The winged dragon is definitely Yinglong, the dragon who helped the Yellow Emperor fight Chiyou. The floating female sage is probably Nuba, the drought demon who also helped the Yellow Emperor in the same battle. Both of them have been confirmed on this expansion’s Steam page. I also think the sage riding the Qilin creature is Jiang Ziya, with the creature instead being the Sibuxiang (cross of deer, ox, donkey and horse). The other Qilin creature with a sword in its mouth may be Yazi, one of the nine sons of the dragon that likes weapons and fighting. The winged tiger unit could also be the evil beast Qiongqi. The three giant dudes at 16:59 may be a unit version of Kuafu, the giant that tried to chase the sun. Finally, the Immortal Pillars look like they should be the pillars that Nuwa created to hold up the sky after she fixed it. It seems they will be a central element in the new campaign story, just like the Underworld Gates in the base game.
@@ChillyEmpire Thank you so much! I was just so excited to see them really getting into the Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) for this one. I should definitely thank you for showing all the historical details and the presence of Nezha, couldn’t catch all of that myself since everything was happening so fast in the video!
4:13 That's not Pixiu, it's a 窮奇 Qiongqi, a beast of disasters, which is similar to a winged tiger 7:10 I think it's called 檮杌 Taowu, another beast of disasters, featuring human face, tusks, and long tail 12:20 It must be 蚩尤 Chi You, the main antagonist in the ancient Chinese history (and mythology). He was described as a gigantic figure, with four eyes and six arms. Also the main rival of the Yellow Emperor. 20:21 It's known as 應龍 Inglong, Chinese dragons comes in many different species. Inglong is probably the only one with wings, they play as an important supporter to Yellow Emperor and other early kings in Chinese mythology. 21:40 Although I know western people probably got their knowledge about Chinese mythology from Wukong and 西遊記 the Journey to the west. There's actually two books which are more relevant to the era of early China. One is called 山海經 Shanhaijing, or Classic of Mountains and Seas. It's like an encyclopedia of mythical people, creatures and places before Han Dynasty. And the other one is 封神演義 Fengshen yenyi, or Investiture of the Gods. Which the story is set in the end of the Shang dynasty. This old fella here, while riding a 四不像 Sibuxiang, holding a 打神鞭 Dashenbian(god spanking batton), we can tell he might be 姜子牙 Jiang Ziya, one of the finding father of Zhou dynasty, and the main protagonist of this novel. And with Ne Zha present, we can guess the Chinese campaign would have strong connection with Investiture of the Gods, because our boi Ne Zha is also an important character in the story. Please pin if this provides the detailed information needed?
Please be reminded that Rule of Cool might be involved in the final choices of characters, and global recognizability might take priority. However I am looking forward to units armed with "god spanking batton"-s. For reference: In the base campaign, Hades is used as an evil god, multiple times, when in reality, he was a benevolent, and perhaps only sane one (by modern standards). Or that the norse and ancient egypt were nowhere near to each other chronologically. Just a heads up.
@@ChillyEmpire I think Troy, the dream sequence, sometimes the pirates ? When it is not explicitly Gargarensis' forces but greek. Maybe Circe too? I got stuck at Troy in Retold, so I'm not sure if there were updates.
14:14 The Mechanical ox almost certainly a reference to Zhuge Liang inventing mechanical oxen to transport grain for his army in one of his many northern campaigns against Wei and Sima Yi.
Maybe it's a god power unit, a slow moving construct that heals/empowers your soldiers in battle within its LOS but it can also be either destroyed or captured by enemies.
@@unidentifiedflavourfulobject My suspicion is that it's the unique resource depot for the Chinese - villagers deposit a bunch of resources into these mechanical oxen and then the oxen transport the resources back to a Town Center.
Cool to see that you actually know the name of the creatures, I totally expected this to be a slop video that narrates whats on the screen. Gladly surprised
It definitely feels like they are throwing Tale of the Dragon out the window and starting from scratch. Newer looking units and possibly new major gods and god powers. I think they will most likely have a new single player campaign too. I wouldn’t mind a reworked version of the TotD campaign added as a supplementary DLC like The Golden Gift later down the road for like $5. I hope we do get more beyond this and the next expansion. While Aztec will most likely be next I also want Celt, Rome, Japan and India. Persia and Slavic maybe. Africa and Native America might be difficult to do.
I do vaguely recall something about making Native America would be problematic and avoided but I have no idea where do I remember it from so don't quote me on that. Japan would be probably more down the line since otherwise it might be bit overload on eastern myth. Also I do know a little about Roman pantheon (I believe Isis was in it too) but I do not have any knowledge about their culturally unique creatures, myth units if you will. Are there enough to fill out a roster? On that note a video about Roman civilization from Chilly would be a interesting watch.
@@horakhty2217 The ROmans stole everything from the Greeks there'd be little to go on: they were cultural vultures for the most part! Celt/Slav hybrid would be great tho. Aztec is easily the most rounded out pantheon however.
@@SashaKarsavinaI disagree. As someone who has studied Greek and Roman history there are multiple places that they differ. But let’s not argue about that. I do think Celtic would be amazing though.
Given location wise it would be Aztec… could see another one being Tengri, something sub Saharan. Indian / Hindu is a nope and Celtic / Slavic is too specific and Norse has those regions covered already.
"Mythological Buildings" is definitely something I wish we saw more of in the game. Unique buildings that give you special troops, god powers, techs or abilities. They went that way with Wonders and I think that was an excellent choice.
