Age of Empires II: HD Coming to Steam

ktulu123

Haven't had any issues myself, only its not a HD remake/remaster it looks more or less the same

delta36

After seeing the issues some people are posting here, I'm glad I didn't rush to pre-order this! Seems such a shame, maybe it'll get sorted in a few weeks. In terms of the "HD" part, are the graphics a noticeable improvement?

Gbear

Is this game actually good by modern standards?

delta36

Gbear wrote: »

Is this game actually good by modern standards?

Quite a specific question, what do you mean by modern standards? Most RTS at their core have resource collection, base building and management, and unit building, or some variation there of. Considering Lenmeister mentioned on page 3 that there is still an active community playing it on Voobly(?), then its obviously popular enough to still be good by modern standards, and I daresay nostalgia can only take you so far for being willing to play a game, it's also gotta be good by modern standards. Obviously the graphics won't be up to the standard of more modern games, but apart from that, I say yes!

Angron

It's a fun game to play, but it can be very tricky to master. It wouldn't be my favourite RTS, but it is a good game.

cherryghost

Fed up with the online issues with this game.

Lenmeister

Currently online in Voobly:

AoE - 70 users
AoE II - Age of Kings - 45 users
AoE II - Conquerors Exp - 2142 users (all spread across different lobbies - new players, Random Map / DeathMatch / Custome Scenario etc.

Gives you an idea of how active the game is. This is just one server. There are others too, GameRanger(which sucks to be honest), Hamachi etc. Voobly is imo the best, far less issues than GameRanger and some others. Haven't tried Hamachi but supposed to be ok.

dreamers75

10948 trying to play online in Steam now.

cherryghost

Lenmeister wrote: »

Currently online in Voobly:

AoE - 70 users
AoE II - Age of Kings - 45 users
AoE II - Conquerors Exp - 2142 users (all spread across different lobbies - new players, Random Map / DeathMatch / Custome Scenario etc.

Gives you an idea of how active the game is. This is just one server. There are others too, GameRanger(which sucks to be honest), Hamachi etc. Voobly is imo the best, far less issues than GameRanger and some others. Haven't tried Hamachi but supposed to be ok.

Hamachi is flawless. Really speaks for words that the devs decided to write their own net code (13,000 lines of new net code apparently) and it still runs like dog ****e

Lenmeister

Isn't hamachi IP based with direct connections or something?

Turtwig

Direct TCP/IP iirc. In my experience of using hamachi as long as VPN you set up didn't create too high of a ping for anybody AOE II ran flawlessly. If you set a VPN that had high ping for someone though it was a lag fest.

Voobly is undoubtedly the best, when I used to use it, it would patch the game so everyone's system was compatible. Almost no lag as a result, until battles got ridiculously large. And not only that their patches enable higher resolution displays anyway. Honestly aside from having this game accessible through Steam and Steamworks I can't see a reason to buy this at the moment. Delighted to see voobly is still going strong. Would highly recommend folks checking that out.


As for aging. The game does show it, the pathfinding is atrocious and the computer AI is useless. The community though is fantastic and there are some amazing custom scenarios out the. It's a great game, but the inability to rotate the camera these days can be annoying as hell. It's a game that requires rote memory of hot keys and intensive micromanagement. During battles this can be abused to the point of absurdity by both sides.

Lenmeister

That's what makes it great imo. Intense micro is what improves your game and wins you games. During battles it's not too hard to micromanage if ur paying attention, but still hard hehe. Aoe has an amazing balance that can't be found in many games anywhere to be honest. Very delicately poised in many aspects. I don't care about the camera to be honest I quite like it.

Br4tPr1nc3

I know there is somewhat of a community of players on game ranger

i think its fairly large too.

dreamers75

Jernal wrote: »

Honestly aside from having this game accessible through Steam and Steamworks

Its the main/only reason to buy it imo.

Hamachi etc are a pain in the hole cos one of the group never gets it to work.

Turtwig

Surely it'll be 50% off come the summer sale?:)

Lenmeister

We don't really have many problems on Voobly. I played on Game Ranger on and off but to be honest it's full of idiots. The kind that aren't prepared to wait more than 5 seconds for the room to fill up. 12 year olds basically. Even then, it doesn't have anywhere near as many people or the range of rated players on voobly.

Nolars

Anyone fancy some custom games?

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

Nolars

IrishFeeney92 wrote: »

U got CBA?

Of course

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

Nolars

IrishFeeney92 wrote: »

im in! add me on steam, same username as here, not sure when ill get to play though

Added, Ah it doesn't really matter I only play the odd time aswell.