1/5 I’m very disappointed/ hate the idea of the Japanese
0voters
Which one best describes your initial reaction? Explain?
The first thing I saw was the splash screen art, and read the word ‘fourth’. I instantly assumed it was the Chinese fourth God being announced. I was very excited by this! It took me several sentences in to realise I was very wrong I was very, very surprised by the announcement and civ choice. I would never in 100 guesses say have picked Japanese. I’m excited to see what they bring, as I know nothing about Japanese mythology. Some of the myth units look a bit weird (the face on the wagon wheel???) and I’m not sure they fit the aesthetic created so far, but we’ll see. It’ll also be weird having a titan unit that isn’t bipedal. But variety is good too I suppose!
I’m kinda disappointed. Hoped it would be Aztecs or Mayans. I feel like those would look and play a lot differently compared to Japanese. For me Japanese is similar to the Chinese as far as buildings and human units. Some notable differences but the overall feel is similar. The myth units are… interesting. Not sure I particularly like the giant head on a wheel and the cosmic dude is strange as well but not in a bad way. I do really like the titan though. Reminds me of King Ghidorah. He’s definitely a very unique looking titan. The myth unit that can respawn also seems interesting to play around with. I want to try out the campaign as well. Overall I’m glad that we are getting more DLC. It also seems a decent amount of the players wanted the Japanese pantheon, so that should make them hyped for the new expansion.
I’m not surprised. Always made sense for Devs to go for another East Asian civ that can use some existing textures and models/model elements (building wall/panels for example).
I would have much prefered Aztec or Mayan, as a Meso-American civ would have been a far more radical and exciting prospect.
I am very excited for anything new for AoM. I remember as I used to want so much more for this game when I was young and was very disappointed with the Atlanteans. (Not anymore though. I became great fan of Greek mythology and having the Titans in is great. I also like that they are inspired by Romans in many ways and thus we do not need them in game as Jupiter and Zeus are practically the same)
So, would I prefer someone else than Japanese? Yes, I would go with Toltecs or Mayans any day of the week. But I think that focusing now on Asia is smart. They can interact with them in the campaign and I would go as far as advocating for Hindu to be next and be done with Asian mythos after that. (I do not expect Buddhism or Islam to appear and Babylonians or Assyrians can wait their turn before Americas are included)
My only issue is the future of AOMR. If they are going to make more pantheon DLCs, I’m fine with new content with Japanese.
But the idea that this DLC might be the last one and we are not getting fan favorites like Mesoamerican and Mesopotamian pantheons makes it disappointing.
1/5 since both Mayans/Aztecs and Celts were much more popular than Japanese…I just hate the whole pop-culture around samurais instead of at least trying to make them Yamato-style or pre-samurai.
When my son saw bits of the trailer on my screen, he said it looks like more stuff for the Chinese. Had to explain to him that those are actually called Japanese, and they look kind of similar because they’re practically neighbors and share some stuff, or learned stuff from one another.
Always a fan of Japanese stuff, and I think Japanese mythology has a lot of potential with their youkais, and as far as I know, they have been in the top 3 of new civs for AoM.
Besdes, I think there is a good logic to add the Asian ones before Mayaztecs, since if they are clever, they can use the lost continent of Mu as a way to have them fight together
Very excited. Although Aztecs were my primary choice, Japanese was my second option for the new pantheon. Japanes culture is just so rich that there are many possibilities. Also it makes sense from a business point of view, many fans of japanese culture in the west.
Of course, they did it simply to maintain regional continuity and to reuse assets… so the next DLCs would be Aztecs and Incas, in Europe Celts and Slavs and in the Middle East, Babylonians and Persians…
Yes, it’s a possibility that shouldn’t be ruled out…
Yes, but it is what it is… the Sengoku period is very popular… there isn’t that much information before Yamato, that’s why the AoE 1 campaign is about Yamato…
I am happy about the Japanese but I would have been happy about a bunch of other potential civs too. Only really something like the Roman would be been upsetting.