Was waiting for the video, i don't know anything about chinese mythology and wasn't expecting for them to release or tease the chinese so soon. Great and very deep analysis from you! Hyped. I hope China won't be overpowered.
the minotaur creature with 6 hands seems like it will grow during the game. idk how everyone missed this. Its shown as a little guy and then as a huge titan-sized creature. My guess is - its a creature you get at the start of the game when playing with a certain major god and the whole gimmick of that god is upgrading that guy. Cus I highly doubt that there is going to be 2 creatures with the same models but one of them is titan-sized. Also there is the possibility of it being just a campaign villain or something like Gargarensis.
yeah if you count up the totals that expansion had about as many campaign-exclusive titans as actual titans. Especially if you count the reused Egyptian Guardian. If the new campaign is including any Titans it would only be reasonable to expect there to be a counterpart there too.
I wonder if there’s no special “hero mounted on a Qilin” unit and that’s just the Qilin’s new special feature that they replaced it’s whole “healing everything around it when it dies” thing with, maybe now they can have a hero mount them giving bonuses to both the hero and Qilin or maybe just allowing them to move around faster.
I am here not knowing a single thing about Chinese history or mythology. I just like how the units and buildings look. And look forward to having this add to the variety.
21:42 likely reference to Jiang ziya, a taoist main character in Fengshen novel where he is tasked to coronate many of god patheon in the Jade emperor courts, including the 4 heavenly kings. His personal weapon is the immortal-banishing cane, can mortally wounds any immortal that isn't stronger than its level. That kirin is also his personal mount, lended by his master 元始天尊
I hope the campaign isnt just mirror matches against China. Hopefully this campaign includes the existing factions to play against in some missions to give more variety. It would also be neat if there was at least some call backs to previous campaigns so this new one doesnt feel too isolated. One reason the Titans DLC campaign was so good, was because whilst you did mainly play as Atlanteans there was a couple of missions where you played the old factions alot of the time vs the new one, there were some mirror matches but it had plenty of variety.
12:15 One thing that people noticed about this part of the teaser was... the towers in the distance on the right. Specifically, they're Mirror Towers. Which means that, unless it's a placeholder asset, we've probably got Atlanteans in the campaign as well.
@@TARDISES Atlantis being a colonial superpower in AOM's setting it would make sense they would have ruins or are potentially part of the cause for everything going wrong in the Chinese campaign.
Hmmm a great analysis as always. And thanks for the shoutout One thing that I noticed is that many of the units likely have a shield on their back because they might have 2 modes, or if they are stationary they get to automatically "deploy" into a defensive mode where by they place the shield in front of them and then receive some defensive bonuses. The wooden ox was definitely a reference to Zhuge Liang's wooden oxes 木牛流马. Reportedly they were able to allow a single soldier to carry a huge amount of supplies and munitions in extended campaigns. Most historians believed they are likely specially designed wheel barrows that has a large stable crate on top and to the sides. But Im not surprised the game took on a more mythical interpretation for them. Mainly that the retelling of these nearly miraculous units were framed in the same way as if Zhuge Liang had invented these wooden automatons. The sages we see could be the 8 immortals or some variation of them. The cavalry decision looks interesting, looks like China will have 2 type of cavalry, a versatile light melee/ ranged cavalry (like a Chinese version of the AOE2 Ratha) meant for fast and versatile roles and a more dedicated heavy cataphract meant for Hippius and Contarius role. I do find the inclusion of the cataphract interesting, not in that they were included. Heck China had TWO Jin dynasties that were spelled differently, and from 1000 years apart but both had powerful cataphracts. Looks like the version they went is the one from northern Chinese dynasties circa around Northern Wei. An interesting choice to see that implemented. Mainly in that often in RTS we've never see China represented with exceptional cavalry. Often they were supposed to be a defensive econ and research faction etc. But not unwelcomed either. 1. China literally DID had heavy cavalry and when the dynasties were powerful with them. Now that I think about it, other factions were not necessarily known for their cavalries either. Yes Egyptians had chariot archers and elephants but those were not true cavs, Either were Vikings, Atlanteans, and Greeks. So I guess compared to them China does have that edge. I kind of like that they did not go with the gunpowder role. Mainly in that then this version of China might be too powerful. Though considering that gunpowder was invented likely by Daoists alchemists if they did include it it'd be fitting too lol.
The shield on the back is to see how many upgrades the unit has, because the pierce armor upgrade changes the shield model so you couldnt tell if there was no shield. Its just visual
@@FlippableFlappy That explains it. Yeah that make sense. I wonder if they might do the same to the Japanese as well (some time in the future) since they'd be more pronounced with 2 handed weapons and general lack of shields (unless their ashigarus can place immobile screens in front of them)
21:39 Jiang Ziya holding god beating rod and the 5 elemental flag, the 6 arms titan is most likely Chiyou, the bull king should be using a big axe instead. The winged dragon should be Yilong, vassal of the Yellow Emperor in his fight with Chiyou
It seems they go for the Chinese Design in AoE2 and AoE3, where their main design is having a lot of unit types that needs to work together, considering that they have 3 Cavalry Types(Cataphract, Light Cavalry and Horse Archers), 3 Infantry Types(Ji Soldier, Spear & Shield and Heavy Swordsmen), and then 3 Archer Types(Archer, Zhugenu and Javelineer) Though they could follow the Greek Design as they only have 2 of each Infantry, Archer and Cavalry Types with probably the Cataphract, Heavy Swordsmen and Zhuge Nu being Major or Minor God's Unique unit
Grabbing armour from so many different dynasties works for me, goes really well with the fantasy style. Really looking forward to see how this all plays out, I quite liked reading Water Margin and Three Kingdoms so seeing both the mortal and mythical units is a real treat.
Minute 10"02. That is the black turtle! One of the 4 main animals of the Chinese mythology, as you explained at the beginning. It looks identical to the picture you showed on minute 4:02.
I think what i can gather. The immortals will now each be a unquie unit, rather then a copy pasta. You have like the female monk as one, the calvary one as another. Then, it seems like they have a muti-brach system for myth units. prehaps you can pick a main unit but then side upgrades to change them from like the white tiger to the tirger with wings. The mechical ox i have a feeling is part of their favor/villager system. The likely did away with Gardens complety, so they have a mix of an ox cart, but also maybe used for their favor system?
