Age of Empires 2 HD Saladin Campaign Cutscenes (English Ver.)

[@Lumiere_]

”How ironic that it was only after the Crusaders entered their lands that the Saracens were transformed into the people that we set out to destroy” Gave me chills

[@jftsang]

'It was cruelty worthy of a ... Crusader'

[@Aabil11]

Reminds us of our own nations' meddling in the Middle East. History runs in cycles.

[@DCdabest]

I always liked this campaign narration especially well. It's more observstional and philosophical about the nature of war and politics in the Middle Ages. And the voice acting is top notch.

[@rarjunglist]

this games voice acting is so much better than DE aoe

[@edwarmakhoul3345]

I know but it wasn't an Islamic Golden Age as it's a Myth and the Eastern Christians did all of these translations and all of these Philosophers were not Muslims but they were given Arabic names but they weren't Arabs

[@DCdabest]

@@edwarmakhoul3345 Eehhh. No. Not true either

[@edwarmakhoul3345]

@@DCdabest go back and read the History of the Myth of the Islamic golden Age on Google

[@DCdabest]

@@edwarmakhoul3345 sorry dude but like; that's like saying that because Aristotle is a Greek there was no Renaissance

[@InchonDM]

Historians in the comments, of course, observe that the Saracens lost at Acre, which is true. It is also true, however, that they "won" the Third Crusade. In fact, almost all of Age of Empires 2's campaigns bend history in their finales, for the sake of avoiding having a player win an individual scenario, only to be told they actually lost in the narration immediately following. This sacrifices accuracy to help secure satisfying game design, which is always a good decision in my book. Thus the final scenario, rather than being a direct following of history, charges the player with changing history instead, by winning where the historical figures lost. Off the top of my head, besides Acre: - The William Wallace tutorial campaign takes the battle of Falkirk and combines it with the battle of Bannockburn, allowing the Scots to win fifteen years early. - While not strictly of this sort, the Joan of Arc campaign's narrative bends time somewhat to compress the end of the Hundred Years' War, treating the Battle of Castillon as a direct response to Joan of Arc's martyrdom despite happening 22 years later. - The Mongol campaign ends with Ogedai Khan's Mongols unequivocally cracking Hungary and reaching the Atlantic coast, rather than becoming bogged down and falling back as happened in reality. - While accurately having Barbarossa drown in his armor, the Barbarossa campaign ends with his loyalists successfully bringing his body to Jerusalem to fulfill his obligation in death, which didn't happen in real life. - In The Conquerors, Cuauthemoc wins the Siege of Tenochtitlan if at great cost, rather than losing it, which crushes Cortez's Spaniards and secures at least the immediate survival of the Aztecs. -El Cid's campaign allows Ximena de Vivar's Valencia to turn aside the attacks that overran it in reality, allowing a truly triumphant end for the Campeador and his long-suffering wife and narrator. It did give me some false impressions as a child, but I'm fine with that on reflection. A game should never LIE to its players, especially with their achievements. Better that history give way first, it won't exactly suffer from it.

[@muhamadhzz]

dude you are a historian :)

[@ShaDHP23]

This is why we can't enjoy movies Braveheart or 300 in peace anymore.

[@fran9201]

and what about the Atilla campaign? any innacurecies there? all i can say in the Atilla campaign the Western Roman army still wore the Lorica Segmentata armor while it wasn't used by Romans for centuries after Christ, plus im pretty sceptical with some missions in the Conquerors campaign, in the Manzikert mission the Seljuk Turks wins because there was a civil war between multinational factions among the Byzantine army and the Seljuks turns these factions against the Byzantines and they are also portrayed with the the Lorica armor while it wasn't used anymore in the 9th century AD and during the Kyoto mission (which actually should have been called Yamazaki 1582) there is not a single mention of Akechi Mitsuhide who betrayed Oda Nobunaga in the Honnoji Incident as Akechi also lost the Battle of Yamazaki against Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

[@athomicritics]

i personally always saw it as the narrator having its own biases when recalling the event , after all even today we know that some historical records from historical figure sometime exagerate things in order to pass as stronger etc so really it made the narration more humane in a way

