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What’s with all the Chinese negativity in the comments? Sure, most of these depictions are somewhat unconventional, and their descriptions contain inaccuracies. But this was the case in the original game too. Where were the Greeks complaining about the merger of Kronos with Chronos, and his appearance as a rock monster (seriously)? Where are Neo-Hellenists complaining about the evil portrayal of Poseidon? Where were the Egyptologists complaining about the use of Ra instead of Amun, Amun-Ra, Atum-Ra or Atum? Where were the Germanics complaining about the existance of both Frigg and Frejya, a medieval literary invention by Snorri Sturluson? Why… Read more »
I woudn’t call it egocentrism, it’s just very patriotic. Common thing in China, trust me on that one. I agree with your point of view though. Let’s just enjoy the game and hope for the best with this expansion pack!
I think the last bit is a little over top, but generally I agree. I think the big difference is that many of these gods are still revered to some degree (albeit, as a minority these days) in China. So while modern Egyptians are pretty separated from the ones presented in AoM (good luck finding a modern Isis worshipper in Egypt), it’s easier for Chinese people to see it as a representation of themselves (I expect that’s why there wouldn’t be an Indian civ based on Hinduism, much as I would like that). That would be my uneducated guess anyway.
I guess it was a little bit harsh, true. I could have gone with “misplaced patriotism” instead. And I understand that traditional religion is still a thing in China. But this is far from the first time I’ve encountered Chinese demanding a game to be changed, they always complain if something less-than-perfect about China appears. I don’t mind a little patriotism, and the West could perhaps use a bit more, but flaming a game and, I qoute, “require for amendment” and “[Huangdi’s] wretched appearance is an insult to global Chinese” just seems ridiculous and over-the-top. While I don’t mind people… Read more »
I don’t disagree there. Amongst my Chinese friends I’ve copped some pretty major tongue-lashings if I say anything disparaging about China, whereas as an Aussie we’re used to being the butt of everyone’s jokes (be it walking upside down, convicts, riding kangaroos, baby-eating dingoes or just Steve Irwin generally) while dishing them right back. The patriotism in China is pretty extreme. Personally, I think we could all do with less of that, but that’s another matter. Another thing to consider is that China has historically been a bit of a blackhole in our books, video games etc. They’ve built a… Read more »
I think patriotism is not a problem.Because…
If Zeus holding a golden apple in one hand and Trident, also recognize that it is Zeus?
Actually, except 1,the appearance of Huangdi, the other entry just are our suggestion, for reference only.
But the the appearance of Huangdi, it has touched the bottom line, until now we still called ourself the Descendants of YanHuang (Yandi and Huangdi). We do not know Egypt, Greece or the Nordic mythology, but I think they have no access to people’s life now. Finally, it is not patriotism, If you know the history of anti-Chinese in Western and the Yellow Peril I think you won’t say that.
First off all, I apoligize if I offended you.
Secondly, isn’t the Yellow Emperor according to Taoism the prognitor of just the Han, not all the Chinese? Or aren’t the Uyghurs, Tocharians, Tibetans, Inner Mongols, Manchus, Formosans, Hui muslims, etc. Chinese?
Lastly, I don’t think they interprented the gods this way from an Anti-Chinese worldview. Huangdi even looks like pretty much all of his depictions, it’s just the lightning that makes him look sinister. I don’t think they would have made this expansion if they hated the Chinese.
Huangdi have no relationship with Taoism, We think he is the tribal leaders in ancient age. Only a few people have Taoist beliefs. There are 56 ethnic groups in China, some of these have common legend with Han, like Miao, some Integration with Han, like Mongols, some emerging nation affected by Islam, like Uyghurs. The main ethnic of China, the most of Chinese, believe they are the descendants of Huangdi. And, this word “Chinese” have many meanings, here it means people who identity of Chinese culture,夷狄入中国，则中国之，中国入夷狄，则夷狄之。 Finally, I don’t think Huangdi looks like pretty much all of his depictions, Huangdi… Read more »
I am really looking forward to this expansion and I do like the art work for the most part, but there was something just off about Huangdi so even if he holds no place for others on a spiritual level, the portrait is still not that great anyway. So yes, I can see it being kind of Fu Manchu-y.
