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Microsoft Announces Age of Empires IV
- davemp 9y agoAoEII definitive edition aka seriously we're going to stop making you pay for the same game over and over again.
- thawkins 9y agoGladly do it
- SteveNuts 9y agoAs a life-long fan of this series I have extremely high hopes and expectations for this game. I really hope they deliver. I remember some of my first "hacking" was running chat bots in the MSN gaming zone lobby for AoEII.
- ForRealsies 9y agoAs long as they don't turn it into a MOBA.
- TomMarius 9y agoWhat do you mean by turning it into a MOBA? I would really appreciate a launcher/matchmaking interface similar to League of Legends - granted the game itself remains a RTS just like AoE2.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- lackbeard 9y agoMOBA is a bad genre label used to distinguish games like Dota and League of Legends from RTSs like Starcraft. It's a concept that is completely orthogonal from providing a matchmaking service with your game.
- TomMarius 9y agoI know (I used to play LoL after all, so I'm familiar with the genre), but I've seen people misusing the term very often. I wasn't sure because I'm not entirely sure how would they turn a game like AoE into a MOBA - it wouldn't be an update of the original game, it would be a whole new concept published under the same name.
- ungzd 9y agoBTW, there are experiments of implementing MOBA in Age of Empries 2: - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=138570537 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=13857... - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q3GhThEj1A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q3GhThEj1A
- mattmanser 9y agoRelic just recently screwed up DoW3, CoH2 has become micro-transaction hell even in multi-player against bots, so I wouldn't expect much. I've always played these RTSes with friends against bots, and Relic have basically been at war with our play-style for a decade. First they said the RTS was dead, then dispatched with base-building and then added in terrain heights that are impossible to discern from a top-down view. Now they have made the DoW series into some sort of bad DotA/RTS hybrid, removing cover and morale, that's got terrible reviews. Prepare for your fond memories of AoE to be trampled over.
- croon 9y agoYeah, I loved DoW1, but DoW2 was terrible, and while I had hopes for DoW3, it didn't deliver. They moved away from RTS to some squad-based MOBA-like.
- mattmanser 9y agoI've never known whether I'm in an incredible minority, or there's a silent majority who just play the game against the computer, enjoying these RTSes as tower defence style base-building. Dune 2, Star Craft, Warcraft, Red Alert, CoH, DoW, etc., my friends got tired of the cheap strategies like orc tower rushes and the toxic taunting by human payers that you couldn't turn off and so instead we started to team up against the computer, increasing the difficulty or the number of computer players and turtling up in base. A relaxing macro game, instead of the frantic micro these games all seem to have evolved into. Unfortunately as time has gone on the AIs seem to have got worse and the base building strategies side-lined, removed or punished.
- stedaniels 9y agoI am with you 100%! Me and my mates also team up against increasing AI's of increasing difficulty. Lots of fun. It's great to beat each other, but it's also great to beat the computer together :-)
- croon 9y ago> Unfortunately as time has gone on the AIs seem to have got worse and the base building strategies side-lined, removed or punished. I played a lot of StarCraft with my brother against AIs when I was younger. I have since played a lot of multiplayer games, but as you said, it's not as relaxing, which is what I want from games nowadays when I take the time to play them. I don't expect the OpenAI initiative with Dota 2 to automatically lead to better games AI in the foreseeable future, but I hope it might lead to a renewed interest in them in games, and in time something simulating real players in more games (minus the toxicity, and being pausable without anyone wasting anyone elses time).
- michaelspivey 9y agoCan't wait for this! Waited a long time.
- tapia 9y agoI suppose there won't be any Linux version?...
- SteveNuts 9y agoBut... But Microsoft Loves Linux(tm)!
- honestoHeminway 9y agoI think we should see other operating systems.
- corpMaverick 9y agolol. The only reason I keep a windows version around is to be able to play AoE3.
- melling 9y agoWhy would there be? There’s not a sufficient market for it. Hoping for the day when everyone magically supports Linux hasn’t worked for 20 years. Maybe it’s time for a different plan?
- roryisok 9y agomaybe they'll build it in electron
- tapia 9y agoThat seems like the standard approach to linux ports these days :P
- ungzd 9y agoOften porting cost is much less than profit from this market. This is quite geeky game intended primarily for fans of old AoE, lots of such fans are using Linux and Mac Os now.
- dbrgn 9y ago
- aerovistae 9y agoI'm one of the biggest AoE2 fans out there-- it's my favorite game of all time and I've played thousands of games of it. I also loved the original AoE and the related Age of Mythology. In spite of that, I feel this is nothing to be excited about. Age of Empires 1 & 2 were special because they were designed by a special team at a company called Ensemble Studios, which was bought by Microsoft and sadly shut down in 2009. None of that team remain with Microsoft. AoE4 is being developed by Relic, a company with no track record to speak of.* It has nothing in common with the game many of us know and love other than the title. It is extremely unlikely to have the depth, nuance, replayability, and well-thought out design that made the original franchise a hit. In place of those things, it's likely to have shockingly poor multiplayer integration through the Windows store as Microsoft inevitably rejects Steam integration, and god knows what other modern problems like microtransactions. Frankly I feel there's very little to be hyped about here. And god do I ever hope I'm wrong. *They made some decent games 15 years ago. How many of those designers and developers are still with the company now? How many will be working on AoE4? And were their best games good enough that they're still so beloved that they merit re-releases, new expansions, and definitive editions 20 years later? I don't think so...
- NhanH 9y agoIf that is the same Relic that made the Company of Heroes series, then they do got quite a bit of track record: the series is extremely well made, and stands amongs the greatest of strategy games. They weren't too popular for several reasons, biggest one the decline of strategy games in general. But it seems like AoE is in good hands
- lackbeard 9y agoNot sure how you can say Relic has no track record... Homeworld, Dawn of War, and Company of Heroes were all very successful games.
- dkhenry 9y agoTheir early track record was fantastic, but recently they have shifted to less then great strategy games chasing after the professional gaming market.
- pastelsky 9y agoAs a long time fan of the AoE who thought that the series was dead, this news is rejuvenating. I've found the chess-like gameplay of turn based strategy games to be frustrating, and there are hardly any new games being made in the RTS genre anymore.
- thawkins 9y agoIm so excited about this new version, now if they could also do the same for xwing and crimson skies.
- baalimago 9y agoIf i remember correctly, age of empires III wasn't very great at all. Have my hopes up for this though! O CANADA O CANADA O CANADA O CANADA