History YMMV / AgeOfEmpiresIII

* CompleteMonster: [[DirtyCop Sheriff William "Billy" Holme]] is the Big Bad of the ''Shadow'' section of ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' ExpansionPack. [[BigBadFriend Initially a friend]] to [[PlayerCharacter Chayton Black]], Holme becomes consumed by {{greed}} when gold is discovered in the Black Hills. Holme summons his old friend Chayton with the intent of manipulating him into kicking the Sioux off the land so he can claim the gold. When Chayton attempts to negotiate with the Sioux leader Crazy Horse, Holme follows Chayton and attempts to assassinate Crazy Horse, shattering any chance of a peace settlement. When Chayton builds a fort for Holme, Holme orders Chayton to destroy an entire village and leave no survivors--including women and children--even though they have done nothing. When Chayton protests the order, Holme initially tries to justify it as they will do something, and then dares Chayton to turn on him. When cornered by Chayton in a cave, Holme justifies all of his crimes by arguing he would have been rich. When Chayton asks Holme if he would kill the settlers, he admits the only thing that matters is the gold. When urged by Chayton to surrender peacefully, Holme attempts to shoot him with a pistol despite his life being spared. A man who uses his sheriff's position to manipulate his friend into murdering innocent people all for the sake of greed, Holme shows the dark side of colonization and settlement in a game that skirts around these issues.

** In an AMA at the Age of Empires 3 Heaven forums, lead engineer Creator/SandyPetersen defended the game's focus on American colonization claiming that it would be ridiculous to play as Napoleon, start with a town center and build from there to fight the Battle of Austerlitz. Cue the first big game mod ''VideoGame/NapoleonicEra'', whose aim is pretty much that.
*** Made funnier that two of the civilizations in the said mod, the Swedes and Incas, were made as official civilizations in the ''Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition.''
*** Add also that scenarios based on historical battles have been confirmed for the ''Definitive Edition'', even though Napoleon isn't in them.

** All the drama between Microsoft and Ensemble on the issue of including Crazy Horse (see Trivia), after knowing that the ''Definitive Edition'' '''writes him out completely'''.
* MisBlamed: No, this game ''didn't'' kill off the franchise - although as noted below, it was seen as falling short in comparison to previous installments, the real reason for the franchise's death was the closure of Ensemble Studios, [[https://kotaku.com/5157029/so-why-did-ensemble-studios-close-up for reasons unrelated to this game]].

*** Add also that scenarios based on historical battles have been confirmed for the ''Definitive Edition'', even though Napoleón isn't in them.

*** Add also that scenarios based on historical battles have been confirmed for the ''Definitive Edition'', though we don't know if Napoleon is present in them yet.

** In an AMA at the Age of Empires 3 Heaven forums, lead engineer Sandy Petersen defended the game's focus on American colonization claiming that it would be ridiculous to play as Napoleon, start with a town center and build from there to fight the Battle of Austerlitz. Cue the first big game mod ''VideoGame/NapoleonicEra'', whose aim is pretty much that.

*** The Historical Battles, a collection of single player scenarios based on historical battles a la [[VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII "Battles of the Conquerors" or "Battles of the Forgotten"]].

** Given how important the Inca are, especially in the ''Steel'' part of the campaign, many fans were surprised and livid to find out they were not a civilization in ''The [=WarChiefs=]''. ''Definitive Edition'' makes up for it by adding the Inca as a civilization.
** The Swedes, after so much time being left out of the final civilization roster, now make it as a playable civilization.
** The Historical Battles, a collection of single player scenarios based on historical battles a la [[VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII "Battles of the Conquerors" or "Battles of the Forgotten"]].
** In addition, the Iroquois and Sioux were completely reworked from ground up in the ''Definitive Edition'' to be more respectful to their cultures, as while the original game wanted to represent Native American cultures, some elements (such as the Fire Pit) ended up reinforcing western stereotypes on Native American cultures, so the developers consulted with various tribal leaders to have a more accurate representation of the Native American civilizations (i.e. the Fire Pit replaced with Community Plaza, mining replaced with fur trading, and their civilization names renamed to Haudenosaunee and Lakota respectively). The storyline in Act II: Shadow was rewritten where Crazy Horse was replaced with Chayton's uncle, Uncle Warbonnet, in order to establish Chayton having a more personal connection with the Lakota people.

** The ''Definitive Edition'', while still unreleased, seems aimed to please both sides of the BrokenBase (see below) by introducing the Inca and Swedes as playable civilizations, and also a collection of single player scenarios based on historical battles.
** Given how important the Inca are, especially in Act III of the campaign, many fans were surprised and livid to find out they were not a civilization in The Warchiefs. The Definitive Edition makes up for it by having the Inca as a civilization.

** One of the criticisms of the original game was the downplaying of the severely negative impacts of colonization, especially on Native Americans. The two expansions explicitly show the more negative side effects of racisms, exploitation and greed more overtly.

* BrokenBase: The are two visible splits in the fandom. Between Latin American and northern European players, on the one hand (even though the game is [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff mostly about North America and Asia]]); and whenever the topic of a remaster or new expansions comes up, between those who think the game should stay focused on overseas colonization and those who think it should return to Europe and the Mediterranean (with some overlap with the other split, but not completely).

