Age of Mythology: Difference between revisions

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Age of Mythology is a spin-off from the [[~~Age of Empires (Video Game)|~~Age of Empires]] series. It had similar town-building structure, and similar units, but veered away from the traditional realism of the Age of Empires series. Rather, it was based in ancient Earth, where there were real Gods, and followed consistent, original storylines through characters and in-game cinematics. Also, while it shared some Tropes with [[~~Age of Empires (Video Game)|~~Age of Empires]], it contained many which weren't applicable to the mother series.

Age of Mythology is a spin-off from the [[Age of Empires]] series. It had similar town-building structure, and similar units, but veered away from the traditional realism of the Age of Empires series. Rather, it was based in ancient Earth, where there were real Gods, and followed consistent, original storylines through characters and in-game cinematics. Also, while it shared some Tropes with [[Age of Empires]], it contained many which weren't applicable to the mother series.

The plot of the original game follows Arkantos, an Atlantean Admiral who battled monsters in his time but is getting old, and since no one's really attacking Atlantis, he doesn't have much to do. That is, until Atlantis is attacked by strange monsters and men in black ships, prompting Arkantos to go off to Troy and help Agamemnon finish the Trojan War to curry favor with Poseidon. After taking Troy and sailing to Greece for repairs, they stumble on a plot by Gargarensis, a cyclops demigod who is trying to help Poseidon release [[Sealed Evil in A Can|Kronos]] from [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|Tartarus]]. Naturally, Arkantos needs to stop him, and to do that, he journeys from Atlantis, to Greece, through the Underworld, to Egypt, up to Scandanavia, then back to Atlantis.

The plot of the original game follows Arkantos, an Atlantean Admiral who battled monsters in his time but is getting old, and since no one's really attacking Atlantis, he doesn't have much to do. That is, until Atlantis is attacked by strange monsters and men in black ships, prompting Arkantos to go off to Troy and help Agamemnon finish the Trojan War to curry favor with Poseidon. After taking Troy and sailing to Greece for repairs, they stumble on a plot by Gargarensis, a cyclops demigod who is trying to help Poseidon release [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Kronos]] from [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|Tartarus]]. Naturally, Arkantos needs to stop him, and to do that, he journeys from Atlantis, to Greece, through the Underworld, to Egypt, up to Scandanavia, then back to Atlantis.

The Titans expansion, set 10 years after the original, adds one more civilization and only a third as many missions as the original game. It revolves around Arkantos' son Kastor being tricked into [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|weakening the gods]] by destroying their monuments so Kronos can escape Tartarus.

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* [[Age of Titles]]: Continues the trend from Age of Empires, obviously.

* [[A God Am I]]:

** The [[Big Bad]]'s motivation for releasing the [[Sealed Evil in A Can]] in the first game.

** The [[Big Bad]]'s motivation for releasing the [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] in the first game.

** Also {{spoiler|Arkantos}} at the end of the campaign.

* [[A Kind of One]]: Many unique creatures from mythology became standard unit types that you can train any number of.

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* [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]]: There is a [[Cap|Population Limit]], and Mythology added "each unit uses X people" - i.e. a villager counts as one, a soldier counts as two, but a Nemean Lion as 3. One of the few where villagers cost different from soldiers.

* [[Army of the Dead]]: The "Ancestors" god power, and the mechanic whereby the Hades-worshiping Greeks recieve free "shade" units (exempt from the [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]]) whenever they lose a normal soldier.

* [[Arrows On Fire]]: Burning Pitch upgrade for archers. Does bonus damage against buildings, but does nothing against units. Still looks awesome.

* [[Arrows on Fire]]: Burning Pitch upgrade for archers. Does bonus damage against buildings, but does nothing against units. Still looks awesome.

* [[Artistic License]]: They ''did'' do the research. They, however, decided to ignore the results of it where necessary.

* [[Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence]]: {{spoiler|Arkantos drowns after the sinking of Atlantis, but is raised to immortality by Athena as a reward for [[Save the World|saving the world]].}}

* [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]]: {{spoiler|Arkantos drowns after the sinking of Atlantis, but is raised to immortality by Athena as a reward for [[Save the World|saving the world]].}}

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Kastor was merely a minor character in ''Fall of the Trident'', in ''the Titans'' he becomes [[The Hero]].

* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: The Titan Units. The time and resources spent summoning one could easily go into fighting the enemy with normal units- but then again, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|its fun to watch your opponent squirm]].

* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: During a Campaign mission in which you [[~~The~~ Odyssey ~~(Literature)~~|visit the isle of Circe]], Arkantos and Ajax get turned into pigs. Thankfully, whilst [[Red Shirt|ordinary soldiers]] turn into ordinary piggies, heroes become boars, [[Badass|for some reason]].

* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: During a Campaign mission in which you [[Odyssey|visit the isle of Circe]], Arkantos and Ajax get turned into pigs. Thankfully, whilst [[Red Shirt|ordinary soldiers]] turn into ordinary piggies, heroes become boars, [[Badass|for some reason]].

* [[Big Bad]]: Gargarensis in the original, Kronos and his [[Shapeshifting|shape-shifting]] servant in the expansion.

* [[Big Badass Bird of Prey]]: The Rok is an aversion, as he simply act as a transport. There are also the Egyptian Phoenixes, which are on fire and the Atlantenean Stymphalian birds.

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** Right before {{spoiler|he gets [[Karmic Death|skewered by the collapsing Poseidon statue's trident]]}}.

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: The Greeks, Egyptians and Norse speak their respective languages.

* [[Bigger Is Better]]: The really big myth units such as Cyclops, Colossi, Mountain Giants, Scarabs, etc. destroy buildings in a jiffy. And of course, the really really huge Titan [[Attack of the ~~Fifty~~ Foot Whatever|can raze entire cities to the ground]] (unless, perhaps, you make him [[Death of a Thousand Cuts|face the endless waves of armies the]] [[Zerg Rush|enemy might send against him in the process]]).

* [[Bigger Is Better]]: The really big myth units such as Cyclops, Colossi, Mountain Giants, Scarabs, etc. destroy buildings in a jiffy. And of course, the really really huge Titan [[Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever|can raze entire cities to the ground]] (unless, perhaps, you make him [[Death of a Thousand Cuts|face the endless waves of armies the]] [[Zerg Rush|enemy might send against him in the process]]).

* [[Blob Monster]]: The Argo creatures from the sequel are clearly described as floating amoebas with tentacles and many eyes.[[One-Hit Kill|That can cry a stream of acidic tears as his special attack.]]

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Ajax's comments about pulling off his enemy's head border on this.

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** Two Egyptian myth units, Anubis' Anubites and Horus' Avengers, also dual-wield their weapons.

* [[Easy Logistics]]

* [[The End of the World As We Know It]]: What will happen if the heroes can't stop [[God of Evil|Kronos]] getting loose.

* [[The End of the World as We Know It]]: What will happen if the heroes can't stop [[God of Evil|Kronos]] getting loose.

* [[Enemy Exchange Program]]: The 'Traitor' god power can convert units.

* [[Egyptian Mythology]]

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** Hades actually helps the heroes a bit in the campaign.

** Also pretty much in line with the actual mythology, as Hades, while not exactly ''good'', was [[Dark Is Not Evil|generally a far nicer and more fair guy]] than most of his fellow gods, while Poseidon was, even among [[Jerkass Gods|total douchebags]], among the absolute worst.

* [[Everything's Worse ~~With~~ Bears]]: Besides the ones you hunt for food (use many villagers, at least one will get killed!), a cheat gives you a "Lazer Bear", which has monkeys and the Lazer Bear is described as making demands from world governments, and the only way to kill the Canadian Ultimate Bear is to spam it to death using cheap military units or use the Traitor god power. Titans will be obliterated slowly without the slow regeneration of Hecate versus the hyperspeed regeneration of Lazer Bear, Prometheous, Gaea and anything healing or repair post-hyperspeed building cheat.

