Info about Age of Mythology: Extended Edition:

Official game description:
With the release of Age of Mythology: Retold in 2024, this edition is not the most current and will not be updated further.
Age of Mythology
----------------
The classic real time strategy game that transports players to a time when heroes did battle with monsters of legend and the gods intervened in the affairs of mortals.  
Use mythological creatures like Minotaurs and Cyclopes to bolster your armies' strength. Call upon the gods for assistance in flattening enemy towns with meteors or scatter opposing troops with lightning storms.  
The Extended Edition includes:  
Age of Mythology  
Age of Mythology: The Titans  
Golden Gift Campaign  
New in the Extended Edition:  
*   Improved Visuals  
    *   Time of Day  
    *   Improved water  
    *   Shadows  
    *   Bump / Specular maps  
    *   Global Lighting  
    *   Antialiasing & Ambient Occlusion
*   Full Steamworks Integration  
    *   Workshop mod manager  
    *   Multiplayer  
    *   Achievements  
    *   Trading Cards  
    *   Leagues / Badges / Events  
    *   Cloud saves
*   Extended Features  
    *   Twitch Integration  
    *   Treaty Mode  
    *   Enhanced Observer mode

Release date: May 8, 2014

Categories: Real-time Strategy, Mythological Elements, Multiplayer, Single-player Campaigns, Resource Management, Civilization Building, Mod Support

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 20; verdict: Poor; summary: The reviews highlight significant issues with the DLC for Age of Mythology, including technical problems, misleading marketing, and dissatisfaction with the game's pricing. Many users feel that the DLC is broken and not worth the purchase, while others are unhappy with the overall pricing of the game given its age and lack of substantial new content.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence suggests that the community generally finds the game worth purchasing only when it is discounted. Multiple reviews mention that the game is not worth the full asking price and recommend buying it on sale. Specific price points mentioned include $9.99 and $5, indicating that the community considers a fair price range to be significantly lower than the current base game price.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 60.0h
  - Story completion: 30.0h
  - Session length: 1.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provided includes multiple references to the extensive playtime required to complete the campaigns and additional content in Age of Mythology: Extended Edition. The first quote mentions that completing the first campaign alone takes more than 30 hours. The second quote suggests that adding the Titans campaign and another campaign can easily exceed 60 hours of playtime. The third and fourth quotes reinforce the idea of a lengthy campaign with 32 phases/scenarios, each taking a significant amount of time to complete. These quotes collectively support the conclusion that the game offers substantial playtime for both campaign completion and overall gameplay.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game becomes fun when played with friends and when engaging in its strategic and mythological elements, despite some initial technical and repetitive barriers.
  - Stance: Fun then drops
  - Anchor: Playing with friends
  - Time to anchor: 0h 30m
  - Friction: technical issues in multiplayer; repetitive gameplay; small multiplayer community
  - Unlock drivers: playing with friends; engaging in strategic elements; exploring mythological themes
  - Conditions: playing with friends; engaging in strategic gameplay; exploring mythological themes; using mods to improve AI
- Player Archetypes:
  - Mythology Explorer (sale)
    - Motivation: Discovery and enjoyment of a unique RTS experience.
    - Playstyle: Exploring the game's mythological themes and engaging in both single-player and multiplayer modes.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: new player; RTS fan
    - Reference games: Age of Empires; Starcraft
  - Nostalgic Veteran (buy)
    - Motivation: Nostalgia and a deep emotional connection to the game.
    - Playstyle: Engaging in both single-player campaigns and multiplayer modes, often introducing the game to new players or revisiting it for nostalgic reasons.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: veteran player; nostalgic gamer
    - Reference games: Age of Empires; Age of Mythology: The Titans
  - Multiplayer Enthusiast (sale)
    - Motivation: Enjoyment of competitive and cooperative multiplayer gameplay.
    - Playstyle: Focusing on multiplayer modes, including ranked matches and cooperative play with friends.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: multiplayer fan; competitive gamer
    - Reference games: Age of Empires; StarCraft


