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Welcome to the Age Of ____ thread, a place for discussion of the Age of Empires and Age of Mythology series from Ensemble Studios, a venerable but (somewhat) unchallenged set of RTS games. Anything Age goes. Steam Store $29.99 USD Age of Mythology, released originally in 2002, was the spin-off series from Age of Empires, Ensemble Studios award winning, somewhat genre-defining RTS series. Instead of the fully historical placement of Age of Empires, Age of Mythology brings together three ancient civilizations, the Norse, Greeks, Atlanteans, and the Egyptians, to battle it out on a field of battle determined more by myth and legend than any historical fact. Mythological units like centaurs, rocs, kraken and fire giants join the ranks of hoplites, ulfsark, turma and slingers. You wield powers granted by your choice of patron gods, turning day to night, calling down the fury of Zeus or triggering Ragnarok, the Norse end of days. In between this is the base building, resource gathering RTS that has long since died out, where your economy is equally as important as your military, and either being too weak will cost you the game. It's an old school RTS, updated for modern systems with (semi-)modern graphics and Steamworks for multiplayer. It is hands down the best RTS I have ever played, and maybe the best game I've ever played. Age of Mythology Extended Edition brings a number of updates and improvements to the game and its expansion released so many years ago;
AoM:EE includes Age of Mythology, Age of Mythology The Titans Expansion and The Golden Gift campaign, a downloadable special campaign released by Ensemble Studios some time after release. Steam Store $19.99 USD Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings is Ensemble Studios sequel to their breakout Age of Empires game released in 1999, one of the mainstays of the early 2000s RTS genre. Placed in medieval settings and ranging from the British Isles down through the Middle East the game features 13 civilizations including Japanese, Franks and Saracens. It was one of the great RTS games of its day, striking different territory in the genre from Command and Conquer, Starcraft and Warcraft, playing slower and more thoughtfully than other games at the time. Economy and military are equally important and gathering resources and building your defenses is just as pressing a need as controlling your troops in battle. Starcraft levels of micromanagement are unnecessary to play the Age Of series, making it a lot nicer on those of us who used to play it growing up. Age of Empires 2 HD includes Age of Kings, The Conquerer's expansion pack, and offers a downloadable expansion pack released over a decade after the final balance patch to The Conquerer's was issued called The Forgotten. It gives you three new civilizations with their own art styles and units, and several new campaigns to the base game. The HD release also integrates Steamworks for its multiplayer functionality and has a thriving community even now. Steam Store $39.99 USD Age of Empires 3 was the final (notable) game released by Ensemble Studios in 2005 before being shuttered by Microsoft. The game is a sequel to Age of Empires 2 and brings the timeline of the series to the Age of Discovery and up through the 1800s in a centuries spanning tale of a family attempting to right the wrongs of evil men. Wouldn't you know it, they're Templars (sort of) beating out the Assassin's Creed series by almost two years. The game shakes up the general formula of Age of Empires by bringing in Home Cities, a mechanic where you assemble a deck of reinforcement and resource call-ins that you can use in each age. It also shakes up the series by introducing gunpowder to every civilization, making the combat primarily ranged in nature, though melee units do still exist in plenty, including Landschneckt and Hussars. Base building and resource collection remain, though steps have been taken to make both somewhat less arduous. The game is one of the best coop Vs AI games I have played with friends, and though I may have not been particularly receptive at its release, it holds up remarkably well and is still worth playing. Age of Empires 3 Complete on Steam includes the base game, the Warchiefs expansion and The Asian Dynasties expansion, both of which introduce new civilizations with wildly varying play styles. There is no HD rerelease of 3 and there doesn't need to be, as even today it remains a frankly gorgeous RTS. Age of Empires 1 is unfortunately no-where to be found in a modern format, and frankly may never be due to the engine it was originally made it on. If it does come to Steam it'll certainly get its own section because goddamn what a formative game. Orv fucked around with this message at 06:18 on May 8, 2014 |
# ? May 8, 2014 01:12 |
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# ? Apr 24, 2024 17:03 |
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What follows is a bunch of information on Age of Mythology; gods, god powers, units, tactics, game mechanics, basically a lot of loving knowledge. Or How I Stopped Worrying About OPs And Learned To Fuckin' Love Lists. Basics Civilizations There are four primary civilizations in Age of Mythology;
Each civilization determines your access to basic human military units, certain technologies, your Titan type (graphical flavor only), and various other deeper mechanics I'll cover per civ later. Each civ is broken down into three Major Gods, one of which you must pick when starting any skirmish or non-scenario multiplayer game. I'll cover each civilization in depth after some basic mechanics because poo poo gets extensive. Economy To build units and buildings, research upgrades and ultimately win a match, you have to collect resources. I could be a gigantic sperg and tell you that there are six resources in the game but the game only tracks five of them and the sixth is time but gently caress you I'm not here to teach you math.
