Age of Mythology: Retold

[REhorror]

The new art:

The old art:

Not gonna buy this shit sorry, fucking new game looks like a mobile game, freaking Isis don't look like that.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

That's what we expected?

I thought this whole "retold" business would be something more than just the usual definitive editions they have brought for the other titles.

 

[DoWhocares]

That's what we expected?

I thought this whole "retold" business would be something more than just the usual definitive editions they have brought for the other titles.

Are you lads following the same project I do?

Not saying it's not going to be shit (most things these days are, so it's a safe bet), but changes wise, we already know they'll change god powers from one-time use to a cooldown-based system and let us manually use unit skills. These two things are already a huge departure and a shakeup to the formula.

 

[Lacrymas]

Like what?

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Like what?

Retold Chinese campaign that everyone have been complaining about for example.

 

[Lacrymas]

Are the Chinese even going to be in? It's a universally hated civ. They are changing other stuff, though. Myth units are no longer going to use their abilities automatically for example. I'm sure they are going to pump out balance patches as well.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Did the troll always have breasts?

 

[Lacrymas]

The description on Steam doesn't mention the Chinese while mentioning everyone else, so it's a safe bet to assume they aren't going to be in.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Feyd Rautha

Troll

Frost giant

 

[Lacrymas]

That blue troll is the Norse titan. It kinda has breasts if you squint a bit.

 

[Child of Malkav]

IDK, I can't really see it. But since times change so did the trolls. They're keeping up with the times, HRT and all.

 

[Lacrymas]

It could be steroids, that also leads to breast growth ;d

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Chinese? I don't remember them at all. I see that they were released in 2016, which is why. I played a lot of this back in high school and college. Some great LAN parties. The Norse were my favorite, but I was best with Greeks. My biggest adversary was always Atlantean, and it was very difficult for me to beat him without going Zeus, maxing out hoplite tech, and constantly raiding his buildings.

The screen shots if this look pretty good. I look forward to seeing what comes of it on release. Not sure how I feel about changes to unit abilities or god powers being cooldown. I am intrigued and see some upside, but those are massive considerations that could break the pretty good balance between the civs. Even intra-civ, that change is really significant. Hopefully they keep a classic mode.

 

[luj1]

freaking Isis don't look like that.

yeah wtf are they doing

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

The way they were hiding it and with the amount of time it took to show anything I kinda thought they might be using franchise cash/popularity to catapult it into a high-effort project with jump in quality comparable to AoE2 de at worst. But the screenshots don't reflect this at all. It also seems to have the exact same issue that 3 de has, where the combination of saturation and contrast makes the game rather unpleasant to look at for me.

Combined with the joke of a cash grab new 2's dlc this feels like an easy skip for me. I only ever played the original anyway so might as well try the previous remaster that's been rotting in my steam library.

 

[Lacrymas]

The advantage of this release is revitalizing the game, changing a few gameplay aspects that lower the skill ceiling too much (auto-anything), providing online matchmaking, giving it a balance patch and continuous support. The graphics are the bonus.

 

[Morgoth]

Age Of Mythology Retold tilts for the modern esports crowd with changed god power mechanics ​

A smattering of new info on the forthcoming Age retelling

News by Edwin Evans-Thirlwell News Editor

Published on Feb. 26, 2024



When I did my undergrad degree in the nowadays-blissful-seeming early noughties, I swore off videogames entirely. I sternly and sorrowfully turned my back on such hit releases as Shadow of the Colossus, Far Cry and yes, even, that PC gaming essential Half-Life 2, so as to spend 11-hour days boning up on Aeschylus and Samuel Johnson. Then, two weeks before my final exams, I somehow went out and bought Ensemble's Age Of Mythology.
I'm not sure why - blame the devil on my shoulder, I guess. It wasn't even a new release at that point. I managed to get good marks in the exams despite several nights of binge-playing, but what direction, in general, would my life have taken if I hadn't bought Age Of Mythology at such a fateful hour? Better or worse? Could I have been some kind of billionaire don with a Pulitzer by now, if it weren't for Age Of Mythology? These things keep me awake at night. Anyway, here's a little more info about the forthcoming reboot Age of Mythology: Retold, which broadly aims to turn this wrinkled titan of the strategy genre into a proper modern esport.

Age of Mythology Retold, remastered Age of Empires spin-off, will be out this year
Read more on Rock Paper Shotgun

PCGamer have a crisp chat with Microsoft producer Earnest Yuen, who traces his career back to working as a QA on the very first Age of Empires. According to Yuen, Retold "is way beyond what we normally do for definitive editions", and is designed to play like how you remember Mythology playing, rather than how it actually plays today. "We want to build the game in your head," he said, which is a pretty common marketing line among both "remaster" and "remake" developers. I'm beginning to think we need to instigate some kind of sliding scale between "remaster" and "remake", showing the exact gradations that separate a loopy reimagining like, say, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth from a very expensive restoration project like the Halo: Master Chief Collection.

