History YMMV / AgeOfEmpiresII

** Similarly, Indians don't like that there is a single "Indian" civilization due to India's ethnic diversity, likening the "Indians" of the game to having a single civilization called "Europeans". This is being addressed in the ''Porto'' expansion that was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFg7gWcUwX8 revealed in April of 2022]], which adds 4 different Indian civilizations, the Gurjaras, Hindustanis, Dravidians and Bengalis, with the Hindustanis outright replacing the existing Indian civilization.

** Similarly, Indians don't like that there is a single "Indian" civilization due to India's ethnic diversity, likening the "Indians" of the game to having a single civilization called "Europeans".

* GeniusBonus: It's possible to win "The Siege of Paris" with villagers inside Compiegne and Joan just outside the walls, which is exactly how she was captured in real life: she led a raid on Burgundian lines and stayed in the rear until everyone else was made it in, and was left out when the defenders closed the gate too early.

** Also zig-zagged with the Chinese playerbase, some Chinese players are uncomfortable that their civilization in-game is denied Hand Cannoneers, Bombard Cannons and Block Printing, despite being rather well known for inventing ''all three of these things'' in real life. However, the game itself [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff is still popular within the Chinese playerbase]], and many Chinese players find [[GameplayAndStorySegregation this historical inaccuracy in their civilization tech tree]] [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality to be acceptable from a gameplay perspective]] due to how strong their civilization is gameplay wise. The Chinese were eventually given the Block Printing technology in a 2020 update.

** Zig-Zagged with the Vietnamese. They don't like that their civilization uses the Southeast Asian architecture set, and would have preferred the East Asian set instead. The developers' reply that the Vietnamese use the SE Asian set because of the Champa kingdom triggered a worse reaction, because Champa was a historical rival of Vietnam that was conquered and assimilated by it[[note]]This would be comparable to the Spanish using the Middle Eastern set because of Al-Andalus[[/note]]. [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff This, however, didn't affect the game's massive popularity in Vietnam]]. Additionally, the Vietnamese now use the East Asian architecture set in ''Definitive Edition''.

* ThatOneLevel: Shares a page with [[ThatOneLevel/AgeOfEmpires the rest of the franchise]].

Index:
* ''YMMV/AgeOfEmpires'' (the series in general)
* ''YMMV/AgeOfEmpiresI'' (the first game)
* ''YMMV/AgeOfMythology''
* ''YMMV/AgeOfEmpiresIII''

See also:
* ''[[AwesomeMusic/AgeOfEmpires Awesome Music - AOE]]''
* ''[[GameBreaker/AgeOfEmpires Game Breaker - AOE]]''
* ''[[ThatOneLevel/AgeOfEmpires That One Level - AOE]]''
* ''[[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot/AgeofEmpiresII They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot - AOE]]''
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* TheyChangedItItSucks: In the Definitive Edition the voices in the campaigns were re dubbed. This is especially noticeable in things like the third Huns mission where in the original the Romans had a hilarious whiny voice but in the re-dub it was dulled down.

** Greeks don't like that the Byzantines speak Latin and use the Islamic-inspired Middle Eastern architecture set. The latter is fixed in ''Definitive Edition'', which gives the Mediterranean architecture to the Byzantines along with the Spanish. But now there are already complains that the Mediterranean set is too Italian looking, and therefore Catholic...

** Upon its initial release, ''Definitive Edition'' was criticized for replacing the narration of classic campaigns with less charismatic voice-overs, particularly the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lijg3AJSY5o Genghis Khan]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwpnEpyCOg8 campaign]] which originally featured a [[LargeHam memorable performance]] by the late Rick May. By comparison, subsequent expansions have since featured more compelling voice acting.

** While the Middle Eastern architecture set suits the Berbers, there's still the issue that ''6'' civs share the same set (Saracens, Turks, Persians, Byzantines, Indians and the aforementioned Berbers), many of which could not be more different from each other. This was only the case at the time of ''The African Kingdoms''' release, however, as the Indians were given their own architecture in ''The Rise of the Rajas'', while the Byzantines switched to the Mediterranean set used by the Italians and Portuguese in ''Definitive Edition''. Many people have also felt that the Persians should be given the new Central Asian architecture, as it specifically ''originated'' in Persia despite being imported by the Tatars, but the Persian set remains unchanged in ''Definitive Edition'', probably because the civilization was primarily based on the Sassanid Empire, which existed several centuries before the architecture in question developed.

** The new civilizations in ''Lords of the West'' didn't fare any better here. Despite their prominence in the campaign mode since the Ensemble Studios era, the Burgundians are widely considered to be a minor offshoot of the Franks, rather than deserving of their own civilization; while the Dark Age Burgundians were separate from the Franks, both were Germanic tribes that lived in modern-day France, with the Franks being much more triumphant in the grand scheme of things, though Burgundy was influential to the development of the modern Dutch and Belgian states. It also doesn't help that the Burgundians' tech tree is very similar to the Franks, with strong cavalry and gunpowder but poor archers. Meanwhile, the Sicilians are considered either already covered by the Italians (though the Italians civ is mostly based on northern Italy) or are yet another retread of the Franks, considering how much their design focuses on their Norman overlords.

** ''Western'' Slavs such as Poles and Czechs don't like that the "Slavs" are called that instead of "Russians" or some other alternative and think that the Teutons are closer to their culture. Grouping all Slavic cultures together as one civilization could be compared to grouping the Spanish, French, and Italians together and calling them “Latins”. While the Lithuanians civilization is a decent alternative for Polish players due to the eventual Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland is still represented by the Slavs in the reworked Genghis Khan and Barbarossa campaigns.

