As evidenced by the campaign’s protagonist and its new theme song (the first in a decade), the development of this DLC appears to mirror the “Chronicles” approach—a carefully considered design centered on a specific protagonist. It also taps into the romanticized pop-culture image of Vikings that has persisted from the 20th century to the present day, focusing on Harald Hardrada, the “Last Viking.” Of course, the Danes had already converted to Christianity at the national level half a century before Harald set out for Kiev; yet, within the context of the game, this is acceptable. We should not mistake the game for history itself, but rather view it as a gateway to exploring our own interests.
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The reaction within the Chinese community has been overwhelmingly positive regarding the ability to add more unique buildings to the editor. Such massive trees—which, despite being officially designated as “World Trees,” can easily be renamed in your own custom campaigns—can now be utilized in projects like the Charlemagne campaign and future remakes of community-created campaigns such as Harald Hardrada.
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I believe that people from different regions and cultures inevitably view one another through a somewhat romanticized lens. For instance, as I mentioned, Westerners might not be particularly concerned with whether East Asian civilizations receive a complete visual overhaul; conversely, our Chinese community often finds content representing the ancient European pagan era to be fresh, novel, and full of pleasant surprises. These assets could also serve as excellent architectural elements for future community-created custom campaigns—such as those set in “Chronicles” modes or Roman-themed scenarios. Of course, I cannot speak for the Danish people, let alone make decisions on their behalf. However, I believe it is entirely feasible to create mods that replace these graphics in the future; using AI to generate building visuals and destruction animations is already a viable option (in fact, users on Chinese video platforms have already achieved this in-game). Perhaps this issue can be resolved in a way that satisfies everyone.
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Not really, it was only one of multiple easter eggs/cheat codes proposed in the July 1998 design document, which includes lots of things never realised (other ideas included kung fu monks, sea monsters (AoE2 got one last year), killer bunny). The dragon would have been from Sorcerer (or Sorceress), a fantasy-themed game ES was also developing at the time, which got canned. According to a post by Sandy Petersen from last year, the dragon model in The Rise of Rome came from that game.
The Forgotten Empires (the unofficial mod) did actually have a dragon unit, but I don’t think it was intended to be a regular part of a civ…
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Oh I remember the dragon unit in the Mod back when I played it back in like 2014. I honestly hoped DE would’ve brought it back in the scenario editor.
New post: I think people are mad as they feel this tree as a wonder goes against Danish history and its symbolic, the first Scandinavians to be Christians…
Of course, looking at different times, things changes: long before the anglo Saxon times, the Saxons wonder could be a tree (Irminsul).
But the wonder is available in game in imperial age, that represents the most advanced stage of each civilization. It this regards, a Christian building or other monument seems more appropriate than a sacred tree for Danes…
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I’m not the most versed in Chinese culture, but alt history mythical things is much more widely accepted there than here. Hence why 3K was so liberal with all that stuff.
Personally I would’ve liked a DLC that focused on actual medieval china and I’ve seen Chinese people express bewilderment at this DLC even on this forum. Personally I’m more mixed on it than hating it.
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As a side note, I think the Slavs (Rus) should adopt the game’s Eastern European building set as their unique visual style—specifically, using the wooden structures typical of the Castle Age (or more elaborate wooden designs) for the Imperial Age appearance. Meanwhile, the red-brick Imperial Age buildings currently in the Eastern European set should be reassigned as the exclusive architectural style for the Teutonic Order, while the Polish-Lithuanian and Bohemian civilizations should receive their own distinct architectural designs.
Let’s see if our strong demands can result in an unofficial cathedral being left in the game’s editor for modding purposes.
Alternatively, I could ask the creator of this image if they’d be interested in using AI to create a graphic replacement mod.
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Red brick is alright for Poland and Lithuania, we lived right next to the Teutonic Order and many of our buildings are in this style.
Bohemians should be switched to Central European style.
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Chinese have the wrong architecture so let the Danes have a magic tree as their wonder? How does that make sense?
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Devs will get to that right after they change the Persians to the Central Asian architecture
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If anything, there should be a split in the Eastern European architecture set, between the brick romanesque/gothic and proper East Slavic.
It’s one of the architecture sets, alongside African, that you can make an argument of being fully revisited and split into two.
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That’s a bad case of miscommunication then.
I’m glad if the tree is not literally Yggdrasil, but I still think it’s a really bad choice for a Danish wonder. Would be fine as the Varangian wonder or a scenario editor object, as others mentioned.
And it’s good that some people in Forgotten Empires have noticed that many of us aren’t happy about it.
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You see, this is what I meant: different groups view each other in different ways.
If a problem that has persisted for over twenty years remains unresolved, how can you possibly expect a serious and accurate outcome in this matter?
Honestly, that’s how I took it. The whole “Yggdrasil in its full glory” thing didn’t work for me at all.
So in your mind it makes sense to make more mistakes, and we should support the devs even if they keep making those mistakes?
Bruva, striving for better design doesn’t really start by just shrugging your shoulders and saying they can just do whatever. That’s what provoked the whole 3K backlash.
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This reply it is from FE concept artist @LordGood_
Not only that, but that Dormition cathedral instead of that 17th century wonder that doesn’t fit AoE2 at all.