Age of Empires Thread

What the hell happened to Age of Empires? I've been playing a lot of 3 lately (dunno why, the card system is addicting for some reason), and I just noticed how dead this franchise is.

I know Impressions shut down, but why and how?

Because you need to play 2 with your buttbuddies

2 can't hold my attention here recently for some reason. Even the HD version feels clunky and basic compared to 3.

Not only that, but every civ has the exact same units, whereas 3 is very asymmetric and the civs change drastically in many ways.

Ensemble.

They were shut down by Microsoft while they were developing Halo Wars, and the remaining staff were given incentives to stay around until the game was complete.

Age of Empires 3 was a bunch of good ideas implemented poorly. It wasn't bad but overall the entire game needed some rework since it was just a rush to Age II to get anything done.
Overall it didn't deserve half the hate it got since it's only real flaw was the lack of Roach Removal, honestly it needed some Eastern Europe stuff

It needed European stuff in general. It could also do with a few Mediterranean maps, that way the Ottoman Civ would actually make sense.

Mods easily fixed some of that, Wars of Liberty and Napoleonic Era added quite a bunch of civs related to Europe and America, still half of these unplayable in single-player.

I still don't get why they were sidelined to work on Halo Wars leaving AoE dead. Did 3 really sell that poorly?

Not to mention the Asian civs are gone. I tried NE and found it disappointing. A bunch of other civs mish-mashed together with few new models, lines of dialogue or artwork.

Kind of why I hate resorting to using mods in general, they tend to be really cut-rate, even at their best.

Wars of Liberty at least removed the stupid civs setup before you start the game, NE has been in dev hell for at least three years with minimal news related to a bunch of new textures and models.

Ah, so it seems the main problem with Age of Empires 3 was that it was too ambitious. It tried to change too much and wound up losing out for it.

3d was a mistake, aoe2 is still pretty balanced and competitive. That is why it's still thriving.

The only major balance issues I've noticed in 3 is that the Native American civs are rather hilariously underpowered.

Realism!

user, creating unique sprites for all the civs will look better, but it increases the workload 10 times while adding nothing to the actual gameplay. They were going to add more filler stuff the game but budget cuts and time restraints is what probably forced them to rush II out.


AoE III was felt mediocre. The maps were way too small and the procedural generation was shit. The campaigns were good, but they weren't historical like the other two games, so they're garbage. Battles were the only thing that was great about AoE III, killing injus as the British was fun. III's biggest flaw was that it it's in 3D!

Also, I don't think the transition to 3D was all that big of an issue. The gameplay actually transitions pretty well since you're still just moving in essentially 2 dimensions, unlike a platformer.

Map size and lack of game modes/ teams was kind of horrendous though, not to mention not being able to change civs easily, instead having to set up new home cities to even play a different game mode. Also, it hurts that multiple people can't play as the same civ, instead being limited to one per match.

What's Sandy Petersen up to these days.

I've actually since noticed that much of the European units are pretty much the same, it's just that the way those civs go about playing (i.e. Dutch using coin for settlers, Russians training units in batches) varies gameplay and strategy a lot more than in 2. Many of the actual civs only had 2 or 3 unique units, filling the spot of a generic unit. I've actually noticed the HD version of 2 picking up on 3's habits with the recent expansions.

decks were a fucking gay idea

Maybe, but the idea of purchasing powerful exotic merc units kind of grew on me while I was playing it.

Good idea, just not thought out. like the entirity of AOEIII

AoE3's problem is all of the arbitrary limits they set on things like watchtowers and ships.

Racism!

the card system gives you a lot of variety, thats why its fun. variety is something thats usually lacking in rts.

>>>Holla Forums

I miss it Holla Forums, you don't have idea how much I miss it

Shouldn't you be working on the next Game Dungeon, Ross?

>>>/cuteboys/


how does it work? something like sacrifice where you pick units to be part of your army? well thats how it was in the campaign, but i dont think skirmishes worked out that way.

That game went for years. He hasnt been the only one who played it. I DID IT IN HIS PRIME MOTHER FUCKER, IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!!

HCs are shit. You are cancer.

t. General

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