Underrated comment. I never thought of that until today... They could use the the farming animations to when building a farm instead of the classic, "hammer ground", but I think it'd look weird having a villager sow a construction site
i had the collectors edition that came with AoE1 & 2 with Rise of Rome and AoC :D came with a CD of music sound tracks and a poster with all the tech trees :D and a book with more detail lol
You do NOT exclude software on PC. PCs are made so they can access all types of software as long as they can handle it, limiting that access is not "building exclusives", you already have consoles for that. PC is not a console, try to treat it as one, watch your sales plummet to the bottom of the ocean
No, wrong Guts, that perception is way off. The game isn't excluded on a particular platform of PC, all PC's can run it. Steam is digital distribution on a pc, so is the Win 10 store. Nothing is stopping a user on PC to play this game besides bias (and the win 10 store needs some work, but more use might spring that). This isn't an exclusive idea in the concept of consoles where you have to buy a new console just to play the game. This exclusive is all about reputation and garner market share. Which can't fault a company for trying to do, Steam does the same thing, so does EA and ect. And overall, I doubt MS gives a crap about sales about a remaster version of an old game.
the units may have more rotations but they are stuck with a single attack animation :( in the old game every melee unit except those lancer dudes had an animation for each angle they attacked from
1:41 The game didn't just have MIDI. CD Audio was also an option, which did have live instruments, though the stock game and Rise of Rome had separate soundtracks. Also, MIDI can sound a lot better than that if you use something other than the default sample set from Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. You can use either an external sound module, some type of sound card, or just use soundfonts. I especially really like how it sounds on an SC-55.
It is amazing how good the games looked at the time. I honestly had trouble seeing what the difference of the new one was until the old one was put beside it. Perception is a funny thing
There is one thing wrong in the definitive edition, trireme and catapult trireme juggernaught used to be identifiable by the eyes on the front of the ship, but now they give regular trireme the eyes and they all look the same. Why?
yes I see there is something extra in the front of the ship with player color on the catapult trireme and the regular trireme doesn't and yes the regular trireme has only circular player color things on it but the catapult trireme has diamond shaped ones, good to notice especially in that very difficult antony mission where you have to defeat cleopatra's barge and fight 3 strong enemies.
I'm not trying to hate but some of the things like no scout makes it more 'realistic' like it's a new civilization when aoe2 is set when there are proper nations for many years
Stating your thoughts and opinions isn't the same as hating, some people really should learn that. And yeah, you make a fair point, although I do believe that AoE2 doesn't try to be realistic, but player-friendly and competitive.
well to me that's kind of the point. AoE 1 is stone age through to around 1000 BC, while AoE 2 starts around 400-500 AD. Historically, several civs should theoretically be more advanced than AoE 1 endgame at the very beginning of AoE 2, but that would make the mediterranean and middle eastern civs kinda OP. China too probably.
it doesn't make anything more realistic. people aren't born out of nowhere in a place surrounded by black fog. If you want realism, most of the map should come pre-explored and line of sights should be infinite and only blocked by terrain or objects like trees.
@@GraveUypo Unless you see units a abstract representations of groups. Like the old school pieces on a map strategists used to represent groups or units they used in war. Like, Calvary represented by a horse figurine.
4:16 You can actually enable automatic reseeding with a button in the granary! Which will allow farmers to, well, automatically reseed farms once they're used up.
"Mountain Temple" is actually Polyester Jammy. You showed the MIDI version, but it actually sounded like this as long as you had the game CD in the drive: ruclips.net/video/3P8cspMAK3g/видео.html
Yes it bugged me he showed the MIDI version instead of the CD one wich was AMAZING. speciall in Rise of Rome where they got the identity of the series (much of the AOE 1 vanilla music is kinda off with the rest of the series while rise feels on par with AOE 2 music) The quality is lower. But i really prefer the selection of instruments of the original
Yes. And you could listen to the songs if you put the cd in any cd music player. I used to do that, when I was reading or studying. I just put AOE cd in my player.
For some versions of the game, you didn't even need to have the cd in. For the original versions, you did, but for the much newer multi-pack of the game that came packaged with the original Aoe1 and expansion, and aoe2 and expansion, you didn't actually need to have the cd in. I have that version installed on a laptop with no cd drive and it plays the full songs, not the midis.
The reason for that flaw is that AI is actually not intelligence at all per se, but rather just puppetry by the programmers who can never plan for every possible scenario ergo can never have rules for the utterly mindless computer to follow to make the enemies act intelligently consistently. My series on the history of atheism covers how the brain is not the mind, and how AI is actually impossible taken literally.
There's no reason for the game to be a Win10 exclusive. Seems like a misguided attempt at coercing AoE1 fans into upgrading their OS. Also, the MS Store exclusivity only means a consistently high price. It feels like MS wants to change gaming on Windows10 into a console-like experience with exclusive titles.
My main problem with the original AoE 1, was the visuals. Specifically, being able to identify your units. In AoE 2, there's a small outline of your units when behind trees and obstacles. This isn't in the 1st, also AoE 2 unit designs were made to make the units easily distinguishable, focusing on colors. But with this upgrade, I might soon give this a try.
@ if you kill one villager for every 3 clubman its still worth it. well, maybe not in this game since if you fall behind one age you're completely doomed because your units will be doing 1 damage to your enemies with their broken upgrades. i think a single hoplite can kill like 8 axemen all at once. if they come one by one it's more like 40 of them.
Asking to buy AoE:DE on Windows Store is like asking a person to buy a nice looking shirt that will give them cancer. Get back to me when this game is available on Steam.
Steam adds value(steam workshop, cloud saving, multiplayer support), while Windows Store only exists to take your money in exchange for castrated versions of games.
pretty sure windows store also has "multiplayer support" (whatever that has to do with steam) and cloud saving. doesn't save it from being garbage, why is it any different from steam? both are DRM. shitty DRM from people that just don't care about their costumers at that.
GraveUypo I use Windows 7 because it runs smoother on my PC, I get better FPS and Win 7 is actually compatible with more apps and hardware than Win 10 (especially if we are talking about stuff that is related to music production and so on). Steam is good because it have managed to become a sort of social media for gamers. You can add people to your friend list, you can see who is playing what, you can invite people or spectate their games in real time. You can post your artwork, guides and videos and browse through stuff people post. Steam have managed to make it easier for us, gamers, to have a unified community. I grew up in the era when we had like 20 forums on 20 different websites for each popular game and that sucked, to be honest. I have never had so many people I could play game with until Steam became popular. Now, limiting AOE:DE to Microsoft Store is lame, at least for anyone who does not want to use Windows 10. Like, AOE2 :HD is available on steam and I love it, why not making AOE:DE compatible with both Steam and Win 7 too?
