Crusader Kings 2 Review: Chaos is a Ladder

The most realistic Human Behavior Simulator on the market today! Crusader Kings 2 puts you in the shoes of a random noble in the Medieval period. Since these were the good ‘ol days of nepotism, competency is not guaranteed, and everyone is only in it for themselves. Will you successfully navigate this dense political climate? Or will you merely be another rung in someone else’s scramble for power?
Crusader Kings 2: store.steampowered.com/app/20...
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00:00 Intro
00:44 Visuals and UI Design
01:01 Sound Design (squeamish warning)
03:28 Gameplay Basics
03:58 Feudalism 101
05:04 Advanced Feudalism
06:35 Factions
07:29 Claimants
09:45 Pretenders
10:52 I am the Council!
12:49 On-Demand Power Vacuum (AKA Plotting)
14:52 Foreign Affairs (the violent kind)
16:16 Mawwage
17:40 Women's Rights
18:16 Diegetic Ineptitude
19:32 Conclusion
19:40 Credits
#Review #CrusaderKings

[@michaeldog123ful]

You didnt mention how if you execute multiple people at once, all of the sounds play at the same time. Meaning if you execute lets say 200 people, you are rewarded with the sweet sound of victory.

[@Toastoffire100]

I never actually used the mass options in the prisoners menu so I didn't even think to try that lol. I just googled it and yeah, music to the ears

[@Bramzter]

It either does that or makes your game crash

[@mister_dadstersays_hi7372]

>Be me >Mighty reaver of the mediterranean >My father a mongolian khan ridded from the eastern most part of the map to Iran >I continued going west and settled on Alexandria >economy reliant on me emptying the coffers of everyone who has a coast on the mediterranean >overtime collect an impressive prison of 700 people >I could ransom them for insane amounts of money >but I could instead press the button right next to the ransom option >700 voices >700 lives >a quire of 700 souls being violently released from their bodies that, is the sound of victory.

[@feelingnether158]

Your pc exploding

[@AiluridaeAureus]

Let me tell you, _CK2 makes you understand why Rome and other empires fell._

[@mathdarven5634]

And depending on your understanding of the game, these reasons are quickly identified as *Skill Issue* (joke of course)

[@AiluridaeAureus]

@@mathdarven5634 1444, Fall of Byzantium. The last communication sent from the pope to the Byzantine emperor, "Skill issue".

[@servus_incognitus]

​@@AiluridaeAureusCommon Pope W (and Byzantine seething)

[@lashingkey2515]

CK2 is legitimately the best paradox game, its extremely complicated and simple at the same time, all the characters function as actual people and try to get whats best for them, either by viewing it through the lenses of "more land=more win" or "loyalty=moreland=morewin" and a million different aspects. Its hard to understand, unique to every run, and i have over 3000 hours in it and i can easily win impossible wars and battles, but can just as easily die as a brand new player. Its one of those games where being good and meta doesn't guarantee success, and there is no true meta either. you could go a high intrigue build and join the assassins, but then die horribly because the king discovered one of your plots, or you killed the wrong person and a whole empire is coming for you ass now, you could go with high martial and have a billion troops then die because the economy collapsed, you could focus on money and be extremely rich but then get fucked because the money disappears when a random plague wipes out all the prosperity you have built up over generations. There isn't a single game i have played that comes even close to CK2, not even CK3, and I don't think i will ever stop playing it, and that's not even discussing the modding community which is both extremely diverse and extrodinarally unique, where there are mods that balance things and make it more fun to mods that automatically make every council member a horse, its truly beautiful.

[@WolfLykaios]

Great explanation of why it is so wonderful. Oh how I wish CK3 was more like CK2.

[@gerardjagroo]

You didn't mention the music. But God's the music was great!

[@thijsbader4160]

Dude, your vids got recommended to me out of nowhere and the quality has blown me away. Keep this stuff up man!

[@Toastoffire100]

Appreciate it 🙏 more soon

[@SilentSakura-]

I n d e e d

[@clatzy4505]

Same my dude

[@dr0g_Oakblood]

Can confirm after 2k+ hours, ck2 is a meme, combat is something you really only need to worry about learning for MP (otherwise just make retinues and larger ones with better commanders and you're fine)

[@feelingnether158]

Unless you are fighting nomads with a gazillion cavalry

[@wrigglenightbug8679]

I can't believe that Sseth liked CK2 so much that he made TWO whole reviews of it!

