Let’s not forget that the company overseeing the DE editions, the amazing editions to the AOE II saga, which literally got pro players like Spirit of the Law to thank the devs, are overseeing the project for AOE IV. And we are seeing a massive downgrade from the DE editions when they were used to hype this game up.
Hence the comparisons.
Comment of the year 
we can live without crew on them but it just shows how mediocre the game has been developed after 4 years of a long wait. You can see ghosts on them but they are not even noticeable, so why would not you add men on them instead?.. I mean does it even make sense? its just one of so many other examples of weird decisions that makes the game feel cheap…
Sometimes I wonder if the golden ghosts animation was from an earlier game design in which players didn’t need to task a villager to build buildings but it simply built itself with golden ghosts.
Didn’t realize SotL was a pro player. I’m learning new things everyday!
I think it will co incidenwith their campaign animations. Which is with main reason for adding it. As you’ve seen in the trailers of the ghosts running through the streets etc.
It’s called a hypothesis. And it’s always based on some experience and knowledge (often laid out in the same post as the hypothesis, but english reading comprehension is hard, I guess).
Just because you were ignorant about the last 20 years of game development does not mean that making assumptions based on those 20 years is useless for a discussion. History and behaviour patterns repeat themselves over and over and over in this industry.
They could easily dismiss a lot of it by simply being a bit more transparent. Since they don’t, many of these discussions spiral into a quasi post-mortem analysis of game aspects.
This criticism is also never aimed at a specific person. Who am I to judge an individual programmer for a crappy feature? Maybe he had to deliver it in a one-week crunch and it turned out awesome for the given time? But we certainly have to judge the crappy features themselves and the people in charge of selling them to us for big bucks.
A hypothesis is made with no assumption of its truth. That’s what it is.
Indeed.
EDIT:
Sorry if my comment is a bit snide, but you talked past my point and then insulted my reading comprehension.
It seems like it is just trying to show both a passage of time and that there were actually many people working on these projects. And with siege it’s a bit of a compromise between having modeled crew and just having siege weapons fire themselves.
Personally I kind of like them or at least don’t mind them at all. Maybe there will be options to turn them off though, there seemed to be options in the game files related to the scaffolding around buildings being constructed.
sorry but , what a stupid comment
I do it all the time when all the time spent making cool graphics negatively affects gameplay. There are countless games that have a pretty shell to look at but a hollow, boring interior where the gameplay actually is. Many examples of klunky and rehashed gameplay mechanics in AAA games because so much time is spent on graphics and so little on other things.
It’s the age old common point of contention between gamers… is gameplay > graphics, or graphics > gameplay?
Doing too much with graphics has been and is criticized (when it’s clear the game is little more than good graphics). Graphics sell, though. So that’s the thing.
That’s an ancient argument. That doesn’t exist anymore. In the modern century
It isn’t graphics vs gameplay anymore. It’s both. If games lack in any of the two compartments in 2021, then massive controversy. Because modern technology allows for such amazing graphics without effort so there’s so little excuse. The reason why it’s such a big debate on here is because it is RTS and RTS is an old genre and people have the traditional expectations of RTS as it’s been had for the entire time. Hence why RTS is a dying breed. The expectations for RTS need to be modern in 2021 as you would have as any old game if you want to pull it out of its grandfather recliner chair and get it running.
Otherwise you might as well keep feeding it dialysis and diabetes pills to help its ageing symptoms till it dies out
Depending on which side you’re on.
When your favorite game has worse graphics when being compared, gameplay > graphics.
On the other hand, graphics > gameplay (but it is a taboo to say it explicitly. So you need to find other words for it like “immersiveness”)
It still exists…
AoE3 chose graphics > gameplay with regard to having work crews for siege units, imo. The risk of AoE4 doing the same here in 2021 is why not everyone is on-board with having work crews again. If everyone chose graphics > gameplay, work crews would be a no-brainer to put in AoE4
Countless games choose graphics > gameplay. It’s why many games have stellar graphics, but not-so-smart AI, or AI that hasn’t evolved since 2005. It’s why controlling your character in Battlefield games feels clumsy and jittery sometimes, or mobility is poor, since it was decided your feet and body need to show up in your FPS view and be tied to movement. It’s why Thief 2014 was widely panned. It’‘s why GTA games’ AI and other gameplay issues haven’t changed or evolved for 20 years. It’s why Uncharted, Last of Us, and Dishonored AI can’t allow for true stealth gameplay… at least not as of the last ones I played: Uncharted 3, LoU1, and Dishonored 2
These games have amazing graphics and sell well, but when it comes to gsmeplay, AI, and player movement (and other things that get down to the game’s core mechanics more), I see lots of room for improvement.
Back in 1990s:
No. Using 3D is choosing graphics > gameplay. RTS is not about viewing units or buildings in different angles. Using 3D engine is going to impair the gameplay.
This makes me think of the many kickstarter boardgames with dozens of fancy miniatures, but then rules/mechanics/gameplay are mediocre at best.
The golden ghosts and building fire look the same. 
This would have looked so much better if there were little men operating the nest of bees.
Would be nice. It seems largely impossible, though, as evidenced by countless games over the years 
But it’s not easy. Games are expensive to make and require a lot of work. If a lot of that is focused on making amazing graphics or a visual replica of reality, other parts will likely suffer (gameplay)
They are so elegant 
These look the same? (pulled from your screenshot)
I don’t see it?