I was waiting for you to cover it since you know well chinese mythology. Thanks ! PS : I was suggesting in your concept video no gunpowder for china, im quite happy about that.
Oh snap the campaign gotta be awesome for this. I hope they do a sun wukong part of it, kinda like the dreams missions of the Arkantos campaign. Edit: Imagine myth unit style gods from this civ
All human infantry can get shields in AoM. Well, a few exceptions. Some human units might be restricted to specific gods, like how Greeks have myrmidons for Zeus, bellybows for Hades...
Towards the end I had a sudden thought. Seeing the "meteor" god power and also you mentioning Hou Yi got me thinking: what if the Chinese hero mechanic is that you get a specific named hero as part of your minor god choice and age-up? Perhaps choosing a certain minor god grants you Hou Yi as a hero as well as a god power where the 9 suns come crashing down to earth. I've been wondering this whole time what the Chinese hero mechanic would be, and this could be a cool way to do it. I'm very glad they may potentially be more like the Greeks, in the sense of having fewer named heroes rather than generic mass-produced heroes. Makes sense since China has so many named characters to draw from. Great video btw, definitely the most in-depth review I've seen. So glad you pointed out Ao Kuang's undersea palace in the first shot, as well as pointing out the Black Tortoise rather than calling them dragon turtles. Really curious what the deal is with the Chiyou bull creature, if it's a myth unit that gets bigger and stronger over time, or if it gets huge with a god power, or if its titan-sized version is campaign-specific. I can't wait to see more of the Chinese and how they play!!
I am blown away with the amount of effort they are putting into this, the base game and atlantis was fine, it just felt like a graphical update overall and some minor tweaks, but this is areally adding to the game. Hope we get more mythic battles, Sigyrn is lonely in that section.
Some of the Human units that can be seen in the trailer(the Timestamp on the Trailer) -Heavy Swordsmen(0:11)(0:34) Big Shield and Armored Swordsmen who could be a mainline unit, but since Retold basically deletes the role of the Mainline Units(Units who uses strong Stats to counter the enemy rather than bonus damage), these Heavy Swordsmen would probably be a Tanky Soft Counter Infantry -Brown Horse Archers(0:12)(0:17) Light Cavalry with Small Buckler size Shields on their Horses Right Side, which could give them some Pierce Armor and give out some Atlantean Turma Vibes/Could be an Anti Archer Cavalry unit. -Spearmen(0:12)(0:31) -Cataphract(0:16) -Archers(0:17) -White Horse Cavalry(0:31)(0:40) Seems to be a Light Cavalry, but in some scenes they have a Bows on their back so either an upgrade or a Cavalry that can switch between Anti Cavalry Melee or Anti Infantry Ranged. -Ji Infantry(0:34) The most common Polearm Weaponry, since they have Spearmen the Ji Infantry could be either a Hard Counter to Cavalry. -Zhuge Nu(0:34) It's isn't "Age of" Chinese without the Chu Ko Nu(unless it's the Shang in AoE1)
Thanks you for the mention of times, but I think you are a bit wrong about the mainline units. The mirmillo, hoplite and berserk are technically ''mainline unit''. Only hoplite has a bonus VS cav and it's just 0.25 because of the spear. So I think it could definitively be a ''tanky unit'' without any bonuses.
I think the headless guy and the demon are just 4th tier myth units...would be crazy. They probably could be campaign assets similar to the giant Son of Osiris in the Campaign tutorial.
Hope to see the prototype units that snuck into Extended Edition's editor get makeovers too alongside this redo for the Chinese, just for the sake of completion.
So when are we getting more AoM:R videos from you? Love the way you present and talk and would love to see you cover more AoM:R content. There was a rogue lite Arena of the Gods announced not long ago for example that would be covered.
I think these ox warmachines are based on Zhuge Liang's wheelbarrows that were used to transport supplies through the mountains and troll Sima Yi, who could not make them work for himself.
12:44 Some Chinese players also speculated that it was Chi-you, but the myth did not record that Chi-you had six arms. Gods with multiple arms in Chinese mythology generally seem to be related to India.
Sorry I can't pronounce the units and don't mean to be disrespectful of this culture. But my guess is that the giant boi with the nipple eyes and the multi handed bull thingy are not titans but upgraded myth units in Wonder Age, similar to the upgraded Jotun of the Norse. Also, no way in hell WuKong is not like an Arkantos type of hero.
If you ask me I think the entire teaser trailer was an absolute banger. I liked the music and I hope it is going to be the civs main theme. When we compare Tale of the Dragon to this, this looks more like a faithful expansion for Age of Mythology. Tale of the Dragon really felt more like a mod made by a player, not like a true expansion.
Good analysis. Lots shown in the trailer. But just because something wasn't seen in the trailer doesn't mean that it's not in the game (though with the unit counts, I wouldn't bet on there being much left out outside of the god powers). Well-made video, well-made trailer.
Hey do we have anywhere to have a full discussion on what other pantheons we hope to encounter. In particular, theorizing on how each should preform, their myth units and their God rosters. Because when it comes to mythology idk if Rome would be possible while staying as unqiue feeling as AoM makes most civs feel.
my first experience playing china was being pocket in a team game and massing a bunch of vermillion birds only they all glitched together and occupied the same space. so i had a group of 20ish vermillion birds all overlapping one another that flew around the map melting town centers. i didn't play much extended edition after that.
The winged tiger kinda looks like Qiong Qi, one of the 4 great evils along with Tao Tie, Hundun, and Tao Wu. Although if that is Qiong Qi, I find it strange that we don't see Hundun anywhere for example.
