You know, I really don't mind having things in DLC that works best with stuff from another DLC. Having each DLC be standalone is good, nobody wants to feel that a new DLC is pressuring you to buy an older DLC. On the other hand, taking that too far can produce DLC that feel incredibly narrow, with game features that really should work together, but arbitrarily don't. It makes them feel like weird outliers that just sort of exist over there, rather than part of cohesive game.
I agree. Paradox are damned if they do and damned if they don't with this type of DLC. It is great to have stand alone content but on the other hand interweaving complexity that allows huge bonuses is also good to have for the player to exploit. 329 hours played and still learning so many new things everyday. With added interlocking complexities I will never know it all and that makes me happy.
If a DLC basically read "Must own _____ to enjoy" I'd hate it, but if each DLC has ONLY have content for itself and the base game, you very quickly end up with some parasitic design that just isn't engaging. Seeing how Toxoids meshes with Megacorp, or how some of the new traits interact with Tomb World inhabitants, etc is really cool. One of the coolest things about the Aquatic DLC was the Colossus that flash floods a planet to instantly terraform it. Colossi are themselves DLC content. There's a balancing act, to be sure, but I know I buy Stellaris DLC for the way things interact and the new options they open up. The BIG expansions, the ones actually labeled EXPANSIONS, like Nemesis and the like, those I buy for whatever their big, signature feature is. If one of those was super reliant on another big, expensive pack to get your money's worth out of, I'd be kinda pissed, and unlikely to buy EITHER, but if they totally ignored the various species packs I've purchased, I'd feel pretty bad about the purchase to. I think the correct balance depends on what kind of DLC we're looking at. Something like a traditional Expansion, that should be almost 90% either stuff within the DLC itself OR in the base game. Though the BIG mechanics do tend to get released, in lesser versions, for everyone as the game progresses (If yo ucan call base game only Espionage actual espionage). Story Packs (remember those) should be almost entirely self contained, nobody should be missing out on anything major for not having it, nor should there be big parts of that basically don't exist unless you own all previously released content. Species Packs, I feel like the balance is closer to 60-70% parasitic content. If the DLC ONLY matters if you're playing the exact species type unlocked by that DLC, then you're not actually getting the content in the majority of your games where those species do not appear. You want toys that are accessible even when not playing as (species type). This is why I'm so pleased that Paradox stopped locking traits and origins behind portraits. And, where appropriate, there should be some cross pollination. If the design space has a real cool, thematic interaction with [dlc feature], go for it. Don't give us LESS content just because only those who habitually buy EVERYTHING get, well, EVERYTHING.
@@artydean9892 Yeah - I still sometimes think about that one NPC in Dragon Age who stood around in camp with a yellow ! over his head to tell you to buy the DLC. Obnoxious. The launcher is *passable* to advertise DLC but never in the game!
@@TheHopperUK yes I was dumb enough to by that dragon age dlc too 😂 but the biggest issue I have with stellaris is that some of the balance only works with some of the dlc for example no having federations and advisors kind of sucks.
Now I understand why some features of this game feel so disconnected, I would assume it gets real hard to make a feature, that would work well with all the possible variations of other DLCs people could possibly have. Wish they would streamline the DLCs into bigger packs as I would love to see more interactions between all the different mechanics.
That's why Paradox should make all DLCs free except the last three (or last five), to limit the almost infinite combinations of DLCs a player might have. EU4 is already unplayable with an incomplete set of DLCs - and buying them all is incredibly expensive.
@@csabagalffy4290 Their goal is to make you buy all the DLCs so unfortunately they will never be free, they will or should do what CK2 did and make the base game free
Great review. I am on PS5 and have all the dlc so once this releases I will get it. I see your point on accessibility but I also feel that dlc add a lot more than on the box. To be honest I am probably the worst player of Stellaris out there but always have fun trying!
i really like the species pack so far, has given me a lot of fun ideas. Starting with pop printing, turning everything into tomb worlds and building memorials to the great deed, playing as the deathguard and spreading grandfather nurgles gifts and so on.
Ships look like thous are inspired by ME:A kett faction ships aka fusion punk. But i cant wait to pick up this DLC and give it a spin. Also keep up the good work.
I’m not a big fan of the flavor of the pack but I do appreciate the overtuned origin as I usually RP genetic ascension quite a bit. The new cybernetics should be interesting enough that I might try that.
As always, I look forward to the next Stellaris DLC... as that's when the previous one usually goes on sale. I buy it then. I do feel Paradox's pricing model is a little aggressive for what you actually get with each DLC, but knock it down by 30-50% and the price is right.
