After a long wait, fans of Victoria 2 will once again set foot into the 19th century with the game's sequel. Times have changed though, both in the gaming world and with Paradox Interactive, so what are their thoughts?
Whenever a new game gets announced these days, three sides can be found in every fanbase. The ones who wait for the game with great excitement feeling like it's going to be the best thing since sliced bread. On the other side of that scale, we can find those who have been burned one too many times and curb their enthusiasm to the point of pessimism.
And, of course, we have the biggest group of all, the ones finding the middle ground.
When talking about a game such as Victoria 3, a sequel that fans have been waiting for years upon years, the expectations and criticisms are taken up a notch or two.
It is a known fact that Paradox Interactive have not been doing as well as the fans have come to expect of them in their last few titles. Even with the well-established update system, which brings their games to their peak months, if not years after release, titles such as Imperator: Rome have not been received as well and with due reason.
Since so much lies on the shoulders of Victoria 3, and its success, fans fear Paradox Interactive may go down the route of simplifying the game, and reducing its learning curve, as they've done with their other games. Even though there are no inclinations of that happening, the stakes are too high to leave anything to chance.
Instead, what the fans advocate for can be summed up in two options. Either the game turns out to be an updated Victoria 2, which is the game that made the fans fall in love initially. Or, have Paradox lean into the feeling of the game. Make the learning curve harder than before, because the fanbase is already established, and expand upon and make even deeper, the old systems that made the game what it is.
Paradox Interactive
The latter option seems to be what the developers are going for, but nothing is yet certain. One thing is for sure though, as one fan put it: "It's not the initial 10 hours that you invest into Paradox games, while learning, that makes them good, but the latter 200 while mastering them."
It's a sentiment we can agree with, and all that remains is to closely follow devs' diaries, and be up to date on the development process.
