Crusader King II Demo released!

[Baptismbyfire]

Hello,


Paradox released a demo of Crusader King II before the game's release, and if you are in any way interested in games based on this era (medieval era) and this type of game play (think of it as something like Romance of the Three Kingdom series, except more complex and vibrant), you should really give it a try.

For those new to the game, you play as Emperor, King, Duke, or Count and try to expand your empire diplomatically, militarily, or through intrigue, while all the while having to prevent your vassals from fighting against each other or plotting against you.

It is a very much character-driven game, more than any other Paradox titles, with each character in the game having his/her own personality, quirks, and agendas. You can try to win the loyalty of your vassals by granting them titles and other favors, but you are never fully in control of them and can't predict how they will always act (heck, you are not even in full control of your own destiny). For instance, in one game, my own brother tried to assassinate my son because he wanted to be the heir to the throne.

I know previous Paradox titles were often plagued with bugs, but everyone on the forum is agreeing that this will be the best and smoothest release so far. And graphically, it is the most pleasing to look at.


Demo : http://www.fileplanet.com/224596/220000/fileinfo/Crusader-Kings-II-Demo

Forum link : http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?551-Crusader-Kings-II

 

[you2]

do the folks who make king arthur2 also make this - vaguely i thought it was the case that they shared a common engine. Anyways I've been following the king arthur 2 release and it seems that the biggest complait is that it is a bit buggy

 

[Baptismbyfire]

do the folks who make king arthur2 also make this - vaguely i thought it was the case that they shared a common engine. Anyways I've been following the king arthur 2 release and it seems that the biggest complait is that it is a bit buggy

Paradox is the publisher, but not the developer for King Arthur 2. And I don't think it's the same engine, since the two games are completely different.

 

[Bulldog13]

Demo : http://www.fileplanet.com/224596/220000/fileinfo/Crusader-Kings-II-Demo

Forum link : http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?551-Crusader-Kings-II

Link not working, any other mirrors?

EDIT: Found one http://www.fileplanet.com/224596/download/Crusader-Kings-II-Demo

 

[Bulldog13]

Anyone have any thoughts? Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend Sunday playing it like I wanted

 

[crownjules]

Anyone have any thoughts? Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend Sunday playing it like I wanted

Here's my thoughts so far after going through the tutorials and a couple years of the demo campaign.

The tutorials are actually worth a damn. We're so used to having to figure out these incredibly complex games with no help. They don't cover everything, but they will give new players a good sense of what to do.

It's still the same core gameplay as CK1, but they've added a lot more things to spice it up. Your advisers have special abilities they can be assigned to do. Building in provinces is a bit different - a province can support so many holdings. A holding can be a city, castle, or temple and each gives you varying amounts of taxes as well as troops. Then each holding has various buildings to construct that increases those things.

One new thing is Ambitions/Plots. These are basically the main goals a character is trying to achieve. They can be as simple as getting married or as complex as becoming the Holy Roman Emperor. The harder it is to achieve, the most prestige your receive if you complete it. And if you help other characters achieve their ambitions then they'll like you. Spymasters can help to uncover plots which are the more complex version of these from what I can gather.

That's about as far as I've got so far. I started playing as the Duke of Bohemia. The demo campaign also lets you choose the King of Poland, another Duke, and a Count. So you can get an idea of play from all levels. Not sure how far it lets you run the game. And of course, no saving.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

Ah, bummed I didn't realize this demo was out this weekend or I would have tried it out! I played EU3 though so should count as practice Forget the Diablo 3 beta invite I got, I will try this out tonight!

I've read a bit of an AAR of CK1 so assume it's pretty similar to that, except prettier? I found the character system in EU: Rome interesting so I'm quite close to pre-ordering CK2. I never even buy games on release, let alone preorder, but I want to support what Paradox is doing. I just need to know when the Steam preorder goes up.

 

[Lotheron]

Wow, I knew nothing of this game, but it is exactly the type of game that I wouldn't mind playing. I also knew nothing of CK1 for that matter. I will definitely be checking out the demo tonight.

I remember playing Genghis Khan for the original NES (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan_(video_game)) and this is sort of that play style.

 

[crownjules]

As with all Paradox games, be forewarned that you purchase the game at release at your own peril. They are notorious for being buggy and things either not working as intended or things working as intended but being designed poorly.

Take ambitions for instance. As they currently stand, a married female courtier has literally nothing available except for kill spouse/kill court member (just due to elimination of the other ambitions because of requirements needed). The kill spouse ambition requires them to have a negative score to trigger, but kill court member is 0 or less. Guess what the relationship score of any baby born starts at with all court members?

