Age of Empires II - Alpha Build, 1998

We go back in time to 1998 to the Alpha build of Age of Empires 2! This build is a weird mixture of the original Age of Empires and the final release of Age of Empires 2, as you can see many AoE 1 units, sounds, and animations still in this, and some familiar AoE 2 units and buildings mixed in as well! You can also see other features, such as huntable wolves, that were removed from the final game. Enjoy!
Permission was taken from nhoobish to upscale the video to 4K 60fps from the original: • AoE2 Alpha
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#AoE2 #AgeofNoob #AgeofEmpires2

[@AgeofNoob]

Massive Castles, wolves give food, trebuchets with stone, larger docks and wavy water, old AoE units/arts/music, fast cannon balls, old berry bushes and many more! This alpha build is indeed a mix of AoE 1 and 2, and it's an experience to see it the first time!

[@Lucas_Jeffrey]

I love the giant castles. Looks way better

[@Jaypes1]

Bring back the alpha build TC!

[@adrianoss.bougas3720]

what happened to this?

[@srbishkrst]

@@Jaypes1 hahahaha

[@noname-wo9yy]

​@@Lucas_Jeffreythey did that in aoe3

[@greyscale2545]

Age of empire 1.5: Fever dream

[@AgeofNoob]

11

[@warbreakr]

lmao

[@xotl2780]

I recognize a lot of these subtle in-game quirks. At one point, the bombard tower switches from attacking the trebuchet to the long bowman, just because the AoE1 AI always targeted units with the lowest remaining HP.

[@AgeofNoob]

@@xotl2780 Nice catch

[@bc3f4a]

😂

[@gatowololo5629]

Therapist: You need to stop fixation on Age of Empires 1.5. It doesn't exist, it can't hurt you. Age of Empires 1.5:

[@AgeofNoob]

11

[@MLpone]

11

[@SilverKnightPCs]

11

[@Oskar_GD]

11

[@nilangshubidyanta4151]

@@SilverKnightPCs lllpp0

[@Eustathe]

1998: Coat of Arms of Brussels in the menu screen 2021: Burgundy makes it into the game as a civilization Finally

[@AgeofNoob]

All calculated!

[@NomanJohan]

Took only 23 years. In AOE years that's not much :)

[@jonthemediocre626]

TheViper: "Burgundians"

[@Soulitaris]

Still, didn't replaced the French in OG campaign

[@endarg5056]

lol, I used to spend many hours in the map editor when I was a child, and only now I realise that all those "useless" building that were used as decorations are actually rejected early concepts)

[@srbishkrst]

That’s exactly what I was thinking

[@TheAmericanPrometheus]

these older, MIDI tracks are giving me strong old school runescape vibes.

[@AgeofNoob]

MIDI tracks scream pre-2000s :)

[@cederickforsberg5840]

MIDI is NOT a type of old sound. It's just data. Modern music is also produced with MIDI! A MIDI note tells a computer/synth/drummachine to play a specific sound. It can sound how old or modern as you want. No limitations.

[@AgeofNoob]

@@cederickforsberg5840 I think that's what he meant by that - the notes stored in the midi file is played out with whatever sound the program you're running on has. Since now everything's recorded, MIDIs now sound old school.

[@Patnugs]

Feel like I have just loaded up in tutorial island, and now making my way to Varrock for the First time XD Truest comment I have ever read!

[@GoulartGH]

@@cederickforsberg5840 lets face it though, saying "these older, GM.DLS tracks" doesn't sound as nice

[@darkequation]

I love how TC is a cake.

[@AgeofNoob]

That's why Hoang eats it as the Celts 11

[@AggressorScorpion]

Goddamn that soundtrack at 11:10 this gameplay is gold material

[@AgeofNoob]

The original Age of Empires' soundtrack is so good!

[@karimlasdoug937]

@@AgeofNoob Do we know the name of this song?

[@akisaria4553]

@@karimlasdoug937 I think its queen of Palmyra Now search the old name

[@Mrzmbie1]

@@karimlasdoug937 Its Age of Empires Rise of Rome Music 5 (aka Mean), just slight different instrument/quality but same melody

[@karimlasdoug937]

@@akisaria4553 @mrzmbie thank you

[@sirdeakia]

The sheer memory of happiness this game brings me makes me want to cry out in joy

[@NaCk210]

those castles look so fucking cool

[@AgeofNoob]

If they weren't OP, it would've been great to have them in DE :)

[@liamdell6319]

Packed town center? that's some age 3 shit right there.

