Starting with Age of Empires

[Vanrayne]

hi, i have played Age of Empires years ago (first game), currently planning to go back to those games and which would you say is the best? 2,3,4 for the first game?

[Euseleukos Söttergren 3000]

aoe mobile.

[Euseleukos Söttergren 3000]

plank! this is an aoe2-forum, so the answers will probably be biased. i only played aoe2. it's easy to pick up; the graphics are clear; singleplayer, campaigns, multiplayer all work; good balance; solid community.

so i'd recommend that. but maybe someone who's played it all will provide more insight.

[MassMetalizer]

2's my favorite, especially now that the Return of Rome DLC adds AoE1 in as a toggle mode in the main menu.

[Kampfschwein Fjonda]

AoE2 has the greatest playerbase and is reason that the series survived so long.

[KingKickAss]

Start with 2. Its the classic AoE kind of gameplay, and from what I understand, 3 and 4 try to mix it up and do things differently.
Series peaked here imo.

[giovanni]

my favorite is age of empires 3
but thanks to Return to Rome DLC, Age of empires 2 is the best age of empires 1 experience

[Sala]

Originally posted by giovanni:

my favorite is age of empires 3
but thanks to Return to Rome DLC, Age of empires 2 is the best age of empires 1 experience

I've been meaning to get Return to Rome, but the reviews have me slightly puzzled. Are people mostly bemoaning that it is similar to AoE1:DE ? I thought the point was to have the races of aoe1:DE inside aoe2:de. Then of course they would be redundant. But I don't have AoE1:DE, and don't intend to. So Is there anything else I need to be wary of regarding that DLC? Otherwise if that's the only complaint...

[ElziEpsilon]

I've heard that hardly anyone plays RoR online, so it might be a bad choice if you want to play against strangers.

[MassMetalizer]

Originally posted by Sala:

I've been meaning to get Return to Rome, but the reviews have me slightly puzzled. Are people mostly bemoaning that it is similar to AoE1:DE ? I thought the point was to have the races of aoe1:DE inside aoe2:de. Then of course they would be redundant. But I don't have AoE1:DE, and don't intend to. So Is there anything else I need to be wary of regarding that DLC? Otherwise if that's the only complaint...

I think people are salty that you can't use the AoE1 factions in AoE2. Return of Rome is definitely an improvement over AoE1DE with a few QoL features and unit formations.

[James3157]

I am surprised you would ask such a question because AoE II: DE is obviously the best, but there might be some people who prefer AoE IV (but unclear as to why) and/or AoE III: DE over AoE II: DE. As for AoE: DE probably very few people think that game is the best of this series because while people who have nostalgia of Age of Empires might like this game it was also abandoned at the same time and probably not long after it came out as DE.

[Lokaror]

You'll get this answer alot considering what forum you are asking on, but aoe2.

[AgentFlea]

Play Company of Heroes. It has all the awesome RTS goodness of AoE, but requires far less Micro, and more accessible. The gameplay is also more dynamic = You don't have to do the same boring motions for the first 15 minutes of the game. It gets into the action much faster.
And has more options for truly tricky play.

I love AoE2, but if you're gonna play online, you best practice and familiarize yourself with the meta.