It's impressive to see how they have made the low use Lithoid special resource species trait even worse for organics (added upkeep) all it really does is lets you get market access to gas earlier, since you have at least a tiny supply. Scavengers looks like a Civic we'll see again in an upcoming Dev blog on how it tanks late game performance, just as Xeno-Compatability did.
My initial thoughts would be... Traits: Noxious - Could've been interesting without the happiness stuff. Anything that adds micromanagement to pops is just a pain in the arse (more so when it involves trying to balance 2 different species) and not worth the effort imo. Inorganic breath - 3 cost with +50% pop upkeep, can do this with lithoids for less trait points and without having to waste more slots of food. Incubators - Depends on the growth speed curve but i feel like i'd rather just take rapid breeders and not have to deal with gene modding it out when what's meant to be a positive trait becomes a negative. Civics: Mutagenic Spas - I'm not sure why i'd want reduced happiness and habitability on my alloy and consumer goods planets when those are the planets i want the highest possible production on. They're also not planets i necessarily need growth speed on when they'll generally be fed pops by smaller planets that won't have industrial districts. My guess is that this exists to be paired with Relentless Industrialists and that's it. Scavengers - Might have some niche uses but just sounds like a waste of a civic tbh. Relentless Industrialists - Depends on the bonuses but might actually be interesting, especially when paired with post apocalyptic. Origins: Overtuned - Sounds interesting to mess with and depending on the bonuses might actually make incubators worth it to start snowballing early. Knights of the Toxic God - Need more info on the actual bonuses at to whether it's worth it over other origins or if it'll just be something you take a couple times to go through the story.
i love how they keep adding hidden mass effect races to the game. in aquatics theres a species that looks suspiciously like the collector general from mass effect 2, in toxoids they added a portrait that looks like a gooey version of the yahg, which was a species liara tsoni is very.... familiar with.
One change I would like to see is that lifespan also affects the slowing down of your population growth based on your total population. It would make sense that the more pops you have the faster they die.
It's a species pack. Best thing is the new art sets you will only rarely see. Worse thing is no matter if you get it or not all your mods will be broken. The first new origin is specialization traits and the other is a fun exactly one time event chain. You get a new ascension perk that lets you terraform toxic worlds... which should seriously just be a tech you can research - same with the ocean terraforming. Neither are worth an ascension perk except for pure roleplay. There is some fun roleplay stuff here, but not enough to justify the full price.
Ocean terraforming is just a tech along with every basic world type. You might just be referring to the aquatics Colossus or the Gaia world seeders for Gaia world's.
What I presume to be their battleship design kinda reminds me of a mix of the Grineer Galleons from Warframe merged with a Leshak from EVE Online, speaking of which I honestly would love to see a Grineer inspired shipset because I love them too much.
Considering we're talking about the current Pre-Victoria 3 Paradox, save up for whatever comes out of Beyond Earth (if Firaxis doesn't release it for free)...
The water species and this one are probably the best additions you could add to your game as far as species packs go. They actually add something interesting and the ships look amazing. The others were all added in as mods long ago and the devs didn't "steal" them, but the mods were better than the species packs that replaced them.
Is 'Banging on a Trashcan' included in the expansion? Also Relentless Industrialists sounds like a perfect civic for an alternate Earth that paid zero attention to eco-conservationists. The wasteful trait would make so much more sense. Keep major industry in Sol on Earth, eventually turning it into an Ecunopolis, then begin the same process with Venus and Mars once terraformed.
honestly after nemesis i got kinda burned on buying DLC for stellaris. it was kind of a major letdown in terms of how much stuff it actually added, and how fun the content was. the spy system totally blows. if i want new content workshop has tons of interesting mods to play with for free.
This is the first DLC for Stellaris I feel a bit iffy about. I'm still pretty disappointed that they didn't add "Toxic Worlds" as a new habitable/colonizable world type. A Toxic World type could perhaps help tie together some the features better which, like others have stated, feel disconnected. It is also a bit to mechanical and mid-maxy for my taste, I'm not a new player but I don't play the game to often and I heavily prefer roleplaying my empires. It's really mostly the Knigth's of the Toxic God that draws me to this Species Pack, but I don't think that enough will bring me to buy this DLC before a sale.
Agreed. The portraits are super ugly, theres a lot of missed potential with traits and stuff (none of them really scream "toxic" to me besides the one that encourage pop management which is never fun) and mechanics. And civics. And...