To gain any resource you must use a villager unit. These are created from Town Centers and count 1 towards your population cap. Sending a villager to gather a resource will have them gather as much as possible for food, gold and wood, then bring it back to the nearest drop-off point. Each civilization has a different type of villager;
Military There are four main types of units in Age of Mythology. Human military, ships, myth units and heroes. The entire game works on a rock paper scissors balance system.
Further rock paper scissors cuts down like so, with approximately a trillion exceptions to every rule (a theme through the entire game, covered later);
Ship rock paper scissors comes down to;
Military units are built from various buildings, ships from docks, human units from various military buildings, myth units from temples and sometimes town centers and heroes from town centers. They're controlled like most games you've probably played in the last half decade. Right-click to attack (no attack-move sadly), defensive, guard and offensive posture, patrol routes and formations for groups. General Mechanics
Civilizations Each civilization is divided into three major gods from which you choose to start with in each match. A major god determines your available minor god choices and certain special units and upgrades. Greek The Greeks are the most vanilla sort of faction in Age of Mythology. Anyone coming directly from Age of Empires 2 back in 2002 would be most familiar with their playstyle and shenanigans, given that they are mostly a carbon copy of AoE2 in terms of resource gathering, villager use and military. Greeks do however have several interesting things going for them.
Major Gods Zeus, head honcho of the Greek pantheon. God of fair trade, oathkeepery and hospitality. Zeus' primary oversight in mechanical terms is Greek infantry. Most of the minor god upgrades available to Zeus deal with the increase of attack power, health of cost efficiency of Greek infantry.
Poseidon, brother of Zeus, king of the sea. God of horses, rock-loving and earthquake. Poseidon's primary oversight is cavalry and ships. His technologies and minor gods enable access to various fleet buffs, cavalry super-units and a unique myth unit.
Hades, brother of Zeus, bitch of Olympus. God of awkward scoial gatherings, ATMs and kidnapping young girls. Hades primary oversight is archery and buildings. His tech and gods enable sturdier and more powerful buildings, better archer units and increased siege abilities for the Greeks.
Norse The Norse are based on what are more commonly known as vikings. Seafarers and masters of guerilla warfare, with the occasional pillage and rape mixed in, the Norse in Age of Mythology are primarily focused on large force numbers and extremely potent myth units. Norse favor a rushing playstlye with great benefits to aggression and expansive military placement.
Major Gods Odin, granddaddy Stink Eye of the Norse pantheon. God of questionable life decisions, people bad at hand-to-hand combat and a drat fine baritone. Odin's main oversight is the Norse Fortress soldiers. His technologies enable your Jarls, Huskarls and siege equipment to murder the everloving gently caress out of everything more than they already do.
Thor, son of Odin, inveterate giant killer and chronic drunk. God of makin' babies, makin' babies holy and I guess thunder or some bullshit. Thor's main focus is the unique Norse worker Dwarves and armory upgrades. His technologies enable your human military to be as strong as the units of any other civilization in a head-on brawl.