[@AgeofNoob]

Unpack it on a hilly nomad if you dare 11

[@quyenmojos9004]

It's still there in AoE2DE scenario editor, it has the look of this ageofempires.fandom.com/wiki/Ox_Wagon but named "Town Center(Packed)" which you can unpack like a trebuchet, then it becomes a TC foundation and slowly build itself.

[@AgeofNoob]

@@quyenmojos9004 Ah Nice, I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing!

[@AnteQu]

You also get it in DE if you play nomad with empire wars mode turned on

[@AgeofNoob]

@@AnteQu Indeed! There are many assets in DE that are not utilized at all that they hopefully will in the future!

[@da8874]

Those castles are badass

[@AgeofNoob]

They were massive indeed - and more realistic to real-life castles too! Unfortunately, those structures would've been OP for sure.. 11

[@MrKYT-gb8gs]

That was the best part. I with the new aoe had forts which would be like halfway between castle and towers

[@AgeofNoob]

@@MrKYT-gb8gs You could make a Castle and wall/towers around it technically but indeed not as a single structure

[@MrKYT-gb8gs]

@@AgeofNoob yeah that's what I meant.. It would have been cool. Maybe even in aoe3 where forts became more prevelant.

[@janruudschutrups9382]

@@MrKYT-gb8gs The Bulgarians have the Krepost, which is halfway between a regular tower and a castle :D.

[@MrPRodriguezLEGO]

There are too many fans born in this year ;)

[@AgeofNoob]

Indeed! Thanks for stopping by!

[@PumpkinHoard]

@@AgeofNoob I must say I find it very interesting that this game has such enduring popularity, especially amongst a younger generation. When this game came out I was about 13, and I've been playing it on and off for over 20 years now. Really says something about the quality of the game that it's managed to hook people who were babies or not even born when the game came out, and is still popular to this day even amongst all the modern strategy games available. I do however suspect that the fact that you can play it on a potato might have something do do with it's lasting popularity. A cheap game to get into for those with limited funds. Crappy laptop will do, no high end gaming pc needed.

[@AgeofNoob]

@@PumpkinHoard Indeed! Hopefully AoE IV will also be playable on older machines!

[@nabilhaziq5181]

I love the sense of scale of this. everything is so massive as they should be

[@AgeofNoob]

It's gonna be even more realistic in AoE4!

[@benwazeh]

@@AgeofNoob little did he know

[@AgeofNoob]

@@benwazeh It was 11 months ago mate, I man could dream.. :D

[@JcoleMc]

I see why they changed it though the game was starting to look a little to much like stronghold , and yeah it looks good now but that's just because of the novelty

[@LegendKingY2j]

realism doesn't mean it's gonna be better, it's already excellent the way they are originally

[@ozanalkan137]

Age of Stronghold

[@AgeofNoob]

Sire, the desert awaits you...

[@auliafajar9346]

Not enough wood, m’lord...

[@AgeofNoob]

@@auliafajar9346 MOAAR WOOD IS NEEDED.

[@Sherlock-Eco]

Now i wanna see Aoe 2 visual mods on Stronghold Crusader so bad or even opposite of that works too.

[@AgeofNoob]

@@Sherlock-Eco I will be making a video that crosses both games... stay tuned!

[@GLDragon93]

I have the Gold Edition of the first AoE and I remeber stumbling upon a few screenshot of AoE II Alpha build when exploring the CD files when I was a kid. I already had AoE II back then, but it was fascinating seeing those screenshots.

[@StoicFlame]

That castle is so big and sexy

[@AgeofNoob]

AoE4 will follow suit!

[@onetdev]

I thought you were talking about me for a second

[@arizonabusinessleague918]

Thicc*

[@satyakisil9711]

I remember these designs in one of the alpha looks on the trial version, I believe. Those choppy, Stronghold-esque textures.

[@AgeofNoob]

I never had the chance to play one of these unfortunately.

[@Gamesha_Guy]

The double-decker town centre at 11:37 is the stuff of nightmares

[@AgeofNoob]

11 No time to create sprites for TC I suppose :D

[@Daniel.J.Rinander]

It's a cake!

