Paradox is the best company ever :love:

[Gondolin]

with would-be interviewees facing questions like "Are you a Stark or a Lannister? A Kirk or a Picard?"

Idiotic.

 

[IDtenT]

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

As far as I know this is now a pretty shitty company who just happened to have found a largely unexploited niche 15 years ago.

They are now the EA games of niche titles and this will only get worse from now on.

Their frequent updates are nothing more than a slow transition from the alpha state they release their game in to something more akin to a beta. Not to mention, that without half the DLCs, the single player vanilla versions are completely worthless. It could all be included in the base game from the start.

And their DLCs are a big cash milking jokes. The production value is abysmally low, the content akin to a small scope mod, which is only added on top of the base game and hardly affects the core gameplay.

Core gameplay that hasn't changed one bit, regardless of which title you play be it Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis 3... Games that are centred on warfare even thought the warfare is lacklustre. The intrigue in ck2 is just cataloguing court members and increasing/decreasing stats. Once you have discerned the few simple patterns it's all based upon, it gets old quickly, and it feels not unlike solving mathematical functions instead of playing the adventures of great Medieval lords.
Hearth of iron is the only exception, but it is still very flawed.


Is this a case of blind fanboyism from Konjad 1 years ago or did they drastically change in that span? I remember With Fire And Sword only too well, and that was in 2011.

 

[Malakal]

Lol someone here didnt play EU1 or 2. Saying Paradox is releasing unfinished and not feature complete games NOW is hilarious. They havent ever been better.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

Cancer is not a blessing because it's better than having a fournier gangrene. EU1 or 2 being garbage tier at release does not make EU4 or CK2 release more acceptable.

And this time, they do not have the financial stability excuse. They made a shit ton of money with their recent releases, especially when you take into account that they cost peanuts to Produce.

EU4 is 40$ at release. 10$ less than the average AAA shovelware.

 

[IDtenT]

Derp.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

Derp.

Is this all you've got to defend those greedy money hoarding swedes?

 

[Kane]

the difference between pdox and EA though is that their games are actually fun

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Derp.

Is this all you've got to defend those greedy money hoarding swedes?

He isn't defending Paradox. He's calling you a shit poster.

Your posts are hyperbolic by comparing EA to Paradox. EA is a huge company, and much larger than Paradox. Paradox games are usually graphically inferior to EA games and somewhat buggy. They also specialize in niche games, as you said. EA's production values are bigger, so they tend to have less bugs and are graphically better. They also specialize in games that please the general audience, like sports games on consoles. EA is also more parasitical, purchasing companies for their popular IPs and then squeezing every bit of profit and enjoyment out of the titles until there's nothing left but a dried husk. Paradox tried to promote some third party developers recently and published some unpopular games, which damaged their reputation. There are so many differences between the two companies that your statement that Paradox is the "EA games of niche titles" hurts the trust I have of anything you say after. So IDtenT is right, and said everything I said in a short, concise statement. Your post is full of derp. You would have been better off dropping the hyperbole and just stating that Paradox puts out some buggy games and doesn't deserve the fandom it receives. Although some might have argued with you, it would have at least started a better discussion.

Oh, and you necroed just to rant.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

No matter how elaborate my post will be, I know I will be called a shitposter by many for harshly criticising a company who brown nose their audience by calling them and their games hardcore. Don't get me wrong the very concept of their games is most interesting, and my problem isn't their so called complexity. It's their lack of it and their moronic patterns to make up for a flawed system they are to lazy to change. That and all of what I mentioned on their DLC and release state.

My post is elaborate and I exposed what I believe is wrong with each of their iterations. Replying ''derp'' is a one liner shitpost that has it's place on 4chan or other idiotic meme spewing hives.

I said Paradox is the EA of niche games. A smaller version. They have the monopoly on the niche and do buy small indie studio, making them release mediocre games (not saying those studios weren't shit to start with). They are bigger crooks than EA when it comes to release state and DLCs.

I necroed because this thread calls for it, it's idiotic to start a new thread when there's already a paradox thread.

 

[Sranchammer]

Vote AGEOD! At least Paradox led me to discover them.

 

[Kane]

Paradox used to be cool when they actually supported DRM free policies, Gamersgate is still the main digital distribution platform I use, but ever since they have embraced steam they have not been on my cool list. I haven't gotten EU4 and I probably won't ever get it. This is coming from someone who has played the series since the first one. I haven't purchased a single CK2 expansion since they forced steam on that, and again this is coming from someone who loved CK1 and 2. I will probably get HOI4 but Paradox games are no longer automatic purchases for me the way they used to be.

they will continue to embrace steam, because steam brings much more $$$ than your lousy wallet.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

the difference between pdox and EA though is that their games are actually fun

I was in the same predicament with rex until I saw the endless hours I had logged into pdox games and had to admit the same.

