36 replies to this topic

[tinoesroho]

Tis a pity that a grand series is coming to such a sad end - Age of Empires 3 was, in my opinion, a step in the right direction (not accurately speaking, but artistically...). To see for yourself, check out the latest screenshots here. Cartoonifying is not the way to go - why not just use lower quality sprites in place of the desktop graphics?

Edited by tinoesroho, 30 January 2011 - 04:37 AM.

[plumo]

I also don't like the art design so much, and ingame shops are revolting.

But I guess it's their only option to keep this game financially interesting for them.

We'll see. Has someone played the beta?

[Pureon]

Some people with the beta like it, others think the gameplay isn't ready yet, and most non-beta testers just don't like the graphics.

I suspect it's going to struggle, although for the sake of future Age games I hope they make a profit out of it and continue with the series. The more I see the graphics the less they offend me, but none of the gameplay videos interest me at all, and that's a biggy. But it is free, and if marketed correctly they'll probably have millions of downloads, a percentage of which may splash out on new civs and techs. Lets see if we like it after release, we can't properly judge something without trying it first.

[Tottel]

The graphics remind me of the The Settlers 3 & 4.

I hope they make some profit out of it, but on the other hand, I hope not; since it might encourage them to make more games in the same style.

wait and see. Stronghold Kingdoms was more fun than I thought it would be as well.

Edited by Tottel, 30 January 2011 - 02:52 PM.

[Ykkrosh]

Hmm, isn't this kind of an insensitive time to announce the addition of Egypt to a war game?

[Pureon]

Good point Ykkrosh, I didn't even think about that!

[feneur]

Ykkrosh, on Jan 30 2011, 03:56 PM, said:

Hmm, isn't this kind of an insensitive time to announce the addition of Egypt to a war game?

I think the announcement came before the events in Egypt started, but yeah, the timing could have been better.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Like Pureon, the more I see of the graphics the less they offend my gaming sensibilities. The problem I have now, artistically, is with the floppy cartoony animations. The elephants amble around like retarded monkeys, for example, and when units die they seem to disappear within a few seconds.

[Tyrannosaurus]

I for one think the cartoony graphics look rather cute. They wouldn't work for a serious Age sequel, but since this appears to be an MMO rather than a whole game, I don't mind.

[FirePowa8]

Eh, I honestly don't mind the graphics - I'm always for something colourful in an era full of murky dark visuals, and I like the exaggerated animations. From what I've heard from people in the Beta it doesn't take that long to get used to them. I don't remember AOE games being particularly revered for their graphics, either - sure, they're always pretty but it's not a major selling point. I think it's easy to forgive RE for thinking the same and concentrating on gameplay instead.

I've been very sympathetic to this game, just because of how much hate has been directed at it. People are seriously wishing ill on RE just for one game they barely know anything about and haven't played yet, they're making fun of developers on the official forums and so forth. I really don't see what's so offensive about it. I hate MMO but again, from what I've heard the "MMO" aspect has been very played up in the marketing and, ultimately, it's just the same AOE game with a few things added to it that are entirely optional. I don't like the non-historical element but AOE games have never been accurate. I guess ultimately I feel that considering it's free and you're not being nickle and dimed it's nothing to go up in arms about.

[feneur]

Especially after seeing the announcements about the Egyptians I've started to think that the art style reminds me quite a bit about Asterix and Obelix, which is a good thing Not sure if that's a good thing for a game based on AoE, but if you try and look beyond that I guess they'd actually have more success among hardcore gamers without that connection, and for others I'm not sure how much the AoE brand is worth. In either case I prefer to try and keep an open mind about it until I've tried it (Don't judge a book by its cover as the expression goes )

[Hatsen]

Well, I'm in the beta myself and I can't really complain.

Although some of the quest are a little... boring in the long run.

[Silver]

I dislike questing so hopefully the premium civilization and PvP packs let me bypass that stuff.

[Pureon]

So Robot Entertainment are no longer working on AOEO... it's now being developed by GPG, the developers of Supreme Commander and lead by Chris Taylor, known for being a fan of AOE2. He also designed Total Annihilation, which alongside Age of Empires is one of my favourite games.

http://www.ageofempi...-2-24-2011.aspx

[Ykkrosh]

They say:

Quote

This was always in the plan. We've even had some GPG guys down to the studio to get them trained up as far back as last fall. When we opened RE, our goal was to work on our own original games. We announced Orcs Must Die! this morning, and will have more info on future games relatively soon

I suppose it makes some sense - the Robot developers are familiar with the Bang engine so they're the best people to get AoEO up and running, for which Microsoft can give them lots of money that can help fund their original projects, and then someone else can come in and do all the dull money-making exploitation of players with premium content (the mentioned Booster Packs and Vanity Packs).

(Incidentally, I've always liked orcs, so I don't see why they must die.)

[Pureon]

It makes sense, but still completely unexpected.

(Talking of orcs, I modded some into AOE3 many many years ago. No idea why...)

[feneur]

Not orcs, but goblins: http://www.bigblockg...m/games/goblin/ ... In short, while Orcs Must Die! is about humans (I think they're mostly human from what I've seen at least, a few elves as well) killing orcs, "Goblin War Machine" is about goblins doing the same favor to humans I found it kinda funny that I found the latter the same day I'd read the announcement about Orcs Must Die!

[Shield Bearer]

Its got an art style similar to AOEO...

[Maffia]

feneur said:

I've started to think that the art style reminds me quite a bit about Asterix and Obelix

That's pretty much exactly what I thought the first time I saw these graphics too, its been a while since I read the comic books but it made me think of them almost straight away.

Edited by Maffia, 02 March 2011 - 12:02 AM.

[Pedro Falcão]

I still have AoE Gold Edition here and i still play it sometimes when i have nothing to do. The two first games of the franchise (specially the second) were spectacular, i really hope they do something good for internet, i always thought about the repercussions of such a project if it is successful...