New titles that aren't awful!

[Kaptin Keen]

For each of your negative quotes, I can find many more positive quotes. As they say you can't please everybody, there'll always be a small percentage haters even if Paradox's next game cured cancer, but Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis got a very welcome reception.

Of course you can. It's not EA, after all.

Now I'm curious, why do you consider them villains after playing a single one of their games and never trying out their other good stuff that's been critically acclaimed?

Why? Well - let me answer your question with a question of my own: Do you feel I'd need to actually try, say, 3 out of 5 of the latest EA titles to realise they're villains?

I consider information gathering a core human skill, and I read a lot. You have no idea how many people hate Paradox - or how much they hate them - unless you read as many user reviews as I do.

Sure .. there are many positive ones too. But then you look at what it is they publish, and a pattern emerges: Some people are ok with sinking 150-200 of your currency of choice into what basically just amounts to 'a strategy game', and some aren't. I'm of the latter conviction.

Now that, with my part in derailment complete, I'll put up another contender. Endless Space 2 and its related titles. If you like 4X games and beautiful aesthetic design, you cannot go wrong with Endless Space. The first game doesn't run very well on modern systems, and has been superseeded by its second iteration, so you should just grab ES2 instead. Endless Legends is a Civ-like spinoff that takes place on a planet instead, and has a unique take on combat. (YMMV on whether or not its actually engaging).

Endless Legend is probably the best 4x I've ever played.

I've considered the Endless game many, many times. I think the only reason I never bought one is that the title itself seems unimaginative to me =)

[houlio]

I've considered the Endless game many, many times. I think the only reason I never bought one is that the title itself seems unimaginative to me =)

Endless Legend is really good for a more traditional civ-style 4x. I don’t think it’s perfect, but the base of having the map divided into provinces which can only fit one city was a great idea that serves to limit city spread while making the early land grab still very important. The factions have different enough mechanics to make them interesting as well, which is a nice plus.