Victoria 3 is one of the more accessible Paradox releases in memory but it's not the sort of triumph that Crusader Kings III was. It's fun but it's very thin, and the game finds itself stuck too much between RP and grand strategy. The bones are great though, and I look forward to the future updates and mods.
The time period is interesting and tumultuous, and Victoria 3 delivers that feeling. There is at least a veneer of, and often an actual, deep simulation of political interest groups, population/class dynamics and economic trade. I haven't spent enough time to be a master at any of this but so far it seems like the game does a fine job of telling you which lever to pull and responding like you'd think to any lever that gets pulled. Sometimes it doesn't feel engaging but at least it usually feels fine.
There are some odd elements that feel too easy or fast or low effort, specifically colonization. Colonizing territories is trivially simple and exceedingly fast. It requires almost no significant cost or effort. I can colonize the entire South Pacific and Africa in a matter of months as the USA in 1836.
But there are some very welcomed simplifications. Military engagements are super simplified in Vicky 3 which is ideal for the pace of the game. This isn't Hears of Iron and in fact it's not even so much Europa Universalis. The game is more about political maneuvering, economic simulation, internal politics and pop management. So removing a lot of the tedium from elements like warfare helps make the game more accessible and moves the gears quicker.
Where Victoria III really falls short at release is on flavor. The game is stunningly shallow and really lack flavor and detail. The bones and mechanics are really tremendous. They are accessible and engaging. But there's a major lack of flavor with regards to any specific country or even major international events. Just almost none at all. Playing any one country right now feels identical to any other country, the only difference being for their ranking on the great powers list. This also means there's a real dearth on the number of internal events and activities. You find yourself spending a ton of time just watching the clock tick, waiting for things to happen while you micromanage construction in different regions.
Playing smaller countries amounts almost entirely to attempting to conquer territories or just clicking import/export options every couple days. Because there is just a lot of waiting right now. Lots of waiting. The lack of flavor isn't just a shame but it's a real failure. The French Revolution and the Paris Commune and even the American Civil War are mostly missing or devoid of depth when they do happen. Just a real lack of engaging and frequent internal developments. It's more like playing Stellaris but with no exploration. Midgame Stellaris (i.e. the worst part of Stellaris).
The issue is that Victoria III feels at its best when the roleplay and circumstance immerses you within its world. The emergent storytelling that comes from the CK3 like experience is what drives Victoria III's best elements. But there's so little of it that you're often encouraged to drift into an EU-like map painting style of gameplay. Which is also devoid of much flavor either, it just gives you a way to spend your time.
Victoria III will inevitably change, substantially, as time goes on. As the game develops and DLC releases. And I'll be happy to be here for that. I'm certainly going to put a few hundred hours into Vicky 3. It just might not be the few thousand hours I put into Stellaris or CK.
The time period is interesting and tumultuous, and Victoria 3 delivers that feeling. There is at least a veneer of, and often an actual, deep simulation of political interest groups, population/class dynamics and economic trade. I haven't spent enough time to be a master at any of this but so far it seems like the game does a fine job of telling you which lever to pull and responding like you'd think to any lever that gets pulled. Sometimes it doesn't feel engaging but at least it usually feels fine.
There are some odd elements that feel too easy or fast or low effort, specifically colonization. Colonizing territories is trivially simple and exceedingly fast. It requires almost no significant cost or effort. I can colonize the entire South Pacific and Africa in a matter of months as the USA in 1836.
But there are some very welcomed simplifications. Military engagements are super simplified in Vicky 3 which is ideal for the pace of the game. This isn't Hears of Iron and in fact it's not even so much Europa Universalis. The game is more about political maneuvering, economic simulation, internal politics and pop management. So removing a lot of the tedium from elements like warfare helps make the game more accessible and moves the gears quicker.
Where Victoria III really falls short at release is on flavor. The game is stunningly shallow and really lack flavor and detail. The bones and mechanics are really tremendous. They are accessible and engaging. But there's a major lack of flavor with regards to any specific country or even major international events. Just almost none at all. Playing any one country right now feels identical to any other country, the only difference being for their ranking on the great powers list. This also means there's a real dearth on the number of internal events and activities. You find yourself spending a ton of time just watching the clock tick, waiting for things to happen while you micromanage construction in different regions.
Playing smaller countries amounts almost entirely to attempting to conquer territories or just clicking import/export options every couple days. Because there is just a lot of waiting right now. Lots of waiting. The lack of flavor isn't just a shame but it's a real failure. The French Revolution and the Paris Commune and even the American Civil War are mostly missing or devoid of depth when they do happen. Just a real lack of engaging and frequent internal developments. It's more like playing Stellaris but with no exploration. Midgame Stellaris (i.e. the worst part of Stellaris).
The issue is that Victoria III feels at its best when the roleplay and circumstance immerses you within its world. The emergent storytelling that comes from the CK3 like experience is what drives Victoria III's best elements. But there's so little of it that you're often encouraged to drift into an EU-like map painting style of gameplay. Which is also devoid of much flavor either, it just gives you a way to spend your time.
Victoria III will inevitably change, substantially, as time goes on. As the game develops and DLC releases. And I'll be happy to be here for that. I'm certainly going to put a few hundred hours into Vicky 3. It just might not be the few thousand hours I put into Stellaris or CK.