• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Age of Empires IV - What did they do to my boy?

Tschumi

Member
If you still have hopes after age3 you're dreaming mate, torrent vanilla age 2 + expansion, apply the user patch and play the Right game.
 

Vae_Victis

Banned
I think the biggest issue is that it all looks a bit... artificial. The world map looks like a video game map, not a real believable environment. Unit coloring is pushed to the extreme, everybody is just a monochromatic blob of their faction color, which is more practical but looks very fake. Animations are fine, but still a bit mechanical and very floaty.

It looks too much like somebody tried to recreate AoE 2 inside a 3D engine, rather than rethink the game to some extent to make it look right in 3D.
 
Last edited:

Inviusx

Member
The design seems to be inspired by the philosophy that I first heard Valve talk about regarding TF2 and later in modern MOBAs, mainly that units and structures should have simple and clear silhouettes from any angle or distance to make understanding the action in skirmishes easier.

I think the look of it is purely functional and derived from trying to make the game as fun as possible to play, which at the end of the day is all that matters with AoE.

I imagine that they started with relatively cutting edge graphics during production which were stripped away during play testing.
 
Last edited:

jigglet

Banned
Apparently they got rid of the skull icons for dead soldiers for China.

That instantly removed this game from my list.
 

DuckZilla

Neo Member
It would be nice if they give us the options to choose between more realistic colors palette and more realistic unit scaling. Pick whatever suit you.

At least they fixed the 10 feet long arrows.
 

Kuranghi

Member
AOE 3 does look better to me there but it could just be differences of weather/tone between the images, also a trend of modern games is to decrease the contrast and make it kinda "foggy" vs. previous art styles. Its pretty arse when you own a lovely ultra-high contrast TV, I still haven't played Hitman 3 for this reason. (They acknowledged my support ticket about it finally at least though, thats something!)
 

V4skunk

Banned
I don't think they've shown AOE4 running on Ultra settings yet. DOW3 looks better than AOE4 and COH2 easily looks on par with AOE4.
 

Tams

Gold Member
I was excited at first; units on walls! Then intrigued; the Mongol gameplay looked interesting. Then wondered that as it was still so soon after the release that they would improve it a lot. Hey, at least they made the arrows smaller.

Then this shit happened. I'm out. My most beloved game franchise and I actively don't want to have anything to with it.
 

Tams

Gold Member
Has a nice art style for the type of game it is and looks good, am I missing something ?

It looks cartoony in a mobile game way. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems like a mix of proportions, rounded edges, and use of colour.

AoE III did the 3D look decently; this just seems... off.
 

elliot5

Member
I was excited at first; units on walls! Then intrigued; the Mongol gameplay looked interesting. Then wondered that as it was still so soon after the release that they would improve it a lot. Hey, at least they made the arrows smaller.

Then this shit happened. I'm out. My most beloved game franchise and I actively don't want to have anything to with it.
I don't understand what the problem is
 

Tams

Gold Member
I don't understand what the problem is

The wokeness. And I don't say that lightly. Usually I can ignore it and am not keen to bring it into discussion, but AoE is something that I hold quite dear.

Not to mention Joan of Arc would hate most of those lionising her now.

And then there is the pandering to different countries that are oversensitive to how they are portrayed in media. China, Iran, India, and Pakistan in this case.
 

elliot5

Member
The wokeness. And I don't say that lightly. Usually I can ignore it and am not keen to bring it into discussion, but AoE is something that I hold quite dear.

Not to mention Joan of Arc would hate most of those lionising her now.

And then there is the pandering to different countries that are oversensitive to how they are portrayed in media. China, Iran, India, and Pakistan in this case.
Ah ok got it. The WOKENESS. So, nothing then. Glad you're speaking for Joan of Arc lmao
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
I was hoping VR would reignite the RTS genre but it hasn’t happened yet…
Honestly I have a hard time imagining what VR would bring to the genre....Maybe coupled with voice comands and you could shout at your troops where to go and what to do?
Maybe you thought of something great I hadn't thought of and I'd gladly hear it because, like you, I feel that the genre has stagnated.
 

Tams

Gold Member
Ah ok got it. The WOKENESS. So, nothing then. Glad you're speaking for Joan of Arc lmao

It is though. It's bringing social justice into something that (at least I) just want to enjoy for fun. I don't want a lecture and other sanctimonious crap.

And it was the developers who brought Joan of Arc being a 'figure' for feminism into the conversation.
 

Tams

Gold Member
Are we praising AOE3?

Get out!

Hey, it did do the 3D art style well. For the time at least and it holds up alright today. Compared to AoE II, it's really just a different genre of art. Neither is better or worse.

And there were some decent gameplay changes. The Home Cities were a nice addition and naval combat was much better. It's a shame that the maps are only small, unit variety is so-so, and the campaigns were only good in parts.
 

Skifi28

Member
I can appreciate the art style and the environments and buildings look pretty decent, but the units and animations look like they came straight from 2005.
 

Kilau

Gold Member
I like the look, not sure what was expected.

Ultimately how it plays will be the biggest factor and I have hope. This is one of the few games I would ever consider myself “excited” for.
 

.Pennywise

Banned
I know graphics are not top notch, but as an RTS fan I must tell that this games live and die by the gameplay rather than the graphics.

