I'd actually be completely fine with the original graphics, so long as they scaled to my larger screen correctly. I enjoy having older games that run on some of the older hardware that I have around (or newer, but far cheaper), but they do tend to have only a short list of supported modes, rather than querying the hardware for capabilities.
I'm also totally fine with the graphics. It was never the graphics that did it, but a nice tech tree and good gameplay. So far, I can't really see anything in their comparison video that makes me want to play it.
AoE2 (non-HD) with Voobly actually works really well. What MS could do is just take a look at that, and make an update based on that. AoE2 HD works too, but unless you are running beta 5.5, it's less playable than AoE 2 non-HD.
I suppose most remake-teams aren't that interested in the people that are currently playing or targeting people that might want good gameplay and integration with mods and platforms of choice (i.e. good Wine support and maybe a macOS build?). This is also why AoE3 pretty much failed: it didn't help with the fancy graphics and while pathfinding and engine errors were better, the gameplay was pretty much half as good as the older editions...
I bought AoE and AoE2 boxed for PC and Mac, it was great back then, and still is. If they could just fix the engine, update unit selection and pathfinding, get good resolution/monitor support and revise their networking code, I'd pay for that. I don't want 3D models or 4D or 5D or UHD or VR, the 2D-ish sprites are fine.
You should checkout the HD edition that is on Steam. It is exactly like the original but with higher resolution and multi monitor support. It was exactly what I wanted.
Edit: I thought this was AOEII, after looking at the site more I realized this is AOE.
I haven't played AoE in over a decade, but looking at the original graphics in the article, it looks exactly like I remember. Nostalgia often is not kind to games we used to love (haven't played Goldeneye/Perfect Dark in a while? Don't bother), but AoE, even looking like a 1997 game, still looks just fine.
Maybe it's because so many F2P mobile games copied their art style directly so it looks like it could be a mobile RTS from 2015 that's kept that art style so relevant.
Yeah, Goldeneye/Perfect Dark are pretty bad (though being a PlayStation kid, my primary experience was TimeSplitters, but they're all practically the same game), but that's more for the controls than the graphics. We kind of take FPS controls for granted these days (and when modern games like PUBG make crouch C instead of the Most Natural and Just CTRL, there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth), but it was far from a solved problem 20 years ago.
But the RTS genre has literally not changed at all since AoE. The big question in my mind is: is AoE a universal truth, or are RTS developers lazy?
Have you tried SC2?
It requires some getting into, but the dynamics of the game and the relationships between different races and the tech tree is very well thought out (a well timed upgrade allows you to kill a given unit in 2 shots instead of 3, changing the balance dramatically).
In many ways, as an AoE1&2 fan, I find SC2 a good continuation of some of the best aspects of the RTS genre that requires both a tactical and strategic mind.
No, don't scale the sprites. Fit more sprites on the screen. What the hell is the point of having these high res screens if we can't fit more shit on them?
As someone who has played it both ways (with and without scaled sprites) I can tell you that on a high dpi screen it is impossible to play. With the sprites scaled it is just ugly to play :-)
