in showing, very plainly, the resources you extract, how much is going for exports, and the amount you have for personal use. The production tab will then show how much of a resource you have available after being allocated and how much you are missing and will need to import. There's also the whole logistics tab showing your stockpiles, how much of it is missing and being used up, and how long it will take to replenish under current production.
Fiddling with the production methods in Vic 3 can be fun in seeing progress until you realize that you will have to constantly check over each tiny selection to see if you can provide the input or not (doesn't tell you how much you are missing overall or need to import either). The profit predictions being so erratic and unreliable doesn't help much either. It's difficult to know what to build exactly while you are nose diving into bankruptcy and all that the tutorial suggests is that you should fix your unhealthy economy. Such useful information.
The game brings depth to the system without any legible feedback. Too much tedious production observations and tweaking. Resource extraction and production is incredibly vague.
I'd likely be able to try out the war system more if everything wasn't so unintuitive.
Excellent review. Balanced highlighting the pros and cons. I am not surprised that the game has issues due to the complexity of it and I believe that these issues will be handled both through patches, and most likely in paradoxes case, dlcs.
I have always tended to be an optimist when it comes to products by companies like Paradox, I always hope and pray for a game to be good and never understood the people that hope for a games complete failure... It really gets hard to like a quality product when the quality product is locked behind a mid 50 dollar base game and 100+ dollar dlc.
Thanks OPB, didn’t think I was going to buy but I’m pretty certain now. Good review as always.
I fully agree with the criticisms you listed. I do want to ask, does anyone else highly dislike the fact that economic migration also doesn't happen cross markets? To me it feels unrealistic to base it off of turmoil alone; just look at countries like Argentina or the US. They were lands of opportunity at the time, they didn't just receive people due to turmoil, but also because they were more attractive to live in economically.
Exquisite Review!
Difficult accesibility into vital information such as pop needs, available workforce numbers in the state, analytical understanding on why pops are radicalized, quick view on other markets, understanding on how attitude of countries changes and why etc. are so upsetting..
On the other side when things start to click after you understand the systems it is a very satisfying game. I also like the many different journal entries and decisions that provide quite a goal to the otherwise sandbox experience.
Completely agree that the economic system is the best in any game and i especially like the comparison with Anno 1800 and that it is even more tied to all the other systems.
Finally WAR critique is also 100% on point.
I trully believe that if you dont spend at least 100-150h with the game, you cant really judge it fairly.. (especially if you play a Vic game for the first time).
I understand what they were trying to do with the military in the game, trying to bridge the gap in military thinking between the Napoleonic Wars and World War 1, but this was not the way of going about that, it's a shame that the overtly simple military gameplay lets down the otherwise fantastic economic and social gameplay of Victoria 3.
I really think One Proud Bavarian's crackpot continued suggestions for micro without micro were perfect
Honestly I think if One Proud Bavarian was made lead developer the game would have literally been perfect, he has no ideas I disagree with at all
@@oracle372 no
I'm still a newbie, having put only 19 hours into the game, but so far I agree with you completely. I think the biggest problems are the difficulty of finding pop information, the lack of diplomatic options, and some stupidity in the AI. I'm sure Paradox is aware of these issues, since they're so obvious, so hopefully we'll see some fixes soon.
I really agree with you, even when I ABSOLUTELY love the game, some information is really difficult to access to, needing over 10 hours of playing to understand how it works and where to access it.
i lost it @13:43 Better ingredients, better pizza, better money, their clothes are better... Quality sir...quality
Vicky 4 when?
Some of this could have been avoided if people had taken the feedback from the leaked build seriously. Most of the major problems the game currently has existed back then as well.
Very comprehensive and informative review. I'm sure this game was incredibly complicated to make and try to balance, I'm sure it will improve with patches as time goes on.
Unpolished is one way to put it lmao
As an unanimously beloved girl once said: How dare you??? *sourface*
I'll wait for the eventual gamepass release. Heard enough to affirm my expectations of vicky3. Yet another rough game with missing obvious features that made the predecessor great. By the time the game is a polished gem I may have won the lottery to afford all the DLCs too.
@@sneedchuckington made my day
Classic Paradox. Release a product on the edge of being minimally viable and fix it in 15 DLCs.
i’d rather have control of armies then the shit we got
I think think this review is very fair to the game as it stands!
I've been greatly enjoying the complexity of politics and economy and the amount of choice you are given to influence that over the game.
This game has a lot of good potential on top of an already compelling base launch. I just hope the devs get the feedback they need to make the game stay true to the vision while also much better for the players
I agree with every single point here. Although I would also it’s super fun in spite of these flaws. My friends and I have been powering through desyncs (and already finding ways to fix them like going through the end of the month) and we will take the time to troubleshoot these issues because we’re having so much fun playing.
