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Memories Of The Gupta Dynasty
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| Author |
File Description |
| Andrea Rosa |
Posted on 12/24/04 @ 06:48 AM (updated 01/01/05)
| File Details |
|---|
| Number of Scenarios: |
4 |
| Difficulty: |
Mod-Hard |
When the last of the Mauryan Kings was assassinated in 232 BC, India once again became a collection of unfederated kingdoms. The dream, however, of a universal empire had not disappeared: it would be realized by the Gupta Dynasty, and would usher in one of the most creative periods in Indian history. The peace and prosperity created under the Guptas enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors, and India experienced its golden age.
"Memories Of The Gupta Dynasty" is an historically accurate campaign with some fictional escapes. It covers a period of time from 319 AD to 409 AD, from the establishment of the Gupta Empire to the earliest Hun migrations, telling the deeds of the greatest Gupta Kings. Will you be able to repeat their brave exploits?
NOTES:
* Carefully read the Hints before playing a scenario, since loss conditions are usually stored there.
* This campaign was designed to be played with the original Age Of Empires. Playing it with Rise Of Rome is not advised, since it might result in unpredictable behaviours, such as stupids AI, not working tricks, missing eye-candies, etc.
* The suggested difficulty setting is "Moderate".
* This is my third AoE campaign. Also check "The Senate And People Of Rome" and "Underhand Dealings From The Hatti Archive". As always, any comment will be welcome!
Andrea Rosa, Cittiglio ITALY
http://crea.html.it/sito/aoelastresort |
| Pages: [1] 2 » Last » | | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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| Richard Ames |
Posted on 12/26/04 @ 04:13 PM
Playability: Simple victory conditions and well layed out maps make playing very enjoyable.
Creativity: Andrea has really found his own style in map design and it shows in every corner. With magnificent eye candy and many original ideas, as well as perfect execution of the older tricks like forest fires and snow. The campaign is original in every way.
Balance: This campaign is not for a beginner, but for an experienced player it is still very challenging. Playing on hardest is the best way to experience the hard work that has gone into perfecting this balance. Each campaign has it's own feel and the victory conditions used will vary, as will the players approach to winning.
Map Design: Take a look yourself, it's hard to top. You will be seeing cliff waterfalls with swamps and pine trees interlaced, gardens, ponds, oceans and fortresses all in a brilliant balance. This is more like art.
Story: The final barrier for a campaign to achieve greatness is story, and this campaign passes with an A+. The research done is easily visible. The Gupta period is one not fully understood even today, which makes telling the story very hard. Andrea has explained each battle well, giving you a thourough understanding of who you are fighting and why. A great story, geat bitmaps and very good hints and objectives section of course.
This campaign is one of a very few that is worthy of five stars, and you will see few made anymore of this quality. Well done Andrea.
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| LittleFreak |
Posted on 08/18/05 @ 12:24 PM
Playability: 5
Awesome. This campaign covers the time from the founding of the Gupta Empire to the defeat of the mighty Saka Satraps under Chandragupta II, combined in four wonderful scenarios. Each one combines multiple styles, such as typical build & destroy gameplay, aswell as tricky puzzles, fixed force battles and a lot more. It was a lot of fun to play this campaign, it just didn't get boring. I love the way each mission is unique.
Balance: 5
These scenarios are not easy. Infact, they are quite difficult to beat - may it be threating enemies giving you no second to breathe or mind teasing puzzles which require thinking aswell as a fast clicking finger. Even though I got stuck sometimes, I loved the difficulty of this campaign, because there are always different routes to victory. I especially liked that in the last scenario. There was always something else to do, I never sat there thinking "What to do now?". This campaign will be difficult for experienced players aswell as rookies like me, but everybody can win it with the right strategy and some patience. Great work.
Creativity: 5
Like I said, every mission is unique in its own fantastic way. The first mission is fast paced and keeps you on your toes with enemies attacking from two fronts right at the start, while the second lets you relax a bit more. The last scenario was my favourite, because a good strategy and a lot of planning is needed in that one. Very creative, awesome job.