* [[Everything's Worse with Bears]]: Besides the ones you hunt for food (use many villagers, at least one will get killed!), a cheat gives you a "Lazer Bear", which has monkeys and the Lazer Bear is described as making demands from world governments, and the only way to kill the Canadian Ultimate Bear is to spam it to death using cheap military units or use the Traitor god power. Titans will be obliterated slowly without the slow regeneration of Hecate versus the hyperspeed regeneration of Lazer Bear, Prometheous, Gaea and anything healing or repair post-hyperspeed building cheat.

* [[Everything's Squishier ~~With~~ Cephalopods]]: The Kraken. Therefore, the sound anything with a large amount of crushing damage over piercing or slash damage on anything that isn't explicitly non-fleshy with a high crush resistance. You hear the squishing.

* [[Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods]]: The Kraken. Therefore, the sound anything with a large amount of crushing damage over piercing or slash damage on anything that isn't explicitly non-fleshy with a high crush resistance. You hear the squishing.

* [[Expy]]: Many of the myth units look like they were modeled after Harryhausen's miniatures. The Colossus and the cyclops are good examples.

* [[Face Palm]]: Arkantos indulges occasionally, usually during [[Dumb Muscle|Ajax's]] more spectacular [[Comically Missing the Point]] moments.

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** If you play with the Major Greek God Zeus you start out with half of your max favor already waiting, which is the max you can get for the other gods.

** There are also upgrades you can purchase to gain Favor faster.

** This shows up in the story of the expansion, as well. At one point, our plucky hero causes {{spoiler|Mount Olympus to collapse}} without even trying (too hard) because there's not enough belief floating around. {{spoiler|It's also why the [[Sealed Evil in A Can|seal on the Titans' prisons]] is weakening.}}

** This shows up in the story of the expansion, as well. At one point, our plucky hero causes {{spoiler|Mount Olympus to collapse}} without even trying (too hard) because there's not enough belief floating around. {{spoiler|It's also why the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|seal on the Titans' prisons]] is weakening.}}

* [[God of Evil]]:

** Kronos, and the rest of the Titans {{spoiler|apart from Gaia}}.

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* [[Near-Victory Fanfare]]: When you finally get your army and your myth units and your siege engines together for one last huge battle against the enemy base, the music changes to a truly epic orchestral piece. This also plays briefly when you unleash a particularly devastating God Power (like Horus' Tornado or Artemis' Earthquake)

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Plot of the Titans expansion.

* [[Nightmare Fuel]]: [[In Universe]]: The Spider Lair power. The poor victims scream in terror as a human-sized spider drag them underground.

* [[Nightmare Fuel]]: [[In-Universe]]: The Spider Lair power. The poor victims scream in terror as a human-sized spider drag them underground.

* [[Nintendo Hard]]: The Titan difficulty on Random Maps, with the AI set to Attacker. The AI opponents are brutally efficient, and will have easily both outclassed and outnumbered players who were used to the (comparatively) leisurely pace of Campaign maps. If you haven't got a working, fully stocked army by the 15 minute mark, you may as well throw in the towel, as the odds are high that your foe's legions are already en route.

* [[Non Standard Character Design]]: All of the Titans in the expansion pack look like humans (Barring Oceanus who is a [[Fish People|Fishman]], but look at the name) except Kronus who looks like a giant rock demon.

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* [[Party Scattering]]: The team of heroes is scattered by an avalanche caused by Kronos and must regroup before they can build a settlement.

* [[Physical God|Physical Gods]]:

** Athena, Osiris, Zeus, Gaia, Thor and the other Olympian/Egyptian/Norse gods. {{spoiler|Arkantos becomes one after his [[Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence|ascent to godhood]].}}

** Athena, Osiris, Zeus, Gaia, Thor and the other Olympian/Egyptian/Norse gods. {{spoiler|Arkantos becomes one after his [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|ascent to godhood]].}}

** Manifesting physically, only Osiris in the campaign, Gaia and Kronos in the Xpack, and {{spoiler|Arkantos.}}

* [[Physical Heaven]]: The [[Greek Mythology|Greek version,]] of course. {{spoiler|And Arkantos's son wastes no time in wrecking it either.}}

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* [[Public Domain Artifact]]: The Relics system is taken from Age of Empires, but in this case each relic is a unique object that gives you a different benefit. They range from "the Nose of the Sphinx" and "Trojan Gate Hinge" to the more whimsical "Boots of Kick Everything".

