Age of Empires 3... can't see it

So as many people know - Age of Empires 3 has been officially announced and screenshots released:

link

http://files.heavengames.com/aom/alb.../abb.sized.jpg

http://files.heavengames.com/aom/alb.../aba.sized.jpg

http://files.heavengames.com/aom/alb.../aaz.sized.jpg

I haven't really looked into it much, but I"m guessing that the gameplay will stay relatively the same as previous titles. Honestly after playing the Total War series I can't see myself really getting into it. I mean it would constantly frusterate me that tactics and good Generalship wouldn't help my men in battle. However, I could be mistaken; they could have changed some of that so we'll see.

So far I must say the game engine looks spectacular.

Just found their Official Release Statement which I find to be largely BS. I'll highlight the offending statements.

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Dawn of a New Age: Age of Empires III Announced for 2005 Release

Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios are proud to announce the return of the king of real-time strategy games: Age of Empires III is scheduled to ship in the second half of 2005. This will be the latest landmark release in the award-winning franchise that has sold a staggering 16 million units worldwide.

Age of Empires III will offer gamers the next level of realism, with advanced battle physics and unparalleled visual detail. The new game picks up where Age of Empires II: Age of Kings left off, placing gamers in the position of a European power determined to explore, colonize and conquer the New World. This time period features stunning scenes, from towering European cathedrals to courageous tribes of Native Americans, and spectacular combat with Industrial Age units like rifled infantry, cavalry and tall ships bristling with cannons.

Age of Empires III will once again demonstrate Ensemble Studios' reputation for excellence and innovation in the real-time strategy (RTS) genre. The game will set a new standard for visual quality and amaze players with detail never before seen in an RTS. Age of Empires III will excite strategy gamers with new game-play elements, including the concept of a “Home City,“ new civilizations, units, technologies and an immersive new single-player campaign that will span three generations.

Ensemble Studios is one of the world's premier entertainment software developers. Ensemble Studios is best known for its blockbuster Age of Empires game series. Ensemble's titles are distinguished by the highest-quality art and gameplay dynamics applied in familiar historical settings, and appeal to hard-core gamers and mass audiences. Ensemble Studios is based in Dallas, Texas.

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Granted, Total War isn't really an RTS...

The thing that sucks about Age of Empires is that it doesn't have the mass of units that real war has. They do have a better system with the fact that you can see the buildings but that's not enough. I dont' care that much about the buildings anyways.

Before Total war I played Empires. I'm just gonna leave it at that.

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Originally Posted by Byzantine_Prince

The thing that sucks about Age of Empires is that it doesn't have the mass of units that real war has. They do have a better system with the fact that you can see the buildings but that's not enough. I dont' care that much about the buildings anyways.

Before Total war I played Empires. I'm just gonna leave it at that.

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Yeah I'm in the same boat as you. I want to like their games but playing Total War has kind of opened my eyes to how shallow that gameplay was.

Played the old versions myself too.

Got to say, for me its the editors that keep me going. You can make campaigns involving individual characters and make stories etc etc and that always kept me interested.

If theres no editor I am not buying it.

I remember the good times of AOE and AOK and wouldnt mind having those good days restored, however by the looks of thos screens it will not have the same fealing of its predessesors and therfore the same effect on me... I honestly dont see myself getting into this game, quite frankly I think the genre has gone sour. All the new games are the same with slightly different cameras and what not. Games like AOE and Warcraft 2 will never be outshown imo.

If the game is anything like those screenies then I don't know why they kept the name Age of Empires. Seriously there was only one Empire at the time, the French. There was Prussia as well but it's not really a major part. Well I guess you could pass off Russia as well but that's stretching it.

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Re: Age of Empires 3... can't see it

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Try contacts; they worked for me. ~D

Seriously, I don't see how anyone could go back to RTS after Total War. I can't really, except maybe for a couple days once a year. I too enjoyed AOE & AOE2. But they just don't compare to TW - too formulaic, etc. And hitpoints. Which I severly dislike in RTW - there shouldn't be any hitpoints, except maybe (just maybe) elephants. Generals are not above average strength. Back on topic...

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Age of Empires III will excite strategy gamers with new game-play elements, including the concept of a “Home City,“ new civilizations, units, technologies and an immersive new single-player campaign that will span three generations.