[@LegendKingY2j]

@@athomicritics yes, every narrator in this game said things according to their views because if you pay attention to the story, they are characters from the period and if you also notice they ignore the fact that the hero lost at the end in most of these cutscenes endings as a way to make it a "good ending" for the reader. It's a game anyway, it won't make you feel like a loser at the end so they give you a little historical inaccuracy and let you win the final battle, though the end of Saladin ain't that inaccurate, sure the narrator didn't mention the defeat at Acre but the objectives tell you to build a wonder instead of defeating the crusaders for this reason, because it's a way to tell you that the Arabs fought on for a while but still got beaten. If you wanna make it more accurate, then let the enemy get into your walls as you are about to win the scenario with the wonder lol

[@icysaracen3054]

“… I suspect blood to stain the sand again” 😢

[@TheParez]

Yeah...

[@Vorteksio3]

Look at what is happening today.

[@TheParez]

I know man. I foresaw this. It doesn't take to be a fucking Baba Yaga to see patterns on how degenerate dogs justify their vile actions to genocide people and call it a will of god...@@Vorteksio3

[@alperb.]

"I suspect that blood may one day stain the sand again." well it explains everything

[@ack3145]

fantastic campaign. Really changed my view about history and morality.....as a sixth grader when this game first came out! lol

[@caniblmolstr4503]

Yeah dude...This campaign taught me a lot. Primarily to not ever listen to a priest

[@DukeAlba]

I love the storyline of the fifth scenario… the starting ping and then the building pace of the drums makes you feel like you are at the point of total victory. Little do you know that right after the Third Crusade is launched. Love the history of the Crusades. This was my favorite campaign. Its too bad we don’t get to play as the Crusaders except in Barbarossa’s fifth scenario!

[@dak4303]

I know it’s not entire factual, but this game and the cutscenes instilled in me a lifelong love of history.

[@vallytine]

This campaign had a great theme about the cycle of bloodshed and what it does to a person. Probably my favorite in AoK, even if it was, in my opinion, the hardest. I enjoy the narration of the Definitive Edition, but one thing I think it lacks is the sound effects that these cutscenes had. As a kid I'd have nightmares about the booming drum that sounded during the end cutscene of Jihad.

[@yahoorelee007]

You make logical assumptions.

[@caniblmolstr452]

Agree with you. El Cid, Attila and Saladin were fav cutscenes. In the DE Kotyan and Timur are my fav

[@InchonDM]

My favorite fact about this campaign: the trebuchets in mission 6 are NOT ahistorical. The Crusaders did in fact nickname the two great trebuchets at the Siege of Acre as "Bad Neighbor" and "God's Stone Thrower", though both were French weapons instead of English as seen here.

[@dragonstormx]

That is part of the fun with this game. It takes its liberties with history but its ideas still come from somewhere.

[@caniblmolstr4503]

Well England was a colony of the Normans at that time

[@maniherarangibutler5223]

One of the best games I've ever played.

[@kejiri3593]

100% agreed!

[@ryanblood4578]

The music to the first cutscene has no right being this good.

[@cordovalark5295]

This campaign would make an awesome movie.

[@usamazahid3882]

Did you see the movie Kingdom of Heaven with Orlando Bloom and Eva Green?

[@thedude9024]

A travellers dream to go to the Middle East. I imagine the descendants of the Normans held their adventurous ideals since their Viking ways, conversion to Christianity was just a political tool due to being submissive to the powerful Continental European neighbours. It's as if people all across the world were blessed to wanderlust and to travel the world objectively and document the people, cultures and religions in a polite and gregarious manner. I've been in the military for nearly 10 years and always wanted to be a diplomat.

[@TheContinens]

Hopefully you'll get there one day! I would suggest leaving the city though, you'll have a much better taste of tradition if you do and you'll avoid the places that try to mimic Western society. Plus the food is way better!

[@MrDesiballer]

You know Muslims won when Online-Crusaders are still triggered 1000 years after their defeat.

[@sperm8141]

Yeah, considering what a shit hole the middle east is ,you've certainly won.

[@TRD315]

Takbeer.

[@kejiri3593]

What is Online Crusaders? Is that a video game

[@chromitehertz9016]

@Kevin Mauricio Rodríguez Bermejo congratz, you are proving him right. lmao.

[@TheContinens]

@@sperm8141 You do realize it’s a shit hole because of western invasion right? Just like to point out that the west is responsible for almost every shitstorm within the last 1,000 years. I was born and raised in Canada but if the west would leave Us alone, you think I’d stay here? Or any of us would? And just so you don’t say talk is cheap, I lived in Lebanon for 11 years, speak and write the language. Oh and I also have two degrees; one in Arabic and one in English.

[@usamazahid3882]

Anybody watched Kingdom of Heaven to get this reference that much?

[@Sam-pu7xc]

Usama Zahid yes my friend from christian sicilian British lad i have god protect you friend or peace be unto you in Arabic (sorry i don't speak arabic) 😂

[@kejiri3593]

@@Sam-pu7xc Asalamu Alaykum" in Arabic is the whole "Peace be upon you" thing.. Which they overuse when a prophet's name is mentioned in Islamic religious text aswell. Not sure if they use that or Hello (when greeting people), Hello in Arabic is "Marhaba"

[@usamazahid3882]

@@kejiri3593 No doubt about it, Brother.

[@kejiri3593]

@@usamazahid3882 Although i meant to say "Marhaban" (classic mistake of me) Plan on learning arabic in the future. Just kind of fun learning different language. Great game overall!

[@usamazahid3882]

@@kejiri3593 Too right.

[@thegeneralissimo470]

I prefer this version of the voice acting to DE. Feels more inflective and emotional.

[@gfunkmadness]

The problem with the crusaders is they had redundant double management that bleeds off half the kick, Quasimodo predicted all this

[@nekorisnik]

To the victor, belong the spoils!

[@TheContinens]

- Bobby Baccala

[@skullthrower8904]

I thought it was Sun Tazoo

[@mertcanduran9049]

The Turks were mentioned in Saladin's mission 1 opening cutscene.

[@weebslayer3411]

This campaign I found had the most historical inaccuracies

[@moeye7642]

Explain

[@weebslayer3411]

@@moeye7642 Krak is not a Templar fortress Saladin never took Tyre and he lost the city of Acre to Richard, to name a few

[@Fakher782]

@@weebslayer3411 these are the only wroing facts ! yes muslims lost acre and didn't take tyre but they won the crusades in the end, Richard had to return to england after he lost his throne there, otherwise all the other campaigns had historical inaccracies !

[@edwarmakhoul3345]

True

[@meifray]

@Nogent and at the time it published,no plane was crushing at tallest building in the world,and everything changed after then

[@PoketMon1008]

AOE 2? AOE 2 DE Brought me here. Salom Alikom.😅

[@mertcanduran9049]

The Crusaders were mentioned,but it would be an another strong Central European civilization(e.g.strong University tech tree,middle strong Stable tech tree,strong Monastery tech tree,middle strong Barracks tech tree,middle strong Dock tech tree).

[@mertcanduran9049]

And also sometimes Crusades had a peace with the Saracens too.

[@PoketMon1008]

Not just freedom for AOE 2 DE or AOE2 but freedom for Reality and Real Life. The real Saladin is a hero in real life. Middle Eastern Hero. Lol. Hahahaha. I worn my own armor dauned my sword and shield or spear or bow, or crossbow and started making my marches with men across the Middle Eastern Christian and Islamic and Muslim world. And yet it has nothing to do with race but Saladin and Jihadists need to survive and take their lands back.

[@mrspacemarine2282]

Technically the Crusaders did capture Acre.. But this campaign was long enough

[@suhyun0428]

+MrSpaceMarine This game's campaigns are not true to historical investigation. It is just the game :-)

[@LegendKingY2j]

all endings never happened

[@tru_inspiration3357]

@@suhyun0428 several are true, when the narrator said that the peace treaty was been signed on September 2, 1192 iz correct, while about Acre, Saladin did failed to defends the city, but manage to secure peace with crusade after a long time of fighting.

[@tru_inspiration3357]

@@suhyun0428 as a historical scholar myself, I can guarantee that what the narrator said are 95% accurate in historical terms.

