I'm willing to bet that Empire Earth fills the hole that Empire Earth left.

Sorry, was a bit cryptic, I was anxious for Empire Earth, and from what I played of it, it didn't deliver quite what I was expecting, thus leaving a hole for such a game that I think RoN will fill.

Oh, and as for the multiple victory conditions, a lot of times these aren't fleshed out well enough to really, as the previous poster stated, have them feel like worthwhile goal conditions. I'll be interested in trying out these in multiplayer, but I don't tend to play strategies in multiplayer settings, so I'll be stuck with Conquer the World (not that it's a bad thing).


This comment was edited on Apr 23, 13:15.

As for the game being too military based, most RTS games are when it gets down to it. I imagine that RoN will be the same way. I'd love to see an RTS that allowed for a number of peaceful victories, but I'm patient.

That's certainly true - if anything this has a larger constructive side than most strat games. However, it still doesn't appear to enough for my taste, although I still don't really know what the game's about in detail. I prefer a constructive strat game with perhaps a small military side - Anno 1503 struck a good balance. I can't blame Big Huge Games for going with what the majority want, but for me personally, it's a shame.

One thing I'm not sure about is loads of peaceful ending. It would be nice, but there simply isn't many good ways that I can think of. Diplomatic victory through UN (or similar international body) is OK, although I've always found games' diplomacy models lacking. I don't like culture/influence victories like CivIII and possibly thing - taking the odd city is fine but to take over the world seems ridiculous. The best peaceful victory I've seen in a game is the Civ series space program victory. This, and to a much lesser extent the UN victory, actually feels like an objective genuinely worth chasing, rather than an objective put in by the designers who wanted to add more victory types.

Not that the lack of peaceful endings bothers me much. I never play a game just to win, if the actual getting there isn't fun, I don't play and if it is fun, then the ending isn't a big deal. I find the best strat games are the one with no real ending, Simcity or Anno, in which you just play until you feel you've achieved the city or whatever that you set out to make. However, to give a game an entirely open ending requires a large constructive element - there's no point making Age of Empires open, because sooner or later people will run out of buildings and reach their pop cap and then war is the only thing to do - and once war starts, sooner or later there will be only one player...



On a completely seperate note, does anyone know how big the maps are? Is it like AoE where you have a few square miles or like Civ where you have a few thousand miles square?

Cheers,
Quboid

War isn't about who's right, its about who's left.
This comment was edited on Apr 23, 08:20.

oh shit I am so ready for this game.

Im sick of damn FPS games.

When I started playing PC games, it was all adventure, strat, RPG and flight sim.

The features in this game give me a binary boner.

I'm willing to bet that Empire Earth fills the hole that Empire Earth left.

Something looks wrong with that sentence..


EDIT: Decided to add more

There are more ways to win other than through war. Check out the features.. there's some interesting stuff there. http://www.microsoft.com/games/riseofnations/features.asp


This comment was edited on Apr 23, 02:28.

well, this isn't just like Empire Earth if you ask me. It's Empire Earth done by one of the few teams that can pull it off. Given BHG's background with Sid Meier in the Civ games (and Gettysburg!), and the teams own experience with Colonization, Civ 2, and Alpha Centauri, I bet they've actually been able to bring some of the turn-based concepts into the real-time strategy game without losing the fun.

As for the game being too military based, most RTS games are when it gets down to it. I imagine that RoN will be the same way. I'd love to see an RTS that allowed for a number of peaceful victories, but I'm patient.

I was really excited about Empire Earth, but while Rick Goodman makes some amazing RTS games, he hasn't the experience with turn-based games, Rise of Nations comes from a team with some experience in both, but mostly drawn from turn-based classics.

I'm willing to bet that Empire Earth fills the hole that Empire Earth left.

Well, those 'grainy scans' are from one of the most anticipated games this year.. and this is the first we've seen of the game.

As for RoN going gold.. I wouldn't say it's much anticipated at all. Only a few people here seem interested (including myself).

And while I'm talking about RoN, I'm not excited about the turn-based part of it.. as long as it only a minor part in the game, I won't mind. I normally don't care for turn-based games though.