Idk, I feel this DLC is just clueless about the theme and direction of a sci fi game. It's like they took toxicity as a straight up element which defines a class of species portraits, gave them some funni traits and called it a day. They could've added more interesting stuff like introducing pollution as a game mechanic for all and made some new traits/civics which gain from it rather than being something that you have to overcome. But nope toxic is an element which defines certain species in this game for some reason. Bang on a trashcan and all that aren't Paradox fun?
My only complaint so far is just that Toxoids arnt compatible with Radiotrophic trait. If anything other than fungus should, it's the species set with the wasteland theme.
As person who has every single DLC for Stellaris, I don't care even one bit about the requirement. So all I see are positives here. THIS is how species packs should be done, as there's some significant value packed into it.
Not gonna lie. I've bought every DLC that's come out and include all of them in my single-player games. I haven't seen a compelling reason to grab this one yet. Anyone else?
Sorry for a year later reply but if you haven't yet and enjoy role playing. Play the Toxig God's and it is by far one of if not the best RP game you can have. You can also have a RIDICULOUSLY overpowered gain of either research or unity.
I'm buying it for the portrait, ships and new Origins. The traits are extremely doubtful, and pretty much MP focused (where games finish fairly fast) or lock you into Bio- Ascension to remove them, because why would you shoot yourself in the foot?
Skaven Empire anyone? Clan's Moulder and Skryre of the RBI! (Rat Boy Infestation) Maybe even Pestilens with Knights of the Toxic God. The horned Rat wills it! YES-YES!
Stellaris is the only Paradox game in which I have all dlcs. I may not be playing it as often as in the past, and not after every dlc anymore, but I still want to have all. It's the best game from Paradox imo.
I really find it funny and weird at same time that we have Finnish names in the game now. Most of the words in "toxoid 3" are Finnish and there are some which are only few letters off. It is really something I never imagined in Stellaris.
Maybe it's just me, but as someone who is a basic Humanoid enjoyer (and I believe I speak for many others who exclusively pick Humanoids)... I'm getting tired of these whacky, whonky, fun races. They're great, don't get me wrong. But it's not what the game needs. There's plenty of diversity already in the game, and every time we get a species pack, I'm left wondering if my beloved Humanoids are ever going to get any real love. I don't want to play space slimes, space rocks, or space necromancers. I want to play a regular old humanoid civilization, but as if they were made in 2022, and not 2016. This could be applied to a lot of the species already in the game as well, for the record. Reptilians, Mammalians. Plenty of different species types that have needed revamps for a long time, both visually and gameplay-wise.
@@dennisstockhaus1171 They did, but to be honest, they're bland. And none of the humanoids are nearly as interesting as anything they've done with new species. There's a lot of room for cool humanoids that I feel is simply not at all realized. And honestly I feel a majority of players prefer humanoids so it's strange to see them get so little support.
Tbh I agree. Stellaris has some bloat it needs trimmed or refined. Toxoids dont look very good and thats dev time they could've spent adding new portraits to existing packs or revamping old ones. Im not impressed with a single toxoid design, even if I play more then just humanoid
Meanwhile the Aquatic habitat doesn't exist, because they didn't model it. The Aquatic ships have not added in the water model pods to any of the ships, and some look silly. But never mind that, let's make a new DLC! lol
Looking forward to playing as Necroids and giving my "food population" the incubator trait. The less food there is, the quicker they'll begin to grow, ensuring that there's never a drastic shortage of snacks. All in all, this expansion has some solid concepts, but it's hard to ignore just how "toxic" Paradox can be on the financial side of things. They absolutely design mechanics in such a way that the user is pressured into buying several in order to fully enjoy stuff. I feel like over the past 5 years they've gotten super greedy and lost their principles. Given, they still have a lot of amazing designers, artists, etc, it's just that their policies are super greedy to the point where it's obnoxious and hurts gameplay. Also, they constantly mess with dumb stuff (they've changed the launcher about 3-4 times that I can recall, and it always seems to become more invasive and offensive each time).
If/when they ever do, they need be careful, we got years of content out of this one, and shelled out about $100 at the least in those years, that alone it is setting a high bar.
why do you need a stellaris2? it's a nearly perfect game and if the devs know waht to do, to keep it alive and fresh, then i don't need Stellaris2. there are so many ways to play this game, it's insane and i like how they improfe the game and exited for the upcoming updates and dlc's.
@@hoellenhund1234 It's lets them completely overhaul the core systems and integrate all the improvements from the DLC into the design. They're already pretty good at doing that with stellaris, but they're still restricted by previous design and technical decisions.
