The map (where the campaigns are showed) really looks like a Chronicle. I remember some guys in this forum have found some proofs, and clearly they’re true.
the only question is why the 3K campaigns are not in a Chronicle mode?
Another point I noticed is that in the campaigns players (other than the main roles - Liu Bei, etc.) are all Chinese civ. So it’s like Liu Bei has his own Civ Shu, so do Cao Cao and Sun (clan).
It is OK for guys who play ranked games and do not care about history feel good. 'cause you get new things to play.
For me, as I recently stated and iterated my points of view on 3K DLC, this looks ridiculous. I can say now, that the devs made Wei, Shu, Wu as civs because of SPECIFIC FIGURES.
People who wanted to justify these 3 so-called civs claimed that there ARE differences between regions of China, it is acceptable to have civs based on small political entities, the Chinese civ itself stands for other dynasties in other ages.
But what do we find now? All non-Wei-Shu-Wu players in 2-3 century CE in different regions of China are all CHINESE civ. Then in what universe Wei Shu Wu must be new civs???
It is clear that the devs did want to make 3K and do not care about either the game itself or the history. And they realised it would be bad if they provided nothing for those who play ranked games, so they put new “civs” in the ranked. That’s all.
Nothing screams historically-inspired videogames like evil wizards and a magic pig you must sacrifice to make the gods like you.
I’m sorry, I missed how in all of human history everyones just been an atheist and religious zealotry had zero impact on the world at large. The sacrifice doesn’t have to do something, the people believe it did something thats what mattered.
So bringing in the 3K and amaking them available for ranked was not some side effect of the campaigns or a secondary decision but the GOAL all along. They must be betting the multiplayer scene has some real potential to grow outside the main playerbase.
Judging only by the first few minutes of Ornlu’s video, the campaigns will be basically a 3K pop universe ported over AOE2 instead of the actual History. I’m saying this because of: heroes voice-lines, heoes building, special attacks etc. Considering the game is hinting as those features since at least LOTW, I would guess it is all according to the plan.
I’m glad they changed the campaign menu visuals and slideshows WITHOUT making it like Chronicles with those slow videos.
PS: I wish we could stop getting new civs having Shamburger as first track. Asia ones should have an Asia-themed soundtrack.
You missed the part where the cutscenes and the game say the antagonist is a wizard who uses magic to make his soldiers stronger. And since the campaign takes inspiration from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where there are magicians, then it’s clearly not historical.
disagree with this take. They simply just took better UI design from Chronicles and thats it. At core it is still old style. There is no animated cutscene like Chronicles. Atleast they got a new decisions tab now.
Weirdly, the designs of Shu, Wei and Wu are don’t actually seem to represent the kingdoms they’re named after.
Eastern Wu and Cao Wei were established in 220 AD. Both the Wu and Wei heroes died before that – Cao Cao only a few months beforehand, but Sun Jian (Wu hero) died in 191!
Shu is slightly better: Shu Han was established in 221, and their hero Liu Bei died in 223, so at least there’s some overlap.
So I think they really just represent the factions in the campaign. Presumably that’s why the announcement referred to them as “forces” rather than “kingdoms”.
Yeah, I want to believe what Mathusala is saying, a similar thing is kinda referenced in the Sundjata campaign with the belief that Sumanguru is a magician, but there’s a difference between something being referenced as “this is what the common belief about the guy is” in Sundjata versus actually treating it as magic that is happening in this Shu campaign.
I’m willing to grant that maybe part of this is bias on my part, but the whole campaign just feels…weird and kinda tacky if i’m being honest. The emphasis on the heroes, the active effects that they cast, even the way their attacks look is just…cheesy if i’m being honest.
And if the GL podcast is right and this DLC really has sold that much, then I fear that the higher-ups at MS will take this to mean that this is what people want, and continue to move away from the look and feel of “traditional” campaigns towards this…I really hope this last paragraph is just slippery slope fallacy (or something adjacent) and that this is a one-off, but I dunno man…
You know this reminds me of the old El Dorado campaign, in which there was a scenario where you had to do multiple side quests and one of them was entering a tournament arena, dueling a champion and winning thanks to divine intervention. I can’t remember the details, but it was very clear it was not a metaphor, there was actual magic in that campaign, and this reminds me exactly of that.
This is very different from the Battle for Greece characters praying or sacrificing animals, because in the end it does nothing spectacular. Here you have a magician powering up his soldiers, your own heroes have superhuman strength, and you can take away the wizard’s powers by sacrificing animals. This is not you sacrificing animals to boost the confidence of your troops, instead it’s giving you divine intervention.
I’ve seen true horror. The moment Ornlu played with those heroes, I knew that change in gameplay would not fit at all with what AOE2 is known for. I would hate watching AOE2DE being turned into a Fortnite + League of legends type of game. Heck no, I don’t want that.
About the only positive comment I have about the campaign: That Hall of Heroes building looks nice, sure would be nice if they made a full Chinese architecture set for everything else so all of E. Asia wasn’t only using Japanese architecture…just sayin’…
Btw, I just gotta say your PFP is comedic gold. I love it lol. I hate that it has to communicate what it is communicating, but the way you did it is great.
Hahaha yea thanks, I think I put more effort into that than the devs put into this DLC hahaha. I tried posting the full image here and it got deleted. Feel free to let me know if you want the file, I’ll send it to you hahaha.
Actually the other two factions appear right in the following in scenario. Here is a print from a Morley gameplay, showing al three icons next to players names:
I can bet than none of the three new campaigns haven’t even AI players using Jurchens or Khitans (I mean, the 3k faded away long time ago before those civs appeared).
