Age of Empires 2 HD

[endtherapture]

I've just seen the classic Age of Empires 2 HD is coming to Steam - for £13ish I think.

I have fond memories of this RTS. The campaigns and units were great and had loads of really good characterisation and interesting missions - the Joan of Arc one was particularly good if I remember correctly.

Anyone going to pick this up? I personally wont, however I can't find my disk and if I see it in a sale at some point i'll pick it up to see how it holds up to Medieval 2 Total War.

What was really missing in Medieval 2 was a good Hundred Years War campaign that compared to AoE2.

 

[Mullac]

Well, I may pick it up if it goes on sale as I still have a perfectly good copy of the original and would therefore only be interested in the mulitplayer.

Not sure that it can really be compared to Medieval, one was a RTS the other a TBS, both are good, however.

 

[Saladfork]

Ah, I remember age of empire 2. I never played the first one, but I got interested in age of mythology and ended up getting a sort of box set with both AoM and AoE2. I loved them both; they're probably what got me into strategy games.

Not sure I'd pick up an HD rerelease, but who knows? Maybe I'll feel nostalgic sometime.

To go off on a random tangent, if anyone has played age of mythology and the expansions, can you tell me if the atlanteans really were broken, or if I just sucked (I was young when I played it, it could very well be either)?

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

No. It really doesn't hold up, anymore. Although, I really wish someone would make an RTS in the same vein. There hasn't been an epic, centuries spanning Age of Empires or Empire Earth in a while.

 

[Folji]

I'm happy to see an old classic return! But not sure if I'd get it for the price tag when the original is as good as abandonware anyway. I mean, what did they do? Rework the engine for higher resolutions? Throw in a water shader? Rewrite the network code? Add in Steam Workshop support? If you already got the game it's like a 18? patch.

 

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

Upside: No more LAN Cables!
Downside: You can't just hookup to a computer that has it installed and transfer it to all your friends in a bizarre piracy daisy-chain.

Steam Support looks cool though. It revitalized Civ 4 and I can see it doing that for AoE2.

 

[Jormala]

Seems like they only copypasted the unofficial patch and called it a HD remake. Looks like completely the same game except with support for higher resolutions.

 

[josemlopes]

I'm happy to see an old classic return! But not sure if I'd get it for the price tag when the original is as good as abandonware anyway. I mean, what did they do? Rework the engine for higher resolutions? Throw in a water shader? Rewrite the network code? Add in Steam Workshop support? If you already got the game it's like a 18? patch.

18? does seem quite a lot, but to have Steam Workshop support and all the expansions? It looks like a great deal for people that are looking for the "Nothing missing here" edition of the game.

Since its on Steam all that we have to do is wait for a 75% off sale, probably at the christmas sale.

 

[sanquin]

Seems like they only copypasted the unofficial patch and called it a HD remake. Looks like completely the same game except with support for higher resolutions.

That, and the added support for steam, which means you can find online matched via steam as well. Whoop dee doo right? I really dislike 'HD remakes' like this. They basically just slap a higher resolution on a 10~15 year old game, make it be compatible with the current OS, and sell it again for what is in my opinion a hefty price. All to try and reel in people that are still wearing their nostalgia glasses.

 

[Apointicus]

That, and the added support for steam, which means you can find online matched via steam as well. Whoop dee doo right?.

No, That's actually a REALLY big deal. This game actually has a striving, active competitive scene, everyday people have to use third party software (Specifically Voobly & Gameranger) for rankings and multiplayer, the problem is that the lag is pretty big because either your opponent or you had to host the game yourselves. Hopefully the steam matchmaking is really good, no guarantees on how it'll work until it's released.

I really dislike 'HD remakes' like this. They basically just slap a higher resolution on a 10~15 year old game, make it be compatible with the current OS, and sell it again for what is in my opinion a hefty price. All to try and reel in people that are still wearing their nostalgia glasses

I honestly don't really see the problem with this at all other than the fact the price is just a tad bit high, I think $15 would've been reasonable enough but hey, its just an extra $5 spent, no big deal for me. Other than that this remake is doing nothing but good across the board, it's doing the multiplayer scene a huge favor as I said earlier and the Steam Workshop Support is bound to be filled with really good stuff. There's very little reason to hate on this in my opinion.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Yep, I'm picking it up. Mainly because my original discs have been missing for years, and $20 is cheap enough for me to wax nostalgic.

 

[mysecondlife]

Man.. I remember playing it when I was a stupid kid, sending bunch of knights to attack a city wall with their swords instead of using siege weapons.

and big props to AOE2 expansion for including Turtle Ship.

But no I don't think I'll buy this game right away. I still have my discs so...

 

[VanQ]

As long as they leave in the COBRA rocket launcher cars and the cheat that makes your catapults fire cows and workers wearing their loincloth as a cape then this has my money.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Good! I've lost my copy ages ago so this is a relatively cheap way to get it back. With neat new multiplayer options to boot.

Downside: You can't just hookup to a computer that has it installed and transfer it to all your friends in a bizarre piracy daisy-chain.

Ahhhhhh that brings back memories of one person bringing like 5-10 games and the first 25% of the game session is spend on just transfering games and making sure they work.

As long as they leave in the COBRA rocket launcher cars and the cheat that makes your catapults fire cows and workers wearing their loincloth as a cape then this has my money.

If you watch the trailer you'll see a pleasant surprise at the end of it.

 

[spartandude]

hell yes am i getting this, my copy of this game was really old and sadly lost its usefulness as time took its toll so now that its back il be getting this

 

[BartyMae]

The only thing I'm really looking forward to about this is music presumably working. The game was originally released as a dual data/audio CD, and it streamed the music straight from your CD drive to your audio chipset via your motherboard, (or something equivalent to that - it's been a while since I figured out why it was completely impossible to have music play in game for anything but the main menu), which a DVD drive apparently can't do. So...no music, (unless you happen to own an old CD drive). Hopefully, they'll fix it here.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Well, I for one will definitely be picking it up.
It's just a matter of time until my bank transfer to my paypal account gets processed.

I can't wait to play tutorial mission 6 and get those 3 relics from the Britons.
That was always my favorite one.

 

[Wunderhund]

Anybody know if it will have mac (Intel) support? I'm running Lion, unfortunately, making it very difficult to re-live my childhood.

 

[Albino Boo]

Anybody know if it will have mac (Intel) support? I'm running Lion, unfortunately, making it very difficult to re-live my childhood.

Its not listed under Mac currently. I suspect if it sells well it will get ported, until the you might want to try running a windows virtual machine on your Mac.