Crusader Kings Complete

I've started with Paradox with Europa Universalis 1, but this one is my shocking game: names?, families?, Church, popes and crusades? What is this? Well, I still remember my good king Tassilo,from Burgundy, that started as a count and build a Kingdom that few generations later spread all over known world, that has Muslims and Horses Lords from the east in the king court... Only Imperator was the title left... Much more better than Europa Universalis for artistic After Action Reports. If you let the game engage you, you won't care about outdated interface and will care about your king, his children, inheritance and war ... And feel sad because everyone is mortal so your great king died and your most inept child inherits you because you didn't have enough guts to kill him years before: he's your blood and this is not a Game of Thrones. Do a favor to yourself: bought this game and let it entertain you, you'll never get more for less and honor good Tassilo.

This game is mostly about waiting... but surprise-this waiting can be addicting. You will either hate it and remove it after a sigle hour or less, or try to figure out how to play it, and spend long hours building your medieval empire. Hovwever when you define a few action patterns, all things starts to be repeatable. Example here- grab/usurp title, declare war, but do not strip conquered counts/dukes of their titles and provinces- make them your vassals instead, if possible (do not apply for kings titles). Wait till your reputation improves, and repeat. Free tip here- a lot of (sometimes very annoying) windows can be removed by messing with options. Also you can add a pause to some, if you want. And another free tip - scan loyalty not only of your vassals, but court members too. Disloyal steward can cost you a lot. Not to mention a disloyal spymaster (well... that is, if you don't plan to switch the ruler for his son very soon ). And honestly -I would love if someone create a patch making interfaces still functional when your ruler has 100 or 200 vassals, not only for 20 of them (the same goes for court members). But still, raising the empire of 200+ provinces, over 170 vassals and 17 kingdoms from a 3-province duchesy is a satisfying experience.

I find this title to be better than CK2 because you don't have to buy a load of DLC to make the game playable every time it's updated. You get this game, and it's a complete game. If you want more, it's easy to mod your own events and such. My only complaint is the diplomacy aspect is rather lacking for the importance it plays. There's also no feuds and vendettas with other families, which could add a bit of spice.

While GOG reviews are meant to focus on what's 'in-game', an exception may be required - especially with the game currently being on sale. I've installed on multiple machines - integrated and dedicated graphics, different compatibility settings, etc. But the reality is that the game is not currently supported by 64bit OS and modern hardware / drivers. Many people have posted to the official forums with similar complaints, but any patches and configurations no longer work. The game does not launch correctly. I would have to recommend avoiding this title unless you have the skill to create an environment for hardware emulation.

Great game, recommend to all.