** In addition, the Iroquois and Sioux were completely reworked from ground up in the ''Definitive Edition'' to be more respectful to their cultures, as while the original game wanted to represent Native American cultures, some elements (such as the Fire Pit) ended up reinforcing western stereotypes on Native American cultures, so the developers consulted with various tribal leaders to have a more accurate representation of the Native American civilizations (i.e. the Fire Pit replaced with Community Plaza, mining replaced with fur trading, and their civilization names renamed to Haudenosaunee and Lakota respectively. The storyline in Act II: Shadow was rewritten where Crazy Horse was replaced with Chayton's uncle, Uncle Warbonnet, in order to establish Chayton having a more personal connection with the Lakota people.

** In addition, the Iroquois and Sioux were completely reworked from ground up in the ''Definitive Edition'' to be more respectful to their cultures, as while the original game wanted to represent Native American cultures, some elements (such as the Fire Pit) ended up reinforcing western stereotypes on Native American cultures, so the developers consulted with various tribal leaders to have a more accurate representation of the Native American civilizations (i.e. the Fire Pit replaced with Community Plaza, mining replaced with fur trading, and their civilization names renamed to Haudenosaunee and Lakota respectively.

** All the drama between Microsoft and the Ensemble on the issue of including Crazy Horse (see Trivia) after knowing that the ''Definitive Edition'' '''writes him out completely'''.

** All the drama between Microsoft and the Ensemble on the issue of including Crazy Horse, after knowing that the ''Definitive Edition'' '''writes him out completely'''.

** In an AMA at the Age of Empires 3 Heaven forums, lead engineer Sandy Petersen defended the game's focus in American colonization claiming that it would be ridiculous to play as Napoleon, start with a town center and build from there to fight the Battle of Austerlitz. Cue the first big game mod ''VideoGame/NapoleonicEra'', whose aim is pretty much that.

** ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' added some of the most criticized omissions in the vanilla game, such as playable Native American civilizations, the possibility of playing as post-colonial American states through the Revolution option, more western American maps and natives, and new campaigns that were less fantastical and more grounded in History despite still using Black Family members as main characters. The response wasn't compeltely enthusiastic, however. ''The Asian Dynasties'' then added East Asian civilizations, campaigns, and maps with more success.

** ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' added some of the most criticized omissions in the vanilla game, such as playable Native American civilizations, the possibility of playing as post-colonial American states through the Revolution option, more western American maps and natives, and new campaigns that were more firmly grounded in History despite still using Black Family members as main characters. The response wasn't compeltely enthusiastic, however. ''The Asian Dynasties'' then added East Asian civilizations, campaigns, and maps with more success.

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** The model of the Mediterranean Home City Cathedral is based on Florence's, despite that none of the Home Cities available are called "Florence". (Or any other Italian city for that matter)

* In Act I, Lizzie winds up fighting an ancient secret society widely dismissed as a myth that plans to take over the New World. Her voice actress, Jennifer Hale, would later voice Commander Shepard, who fights a similar threat in the Mass Effect trilogy that came out two years later.

** Nathaniel Black, of the "Fire" segment of the War Chiefs campaign, is a [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII half Mohawk Revolutionary war hero who personally knows Washington]]. Plus the [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness Circle of Ossus]] is rather similar the Templars of Assassins Creed.

** Also from "Fire" is the mission "Valley Forge". Located between the aforementioned "Saratoga" and the even more exhausting [[RaceAgainstTheChallenge "The Battle of Morristown"]], early on you need to take care of your few units, but Nathaniel and Washington can rescue a settler trapped in a tree a few squares from your base. Unlike the militia and both heroes, during this early phase this settler doesn't lose points outside of the camp. Once the six mandatory huts are built, you can use this settler in order to pick the food, wood and gold crates scattered around the map, thus making the "Collect 3000 food units" sub-mission easier. At one point you even find a pair of Huron villages, who in the food phase gives you a pair of Courier Des Bois (the even better french counterpart to the settlers) and in the final phase you can use to ''mass'' its unique unit, the siege Huron Mantlets, which can help you tear the english buildings and defenses like they're made of paper. By the time the final phase rolls, you'll amass a strong army in no time.

** The "Crossing The Delaware" mission in ''The Warchiefs''. You don't even need to go straight away to the first mission, you might even be more interested in exploring the map and getting the treasures, because you're going to need them later. Not to mention that at some point of the exploration, you'll get a Courier Des Bois (a French settler) who can get the supplies scattered across the map for you. And later you'll find a Huron native settlement where you can build a trading post so you can get even more units, which will also come in handy for destroying the ships which hold even more units. You can even get some decent artillery units before doing the first mission. By the time you're finished with the side missions, an otherwise difficult mission becomes piece of cake, and you can get a big army with just a few resources. The fact that it's set between [[HoldTheLine "Breed's Hill"]] and [[LensmanArmsRace "Saratoga"]] doesn't hurt.

* ContestedSequel: While it's not considered a bad game by any means, the general consensus among fans is that ''III'' fell short of expectations when compared to the previous installment.