Age of Empires series

GBP04 · #1 08-18-2007, 03:05 PM

I have played this series since the original AoE. Rise of Rome, Age of Kings and Age of Conquerors were some of my favorite games ever. The latter two were, in my opinion, the best RTS games ever made. What I can't understand is, how has there not been a truly worthy RTS game since (or has there, and I am just missing it?). 3-D RTS's to this point have not really done anything for me, and I can't understand why Age of Mythology and Age of Empires 3 sucked so bad.

Did anyone else play this series (offline or online)? Do you agree that there hasn't been a sequel that captures the fun, strategy, community, and innovation since?

g-bebe · #2 08-18-2007, 04:55 PM

During my first year of university, a bunch of buddies and I got pretty into AoE3 lan games, playing it quite a lot. I thought it was alright, but in a lot of ways very unbalanced. It wasn't necessarily the things you mentioned that made me dislike it.

Blarg · #3 08-18-2007, 05:42 PM

I loved AOE2, and think it was near the top, but not quite there. I'd count Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, and possibly Supreme Commander as very worthwhile new(ish) entries.

I don't think the AOE2 community was notably better than that of some other games. It was lively, yeah, but maybe too much so for there to be that much of a feel of community about it. That people posted replays and analyses of them and of strats was very cool though. I just don't think that's enough to make it have a real community feel. More like interaction, but at a distance.

choccypie · #4 08-18-2007, 08:05 PM

I played AoE and RoR to death; used to play them online almost daily. AoE2 I thought wasn't as good but was still playable, but it just got progressively worse until I totally went off the series. AoM I completed in less than a day and I can't remember what it was about because it was that crap.

Have you tried Warcraft 3? I've not played the prequels but there are loads of different and fun maps you can download and play on battle.net. You get maps with mini games, RPG maps, tower defence etc.

Blarg · #5 08-18-2007, 09:39 PM

I've been pretty bored with Blizzard RTS's since Warcraft 2, though I've played all of them. I'd like another Warcraft 2 game, same style and setting. I don't like the the concentration on small squads in WC3 nearly as much. I didn't even get all the way through that game.

skiier04 · #6 08-19-2007, 11:46 AM

I thought Age of Mythology was amazing.

This is coming from someone who never played AoE1 though, and only AoE2 for a little bit.

WiSeIVIaN · #7 08-20-2007, 02:24 PM

AoC FTW. I still pop on and play a game on occasion at igzones.com.

Deathmatch is the [censored] btw, and random map is for little girls...

stabn · #8 08-20-2007, 04:34 PM

[ QUOTE ]
AoC FTW. I still pop on and play a game on occasion at igzones.com.

Deathmatch is the [censored] btw, and random map is for little girls...

[/ QUOTE ]

Hahahaha. no.

Abramovic · #9 08-21-2007, 01:47 PM

I used to play aoe original online a lot from about 2000-2002. Excellent fun.

gutte169 · #10 08-23-2007, 08:23 PM

I think if you go in with an open mind, AOM and AOE3 are pretty fun. People moan and groan about imbalances, but they rarely decide a match, and are usually just a scapegoat for whiney people in general. I liked AOE3 and its expansion. I played the majority of civs around 1800-1900 level and rarely looked back on imbalances for losing.

On a more general note, I think it's weird that WC3 dominates the RTS world. I mean, it's cheesy graphics, small ball warfare, and sorry, but gross, nerdy fantasy BS to me. Guess I'll check out company of heroes as someone else mentioned.