Also, here's where the real meat is boy

bJmiYn5.png
 

fatmarco

Member
Since when has AOE ever been about looks lol it is 100% bout the gameplay only real OG AOE players will know. You people with your graphics i mean seriously if Games were only bout how good it looks than Minecraft would have die off a long time ago, graphics is not what a game is only about the gameplay is way more important than Graphics.
Aoe 2, Mythology and 3 were sold off their looks and for the latter two, their technological innovation, so I'm not sure what you mean by that.

Gameplay is important, true, but when you have a game where the genre has essentially been perfected, the gameplay is pre designed for you, and fans are only demanding the same gameplay of the previous entries (just refined), then the only place you can really innovate or at least make large strides in is in visuals and presentation.

And in that sense they've failed by some margin.
 

elliot5

Member
The excuses in this thread. This game is being funded by Microsoft. There is no excuse to not have top notch graphics and gameplay.
All that matters in an RTS is gameplay. The graphics look fine. It has an art style they decided on maybe for compatibility across the most systems. Why does it need to have to notch graphics simply because it's funded by Microsoft? As long as the campaign is good and the mechanics are well made that's all that matters.
 
All that matters in an RTS is gameplay. The graphics look fine. It has an art style they decided on maybe for compatibility across the most systems. Why does it need to have to notch graphics simply because it's funded by Microsoft? As long as the campaign is good and the mechanics are well made that's all that matters.
Good luck convincing people on a board where engine tech demos and Digital Foundry videos can spawn threads with 50+ pages that graphics don't matter 😂
 

bitbydeath

Member
Honestly I have a hard time imagining what VR would bring to the genre....Maybe coupled with voice comands and you could shout at your troops where to go and what to do?
Maybe you thought of something great I hadn't thought of and I'd gladly hear it because, like you, I feel that the genre has stagnated.
I was just thinking the basics of using your hands to select and guide units around instead of a mouse.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
I was just thinking the basics of using your hands to select and guide units around instead of a mouse.
Oh Ok, I'm not sure if it would change the controls that much, they would probably be a little more fluid for sure.
Maybe use rotation to increase number of units or select different units would fasten even more the process,maybe thee double controls could open up some possibilites.
 

sendit

Member
All that matters in an RTS is gameplay. The graphics look fine. It has an art style they decided on maybe for compatibility across the most systems. Why does it need to have to notch graphics simply because it's funded by Microsoft? As long as the campaign is good and the mechanics are well made that's all that matters.
It’s a mainline premiere franchise. Top notch graphics should be expected. I remember being amazed by AOE3 graphics when it was released in 2005.
 

Tams

Gold Member
Good luck convincing people on a board where engine tech demos and Digital Foundry videos can spawn threads with 50+ pages that graphics don't matter 😂

Only, there's a recent thread with lots of people defending Nintendo games not having the best graphical fidelity (myself included). Because it's almost like this place is not a hivemind and that people here appreciate gameplay and having fun. Nintendo also usually put great care into ensuring that the rest of the aesthetic in their games is good and coherent.

But graphics do still matter. It doesn't really matter too much if there aren't the max amount of polygons, pixels, rays, whatever, as long as the art style works. AoE4 is not looking promising because the art style doesn't look promising. They chose an aesthetic that is like mobile games and have fucked up the proportions. It doesn't help that they have also gone with a pseudo-realistic style, so it just looks unfinished.
 
Last edited:

MadPanda

Banned
What about that Rise of nations game?

Give me a new installment of Rise of Nations. It was amazing back in the day. And new installments of empire earth, Heroes of Might and Magic, company of heroes, warcraft, LOTR strategy game and command and conquer when we're at it.

I miss the old days of strategy games.
 

Tams

Gold Member
I played Rise of Nations again for a bit recently. The graphics haven't aged too well, but it is still decent.

I stopped though because the gameplay wasn't great. I wanted to enjoy each age, but it was a rush to get through them otherwise you just get utterly crushed. And I didn't feel like each civ had enough uniqueness, which was just made worse by most of the uniqueness disappearing as you advanced through the ages.
 

BlackTron

Member
I never even played 3 but I will at least give this a chance.

It looks like a newer version of 2 instead of trying to be a different game like 3. Of course we won't be able to tell till we play it, but I like the vibes its throwing off.

SC2's graphics are utterly insane compared to the first one, but look how that played out.
 

Bragr

Banned
I'm surprised at the reaction some of you have, scaled-down visuals are a good thing, so many times RTS's alienate themselves from the crowd because people don't have the PCs to play them at decent framerates online. This is a good move from Relic, what's gonna matter is how good it plays, and if you like RTS's, you have to be a fool to not be hyped for this. Age of Empires 4 and Homeworld 3 is the only hopes we have for an RTS future.
 
The thing u are missing is that its complete dog shit looking and not even remotely worth of age of empire 4 title.

Specially when stuff like this already exists for a couple of years.

550


anno-1800_6042515.jpg
what game is that. You can't drop gorgeous screenshots and not name the game. wtf...lol
 
Age of empires gives me so much nostalgia because I remember playing it when I was a kid on my new and first ever windows millennium edition pc. I was mesmerised with the first pc we got.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom