Thanks a lot for checking out the video - it truly means a lot. The series is important to me and I'm very excited to see what's in store - I'll be definitely being doing a follow up for it. Keep up the hard work :)
Firefly, just go back to the classics. Look at all the indie devs, they don't have fancy graphics or physics, they have charming games with great gameplay. Please , this is the greatest time for you to shine once again. Sincerly An old stronghold fan since the first stronghold Also, wtf was the ending in stronghold 3 ???
Also ,I may have some suggestions for an interesting mechanic in your games. You could give the troops promotions or exp levels for taking on and defeating enemy forces, possible scavenging ablties to go through ended battlefields for better gear for singular soldiers or knights/swordsmen like marauders , maybe even a ransom system for the player and enemy to give back knights in exchange for gold (like the ye old medieval times ). There are many historical examples that you could follow as long as they are interesting and gravitating towards the gameplay rather then being a chore to do (most games fail to know their own charm). you could utilize the era for interesting , story driven characters who are relevant to the era and location and most importantly to the story (i know that there were the lords who toke that stage, but some main/side characters whom aren't lords in particular and would change through out the story may prove interesting).
I think Stronghold is the best example of a game that was ruined by making the graphics better. It literally looked perfect in Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader. We need that style of graphics to remain, just bring it up in resolution a bit and that's it. It has to look sort of "cartoonish" to feel like Stronghold. On top of that, the game had great soundtrack, which in combination with this graphics style created a really good atmosphere that really no other game of this type managed to after, and this is not just nostalgia speaking. I played this game NOW in 2019, almost 20 years after playing it for the first time, and it STILL feels as good as it did back then. Gameplay depth is just great in it and very satisfying when you accomplish something.
I completely agree. The 3D graphics just... didn't have the same charm as SH1 and SHC. I'm hoping Firefly understands this and takes lessons for the next Stronghold game!
One of my most vivid memories gaming when I was a child was loading Stronghold on Christmas Day and being greeted with “Merry Christmas my Leige” - love stuff like that!
Actually played this for the first time this year and its so good! I love the atmosphere and the million small touches they put in that they totally didnt need to but did anyway, like the greetings by name and stuff. Also it has a lot of humor but its well done and pretty charming. My favorite thing is the menu guy that tells you about how things are going in your kingdom. "The people love you, sire!"
Man, Impossible Creatures, Rise of Nations and Stronghold are basically my childhood alongside with titles like Age of Empires 2, Age of Mythology, C&C: Generals, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes and I will gladly look forward to those if you will cover them. Thanks for all the nostalgia and keep up the good work.
I recently found your channel, You make very well made videos and I enjoy your content alot, you deserve so many more subscribers. Keep up the good work :)
I remember resorting to making a wood-laden entrance with pitch as a trap for the attacking knights to burn them all because I didn't have enough troops to defend the castle. Those screams were a bit too harrowing though.
There should be a mod bringing this classic up to date! Would love to see a decentralized storage with pillaging mechanics, paying wages to the troops, formations, trade between players and so on! Also, improved AI and randomized maps!
But the king in the Stronghold story isn't dead. He is held ransom in a foreign land and you have to collect gold to pay of the ransom at one point in the story.
I got this and Age of empires 2 expansion and the same time. I played the hell out of both, but Stronghold I always found was special in its own way. Great video!!
Stronghold 1 is the only game that the soundtrack always hits me hard with nostalgia (with the exception of some Runescape and Nintendo 64 games, like Donkey Kong 64 soundtracks)
I have recommended this channel to the "Silver Haired Gamers Association". Please send me my copy of the new Stronghold. Stronghold Legends is still my favorite. I can tell from the tone of your voice YOU like this game. Fantastic work ZANE.
Quick question here. You said that Stronghold Crusader was an excellent game, which I completely agree with. Though, would you say that it was an improvement over the original, overall? From what I've gathered, there are mixed opinions on if Crusader was better or not.