Not impressed with this dlc tbh. The toxoid portraits dont look very good, the traits seem like they'd be annoying to deal with, but knights of the toxic good seems cool
Oh Aspecc you are the mouth of sauron. It is not a lie, but the beautiful hard sci-fi is gone and the actual depth/individuality of the dlc being nothing but a reskin and/or number crunch change.
Honestly, this DLC doesn't really interest me at all. The portraits are nice, but it seems like just about every trait and civic has some kind of major downside that has to be actively accounted for in gameplay. I'm not sure if I can say they're bad per se, but they definitely don't fit my own typical play style.
I'm disappointed with this dlc. I get that they tried to not just make a new species aligned with an element and instead give it a nuanced style of playing the game, but it just doesn't add much there. The aesthetic is certainly subjective on how good it is, and I just don't feel the hardcore pollutant aesthetic the creators were trying to go for. I'll skip this one. Thank you for the review to let me make an informed decision.
The whole PC/Console problem is getting worst. Over a year apart in updates, having to relive past errors and gameplay deficiencies... why? Are Console players to be deliberately neglected? Paradox has little relations with its Console player base... why? Is it fair to have to wait a year, for a PAID product (Season Pass)? Can Paradox AT LEAST fix the EXCESSIVE lag that occurs, just after 70 years in? What about the video, I love it and these new expansions. But what does it matter, if I can't play it? Thank you brother for your time.
You complain about relentless industrialists being toxoids instead of apocalypse, but I like seeing synergies that can be made or unlocked by owning 2 dlc. I am always happy to see new Mega corp civics.
Toxoids is out, what do you think is going to be its best feature?
Just listening to you talking about them is leaving a foul taste in my mouth. Can't get more immersive than that!
New Adversaries. Purge them.
The smell.
Terraforming planets into tomb worlds
i dont know if i can terraform toxic planet yes i will buy it, else i would not waste 20$ on just another specie pack
If the ships are Red they get a 20% overall speedboost, Purple is a 20% Evasion Boost
Link mod
@@soffren not a mod. But a warhammer 40k reference. Lol
@@ethansharp4421 I know! I was just hoping someone would link a Stellaris Mod that let's you roll play as Orks with color bonuses 😂
@@soffren I know right?!
When I saw purple I knew right there that it was a Warhammer 40k reference
You know, I really don't mind having things in DLC that works best with stuff from another DLC. Having each DLC be standalone is good, nobody wants to feel that a new DLC is pressuring you to buy an older DLC.
On the other hand, taking that too far can produce DLC that feel incredibly narrow, with game features that really should work together, but arbitrarily don't. It makes them feel like weird outliers that just sort of exist over there, rather than part of cohesive game.
I agree. Paradox are damned if they do and damned if they don't with this type of DLC. It is great to have stand alone content but on the other hand interweaving complexity that allows huge bonuses is also good to have for the player to exploit.
329 hours played and still learning so many new things everyday. With added interlocking complexities I will never know it all and that makes me happy.
If a DLC basically read "Must own _____ to enjoy" I'd hate it, but if each DLC has ONLY have content for itself and the base game, you very quickly end up with some parasitic design that just isn't engaging. Seeing how Toxoids meshes with Megacorp, or how some of the new traits interact with Tomb World inhabitants, etc is really cool. One of the coolest things about the Aquatic DLC was the Colossus that flash floods a planet to instantly terraform it. Colossi are themselves DLC content.
There's a balancing act, to be sure, but I know I buy Stellaris DLC for the way things interact and the new options they open up. The BIG expansions, the ones actually labeled EXPANSIONS, like Nemesis and the like, those I buy for whatever their big, signature feature is. If one of those was super reliant on another big, expensive pack to get your money's worth out of, I'd be kinda pissed, and unlikely to buy EITHER, but if they totally ignored the various species packs I've purchased, I'd feel pretty bad about the purchase to.
I think the correct balance depends on what kind of DLC we're looking at. Something like a traditional Expansion, that should be almost 90% either stuff within the DLC itself OR in the base game. Though the BIG mechanics do tend to get released, in lesser versions, for everyone as the game progresses (If yo ucan call base game only Espionage actual espionage). Story Packs (remember those) should be almost entirely self contained, nobody should be missing out on anything major for not having it, nor should there be big parts of that basically don't exist unless you own all previously released content. Species Packs, I feel like the balance is closer to 60-70% parasitic content. If the DLC ONLY matters if you're playing the exact species type unlocked by that DLC, then you're not actually getting the content in the majority of your games where those species do not appear. You want toys that are accessible even when not playing as (species type). This is why I'm so pleased that Paradox stopped locking traits and origins behind portraits. And, where appropriate, there should be some cross pollination. If the design space has a real cool, thematic interaction with [dlc feature], go for it. Don't give us LESS content just because only those who habitually buy EVERYTHING get, well, EVERYTHING.
