Their short, brutal, adultery-filled lives. While that might be the 'objective' of the game, (such as: Restoring the Roman Empire and Fucking up all of Europe on the side, Taking Holy Relics back from filthy Heretics, Forming a Holy Roman Empire on Steroids, etc.) the real meat of the gameplay lies in how you guide your character through their lives.
While initially you could only be various flavors of medieval European noble houses, complete with coat of arms, later expansions would eventually broaden the range of playable experiences to include Arabic harem masters, Mongolian hordes, VIKINGS, Jewish tribes, merchant republics and more, the basic gameplay remains the same: Gain enough power, let your male bloodline survive the tides of history and reach the highest score possible when the game ends. You play the part of the head of a dynasty of nobles as your families fortunes wax and wane through the ages. A.K.A 'I murdered my gay heretic son in favor of my retarded syphilitic other child because he is more obedient and fertile, and I can't father more because I got my balls cut off by Greek captors.'Ĭrusader Kings II is best summed up as a Dynasty Simulator.
Okay so this is what most of you probably came for.
