Crusader Kings 3 Review: Strategy? Role-play. Doesn't it smell good?

The saying of "P society four adorable" has a long history in the game circle. The Crusader Kings series is a series of games owned by Paradox Interactive (P). It is also one of the "four adorable P society". The Crusader Kings 3 is the third game in the series.

However, many players who have played the P club game know that the "Crusader King series" is a good quality game, but it is more famous for the various memes and memes that have been circulated. "My daughter's daughter is still my daughter"; "Your evil deeds are known from Ireland to the Khitans." And the "Crusader King series" has always been a very complex gameplay and system, but not suitable for it, is the game's "mysterious" tutorial - many new players after spending the tutorial, still full of "who am I, where am I, what am I going to do?" The doubt.

However, for the first time, this "Crusader King 3" novice tutorial, actually quite good.

To the Reformation, to the conquest of territories; Small to improve the character, character points. Novice tutorials have a detailed explanation, equivalent to a step-by-step guide to teach you how to open up. Wars in the Middle Ages, for example, needed a reason unless they could be fought directly over religious beliefs. Let's say you have a claim to a territory, or declare war through "territorial jurisprudence."

However, the system of Crusader Kings 3 is far larger than a half-hour tutorial can explain. Fortunately, after the end of the game's novice tutorial, the player can continue the novice tutorial file and continue to play. With the help of the tutorial, I had a good start to the game.

But the next road, it is not easy to walk. As mentioned before, the systems and gameplay of Crusader Kings 3 are huge. This generation is equivalent to standing on the shoulders of "Crusader Kings 2", carrying out a great integration of content and systems, and to optimize. So, what new players need to do is to get used to the rhythm of the game a little bit. Step by step, gradually understand the charm of the game.

If you play the game with the thinking of playing the "Three Kingdoms series" or "Total War series" games, by blindly expanding to operate this game, the player has a high probability of tipping over. Wars and conquests are only part of the game. The war flow of this generation of games is also very simple -- set up a rally point, then click "Gather all troops" and it's done. Then there is the "hide and seek" with the enemy on the big map. If the army is not equal to the opposite, spend some money to find mercenaries, or ask Allies to send troops to help; If it is an interreligious "holy war", you can also form a "Holy Church Order" for free.

So, war was never the focus of the "Crusader Kings" series. Politics is. They say, "You can only rule the world right away, but you can't rule the world right away." That's what this game is all about.

Co-optation, seduction, marriage, murder. Whether it's a conspiracy or a conspiracy, as long as it maintains the stability of the rule and family inheritance. Those in power can do whatever they want. Europe in the Middle Ages has always done the dirtiest things with the most noble words. That's what Crusader Kings 3 really wants players to experience. Therefore, compared to the "Three Kingdoms Series" and "Total War Series," which focused on strategy and tactics and reduced internal gameplay, Crusader Kings 3 is undoubtedly going in a very different direction.

Expanding territory is second, maintaining the stability of the rule is the key. "To fight the outside must first secure the inside", for a dynasty, internal contradictions are always the priority to be solved. For example, when a new king is enthroned, the first step is to get your cabinet together. What the game shows is "favorability". If the bishop's favor is negative, he will receive no religious support and no income from religious estates; If the spy mind is negative, it has the possibility of being co-opted by others and then murdering you. Of course, as the king, you can directly reorganize the cabinet, after all, "one son of heaven, one courtier." However, by default, your cabinet is mostly the Lord of the territory, and if it is too low, it may rebel and cause the country to fall into civil strife.

You know, unlike our ancient centralization and absolute monarchy, most of medieval Europe still practiced feudalism. It means that the vassals under your command who have territory have military power, just like the vassals in the Zhou period. In Crusader Kings 3, players can actually experience the pain caused by the "evil feudal system."

This is what makes the game particularly interesting. In contrast to other strategy games, you're just playing a character, or a story at a particular time. Crusader Kings 3 puts players in the role of a ruling family that stretches back hundreds of years. It's certainly not a generational thing. So family continuity and the continuation of the family line is a very important thing.

Of course, it is not always better to have more children (only boys). Although more boys are born, families are naturally better able to spread their branches. But when his father died, the new king who inherited the throne, he needed to face the brothers and uncles who were sitting on the side and supporting the army. This is a situation that is all too common in history, the brotherly struggle, the brotherly struggle, I don't know how many times it was staged. This is also one of the reasons why many new players feel a headache in the game, who all hope that their son can inherit the father's business, and do not want to have eight pieces of land in their hands, and change a piece in the hands of the successor.

Old players a little more ruthless, may be like Zhu Yuanzhang, on the vassal and the extra son. Of course, this is only one of the gameplay, the average player can still modify the inheritance law and monarchy, to ensure that their heirs smoothly take over the kingdom. But the cost is usually huge and takes generations.

That's part of the charm of role-playing in Crusader Kings 3. Almost every minute and every second, will let the player in the palace struggle in the clouds. Let the player personally experience the intrigues of the European court in the middle world. By contrast, political marriages, consanguineous marriages, are far better than taking your brother's territory at your word, or finding ways to imprison your brother and strip him of his title.

However, even if you have all your ducks in a row, there is an old saying that "man is better than God." "Day calculation", in the game is a variety of unpredictable random events. The random events in Crusader Kings 3 cover almost every aspect. It is important to the country, for example, to promote the development of territory, to increase the goodwill of the people, or to lose the war, the army supplies are depleted, and the casualties are heavy; Something personal, like going out for a dog walk or a horse ride. Or you can talk to a friend to relieve your stress. This work for the character's personality, a new "pressure system". As long as the player does something contrary to the character's personality, it will accumulate stress points for the character. For example, let the "magnanimous" person imprison the prisoner, or let the "just" person murder others.

When the pressure value reaches a certain point, it will form a pressure level, which will bring various debuffs to the character. And most of them affect health. So, an overstressed character may suddenly die one day. If a vassal dies, it's all right, but if the king dies suddenly, the country's in a mess.

But there is no clear goal to win. The original intention of P club is to let players play the game according to their own ideas. The gameplay and system are in front of you, how to play is your business, just happy. It's all about the experience.

So, the conquest of the city is only a secondary part. Role-play, that's really fun. After all, the "evil deeds" of P club players, from Ireland to the Khitan, are known to everyone.