Recent reviews by Legatus

Fails to standardize/balance out features and resources. Every country of a different update has so many features that're specific to their DLC only, and it's jarring to play. Paradox needs to start to actually follow up on the good stuff with good stuff.

Hail, President!

This game was very enjoyable to play; a few things did dissapoint me, but over all it was really fun as an experience. Much to enjoy in seeing how different paths lead to different things! Honestly, I would love for there to be a bigger map so you can understand the scale of other nations but as it stands; it is really a through and through game of the CYOA novelty.

Taking the role as the President of a 2nd World Nation in a world themed around the 50's era, it is an interesting insight on Democracy, nation-states and power. The Cold War aesthetic is one that is often look at through the lens of Capitalist or Communist, but rarely has the topic of balancing the middle path been such a fun time to try. The story is enveloping, and the characters are all distinct, and those that do have overlapping traits often end up together on the basis of what they share.

The issues I have with it are only that it is is sadly the same settings every re-try (Although the game is still a wonderful time to do, with great details!). I enjoy playing this multiple times trying to get different endings, and to see what effects what how; but things always follow the same predictable path once you do it once. I think it would be interesting to perhaps in a future update (which I look forward to see very much!) being able to choose your own ministers to start with, seeing how they all interact, and such. As of the moment, certain characters will absolutely act a certain way, which can make it annoying for members of your cabinet to drop as you play, knowing that before hand you'll be losing them when you could pick before. You're trying to unite the nation after all, not commanding it. Not yet anyways...

Likewise, your background should have more effect on the game to flesh out who you are starting, and although I have no insight in the writing process of them, I would like for the Family you have to be more involved, and also fleshed out more. Your son will always seemingly be a bit of a prick, your wife will quite literally leave you if you don't let her go on her feminism crusade, which to me seems like a horrible betrayal over political power and say on her end, and your daughter sort of... exists. But she's the best between the almost-edgy son you have and the lovely, warm wife that will leave you and take your kids, should you not give into your whims. And a way to quickly skip all interactions perhaps just to the dialogue choices would help alot in re-runs if you know what would be said. Just some senses of randomness would be nice; as to perhaps what countries would demand or how people might act and such.

I mention those as highlights to me for also the devs if they were to any reason be reading this; but trust me, the game is a deeply engaging story of politics, power and the effects certain reactions to things may have. I wouldn't play twice as much as the top reviewer if it wasan't.

My advice to any new players is that no matter what; don't flip-flop on how you want to be, a floundering fish isn't a respected or powerful one. Try to be either the bigger fish, or the slippery one that outsmarts your opponents.

A'Morgna wes core!

I think this game has a LOT of potential. Like, seriously, a lot.

You know those times in class where you would draw/scribble tanks and whatever on the sides of the paper because you had nothing to do?

This is the game to do that, except taking away from actual important things in life.

As it stands, there are several glaring issues, which I hope will be patched/fixed, and I'm sure will, but any buyer at the moment should be aware.

-There are no explanations : You have to know prior to what stuff is, although the game will tell you what you might be missing, and give you stats, there is no explanation on the necessity of some items. I don't know if I actually *NEED* an exhaust pipe, but I'm pretty sure I do, I think. Does it make a difference if I have 1 or 10? I don't know. The community is new, but guides that exist are good. ALWAYS TWEAK YOUR TRANSMISSION!

-Scenarios at the current moment are broken : This might be just for me, on a lower-end computer having to run it low, but even just in gameplay terms, the AI shoots you before you see them, you have no way of spotting them, from what I can tell, from vast distances, as even your scope only goes so far. When they fire, it is almost always with pin-point accuracy. I Prehaps it is my own fault for continuing to go forward while being shot, but without seeing where they are (preahaps they spawn outside of my rendering...), it is hard to see. I understand, tanks are by no means a melee battle, but at the moment, it is impossible for me personally to do this if I have to rinse and repeat.

-Anti-infantry weapons do not work, limit on the amount of cannons you can equip : This is a petty point, and it probably is, but I for one am I huge fan of the "Landcruiser-Battleship" tank design (Think the Char 2C). And this game comes with 3 whole anti-infantry weapons to add on. I found myself disappointed that they are all just static for show. Likewise, you can only have a single, actual, moving turret, and only can have one cannon equiped. For an early access game, again, these are ALL EXCUSABLE. Quite literally almost a month this game has been out. However, I would like to say, that if I do not get the option to fire off a bunkers worth of firepower from one slow as hell machine, I my childhood dream will never be achieved!

Those are all secondary to what is here, and what is being promised. If 20 dollars means this game can help come to life, I'll put it down, sure, because I love these sort of sand-boxy experiences. I wait patiently for mods and whatnot to help make it really pop, someday, when I'm sure it'll be quite successful.

TD:LR, Classic story of promising early access. Buy now if you wanna try, or save it until later where it might be more 'worth it'.

I don't call things a masterpiece often, and this is no different. This game is not a masterpiece.

That doesn't mean that it is not still a work of astonishing art.

It's one of those games that if I could wipe my mind from to play again, I would in a heartbeat, no matter how much pain it'll cause.