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Nostalgic childhood classic (weight 0.19): The game evokes strong feelings of nostalgia, being a childhood classic that remains enjoyable from childhood to adulthood.
- Variety of civilizations and gods (weight 0.19): The game offers a diverse range of civilizations and gods, each with unique gameplay styles and strategic elements, adding depth and variety to the game.
- Engaging and epic story (weight 0.17): The game features a deep and engaging story campaign with inventive storylines and exciting plot twists, providing many hours of engaging gameplay.
- Fun multiplayer experience (weight 0.16): Players enjoy the game's multiplayer modes, which allow for fun gameplay with friends, both online and offline, against other players or AI.
- Impressive visual design (weight 0.14): The game's visual design is praised for its semi-realistic art style and impressive graphics, which hold up well and are considered better than those in Age of Empires 2.
- Unique blend of strategy and mythology (weight 0.14): The game combines strategy and mythology in a unique way, making it appealing to fans of both genres.
- High-quality campaigns (weight 0.13): The campaigns are highly entertaining and feature creative designs, offering extensive and fun single-player experiences.
- Educational mythology content (weight 0.12): The game is appreciated for its educational value, teaching players about various mythologies and introducing them to the mythos of different pantheons.
- Mythological units and heroes (weight 0.12): The introduction of mythological units, heroes, and god powers is a standout feature, with impressive designs and historically accurate representations.
- Excellent gameplay (weight 0.12): The game is noted for its good performance and fantastic gameplay, making it a very enjoyable strategy game.
- Pleasant sound and music (weight 0.11): The game's soundtrack and sound design are highly praised, with pleasant and informative sound effects that enhance the overall atmosphere.
- Unique civilization gameplay (weight 0.09): Each civilization in the game has a unique way of developing and playing, offering various methods of play and strategies.
- Rich mythological themes (weight 0.09): The game features well-constructed mythological themes and rich visuals, recommended for those who enjoy heroic and mythological settings.
- Modern system support (weight 0.08): The game is optimized for modern operating systems, offering improved graphics and support for high resolutions and widescreen displays.
- High replayability (weight 0.07): The game is endlessly replayable, offering hours of gameplay and fun ways to replay it.
- Interesting strategies and mechanics (weight 0.07): The game offers a lot of strategies and interesting mechanics, requiring players to strategize and use specific gameplay mechanics.
- Good voice acting (weight 0.07): The game's voice acting is noted for being better in the original version, adding to the overall quality of the game.

Common complaints:
- Frequent game crashes and launch issues (weight 0.23): The game experiences frequent crashes and fails to launch for many players. This includes immediate closures after opening and general instability.
- Multiplayer lag and instability (weight 0.14): Multiplayer mode suffers from significant lag and performance issues. Players report unstable connections and frequent server disconnections.
- Outdated graphics and assets (weight 0.13): The game's graphics and assets are considered outdated and heavily dated. Some graphics have not aged well and appear as a product of their time.
- High price for an old game (weight 0.12): The game is considered too expensive, especially given its age. Players find the price unjustified for a game that is over 16 years old.
- Low online player population (weight 0.1): There are limited online matches and fewer players in multiplayer mode. This results in difficulties finding matches and a less enjoyable online experience.
- Lack of developer support (weight 0.09): The game has been neglected by its developers, with low support and updates. Players feel abandoned, especially with the release of a remastered version.
- Minimal graphical improvements (weight 0.08): The game has seen negligible graphical improvements. Many players feel that the graphics have barely been upgraded and are not ultra aesthetic.
- Buggy AI behaviors (weight 0.07): The AI in the game is reported to be janky and buggy. Specific issues have been noted with the programming of the Chinese faction.
- Lack of localization and dubbing (weight 0.06): The game lacks certain localizations, including Portuguese-Brazil dubbing. This absence of localization options is noted by players.
- Tedious and time-consuming achievements (weight 0.05): Achievements in the game require a lot of time and extensive repetition. Some achievements are considered unreasonable and poorly designed.
- Outdated compared to newer versions (weight 0.04): The game feels outdated, especially when compared to newer versions like Retold. Players feel that the current version is obsolete.
- No new content or gameplay improvements (weight 0.04): The game has not introduced new content or significant gameplay improvements. Players feel that there are no substantial changes or additions.
- Poor DLC quality (weight 0.03): The DLC for the game is considered terrible and not worth buying. Players feel that the additional content does not provide value.
- Unbalanced Extended Edition (weight 0.03): The Extended Edition of the game is reported to be unbalanced and flawed. Players feel that it was rushed and poorly executed.

