Scoobes said:
Crazymann said:
Scoobes said:
Slimebeast said:
Scoobes said:
Crazymann said:
Well,
I am glad that you have your opinion, and no issues with sharing it, but many of us DO like how Blizzard does things. Blizzard has a committment to polish, and furthermore, it seems rather hypocritical to laude the virtues of Sony and then trash Blizzard in the same post. Both companies are very good at taking pre-existing ideas to new levels of refinement. Blizzard's style is fine, Sony's style is fine.
I don't like WoW either, but I don't like MMO's in general. Still, the fact is that (while long in the tooth) WoW is still the most recognizible MMO and it was the best of its kind at release (unless you seriously believe that EQ and its ilk were good). All pre-WoW MMO's sucked, and neither WoW or any MMO since has changed the formula enough for me to give it a second thought. Note, I don't lump Guild Wars into that mess because of its use of instancing.
Finally, I own Age 1, Age 2 Conquerers and Age 3
Age 3 sucks, Age 2 was the pinnacle of the series. Starcraft, while lagging behind Age 2 in some respects was the MOST fun I had in a single player campain EVER. So, how exactly does Age "slay" starcraft???
Reviews: NOPE
Popularity: NOPE
Sales: NOPE
Cultural Impact: NOPE
Single Player: NOPE
Graphics: NOPE
Production Values: NOPE
AI/Pathing: YEP
Multiplayer: PERHAPS*
* And that is only if you are still burned about LAN and other features removed from BNet2 (which I don't like, but still.)
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Taking your list:
Reviews: About equal. Some Age games are rated higher than Starcraft 1.
Popularity: NOPE
Sales: Techinically, the Age of series has sold over 20 million copies. Starcraft has 'only' sold 13 million. Having 4 games in that time-frame will do that ;)
Cultural Impact: I dunno, AoE taught me more history than school ever did :P
Single Player: NOPE
Graphics: Which games are you comparing? All the Age games (orginal included) are graphically superior to Starcraft 1 and Starcraft 2 has released 5 years after Age 3 which isn't really fair.
Production Values: Arguable with the originals of each series.
AI/Pathing: YEP (actually if you compare Age 1 with Starcraft 1 they were both pretty bad)
Multiplayer: PERHAPS- Oddly I disagree with you in favor of Starcraft with this one. There's a reason the original is still played so heavily 10 yrs after release.
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When did you start playing Age of Empires II?
(same question to you Crazzyman)
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Pretty much since it was released. It's actually my favourite RTS franchise and I've been playing it since the original was first released. And I actually quite liked 3.
Used to play the second with my mates. I wasn't that good to be honest so I always chose Byzantines as most of my mates picked the British. The cheap skirmishers would always save me from those bloody longbowman. I still play Age of Mythology with my girlfriend from time to time as she likes the anchient mythology setting.
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I played it on release. Conquerers expansion as well. I really enjoyed it, though I didn't get into 3 very well.
I still have all 3 on my shelf, but not installed sadly.
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Which Civs did you play?
With 3, the only problem I had with it was you pretty much had to stick with one Civ and lvl them up rather than switching on a whim. I did fairly well using the British villager boom tactic though.
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Well, I think you hit the nail on the head with my problem. As I recall, I was very restless, and bounced around a lot - never really finding a "niche". That wasn't a problem with any other RTS game I played because I always played the "good side" first then the "bad" (such as in C&C*) or in the recommended order (SC). For some, illogical reason, Age 3 never "fit" with me.
So, my unfavorable memories of the game could have as much to do with my mood at the time than anything else. Maybe after Age 2 - which was totally great - I expected more, and let my restlessness color my perceptions**.
* I mean the old games when they were good, and made by Westwood.
** Whereas I had not played SC1 for years before SC2 released, so I didn't get hit with that same feeling. Honestly, though, if it wasn't for the single player, I would be dissappointed in that, too.