I don't like the fact they show it in game
@@artydean9892 Yeah - I still sometimes think about that one NPC in Dragon Age who stood around in camp with a yellow ! over his head to tell you to buy the DLC. Obnoxious. The launcher is *passable* to advertise DLC but never in the game!
@@TheHopperUK yes I was dumb enough to by that dragon age dlc too 😂 but the biggest issue I have with stellaris is that some of the balance only works with some of the dlc for example no having federations and advisors kind of sucks.
Now I understand why some features of this game feel so disconnected, I would assume it gets real hard to make a feature, that would work well with all the possible variations of other DLCs people could possibly have. Wish they would streamline the DLCs into bigger packs as I would love to see more interactions between all the different mechanics.
Kinda the purpose of the custodian team
@@ProvostZarakov Yup and they only just started.
That's why Paradox should make all DLCs free except the last three (or last five), to limit the almost infinite combinations of DLCs a player might have. EU4 is already unplayable with an incomplete set of DLCs - and buying them all is incredibly expensive.
@@csabagalffy4290 Their goal is to make you buy all the DLCs so unfortunately they will never be free, they will or should do what CK2 did and make the base game free
I get the Nurgle vibe, but I can see the potencial for Iron Warriors through sheer massive industrial worlds in this DLC
well guess "knights of a toxic god" orgin comes near to the deathguard lol.
Skaven rule! Spread the Blight!
Let root rot and bower blight to feed the pestilence of abandoned hope
Especially with the genetic modifications that one bit seems to push. Very astartes feeling.
I mean the mechanicus isn’t in my opinion that far away at least with their forge worlds
been looking forward to toxoids for a while now. something about them just seems really interesting
Seems toxic 😂
Great review. I am on PS5 and have all the dlc so once this releases I will get it. I see your point on accessibility but I also feel that dlc add a lot more than on the box.
To be honest I am probably the worst player of Stellaris out there but always have fun trying!
Jea me to from console still can belive this Game ist on console
"In a 'Tech rush' game." Wait... Isn't tech rush a part of every game?
Basically
i really like the species pack so far, has given me a lot of fun ideas. Starting with pop printing, turning everything into tomb worlds and building memorials to the great deed, playing as the deathguard and spreading grandfather nurgles gifts and so on.
the knights origin makes me want a Knight advisor voice, with all the eths and nays that it entails
Ships look like thous are inspired by ME:A kett faction ships aka fusion punk. But i cant wait to pick up this DLC and give it a spin. Also keep up the good work.
Already downloaded in the first second of release. I like the idea a lot. it reminds me a bit of STV's Malon freighter with thier antimatter waste 🙃
My first thought exactly 😂
I love love love the new traits. Plus the roleplay power of the knights. This might be my favorite species pack yet.
now i can play my criminal megacorp that turns planets into tomb worlds named nestle
I made a bot emprie named Twitter. Sadly only the Toxic look worked for that.
I’m not a big fan of the flavor of the pack but I do appreciate the overtuned origin as I usually RP genetic ascension quite a bit. The new cybernetics should be interesting enough that I might try that.
All hail the toxic god!
With the ship designs you could make a decent Grineer themed empire
THE MIGHTY SEER
It looks good but I wish you could actually live on toxic worlds
I wish City backgrounds mattered more, i love a good looking city, and it helps show how a species might live day to day.
As always, I look forward to the next Stellaris DLC... as that's when the previous one usually goes on sale. I buy it then. I do feel Paradox's pricing model is a little aggressive for what you actually get with each DLC, but knock it down by 30-50% and the price is right.
It's impressive to see how they have made the low use Lithoid special resource species trait even worse for organics (added upkeep) all it really does is lets you get market access to gas earlier, since you have at least a tiny supply.
Scavengers looks like a Civic we'll see again in an upcoming Dev blog on how it tanks late game performance, just as Xeno-Compatability did.
My initial thoughts would be...
Traits:
Noxious - Could've been interesting without the happiness stuff. Anything that adds micromanagement to pops is just a pain in the arse (more so when it involves trying to balance 2 different species) and not worth the effort imo.
Inorganic breath - 3 cost with +50% pop upkeep, can do this with lithoids for less trait points and without having to waste more slots of food.
Incubators - Depends on the growth speed curve but i feel like i'd rather just take rapid breeders and not have to deal with gene modding it out when what's meant to be a positive trait becomes a negative.
