With the closure of the online mode for Age of Empires III (released in 2005) and its subsequent withdrawal from the market, it’s worth analyzing which aspects could be salvaged and reintroduced into the most recent version of the game, released in 2020.
Personally, I quite liked the older interface. It clearly displayed which friends were online, the number of active players, and even provided interesting historical data in the top right corner. Overall, it seemed more vibrant and dynamic.
In contrast, the current interface suffers from various issues. The ‘refresh room’ button appears to be non-functional. Real-time information seems delayed, and the game often requires a restart after each match due to memory leaks, which can negatively impact subsequent gameplay.
While I recognize that this might be another overlooked forum post, I’m writing this more as a tribute to the old game than as a formal request.
Please note that this analysis focuses on quality-of-life improvements rather than the core gameplay experience.
11 Likes
Somehow I always remembered the pathing being better.
Aside from that, as you mentioned the player interface was better.
Edit: missed that last line.
1 Like
Things I like about AoE III 2005
- Multiplayer/Social UI
- Natives Gameplay
- Home City leveling and progression
1 Like
Basically, just one thing:
I could be runned on low spect set ups. Yeah, I’m broke, problem?
1 Like
I love the charm of all the little accents and details everywhere. DE is more sleek and modern which isn’t necessarily bad, but certain areas could use a little spice.
3 Likes
I really wish I could play with the old graphics settings, just for performance reasons.
I would also like to see the cards arranged in a conceptual tree like in the original game, depending on their purpose and category. It was easier to identify the purpose and role each card played in the game.
If you could include new mechanics, features or functions in AOE-3, what would you implement? - #128 by OperaticShip743
6 Likes
Best features of legacy is that it didn’t have all the DE units and civs. And generally if you clicked on a button in the ui or in game, your click was registered.
1 Like
I’ve written this down many times, but I’ll keep repeating it. Thanks for this thread by the way.
- Show correct online indicators in the friends list (don’t link to Steam, but to the actual ingame online status);
- Improve the whispering system;
- Show ELO rating on the loading screen when launching into a game;
- Queuing for a ranked game shouldn’t stop while clicking another tab.
See also:
1. NEEDED User Interface FIXES!
2. UI refresh and improvement
3. Why the (online) interface of DE should be improved
4. [Document] Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition URGENT UI improvements & requests
5. Let's talk about the DE interface once again
11 Likes
