It’s been months since the Three Kingdoms DLCs has come out and at this point it seems it’ll never get any overhauls or reworks in what it represents.
So I wanted to made this thread asking y’all how you feel about it now?
Personally I’m mixed, I really like the new units and aesthetics of the DLC. But I do think the 3k civs themselves feel rather out of place and it’s rather immersion breaking seeing them in the Civ selection.
That being said I am more lenient towards what are essentially sub-factions as a someone who is familiar with the concept in games like Tiberium Wars and the Mental Omega mod for Red Alert 2.
Though conclusively I wouldn’t ever get the DLC itself since the campaign is a boring retelling of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the aspect I like most about the DLC is already in the scenario editor.
How about the rest of you? Don’t be afraid to speak candidly.
Wu, Shu, and Wei should be removed from ranked. They’re good as campaigns and should be pickable in lobbies. Kitan and Jurchen can stay in ranked because they are true medieval civilizations. Also, a new Asian DLC should be released featuring true medieval civilizations to replace the removed Wu, Shu, and Wei.
Also, please don’t add any more hero units to the game. Don’t add strange units and mechanics without elite upgrades. Personally, one of the main reasons I love this game is its realism and historical accuracy. There are many RTS games, but none are as realistic as this one. Playing this game doesn’t feel like a game to me; I truly feel like I’m fighting a battle.
I find it funny that a DLC meant to attract more Chinese players doesn’t even include a new Sinitic architectural set. The current “East Asian” fits mostly Japan (except for walls) and perhaps Korea, it’s distracting the context of China (whether medieval or ancient), Vietnam, Mongolia, etc.
It’s named “Three Kingdoms” yet the campaigns take place before the eponymous kingdoms are founded. They don’t do a good job in explaining the differences between the regions (not to mention Liu Bei leading the Shu before ever having set foot in Sichuan), nor do they present a compelling narrative (dozens of named characters with no introduction). In order to really give the period and the people justice, you’d need a grand campaign Chronicles-style.
Wu&Wei&Shu in ranked would work better if each represented its respective region throughout wider history, not just the narrow window of about a century. (No, giving them wonders from the medieval period doesn’t count.) And instead of adding Han-ruled sub-factions alongside the existing Chinese, a split like India would’ve worked way better. Make the existing Chinese represent the imperial core in Zhongyuan, the Central Plains, use Wu to represent Jiangnan, that is the coastal South Chinese culture, and so on.
Heroes in ranked would be fair only if every existing civ got them rather than just the three special boys. Why Liu Bei but not La Hire? Cao Cao but not Jadwiga? (And even then I’d make them trainable at Wonders, not Castles.)
Better than chronicle, the same never touch the worst DLC ever. 3k is better thousand time. Rome, Hun , goth the same. :)) Sparta with Apolo, Athena have cavalry and Sparta not :))) haizzz. Free for me, I would never touch it
Yeah, it’s funny they did 3K how they did because the Chinese people’s reaction to that probably isn’t even taking offense to it or getting excited about it.
The reaction was probably like: “Hey they did something with Three Kingdoms, at least there’s no giant enemy crabs in it.”
This sort of crushing apathy is probably the worst reaction you can get from a targeted demographic.
I still think that the three 3 kingdom “civs” should be moved to their own mode, lets call it Legends.
Their inclusion in the main game and the squandering of the highly anticipated East Asian DLC feels for me as the low point of AoE II.
A waste of a golden opportunity to make the long asked Tibetan civ from the Conquerors era…3 Kingdoms being disguised as an “East Asian” DLC instead of making it a seperate thing for Chronicles.
I still think its generally slop; 3k civs don’t belong in the game and the 2 medieval civs were half-baked. That being said I’m not letting it tarnish my excitement for the new South America DLC, or my opinion of the game as a whole. I know they probably won’t do anything about the 3k civs (honestly as soon as they sold it they couldn’t remove 3/5 of the civs back out of ranked) but I do hope they go back and give Jurchens and Khitans new campaigns and voicelines someday (and split Tanguts off from the Khitans instead of the franken-civ we have now)
Also this. I’m honestly not worried about this, I think the hero units in ranked was always going to be a 3k only thing, but I certainly hope that they don’t ever consider doing it again. The one saving grace of the hero units is that they are so overpriced for what they provide I don’t get the impression they’re ever seen in ranked, at least at the high level.
Also this. I do genuinely think what we got in 3k was parts of what was supposed to be 2 seperate DLCs, I do hope they come back around and do the rest of the medieval stuff, and add a new Sinitic/mainland E. Asian archtecture too at that time. The new South American architecture coming gives me more hope than I’ve had in years of that actually happening too
You know nothing. Go to bilibili and weibo, activate google translation options, and see how much the chinese hate 3K. They are even more disgusted and violent about it than what you’ll ever read on this forum.
Yep I totally agree, we need a new continental East Asian set, and the current East Asian set can be used only by the Japanese and maybe the Koreans.
I’d rather have them replaced by non-Sinitic civs around China who had interacted with the Chinese in history, such as the Tanguts, the Bo/Pu (Nanzhao/Dali), the Chams, the Siamese/Tais, the Gokturks, etc. Great opportunity for introducing valid medieval East & SE Asian civs wasted.
I’ve seen this mentioned here sometimes by others, and while I don’t doubt you guys, I’d love to see proof. I imagine if Chinese players spoke out strongly on Reddit, there would be a better chance the devs would resolve the 3K issue. Of course, I might be being naive, but it wouldn’t hurt to try, right?
Yeah that and online communities tend to be the minority in terms of the overall player base of a game. Especially for AoE2 community in china since it’s a subsection of a community that isn’t that big.
I REALLY hope the new DLC doesn’t have heroes. Three Kingdoms can’t be undone, sadly, but at least I hope the future looks brighter for The Last Chieftains
The campaign it has is not Aoe2 style but Chronicles style and it doesn’t even properly cover the 3k period.
Adds heroes to ranked.
Khitanguts.
No new architecture set. (whereas chronicles has already done four of them within a span of two years)
No new voice set.
At this point, I just need a way to buy Jurchens and Khitanguts. I hope 3k will be moved to their own game mode where all the magical short lived kingdoms can do their own thing and add Wakanda while you are at it..