** There is an on and off editing war in the wikis about what the Tatars, Cumans, and Turks exactly are, and should be.

*** So "your" civ is in the game, but you don't like the name, building style, or tech tree? Congratulations, you can change all in the Scenario Editor now.

*** So "your" civ is in the game, but you don't like the building style or tech tree? Congratulations, now you can change both in the Scenario Editor.

*** While not a part of the ''Last Khans'', the Inca campaign rework, which now depicts the rise of Pachacuti rather than split the focus between the Incas and the Spanish conquistadors as seen in ''El Dorado'', silenced criticism that the second pre-Columbian American campaign still depicted conflict between the natives and the conquistadors, something which was extensively explored in the Montezuma campaign.
*** The rework of the historical battle representing the Chinese (from ''Langshan Jiang'' to Poyang Hu, aka. ''Lake Poyang'') silenced criticism that the battle was too obscure, even to players with a moderate level of knowledge of Chinese history [[note]]The battle took place in the era between the fall of the Tang and the rise of the Song dynasties.[[/note]] In contrast, Poyang was a much better known and significant battle as it helped to establish the last native Chinese dynasty (the Ming), and tied in rather nicely with Ming's naval accomplishments [[note]]Zheng He's voyages began about 40 years after Poyang, under the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang's son, Zhu Di, who usurped the throne from Yuanzhang's grandson. Ironically, Yuanzhang was an isolationist in his admonitions to his successors (compiled in ''Huang Ming Zuxun'').[[/note]], all the way to their assistance to the Koreans at the Battle of Noryang more than two centuries later.

** Upon its initial release the definitive edition was criticized for replacing the narration of classic campaigns with less charismatic voice-overs, particularly the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lijg3AJSY5o Genghis Khan]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwpnEpyCOg8 campaign]] which originally featured a [[LargeHam memorable performance]] by the late Rick May. By comparison subsequent expansions have since featured more compelling voice acting.

** Upon its initial release the definitive edition was criticized for replacing the narration of classic campaigns with less charismatic voice-overs, particularly the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lijg3AJSY5o Genghis Khan]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwpnEpyCOg8 campaign]] which originally featured a [[NarmCharm memorable performance]] by the late Rick May. By comparison subsequent expansions have since featured more compelling voice acting.

** Upon its initial release the definitive edition was criticized for replacing the narration of classic campaigns with less charismatic voice overs, particularly the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lijg3AJSY5o Genghis Khan]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwpnEpyCOg8 campaign]] which originally featured a [[NarmCharm memorable performance]] by the late Rick May. By comparison subsequent expansions have since featured more compelling voice-acting.

** Also zig-zagged with the Chinese playerbase, some Chinese players are uncomfortable that their civilization in-game is denied Hand Cannoneers, Bombard Cannons and Block Printing, despite being rather well known for inventing ''all three of these things'' in real life. However, the game itself [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff is still popular within the Chinese playerbase]], and many Chinese players find [[GameplayAndStorySegregation this glaring historical inaccuracy in their civilization tech tree]] to be acceptable from a gameplay perspective due to how strong their civilization is gameplay wise. The Chinese were eventually given the Block Printing technology in a 2020 update.

** The three campaigns in ''Lords of the West'' could be considered the more difficult, [[AntiHero gray]], historical-based, and generally "adult" versions of the old William Wallace, Joan of Arc, and Bari campaigns, but without actually replacing them.

** Another mounted unit that's avoided is War Elephants. While they have insanely beefy HP and respectable stats, they have three major drawbacks: they're slow as sin, weak to the omnipresent pikemen, and most importantly, obscenely expensive, costing ''200 food'' in addition to 75 gold. While they are, in theory, unstoppable if you have enough and remove all their counters, it costs way too much to make them (the Knight line is 60 food and 75 gold, in comparison), they're too slow to pose a threat to most units without Paladins to harass and trap enemies anyway, and pikemen are produced very quickly and in a Dark Age building for almost nothing, so they'll go back to being countered short after they establish dominance anyway. Even worse, the Persians do not have Heresy, making their War Elephants susceptible to conversion from enemy Monks.
** The Champion line and most of the infantry Unique Units (with the exception of Huskarls, every single Malian infantry, Shotel Warriors and Woad Raiders) rarely see use in competitive play due to being slow, requiring obscenely expensive upgrades that barely do anything and having many common weaknesses, namely the commonly-used archers, gunpowder units, knights and Onagers.
*** The Samurai, Teutonic Knights, and Jaguar Warriors can be an exception as well depending on the situation. Since the Samurai have bonus points against other unique units, UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights are {{Mighty Glacier}}s that can obliterate almost any melee units that gets in their path thanks to their armor bonus, and the Jaguar Warriors slaughters other infantry and have a unique tech that gives them +4 attack points.
** Steppe Lancers. Despite being the most infamous GameBreaker in ''Age of Empires II'' history upon the release of ''Definitive Edition'', their subsequent nerfs have made them nearly irrelevant, even with civilization bonuses considered. Because their ability to stack was severely reduced, they no longer have a decisive edge in most combat situations compared to the Knight line. Additionally, they have one less attack and cost 45 gold. As a result, they're considered too flimsy to serve as real alternatives to the Knight line in the Castle and Imperial Age, yet still too expensive to be used over Light Cavalry and Hussars.

** The three campaigns in ''Lords of the West'' could be considered the more difficult, [[VillainProtagonist gray]], historical-based, and generally "adult" versions of the old William Wallace, Joan of Arc, and Bari campaigns, but without actually replacing them.

** The three campaigns in ''Lords of the West'' could be considered the more difficult, [[VillainProtagonist gray]], historical-based, and generally "adult" versions of the old William Wallace, Joan of Arc, and Bari campaigns.