So what did I (as an AoKHer) miss out on by missing out on AoE3?

Topic Subject:

So what did I (as an AoKHer) miss out on by missing out on AoE3?

Simfish
Skirmisher

posted 04-27-15 09:47 PM EDT (US)

I've been looking back from time to time, and I'm wondering if I should have regretted not getting more into AoE3 (due to all the memories that I could have made - unfortunately - I had other things to deal with at the time and never got into AoE3 before it died). I get the impression that this is common among many of those who primarily played AoE2 (given the small overlap between AoE3Hers and people I knew from my AoKH days).

Looking at all the RTS games available now, I'm kind of disheartened by the market right now (so much LoL...) I had hoped that RTS games would have become better by now, but instead, they're practically dead instead...

So I'm wondering: were there any spectacularly unique game modes in AoE3 that one could experience that one couldn't quite experience in AoE2? I loved freeform and diplomacy style games in AoE2 the most - I get the impression that AoE3 (and most other modern games, for that matter) didn't allow as much freeform play as AoE2 did. But I do miss not getting to know the AoE3 community more (although even if I did things over again, I probably wouldn't have gotten into AoE3 as much as I got into AoE2).

Also, why did AoE3 die so quickly relative to AoE2? Is MP still active at all? Also, is there a catalog of all-time-epic AoE3H threads that have retained their epicness over time?

Also, what do people think of this? https://www.quora.com/Why-do-many-people-consider-Age-of-Empires-II-to-be-a-better-game-than-Age-of-Empires-III/answer/Mayank-Singh-Shishodia

[This message has been edited by Simfish (edited 04-27-2015 @ 10:06 PM).]

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Replies:

Jax
HG Monument
(id: Jax Omen)

posted 04-28-15 03:30 AM EDT (US) 1 / 6

AoE3 was a good enough game on it's own, but compared to AoK (or AoM) was terrible on pretty much every level.

Is MP still active at all?

Pretty sure people still play on Steam, but you've got to be an utter chump (like me!) to stump up the money to buy it full price.

house won this

Maffia
AoE3H Seraph
(id: fred_ernie)

posted 04-29-15 05:36 AM EDT (US) 2 / 6

Bustin' stuff with cannons ways always fun!

This month I have mostly been playing Dishonored Death of the Outsider and Darkest Dungeon
Steam - Maffia GFWL - Maffia01 YouTube - HGMaffia Twitter - @HGMaffia
Age of Empires 3 Heaven Seraph

What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.
[This message hasn't been edited by fred_ernie (or Maffia) (not edited 12-29-2005 @ 09:57 AM).]

Centy13
Skirmisher
(id: Shan)

posted 04-29-15 06:35 AM EDT (US) 3 / 6

AoE3 had a lot of flash to it. The ragdolls, destructible buildings etc which were pretty cool. However the gameplay itself didn't really offer anything new but some questionable gimmicks and the UI was kind of nasty. The whole deck thing was also kind of weird and exclusionary. I vaguely remember it having a lot of disappointing limitations with scenario creation and modding, at least early on that killed a lot of the kind of longevity AoE2 enjoyed.

Also ESO2, the online matchmaking service was kind of dumb and didn't really seem to learn much of anything from ESO1. For all it's faults, which were many, Microsofts old "The Zone" made for a much stronger multilayer community.

Probably the biggest reason that AoE3 fell kind of flat was it sort of came out just as the Golden Age of RTS was winding down. They didn't have the same kind of market draw they used to as other genres increasingly took marketshare.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

[This message has been edited by Centy13 (edited 04-29-2015 @ 06:41 AM).]

Von Mackensens Hat
Skirmisher
(id: DrNick)

posted 05-02-15 12:15 PM EDT (US) 4 / 6

It was alright. Like Maffia said, blowing stuff up with giant monitor ships was fun.

Dr Nick
I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception.

Centy13
Skirmisher
(id: Shan)

posted 05-02-15 09:51 PM EDT (US) 5 / 6

They were great. Everyone I knew stopped playing any maps with any water whatsoever on them with me though

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

anterior2
Scenario Design Expert

posted 06-07-15 06:21 AM EDT (US) 6 / 6

Scenario creation is actually more powerful than in AoE2 because AoE3 has custom triggers and some other features.

Anyway, the multiplayer community is still active. As I type right now there are over 800 people on ESO. Being on Steam breathed new life into the community.

However, the community is very divided. Firstly there's the Vanilla and TAD split (half the userbase plays with expansions, the other half without), then there's the rush and treaty split (by "rush" I'm referring to the standard game mode which has the majority of players, but a significant proportion like to play in treaty/no-rush mode). Also, because ESO has skill rankings built in, there's another split between the top-tier players, the mid-tier players, and the "noob"-tier players. Nobody wants to join a team with a person of a lower rank because they're afraid they'll lose the game and lose more rank.

However, on the plus side, scenario games online are somewhat common, although they are mostly Colloseum variants.

StormComing (to me): "Seems like you're way under-ranked"

Check out my series of guides for the scenario editor in the link below! | Best Otto TR score

The definitive collection of my scenarios, along with my scenario editor walkthrough, recorded games, and much much more!

Age of Empires III Heaven » Forums » The Saloon (Off Topic) » So what did I (as an AoKHer) miss out on by missing out on AoE3?

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