Can't decide which one to buy

[Patata68]

I have to choose if I buy CK2 or M&B:W. I tend to buy Mount and Blade, because I am scared of the huge game in CK2 and it is might be to big and complicated for me. I love Total War, but it annoyed me, that you can't do so much in politicians with other states/cultures...!
That's the way I found that game....I want just to do politicans and don't fight so much (especially because you can't move your own army on a battlefield!)

M&B:W is so cool because you can do so many things, make your own empire or be a barbarian and the battles....

Which one should I buy...?

[Gloomseeker]

Totally different games on medieval times. CK2 has a rather steep learning curve so prepare to spend some time learning how things work. Warband is more action focused and you can jump right in. Both are great games and I like switching between them for a different focus on that time period.

My advice would be to try the demo or at least watch some gameplay videos to see what you're getting into.

[Alex]

Get CKII and wait for Bannerlord.

[Judgement Day]

While I've spent literally 20x as much time playing M&B:W as I have CK2, I feel that I would reccomend CK2 more highly.

Crusader Kings 2
Pros: Almost anything is impossible
Fun and reliable multiplayer
Hours upon hours of replayability
No two games are alike
Many different ways to play

Cons: Can end up costing over $100 in DLC expansions (not really worth playing without these)
Really steep learning curve (I would suggest watching Let's Plays to learn how to play.)
You will end up losing hours of your life trying to take over the InsertNameHere Empire/Kingdom/Duchy/County


Mount and Blade: Warband
Pros: Fun Campaign
Fun Multiplayer
Tons of good mods
Easy to get into

Cons:
Becomes drab after a few hundred hours
Options are pretty limited aside from fighting, training, and training. (These can be expanded by the awesome mod.)
Will be outdated shortly
Will also suck up countless hours of your life.

[Judgement Day]

Originally posted by Magnificent Bastard:

Mount and Blade doesn't have the depth that CK2 has. You'll spend more hours in CK2. More bang for your buck.

This is true, but you have to give more buck for your bang in CK2. For me, to consider a game a good investment, I want to get at least an hour of gameplay for every dollar I pay. Since CK2 is more expensive (if you are buying the DLC), it will require a much bigger bang to be a success.

[Patata68]

Do I have to buy all the DLC's of CK2? Because I just want to buy the normal game at first (and buy the DLC's only after some time!)

[Thundercomet]

Originally posted by †Judgement Day†:

Originally posted by Magnificent Bastard:

Mount and Blade doesn't have the depth that CK2 has. You'll spend more hours in CK2. More bang for your buck.

This is true, but you have to give more buck for your bang in CK2. For me, to consider a game a good investment, I want to get at least an hour of gameplay for every dollar I pay. Since CK2 is more expensive (if you are buying the DLC), it will require a much bigger bang to be a success.

Only an hour for every dollar?
I've put over 600 hours in CKII... That would be one expensive game.

Originally posted by Patata9643:

Do I have to buy all the DLC's of CK2? Because I just want to buy the normal game at first (and buy the DLC's only after some time!)

You don't have to buy the DLC, unless you want to play muslims, pagans/start in the year 867 as opposed to 1066, have more flavor as anyone in the Byzantine Empire, or get invaded by Aztecs, or get improved gameplay as Catholics.

Basically, the only DLC I would say you probably need to buy right now is Sons of Abraham, for a better experience as Catholics, which is essentially the base game. But that's a recommendation, you probably don't need it.

[Patata68]

Normally, I wait and I would buy the game also on Key shops and not on Steam....CK2 costs me 6€

[Judgement Day]

Both games are worth having, I'm just trying to play devil's advocate on both. Seriously, you can't go wrong playing either game. They're both extremely good and I can not recommend either enough.

Also, what I meant by an hour to the dollar is that if I pay $40 for a game and don't get at least 40 hours of good gameplay, it was a poor investment. Games like CK2 where you can clock in thousands of hours are really good games.

[Pope Urban II]

Originally posted by †Judgement Day†:

and reliable multiplayer

Multiplayer for this game works if you sacrifice a virgin on friday the 13th during a harvest moon in my experience. Multiple patricians of a republic killed it, 4 people made it barely hold together, and losing sync happens a ton.

[Judgement Day]

Originally posted by Gorfeywog:

Originally posted by †Judgement Day†:

and reliable multiplayer

Multiplayer for this game works if you sacrifice a virgin on friday the 13th during a harvest moon in my experience. Multiple patricians of a republic killed it, 4 people made it barely hold together, and losing sync happens a ton.

I forgot about the patricians thing, but other than that, I've been able to host up to eight people at once with no problems whatsoever. And in comparison to previous Paradox Grand Strategy Games, this is beautiful multiplayer.

[h.arle]

If you didn't like Total War because you thought inter-state relationships and politics weren't fleshed out, you'll meet your match in the Paradox strand of grand strategy games (specially Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis). Ultimately, however, M&B and CK are too distinct for me to recommend or the other - have no doubt, however, that the strategy aspect of CK is grander than that of M&B.

[cb1142]

You don't necessarily need all of the DLCs in CK2 for it to function, sure it makes it better, but I only have a few DLCs on mine and it's still my favorite game. You don't need to spend 100 dollars if you don't want to.

[Patata68]

@Harlequin: I also love Total War, but I would also love a game, where the main point on politiccs etc is and not (or only) on battles

[Relnor]

Since when does CK2+DLC cost 100$ ? Even ALL possible DLC costs 80, and you can get the important DLC (as in, everything except music/portrait/unit models ) for half that.

They're both cool games. If you're into politics, then certainly CK2 is the way to go, M&B's political system is pretty rudimentary, to be honest a lot of the game except the combat IS rudimentary in M&B, but the good combat mechanics and large, fun battles hold it up.

[Judgement Day]

Originally posted by Relnor:

Since when does CK2+DLC cost 100$ ? Even ALL possible DLC costs 80, and you can get the important DLC (as in, everything except music/portrait/unit models ) for half that.

It was a rough estimate. If you get them on sale, you can probably get the game plus all the expansion DLC for about the price of the original game. I got some of the DLC's when they were more expensive though.