Crusader Kings 3 Dev Responds To Overwhelmingly Negative Coronations DLC Reviews -

Since its release in 2020, there have been a number of small DLC releases for Crusader Kings 3. But few have inspired the overwhelmingly bad word of mouth that the recently dropped Coronations has received on Steam. Players aren’t just disappointed in this release, they’re angry as well. Now, PDS Black QA Manager has come forward to apologize to players and accept the blame for the DLC’s broken state.

The QA Manager, Riad, shared his message on Steam alongside update 1.17.0.1, which is meant to fix some of the players’ complaints. Coronations added the ability for players to have their rulers crowned in an official ceremony, and introduced oaths made to the people of their kingdom. However, many of the oaths are either incredibly difficult to achieve, or the game simply didn’t register them as complete. The Steam reviews for Coronations have been merciless, and the response is currently marked as “overwhelmingly negative.”

“I’m sorry,” wrote Riad. “Coronations was not up to the standard you deserve, and that’s on me. As the QA Manager for the studio, it is my job to ensure that our releases meet the [quality assurance] vision we have set out. It is clear we didn’t give the project the resources and attention it needed, and the result was a release that let you down. You have every right to be upset, and I want to acknowledge that openly.”

Riad went on to explain that most of Paradox’s resources are going towards a massive Crusader Kings 3 expansion called All Under Heaven. That left Coronations with fewer resources and ultimately led to it launching with the oath mechanics broken, which Riad attributed to “last minute” changes. He reiterated a desire to do better for fans while earning their trust back.

Steam user Mewzle wrote a direct response to Riad, noting that they had purchased every previous DLC for the game and given the developer the benefit of the doubt. Mewzle was emphatic about no longer feeling that way for Paradox.

“If you really feel this way Paradox, then integrate this garbage into the main game, and STOP producing garbage like this that alienates your player base. This is NOT $5 worth of content and you know it. The modding community could create (and has created) something better than this slop in five minutes and not make a dime … Again, if you truly want to be better, then be better.”

One of the first listed changes in the 1.17.0.1 update targets the mistaken Oathbreaker event that came up whether players fulfilled their oaths or not. The rest of the fixes can be found below.

Bugfixes

Fixed the issue with always getting the Oathbreaker event, regardless of if you completed the oath or not
The buildings needed for the three “build special oath buildings” oaths have been changed from tier 3 to tier 2
The special oath buildings have had their costs and modifiers reduced across the board
The special oath buildings have had some of their triggers simplified, so they need fewer of their requirements than they used to
These oaths have also had the time you can do them increased from 10 years to 20 years
Specifically for the spiritual one, switched the requirements from tier 3 to 2, and vice versa
The Alliance oath has been changed from 5 alliances needed to 3
Building Oath (the generic one) has been reduced from 10 buildings to 8, and the time available to do it has been increased (from 15 years to 20)
Legendary Hunt has been changed from 3 to 1, and has had the time available increased (from 20 years to 40)
Fixed the Prepare Heir oath decision, so it checks for the proper scope in its requirements, and also removed the gold cost
Added two new modifiers for the AI, so if they choose a warlike oath, they will have an increased war chance, and similarly, if they have the peace oath, they will have a peace oath, which will decrease their war chance
Removed health bonuses and maluses from Prepare the Heir rewards
Added extra checks for the AI so they will try to take oaths that make sense
Fixed the End the Struggle oath, so it correctly tells you which struggle area it is targeting, and massively increased the time it is available to you (from 20 years to 50)
Increased the time available to do the Repent Oath from 10 years to 20 years
Fixed Anointment Doctrines and Anointment activity type being available to faiths with Temporal Head of Faith (these are for Spiritual HoF faiths only); temporal HoF faiths have guaranteed access to regular coronation instead
Fixed duplication bugs and self-crowning malus caused by temporal HoF being Coronation host
Blocked the building oaths for Nomads and Tribals