Month: August 2014

Age of Empires II: HD Edition

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings was a huge part of my adolescence. It was one of the first games that I actively looked forward to, and I was so excited when it finally came out. The coolest thing about it was that I could play as the Byzantines. I was really interested in the Byzantine Empire in high school (I used to read Donald Nicol’s Byzantium and Venice and Warren Treadgold’s History of the Byzantine State and Society during study hall), and I would spend hours skirmishing against the Turks with my hordes of cataphracts. I wasn’t a very good player though–I was more focused on historical accuracy than playing a good game. I was obsessed with deploying my units in historically accurate ratios, regardless of what was actually needed to counter my opponents, and I refused to use units that the Byzantines didn’t use in real life (e.g., camels and hand cannoneers). Although I eventually moved on to other games, I always had a soft spot for AoE 2. When I saw that Microsoft had released an HD version of the game through Steam, I knew I had to buy it.

I purchased the deluxe edition, so in addition to a remastered version of the original game and The Conquerors expansion pack, I also got The Forgotten, a new expansion pack that started out as a fan-made mod. Although my inner cheapskate caviled at the idea of paying for a game I already owned, I’m really glad I bought it. The graphical changes in the HD edition are nice (the most noticeable change is that water now ripples with waves instead of looking like a painting), but the new civilizations are where the game really shines. I’m particularly glad that the Italians have finally made it into AoE 2. As a teen, I was frustrated by their absence from the original game since I wanted to recreate things like the Byzantine-Venetian War. I usually ended up playing as the Goths and pretending to be Venice, but that wasn’t very satisfying (huskarls aren’t terribly Venetian!).

The mighty Byzantine army. I've added a mod that changes the unit graphics, so they look a bit different than those found in the original game.
The mighty Byzantine army. I’ve added a mod that changes the unit graphics, so they look a bit different than those found in the original game.

I haven’t played all five of the new civs yet, only the Italians and the Slavs. Those two are quite interesting to play, though. The Italians actually have two unique units, the Genoese Crossbowman (archer with an attack bonus vs. cavalry) and the Condottiero (infantry with an attack bonus against gunpowder units), and their cheaper maritime technologies gives them a boost on water maps (though it would have been nice if the ships themselves received a boost). The Slavs have great infantry (one of their unique technologies, Druzhina, gives them trample damage like the Byzantines’ cataphracts), and their unique unit, the Boyar, is a horseman who can tank. They also get cheaper siege units, which can be a huge advantage (after watching Resonance22’s YouTube channel, I’ve learned to appreciate the power of massed onagers!).

The computer’s AI has also been improved. It’s still not as skillful as a human player, obviously, but it can give you an interesting game. My big complaint is that it doesn’t seem to be good at varying its strategies based on the strengths of the civilization it’s playing. No matter which civ it is, the AI likes to build lots of light cavalry and pikemen. That being said, it does tend to build lots of paladins when playing as the Franks and lots of monks when playing as the Slavs (few things are more frustrating than running into a wall of 15-20 monks chanting away, particularly if you haven’t researched Faith yet!), but that seems to be the extent of its civ-specific strategies. Unfortunately, the units’ AI is still pretty stupid. Villagers will frequently stand around doing nothing as if they’re stoned, and your military units seem to have a death wish (the latter can be overcome to some extent by setting their attitude to “stand ground,” but this can turn them into strict pacifists who won’t intervene if one of their brethren is being attacked). Don’t even get me started on the pathfinding…

What I really love about AoE 2 though is the old-school economic management. Modern RTS games tend to dumb-down simplify the economic aspect of the game in order to focus on combat. Maybe I’m weird, but I like the challenge of building a diverse economy and keeping it balanced. At the beginning of the game, you’re often chronically short of resources as you build your empire, so it’s rewarding when you finally reach the point where you can build whatever you want.

I also love the degree of freedom that AoE 2 gives you. Newer games seem to like placing restrictions on the player. In Age of Empires III, for example, certain buildings can only be built in limited numbers, and that kind of irks me. If I want to build more than one church or a gazillion houses, I should be able to. I don’t want to be trammeled or have my hand held by the designers; I want the freedom to do crazy things, like attack with mass monks.