[@parthaprotimbarua603]

It's like looking through history of games. God, I am becoming impatient about AOE4 release

[@AgeofNoob]

I have high hopes for AoE4 for sure!

[@zuiop9993]

I'm honestly worried. I like watching competitive AOE II and I really like that Microsoft is supporting the scene and that there are a lot of great tournaments. 3-4 years ago it was nothing like that and I fear that the support for AOE2 won't continue. That wouldn't be so bad if 4 will be a good game and they push it heavily. But what if it fails and they go back to pretending this game doesn't exist... And there is also the possibility that it will be meh (or just too different so it might not attract the people who are into DE) and half of the community plays DE and the other half 4. I'm excited but deeply worried.

[@AgeofNoob]

@@zuiop9993 I mean the way I look at it is this: If it's great, fantastic. If it's not, no harm done, AoE2 DE is absolutely great and will continue to grow. :) Though I do get your point

[@2009heyhow]

@@zuiop9993 i honestly think that no mather how good or bad 4 would be that 2 would keep the most loyal fanbase. As long as a proper sized fanbase keeps playing it. So it would be wise for Microsoft to keep supporting it. Many people grew up playing it and are not planning to ever stop comming back to it. Just like how people still today are still playing the classic world of warcraft and runescape for example.

[@zuiop9993]

@@2009heyhow ​ @Age of Noob I'm not so sure about that. I think a big part of why Microsoft is supporting all these tournaments is because they see the popularity of AOE2 as a way to drive up interest in AOE4. Just look at the new DLC new civs and a campaign. They can't do it forever that way. I am seriously underwelmed by the thought of having more civs... That's the last thing the game needs. I highly doubt that the DE and DLC sales are enough to justify all that money they spend. I'm not saying they're operating at a loss, but I doubt that it's worth it. And like I've said, it will become increasingly difficult to monetise the popularity as many people would rather have less civs with more differences. I'm not saying there won't be an active player base and I'm sure I'll always find someone to play. I'm mostly concerned about the competitive scene.

[@leomauro]

This was released even before Rise of Rome if you watch carefully. (Some functions as selecting same units with double click, weren't enabled yet).

[@movoner1287]

Which military unit creation sound is better? A) Pooowaaaaat B) Eesh-WOO

[@BirboScrimmer]

A for me personally

[@AgeofNoob]

The final sound effect is so iconic now that it's difficult to go to anything else :D

[@oscarholmberg3157]

Eesh woo always scared me as a kid

[@Daniel.J.Rinander]

B) is nostalgic and brings me back to when I was 3 years old.

[@mauromasterx]

amazing! everything is pretty much on the same scale, buildings are huge, and even siege and boats too

[@thegeekest]

how do you even have footage like this?

[@AgeofNoob]

I smoked some of your good stuff with some old devs and we came up with this.. 11 Jokes aside, this upscale was done on a video that already existed on another channel (linked in description), though I'll try to get my hands on the actual alpha :)

[@xotl2780]

@@AgeofNoob gimme all your green you greedy bastard.

[@AgeofNoob]

@@xotl2780 I'm not the expert here I'm afraid 11

[@Tonixman]

I hope Spirit of the Law sees this video!

[@AgeofNoob]

Perhaps one day :D

[@srilemobitelsrile8809]

@@AgeofNoob He saw. He also made a video about this version.

[@historyben7122]

It always shocks me that I and II were made with the same engine.

[@AgeofNoob]

Many games actually use the same engine for a long time... Elder Scrolls, for example, is a notorious example. What's funnier is that even Definitive Edition uses the same engine that was developed for AoE 1.

[@buildinasentry1046]

@@AgeofNoob Yeah its shocking that Skyrim is running on the same engine as bloody Morrowind! I mean its been altered but still thats crazy

[@AgeofNoob]

@@buildinasentry1046 I mean they announced that the new Elder Scrolls will ALSO run on the same old engine which I'm not a fan of at all :D For DE, this works fine, but for a graphics intensive game like Elder Scrolls, I'd rather have them invest in a new engine for the next one lol..

[@philipbanks632]

That MIDI version of Tazer is an absolute banger.

