Yes, it’s a matter of getting used to it… the same thing, when the game starts, you already know the deck your rival has by clicking on his flag on the diplomacy table… so you already know that in the 1st age you can only send villagers, in the 2nd age, 2nd age units or native allies, in the 3rd age, mercenaries and forts, in the 4th age, factories and so on…
I wonder if there is a way for aoe2 to have this kinda mechanic for one civi not like we dont already have things from other aoe games already.
Well, the Sicilians have the First Crusade imperial crown that gives you 5 sergeants in 5 TCs each (similar to some AoE 3 cards) and the Burgundians have the Flemish revolution imperial crown that turns all your villagers into Flemish Militias (which would be similar to the Norse Ragnarok god power of AoM and the revolutions of AoE 3)…In future dlcs AoE 2 DE will receive many things from AoM Retold and AoE 4 will receive many things from AoE 3 DE…
I’m okay with that as they are one time technologies, not reuseable like the cards in AoE 3.
It just adds another extra layer of complication that takes way from the spirit of the game in my opinion.
It’s cool that the Burgundians & Sicilians have their own unique cool thing, but I would not like for this to become a standard.
Yes, of course, I don’t think they’ll go there again… in the DoI dlc they put bonuses that were based on several bonuses from SWGB and in TMR they put the AoM Ox Cart… the problem is going to be when they run out of ideas for new bonuses for new dlcs civs and have to rely on AoE 3 and AoE 4 mechanics (no need to add cards, just bonuses)…
They can always adapt mechanics from entirely different, unconnected games. My idea for the Khazar UU, the Arsiyah, which gained extra attack as it took damage, came from the character of Lucario in Super Smash Bros Brawl, who functions the same way.
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Yes, the idea would be to adapt bonuses from other RTS (that will work at least in those games and in the genre in general)…
Not even just RTS games. The game I mentioned is a platform fighting game. Completely different from AoE2, yet a special gimmick can be adapted to the RTS genre.
Yes, it could be, why not?..
Yes, but not overdo it. Paraphrasing as AoE3’s creator said in 2011, we tried to make a game that was 33% Age of Empires, 33% borrowed from other RTS games and 33% it’s own new thing, and it didn’t end up well.
Trying to be too many things at once can be just as dangerous as not being innovative at all, if not more.
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Of course…at most it’s 50% AoE 2 and 50% other pre-WC3 RTS xd…
I’d take that interview with a massive grain of salt. A few seconds later he also praised a completely unoriginal Facebook game called Frontierville, which unlike aoe3, is already dead.
And I remind you that in that same 2011 they launched AoE Online which, oh coincidence, had many concepts from AoE 3 (Home city-which was a persistent capital, politicians-who in the game were called advisors, power ups-which were like cards or the powers of AoM)…and so on…
AoeO when played in competitive champion mode plays way more like AoE than AoE3 as there are no in-game card systems for age up. It has an age up, train unit and manage eco playstyle with early aggression as a strong possibility. Its almost a faster paced aoe2 with how fast buildings can crumble
Spitting on the face of the Celeste team that have taken the game above and beyond is beyond disgusting… assuming that is what you’re doing. If not then my apologies.
I would say that it is more AoM type but without mythical units…
No, no, not at all, in fact I vindicate them… they achieved something wonderful like resurrecting a game that I couldn’t play at the time and I criticized it more for having cartoon graphics and being an MMO and they continued to balance and improve it with new civs and mission packs… I have AoEO in top 2, because I was surprised by the complexity it has and I stream it from time to time…
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I didn’t know aoe online is still a thing. How does this work though? Is Celeste independent from Microsoft? If yes, aren’t there copyright issues or so?
Current players in game on Steam:
AoEO: 16
AoE1 DE: 558
AoE2 (2013): 2,917
AoE2 DE: 14,132
AoE3: 521
AoE3 DE: 3,314
AoE4: 8,169
Return of Rome likely killed AoE1 DE.
I think Microsoft should really focus more on Age of Empires 2 rather than trying to reinvent the wheel with AoE4. Because AoE2 still has almost twice the number of AoE4 players. It’s just a classic.