[@gambiit]

no clue how this channel is not more popular - your content is amazing. It's simple and not overly edited, yet still manages to keep my attention for multiple rewatches, keep it up! Reminds me a lot of SsethTzeentach's content, and yet still has a unique rewatchable spin on it

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank you :) I think this one is my best one, so the next few videos wont be as good, but I'm glad to see the style is well-received

[@asgrahim9164]

We live in a world where Sseth has become a genre

[@megasocky]

P sure theyre an editor for sseth

[@Deliqua1]

@@asgrahim9164 yea it really threw me off about five minutes in and i realized the video didn't start with "hey hey people"

[@copelanhollenbach981]

I once tried to imprison my son who I had given a count title to so I could kill him but he and 90% of my empire revolted against me and to top it all off he gained 30,000 more troops out of nowhere.

[@craimaxblack]

The 30k may be an event that some old soldiers joins the rebelion as event troops, how many spam depend on the size and army of the rebel, the same event may happend to you also, is kinda random On the other hand, to get rid of a son you don't want, what you can do is give him a county, excomunicate him, and now you have a reason to imprison him, so no vassal will think is tyrany, and so no one will join him, then you beat him, you take his county back to you, and then you make him a monk, heir dissposed

[@gmailistrash4094]

I honestly thought this was done by someone like The Spiffing Brit or a channel like that, the quality is insane and your jokes actually land (A lot of newer youtubers try force jokes). Definitely gonna be large channel soon enough.

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank you :)

[@dimas3829]

Madea period is my favourite period of history month. Also, personally I go for North Korea route becoming an immortal god rulling all the provinces without any vassals cause only the supremem leader has the right to command others while battling his brothers and sisters in some cult of bear to get martial arts skills to the high from which it's literally impossible to get killed. And then you marry Chinese emperor daughter, transfer your game into EU4 and enjoy thу bordergore.

[@Toastoffire100]

That's really funny considering CK2 doesn't show the full Asian continent, I'm gonna have to see that bordergore for myself sometime

[@nanotfound1042]

"Meh fuck it jihad time" Oh wow you were not kidding with the historical accuracy xD

[@petemagnuson7357]

Man now I'm nostalgic for ck2's janky law system all over again. It's not the best thing ever, but 3's implementation feels kinda empty compared to my memories of moving council sliders so i can just barely hold on to the vassals of the growing Slavic empire, shuffling everything around every few years as the situation changes and the attitudes of the council shifts

[@derAlphabet]

Oh my, as a 800 hour lover of ck2, that review was amazing!

[@zecatnip4498]

Got this as a random recommendation and I am very impressed by the quality of your work. Keep it up, I’m excited to see where this channel goes.

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank you :)

[@lowlyaa0974]

This video is EXTREMELY underrated, keep up teh good work.

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank you :)

[@fedorshcheglov5534]

Style reminds me of ssethtzeentach, I can see this channel becoming huge. Keep up the good work!

[@Toastoffire100]

🙇‍♂️more soon🙇‍♂️

[@Fuckencio3]

just binged all your vids great stuff man keep it up, it's insane that you're not more popular

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank you 🙏 will do

[@a_blitz]

Randomly stumbled upon your channel dude, really liking your stuff. Keep up the good work

[@Bardakus]

tbh I got so used to the death sounds I completely forgot they existed - but now I kinda wish they were as intense in CK3.

[@fiendish9474]

Got redirected to this vid through your 2nd channel sound design video. Great review

[@Kaeltis]

Stumbled across this channel and absolutely love the style and humor, off I go to binge all the videos on your channel after recommending it to everyone I know.

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank you :)

[@TheEvilShepard]

Very nice video, captures the feel of the game pretty well (or, at least, that’s about how I felt when I was first starting out)

[@1000_Gibibit]

I tried CK2 but couldn't figure the systems out! CK3 has a much lower barrier to entry so I played that a bunch. This vid definitely convinced me to try CK2 again, it seems to have a lot more depth than CK3.

[@justanotheremptychannel2472]

Honestly, CK2 feels more 'challenging'(also less often Byzantine Sweden), if you like overhauls HIP is a good try, also a inconsequential mod fav of mine is Fitna Fracture

[@uberepiczach]

This was an incredibly well done video! Loved it!

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank you :)

[@PsYcHoSiS11]

God, every delivery of every line was so good and explained in such a clear and easy way to understand the game too lmao I wish I had watched this before I learned the game however many years ago, it would have actually been so helpful as well as fun

[@Wearypinkle]

your inspiration is clear as day. And yet, your craft is still captivating. love the content my guy

[@hannoverstinks6995]

Bro, i'm so happy there are still videos being made about this game

[@ericchu6938]

This video was awesome I ran outa game review Channels that I like and here’s another one time to binge

[@huubstevens1821]

great video. you deserve a lot more recognition

[@bjorniversen3370]

Haha! A friend did send me this video, it made my day! I'm happy that you enjoyed the work I put into creating the various SFXs. :) If you want to hear more behind-the-scenes details, you can check out my talk I held a couple of years ago. There is a link with a time stamp to the part about CK II Death SFX kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGOboJSVe7GcnKM

