I’m just looking for an immersive experience. Replacing my US General with a frontiersman or a sherriff (or any multitude of campaign characters) would’ve kept that, but an astronaut doesn’t. No it’s not the end of the world but it’s still a let down.
Honestly if they just upped the mod support here to allow for modded explores to be selected and used alongside current options, I would be happy. People could just pull all the campaign characters in.
I’d also prefer historical figures, even ahistorical when it comes to place and time, but what they’re doing is pretty much what Ensemble Studios designed AoE III around- a mix of believable, grounded history and creative fiction.
The base experience was already a big departure from AoE I-II formula. It would be fine and even advised to correct it, but time for that was back in late 2000s, during post-launch support phase.
I’d even argue skewing towards… idk what would be an appropriate example… Heart of Iron, would be almost disrespectful to the original designers, as this game is a remaster, not a remake.
That’s how this game was since day one- dedicated and full of passion for that period in history, but goofy and lighthearted on the edges and behind the curtains. All of them were to some extent, with III it was just taken into the equation when it comes to main single-player content.
Really? There are probably a ton of other games that are more historically accurate, why are people specifically playing aoe2 or aoe3? Did you know about it being historically accurate before playing? No, you youself said that Aoe sparked you with interest in history, but this happened while playing, after starting to play. And that purpose is enough. And aoe3 does it as well; all the description about the units/buildings/explorers have their history detailed in the compendium if one wants to learn. Did you ever read that? Tell me what units are missing from there, then.
I can agree with the immersiveness, an astronaut is out of its era there. But does it really matter? Isn’t the purpose of the skin first of all to be ‘cool’? Isn’t that the purpose of ALL skins? The concept of ‘skin’. And, as i said, it is entirely optional. No one forces you to use the astronaut skin.
Well in fact FE added more historicity to the game, than what ES did… the historical battles with historical characters, the art of war narrated by Carl von Clausewitz, the Native Americans collecting coins with tribal markets, etc etc etc …
I don’t understand the hostility towards any sense of historicity in this game. They could have made this a fantasy or SciFi series, but chose to at least base it in History instead. I would like to see them continue respecting and providing options for players who are specifically drawn to the history surrounding the era of AoE3.
People not minding elements like that do not equal ‘hostility’ towards history on their side. I’d suggest restraining from guesswork about things that do not exist- I’ve never seen anyone criticizing AoE for trying to be historical in any way.
The world is not black and white, and these are video games and not documentaries.
I’m not sure even what are you trying to imply here- were ES developers ‘hostile’, carless and ignorant about history because they included campaign missions based on fictional events, with fictional main characters?
Explorer skins are completely inconsequential cosmetic elements, accessible behind few menu layers. They require less ‘digging’ and player effort to access than cheat units, but in terms of their tone they do not stray from what was presented in the base game.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’d prefer real historical figures with at least semi-well documented background, or at least see them being released in a first, base selection group before ‘fun’ skins, but on their own as a partially hidden/locked free cosmetic content- I can’t see any ground for criticism.
Uncle Sam hero skin isn’t considerably more goofy than ice cream special cheat unit… or having indigenous people sinking warships with bows, while playing as Turks in Yukon for that matter 
At the same time, in 2DE players get as rewards completely crazy, official mods that for example make trebs shoot bananas etc
Join the “Jungle Summer Vacation” Event! - Age of Empires
In fact, AoE 2DE includes a LOT more funny/goofy content around the edges, compared to 3DE.
On some level, they show more restraint than folks over there.
Not that I don’t enjoy things like ‘pretzel projectiles’
but here it’s much less reason to have a discussion over Dev dedication to history, than in the case for example if they were releasing new missions, and instead of historical battles, people would be encouraging funny fictional scenarios.
I was referring more so to the poster’s tone, which seemed unnecessarily belligerent towards my initial comment voicing favor for more historical characters alongside the more fantastical types, than ES’s/FE’s attitudes.
One of the solutions that come to my mind that would cause less friction would be for example having a base selection of 3-5 skins as a part of a paid expansion. These would be a mix of toned-down era-appropriate generic skins (and re-skins of default role- explorer, monk etc) and real historical figures. Since level-gating has been thrown out of the window, they would be instantly available for anyone with mentioned expansion.
And fun&fictional skins would be exclusive to special events. With only 3 options, so 2 additions, there’s very little room and that naturally may cause consternation, depending on player expectations, when one civ can get a general and some soldier, and other… well Uncle Sam and astronaut.
Those funny hero skins are completely optional.
These memes don’t need to be many, just a small amount I’d love.
But if you don’t like it, don’t use it.
It’s like adding a custom option for a street hip-hop rapper to your home city.
You can just do not unlock him if you don’t like him, but players who like that contrast can let him perform in London or Washington DC.
Yes, exactly, you said it yourself… are video games… we are discussing for skins of what I repeat again … a video game… and worst of all, they complain that they are optional… and best of all… Free… when all they do is give more personality to a game that does not try to take it so seriously …
I use Lizbet exclusively when I play the British but I have to ask, do you still have them unlocked? I lost Ada Lovelace, Laochen, and the Spanish flamenco dancer. I have the others, but those were just magically stolen from me. I guess when the April update went through…
I have the skins still, it must be some of the updates I guess…
Man, I hope when the DLC drops, it reinstalls what I earned. That’s ridiculous that they’re missing. I know some people unlocked them but never got to use them.
Mmm consulta colega, cuando quieres cambiar de skin… tienes la sesión de xbox activada?