Thanks for the analysis! Liked your concept (except for the gunpowder) Like all the new myth units coming with this DLC except for the monkey-demon brood and the wooden ox who moves too much like a child’s toy for my personal taste. But maybe we get a better look at them or their designs are not finished yet (?)
Don't know if it has been mentioned but I am guessing their are so many units because Chinese units will be dual function, r.g. archer and swordsman, or swordsman and ji infantry.
The two different tigers actually don't seem to share a model. The way their move their back legs is quite different, with the winged one bending them a lot more (implying more weight), while the White Tiger is much more gracile. In fact the White Tiger overall looks thinner.
Just had an idea, what if to help the Chinese stand out and be a bit more unique they had a bunch of like support units/officers/sages/administrators who weren't myth units or heroes but enhanced the units around them in some way. That's why there's a whole bunch of rather unique looking one off units in various scenes... or they could just all be heroes I guess Greek style. But think it would be more unique for them to be mortal support units with non-stacking buffs which is why you only see like one of each type in the various scenes.
10:18 isn't that the turtle you talked about at 3:58 ? The picture you shared has a serpent surrounding a turtle. The model in the game looks like a serpent surrounding a turtle too to me. Edit: oh nvm you talk about it later
The Cataphract is probably holding a Han Sha(铩)which is a combination of the short sword and spear, much like the predecessor to the Zhan Ma Dao and Yan Yue Dao.
I have to say beforehand, I know NOTHING about Chinese mythology, and this hint comes from Titan Quest, where I noticed similar beast, but that "winged tiger" might as well be Qiong Qi, almost identical design was used in Eternal Embers DLC.
I assumed this was just a tale of the dragon port from the EE but its a whole new expansion from scratch? Would have cooler if it was a different faction this time round, maybe Japan or like some other civilization with popular mythology
The minotaur-looking mf with the four arms and all the weapons honestly reminded me of Final Fantasy V's Gilgamesh. I don't know shit about Chinese mythological stuff, so thanks for the video.
Damn, the last time I played AoM was in high school. The very first iteration of AoM. Didn't really bother with the franchise after that but this caught my attention.
19:17 there weren't hammer ships for all civilizations in Age Of Mythology. Every single hammership has the same description referencing the Ancient Greek dolphin.
I'm might be the only one who want to see terracotta warriors still be in the game mostly for cool factor. Even though never play Age of Mythology before now. But when it officially come out nevertheless I be getting it.
The winged dragon is definitely Yinglong, the dragon who helped the Yellow Emperor fight Chiyou. The floating female sage is probably Nuba, the drought demon who also helped the Yellow Emperor in the same battle. Both of them have been confirmed on this expansion’s Steam page.
I also think the sage riding the Qilin creature is Jiang Ziya, with the creature instead being the Sibuxiang (cross of deer, ox, donkey and horse). The other Qilin creature with a sword in its mouth may be Yazi, one of the nine sons of the dragon that likes weapons and fighting. The winged tiger unit could also be the evil beast Qiongqi. The three giant dudes at 16:59 may be a unit version of Kuafu, the giant that tried to chase the sun. Finally, the Immortal Pillars look like they should be the pillars that Nuwa created to hold up the sky after she fixed it. It seems they will be a central element in the new campaign story, just like the Underworld Gates in the base game.
how exciting
Love this comment. So many great details that I missed - I’m gonna pin this comment!
Yeah definitely Yinglong. And depicting them with wings is absolutely accurate
@@ChillyEmpire Thank you so much! I was just so excited to see them really getting into the Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) for this one. I should definitely thank you for showing all the historical details and the presence of Nezha, couldn’t catch all of that myself since everything was happening so fast in the video!
I wonder if world pillar would be Nuwa's wonder.
4:13 That's not Pixiu, it's a 窮奇 Qiongqi, a beast of disasters, which is similar to a winged tiger
7:10 I think it's called 檮杌 Taowu, another beast of disasters, featuring human face, tusks, and long tail
12:20 It must be 蚩尤 Chi You, the main antagonist in the ancient Chinese history (and mythology). He was described as a gigantic figure, with four eyes and six arms. Also the main rival of the Yellow Emperor.
20:21 It's known as 應龍 Inglong, Chinese dragons comes in many different species. Inglong is probably the only one with wings, they play as an important supporter to Yellow Emperor and other early kings in Chinese mythology.
21:40 Although I know western people probably got their knowledge about Chinese mythology from Wukong and 西遊記 the Journey to the west. There's actually two books which are more relevant to the era of early China. One is called 山海經 Shanhaijing, or Classic of Mountains and Seas. It's like an encyclopedia of mythical people, creatures and places before Han Dynasty. And the other one is 封神演義 Fengshen yenyi, or Investiture of the Gods. Which the story is set in the end of the Shang dynasty. This old fella here, while riding a 四不像 Sibuxiang, holding a 打神鞭 Dashenbian(god spanking batton), we can tell he might be 姜子牙 Jiang Ziya, one of the finding father of Zhou dynasty, and the main protagonist of this novel.
And with Ne Zha present, we can guess the Chinese campaign would have strong connection with Investiture of the Gods, because our boi Ne Zha is also an important character in the story.
Please pin if this provides the detailed information needed?
Great post! Thank you for the context ☺️
Please be reminded that Rule of Cool might be involved in the final choices of characters, and global recognizability might take priority. However I am looking forward to units armed with "god spanking batton"-s. For reference: In the base campaign, Hades is used as an evil god, multiple times, when in reality, he was a benevolent, and perhaps only sane one (by modern standards). Or that the norse and ancient egypt were nowhere near to each other chronologically. Just a heads up.
@@yadakakadu I think Poseidon is the "evil" god in the Campaign. He's the guy supporting Garg and you even fight his statue.
