Crusader Kings 2

I really want to like this game, but I don't think I'm smart enough.

I first bought it about a year ago I think. I spent 2 hours trying to play it, but couldn't make any sense of things. I gave up.

But lately, I've been getting really into Civilization V. Originally, I thought this game was super complicated and difficult to play as well. But I've gradually begun to grasp the intricacies of the game. I'd rank myself "competent." So since I'd 'leveled up' at playing complex map based games, I figured I'd give CK2 another try. It also helped that a buddy of mine made a pretty helpful tutorial, which explained some of the gameplay for my weak brain:

I'm doing a whole lot better at the game now. I manged to play to the third generation of my dynasty. (My founding patron lived into his 70s! Although that meant his heir was already like, 50, so that generation didn't last long. But then the third generation was headed by a 10 year old boy, so I figure I had a good chance at making it a long one.)

But damn the game is labarynthine. The whole thing is menus within menus within menus. And I don't know how big or small the dev team is, but it certainly lacks a lot of polish that would make it easily much more playable.

Combat is also weirdly difficult. Even when I think the two sides of a battle are fairly evenly matched, and my morale is high, I have a bitch of a time actually winning anything. I think there are perhaps some micromanaging choices I could make to win a little more often. But I'm having a bit of a difficult time figuring them out. Since you have to declare war before you raise an army, I never seem to be able to get my forces together before I'm already under attack. And by then it's too late for me to attempt a bunch of micro-managed tweaks.

I'm holding out hope that I'll be able to figure this game out eventually. It seems like a deep, rewarding experience. I'd love to spend a thousand years slowly expanding my nation to encompass the whole of Europe.

I'd also love to begin the game pre-1066; but I don't want to buy DLC for a game that I'm not sure I'll keep playing.

I would definitely say it's better to build up to this game with less complex / more well polished strategy games. The time I spent playing Civ V helped me to understand the style of gameplay a lot better.