Nice vid! I actually had a direct influence on the game's balance changes and was in direct contact with FE when it came to balance. We should play a game together or maybe do a collab vid. I can actually tell you quite a lot about why certain balance changes were made.
I'm okay with Windows 10 exclusivity, but that Microsoft Store stuff is unacceptable. I guess for old school hardcore AoE fans ist's alright, but most PC gamers won't even bother about investing in a new platform. I know Steam is not the end of the world, but we need good alternatives, not the horrendous Microsoft Store. Hope it does not end up hurting AoE 4 on the long run.
In my country, back to aoe 1 not de, things you said is a very big part, very important part in every match! No im not joking, its truth!. If the path finding work well like aoe 2, there is no way melee unit can kill mobile archer like chariot. And back to aoe 1, we can place a building without vil come to it. That make we can use "that" to block enemy unit from escape because they have to click to destroy " fake building" first..
Vietnam? :) you guys are very competitive with it last time i played in a net cafe there. You can disable the new pathfinding there is also a classic mode but for some reason the classic mode also contains all the old graphics as well as the gameplay. In the new version you can no longer do a "fake building" as they've made them passable now until you start building. They've made some changes which are like Age of Empires 2, which i enjoy a lot, but you think they would have kept the choice in gameplay changes as an option separate from the new graphics. Also the new pathfinding isn't really any better at running away and it often gets stuck in new ways the previous didn't. Some of the balance changes are quite nice, the slinger unit is more powerful vs chariots making them a good counter and useful late game. Chariot Archer spam is much easier to counter with it.
The no farm queue is annoying, but it isn't earth shattering. I strongly suggest learning to put all farm downs at the same time, then you're only having to refresh them all at the same time. It isn't that different from 2, except you have to refresh more often as opposed to 'refreshing' the queue at the mill. The pathfinding isn't all that bad, except in the case Spirit showed - going through narrow passages. I try to avoid these (even better, inflicting them upon the enemy). Using gaps in the wall with a tower right beside is an excellent way to use a catapult or helepolis on defense, since the units behind the one blocking the hole are stuck in a kill zone. Overall, if the game was designed to strike a balance between nostalgia and QoL, it did this well. I've had a lot of fun playing through the campaigns, though they (rightly) fixed my old trick of two priests and a catapult being all the army needed to win (units under conversion from multiple priests would simply stand still and target one or the other priest without attacking). The campaigns were changed a lot, and the historical information is interesting. Multiplayer is fun, though as an above average player I feel like I am either devastating a new player or getting stomped into the ground by the pro players. You have to spend some time meeting people to find players near your skill level.
I played the AOE Rise of Rome when it was released in a demo version with a Microsoft 98 CD-ROM back in 2000 and i played the legendray hardcore carthagian mission which was impossible to complete when u needed to fight the red one who had no boats and the yellow one who had boats.
It looks really good to me. I'd want the idle village number in AoE2 HD to be honest. I would get the definitive edition if it was on steam, basically the windows store is stopping me.
It's always a struggle when they update old games. they want to update games we loved to today's awesome graphics but they change the game and ruin parts we love. like the old songs that do sound better.
It's amazing that it's not. It really does look like 3D graphics, but it isn't, otherwise Spirit wouldn't have mentioned that there are 32 rotations for the units (you don't need specific rotations in a 3D engine).
Same here. I might consider dual-booting; I can buy an OEM Windows 10 Pro for US$23. I'd rather not have it on my computer at all, but the way things are going, some games aren't going to work at all without Windows 10.
Well, since you asked at the end of the video to post any reasons for not wanting it. Yes, it is mostly W10/Wstore exclusivity. I do not use my pc exclusively for gaming, and I do still play many"old" games (~2000s RTS and city builders) that (aside from recently updated games such as the AoE titles) are known to not function well or at all on W10 even with compatibility settings. I also have hobbies like modding games/programming/etc, things which I know are made frustrating by W10 doing things like not allowing you in the program files folder, constantly breathing down your neck with alerts etc. I understand it may be better for people who don't know what they're doing, but I DO know what I'm doing and I need an OS that lets ME control my computer and not the other way around. I don't mean to complain about W10, I'm sure people have good reasons for liking it. For me specifically though it's the exact opposite of the system I need. Regarding AoE:DE, I don't necessarily mind the lack of formations, reseed queues and gates, if those are deemed necessary to preserve the feel and gameplay of the original game. But I would have hoped for more pathfinding improvement at a minimum, and I see no reason for not having triggers to bring much needed creativity to scenarios, other than the obvious reason that it'd take a lot of work. The real kicker is the lack of mod/workshop support that comes with being integrated into Windows Store. Games like this NEED it for longevity, IMHO. I might do a dual boot one day in the distant future, part W10 part W7, but I need more reason than a mostly graphical remake of a game I already have for it to be worth the trouble and money, no matter how good that remake is.
Still, I'd have probably gotten it if it wasn't on W10. The thing is, if there's a bigger hurdle to take (such as switching OS, changing the way you use your computer, etc) you also need a bigger incentive to take that hurdle, to match. This looks good, but not enough to take the hurdle.
Seems like a ton of work for an old game. Hope it helps with Ages 4. Probably won’t get it. I appreciate the videos and watching game play, but I like to pretend there is hope to be part of a competitive community for a game, and being old, having AOE4 on the horizon, plus no Steam etc., just doesn’t bode well for that.
Like Spirit said, it's mostly for nostalgic reasons. The game is mainly marketed towards people who enjoyed the original game, or who never played it and want to see what they missed out on, only they find it a bit too dated to play and enjoy. And hey, if there's a demand and a market for an AoE1 remaster then why not make one? It may or may not be hugely popular but it's a nice gesture for the fans either way. I doubt that Microsoft have any hopes of rekindling the old AoE1 community, especially not with AoE4 on the horizon.
Yeah, the AOE announcement trailer shows all the AOE games in order, from ancient to renaissance or Napoleonic era. This suggest the next one is going to be after the renaissance period, perhaps encompass WW1 and WW2.
Btw, your music comparison was incomplete and not very fair, there was also recorded, non-midi audio in the original games. It was only played in game though if the CD was inserted. It was waaay better though!