Gameplay feedback:
- Mythological units and creatures (weight 0.25): The game features a variety of mythological units, heroes, and creatures with unique powers and abilities, drawing from different mythologies and cultures.
- Traditional RTS gameplay (weight 0.21): The game offers classic real-time strategy mechanics, similar to legendary RTS games, with a focus on simplistic yet engaging gameplay.
- Unique civilizations and factions (weight 0.18): The game features different civilizations and factions, each with unique pros, cons, abilities, architectures, and gameplay styles, such as Greek, Egyptian, Nordic, and Atlantean.
- God powers and abilities (weight 0.16): Players can choose gods and utilize unique god powers, such as invoking earthquakes or summoning a fire colossus, adding a layer of strategy to the game.
- Diverse game modes (weight 0.16): The game includes seven diverse multiplayer modes, as well as solo and single-player modes, providing a variety of gameplay experiences.
- Campaigns and story (weight 0.13): The game offers classic campaigns with various missions and objectives, as well as new campaign content, providing a rich single-player experience.
- Strategy and planning (weight 0.13): The game emphasizes strategic gameplay, requiring players to plan and execute strategies, build armies, and manage economies to achieve victory.
- Resource management (weight 0.12): Resource gathering and management are key aspects of the game, requiring players to efficiently collect and utilize resources for building and army training.
- PvP and multiplayer mechanics (weight 0.11): The game includes online PvP modes and multiplayer mechanics, allowing players to compete against friends or AI in various game modes.
- Unique settings and characters (weight 0.07): The game features unique settings and characters, including mythological environments and heroes with individual appearances and animations.
- Adjustable difficulty (weight 0.04): The game offers challenging gameplay with adjustable difficulty settings, catering to both casual and hardcore strategy gamers.