@@ChillyEmpire I think Troy, the dream sequence, sometimes the pirates ? When it is not explicitly Gargarensis' forces but greek. Maybe Circe too? I got stuck at Troy in Retold, so I'm not sure if there were updates.
封神演義 makes so much sense to me, and a campaign of its story would be so great
14:14 The Mechanical ox almost certainly a reference to Zhuge Liang inventing mechanical oxen to transport grain for his army in one of his many northern campaigns against Wei and Sima Yi.
Great call out! I didn’t know about this one
Maybe it's a god power unit, a slow moving construct that heals/empowers your soldiers in battle within its LOS but it can also be either destroyed or captured by enemies.
I'm hoping that's gonna be the drop site
@@unidentifiedflavourfulobject My suspicion is that it's the unique resource depot for the Chinese - villagers deposit a bunch of resources into these mechanical oxen and then the oxen transport the resources back to a Town Center.
all it shows was ajex was right to think the wooden horse would be able to fight
The heroes were not getting knocking up by the Titan attack. It was the Great Flood Godpower
Yknow what. You’re completely right. HOW the HELL did I miss that?? 😅
China will grow larger. :D
Hmmm, let's take a look!
Ahhh yes that's a good start.
Sorry sir, I can't build there.
I build for China!
Heheh C&C Generals reference.
Cool to see that you actually know the name of the creatures, I totally expected this to be a slop video that narrates whats on the screen. Gladly surprised
It definitely feels like they are throwing Tale of the Dragon out the window and starting from scratch. Newer looking units and possibly new major gods and god powers. I think they will most likely have a new single player campaign too.
I wouldn’t mind a reworked version of the TotD campaign added as a supplementary DLC like The Golden Gift later down the road for like $5.
I hope we do get more beyond this and the next expansion. While Aztec will most likely be next I also want Celt, Rome, Japan and India. Persia and Slavic maybe. Africa and Native America might be difficult to do.
I do vaguely recall something about making Native America would be problematic and avoided but I have no idea where do I remember it from so don't quote me on that.
Japan would be probably more down the line since otherwise it might be bit overload on eastern myth. Also I do know a little about Roman pantheon (I believe Isis was in it too) but I do not have any knowledge about their culturally unique creatures, myth units if you will. Are there enough to fill out a roster?
On that note a video about Roman civilization from Chilly would be a interesting watch.
@@horakhty2217 because a lot of actual people still follow the native religious practices
@@horakhty2217 The ROmans stole everything from the Greeks there'd be little to go on: they were cultural vultures for the most part! Celt/Slav hybrid would be great tho. Aztec is easily the most rounded out pantheon however.
@@SashaKarsavinaI disagree. As someone who has studied Greek and Roman history there are multiple places that they differ. But let’s not argue about that.
I do think Celtic would be amazing though.
Given location wise it would be Aztec… could see another one being Tengri, something sub Saharan.
Indian / Hindu is a nope and Celtic / Slavic is too specific and Norse has those regions covered already.
"Mythological Buildings" is definitely something I wish we saw more of in the game. Unique buildings that give you special troops, god powers, techs or abilities.
They went that way with Wonders and I think that was an excellent choice.
Damn they really went all in on the Chinese. Mega hype.
Was waiting for the video, i don't know anything about chinese mythology and wasn't expecting for them to release or tease the chinese so soon. Great and very deep analysis from you!
Hyped. I hope China won't be overpowered.
the minotaur creature with 6 hands seems like it will grow during the game. idk how everyone missed this. Its shown as a little guy and then as a huge titan-sized creature.
My guess is - its a creature you get at the start of the game when playing with a certain major god and the whole gimmick of that god is upgrading that guy. Cus I highly doubt that there is going to be 2 creatures with the same models but one of them is titan-sized. Also there is the possibility of it being just a campaign villain or something like Gargarensis.
Like Jeanne d'Arc in Age of Empires IV, sounds intresting.
I think it's clearly a campaign hero/entity. Maybe im wrong but I think it will be like that.
Probably a campaign asset similar to the giant son of osiris in the new tutorial.
Could be if the footage was from a multiplayer match maybe the owner killed a titan, myth units tend to grow when that happens
The second titan may just be a campaign titan. Atlantis has four if you count their campaign titans. But only one used in normal games.
yeah if you count up the totals that expansion had about as many campaign-exclusive titans as actual titans. Especially if you count the reused Egyptian Guardian. If the new campaign is including any Titans it would only be reasonable to expect there to be a counterpart there too.
I wonder if there’s no special “hero mounted on a Qilin” unit and that’s just the Qilin’s new special feature that they replaced it’s whole “healing everything around it when it dies” thing with, maybe now they can have a hero mount them giving bonuses to both the hero and Qilin or maybe just allowing them to move around faster.
that would be a fun idea
Dude plz do a play through / let’s play of the campaign when it comes out
So insightful! Your knowledge bleeds through - got a new subscriber!
I love your enthusiasm and excitement, it is so contagious. I can see you are passionate about this!
This was a great video. And to me, knowing nothing about chinese mythology, it was also quite educational!
I am here not knowing a single thing about Chinese history or mythology. I just like how the units and buildings look. And look forward to having this add to the variety.
21:42 likely reference to Jiang ziya, a taoist main character in Fengshen novel where he is tasked to coronate many of god patheon in the Jade emperor courts, including the 4 heavenly kings. His personal weapon is the immortal-banishing cane, can mortally wounds any immortal that isn't stronger than its level. That kirin is also his personal mount, lended by his master 元始天尊
You make a 28 minutes video out of 60 seconds video
You make gold out of nowhere
Next time the devs should let you do the work, nice video
My recorded video was 1 hour 20 min. I had to shave it down significantly 😅
We got Sobek and petsobek because of Giant Grant, so there is precedent.
I hope the campaign isnt just mirror matches against China. Hopefully this campaign includes the existing factions to play against in some missions to give more variety.
