Sorry for reviving this thread, but it felt like the most appropriate place to ask (even though it doesn't exactly fit).
While I don't buy their latest titles (I won't get into reasons why for the sake of not derailing this thread), I still purchase Paradox's DRM-free retail releases of their (slightly) older games. One game I've been interested in buying is Victoria II, but my local retailer only has the infamous Gold Edition (infamous because it includes the expansion A House Divided as a GamersGate DLC code rather than coming on the disk). Out of curiosity, I checked the UK Amazon if they had any better options, which is when I discovered that there was a Complete Edition (not so complete, but more on that later) released in Germany. Since the import copy provided on the UK Amazon was expensive, I went to check the German Amazon.
That's when I discovered that Germany seems to have been treated quite well in terms of Paradox retail products, even getting releases and editions that the rest of us haven't been getting. For example, there is a so-called World Edition of Victoria II which includes the base game and both expansion packs. There is also a Complete Edition of Hearts of Iron III, which includes the expansion Their Finest Hour (which was developed after the HoI III Collection that was released everywhere) and even a boxed release of said expansion.
In any event, this discovery has made me curious about these releases and I have two questions as a result. Since there are some German users here on the GOG forums, I figure one of you will probably be able to give me an answer.
1. Do these releases provide an option to play in English? Most German game releases tend to come only in German unless they are specifically marked to have multiple languages. However, the pages for Paradox games at online retailers contradict one another. For example, on Amazon.de, Victoria II World Edition is stated to only be German, whereas a random Swiss retailer listing I found states that it is in English. On the other hand, it's almost the exact opposite with HoI 3 Complete Edition; the listing of the Swiss retailer claims that it is in German, while the Amazon.de page says that it is both German and English. I'd like to find out what's actually true.
2. Are these releases DRM-free? While both Vic II and HoI III (and their expansions) came out while Paradox was still doing non-Steam releases, the World Edition and Complete Edition of these games came out earlier this year. Since the retail release of Europa Universalis IV requires Steam, I am not sure whether or not Paradox has extended this policy to their re-releases of their older games as well.