This is the inherent difference of AoE3 to the other games - the point of 3 is that you aren’t starting an empire to watch it grow, you’re fighting for a colonial outpost to set up. Your empire has already established itself. You can think of AoE2 as being the literal precursor to AoE3 - the empire you made in 2 is now sending out colonial outposts that you control in 3.
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Not be rude, but I dont know why you are explaining this. I know what it is, it’s obvious. I just don’t like it is all.
My preference also seem to be somewhat common, considering how AoE4 does not have a home city mechanic.
I expected this thread to be pretty interesting, lots of back-and-forth over peoples’ opinions, but man, way to tell me you have no idea what mobile games look like 
I think the funniest thing about that random screenshot you said the graphics should look like, is the fact it still has chunky arrows.
I do say as @M00Z1LLA has stated the terrain in AoEiV looks better after the update, it’s just the other stuff like water, graphical details, gaia, and animations/physics, particularly with the siege that AoE3 even in 2005 easily surpasses AoEIV. I can’t help but wonder why a game released in 2021 took such a step back in these areas.
From whales to different kinds of fish to things that only serve as eye candy like turtles, swans, and vultures AoE3 maps feel like a living ecosystem and that makes for the most immersive game this franchise has to offer.
And siege in AoEIV is uh just plain bad. We all know how gratifying a well-placed onager shot is in AoE2 and I need not mention how superior it is in AoE3.
Maybe with time, more attention will be given to these areas but I’m not holding my breath since it would require a complete overhaul. Who knows what Relic has in store? I certainly don’t think the game is dying.
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I think AOE4 makes yet another “safe” choice that there are not many things moving on the map if they are not related to the gameplay.
If you see an animal you should be able to gather from it. If you see an object you should be able to interact with it. Nothing beyond that. That’s a “safe” choice to not spending too many efforts on aspects that do not contribute to a runnable game at release and esports.
And that is likely not to change forever. I cannot imagine if they suddenly add a lot of decorative elements onto the map. Maybe they will only increase the biodiversity, but even that you’ll be encountered with “yeah then you’ll need to justify why the muslims cannot hunt it”.
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Yes, it’s just a matter of tastes… I start in AoE 3, and it doesn’t generate me a disconnection in the game because it’s just another tab, you fight in the New World while your Homecity is in Europe, Asia or Africa…in AoEO, Castle Siege and World Domination they evolved that concept into something more persistent over time…
Exactly, in AoE3 you do not manage an empire, but the colony of an already established empire until you have a maximum of 3 or 4 colonies for each TC; the issue is that originally AoE 3 was going to have a campaign map of the New World like the from Rise of Nations ToP, in which you were capturing territories to create a colonial empire…
Yes, but it’s because they went back to something like AoE 2, but they kept the level system; I don’t know why if the only thing you unlock are things for the TC, lastly, divide the unlocks by level to make it a little more interesting…
Too safe I would say… AoE 4 is still AoE 2 in 3D with landmarks…
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And Malians, and Ottomans, and Dynasties (among other things), all repeatedly criticised (praised? criticised?) as being stolen from (inspired by? stolen from?) III 
And even aoe2 now has a few elements from aoe3, but that doesn’t change the foundation
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Yes, but just with the dlcs, which would be their thing, now I’m sure that if they release the Byzantines it would be the Cataphracts buffing units and the Varangian Guard as MAA and the Japanese would be like those of 3 (Samurai as MMA, Naginata Rider like Knight, Yumi Archer as an archer and then the 3 unique Japanese ships of the Imjin Wars)…
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Agreed! I would say IV is definitely inspired by II (more than it is III), but it has enough of its own twists (and design inspirations from III) to not play out like II does.
Honestly, a lot of folks are getting hung up on the specifics of the OP’s opinion, but I just want to celebrate that we have this range of opinion. This is the subforum for III: DE after all, most people who enjoy that game are going to be found here. But all the Age games are good games, even if any of them aren’t our personal cup of tea.
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Yes, within the entire AoE saga it is the only saga, where all players have their favorite, or there is no game that you say “it’s a bad game, it’s just different or it’s not for you”…
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I think most people hate this because people don’t like a deck to determine the civ’s performance, as it gives a lot of unpredictable variables, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t counterable if balanced properly.
Other reasons why they don’t usually like it are because they are made prior to the game, if there were some way to unlock bonuses during the game it wouldn’t be something so frowned upon.
The old system of gaining levels to unlock cards also displeased many, but this was removed in DE.
a franchise that has no actually bad game in it is a rare phenomenon indeed, thinking about it, there ain’t many, although quite a few with RTS games to my suprise, seems like RTS quality in big franchises is well above most genres, warcraft, starcraft, AOE&AOM, CnC besides CnC4, thats quite a track record for a genre
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I agree with both AoE 2 and AoE 3 but definitely not AoE 4. Something is missing in AOE 4, maybe developer’s passion? Both AOE 2 and AOE 3 are made with love while the latter feels like a rush product; the only good thing about 4 is the unique music theme per ages of each civs.
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the easy way to check for passion is the following: take a close look at cheats, especially cheat units, that should answer it right away
I don’t usually bother with cheats but the campaigns of AOE 4 are so bland in terms of mission variants. Now they can’t add more campaigns due to the high quality of the documentaries.
what i was getting at is this: aoe4 took a year after release just to add them in, and when they were finally added, the only cheat unit that appeared was aoe1 photon man, nothing else, nothing of their own making
i was hoping they’d have some COH tank as a cheat unit at least, would be funny
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Let’s be honest, there are folks that’d accuse them of ignoring AoE history in that case. Can’t really win haha.
speaking of history, i’d very much like a aoe2/3 like compendium to read between games, in aoe4 ofc, and yes i have this unusual habit
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Been requesting this for a long time now. Really strange it was left out.
On a similar note, I think all the games could greatly benefit from masteries. AoEIV’s best feature imo.
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