JinseiNGC224: Would Crusader Kings 2 be better as a complete edition on a steep discount?
I have and enjoy the first. Never touched the second because it just has so much DLC I don't know where to start. I'm not even sure if a complete edition would be viable for a low price ;D
I'm not a fan of fragmented games, myself ;(
It's a great game, but they sure are milking it for all it's worth.
If you can get it cheap, I'd definitely recommend. Some of the DLCs can be skipped, but a lot of them extends the gameplay in a way that was rather clearly intended in the first place. As the most egregious example, there was a major stink on release when Muslim rulers turned out to have no actual separate implementation (or any events for that matter) from Christian rulers. This was explained that "it's CRUSADER kings, not Islamic kings," and a patch or two later Paradox completely locked out the ability to play them (even without separate mechanics - also, right about the time when a few people started to work on modding some flavor for them in, heh). Of course some time later they released a pay-separately DLC that actually had the implementation that, frankly, should have been part of the base game. What manner of ridiculous explanation is it that some of the elements of the original game cannot be accessed because... "they are not part of the game."
They used to sell art and music assets separately from other game content as an excuse to push all those DLCs. Something along the lines of "gamers will be able to pick what they want to pay for." Never mind that at least the art (both 2d and 3d models) were rather lacking on release. Some time later they merged them into larger DLCs (probably because people weren't buying enough of them), but the damage has already been done. Congratulations, gaming got to the point where you are literally buying game art assets and music separately.
Starmaker: It's not "fragmented". In a way, it's like a tabletop RPG. You don't need every sourcebook and every single issue of Dragon to play D&D. Get the core game (I think it goes 75% off) and play it; the singleplayer content is enough for a dozen playthroughs to definitely get your money's worth. If you want more, there's more, and you can choose and buy only the things you actually want. I want a Zoroastrian empire from sea to shining sea, I buy Old Gods. I don't want crabs, I don't buy crabs.
I disagree on it not being "fragmented" in a major way. Case in point - the way Islamic rulers were treated (and Paradox explanation of it) on release. Not to mention that the base game is pretty damn bland and lacking in events. There are intentional functionality holes in it that bear no comparison to the way Paradox used to extend games before.
This was even more blatantly clear when Stellaris released. Just look at the older reviews on Steam. Paradox no longer sells the base game as a product that stands on its own in any meaningful way.
I love the type of games Paradox sells, but I am not going to get half-baked releases, then shell out another hundred bucks or so for the full game, simply because they decided it to be more profitable.
Not to mention the long-post-release telemetry forced on CK2 players (and present in their newer games from the get-go). I truly detest how these companies got to the point where they dictate that I surrender my privacy and whatever bloody data set they deign to pull from my machine right after I pay THEM for a product. You want to do that shit, release Free*-to-Play games to clueless morons.
Starmaker: Tyranny is awesome and the best of the big revival RPGs, probably because it wasn't on kickstarter. Buy it.
Definitely enjoyed it more than PoE. At least Tyranny has that spark of life in it that was woefully missing from PoE - or so was my experience.
