Age of Mythology Never Had A Chance To Be Great | Video Essay

With the upcoming Age of Mythology Retold most likely releasing sometime in 2024 I thought it'd be about time to take a trip down memory lane and talk about everything that went wrong for Myth along its journey.
I can't wait to see Mythology get the treatment it deserve in Retold and hopefully the mistakes of the past remain in the past not to be repeated. Myth wants to be loved, and it should have been so much more.
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[@jye2785]

There is truly no way of illustrating the state of euphoric nirvana one could transcend to at an AoM Lan party.

[@Fr0st1989]

You're goddamn right.

[@FuncraftVideos]

especially if it's the 2010s or even earlier god forbid.

[@Pannkakaize]

Very true lol, i remember me and a friend just walling into a corner against 3 very hards, just fighting for our lives like were the defenders of the fall of constantinopel

[@mandel94]

Your contribution to keeping the game alive is hard to overstate

[@evald1474]

I've always believed AoM to be one of the best RTSs ever, certainly the best in the Age series. It's such a shame that so many factors ended up working against it, from rushed dlc development and multiplayer technology fumbles to poor marketing and business strategies. Either way, I'm glad that I was able to grow up with this masterpiece and that you have helped keep the community alive.

[@NakamuraRTS]

Great summary of AoM's past struggles Boit, thanks for putting it together. I hope those can stay in the past, and that we can carry the good memories forward into a new era of growth and satisfied players. Devs: please do it right, not fast!

[@klavicus2276]

💯👍

[@Drago2600]

Still have my original cd’s and titan cd’s… we’re getting old😢

[@evald1474]

I still have the original major god/ minor god tech tree pamphlets that came with my CDs even though I've memorized them all. Super nostalgic whenever I see them...

[@DMAC974]

I bought the AOM collecters edition when it was originally released. It came with a copy of Bulfinches mythology book and a figurine. I swear it is as as heavy as a brick!!

[@noaccount4]

Man, I was so lucky to have a cool uncle who got me AoM and Stronghold way back. When he wasn't playing it himself!

[@leigh5937]

My dad was a big AOE fan and recommended AOM to me, forever grateful

[@joeybadz7253]

hard agree on the controls & path finding & lag! Nothing worse than feeling like you have to fight against the game rather than your opponent

[@UntiltedName]

I played nearly every RTS I could get my hands on in the 90s. Age 2 and SC/Brood War were my favorites. By all rights when AoM came out I should have been full steam ahead. I recall playing the demo and enjoying it. However, during that time Warcraft 3 had already released. I only had 1 friend who spoke about AoM. Everybody else was all-in on Azeroth. Then in the subsequent years DOTA subdivided the RTS crowd. In addition, a significant portion of gamers also got on that WoW teat. It was a tough time to be an RTS game in the mid-late 00s. I bet if AoM came out when Empire Earth did, a year before WC3, it would have had more momentum for the following years.

[@yassinnasfi3149]

Oh my 🤯 listening to your voice with that sound in the background really touched my nostalgia ♥ You are a great storyteller keep uploading this kind of video please 🙏

[@bananatheseus4516]

This is such a lovely video Tim, this short ones you do for celebrating the game in the light of anouncements like the one tomorrow is a reflexion of how much passion you put on this.. this video feels like the prologue of an adventure, like an anthem of hope almost...... If retold is gonna be the promised land that is gonna finaly unify Aom's split comunity... then you are the the angel holding the torch leading us all

[@Gmestradioto]

Path Finding is a weird thing. AoE 2 DE players are complaining a lot. How can a game in 2020s become worst than originals idk... anyway, I've been playing AoM since I was a kid and it made a huge part of my life. My passion for Mythology and History came from this series. I've been playing casually with friends on Hamachi, GR and on EE since released, and I'll give the same love to Retold no matter what, but hope they give us a decent playable online experience and do not change that much the way AoM feels.. AoM EE (ToTD) has a huge brazilian community, despite all problems. Thank you a lot for you job for all over this years!

[@tommypuceau]

You’re me :O I played this game on its release thanks to my big brother, I was only 8 back then. I became a mythology freak thanks to this legendary game.

