Disclaimer: The following post contains the opinions of an AOE 2DE player who has been playing the game on & off from a number of years now
So, When I think of the state of AOE 2 DE the image chimera comes to mind. Why? because the game is now three games rolled into one now.
AOE DE: For some reason Forgotten Empires & World’s Edge one day decided they weren’t going to make any DLC or maintain the game in its current form so the ported it to AOE 2 DE when they made Return to Rome
AOE 2: The base game that takes place around 800’s-1500’s AD plus or minus a century in either direction when needed.
Chronicles: I see Chronicles and the three civs they added for it as "Let’s make a Remake of AOE but lean more into the design philosophy of AOE 2 DE and have it take place in the time of Classical Antiquity
The Three Kingdoms Problem: As mentioned above I see the timeline of AOE 2 DE as around 800-1500 AD. In the case of Shu, Wei and Wu there is a “small” problem. Shu collapsed 537 years before AOE 2 DE as we currently know it takes place (With Wei collapsing 534 years and Wu collapsing 520 years before)
Solution: There are a number that come to mind some that I feel are better then others.
1.) Shu, Wu and Wei stay in the AOE 2 DE game mode: I see this as the Devs pulling a “We have extended the timeline pray we do not expand it further” to which a non-zero number of us players will collectively facepalm
2.) Shu, Wu and Wei are added to Chronicles: The only wrinkle in this to my way of thinking is that the Han Dynasty as well as the Three Kingdoms fall outside of the timeline of Classical Antiquity so timeline extensions would be needed for it to make sense
3.) They make another new game mode: Why settle for three when you can have four jokes aside, A game mode where the timeline is about 0-650 AD would probably alleviate some of the timeline problems some of these post-classical antiquity civs face