Great question! It's difficult, I'd say yes and no. If you want to play solo, I'd recommend the original Stronghold because of it's campaign, but the lack of skirmish mode is really, really annoying. Imo Crusader is better for multiplayer and co-op because of the added mercenary units and the pretty diverse computer opponents. But in saying that, I'm not a huge fan of the mercenary units, because it means you can raise huge armies easier and faster just with gold. But being able to do that also makes games less tedious. More action and less resource gathering. I also kinda find Crusader's lack of grass and huge sand dunes kind of annoying :P If you want Crusader multiplayer with original maps, there's a great mod for Crusader called Stronghold Europe that makes it more like the original. Tldr: Best story mode and imo overall solo gameplay - Stronghold / Best skirmish and multiplayer - Stronghold Crusader
Stronghold Crusader HD (and use gameranger for MP) :) If you're not a fan of the desert setting, there's a mod called Stronghold Europe that makes the game grassy like Stronghold HD
The only Stronghold game I played was on DOS in the 1990s. It was my first RTS game (does Herzog Zwei count?) And I remember being addicted to it. I thought it was that game when I clicked the video.
stronghold 3 was a load of dogs??t. that wh?r? itself for stronghold kingdom which was an online wh?r?. the best of the stronghold lies somewhere close to stronghold 2 with _few_ ideas from stronghold legends(to me at least).
@@Zade_95 stronghold next... what in the shit naming sense is that? that's awful naming. well thx for informing me about that, I didn't know. (edit) so i searched a bit about it and the *NEXT* is just a placeholder apparently.
@@pierre-andrelecomte9384 Haha yeah it's a placeholder! I agree it would be terrible otherwise. Apparently we'll be hearing more about it as we get into 2019. Hopefully its more Stronghold 1 and less Stronghold 3.....
Just one little note about the story, the king was not killed. He was on campaign when the conspirators rebelled and took over Britain. They never call it Britain, but if you turn the map it's unambiguously England, Scotland and Wales. I also really hate how you blanketly claim sprites are "dated," implying they don't look good, which is painfully untrue. Stronghold still looks really good today because of it's high quality sprite art and animations which are optimized for the god's-eye isometric perspective
Yep, you're right! Definitely an oversight on my part. I didn't mean to imply they don't look good - Stronghold is one of the best aged RTS's from the time! My apologies if it came across that way :)
@@Zade_95 Should have given it a chance, in that case. Thanks for your videos, you played all the games I did in the 2000s. Nice to see the nostalgia. Keep up the great work!
@@Zade_95 it's a great quirky space station sim, where you manage multiple levels of the station (Engineering, Leisure, Bio). Each level have their particularities. There's multiple aliens with each there own jobs. Also you have to gain control of the station from other AI, through multiple means, but I only remember war. I remember getting the game in a cereal box back in the days and having so much hours of fun out of this game.
Hey man. I don't suppose you would mind sharing a little wisdom? We both started doing youtube videos at exactly the same day (May 14, 2018). I only have 80 subscribers while you have more than 1,000. How do you do it? Do you have any secret formula you could share with me?
Hey! I had a quick look at your channel, I I think your chosen category is a lot harder to break into. If you think how many people would be looking to say 'Skyrim Let's Plays', it's probably not that many, and the amount of people who have done a LP of Skyrim is probably quite high! In saying that, I don't think you should make content on what's going to get the most clicks, and you should play what you want to play. Have you considering live streaming the LP's on twitch, then cutting them for TH-cam? TH-cam viewers probably wouldn't mind having VODs from Twitch, and the ratio of people looking to watch Skyrim LP live vs the amount of people playing Skyrim live is probably a lot better. Just my 2c, hope everything goes well for you mate!
@@Zade_95I also do in-depth story analysis videos: th-cam.com/play/PLpL3n7W6QqgDomKSQ62WbqAVr7U0wpel2.html I do them once a week, just like you. So shouldn't Why aren't those taking off the same as yours?
A fair analysis and critique! Hopefully we can recapture the magic with Stronghold Next :)
Thanks a lot for checking out the video - it truly means a lot. The series is important to me and I'm very excited to see what's in store - I'll be definitely being doing a follow up for it. Keep up the hard work :)
Hopefully. The bigest problems are the toy like graphics especially on buildings and units. Bring back the job site video clips
Firefly, just go back to the classics.
