I very much like the board game Vantage that recently came out. Having a lot of fun playing that occasionally with my wife, played some solo, and brought it several times to board game night. But Vantage sure isn't for everybody. Dice Tower made a video review, in which 2 of the 4 reviewers rated it very highly, while the 2 others didn't want to play that game again. As a game in which you follow the goals set by the game to win, Vantage doesn't work very well. It is more of a very open sandbox game in which you have to pursue your own goals, and the missions and destinies are just sprinkled in as optional content. If you get the concept of "winning" out of your head, Vantage becomes a much better game.

I was thinking about that when reading the Reddit discussion on Europa Universalis V. One of the big changes from EU4 to EU5 is that the mission trees that are currently in EU4 have been abandoned. People liked the mission trees, because they provided a clear path to victory. On the one side they gave you specific goals to pursue, on the other side they rewarded you with bonuses, often in the form of permanent claims, that helped you on the way to the next goal. The downside of that is that the mission tree turns a country into a nearly linear experience towards winning the game. And winning Europa Universalis isn't much fun to begin with.

I recently had a very weird game in which I wanted to try to play France for the first time. But having played countries nearby, and watched some videos, I was well aware of the two major events that happen to France, and the French mission tree. So by maximum use of the advance knowledge and a bit of luck I first exploited the Surrender of Maine event to crush England, and then finagled my way into the Burgundian Succession. Then when the Holy Roman Empire demanded the lowlands, I refused, and crushed Austria. Shortly after Marie of Burgundy had her "riding accident" event, and Burgundy got integrated into France. I also integrated all the apanages. Before I even reached the year 1500, my main problem was that the game couldn't find any other rival than Spain for me, I had simply grown too strong too fast. I stopped playing, because it got boring. I know that some people play EU4 with a goal of world conquest, but once you are already the strongest nation, that is just boring to me. I might play France again and just pretend I don't know about the events that will happen with England and Burgundy.

With the EU4 mission trees telling you how to win and helping you with it, the devs from Paradox decided to not provide such a clear path towards victory for the countries in Europa Universalis V. From all I see, I believe that EU5, like Vantage, will best played without thinking of winning. It could be a lot of fun as an alternative history simulation game. But the different countries you can choose are clearly not equally strong, and very soon people will learn how to conquer the world, especially when starting with a stronger nation. I'm not sure that will be fun to me, I don't rate the combat system of Europa Universalis high enough that I would want to play it as a war game.