Loki, son of Odin, brother of Thor. God of freaky crossbreeds, species crossdressing and generally being a right dick. His primary focuses are Hersis and myth units, his technologies granting enormous benefits to the generation of both.
Egyptian The Egyptians are the jack-of-all-trades civilization. Capable of decent rush, excellent turtle, immensely profitable boom and a wide array of counter units, Egyptians are one of the most well-rounded factions in the game. They pay for this however.
Ra, big poo poo on campus while dad is
Isis, grand mama jama of being vaguely useful. Goddess of maternity leave, incest and casual necromancy. Isis' primary focus is the economy. You want to gather poo poo faster? You want to make your pots more sturdy? Isis is your gal.
Set, gigantic rear end in a top hat. God of tourism, fratricide and the only god to die by ATF. Set's primary concern is ranged units. He can create more of them quicker than you can, and also they're stronger than yours. Also upgrades Fortresses.
Atlantean gently caress the Atlanteans. They get all the cool poo poo the easy way and are remarkably easier to play than other civilizations. That's not to say you shouldn't use them, they're pretty awesome.
Major Gods Kronos, leader of the deposed Titans, former gods of Greece. God of not learning from the past, losing the best named war ever and filicide. Kronos' primary mechanics revolve around siege and myth units. And goddamn will he gently caress up your poo poo.
Oranos, deposed dad of Kronos, god before being a god was cool. God of corrective lenses, smug mythology nerd pronunciations and spymaster sympathizers. Oranos' chief concern is making you hate Turmas. You'll understand what I mean when you start playing MP.
Gaia, mother of all kinds of crunk poo poo. Goddess of crazy family drama, regional baby-hiding championships and the removal of testicles. Gaia's primary motivation in her dark deeds is to utterly annihilate your poo poo by... farming a lot. She's real good at it too.
To Come: Exhaustive Unit and Minor God Rosters, strategies for bad people. Orv fucked around with this message at 12:07 on May 8, 2014 |
# ? May 8, 2014 01:13 |
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Poor AoEO
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:16 |
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Koramei posted:Poor AoEO I know not of what you speak. (I'd include it if it wasn't about to be hit over the head with a shovel and dumped into the ether in a little while here.)
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:17 |
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When I was 13 I went to Ensemble Studios HQ ostensibly as a Games Journalist (I was an Important Forums Moderator at Age of Kings Heaven). They were working on Age of Mythology at the time. The developers were extremely amused by this and showed me around anyway. I got to play the alpha, then they gave me two free games and a plastic trebuchet after a pretty awesome tour of their swank office. Probably the coolest dudes were the guys who made the music. They had a studio with an unbelievable amount of obscure instruments they used to create the soundtrack. Then Microsoft screwed them all over terribly. The end.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:18 |
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Prostagma? Vulome! Etimos.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:20 |
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THS posted:When I was 13 I went to Ensemble Studios HQ ostensibly as a Games Journalist (I was an Important Forums Moderator at Age of Kings Heaven) Wait what who were you on AoKH?
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:21 |
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The worst part is I can say those pitch perfect. THS posted:Probably the coolest dudes were the guys who made the music. They had a studio with an unbelievable amount of obscure instruments they used to create the soundtrack. Stephen Rippy is an awesome dude on all counts.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:22 |
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Koramei posted:Wait what who were you on AoKH? THS. Cherub THS. It was a long time ago.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:23 |
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MinionOfCthulhu posted:Prostagma? gently caress yes. Esto!
