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As I mentioned in nother thread, I pre-ordered Majesty 2 using Stardocks digital distribution system. It's out now, and I installed/activated it to discover Paradox wants another activation on execution.

Is it wrong that this fills me with rage? I don't use DD systems to have to fuck around with useless DRM (ps Paradox I've already got the game now and can just crack it, you morons), especially from idiot niche developers with a history of fail. I think it's likely they're just so stupid they gave Stardock the actual boxed version (where this is the only DRM), but that's not really any excuse.

Is there any precedent for this? Do Paradox games regularly do this? Do some titles on Steam/etc force you to dual activate?

And yeah, I know this is my fault for buying a Paradox game. But I hear they're a really good developer!

When you say 'another activation', does that mean you have to pay again? Or is it just an annoying inconvenience?

I've never ran into any titles on Steam that forced me to activate. Since, they do that when you purchase it off Steam directly automatically. The only possible type of game that might require an extra step is an MMO.

It's an annoying inconvenience. I didn't buy it the 'convenient' way to be tell Paradox jack shit.

Also, the demo was pretty disappointing and I'd rather have Tropico.

I'm really just curious if stupid cunts (ps, DRM doesn't work) regularly make people repeatedly 'activate' shit for no reason. I figured it's more like Paradox just didn't think of it. As Zod says, through digital download stuff it activates anyway (I can't even start Majesty 2 until my download is activated, then it asks again).

It's like if you downloaded an XBL game with MSP and then it popped up saying TYPE IN YOUR CODE SIR. They ALREADY KNOW IT'S YOU!

K, update for all the Paradox-lovers out there. Turns out the second activation doesn't even work and many people can't play at all. Paradox are so cool at fucking shit up!

Luckily I have better things to do ... Like punch captain America.

Stark wrote:K, update for all the Paradox-lovers out there. Turns out the second activation doesn't even work and many people can't play at all. Paradox are so cool at fucking shit up!

Luckily I have better things to do ... Like punch captain America.

lol I thought that game wasn't out until next month in Oz or something?

That's what they said, but it's out anyway. It's also really easy.

Stark wrote:That's what they said, but it's out anyway. It's also really easy.

Yeah, I wouldn't exactly call its gameplay "deep" or anything.

Gameplay = play on hard + use Juggernaut = finish game? Lol. Juggs gets a ludicrous +10 toughness really easily too. And his apt costume is RIDICULOUS.

Paradox jumped the shark with EUIII. Fuck 3D graphics that Intel chipsets can't run and event-driven gameplay being shoved aside for sandbox-based.

I bought HoI2 a couple of weeks ago and generally liked it. But it spent, what, 6+ years getting patched until it was even functional? And they never even bothered to fix naval or air combat. Both of them being completely broken and utterly irrelevant to the gameplay.

I completely regret every cent I spent on HoI3. But I guess I better join the club eh? Stalingrad 400km south of where it ACTUALLY WAS.

What's Majesty 2 like? I was a huge fan of Majesty when it came out and I always wanted a sequel but I was more than a bit nervous when I heard who was making it.

I haven't played it yet because the activation is fucked, but the demo showed it to be basically the same but more complex. The guild are more interesting and offer mire services, there's more stuff to research etc. Building placement is stupid and the handling of flags is cumbersome and there's no random play, but in other details it's good.

I've been told by Paradox lovers that freeplay will probably be added in an expansion because Paradox are so great at customer support!

Man, I was almost tempted too - Majesty was something I always meant to get around to playing, but never did. Now I'll save my strategy game bucks for Tropico 3.

I wasn't really interested in Tropico 3 until I played the demo. It looks like a blast.

CaptHawkeye wrote:And they never even bothered to fix naval or air combat. Both of them being completely broken and utterly irrelevant to the gameplay.

CAS swarms are amazing, FYI. Although they are pretty broken, just in the other way. Other than that, though...

Stark, you dissapoint me. When I saw you saying to me that it was pointless wasting my time playing Victoria, I did not know you would of fell for a Paradox game yourself. Why Stark...

But in all seriousness, I will say what Victoria was like for me as it pretty much fits all Paradox games save a couple:

For a start Victoria loaded up and there was no tutorial, none at all. I know this has changed since then but this just say's a lot about Paradox. In a game that requires you to do a lot of complex trade actions, diplomacy and other thing's; you have no introduction to what the game is like. Now you could say "But Bluewolf, there is a manual and online guides!". Frankly the manual is not helpful as it gives you an info dump. You are told all the concepts but it does not give you an easy way to put them into practise. On top of that the manual had to be revised by the fans due to how (according to them) broken it was.