[@kejiri3593]

I guess it was in perspective of Saladin... so i guess they had to make it simple when playing as that guy in the game haha XD, main character afterall

[@mertcanduran9049]

Were Crusades always defeated?

[@PoketMon1008]

Fun Facts: Guess whom spoke this in these cutscenes? Yeah that's correct. Richard the Lionheart foreigners of the Middle East, and Al Qaba, 🇸🇩. Mosque: A religious place for Islamic and Muslim/Judaism Faiths. Seriously true.

[@henryalbrecht2930]

Saracens were the ultimate warriors

[@LegendKingY2j]

+MikaelS. you can't compare the Germans from ww1 with Saracens during medieval age.. huge age difference

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

MikaelS. Fuck off

[@tacticalsweater5119]

Uh no, fuck that.

[@Cyan_Nightingale]

Uh.. no. They lost against the Spain.

[@Sam-pu7xc]

Personally i think no one has any special right to it no one has claim... because all do have claim christian, catholic, jew, Buddhist, hindu, athiest and so on just give israel back to the people it originaly belonged to (i'm not sure who specifically) and sign a peace treaty with them and allow all people to visit all religious or holy places reguardless of faith or opinion.

[@santiagoz.s.1024]

what does buddisht , hindu and atheist have to do?

[@rangergxi]

The Jews took it from the people of Canaan so good luck finding them.

[@zxylo786]

Yeah bruh. How about then you go back to England and leave the US, the "people it originally belonged to" can retake it once more.

[@Johannesai1]

Israel disapproves this campaign. Israel would ban this game precisely due to the admiration towards Saladin that this campaign produces. Saladin was a chi'a muslim like Iran is today.

[@Michael-gt5zr]

Johannesai1 well actually you must reconsider and check your information about saladin. he is an admirable historical character nevertheless about your povs on isreal whatsoever saladin was a sunna muslim much like saudi arabia and egypt not iran.. his full name is Salah Al-Din Al-Ayoubi and he was the Sultan of the Ayoubian kingdom their people called themselves “Al-Ayoubyeen” they were all sunna muslim who follow the sunna of prophet of Islam Mohammed

[@ganevo4788]

Saladin is Sunni bro, and Kurdi

[@arminius1453]

If Israel disapproves something, then that's probably a good thing

[@SonoftheFortunate]

He was not a Shia, he was a Sunni. Get your facts straight. And he destroyed the Shiite heretics in Egypt when he took Egypt.

[@SonoftheFortunate]

Iran isn’t even Muslim.

[@mertcanduran9049]

The Franks were always defeated by Saracens.

[@Cyan_Nightingale]

Not really. Saracens' advance was stopped during the Battle of Tours/Poitiers

[@tehirlitren3540]

Saracens were not only arab but also turk. Saladin was speaking turkish, probably army was turkish too

[@Siyar612]

Saladin was a KURD. His army was Arab, Kurdish and Turkish. Gerezi kali.

[@tehirlitren3540]

Şiyar look what is written. I didnt say he wasnt kurd or smthng, i said he was speaking turkish. By the way he was also a turkish vassal

[@stefan_c.76]

Saracens aren’t Turks for Turks are not Arabs. No?

[@Michael-gt5zr]

Dude Saladin was an arab and ruler ayoubian kingdom of egypt and syria not turkish

[@-CrimsoN-]

@@Michael-gt5zr He was ruler, but he was ethnically Kurdish

[@mertcanduran9049]

R.I.P. Crusades.

[@mertcanduran9049]

Sometimes Crusades had a deal with Saracens.

[@TRD315]

Saladin Aube was a Kurd not a Arab or scarcen lol ridiculous.

[@almajdalkoud7728]

Saracens word doesn’t mean Arab only! It means arab and kurds and north african and all muslims in the middle east!!

[@jonathanwilliams1065]

The truth is actually the reverse of what is portrayed The Muslims were incredibly brutal in their jihads, and it was only after that that Christian soldiers started behaving like that, and the first crusade only happened after centuries of jihads Saladin stands in sharp contrast to other Muslim leaders, including Khalid Ibn Walid who went out of his way to cut off and slaughter Christian refugees from Damascus, yet is revered by Muslims to this day

[@sophieschollsreinkarnation5078]

That Saladin did not destroy anything in Jerusalem is not correct. He transformed the churches and removed all Christian stuff.