 

[Sranchammer]

the difference between pdox and EA though is that their games are actually fun

I was in the same predicament with rex until I saw the endless hours I had logged into pdox games and had to admit the same.

Unlike EA, there is no alternative to Paradox. Not unless AGEOD fixed up it's Pride of Nations model and applies it to other eras.

 

[Malakal]

the difference between pdox and EA though is that their games are actually fun

I was in the same predicament with rex until I saw the endless hours I had logged into pdox games and had to admit the same.

Unlike EA, there is no alternative to Paradox. Not unless AGEOD fixed up it's Pride of Nations model and applies it to other eras.

There are alternatives to Paradox but they are shit. Paradox does its thing with its own engine and game concept but there are other players in grand strategy genre with their own engines and concepts.

Unless you mean that Paradox is the only developer making games for Clausewitz engine that look and play that way, then its more or less true.

 

[Sranchammer]

What alternatives are you alluding to? Total War?

 

[XenomorphII]

AGEOD, Matrix, and the crappy Supreme Ruler games are all I can think of.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

the difference between pdox and EA though is that their games are actually fun

I was in the same predicament with rex until I saw the endless hours I had logged into pdox games and had to admit the same.

I have it right under my eyes. I have 579 hours in Europea Universalis 4. I can't tell as precisely for crusader Kings 2, but it was around 100 hours, and EU3 was 100 as well. HOI 3 and Victoria 2 were around 30 hours each.
But for EU4, CK2 and EU3, most of these were spent in multiplayer, which is the only redeeming feature of these games.

Even in Multiplayer CK2 turns out to be mediocre, but EU4 and 3 are pretty good. They feel like some digital, real time boardgame, and doing diplomacy with 16 other human players is fun.

There's also the fact that there's no alternative, yet the concept is still amazing enough to make me keep playing them in singleplayer for several hours. Until I just figured the patterns, and it just feels tedious and redundant and it's definitively not engaging. Paradox is a mediocre developer, with an audience that allows them to have worst commercial practice than the Creative Assembly. They also happen to have found an amazing niche, probably more out of luck than actual taste if you just their creative talent by their games.
It's funny how people give Rome 2 release and DLC shit, which is totally deserved, but outright ignores EU4 or CK2 releases and DLCs, which are actually worse in most aspect.

 

[Sranchammer]

None of Paradox's games are anything close to what you get out of boardgames

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

Yeah most probably. Just the feeling that I get because it's a group of people playing over a map, without any change of scenery like a total war battle. And there's discrete regions.
It's what I would have wished board games were back when I was a computerless pre-teen.

Paradox used to be cool when they actually supported DRM free policies, Gamersgate is still the main digital distribution platform I use, but ever since they have embraced steam they have not been on my cool list. I haven't gotten EU4 and I probably won't ever get it. This is coming from someone who has played the series since the first one. I haven't purchased a single CK2 expansion since they forced steam on that, and again this is coming from someone who loved CK1 and 2. I will probably get HOI4 but Paradox games are no longer automatic purchases for me the way they used to be.

they will continue to embrace steam, because steam brings much more $$$ than your lousy wallet.

Steam is a piece of shit who goes into maintenance every 5 hours. There is nothing more frustrating than a maintenance after you painfully assembled a large group of people in a game room. Something which I don't remember happening back when I was playing on Battle.net. But maybe my memory is all shit because it was a while back.

 

[tuluse]

None of Paradox's games are anything close to what you get out of boardgames

You need friends for boardgames

 

[Sranchammer]

I've said before I would love to actually make our Boardgame forum into an actual Boardgame playing forum. But alas, there doesn't seem to be much interest

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

I totally agree with you tyrannosaurus rex. But I'm gonna keep buying Paradox games and DLCs cause I'm addicted to their games.

 

[IDtenT]

Tranny Rex should realize that almost no other simulations exist within this industry.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

Tranny Rex should realize that almost no other simulations exist within this industry.

And they are very much abusing this de facto monopoly. And they Should not in any case be called the best company ever. When it comes to altruism and dedication, there are far better companies than this.
Paradox are very close to the bottom, and their business practice are no different than EA, applied on smaller scale niche markets.

The EU and CK series are much more wasted potentials than the Total Wars, which recently was itself a big disappointment.