This person-civilization concept does not belong in AoE. I am sad to hear there are actual designers who felt the need to break the long standing conventions of AoE just because they felt like it. This is the most anti-AoE content I have seen come out since they got their hands on the IP, and it is very disheartening to see it.
I wanted to see AoE as a franchise move forwards through AoE4, in a way that compliments its existence as a franchise. To grow and expand the features that made it stand out. This does the opposite of that and foregoes what makes AoE special, for the sake of adding foreign features to the genre and the niche that AoE has filled within that. I know there is just about one million individuals here that will say “no” and write a wall of meaningless text as a rebuttal, but as an old time AoE fan who cares about the franchise itself and not just simple gameplay mechanics and the addition of “new civilizations”; I will let my voice be heard and say that this is the wrong direction to go in.
The expansion was exactly what we had asked for, 2 civilizations and 1 campaign. The addition of 4 variant civilizations which break the format of AoE is entirely unneeded and actively will worsen the game. There was no need for this.
People who voted for more civilizations in those surveys never wanted this. Get rid of it and get rid of this mentality in your offices.
I disagree, also as a long-time fan and someone who has played every “Age of…” game. I do not feel that it is actively harming the IP. I feel that trying to expand the game with more experimental designs is a great idea and I’m excited to see what comes of it. I do not feel that this is fundamentally changing the game or its vision. As someone who loves the franchise and wants to see it grow, and continue to deliver good content, and continue to exist, and reach new markets to refresh the community, I welcome the opportunity to try new things and avoid stagnation. We got what we expected, more of the same, but we’re also getting something new that has the potential to appeal to different players. I do not feel that anything is being taken away or degraded.
I’m mighty worried about that direction as well, I wasn’t expecting the variants at all.
But for now, I see space for this experimentation to co-exist with the AoE essence. Maybe the variants aren’t the way to go, or maybe they’ll become a staple we all love. I fear it’s the first case though.
I was about to preorder until I saw the variety Civs. It’s a tragedy what this has become.
I pre-ordered AOE4, played every week, daydreamed about future expansions, I recommended this games to friends and in the end it lost it’s soul…
Has Joan of Arc been deified? Or to infinitely magnify the halo of women’s political correctness? In reality, she is just a civilian woman, not a military expert or commander. She can only encourage and inspire the people around her to bravely resist evil forces. The AOE series is too fond of Joan of Arc, it’s too mythical. If we want to find a powerful female representative in the Middle Ages, then the female emperor of the Tang Dynasty in China, Wu Zetian, is more legendary and great than Joan of Arc, because she was the first and only female emperor of this vast empire in China
SOTL described exactly what I thought from the upcoming DLC. This DLC could’ve been great if they go with their initial hints on creating these variant civs like Teutonic Knights, Templar Order, etc.
SotL brought a really good example of how variants could be used, this should be considered seriously by the devs. Would be the kind of middle ground where everyone is fairly happy.
Heroes are not a problem for me, but yes, we will only know when we test!! This hero mechanic could be incredible, I’m curious, as it adds a new form of strategy, let’s see when more information comes out!!
Playing with these heroes can be incredible, we don’t know yet how it will work, but one thing I have to agree with, the developers have the courage to approach a new way of playing like this, they are not kidding when they say, something new!! In this I have to congratulate the developers for not being stuck with previous games!! Age of Empires 4 is becoming a unique game and that’s incredible!!
I agree with you, I don’t want Age of Empires to be stuck in the past, Age of Empires 4 is doing what no other in the franchise does, attracting new players, and that’s incredible!!
There are tons of games you can play as heroes. Age of Empires should not be one of them.
I would not say “courage”. It changes the core of gameplay way too much.
Imagine if they bring the “card” system from AoE3 into one civ, then you have to prepare your deck just for one civ.
Then 1-time-usage skill like Age of Mythology, but just for one civ.
That’s not “uniqueness” of the civilization anymore. That’s a whole new gameplay inside one civ.
If those variants are in ranked or quick match, I’ll be in custom games only.
Age of Empires should be … Empires
We don’t have many details about “Order of the Dragon”. But we know the army is not gonna be large.
It’s “low-unit-army”, but elite. So basically, the creatures from Age of Mythology that takes 4 to 5 pop slots, have a high health and maybe an active/passive skill.
I am really concern about the path AoE4 has taken.
I love this game, I wanna be wrong about those variants.
So it’s not worth suffering in advance, when they show gameplay of these variants we’ll know more. The point is that all the content creators who have tested this are finding it amazing!!
All the content creators who have tested this are finding it amazing. And this is evident, for me when I see these heroes and variant civilizations it makes me curious and I find it interesting. If those who tested the game thought it was incredible, it’s better to trust and wait and see, than to speculate, with people who haven’t even tested the game yet, and suffer in advance!!
I love how all the people who disliking this are ignoring the only people who have actually tested it and they all say it’s a great addition to the game. But why listen to them or at least give the benefit of the doubt to the developers when you can continue to whine?
Change is scary but if done well in a few years this can be what we expect from future RTS titles so who knows? Let’s try it and if it doesn’t work then I’m sure the developers will find out and not do it again.
You must take some risks and sometimes it works and other times not so much. I’m just glad that they have the courage to try something new while keeping the core aspect of the game there.
That’s a good point.
But, Beasty for example, likes DOTA 1. Drongo likes LoL.
So I think is kind of biased.
Another thing Beasty said in the past, he does not care at all about history or “the theme”. He said if there were units shooting laser, as long is fun and balance, he would like that.
That’s on the marketing team.
I totally disagree with this approach. Leave the community in the dark
They decided to be like that.
Let’s years we had a PUP. We won’t have this year. That’s why the NDA.
And it is really funny seeing them “faking” reactions every news. Because they already know. They already played.
I was so hyped, really really hyped.
Then the content creators started saying things like “biggest expansion”, “prepare to be even more hype”.
I now we know what’s coming, and my hype is … meh.
I am still excited for the Japanese and Byzantines, thou
There are a lot of interviews about Age of Empires 3.
They took a lot of risks, change the game too much and the game is not even close what AoE 2
There is a rule of consistency.
You can innovate as long you don’t break the consistency.
So where would you draw the line?
Imagine a new mechanic where we can toggle the “Hero command” like Rise and Fall. Where you switch the camera from a RTS to first person at anytime. Control the hero and still can command your units.
But let’s do that for just one civilization.
Would say that’s too much? Or it’s fun?
Is that “courage”?
Imagine something like that in AoE2.
We have over 40 civs, and then one is totally different from the others. Level up a hero, skills and even ultimate.
It breaks the consistency, the core of the gameplay.
I don’t see any problem with picking a civilization and playing with it differently, it just makes it fun. If I like French and there is a variant civilization that plays differently, for example, that would be interesting, and there is also a special unit that has a new way of playing, what’s the problem with that? No problem with that!!
Watch the interviews with the content creators, they say it’s not like Dota, a super powerful, that destroys everything in front of it, it’s JUST A NEW APPROACH, without changing the base, EVERYONE WHO TRIED THE GAME LIKED IT! IT’S NOT FAIR TO SPECULATE WITHOUT AT LEAST KNOWING THE TRUTH!!
