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

[Colovion]

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

link







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.

[Colovion]

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

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.

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

[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.

[Colovion]

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.

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.

[NagatsukaShumi]

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.

[Scipio]

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.

[Mouzafphaerre]

-
I'm not a fan of the series personally, but this one shall make it into my collection.
-

[Efrem]

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.

[Colovion]

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:

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.

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.

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