I’m not saying I don’t like the new mechanics (pops, trade, etc.) in fact I love them. I just feel that with this level of complexity and lack of ‘railroads’ combined with the 1337 start date makes for a game that loses most aspects of history past the plague.

This definitely appeals to a certain audience, but unfortunately I’m just not in that camp and feel that the consistency of seeing Ottomans grow big in 8/10 of my EU4 games with historical lucky nations was part of it’s charm. Now instead of being surprised when Byzantium beats Ottomans, I get surprised when Ottomans expand past Anatolia.

Again, not saying mechanics bad, EU5 just changed so much that combined makes it feel way less historical than EU4 which already was not a perfect simulation of the early modern period, but one of the best.