Europa Universalis II

Debaser · Post by **Debaser** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 1:17 am

Holy cock. Is it Monday already? Last time I checked it was Saturday night. Today's labor day, right? Fuck, I need sleep.

gsdgsd · Post by **gsdgsd** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 2:24 am

Ok, this is another one I planned to get (or rather, the first EU was), since I'm more of a European history nerd than a game nerd.

So: extensive and comprehensive review, please. I'll be in your debt.

Debaser · Post by **Debaser** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 9:24 am

If you think you'd like this game, I'm pretty sure you'd do well to buy it, especially considering that I managed to grab it for ten bucks.

Basically, it's kind of an RTS, which scared me off from buying it at full price, but the way it works is that there's no resource gathering or base building or anything like that. Basically it just means there's no turn-based movement, and once you've gone into the message settings and set everything to "display and pause", you don't have to worry about reflexes or anything. Just turn the speed up to fastest, and hover your finger over the pause button.

There are several "campaigns" which start at various times in European history. The longest, and the only one I've played thus far is is the "Grand Campaign" which runs from 1419 to 1819, and is really and truly grand. The campaign I started up Sunday from 3 PM to 3 AM this morning didn't even manage to go 100 of the 300 years play span. You can play literally any nation that existed in 1419, including very minor and non-European ones, though my experience as Naples suggests playing a lesser nation basically involves a lot of sitting around, hoping not to get conquered.

Aside from size, the thing that will definitely impress is the way the game manages to stay historical the entire time. I't the early sixteenth century in my current game, and France has beaten back England and various minor nations to come to control what, historically, is France, Aragon has conquered all of Southern Italy, Spain and England are starting to form overseas colonies, and the everything in that regard feels "right", with some minor variations (for instance, Scotland has conquered most of Ireland).

Also, while you can play warmongering conquerer (I have been), the game's really set up to discourage it. Making war on nations of the same religion, or against whom you don't have a proper causus belli reaks havoc on both your internal stability, and on your relations with the rest of the world. As Austria, a series of wars to take the traditional Hapsburg lands in Holland (the game gives you a bonus for taking historically accurate lands, by giving you an automative causus belli against the nations that own them and by eliminating the post-conquest "nationalism" revolt risk), as well as the peaceful annexation of various vassal states in Germany has pretty much ruined my international standing, while a couple decades ago I was popular enough to be regularly elected Holy Roman Emperor. And that's not even counting the expense: It's only by sheer luck I've managed to keep my inflation rate manageable.

I can't comment on the trade model, as I still only half understand it, or on the colonozation model, as Austria hasn't yet developed any of the explorer characters I need to "discover" the other continents, but rest assured that the game does allow you to exploit indineous peoples, a feature I'm chomping at the bit to try.

gsdgsd · Post by **gsdgsd** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 11:29 am

That all sounds excellent (as does a quick read of some threads on the Paradox Entertainment msg board). It's ordered.

gsdgsd · Post by **gsdgsd** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 7:07 pm

After ordering, I went to one of the millions of game sites and looked at screenshots. They all appeared to be of Korea.

Now, I realize I'm super-intelligent and perhaps the game designers can't live up to my level, but KOREA IS NOT IN EUROPE.

Despite that bit of historical inaccuracy, it still looks pretty excellent.

Greg

gsdgsd · Post by **gsdgsd** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 9:00 pm

Debaser wrote:You can play literally any nation that existed in 1419, including very minor and non-European ones,

Ah, ok, I missed this the first time. So I guess Korea is acceptable.

So you're saying I could play as the Czechs (or Bohemia, or whatever it was in 1419)? Or the Croats? Hot damn. I already love this game.

Greg

Debaser · Post by **Debaser** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 9:27 pm

Yeah, Bohemia's in there. I think Croatia caught up in the overarching Hungary schmorgasborg, but my Eastern European geography isn't nearly good enough to say for certain. Of course, playing as one of the little nations is tough if you want to do anything but hang out on your own land and contemplate your navel. I've tried like ten different strategies to make a go with Naples. By going in to massive debt I was able to conquer a little tiny strip of Greece, but after that my economy was crippled with no obvious way out. But Bohemia'd probably do alright, from what I've seen.

gsdgsd · Post by **gsdgsd** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 6:36 pm

Well, it arrived today. In my brief time, it looks pretty addictive, though it's gonna obviously take a while to learn.

I'm heading out of town (to the real-life Europe) in a couple days, so it'll have to go on hold. But this looks like a good bet to become the first game I've been immersed in since... geez, Half-Life.

Greg