Dear Age of Empires IV Development Team,
Greetings. I believe it is essential that you understand the following issues clearly:
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The Jin Dynasty does not qualify as a Base Civilization at all. With the exception of its landmarks, nearly all of its building and unit models are reused assets taken from the Chinese and Mongolian civilizations, with only simple model edits and texture replacements.The development effort put into this so-called “Base Civilization” is even less than that of the Sengoku Daimyo, a Variant Civilization whose new units are almost all fully newly modeled with ultra-high-resolution textures.What I find most incomprehensible is that Japan’s historically insignificant third-rate cavalry has been given unique models, yet the historically famous Iron Pagoda does not have an independent model.Even worse, the Jin Dynasty, billed as a Base Civilization, does not have a single genuinely original model — everything is merely low-effort modifications of existing assets. This is simply a huge joke.
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I pre-ordered Age of Empires IV on its release and every subsequent DLC immediately upon launch. I have always supported this game with 1000% enthusiasm.However, while the price of DLC remains unchanged, the content has been reduced to an unprecedented low level, and I must express my dissatisfaction.At the same time, I support the official release of more DLC each year, possibly in the form of Variant Civilizations, but the pricing should be adjusted accordingly.
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Even if you keep the price unchanged while cutting content, you should at least show more sincerity.As a Yue Fei-themed DLC, this was an excellent opportunity to win strong support from Chinese players, and we were willing to pay for it. Yet many signs suggest you are at risk of ruining everything.The Chinese community currently has three major complaints and demands regarding the new DLC:
① Although this is a Yue Fei-themed DLC, only the Jin Dynasty — Yue Fei’s enemy — has been added. While the Jin are necessary, players also want, and more importantly need: a standalone Yue Family Army faction, or a reworked Chinese / Zhu Xi civilization that better reflects the characteristics of the Song and Ming dynasties.
② Despite representing the Jin Dynasty, it appropriates a large number of technologies that rightfully belong to the Chinese / Zhu Xi civilization.We understand that new civilizations in a new DLC require new units to maintain product value, but this does not mean all new content should be crudely assigned to the new civilization.For anyone familiar with Chinese history, this is as absurd and illogical as France having longbowmen while England does not, or the Ottomans having two-handed swordsmen while the Holy Roman Empire does not.This not only disrespects history but also severely damages immersion in this historical game.Once again, this problem could easily be solved by adding a standalone Yue Family Army faction: the Jin Dynasty could focus on cavalry, while the Yue Family Army focuses on infantry.
③ Despite being advertised as a Base Civilization, the Jin Dynasty has no unique unit models whatsoever (other than campaign heroes only visible in single-player).A so-called “Base Civilization” of this standard clearly lacks sincerity.Compared with the quality of new units for the Sengoku Daimyo in the previous DLC, we can clearly feel double standards and unequal treatment.
The above views and information are collected from Baidu Tieba, the largest and most active Age of Empires community in the world. I believe this represents a considerable portion of player opinion.We do not want to see this handled poorly. We want the new DLC to sell well, and we want the Age of Empires series to continue to thrive — but only if it delivers content of genuine quality and good value.