[@edgarpascualnacher3511]

Ah, thank you for this video. I started playing aom when it released, i was 9 years old. And you are right, retold is the opportunity aom always deserved after all that happened. I can't put into words how excited I am for the new game, for the community, and for your channel to grow with amazing new content and players. At last, RETOLD WILL COME AND ALL OF US WILL BE HERE WAITING FOR IT. LET'S GO!!!!!

[@vitaminka012]

As a fan of the game since i was a child in 2003 i am so surprised and happy that there are so many people play and love this game💖💖💖

[@bham27]

Glad I found your channel! Thanks for watching over my favorite childhood game.

[@alinm4tw762]

I love u bro for keeping game alive for years

[@maperuva8995]

Really enjoyed this video format. Thank you so much

[@Steelion69]

4:15 - Issues with ESO started occurring in 2011-2012 but ultimately MS renewed the certificate for the final time. By February 2013 - ESO was finally abandoned when the Certificate was not renewed; though with some editing it could be ignored and you could theoretically play until 2014 when MS finally found and turned off the Servers (Likely they were part of the same infrastructure as AoE3's ESO2.0 Servers - though those remained in use for a few years until 2021 IIRC when MS pulled the plug; fortunately unlike AoM AoE3 was made in a time when server certificates were no longer necessary)

[@FitzBro]

Wait - people weren't able to get online because duplicate CD keys were given out?! Never knew that! Still have my original CD. Thanks for the history lesson!

[@FuncraftVideos]

please make more, we love this content

[@dynastes4938]

I am very hyped to see more about AoM:Retold tomorrow.

[@fallout4myth940]

I was very much into aom from its release date. Joined various mod and scenario clans back in those days and was really looking forward to EE. I got EE and I couldn't connect online for over a month. Gave me connection errors, sync errors, and at times saying I needed to buy the China dlc to play online. I uninstalled for a few years and just recently came back. So sad what could have been if EE didn't have these issues from the start.

[@utkarshsaxena727]

Good to see u r keeping it alive

[@samiyedkiy]

man u just discovered the truth to me about why i wasn’t able to find any games online with the “original” game at 2012 i was so upset back than cuz i really liked this game but the campaign was definitely not enough😢

[@josephr4761]

I think the biggest setback for AOM at the start was that it launched in October 2002. Warcraft 3 had just launched in July 2002 and sold more than a million copies its first month. The Titans launched in September 2003. Frozen Throne released in July 2003. Suffice to say, AOM had some pretty stiff competition. I was competing at the top of the ladder for AOM in the early days, but the competitive player base was so small, queue times were unbearable. Many times I would wait until the matchmaker timed out and still never find an opponent no matter what time I played. Meanwhile Warcraft 3 was holding weekly tournaments and had an extremely competitive ladder at all levels. Then in 2004 World of Warcraft released and everybody in the world played it. I completely agree with everything that you said in this video, but the game did initially release at a very unfortunate time.

[@janl5879]

for me it was the lack of factions and the settlement mechanic was kinda soso and ofc for multiplayer the lag

[@DeejusProductions]

I remebering being so sad the day Ensemble studios online (ESO) stopped working in like 2011😭... used to play this game for hours a day. Great video by the way!

[@m1kexo98]

Nice video Boit 👍🏻

[@gareth6525]

This was made in perfect time for AoM Retold

[@LarsHaugom]

Great summary! Looking forward to Retold!

[@Kyomaku]

I remember playing my first game of EE when it came out and the lag was hilariously bad. It wasn't even the kind of slow down lag, but animation stuttering lag. Units pathed into resources and got stuck within them... countless bugs with hotkeys. In some sense it has become a funny memory, now that retold is coming and there is actual hope for a bright future for aom. Otherwise that really would have been depressing, if aom, with all its great potential, had simply faded and failed over such unfortunate factors..

[@Schulzenberger]

Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Player here. Just wanna say heads up guys, I love AOM myself and it was the RTS game of my childhood along with AoE2 and Warcraft 3. But because almost none of my friends kept playing AOM (and Warcraft 3 Reforged being a nightmare) I stuck to playing AoE2 DE, which was made by the same studios which are now working on Retold. Believe me when I tell you that AoE2 DE is absolutely wonderful and so well done that I couldn't imagine they won't do the same to AOM Retold. It will be great and I hope its playerbase will increase too, I mean just look at the steam statistics of AoE2 DE, it has a higher player count than AoE4. I am really looking forward to AOM Retold :)

[@anomie3299]

we might be fortunate that we are getting aom after the devs have figured out how to do their DEs literally 3 times by now. very good history/recap for aom.

