After 7 years and a couple hundred pounds worth of DLC CK2 is getting a sequel. The aesthetic changes are ok, 3D models so modders are going to have a field day. The only game play change obvious...
After 7 years and a couple hundred pounds worth of DLC CK2 is getting a sequel. The aesthetic changes are ok, 3D models so modders are going to have a field day. The only game play change obvious from the screenshots is the skill tree which is interesting change from CK2 in which skills were fairly random.
It's going to be hard to follow CK2. It's fleshed out so much, often in uneven and battered way, that i find it hard to see how they will give a similarly complete release for CK3 that will make older fans want to make the jump.
This more a niggling worry but the announcement trailer having infanticide in makes me think they are going to "embrace the meme" like they did in with a bunch of CK2 DLC where they focused on stuff that popular on reddit (incest, horsememes, magic/fantasy etc.) and not on strategy or roleplay depth.
Not sure if this should be in its own thread but there has been a recent post on the atmosphere within Paradox for employees and specifically QA. Could just be a couple of disgruntled employees...
Not sure if this should be in its own thread but there has been a recent post on the atmosphere within Paradox for employees and specifically QA. Could just be a couple of disgruntled employees using PDXcon and CK3 announcement to get more eyes to the issue but it would certainly explain the issues in the games at release.
The following is a copy/paste of a thread that was closed with no reason given started by cac579, since no actual contravention of the forum rules took place from what i can discern (no reason was given as to why it was locked.). I felt it appropriate to repost the thread, I feel this sort of information should be available to any potential customers when deciding to purchase a Paradox game.
I looked through this and I was very surprised (PR strikes again). This also explains why the major titles are very unpolished with a lot of bugs. I have thought, along with other people, that Paradox's games don't have as much staff as they should have and the games are hurting as a result. It also makes a lot of sense why the games are still fun and enjoyable even if the games aren't polished (creativity and passion). And since now it looks like Paradox ain't hiding anymore with the release of their blatant cash grab mobile game (pulled back because of bad QA) this needs attention.
Some of the issues noted in these anonymous posts is that:
Paradox offers very low wages despite the financial growth of the company and exploits developer’s passion about the game.
A current employee writes:“Paradox, and particularly PDS, have very low wages compared to other game devs/publishers in Stockholm 5-15k pm lower depending on position”
Another currently employee confirms:
"Paradox feels your passion is enough to compensate for your low pay, and that it is a privilege to work for them.”
Quality Assurance is all over the place. QA testers are often mistreated, blamed, ignored and fired without noticed:
A current employee writes: “They are overworked, with most doing the workload of two people. Their reports and quality verdicts are regularly ignored (ever wondered why most products launch with major issues? this is why). On top of all that, they are regularly disrespected, lied to and blamed for problems. When any of these issues are pointed out to anyone higher up, QA are told that actually all the problems are caused by their “attitude" or “toxicity".”
Another current employee writes:
"In 2019, Paradox fired all of Publishing QA. We were saddened by the news but understood the decision. However, there was no public or internal announcement of this because management didn't deem it "necessary" to inform the company, or the public, that this had happened. I found out my co-workers had been fired over facebook, it's absurd. Over the next few weeks, they were pushed out the door as fast as possible and with minimum effort/expense. This led to a lot of confusion, for example product owners coming to the Studio QA to ask where the Publishing QA were, then being informed that they had all been fired weeks ago.”
Favoritism and allegations of sexual misconduct:
A current employee writes: “There have been multiple reports of sexual misconduct at the company over the last two years. The ones that were reported have not been handled well at all. With many of them remaining in their positions or power/management over the individuals who reported them. Or even getting promoted “out of the way”.”
I hope these issues can be addressed but not with BS PR.
I wonder if it'll be good. For the last year or so, it feels that every time I pick up CK2 I spend the majority of my time manually selecting my children's educational directions. Literally more...
I wonder if it'll be good. For the last year or so, it feels that every time I pick up CK2 I spend the majority of my time manually selecting my children's educational directions. Literally more of my attention is spent on this thing that could be entirely automated (and was, before the mod that fixed it broke on update) than on any other more interesting task. The cruft that had built up, the small and meaningless distractions, it all just dragged down my joy in playing. I want to play as Gengis Khan, but I start that game, I look at literally 25 children to decide how to educate and I just uninstall CK2 again.
If you think that that one person is appropriate to tutor all of your children regardless of aptitude, yes. It won't get the best results. IMO, If the game is set up so that optimal play is unfun,...
If you think that that one person is appropriate to tutor all of your children regardless of aptitude, yes. It won't get the best results.
IMO, If the game is set up so that optimal play is unfun, something is wrong. That is true of so many of CK2's (really, basically all of PDX's games) subsystems, and I say this as someone who has an embarrassing number of hours logged across their games. The core loop of grow, conquer, grow is so good, and the stuff surrounding it is so variable.
