I know when the beta started there were news reports that the performance was awful, so maybe they had to scale back a little? It doesn’t look anywhere near that dark on my screen, though I was excited about the UI changes so not seeing them in the full release is a bummer - I’m pretty sure I saw them in the odd beta video I was watching, so that’s confusing.
The models look fantastic, the animations are the same (I assume for parity with the original game, which you can play vs. other classic owners - which is a bummer for me as a guy that only wants this for skirmish/single-player I’d have preferred updated animations as well), the sound and quality of life stuff is welcome indeed (some of which may have been patched in over the years, admittedly - it’s been a decade since I played this).
It was only thirty bucks, so I don’t think I was expected a Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age type remaster or anything, and in that regard I think it’s pretty good and looks great - and it’s been a treat to get back into, as well!
That’s shitty, though to be fair I haven’t noticed it myself. Not that I might have, really - it’s been awhile since I played this. But I was playing when your reply popped up and I was enjoying the look and feel of the animations we do have - like Water Elementals look fantastic, they ripple and shit, it’s cool.
I haven’t tried this, but it’s on my wishlist. This kind of RTS isn’t really my thing any longer - what appealed to me about Warcraft 3 years ago, and still does, is the smaller unit counts and hero units that leveled up and had items to use/equip. I still think that’s cool. I’ve always been more of a Warcraft guy than a historical setting guy, I suppose.
Just to clarify - I’m not trying to defend Blizzard’s release of the game. Folks here really seem to want to pick it apart and want it to be bad, and I don’t want to try and rain on that parade. I’m just saying I grabbed it last night, played it a few hours then and then this morning, and am enjoying my return to Azeroth. All that said, I’ll let you guys look around for some ways in which it falls short to discuss. Enjoy!
I don’t want it to be bad. As much as I dislike Blizzard’s politics, I don’t want this to be a poor version of the game. I loved Warcraft 3, and I wanted a good HD version that would entice new players to discover the greatness of the campaign, and maybe encourage them to try other games in the RTS genre.
I’m glad you’re enjoying it, but you have nostalgia on your side. This release just seems like a half-baked port of the older version, especially when compared to the work the contributors made for AoE2DE. Maybe Blizzard should’ve just handed the reins off to some fan devs? I don’t understand how this release justifies what they previewed.
I was on the fence, leaning to not buying this because of Blizzard’s terrible-ness as a company. But now seeing how shoddy and half-assed this thing looks…yikes.
No way. What the hell happened to Blizzard? In other days, they’d never release something this poorly thrown together.
This just looks like a terrible money-grabbing cash-in.
There was a time when I doubt Blizzard would have done this without cutting corners the way they have. They’d have either gone in all the way, or not done it at all. As Nick says up-thread, the AOE2 re-master/deluxe edition feels like a much more effort-ful and complete package on release. I realize that sometimes comparisons are unfair, but I can’t help but think that Microsoft put more care into their RTS reissue than Blizzard did.
DE has its issues as well, but MS and Forgotten Empires are trying hard to get things fixed. It is also their 2nd shot at doing it, and it still falls short in some areas that are important to the online community. It apparently has sold between 1M - 2M copies on Steam so hopefully they will keep pouring resources into it while AoE4 is worked on by Relic.
From what I played last night Reforged didn’t seem that bad.
It will be interesting to see what AoE4 turns into. They need to appeal to the folks that love AoE2, but also come up with something modern. I’d still dive in to AoE2 if you are in the mood.
I’ve never been a fan of Blizzard. I never connected to any of their games, and in the digital age, the fact that they don’t publish on Steam/GOG (with a few recent, belated exceptions) means I never even see their stuff. But I’ve always admired (from afar) their commitment to polish. I just find it fascinating that they’re at the point that even for a remaster, they can’t reach the polish of their olden days.
Watched a stream of it for a bit. Looked like Warcraft 3 with modern resolution support. Im in the camp of not seeing what makes this $30. I’ve seen modders do more impressive work on other old games.
Hey, I guess Blizzard learned their lesson with Dota.
However, where Blizzard has gone a bit further than other policies, including those written up by Epic Games and Riot, is having instant and total copyright ownership of all custom games. What that means is any custom game made in Warcraft 3: Reforged cannot be replicated anywhere else. This gives Blizzard the power to shut down any standalone versions of custom games made in Reforged.
Does it allow you to download Reforged? In the options it is possible to flip between classic and reforged graphics, so I wonder if they have an install option that forces the former.
