Victoria II released in a messy situation, bugs were all over the place and the game was and still kind of rough around the edges.
Thanks to community mods, patches and long terms support the game got a lot of improvements and can be now enjoyed for the deep strategy game it is.
Victoria II is a grand strategy game focused on Economical and Social management, and its the king in that aspect.
The depth this game offers in unparalleled, it claims the throne among Paradox games as the deepest and hardest strategy game to master, the learning curve is very demanding but the rewards are worth it.

Holy shit this game is hard. I really want to like this game because of how impressive the economy system is in this game. I'm also a fan of the culture/strata pie charts. You can achieve a lot of interesting balances of powers just by playing a certain nation: power vaccums are noticed and quickly filled. My biggest complaint is that some nations jsut never die and are given life support time and time again like Britain, Russia, and USA. My best achievement was probably getting mayans to settle in British colombia.

Though dated, Victoria 2 stands out for one major reason: the simulated population. You are not just the puppet master of your country. You are the leader, but your people will react to the choices you make, and every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Go ahead, declare war on that country - but if you don't have your people's support, they may rise against you. Pass that reform and it may make the liberal majority happy, but it'll bring the far more militant reactionary minority to arms. The player isn't the center of Victoria 2 - the people are. That's what sets it apart.

El juego más orgánico de todo Paradox Interactive.

¿Quieres conquistar el mundo? ¿Volver Alemania en una superpotencia militar invencible? ¿Concretar las operaciones filibusteras de los Estados Confederados de América? ¿Llevar la ley y el progreso a África y al lejano oeste?

Victoria 2 te permite hacer todo eso y más y lo mejor de todo es que te permite hacerlo de manera totalmente orgánica. Aquí no hay "misiones" como en Europa Universalis 4 o árboles de enfoques nacionales como en Hearts of Iron 4, en Victoria 2 todo funciona de manera natural.

Los cambios de gobierno, las declaraciones de guerra, los acuerdos de paz, el desarrollo industrial del mundo, la colonización, el crecimiento de la población... todo es natural, sin mecánicas que te tomen de la mano y te faciliten el hacerlo todo sólo porque se supone que la nación que estás jugando debe hacerlo.

En este juego, aunque muchos no lo crean, es posible conquistar el mundo incluso, pero el juego en ningún momento te lo dice, ni te da misiones que te preparen para ello o tan siquiera un logro por hacerlo, tampoco se supone que lo hagas en realidad, pero puedes hacerlo si sabes hacerlo, simplemente porque las mecánicas te lo permiten.

Amo eso, lo orgánico que es y el como en todo momento sientes que todo funciona de manera natural y no porque el país que hayas escogido tenga un árbol de misiones y enfoques te garantice que vayas a conseguir tal o cual cosa.

Lo más parecido que tienes son decisiones y aún así el juego no te garantiza que puedas aprobarlas a todas o tan siquiera que sea conveniente hacerlo.

Lo amo, mi favorito junto a Stellaris.

Victoria II, without mods, can be fun, but it get stale very quickly, it realy lacks content, as most Paradox games do;

The army management isn't bad in early game, but mid and especially late game, it turns into a chore; it lacks QoL, such as army templates and not having to manually manage the battalions losses;

There's barely any content in the game, after playing it in vanilla, after 3-5 runs you will feel that the game is empty, there are barely any political decisions to do, even as a relevant nations like Austria;

The economy is a bit of a mess, I doubt that even the devs know excatly how it works;

Spheres of Influence are a neat mechanic, but it also needs QoL, mantaining a sphere of influence with many countries is boring, early game Austria/Prussia, if you plan to create Germany, is annoying as hell, it should have at least some degree of automation;

The research tree is good, the combat is also fun, the way that cultures work is also great, but religions should be a bit more important in the game;

But still, this is my favorite Paradox game, with mods it really is a blast.