I think dealing with the time trade off instead of trying to overoptimize is part of the deal. I tend not to care about anyone’s development beyond just having an heir and a spare and just making...
I think dealing with the time trade off instead of trying to overoptimize is part of the deal. I tend not to care about anyone’s development beyond just having an heir and a spare and just making sure I have enough qualified people on council/commander posts.
There is a lot of stuff that could benefit from just letting you set up simple rules and heuristics, you’re right on that. But it hasn’t been a huge hit to the fun factor for me moreso that things like the game being frightfully boring if you have to play as a child for a while or how little control you have over fulfilling certain key ambitions, like assassination, where you basically have to just sit there until it randomly fires.
Maybe that lack of moment-to-moment interest is at the core of my frustration as well. It's not like there are truly that many occasions to choose a child's education and educator, but in a world...
Maybe that lack of moment-to-moment interest is at the core of my frustration as well. It's not like there are truly that many occasions to choose a child's education and educator, but in a world that's otherwise lacking it comes to the fore as the main thing I have any agency around.
My knee-jerk reaction to this was that we don't need a sequel to ck2 because what could it possibly bring but having sat down and read some stuff about it I'm cautiously looking forward to ck3 now!
My knee-jerk reaction to this was that we don't need a sequel to ck2 because what could it possibly bring but having sat down and read some stuff about it I'm cautiously looking forward to ck3 now!
Some screenshots via /r/crusaderkings and /u/]lrrel
https://imgur.com/DZYWaUO
https://imgur.com/asvLIkX
https://imgur.com/VqBZNnJ
Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1158310/Crusader_Kings_III/
E: Ten things we know about CK3 from RPS
E2: Vision statement from Henrik Fåhraeus (Game Director)
After 7 years and a couple hundred pounds worth of DLC CK2 is getting a sequel. The aesthetic changes are ok, 3D models so modders are going to have a field day. The only game play change obvious from the screenshots is the skill tree which is interesting change from CK2 in which skills were fairly random.
It's going to be hard to follow CK2. It's fleshed out so much, often in uneven and battered way, that i find it hard to see how they will give a similarly complete release for CK3 that will make older fans want to make the jump.
This more a niggling worry but the announcement trailer having infanticide in makes me think they are going to "embrace the meme" like they did in with a bunch of CK2 DLC where they focused on stuff that popular on reddit (incest, horsememes, magic/fantasy etc.) and not on strategy or roleplay depth.
Not sure if this should be in its own thread but there has been a recent post on the atmosphere within Paradox for employees and specifically QA. Could just be a couple of disgruntled employees using PDXcon and CK3 announcement to get more eyes to the issue but it would certainly explain the issues in the games at release.
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/buyer-beware-potential-qa-issues-at-paradox-may-affect-the-quality-of-ck3.1262056/
I wonder if it'll be good. For the last year or so, it feels that every time I pick up CK2 I spend the majority of my time manually selecting my children's educational directions. Literally more of my attention is spent on this thing that could be entirely automated (and was, before the mod that fixed it broke on update) than on any other more interesting task. The cruft that had built up, the small and meaningless distractions, it all just dragged down my joy in playing. I want to play as Gengis Khan, but I start that game, I look at literally 25 children to decide how to educate and I just uninstall CK2 again.
Can’t you just designate a court tutor and have them handle it?
If you think that that one person is appropriate to tutor all of your children regardless of aptitude, yes. It won't get the best results.
IMO, If the game is set up so that optimal play is unfun, something is wrong. That is true of so many of CK2's (really, basically all of PDX's games) subsystems, and I say this as someone who has an embarrassing number of hours logged across their games. The core loop of grow, conquer, grow is so good, and the stuff surrounding it is so variable.
I think dealing with the time trade off instead of trying to overoptimize is part of the deal. I tend not to care about anyone’s development beyond just having an heir and a spare and just making sure I have enough qualified people on council/commander posts.
There is a lot of stuff that could benefit from just letting you set up simple rules and heuristics, you’re right on that. But it hasn’t been a huge hit to the fun factor for me moreso that things like the game being frightfully boring if you have to play as a child for a while or how little control you have over fulfilling certain key ambitions, like assassination, where you basically have to just sit there until it randomly fires.
Maybe that lack of moment-to-moment interest is at the core of my frustration as well. It's not like there are truly that many occasions to choose a child's education and educator, but in a world that's otherwise lacking it comes to the fore as the main thing I have any agency around.
That’s probably the main thing. Unless you’re able to constantly be fighting wars there just isn’t much to do.
My knee-jerk reaction to this was that we don't need a sequel to ck2 because what could it possibly bring but having sat down and read some stuff about it I'm cautiously looking forward to ck3 now!
Short Reign -15
State Diplomacy +20