Crusader Kings II Way Of Life [REVIEW]

It is perhaps the ultimate testament to Crusader Kings 2 that the only thing I want to do in this review is tell you all about my own stories.

The Count of Cornwall was a family man, eager to raise his own children and instill his values into them as they grew. However, his paranoia meant that every time his wife got pregnant, he spent the whole county's gold on legions of spies to assure him that the child was his. Time and time again his envy reared up, and every time his wife was vindicated. Slowly, he came to know the love that she had always felt for him, even if his jealous side never quite subsided.

Five children later, and he had drifted away from his family. Serving as the duke's chamberlain, he had instead dedicated himself to the pursuit of martial prowess, and with great success. For a man supposed to sign treaties, he spent a remarkable amount of time in northern France leading the duke's forces in battle. Sadly, his beloved wife was taken from him by tuberculosis, and he married a Croatian princess many years his junior, to secure an alliance.

As sure as day follows night, her first pregnancy saw a return of the count's jealousy. Once more, he employed spies to investigate his wife, but this time, they reported that she was secretly in love with a Bosnian duke. This man was a famous playboy, with a string of lovers throughout the noble houses of Europe (as well as a fair few maidservants), much to the annoyance of his ugly, abandoned wife. The count of Cornwall, pressing his lord's claims in Wales at the time, immediately challenged the Bosnian Casanova to a duel. 

It turned out that the playboy was no use with aweapon of the non-mutton variety, and the duel was swiftly over. The count got the red mist, and with one thrust of his rapier the duke lay dead - and with him, the count's reputation as an honourable combatant.

This was, I hasten to add, my first playthrough with the new expansion. Rich stories like this are not the exception in Crusader Kings 2 - they are the rule. But one complaint which has been leveled at the game in the past is that sometimes you just have to wait and see what happens to you rather than shaping your own fate. The mini-DLC "Way of Life" goes some way toward addressing this complaint.

It's very simple to sum up the contents of the Way of Life DLC. All it does is add one new gameplay mechanic. That's it. Each character in the game of Count level or above gets to choose one focus. These foci provide an idea of how you're character is living at the present moment in his life. You can change focus every five years, so that young buck who spent his formative years in carousing and hunting can become a dedicated warrior in his middle age and then dedicate his twilight years to scholarship or the study of theology.

"But wait", ask those of you with considerable experience of Crusader Kings 2. "Isn't this something covered by the stat improvement ambitions?" Right. The game was patched some time ago to allow a character to concentrate on trying to improve certain low characteristics, unlocking discreet mini-quests that would bring about stat increases. Those ambitions are gone now in Way of Life, and the mini quests have been folded into the foci. Additionally, certain foci will unlock new diplomacy options in certain circumstances - focus on warfare and you can duel your rivals, focus on seduction and you can try to tumble anyone and everyone you meet, and focus on intrigue and you can bust people out of the dungeons of your enemies. These schemes and plans bring their own decisions and adventures, as well as their own traits for success or failure.

That is essentially the entire DLC. But be aware, as with everything in Crusader Kings 2, this isn't just something that happens to you - every other landed noble in the game is pursuing some focus or other of their own. So you'll meet Balkan lotharios with their eyes on your wife, hedonistic vassals who will invite you over for a private boozing session or business-minded prince-bishops who are amassing their fortunes in the name of the Lord. The change to gameplay is as much (if not more) about managing these other lords as it is about pursuing your own goals.

Steering one's dynasty through the twists and turns of courtly life has always been a (joyous) struggle, and any aid on getting a firm hand on the tiller is welcome. If I was to find fault with 'Way of Life', it would be perhaps that it doesn't do a great deal to change the game. A new choice to make once every five years (often you may leave your focus as it is, but I guess that still constitutes a choice), and you were kind of already doing the same thing (albeit in a slightly more rudimentary form) with the stat-increasing ambitions in earlier versions. There are the new decisions and mini-quests, of course. And some of these are certainly interesting. There are many that only appear if your character is a lunatic (one of my heirs eventually ended up appointing his horse chancellor, Nero-style, much to the annoyance of the previous chancellor), and there are some interesting and unexpected directions the scholarship focus can take you, but overall you'll play the game in much the same way as you always have.

You only have to hang out on the Paradox forums for a short while before it becomes apparent that many people love to role-play in their games. Sure, there might be good options and bad options, but sometimes it's a good laugh to allow your drunken hedonist character to wilfully fall asleep in church even if it results in a disapproving scowl from the bishop of St. Germans and maybe even excommunication. Way of Life certainly feels like it follows Paradox's philosophy of listening to their players and giving them what they want.

Viku Baba 01:03

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Crusader Kings II Way Of Life [REVIEW]

4/ 5

Oleh Viku Baba