The atmosphere, the story, the mystery, all of it is top notch. I remember going through some of the sloggier parts of the game, which I'll touch on in a bit, and thinking to myself "This kind of sucks, but it'll be worth it." And it was, the best pay off for work I've ever gotten out of a video game, if you can call it that. The plot of this game is a golden string, and it weaves itself into a cloth so lovely, it almost hurts to look at, lest you start to cry.

Don't get me wrong, there are negatives to this. I'm not banging on the JRPG part specifically; I got into the game, I knew what to expect. I know I'm not a fan of that sort of gameplay, and there were times I did enjoy it, but later on, it did feel tedious so often. I went out of my way to avoid fights because I would get into them and gain virtually nothing of value. I'm a very frugal player, holding out on every big healing item for when they will be 'really needed' and ending up with a party that can do without them. The powerlevel in this game can be silly; enemies can easily knock you out in 2-3 turns, or you can end up wiping the floor with them in a turn once you scale up enough. What gets me is how there are some parts in the game that feel like absolute filler to me. Not to say they aren't quirky, or original by any means, they're wonderfully designed etc etc, but there were times whilst playing I thought to myself 'This... doesn't really need to happen'. But as I see it, it's all included for a reason.

I recommend, for anyone playing, to get into the side-quest stuff and what not. This is the type of game that is enhanced in a way by that stuff, even if so much of it are frankly irritable find/fetch quests. But I don't mind, because that time in between gives me time to think on the plot, on the story. There were twists I didn't expect, that broke my hours worth of piecing things together. What I did wish for was a bloody map in game to look at...

I don't regret anything about this game, no matter how much pain and grief it genuinely caused me. I'm not ashamed, wept. I never live my life with regrets, and nor should you. I only wished for it to be just, a bit more engaging in some spots with actual game-play. Otherwise, I would dare to say it's, flawless. It's a game I can overlook the game-play over in favor of the story. Musics a killer as well, I should mention.

But regardless, I would only advise one thing to a new player coming into this game for the first time, put your own name when prompted. It'll hit three times harder.

All in all, and, I never say this, I love this game.

And I think you will too.

Just keep some tissues handy.

The focuses take forever to get to an obtainable position. Just to spite this DLC's stupid mechanics, I turned it off and tried doing the whole Ottoman empire things without it. Way more fun, if not watered down a touch.

As an additional thing, Greece is unbearable to play for the most part, as your economy takes 1936-39 to fix up completely. The "Investment" desicions are hot garbage; opinion, alliance and status have no play. There should be a choice to instead of going to all these other powers, led by brain dead AI's that never click yes, to be able to invest in "Yourself". It's garbage as a mechanic. And on top of that, those investments?

Building slots.

Bulgaria and Turkey are in similar pots; but in different situations. Whilst Turkey is Turkey, and has the resources, reach, and potential of Turkey, Bulgaria is just Bulgaria. I know things were harsh on them after the war and such, but at this point it's at the level of the Netherlands/Portugal/Spain; just giving extra stats down the focus tree for little to no reason.

Speaking of the focus Tree's, their a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mess. Just looking at Turkey is an eyesore, from how one focus you take can absolutely screw with your intended run, to just tracing the path down to where you want to go.

Not worth it, but not like I can refund it at this point.

Great artwork, and some nice tweaks, but Paradox needs to know that debuffs aren't fun if you're already a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ country. I don't care so much about immersion if it means compromising my entire game time to clicking buttons to handle ♥♥♥♥♥♥ desicions.

Alot of people will go on how they want "Muh Soviet and Italy Tree", but if it'll be like this, I'd rather not. Off the charts bonkers, bi-polar jumping from "It's a realistic history simulator" to "It's an obvious alt-history game". Phantom buffs and grueling debuffs.

Fix your ♥♥♥♥ up, son.

3/10.

3/10.

A very VERY wordy game, it has a very abstract place. While the art style is nice, it is almost wholly blocky text paragraphs, and it is in a rather confusing place. If you enjoy getting your rocks off to futuristic worlds with the only stable activity left being philisophical discussions and ramblings of space mining and "Le Future", then this is for you. There is very little choice you can make, and it reads very dry.

3/10.

A terrible DLC with so much "Extra" stuff for ridiculous play. It turns the game upside down with more and more ridiculous attempts to add things to countries that don't have any place in the game, like the last DLC, but there they had something. The new operations for spies feels lengthy, and results in a harrowing game of "Who can out resistance the other". The focus tree's of the newly added Portugal and Spain nearly made me blind, there was so much reading to do, with the out-of-focus blur when you scroll in on them.

Just feels like something that should've been free or atleast much cheaper added.

I can respect the update to france, but some of the focuses feel like mods that people make for their own countries. You know, the ones that make them super OP by just saying "The will of the People = +20% attack"? It plays like a bad fanfiction.

The resistance part is so mind numblingly retarded already, it's better to play without the DLC to manage it better. Template is 3 cavalry and an MP support to get rid of the hordes of partisans attacking my men, as the entire countryside aparently rises up. Like, what mob did I disturb?

If you have to buy, buy it on sale. Which they probably won't do for a whole year, as they always do.

2/10, cicada's in my ♥♥♥♥ would've been more exciting.