They said theyre still tweaking the zoom level before launch in an interview last week, as well as global queue and other things.
(originally replied to wrong person)
3 Likes
Exactly. Ive been saying this over and over, beta builds are OLD BUILDS even by the time they release them to be played. And a server stress test is not going to be the most representative test bc thats not what its for. Anything can be improved before launch from betas, even graphics, and many thing were probably already fixed before the stress test, they were just fixed after that build.
2 Likes
I agree with most of this thread - the game looks more polished for sure. However, the arrow coming off the knee of the archers seems to still be there. I honestly donāt think itās that big of a deal anymore given the many fixes - but I hope they also address this by launch and tie the remaining loose ends. Good stuff.
7 Likes
Stop playing at 0.10 speed and you wouldnāt notice
I unfortunately noticed it during regular gameplay during the Stress Test. Again, itās not the biggest deal because itās nowhere near as bad as what it was during the Fan Preview. So itās fine.
I also noticed that arrows coming from the crotch is still there. The other mayor issue is that bows are static, they donāt extend when the archer pulls back.
I also saw the weird shield placement glitch in the latest gameplay video. Itās still there.
Good eye. I donāt expect the bow bending to be at the top of their to-do list for archer animations. What is the shield placement glitch?
Since the stress test and closed beta forums are gone, itās hard to grab a screenshot that hasnāt been deleted already, but basically ever since the closed beta, units with shields (infantry, cavalry) have this weird glitch that causes the shield to behave erratically (facing the wrong side or floating in weird positions). Iāve seen it mostly when units are doing their attack animations.
If you are looking for it, you will catch it quickly in the official videos.
Edit: Itās right there in the HRE reveal trailer no less (look at the knights):
Minute 1:24
1 Like
Alright, Iām glad thereās hype, but I donāt agree with your conclusions here.
The archers are shooting arrows from their knees, not really sure what looks nice here. The quality of this clip is also like 144p.
They look identical to the cav in the beta, just red instead of yellow in this case.
If you look into the top right, this is āCinematic Mode,ā which is likely a zoom level limited to watching replays or observing games. It sorda looks better I guess, but Iām not sure thereās actually any difference here between the two images you posted?
So yeah, look: Iām glad you are hyped but I am not really holding my breath here. I think the technical stress test was effectively the product that we will get on release date.
My main issues with the game remain unaddressed:
- UI revamp hasnāt happened (icons too similar, minimap bad)
- Graphical fidelity in terms of unit textures remains really poor, making units hard to distinguish from one another
- Only some buildings appear to change visually with age-ing up, making military buildings hard to distinguish
- Buildings donāt look alive (i.e chicken in town centers, horses in stables never move)
- Destruction animations still particularly poor, buildings break into a few puzzle pieces rather than thousands of bricks
- Arrows never miss
- Siege units have no crews and are too accurate
- Whether a building is on fire should be obvious, but they know the game is not that readable so they put a cartoony ābuilding is on fire!ā icon above your burning building. Just show me flames.
- Units feel like they are āslidingā around, particularly at choke points
- Destroyed buildings look so confusing and messy ā they should disappear after a while.
- Glad they added dead bodies, but how suddenly they disappear is jarring and thereās still no blood
- and the list goes on and onā¦
Unfortunately, this is still not a game I plan on buying, at least not based on what weāve seen thus far. I would say that one should definitely stay away from pre-ordering, as shipping incomplete or unpolished products should never be rewarded.
11 Likes
Guess what, it happens in AoE2 as well. Wonder why no one complains about thatā¦
Who said nobody complains about that? I mentioned it in my videos. However, itās not a fair comparison.
We canāt compare AoE4ās shortcomings to the 20 year old engine of AOE2. Thatās NOT the standard we should be holding AoE4 to. For example, if pathing in AoE4 was hideous, us saying āWell, AoE2 is just as bad.ā would be a wrong way to approach this.
Finally, arrows still arc and come off the bow better in AoE2. The worst offenders are the Kipchaks and Cav Archers overall I think - but the other Archersā arrows are pretty good.
