Hi!
As there were now news since longer time on ROR I want to share with you why I think that ROR was and still is a missied opportunity for MS and for us (not only old) fans, that enjoyed AOE 1.
Let me first start with how I came to the game and what my experiences were so far:
It was in 1998, when I got in touch as a teenager with Age of Empires and I felt in love with this game from the first moment. First, I played the Demo Version on the Windows 95 CD up and spended up hours to complete not only the entire âReign of the Hitties Campaignâ, I spended hours to complete single missions with building up, carfeful exploring map etc. I still remember the adrenalin rushing, when the horn was blown when I was attacked.
From this moment on, I was a very huge Fan of Age of Empires 1, playing all Campaigns several times, including the Expansion âRise of Romeâ, which I really enjoyed as this is my favorite period of the times. Where else could you play at this time as Julius Caesar, or Crossing the Alps as Hannibal or defending the Roman Empire during the chaotic period of the so called âBarrack Emperorsâ.
Later, I played Age of Kings and although this game was the better game in nearly every aspect, the Immersion I felt with AOE 1 ROR was always at another level as with any other of the Age Series.
As time continued and even though the game was outdated in techincal aspects, I still continued to play it for years and was happy when the âU-Patchâ was released from some fans, adding the possibilty to play in higher resolutions - the side affect was, that the original campaigns were some kind of broken due to the AI-Changes (a factor that occured also in the Definitve Edition of the game).
Let me define broken: why I was able to finish the Campaigns on highest Level with conventional strategies like creating mixed units, since then I had to use to strategy of building mass of one weapon like the Heliopolis to beat some missions - a thing which I donât really like to win in this way.
However, I still continued to play the game and I was thrilled when I heared that Age of Empires will get its own Definitive Edition. I still was excited when it was released, but several bugs, pathfinding problems and broken campaigns have ruined the experience for me. I more or less gave up to play the game as I felt, there was no really effort put into fixing the problems of the game.
As I heard that MS will port Age 1 into the Age 2 engine, I was positively supprised and I hoped we now will have the opportunity to play Age 1 in a more modern engine, with all its advantages. A first gloomy mood came up, when I heard that none of the original campaigns was ported. This was a huge disappointment, because those campaigns where what Age 1 made interesting for me, in times when Internet was for the most people something crazy, that only Nerds are talking about.
Finally they deciced the add at least some of the campaigns, but there are so many campaigns missing. The three new campaigns are good, but I also enjoy the old fashion way of playing missions; e. g. I really liked missions like the original âYear of the four emperorsâ mission, where you start only with some villagers and a TC in tool age and have to build up and fortiy your base and defend the wonder at the same time.
However, after some games I can say that the game is still suffering on path finding and other issues and for my impression, the developers are doing the same as with AOE1DE - they are abonding the game.
And here I come finally why I feel that MS is missing the Opportunity:
There are a lot of part time gamers (when you becoming a bit older, other things in life have priority but we are still keep playing games and we are enjoying games, where we have great memories on).
And we are willing to buy DLC, when it providing us a value.
But if you are releasing half-finished ports/games we will keep the good memories and stop playing the game.
When I see what EA did with C&C Remastered - it was fantastic. We got so many campaigns, all official released campaigns were added to the game, also the ones from the Playstation and Nintendo 3D Versions.
In ROR we donât have this. Why not porting all Age of Empires/Rise of Rome original Campaings to the game?
Then add an section of âExtra-Missionâ with the updated missions of the Definitive Edition and the Trial Campaigns? And of course balance the campaigns, so that the AI is not attacking with all players and all troops at the same time.
This would be a good fan service. Then fixing the bugs and improve the gameplay - Iâm pretty sure more people will start to play this game again and will come back.
And finally⊠you have a period with such a potential of Campaigns you can release⊠Alexander the Great, Hannibal, ##### the Great are here some examples. And also lots of Historical Battles etc.
Iâm sure, the people will buy such DLC if the game is fixed. But for now, it looks like the Devs will abondon the game and it will end like the AOE 1 DE which is a really shame.
Sorry for the long text but above words were on my mind for longer time and I felt I had to let them out.
If you continued to read to the end, thank you and looking to hear you thoughts/opinion.
Cheers!
tamburello
