Hello Victorians! We have deferred discussing our post-release plans until next week, as we felt there was another, more pressing topic to cover.
You were not satisfied with the narrative content included in Voice of the People, and neither are we. In particular, we see the following weak points in some of the Journal Entries included in the DLC:
- Too passive
- Not providing enough of a challenge
- Detached from the rest of the game's systems
- Not enough interaction with countries outside of France
We have spent the last couple of weeks going over what improvements we are planning to make for this content. We touched on it briefly in last week's diary but I will be going deeper into details today.
But first I want to mention when owners of Voice of the People can expect to see these improvements. An initial rollout is planned for June 26th alongside version 1.3.3 of the game, which will also contain some bug fixes and balance improvements. You can expect the remaining improvements in early Q3.
Our top priority is a revamped Divided Monarchists Journal Entry. Currently, it checks off all of the problems on the list above. Our intended rework looks as follows:
Rather than the player selecting their preferred dynasty, establishing a character with the right ideology in government, and waiting while engaging with the occasional event, there will be three separate tracks - one for each dynasty / ideology - that will increase or decrease independently of one another at different speeds depending on multiple factors, including what characters exists in the country but also what the player is actually doing with France. The intent is to ensure the player's preferred candidate is actually threatened by opposing ideologies, inviting you to plan ahead and do more character management. The new Character Interactions in Voice of the People, as well as the Agitator and Exile mechanics, will prove useful tools for this.
All events associated with the Journal Entry will be revised, with options that relate to the three dynasties differently. You won't merely be advancing or setting back "the monarchist cause", but rather advancing one of the dynasties while setting back the others, alongside other effects and tradeoffs.
In addition, we will be adding support for Journal Entries to confer country-wide effects while they're active. While the Divided Monarchists Journal Entry is in effect, a low Legitimacy government will result in much greater radicalism across France than before, which will encourage resolving the dynastic crisis sooner rather than later. A failure condition will also be added, resulting in France's collapse back into Republicanism.
Finally, once your preferred candidate sits on the throne, cementing their dynastic reign will require you to prove they're capable of effective rule, by adding more conditions you have to fulfill in order to resolve the Journal Entry successfully and in a reasonable amount of time. Failing to cement your dynasty may even result in another period of dynastic squabbling.
The revision to Divided Monarchists will be coming in the 1.3.3 patch.
Our second priority is the Natural Borders of France. Here, the main issue is that France's international aspirations have no direct impact on the nations affected, beyond perhaps becoming targeted in subsequent Diplomatic Plays. Our intent here is to add more international fallout from the actions France takes during this Journal Entry, with events for Prussia/Germany and perhaps other affected countries that both inform and give them options for how to deal with the situation.
We will also be addressing Haiti's debtor relationship with France, by adding a new Journal Entry that gives Haiti more options in how to resolve the situation.
We are aware that older narrative content in Victoria 3 also exhibits similar issues to the ones we're revising from Voice of the People. Assume and expect that we will gradually revise such content to higher standards in free updates.
Other ways in which we will improve Voice of the People include notifications, which will be looked over and enhanced to ensure appropriate parties are informed of relevant events outside their borders. For example, the Indochina crisis and the adventures of Garibaldi certainly made international news at the time, and if it's appropriate we're going to make sure you're informed of these and other events even when you're not directly involved.
We are also planning to do some additional work on AI related to Voice of the People content, specifically improving French AI handling of their Algerian colonies and the related Journal Entry, and improving the characteristic behaviors of the French AI while led by one of the three dynastic monarchs.
A few general improvements to Update 1.3 will also be rolled out on June 26th, alongside the bug fixes and balance improvements. One concern with the ability to invite exiles is that there's no indication there's someone new and recruitable in there without going to look all the time. As a first pass to addressing this we are going to notify you under certain circumstances when a character is exiled, so you get a heads-up that there's a reason to go check it out. The Industry Banned Law is also going to be revisited to ensure that even if it may be unlikely to lead you to economic prosperity, it at least fills a valid niche for a certain kind of country.
Due to its sandboxy, systemic nature Victoria 3 is not the easiest game to write historical content for, and we're still working on honing in on exactly what type of events and Journal Entries are the most fun for you to engage with. But that is no excuse, and you deserved better. Our greatest asset as developers is to be able to have this dialogue with you, and we deeply appreciate your constructive criticism. Our many learnings here will be carried forward to all future narrative content we write, where it will make for more challenging and fun gameplay in a world that feels more alive.
Next week we will return with the aforementioned update to our post-release plans, as well as more info about the open beta we are planning for later this year. Until then!