About the music, there's 2 different versions of it depending on what version you played. There is 1 with a pure midi like what was played here and 1 high quality one. Search for the aoe 1 soundtrack and you can tell the difference. The original songs were higher quality than what you showed in the video
on steam maybe as microsoft is willing to bring their games to platforms that support their games(steam doesn't support win10 fully (UWP, xbox live e.g.) currently and Sony doesn't support xbox live on playstation so not all microsoft games are published on those platfroms). Microsoft doesn't want to make multiple versions or divided multiplayer. on windwos 7 no.
in some form probably but win 7 doesn't have xbox live and other win10 features so it need workarounds which makes multiplayer impossible. i can be wrong ofc
Win10 does have Xbox live. Old Games For Windows Live was basically that anyway (you already got XBL achievements etc), with Win10 that got replaced with full blown windows live. Also, Xbox One runs Windows 10 under the hood. Xbox and Win10 are basically the same platform nowadays.
I bought both Definite Editions I & II for less than 3 dollars on Steam. My play to pay ratio is now the highest within a few hours of play. What a great game. Not to overcomplicated and very relaxing war gaming. Love it.
Probably a bad decision not to include some of the quality-of-life features that made AoE2 an objectively better game (active pause, garrisoning town centres/towers, queuing farms, gates for walls, ability to infinitely generate some resources). I'm not attached to the older version of those gameplay systems at all. The reason I'm playing AoE1 is because I prefer the ancient->classical setting to medieval->renaissance, prefer the visual style, and prefer the music (in Rise of Rome, at least). Would be nice to see some of these AoE2 features included, even just as options if there really is anyone out there who wants to go without the upgrades.
I will never understand why people think the graphics look better. AoE1 is one of the most beautiful games ever made. The music even on midi just sounds way better to me, and I listen to them routinely.
Regarding graphics, yes, it looks modern. But that's the thing - it looks like every other generic modern RTS, so the uniqueness of the original is lost in this regard. That being said, most of the quality of life improvements like farms, tech tree or multi-que are pretty cool...
The problem is lack of vibrant colors like the classic version and some of the unit models feeling a bit "cheap", and lack of contrast between terrain and units making busy scenes feel cluttered. But credit where credit is due: ships and buildings in particular look, with a few exceptions, really good and true to the original style. It's a mixed bag but it's definitely not all bad
The original also has high quality songs though if you play them with the CD disc of the game inserted, so imo i prefer the original soundtrack over DE. Same about AoE2 DE and the original, they even removed some of the instruments and not replace them at all.
I think this is an excellent remaster. It feels like the old age of empires with nostalgia googles on, and some much needed QoL features. Would buy again.
Agreed, it's good. There's a few quirks and some odd decisions regarding the art that make the game struggle with visual feedback in some areas (something aoe1 classic never had an issue with; in fact it's a prime example on how to do this right), but all in all it's a solid release (if a bit premature due to some buggyness)
The problem a few of us are having on Steam Forums is that on Single Player the difficulty is set to 'Hardest' no matter what you select. I want to just chill out and build an empire...
Spirit, the campaigns were significantly changed in the Definitive Edition as well. Some scenarios like Pyrrhus or Holy Man were unchanged while others like The Great Hunt and Assassins were entirely re-imagined. Our goal was to really modernize and improve the campaigns, as well as give them more historical basis, while retaining the same sense of wonder that players felt in the 90s when we were first transported to this ancient and exotic world.
I just wanted triggers. That's all I wanted from this game. But oh well, at least I can finally play online with my personal favourite Age of Empires game. WOLOLO!
I think the new unit models look terrible, just like cartoon characters, same for the way they move. The buildings are nice and the landscape looks better for sure though. Nonetheless the units are a deal breaker for me sadly :(
The only regrets I have is the lack of the hut on the farm and the new design for the Greeks, Phoenicians, and Minoans wonders, it used to be a Monument to King Leonidas: a Hoplite.
I've been playing Empires Apart since the closed beta. Great game. Feels like an AoM (in the sense that there are less civs but they all play completely different than each other) take on AoE2 with cartoonish graphics.
I enjoy the game for what it is. But I think they might of missed the ball with making the game more accessible for casual multiplayer. Players have a much bigger skill gap nowadays and its so easy to wipe out another player before they've had chance to respond, which makes really boring and harsh games for new players.
That's the case with every game though. Any game that has a multiplayer feature will have players that study how to 'git gud' which creates a massive skillgap between them and players that only play singleplayer, let alone new players. SoTL mentioned a way to get around that, by having noob and pro lobbies.
Sort of true to all games with player skill but the skill gap is really big and only part the issue, an ELO or ranking system would definitely help. But many other games are more back and forth and rewarding to play even as the losing side. Since we all know Age of Empires 2, that did a nice job of preventing this from spoiling for the fun for casual players, with garrisoned towers and town centres, town bell feature to prevent early game attacks completely wiping a player out. Castles help players avoid small raids destroying a whole settlement and base, allowing players to react. It's important for a player of any skill level to have an opportunity to understand why they are losing when they are loosing and potentially react. Otherwise a game just becomes frustrating and not enjoyable especially to a casual player, who's main reason for the playing is the enjoyment of the experience not the competitive or original balance.
Attack Move point - In AoE1, people typically just moved an army close to the enemy, and gave them a stop order, which would make them attack the closest enemy unit naturally, whether it's a building, or another unit. Still a bit less micromanagement, but more a tiny factoid.
I dont believe he said that he is happy that is for Microsoft store only or endorsing it so i dont know how he is being a shill. Nice unprecedented statement.
I was considering to maybe buy it if this video convinced me it was worth it. But now that I know it's not on Steam and only on the Microsoft store... That's a big fat nope for me too.
In case it hasn't already been mentioned, I should point out that the original AOE2 didn't have farm reseeding either. It was added later in the The Conquerors expansion along with some other refinements we now take for granted.
I truly appreciate the amount of work they have done with the remastered graphics and music. Especially as the game is 20 years old. However, this game neither looks nor sounds the same as the game I played when I was a child. It does not have the same kind of innocent feeling. For this reason I think I will continue with the original aoe1 for now. When I get Win10 I might buy DE anyway just to support aoe team. And also because it could be interesting to try MP and I know I can still choose the original graphics.
In order to learn about each tech tree, I used to select a mission from random maps which was called, "the intruder", I think, and in that mission, one of the players began playing in the post-iron age. It was good as regards learning about the units available, but not about technologies for each civilization. Still, it was useful.
lol i was 11 when this thing came out. i hadnt noticed the bias on the campaigns. hahah Egypt, greece, mesopotamia, hitites, (yamato?), rome, rome, rome, rome, rome, rome. And what is yamato doing there? thats like 800AD or something, if my memory is right. Also, wtf? they have BOTH Phoenicians+Carthaginians, and BOTH Greeks+Macedonians ??