Maybe a bigger focus on DLC. More co-op campaigns. Some sort of Survival 4 players co-op scenarios. And the pro tournaments instead of 1vs1 make some 3vs3 tournaments, bring some variety.
Celeste is independent and it has even added civs that feel incredibly official having a negative budget. Not sure most rven play through Steam
Yes, Celeste is independent from Microsoft, respecting the latter’s EULA…as long as they don’t monetize it on Steam, they can do whatever they want with AoEO…in fact, several original devs gave them assets so they could finish off the Romans, which they launched 2 years ago, and now they are developing the Indians (Mauryas obviously) and every year they launch seasonal events (Summer in July, Halloween in October and now in December, Winter or Christmas)…
Steam does not show the players who play outside of it (the Celeste launcher per se)… I am on the Celeste discord and there are like 2000 players… that is, the same number of players play in AoEO as in AoM EE…
It was already dead before… the last time I played online, less than 1000 people played it and they were all just point lobbies games, they never played…
One thing does not take away the other…they are 2 different teams, they can continue focusing on AoE 4 and continue releasing dlcs for AoE 2 (they have been doing it for 2 years)…AoE 2 is a classic, but the idea is that the saga continues to evolve to attract new players and remain relevant in the genre and continue making it evolve, although sometimes it turns out better than others…my 3 favorite AoE are precisely the ones that came out after AoE 2 (AoM, AoE 3 and AoEO, not in that order precisely)…
Of course… in fact the civs that were added after 2021 are influenced by the civs that are already in the game (the Romans are the ones that were already in development by Robot Entertainment until the closure of AoEO in 2014 and the Indians are the first absolutely new civ made from scratch by Celeste)…
So it’s a project of passion. Really, Microsoft should hire them and relaunch AoEO with their version.
That’s true, but for definitive editions I think the numbers are more of less correct. AoE2 DE is still the most popular AoE by a huge margin.
I think the fair thing to do was make an update in AoE1 DE that adds the features & new civ from Return of Rome. Otherwise it sucks that you’re playing a downgraded option. I haven’t played much RoR/AoE1 DE.
They could easily add new civs to make AoE1 DE/RoR feel more new:
- Split Greek into Athenians & Spartans (we already have Macedonians)
- Dacians
- Gauls
- Germani
I think this is what kept AoE2 DE alive and what would revive AoE 1 DE/RoR. It’s not a bad game, but hardly got any content compared to its older brother.
I believe it does. Everyone has limited resources, including Microsoft. Judging by the numbers, I think AoE2 DE attracted more new players than AoE4. It just has a better gameplay imo. And the AoE4’s civ variants, just screams lack of inspiration in a setting where you have tons of inspiration to take from.
Passion can do wonders.
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Yes, I proposed in the forum that Microsoft hire them to join FE and that they release AoEO DE in 2026 for the 15th anniversary of the game…incidentally, since they know the game engine, the experience would also serve for 3 DE and AoM Retold…
Of course, of course… but because AoE 2 is already a timeless classic and AoM and AoE 3 never had their chance properly (when AoM came out, many players were still playing The Conquerors and they skipped it, because it was totally a spinoff and with AoE 3 was directly rejected it by the players calling it “colonial AoM”)…
Yes, I thought they were going to give a dlc to AoE 1 DE, but well, as they were with the remasters, they postponed it and they missed the boat and they said “well, we’ll put it in AoE 2 DE and we’ll try again”…
Yes, I don’t think the Greeks are divided because they represent Ancient Greece and the Greek city states…the Macedonians are something else, they represent the kingdom of Macedonia and the Alexandrian empire…the Dacians, Gauls and Germani I agree …later on, I would add the Celts and the Norse…
Yes, I understand…but Microsoft is a company and it will want to continue squeezing the IP with new games and new dlcs…thi### as they are…
Certainly yes… I thought the game was never coming back and they resurrected it by doing reverse engineering (they took the assets and put them on a customized server)…