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They're called "capitols," genius! Three generations? Try 300 years (for RTW; more for MTW, I think)!

At least Total War buildings aren't smaller than the units... mostly.

[QUOTE=Alexander the Pretty Good]Try contacts; they worked for me. ~D

Seriously, I don't see how anyone could go back to RTS after Total War. I can't really, except maybe for a couple days once a year. I too enjoyed AOE & AOE2. But they just don't compare to TW - too formulaic, etc. And hitpoints. Which I severly dislike in RTW - there shouldn't be any hitpoints, except maybe (just maybe) elephants. Generals are not above average strength. Back on topic...[quote]

Well there is no problem with hitpoints. Everyone has 1 except for Spartans (2 hitpoints) and elephants (36 hitpoints) which they deserve. Spartans deserve 4 if you ask me. They are Spartans for crying out loud.

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They're called "capitols," genius! Three generations? Try 300 years (for RTW; more for MTW, I think)!

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MTW is like 800 I think, since every turn is a year.

Years covered in MTW 366 (regular) 273 (viking campaign) no. of turns same as years
Years covered in RTW 284 no. of turns 568

On AOE3 I'm with the rest of you I want to like but TW games and Cossacks opened my eyes too. It showed me how little imagination and real tactics are in age of empires. Also it's kind of amusing to me how much AOE3 rips off american conquest:fight back. Lets review AOE3 has europeans settleing in the americas and warring with the natives and each other. It lets you hire natives that you have allied with who give special units. American conquest has europeans (Britian, France, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Germany), +USA and the native tribes, settling in the americas warring with the natives and each other. You can hire native troops from the tribes you have treaties with.

I used to love the AOE series and some of its better clones. Then I played the demo of STW and the lustre faded badly. Finally STW was released and I've never been able to get back to the RTS school of gaming. AOE3 doesn't even have a setting I like so there is nothing to tempt me here; looking at that 'army' in the first screenshot is faintly embarrassing.

That ship looked cool though...

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Originally Posted by Byzantine_Prince

If the game is anything like those screenies then I don't know why they kept the name Age of Empires. Seriously there was only one Empire at the time, the French. There was Prussia as well but it's not really a major part. Well I guess you could pass off Russia as well but that's stretching it.

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Quite untrue. Since I think the game will take place from ~1492 to 1??? (do not know the end game year), that allow them to have many empires (Catholic Spain, HRE, Ottoman, Austria-Hungary, Russia, etc. but not France ^_^)

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looking at that 'army' in the first screenshot is faintly embarrassing.

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Actually that time and region is the only time (early colonialism) when that was an actual, real life army. ~;)

From what I've read on AOE3 it's going to go from about 1492 to some point in the 19th century. Consider that the third era is called the industrial age should tell you what time it is set in.

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I'm not a fan of the series personally, but this one shall make it into my collection. ~:)
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I loved AOK far to much to not get this. Besides the "Just before Civil War" Era sounds kinda fun. They also spoke about have large armies "as people have come to expect it from games set in that era." I just wish they had set it in europe where interesting things were happeing.

Because I used to be a part of the Heaven Games community when AoM was in pre-release mode I decided to go back there and see what I could scrounge up.

I posted the following in the AoE3 Quetion Thread:

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I know this may be a pretty stupid question, as changing the root gameplay of a series usually isn't how to make friends within your core community; but here it is anyway:

Will the gameplay for AoE3 be the same as the previous Age of... games? I ask this because after playing the Total War games for a while I have become jaded towards the RTS genre because of the lack of tactical and Strategic possibilities in the Faux "Real-Time-'Strategy'" games. Most of the general RTS games such as AoM/WC3/C&C have the basic strategy of building quickly and clicking faster than your opponent to beat them. Speed, in my mind, is only one part of strategy and shouldn't be the key to winning, just an asset on the journey there.

I"m not here to slam the devs on this game as I"m sure I"ll be buying it, but I just want to know what I have to look forward to so I don't go thinking that it'll actually be about strategy on a tactical level and not simply a numerical/haste driven game.

Thankyou.

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The Devs at Emsemble Studios have always been great at answering questions. Earlier in the thread they already answered some questions; most notable for myself was the mentioning of the board game Settlers of Catan. ~D

I'll get back to you all when my question is answered. ~:cool: