Why People Love AoE 2

This game has really well-made single player content. The campaigns, both the old and the new are interestingly designed. I also like the fact that the devs reworked them in DE, since usually SP content is second priority at best for other games.
Also like the new and improving civ balance. The civilizations are on their way to becoming more and more distinct and unique.

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I think the visual design was also an important part of the success of Age 2.

A lot of people fall in love with Age 2 when they see the villages, the castles and the Paladins. When I was in school, people came to ask me for the name of THAT beautiful game. They want to build and defend their mighty empires.

Beyond the graphics, there is a certain beauty about how units move and behave.

In a game like Age 3, it doesn’t matter how much hype it receives, a promotional casting would still look bizarre with all those ugly buildings that look dirty. Plus the clunky cavalry units would never hypnotize the audience like Paladins, or the elegant Mangudai with their superhero capes. In age 3, it looks like everyone woke up late to the fight. Some people tell you these things don’t matter, but they do :slight_smile:

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Medieval armies were just objectively more beautiful than Early Modern armies. Specially if they stay true to how actual Medieval militaries looked, and not a Hollywood brown-tinted version were everyone wears mud-coloured rags.

Medieval equipment and heraldry was actually very colourful and intricate.

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I didn’t appreciate AoK a whole lot when it came out, because I was younger, and way more impressed by Blizzard games with their flashy cinematics and dramatic stories.

I’ve come to appreciate AoK a lot more as I got older, because

a) I love history, and the editor and the amazing scenario design scene has created literally endless amount of content reflecting various parts of world history.
b) The game’s mechanics allow me to relax, play at my own pace, and basically do what I want. There’s something inherently therapuetic in firing up a campaign-length scenario (like a Battle of the Forgotten, for example), and then sitting back, turtling, teching up, watching your fortress base grow before emerging with a deathball and spreading all over the beautifully designed maps. The light city-builder elements give AoK that immense sense of gradual progression and expansion and building an empire you don’t get in most RTS games- that’s usually reserved for Grand Strategy and 4X/ TBS titles.

It’s a just a feeling no other game really has. Except Empire Earth, I guess, but the chances of Activision givign that one a visual makeover are slim to none.

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