1. Orctownorc

   Aug 13, 2013

   10

   WOW! For about ten years Paradox Development have been a small team of nice guys working hard to give us good games and mostly failing. Their games have been for the most part tedious, pretentious and ugly, with cluttered mechanisms, and hideous micromanagement. Most of the Paradox efforts suffered from terrible tutorials and ridiculous learning curved that discouraged any vaguely casual gamers. But beyond inaccessibility, the games were finally not that good, because even when you figured out the mechanisms they were still too MECHANICAL: not even really worth learning in the end because they were all variations of a sausage machine. However something miraculous happened with Crusaders Kings 2, and echoes of the good things we saw in earlier games (Hearts of Iron 2) reappeared: Better looking graphics. Simpler, yet DEEPER gameplay. The machine kept churning away but Paradox learned to save us from the worst of it, and the gameplay began to blossom. Europa Universalis IV seems to demonstrate that Paradox has really turned the corner. The game is beautiful. Gameplay is fluid. The depth and complication is welcome, but it has been softened with a more thoughtful and gaming friendly structure! GREAT WORK PARADOX! Good things take time, and your grand ambitions are finally bearing fruit. I'm very excited about where this will lead with the Hearts of Iron series, because all the design wisdom that we can see in CK2 and EU4 is leading in the absolute correct direction. If you love strategy gaming please go and buy this game and support this developer! This is a FAR, FAR superior game to Civilizations 1-5 as well as anything put out by Creative Assembly. It's been a long wait but worth it. Can't wait to see what we get when the final few pieces of the game design puzzle fall into place. If they get the budget to build something with a more solid multiplayer experience we will see the PERFECT game.… Expand

   • 44 of 53 users found this helpful
2. Alpha_U

   Aug 24, 2013

   10

   One of the best games I played. Europa Universalis IV is meant for thousands of hour of play time and the amount of replay ability available is incredible. You could just add thousands of hours into just by the vanilla version but no it doesn't stop there.
   
   There is even a bigger mod community in Europa Universalis IV then the prequel (Europa Unversalis III) so be prepared to play until the next Europa Universalis game.
   
   + all the expansions they could make for Europa Universalis IV will be even a better game then now.
   
   I would advise you to buy it if you're into Strategy and history and *What if scenarios*… Expand

   • 3 of 5 users found this helpful
3. Hensomm

   Oct 3, 2013

   10

   Fantastic game from a fantastic game developer. Paradox really hit the mark on their latest Europa Universalis IV. The improvement of trade systems made being a small state but a major economic power very possible. Weather system through the seasons made a balanced attack defense phase between armies and added another level of strategy.
   
   I wish that they had added more user diversity on state creation and formation, but that is a completely other and massive change in the game. But still Super fun and one of the best games to get into grand strategy, from of course the masters of grand strategy!… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
4. Ed_

   Sep 6, 2013

   10

   A fantastic, enjoyable game! I haven't noticed any bugs, smooth gameplay, great songs, not as complicated as some people would say. You have the opportunity to lead any country and make decisions which can be fatal or profitable for your monarchy or republic. Keep up the good work Paradox!… Expand

   • 4 of 6 users found this helpful
5. savory_toast

   Sep 24, 2013

   9

   This is a fantastic game and it corrects some of the problems with EUIII. Your nation is now more reliant on your monarch and while some find this frustrating, it definitely makes for a more interesting game. In EUIII, anyone could overcome a bad ruler with little effort. Really, anyone with a decent amount of experience could by mid-game dominate EUIII. EUIV corrects this problem by tying your ruler more closely with your nations fortunes. A bad ruler will make it hard for your country to advance, conduct war and keep stability. It is frustrating fantastic.
   
   Overall I am very happy with it and it feels like a matured EUIII. For those that are new to the series, the learning curve is the fun part. Stick with it a few dozen hours and you will begin to understand the depth and mechanics.
   
   I did give it a 9 because it is still needing some content additions which I'm sure will come in the form of free patches or paid DLC. Some of the countries have a generic feel. With a game this massive, I would think it to be impossible to make every country historically unique, but there is room to grow, hence the 9.
   
   Last note, special thanks to Paradox for publishing this to Linux. As a Linux user for about a decade, Paradox games were the one wish I had for gaming. Their support is amazing and appreciated.… Expand

   • 1 of 1 users found this helpful
6. LagSpikeTV

   Sep 2, 2013

   9

   Not only does Paradox Interactive have a winner in Europa Universalis IV, it is easily the best strategy game I have ever played on the computer. The high ratings this game is garnering in reviews are justified. Though having some minor changes to the mechanics, such as over extension, which drive a player crazy, overall, it is a game I plan to play over and over again. I look forward to future DLC, hoping to see both China and Japan specific events, as well as events for the Holy Roman Empire, Russia, and maybe more Native American events in the future.… Expand

   • 4 of 6 users found this helpful
7. xenowing

   Aug 17, 2013

   3

   I'm sorry to say it but I really dislike this new title over the original EU3. Why? Because you have a significant amount of less, hard control. Before you could spend money on budget for research. Now everything has been boiled down to "Points" being regenerated, there now existing 3 of them. Administrative, Diplomatic and Military points. These are heavily dependantly generated on what your current ruler is so the game effectively went to enabling you to dedicate resources to something from hoping that you'll get a ruler for what you are trying to do. Sure, you could hire an advisor to make a research less costly (by 10%) but you are not guaranteed of having such an opportunity. Advisors now come and go as they please and nowhere does this get more annoying when you think you got, for example, a diplomatic edge and your 10% advisor suddenly dies with no proper replacement.
   
   Buildings are now, yet again, even more useless. Just like when they released Divine Wind, the effects of spending your hard-earned tax money on improvements are now even more weak where Barracks give as little as 25 manpower each along with marketplace only giving +1 local trade "power", costing about 50~ ducats. That's roughly an income increase of 0.05. Things take literally hundreds of years before they even remotely start giving back to their investments and having no concrete, hard ways to focus your efforts, EU4 remains a "Roll the dice" kind of game.
   
   The enormous bigger tendency for armies to die when attacked by a bigger force is an extremely needed feature along with the new inflation system but I can't really enjoy this game anymore since customization of a country has been skimmed down so significantly along with other features being downright removed, giving me no choice but to feel that the game has been streamlined. Paradox Interactive took the original EU3, chopped off a lot of the bad stuff but also a majority of the things that made the Europa Universalis enjoyable to play.
   
   I could bring up on how rebels are now 3+ times your maximum army size, how loading now takes literally 5-15 minutes, how the annex system has been made even more annoying or how trading is now borderline useless but then I would just be nitpicking.. Which would be a legit thing since there is a LOT to pick about. But at the end of the day, I recommend you stay away from this game and go back to EU3 with a couple of mods or get into EU4 with an open mind and little in the form of expectations.… Expand

   • 17 of 67 users found this helpful

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