Age of Mythology

Age of Mythology (shorthand AoM, codename RTS III, also known as The Beautiful Game) is the iconic 2002 computer game which started this whole FPH business. Whether it was the Best Game Ever Made By ES is open to debate; it is, however, generally agreed to be the last great ES title.
Age of Mythology is a spin-off of the Age of Empires series, and the first non-AoE game made by ES. It was also the first ES game made in three dee.
==History==
Age of Mythology has been in development since like late 90s I guess. First screenshot appeared in March 2002http://aok.heavengames.com/news-archives/2001/03/#newsitem985840630,75887,, shocking the fanbase with its non-AoEness.
The 18 months between the first screenshot's appearance and the game's release are known as the pre-release era, which was the best era. Such a long waiting time meant that fans had lots to speculate about, and also get bored and come up with stupid shit like FPH.
Then the game was released in Autumn 2002, beginning the ESO is terrible era. The expansion pack, The Titans, was released in 2003, but it was terrible.
==Gameplay==
Jesus you know this, h-v-v-v-v-v and rush
==Civilizations==
The three cultures in AoM differ substantially, unlike those in AoE and AoK, why am I writing this nobody who reads this will possibly not know everything about AoM already. Look just consult the table okay
Civs 	Greek	Eggie	Norse \m/
Major Gods	
*Zeus
*Possy
*Hades	
*Ra
*Isis (fuck off)
*Set	
*Odin
*TOR
*Loki
Norse were the best and literally everyone, at all times ever, played Norse.
==Graphics==
AoM was the first 3d game by ES, and its graphics were completely tits for its time period. Especially stunning were the water with like corals underneath, and meteor showers. Consequently every screenshot was about meteor showers hitting water.
Too bad units are kind of boxy and if they don't have weapons upgrades it's hard to tell them apart. Also, pre-release graphics were notably better than those in actual game for some reason but whatever
==Sound==
Sound in AoM is frankly sort of shit. Yo check out the sounds made by AoE's stone thrower, AoK's onager and AoM's catapult. The fuck is this "ka-shonk" bullshit
Also battles sound like ping pong balls went to war with card houses, I've had Lego battles that sounded more convincing back in the day. Also minotaurs were quite clearly a dude in a recording studio who lost a bet. I think the only AoM sound I liked was Battle Boars oinking and Sons of Osirii being creepy
==Campaign==
AoM's campaign is amazing. There's a dude named Arkantos and there's another dude named Gargarensis and they both appear to have unlimited resources and they chase each other around Europe and Africa in an awkwardly historically impossible ancient era and it owns.
The campaign has a Greek stage, an Egyptian stage and a Norse stage, with some side missions here and there that make sense or not. You get turned into boss pigs at one point.
==Multiplayer==
AoM is played on ESO which is awful. However, it's still better than whatever AoK was using, which still makes AoM multiplayable today. Note that Lightning is the only correct room and everyone hanging out elsewhere is lame.
Regular random maps and death matches are still there, although ES killed regicide. Tinkering with handicaps gives you UBL, gods' own gameplay mode.
ESO uses Elo ranking system, where 1600 means you just began playing and are about to get murdered. In the first year of the game's release, you had to be 1700s to be considered decent, 1800s for street cred, 1900s for pro and 2000s for creepy. Germ was the only FPHer to reach 1900s. Nowadays you probably need creepy skills to be like 1650
==Scenario design==
Designing scenarios for AoM will make you want to claw your face off and feed it to stray dogs. The tininess of units and a strange colour palette make making something pretty a total bitch. However, the editor now has an undo button and allows you to move units any old where, so I guess this balances out.
The scenario design community had high hopes for AoM, but then ES were like "haha fuck you we're not including triggers for stats change and name change" so everyone went back to AoK.
==AoM and FPH==
AoM is a critically important game for FPH considering that, well, it originated as an AoM clan. Flying Purple Hippos appear in AoM as a tribute to all the people whining on all the fan forums pre-release.
After the game's release, Flying Purple Hippos went on to be a functional clan for a while, and even as years go by the Templars enjoy an AoM party now and then. Flying Purple Cup is an annual AoM tournament held FOR GLORY.
==References==
Category:ES Games
Category:AoM
Category:Age games