History YMMV / AgeOfEmpiresIII

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven:
** The ''4599'' separate voice-acted lines for just the skirmish AI (found in Age of Empires III/Sound/Chats directory).
** The sheer number of languages spoken by the units in the game. The major civilizations account for 14 different languages, the minor Native Americans account for another 16 languages and the mercenaries account for another handful, even though only one or two units will ever speak the languages. Some of these languages, e.g. Early Modern English (British); Japanese and Mandarin (Chinese), even have different regional pronunciations when used by different units.

** The Knights of St. John actually did [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitaller_colonization_of_the_Americas set up shop]] in the Caribbean!

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** 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).
** Good luck trying to find a Catholic Cathedral resembling St. Paul's in ''Amsterdam''.
** The [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade Knights of St. John]] having a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auberge_d%27Angleterre#History Scottish]] commander at the Great Siege, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_and_coat_of_arms_of_the_Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta wearing blue]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Siege_of_Malta#Gran_Soccorso fighting the Spanish]], and being opposed to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Malta slavery and taking free stuff from non-Christians]]. But it's just [[UnreliableNarrator a family tall tale]]... [[RealAfterAll maybe]].

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** One of the criticisms of the original game was how the severely negative impacts of colonization, especially on Native Americans, was heavily downplayed. The two expansions explicitly show the more negative side effects of racism, exploitation and greed more overtly.
** ''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 completely enthusiastic, however. ''The Asian Dynasties'' then added East Asian civilizations, campaigns, and maps with more success.
** ''Definitive Edition'' seems aimed to please both sides of the BrokenBase (see below) in several ways:
*** 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"]], for people who were disappointed with the ahistorical campaign and wished to play with more civilizations in campaign mode.
*** 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 while the Sioux had their name reverted to what they were called prior to ''The [=WarChiefs=]'' expansion, the Lakota, the Iroquois were renamed to the Haudenosaunee). 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.
*** Revolutions, generally considered underwhelming and unbalanced (which ES devs admitted was the result of insufficient testing due to lack of time) were completely remade from scratch, and several non-American ones were added (from places as varied as Eastern Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia). And then Mexico and the United States (especially the latter after having not being a playable civilization for so long despite their major role during the game's timeframe and prominence in three of the game's eight campaigns) were added as fully playable factions.
*** Much like in ''Age of Empires II'', the ''Definitive Edition'' corrected a decades-long misplaced cathedral by replacing the [[TheArtifact Florence Dome]] in the Spanish and Portuguese home cities with the Lisbon Cathedral.
*** The ''Definitive Edition'' eliminates grinding for Home City shipments, making all cards available at the start and allowing 25 to be chosen for a battle (44 in the campaign); before, players would need to unlock new cards by increasing their Home City level, with a limit of 20 cards in a deck in Skirmishes.
*** After teasing African maps with the Cristovao da Gama historical battle, the ''African Royals'' expansion finally brings Africa fully into the game with the playable Ethiopians and Hausa, and several native peoples.
*** The ''Knights of the Mediterranean'' expansion finally lets people play in Europe (with different Royal Houses taking the place of the native alliances). The Italians, cut from the original game, are a playable faction, along with the Maltese, who despite being more historically accurate than the campaign-only Knights of St John, contain enough nods to the campaign to make it retroactively better, somehow (the Grand Master hero looks like Alain Magnan, the Hospitaller and Sentinel units are improved versions of the Boneguard Swordsman and Musketeer, campaign-only buildings are turned into Maltese-exclusive buildings like the Commandery, etc). Northern and Central Asia also benefit from receiving a new native settlement (Tengri Shrine) and moving the War Elephant from the Sufi Mosque to the Hindu Bhakti Temple (the Sufis now train Qizilbash, a Turkic horse archer historically related to this Muslim sect and much more at home in desert and steppe maps). The 25th Anniversary Update would follow up on this by reworking all of the European civilizations' Home City Card decks to feature more historically accurate mercenary and native options for each civilization, mainly those from the new Royal Houses as well the new mercenary types added since the launch of ''Definitive Edition''.
*** The "Spanish Gold" card was changed from a rather lame one that allowed Spanish to train Pirates regardless of map (they have better swordsmen ordinarily with their Rodeleros anyway) to one that gives 300 extra coin with every shipment (and is a better reference to Spanish history in the game's period).
*** The addition of the Soldado to the Spanish (a musketeer/grenadier hybrid), the Ranger to the British (skirmisher upgrade to the Longbowman), and the Nizam Fusilier to the Ottomans (a mixed skirmisher/musketeer with high melee attack) covers gaps in their tech trees and gives them a less archaic appearance in the late game, when 19th century units are common place.
*** Many people criticized the game's treatment of the Ottomans as another European civilization despite being an Islamic Empire with territories in the Middle East. The 25th Anniversary Update rectified this by significantly reworking their unit roster to be more culturally accurate. The rework gave them unique replacements for several units they originally shared with the Europeans, such as the Yoruk (Settler), Bashibozuk (Militiaman), Deli (Hussar), and Humbaraci (Grenadier), as well as giving them the new Azap and making the Nizam Fusilier easier to access in order to better round out their limited infantry roster. They even got a unique shipment that changes the uniforms of artillery crews to look more Middle Eastern than European.
*** Several fans have wanted UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution as a option for France since the addition of Revolutions. Revolutionary France was eventually added as an option in the 25th Anniversary Update.