Map Design: 5
Good map design is Andrea's trademark - every corner, every little spot is painted with eyecandies in a way I have never seen before. It's not only very detailed, it looks realistic aswell. The map design is as perfect as it could ever be. From detailed river beds to awesome forests to mixed architecture to mountains with snow to whatever else, it just looks great.
Story/Instructions: 5
The storyline is explained very well, giving you a good understanding of what you are doing and why. The story is detailed, but never too long. Andrea has made it so, that the instructions always fit to the screen exactly. Those who want to find out more about the Gupta period can read the history section, which in return, has a lot of content. Enough to make another campaign out of it. :P Very useful hints and great bitmaps sum it all up to a 5.
Additional Comments:
As you might guess from reading this review, I loved this campaign. Great scenarios, a high but not too high difficulty level and map design that just blows you away make me give this masterpiece a perfect score. Download or die.[Edited on 08/19/05 @ 04:40 PM]
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| c4master |
Posted on 10/16/05 @ 07:58 AM
"Memories of the Gupta Dynasty" is an outstanding campaign even though there are many good campaigns around. You will have many hours of fun and excitement playing MotGD. Maybe I have to rethink my review scores of the other campaigns.
Balance: 5
I never really realized balance as a great factor. Usually I'm just happy if it's not too easy and not imposible. MotGD pushes balance into a new dimension! I heard that Andrea's campaigns are al quite difficult so I wasn't sure if I could beat it. Well, I did not even play it but I also increased my skills I think. I like being under pressure and being able to slowly fight off your enemies.
Creativity: 5
Creativity is influenced by story and map design in my opinion. But it is more than just a mix of these two other scores. It's about which parts of the story you play, which victory conditions are used and - most important for me - how you play it. Is there any restriction or is it just like a random map game? Thus Andrea's campaign is one the most creative I have ever seen. Have you ever thought of "destroy the eagle's nest" as victory condition?
What i want to say is that this campaign is creative in any way.
Map Design: 5
If I had to chose one word to describe map design in MotGD, I would chose "awesome".
Did anyone really expect less than a straight 5.0 for a map of Andrea?
The maps are perfect. Beautiful cities and even better terrain around them. Also some cool features like trade workshops were put in.
Story/Instructions: 5
The instruction were well-written, the victory conditions clear. The losing conditions were put to hints which I didn't like but it's ok.
This doesn't sound like a 5.0, right? Well, I haven't told you about the simply overwhelming bitmaps in the beginning yet. Did I mention the next-to-professional research Andrea has done? I learned very much about the Indian history and still the I was curious enough to follow the soryline through the game.
Additional Comments:
This is the first of Andrea's campaigns which I tried and it won't be the last one. Recognizing the supreme work I feel like a clumsy beginner in scenario design. ;) Go and get it! |
| Dean McCullough |
Posted on 12/17/06 @ 07:43 PM
Well anyway, this is a great campaign, and I'm happy to see the AoEH is still going strong. |
| The Dark Archer |
Posted on 12/28/06 @ 04:08 AM |
Jatayu
(id: Sword_of_STORM) |
Posted on 05/12/07 @ 08:09 AM |
| AOE_mapper_newb |
Posted on 05/18/07 @ 05:17 AM |
| Dean McCullough |
Posted on 06/01/07 @ 10:34 PM |
| Dean McCullough |
Posted on 08/26/07 @ 04:20 PM
Congrats to Andrea ;) |
| Max_CRAZY |
Posted on 09/19/07 @ 06:11 PM |
| Pages: [1] 2 » Last » |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
|---|
| 5.0 | | Breakdown |
|---|
| Playability | 5.0 | | Balance | 5.0 | | Creativity | 5.0 | | Map Design | 5.0 | | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 15,616 |
| Favorites: [] | 6 |
| Size: | 685.07 KB |
| Added: | 12/24/04 |
| Updated: | 01/01/05 |
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