Civics:
Mutagenic Spas - I'm not sure why i'd want reduced happiness and habitability on my alloy and consumer goods planets when those are the planets i want the highest possible production on. They're also not planets i necessarily need growth speed on when they'll generally be fed pops by smaller planets that won't have industrial districts. My guess is that this exists to be paired with Relentless Industrialists and that's it.
Scavengers - Might have some niche uses but just sounds like a waste of a civic tbh.
Relentless Industrialists - Depends on the bonuses but might actually be interesting, especially when paired with post apocalyptic.
Origins:
Overtuned - Sounds interesting to mess with and depending on the bonuses might actually make incubators worth it to start snowballing early.
Knights of the Toxic God - Need more info on the actual bonuses at to whether it's worth it over other origins or if it'll just be something you take a couple times to go through the story.
Gotta be honest, i just REALLY liked their designs and concept! Worth it just for that alone
i love how they keep adding hidden mass effect races to the game. in aquatics theres a species that looks suspiciously like the collector general from mass effect 2, in toxoids they added a portrait that looks like a gooey version of the yahg, which was a species liara tsoni is very.... familiar with.
This man is FAST
I love seeing videos not last
I love the ships and I love the Knights storyline.
$10 is a bit steep for this, I will wait for sale.
Radiotrophic also synergizes amazingly with Relentless Industrialists. Even more so than Post-Apocalyptic, in fact.
I love that Game so much i buy everything with stellaris stamp on it day one
Shipset looks like the Grineer from Warframe
Great video, cheers!
I think I will wait for a sale. It does look more fun than aquatics but less fun than necroids.
One change I would like to see is that lifespan also affects the slowing down of your population growth based on your total population. It would make sense that the more pops you have the faster they die.
It's a species pack. Best thing is the new art sets you will only rarely see. Worse thing is no matter if you get it or not all your mods will be broken. The first new origin is specialization traits and the other is a fun exactly one time event chain. You get a new ascension perk that lets you terraform toxic worlds... which should seriously just be a tech you can research - same with the ocean terraforming. Neither are worth an ascension perk except for pure roleplay. There is some fun roleplay stuff here, but not enough to justify the full price.
Ocean terraforming is just a tech along with every basic world type. You might just be referring to the aquatics Colossus or the Gaia world seeders for Gaia world's.
What I presume to be their battleship design kinda reminds me of a mix of the Grineer Galleons from Warframe merged with a Leshak from EVE Online, speaking of which I honestly would love to see a Grineer inspired shipset because I love them too much.
id like something more with toxic worlds, like a new unique planet type, or like gas giant cities, it fits the theme i think
How the frig would a city on a gas giant even work??
@@antred11 floating city type thing, its been done before in other media but i still think its cool
Considering we're talking about the current Pre-Victoria 3 Paradox, save up for whatever comes out of Beyond Earth (if Firaxis doesn't release it for free)...
uppity and self important is what i got out of the advisor voice if you couldnt find the right word that is better than sarcastic
I love the Rp potential of this expansion.
The water species and this one are probably the best additions you could add to your game as far as species packs go. They actually add something interesting and the ships look amazing. The others were all added in as mods long ago and the devs didn't "steal" them, but the mods were better than the species packs that replaced them.
Scavenger is a game changer for me.. Been wanting to play as a Filthy Scav
I do find it interesting how all new new traits have negative effect alongside the positive one :O
Is 'Banging on a Trashcan' included in the expansion? Also Relentless Industrialists sounds like a perfect civic for an alternate Earth that paid zero attention to eco-conservationists. The wasteful trait would make so much more sense. Keep major industry in Sol on Earth, eventually turning it into an Ecunopolis, then begin the same process with Venus and Mars once terraformed.
honestly after nemesis i got kinda burned on buying DLC for stellaris. it was kind of a major letdown in terms of how much stuff it actually added, and how fun the content was. the spy system totally blows. if i want new content workshop has tons of interesting mods to play with for free.
SPREAD PESTILENS TO SPACE-THINGS! THE HORNED ONE DEMANDS IT, YES-YES!
Any of that working for gestalt? Nothing huh? Thought so.
This is the first DLC for Stellaris I feel a bit iffy about. I'm still pretty disappointed that they didn't add "Toxic Worlds" as a new habitable/colonizable world type. A Toxic World type could perhaps help tie together some the features better which, like others have stated, feel disconnected. It is also a bit to mechanical and mid-maxy for my taste, I'm not a new player but I don't play the game to often and I heavily prefer roleplaying my empires.