It would also be neat if there was at least some call backs to previous campaigns so this new one doesnt feel too isolated. One reason the Titans DLC campaign was so good, was because whilst you did mainly play as Atlanteans there was a couple of missions where you played the old factions alot of the time vs the new one, there were some mirror matches but it had plenty of variety.
12:15 One thing that people noticed about this part of the teaser was... the towers in the distance on the right. Specifically, they're Mirror Towers. Which means that, unless it's a placeholder asset, we've probably got Atlanteans in the campaign as well.
WOW how did you spot that
@@ChillyEmpire I was not the first to spot it, others had already gone through it frame by frame and posted zoomed-in screencaps of them.
@@TARDISES Atlantis being a colonial superpower in AOM's setting it would make sense they would have ruins or are potentially part of the cause for everything going wrong in the Chinese campaign.
Hmmm a great analysis as always. And thanks for the shoutout
One thing that I noticed is that many of the units likely have a shield on their back because they might have 2 modes, or if they are stationary they get to automatically "deploy" into a defensive mode where by they place the shield in front of them and then receive some defensive bonuses.
The wooden ox was definitely a reference to Zhuge Liang's wooden oxes 木牛流马. Reportedly they were able to allow a single soldier to carry a huge amount of supplies and munitions in extended campaigns. Most historians believed they are likely specially designed wheel barrows that has a large stable crate on top and to the sides. But Im not surprised the game took on a more mythical interpretation for them. Mainly that the retelling of these nearly miraculous units were framed in the same way as if Zhuge Liang had invented these wooden automatons.
The sages we see could be the 8 immortals or some variation of them.
The cavalry decision looks interesting, looks like China will have 2 type of cavalry, a versatile light melee/ ranged cavalry (like a Chinese version of the AOE2 Ratha) meant for fast and versatile roles and a more dedicated heavy cataphract meant for Hippius and Contarius role.
I do find the inclusion of the cataphract interesting, not in that they were included. Heck China had TWO Jin dynasties that were spelled differently, and from 1000 years apart but both had powerful cataphracts. Looks like the version they went is the one from northern Chinese dynasties circa around Northern Wei. An interesting choice to see that implemented. Mainly in that often in RTS we've never see China represented with exceptional cavalry. Often they were supposed to be a defensive econ and research faction etc. But not unwelcomed either. 1. China literally DID had heavy cavalry and when the dynasties were powerful with them. Now that I think about it, other factions were not necessarily known for their cavalries either. Yes Egyptians had chariot archers and elephants but those were not true cavs, Either were Vikings, Atlanteans, and Greeks. So I guess compared to them China does have that edge.
I kind of like that they did not go with the gunpowder role. Mainly in that then this version of China might be too powerful. Though considering that gunpowder was invented likely by Daoists alchemists if they did include it it'd be fitting too lol.
The shield on the back is to see how many upgrades the unit has, because the pierce armor upgrade changes the shield model so you couldnt tell if there was no shield. Its just visual
@@FlippableFlappy Why don t the Romans have cataphracts?
@@FlippableFlappy That explains it. Yeah that make sense.
I wonder if they might do the same to the Japanese as well (some time in the future) since they'd be more pronounced with 2 handed weapons and general lack of shields (unless their ashigarus can place immobile screens in front of them)
21:39 Jiang Ziya holding god beating rod and the 5 elemental flag, the 6 arms titan is most likely Chiyou, the bull king should be using a big axe instead. The winged dragon should be Yilong, vassal of the Yellow Emperor in his fight with Chiyou
10:04 That's a amphibious Mythical unit which is one of the four popular chinese animals - the snake turtle or 'black turtle'.
It seems they go for the Chinese Design in AoE2 and AoE3, where their main design is having a lot of unit types that needs to work together, considering that they have 3 Cavalry Types(Cataphract, Light Cavalry and Horse Archers), 3 Infantry Types(Ji Soldier, Spear & Shield and Heavy Swordsmen), and then 3 Archer Types(Archer, Zhugenu and Javelineer)
Though they could follow the Greek Design as they only have 2 of each Infantry, Archer and Cavalry Types with probably the Cataphract, Heavy Swordsmen and Zhuge Nu being Major or Minor God's Unique unit
Grabbing armour from so many different dynasties works for me, goes really well with the fantasy style. Really looking forward to see how this all plays out, I quite liked reading Water Margin and Three Kingdoms so seeing both the mortal and mythical units is a real treat.
Minute 10"02. That is the black turtle! One of the 4 main animals of the Chinese mythology, as you explained at the beginning. It looks identical to the picture you showed on minute 4:02.
I think what i can gather. The immortals will now each be a unquie unit, rather then a copy pasta. You have like the female monk as one, the calvary one as another.
Then, it seems like they have a muti-brach system for myth units. prehaps you can pick a main unit but then side upgrades to change them from like the white tiger to the tirger with wings.
The mechical ox i have a feeling is part of their favor/villager system. The likely did away with Gardens complety, so they have a mix of an ox cart, but also maybe used for their favor system?
First !
So cool that the hype just keeps going for AoM .
IT JUST KEEPS GOING
I was waiting for you to cover it since you know well chinese mythology. Thanks !
PS : I was suggesting in your concept video no gunpowder for china, im quite happy about that.
I'd be surprised if they don't try to put on some last-minute changes to pivot towards Black Myth Wukong
Maybe that’s why we don’t see Wukong right now. He’s being refactored
Thanks for checking out the trailer and sharing your thoughts!
I was thinking the same thing, China has so many units. It seems kind of crazy.
Great trailer review video bro, you really know your stuff 😎👌
Thanks mate 😀
I never played the extended version
Can't wait for China looks really amazing
Chinese Civ so far looks amazing! My favorites are the mythical creatures and the biome settings.
this was shown wayyyy sooner than anticipated, im pumped
Oh snap the campaign gotta be awesome for this. I hope they do a sun wukong part of it, kinda like the dreams missions of the Arkantos campaign.
