There are a few nice changes compared to Age of Empires 2. The nations are more distinct, and you have different Age Up mechanics. And you have a base building set up that is unique for each nation (also, Boars are different, which is nice).
History shows that large updates, like Age of Empires 3, are duds.
I’m very grateful they did not go full Age of Empires 3, which too me, was disappointing. Especially with how fun Age of Mythology was.
We can all claim we want something new and different and unique, but honestly, do we?
AoE 1 was limited to 50 units. Age of Empires 2, 200 is standard but could be set to higher though.
I think most RTS games have a pretty low limit on units though partly because of processing, but partly because of the limits on human attention for the amount of Micro that the game creators think is reasonable.
In Age 1 (the only one in the series I played extensively), I liked the 50 unit limit. You could manually set it higher, and some multiplayer matches set it higher, but I always hated it. 50 units was just enough that I could divide my attention well.
For me, very much so. I don’t need a RTS retread because I already have the RTS classics for that. AOE2:DE is perfect for when I just want a classic with some modern niceties.
Can’t speak to AOE4 because I haven’t played it, but if it’s just AOE2 again and doesn’t have things that make it different and unique, that’d be disappointing for me personally.
I only got a peek at the beta, but I’ll try to play some AoE 4 this week (since X Box for PC was only 1 dollar), but there do seem to be a fair number of differences.
Age up is more like Age of Mythology, as you get two choices, each bringing a different benefit, and unique to each of the nations.
The mongols seem to be able to move their buildings around
You can station units on top of walls, and they get a benefit to their range because of it.
For one nation, research is free, but slow, and requirings placing buildings next to speed up the process.
The Chinese can build dynasties it seems and collect taxes from their buildings.
But, it does seem like we are back to using the 4 basic resources, and although the dark ages are much shorter, and no longer contain boar luring, you still have sheep (although they aren’t good at exploring anymore).
So… is it the same or different? I think it might lean to different enough.
Darn it. My skirmish match with the beta couldn’t have been more whelming, but I really want this game. The unexpectedly positive reviews are part of that. I think AoE4’s appeal is increased significantly because traditional RTSs never release anymore. The last one was the final Starcraft 2 expansion in 2015, right? The level of abstraction that leads to battles consisting of politely poking enemies while wheat harvesting is undeterred, that is novel in 2021. The thought of diving into a modern RTS and experiencing all the intricacies of the unit relationships and tech trees in 30 minute increments…man, it’s been too long.
Playing the full game. Looks gorgeous, but it has the same issue that Age 3 had, which is that everything seems pokey and slow at default speeds. Everything is so much faster in Age 2.
I resisted hot keys for so long but I finally gave up and now use at least some basic hot keys in Age 2. Even moderate skill level Age is effectively impossible without hot keys because you won’t be able to produce stuff fast enough.
Currently they are not customizable, which is a complaint brought up by the community, but it is good based and I found it fairly easy to get used to during the beta.
I’m happy to see this is out… it’s the perfect Game Pass treat. I’m a casual fan of the series with basically no expectations so there’s no chance of disappointment.
But did we already have the “Holy shit, 218 gigabytes?!” conversation?