Even if we discard the fact that there is no tutorial, a simple quick guide manual would of been good. Iirc Galciv 2 has one and it is basically for the newbie player who just freshly installed it. It does not info dump a heap of infomation onto the player but gives them a good idea on where to start. Of course there is the full manual but the existence of that quick start quide makes thing's a lot eaiser.

Now the game itself. When Stark say's its a slider fest, well he is not kidding. There are a ton of options that are basically on some kind of bar, some kind of number and thats it. Now you may say that a lot of games are like this but I would disagree. Though not the best example, take a look at Rome Total War, Civ 4 or any other large scale game. The game is not just buttons and menu's. This brings me to my next problem. Sliders and that would not be so bad if the game was interesting to look at.

Graphically, besides the clunky UI (I will get onto that) and the map (which looks far better than HOI 3's one), there is little graphics. There is little to catch your eye or look at. In Civ 4, you had cities, the landscape and such to look at. In Rome Total War you could view your cities and the area around them. The games were good to look at. Even the little unit movement animations or map animations on both games was nice to look at and made the game more eye catching. In Victoria though, the most you see is a marching represenation of an army. Its boring to look at and does not work well at all. Even a game like DEFCON where there is little animation or colour still looks more interesting visually than Victoria.

Now onto the UI. It's awful. It takes a while to do even simple actions and it sucks up more time wih you fiddling around trying to get it to work. On top of that it even glitches on you at times. An example of the stupid UI is that EVERYTHING that is done by another nation pops up. UK has gone to war. POP UP. Spain has made a new colony. POP UP. US annxed Texas. POP UP. It's like I went back in time to the day's of Web 1.0 where "I was the 9999 customster". Its a horrid design choice and is just one of the many in the game. Yes it can be turned off but having it on like that is an awful idea to start off with.

I will stop ranting now but that is pretty much what Victoria was like and it feels that many other games done by them are like that. Messy and badly done. I don't know if anyone agrees with me though.

Pretty much all of the fans of Victoria (I personally am not one, since it seems like it takes longer to get into unlike EU, CK, HOI, etc.) agree with most of your criticisms- no tutorial, lame documentation (Paradox is legendary for that), popups galore, sliders and menus everywhere.

But that's not the point of the game. Paradox games are generally for the obsessive lot who want to get their alternate history on and get really into the simulation despite the game being a clunker and the A.I. often broken (and buggy, as well). It's like the people who play Dwarf Fortress or who still play hex strategy games, really. At the very least, much of that lot is abundant online so if you have any questions basically fans will answer them, fans also patch the games themselves or mod some of the problems away, really Paradox games are less about good development teams and more about the nerdmasters who fix the games for them.

But that's not the point of the game. Paradox games are generally for the obsessive lot who want to get their alternate history on and get really into the simulation despite the game being a clunker and the A.I. often broken (and buggy, as well). It's like the people who play Dwarf Fortress or who still play hex strategy games, really. At the very least, much of that lot is abundant online so if you have any questions basically fans will answer them, fans also patch the games themselves or mod some of the problems away, really Paradox games are less about good development teams and more about the nerdmasters who fix the games for them

The thing is, is that Paradox are a proffesional gaming company and therefore I should expect a certain standard from their products. When you are having to rely on your fanbase to clean up after your mess then there is something very wrong and frankly, it does not fly with me. Yes the fanbase is an important aspect to a company and fan patches and fixes can be useful but when you expect the fans to fix things, something has gone awfully wrong. The idea of your consumer fixing your mistakes would not fly in a lot of other industries and it should not in computer software.

I'm not supporting or condemning it. I'm just stating how I think Paradox works.

Also, partly it's not so much getting the fanbase to clean it up as it is expecting the fanbase would just put up with bugginess until a proper patch or expansion can get fix it a few months later. Which, of course, is as rickety a system as the government of the GLORIOUS STATE OF SERBIA which gets argued about so much on their forums.

So basically they rely on their die hard suckers to fund their shovelware? That probably works with some fanbases. Still even a little clean up could go a long way in getting more people into their games. Heck the idea itself is not a bad one, not at all. It is just not an easy thing to do and they muck it up.

Bluewolf wrote:Stark, you dissapoint me. When I saw you saying to me that it was pointless wasting my time playing Victoria, I did not know you would of fell for a Paradox game yourself. Why Stark...

It isn't REALLY a Paradox game. They distribute and were involved in the hilarious cockup of a launch, but they don't appear to have made it.

Example; game features zero sliders.

It's still got the same problems as Majesty 1 though; flat tech, no real decisions to be made, bland levels. Oh well, I'm sure Paradox will be happy to charge me for the random map generator.