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Age of Empires Definitive Edition

2K views 19 replies 6 participants last post by  Cybertox 
#1 ·
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Developer: Forgotten Empires
Publisher: Microsoft
Release Date: TBA
Engine: Genied Engine
Genre: Real-Time-Strategy
Platforms: PC Exclusive

Trailer



Screenshots

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Civilizations

Assyrians - Restore the might of the Assyrian Empire under Adad-nirari II and terrify your enemies as the supreme Assyrian archers darken the sun with the shafts of their arrows.

Babylonians - Walk through the Ishtar Gate, ascend ziggurats, and explore the great city of Babylon, a testament to your people's mastery of stone masonry. Its palace garden, a wonder of the world, was truly paradise on earth.

Carthaginians - Lead Carthage from city-state to empire and challenge the might of Rome with menacing war elephants and an indomitable navy.

Choson - Control the advanced kingdom of Gojoseon and expand your territory by alliance or through the might of your powerful swordsmen.

Egyptians - Sail the Nile River, construct massive pyramids to send your pharaohs to godhood, and lead armies of powerful charioteers as you vie for control of the rich lands of Canaan and the Levant.

Greeks - Establish colonies using your mobile fleets, resolve internal conflicts, and command armies of swift hoplites as you expand your domain.

Hittites - Pouring out of the rocky hills of Anatolia, the Hittites were the terror of the Near East. Lay waste to enemy cities with armies of skilled bowmen and durable siege engines.

Macedonians - Relive the conquests of Alexander the Great at the head of an army of disciplined infantry and powerful siege engines, building a vast empire stretching from Greece to India.

Minoans - Construct vast fleets of ships and build a Mediterranean trade network that will be commemorated on the vibrant frescos within your grand palaces.

Palmyrans - Rising out of the sands of the Syrian Desert, Palmyra built its hegemony on trade and commerce. Defend your caravans and raid your enemies with swift camelry bred in the harsh desert.

Persians - Throw off the Median yoke, conquer Babylon, and build a diverse empire stretching from India and Egypt to Thrace. Powerful elephants will trample anything that stands in your way!

Phoenicians - Invent the alphabet, fashion sturdy ships from the famous cedars of Lebanon, and lead voyages throughout the Mediterranean. Distant lands and the vast seas beyond the Pillars of Heracles await!

Romans - Draw your gladius and emulate the tactical brilliance of Caesar and Trajan as you lead the fabled Roman legions from humble beginnings to mastery of Europe and the Mediterranean world.

Shang - Reap the economic benefits of the fertile Yellow River valley and construct massive fortifications to repulse nomadic invasions from the northern steppe.

Sumerians - Cultivate the rich soils of Mesopotamia, invent writing and the wheel, and wage the wars of Gilgamesh and Sargon. No enemy city will withstand your fearsome siege engines!

Yamato - Take command of sturdy fleets and large cavalry armies as you vie to unify your hardworking people and forge the Empire of the Rising Sun.

Reviews

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Requirements

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#5 ·
I know for myself that I am really interested in the game, and from what I have seen so far everything appeals to me except for the fact that it is exclusive to Windows 10 and the Windows Store. The remastered graphics are absolutely gorgeous, the game was already extremely impressive for its time in the original version, I mean look at the buildings and their architectural design. The water in my opinion looks considerably better and has more realistic elements to it. In the original, I disliked the deep blue because it felt like it was all one level of depth across the whole map, there were no transitions in depth. Also, in those places, water is nowhere near as dark blue as portrayed in the original version of the game. I like the transition of colour as it gets deeper and deeper. The choice of using palette colours its a matter of preference, I personally dont mind it at all. My only gripe with the visuals is how gold looks in the game on units like the Cataphract, looks more like bronze, too dark and brown. The catapults also look worse than in the original, but there is still hope for potential improvements before the release of the game.

I applied for closed beta testing, hopefully I will get opted in.

Here you can see some screenshots of the game in native 4K.

Babylonian architecture in the remaster
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#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deacon View Post

Lets not forget age of mythology hope that gets the remastered treatment to, you can buy it on steam but its way to expensive, 30 euros for an old game is way to much, I remember I bought Age of Empires HD and the Expansion, for like 15 euros on a steam sale.
Isnt there already a remastered edition? Pretty sure there is, saw it on Steam multiple times. What I cant stand about Age of Empires 3 and Age of Mythology are the insanely huge UIs which take 60% of the screen space.
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by PsikyoJebus View Post

Let us know how it goes! Last I remember the original AoE didn't age well because the controls were somewhat cumbersome.

Also...the game is 16 GB? What the hell? Wasn't the original about 125 mb in size?
AoE Rise of Rome aged very well, make sure you grab the UPatch
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Will report back with my initial impressions about the Beta of the Definitive Edition.
 