Odd how a few grainy scans of a game that may be released in the future gets more attention that a fairly widely anticipated game going gold..

i wish the kiddies would keep their giggling to the HL2 threads, and not let it overflow into unrelated games comments. dumbasses

"go look at voodoo extreme...they have Half Life 2 screenshots. stop with this "rise of nations" crap."

*looks at HL2 screenshots"

Bleh...

I can't wait for Rise of Nations.

I noticed that. Perhaps they're just learning to be pessimistic with the release dates when they start marketing the game so if it mets their internal release date, it's a bit before the offical street date.

At least it gives them a bit more time to get working on the first patch before the game is out

Cheers,
Quboid

War isn't about who's right, its about who's left.

Been waiting on this for a while..

Cant wait to get it..

BUT!

Has anyone else noticed the trend of a game going gold now.. and then we have to wait 4 weeks for it?

It didnt used to be this long..

...or does every new RTS game press release nowadays start with "<game x here> combines the epic scope of traditional turn-based strategy (TBS) games with the fast-paced action of RTS games." I mean, come on. It's one, or the other.

Personally, this sounds just like Empire Earth. But then, I haven't looked much at this. A demo would be nice.

Josh

sorry i cant tell you that bothersome. your the only one waiting for this game.

Im Soupkin.
I hope i dont have aids.
s{Postal 2 sucks.

go look at voodoo extreme...they have Half Life 2 screenshots. stop with this "rise of nations" crap

*looks at HL2 screenshot* Eh, doesn't look all that good. I'll wait till I see more shots though. And I'm not saying that HL2 will not be good, I'm just saying that it won't be out anytime soon so there's no need in getting all excited. Also, RoN is a totally different type of game.

Why do I even bother?

Yeah people, what are you doing talking about Rise of Nations on a Rise of Nations thread? Idiots!

About HL2 - I'll be very interested whenever it's confirmed that it is actually a very good game, unlike Half-Life. What an overrated piece of ... quite good gaming. Very good (but not excellent) single player, utterly uninteresting MP. Nothing more than a good game which became a bandwagon for reviews to try to top each other with praise. Horribly grainy shot on VE3D, not that that will stop people hailing it as the best screenshot ever.

About RoN ... I dunno bothersome, you don't seem very sure I'll certainly check reviews out and if a demo appears I'll give it a shot.

EDIT: One of these days I'll learn to spel weel and speak grammer goodly without needing to edit my posts.

Cheers,
Quboid

War isn't about who's right, its about who's left.
This comment was edited on Apr 22, 14:11.

I don't normally rant about games but.... decent constructive side??? I mean this game has everything ... a mix of empire earth in regards to time lines, the graphics and gameplay of AOE series, Civilisation boundaries and resources thrown in... the city idea is impress... capturing and controlling cities and expanding borders.. every civ has it's own art... 18 NATIONS!!! Graphics change with time ... upgraded units have visible differences... not to mention polish with things never before seen like finally being able to set a rush timer... the polish is already getting to me and I haven't seen it... the only thing I don't like about the game is they didn't accept me as a beta tester!!!

go look at voodoo extreme...they have Half Life 2 screenshots. stop with this "rise of nations" crap.

Hmm, you're right, it does look good. I enjoyed the 'Age of..' games from MS so I'm sure this will be good too. I just hope it has the rotating camera as AoM has.. but after watching the trailer it doesn't look like it does.

EDIT: I'd like to play a demo first though.


This comment was edited on Apr 22, 13:46.

It looks military based, so unless I learn otherwise I'll be passing on this one. I don't mind RTS games with a miliatry side but I don't like > 75% military based games.

EDIT: Graphically it does look impressive - if there is a decent constructive side to the game I'd be tempted.

Cheers,
Quboid

War isn't about who's right, its about who's left.
This comment was edited on Apr 22, 13:35.

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one waiting for this game. As a hard-core RTS fan this game sounds brilliant.. and it looks like it'll have the attention to detail that makes a great RTS game.

I absolutely can't wait to get my hands on this one... it's on the same level of anticipation as waiting for Warcraft III, or Age of Mythology...