How has their not been a spiritual successor to AoE2?

[Auryg]

I don't get it - it seems like the gameplay style of Age of Empires I and II were victims of their own success - everyone is afraid to make games that have classic resource collection and base building. On top of that, with the advent of 3D gaming it seems the battles just don't seem the same. You can't block your onagers with a line of halberdiers, or keep a line or archers behind your walls. Age of Empires III was close, but the fighting didn't feel at all the same. The unit counts weren't as large and the battles just seemed less...strategic?

Don't get me wrong, I like some of the newer style games too - Company of Heroes is loads of fun on a totally different level. I just don't see why nobody has decided, "Hey, it's been a decade, lets make a game that plays like Age of Empires II but has all of the improvements we expect from games of this century." Things like higher resolutions, maybe a larger unit cap, new game mods, etc. But keep the basics the same.

Why has nobody done this?

 

[dguy6789]

Unfortunately, Ensemble Studios has been disbanded, so I don't know how likely it is that a true successor with the right feel will come out now.

 

[zerogear]

Wasn't there AoE3?

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: zerogear
Wasn't there AoE3?

Yes, and it was a pretty solid game in its own right. Some people didn't like the time period or the differences in its game.

Former Ensemble people have formed another studio though, Robot Entertainment. Not sure if they've announced any actual titles yet.

http://www.robotentertainment.com/

 

[Auryg]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: zerogear
Wasn't there AoE3?

Yes, and it was a pretty solid game in its own right. Some people didn't like the time period or the differences in its game.

Former Ensemble people have formed another studio though, Robot Entertainment. Not sure if they've announced any actual titles yet.

http://www.robotentertainment.com/

I'll have to keep an eye on them.

 

[Sam25]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Former Ensemble people have formed another studio though, Robot Entertainment. Not sure if they've announced any actual titles yet.

http://www.robotentertainment.com/

Thanks for the link, didn't know about it...bookmarked.

 

[Piuc2020]

Well Starcraft II is classic RTS style with modern conventions and presentation, however, you probably already knew about that.

 

[Auryg]

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
Well Starcraft II is classic RTS style with modern conventions and presentation, however, you probably already knew about that.

Yeah, but Starcraft fights are very different from AoE fights. It will be nice to have sort of a throwback though, it might encourage others.

 

[Zenoth]

If you mean a spiritual successor in the current time (let's say from 2007 to now and in the near future) then there's none, but going back to 2002 there was Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds and its expansion pack Clone Campaigns (which I own, both), and it was the closet you could ever come to Age of Empires II, it even used the same Genie engine (with some changes and enhancements, but nothing awesome, just better performance overall, better particle/explosion effects, looks a little more dramatic, also the gigantic map size was a couple of units bigger than what AoE could do, and maybe a few things I'm forgetting).

And Age of Empires III was quite a decent game on its own, but indeed it wasn't AoE II, in my humble opinion the main down side to AoE III was the time line, but they changed it when compared to AoE II because they probably thought that it would have made AoE III redundant or repetitive, just being a graphics and engine upgrade of AoE II, but that's exactly what should have happened, but they took the risk, the thing is that AoE III had been quite popular when it was released and it got nice reviews, it was fun for most gamers around, but for nostalgic people like me and for players who liked a better level of strategy then it just didn't cut it. I myself still own AoE III, but I never bought any of the expansions for it since I lost interest even before the first expansion came out. It's taking the dust ever since.

If want a similar game you can always look for Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (A.K.A C&C 2), lots of C&C fans disliked it, but I still believe to this day that it has been the best and still is the best of the whole C&C saga, with the original as a very close second for nostalgic purposes, but for actual strategy and challenge (even against the A.I) then Tiberian Sun is all you need.

 

[TidusZ]

Try Empire Earth, its very similar to AOE and imo, better. The first one is the best, EE2 is good, and 3 not good. The graphics still hold up pretty well too.

 

[Zenoth]

I almost forgot, I wanted to add another game very similar to AoE II, and it's Rise of Nations, and it's actually a very good game.

 

[acheron]

yes, there was one, it was called Rise of Nations.

If you mean one since then, then yeah I'd like to see another one too.

 

[TehMac]

Empire Earth was considered a spiritual successor to AoE 1.
RIP Stainless Steel Studios.

Amazing how all the intelligent developers are either dying or had to reform. No idea where Tony Goodman is, he might have retired, although wikipedia doesn't say anything.

I would like a new spiritual successor to AoE 1. That game pwned.

 

[flyboy84]

Rise of Nations is still great...I run it beautifully at 1680x1050 in Vista64, no problems.

 

[evident]

aoe1 was one of my favorite RTS's ever. brutal, and unforgiving! heavy horse archers w/ ballistics = win!

 

[A5]

Rise of Nations > AoE >>>>>>>> Empire Earth

Just saying.

 

[TehMac]

Love Rise of Nations, I play it in the office every now and then, but its a bit dated imo. Too bad BHG went bust and then decided to do some RPG that looks like shit. Why do developers want to spite their fans so much?

 

[Fox5]

The command and conquer series has always looked a little dated.

Oh, and supreme commander is total annihilation in 3d.

 

[Dorkenstein]

See, I loved TA but never got into Supcom.