Europa Universalis or Civilization or HOS 4 or Stellaris?

[Freezpior]

Want a game that I can play for 100+ hours

[mystafyi]

Civ games peaked awhile ago and imho have gone downhill except for graphics. That being said all 4 of those games you listed would give 100+ hours. I think you would need to clarify you are looking for in a game.

[tinisiyo]

Spent ~10 hours in civ sp and over 3k in mp, and conversely in eu4, 4k in sp and a few hours in mp.

[tonypa]

Publicado originalmente por Razar:

Want a game that I can play for 100+ hours

Any of these games can be played over 1000 hours. It is impossible to guess which one is best for you, or if you even like some of them for more than 1 hour.

Paradox games (EU, HoI, Crusader Kings) are all somewhat similar, but cover different settings - HoI is World War 2 game, and EU4 plays within 1444-1821. So pick one that you feel has most interesting settings for you. In all of these games the base map is always exactly same, while you can pick any country, the position of countries or their relative strength does not change. For example in EU4 you can not start as France and discover your closest neighbour is Japan.

Stellaris is futuristic space game more similar to Civ series in the sense that the world is generated randomly and your starting position, your resources, your neighbours, are random. Unlike in other PDX games you do not know what you discover in next step until you actually explore it.

[Dominian]

The answer is clearly Victoria II.

[DankDansk]

Publicado originalmente por Dominian:

The answer is clearly Victoria II.

Huge learning curve though. Either play some easier PDX games first or watch tutorials. All four games are excellent though, and I recommend them from personal experience. Not gonna choose for you though.

PDX games do have a lot of DLC, but they are going on sale soon and do so regularly, so no big deal. There has been some controversy, though...

[Server Jester]

EU4 i would go with, there is also the option of CK2 and Victoria 2
Civilization i feel like feels the same everytime and gets incredibly boring late game, it also caused my hard drives to kick the bucket
HOI4 is drive truck into moscow simulator last time I checked
I do not know about Stellaris

[DankDansk]

Publicado originalmente por PunishedMuskovy:

EU4 i would go with, there is also the option of CK2 and Victoria 2
Civilization i feel like feels the same everytime and gets incredibly boring late game, it also caused my hard drives to kick the bucket
HOI4 is drive truck into moscow simulator last time I checked
I do not know about Stellaris

Stellaris is fun as well and it's a great time to buy.

[OttomanYeniceri]

1. Civ IV
2. EU IV
3. HOI IV
4. Stellaris

[MrButBut]

take Hoi 3 + black ice mod instead xD

[waauw]

All four are probably worth 100+ hours, though I'd personally recommend EU IV the most, as being the most complete and challenging game. Beware however, it is also the most complicated out of the four, with a huge learning curve.

Civilization is a great series to get into if you're new to 4x games; great for 4x-genre newbies. Civ VI still feels incomplete. The biggest issue with Civ VI is that its war mechanics are completely broken. It needs more expansions to fix its issues, so I'd advise Civ V over Civ VI at the moment.

Stellaris feels less political and more exploratory. Can't say much more as I've not played it enough to really judge, but like Civ VI it seems to have a low learning curve.

HOI IV can not be compared with these other three actually. HOI IV is a war game, more compareable to the 'Total War' series. EU, Civ and Stellaris are 4x games about building up civilizations, nothing like HOI. Completely different genre.

Crusader Kings II is also a great game, very much in the same direction as the first three. I'd rate it at the same level as EU IV. The big difference between them is that EU IV puts more focus on nation vs nation politics, whilst CK II is a lot better on the internal wars issues, like dealing with claimant rebels and disgruntled dukes.

[Donathan Cheadledge]

Providing you're buying civ IV or V (not VI), then all are probably worth 100+ hours.

[76561198046838937]

Publicado originalmente por PunishedMuskovy:

Civilization i feel like feels the same everytime and gets incredibly boring late game

I could say the same about EU4. Mid game all i'm doing is bouncing off each face of my empire waging wars to avoid coalitions. Wage war east, wage war west, wage war south, wage war north, rinse and repeat.

The main thing I enjoy about EU4 is that it feels more grand scale compared to Civ games, but I generally find nuances like combat and early game much more appealing in Civ. Combat feels tactical like chess, where as initially the combat in EU4 feels like marbles on a tray on a rocky ship (pieces flying everywhere the moment you go near them). Early game in Civ is much more important (not to belittle EU4 early game) because your starting settlement and where you choose to settle can make or break your game.

[Despiser]

It looks like paradox is never going to relent on its endless dlc stream. I have yet to finish a eu4 game because my saves are rendered obsolete. The ui is also a cluster puck of buttons with each new release.
With Civ I look forward to expansions. Next and probably final one in February. If it improves the so-so ai then I’ll be happy. Hoi4 is kind of like the natural progression of eu4 set in ww2. Stellaris I never played.

[GoldenTalon]

CIV IV first then Vic2 and EUIV

[mystafyi]

Publicado originalmente por Despiser:

It looks like paradox is never going to relent on its endless dlc stream. I have yet to finish a eu4 game because my saves are rendered obsolete.

Its quite simple to use previous version of game to finish save games from older versions.