Retold builds upon graphics and engine changes made for the Age Of Empires 3 Definitive Edition, introducing flourishes such as ray tracing and unspecified special effects. But it also changes how the thing plays, increasing the population count to take advantage of the new technology, and giving you manual control over myth unit power usage. The biggest shake-up so far is that god powers can now be fired off several times a match - as with MOBA ultimates, they'll now have a cooldown rather than being once-and-done supermoves.
This particular change has been made with a view to making Retold more of an esport and woo the current Age PvP community, who are presently embroiled in the latest Hidden Cup tournament. "The god power change is both great for esports and for watching the game," said Yuen, adding "that anticipation [of the next god power usage] makes it much more fun to watch."
Also with a view to luring in esportsfolk, the developers are cleaning up the interface and getting rid of various Age Of Mythology exploits, though Yuen didn't go into specifics. "Those things need to be updated, if we don't patch those and fix those exploits the game will not be viable as an esports game," he said. "It's important we need to fix those things so our community can run the tournaments they love."

To return to my opening skit, do you have any similar Sliding Doors moments related to certain videogames? Any classic games bought at exactly the right or wrong moment that might have set your life on a different course? And while we're wasting our precious minutes and hours discussing such things, where exactly do you draw the line between a remake and a remaster?

I read the word "esport", and I immediately think "DOA".

 

[Lacrymas]

I'm not particularly convinced of reusable godpowers. Maybe for some which are weak on their own, but not for everything.

 

[Reality]

I liked the original back in high school but nowadays I think it's the worst age of empires

My three main problems are

Super tamky villagers discourage early era interaction and limit raiding

Self trading Marketplace allow for infinite gold on any map

Many production time decrease technologies which in the final tech era change the gameplay into "tug of war" supcom style combat

 

[Sarathiour]

Super tamky villagers discourage early era interaction and limit raiding

No they're not ? Unless if by early era you mean the first age because the only existing military unit at this point are massively downgraded for obvious reason. Any half-decent raiding force during classical age will decimate a ressource spot left exposed, and there is no way to boost their tankiness, unless you're playing ra or get some niche relic.

Self trading Marketplace allow for infinite gold on any map

Yes, but they also take time to set up, and make a juicy and vulnerable target during the late-game, especially once the gold mine are dried.

Many production time decrease technologies which in the final tech era change the gameplay into "tug of war" supcom style combat

Late game is indeed more of a "tug of war combat", and reward the player who control more forum. Technologies that decrease production time are mostly irrelevant to this, not a lot of difference between building 10 or 12 barracks. They mostly matters for fortress unit, because those building are pricey and limited in numbers, and only thot when you play egy got a really strong one. It remains balanced because thot boost elephant, and taking myht unit and divine power out of the equation, egy got the worst deathball out of the four faction, meaning that direct attrition war should be avoided, their strength lies elsewhere.

 

[BrotherFrank]

-have to micro special attacks
-reuseable god powers for all somehow good: hels winter spam incoming and no longer have to think too hard about where to place things like underworld passages and spam spells that were never meant to be spammed, also undermines the atlantean gimmick of multiple use god powers.
-made for esports

Well not like i ever expected this to be good judging by comments made 2 years ago.

 

[lvl 2 Blue Slime]

I always found it weird that in AoM Kronos is portrayed like this:

But historically he's always been portrayed like this:

 

[0wca]

That's what we expected?

I thought this whole "retold" business would be something more than just the usual definitive editions they have brought for the other titles.

Are you lads following the same project I do?

Not saying it's not going to be shit (most things these days are, so it's a safe bet), but changes wise, we already know they'll change god powers from one-time use to a cooldown-based system and let us manually use unit skills. These two things are already a huge departure and a shakeup to the formula.

It's called 'Retold', not 'Remastered' - hence big gameplay changes and other artwork design decisions (to fit the modern era ofc).

If the game was a simple HD upgrade with better models, textures and effects, they wouldn't be emphasizing this many gameplay changes.

Even if the game's not gonna be woke propaganda (which it will be), it'll still fall flat on gameplay compared to the original.

 

[Lacrymas]

The original fell flat in the gameplay department, they know this and probably want to change that.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

I always found it weird that in AoM Kronos is portrayed like this:

It's not really that strange to go far afield with the design of something, but you are right because I can't remember anything in that game being too out of left field otherwise. Perhaps they just wanted to really hammer home how otherworldly Kronos was.