The Roman campaigns are from the Rise of Rome expansion, they're smaller and some missions you don't even play as Roman civilization (the last one you play against the Romans, actually). Yamato and the other East Asian civilization are there just for variety, even though they reached Bronze and Iron Age later, their campaigns focus only on their region, so they're fighting each other and not medieval Europeans (its like Central American civs in AoE II, they had their civilizations in like 1400, while Europe would be reaching AoE III era). What's wrong with Phoenicians and Carthaginians? Even though Carthage was made by Phoenicians, they ended up being really different in architecture, army style and antagonized Rome (they came in the RoR expansion). Macedonians are not exactly Greek, and although they got a similar culture, their armies were very different, and they went for an Empire approach, while Greeks never left much of the territory other than making colonies. Anyway, there weren't many civilizations in those times that could be considered for AoE, so they had to pick things like Palmyrians, that was basically the people from the city of Palmyra.
The multiplayer scene would really benefit from rankings. I played 2v2s and 3v3s where I walked over the enemy team effortlessly without help, and I've played where a single player rolled over my entire team without help. That's partly because early aggression is so strong, if you're not really ready ahead of time it's a quick game over. Lack of free scout exacerbates this. But ratings would help enormously.
7:36
I thought that huge ship was the part of the game for a moment...
SuperCsubi - A Dühöngő Űrmedve SAME lol that trireme is HUGE
Me too, that would be cool HAHA!
Yeah... he was talking about juggernauts so I thought that huge ship was a juggernaut, and the smaller ones triremes.
same
I tought that was the joggernaut he was talking about!
"But father, why are we.."
"Shut up boy, hammer the ground, the corn isn't going to hammer itself!"
Underrated comment. I never thought of that until today... They could use the the farming animations to when building a farm instead of the classic, "hammer ground", but I think it'd look weird having a villager sow a construction site
Lol, stupid prehistoric farmers. Everyone knows nowadays that you only hammer your farm if it's on fire.
2:04 - Definitive edition - with voice acting
2:08 - AoE1 - no voice acting
Thank you for the demonstration.
probably more like proving to his AoE2-only viewers than demonstrating but you're right that was kinda random
Thank you for solving that, I was gonna type in - hey you forgot to do voice acting clip for AoE1 .. bhaha
Lol, i remember checking the tech trees on the little handout you got with the game.
i had the collectors edition that came with AoE1 & 2 with Rise of Rome and AoC :D came with a CD of music sound tracks and a poster with all the tech trees :D and a book with more detail lol
@@zeroawn3805 yeah i got that too lol
We miss you Ensamble Studio... we miss you...
@@thatguy8959 His name is in Spanish so he's not used to English. Have a heart, but not the Aztec way. (I'm Spanish)
@@scintillam_dei that went dark quickly
Microsoft disbanded it.
@@scintillam_dei i prefer the aztec way 😋
@@phoenixzappa7366 You know why Bill Gates funded a game about empires?
Because he loves the idea of depopulation.
All I want for this game is Steam release. Nothing more.
antares031 there's no way Microsoft will do that. Just pirate the game, they won't even care
antares031 Then I guess no AoE:DE or AoEIV for you. Shame since the game is great.
and then people will rag, that MS has no exclusives. So when MS tries to build their exclusives they get ragged on.
You do NOT exclude software on PC. PCs are made so they can access all types of software as long as they can handle it, limiting that access is not "building exclusives", you already have consoles for that. PC is not a console, try to treat it as one, watch your sales plummet to the bottom of the ocean
No, wrong Guts, that perception is way off. The game isn't excluded on a particular platform of PC, all PC's can run it. Steam is digital distribution on a pc, so is the Win 10 store. Nothing is stopping a user on PC to play this game besides bias (and the win 10 store needs some work, but more use might spring that). This isn't an exclusive idea in the concept of consoles where you have to buy a new console just to play the game. This exclusive is all about reputation and garner market share. Which can't fault a company for trying to do, Steam does the same thing, so does EA and ect. And overall, I doubt MS gives a crap about sales about a remaster version of an old game.
Update: It's not a Windows Store exclusive anymore. It is available on Steam.
the units may have more rotations but they are stuck with a single attack animation :( in the old game every melee unit except those lancer dudes had an animation for each angle they attacked from
I'ts because they're 3d now
1:41 The game didn't just have MIDI. CD Audio was also an option, which did have live instruments, though the stock game and Rise of Rome had separate soundtracks. Also, MIDI can sound a lot better than that if you use something other than the default sample set from Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. You can use either an external sound module, some type of sound card, or just use soundfonts. I especially really like how it sounds on an SC-55.
It is amazing how good the games looked at the time. I honestly had trouble seeing what the difference of the new one was until the old one was put beside it. Perception is a funny thing
That Instrumental from the original AOE is so nostalgic ❤
There is one thing wrong in the definitive edition, trireme and catapult trireme juggernaught used to be identifiable by the eyes on the front of the ship, but now they give regular trireme the eyes and they all look the same. Why?
well the regular triremes have round shields, and the catapult triremes have diamond shaped shields
yes I see there is something extra in the front of the ship with player color on the catapult trireme and the regular trireme doesn't and yes the regular trireme has only circular player color things on it but the catapult trireme has diamond shaped ones, good to notice especially in that very difficult antony mission where you have to defeat cleopatra's barge and fight 3 strong enemies.
I'm not trying to hate but some of the things like no scout makes it more 'realistic' like it's a new civilization when aoe2 is set when there are proper nations for many years
Ollyclass Ollyclass I think the same way, and it was one of the cool atmospheric things that I liked about AOE1 when I played it as a kid.
Stating your thoughts and opinions isn't the same as hating, some people really should learn that. And yeah, you make a fair point, although I do believe that AoE2 doesn't try to be realistic, but player-friendly and competitive.
well to me that's kind of the point. AoE 1 is stone age through to around 1000 BC, while AoE 2 starts around 400-500 AD. Historically, several civs should theoretically be more advanced than AoE 1 endgame at the very beginning of AoE 2, but that would make the mediterranean and middle eastern civs kinda OP. China too probably.
it doesn't make anything more realistic. people aren't born out of nowhere in a place surrounded by black fog. If you want realism, most of the map should come pre-explored and line of sights should be infinite and only blocked by terrain or objects like trees.
@@GraveUypo
Unless you see units a abstract representations of groups. Like the old school pieces on a map strategists used to represent groups or units they used in war. Like, Calvary represented by a horse figurine.
4:16 You can actually enable automatic reseeding with a button in the granary! Which will allow farmers to, well, automatically reseed farms once they're used up.
