Best Single Player: Age of Empires II or III?

[HistoryPlayer]

Which game is better for Single Player? Age of Empires II or III? Im not interested in multiplayer at all, just play against the computer.

[James3157]

I think that AoE III: DE overall has better campaigns and historical battles, but AoE II: DE has better skirmishes, custom scenarios, dlc (because they add campaigns instead of historical battles), and campaign mods in addition to having a lot more campaigns than AoE III: DE. To help explain the skirmish part that yes AoE III: DE has unique leader personalities for each civ, but that still does not dismiss the fact I overall prefer normal gameplay with skirmishes as opposed to using cards with skirmishes. I overall like single player more on AoE II: DE than Aoe III: DE, but overall I like the campaigns and historical battles more on AoE III: DE than AOE II: DE. Meaning that in my opinion Age of Empires II I think is the best single player despite me liking campaigns (except for campaign mods) and historical battles more on AoE III: DE than AoE II: DE.

[jonoliveira12]

AoE2, by far.
AoE3 has very little SP content, and what little there is, is not very good.

[HE1NZ]

Play both. They are different games. AoE3 has a more traditional story campaigns with lots of cinematics and some additional missions from DE. It will take you ~20 hours to beat them all.

AoE2 on the other hand, with all it's expansions over the years, have 100+ hours of content.

[HistoryPlayer]

Originally posted by HE1NZ:

Play both. They are different games. AoE3 has a more traditional story campaigns with lots of cinematics and some additional missions from DE. It will take you ~20 hours to beat them all.

AoE2 on the other hand, with all it's expansions over the years, have 100+ hours of content.

Ok but which one offers more single player hours? As I will only play against computer.

[HE1NZ]

Originally posted by HistoryPlayer:

Originally posted by HE1NZ:

Play both. They are different games. AoE3 has a more traditional story campaigns with lots of cinematics and some additional missions from DE. It will take you ~20 hours to beat them all.

AoE2 on the other hand, with all it's expansions over the years, have 100+ hours of content.

Ok but which one offers more single player hours? As I will only play against computer.

I was talking about single player content. AoE2 has ~50 campaigns if you include all content. You'll play it for a while.

[HistoryPlayer]

Originally posted by HE1NZ:

Originally posted by HistoryPlayer:

Ok but which one offers more single player hours? As I will only play against computer.

I was talking about single player content. AoE2 has ~50 campaigns if you include all content. You'll play it for a while.

Looks very interesting, any recommended DLC for single player? Im mostly interested in Byzantine Empire.

[HE1NZ]

Originally posted by HistoryPlayer:

Originally posted by HE1NZ:

I was talking about single player content. AoE2 has ~50 campaigns if you include all content. You'll play it for a while.

Looks very interesting, any recommended DLC for single player? Im mostly interested in Byzantine Empire.

I didn't play them all. Maybe half of campaigns. If you just buy DE, they include all DLCs made before 2023 now. So you can just test the game and buy other DLCs later if you want.

[James3157]

Originally posted by jonoliveira12:

AoE2, by far.
AoE3 has very little SP content, and what little there is, is not very good.

Ironically, the little single player content it has in my opinion is the best part of AoE III: DE instead of multiplayer despite the fact I think single player is overall the best on AoE II: DE instead of AoE III: DE. AoE III: DE also has mods similar to AoE II: DE, but I am under the overall impression that AoE II: DE has better mods than this game. It was however a red flag I think that Knights of the Mediterranean would be the last dlc to AoE III: DE, because contrary to previous dlc it did not add any historical battles including even for the Italians.

[jonoliveira12]

AoE3 SP has a fictitional story about the Fountain of Youth, while AoE2 campaigns are actual historical based.

AoE is a game about History, so on that basis I much prefer the AoE2 SP experience.

[FloosWorld]

Just esnt to add: AoE 3's Asian campaigns cover historic events again, such as the Japanese Unifcation and the Indian Rebellion

[James3157]

Originally posted by jonoliveira12:

AoE3 SP has a fictitional story about the Fountain of Youth, while AoE2 campaigns are actual historical based.

AoE is a game about History, so on that basis I much prefer the AoE2 SP experience.

But I do respect the uniqueness of AoE III: DE civs in comparison to AoE II: DE when it comes to civ design, based on a later time period, tech tree, the use of cards, and home city which is why I overall like the campaigns and historical battles on AoE III: DE slightly more than AoE II: DE campaigns and historical battles despite being fewer in number. The full game of AoE III: DE contrary to the free to play version actually has 8 campaigns total (Blood, Ice, Steel, Japan, China, India, Fire, and shadow) and not just one (but only if you combine acts 1, 2, and 3 together and call that a campaign) or three campaigns. There is also Art of War and two tutorials that could be considered campaign material, but that is only bonus content, only plays a minor role in this game, and even when you combine 8 campaigns together along with Art of War and two tutorials that is still not nearly as many campaigns as AoE II: DE. So the pro of campaigns and historical battles on AoE III: DE is that they can be fun to play and for some people arguably more fun to play than any AoE II: DE campaign or historical battle, but the biggest con in comparison to AoE II: DE is that they are much fewer in numbers resulting in overall less play ability than AoE II: DE campaigns and historical battles. if someone can just simply ignore the historical inaccuracies of the campaigns and historical battles then AoE III: DE campaigns and historical battles can be fun to play.

[chaoticbalrog]

Originally posted by jonoliveira12:

AoE3 SP has a fictitional story about the Fountain of Youth, while AoE2 campaigns are actual historical based.

AoE is a game about History, so on that basis I much prefer the AoE2 SP experience.

AoE3's base story campaign is not completely fictional though as it does start up during the Great Siege of Malta in the 16th century, but historical events mostly play out in the background.

[James3157]

Originally posted by chaoticbalrog:

Originally posted by jonoliveira12:

AoE3 SP has a fictitional story about the Fountain of Youth, while AoE2 campaigns are actual historical based.

AoE is a game about History, so on that basis I much prefer the AoE2 SP experience.

AoE3's base story campaign is not completely fictional though as it does start up during the Great Siege of Malta in the 16th century, but historical events mostly play out in the background.

I would also like to add as well that the first three campaigns on AoE III: DE being fictional is not accurate. It is actually historical fiction. War Chiefs expansion pack (but basegame on the full paid version with DE) is historical fiction as well.

[Plokmijnuh]

AoE2 is better but thats because its the better game.

If you are into the AoE3 experience with home cities and that style of play, the campaigns are decent but it lacks historical accuracy and is entirely fictional. If the historical accuracy aspect of AoE2 appeals to you for campaigns, AoE3 doesnt have that.

[chaoticbalrog]

Originally posted by Plokmijnuh:

AoE2 is better but thats because its the better game.

If you are into the AoE3 experience with home cities and that style of play, the campaigns are decent but it lacks historical accuracy and is entirely fictional. If the historical accuracy aspect of AoE2 appeals to you for campaigns, AoE3 doesnt have that.

AoE3 is not completely fictional given that historical events such as the Great Siege of Malta do occur in the background. In fact, the Great Siege of Malta is where Act 1 of AoE3's single-player campaign starts.