I guess I am not the only one who feels that a total makeover of AOE2 is about time. Reasons are:
Definitive Edition is great, but it is already 5 years old this year. Yes, it still looks nice, but to reach the young generation (Z, alpha), this is not appropriate anymore
we need to avoid a stallmate
What are your suggestions for AOEII: UE?
The 2D style and the engine of course have to remain. But resolution can be higher, so zooming in / making videos from single units will look nicer
Animations of units should go from 8 directions to 16
More dynamic “background”, wind is already blowing through flags, should also affect trees etc
units should be able to realistically interact with buildings, units ON the castle e.g. or ON the ships etc
building up animations of buildings are still static images → should be animated
A new game mode that makes Farms provide infinite Food and Caravans can travel between your own markets and Town Centers to bring back Gold like how it is in Age Of Mythology.
No. I don’t want any of this stuff. All the pros and competitive players set their graphics to low / minimum. Nobody wants to turn the game into aoe3 or aoe4 aesthetics. If you really want it, just make it an optional paid “Enhanced graphics pack” DLC and leave it at that. The demand for this is low. Young gen alpha and gen z can play aoe4 if they cant handle aoe2 graphics. Don’t destroy the game just to attract kids or you will lose the core fanbase and alienate them. Same with regional buildings and reskin units. Should be an optional paid DLC.
DE is fine as it is. The player numbers are stable, and the game is doing well. Trying to specifically appeal to Gen Z and Gen Alpha will only make the game terrible. Let people my age explore the game on their own, without the game itself trying to appeal to them.
First of all, I also think that we are moving towards the final and ultimate version.
The definitive version looks increasingly messy.
The engine remains, some types of animation can be great and their mechanics too, just like you said.
And this should be done with extreme sensitivity and seriousness, without radical changes or over-animation that would damage the experience of the game or create over-motion on the background.
Aoe2 also has this atmosphere… you know.
New mods and options for creating mods by the users.
Uniqueness to each civilization in terms of units and buildings, tech tree, etc. (Very important)
Something not many people are talking about: improved random maps and improved skirmish engines.
As for the interaction with buildings, I’ve always liked the idea but I’m afraid it’s too modern for this game.
Still thinking about it, guess it depends on how it’s done.
Changing the graphics to look more modern will be suicide for the game. Aoe2 is by far the most successful in the Age franchise and the sequels aoe3 and aoe4 don’t come close. Why would the devs want to make the game look more like the less profitable sequels?
generally yes, but the same argument applies for the switch from AOE HD to AOE DE. “Dont change the beloved graphics”.
Yes, but. The egine, the 2D perspective has to remain, and it can in beauty even match the 3D versions. But it can still be made even more beautiful in its own engine / style!
Just as the switch from HD to DE was a success, it would be time for another leap
As a matter of fact, I think any sequels in the Age series should be done in the Genie Engine and have similar gameplay to AoE2, specifically to appeal to the largest playerbase.
It should be done by competent people over time, little by little - check everything and don’t rush.
But I can see how it could be made nicer without changing the base.
Did you happen to look at the city while the Villagers were gathering resources and waiting for your civilization to be built, and felt that it was a bit empty or boring?
Imagine that the construction process is more alive, imagine that the buildings are not completely dead.
It looks like you are the only one, because your demand is completely unworldly.
There will never be a complete overhaul of the current state of the game. You obviously live in your own fantasy world.
For the whole scale seen no… Although it has many civs, they differ far too little. The only really good thing came with the recent Victors and Vanquished DLC, which finally brought innovations in terms of content.
The previous 4 civs extension DLCs do never justify an “Ultimate edition” for the mentioned reasons. Such an Edition would only make sense, if the content offers severals DLCs like the Victors and Vanquished.
You do not have to appeal to generations, who did not even know the original game from 1999. These are completely unworldly demands. Where do you live?
There is no stalemate, you talk about different things. The generations you are talking about are welcome to play Age of Empires 3 and above all 4, because they suit in there.
Yes, zooming closer to units and buildings should be once again improved.
You can always talk about improvements to the content of the game itself, but you can not change the fundamentals.
The Definitive Edition is called “definitive” for a reason…
The age of the DE is no issue at all, the game itself will be a quarter of century old this year. Plus, graphisms themselves are not a major issue, look at the success of mobile games despite most being a cash-grab abomination. The most popular games aren’t the prettiest.
If you really want to attract a newer audience, you’d need to change the gameplay and whatnot to be much more like current games. Which would be a terrible idea…
The engine already allows 16 directions, notably ships use that. It could be an optional update like the HD texture pack
Same for dynamic animations.
Which would give other players more informations about what’s inside. Imagine knowing for sure in which building the king is hidden in regicide, just by looking at it.
Honestly if you want to replace the DE with a new one, you need to think much bigger than minor cosmetic upgrades. The DE notably introduced demolition animations for units, why not pushing that to the next-level by making animations dynamic ? (spoiler alert it would murder even the most powerful PCs)
I am still convinced we need an update, we need new content.
At the moment i am listening to Dave, and he is comparing the houses of the the civs in a game, and asks which one is nicer… Everything in AOE has been dicsussed million times, now we compare houses.
SOTL was making a video about which mil looks the nicest. He also is running out of content. Guys this is getting chronical, we need new content.
I only wrote the truth my dear… Victors and Vanquished new mechanics are a innovation for the game… Until to this time, all 4 DLCs after the Definitive edition and with it remained weak in terms of content.
You obviously have severe issues with the reality… New civs do not enrich a game, just by adding them and with mostly the same units like previous civs.