[@AgeofNoob]

MIDIs of old soundtracks are all bangers tbh :D One of the reasons why I still love the original AoE's sountrack

[@cederickforsberg5840]

Eh, the final AOE2 soundtrack is also MIDI. MIDI is still being used in music production. MIDI is NOT just "retro sounds". MIDI is only a point of data! It simply dictates something (a keyboard, an outboard sampler, VST-instrument or whatever) to play a sound. You can even use MIDI to control robots, lights, and a lot of other things.

[@AgeofNoob]

@@cederickforsberg5840 No we all know that, but this is a lot more barebones and VERY distinctly MIDI - whereas the final music is more polished! :)

[@cederickforsberg5840]

​@@AgeofNoob Not everyone knows that because some people still think "MIDI is this old school 90s sound" but MIDI is not sound at all

[@AgeofNoob]

@@cederickforsberg5840 I'd like to believe that most people who are, say, 25+ years old now should know that :D But perhaps not and you may be right.

[@Velez0777]

I still have this CD copy of first release including Age of empires 1. It’s funny the relic cart from the first game is your town center in the 2nd. I like how the cav archer from 1 became the Mangudai in 2

[@AgeofNoob]

You had the alpha/beta release or the final release you mean?

[@joseb.7168]

The prototype full?

[@Velez0777]

@@AgeofNoob should be the first release to public. A complete game without DLC.

[@Velez0777]

@@joseb.7168 full version at the time. No DLC.

[@antthegord9411]

I wish castles were that big, and that they could connect smoothly with walls.

[@AgeofNoob]

Would be interesting to see how it'd play out today with a mod perhaps :)

[@Rex1987]

i feel that the mobile Town center might be inspired by Command & Conquer: Red Alert which also had the SCV as a mobile unit.

[@CrossbowManD]

Ah, one can see from the start they wanted traditional civs and raider civs. Very cool to see this early build

[@AgeofNoob]

Yeah lots of ideas changed for sure :D

[@hbarudi]

This explains the unusual things in the campaigns such as towers placed in the middle of 2x2 area and cyan castle in joan of arc #2 taking up 5x5 space, and the nice 3x3 mills that perfectly fit 8 farms around them. How did the community access this particular development build?

[@AgeofNoob]

They gave out Beta CDs back in the 2000s, so some of the community members must have dusted off their old boxes and found one of those bad boys! :)

[@Horstmaniacman]

What 5x5 castle do you mean? And do you have an example for a tower in the middle of a 2x2 area?

[@hbarudi]

@@Horstmaniacman In joan of arc #2, the cyan castle is not placed properly and you can with your villager and a building check that. They seem to have fixed the tower situation in that scenario, but in Saladin #2, the yellow towers of your allies are placed in the middle of a 2x2 space...

[@Horstmaniacman]

@@hbarudi yoooo thats crazy, I never noticed before!!!

[@khushalwadhawan8932]

If this were to be released in this era, the publishers would have probably released it in this state itself promising day one hotfixes and what not

[@AgeofNoob]

11 Actually true

[@Oleg-oe1rc]

And then 5 years later we have 73 civilizations and hundreds of skins, and you need to subscribe to get the good ones, but still running exactly the same as day 1

[@AgeofNoob]

@@Oleg-oe1rc 11 Hopefully not

[@ChivalryTheHero]

Boat reflections huh. Wonder why they scrapped that.

[@kevinkibble8342]

1998: AOE2 through the AOE1 engine 2023: AOE1 through the AOE2 engine

[@Kopa_Malphas]

I mean the castles are massive, but MAN do they look good :P If anything the "Castles" we have in our current AoE2 are keeps.

[@AgeofNoob]

It is true 100%, but the game balance would change unfortunately :D

[@deFcon9533]

I actually had this game . The skin of knight line was so unique. I remember that slow animation of hand cannoneer , Mangudai would shoot cannon , they had boarding ship that could convert ships ,. Castles would missile like ballista from aoe 1 , trebuchet had different skin , gate could be used to kill unit . The archer skin was very pretty. Their spearman would turn into phalanx. They had only 1 campaign of Joan of arc in which bridges can be destroyed.

[@AgeofNoob]

Oh nice the Bridge thing could be interesting :D

[@skyjumper8652]

Those ships are gorgeous. Wow

[@AgeofNoob]

Yeah the ships were great tbh! :D Not sure why they changed them

[@Ratciclefan]

This looks so different from the final product xD Also those TCs are huge

[@AgeofNoob]

Massive packed TCs let's go! :D

[@Ratciclefan]

@@AgeofNoob I read that, at a point, you'd have to pack and unpack catapults like with trebuchets.

