For £122.99 ? Or whatever that is in your currency.

Has there ever been a computer game as expensive as this ?

I can't, I spent my money on all of the Train Simulator 2016 DLCs. It was a good buy I paid only 3904€ :P

Well, The Sims 3 and all of its DLC is something like $399.80.

Train Sim easily beats Sims 3 :P

Of course not. You wait for sales, unless you're a hardcore playa that needs to be the day 1 top strategist. Same with Europa and Civ 5. They're insane with the DLC separately. :P

Holy cow! There is $5,500 worth of DLC for that game! My mind has been blown...

That's really impressive ! I've obviously been living a sheltered life. I bought CK2 (base game) for £20-25 when it was first released. Then, piecemeal, they started adding DLC (lots of it really inconsequential stuff) and umpteen DLCs later you can now buy the "collection" (which is "complete", I hope, though perhaps not in Paradox Interactive's rather loose interpretation of the word) for £122.99 ! I just admire these guys, they're just so clever ! So in the sales I might get it for, say, £75 ? Ooh, tempting ! :P

Just over $30 for the collection.

You mean the one that you can get it at 28$ in a sale?:)

Or if you can catch a build your own bundle at Humble Bundle and have an astonishing 90% percent discount and add some extra games alongside?:)

And as a matter of fact: plenty of games more expensive than this. You want to buy all the Mass Effect 2 or 3 DLC's ? Tough! Pay the game again. Same goes for Dragon Age 1+2. And i'm not sure that Train Simulator beats Sims 3 (people tend to forget about the myriad of stuff from the Sims 3 Store that you buy with Sim Points, points that you buy with real money and that are never on sale):)

Thing is, prices are skyrocketing on PC. Deluxe editions are already around 80, 90 euro or worse. And that's the basic content, while standard editions are 60-70 euro. Digital distribution was supposed to cheapen the games, but instead we are gouged worse than it was a long chain of middlemen.

Those aside, if you can get the collection in a sale, those are money well spent, as the game provides hundreds of hours of good fun (provided that you like grand strategy games, that is)

P.S.: the collection is far from complete. But Paradox changes the collection yearly. So, someday it might be:D

At the moment there is no Steam sale on this game. The prices I have before me on the CK2 page are :

Ck2 (vanilla) :£29.99 (=45 US dollars)
Paradox Grand Strategy Collection (contains CK2, EU4,HoI3,Victoria3 - all with no DLC) : £75.99 (=114 US dollars)
Paradox Platinum Collection (can't be bothered to itemise lol) : £89.99 (=135 US dollars)
CK2 Collection (the one I was referring to. It's CK2 + all DLC (I assume !)) : £122.99 (=185 US dollars)

I do like the idea of grand strategy games but I find them very hard to get into because Paradox's manuals are generally woeful when compared with manuals for other complex games, such as Civ4 , which , along with the wonderful in-game Civilopedia provides the gamer with everything he/she needs to know, all set out quite beautifully and logically with links and cross-references everywhere. Take note, Paradiox (they won't, of course, because they are too lazy and / or up their own backsides).

CK2 also requires (if you are going to get the most out of the game) that you first teach yourself (yes, yourself. Paradox don't help you here either) about feudalism and the feudal system, a historical political system very remote and very different from what we are all used to today. Paradox provides virtually zero explanation of all this too. So that's two huge barriers between you and the game already : no proper explanation of game mechanics, rules, interface etc., and not even a basic summary of the feudal system, Way to not go, Paradox !

I did actually manage to get a rather tenuous grip on the game a while ago but I've forgotten most of it since. It really is quite absorbing and I will have another go at some point, when my brain is up to it. I love the breeding part of the game with all the different character traits.

I do agree with all your other points but regarding the Paradox packages above I cannot possibly consider these prices as good value, at least not in comparison with other games. I actually think that in terms of how much ENJOYMENT I get per £ spent, gaming is the best value-for-money hobby - but for God's sake don't ever say this to Paradox ! I really strongly dislike the way they release their games (with the deliberately staggered release of umpteen DLCs) and also the way they put these packages together :the second item on the above list, for instance, contains 4 VANILLA titles. Very few people will want to play the vanilla version when there is also a ton of DLC available, so what is the point in putting this package together ? Clearly, they are trying to tempt you into committing yourself to the 4 base games so that you will eventually buy the multiple DLCs for all 4 games too. That might be normal and acceptable by today's standards, but from my point of view it's just plain greedy. Anyway, what can you do ? I'm off to blow hot air into a bag :)

I learned quickly to never buy a Paradox game right when it comes out or outside sales. Fortunately, at least for now, they have a ton of sales over a year, so you can grab the packages at decent prices.

It's also true that they have ZERO tutorials. When they even added one, it was fairly basic and not very helpful. You are better watching people playing the game on youtube, rather than using their tutorials.

For some reasons, they upped the prices tremendously over the past year, which doesn't make me even consider a buy outside the sales periods. Best buying from Humble Bundle or WinGameStore. Not even from Steam, directly.

Those being said, it can't be denied the fact that if you manage to learn the game you are into many, many hours of enjoyment. Nothing spells more Middle Ages than assassination, political intrigues and monumental fights. I still have some of the cosmetic DLC's missing, but i can enjoy the game quite well without them, so...

Paradox DLC's are split in two: actual expansions that improve or add game mechanics, new nations, time periods, religions, forms of government and cosmetics (music, portraits, unit sprites, books, backgrounds and clothing). So you can choose if you want only the expansions or you want to have the cosmetics, too.

Nobody buys paradox games when they aren't discounted since you only get the actual game price for their games at sales. For example Crusaders Kings 2 collection is regulary (more or less once every 1-2 months) discounted down to 31.99$ on Steam. Only people with too big pockets can afford the inflated "regular" prices.