 

[obidamnkenobi]

As with all Paradox games, be forewarned that you purchase the game at release at your own peril. They are notorious for being buggy and things either not working as intended or things working as intended but being designed poorly.

Take ambitions for instance. As they currently stand, a married female courtier has literally nothing available except for kill spouse/kill court member (just due to elimination of the other ambitions because of requirements needed). The kill spouse ambition requires them to have a negative score to trigger, but kill court member is 0 or less. Guess what the relationship score of any baby born starts at with all court members?

That sounds like a more or less minor gameplay issue. How is the demo regarding bugs and crashes overall? Does it "work"? Paradox keep saying they're improving pre-launch testing, and by several accounts CK2 is pretty solid. At least better than usual..

Granted, I've never been the victim of these launch bugs (since I don't buy at launch), but considering how complex their games are, and the limited resources compared to EA, blizzard etc, I'm still quite impressed by the Paradox grand strategy games.

 

[crownjules]

Not too buggy. There is a graphics glitch with my machine that causes borders to flicker every few seconds. Also, you can play anyone in the game. After you hit Start you have to click on whichever place you want to play before it goes into loading.

 

[Baptismbyfire]

That sounds like a more or less minor gameplay issue. How is the demo regarding bugs and crashes overall? Does it "work"? Paradox keep saying they're improving pre-launch testing, and by several accounts CK2 is pretty solid. At least better than usual..

Granted, I've never been the victim of these launch bugs (since I don't buy at launch), but considering how complex their games are, and the limited resources compared to EA, blizzard etc, I'm still quite impressed by the Paradox grand strategy games.

This is the smoothest launch yet, and the demo version isn't even the latest version they have. They already fixed many of the bugs people are reporting, and none of the bugs are critical (anyone remember Hearts of Iron 3 fiasco?)

Paradox is a good company in that they actually took what people said to heart, and did extensive beta-testing with this game. They would not have released the demo, unless they were sure it would not turn people away. And the best part is, the tutorial do actually do a good job in showing you the ropes, so you're not totally lost.

I've played the demo without any problem. And it is full-featured besides the 20-year time limit and the limited choice in rulers you can play (even though there is a workaround posted on the forum).

 

[Bulldog13]

Not too buggy. There is a graphics glitch with my machine that causes borders to flicker every few seconds. Also, you can play anyone in the game. After you hit Start you have to click on whichever place you want to play before it goes into loading.

I am getting that glitch too, but otherwise the game looks GORGEOUS. Sooo much better than EU3.

Please let me know if you run across a fix or tweak for the border flicker.

 

[Lotheron]

for those interested, the pre-order is up on steam and normally they're not worth it unless there's some money off, but it does look like it comes with CK1 for those that might not have it, like me

http://store.steampowered.com/app/203770/

 

[Baptismbyfire]

I am getting that glitch too, but otherwise the game looks GORGEOUS. Sooo much better than EU3.

Please let me know if you run across a fix or tweak for the border flicker.

Apparently it has to do with nvidia drivers. Try updating your drivers. Or, someone on the forum mentioned that he rolled back his driver (he was using the latest beta driver), and it solved the problem.

 

[crownjules]

I'm using a recent beta Nvidia driver too so hopefully they'll have it fixed by release.

Had a fun game last night as the Duke of Castille. Married my 18 year old cousin. Had two daughters and a son. Then the Duke became lustful and fell in love with an attractive courtier and had a bastard son with her. Chose to recognize him but not put him in the line of succession. After this, my spymaster found out that the Duke's wife was plotting to kill him. Threw her in prison and then banished her from the realm. I then inherited another province when the count died but since it wasn't directly attached to my other holdings, I kept having to deal with rebellions. Pain in the ass too because it basically happened on a yearly basis and was always 1500 men strong.

So the demo definitely has convinced me to preorder.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

I only got to try the demo for 15 min or so last night, most of which was reading tutorial stuff, but I had not graphical problems at all. Have a 6950, latest non-beta drivers I think. The game did lock up for 5-10 sec at one point but other than that I had no problems.

I played briefly as a Byzantine prince. But while still trying to figure stuff out my father died and I inherited a huge empire with 15 armies marching into the Levant. I was soundly beaten by hordes of infidels before I had to shut it down. Definitely want to start a bit smaller next time.

I was on the fence but the demo looked great and I knew I wanted this game at some point so I jumped on the Steam pre-order. $40 is twice as much as I've spent on any game in a long time! But what the hell, Paradox is awesome so I'd rather give my money to them than... others.

 

[Baptismbyfire]

Manual has been released, if anyone's interested.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?583630-Crusader-Kings-II-Manual