"Mountain Temple" is actually Polyester Jammy. You showed the MIDI version, but it actually sounded like this as long as you had the game CD in the drive: ruclips.net/video/3P8cspMAK3g/видео.html
Yes it bugged me he showed the MIDI version instead of the CD one wich was AMAZING. speciall in Rise of Rome where they got the identity of the series (much of the AOE 1 vanilla music is kinda off with the rest of the series while rise feels on par with AOE 2 music)
The quality is lower. But i really prefer the selection of instruments of the original
Yes. And you could listen to the songs if you put the cd in any cd music player. I used to do that, when I was reading or studying. I just put AOE cd in my player.
For some versions of the game, you didn't even need to have the cd in. For the original versions, you did, but for the much newer multi-pack of the game that came packaged with the original Aoe1 and expansion, and aoe2 and expansion, you didn't actually need to have the cd in. I have that version installed on a laptop with no cd drive and it plays the full songs, not the midis.
All hail adoring fan
They just need to focus on the PathFinding issues, it's super bad :c
Yes, there are times they get stuck between almost anything or times that they just ignore range units and choose the closest building.
The reason for that flaw is that AI is actually not intelligence at all per se, but rather just puppetry by the programmers who can never plan for every possible scenario ergo can never have rules for the utterly mindless computer to follow to make the enemies act intelligently consistently. My series on the history of atheism covers how the brain is not the mind, and how AI is actually impossible taken literally.
I still prefer original songs
MIDI sounds better for Age of Empires.
By the way, I plan to make a dumb joke changing the name to "Era of Hegemonic Polities."
Diehard fan alert
There's no reason for the game to be a Win10 exclusive. Seems like a misguided attempt at coercing AoE1 fans into upgrading their OS. Also, the MS Store exclusivity only means a consistently high price.
It feels like MS wants to change gaming on Windows10 into a console-like experience with exclusive titles.
There aren't a super huge AOE fans to say that i is a attempt for OS upgrade.
G2a
Yeah it is really annoying. I won't buy this game at all. I was hyped for it but Microsoft blew it.
I recall Windows 7 was better than 10 in a bunch of ways.
3:35 "shh, just blend into the forest so we dont have to work" :D
That csmpaign with a single priest though...
Are you going to do civ overviews for this game?
Otavio Lopes i bet he's doing a Yamato overview
Go yams!
original aoe-200MB
definite edition-18 gb
what the hell?
4K Textures.
silly
My main problem with the original AoE 1, was the visuals. Specifically, being able to identify your units.
In AoE 2, there's a small outline of your units when behind trees and obstacles. This isn't in the 1st, also AoE 2 unit designs were made to make the units easily distinguishable, focusing on colors.
But with this upgrade, I might soon give this a try.
I would buy it if it came out on steam.
It's out on steam!
Speaking of steam coming out, I farted today.
I actually watched an ad for 30sec so this guy gets paid for his hard work. Keep it up!
I see raids are far more dangerous
...
I hate raids D:
OOM- 32 Guerrilas are definetly painful.
Don't worry he said there were no raidings in DE ^^
I don't remember, in AoE, what is raiding ?
in ur base, killin ur duds
@ if you kill one villager for every 3 clubman its still worth it. well, maybe not in this game since if you fall behind one age you're completely doomed because your units will be doing 1 damage to your enemies with their broken upgrades. i think a single hoplite can kill like 8 axemen all at once. if they come one by one it's more like 40 of them.
Windows 10 and Windows Store exclusive? NOT GETTING.
I actually love the lack of a rank system, makes the game more relaxed and enjoyable :)
Asking to buy AoE:DE on Windows Store is like asking a person to buy a nice looking shirt that will give them cancer. Get back to me when this game is available on Steam.
Whilr i agree, steam is just a different type of cancer. I dunno why people worship it so
Steam adds value(steam workshop, cloud saving, multiplayer support), while Windows Store only exists to take your money in exchange for castrated versions of games.
pretty sure windows store also has "multiplayer support" (whatever that has to do with steam) and cloud saving. doesn't save it from being garbage, why is it any different from steam?
both are DRM. shitty DRM from people that just don't care about their costumers at that.
yes but steam isnt a shit DRM lmao
GraveUypo I use Windows 7 because it runs smoother on my PC, I get better FPS and Win 7 is actually compatible with more apps and hardware than Win 10 (especially if we are talking about stuff that is related to music production and so on).
Steam is good because it have managed to become a sort of social media for gamers. You can add people to your friend list, you can see who is playing what, you can invite people or spectate their games in real time. You can post your artwork, guides and videos and browse through stuff people post. Steam have managed to make it easier for us, gamers, to have a unified community. I grew up in the era when we had like 20 forums on 20 different websites for each popular game and that sucked, to be honest. I have never had so many people I could play game with until Steam became popular.
Now, limiting AOE:DE to Microsoft Store is lame, at least for anyone who does not want to use Windows 10. Like, AOE2 :HD is available on steam and I love it, why not making AOE:DE compatible with both Steam and Win 7 too?
9:40 dapp
Am I the only one who prefer the old clunky Age of Empires ?
Zakhiel its something to have fun with but your eyes truly start to hurt after some time
1:43 Honestly I kind of prefer the MIDI version of the two...
Luredreier I do as well. it's different but better. it might be sub par quality but it's not always better to update stuff people enjoy and it works.
Same
Nice vid! I actually had a direct influence on the game's balance changes and was in direct contact with FE when it came to balance. We should play a game together or maybe do a collab vid. I can actually tell you quite a lot about why certain balance changes were made.
AOE Tips Will you be working on AOE2 Definitive?
AOE Tips I'd watch a Collab between you two :)
ArthaxtaDaVince777 is that confirmed? Insane if true
Max August
They said they would do a definitive for all AOEs.
Definitive for all AoEs?
Definitive would be pointless for AoE3 and they already have AoE2 HD on steam and they already did do AoE1....
9:38 "you want some of this, lion?" *d-d-d-d-d-dabbb*
I'm okay with Windows 10 exclusivity, but that Microsoft Store stuff is unacceptable. I guess for old school hardcore AoE fans ist's alright, but most PC gamers won't even bother about investing in a new platform. I know Steam is not the end of the world, but we need good alternatives, not the horrendous Microsoft Store. Hope it does not end up hurting AoE 4 on the long run.
Gerard Torres I dream about age of Empires series on GOG galaxy
Whats so bad about the store though? I opened it one time to download the game and never had to open it again? I'm serious. I don't get it.
Boris the Blade maybe, but it will still require windows 10, since it uses X Box live for multiplayer, and I think requires Direct X12
If it ever comes to buying games only on Steam or only on MS Store, i for one would welcome our new Valve overlords.