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:25 |
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Can't wait to Set all-in one of you motherfuckers.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:25 |
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Its a shame these type of RTSs died out, I remember playing AOM, Rise of Nations, and Empires Dawn of the Modern World all the time. I can't wait to beat the single player campaign again, with an army of lazer bears
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:26 |
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Hopefully the rerelease will be successful like AoK's was, we might see more someday (probably not).THS posted:THS. Cherub THS. it's weird thinking people used to actually use heavengames
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:28 |
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Koramei posted:Hopefully the rerelease will be successful like AoK's was, we might see more someday (probably not). Yes. Heavengames was really the best resource for a long time, and was a really nice + supportive international community before I came to Something Awful and lost all childlike innocence. The mod/custom maps community there was incredible.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:30 |
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Koramei posted:
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:32 |
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THS posted:Probably the coolest dudes were the guys who made the music. They had a studio with an unbelievable amount of obscure instruments they used to create the soundtrack. I don't know what's better, the actual music or the totally weird titles they gave them. Normal game devs would just call them 'Greek 1' or 'Egypt Battle' but they all had names like 'Suture Self' and 'Eat Your Potatoes' and the totally awesome title music was called 'A Matt Named Kittens'. I love Age of Mythology so goddamn much. I pretty much never buy games before they go on sale but I made drat sure I got in on a four-pack of AoM within a day of it going up.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:32 |
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MinionOfCthulhu posted:I don't know what's better, the actual music or the totally weird titles they gave them. Normal game devs would just call them 'Greek 1' or 'Egypt Battle' but they all had names like 'Suture Self' and 'Eat Your Potatoes' and the totally awesome title music was called 'A Matt Named Kittens'. A Matt Named What Now? Also best video game music all years.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:33 |
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Age of Empires 2 HD was such a good purchase. It's so weird seeing the sprites move at such a smooth frame rate though. The only issue I've found is that the forgotten campaigns are bit unwieldy, like how every time you get an objective, complete one or progress down one three different Objective Complete trumpets blare. Probably gonna grab AoM HD when it goes on sale, spent a long time with that game too, I loved those campaigns. Shame AoE3 is so bad.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:34 |
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The original four FE campaigns were adapted user-made content; this explains a lot of their design choices. I dunno about the two free ones though. With AoM I've noticed that the Skybox team is being a lot more aggressive about UI changes, which is nice.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:39 |
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It always frustrated me that in skirmish and multiplayer mode some heroes didn't retain their campaign special abilities, like Ajax's shield bash. I wonder if this has changed or can be modded...
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:42 |
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ronya posted:The original four FE campaigns were adapted user-made content; this explains a lot of their design choices. I dunno about the two free ones though. I wondered about that. I recognized all of the Italians assets were from the Age of Chivalry mod too. The only problem I have with the Forgotten Campaign is now that Italy and Russia and Hungary are all in the game I wish there was a way I could retroactively add them to the original campaigns.
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# ? May 8, 2014 01:43 |
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It rather makes you wish that ES still existed as an organization so they could get whoever was designer on the old campaigns to flavour the new ones the same way. ES's stuff from Joan of Arc onwards had a particular feel, all the way until AoE3: TAD - a certain set of expectations of how players respond to terrain cues, message prompts, etc. With AoM Skybox has dispensed with adding any campaigns entirely. They apparently have scenarios though? ronya fucked around with this message at 01:56 on May 8, 2014 |
# ? May 8, 2014 01:51 |
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ISIS HEAR MY PLEA pumped for aom ee, gonna be buying it tomorrow.
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# ? May 8, 2014 02:04 |
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If anyone is thinking "hey I loved these games as a kid, I should pick them up, I bet I'm way better at them now that I'm an adult": You are not.
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# ? May 8, 2014 02:05 |
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MinionOfCthulhu posted:Prostagma? Welp, you just made me reinstall AoM. Hope you're happy.
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# ? May 8, 2014 02:22 |
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I need to find the town center sound as my text message sound, can anyone help me here.
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# ? May 8, 2014 02:24 |
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lonter posted:I need to find the town center sound as my text message sound, can anyone help me here. Here is the least overlayed version of it I could find without digging into files. Also are you sure you don't want this? Orv fucked around with this message at 02:37 on May 8, 2014 |
# ? May 8, 2014 02:27 |
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Babyface Mingo posted:ISIS HEAR MY PLEA why not today? 20% discount whilst it's still a pre-order. You have a few hours left.
