Quick Look: Age of Empires Online

Really excited for this to come out

:D

Mmmhh..

I really like the art style. I might check it out.

I might try this out.

Hi there is anyone else having problems watching newly uploaded videos on GB atm?

They keep freezing and just straight up breaking for me, I don't think it's my 'net, and I've never had these sorts of issues before now. BTW I'm in the UK.

I really wanna watch this but I can't!

Not normaly my type of game but I guess it looks ok

I haven't played the Beta in what, 3 months? I might pick it up again on release though, AoE multiplayer against friends remains a ton of fun.

@Suddenly_Susan: By the way, it is available for download from the AoE Online website. The patch downloaded very slowly for me, but that that's par for any online PC game.

You promised Vinny for this Quick Look, what happened Brad?. You and Jeff don't always go well together :(

Anyway, seems like a cozy game that's built around the stuff most people like about RTS games.

I've played a bit of it, and it is not too bad. The "micro"-transactions are a bummer, but the game is solid enough to be able to enjoy it.

@Max015: I also live in the UK, and it's been a long time since i've actually watched a quick look off the site due to video problems; I download them all now.

You're a subscriber, I recommend doing the same, :)

I completely dislike the "free to play" model they adopted for this game.

I don't know what it is, but i'm a sucker for a colorful and cartoony art style.

I'm at level 9 and it's been fun so far, but the quests are already getting tedius and I don't fancy doing hundreds more quests just to unlock everything. And I really don't like the payment model, Jeff was right on the bombcast when he said it sounded more like shareware than a proper free to play game.
 
I'll stick with it for now though, 1 more level and I unlock the next age, maybe it'll get more interesting then.

I am level seven without buying anything yet, and I am having a lot of fun with it. The Free to Play portion is quite beefy compared to other FTP games out there, and I love the visual style of the game. I will probably be buying some of the stuff this weekend once I load up on Microsoft Points.

Can't even download it... gets stuck on downloading "scenario.bar" over and over and over til it just crashes.  
Anyone else having problems getting it ?

I used to play a lot of Age of Empires but only for cheat codes. It was the game I used cheat codes on and it was the only thing I did with the game. i used to take some E=MC2 Troopers and blow up things. That game is what I think of when I hear E=MC2 and Flying Dutchman. I also own 2 but the codes were not as cool so I didn't play it as much.

This looks really well designed, actually.

It's a surprisingly really well developed game, and I've been having a good time with it, however the fact that you are straight up locked out of content without the option just to grind your way through everything is a bummer. Still not bad for a free game.

This seems like an incredible ripoff. I'd rather go back to an older AoE game than play this.

I've had nothing but problems since attempting installation yesterday. After five attempts I'm about to just let it go entirely. I'm trying once more this morning.

@Arx724 said:

This seems like an incredible ripoff. I'd rather go back to an older AoE game than play this.

In what way is this an incredible rip-off?

ALL UNITS

a lot of people are saying this is NOT the way to do micro transactions

@Godzilla_Sushi said:

@Arx724 said:

This seems like an incredible ripoff. I'd rather go back to an older AoE game than play this.

In what way is this an incredible rip-off?

"Pay 20 bucks now to not suck with 1 (one, uno, een, un, ein) civilization!"

I did download and patch it earlier today but I have not given it a try because I should be asleep. I really enjoy the art style.

The Market let's you trade resources you have in excess in-mission for another resource. It starts out as being a fair deal, but the more you trade one resource for another, the more costly it becomes.

e.g. you start by trading 100 wood for 80 gold. Next time you click, though, it's 100 wood for 75 gold, then 70 gold... etc. etc.

On food: hunting gathers food fastest, gathering food from bushes is slower, and farming is slowest. Usually people beeline for farms, but there's benefit in hunting first.

And, as to your question of how similar this is, it's hard to say. It's more similar to Age of Mythology than the AoE games, which isn't bad. It is more simplistic. The differences between Greece and Egypt are essentially the same as the differences that existed between them in AoM. In addition, the home city business and level persistence isn't unique to AOEOnline, it actually started in Age of Empires 3. In that game you had a home city and leveled up by playing multiplayer. You'd then unlock "cards" that upgraded your units and abilities.

And the siege towers are ridiculous.

