So i’ll make it quick , i just hope that the next update will fix the difficulty balances in AoE II campaigns. I read in TV Tropes about each campaigns levels which make even the most veterans of all AoE II players ripping their hairs off. For Example, the 2nd Hautvilles mission. It frustated me so much
- you can save and load
- you can use slow speed and pause to win 10 v 20 or hit enemies at different directions
I’m going to be honest, I feel like veteran here doesn’t mean good necessarily. The Genghis Khan levels really aren’t that bad honestly, the Saladin ones (except for the last) are fairly easy, and I can’t be bothered reading the rest of the list. There’s no need to “fix” the balance, because it’s not broken. Play on slow speed. Read/watch tutorials. Play on an easier difficulty. Don’t take the challenge out for the players who want it.
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But for me , i guess its needs to be fixed. 'Cause , i just want to enjoy the campaign not only fun and challenging, but also just make sure that the difficulty will never made me frustated.
You need to turn down the difficulty level in that case. Hard is actually meant to be hard. If you’re on standard and still struggling, you probably need to work on your basics for playing the game, in which case I recommend the Art of War.
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but even then it would probably not working . Just in the link suggest even veterans were frustated with the level design. So still , level design is almost a s improtant with difficult.
They say that, but the only evidence I found for that claim was that Viper took multiple attempts on one level, which is fine as far as I’m concerned. They say “Veteran players”, but that doesn’t mean good, it could mean they’ve played a lot and haven’t really improved at the game. Unless they provide actual elo, specific players, or any other metric that actually allows for skill to be judged, it’s honestly a meaningless thing for them to say.
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git gud lol
Just kidding,
but in my undestanding (having completed all campaigns on hard) I can say no scenario is too hard, but some are so grindy that it sucks the fun out of it almost to an unsufferable end. But these scenarii are quite rare beasts to me.
I would classify Pachacuti 4 & 5 as this, as well as Dos Pilas and Tariq Ibn Ziyad last scenario (the worse to me, it’s basically 0 fun, pure gr*ndiness poor design overhaul, just like this whole campaign to be fair). But these are the only real cases to me.
Sure some scenarii will take 2, perhaps 3 runs before you understand the mechanics and the logics behind it, and beat it, but that’s part of the fun. There are good MP players and then there are good campaign players. Good campaign players usually can get to think like the conceptor did think, and beat it that way, rather than just being good at the game in general.
Ornlu for instance, can beat most scenario (including custom campaigns, which are arguebly more difficult than official content) on the first run. Because he’s not only good at the game, but he’s also familiar with campaign logics, allowing him to decipher the scenario’s mechanics, and play along.
Looking at your list, although there’s a couple of relevant points in there, for the vast majority (even for pretty easy campaigns!) of the scenarios listed, you’re just suggesting a general dumbing down and that the game holds you by the hand, which is a very bad direction.
If you cannot beat a scenario on hard, maybe try a lower difficulty. Hard difficulty is supposed to be very challenging. If you struggle to beat any AOK campaign on hard, it’s mostly a personal skill issue, not the level design’s fault.
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I spend them in standard and they are complicated when many waves come at you at the same time, because they are already developed and you have to develop yourself… I spent it in the campaigns of Sforza, Pritviraj, Alarico in their last missions… the The only campaign that can happen to me was Bari, barely… on Halloween I’m going to spend the Dracula campaign and with that I finish TF expansion…
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Isnt hard or easy a subjective thing based on the person?
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Sometimes yes and sometimes no i mean if the mission were too difficult , i’m afraid it restricting player response to act
If the mission is impossible and no one can complete yes it should be changed but if people can complete it should it be changed?
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yeah just improved the ai for the units and allies in the campaign because thanks for that flaw it became less challenging and unreliable for the allies
I somewhat support a re-design of some of the campaigns. To me its not so much that they are difficult its just that the campaigns are designed in such a way to force you to play in one particular way that is often just not fun. To me the attraction of AOE campaigns was always that you were given a map and a set of objectives and how you went to acheive those objectives was largely up to your own imagination. Now I feel like with so many scenarios just pitting you against 7 different hard AI players just constantly rushing you there is very little wiggle room, and each mission usually allows only for one very specific series of actions that will lead to a victory while punishing the smallest mistakes or deviation from that strategy. To me its just not fun if I am forced to watch YouTube videos of some pros beating the campaign and then just have to copy their play style move for move in order to win.
I am not really sure what the solution to this would be because the AI is just not that sophisticated so its very hard to balance it because it seems its only way of defeating you is to just overwhelm you with a constant spam of units from multiple directions which any human with a less than optimal APM will just not be able to deal with and if you handicap it by taking away this one ability then it just becomes too easy to beat therefore leading to campaign missions just being dull and boring.
I often just leave campain playing sessions feeling either frustrated because of the difficulty or bored because it was too easy and mindless seems its never in between where I feel just content and happy which is how I like to feel after playing videogames.
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