[@Toastoffire100]

Oh wow, the man himself! Your talk was really good, I liked your anecdotes about getting desensitized to it after all the work you put in. It seems we both cherrypicked the two most disturbing sounds to show off lol (the elephant and breaking wheel) I will say though: your work here has a funny knock-on effect for how people the game, since hearing these extreme death sounds adds a bit of humanity to your victims, which is absent from the depersonalized mass-cruelty of EU4 or Stellaris, for example. And that's perfect for crusader kings, since a core theme is that kind of interpersonal conflict. I didn't have enough to say about it in the video, but I think you do a great job with sound design in general, not just for this game but in all your games. I imagine that 90% of that kinda GUI-gameplay sound design is a thankless job, since the only attention it gets is when it's over-the-top like these death sounds, or when something is bad enough to stand out lol. Thanks for dropping by :)

[@bjorniversen3370]

Thanks a lot for all your kind words! Means a lot for me to hear them. :)

[@agellidmalik]

this vid was great fun. Great job, brother !

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank you :)

[@everynametaken]

Found this channel when your sound bit short of this one got linked by a discord server I was in. Very good. Reminds me of SSeth and Max0r.

[@pilopet1150]

I can tell your about to blow up if you continue making vids of this quality! Keep pushing it will come lol

[@Toastoffire100]

This comment got shadow realm'd by youtube because you used the term "blow up" and the system thought you wanted me to actually explode and die lmao

[@joaomatheus7988]

why youre not famous? Good, funny and yet informative edits. This format of video is great.

[@Will-lo1zq]

Very well edited (I can tell you put a lot of time into it) and voiced video, definitely feeling the SsethTzeentach influence but it's a good formula and I like his videos. Suprised you don't have more subs/views but I'm sure you'll blow up soon.

[@ledumpsterfire6474]

This channel reminds me of a Sseth who posts more than two videos per year and I'm here for it. lol

[@Toastoffire100]

That's just post-ego death sseth lol

[@crappychannel643]

Finally someone realized the potential of splicing videos up completely into shorts, which was the first thing anyone thought was going to happen

[@Toastoffire100]

Did someone do that? Cause I didn't, lol

[@b1ng0h_1]

Back at it again with another banger

[@visnau1126]

Just discovered your channel after watching the warhammer one, amazing content man I am loving this shit.

[@grandmaster8604]

Incredible video

[@bcfoss515]

I would just like to say that the death sounds are not so disturbing in the moment, because executions are explicitly optional and the game does not pressure you into doing them whatsoever. In other words, if it gets to the point where you are willing to go out of your way to execute someone, that person is almost certainly someone whose agonized screams will bring you pleasure.

[@Hell_O7]

Hahaha!

[@redwood2823]

Sseth if he never were part of the merchant's guild:

[@Toastoffire100]

Yep these videos are bankrolled by nobody

[@Cainthegodslayer]

Interesting channel, good content. We will watch your career with great interest.

[@nukesploder]

thanks for the hard work you do!

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank you for noticing and appreciating 🙏

[@jameskowanko7574]

Great video!

[@Toastoffire100]

Thanks!

[@haydendoherty1271]

Totally underrated channel

[@---ii8hl]

this has sseths but more sane vibe. i like that vibe. get subd

[@adamyusuf7673]

The brick weed of sseth videos. i needed this

[@crappychannel643]

This is a good explanation of why you can't just put a philosopher in charge and then it would all magically be better

[@ZettXXII]

Subbed after 3:29 Got here trough the short clip This is quality content, no doubt

[@Shidfard-sg5hp]

Bro no way you have so little subs, this is way above average content

[@MrVlad1969]

Wow, what a great video. Stumbled upon this channel by accident and now hope more people would do the same.

[@Hell_O7]

The best CK2's review I've watched yet

[@bash3997]

Amazing video, i love it

[@boyarbeloved]

You had me at Crusader Kussy

[@RealFemale69]

Your videos got recommended to me because I watched your Project Zomboid video and I've got to say you're becoming a favourite, keep up the good work

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank you :) More to come soon🙏

[@Barakeh]

@@Toastoffire100 The short video about death sounds was recommended to me, so I immediately had to watch the full review, woke up my IRL son laughing not gonna lie

[@Thorcar123]

So, maybe somene else mention this, but the sound for the garot seems to be the one for the garot where its not strangulation but rather the one where the victim is immobilised on a contraption where a screw is slowly turned inside the protruding bone at the back of the neck

[@Toastoffire100]

You have described that in wayy too much detail but I know what you mean lol.

