Victoria II - 2/20 hours

The DLC broke the tutorial. It told me to do things the user interface would not let me do. I hope they don't turn out to be important. An incomplete, two and a half tutorial is not a great sign, generally, though. The good part is that the game looks satisfyingly complicated. The bad part is that I haven't even started yet and I already feel out of my depth.

The only other thing I've done is look at the world map. This was my favorite part of Europa Universalis IV, but Victoria II's map is less complicated and also a tad more racist. I mean, the historical disparity in technology between nations is a real and influential phenomenon, but labeling some nations "primitive" and others "civilized" betrays a serious lack of imagination. Then there are the big grey nameless parts of the map where people of color lived.

Which is the thing that worries me most about Victoria II, going forward. If the tutorial is still more or less accurate, it is a game about ideology, but it also appears to have an ideology. Not an especially malicious one - it can be boiled down to "Europe's ascent in the 19th century was inevitable and wars and colonialism are exciting game mechanics" - but something I just know I'm going to wind up struggling against.

I don't have a plan for my first real game, though. A part of me just wants to pick a tiny, "primitive" nation and try and reverse the course of history. But I'll admit, I don't look forward to being "partially westernized." And, of course, my lack of skill at the game means I'm jumping the gun on that sort of challenge.

Maybe I'll go with the United States, and try and set right what historically went wrong. Except, that feels kind of . . . gross to me. Like maybe it's inappropriate to play a game about oppression from any other perspective than that of the oppressed. I'll have to pop in at least for a little while to see how my country's history is portrayed, but anything else would doubtless feel like gravedancing.

I guess we'll just have to see. All I really want to do is focus on industry and commerce and found a democratic socialist republic with a minimum of bloodshed. The real question is how I manage to accomplish that without toadying before the "great powers."