Performance notes:
- Game fails to launch (weight 0.26): Players report that the game either does not open at all or closes immediately after opening. This issue seems to be widespread and affects the initial startup process.
- Graphical improvements and issues (weight 0.21): The remastered version includes visual upgrades such as improved graphics, sharper textures, and better lighting effects. However, some players report that the graphics are not ultra aesthetic and there are occasional visual issues.
- Modern hardware and software support (weight 0.16): There are concerns about the game not being maintained for modern hardware and operating systems. Players have mixed experiences with the game's performance on high resolutions and modern setups.
- Performance and optimization issues (weight 0.16): The game has performance issues ranging from poor optimization to specific problems like lagging and frame rate drops. Some players experience stuttering and memory issues during longer gameplay sessions.
- Multiplayer connectivity and stability (weight 0.13): Multiplayer modes suffer from instability, including lost connections, lag, and desync issues. Some players find the multiplayer experience unplayable due to these problems.
- Graphics and display settings (weight 0.09): Players discuss various graphics quality settings and the need to adjust display settings for optimal performance. Some mention the ability to disable certain graphical features like shadows and anti-aliasing.
- Stability and performance optimizations (weight 0.09): Some players report that the game runs smoothly and has good performance, while others mention stability issues and the need for further optimizations.
- Server and online problems (weight 0.07): Players experience server crashes and maintenance issues. There are also specific problems related to online modes and errors requiring Steam.
- Sound improvements (weight 0.05): The remastered version includes improved sound quality, which enhances the overall gaming experience.
- DLC and additional content issues (weight 0.02): There are reports of DLCs being unplayable, which affects the overall gaming experience for those who have purchased additional content.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for RTS and strategy fans (weight 0.15): The game is highly recommended for fans of real-time strategy (RTS) games and those who enjoy strategy games in general. It is particularly suitable for fans of classic games like Age of Empires or Civilization.
- Recommend Age of Mythology: Retold (weight 0.09): Players recommend buying Age of Mythology: Retold, the remastered version of the game, instead of the original.
- General recommendation for everyone (weight 0.08): The game is broadly recommended for a wide audience, especially when it is on sale, making it more accessible to a larger number of players.
- Recommended for nostalgic players (weight 0.08): The game is recommended for players who have a nostalgic connection to the original game. It is seen as a worthwhile experience for those who enjoyed the original.
- Buy on sale (weight 0.06): The game is highly recommended to purchase when it is on sale. Players suggest that buying the game at a discount provides good value for money.
- Prefer the remastered version (weight 0.06): Players recommend trying the remastered version of the game instead of the original. It is suggested that the remastered version offers a better experience.
- Recommended for mythology enthusiasts (weight 0.06): The game is recommended for those who enjoy history and mythology. It blends these elements with strategy, making it appealing to enthusiasts of these genres.
- Not cost-effective at full price (weight 0.05): The game is not considered cost-effective at its full price, suggesting that players should wait for discounts or sales to get better value for their money.
- God recommendations for gameplay (weight 0.05): Recommendations for specific gods in the game based on their strengths, such as Zeus for strong and simple units, Ra for a strong and easy-to-manage economy, and Thor for faster resource gathering.
- Unique blend of history and myth (weight 0.04): The game is praised for its compelling blend of history, mythology, and strategy, making it a worthy addition to any strategy enthusiast’s library.
- Highly recommended for unique experience (weight 0.04): The game is highly recommended for its unique experience, suggesting that it offers something distinctive and valuable to players.
- Worth picking up even after Retold (weight 0.04): The game is considered worth picking up even after the release of Age of Mythology: Retold. Players recommend getting Retold as well for an enhanced experience.
- Classic RTS with fantasy elements (weight 0.04): The game enriches classic RTS gameplay with fantastical elements, providing an enjoyable experience in both single-player and multiplayer modes.
- Specific campaign recommendations (weight 0.04): Recommendations for specific campaigns within the game, such as 'Новая Атлантида' and 'Золотой дар', indicating that these campaigns are particularly enjoyable or noteworthy.
- Age of Mythology: Extended Edition (weight 0.04): Mention of Age of Mythology: Extended Edition as a great choice for strategy players who enjoy mythological warfare.
- Countless hours of engaging gameplay (weight 0.02): The game offers countless hours of engaging gameplay, suggesting that it has high replayability and can keep players entertained for a long time.
- Accessible yet deep mechanics (weight 0.02): The game is praised for its accessible yet deep mechanics, indicating that it is easy to get into but offers a rich and complex gameplay experience.
- Fun over graphics (weight 0.02): The game is recommended for players who value fun gameplay over high-quality graphics, indicating that the enjoyment factor is a significant aspect of the game.
- Good chance for nostalgic players (weight 0.02): The game provides a good opportunity for nostalgic players to revisit a classic, indicating that it holds sentimental value for those who played the original.
- Not recommended due to server problems (weight 0.02): The game is not recommended due to server problems, suggesting that technical issues significantly impact the gameplay experience.
- Suggestion for new gods DLC (weight 0.02): There is a suggestion for new gods downloadable content (DLC), indicating a desire for additional content and expansions in the game.
- Recommend playing casual (weight 0.02): Suggestion to play the game in a casual manner, indicating that it can be enjoyed without a highly competitive approach.
- Return of the Gods mod (weight 0.02): Mention of the Return of the Gods mod, suggesting that this modification is noteworthy or recommended for enhancing the gameplay experience.
- Recommended for new maps (weight 0.02): The game is recommended for purchase during a sale to access new maps and the largest map sizes, indicating that these features are noteworthy.