[@Thorcar123]

@@Toastoffire100 English isn't my first tongue and I didn't know a lot of the correct words so i made myself as clear as possible lmao.

[@mareksicinski3726]

10:52 well to have the most powerful vassals be the the loyal ones more accurately

[@chickenwaffle8845]

hmmm reminds me alot of that Ssezth's voice and humor.....AND IM LOVIN IT, MOAAR

[@blonded_458]

bro this is so good

[@phelomangcu11]

14:08 Ok, I don't know why this made me laugh more then I should have, maybe its the stock image or something.

[@luggy_7207]

goooood thing i skipped the sound design part while i ate and i will repeat myself oh my fucking god

[@Toastoffire100]

There's actually more sounds now, the video you saw was only like half the segment lol

[@luggy_7207]

yeah i know, i watched the segment after i ate so yeah and the "giles corey" thing is absolutely horrific

[@pimppimpproductions6497]

Nice video, better than most pix game reviews/guides

[@Toastoffire100]

Thank u :)

[@gabrieldrigo7133]

Nice!

[@GDPanda69]

This was fun!

[@sillygooses2176]

this is some god damn good stuff

[@mareksicinski3726]

7:20 depends if it is things u inherited

[@andobtw8046]

Sseth made another channel. Nice.

[@ApocalypseSometime]

yes fam lets have it lad

[@Algenpesto]

Love this channel. Hoping you win the recommendation bingo soon

[@Toastoffire100]

May it happen soon inshallah 🙏

[@popnachzahlen]

nice!

[@kivikallo4313]

Video so good This is the third time I'm watching this :D

[@forrestwentworthii1321]

Your description of this game made me get it. It sounds like it will either be great to play, or a complete nightmare.

[@Shadowcloud169]

Smiley Face! Very nice content!

[@blonded_458]

when i got the clip on the other channel i thought SsethTzeentach had posted a new video

[@bd648]

excellent

[@nathanielmuga6597]

: ) Thanks for this

[@krkrbbr]

Here before the channel boom

[@berkeihlamur4160]

each troop has an advantsge in different terrains. Steppes are better for Mounted Archers. Light infantry is better in deserts. Pikeman are good for mountain etc. so you gotta check the terrain for soldiers.

[@headcrabn5347]

Or just take pikemen only and just win every defense

[@berkeihlamur4160]

@@headcrabn5347 I believe in plains heavy cavalry is the best EVEN breaking through pikemen. But not so sure. ı cant test it like hoi4

[@aa898246]

cool video

[@thor8606]

I was so genuinely intrigued by the education of a feudal chain of command and how politics influence civil unrest that Crusader kussy hit me like a brick to the temple Good stuff :)

[@mareksicinski3726]

6:40 it depends

[@clownsaroundus7249]

Good video

[@gendarmeowl4689]

this genre of games reminds me of school, but you succeeded make it interesting

[@julian0451]

fucking cosmic. love the content M8, have fun with vanquish, or whatever fighting the ocean means I can only assume lovecraftian shenanigans

[@Toastoffire100]

"cosmic", I'm stealing that I haven't even downloaded vanquish yet, I'm working from a backlog lol. The next game IS a little lovecraftian now that I think about it, but that's not the first way I'd describe it :^)

[@F1fan4eva]

Enjoyed this review despite how old this game is

[@khaled99069]

you literally sound like sseth and as based u earned my sub hope u grow very big soon !!!

[@mareksicinski3726]

5:14 depends when

[@uioongbion2074]

And there are mods that add way more stuff to the game like ck2 plus and hip.. You should check those out

[@ACiiD_ACiiD_47]

It's sick that there was someone who recorded it all, just so that it could be used in the game. They at least still make an effort with their game

[@trbd]

The best part of CK2 is that at some point just before or after Jade Dragon update, the devs just gave up trying to balance the game and just let players have fun with overpowered mechanics, and how every modders misinterpreted the essence of warrior lodges

[@rOxinhoPKK]

Love this game so much, shame they abandoned it for the sequel

[@lovrosedej7655]

This is like SsethTzeentach without the insanity

[@jacobsmith4670]

very cool, glad to be reminded i know nothing about the game i no-lifed for a year just to turn around and know nothing about the sequel

[@Toastoffire100]

Nobody truly understands this game, much like real life

[@Dakkalazy]

I AM ENGAGING WITH THE ALGORITHM TO BOOST THIS VIDEO, GOOD LUCK

[@Warfrae]

I’m pretty sure paradox😂 just openly killed people in the sound booth. While working on this game lol

[@blonded_458]

the memes lmao, effort

[@mareksicinski3726]

3:17 it ok

[@xess4168]

Just wait until he hears about the viceroy governments and the imperial style government.

[@JangoBunBun]

dude sounds like sseth hell he even plays ancient games