It's really mostly the Knigth's of the Toxic God that draws me to this Species Pack, but I don't think that enough will bring me to buy this DLC before a sale.
Agreed. The portraits are super ugly, theres a lot of missed potential with traits and stuff (none of them really scream "toxic" to me besides the one that encourage pop management which is never fun) and mechanics. And civics. And...
Finally getting this on console the 21st of this month 😭 holy hell what a wait.
Exactly I think we need to move to pc especially sense the dlc says that the rest of the dlc coming late 2024 I’m not waiting that long fr
The ships look so cool!!!
Idk, I feel this DLC is just clueless about the theme and direction of a sci fi game. It's like they took toxicity as a straight up element which defines a class of species portraits, gave them some funni traits and called it a day. They could've added more interesting stuff like introducing pollution as a game mechanic for all and made some new traits/civics which gain from it rather than being something that you have to overcome.
But nope toxic is an element which defines certain species in this game for some reason. Bang on a trashcan and all that aren't Paradox fun?
How are you getting those camera shots, I never see in game gfx like this? :)
I don’t really understand why lithoids can produce gas? It should be only rare crystals and minerals ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The review starts at 07:53
Whelp, time to finally create my new oddworld factions with the Glukkons and everything, let their be profits everywhere!!!
I find a distinct lack of toxicity in the coverage of the Toxoids DLC
Dang they already released toxoids? On Xbox I don’t even think they released the overlords dlc yet
Ye, two weeks ago
My only complaint so far is just that Toxoids arnt compatible with Radiotrophic trait. If anything other than fungus should, it's the species set with the wasteland theme.
As person who has every single DLC for Stellaris, I don't care even one bit about the requirement. So all I see are positives here.
THIS is how species packs should be done, as there's some significant value packed into it.
Not gonna lie. I've bought every DLC that's come out and include all of them in my single-player games. I haven't seen a compelling reason to grab this one yet. Anyone else?
Sorry for a year later reply but if you haven't yet and enjoy role playing. Play the Toxig God's and it is by far one of if not the best RP game you can have. You can also have a RIDICULOUSLY overpowered gain of either research or unity.
Since it synergizes isn't that an alternate species origin. You are basically the super mutants getting victorious In fallout
I, for one, can't wait to build my Tomb World Master Race 😄
Quick relatively unrelated question but where did you get the thumbnail art been looking for it but can’t find it anywhere?
I'm buying it for the portrait, ships and new Origins.
The traits are extremely doubtful, and pretty much MP focused (where games finish fairly fast) or lock you into Bio- Ascension to remove them, because why would you shoot yourself in the foot?
Too late for this vid, i already did buy it when the big bang got bangin.
Skaven Empire anyone? Clan's Moulder and Skryre of the RBI! (Rat Boy Infestation)
Maybe even Pestilens with Knights of the Toxic God. The horned Rat wills it! YES-YES!
Stellaris is the only Paradox game in which I have all dlcs. I may not be playing it as often as in the past, and not after every dlc anymore, but I still want to have all. It's the best game from Paradox imo.
I really find it funny and weird at same time that we have Finnish names in the game now. Most of the words in "toxoid 3" are Finnish and there are some which are only few letters off.
It is really something I never imagined in Stellaris.
Maybe it's just me, but as someone who is a basic Humanoid enjoyer (and I believe I speak for many others who exclusively pick Humanoids)... I'm getting tired of these whacky, whonky, fun races. They're great, don't get me wrong. But it's not what the game needs. There's plenty of diversity already in the game, and every time we get a species pack, I'm left wondering if my beloved Humanoids are ever going to get any real love. I don't want to play space slimes, space rocks, or space necromancers. I want to play a regular old humanoid civilization, but as if they were made in 2022, and not 2016.
This could be applied to a lot of the species already in the game as well, for the record. Reptilians, Mammalians. Plenty of different species types that have needed revamps for a long time, both visually and gameplay-wise.
Didnt they redo all the human portraits in the latest free update?
@@dennisstockhaus1171 They did, but to be honest, they're bland. And none of the humanoids are nearly as interesting as anything they've done with new species. There's a lot of room for cool humanoids that I feel is simply not at all realized. And honestly I feel a majority of players prefer humanoids so it's strange to see them get so little support.
Tbh I agree. Stellaris has some bloat it needs trimmed or refined. Toxoids dont look very good and thats dev time they could've spent adding new portraits to existing packs or revamping old ones. Im not impressed with a single toxoid design, even if I play more then just humanoid
Post apocalyptic+Relentless industrialist is like the inverse of the gaia-world builders
Id say Lithoids or Aquatics are more new-player friendly
The toxoid portraits don’t show up for me because my game is sooooo heavily modded.
