I’m creating this thread in the hope one of the devs reads this because I am deeply passionate about the original Age of Empires and do not want to see it left in the dust.
The original game has gotten its definitive remake, a remake that I sadly cannot play due to crippling performance issues (my pc is very high end so it’s not an issue of a low-end machine). However, that aside, the game’s classic mode is severely lacking.
The definitive edition has no classic campaigns, which is some of the most important content when preserving an old RTS. Especially since the original AOE is entirely eclipsed by its elder brother meaning that there are few reasons to go back to it beyond nostalgia.
There is currently nothing preserving the original AOE1 campaigns in their original janky glory as the classic mode does not include them. There is only the UPatch HD mod that cannot be enjoyed without the original DISC.
AOE1DE in my opinion does not offer what someone who want’s a blast from the past would desire and that’s not even to mention that I cannot play it in the first place due to the aforementioned performance issues.
I really hope that AOE1DE is not left behind even more than it already is. It’s not getting any updates and with its content being migrated to AOE2DE I worry that it will have no future and will remain in its current state.
Even if sinking resources into AOE1DE doesn’t seem worth it, at least add an option when launching the game to boot up the original game with the UPatch HD mod or an equivalent so this beloved game’s remake doesn’t sit in people’s steam libraries eating dust.
If you want to play the original AoE, play the original AoE. I love the news about the New Remake! Again the old campaigns, new Campaigns, more Quality of Life and if you really want to play the old old scenarios, you can import the scn files at least to the aoe:de. Maybe someone will even find a way to port them to aoe2de
The problem is that it’s not being digitally preserved at all. The point of a re-release is that the game is being preserved for anyone who might wish to play it and the remake is not doing that.
The game has been dropped in support (apart from servers maintenance) for a long time already. There’s no official release saying that, but you can search for that on official Age discord to see the devs themselves confirming it
Releasing DE for the first installment is already well above what other companies would have done.
There’s borderline zero business motivation for spending any more time and money for AoE 1DE. I love that game but I don’t see what and why they should be doing. They’re already supporting three (!) installments at the same time - 2DE, 3DE, IV.
This game is very archaic even by Age of Kings standards and the whole project is really a fan service when you get down to it. 1DE works really well, and I’ve just checked original CD release on the most current build of Windows 10 and it works without any real problems:
This is an offline, single-player-focused game. How can it even be ‘left behind’? Companies should update gamers for how many years? It’s just not how things work. Official support for that game was largely done a looong time ago.
I believe the aoe2de DLC will leave aoe1de DLC behind, but itwill be for the greater good of aoe1 overall. Even though it is too bad that aoe1de only lived for 4 and half years.
AoE1de has too many problems relative to pathing, AIs and mods. People arent playing aoe1de but are playing aoe2de. Bringing aoe1 into aoe2 is probably the best way for aoe1 to fix these issues and benefit from a better support and better (modding) Tools.
The problem is the current state of the game. It lacks certain features like classic campaigns and its performance is bad enough that I can’t even run it at all. I’m not saying the devs should support the game for years to come but to just further polish up what’s already there. It shouldn’t take a great deal of effort to do so, but as it stands the game feels like it’s lacking, especially in regards to performance.
For your very legitimate demand (preservation through availability), what they really should do is to make all the classical Microsoft games - not just the Age series, but all the old Microsoft category like Zoo Tycoon, Madness racing, Fury3, the whole Flight Sim series, available on digital platforms like GOG and then Steam in their original forms, and let GOG engineers handle modern compatibility or apply existing fanpatches.
For Age series, that means:
The original AoE1 which neither AoE1DE nor Return of Rome adequately replaces, having both replaced the series’ greatest visual art, removed features or made sweeping under-the-hood changes;
The original AoE2, of which AoE2HD is a barely adequate remaster with broken pathfinding, brutally painted over artworks, badly upscaled cutscene slides;
The original AoM, of which AoM EX is an extremely poor remaster.
This is the wise and publicly beneficial thing to do. However, it may also never occur to decisionmakers they need to this - it may be pure profit and good reputation, but the resulting profit or goodwill is too slight to be of interest.
I couldn’t agree more with your assessment! Games like Zoo Tycoon were also a part of my childhood and are inaccessible aside from pirating or getting the DISC.
A lot of games on steam have a launch option that allows you to choose which version of the game you want to play. For example Total War: Medival 2. That game gives you the choice to boot any expansion you want. I truly believe this would be a minor addition to the existing steam re-releases that would greatly please everyone involved.
But there is no option for that because there realistically can’t be.
That DLC is not an update to 1DE. It’s a recreation of AoE1 content on an advanced engine and gameplay framework that differs from AoE1(DE) gameplay in a lot of ways.
Technically it’s not impossible to create it and attach it to 1DE as a standalone expansion, but outside of obvious thematic ties to Age of Empires 1- it doesn’t make sense.
For example should owners of 1DE and 2De get some extra discount on top of other bonus discounts? Sure yeah, paying less is better.
Return to Rome is not a ‘paid patch/upgrade’ of 1DE and it can’t be applied to that game without destroying its identity of a remaster of AoE1 that has to stick to that gameplay, for better or worse.
At the same time it’s not an expansion for 2DE. It’s a separate thing, they’re not adding these civs to 2’s roster, outside of fun little bonus (playable Rome in 2DE). It’s tied to that because in the end- it has to and that was a creative decision devs made.
Outside of this idea, they ought to just make AoE1 Remake on even more advanced 2DE’s engine, or even one from IV if it’s viable.
Yeah initially it’s weird, but once you understand what it does it makes more sense.
No. You cant even play the new aoe2 civ Romans on aoe2 ladder. It is only unranked. This move is obviously to bring aoe1 player to aoe2, combining both games and leave aoe1 de alone, abandoned. So they probably have to do less work in the future. Im not surprised if some time in the future aoe1 de server is shut down completely