[@Ratciclefan]

Also, I wonder if this is from before raider civilizations would be implemented or from after they were discarded.

[@AgeofNoob]

@@Ratciclefan Gah that would've been an awful unit then :D

[@Ratciclefan]

@@AgeofNoob Just noticed you can see that in the video with the mangonels. I first ran into the video in the middle of the night, so I just skipped through it. xD

[@julianxamo7835]

Ha, FE used those walls for the Italians

[@AgeofNoob]

Yeah quite a few folks had a keen eye and spotted this too!

[@abdullahtokgoz]

16:16 Janissary has got 240 HP, 16 Attack, 7 melee armor, 1 pierce armor and 0+1 range. I want to cry. Edit: and Klux Klan like hat (!) 🤭😂

[@AgeofNoob]

Damn I didn't even realize that.. :D Elephant Janissaries lmao

[@missiek28051995]

Well I always wanted to know why in basic introduction(Before starting William Wallace campaing) the design was more... realistic in some places. Thank You for this video O:-)

[@AgeofNoob]

No problem Michal! Glad you stopped by :)

[@Olifantenstaart]

Age of Empires 1.5

[@AgeofNoob]

Age of Empires Ii

[@ShawnBlaque]

That town center is terrifying lmao!

[@AgeofNoob]

Indeed :D

[@amosdraak3536]

Yeah, when I transitioned from playing AOE 1 to 2, I always thought it was whack that you couldn’t hunt the wolves and that killing them and not hunting them causing the meat to be uncollectible was odd, too. Nice to see a healthy medium. 👌👌✌️

[@AgeofNoob]

Let's eat wolves why not! :D

[@amosdraak3536]

@@AgeofNoob :D

[@o.s.2056]

I now want Age of Empires 1.5 DE... more than AoE 4

[@AgeofNoob]

AoE 1.5 DE would be some fever dream for sure.. :D

[@happilyendme3521]

@@AgeofNoob nah no I want to see that 2.5 :P (which I know it doesn't exist)

[@AgeofNoob]

@@happilyendme3521 I'll see if I can find it :p

[@happilyendme3521]

@@AgeofNoob LOL if it's real it would be the most cursed thing ever

[@happilyendme3521]

@@AgeofNoob also I wonder why I'm not a sub I remember subbing to this channel months ago lol

[@JirMirza]

Wait a minute, eat the wolves? thats better 7:32

[@TurboMMaster]

I love Age of Empires I and I love Age of Empires II, but this I find mostly... fascinating. I mean I love this from artistic point of view, and idea of fusion between AOE I and II sounds great. But I can see why they decided to wait and glad that in the end we had "our" Age of Empires II.

[@AgeofNoob]

Yeah of course :D It's nice to see a bit of history!

[@locatolaka]

welp, now we've got Return of Rome lol

[@_jurd]

that MIDI track at 10:32 SLAPS

[@AgeofNoob]

Old MIDIs

[@jonnybamberg5692]

How can a game I've never played make me so nostalgic?

[@AgeofNoob]

Haha lots of folks have been saying this! :D

[@drachenrecke5090]

Its the music.

[@MikeEmpires]

That’s awesome, man. Great content.

[@AgeofNoob]

Thanks Mike!

[@josedasilva8479]

The Age 1 aesthetics in main menu, even the fade between sections! And then the match starts, everything that I remembered with AoE1, almost as with AoE 2 skins... I loved it!

[@yassinx6539]

The music 🥺

[@AgeofNoob]

MIDI

[@levitybooks3952]

Something about the in-game music is so unsettling! The buildings look much cooler.

[@AgeofNoob]

Old MIDI files my friend :D

[@BirboScrimmer]

can we please talk about P A C K E D TCs? 11

[@stevenxu5747]

MCV deploying...

[@AgeofNoob]

And they're massive too so they'd be a nightmare to put around hills 11

[@BirboScrimmer]

@@AgeofNoob same with the castles 11

[@Ratciclefan]

@@AgeofNoob it seems the massive sprites are just weird placeholders for the dark ages TCs. You can see the villagers going right through them to drop off resources and later in the video you can see the imperal age TC is much smaller.

