Europa Universalis I, II or III?

[Witchblade]

Sorry to be such a pain today, but I've hit a sale at the local gaming store.

I need to know which would be the best Europa Universalis buy. (Prices are similar)

 

[sheek]

I would say EU2 because I was very disappointed with EU3 (horrible micromanagement, boring mess) and think I had a better experience with EU2 but don't remember how it differed.

Also for EU3 it's not supposed to reach it's full 'potential' until you buy the two expansions (doubling the cost of the game), so if what's on sale is just the original take that into account. I think the EU2 expansion was completely optional.

 

[Witchblade]

Hey, thanks- you know what I think I shld do in that case? :twisted: I think I shld get Crown of the North, as it apparently includes the EU OC as well... :D

 

[Spectacle]

Get EU3 and the In Nomine expansion, it's like a whole new game, and fixes most of the annoyances in EU3.

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

I bought Europa Universalis 3 complete for 24€, and I think it has been well worth it. There's not really anything in EU2 that would make me play it instead, it just has less stuff to do and less player control.

Don't play EU3 without the add-ons, though. That's waste of time. And if you get it, install the hand-drawn map mod because the original graphics are horrible.

 

[Trash]

EU3 is best with the two expansions and particulary the 'in nomine' one. Especially as the AI has become quite good and a lot of fun features have been added or tweaked to perfection.

While we can all bitch on Paradox's insistence to charge money for patches and call them expansions, I'm sure we can all cheer them on for not having any DRM or copy protection whatsoever. *hint hint*

 

[Witchblade]

Hmmm. I was actually set on buying the EU 3 OC, before I read what Sheek said, because EU 3 actually got very good reviews for a change.. (not that that is anything to go by )

Now I need to find out how much the EU3 expansions cost. But you guys have convinced me,- thanks

Oh, and the no DRM is most definitely a plus point! Perhaps they thought anyone geeky enough to play this kind of strategy isn't realy the rum-swillin kind..

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

EU3 complete is £17.99 at play.com. Dunno if it's cheaper somewhere else.

 

[Witchblade]

Thanks. I doubt it will be cheaper at my store - I called them and the "complete" edition, seems to be double the price of the OC alone. I'll check it out online, and see how much only the one expansion will come to. But the price you quoted there seems pretty good, so perhaps best to go for that then, -I'll check it out, thank you.

 

[thesheeep]

Not very cheap, yeah, but I'd always go with EUIII + both Addons + Magna Mundi Platinum mod.

Oh, and one of those nice map-mods, that make the thing look beautiful ;D

 

[Tigranes]

From my experiences, EU2. I only played EU3 before the expansions, and it was slow (the fastest speed is limtied by your CPU power), uglier than before, and with not much in the way of improvement.

So EU3 complete, or EU2, IMO.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

You have two choices;

EU2 by itself is excellent.

EU3 with both expansions is perhaps slightly better.

 

[Witchblade]

In the end, I think I'm going with EU 2, partly because the EU3 Complete is a lot more expensive than just the OC, and not part of the sale I was looking at.

Reason two is, that I like the fact that EU2 is apparently historically more accurate than EU 3.

Thanks, people.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Patch whichever game you choose. Don't forget.

Eventually you should buy EU3 complete. It really is a step up from EU2. While it is not as historically accurate from an entrenched sense, it allows just about any country to 'trigger' historic events providing that the criteria is met. It also has lots of other fun options that present themselves. But for now, enjoy a game that I wasted countless hours with, as EU2 patched up is quite an excellent game.

 

[Erzherzog]

They're both great fun, letting you take one nation out of the huge collection of states, and seeing how comes with.

One thing weirds me out lately, the fact that the last 3 or so times I've played, Bohemia became a powerhouse.

 

[Serus]

One thing weirds me out lately, the fact that the last 3 or so times I've played, Bohemia became a powerhouse.

In 1399 Bohemia start as HR Emperor, they get in a lot of wars because of this. Sometimes they win.

EU3 with both expansions.
Imho EU2 is the worst of the 3 games because of the "historical" events. Many people loved them but they just don't make sense, i don't see anything "historical" about them, unless "historical" means "illogical".

 

[kghy]

EU2 with MyMap-ACGEEP, for a game that looks beautiful and has lots of illogical historical events

bliss

 

[Witchblade]

Hm, so are you guys saying that the "historical events" are not authentic? Or, shall we say, at least within the bounds of probability?
I had heard that scripted events pop up, that sort of "interferes" with the way things would have played out, had one had complete freedom with a fictional map.

Is that what you mean? Or am I totally missing the boat here?

 

[kghy]

I was just copying that serus guy, I have no idea why he thinks they are illogical.

In my experience, the events (especially with AGC/EEP) keep everything more or less historically accurate.

The only real problem I have with basically every single version of EU2 is that even with the AI at its least aggressive, Germany never seems to stay as fragmented as it should be.

 

[Serus]

Ok i agree, EU2 is great if you really prefer some blocks of text that tell you a story, ever the same, independently of what is happening in the game.

...

Exactly. Those events are forcing the game to achieve "historical" outcomes. In reality after a few decades even this fails as situation in game becomes more and more different from history each passing year.

 

[kghy]

Ok i agree, EU2 is great if you really prefer some blocks of text that tell you a story

This isn't a Bioware game, the blocks of text don't tell stories, they offer meaningful choices in most cases. The fact that this makes not only playing each country a different experience, but also every game with the same country, is what makes EU2 interesting. As I understand it, EU3 just has generic events, but I never played the thing. I'm too much of a graphics whore.

ever the same, independently of what is happening in the game.

That's just bullshit, if you've ever taken a look at EU2's scripts you'd know that there's rarely any event with a trigger that just says a certain date.

In reality after a few decades even this fails as situation in game becomes more and more different from history each passing year.

AGC-EEP manages to keep things in more or less a historical framework much better than the original EU2.

 

[Witchblade]

Well for some reason, at some point, I became quite interested in the War of the Roses, and I thought that if I liked the EU2 OC, I'd like to go on to Two Thrones, as it covers the Hundred years War and the War of The Roses.

So with that in mind, I might like the pop-ups that puts things into a historical context.

What I said above though, gives me an agenda beyond merely playing a grand strategy game for the sake of gaming, and keeping that in mind, I think I understand what Serus is saying from a purely gaming p.o.v.

 

[Trash]

EU3 has certain 'historical' events that pop up when the real historical (shit, forgot the word. values, demands?) for them have been reached. Like The Netherlands only forming when the provinces are united, etc. EU2 was more forced and thus had 'historical' events popping up that made no sense what so ever in the gameworld of the game you were playing. It really tended to railroad the game and often looked rather silly. I guess it's just a matter of preference though.

 

[Elwro]

Probably "requirements".

 

[Trash]

Thanks, that's the one.