Hi, all.
Age of Empires (I and II) have been the first games that i recall playing. I have fond memories of the Age series and, even tho i don’t play often, i always come back to Age I, II or III from time to time. This leads me to the topic of this post: the classic Age II (or HD) graphics.
This may be nostalgia talking but i’ve always been fond of the “pixelish” style of Age of Empires II and the original music and sound effects. DE improved upon HD, and i think it’s fair to assume that most of us moved on looking forward for the new content and quality of life improvements. I love DE, and it’s graphics and art. I would like to, however, suggest a togglable DLC, that could be activated or desactivated even if purchased and installed: a classic Age of Empires II texture pack.
Imagine Age II DE and all it’s new content (Last Khans, Lords of the West and the upcoming Dawn of the Dukes), but painted and worked with the classic graphics. HD edition has already worked upon all the (old) new DLCs right after the Conquerors, and Wololo Kingdoms are done these graphics in the old engine, so it could be possible!!! It could consist of not only graphics, but also the original Age sounds (from narrators from the old cutscenes - the new ones would remain the same - and the original sound effects). Regarding the music, Vitalis has done some tracks that fit soooo nicely with the old Age style of music, so again, new music could be produced with older synths to give that fake nostalgia feeling (OST - Age of Empires 2 - The Last Khans by Vitalis Eirich - YouTube).
Regarding the “zoom in” featured in DE, Capture Age can do it and it doesn’t look bad. It’s the tradeoff for having classic graphics with a zoom in option (look here at 23:25 Fatslob Gets Dared - YouTube).
People would be playing and purchasing this pack because of how we remember the game looking… and i miss it. Atleast i do, and that’s why i wanted to share this opinion. I would glady pay for this!
What do you guys think? Do you like the idea of a classic graphics option? Both original content and new DLCs worked on with the old graphics. Since it would be togglable, everyone is happy (you like it, you buy it, you don’t like it, you enjoy the new DE graphics) 