Meanwhile the Aquatic habitat doesn't exist, because they didn't model it. The Aquatic ships have not added in the water model pods to any of the ships, and some look silly. But never mind that, let's make a new DLC! lol
i am definitely going to give space pirates with the scavenging civic a try a mishmash fleet of all the empires ive attacked would be cool
I bought everything else that was on rebate.
JUST HAVE.
Cool, I shall name my empire: League of legends.
Fun but kind of annoyed you can't have memorialist with relentless industrialists
At this point most people playing stellaris will have most dlc‘s. So i hole that more DLCs will bring intertwined systems that build on each other
Looking forward to playing as Necroids and giving my "food population" the incubator trait. The less food there is, the quicker they'll begin to grow, ensuring that there's never a drastic shortage of snacks. All in all, this expansion has some solid concepts, but it's hard to ignore just how "toxic" Paradox can be on the financial side of things. They absolutely design mechanics in such a way that the user is pressured into buying several in order to fully enjoy stuff. I feel like over the past 5 years they've gotten super greedy and lost their principles. Given, they still have a lot of amazing designers, artists, etc, it's just that their policies are super greedy to the point where it's obnoxious and hurts gameplay. Also, they constantly mess with dumb stuff (they've changed the launcher about 3-4 times that I can recall, and it always seems to become more invasive and offensive each time).
An overall warhammer role play expansion? We get one of these every year.
Wait, is one of the portraits literally a depiction of Adeptus Mechanicus?
Legally distinguishable mechanics like-ish
Wonder if there will ever be a stellaris 2 if they keep releasing new. Dlc?
Ye they will sooner or later
If/when they ever do, they need be careful, we got years of content out of this one, and shelled out about $100 at the least in those years, that alone it is setting a high bar.
@@zekeiyf2003 agreed
why do you need a stellaris2? it's a nearly perfect game and if the devs know waht to do, to keep it alive and fresh, then i don't need Stellaris2. there are so many ways to play this game, it's insane and i like how they improfe the game and exited for the upcoming updates and dlc's.
@@hoellenhund1234 It's lets them completely overhaul the core systems and integrate all the improvements from the DLC into the design.
They're already pretty good at doing that with stellaris, but they're still restricted by previous design and technical decisions.
Long as the game works what’s the problem. If it gives me another 100 hours of gameplay it’s worth it
Not impressed with this dlc tbh. The toxoid portraits dont look very good, the traits seem like they'd be annoying to deal with, but knights of the toxic good seems cool
There is actualy very slight vartiation in species if you chose male,female nodescript gender.
Oh Aspecc you are the mouth of sauron. It is not a lie, but the beautiful hard sci-fi is gone and the actual depth/individuality of the dlc being nothing but a reskin and/or number crunch change.
smash or pass on these models.
finally i can make tesla in stellaris.
It is the toxic gods will to purchase it
Honestly, this DLC doesn't really interest me at all. The portraits are nice, but it seems like just about every trait and civic has some kind of major downside that has to be actively accounted for in gameplay. I'm not sure if I can say they're bad per se, but they definitely don't fit my own typical play style.
"Should you buy" I don't understand, I ordered it as soon as I was able to... same as all the others... I don't understand....
Nice
I'm disappointed with this dlc. I get that they tried to not just make a new species aligned with an element and instead give it a nuanced style of playing the game, but it just doesn't add much there. The aesthetic is certainly subjective on how good it is, and I just don't feel the hardcore pollutant aesthetic the creators were trying to go for. I'll skip this one. Thank you for the review to let me make an informed decision.
i think they made toxiods to fillin that game and find useage
Toxoids is actually free.
I always buy every dlc
The whole PC/Console problem is getting worst. Over a year apart in updates, having to relive past errors and gameplay deficiencies... why?
Are Console players to be deliberately neglected? Paradox has little relations with its Console player base... why?
Is it fair to have to wait a year, for a PAID product (Season Pass)?
Can Paradox AT LEAST fix the EXCESSIVE lag that occurs, just after 70 years in?
What about the video, I love it and these new expansions. But what does it matter, if I can't play it?
Thank you brother for your time.
Why can't they live on toxic planets
I already bought because Im a real fan, but it seems kinda meh.
You complain about relentless industrialists being toxoids instead of apocalypse, but I like seeing synergies that can be made or unlocked by owning 2 dlc. I am always happy to see new Mega corp civics.
It's not really a complaint, it is not very user friendly.
Not first!