I just don't want this game to get Impartor: Romed
I feel like the unpolished parts will be DLC later on, seeing as this is a Paradox game
An unpolished gem can't be sold for 50€.
Accepting a sequel which lacks parts from its predecessor and hoping for a future DLC and immediately stating "I'll surely buy it" is ruining the overall gaming industry.
For this price, people SHOULD EXPECT MORE.
One thing is delivering a sequel on parallel with its prequel and adding DLCs to support it.
The other thing is delivering an empty (or shallow) game and sell its omissions because "people will surely buy them anyway".
Fantastic review. Vicky 3 looks like Crusader Kings 3 - fantastic, invitive, and beautiful groundwork for a game, but 5-deep nesed menus and the weird interplay of mechanics and systems in some areas really hold it back. I haven't kept with CK3 (too many games to play) but knowing paradox, vicky 3 will be fixed and made great over 2 years with $120 worth of dlc
Yeah... I'll wait a year or two methinks.
it's really good. only problem for me is the map but other than this it's realy good
@@comediavietii1245 the map?
I get that the profit-based-large-company condition pushes PDX to live off of permanent income from consumers (i.e., DLCs), especially since this is industry standard for such a capital size, but I also can't take away from them the fact that they have built the most complex industrial simulation to date, and that the long work-in-progress, improve-from-feedback cycle is the best way to create a wonderfull ecosystem of replayability
It’s a paradox game so it could be good to wait and just let them fix the bugs, order improvements. Most paradox games get updated systems over time, new features
From watching all the Dev Diaries since the announcement I knew this game was basically going to launch in Beta. Fairly, some people aren't going to like that but I don't really see how they could have refined the systems without years of play testing. I would rather they take a few swings to see what hits to possibly find something new then just releasing the same game with better graphics. As long as my computer can run it I will give it a chance. If you play the game and think you have an idea to improve it, go put it on the forums because more than any other Paradox game they will want feedback on what works and what doesn't.
Sorry, but like, I get your point, but even basic things like the berlin conference, or specific contries flavor, like bismark feels like a side character; the game has so many flaws in every areas that there is no "forum" talk that will put this game back on track, and worse, they will sell the "solutions", which is just another word for scam
@@Fafuncho I know people don't like Paradox's DLC method but the alternative is updates every 12 to 18 months with no community interaction except for the 2 months before the expansion. That's what I've seen ever other strategy game do. I like that Paradox games constantly reinventing themselves over the years instead to 2 expansion and the sequel.
@@Fafuncho also if you wait, the base games go on deep sale and the DLCs are half off nearly every sell.
A Beta is a phase that still needs polishing. Not something that lacks a shit ton of features to feel complete.
@@davidunderwood9728 i like that they reinvent themselves too, but having 1848 revolutions absent from the game about the 19th century is just lazy. why do these nations have no flavour? why does oyo in africa have the same technology as russia at the start of the game? at a certain point it goes from dlc stuff to negligent
A vic 3 video with a vic 3 ad...
Perfection...
7.5 is the same score I would give Victoria 3 as of now.
would you recommend it or wait
@@Deadsmegma Wait. Definitely wait.
I'm really interested in seeing what tutorial you played.
Purchase? I’m trying to make a decision on if it’s worth to pirate it now, or wait for patches
It’s not worth the space on your hard drive or the time downloading it. Worst paradox game I have ever played and it’s not even close.
Cringe piraters you guys dont deserve anything
I completely agree but still despite the need for refinement I’m having more fun with Vic3 than almost any game I can think of in the last few years. It’s absurdly engrossing and addictive.
Good balanced review. Best one out there. All of the others I have seen do not talk at all about the issues with the game.
All I know is that I’m having fun. The economic experience pulls you in every direction and you have to make choices and probably won’t have everything. I wish the political and diplomatic systems were the same, not everything on the table. This would also help make revolutions more viable as a way to shake things up.
Great video and great video library on the game. Looking forward to the tutorials, as even after watching so many videos I am still struggling and find it very difficult.
Victoria 3, the redditor game and idle game champion of 2022, wow. Paradox making idle games now. Amazing
Thank you for the unbiased and excellent review… as a massive fan i know now to wait for a patch before i want to purchase the game
It's missing many of the features you describe simply due to one thing I think. They will all be added for $10-$20 at a time! lol Thank you for a detailed view of what we have to look forward to, and work against, in this game. Even with it's starting faults, Vicky 3 will still be a time and money investment I look forward to making ASAP.
It sounds like a future DLC-monster. Got no money for that
Tutorial? Hell will freeze over before I play a tutorial in a paradox game.