Look at all the indie devs, they don't have fancy graphics or physics, they have charming games with great gameplay.
Please , this is the greatest time for you to shine once again.
Sincerly
An old stronghold fan since the first stronghold
Also, wtf was the ending in stronghold 3 ???
Also ,I may have some suggestions for an interesting mechanic in your games.
You could give the troops promotions or exp levels for taking on and defeating enemy forces, possible scavenging ablties to go through ended battlefields for better gear for singular soldiers or knights/swordsmen like marauders , maybe even a ransom system for the player and enemy to give back knights in exchange for gold (like the ye old medieval times ).
There are many historical examples that you could follow as long as they are interesting and gravitating towards the gameplay rather then being a chore to do (most games fail to know their own charm). you could utilize the era for interesting , story driven characters who are relevant to the era and location and most importantly to the story (i know that there were the lords who toke that stage, but some main/side characters whom aren't lords in particular and would change through out the story may prove interesting).
Finally a youtuber that reviews classic rts games from my youth.
Thanks for watching!
"The people......WORSHIP you sire!" 😄
I think Stronghold is the best example of a game that was ruined by making the graphics better. It literally looked perfect in Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader. We need that style of graphics to remain, just bring it up in resolution a bit and that's it. It has to look sort of "cartoonish" to feel like Stronghold. On top of that, the game had great soundtrack, which in combination with this graphics style created a really good atmosphere that really no other game of this type managed to after, and this is not just nostalgia speaking. I played this game NOW in 2019, almost 20 years after playing it for the first time, and it STILL feels as good as it did back then. Gameplay depth is just great in it and very satisfying when you accomplish something.
I completely agree. The 3D graphics just... didn't have the same charm as SH1 and SHC. I'm hoping Firefly understands this and takes lessons for the next Stronghold game!
One of my most vivid memories gaming when I was a child was loading Stronghold on Christmas Day and being greeted with “Merry Christmas my Leige” - love stuff like that!
god so based
Actually played this for the first time this year and its so good! I love the atmosphere and the million small touches they put in that they totally didnt need to but did anyway, like the greetings by name and stuff. Also it has a lot of humor but its well done and pretty charming. My favorite thing is the menu guy that tells you about how things are going in your kingdom. "The people love you, sire!"
Fantastic game. Lots of memories playing this game, and love the music! I couldn’t get into the other release!
God, I miss this game so much!!
Loved the fact that it even showed "Dying" when woodcutters were dying
Just if you were curious, and the piles of blood weren't apparent enough!
Man, Impossible Creatures, Rise of Nations and Stronghold are basically my childhood alongside with titles like Age of Empires 2, Age of Mythology, C&C: Generals, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes and I will gladly look forward to those if you will cover them. Thanks for all the nostalgia and keep up the good work.
Thanks, appreciate you watching! Well looking at that list, I can say you'll like the next video out next weekend!
Thank you for this video!! Looking forward for more!!
My pleasure! Thank you for watching!
greatest soundtrack and sounddesign of a RTS ever!
wood needed
woo woo woo woo wood needed
mooore wood needed
Mooooore wood is needed
Awww...my boots leak!
I recently found your channel, You make very well made videos and I enjoy your content alot, you deserve so many more subscribers. Keep up the good work :)
Thanks, that means a lot! I'm glad you like it, I'm doing my best to make each video better than the last. Appreciate the kind words :)
I remember resorting to making a wood-laden entrance with pitch as a trap for the attacking knights to burn them all because I didn't have enough troops to defend the castle. Those screams were a bit too harrowing though.
There should be a mod bringing this classic up to date! Would love to see a decentralized storage with pillaging mechanics, paying wages to the troops, formations, trade between players and so on! Also, improved AI and randomized maps!
That would be fantastic :D
But the king in the Stronghold story isn't dead. He is held ransom in a foreign land and you have to collect gold to pay of the ransom at one point in the story.
Ah - yep you're absolutely right. Obviously getting my wires crossed a bit there. Thanks for pointing that out - my bad!
All good. I was just nitpicking. Still, great video.
