Ensemble Studios founder: Age of Empires III a "huge mistake"

I tend to agree.

Age Of Empires III just wasn't Age of Empires. And it wasn't great a game, either.

It's a pity that Microsoft didn't let them change the name, because this game killed the series.

Jonah Falcon

I differ

But you mileage may vary of course

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Xan-Xan/

So, is this some exciting news or something?

edited 14th Feb '11 3:47:57 PM by Scardoll

Fight. Struggle. Endure. Suffer. LIVE.

Well, this is one of the few true In Name Only games. If Ensemble Studios didn't think it was an AoE game, who are we to argue?

As for its relevance, I'm heading to Dallas for 3 days to interview Robot Entertainment (the developer that sprung from Ensemble Studios) and check out Age of Empires Online and some stuff that's NDA so I can't discuss it.

Jonah Falcon

This is so riveting

So, this is like a reverse Death of the Author type of thing, then?

"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel

For me, the only game they ever did right was Age Of Mythology...wish they made more of that instead of empires...

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Corrected.

And it's still not any more newsworthy than:

Couldn't help but notice the article has no context for the statement, either. Being Kotaku, they've likely got a long interview that they either stole from someone else or compiled to make weeks of riveting day by day updates.

Huh? Shelley was the founder and worked at Ensemble til they were DISBANDED.

And as for you trying to say this topic is uninteresting to you, don't go there. People in glass houses...

Jonah Falcon

^ He didn't say that, and that analogy/proverb wouldn't have help up even if he had.

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

Wow. That was rude. Thumped.

Why? Warcraft III was better in every way. And Age Of Empires II was an excellent game.

I like 1 and 2. I wanted to like 3... certainly looked good, but I had trouble getting into it. Felt less like Age of Empires and more.... something else.

Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

I actually did like 3, for a while at least. Maybe the franchise tried to pull itself in too many directions, but most of the new features had potential.

What was it about 3 that killed it for everyone else?

Aww, did I hurt your widdle fee-fees?

This post was thumped by the Shillelagh of Whackingness

Jonah Falcon

Well, Age Of Mythology had MUCH bigger armies...insignificant mooks didn't have more than 300 hitpoints and survive several hits, their arrows weren't homing and didn't do damage even though the projectile clearly missed  ^*

, lastly, it had units that could toss smaller units or knock them away.

One of the things that bugged my about Warcraft3 was how even if a giant ogre smacked a Footman, the footman just loses hitpoints, no reactions. In Ao M, when a minotaur smacks s footsoldier, that footsoldier flies back. When a cyclops grab and toss a unit, that unit dies.

As for Age Of Empires II...it may or may not be fun, but one things for sure, they coulda thrown in some hydras and frost giants...let use control giant beetles or SOMETHING to make the game less painfully dull.

Your Mileage May Vary of course...but I couldn't stand how colorless the non Myth "Age" games were.

---

As for balance...haven't played both for a long long time. But...do you have any idea what it's like to play as OR Cs against any of the other 3 races in late game?! Especially after a patch rendered the only worthwhile anti-air obsolete?!

Later in the game's life, every Orc that appears in competetive play resorts to early rushes, and leaves the game the moment heavy flyers start appearing.

edited 14th Feb '11 5:33:56 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

This post was thumped by the Eldritch Flyswatter of Horror

My first mainstream game series Age Of Empires 2, but I never really have gotten into an RTS more constantly competitively. Nonetheless, I found Age Of Empires 3 a really fun thing to play against comps and found it's depth was virtually staggering even to this day.

But liking a Zynga game also?... I just can't agree with that. At all.

edited 14th Feb '11 5:44:26 PM by VutherA

This post was thumped by the Shillelagh of Whackingness

True, but the obvious thing would be to not work for them... I'd assume Bruce Shelley would have a reasonable amount of leeway in getting jobs, being Bruce Shelley.

Can someone explain to me the problem with Kotaku? Unless there's a huge difference between the US and AU versions, I'm pretty much in the dark.

Against all tyrants.

They have a tendency of taking statements out of context to spin them into attention-grabbing headlines, sometimes with a noticeably biased slant. Some of the writers are worse than others about it, but it's not really exclusive to Kotaku, pretty much all the Gawker sites suffer that problem to an extent.

The blind man walking off the cliff is not making a leap of faith.

I bought AOE 3 a while ago for £0.99. I had no idea people disliked it so much; it's got a pretty active community.

"Is fearr Gaeilge briste ná Béarla cliste."

This post was thumped by the Merciless Hammer of Doom

@Wild Knight: Speaking of Gawker...

Also, former Westwood employee Adam Isgreen on Command And Conquer 4. Surprisingly more neutral than you might expect.

edited 14th Feb '11 6:24:53 PM by RocketDude

"Hipsters: the most dangerous gang in the US." - Pacific Mackerel