I know that some players would love to have regional unit skins and different skins for the same unit depending on the civilization. And if they want such cosmetics that is great.
But please also think of the purists among us who don’t want such cosmetics. Who think that only a different unique castle and unique unit in the castle is more than enough.
It’s just a matter of taste.
So if cosmetics are ever added, like a new skin for Champion for Asian civs, or unique Archery Range, anything outside the different architecture sets & only the unique unit being an unique skin. Please think of the purists of us too and add a disable/toggle button in the options.
After all, the change is only cosmetic. One player can see very different skins while the other can see the standard AoE2 skins while playing a 1v1 game.
Maybe we should have a visual option - ‘Classic’. So by default we get the bells and whistles, however for those who prefer the original looks they can toggle it
Or a option section called “Cosmetics” where each new particular cosmetics can be toggled on/off similar to a DLC so a player can pick whatever he likes best from the list.
Yes, I agree with OP. I like some of the new cosmetic changes that will come in the new DLC, such as: unique castle and unique visuals for the Elite variant of a unit. But I don’t like the regional Monks and Monastery visuals.
I hope I will have the option to keep the unique Castle & Elite Upgrade but disable the unique Monastery and Monks.
Graphics are easily switchable through mods. We have had so many in the events. And lots more in mod browser. And the best part they are client side so you can use them in multiplayer too.
What about the option to keep the classic cosmetics is being a party popper? it’s a reasonable request for people who don’t like skins.
Generally, people who use mods are people who want 1000 cosmetics. While people who are more purists don’t use mods. They could always add the new cosmetics as DLC so you can activate/deactivate them as you please. Or as an option in setting where you can turn each of them on/off. Everyone is happy.
Mods are by definition, modifications of the base game. Mods are optional, whoever likes mods adds them, whoever doesn’t, doesn’t add them, everyone is happy. Same for cosmetics/skins.
Why are you hating on people who simply don’t want skins/cosmetics?
You can always play your game with skins/cosmetics if that’s what you want, while letting the people who don’t want skins/cosmetics not play with them.
If you like Burgers but not cheese what’s so party popper about wanting to eat a Burger without cheese? it’s not like you’re saying “nobody should eat burgers with cheese” you just want the option to eat without cheese.
While you come here saying “everybody should eat burgers with cheese” , no thank you. People like different stuff.
Isn’t DE well beyond any notion of “purism”? If not at launch, then at least by now and through the years? DE is vastly different from the old AoE2 in terms of visuals, stats, audio, and so on. From units, to techs, to nerfed defenses, and in some cases revised “looks”. So much has changed since AoE2:CE and :HD, and even early DE. There are also map visual changes, animal revisions, “auto” several things. Although I don’t disagree with how it would be nice to give players the option to not use the new units/buildings – I wouldn’t personally need it for the upcoming influx of stuff – I just wonder what is considered ‘vanilla’ from a purist standpoint at this point?
I advocated early on that I thought they should have released a toggleable “classic” mode for AoE2:DE, where players could choose to play the game with old school (pre-DE) visuals, sounds, and music. It’d probably be harder to do for a game like AoE2, but I had the Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition and LeChuck's Revengere-imaginings in mind, where they built in the ability to switch to classic looking game if you wanted to. (AoE2:DE wouldn’t necessarily need to do on-the-fly like those games can do, but maybe just a sectioned-off area of the game where we can play old style. Considering AoE2:HD got “Retired” on Steam, I definitely hope they can do this at some point in the future… now more than ever.)
Your idea would have fallen into that realm, where new cosmetic skins and units wouldn’t have tainted that “classic” walled-off area of the game. So, personally, I’m okay with the new cosmetic stuff infiltrating DE, just as the plethora of new civs have over time. I’d just prefer being able to do a “true” vanilla experience… either emulating AoE2:HD (with some stability fixes applied), or AoE2:CE, or AoE2:AoK… or all three… because only being able to keep the old-looking castles is so minor to me at this point with all the changes DE has brought.
Then again, I also thought it would have been a nice touch to have included an AoE2 digital museum area somewhere in the DE game, showing old boxes/box art, original dev commentary, new dev commentary on how they were inspired by the original devs or the classics they made, old Ensemble Studios studio photos or internal vids or interviews if any were made, and so on… since it was the “Definitive” Edition. An homage to the original, basically. Would have been neat, as an AoE fan… but I can understand why some of this wouldn’t be desirable to have in the game. At least some of it makes sense to me
At this point the original AoC is a few hundred megabites big at most, they can just include the whole game in DE itself without any of the changes from HD or DE as a cool bonus content.
It’s like how you can play Doom 1 and 2 within DOOM Eternal.
AoE2’s classic formula is considered vanilla. Adding new content is great as long as the new content sticks to the original formula of the game. Extra features? sure, but changing core features is not okay.
Sure, it’s nice to have some new civs with exceptions, so to speak. But there’s a point where the exception becomes the rule and the meta of the game changes fundamentally. A few civs with regional units? cool. Too many regional units? at that point it may feel like you’re playing a completely different game.
Regional skins/cosmetics do not change the gameplay but are moving away from the core AoE2 experience that we are used to. I understand some people would like an European Champion skin, Asian Champion skin, African Champion skin, American Champion skin, etc. Maybe even split them based on individual civs. But the regional skins/cosmetics just make AoE2 less AoE2.
It’s hard to answer precisely where changing the game would turn it into a completely different game, it’s like asking how much grains of sand make for a desert? nobody knows. But everybody can tell when they are in a desert and when they are not.
What if we add a new resource? iron. What if we add a 5th age? renaissance age.
These are great for mods, but not for the base game. Otherwise you might as well turn Age of Empires 2 into a first person shooter and call it game update.
I’d disagree just be because of how much DE has shifted away from AoK at this point, to the degree it can considered a “modern remake”. Like the remakes for Resident Evil 4 or Demon’s Souls.
Moreover a lot of the features within DE itself are from popular mods. Hell Forgotten Empires started out as a mod and the current state of DE can be essential described as a heavily modded version of AoK, but it’s an official release.