@@AJKiesel Appreciate it :)
This channel is insanely underrated. It's only a matter of time before you blow up man.
Thank you man! I appreciate it
Glad I found your channel! Your videos are great. Stronghold is a beloved memory from my childhood too. Thanks for posting 👍
Thanks! Appreciate the kinds words :)
I saw your post on reddit. I will definitely be sticking around!
I got this and Age of empires 2 expansion and the same time. I played the hell out of both, but Stronghold I always found was special in its own way. Great video!!
Great memories I'm sure! Appreciate it :)
I still play stronghold, perfect for at work!
Your videos are really good, you deserve more views.
Thanks - appreciate it!
I'd like to see you review Stronghold 2, as I think it's up there on the same plateau as Stronghold 1 and Crusader.
Mmm yes it's on the list!
Stronghold 1 is the only game that the soundtrack always hits me hard with nostalgia (with the exception of some Runescape and Nintendo 64 games, like Donkey Kong 64 soundtracks)
What's the V above bakers head supposed to be? 5:45 some reference?
Oh sorry they're arrows! Just to point them out :)
@13:26
LOADING!!!
SAVING!!!
I played only crusader and I was never big on Castle building.
A lot of towers, balista swarm and walls to lead enemies to kill fields.
Ballista swarm :D Crusader is great for getting into combat quick and easy!
I have recommended this channel to the "Silver Haired Gamers Association". Please send me my copy of the new Stronghold. Stronghold Legends is still my favorite. I can tell from the tone of your voice YOU like this game. Fantastic work ZANE.
Thanks mate!
I didn't know about this game, I will try it 😎 love your channel
Awesome - enjoy! Appreciate the kind words :)
@@Zade_95 actually I bought it :) is nice . Also bought another old game, Worms ultimate Mayhem. Should do a video on that ;)
Quick question here.
You said that Stronghold Crusader was an excellent game, which I completely agree with. Though, would you say that it was an improvement over the original, overall? From what I've gathered, there are mixed opinions on if Crusader was better or not.
Great question! It's difficult, I'd say yes and no. If you want to play solo, I'd recommend the original Stronghold because of it's campaign, but the lack of skirmish mode is really, really annoying. Imo Crusader is better for multiplayer and co-op because of the added mercenary units and the pretty diverse computer opponents. But in saying that, I'm not a huge fan of the mercenary units, because it means you can raise huge armies easier and faster just with gold. But being able to do that also makes games less tedious. More action and less resource gathering. I also kinda find Crusader's lack of grass and huge sand dunes kind of annoying :P
If you want Crusader multiplayer with original maps, there's a great mod for Crusader called Stronghold Europe that makes it more like the original.
Tldr: Best story mode and imo overall solo gameplay - Stronghold / Best skirmish and multiplayer - Stronghold Crusader
@@Zade_95 Developer made skirmishes are my main reason for playing Crusader. Stronghold 1 for campaign, Crusader for skirmish.
up vote for command and conquer generals in 2018/2019
👀
“But mainly I remember it as a happy time.”
Just over $2 Aus on the Steam sale. Might grab it!
What in your view is the best Stronghold game to get if you want to play with 3 players co-op vs AI?
Stronghold Crusader HD (and use gameranger for MP) :) If you're not a fan of the desert setting, there's a mod called Stronghold Europe that makes the game grassy like Stronghold HD
keep this up man.
I will, thanks!
The only Stronghold game I played was on DOS in the 1990s. It was my first RTS game (does Herzog Zwei count?) And I remember being addicted to it. I thought it was that game when I clicked the video.
Stronghold Crusader was my freaking childhood. lol. :) Great video!
Same! Thanks :)
I love how the male voice actors tries to do female voices in this game :D I remember laughing my ass off as a kid to that fact.
Yeah I know right. I never noticed when I was younger but playing it now is hilarious...
It reminds me of Terry Jones playing various female characters in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Lord Luke... Bruh, you speaking to me directly... Creepy lol.
bruh
M8 i use to play with my friend and lost
I got bullied
bullied :(
stronghold with friends :)
Thank m8
Love you channel
stronghold 3 was a load of dogs??t. that wh?r? itself for stronghold kingdom which was an online wh?r?.
the best of the stronghold lies somewhere close to stronghold 2 with _few_ ideas from stronghold legends(to me at least).