Edit: Imagine myth unit style gods from this civ
That serpent riding the black tortoise at 9:50 is almost exactly like the image of the four sacred animals shown earlier.
So do you think they will make a hinduism religion civilization i really hope to see it added in
THIS IS GOING TO BE SOO EPIC! CANT WAITE !
As a native Chinese, I really enjoy your videos.
I feel that buildings in red and yellow colors look more like those from the Ming and Qing dynasties rather than Xia dynasty.
All human infantry can get shields in AoM. Well, a few exceptions.
Some human units might be restricted to specific gods, like how Greeks have myrmidons for Zeus, bellybows for Hades...
Towards the end I had a sudden thought. Seeing the "meteor" god power and also you mentioning Hou Yi got me thinking: what if the Chinese hero mechanic is that you get a specific named hero as part of your minor god choice and age-up? Perhaps choosing a certain minor god grants you Hou Yi as a hero as well as a god power where the 9 suns come crashing down to earth. I've been wondering this whole time what the Chinese hero mechanic would be, and this could be a cool way to do it. I'm very glad they may potentially be more like the Greeks, in the sense of having fewer named heroes rather than generic mass-produced heroes. Makes sense since China has so many named characters to draw from.
Great video btw, definitely the most in-depth review I've seen. So glad you pointed out Ao Kuang's undersea palace in the first shot, as well as pointing out the Black Tortoise rather than calling them dragon turtles. Really curious what the deal is with the Chiyou bull creature, if it's a myth unit that gets bigger and stronger over time, or if it gets huge with a god power, or if its titan-sized version is campaign-specific. I can't wait to see more of the Chinese and how they play!!
I am blown away with the amount of effort they are putting into this, the base game and atlantis was fine, it just felt like a graphical update overall and some minor tweaks, but this is areally adding to the game.
Hope we get more mythic battles, Sigyrn is lonely in that section.
Some of the Human units that can be seen in the trailer(the Timestamp on the Trailer)
-Heavy Swordsmen(0:11)(0:34)
Big Shield and Armored Swordsmen who could be a mainline unit, but since Retold basically deletes the role of the Mainline Units(Units who uses strong Stats to counter the enemy rather than bonus damage), these Heavy Swordsmen would probably be a Tanky Soft Counter Infantry
-Brown Horse Archers(0:12)(0:17)
Light Cavalry with Small Buckler size Shields on their Horses Right Side, which could give them some Pierce Armor and give out some Atlantean Turma Vibes/Could be an Anti Archer Cavalry unit.
-Spearmen(0:12)(0:31)
-Cataphract(0:16)
-Archers(0:17)
-White Horse Cavalry(0:31)(0:40)
Seems to be a Light Cavalry, but in some scenes they have a Bows on their back so either an upgrade or a Cavalry that can switch between Anti Cavalry Melee or Anti Infantry Ranged.
-Ji Infantry(0:34)
The most common Polearm Weaponry, since they have Spearmen the Ji Infantry could be either a Hard Counter to Cavalry.
-Zhuge Nu(0:34)
It's isn't "Age of" Chinese without the Chu Ko Nu(unless it's the Shang in AoE1)
Thanks you for the mention of times, but I think you are a bit wrong about the mainline units. The mirmillo, hoplite and berserk are technically ''mainline unit''. Only hoplite has a bonus VS cav and it's just 0.25 because of the spear.
So I think it could definitively be a ''tanky unit'' without any bonuses.
I think the headless guy and the demon are just 4th tier myth units...would be crazy. They probably could be campaign assets similar to the giant Son of Osiris in the Campaign tutorial.
LETS GOOO love how excited you are to see the azure dragon!! hehehe
Hope to see the prototype units that snuck into Extended Edition's editor get makeovers too alongside this redo for the Chinese, just for the sake of completion.
The units you missed in 5 min mark are both archers, mounted and on foot. On 10th minute, that is the Black Turtle-Snake. It's exactly the same.
Wow, they are going all out with the chinese civ, I'm seeing all 3 Kingdoms, Feng Shen references, only thing left is Journey to the West crew.
I think you're absolutely right on Taotie.
So when are we getting more AoM:R videos from you? Love the way you present and talk and would love to see you cover more AoM:R content. There was a rogue lite Arena of the Gods announced not long ago for example that would be covered.
Aw thanks mate. That means a lot. I’ve been really busy with work lately so haven’t had the time to play much unfortunately. Soon though!
@@ChillyEmpire Yeah, work has an annoying way of getting in the way of things :| Look forward to when you have time to cover it some more :)
I think these ox warmachines are based on Zhuge Liang's wheelbarrows that were used to transport supplies through the mountains and troll Sima Yi, who could not make them work for himself.
I think the snake in the water is the Black Turtle you said before in the video as that turtle has Snake as its tale in some story.
10:02 That snake is riding a turtle. The image you showed earlier of the Black turtle had a snake riding it.
Since it's release date is labelled as coming soon on the Steam Store page maybe it'll be out before this year ends?
12:44 Some Chinese players also speculated that it was Chi-you, but the myth did not record that Chi-you had six arms. Gods with multiple arms in Chinese mythology generally seem to be related to India.
This DLC is game version of “Investiture of the Gods” 封神演義
The old guy riding qilin is possibly Jiang ziya 姜子牙
Sorry I can't pronounce the units and don't mean to be disrespectful of this culture. But my guess is that the giant boi with the nipple eyes and the multi handed bull thingy are not titans but upgraded myth units in Wonder Age, similar to the upgraded Jotun of the Norse. Also, no way in hell WuKong is not like an Arkantos type of hero.
He’s our Ajax.