* [[Purple Is the New Black]]: In the cinematics, the "evil smokes" are usually purple and black; Kronos has purple-black smoke oozing from his body, his shapeshifting servant arrives with a purple-black smoke, and transforms from Krios to his demonic self in a puff of purple and black energies.

* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: The [[Big Bad]] does this, in order to [[Sealed Evil in A Can|free]] [[God of Evil|Kronos]]. It's up to the heroes to stop him. Also, when {{spoiler|Kastor goes to Mount Olympus and proceeds to destroy it with Atlantean armies and Myth Units from all cultures.}}

* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: The [[Big Bad]] does this, in order to [[Sealed Evil in a Can|free]] [[God of Evil|Kronos]]. It's up to the heroes to stop him. Also, when {{spoiler|Kastor goes to Mount Olympus and proceeds to destroy it with Atlantean armies and Myth Units from all cultures.}}

* [[Reinventing the Wheel]]: You have to keep redeveloping technologies. Who cares if you've already "researched" the Ax 20 times before, do it again in this level!

* [[Regional Riff]]: When you started a game you heard something vaguely appropriate to the nation you chose play.

* [[Sealed Evil in A Can]]: Kronos, and every Titan barring Gaia.

* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: Kronos, and every Titan barring Gaia.

* [[Shout-Out]]: When you play as the Egyptians, you might get a pharaoh named Bubbahotep.

* [[Shown Their Work]]: Everything, from the trees, to the cows, to the rocks, to the Cyclops have optional descriptions for you to read. You can even access the in-game encyclopedia from the main menu just for some information.

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* [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]]:

** Infantry > Cavalry > Archers > Infantry as well as Heroes > Beasts > Normals > Heroes. The explicitness of this various, with many baseline units beating their opponents due to statistical superiority against them (most cavalry will be outnumbered by melee infantry, while the melee infantry will tend a lot of damage from archers' piercing attacks), while dedicated counter units tend to have low stats and only beat their desired targets due to doing bonus damage against them.

** Titan > Everything. Technically, Titans count as normal myth units and do have a negative damage multiplier against heroes and siege weapons. It just does so much damage that multipliers matter little. Spamming heroes is the suggested way to defeat a Titan in a random map. When cheating, spam other titans or a single Lazer Bear (because [[Everything's Worse ~~With~~ Bears]],) and send in other units at you leisure. Flying units will cause an insane amount of damage over time due to the fact that other than a plot cutscene with Prometheus and a Roc, it is impossible for the majority of stronger units to attack them due to the fact they are flying, and can redirect the dumber of [[A Is]] into your gigantic trap fortification.

** Titan > Everything. Technically, Titans count as normal myth units and do have a negative damage multiplier against heroes and siege weapons. It just does so much damage that multipliers matter little. Spamming heroes is the suggested way to defeat a Titan in a random map. When cheating, spam other titans or a single Lazer Bear (because [[Everything's Worse with Bears]],) and send in other units at you leisure. Flying units will cause an insane amount of damage over time due to the fact that other than a plot cutscene with Prometheus and a Roc, it is impossible for the majority of stronger units to attack them due to the fact they are flying, and can redirect the dumber of [[A Is]] into your gigantic trap fortification.

** It's a bit more explicit in the board game; certain units get extra hit dice against other types of units according to their classification.

* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]: Build a Titan Gate, and get a beast that can destroy an entire civilization. [[Death of a Thousand Cuts|But not necessarily the army attached to it]].

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[[Category:Microsoft Studios (Creator)]]

[[Category:Sword and Sandal]]

[[Category:Real-Time Strategy~~]][[Category:Age of Empires (Video Game)~~]]

[[Category:Real-Time Strategy]]

[[Category:Age of Empires (Video Game)]]

[[Category:Age of Mythology]]

[[Category:Video Game]]