Hello, I am a long time Fan of the Age of Empires Franchise. I have got the Defenitive Edition through the Game Pass and for sure want to play it even after I cancelled Game Pass. Now I have got the question if there are any benefits in the Steam version. They always are ready in the game before me and nearly everyone is Steam player. And since yesterday I cant match up with them (Crossplay activated) Is it worth it in terms of technical benefits?
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The main benefits of the Steam version are:
- Most players are on Steam, so if you want to add people as friends and play with them, Steam is better
- You can create mods
The MS Store version is better for doing the challenges to unlock content, as it works natively, whereas with Steam you need an extra MS Store account, and I just cannot be bothered with switching between different MS Store accounts. If you try to link the MS Store account you’ve already played the game on, it won’t work, it won’t add the content you’ve unlocked into your Steam version, or at least it didn’t work when I tried it.
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If you have to choose between steam and microsoft version, steam version is definitely worth it, if you already have the microsoft version buying the steam version on top is definitely not worth it.
Steam is an improvement at getting into games, but only a small one.
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It is worth technically, MS version has locked files so you can’t modify any of them, if you are modder it is the bad version, you can only download public mods, steam invites are better to call your friends, you have more control over the game, as you can choose run as admin, compatibility stuff, etc, that is again locked in the MS version.
As for performance it is the same, but another good thing from steam is that updates are easier there, you have to download them manually in the MS version, you better buy the game cause when i had gamepass sometimes i had issues logging in, so i wasn’t able to play any game there until few hours later.
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The opinion about Xbox live in general is that it is pretty trash compared to Steam. So if a game on Steam and Xbox Live, then go to Steam. If you already on the game on one platform, then i dont really think i would buy it on an other platform as well. I am not really into buying the same game twice…
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What’s unique about Steam version is the PUP program and launch options.
You can do that with MS version too. It’s in game.
Is that fairly recent? I uninstalled the MS Store version a while ago, but I had never seen any way to create mods with it when I did have it installed.
You could publish a mod either through the in-game mod manager, or through the website. In either case I think MS version is supported since release.
That doesn’t allow you to create a mod in the first place though? You need to be able to edit the game files, which you can’t do. You can do it in the MS Store version of Halo MCC, which installs as a modifiable app, but the MS Store version of AoE II DE doesn’t install as a modifiable app (or at least it didn’t when I last installed it).
What do you mean by that? You have no access to the game’s directory? I highly doubt that. I play with a friend who has MS version and he could use mods.
You can use mods no problem, you just download them in game like in the Steam version, but yes, you have no access to the game directory because it doesn’t install as a modifiable app. So you can’t edit the files to create the mods in the first place.
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that’s not true, updates aren’t manual on MS Store. Games get updated on a regular basis. And, much like Steam, the MS Store indicates you that a game need an update when you log in.
The “wasn’t able to play until a few hours later” comment…, is also something I havent experienced myself. I am on a 20MBit connection since I live in a rural, mountainous area.
The game has mods on the MS Store version too.
I prefer to play on gamepass, but that’s just me. Still, I use Steam a lot, 'cos I have Divinity Original Sin, which is one of the best games ever made.