Jurchens and Khitans look excellent. This is exactly the content I’m happy to pay for and I have pre-ordered on this basis. (I regret purchasing Rome and I avoided Chronicles as these DLC’s are just ruining the AoE2 theme.) Genuinely excited for these two civs though.
The general balance changes are net positive.
The mini-reworks to China and Vietnam are excellent.
The major rework to Korea is exceptional.
The new castles and unit aesthetics delight me.
However:
The continued existence of Flemish Revolution pains me. These AoE3 features need replacing. Why can’t this tech just let Burgundy train militia at civilian buildings?
The addition of further anachronistic civs with even more AoE3 features (hero units) is just such a spectacular waste of your development resources and does nothing but downgrade the game for everyone, as we all have to experience playing against it, even if we elect not to purchase the DLC. If this wasn’t rolled into one DLC I’d have avoided the purchase, as I did with chronicles.
I love AoE3, but don’t AoE3 AoE2. I appreciate the great things we’ve been delivered here, but it hurts to look at three civilisations worth of assets and imagine how much better this could’ve been.