I lowkey had a "chill" version of my issues with the monstrosity that is the Burgundian MT, but after foregoing the whole "do something else" part, I loaded up the game again, thinking that maybe I was just impatient and whiny. No, I don't think I'm impatient, or whiny, or otherwise unjustified in presenting this as a vent.
First of all, the nanosecond I scrolled this MT, I already groaned. Perhaps it was a tiny one, not exactly very huge or otherwise disturbed (yet) by the amount of disconnected branches trying to offer "choice" and (I assume) avoid railroading. Let me make something extremely crystal clear though, this is horrible design. There are mission trees split into parts of massive branches. There are ones with one large branch that sprouts smaller ones. And then there's the main early game conquests and gameplay of this MT that's just (what I can only describe as) whitespace spamming "sticks". Not proper branches, sticks. 2-4 mission branches all over the place in the entire top part of the MT. No main branch, no clear "start here", just an overload of "hmm, what should I do". Even then...
On preventing railroading (if that was a goal), you failed. Nobody, absolutely nobody is going to be going after the lowlands or Provence before Charles VII triggers the French conquest branch. Not because the player saw that its locked and is waiting for it, but because they literally cannot. The player isn't going to fight the HRE in the first 5 years, nor at they going to go after Provence, who are allied to France. Even if you can ignore it once RNG grants the branch to you, what kind of Burgundian LARP ignores conquering France? None. Nobody is going to say "aw shucks, this shit ain't doable, I'mma focus on something else", no they're going to save scum and bird their game till they complete it. More on this below.
Now onto the opening missions themselves, has anyone on the dev team played Brelar in Anbennar, the mod you strive to be like for the vanilla base game? In short, the MT gatekeeps the fun (but still annoying as fuck) part of the MT by techs, devving and constructions. However, one thing it doesn't do is immediately headshot your dopamine until 144X, when Louis XI decides to come to your court and... I'm still holding this off for the next paragraph, I think. Staying on topic, I don't want to save scum 20x to prevent Phillip's death so I can get my techs to 4 and to finish devving (wine provinces & Brugge) without getting cancer due Charles's 2 in admin and 0 in diplo, generating no mana besides mil. Sure, Burgundy didn't explode onto the scene in 1440s and 1450s, but if historical accuracy is your aim, oh boy, here's the below...
Why the fuck is Louis XI supporting the War of the Public Weal? No, no, wait, not just supporting, initiating it. Base EU4 fucks this war beyond any historical recognition already, but in this case, this is just-- I don't know, no words really. My LARP? Ruined, because Louis XI is helping me dismantle the throne he's entitled to inheriting. Ahistorical? Try not making any fucking sense, the narrative is literally lost somewhere deep in the woods, killed, buried 6ft under. Seriously, the entire mini branch just feels like it was made to flex time gating the mission tree. Wow, so technology! It's not even a good time gate, it's based on AI ruler not stubbing his toe RNG or making himself a general. Bird simulator, hoping he dies before you finish (((with (((again))) Louis XI help))) conquering France.
On the matter of conquering, how do you expect me to get 5 appanages and conquer the French core states in that war (this is the "aw shucks" part)? Taking land is not allowed and all those appanages are my allies in the war. Thanks, I uhh, really look forward to diplo-vassalizing them using my two diplomats that are totally not preoccupied still improving relations with my PUs. Did something break? Was I supposed to get an event? Is there supposed to be some peace treaty option that magically solves the requirements of that mission? Mind you, I did the Champagne meme, I seized land from Nevers and released Champagne, getting one state complete, yippie. 60% warscore. By the time that truce is up, Charles VII is in his early 50s, making this not a skill check, but an RNG check. If you want to see how to do time gated missions, I bring your attention back to Brelar, or more specifically, the republican path. You get some X years (I forgot) to complete multiple missions in quick succession, forcing you to setup conditions for them in advance. A non-RNG skill check.
The war itself by the way, total AFK cakewalk. Why? Because I made the "mistake" of allying Venice and Aragon, the two natural allies to fight Austria and France respectively. So not only is the whole premise stupid, it's not even fun or difficult.
What else, uhh, "Cooperation with the Cod" modifier just straight up broken. You used the wrong development cost modifier, I have no clue what that one is for, but it's not lower development cost on your country scope. There's also "Bold Ambitions" mission with a conditional event if Charles the Bold is in charge. Problem? Where's the event insight? Should I click it as Phillip? Should I not? What's the event? Bad? Good? Neutral? Doesn't matter? Ah, cores, I just decided to check it out as I wrote this. Hey, wouldn't it be genius if we could put an Event Insight here? I think this one's just a tiny bit important. And it's a bird simulator too, cool.
I think that's it, just the early game really, I'm sure it gets better, I think. It seems like that. Sadly, I don't wanna play this early game. It's shit.