Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (AoE1 HD rerelease)

[Lacrymas]

I think it's Win10 exclusive only for a little while, I doubt they'll shoot themselves in the foot like this. I've been itching to play some RTS lately, but never played AoE1, is the campaign good? Is it worth waiting for the HD version for the other OSes?

 

[thesheeep]

I think it's Win10 exclusive only for a little while, I doubt they'll shoot themselves in the foot like this.

This is Microsoft.
Ever tried using Skype recently? It has become a bugfest par excellence, getting worse from version to version.
And that is an app almost everyone uses.

While Age of Empires is little more to them than an experiment.
Why wouldn't they let it stay exclusive. Why would they even bother thinking more about it post release?

 

[fantadomat]

I think it's Win10 exclusive only for a little while, I doubt they'll shoot themselves in the foot like this. I've been itching to play some RTS lately, but never played AoE1, is the campaign good? Is it worth waiting for the HD version for the other OSes?

They do that stupid shit every few years,they lock some game to a shitty win version to boost sales of the version. I remember how some of the halo shit was only for vista.

 

[Lacrymas]

Funnily enough, nobody I know uses Skype anymore. I have to plunge into the cesspool that is Facebook to contact people. Or call them, but fuck that. Shame, really. Anyway, this HD rerelease looks like quite a lot of work went into it, it doesn't seem lazy or a blatant cash-grab. It also begs the question of "what is it an experiment of?" There are already HD versions of both AoE2 and Age of Mythology, so they can't be testing whether HD versions of those will sell well. If they never put it out on other OSes, it will be a failed experiment regardless of what they were trying to test with it.

 

[thesheeep]

It also begs the question of "what is it an experiment of?" There are already HD versions of both AoE2 and Age of Mythology, so they can't be testing whether HD versions of those will sell well. If they never put it out on other OSes, it will be a failed experiment regardless of what they were trying to test with it.

Good question.
My bet would be to test this store exclusivity concept. Maybe they want to see how many people will even bother using that tragedy of a store.

 

[fantadomat]

It also begs the question of "what is it an experiment of?" There are already HD versions of both AoE2 and Age of Mythology, so they can't be testing whether HD versions of those will sell well. If they never put it out on other OSes, it will be a failed experiment regardless of what they were trying to test with it.

Good question.
My bet would be to test this store exclusivity concept. Maybe they want to see how many people will even bother using that tragedy of a store.

Doubt that they are more than a few thousands. AoE is a niche game and most of its fans are not very modern minded individuals that will jump to win10 for it.

 

[mwnn85]

A shame this is a bit of a screw up of a release.
All they really had to do was chuck it up on STEAM along with Age of Kings and Rise of Nations; I guess they didn't want to pay Gabe the 30% cut.

Obviously the numerous enhancements in the sequel make it far superior to the original game but it still had some decent scenarios.
Always liked the Stone Age start and didn't mind the dodgy unit balance.
Empire Earth seemed clunky to me by comparison.
No remastering interest for Rise of Legends?

No idea how they've managed to bloat the size of this old game to 17GB!
Apparently you need 16GB of RAM in order to enable the 4x Zoom Detail level
The game works on Windows 10 LTSB 2016 but it shuts down automatically if you're online.
The main menu/scenario menus have a really amateurish look to them - generic white fonts and massive dialog boxes.
Probably should've just made it as mod pack / expansion for Age of Kings HD.
I do like the way you can switch the game between classic and remastered modes - like the Monkey Island remakes.
The music is as memorable as always.
Could've been a lot better, far from definitive at the moment.

 

[thesheeep]

No remastering interest for Rise of Legends?

I loved that game. Such a unique setting!

But it basically didn't sell at all, and is barely known by people, so this will never happen.

 

[Jugashvili]

may you have a happy existence in the anals of history.

A felicitous misspelling given the circumstances.

 

[Lagi]

AoE1 was unbalanced as fuck. If you want something balanced, play AoE2, even the most unbalanced of the new DLC civilizations in that game are more balanced than AoE1.

If you play AoE1 just go Assyrians and roflstomp everyone with your ultrafast archers.

spend some time playing AoE 2 HD [i have it on steam, was one of the game that i buy and never play]:

1. priest have 2x glorious tech to defend vs convert. Other temple tech seems also more rationale.
2. where the FUCK is my HD? view port is too small, and i can not change it. compare to AoE1 Upatch i'm very disappointed [yes, resolution is less important for me than the priest nerf]
3. the map RNG is bullshit, 2x it create small sea not connected to big ocean. Even AI build port in puddle.
4. economy feel small. I sending half village to wood cutting and they cannot make forestry clearance till game end.
5. units are better selected. no dead-ends like slinger, even the swordsman are kinda useful.
6. i cannot garrison units in barrack, archery range nor stable [even if there is 0/10 door symbol], i can do it in town hall.
7. land trading ! although market now suck, where are other upgrades?
8. farm improvement: auto reseed + walkable. although they are too big. also fishing ships has sea-farm equivalent.
9. blacksmith upgrade with +1 to damage is nice gradation, while +1 missile range [with dmg] upgrade feels wrong.
10. buildings are bigger - it also decrease the feelable epicness scale of game.
​

AoE2 is better. but i like the ambient of AoE1 way more [ancient civilization, prehistoric clubbing, wonders, chariots, carved in stone architectural style]

 

[Jugashvili]

4. economy feel small. I sending half village to wood cutting and they cannot make forestry clearance till game end.​

​

I can't help reading this in a Prehistoric chieftain voice

 

[fantadomat]

4. economy feel small. I sending half village to wood cutting and they cannot make forestry clearance till game end.​

​

I can't help reading this in a Prehistoric chieftain voice

 

[Jugashvili]

4. economy feel small. I sending half village to wood cutting and they cannot make forestry clearance till game end.​

​

I can't help reading this in a Prehistoric chieftain voice

Wtf I'm blue now

 

[JarlFrank]

AoE1 was unbalanced as fuck. If you want something balanced, play AoE2, even the most unbalanced of the new DLC civilizations in that game are more balanced than AoE1.