As to Brad's difficulty itches: the game in multiplayer has a lot in common with Starcraft, with considerations of timing. Raiding parties are usually formed early game to harass villagers and keep the opponents economy in check. Age of Empires 2 had a very dynamic and active multiplayer community, a community that continues to patch the game and balance it to this day.

I don't really know how I quite feel about this game yet. I'm enjoying it, but I've enjoyed every AoE game. I... don't think it's a good value. I feel like I could go back to AoM and have a better time. But, then again, the loot progression makes it fairly addictive. Playing co-op is enjoyable. But, in the end... 20 dollars a civ is ridiculous, no matter how you look at it. 10 would be reasonable, but as it stands the development teams stated goal of "not nickel and diming" the player rings false. It's not nickel and diming, it's "twenty dollaring". If there was at least one full civ a person could play without having to pay, I could see this as okay. Instead, as Jeff said, you get to play a demo of the game for free.

@Suddenly_Susan: It's already out

Anybody else get frustrated when he deleted the wall because he didn't see the gate button?

@Arx724 said:

@Godzilla_Sushi said:

@Arx724 said:

This seems like an incredible ripoff. I'd rather go back to an older AoE game than play this.

In what way is this an incredible rip-off?

"Pay 20 bucks now to not suck with 1 (one, uno, een, un, ein) civilization!"

I'd rather pay $20 for that than the launch retail price for the last AoE game... And for the same price as that you'd probably get MORE and BETTER content. From what I played of this it's really enjoyable, which I found to be completely untrue of AoE 3. Plus, it's not like you aren't getting much content for $20. Calling it free to play is maybe a misnomer, but it's definitely a new way to pay for content that seems totally valid.

I'm actually shocked by how good this game is. Sure, it's not really free if you want the entire experience, but that's F2P for you. If you like it, you spend the 20 bucks to upgrade your civilization of choice to premium and have a blast. I've been playing for two nights now the level of detail and MMO hub style world is just great.

Anybody else get frustrated when he deleted the wall because he didn't see the gate button?

...I'm just going to go play AOE II now.

@triviaman09 said:

...I'm just going to go play AOE II now.

That is probably the best course of action. That or Age Of Mythology.

I'm tempted to reinstall Age of Empires II.

Also, I was never a hardcore Age of Empires player but I used to play it a lot, and the basic gameplay seems pretty similar albeit a little streamlined.

I'd rather play AoE2 again.

Played a ton of the beta. The Free version is essentially a long demo. Can't recommend playing the free version at all.

@MordeaniisChaos said:

@Arx724 said:

@Godzilla_Sushi said:

@Arx724 said:

This seems like an incredible ripoff. I'd rather go back to an older AoE game than play this.

In what way is this an incredible rip-off?

"Pay 20 bucks now to not suck with 1 (one, uno, een, un, ein) civilization!"

I'd rather pay $20 for that than the launch retail price for the last AoE game... And for the same price as that you'd probably get MORE and BETTER content. From what I played of this it's really enjoyable, which I found to be completely untrue of AoE 3. Plus, it's not like you aren't getting much content for $20. Calling it free to play is maybe a misnomer, but it's definitely a new way to pay for content that seems totally valid.

I'd rather pay full price for doing whatever I want with a game. Even today, AoE2 would be a better deal.

Jeff don't need no religion mumbo jumbo. He's a man of science damn it.

So this has a healthy single player component? neat. I dont have the time to get competitive against real people.

Great art style. Reminds me of Torchlight.

I played the old AoE games a lot. From that point of view, this game is disappointing, because in those games you got everything from the start and could just jump into games against people. I feel the whole MMO thing has actually hurt it in this regard.
 
You should do a TNT or QL on AoE2, which is the best one. 8 players at a time in multiplayer I do believe, and there were a ton of game types.

I played a insane amount of AoE and AoE 2 back in the day, yet this doesn't interests me at all.

there's alot of similarities with the aoes games within the gameplay portion (i.e can queue up buildings and like SC2 and Aoe you often need to utilize different units against your opponent).  
 
Am I the only one here that is actually excited for this game? I kind of liked the whole MMO feeling to it though whole transactions thingy felt like LOTRO and the way they are doing it

@Aforgomon said:

Anybody else get frustrated when he deleted the wall because he didn't see the gate button?

No, I don't get frustrated by watching other people play games.

Man, getting a real urge to play AoE 2.

I'll play this when The Celts show up.