** The "Crossing The Delaware" mission in the "Fire" campaign of ''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.

** 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. Even better is that the protagonist is motivated against the main antagonist for a crime committed against the protagonist's mother, though Nonakhee winds up merely kidnapped instead of killed and Washington has nothing to do with it.

*** Revolutions, generally considered underwhelming and unbalanced (which ES devs admitted was the result of insufficient testing due to lack of time) were completely remade from scratch, and several non-American ones were added (from places as varied as Eastern Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia). And then Mexico and the United States were added as fully playable factions, with revolutions of their own (based on individual states).

*** The ''Knights of the Mediterranean'' expansion finally lets people play in Europe (with different royal houses taking the place of the native alliances). The Italians, cut from the original game, are a playable faction, along with the Maltese, who despite being more historically accurate than the campaign-only Knights of St John, contain enough nods to the campaign to make it retroactively better, somehow (the Grand Master hero looks like Alain Magnan, the Hospitaller and Sentinel units are improved versions of the Boneguard Swordsman and Musketeer, campaign-only buildings are turned into Maltese-exclusive buildings like the Commanderie, etc). Northern and Central Asia also benefit from receiving a new native settlement (Tengri Shrine) and moving the War Elephant from the Sufi Mosque to the Hindu Bhakti Temple (the Sufis now train Qizilbash, a Turkic horse archer historically related to this Muslim sect and much more at home in desert and steppe maps).

*** The ''Knights of the Mediterranean'' expansion finally lets people play in Europe (with different royal houses taking the place of the native alliances). The Italians, cut from the original game, are a playable faction, along with the Maltese, who despite being more historically accurate than the campaign-only Knights of St John, contain enough nods to the campaign to make it retroactively better, somehow (the Grand Master hero looks like Alain Magnan, the Hospitaller and Sentinel units are improved versions of the Boneguard Swordsman and Musketeer, etc). Northern and Central Asia also benefited from receiving a new native settlement (the Tengri Shrine) and moving the War Elephant from the Sufi Mosque to the Hindu Bhakti Temple (the Sufis now train Qizilbash, a Turkic horse archer historically related to this Muslim sect and much more at home in desert and steppe maps).

*** The addition of the Soldado to the Spanish (a musketeer/grenadier hybrid), the Ranger to the British (skirmisher upgrade to the Longbowman), and the Nizam Fusilier to the Ottomans (a mixed skirmisher/musketeer with high melee attack) covers gaps in their tech tree and also gives them a less archaic appearance in the late game, when 19th century units are common place.

*** Revolutions were completely remade from scratch and several non-American ones were added (from places as varied as Eastern Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia). And then Mexico and the United States were added as fully playable factions, with revolutions of their own (based on individual states).

*** The "Spanish Gold" card was changed from a rather lame one that allowed Spanish to train Pirates regardless of map (they have better swordsmen ordinarily with their Rodeleros) to one that gives 300 extra coin with every shipment (and is a better reference to Spanish history in the game's period).
*** The Spanish were also given access to the Mexican Soldados (a Musketeer-Grenadier hybrid) with a card, and the British were allowed to turn their Longbowmen into Rangers (a special Skirmisher), giving both factions a more modern look in the final ages.

*** The Spanish were also given access to the Mexican Soldados (a Musketeer-Grenadier hybrid) with a card, and the British allowed to turn their Longbowmen into Rangers (a special Skirmisher), giving both factions a more modern look in the final ages.

*** The ''Knights of the Mediterranean'' expansion finally lets people play in Europe (with different royal houses standing in for the native alliances). The Italians, cut from the original game, are a playable faction, along with the Maltese, who despite being more historically accurate than the campaign-only Knights of St John, contain enough nods to the campaign to make it retroactively better, somehow (the Grand Master hero looks like Alain Magnan, the Hospitaller and Sentinel units are improved versions of the Boneguard Swordsman and Musketeer, etc).

