Age of Empires II Definitiv Edition

@MemoryKillGG said:
I am highly concerned at this move, surely they are not just going to release AOE2:DE on W10 as it’s own, seperate game far removed from Steams HD game? I mean, no offense but AOE2 does not need it’s own remaster, MS gave up on this series and they did a U-TURN and allowed for Skybox Labs to create a HD remaster, 3 expansions packs on top of this and now they are coming around and going “we are doing our own 1” eh?

Surely, hands down, their is only 1 fair situation in all of this:

  • Free for all owners of HD version
  • Remaster covers all the expansions too
  • It is a update on Steam and can also be played “new” and crossplayed on W10 Store with Steam

They absolutely can not release it as a new game again, they absolutely can not make it a W10 exclusive and they absolutely can NOT make is pay for it AGAIN otherwise if they cared that much about this series why was the HD remake even allowed to go ahead? Well we know the reason don’t we…the $ bills made from it made them change their mind and now they want in on the money.

I am hoping for the best but expecting the worst to be honest.

This ^ … without the SteamWorkshop and modding tools that are currently available and the steam player base (my friends of course) and all the expansions (that i have already payed money for), i do not believe i will get AoE II DE.

And to add to this … I REALLY REALLY like the current hd graphics on AoE 2, i feel like AoE 2 DE is a real many grab and a bit of a d*** move by MS.

The current graphics have stood the test of time , they have an identity, when people think of the game they think of the current graphics. If you need better graphics , get one of the FREE mods of of steam workshop or aoeheaven. I do find that the price for AoE DE of 20$ is a bit high up and if i end up having to pay 30$+ (due to the size of the game compared to AoE 1) i will stay way away from it (30$ for a game i can’t play with my friends doesn’t sound right -payed 30$ for witcher III just as a comparison ).

What would be nice , but i doubt this will happen, is have continued support for AoE 2 HD on steam , if not i do believe that i will see all you guys on Voobly with the user patches :).

Edit: Not to mention Steam Sale :stuck_out_tongue: , when you can buy the entire AoE 2 HD series/expansions with about 10$

We would be able to use The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms and Rise of the Rajas’s civs in Age 2 DE?
I hope we can because are 13 civs (extra from 18 in TC) plus maps, game modes etc., we wil have to buy the again? (the total is 50 dollars for the HD plus DLC) or they will launch a paralel expansions?

@Kataphraktós said:
We would be able to use The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms and Rise of the Rajas’s civs in Age 2 DE?
I hope we can because are 13 civs (extra from 18 in TC) plus maps, game modes etc., we wil have to buy the again? (the total is 50 dollars for the HD plus DLC) or they will launch a paralel expansions?

I am sure they will include all DLC made so far. Because it is the definitive edition, it must include everything, unless they want to stay true to original game and only include TC xpack.

I do not like the DE Logo. It has not even that italic font.

I would love to see those sweet wolves eat my villagers and those outposts getting destroyed by deer IN 4K!!

@KingDarBoja said:

@Kataphraktós said:
We would be able to use The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms and Rise of the Rajas’s civs in Age 2 DE?
I hope we can because are 13 civs (extra from 18 in TC) plus maps, game modes etc., we wil have to buy the again? (the total is 50 dollars for the HD plus DLC) or they will launch a paralel expansions?

I am sure they will include all DLC made so far. Because it is the definitive edition, it must include everything, unless they want to stay true to original game and only include TC xpack.

That would be ridiculous…
Then again, it also seemed ridiculous to revamp the AOE 1 Engine from 1997 instead of building onto the AoK HD Engine, which is capable of doing everything the original could with proper modifications…

UNLESS they’re going to build on AOE DE’s Engine for AOE II DE, but that seems like a lot of extraneous work since you have to start all over on triggers and improving the AI, basically redoing what Ensemble did but with a smaller team.