[@mooseaom]

I Remember being so hyped for extended edition then after a week I couldn’t even launch the game. Hoping retold is finally the one! Had no idea about the CD key issue, I was also one of the lucky ones with an original copy

[@alexanderstoned6972]

That beautiful speech Mr. Boit

[@parkershahsavar6269]

I'm really excited to hear the soundtracks

[@manumaster1990]

nice video!

[@Vinlie]

I was lucky enough to experience this game besides Rise of Nations / Legends. I'm shocked to learn more people haven't heard of these games.

[@user-bj6on2yv1h]

We’ve been pumped about retold since it was announced. Have taught all our friends this game. Wooooo! Hope your predictions are right

[@davidr1479]

I hope AOM never dies! This is my favorite childhood game.

[@roberttammaro7305]

I was in high school for the original aom release and the following titans release....we played hours on there... great memories with friends...

[@reedpanozza645]

My only fear is that we get another Extended Edition catastrophe PLEASE BE GOOD

[@wytsevenema2418]

AoM Retold is bringing me back to the community after 5+ years away. Hope it's what AoM needs to bring it to the modern era. Hype!!

[@fryboiter6045]

Thank you for this interesting summary! I always thought Voobly players were stuck up snobs to evade EE. Good to know where the roots of this lie!

[@michaelmurray1717]

Think the biggest problem with AOT is that gaia and kronos actually have really unique gameplay mechanics relevant to their respective mythos but oranos has a really basic design that just blows them both out the water. The guys sperm can spawn civilizations apparently idk why they failed to make anything interesting out of that.

[@citricdemon]

If you think about it, there's actually nothing special about that. Anyone can do it.

[@freshfruit23]

I've not played another RTS with the depth of AoM. Super excited for AoM retold news later today.

[@TheLive100]

one pain i had with AOM was the POP space of the TCs... its a game element but once someone owns your TC spot he has not only one, but two tcs more pop space. hate it. another aspect i didnt like was the extremly fast creation time... i spammed units against other players constantly

[@user-sl6gn1ss8p]

yeah, I tried to get back to AoM a couple years ago and these were some of the things which made me bounce back the most

[@ThePainkiller9995]

goddamn the music in this game goes so mindbendingly hard

[@adilezzaam]

I remember that the release of AoM was something I was waiting for a lot ! At the time, I did purchase it but could not play it my 800mhz w/ matrox GPU that kept doing blue screen (only on AoM). Years later, I could play with a decent computer but the game was poorly considered by friends(they felt it was terrible compared to AoE2). I kept playing on my own, never been a great player ( 1660 w/ Ouranos on ESO, that was my peek lol) ... I never seen a game make me sweat as much as AoM (Literally a man fountain lol...) I will never forget the Jotunheim vs Titans or the big 4v4 on Highlands games... They were amazing... I wish that Retold will me make play this game with the stepback and the watching I've been doing on the channel. Boit and community, you guys are making me live the high level of this game... All the work you guys have been doing will revive give the long time due credit of this game. Thank you for the review and all what you doing to the community !

[@MegaMaster1021]

finding out AoM came out after warcraft 3 told me everything I needed to know tbh oh I were talking about AOM as a whole

[@devangnivatkar2649]

Patch 2.6 was the last actual patch by Microsoft proper Patches 2.7 & 2.8 are basically community patches made by Hagrit, Nakamura, XLightningStormX, and others, which got picked up by MS and made into official patches

[@dignes3446]

I was around 1850-1900 level player in the early days of the game and was really enjoying the competitive scene. Here is when I quit the game: I remember right before (and during) the WCG Tourney, Age of Mythology became "Age of Set" where every high level player was choosing Set ( basically free animal army), with only 1-2 players trying to counter Set with Thor (whose villagers had bonus attack against animals). Ensemble Studios staff went on a long holiday and we didn't get a patch for months... Even Ex-Ensemble employee and former No1 "GX_Iron" expressed disappointment with the state of the game. I realized I was not enjoying the game at all and the game was more of a source of frustration than enjoyment. That was the moment I decided to quit AoM and never really came back. Marketing (many didn't even know there was another "Age Of" Game), screwing up Competitive part of the game (see above) among other missteps, prevented AoM reaching its full potential.