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# ? May 8, 2014 02:29 |
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Oh man, I remember grabbing this as one of those jewel case-only packages at Kmart for $10 just for the hell of it. Got it home and fell in love, wondering how I hadn't played it already. Seems a bit steep at $30, so it's definitely on the wishlist for next Steamsale.
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# ? May 8, 2014 02:50 |
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The Titan Powers being multi-use was kind of bullshit when you had things like Zeus "Zap one dude one time in this game, hope you chose well". Or at least, that's what kid me thought. $30 is steep for me, too, but if this goes on Steam sale I'm definitely gonna pick it up. Good luck reaching me, I'm behind a billion walls!
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# ? May 8, 2014 02:52 |
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Koramei posted:Poor AoEO You know Age of ______ games, when turned into acronyms, always put me in mind of learning German and being told how to pronounce umlauted letters. I can't think why. I was pretty pleased when I saw Age of Mythology was out on steam a while back, I really liked that game when I was young, it's got a pretty great SP campaign and I would recommend anyone who didn't play it and likes SP campaigns to buy it. The skirmish/MP is pretty good too though the game may be a little dated. AoE3 is really cool in skirmish though and it's easily worth it just for that. The card decks get pretty awesome when you really build them up.
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# ? May 8, 2014 02:57 |
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The Lord of Hats posted:Good luck reaching me, I'm behind a billion walls! I have a friend (which is where this story falls apart) that I've played 1v1 in RTSes against for a solid decade now, and I'm the rusher and he's the turtle and it's the worst. If I can get inside his early defense and end it he just bitches for the entirety of the next game but if he gets his walls up I'm bitching for a half hour while I chew through them with lasers/bombers/elephants/whatever. It's fun, I swear.
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# ? May 8, 2014 02:58 |
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The Lord of Hats posted:The Titan Powers being multi-use was kind of bullshit when you had things like Zeus "Zap one dude one time in this game, hope you chose well". Or at least, that's what kid me thought. $30 is steep for me, too, but if this goes on Steam sale I'm definitely gonna pick it up. Good luck reaching me, I'm behind a billion walls! It's 20% off right now. $23.99.
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# ? May 8, 2014 02:59 |
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I loved the credits for AOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZVP9H34xVI I was so disappointed that Titans didn't do the same thing What is your guys favorite single player scenario? For me it was either Circe's Island or the Automatons of New Atlantis.
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# ? May 8, 2014 03:42 |
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Huh weird timing. Microsoft hiring developers for a "well loved strategy franchise". I hope this pans out.
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# ? May 8, 2014 04:28 |
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I really wanna get this. AoM is the only game I've ever bought the Collector's Edition for. Still have my totally rad Minotaur figurine too.
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# ? May 8, 2014 04:48 |
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Koramei posted:Huh weird timing. I don't think you'll find a single human being that would describe Halo Wars as "well loved".
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# ? May 8, 2014 05:22 |
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Yerrrrr voi. OYSTERSLAR!!! Great game, much fun back in the LAN days. Peddle2thaMetal fucked around with this message at 05:27 on May 8, 2014 |
# ? May 8, 2014 05:24 |
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MinionOfCthulhu posted:It's 20% off right now. $23.99. And there's an additional 20% off voucher on greenmangaming. Brings it down to $20.
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# ? May 8, 2014 05:26 |
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# ? Apr 24, 2024 17:03 |
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Tomorrow will be one of my gaming highlights of the year for sure. These Microsoft/Ensemble updated games check every loving box on the list. Updated for modern systems. Updated graphics. Multiplayer and Co-op. Achievements. Leaderboards. Cloud saves. Stats. Trading cards. Workshop. Level editors. Even triple monitor display if you want to go there. Taking some of the best games in history and blowing them out with modern internet-y poo poo. It's like buying a Ferrari full of monkeys and puppies. Please Rise of Nations next, please please.
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# ? May 8, 2014 05:35 |