If you play AoE1 just go Assyrians and roflstomp everyone with your ultrafast archers.

6. i cannot garrison units in barrack, archery range nor stable [even if there is 0/10 door symbol], i can do it in town hall.

​

​

You need to set a gathering point on the barracks, archery range or stable itself, then created units will be garrisoned. Once out of the building, they cannot be garrisoned in it again.

 

[Lagi]

You need to set a gathering point on the barracks, archery range or stable itself, then created units will be garrisoned. Once out of the building, they cannot be garrisoned in it again.

for what you want to do that? surprise base defense?
isnt healing the point of garrisoning units? also what for you garrison units inside battering ram?

 

[JarlFrank]

You need to set a gathering point on the barracks, archery range or stable itself, then created units will be garrisoned. Once out of the building, they cannot be garrisoned in it again.

for what you want to do that? surprise base defense?
isnt healing the point of garrisoning units? also what for you garrison units inside battering ram?

You can garrison your units in the barracks/range/stable if, for example, the enemy currently has 5 archers in your base and you have no units at all yet and want to build up a defensive force. This way you can prevent the enemy from picking off your units one by one as you build them.

Garrisoning infantry in a battering ram makes it faster.

 

[fantadomat]

Garrisoning infantry in a battering ram makes it faster.

Playing the game for years and didn't know that. The codex is truly an abyss filled with knowledge.

 

[mbv123]

Just remembered that this existed and it actually got released, check it out on open seas and it's 17 FUCKING GIGABYTES
Not that I care since I'm not using W10 spyware but how the fuck is a remaster for a 20 year old game 17 GB?

 

[JarlFrank]

Because optimization and compression are lost arts.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I was about to buy this, but then I read the 1* reviews and noticed that it's a 16GB download for a 20 years old game, which lent additional credibility to the reviews and decided to wait.

 

[vota DC]

I think old aoe was as good as aoe 2 before the conquerors. Sure aoe 2 had unique units, but aoe tech tree was more different. For example in barracks Egyptian had only axeman and short swordsman, Hittite had broad swordsman too, Minoan had long swordsman, other civs had legions, Choson had legions with hp bonus. Some cities had cavalry archer, other didn't. Some had elephants, other didn't. Same with chariot, composite bowman, heavy cavalry, ballista and even hoplite (Persian lacked academy).
What about vanilla aoe2? Everyone had cavalry archers, scorpions, knights, spear line, footmen, foot archer and skirmisher. The difference was in the number of upgrades and often there was only one civilization that was exception (Turks were the only without pikemen and elite skirmisher, teutons were the only without light cavalry, persians were the only without two handed swordsman). Only kind of units that weren't common for all civs were gundpowder units and camels.
With the conquerors they added two civs that didn't use cavalry at all and unique technology helped to make civs more unique in some cases.


Now about this definitive edition I don't understand the balance.
For example Hittite in the original game were overpowered. Now they get only +3 range for warships instead of +4. But this just ruin their war galleys in Iron Age while in Tool Age a +3 bonus is huge. Why they didn't use a +1 per age bonus system?
They removed centurion from Hittite. Did they used him? Centurion are for countering armored elephants, but Hittite have armored elephants and their archer with bonus attack can kill enemy centurions.

 

[mwnn85]

Looking at the game files, they've basically included the whole game three or four times in the download - one copy for each in-game zoom setting.
Rather than downscaling or doing something else that's actually sane.
The RAM requirements are a joke as well - you can't run the game on the highest zoom setting without it. (16GB)

Massive disappointment. Brilliant game back in the day. Improved upon in every area by the sequel. The third game and Mythology were a bit hit and miss but still weren't terrible.
Rise of Nations was probably the last great Microsoft RTS.

Even if AoE2 HD feels a bit dated; it's infinitely better than this rubbish.
If the chariot engine ever gets finished you'll be able to run AoE 1 on a toaster.
There's openage as well which looks even more promising.

Avoid these crap Windows 10 store games like the plague.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

https://www.ageofempires.com/news/age-of-empires-definitive-editions-are-coming-to-steam/

Age of Empires: Definitive Editions are coming to Steam!

Joe Homes
May 30, 2019

Today we announced that we will be bringing Age of Empires I, II, and III Definitive Editions to Steam! You can check out Phil Spencer’s full piece, including more exciting PC news, on Xbox Wire here.

The Age of Empires franchise has long been at the center of the PC gaming community, cherished not only by us, but by our millions of players across multiple generations. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Age of Empires II, we are excited to share the results of our continued dedication to the games you know and love, remastered with the latest tech in game development.

In addition, we want you to be able to enjoy these games no matter where you play. By releasing Age of Empires I, II, and III: Definitive Editions to Steam, we are letting you, our fans, decide where you want to play, explore, and create new experiences with our games.

More information on the Steam releases of the Age of Empires: Definitive Editions will be released soon. Click here to enroll in the Age of Empires Insider Program to stay up to date on all the exciting news and developments for the Age of Empires franchise!

Thanks, Microsoft Epic Games!

 

[Black Angel]

Since the beginning of Epic's shenanigans, there's been a lot more apparent backstabbing all over the place lately.

 

[LESS T_T]