If you ask me I think the entire teaser trailer was an absolute banger. I liked the music and I hope it is going to be the civs main theme. When we compare Tale of the Dragon to this, this looks more like a faithful expansion for Age of Mythology. Tale of the Dragon really felt more like a mod made by a player, not like a true expansion.
Good analysis. Lots shown in the trailer. But just because something wasn't seen in the trailer doesn't mean that it's not in the game (though with the unit counts, I wouldn't bet on there being much left out outside of the god powers). Well-made video, well-made trailer.
Can't wait for the comparison video!
the snake thing at 10:00 gotta be a Genbu right? (from persona)
Hell yeah! Was waiting for this video!
@@PREDRAGMIĆIĆ-94 English please?
Hey do we have anywhere to have a full discussion on what other pantheons we hope to encounter.
In particular, theorizing on how each should preform, their myth units and their God rosters. Because when it comes to mythology idk if Rome would be possible while staying as unqiue feeling as AoM makes most civs feel.
my first experience playing china was being pocket in a team game and massing a bunch of vermillion birds
only they all glitched together and occupied the same space. so i had a group of 20ish vermillion birds all overlapping one another that flew around the map melting town centers.
i didn't play much extended edition after that.
I can't believe you spotted Nezha in that split second but couldn't recognize Jiangziya being shown several times throughout the trailer
Jiang ziya is a fisherman in my head. I didn’t know about the kirin/staff motives 😅
The winged tiger kinda looks like Qiong Qi, one of the 4 great evils along with Tao Tie, Hundun, and Tao Wu. Although if that is Qiong Qi, I find it strange that we don't see Hundun anywhere for example.
There is a scene where the hook carts are attacking units instead of building, I wonder if they decided to make a siege weapon ment for melee combat
i was waiting for your analysis
Thanks for the analysis! Liked your concept (except for the gunpowder)
Like all the new myth units coming with this DLC except for the monkey-demon brood and the wooden ox who moves too much like a child’s toy for my personal taste. But maybe we get a better look at them or their designs are not finished yet (?)
What are you showing clips from here? This journey to the west series looks awesome.
You got a season 9 update review in the pipes?
Don't know if it has been mentioned but I am guessing their are so many units because Chinese units will be dual function, r.g. archer and swordsman, or swordsman and ji infantry.
You're doing the work of the gods
The two different tigers actually don't seem to share a model. The way their move their back legs is quite different, with the winged one bending them a lot more (implying more weight), while the White Tiger is much more gracile. In fact the White Tiger overall looks thinner.
Just had an idea, what if to help the Chinese stand out and be a bit more unique they had a bunch of like support units/officers/sages/administrators who weren't myth units or heroes but enhanced the units around them in some way. That's why there's a whole bunch of rather unique looking one off units in various scenes... or they could just all be heroes I guess Greek style. But think it would be more unique for them to be mortal support units with non-stacking buffs which is why you only see like one of each type in the various scenes.
I would love to see the devs have an open discussion about the next pantheon. A lot of people think that mesoamericans would be a good fit. Me too.
I think mesoamerica is most likely but I'd prefer mesopotamia.
That will be the woke inclusion. Could Also be some sort of Wakandian civ
@@EB-jf5oi Being multicultural is literally the point of AoM. Not everything is woke, stop being so paranoid.
Feng Huang is Ho-oh literally the same Chinese character.
Eager for this expansion! It will be released in Halloween or Noel? Players with Game Pass must pay for this, or even Premium Players have to pay?
10:18 isn't that the turtle you talked about at 3:58 ? The picture you shared has a serpent surrounding a turtle. The model in the game looks like a serpent surrounding a turtle too to me.
Edit: oh nvm you talk about it later
That four arm gigantic unit with horned helmet should be 蚩尤, tiger with wings should be 窮奇, dragon with wings should be 應龍
The Cataphract is probably holding a Han Sha(铩)which is a combination of the short sword and spear, much like the predecessor to the Zhan Ma Dao and Yan Yue Dao.
Hopefully this unit is not going to be called cataphract
@10:13 you just mention the black tortoise, and that is it, it's a tortoise with a snake tail, so they definitely going all four.
What is the animated movie you used in the video. I would definitely watch it :)
It's a cut scene from the game Black Myth: Wukong.
Great analysis!
I have to say beforehand, I know NOTHING about Chinese mythology, and this hint comes from Titan Quest, where I noticed similar beast, but that "winged tiger" might as well be Qiong Qi, almost identical design was used in Eternal Embers DLC.
Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing hero units so the boys are back together?
Creative Assembly takes note for future Cathay DLCs
And GeeDubz should print Armybooks and resin figs of Grand Cathay
I assumed this was just a tale of the dragon port from the EE but its a whole new expansion from scratch? Would have cooler if it was a different faction this time round, maybe Japan or like some other civilization with popular mythology
The minotaur-looking mf with the four arms and all the weapons honestly reminded me of Final Fantasy V's Gilgamesh. I don't know shit about Chinese mythological stuff, so thanks for the video.
I wonder how much attention is from Chinese people into the AoM, and if the chinese expansion would call their attention
Maybe in Chinese, u can choose your dynasty and your gods, and your units and buildings become different
That sage character maybe the Immortol the chinese hero character you can see 3 version of them in that sceen
Will they add the Egyptian Khopesh?
When they consider adding the Pharaoh's Guard units as defence-oriented heavy infantry
Damn, the last time I played AoM was in high school. The very first iteration of AoM. Didn't really bother with the franchise after that but this caught my attention.
19:17 there weren't hammer ships for all civilizations in Age Of Mythology. Every single hammership has the same description referencing the Ancient Greek dolphin.
Yep!
I'm might be the only one who want to see terracotta warriors still be in the game mostly for cool factor. Even though never play Age of Mythology before now. But when it officially come out nevertheless I be getting it.