Koreans: Through the Ages (2000 vs 2023)

Part eleven of a mini-series looking back at the changes made to the original civilizations in Age of Empires 2. This time the focus is on the inclusion and evolution of the Koreans.

0:42 How Koreans were included in the Conqueror's expansion
3:05 Original Korean bonuses/techs
4:42 Korean busted Siege Onagers
6:20 The Forgotten Expansion
7:31 African Kingdoms
8:00 Rise of the Rajas
9:15 Definition Edition
11:40 Koreans in August 2023 stats

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Game: Age of Empires II Definitive Edition

[thenayancat]

Korean towers were really insane at their peak. Faster stone mining, faster building. You could commit fewer vills and still beat your opponent in a tower war.

[Binarokaro]

Considering how they're suddenly rushed into the game by Microsoft to begin with, it isn't really a surprise that their design would be all over the place at first. Honestly though, while I think the archer angle has been nice, I feel like it would have been better if they redesigned Korean to have siege as their central identity again. They were just so unique back in the days

[lexwayfarer]

much to the surprise of microsoft management, making an expansion about romans didnt increase the game's sales among ancient romans

[lasseortmann]

The weird thing about koreans beein a tower civ is that koreans didnt build towers. When I was in Seoul in the national Museum it was explicitly stated that they did not build towers into their fortifications

[arnavnandan]

Koreans were my Uncle's favorite civilization. Feels so good after watching this video

[Morrneyo]

As a Korean, it was honestly funny, rather than disappointed, in that Korea described in AOE2 was a mess. The way people talk is more awkward than a child who just spoke. Also, as far as I know, Korea did not use weapons such as horse-drawn War wagon. Perhaps the developers wanted to feature Singijeon or Hwacha? (They resemble modern rocket launchers) The War Wagons, which were actually used during the Joseon Dynasty, were rather a improvised barriers like the Hussite Wagon.

[CrnaStrela]

I think their success in nomad is due to villagers LoS, with the extra LoS they can just pick the best spot to start without being caught off guard like placing the TC next to enemy or docking a pond instead of open water.

[_antares]

To me, the biggest buff to korean civ was improving turtle ship's appearance in v1.0c patch. It became more historically accurate, and looked cooler than before.

[BelialTnTn]

Back in the day, when their Onagers were absolutely brutal with their 12 range, Koreans used to be my favourite civ.
Here in Tunisia we were all noobs playing LAN games and whatnot on pirated copies. My strategy was always Tower Rush in Feudal, take an enemy's base, then go to late Imperial and mass Onagers and Halberdiers and destroy everything. Or sometimes just fast Castle ("fast" was like 20 minutes at the time).
I stopped playing for like 20 years? I got back with Definitive Edition last year and immediately started playing Koreans, only to discover their Onagers were no longer able to destroy everything, including Castles, without any difficulty like in the old times. I also tried Tower Rushing, at least in the way I used to 20 years ago, but it also didn't work at all.
Those were good times, hearing my LAN opponents cry and scream and insult me whenever I showed up with Towers or those Onagers of Mass Destruction.

[willemverheij]

Good video but it is a little odd to not show the original design of the Turtle Ships considering it is I think the only unit they changed the appearance of after release of the original game.

[samrodrigues]

Interesting point on the rushed delivery of Koreans - I believe that this might be the reason that the Galleon and Heavy Scorpion lost their unique torpedo noise from AoK to AoC.

Before AoC, Galleons weren't mute and had their own unique projectile sound. Heavy Scorpions also had this unique projectile sound. Years ago in the HD Edition, after messing around with thee Genie Editor, I re-added the OG torpedo Galleon sound, and was really surprised to have found that it had also applied to the War Wagon's torpedos!

I think that we might have just identified the origin of this bug - not that it matters now, with the Definitive Edition having new sound effects, but it would be nice if the Classic Sound Pack would remedy this, and re-add the classic AoK torpedo sound for Heavy Scorpions and Galleons, as well as giving it to the War Wagon.

[Geffalrus]

God I loved playing Korea against the AI back in 2000. I'd just use the formation button to put a bunch of onagers within a square of war wagons and methodically murder the entire map. Just a constant shower of glowing red balls. So fun.

[SIGNOR-G]

Maybe the HWACHA Could be added as special upgrade for the mangonel. At least you could put the bonuses on that unit and add something else to add to the civ instead.

[inductivegrunt]

23 years, so many changes, and still only has a single historical battle and no campaign. But at least it was a historical battle that plays to the current Korean's strength of defense and naval. So they at least have some good even if they're not the best in any category they fill.

[xander]

Microsoft meddling being behind the decision to add Koreans is a shame, but it sucks that a lot of the community has taken that to mean it was a mistake to add them. Korea for AoK's period was as populous as the largest European kingdoms and more centralized than nearly any of them; if anything, they were more internationally relevant than Japan until basically the end of the period. Khmer woulda been more thematic for sure, but Koreans aren't at all a terrible pick.

More lead time would have been cool though if it meant they could have gotten a bit more research, "war wagon" was a bit of a strange pick for the civ. Gameplay-wise the insane onagers were a blast though, I would also love to see them reverse the team bonus change.

[Erikkert]

The quality of your content is outstanding. Love watching some of your analysis.

[tnc]

Interesting they were added in at the last minute because there was a Korean civ (Choson) in AOE1.

[Terry_T_ODST]

Honestly, I don't mind the archer theme the Koreans have goings, considering how defensively oriented they were during most of their history, but I think they can push their design a bit further to make them more unique. I would replace the scorpion with the Hwacha on their siege workshop. It could be a long range siege weapon that can be garrisoned on defensive structures to increase their attack significantly, given their main role during the japanese invasion of Korea. They would be really slow and hard to micro in return, with no real bonus damage aside the standard siege damage against buildings

[hansoskar]

the extra LOs ont he villagers matters a lot on nomad. both Trush and Castle Drop ->UU are viable on Nomad and Koreans do both really well.

[serenedreemurr]

12-range Siege Onagers were my favorites back in my childhood.