Other player notes:
- Nostalgia for old mods (weight 0.02): Players express fondness for mods from their younger days, indicating a desire for similar experiences.
- RTS criticized as childish (weight 0.02): Some players compare the RTS genre to a child's toy, implying it lacks depth or seriousness.
- Ukrainian language support (weight 0.02): There is a mention of Ukrainian language support, which could imply a request or appreciation for localization.

Emotions:
- Nostalgia (weight 0.42): Players express deep nostalgia for 'Age of Mythology' due to childhood memories and the game's lasting charm. Many revisit the game as adults, appreciating its retro graphics, engaging campaigns, and the unique blend of mythology and strategy that defined their early gaming experiences.
- Frustration (weight 0.1): Players are frustrated with technical issues such as game crashes, lost saves, and unresponsive units. The lack of support for certain languages and the push for purchasing new versions without discounts also contribute to this frustration.
- Joy (weight 0.08): Players find joy in the game's improved graphics, smooth gameplay, and engaging campaigns. The dynamic and fast-paced gameplay, along with the enjoyable music and atmosphere, contribute to a positive and happy gaming experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.07): Players are disappointed with the remastered version due to its lack of significant improvements and novelty. Issues such as poor AI, lack of balance, and the game being overpriced contribute to this sentiment.
- Excitement (weight 0.06): Players are excited about the game's unique gameplay experiences, such as summoning legendary beings and engaging in fun combat. The variety of gods and civilizations, along with modern enhancements, add to the excitement.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.05): Players enjoy the game's campaign, fun gameplay with friends, and the unique mechanics. The game's funny and highly competitive nature, along with its timeless appeal, contribute to this enjoyment.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.03): Players are satisfied with the game's faithful remaster, optimization, and interesting mechanics. The diverse civilizations and mythological experience provide a satisfying gaming experience.
- Positive (weight 0.03): Players have positive feelings towards the game's mythology theme, extensive content, and enjoyable mechanics. The historical and cultural themes, along with nostalgic quests and music, contribute to this positivity.
- Love (weight 0.02): Players express love for the game due to its inventive storylines and the absorbing gameplay experience. The game's lasting appeal and the fond memories associated with it contribute to this love.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.02): Players are enthusiastic about the game's positive aspects, such as its mythology theme and engaging gameplay. The fun multiplayer experiences and the recommendation to fans of strategy and mythology add to this enthusiasm.
- Gratitude (weight 0.02): Players express gratitude for the game's impact on their interest in computers and its role in their friendships. The ability to play the game again and its influence on their lives contribute to this gratitude.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Players are angry due to game crashes, initialization failures, and perceived deceptive practices by the developers. The frustration with the Extended Edition's issues and changes contributes to this anger.
- Admiration (weight 0.01): Players admire the game for its excellent gameplay, soundtrack, and mythological strategy. The love for the original game and its unique features contribute to this admiration.
- Happiness (weight 0.01): Players are happy with the new version of the game and the ability to play it again. The enjoyment of the game without piracy and the positive experiences associated with it contribute to this happiness.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Players find amusement in the humorous aspects of the game, such as seeing units get punted across the screen. The fun and entertaining nature of the game contribute to this amusement.
- Amazement (weight 0): Players are amazed by the game's music and its overall impact. The unique and engaging aspects of the game contribute to this sense of amazement.
- Excited (weight 0): Players are excited about the game's atmosphere and engaging gameplay. The unique and dynamic aspects of the game contribute to this excitement.
- Grateful (weight 0): Players express gratitude towards the community for their support and contributions. The positive experiences and the ability to enjoy the game again contribute to this gratitude.}