4 ms·

when microsoft "remastered" age of empires 2 for steam ~15 years after original release, there was a small community-built platform that had kept the original g

when microsoft "remastered" age of empires 2 for steam ~15 years after original release, there was a small community-built platform that had kept the original game alive. microsoft released a buggy mess that was inferior to the community-supported platform in every way, but it was available to a wider audience and easier to install, so tons of people played it and it brought a lot of people to the community version. msft also released a paid "official" version of a fan-made expansion that was broken and really never used. after a few years, they improved performance and released two fully new expansion DLCs so msft started off with a pretty horrible remake (in intention and execution) that actually ended up reviving the community and leading to a pretty decent new product a few years down the road

sleavey 9y ago
I recently found my old Age of Empires II CDs and thought about installing them at some point, but then remembered the remastered Steam edition exists and thought about downloading it. I've not done anything yet. Is it worth getting the Steam one now - have the bugs been ironed out? (Running Linux, if that helps)
- danbolt 9y ago
  There are a community of people that run it on WINE pretty well, but there isn't an official Linux port or anything. Looking at the various updates to the game, the source code seems quite old and has a lot of technical debt. It seems like expansions are conservative in the stuff they add.
- aaavl2821 9y ago
  I got the steam version in 2014 and it was the best $5 I've ever spent, although the performance was laggier compared to the voobly platform (the platform you use to play the cd version). I haven't played the steam one in over a year but it had improved to almost on a par with voobly, and the new expansions were actually pretty cool (although not many ppl played them at the time, but that may have changed) Can probably get it dirt cheap for the holiday sale There is a pretty active casual and competitive scene, and it's actually a pretty deep game that has aged well
  - sleavey 9y ago
    It is indeed on sale. I also just saw Age of Empires IV was announced, and a remake of Age of Empires I. Looks like I've found something to do over the winter holidays!

sleavey 9y ago

I recently found my old Age of Empires II CDs and thought about installing them at some point, but then remembered the remastered Steam edition exists and thought about downloading it. I've not done anything yet. Is it worth getting the Steam one now - have the bugs been ironed out? (Running Linux, if that helps)

danbolt 9y ago
There are a community of people that run it on WINE pretty well, but there isn't an official Linux port or anything. Looking at the various updates to the game, the source code seems quite old and has a lot of technical debt. It seems like expansions are conservative in the stuff they add.
aaavl2821 9y ago
I got the steam version in 2014 and it was the best $5 I've ever spent, although the performance was laggier compared to the voobly platform (the platform you use to play the cd version). I haven't played the steam one in over a year but it had improved to almost on a par with voobly, and the new expansions were actually pretty cool (although not many ppl played them at the time, but that may have changed) Can probably get it dirt cheap for the holiday sale There is a pretty active casual and competitive scene, and it's actually a pretty deep game that has aged well
- sleavey 9y ago
  It is indeed on sale. I also just saw Age of Empires IV was announced, and a remake of Age of Empires I. Looks like I've found something to do over the winter holidays!