+Self-replicating whatnot I'm liking your comment for the Simpsons reference. Made me smile.
No steam no buy
Uncle Vladimir I brought it it’s way more better than aoe 2
it will be on steam soon
David Snoek I know it’s gonna be sick
Its now on Steam, yay!!
@@dmndd3432 indeed!! just bought it!
You deserve a big fuckin' smooch for this one, Spirit, no wolohomolo tho.
The Lone Vaquero erectus?
Seriously would've loved to buy it, even bearing the windows store exclusivity, but the no farm queue and horrible path finding is a turn off.
If it is only that...buy it...those are really minor...You get used to it...With time you learn to play the game and not let the game play you
Well it is the AOE1 definitive edition. Not an aoe2 reskin. Just wait for aoe2de
In my country, back to aoe 1 not de, things you said is a very big part, very important part in every match! No im not joking, its truth!. If the path finding work well like aoe 2, there is no way melee unit can kill mobile archer like chariot. And back to aoe 1, we can place a building without vil come to it. That make we can use "that" to block enemy unit from escape because they have to click to destroy " fake building" first..
Vietnam? :) you guys are very competitive with it last time i played in a net cafe there.
You can disable the new pathfinding there is also a classic mode but for some reason the classic mode also contains all the old graphics as well as the gameplay.
In the new version you can no longer do a "fake building" as they've made them passable now until you start building. They've made some changes which are like Age of Empires 2, which i enjoy a lot, but you think they would have kept the choice in gameplay changes as an option separate from the new graphics.
Also the new pathfinding isn't really any better at running away and it often gets stuck in new ways the previous didn't. Some of the balance changes are quite nice, the slinger unit is more powerful vs chariots making them a good counter and useful late game. Chariot Archer spam is much easier to counter with it.
The no farm queue is annoying, but it isn't earth shattering. I strongly suggest learning to put all farm downs at the same time, then you're only having to refresh them all at the same time. It isn't that different from 2, except you have to refresh more often as opposed to 'refreshing' the queue at the mill.
The pathfinding isn't all that bad, except in the case Spirit showed - going through narrow passages. I try to avoid these (even better, inflicting them upon the enemy). Using gaps in the wall with a tower right beside is an excellent way to use a catapult or helepolis on defense, since the units behind the one blocking the hole are stuck in a kill zone.
Overall, if the game was designed to strike a balance between nostalgia and QoL, it did this well. I've had a lot of fun playing through the campaigns, though they (rightly) fixed my old trick of two priests and a catapult being all the army needed to win (units under conversion from multiple priests would simply stand still and target one or the other priest without attacking). The campaigns were changed a lot, and the historical information is interesting. Multiplayer is fun, though as an above average player I feel like I am either devastating a new player or getting stomped into the ground by the pro players. You have to spend some time meeting people to find players near your skill level.
I played the AOE Rise of Rome when it was released in a demo version with a Microsoft 98 CD-ROM back in 2000 and i played the legendray hardcore carthagian mission which was impossible to complete when u needed to fight the red one who had no boats and the yellow one who had boats.
me too
it was Chartagian vs Rome
Do they have to hammer the farms to make new ones?
doesn't everyone?
No Market system?.... No Garrisoning Units?.... No Auto Farm Building. Hell No to Definitive, I'm good with AOE2 HD.
It looks really good to me. I'd want the idle village number in AoE2 HD to be honest. I would get the definitive edition if it was on steam, basically the windows store is stopping me.
all i want for christmas is queue commands in AoE2 like in Sc2 :/
tru, would love that 2
It's always a struggle when they update old games. they want to update games we loved to today's awesome graphics but they change the game and ruin parts we love. like the old songs that do sound better.
The best thing is the increased population cap
Aoe 1 game with Aoe 3 graphic engine.
this is same genie engine used for original aoe
that explains horrible pathfinding
It's amazing that it's not. It really does look like 3D graphics, but it isn't, otherwise Spirit wouldn't have mentioned that there are 32 rotations for the units (you don't need specific rotations in a 3D engine).
It's similar to the 1st and 2nd where they animated the models but, instead of using 3d models, they made sprites with the models to save space.
Ayush Sharma well Aoe 1 with better graphics and aoe 2 improvements ^^ most of the “what is different” improvements are copied from AoE 2
Win10 exclusive is a deal breaker to me. That thing is malware.
Same here. I might consider dual-booting; I can buy an OEM Windows 10 Pro for US$23.
I'd rather not have it on my computer at all, but the way things are going, some games aren't going to work at all without Windows 10.
Agreed. I am not dishing out money to a game that is hiding behind Microsoft's desire to force people into their newer OS.
Well, since you asked at the end of the video to post any reasons for not wanting it.
Yes, it is mostly W10/Wstore exclusivity. I do not use my pc exclusively for gaming, and I do still play many"old" games (~2000s RTS and city builders) that (aside from recently updated games such as the AoE titles) are known to not function well or at all on W10 even with compatibility settings.
I also have hobbies like modding games/programming/etc, things which I know are made frustrating by W10 doing things like not allowing you in the program files folder, constantly breathing down your neck with alerts etc. I understand it may be better for people who don't know what they're doing, but I DO know what I'm doing and I need an OS that lets ME control my computer and not the other way around.
I don't mean to complain about W10, I'm sure people have good reasons for liking it. For me specifically though it's the exact opposite of the system I need.
Regarding AoE:DE, I don't necessarily mind the lack of formations, reseed queues and gates, if those are deemed necessary to preserve the feel and gameplay of the original game.
But I would have hoped for more pathfinding improvement at a minimum, and I see no reason for not having triggers to bring much needed creativity to scenarios, other than the obvious reason that it'd take a lot of work.
The real kicker is the lack of mod/workshop support that comes with being integrated into Windows Store. Games like this NEED it for longevity, IMHO.
I might do a dual boot one day in the distant future, part W10 part W7, but I need more reason than a mostly graphical remake of a game I already have for it to be worth the trouble and money, no matter how good that remake is.
Still, I'd have probably gotten it if it wasn't on W10. The thing is, if there's a bigger hurdle to take (such as switching OS, changing the way you use your computer, etc) you also need a bigger incentive to take that hurdle, to match. This looks good, but not enough to take the hurdle.
Seems like a ton of work for an old game. Hope it helps with Ages 4. Probably won’t get it. I appreciate the videos and watching game play, but I like to pretend there is hope to be part of a competitive community for a game, and being old, having AOE4 on the horizon, plus no Steam etc., just doesn’t bode well for that.
