Is EU worth picking up at $10?

Rex Little · November 30, 2001, 02:18

I just saw EU at Electronics Boutique for $9.99. I haven't bought it because I don't like RTS games, but at this price I'm tempted. Two questions:

1. Does the pause feature give EU something of the feel of a TBS game? If so, I might enjoy it.

2. Will it run on a really old system--P166, no 3-D?

Imran Siddiqui · November 30, 2001, 03:51

I think you'll really enjoy it... you can make it a psedo Turn Based game.

I'm not sure about the 166 Mhz though.

Marquis de Sodaq · November 30, 2001, 10:44

Is this Electronics Boutique online, or is it a store? I'd try this game for $10, even tho I, too, have an aversion to RTS games. Enough good has been said of it to warrant a try!

Jeje2 · November 30, 2001, 11:46

1. Yes you can pause when ever you want to.
2. Cann't remember

EU is a good game - very much worth trying, but be prepared that in EU the learning curve is the steepest ever know or seen to mankind before.

Haven't played EU2 yet, but have heard positive comments about it's tutorial game compared to EU.

Manual is only good for backgroundreading in EU - not much help for gameplay.

Despite the problems I liked EU a lot. (Liked Settlers I&II, but hated Settlers III, Starcraft, etc.)

So ask yourself: Am I ready for a steep learningcurve with EU or should I spend the extra cash for EU2 instead if I do want a EU/EU2 game?

Umgssda · November 30, 2001, 13:06

It says Pentium 200MHz, 64MB Ram and 2MB Video Ram on my copy. So you might just be able to play it.
One thing you don't need to be concerned with is the real time. You can pause the game whenever you want and still give orders or amend settings. Basically the game is turn based with one turn being one day, you just have to press pause...

I would say it's worth the money, although some people may wait for EU2
(I really got annoyed when I couldn't annex portugal while playing spain)

Rex Little · November 30, 2001, 13:38

Thanks for the responses, guys. Marquis, I saw it in an EB store. Not just a few copies, either; practically a whole shelf.

War4ever · November 30, 2001, 16:54

at that price i will have to run out and buy it

Sharpe · December 1, 2001, 00:21

EU is a good game - very deep, a fair sized learning curve - at least that's the impression I get from the tutorial and word-of-mouth reviews, but a P166 won't work. I have a P266 and it is basically unplayable due to the sluggish speed (it takes 30 seconds to scroll your cursor across the screen !)

uglyduck · December 1, 2001, 12:35

Hmmm EU1 worked on my old P200 with 64MB RAM.
If you have problems with the mouse, scrolling etc then I suggest you take a look at the FAQ Forum on the Europa Universalis board.
There is a sticky there entitled "running problems". If you follow the advice there you should see a marked improvement.
Here is a link to the thread:-

http://www.europa-universalis.com/fo...threadid=13624

(Administrator - I hope its OK to post a link to another Board here?)

Rex Little · December 2, 2001, 22:46

Well, I blew it. You guys had me convinced to go ahead and buy EU, so today I went back to the same EB I saw it at before--and they'd raised the price to $25. Now I'll have to wait until it comes back down. Oh well, by then I might have a faster computer.

Sharpe · December 3, 2001, 22:29

Thanks for the link uglyduck. Unfortunately I can't do many of those things (especially disabling my firewall as I get hit by trojans frequently). So, I decided to go out and buy 128 megs more RAM - hopefully that will help with civ3 too

chequita guevara · December 8, 2001, 02:16

It is definately worth the money. EU is one of my favorite games, and with all the patches, it's very stable. Just download the Improved Grand Campaign, and you can edit the scenarios to let you annex anyone. If you go to Huzac's website, you can even get instructions on editting the game to make yourself annexable (so you can definatively lose).

WFHermans · January 31, 2002, 11:03

After i got EU2 and played it i noticed that EU1 is basically a demo of EU2. Or to put it another way EU2 is a patch for EU1, however they ask money for their patch. If you have a fast internet connection then its best to pick up EU through a filesharing sytem like Kazaa. But personally I always pay for my games (civII, civ call to power I and II) unless the company robs me by not giving what they promise.

On a slow computer EU (and civ3) are playable but not fun. Too slow. EU is also not very stable and seems to crash whenever youre in a winning position. Civ3 has a good autosave function compared to EU and didnt crash as often.
Civ3 has the possibility to order the game to do the micromanagement for you, in EU you have to click a million seperate times to do the same thing all over your empire.

Great about EU is the enormous number of different countries, civ 3 has only 16. And less governments than civII.

SideshowBob · January 31, 2002, 14:55

For those who don't like RTS don't worry. I have EU1 and EU2 and i HATE RTS, i won't touch anything that looks like a C&C clone.

The best bit about EU is that you can customise your pop up boxes that warn you when anything has happened. You can set it pop up a message when anything that requires player actions happens. You can also imput orders while paused, so by playing the game in this way it becomes a pusdo turn based game.

St Leo · February 6, 2002, 22:35

2. Will it run on a really old system--P166, no 3-D?

Only you have 512 megs of RAM.

ravagon · February 8, 2002, 00:45

$10.00?! Damn. EU has just recently come out over here for the first time when I was expecting EU2. Going price for EU is $80.00 odd. Bah humbug.

WFHermans · February 8, 2002, 08:08

Reminds me of the civ2 guys adding a multiplayer option. They then called it Civ 2 Gold Edition and were trying to sell it as a complete new game.

Rex Little · February 8, 2002, 12:45

Ravagon - see my last post. That $10 price was VERY temporary; I think someone at EB mis-marked the batch, and they corrected the mistake as soon as they realized it (and too late for me to take advantage

). I went back to the same EB a couple of days ago and EU was gone altogether.

WFHermans · February 8, 2002, 13:57

The correct price for EU 1 should be $ 0.00.

Ah well I suppose they got to live too. A year or so ago I saw Civ 1 (one

still for sale.

Cairo_East · February 17, 2002, 21:45

I just paid $5.00 at Office Depot for a copy of EU two weeks ago. It's one of the better bargains out there. It's much better than the $5.00 copy of 1602AD I picked up a few months ago.

Rex Little · February 18, 2002, 22:41

A final twist to the story: I stopped by a different EB today and found a copy of EU in their junk bin priced at $1.99! Needless to say, this time I didn't hesitate. Given the price of books these days, that's a bargain even if all I ever do is read the manual and use the CD as a coaster.

Jac de Molay · February 21, 2002, 16:39

Based on what I've read, I will definitely have to go out and get it. I get turned off by RTS, especially with the inability to pause at will and move to various points of action. The lack of that one simple has ruined so many RTS's for me.

Carolus_Rex · February 21, 2002, 18:37

At that prize it's a great buy, though I'd get EU2 if I were you.