I do dislike that they are a little to modern looking compared to the more ancient aesthetic of the other civs. They kinda even look modern next to the Medieval Norse in some way.
The Japanese look like a early modern civilisation.
I think the majority of people that are upset are upset because they don’t see it as an addition of the Japanese, they see it as a missing Aztecs/Celts/whatever.
If they would have added the Aztecs then a similar amount of people would have complained about no Japanese or no Celts.
It is the second Pantheon we already paid for, together with the base game, so microsoft already got the money in the bags for that. It makes sense to go for a not-so-much anticipated and asked for Pantheon, since the more popular ones can come later and generate them “new” money by having their own sales, independant of the main game, as someone else already pointed out.
If they had Aztecs now, bundled with the base game in the premium edition, and then the Japanese later, when everybody has already played the Aztec campaign, less people would go out of their way to buy the Japanese pack, than the other way around.
So by bundleing the Japanese with the premium edition gives the Japanese Pantheon more players than it would have otherwise had, and the Aztecs, if they do come later (which is not guaranteed), will have their sales for sure, given that they are the most popularely asked for pantheon by a landslide, with Celts in second place, I think.
From a business standpoint, Japanese before Aztecs or Celts makes sense. There is a lot more money to be made that way.
And if it is Japanese before Aztecs and Celts, and not Japanese instead of Aztecs or Celts, I’m on board.
The thing is, we don’t know if it’s “before” or “instead”. We don’t know if they have a 7th pantheon in the pipeline.
We hope, we speculate, we wish, but we don’t know.
We don’t know if, once the premium edition bundle is complete, that will be it, and the game will be shelved the same way AoE3 was right then and there. We hope it won’t, we speculate… not typing the whole sentence a second time. You get the point.
That’s were most of that frustration comes from, I think. Not from disliking the Japanese specifically.
Yes exactly, I think they decided on the Japanese for continuity with the Chinese campaign, and also to amortise costs and speed up development of the DLC by reusing some of the Chinese assets.
But overall they could have gone for another underrated civilisation like the Romans (it would have been easy to do them because they’re similar to the Greeks and Atlanteans), or the Indians or even the Sumerians or Babylonians, but they all involve having to completely redesign buildings etc…
My response is pretty mid. Basically, if this is being done because it’s the next DLC and it makes sense to stick around in one region for multiple DLCs, then I’m really happy. I think that’s a really good way to approach the campaign storytelling, in particular.
But I really hope we get some more DLCs after this. Aztecs, Mesopotamians, Celtics, in that order would be my top 3. And if Japanese is the last DLC we get, then I’m very disappointed. I would have preferred we had gotten something else.
Basically, Chinese → Japanese → Aztecs is better than Chinese → Aztecs → Japanese, but Chinese → Aztecs is better than Chinese → Japanese.
sure. thats the internet and these are ppl. they always find something to complain about - sometimes necessary and sometimes not so much. x)
i personally also still very much hope we will see at least mesoamerican, mesopotamian and celts. - i assume mesoamerican will be the hardest one to implement even its has a very high demand. thats why my personal bet will be on either mesopotamian or celts after the japanese. but maybe they will surprise us and add hindu/indian mythology which would be alright too and yes some say its risky cause of the modern audience still actively praying to hindu gods.
I’ve been wanting Aztecs and Japanese, so half of my wish is fulfilled.
If they do add Aztecs, I hope they actually speak Nahuatl instead of the made up language of AoE2 and AoE3.
I’d be suprised if they didn’t, though then again it’s also suprising that after AOE2 they were like “I think we might’ve gotten conned by that “expert”…but eh screw it lets use it again anyway for AOE3”. Probably sunken cost fallacy of sorts.
I was very, very surprised by the announcement and civ choice. I would never in 100 guesses say have picked Japanese. I’m excited to see what they bring, as I know nothing about Japanese mythology. Some of the myth units look a bit weird (the face on the wagon wheel???) and I’m not sure they fit the aesthetic created so far, but we’ll see. It’ll also be weird having a titan unit that isn’t bipedal. But variety is good too I suppose!