AOE II

[Triforceofcourage]

Originally posted by: Riceninja
aoe 2 was the definitive "medieval" rts. ive spent countless hours doing 4v4 with friends over hamachi on black forest. aoe 3 can't come close to the variation in tactics or units.

teutons ftw.

My favorite strategy on black forest with the Teutons was to cut through the trees with upgraded catapults to the back of my enemies base which was usually unguarded and rip through his economy without any resistance

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues
do any of the suggestions for similar games still have an active online multiplayer community?

heck, does AOEII still have an active multiplayer?

Yeah, AoE II does have people playing it still. You have to get some match-making software I believe, but check out IGZones.

 

[TehMac]

Yeah, I miss AoE 2 as well.

RIP Ensemble Studio.

 

[HendrixFan]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
Also AOE3 is probably the last PC game you will see for a while seeing that Microsoft Axes the ES team after Halo Wars (Boo!!! MS).

Ensemble has actually split into two studios, one for support for their existing titles and the other for unspecified future development. I imagine both saw their manning and budget shrink considerably though.

And the prospects for an Age of Empires 4 remain dim.

Ensemble has already been shut down and the staff has been sent packing. MS absorbed a few of the employees into their gaming division, but most of the crew is no longer with MS in any form. Their lease was ending at the Hotels.com building in Dallas and they were building a campus out in Plano, but there is no skeleton crew going out there. MS killed Ensemble outright.

The Age IP still sits with MS, and they may have some other developer make Age 4. As of now, MS is cost cutting and there are not going to be too many games in the pipeline. The game Ensemble was going to work on after Halo Wars was not going to be Age 4 or even an RTS.

 

[Finalnight]

Originally posted by: HendrixFan

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
Also AOE3 is probably the last PC game you will see for a while seeing that Microsoft Axes the ES team after Halo Wars (Boo!!! MS).

Ensemble has actually split into two studios, one for support for their existing titles and the other for unspecified future development. I imagine both saw their manning and budget shrink considerably though.

And the prospects for an Age of Empires 4 remain dim.

Ensemble has already been shut down and the staff has been sent packing. MS absorbed a few of the employees into their gaming division, but most of the crew is no longer with MS in any form. Their lease was ending at the Hotels.com building in Dallas and they were building a campus out in Plano, but there is no skeleton crew going out there. MS killed Ensemble outright.

The Age IP still sits with MS, and they may have some other developer make Age 4. As of now, MS is cost cutting and there are not going to be too many games in the pipeline. The game Ensemble was going to work on after Halo Wars was not going to be Age 4 or even an RTS.

Microsoft gutted their last two AAAA franchises, AoE and Flight Simulator. Now all they have left is Windows and Office, lol.

 

[toslat]

AOE II = best medieval PC RTS game.
AOE III had nice graphics but sucked in game play.

 

[Pelu]

hm.. i think supcom was the last click a lot strategy one.. after that... wic, coh and so on have been tactics...

 

[Smartazz]

AOE II was a great game, but personally I think that Rise of Nations was a better game. I've also been playing AOE III lately, though it's not nearly as good as Rise of Nations or AOE II IMO.
edit: Although, RON can be significantly different from AOE II in terms of gameplay at times.