[@zoubbirbenali1]

My man spot on the network issues. If they fuck that up like they did in the past it will be dead on arrival. Cant tell you how much out of sync has ruined my nights in the past...

[@hellothere4858]

The only thing I have to say is that you might be too optimistic on pathfinding if aoe 4 is your expectation. Aoe 4 was built from the ground up so they had the chance to implement all the new features and development for a modern game. AOM will still be built on a modified version of the original engine, which is currently being used for AOE 3 DE(its very funny cause OG aoe 3 was built on a modified AOM engine) so it will probably still have a lot of built in jank it will probably be better from the current situation but if aoe 3 DE is any indication, it will still have some funny pathing problems. AOE 2 DE still has pathing issues today and thats arguably where a good chunk of investments has gone for FE.

[@kurtdrexler9888]

Today we are all Boit

[@shangri-la-la-la]

I remember when the steam version was introduced. I hadn't played in years but all the bugs, lag and, the challenge of getting my mouse to stick to the screen the game was on had me give up on it quickly. Add in that AoE II had a stable version on steam at the time and I just stuck with AoE II. Not sure I am going to be diving back into AoM much just given my time constraints with live though.

[@vanguardguides8768]

I remember in middle school buying couple of friends copies of ubisofts AoMs as christmas present to get them into it and play together. They never got to play online because the CD key issue.

[@agus.lorenzo]

This game, Metal Gear and Oddworld are my all time favorite games. There is just pure joy and wonder with AoM. Arkantos is a legend.

[@Seethus]

Very similar to the story of Battle realms. proper nuanced Asymmetric RTS's that were before their time. hopefully we get a rebirth

[@PhotonTrooperGaming]

Tomorrow is the day! Let's see what they will show us related to AoM Retold!

[@estebanlopezturner5983]

One of my fav child games with imperium, hope this new aom project create what we allways were dreaming. (Sorry for my english)😂

[@stuartmacaulay5761]

I've played since the original release and still playing at 1900+ level on Voobly. The reason Age of Mythology lost so many players in the early days was due to the frustrating ESO servers that were barely moderated. Not only were bug fixes addressed late or rarely at all, for a number of years the game was rife with hacks such as ajax spawn, droptrick and hunt deleting. This caused a lot of players to quit and never return, as you had other good options such as aoe2 the conquerors (which was also growing rapidly, which had a better server. MSN Gaming zone was like the Voobly of early 2000's), Rise of Nations and Warhammer. Combined with the identical CD keys, it was a game killer indeed.

[@stuartmacaulay5761]

Oh and by the way, age of empires 2 has done an identical path as aom is now. Original - great High definition (Extended edition) - total flop Definitive edition (Retold) - great They seem to take their failings from the HD versions and go back to the roots. On that note, I believe they probably have DLC's planned for Retold. Given the massive hype for it and presumably strong sales on release, they will expand on that.

[@mraaronjosephbonnici]

My biggest concern is zues will get endless bolts while Poseidon will only get useless lures that do nothing. Zues used to have to wait until late game to use bolt on a son of osiris or titan. now saving it for that fear of a late game unit will be gone. while Gods like Poseidon and odin are stuck with a useless early game god power.

[@JimCullen]

I got stuffed around by the Ubisoft version. I had the original Gold Edition and played it and loved it for years. I didn't play competitive, but I played a hell of a lot of online multiplayer scenarios. Then my disk got scratched and it didn't launch. I was too young at the time to know about things like no-CD patches, so I went out and bought another copy. On the bus on the way home I looked at the back of the box and noticed...it says no online. I barely played it any more from then, until EE came out. I played a huge amount of EE. Again not competitive. Mostly PvP or cooperative multiplayer vs AI with friends. I played it for hundreds of hours, from when it came out until shortly after _Tale of the Dragon_ came out and basically ruined the joy of it. But until that point we played for years on EE without even knowing that Voobly _existed._ I think there's a tendency within the high level competitive community to underestimate how _good_ EE was and how much it drove the casual players back into the AoM world. I see the same thing with AoE2 HD and the competitive community over there, who mostly seem to talk as though HD was a complete failure and Voobly is all there was at the time. But I have no doubt in my mind: both HD and EE were the _most_ important thing in getting the revivals over the last 5 years to be made and enabling their success. The continuing love from the competitive scene on Voobly is also important, but not as much so.