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

See also:
* ''[[AwesomeMusic/AgeOfEmpires Awesome Music - AOE]]''
* ''[[GameBreaker/AgeOfEmpires Game Breaker - AOE]]''
* ''[[ThatOneLevel/AgeOfEmpires That One Level - AOE]]''
----

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** Using entirely fictional stories backdropped to historical events instead of entirely historical campaigns like the previous games. Especially glaring is the ample material in North American history from the time period used in the game. This does not apply to the second expansion although it does take a few liberties with things (i.e. the Chinese being the first to discover America and erasing proof of their presence.) This is especially egregious considering that the first two Age of Empires games had several campaigns, all based on real historical events.
** The first expansion had Nathaniel Black, son of John Black, as the main character of the "Fire" Campaign (which revolved around the Iroquois), and Chayton Black, the son of Amelia Black, as the main character of the "Shadow" Campaign (where you played as the Sioux). Considering the expansion pack introduces 3 new civilizations, as well as the fact that we didn't learn anything about John Black's father Phillipe in the first game, you'd think they'd have him be the main character of a third campaign where you played as the Aztecs (the third civilization introduced) to complete the trifecta, but nope[[note]]although considering that at one point in the expansion pack's development, the Inca would've been the fourth civilization in the game, it's possible that a campaign involving Phillipe would've been Inca-focused[[/note]].
** Morgan and Lizzie had four sons. They split, Morgan raised two (John's father, Phillipe, and Stuart) and Lizzie raised two. We never hear anything of the other two raised by a PirateGirl, not even in the expansions.
** Only the Sioux, the Japanese, the Chinese and the Indians are actually playable in the campaigns. For everything else, it's either the Knights of Malta or the Black family. Special regards go to the Portuguese and Dutch, who don't even show up as enemies.
** Many of the European empires present in the game actually interacted with India, China, Japan, and the rest of Asia quite a bit during the time period covered, but you wouldn't get that idea from the Asian campaigns beyond the British in India.
** The decision to make the game about American colonization, first and foremost. Imagine how different it could have been if that central role had been given to Old World conflicts with names as suggestive as The Thirty Years War, The ''Eighty'' Years War, or the Polish Deluge.
** The lack of any official Expansion to cover Africa, which had plenty of European colonization and interaction within the time period covered. It is the subject of some fan made expansion, like the "Italy and Africa Mod" and ''The King's Return''. This was finally averted at the April 2021 Fan Preview, when an African-themed expansion was announced for the game.
** The Historical Battles are only six, four of them are set in the 16th century, and again they include an English pirate army taking on a Spanish base in the Caribbean, a battle in the French and Indian War, and a battle on the post-independence U.S. At least there is hope for more battles in future updates like in ''Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition'', or a redone Editor that is more conducive for fan-made scenarios.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: ''The Asian Dynasties'' references the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavin_Menzies#1421:_The_Year_China_Discovered_the_World 1421 Hypothesis]] (2002) and the TV series ''{{Series/Lost}}'' (2004-2010).

** The lack of any official Expansion to cover Africa, which had plenty of European colonization and interaction within the time period covered. It is the subject of some fan made expansion, like the "Italy and Africa Mod" and ''The King's Return''.

** The ''Definitive Edition'' itself has become this, as its reception since release has devolved into a case of LoveItOrHateIt. With some loving many of the new changes and continued supports, while others lambast it for being ridden with bugs, inferior, or accused of being politically correct.

* 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 [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory skirts around these issues]].

*** 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's decision to cut Crazy Horse out of the campaign, in favor of Chayton's uncle led to a pretty sharp schism, as the original campaign was one of the few times a famous Native American leader has been depicted in a video game. Some people felt this decision made more sense, as Chayton had a more personal reason to side with the Sioux as well as emphasizing his major identity struggle, while others felt that it severely undermined the original campaign's well written plot.

*** The ''Definitive Edition'' eliminates grinding for Home City shipments, making all cards available at the start and allowing 25 to be chosen for a battle (44 in the campaign); before, players would need to unlock new cards by increasing their Home City level, with a limit of 20 in Skirmishes.

*** 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.

** Also from "Fire" is the mission "Valley Forge". Located between the aforementioned "Saratoga" and the even more exhausting [[RaceAgainstTheClock "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 Historical Battles are only six, four of them are set in the 16th century, and again they include an English pirate army taking on a Spanish base in the Caribbean, a battle in the French and Indian War, and a battle on the post-independence U.S. At least there is hope for more battles in future updates like in ''Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition'', or a redone Editor that is more conductual to fan-made scenarios.

** ''Definitive Edition'', while still unreleased, seems aimed to please both sides of the BrokenBase (see below) in several ways:

** 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).

* DoubleStandard: The Definitive Edition renamed the Iroquois and Sioux civilizations to the Haudenosaunee and Lakota respectively, however when Age of Empires II was remastered, the nominally English (or at least Anglo-Norman) civilization retained its name of "Britons", despite this name historically applying to the original Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles, represented in-game by the Celts. These peoples were historically conquered and subjugated by the English. Whoops. It's also worth noting that the Japanese, Chinese, and Indian civilizations also retain their English names.