Can't wait to buy it on a sale and Cream Api the DLCs but for now full pirate mode.
The culture map oh my lord
This is the most accurate and the fairest review so far.
Victoria 3 is far from a bad game, it can be fixed for sure. This is nothing like Imperator at launch which needed major changes. Victoria 3 feels completely different from that experience. I don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong, just many bugs and weird quirks and UI problems.
Well no, I think there's one thing that's fundamentally wrong and it's how heavy it relies on its own system. There's no scripted events and RNG seems almost non-existent apart from warfare. 99% of the peaceful game relies on maths and predictable results.
Excellent and very fair review in depth yet concise as well, I think 7.5 is fair I see this game becoming much better with future updates and dlc.
Moin! Thank you very much for your review! It helped me with my decision to buy it or to wait a bit longer. Very much appreciated!
So honestly this is a game I should give about 6 months to a year? The mechanics look really awesome, but I can wait and I would much prefer to have a polished experience. I also somewhat despise the province system and their massive sizes (which the bordergore footage in this review demonstrated amply), so I hope to wait for a more granular overhaul mod. Overall, this review seems very fair and balanced!
We'll see if they drop the ball post-release like they did with CK3. Great start with it's first few updates, first expansion was very lacking for it's price and still feels half-baked. Both flavor packs were okay but they've since risen to unworthy prices.
The last two CK3 expansions have been some of the most flavorful and content rich DLCs ever made for a Paradox title, and they are definitely better than anything we got over the course of CK2's development cycle. Remember, it took *_6_* years to get proper crusading mechanics in CK2, and those came alongside the game's very last expansion. CK3 shipped with them, as well as an infinitely more detailed culture and religious system, as well as a much larger and more accurate map.
If you don't like Royal Court, it's because you don't appreciate the role-playing potential it brought, which is strange as Crusader Kings _is_ an RPG series.
@@DovahFett i love the rpg element of the game but honestly royal court seems lacking in the court aspect. So much potential wasted. On the other hand, fate of iberia is a very good dlc for a flavor pack. Revolutionary struggle mechanic is trult something
@@DovahFett dude ck3 crusaders literally do not work..
how can I disable or delete barracks, because they are eating my economy so damm fast
Lower your production methodsin the baracks. Lower military spending. You can also lower the baracks levels (essentially deconstruction) to cut the cost completely. Some laws and having the military interest group happy will lower military equipment costs.
The politics are a little too easy. I got US slavery abolished in 1839 and ended segregation before 1850. It's fun to imagine but its not very believable. The unrecognized powers are more challenging. Victoria 2 made my eyes bleed, but this game is very accessible even though it's so complex. 20 hours in I think I know more about how the game works than I do from the 1000 hours I played Hearts of Iron 4.
On day 1 I wasn’t very fond of it. Playing the Chile Tutorial on normal diff was too easy. I became a powerhouse and ended as #6. Had 2 revolutions but they were struck down quickly.
Gave it another chance yesterday and sent Chile the full communist anarchist route. It was very fun.
Now with Russia. It’s very different Start because you have a really big agrarian powerbase but it’s harder to liberalise. Aside from the wacky military and all around ai and diplomacy, the economy is good enough to entertain imho.
Edit: also something weird: as communist anarchist Chile I warred Brazil to change their government to be similar to mine. After winning they stayed the same absolutist empire as before, only changing slavery to forbidden and a few institutions.
Political system need a big rework. So many things that’s going wrong with it. For example in a game with France I had something that made me out of my rp so deep I wanted to reload the game: I had Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte leading the orleanist party… I assume it is because he is monarchist but how funny it was to watch him criticise the Bonapartist party…
They need to work a bit harder on political history of main countries… in France there is no possibility to form the Second Empire with him.
Furthermore, there is nothing in 1848 in Europe to simulate the springtime of the peoples.
Revolutions appear only when we really want it so we have to destroy our country’s economy to make them happen…
I also would like Paradox to create a DLC that deepens the political system with clear parliaments (with seats linked with regions political opinions) and clear gouvernements (Prime minister, most importantly if your country is a parliamentary monarchy).
Anyway, political system is on my opinion the most broken thing of the game.
I could also add the war/peace system: a shame that in a war Prussia invade Bavaria and with France I stand with Bavaria. Prussia beat Bavaria and annexed it and after that I kicked Prussian ass but Bavaria was not freed…
seems that ck3 is the only paradox game released in a long time that was refined upon release.
I'm enjoying Vic3 thus far. Agreed, it needs refinement.
what a well written review. i gotta check this one out
I have a sneaking suspicion that the answer to "why cant I do X" is because it will be sold to you as DLC later on :)
so original
@@sunnyjim1355 It wouldn't be a point raised so frequently if paradox didn't do it with every new release.