[@user-fh6oy3rd8o]

I Played AOM as a Kid for like 3000 hours. Then i switched to "c&c red alert 3" and aoe 3. Coming back to AOM, felt so terrible, the time to kill is horrendous. I really loved the theme and the Campaign, but the game Itself needs a lot of work. Because, getting new people to try a game that released 2 decades ago is a real struggle. And I think some major reworks/rebalancing of some powers, units & mechanics wouldn't hurt. But doing so would, probably, anger some of the older Fans.

[@metal_monocle7334]

"Age of Mythology Never Had A Chance To Be Great" - It was great though.

[@jaco6971]

I think I had a demo from a pc magazine, then bought the vanilla game when it came out. Pretty sure the menu background was the lighthouse in the sea at the time. Although I was just a kid pprobably playing on easy, playing around with cheats (pretty sure there was a cheat for infinite meteor shower); I really liked the basic factions. Never got the titan edition as I transitioned to playing shooter games mostly, away from the rts genre that I grew up with initially (AoE, Empire Earth, Dune 2k, Alexander, RA2, C&C:G, BFME, Rome:TW). When my nostalgia convinced me to buy the Steam version a couple years ago I was a bit confused as to why 2 factions were added when the base game was already so perfect. Basically didn't touch it until this month when I finally played through the whole campaign. Great game, but my nostalgia would've rather seen the atlanteans removed as well for the upcoming Retold game.

[@zid3032]

Can someone make a "direct strike" like in sc2 in aom?

[@Slangnegativ]

What! AoM Retold?! Hell yes!!!

[@TimelineSciences]

We do, we want more. Especially about the communities that kept it going all these years.

[@undefined6341]

Ah. Ubisoft is all that was needed to be said.

[@nesso_music]

AOM is the best game ever created! don't even @ me 😤

[@fishofgold6553]

I think BoIt is going to say that AoM was mishandled commercially (that it did not sell especially well), and *not* that it suffers from major gameplay flaws.

[@nesso_music]

@@fishofgold6553 Yes I know ahah, I'm saying that in general! And big love to Bolt for all the contents is putting every day he's the goat 🙏🖤

[@denis4072]

What went wrong were many players get fustrated with smurf in noobs game.

[@ryannalls1480]

noobs in advanced player games was an issue too

[@denis4072]

@@ryannalls1480 🤣 Yea, I see it all the time.

[@alfredo4773]

I remember the ubisoft codes not working and if you emailed them or something they would send you a working code in the mail lol

[@foreverBV93]

Looking forward to an integrated community and pool of players

[@LobyDobster]

Had no idea about this. I have never played online, but it always seemed to me that this game was so unappreciated, so I guess it has a decent explanation. AoE2 seems very annoying to play when you're used to AoM

[@DeakinMed]

I'm Aussie I still have my AOM + Titans CDs I also played on steam recently given my laptop doesnt play CDs lol. There's a competitive community online? Intriguing, maybe i should somehow join as a massive AOM fan but noob multiplayer... I'll bring my minotaurs 😁

[@fatlahbazooka]

I really hope Retold is as good as we hope. AoM was always the best RTS and it deserves better.

[@blairbear9884]

Boit how did that game end tho? 😅

[@BoItTV]

I believe I lost, was actually a really great game. Search for no special hotkeys, no cheats, just pure tactics Odin vs set

[@BlueShellshock]

I played vanilla as well way back when, and even though it was made during that awkward early-3D era, it was still a good game, they had a chance with Extended. However, arcade mode was half the fun, and an iffy online plus the uninspiring Chinese civ just left a divide in players. I think it's too late for AoM to have a scene, even with Retold, but I'll definitely play casually if it works right.