1 Like
The Jannisary fires from his foot. How does an old engine effect that?
Foot is exaggerating. That said, I already mentioned that the projectiles coming off in AoE2 is NOT perfect, but youāre missing the point again. We should not be comparing AoE4 with an engine made in 1998. Thatās not the standard. Iām not defending either AoE2 or AoE4 here. In an ideal world, both games would have proper projectile arcing. An engine made in 1998 is more understandable to have some limitations. A 2021 game? Not so much.
2 Likes
No it isnāt. Some guy made a post in an old thread showing all the projectiles, the Jannisary was firing from his foot.
You still didnāt answer how an old engine has you make it fire from his foot instead of near his waist, where his gun is
I donāt know what youāve been looking at. https://youtu.be/C6XvhsA3JPI Here, there are hundreds of Janissaries from different angles firing. Smoke is great. Projectiles are okay. Some more accurate than others. But firing from the foot? No.
In a parallel universe where we go back in time and force Ensemble Studiosā employees to perfect projectiles in 1999, yes, it may be technically possible. An engine being old is not an explanation of why things arenāt perfect in it. However, an engine being that old does have an excuse of not being up to the standards we hold it to 2021. If youāre seriously criticizing an engine made in 1999 for its shortcomings based on modern standards, I have nothing else to say. A more accurate comparison or criticism would be: Hereās AOE2 and hereās another game made between 1999-2000. Show me a game released in that timeframe that has a significantly better engine than AoE2. One example that comes to mind is Stronghold (although that was released 2 years later than AOE2), and even its arrows werenāt perfect.
In 2040, weāll look back at Age of Empires IVās engine and smile at how bad the animations, graphics, effects, etc are. Not to belittle the work done - but how much more sophisticated games will be by then. I donāt understand your attack on AoE2 as a defense of AoE4ās shortcomings.
2 Likes
AoE II uses pre-rendered 3D models, converted to 2D sprites for a 2D world. As such, there is no āspatialā awareness of where the tip of a gun is, or from where an arrow should be fired. The best that can be done is an approximation because the sprites can change orientation, go up and down hill, etc. If thatās in fact the case with AoE II, the devs actually did a pretty good job at masking this because it is impossible to give real spatial location to stuff rendered in āfakeā 3D.
If you have ever played racing/driving games, in 3rd person view sometimes you can see that the light sources donāt exactly correspond to where the carās lights are, and thatās infuriating (I used to mod cars for NFS and the light sources had to be moved manually). Same thing happens in AoE IV. What Iām assuming is that these āweapon firing sourcesā have not been set properly for each 3D model.
You canāt tell when the video is playing, they are deceptive due to being 2d
Iām not criticizing it, Iām pointing out the hypocrisy of people for complaining about something in AoE4 that was in AoE2 yet they didnāt complain. The engine has nothing to do with it, they couldāve just as easily placed the projectiles starting point near the bow/gun or whatever is it.
And firing from the foot is the solution?
thats a funny glitch, what a good eye.
@GusTank04 @Oestrichh I can tell you that the way the arrow start on the bow will have literally zero impact on if the game will do well or not.
It has to establish itself as its own thing worth its prize tag next to AOE2:DE and AOE3:DE and in my opinion, so far, it does it pretty poorly.
The factions are not worth 12.5 CHF (13.47 $)/9 CHF (9.70 $) each, Iām sorry. Thereās from my point of view not enough difference between the factions graphically as from a game design point of view to warrant such a high prize tag. Itās ridiculous to ask so much for so few content.
Iām not interested in watching a 5 minute ingame video about trebuchets either. Iād rather have seen 12 starting factions and skip those videos entirely.
2 Likes
It was back then in the 90ās. It was a good approximation given the mix of 2D and 3D in AoE I & II. The old C&C games had similar glitches.
It is definitely not the solution in a 2021 title with everything in 3D where you can define āweapon exit pointsā (I have no idea how to call them) and having 3 axes to precisely locate things around the units.