Why EU3 is a great Buy in Steam Summer Sale 2021

[Myll]

Consider - Paradox could change its business model to a subscription-only service in the future. Or, could heavily move more toward subscriptions for their game catalogue, while still selling full versions -- and never put their old games on sale again.
This is why I have recommended across EU3 and EU4 forums here in Steam and elsewhere, that if you don't own the full version of EU3, now is the time to buy it.
This may come off as theory, but Paradox answers to shareholders as a Public Company with stock in the Stock Market, so they are always scrambling to make extra profits, and it's only common sense to assume that they will restrict Sale Events in the future by imposing a highly-suggested Subscription Model that tries to draw in new customers while making it more costly to fully own their games.

Aside from this financial/economic reason, I am very disappointed in EU4's Leviathan DLC, and refuse to buy it (although I own every other DLC for EU4). The Dev's continue to change EU4 far too much with each successive DLC, and here at EU3 you know that the game is "locked in" and not going to be manipulated by the Dev's.

This "locked in" status also means - the Mod community in Steam has guarantees that they can build effective Mods and not worry about a future DLC derailing their Mod, or forcing new updates.

Interested in the EU3 community's thoughts on this, but if you're a would-be gamer contemplating EU3 and don't own any of the EU series games -- this is the Summer to buy EU3, this is the time to jump into the franchise and experience the game in its more raw form. I would look at EU3 as the "completion" of the First Generation of EU series games. To me, EU4 represents a Second Generation of EU, drifting so far away in game mechanics and rule sets, that it's almost becoming a different game.

[KtX2SkD]

I'm not into the mod scene but from what I'm hearing at random spots is quite a bunch of the big mods don't support the latest EU3 version(s), which suggests the modding action has dwindled down quite a bit already.

I'm also concerned about the learning experience. EU3 is not particularly conductive to self-learning at times, and as for online material: the restrictions on both the wiki (read-only, or new users can't get edit access, unsure which) and the official forums (many sub-sections hidden if not registered with serial), cuts down on both access to information and keeping information up to date. I don't get why the second issue still remains, and as for the first you'd hope that when someone with as many hours as me wants to contribute they would be able to figure out how, but I couldn't, and I doubt there's that much editorial attention (whether contributing or griefing) to the wiki these days, which from a contributing stand-point makes missing out on contributions even more problematic.

I do agree on the EU4 thing though. One of the reasons I'm not thinking of buying it yet is I'm hearing it changing alot across updates, way more than how EU3 changed plus way more controversial. I was interested in some mechanics I heard they introduced though, but it's too early for me to judge the product as a whole.

[Myll]

@KtX2SkD and others, it is to be determined just where EU4 ends up. At least EU3 has been final-packaged. I checked the Steam Summer Sale price - only $3.74 (US) for the complete game, in case this gets viewed down the road for a comparison. Hard to beat that cost for the hundreds of hours of gameplay available - even if the entire Mod community does bail out and you only get the vanilla game experience. Still, a great game for that price, my opinion. I know this sounds like a mixed message - bashing Paradox (for EU4) while praising Paradox for EU3, but there is something to say about the past generation of game developers, that a lot of research/homework was done to fill in the information on these games. I find that sometimes with EU4, it's not valid research/real history, but rather - it's an inject of Social Bias to try and protect Paradox's image (although my opinion, they're starting to tarnish their image to those of us who have been long-time customers/gamers of their product).

[KtX2SkD]

Well, it's not the first time a sequel to a series wasn't favored by the original's fans, and I've seen far worse examples than this, so nothing is strange here about liking 3 and disliking 4.

Just to be sure, you say 3.74 USD, is that for Complete or Chronicles?

[Myll]

Originally posted by KtX2SkD:

Well, it's not the first time a sequel to a series wasn't favored by the original's fans, and I've seen far worse examples than this, so nothing is strange here about liking 3 and disliking 4.

Just to be sure, you say 3.74 USD, is that for Complete or Chronicles?

It shows in my Steam Store page (in USA) that there is a EU3 "Complete" package for that price, that includes all expansions. Way back when I bought that same package, I ended up with 100% of all the DLCs listed individually at the page, so I assume they're still giving you everything at that price. Of course, that's the point of this thread - you never know when the "sale" is going to change and it may not be fully packaged the same in the future.

[Hstio]

Complete does not include Heir to the Throne or Divine Wind. They have to be purchased separately.

[Myll]

Originally posted by Hstio:

Complete does not include Heir to the Throne or Divine Wind. They have to be purchased separately.

Did Steam and Paradox change the so-called "Complete" package in the last couple years? I only paid once for a package deal in Steam, and it had 100% of DLCs, to include Heir/Div Wind. Maybe it was a special bundle for a past Summer Sale event, but this only helps make my point that - these Paradox games' sale events will likely change over time.

[KtX2SkD]

You could just share the page you're viewing, you know. As from my side, here is what I see:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/25800/Europa_Universalis_III_Complete/
"-75%"
"Buy Europa Universalis III: Complete"
"Includes: Europa Universalis III, Expansion In Nomine, and Expansion Napoleons Ambition"
"SPECIAL PROMOTION! Offer ends 8 July"

That is same as what Hstio and I are trying to bring attention to. For all I've known, "Complete" was always the base game plus two expansions, and "Chronicles" was always the "Complete" plus two more expansions, totaling to four. None of those expansions should be taken lightly I'd say as they functionally change the game quite a lot, almost entirely for the best in my view, although I did come across a few who disagreed but they didn't seem to be a lot.

For disclosure, my first experience with the game was "In Nomine", the second expansion.

[mltnschroeder]

If Paradox switched to a subscription model, I would simply never play any of their games. Greedy stockholders looking for short-term profits over long-term survival and CEOs that pander to them are idiots. MMORPGs that used to be subscription now entice players to play for free and they make cash by selling bonuses and upgrades instead. See any trend?

EU3 Complete is definitely misnamed, as it is the HttT and Divine Wind expansions that came afterwards that 'completed' the 3rd title in the series. Both In Nomine and HttT changed a lot of game mechanics for diplomacy and trade... which are like, you know, core aspects of the game. So in many ways, IN should rightly be called EU 3,5 and HttT maybe EU 3.9. They both are good solid expansions but in a way sorta mutually exclusive - ie. you have to unlearn stuff when you play them. DW adds fluff and deeper immersion to those who want to play Asian nations.

[KtX2SkD]

I recently watched both of Muck's dev. v-logs, and there seemed to be a clue about a a Steam product rename. Wonder if the function existed or didn't in EU3's days, or if there were other challenges, such as the one Tiberian Dawn had...