Sorry but I have to say it is really not the case of egocentrism, though I admit most of Chinese from Mainland China have a little bit too much of it. Huangdi is considered as the common ancestor of all Chinese even today (god maybe, but definitely a little bit religious), this is why our Chinese are so sensitive about how his image looks. Despite this, don’t you think the quality of all Chinese minor gods is much poorer compared with that of the main gods? At least I think they have the style that is far from those god… Read more »
I don’t like the Huang Di one, and Chang’e stands out as too cartoonish. The other 7 so far I think look good.
Maybe my expectations for this DLC was too high…Which should be considering how good the original AOM is.
It sucks that they mixed them up. But it’s just a game and there is no intent of any harm. In fact Chinese are well known to copy entire games and products from the western world, and we can’t do anything bout it law wise. (There is a copy of league of legends with shrek in it.) Kind of hypocrite.
Why was Hades chosen over an actual Olympian like Hestia or Demeter? Because he was an actual olympian, one of the three that was chosen to rule over one of the three worlds. Why are Bast and Sekhmet different deities? Because they are *gasp* different deities. Sekhmet was the goddess of lions and war. The gods needed her to stop slaughtering people, so they turned her into a peaceful cow called Hathor. That’s why they’re related. Bast was the goddess of cats. Why are the Atlanteans not greek? Well, for one, Atlantis doesn’t exist anymore, so how do we know… Read more »
Because they are *gasp* different deities.
Sometimes. If I got my mythology straight, Bast was the lower Egyptian version of Sekhmet, who was worshipped in Upper Egypt.
None of the gods have anything to do with anything, because it’s kinda hard to relate them to anything.
I know that, that’s why I think it is a preposterous critique. As for Artemis, the Ceryneian Hind would do I guess.
I mostly agree with you, however.
YES WE NEED A CERYNEIAN HIND
This place needs a suggestions forum. XD
I think the answers to most of those questions are pretty obvious. You answered your own question about why there are Chinese people complaining – it’s because a lot of this mythology is based on far more recent Chinese beliefs that some people still believe in. And many people do complain about the inaccuracy in the original game. It annoys me. The reason for it is mostly gameplay reasons and to make an interesting amalgam of concepts and beliefs from mythology rather than a historically accurate representation. So on one hand, Chinese people should understand that, but on the other… Read more »
Obviously I agree with you. I just wanted to point out that the original game holds many inaccuracies as well, and that is okay. After all, the Egyptians didn’t LITERALLY believe their gods had animal heads. Like many, my fascination with mythology was nurtured by this game, even if it was a bit inaccurate at times. I’m not defending the mistakes the devs have made, and I, too, would like to see some more results of their research on Chinese folklore, but I don’t think causing an uproar is really the way to go. It’s okay to point out flaws… Read more »
I am sensing a general tendency towards a “screw neo-Pagans” attitude in the comment section. Oh, so Chinese deities have to be held up in a pedestal (no pun intended) because some people still believe in them… but the same doesn’t apply to Greek/Norse/Egyptian gods even though there ARE people who believe in them. But, I guess the latter are used to being mocked and to their religion not being taken seriously, so what’s some more salt to that wound? /sarcasm
Because “neo-pagans” are crazy people. There are some people who believe the Earth is flat, but these are also crazy people and can rightfully be mocked. Belief in Chinese gods is also stupid, but it’s understandable because it’s cultural. European pagan religions died out a long time ago and then some people decided to bring them back, which is ludicrous. I get the feeling some of them believe ironically or just for the sake of being part of a weird sub-culture. Their beliefs will never be taken seriously.
I think every god has his proprietary image, if Zeus holding a golden apple in one hand and Trident, also recognize that it is Zeus in China? God’s appearance is similar to the problem, these gods with normal image stray too far.
Huangdi and Jade Emperor are totally two different gods-_-b
Huangdi is the very first emperor who defeat Shennong.
First and foremost, since the very moment I read you were going to produce a DLC content for Age of Mythology based on the ancient chinese civilization, I’ve been wainting and counting every second until the release day. Even thought there are good things herek, there are some things I cannot but wonder if there is any way to change for the best. The reason I loved so much the game in my youth were a few, actually, and I was hoping that those thing were going to be preserved. These are some things I loved about Age of Mythology:… Read more »
While I’m not a fan of the art style in the tarot cards, I agree on basically every other point.
I don’t think that the tarot cards are the best depictions available. For instance, the Emperor Arcana seems more like a Song Dynasty emperor than a Shang or Zhou king or a Qin Emperor; on the other hand, Chang’e or the Moon arcana seems too ethereal, while the classical AoM tended to show more realist gods. Also the usual depiction of the games depicted the gods from waist up and elbow wide with extra frame space, although this was not always the case. Neither the tarot cards nor the new lesser gods follow the
A problem: If Zeus holding a golden apple in one hand and Trident, also recognize that it is Zeus?
