We chat about videogames and videogame accessories.

I just looked at my Steam statistics and apparently I've played something like 230-odd hours of Crusader Kings II? I've never played a game for more than about 80-ish hours prior to this and I'm not sure whether I'm happy to have found a game so addicting or peeved that I'm accumulating such a ridiculous backlog of other games I need to play while I'm off pretending to be a medieval asshole.

YES! I managed to hold on to my empire despite a string of unlucky deaths. Wait. Why are there factions. Oh, I forgot I let that ambitious duke live! Now he has ambitious duke kids. Oh no. WAIT. WHY DOES MY GUY HAVE FIVE SINS. OH NO.

I have been seriously considering doing a CK2 AAR. I think I might start a new game with Basque culture just for the absolute cognatic succession—that will make marriages very tough, plus they don’t start out very big.

What are your opinions on the game? It just looks mad complicated to me.

It is complicated at first, but eventually you get the hang of it; once you have had several catastrophes, you tend to figure out what not to do, plus you can often look up solutions. Don’t make the mistake of thinking there’s a perfect strategy, either; there are just good ideas, bad ideas, and toss-ups.

It does get to a point where there are no surprises left, or where you might feel like you’re playing things too gamey, though (e.g. grant a bunch of titles to your heir, thus making him deal with everyone else’s crap instead of you and giving you a doomstack any time you summon his forces).