They’re unpredictable at this point

Though I myself have never played AOE 2 since I came into rts during AOE 3, I am pretty doped about this release

@sonictimm said:

@KingDarBoja said:

@Kataphraktós said:
We would be able to use The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms and Rise of the Rajas’s civs in Age 2 DE?
I hope we can because are 13 civs (extra from 18 in TC) plus maps, game modes etc., we wil have to buy the again? (the total is 50 dollars for the HD plus DLC) or they will launch a paralel expansions?

I am sure they will include all DLC made so far. Because it is the definitive edition, it must include everything, unless they want to stay true to original game and only include TC xpack.

That would be ridiculous…
Then again, it also seemed ridiculous to revamp the AOE 1 Engine from 1997 instead of building onto the AoK HD Engine, which is capable of doing everything the original could with proper modifications…

UNLESS they’re going to build on AOE DE’s Engine for AOE II DE, but that seems like a lot of extraneous work since you have to start all over on triggers and improving the AI, basically redoing what Ensemble did but with a smaller team.

They’re unpredictable at this point

Is the same engine technically , genie from 1997.

I just hope AoE II DE will be good and have community support.

@sonictimm said:
Then again, it also seemed ridiculous to revamp the AOE 1 Engine from 1997 instead of building onto the AoK HD Engine, which is capable of doing everything the original could with proper modifications…

UNLESS they’re going to build on AOE DE’s Engine for AOE II DE, but that seems like a lot of extraneous work since you have to start all over on triggers and improving the AI, basically redoing what Ensemble did but with a smaller team.

They’re unpredictable at this point

From your message I’m not sure if you’re aware that “AoK HD Engine” is also an improved version of the AOE 1 Engine from 1997. There’s not really any such thing called “AoK HD Engine”, this is the Genie engine. Therefore I believe some changes can be potentially ported between those games.

Throughout the Age series, the engine was completely rewritten only once, as the Bang engine used from AoM onwards.

@Eaglemut @Augustusman I know it’s all Genie, but it’s a question of which Genie.
For AOE: DE they made it clear that they specifically used the RoR version of the Genie Engine, rather than working with the latest version (which would be the version used for AoK HD).

While most of the features are the same and a lot of things are cross-compatible, there are features present in later versions that were not present in the earlier versions (i.e. Triggers, land trade capabilities), and there were some things from earlier versions that were deprecated in later versions. It takes more than copy and paste to move units between AOE / AOK / SWGB

I was very surprised that they upgraded the old version of the Genie Engine for AOE DE instead of working with a newer version of the engine

@sonictimm said:

@KingDarBoja said:

@Kataphraktós said:
We would be able to use The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms and Rise of the Rajas’s civs in Age 2 DE?
I hope we can because are 13 civs (extra from 18 in TC) plus maps, game modes etc., we wil have to buy the again? (the total is 50 dollars for the HD plus DLC) or they will launch a paralel expansions?

I am sure they will include all DLC made so far. Because it is the definitive edition, it must include everything, unless they want to stay true to original game and only include TC xpack.

That would be ridiculous…
Then again, it also seemed ridiculous to revamp the AOE 1 Engine from 1997 instead of building onto the AoK HD Engine, which is capable of doing everything the original could with proper modifications…

UNLESS they’re going to build on AOE DE’s Engine for AOE II DE, but that seems like a lot of extraneous work since you have to start all over on triggers and improving the AI, basically redoing what Ensemble did but with a smaller team.

They’re unpredictable at this point

1- AoK HD uses the same engine as AOE, AoK and AOE DE which is Genie Engine.
2- The team working on AOE DE, is bigger than Ensemble Studio when they worked on AoK in 1999.

@WhiteWitcher311 said:

@sonictimm said:

@KingDarBoja said:

@Kataphraktós said:
We would be able to use The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms and Rise of the Rajas’s civs in Age 2 DE?
I hope we can because are 13 civs (extra from 18 in TC) plus maps, game modes etc., we wil have to buy the again? (the total is 50 dollars for the HD plus DLC) or they will launch a paralel expansions?