[@arrozaqave1184]

dont try to turn history, what saladin did is freeing jerussalem from dirty hand of crusader invader. shame on you, attacking by the name of religon and the command of pope

[@martijnstuart95]

I think there is a big difference between destroy and transform. Btw, many of those churches were mosques or synagogues before the First Crusade anyway.

[@tru_inspiration3357]

@Corona-Panik, sir do you even know what the word of "Destroy" mean?? Transform and destroy has different meaning. Have you ever learn about linguistic. LOL

[@rekius328]

go read a history book. He did the opposite of what you said

[@Cyan_Nightingale]

​@@martijnstuart95"Synagogue" was correct. But "mosque"? Incorrect.. Christians in Jerusalem preceded the Muslims before 7th century A.D.

[@foodforthought6960]

As a kid I was like "woah, cool campaign!" As an adult, I realize the story was written by a 1990s SJW. He portrays Arabs as civilized angels who eat snow and drink wine and listen to music and the Crusaders as monsters, until the Arabs turn into monsters due to having fought the Crusaders for so long. It's so much propaganda its unbelievable. Same with Ridley Scott's kingdom of heaven. Templars = BAD, Saracens = GOOD, although in that movie at least he showed elements of good and bad in the both factions, i,e. Balduin and Saladin were good but Reynald and a preacher imam were evil.

[@housshil3675]

Well, Crusaders came with armies invading the middle east, and got stomped by turks/Saracens every single time. In my country, we have a saying : " He rightousely die he who attacks first"

[@foodforthought6960]

@@housshil3675 the crusades were a reaction to muslims invading and stomping half the known world from iran to morocco, but specifically the invasion of the christian world (egypt, syria, turkey) and turning them into islamic countries.

[@housshil3675]

@@foodforthought6960 well, the regions you mentionned were not christian till the romans forcefully converted them to christianity following constantine's conversion during the 4th century, Egyptians used to worship then old gods, mesopotamia was largely Zoroastrian.. What's ur point ?

[@foodforthought6960]

@@housshil3675 that is a valid response. But my point is, the first crusade was called after Jerusalem fell to invading muslim armies, and yes, lots of blood was spilled BEFORE the first crusader set foot in the levant. So the idea that crusaders started all this for no reason is not valid historiography.

[@housshil3675]

@@foodforthought6960 I agree with you, the way the game is relaying the historical events is somewhat propagand-ish, it portrays arabs/muslims as citizens of a utopian civilization that worships peace and art and harmony until the devilish blood thirsty europeans decided to attack ( lol ) Muslims, like almost every mediteranean culture, had a period of thriving and political/military power, the natural outcome is : Imperialism, Nothing new, babylonians, carthaginians, Macedonian/Greeks and romans, Persians did it before, europeans and Japanese would do it later, and now we are witnesing the US/western neo-imperialism, and the cycle goes on because Brutality and dominance is a right of nature.

[@Threepwoot]

If you call the Jihad of the Saracenes - or Muslims in general - a reaction to something other nations did.. then you are an idiot. But still an epic game that I loved to play!

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

Threepwoot an idiot for knowing the truth. K

[@heatseeker9573]

@@dontspikemydrink9382 The game failed to mention the crusades were called as a defensive measure to the conquest raging from the middle east into Europe itself. Perhaps "truth" is not what YOU seek.

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

Eh, no the crusades were called because the 'byzantine' empire was being taken over by the Seljuk Turks. The crusades have all to do with trying to take over the holy land and nothing with self defence

[@heatseeker9573]

@@dontspikemydrink9382 Depends which ones. The balkan states were being sacked during the later ones (hence the pope's calls ringing hollow, since nobody ever gave a shit about us up until the present). You do have a point though. At least they cared about the holy land.

[@diegokaqui60]

well the first one was obiously their thing.....from then on the europeans made it a problem....then the ottomans made it a problem.