#19 ·
I was able to spend a considerable amount of time today testing the Beta. While I was really impressed by some certain things, I have also been severely disappointed. Unfortunately I cannot share any game footage from the Beta build, I was made aware of that before installing the game. So I will have to replace pictures with words. Another thing to keep in mind is that I have been playing Age of Empires: Rise of Rome regularly for the past few months, so I am really familiar with the original (classic) version too and can draw direct comparisons very well.

Lets start with what is good about the game. The new destruction of buildings is phenomenal and a sight to behold, it never gets tired and is some of the most satisfying things I had the opportunity to witness in a video game. The way thousands of bricks and planks collapse unto the ground and stay there as ruins is amazing and adds a lot of value to immersion. This is by far the best thing about the game and so far my favourite one. StarCraft 2 cant even come close to this level of building destruction even though it is also impressive when running the game with maxed out models and particles, but as mentioned, the Definitive Edition of AoE is a whole another league in comparison.

Vegetation and terrain is a big step-up and looks absolutely gorgeous, even though randomly generated custom melee maps look weird because of how they are generated, everything in this aspect looks stunning. The different types of forests, the variety of tree types and the way the terrain represents different parts of the world is truly impressive. Campaign scenarios will be astonishing, I can already see that now. So vegetation and terrain assets get a big thumbs up from my side.

Now you have the ability to A-Move (Attack Move), a modern RTS command which wasnt available at the time. Buildings also have rally points now which is also another great addition. Managing skirmishes and rallying units is much more convenient and functional now.

Farms are now traversable and are no longer solid buildings. A lot more convenient and significantly easier when it comes down to managing your farm food production. Replenishing them is also easier but still a manual process and cannot be automated.

Unfortunately enough, thats it. There is nothing else good about it.

Before talking about what is so terribly wrong about the Definitive Edition of AoE, I must state that I have no idea how recent the build that I am playing is, The game is releasing on the 19th of October, that is next Thursday. Whether any drastic changes have been made to the retail version is something I do not know but I guess we will all find out very soon.

The art and the graphical style of the game hasnt been only remastered but also changed, and unfortunately for the worse. The original game was depicted as realistically as possible for that time, buildings and units looked as if they were 2D sprites from real life. The Definitive Edition doesnt follow the same trend in art direction. It goes for that cartoony look we all hate in RTS games, and it is very evident on units, not so much on buildings though hence why the look quite well compared to everything else excluding the vegetation and terrain which I have described previously as exceptionally good. The anatomy, look and style of units is not as realistically portrayed as in the original game and this is my biggest disappointed. Soldiers look whack and nowhere near as intimidating, they look like figurines made out of plasticine. Villagers are still a tribe of homosexuals, the only thing that made sense to change wasnt changed and the female variant of villagers weren't added. However we have new berry bushes which look a lot worse than the ones we had in the original and the animals like the Elephants, Gazelles, Lions and Crocodiles got that cartoony treatment too. Fish now, instead of resembling edible Tuna like in the original version of the game are now some bright orange exotic fishes which look like they are poisonous. Whales now are just enlarged dolphins. Water looks overly bright and depth is portrayed extremely poorly.

Game speed does not coincide with the one of the original game. Normal, Fast and Very Fast are not the same paces as in the original version of the game. Very Fast in Defintive Edition seems to be a lot more faster, Fast is also off.

The colour intensity of players is totally messed up and looks hideous, especially the blue colour. The shading and intensity is what completely messes it up, the original had good and distinctive colouring of players where as the Definitive Edition does a very bad job at it.

Animations are worse than in the original and react very poorly to the increase in the pace of the game. When I was playing the game at Very Fast and I built my first cavalry unit and saw it move I almost lost it. Hilarious but looks awful.

Pathfinding of units, the biggest issue of the original game is now an even bigger issue in the Definitive Edition. The AI also seems to be less of a challenge. He will continiously rush you with clubmen without teching up, by the time he finally got to axemen I was already pushing Broad Swordsmen and Composite Bowmen. Not even talking about upgrades and other technologies.

Windows Store, man do I hate dealing with it.

I guess thats about it, not much else to discuss. Obviously keep in mind that this is a Beta build and I have no idea how recent it is, I truly hope this build is a couple of weeks old or even months, because as I have said, the game is set to release next Thursday. If you have any questions feel free to ask me.

Here is a little something for you guys,
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I would also strongly recommend checking out my video which is linked below where I am playing the original Age of Empires: Rise of Rome to revive your memories and get a better feel of how the classic game was before jumping into the upcoming Definitive Edition. This will allow you draw comparisons more accurately and get a feel of what Age of Empires is. Hell, I even suggest you even go ahead and play it.

 
#20 ·
Game has been delayed to Early 2018, it was set to release next Thursday. This is actually good news as I really wasn't satisfied with the Beta. This delay is for the better and I hope it will address all of the issues that I have explained in my previous post.
 
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