All in all, I highly recommend AoE 2 HD. The base game has held up very well. The graphics are still appealing, and they don’t look as dated as those found in early 3-D RTS games such as Empire Earth. There are, however, a few niggling quality-of-life issues. There’s no automated scouting button, so you’ll have to maneuver your scout around the map by hand, and the system for replenishing your farms is kind of clunky. But these are really just trifles, and they’re not annoying enough to tarnish the overall gameplay experience. It’s a first-class game, and I’m glad that it’s been made available for a new generation of gamers to enjoy.

‘Gods of Egypt’ Doesn’t Seem to Have Done Its Homework

I’ve discovered that Hollywood is planning to make an epic fantasy movie set in ancient Egypt. Entitled Gods of Egypt, it will star some big names, including Nikolaj Coster-Wald, Gerard Butler, and Geoffrey Rush. At first, I was cautiously excited; naturally, the idea of an epic fantasy movie set in Egypt should be right up my alley. But when I read the synopsis on IMDB, my heart sank: “Set, the merciless god of darkness, has taken over the throne of Egypt and plunged the once peaceful and prosperous empire into chaos and conflict.”

 

"SethAndHorusAdoringRamsses" by en:User:Chipdawes - en:Image:SethAndHorusAdoringRamsses.JPG. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SethAndHorusAdoringRamsses.JPG#mediaviewer/File:SethAndHorusAdoringRamsses.JPG.
“SethAndHorusAdoringRamsses” by Chipdawes –  public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

From an Egyptological perspective, characterizing Set as an evil god is highly problematic. Although he’s often referred to as a ‘god of chaos,’ that’s a modern gloss on his character. It’s true that he was demonized in the Late Period, but in earlier times he was a much more ambivalent figure. For much of Egyptian history, his cult flourished in the Delta region and at Ombos. Several pharaohs were named after him, such as Seti I, whose name literally means ‘man of Set’ (ordinary people also incorporated Set’s name into their own as well). There are also a number of depictions of Set crowning the king alongside Horus (the one on the right is taken from Ramesses II’s small temple at Abu Simbel). Set also had a reputation for martial prowess, which is why he is often shown at the forefront of Re’s solar barque, spearing the evil snake-creature Apep.

However, he definitely had a darker side. As early as the Pyramid Texts, he was described as the murderer of his brother Osiris, and there are references to him fighting Horus (who can be either his brother or his nephew, depending on the text!) for the throne of Egypt. An extended narrative of Set’s struggle with Horus for the throne of Egypt can be found in the Contendings of Horus and Set, which was written in the New Kingdom. There, Set is portrayed as a violent buffoon who is easily tricked by Horus into building a boat out of stone. When the gods finally decide to award the throne to Horus, Set is compensated by being given dominion over the desert. He still retained Re’s favor, as well.

Set defending Re from Apep by An unknown workman - Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Set_speared_Apep.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Set_speared_Apep.jpg.
Set defending Re from Apep by An unknown workman – Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Set didn’t become a totally evil figure until the Late Period, at which point he replaced Apep as the embodiment of evil. It’s not entirely clear why he fell from grace, but Herman te Velde has suggested that his demonization was due to Egypt’s conquest by outsiders such as the Assyrians and the Persians. Set was historically seen as the patron of foreigners, and their subjugation of Egypt might have made Set’s cult less attractive.[note]H. te Velde, Seth: God of Confusion (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1967), 138-140.[/note]

Unfortunately, it’s the negative characterization of Set that seems to prevail in popular culture today. Writers often cast him as the Egyptian version of the Christian Devil, despite the anachronistic nature of such an approach. Rick Riordan is one of the few authors who has demonstrated an awareness of Set’s nuanced nature.

The fact that the team behind Gods of Egypt has chosen such a hackneyed and inaccurate approach makes me doubt the quality of the rest of their research. I fear their depiction of Egypt will be little more than a bunch of people with tea towels on their heads running around a set that’s festooned with a random assemblage of Egyptianesque artifacts. Oh, and apparently most of them will be white for some unfathomable reason (perhaps the casting directors are disciples of Sir Flinders Petrie!).