I am finding myself agreeing a lot with point 3, there is just so much interesting variety from China. Considering one of the final myth units will be a white tiger, another bland variation on “strong animal”, its not as interesting. I do like the Jiangshi but only if they hop and are not just shade reskins. The Terracotta and Pixiu are also fine but when you have dragons, serpents, fox spirits, yeti-like beasts and many many demons, strong animal doesn’t cut it compared to hydras, giants and phoenix. A dragon must be a unit and not campaign only. On… Read more »
The huge difference in style and quality between the major and minor god portraits is quite jarring. It seems as though the minor god portraits were done in less than a half-hour. The other thing that irks me is that many of the god portraits look too different from the impression that most Chinese have i.e. I would expect Fuxi to be in more primitive/simple clothing than in military garb, and Ao Kuang just looks fugly imo. Will try to post a couple of quick renditions to illustrate my point.
This is what I mean by giving the god portraits the right ‘look’:
sure, these aren’t very creative renditions of the original source material,
but they sure look more “chinese” than the god portraits that are being shown imo
Also my ref pics
I’m curious if more Gods will appear but as apart of the campaign. Also there are so many variations of dragon to. Unique units were an interesting twist in the original campaigns.
I think that’s likely. Many of what would be considered Chinese gods are actual mortals who are said to have ascended. So having them in human form would fit fine (whereas having Zeus wandering wouldn’t). Those ones could fit just as well as campaign heroes.
I wonder if Guan Yu will be revealed, I get the feeling he should be.
I find that doubtful. The only slots left are Mythic Age gods, a.k.a. the upper echelons. Guan Yu is great and all, but I don’t think he’s really the type who’d be alongside Ao Kuang, a DRAGON KING, as the final god in your faction’s pantheon. That and Guan Yu is… something of a late-bloomer as far as these other deities go – as in, 200+ AD before he died, and it was some time before that he ascended to godhood. At least Sun Wukong, although hailing from a story from the 1500s, at least SOUNDS like a being that… Read more »
Someone on steam already listed all the gods (the pages exist and just don’t have any writing on them. Guan Yu isn’t amongst them. I won’t ruin the reveal, but you can google TOD spoilers if you’re curious.
Excuse me. But this game expansion pack have a lot of mistakes and problem about the myth itself but some of these i might be overthinking 1.Huangdi is not jade emperor or yu huang in your description for huangdi this seem to be very small mistake but it’s a huge mistake for someone who know the myth and the one who know the myth he might be unhapply about this cause this thing seem wrong 2.actually sun wukung[monkey king] is not the god i understand the hardwork for making him but sorry he’s not the god he might seem to… Read more »
Thanks team for this awesome edition !!
Just a suggestion : If possible in future. could you please make or add, Indian Gods too and their mythology stories as well …. If possible you could try in making entire Mahabharat !! .. it would be an epic 🙂
Also in AOE you could add the scenarios of Mongols invaders in India and Rajput clan the defenders. Many heroic battles and sacrifices happened at that time in India and I am sure it will great edition of AOE 🙂 Many Thanks team
I would really like that too (that was right behind China for my ideal civ), but I think it would be a bad idea to actually do. Not because it wouldn’t be a fascinating, vibrant civ, but because it’s still a popular religion. You may have noticed from looking around the world, but people get awfully sensitive about their religious beliefs, so if anything was done at all wrongly, it would alienate a lot of people. To an extent, you’re seeing that on these boards for the Chinese gods, but those are not followed as ubiquitously these days as the… Read more »
I recall the initial announcement of Smite having that problem.
if i may quote Corey Taylor about how i feel about this “Oh my fucking God I LOVE YOU LONDON!!!”
I think people should know that the reason why Chinese are complaining about Huangdi’s image is not because the plot is inaccurate. Strictly speaking none of these gods are correct. Maybe one can use inaccuracy to interpret the difference between the image above and the real image for other gods, but not for Huangdi. In fact the image provided for Huangdi here shows a strong similarity to the Chinese image in yellow peril theory. Whether the group do it intentionally or unintentionally does not make a difference. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Peril Not like other gods, Huangdi is more like a Chinese ancestor in… Read more »
Where are the mythic gods come ooon 🙂
No doubt they took the Sunday off and many people so I should expect some more info today.