[@robertthurman9866]

Coming from AoE2 and trying AoM when the deluxe box came out, my first impressions were not good. Due to the number of units being on screen at once, the requirements for 3D necessitated very, very simple models. These were/are so basic even detailed textures could not fix this. Second lack of variety of civs. Third using the deity selection as you went along created a nightmare of figuring out where you were on a tech tree. Now here is the big question. One of the biggest lacking features of AoE 1&2 was you could not change your viewpoint. They came up with the outline feature to compensate for this. One of AoM's selling points was 3D models. The 3D models are also used in AoE3 as well as AoE4. And we still can not rotate the viewpoint or do anything but zoom in and out. So why are we using low detail 3D models? What is gained from this? I look at AoE 2 DE and see beautiful detail, the towns look amazing. I look at AoM, AoE3 and AoE4 and even comparing the latest editions it just does not make me want to play.

[@BoItTV]

You can rotate in AoM. I don't know about AoE3/4.

[@robertthurman9866]

I stand corrected. What controls do you use?

[@lowkae3677]

The Ubisoft CD key thing was sort of the cause of all of this... If new CD keys had been able to get onto the ESO multiplayer, then Microsoft might have kept it running. Then they would have been able to release Titans on Steam (with a widescreen patch) with the original multiplayer the way AOE3 was for years. EE wouldn't have really been needed then, only Retold/DE, which probably would have come much earlier and maybe in-line with the other DE release dates. EE's poor performance on modest hardware at release really ruined things. A lot of AoM players live in places like South America or Eastern Europe and have potato PCs. A lot of those people seem to be on GameRanger still playing Titans 1.03 with the same bugs and exploits from 20 years ago.

[@connormako1987]

They should add stone and farm reseeding. Instantly the best game ever.

[@renarddubois940]

and then we see what retold looks like and it looks like a game from 2005 cuz they couldn't be bothered to redo the game from scratch on a modern engine

[@r0th2]

yeees

[@jerejarvinen625]

Music volume too high compared to voice imo

[@sundertooth1666]

Haven't watched yet, but "Never Had a Chance To Be Great"? It didn't need a chance, it WAS great.

[@utkarshsaxena727]

I really love age of mythology

[@afz902k]

I wanted to believe, but I was very disappointed with what I´ve seen about Retold so far

[@pandaprewmaster325]

You probably forgot that it came out with warcraft 3 that alone made it get overshadowed by wc3

[@BoItTV]

Yeah this is definitely something that wasn't on my radar at all. I don't think it had much of an impact though to be fair. Most AoE players don't like the fantasy from WC or SC2.

[@BACON-nf2rr]

They did a great job and are still doing great with aoe3de so i am exited for aomretold!

[@dach829]

problem is it was in aoe serioes it just didnt fit what i wanted. if it had a different name it might have done better and not having the title weight it down

[@redcastlefan]

Its better than aoe 2 which is the yardstick i use to judge rts games. I just hope they keep the game fun and not try to make it "e-sports ready".

[@thelonenoob2489]

Prostagma,❤️

[@6CaptainFalcon9]

I've played AoE2 online since 2012 on Voobly and tried HD edition when that was released. It was a huge disappointment but it grew the Voobly community. In my opinion AoE2:DE is worse in many ways than the Voobly version but grew the community. While the developers who made HD and DE2 in most cases have shown to be incapable of making the game we deserve, the community and interest in the game has increased a lot. I don't have much faith in the new AoM since every developer for these age of empires games, including AoE4 have produced a very lacklustre product and not listened to community feedback. I'm cynical the new AoM will be good but I am looking forward to having new players and people interested in the game and hopefully a few events with large amounts of spectators and new content creators and players appearing in the AoM community but also possibly into other AoE games :)

[@HunkMine]

I think the gameplay is dated to be honest, I hate micromanaging villagers all over the map unlike starcraft or CoH, but it's fun to watch

[@sam0luka735]

aom was all about campaign

[@artje90]

To be fair all the freakin launchers is getting old. why you need a launcher when the original didn't need one. i see it only as spyware so i will avoid it as the plague

[@narakdk]

What? It is perfect.

[@klavicus2276]

⚡️💛 👍

[@davidlubkowski7175]

Now it's has a chance but the marketing for Retold sucks rn