On High settings my desktop fared much better, averaging 45-55 FPS. Except during the tutorial campaign, my frames fell to an average of 19-20 FPS. While playing on Ultra settings my FPS suffered. The great new look of this remastered AoE II does seem to come at the expense of performance. A nice extra, but of little practical value. To better experience the improved graphics and animations, the developers have introduced the capacity to zoom in and out the game map. It is some very powerful imagery that becomes even haunting when occurring to the various historical wonders belonging to the different playable civilizations. Compared to the 2013 version, where the destroyed building was instantly replaced with a bunch of rubble, this is a very well executed addition. In particular, the destruction of a building is now followed by its progressive collapse where you see individual bricks and planks being torn down by gravity. The animations accompanying the 2019 release have also been significantly enhanced. Graphically, a brand new RTS created from scratch in 2019 with a more contemporary engine would generally be able to outdo this iteration of AoE. Only so much can be done through remasters of a past title. Despite cranking up the resolution of the various sprites these still feel bound, stylistically and technologically, to the 1999 originals. Such visual enhancements still have their limits however. The DE - thanks as well to a further 16GB of Enhanced Graphics Pack (downloadable for free on release) - has very sharp looking trees, units, and structures. Long gone is the blurriness that plagued the textures of the HD re-release. By just starting a game in both versions, one will notice immediately the difference between the two. So in the end I used the 2013 edition on Steam as a reference frame. Unfortunately, I recently disabled my optical drive and nobody at home has a PC with one. To compare it, I wanted to boot up the 1999 hard copy of the original game. What is most impressive remains the graphical upgrade that comes with the DE. the clashing of swords when tales of battle are being recounted). The narrators’ accents are more marked, the higher quality of the underlying music better conveys the overarching mood, and sound effects are used to aid in narration (i.e. Generally, it can be said that the storytelling in DE has been much improved. really took me to the green hills of Scotland. I’m quite sure that whoever voiced the William Wallace tutorial campaign in the original game was no true Scotsman (or at least has not heard many of them speak). Voice acting and sound effects have also seen a major upgrade, one which reflects a much greater production value. Now all images found in-game consist of hi-def art, styled like oil paintings or charcoal drawings, that depicts medieval scenes or characters. They removed, for example, the menu background made with ancient computer-generated graphics that constrained the 2013 version to its 1999 roots. While this includes the saddening loss of iconic introductory cutscene (one of the most creative I ever witnessed to this date), the game conceals its age very effectively through aesthetical changes. In order to achieve this more contemporary feel, the Definitive Edition sheds many of those more immediate aspects that would reveal the game's original launch date. Through a mixture of adding and re-working various game elements, including importantly its graphics, this version of AoE II feels up-to-date and more relevant than its 2013 re-release. With Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, developers Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media, and Wicked Witch breathe new life in this classic game. The convoluted command scheme - e.g the way to chain movement order - and absence of a more insightful tutorial - one which teaches you actual strategies rather than the absolute basics - made the game frustrating to re-learn. Yet I also recall playing the 2013 HD version and I remember thinking that the game had not aged too well. As you can imagine, I do have a considerable emotional attachment to this historical real-time strategy game. This game was also one of the main reasons that caused young me to get interested in history (an interest which would translate with me studying it at university). Every Sunday me and my father would ritually play for hours on end - each time trying one of his new meticulously created scenarios. Age of Empires II was the game of my childhood.
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