I am sure they will include all DLC made so far. Because it is the definitive edition, it must include everything, unless they want to stay true to original game and only include TC xpack.

That would be ridiculous…
Then again, it also seemed ridiculous to revamp the AOE 1 Engine from 1997 instead of building onto the AoK HD Engine, which is capable of doing everything the original could with proper modifications…

UNLESS they’re going to build on AOE DE’s Engine for AOE II DE, but that seems like a lot of extraneous work since you have to start all over on triggers and improving the AI, basically redoing what Ensemble did but with a smaller team.

They’re unpredictable at this point

1- AoK HD uses the same engine as AOE, AoK and AOE DE which is Genie Engine.
2- The team working on AOE DE, is bigger than Ensemble Studio when they worked on AoK in 1999.

As I said this morning, there are different versions of the same engine. All it takes is a patch to break compatibility, and we’re talking entirely different versions.

How big is the team working on AOE DE?

@sonictimm More than 50 people. Back in the day Ensemble Studio had only around 20 people only.

@sonictimm said:
@Eaglemut @Augustusman I know it’s all Genie, but it’s a question of which Genie.
For AOE: DE they made it clear that they specifically used the RoR version of the Genie Engine, rather than working with the latest version (which would be the version used for AoK HD).

While most of the features are the same and a lot of things are cross-compatible, there are features present in later versions that were not present in the earlier versions (i.e. Triggers, land trade capabilities), and there were some things from earlier versions that were deprecated in later versions. It takes more than copy and paste to move units between AOE / AOK / SWGB

I was very surprised that they upgraded the old version of the Genie Engine for AOE DE instead of working with a newer version of the engine

First genie plus modifications.

Too many ages games are coming out :confused: that confuses me.
I don’t see the point of buying everyone.

I look at it this way:

AOE DE 3 < AOE DE < AOE DE 2 < AOE 4 "maybe here ? "

( Im not a fan of AOE 3 ).

@AAHale said:
A free upgrade; are you joking? No way. They’ll all be $20.

Skyrim and other games did it.
At least owners should pay a portion of the price.
Above could be a good reason.

What I wouldn’t mind is if we can at least get a discount based on how many of AOE2 HD’s packages we have. Like… base AOE 2 HD gets you such and such discount, with an additional discount for every one of its expansions (assuming the expansions are part of AOE 2 DE). Feel like that would be the most balanced way to go about this, since I’m fairly certain giving it away for free is not really on the table (understandably so).

@royalliware said:
Too many ages games are coming out :confused: that confuses me.
I don’t see the point of buying everyone.

I look at it this way:

AOE DE 3 < AOE DE < AOE DE 2 < AOE 4 "maybe here ? "

( Im not a fan of AOE 3 ).

@AAHale said:
A free upgrade; are you joking? No way. They’ll all be $20.

Skyrim and other games did it.
At least owners should pay a portion of the price.
Above could be a good reason.

@Eininfar said:
What I wouldn’t mind is if we can at least get a discount based on how many of AOE2 HD’s packages we have. Like… base AOE 2 HD gets you such and such discount, with an additional discount for every one of its expansions (assuming the expansions are part of AOE 2 DE). Feel like that would be the most balanced way to go about this, since I’m fairly certain giving it away for free is not really on the table (understandably so).

I doubt that AOE2 HD owners will have a discount. Though it’s still a possibility. Skyrim’s remaster was free for the owner of the OG because the graphics update was already possible through mods, but that’s not the case with AOE2, especially since we’re not talking about a graphics upgrade only here, but also physics and other things.

Hope it so!! i like the old vision for AoE II and like the new too :smiley:

One think i don’t understand why MS don’t give it for free the new version from AoE from people who already have the old version

Welcome to the Forum.
AoE II DE wasn’t cheap to develope. So I’m fine with paying another 15€ for the DE Version as I already own HD. Gifting DE would mean giving the Game to over 4 million people and that would probably mean a big loss for MS.
And on the other Hand you get enough new features that are worth paying for!

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