Like Spirit said, it's mostly for nostalgic reasons. The game is mainly marketed towards people who enjoyed the original game, or who never played it and want to see what they missed out on, only they find it a bit too dated to play and enjoy. And hey, if there's a demand and a market for an AoE1 remaster then why not make one? It may or may not be hugely popular but it's a nice gesture for the fans either way. I doubt that Microsoft have any hopes of rekindling the old AoE1 community, especially not with AoE4 on the horizon.
Karl The Fragr If aoe 4 is going to be modern, highly doubt it what be successful. I mean C&C Zero Hour exists, no need for another.
Is there any indication that it'll have a modern setting though? I can't find much information on it aside from the launch trailer.
I couldn't find anything about it besides "there is this game called AOE4 that is being made."
Yeah, the AOE announcement trailer shows all the AOE games in order, from ancient to renaissance or Napoleonic era. This suggest the next one is going to be after the renaissance period, perhaps encompass WW1 and WW2.
Btw, your music comparison was incomplete and not very fair, there was also recorded, non-midi audio in the original games. It was only played in game though if the CD was inserted. It was waaay better though!
Age of Empires Definitive Edition actually has a auto-reseeding toggle! You should know that Mister Spirit...
When this video was made there was no auto-reseeding.
About the music, there's 2 different versions of it depending on what version you played. There is 1 with a pure midi like what was played here and 1 high quality one.
Search for the aoe 1 soundtrack and you can tell the difference.
The original songs were higher quality than what you showed in the video
Wahay been waiting for more AOE1 content from you. Love a bit of spirit
Looks so fun. Will it ever be on steam or windows 7?
on steam maybe as microsoft is willing to bring their games to platforms that support their games(steam doesn't support win10 fully (UWP, xbox live e.g.) currently and Sony doesn't support xbox live on playstation so not all microsoft games are published on those platfroms). Microsoft doesn't want to make multiple versions or divided multiplayer.
on windwos 7 no.
damn, alright. thanks!
thats atleast what i know.
in some form probably but win 7 doesn't have xbox live and other win10 features so it need workarounds which makes multiplayer impossible. i can be wrong ofc
Win10 does have Xbox live.
Old Games For Windows Live was basically that anyway (you already got XBL achievements etc),
with Win10 that got replaced with full blown windows live.
Also, Xbox One runs Windows 10 under the hood. Xbox and Win10 are basically the same platform nowadays.
No gates? Plus I can't play it yet. Since it requires windows 10 which I don't have. Which sucks for me!
I bought both Definite Editions I & II for less than 3 dollars on Steam. My play to pay ratio is now the highest within a few hours of play. What a great game. Not to overcomplicated and very relaxing war gaming. Love it.
So basically. Just buy Aoe2 HD
True, but if your a fan of AoE1 you gotta cop it!!
Exactly what I thought, just bought definitive Edition
Watched this video
My thought process-> Aoe 1 with Aoe 3 graphics and Aoe 2 improvements ^^
Probably a bad decision not to include some of the quality-of-life features that made AoE2 an objectively better game (active pause, garrisoning town centres/towers, queuing farms, gates for walls, ability to infinitely generate some resources).
I'm not attached to the older version of those gameplay systems at all. The reason I'm playing AoE1 is because I prefer the ancient->classical setting to medieval->renaissance, prefer the visual style, and prefer the music (in Rise of Rome, at least).
Would be nice to see some of these AoE2 features included, even just as options if there really is anyone out there who wants to go without the upgrades.
I will never understand why people think the graphics look better. AoE1 is one of the most beautiful games ever made. The music even on midi just sounds way better to me, and I listen to them routinely.
That is just for nostalgia.
AOE1, the game that made me love AOE2. Oddly, I liked the units of AOE1 more. Although the 'reskin's found in steam for AOE2 are pretty nice.
AOE1 has more elephants, thus it should be the superior game. Alas, the elephants can't find their way around.
0/10 for this video because of no WOLOLO
I wish they had reskinned the units according to their nation.....!! It's not like all the factions had same units....!!
Damn it. Doesn't run on Windows 7.
"What's new in Age of Empires Definitive Edition?"
The annoying Lag!
Regarding graphics, yes, it looks modern. But that's the thing - it looks like every other generic modern RTS, so the uniqueness of the original is lost in this regard.
That being said, most of the quality of life improvements like farms, tech tree or multi-que are pretty cool...
I agree.
It's still a 2D game. There is also a classic mode, but only for AI games and not for campaigns or online, which sucks.
The problem is lack of vibrant colors like the classic version and some of the unit models feeling a bit "cheap", and lack of contrast between terrain and units making busy scenes feel cluttered. But credit where credit is due: ships and buildings in particular look, with a few exceptions, really good and true to the original style. It's a mixed bag but it's definitely not all bad
The original also has high quality songs though if you play them with the CD disc of the game inserted, so imo i prefer the original soundtrack over DE. Same about AoE2 DE and the original, they even removed some of the instruments and not replace them at all.
I think this is an excellent remaster. It feels like the old age of empires with nostalgia googles on, and some much needed QoL features. Would buy again.
Agreed, it's good. There's a few quirks and some odd decisions regarding the art that make the game struggle with visual feedback in some areas (something aoe1 classic never had an issue with; in fact it's a prime example on how to do this right), but all in all it's a solid release (if a bit premature due to some buggyness)
Why on earth does @RUclips think this video should start at 10:20 instead of *at the start*??
I prefer the graphics in the original.
The problem a few of us are having on Steam Forums is that on Single Player the difficulty is set to 'Hardest' no matter what you select. I want to just chill out and build an empire...
Spirit, the campaigns were significantly changed in the Definitive Edition as well. Some scenarios like Pyrrhus or Holy Man were unchanged while others like The Great Hunt and Assassins were entirely re-imagined. Our goal was to really modernize and improve the campaigns, as well as give them more historical basis, while retaining the same sense of wonder that players felt in the 90s when we were first transported to this ancient and exotic world.
It's a shame you made all the infantry models walk like they have solid spines.
Ao3 forever
4:20 the granaries have an auto-seeding function. They have now at least, i havent played it for more than 2 weeks.
I think we don't care about definitive edition changes because we already know aoe2, so we don't see the new features
yeah, I only really cared about the AoE2 features left out, like automatic reseed queues....
Aoe 1 ftw
I just wanted triggers. That's all I wanted from this game.
But oh well, at least I can finally play online with my personal favourite Age of Empires game. WOLOLO!
I think the new unit models look terrible, just like cartoon characters, same for the way they move. The buildings are nice and the landscape looks better for sure though. Nonetheless the units are a deal breaker for me sadly :(
you could also say the original graphics also featured cartoony characters and so does aeo 2 to a certain degree
Yep. Heavy cavalry/Cataphract looks way worse than it did in original game. Same with siege units, academy units.
