Well, the community already asked and was not heard and it is worth remembering that they asked for a lot. Most of the players left, so it looks like the company doesn’t care much. They just said something in an interview and didn’t do anything until now.
Same thing with AoE1, the community asked for many improvements and they ignored it and it was that game failure. And now they are going to relaunch AoE1 with the old requests that were ignored at the time, it seems like a joke. Only now will they do what the community asked at the time. But why didn’t they do it before?
The question is, it has already been requested. But obviously, if you want to unclog the ears of the developers, COME ON, let’s ask again.
I know that high-quality graphics would be great, but only someone with good graphics could enjoy it, and someone who has to reduce the quality of the game, wouldn’t enjoy it, also the higher the graphic requirement, even if you adjust the resolution to suit you, you should still reduce the image quality more if you want 60 fps or at least go above 40 fps (as playing 4v4 requires more pc resources)
Games with these graphic demands already have their niche, and one that has battles is “total war” but there they do not manage villagers is another type of game
yes I understand. But there are many types of textures, some light, others very heavy. The ideal would be to find the middle ground, something good and realistic and not heavy.
I’ll try to give an example of two games:
1º) The Counter Strike 2 for example, will be released soon. It is still a light game, but the iron there has the appearance of iron, has improved material reflections, explosion and smoke effects and is still light in the game. Of course it got heavier, but it’s still very light compared to a Battlefield or COD.
2º) We also have, for example, Minecraft texture mods, where some are realistic and heavy, while others are realistic too, but much lighter. There are several types of texture packs.
Developers finding the most suitable texture pack for AoE4. Let it be light and satisfying in realism.
Another option is to leave a free DLC for high definition, to download only for those who have a strong PC. Whoever has a weak pc, uses the low definition version. Something similar exists in AoE2.
If you don’t have a good graphics card, then why you care?
You are just mad because you don’t have a good GPU.
And wants to ruin the game for everyone who got a decent GPU!
That is your point then!
Yeah, luckily!
You have been gathering BIAS information from around the internet, and your contribution didn’t point main areas where the game is failing.
You did exactly the opposite.
There are far more ways to make a survey that provides biased, skewed answers than to make a survey that truly answers the questions it poses. In general, fan-made surveys are notoriously garbage.
And yet, people are more than happy to aggregate a selection of forum feedback as “the fans”.
Stuff that truly answers anything is far and few between. Way too much output is understandably skewed by opinion, but the reality is it’s not recognised as such.
Opinion is opinion is opinion. We can call surveys garbage, we can call threads garbage, we can call opinions garbage. They’re all valid feedback for the devs, and it’s on the devs to interpret all of it in a way that benefits the game itself.
Going back on topic (and since I’m late to this massive thread):
One thing I remember when I first installed the closed beta was the voice acks from English siege. The voice actor they chose for that was perfect. You task a treb or bombard to attack something and you really get the feeling the guy acknowledging your commands is going to nuke everything. I thought to myself “oh yeah, I’m going to f… some s… up”.
But then I got to the other civs and the voice actors phoning it in… sigh.
Do you remember in Red Alert 2 the voices for the high tier units, say, the Kirov ship? Or perhaps the SC2 battlecruiser? Or hey, what Gandalf exclaims in BfME.
I have praised the sound design of this game a lot (the only thing that I really think is great) but the sense of units having personalities is sorely missing. There are a few good outliers here and there (longbowmen, Abbasid vils), but for the most part, I could do with generic acks and I wouldn’t miss anything.
Spectacle… an RTS should overdramatize things to cross beyond the boring edge. A bombard should send s…t flying around, war elephants should panic every now and rampage, destroying siege should be a thing to admire, not a magical poof. If I’m firing on a house, I should be hearing some screams, not silence.
The visuals stood out for me (still do - don’t think I’ll ever forget Word of Power). But the sound design never did. There’s often a lot going on in an RTS after a certain point, it’s not like Civ where I can sit and appreciate the layered tracks (in Civ VI) that evolve with each new era.
To be fair, I tend to recognise music more (though I’m getting very used to English Villagers in Age IV, I’m fond of their chatter). Or at least, music sticks in my mind for longer. For voices, the only ones that tend to stick for years on end are the ones that I get exposed to out of the game itself (wololo being an easy one).
I like voice acting. But my memories of the sounds of CnC are more the FMVs than the ingame unit chatter.
I’m big on getting more aesthetic immersion in Age IV, but we obviously want different things out of RTS games.
In my opinion, the second it crosses over to gameplay, taking control from the player is one of the most frustrating things that a game can do, and while there are situations this can work, it really needs to be considered carefully.
Yeah, I mean, I get the appeal. I even think it’s appropriate in certain cases.
It’s not like the engine is incapable of knockback physics and the like. It’s also featured in Relic’s past (and current) RTS games.
But it means the effectiveness of this disruption need to factor into the relative strength of the unit, balance-wise.
And ignoring competitive balance, the same needs to apply to stuff like the campaigns and other single player content. It makes assaulting positions more difficult. It makes cheesing pathing with cavalry easier. I’m not a competitive player in the slightest, it’s just I find it’s hard to make these things both feel fair to use, and fair to be on the receiving end of.
I mean, if I get hit in the face with a bombard shell, even if I don’t die I should at least take a few seconds to recover. That’s one of the myriad problems with AoE4. It CAN BE implemented as part of balanced gameplay mechanics. It has been done in the past and saying it’s “difficult” or “impossible” is just not trying to deliver a good RTS. In fact, it can lead up to a better RTS than if you stick to the simplistic “AoE2-like” mechanics.
In other games, if you get charged and trampled by cavalry, not all units die instantly, but they need to reincorporate, return to formation and then they can attack again. You know what happens to cavalry? They lose momentum and are more vulnerable for a while, so that’s the balance you’re looking for. Heck, you can even have cavalry take some damage when they charge since running across swords and pikes and armored soldiers is a sure way to cause some injuries to your horses.
I’m saying you and I are, somewhat fundamentally, looking for different things mechanically. There’s not a way we both get what we want.
This isn’t a new opinion of mine. I’ve held it for well over a decade at this point. The question isn’t right or wrong, it’s simply what we enjoy in RTS games.
The question is how do we make a game that both of us enjoy? If you have an answer to that, I’d genuinely like to hear it. I have thoughts, but no real answers of my own.
You can’t. You make two different games. That’s the solution. AoE2 was for some people (me included, but it’s antiquity cannot be ignored). AoE3 was for some people (I never got to like it, although I fully recognize how great it is). AoE4 is for some people (the newer generations with shorter attention spans and no love for details, it seems).
I just hope next time we get something more to my liking since AoE4 already catered to your tastes.
I personally hope by the time of Age V, a better solution can be found. Otherwise all we’re going to have is another round of people putting down a that isn’t for them, or worse, putting down the people who enjoy it.
And while that seems to be part and parcel of fandoms, I really do wish it wasn’t.