[@ArmaDino22]

We used to have AOE 2 with AOE 1 graphics, now we have AOE 1 with AOE 2 graphics. It's funny how times have changed.

[@andrewevenson2657]

They should add this as a bonus mode in definitive edition lol.

[@AgeofNoob]

Maybe one day :D

[@Kalafinwë]

I want castles : Castle Age I said castles : Middle Age Perfection 👉

[@AgeofNoob]

I can visualize the meme in my head already 11

[@SgtLostSpartan]

Any guess on why they scrapped the old castle model? It was the one from the start cinematic, right?

[@AgeofNoob]

Indeed! We don't know for sure, but I think it's cuz it would be too OP. It covers way too much area, and dropping those on hills would be a nightmare. The way the game is played today would fundamentally change for sure :)

[@Casketkrusher_]

Insand to think the building sounds and unit sounds are still the same from the earliest build of AOE2.

[@TommyLikeTom]

These games are so sophisticated when you compare them to games like Warcraft. Warcraft doesn't even have a graph at the end of the game. It only has 4 races and they all play basically the same. AOE has so many I haven't even played as all of them

[@Ratciclefan]

Also, seeing fully-dressed male villagers is kinda weird (also I don't think we ever get to see female ones in this video, despite them being listed in the scenario editor)

[@AgeofNoob]

Male villagers must be shirtless and have a 6 pack - that is the unspoken rule of Age of Empires!

[@Ratciclefan]

@@AgeofNoob AoM and AoE3 broke that rule xD But in AoE3's case it's good because female villagers look european, but male villagers look like they could be from anywhere in the world.

[@eonshade6297]

The blue background while chosing the game is top notch.

[@AgeofNoob]

Maybe it's nostalgia, but I like the old menu layout a lot! :)

[@trytojustify]

well they already had all the bangers in the OST

[@MonteKristof]

They should have kept the castle as they were in this Alpha... The game has a much more realistic look to it.

[@AgeofNoob]

Building them on hills would be a nightmare with the current engine :D

[@Kevin-ex9vr]

software development is fantastic

[@HernanM019]

OMG, i'm really glad the game turned out as how it is today

[@AgeofNoob]

You gotta start somewhere :D

[@HernanM019]

@@AgeofNoob yeah i'm not implying otherwise, i'm just happy they've developed the game and made it even better

[@rbaleksandar]

I have to say they really did change a lot of the visuals until the final release. The water, farms and trees actually look far more detailed and realistic. There is even pseudo-reflection of the ships on the water surface! The scale of the buildings and larger units is als impressive.

[@spdutahraptor777]

This is giving me a more nostalgic feeling than the actual AoE 1 game

[@AgeofNoob]

It's the game you never saw that you miss the most :D

[@l33tpie]

11:11 Sounds like Cell from DBZ is about to fight someone but its AOE 2 I'm so confused.

[@AgeofNoob]

LOL :D

[@JallenMeodia]

I wonder why they got rid of the guys pushing the siege in the final game. Probably performance issues but looks a bit better IMO.

[@AgeofNoob]

I think the design reason was because of the pierce armor. If there's a dude pushing a scorpion, how would it have such high pierce armor against archers when you can just snipe the operator? So for game balance reasons and design clarity, they opted to take it out.

[@boi9842]

@@AgeofNoob have you seen age of mythology "portable ram"? they're two shirtless man carrying a wooden stick and they have 99% pierce armor, it's weird yes.

[@UrielZeptim]

It's so weird and interesting to watch this kind of video long after the release of a game (not just AoE but in general). I love being able to compare the original intentions of the developer or the early state of some assets (that castle, holy cow!) with the end result. Although it can be quite frustrating to watch good ideas getting scrapped :D Anyway, thanks for the upload! P.S.: That soundtrack...literal goosebumps...

[@brosephus_rex1374]

AOE 1.5: The Fall of Rome/Dark Ages Could have been its own entire game

[@elephantt2077]

The concept of Packed Town Center existed back then I know it eventually ended up in AoE3, but I love that it reminds me of MCVs

[@apfelstrudlOfOA]

I was just about to comment this, but I had to look for a comment saying the same! Definitely reminded me of Mobile Construction Vehicles from Command and Conquer and CnC Red Alert!

[@brettpalmer6850]

That's not a town centre...it's a Klondike Bar!

[@AgeofNoob]

Lmao :D

[@Rhinoch8]

Thanks for the designers who pushed some fluidity in the various designs

[@jjforcebreaker]

Very interesting and crazy looking. Impressive they came up with full AoE2 one year later.

[@AgeofNoob]

Game development was different then than it is now... 8 years of development to release a bugged game :D

[@unity6926]

Supremely flipping cool. Where did this alpha come from?

[@AgeofNoob]

Indeed! I'm not sure tbh, but I almost have my hands on a few beta/alphas and will share the links when I do! :)

[@unity6926]

@@AgeofNoob Awesome man, definitely subbing.

[@AgeofNoob]

@@unity6926 Thank you my friend!

[@aaronbeedle941]

It's insane to think that I wouldn't be playing this until 6 years later, then would play for 6 following years, and then 6 years after than find that they'd continued to work on the game and that there was a massive online community and get back into it. I always say Journey is the greatest game experience of all time, but AOE 2 is the greatest game to come back to. I don't think I've ever once not enjoyed a game of it. Well, except maybe the first few games of nomad when I didn't realise what Nomad was.

[@JcoleMc]

Aoe 2 with Aoe1 graphics nice

[@AgeofNoob]

This is AoE2 with AoE1 graphics and AoE1 with AoE2 graphics all in one! :D

[@boiessss]

that castle looks cooool

[@Usumgallu]

Now I can never unsee that Age of Empires II is just reskinned Aoe 1

[@Pepenosoy]

1:54 I love that there was an option to change the pathfinding

[@AgeofNoob]

I think the reason for that was that pathfinding back then was taxing on the computers, so if your game lagged, you could simplify the pathfinding - making it worse, but the game run smoother. :D

[@Pepenosoy]

@@AgeofNoob oh, thanks for the insight!

[@AgeofNoob]

@@Pepenosoy No problem!

[@GarkKahn]

Tazer here is really something Well tazer is something every time

[@AgeofNoob]

Tazer is a classic, never gets old!

[@adeerkhan1]

Age of Empires 2: From Parallel Universe of Shit

[@AgeofNoob]

11

[@adeerkhan1]

@@AgeofNoob Roman numericals hit hard!

[@AgeofNoob]

@@adeerkhan1 Indeed :D

[@jannisdittmer5413]

That game would have messed up a whole generation of kids.

[@AgeofNoob]

11

[@vandieyahya1024]

The castle with towers and walls with village inside it kind of remind me the Stronghold game series.

[@AgeofNoob]

Indeed! Looks very much like it

[@warbreakr]

2:00 crank that shit up boiiii edit: holy fuck 12:10 is actually a banger

[@AgeofNoob]

There's definitely a charm to the MIDI soundtracks for sure :D

[@XfStef]

This looked more like a modded version of AoE 1.

[@ritwikreddy5670]

it was

[@burningsun7315]

That old menu is fyah 🔥🔥 and the midi Tazer 😍

[@AgeofNoob]

Old menu still better than current one :D

[@onetdev]

Trees over farms 9:00, I kinda like the aesthetics.

[@AgeofNoob]

Looks nice indeed!

[@FrostMonolith]

wow this is an amazing gem

[@AgeofNoob]

Indeed - a piece of history right here!

[@lucasng9617]

This is like a hybrid between Age II and Age I

[@AgeofNoob]

Indeed :D

[@giancarlog89]

i remember watching demos from age of empires 2 and i thought the pictures looked really cool, specially from the castles and i always wondered why the final version didn't look like that.

[@breadcrumb382]

Wow the villagers are actually wearing shirts

[@AgeofNoob]

Indeed, the original unit models did :D

[@RadicalEdward2]

The tall town centers and the new unit sounds make me super uncomfortable

[@asgeirsoe]

Nah, hooold on - there wasn’t any Arabia at this time? 😲

[@AgeofNoob]

If I have a time machine, I'll let them know to add it right away :D

[@Tei]

Hill Country was actually the AoE1 equivalent of Arabia, except for the fact that it literally has no water at all.

[@thieftdp2680]

we've come a long way. this game looks/feels like 1994 though its hard to believe total annihilation was released before the first age of empires game while having much more sophisticated engine.

[@Jfq123]

sick beat drops at 12:08

[@Celebriedad]

Never knew vikings used giant brownies as town centers.

[@AgeofNoob]

Not a bug but a feature :D