AoE:Online had full on cartoon graphics. So obviously, MS doesn't think cartoonish graphics are necessarily a bad thing.
I think so too. It's is better compared to the old AoE I but AoE II is still better
The only regrets I have is the lack of the hut on the farm and the new design for the Greeks, Phoenicians, and Minoans wonders, it used to be a Monument to King Leonidas: a Hoplite.
I've been playing Empires Apart since the closed beta. Great game. Feels like an AoM (in the sense that there are less civs but they all play completely different than each other) take on AoE2 with cartoonish graphics.
I enjoy the game for what it is. But I think they might of missed the ball with making the game more accessible for casual multiplayer. Players have a much bigger skill gap nowadays and its so easy to wipe out another player before they've had chance to respond, which makes really boring and harsh games for new players.
That's the case with every game though. Any game that has a multiplayer feature will have players that study how to 'git gud' which creates a massive skillgap between them and players that only play singleplayer, let alone new players. SoTL mentioned a way to get around that, by having noob and pro lobbies.
Sort of true to all games with player skill but the skill gap is really big and only part the issue, an ELO or ranking system would definitely help. But many other games are more back and forth and rewarding to play even as the losing side.
Since we all know Age of Empires 2, that did a nice job of preventing this from spoiling for the fun for casual players, with garrisoned towers and town centres, town bell feature to prevent early game attacks completely wiping a player out.
Castles help players avoid small raids destroying a whole settlement and base, allowing players to react. It's important for a player of any skill level to have an opportunity to understand why they are losing when they are loosing and potentially react.
Otherwise a game just becomes frustrating and not enjoyable especially to a casual player, who's main reason for the playing is the enjoyment of the experience not the competitive or original balance.
Attack Move point - In AoE1, people typically just moved an army close to the enemy, and gave them a stop order, which would make them attack the closest enemy unit naturally, whether it's a building, or another unit.
Still a bit less micromanagement, but more a tiny factoid.
Hey Vsauce, Micheal here. Where are your fingers?
Well it dates back to 1943, in Nazi Controlled Germany.
Radhg this was the most random comment i've ever seen
It isn't random when Im expressing my artistic persona. You plebeians wouldn't understand Artem if it hit you in your faciem.
Thank you. It's so cheap so will definitely buy it.
You can find the damn auto-reseed toggle on the Granary
But not in the version Spirit was playing. That was patched in later
Wow, this game has come a long way. Just started back up with game pass in 2023.
No Triggers - as a feminist i approve this game.
wow, the toggle reseed farm is a great idea! i hope they implement it in aoe2 de
Age 4 isn't coming out, but if it does, it will probably be like Rollercoaster Tycoon 4. A broken cash in on fan nostalgia.
Tribal Beat U mispelled Dungeon Keepeer mobile ?
considering the same guys that fucked up dow3 are going to make aoe4 I don't have high hopes for it
official microsoft youtube page:
ruclips.net/video/RYwZ6GZXWhA/видео.html
the new coinage edit rule change is dumb. it's reduced and given to all. not fair.
The graphics aren't better, they are soulless and everything looks like plastic.
You sound like the type of person who would bitch about the color of a winning lottery ticket.
Nostalgia. I think The same. I loved The game back in The days
@@TheSpicyLeg xD
Spirit, You are just amazing! Just one of the best youtubers doing great work. I will keep waiting for more videos.
Win 10 microsoft store=instant no buy! Stop shiling for MS mate
I dont believe he said that he is happy that is for Microsoft store only or endorsing it so i dont know how he is being a shill. Nice unprecedented statement.
why not? money is nice
I was considering to maybe buy it if this video convinced me it was worth it. But now that I know it's not on Steam and only on the Microsoft store... That's a big fat nope for me too.
Valve shill detected
okay but the midi songs genuinly had a charm
They always did, in any game
“It’s hard to convince people to buy a game a second time” Skyrim: it’s easy to make people buy the same game three times
Pokémon: "Amateurs."
In case it hasn't already been mentioned, I should point out that the original AOE2 didn't have farm reseeding either. It was added later in the The Conquerors expansion along with some other refinements we now take for granted.
4:14 you can actually make non stop building on farms by pressing mid button in food only storage pit. Where you usually upgrade your tower
did u mean granary?
this game added more content for its original game than warcraft 3 reforged so far lmao
I truly appreciate the amount of work they have done with the remastered graphics and music. Especially as the game is 20 years old. However, this game neither looks nor sounds the same as the game I played when I was a child. It does not have the same kind of innocent feeling. For this reason I think I will continue with the original aoe1 for now. When I get Win10 I might buy DE anyway just to support aoe team. And also because it could be interesting to try MP and I know I can still choose the original graphics.
In order to learn about each tech tree, I used to select a mission from random maps which was called, "the intruder", I think, and in that mission, one of the players began playing in the post-iron age. It was good as regards learning about the units available, but not about technologies for each civilization. Still, it was useful.
lol i was 11 when this thing came out. i hadnt noticed the bias on the campaigns. hahah
Egypt, greece, mesopotamia, hitites, (yamato?), rome, rome, rome, rome, rome, rome.
And what is yamato doing there? thats like 800AD or something, if my memory is right.
Also, wtf? they have BOTH Phoenicians+Carthaginians, and BOTH Greeks+Macedonians ??
The Roman campaigns are from the Rise of Rome expansion, they're smaller and some missions you don't even play as Roman civilization (the last one you play against the Romans, actually). Yamato and the other East Asian civilization are there just for variety, even though they reached Bronze and Iron Age later, their campaigns focus only on their region, so they're fighting each other and not medieval Europeans (its like Central American civs in AoE II, they had their civilizations in like 1400, while Europe would be reaching AoE III era). What's wrong with Phoenicians and Carthaginians? Even though Carthage was made by Phoenicians, they ended up being really different in architecture, army style and antagonized Rome (they came in the RoR expansion). Macedonians are not exactly Greek, and although they got a similar culture, their armies were very different, and they went for an Empire approach, while Greeks never left much of the territory other than making colonies. Anyway, there weren't many civilizations in those times that could be considered for AoE, so they had to pick things like Palmyrians, that was basically the people from the city of Palmyra.
What game is that? at 4:15
I want it to be Windows 7 compatible.
The multiplayer scene would really benefit from rankings. I played 2v2s and 3v3s where I walked over the enemy team effortlessly without help, and I've played where a single player rolled over my entire team without help. That's partly because early aggression is so strong, if you're not really ready ahead of time it's a quick game over. Lack of free scout exacerbates this. But ratings would help enormously.