I feel like most paradox games, come out as unpolished gems that are vast vutr not very dense(by paradox standards not deep). As years go on it gets more and more content like eu4 or hoi4 and becomes a true gem
unpolished gem by design. PDX will polish it up with $100s of DLC. But modders will make it truly good
The game seems to be severely lacking in diplomacy and warfare. I know it's mainly an economy simulator, but if I wanted a game that only focuses on the internal affairs of a country, I would've played Democracy 4. Victoria 3 is supposed to be so much more than that.
I also dislike the fact that there is no historical railroading at all. Africa always looks like a mess, same with the US, Japan, Italy and Germany. I HATE border gore, and Victoria 3 seems to have plenty of it.
Anyway, with some patches and mods this game could be fantastic. It has a lot of potential, but that's it.
Bought it 2 hours ago but haven’t been able to launch due to a Launcher error
bargain
I love victoria 2, and despite vic 3's problems, I'd really like to see it reach a higher level
Two of the biggest issues that I have noticed people commenting on is the UI and its inability to properly work well without in-depth Victoria threes economy system is. Which the UI for Vicky 2 was far more manageable due to having so much more information in front of you. And the next thing I've seen is the war system. Lots of complaints about that.
I don’t care what others say, the lack of the war system is making me sad 😭
I wouldn't care so much about the shallowness of the physical war system if what we got was at least consistent, which it patently isn't... THAT is a real issue.
don't worry they will sell it to you for 30 dollars later on down the road.
I really like your review style. Would be interested in seeing you review other games (maybe starting with Anno 1800)?
Perfect description. Definitely needs some polish but a good foundation.
make my purchase? ill just pirate it instead
I think one of my problems with game is UI looks like it was designed for a touch pad or play on console from the couch. Buttons and interface is comical big for PC. I would like to see a Small UI option that actually scales well. Since currently the option to scale is very wonky.
My issue is that I have the recommended specs, but the game doesn't run as well as I would like.
I feel like the game is 60% done, and a huge amount of content and details is missing from the game. Not to mention the balancing issues, and the AI doing very random stuff. The historical aspect of the game is also very elementary. The borders/provinces shapes of Europe is not even made historical accurate in 1848, which again reflect the lack of detail in terms of the historical aspect. These are all issues that can be fixed with time, so I agree that this is indeed a very Unpolished Gem. It has the possibility to be a great game after the devs put alot more work into it.
It kinda reminds me of when Vic 2 was released and I first played it. Completely shit game on release but one of my favorite games of all times today. My first game in Vic 2 I played as Denmark, and after 5 years my entire population had migrated to Greenland xD
7.5/10 is very very genoures, I would give it 4 at best atm, and the possibility to reach 7.5 when the devs actually finish making the game.
So for now the game is very bad, but I have high hopes that it will and can be great with time like many other Paradox games.
imma purchase it after 10+ DLCs available
Typical Paradox games need 10+ DLCs to be properly enjoyable
I might get this game. But I'll probably wait for a sale first
Fiddled with the game a bit today, and I agree quite a bit with this review. The main thing I have a hard time getting over is how most countries are already rolling. Political parties already exists, militaries are already in play, part of the tech tree is already researched, you already have a bunch of buildings. Not to say you don't make choices, or you can't start a beginner friendly game, Cape Colony is about as beginner friendly as it comes, it's just you are not starting from scratch and going down a tree, like so many strategy games, including paradox. You take a nation already developing, and decide where you want it to go next.
I think it's good though. In EU4 you'd start at an almost even level everywhere which is sort of weird because if magically Nepal fought Bohemia or sth they could win and idk if that would be the case irl. But besides that all non-european countries fall behind with tech because of the systems implemented in the game which results in more developed countries just ebign simply better. It works surprisingly well but I think for a game about imperialism and such it'd be silly if countries had the same tech - some countries are just stronger
@@tropicalfruit4571 Just to be clear, I don't think it's bad, it just takes a lot of adjusting, at least for me. Just so used to start at point A, get to point X. It does mean that each nation is it's own thing and situation, which is fun. Just a larger learning curve than I am used to.
Compared to Victoria 3, declaring war in Victoria 2 seems more easy, Victoria 3 is as confusing as Victoria 2, even that have some of the same mechanics like sphere of influence, instead of spreed sheets, Victoria 3 full the screen with numbers, influence, diplomacy, money, I had no idea how to rise the taxes or declare war even that the UI seems more simplified.
This is a really excellent review
Every single Paradox game releases as a trial-version beta. You have to wait a couple years and buy the "full experience" with half a dozen DLCs before it really becomes a "full" game.
5:54 Historically accurate (Irish Potato Famine) 😅