Yeah a mix of a few may be the ideal Stronghold game haha. Maybe Stronghold NEXT will be that game! (fingers crossed)
@@Zade_95 stronghold next... what in the shit naming sense is that? that's awful naming.
well thx for informing me about that, I didn't know.
(edit) so i searched a bit about it and the *NEXT* is just a placeholder apparently.
@@pierre-andrelecomte9384 Haha yeah it's a placeholder! I agree it would be terrible otherwise. Apparently we'll be hearing more about it as we get into 2019. Hopefully its more Stronghold 1 and less Stronghold 3.....
Subbed.... Do Battle Realms next.
Appreciate it! I've got a few games to do haha but I'll put it on the list! Thanks for suggestion
Just want to support u.
Thanks!
Just one little note about the story, the king was not killed. He was on campaign when the conspirators rebelled and took over Britain. They never call it Britain, but if you turn the map it's unambiguously England, Scotland and Wales.
I also really hate how you blanketly claim sprites are "dated," implying they don't look good, which is painfully untrue. Stronghold still looks really good today because of it's high quality sprite art and animations which are optimized for the god's-eye isometric perspective
Yep, you're right! Definitely an oversight on my part. I didn't mean to imply they don't look good - Stronghold is one of the best aged RTS's from the time! My apologies if it came across that way :)
The lack of skirmish mode turned me off of this game back in the early 2000s. I gave it a fair chance, but constantly went back to AOE 2 Conquerors.
Fair enough, it's a huge downside to playing the game solo. Fixed in Stronghold Crusader though which was good!
@@Zade_95 Should have given it a chance, in that case. Thanks for your videos, you played all the games I did in the 2000s. Nice to see the nostalgia. Keep up the great work!
Do Startopia next if you ever played it.
I haven't! Worth taking a look at?
@@Zade_95 it's a great quirky space station sim, where you manage multiple levels of the station (Engineering, Leisure, Bio). Each level have their particularities. There's multiple aliens with each there own jobs. Also you have to gain control of the station from other AI, through multiple means, but I only remember war. I remember getting the game in a cereal box back in the days and having so much hours of fun out of this game.
Hey man. I don't suppose you would mind sharing a little wisdom? We both started doing youtube videos at exactly the same day (May 14, 2018). I only have 80 subscribers while you have more than 1,000. How do you do it? Do you have any secret formula you could share with me?
Hey! I had a quick look at your channel, I I think your chosen category is a lot harder to break into. If you think how many people would be looking to say 'Skyrim Let's Plays', it's probably not that many, and the amount of people who have done a LP of Skyrim is probably quite high! In saying that, I don't think you should make content on what's going to get the most clicks, and you should play what you want to play. Have you considering live streaming the LP's on twitch, then cutting them for TH-cam? TH-cam viewers probably wouldn't mind having VODs from Twitch, and the ratio of people looking to watch Skyrim LP live vs the amount of people playing Skyrim live is probably a lot better. Just my 2c, hope everything goes well for you mate!
@@Zade_95I also do in-depth story analysis videos: th-cam.com/play/PLpL3n7W6QqgDomKSQ62WbqAVr7U0wpel2.html
I do them once a week, just like you. So shouldn't Why aren't those taking off the same as yours?
@@Acerthorn congratulations man, your channel shot up from 80 subscribers!
crusader is the shit, i still play it
Me too! It's great. Hopefully Stronghold 2019 will be up to that quality level
Wood stocks are too low sire
Niceeeee
Crusader is even better imo
Yeah Crusader is great. I prefer the single player experience in the original, but Crusader is 100% the way to go for PvP and PvE with your friends
😎
old crusader was great no reality the new game views are very very bad try to develop it
Crusader 1 was awesome. Crusader 2 was definitely a step in the right direction compared to SH3 but not quite there yet. Hopeful for Stronghold 2019!
Thumbs down for the snobby remark about the US
murica
crusader review when??
One day for sure. Maybe 2021!