If it’s not a reply to someone in an already long thread, probably it’s a response to the poster of the topic.
Don’t you think so?
I do have opinions and I have facts. 
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They already tried that with AoE 3. Would you say that AoE 3 is diferent than AoE 2? Would you say that it has 3D models and AoE 2 has 2D models? YES!! And guess what? AoE 3 sold ONLY approximately 5 million copies. AoE 2 (original) sodl 10 million copies (approximately). Then when BOTH were “re-released” on Steam, AoE 2 SOLD 10 million MORE copies and AoE 3 SOLD ONLY 5 million MORE copies (aproximately).
Just to be clear. I bought multiple different copies of AoE 1, and 2, and 3, I have had and played every single version. Even AoE 2 1.0c I liKed playing ALL versions and ALL games of the series. However, AoE 2 is STILL better than AoE 3, in almost every single thing it does. Whether it is graphics “type” chosen for the game, or the “game mechanics”. AoE 2 is simply a better format for an RTS game. Since it allows for better micro and tactics. Not to mention overall strategy and even the “foundational civ strucutre similarity”, being the same makes learning AoE 2, MUCH EASIER than AoE 3. 
10 000 x $60 = $600 000 so to break even a $100 mil investment would require 1 666 667 sold copies.
A quick search revealed me that a triple-A game usually has a budget of $60-80 mil (I seriously doubt AoE4’s budget would be this high.). So the break even would happen at around 1 mil sold copies. AoE3 sold over 2 million copies from the original launch to 2008 (Wikipedia). That’s doubling the investment in a couple of years.
I’m not sure what was your point. I just like to correct numbers.
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Lol. It is true that the name of the thread is, to put it nicely “poorly phrased”.
I think the graphics look more than fine. Yes, they need to fix some weird things like the arrows, but the art style works great: it feels clean but real enough and the important things are clearly to be seen.
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This comment looks sarcastic. Posting such beautiful images from a higher perspective and saying it looks horrible
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I thought the graphics looked good on the zoomed-out shots, with room for polish here and there. But, yeah, the close-up shots had room for improvement and wish there wasn’t such a heavy focus on them (and swiveling cam) in the preview. We’re not going to play super zoomed-in like that (hopefully).
The zoomed-out shots looked much smoother and better to me, and this is what’s most important since this is how we’ll be playing it. Like I’ve said before, I don’t need to see how many rivets are in a shield or individual eyebrow hairs on units.
The arrows, though, could use some polish, in particular. They have a weird trajectory animation (not following the ‘arc’ rule of animation very well, imo), and seem too big and bright/vibrant for my tastes. And the game world felt a little sterile, in general.
I wish:
- There were sparks flying when mining gold, berry bush leaves flying when picked, and such, like AoE2:DE added.
- Trees swayed verrrry gently so they aren’t completely static. Which could lead to eventually wind patterns blowing through the map in realistic manners with varying intensities. EDIT: I see trees swaying in some shots, but not others. Maybe a more recent build has them swaying
- These types of things would help make the environment feel more lively, real, natural
Without having played it, I can tell I probably won’t like the accelerated bright ‘ghosts’ helping to construct things and hope we can turn them off, if desired:
I know they were likely added as a nod to players who have always hated that a building could be constructed by one or two villager in 30-60 seconds, and it is neat. (An ingenious solution.) But for those who never cared about that and didn’t lose immersion because of it, and who don’t want HUD overlay type stuff like this, I think I far prefer seeing ‘no ghost helpers;’ and the ability to dim/customize the vibrance or the appearance (color, perimeter intensity, etc.) of them so they don’t take such a lead visual role if we do want them ‘on’ to some extent.
The HUD is a little too modern-day (not rustic, middle ages, medieval enough) for my tastes. It’s clearly Microsoft Windows10-in-2021-themed; not anywhere close to Middle Ages. The time period/era should be embraced in every respect, including UI… otherwise things like this hurts immersion at worst; is jarring or non sequitur at best:
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Guyyyyysssss, this looks like AOE III only more cartoonish…
Really disapointed, but what the heck, good news for aoe II.
The beta signup is open?
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Lol. It is ALMOST 5AM where i am. I did not bother to did a “specific calculation”. I know most AAA games are 5-80 million. I just rounded the the number up to 100 million. Mostly to make the calculation EASIER TO UNDERSTAND. 
Also you are WRONG in your application. You did NOT include the cost of Sellnig on Steam, OR the cost of creating / distributing / transport of the game disc. 
In that $60. The "game PUBLISHER will ONLY get $20 (approximately), AT MOST, and possibly even LESS per game sold. Though it might be a bit higher. Not to mention that we have not even STARTED to talk about the cost of “corporate tax” or the various OTHER taxes.
You doubt AoE 4 budget would be as high as 60-80 million? Guess what, it is probably even higher.
That is NOT how business works.
EDIT: Probably should have mentioned that your calculation DOES NOT include the 30% Steam cut that Steam gets for the game. Or the 30% “corporate tax cut”, "which is a 30% cut on the revenue (Revenue is NOT profit). Not to mention that the “advertising cost” (which is usually the same cost as the development cost), is NOT counted towards the 60-80 million cost for the “average AAA game”.
Even those costs probably do NOT take into account any cost for “outsourcing” development of particular game design/systems that are NOT built by the game developers (which IS a common practice).
That’s my hope, we can choose between cartoony and realistic look, change saturation etc.
Then I would change my opinion on graphics maybe, but I’m not that optimistic about that.
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You see. When i say “cartoonish”, you should probably know that, i, and most others DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE HELL “SATURATION” EVEN MEANS. Or what “colour palette” even is.
It is simply a term used for a “best fit” to describe “as acuurately as one can” what is being observed.
I wonder why explosions flicker in AoE4 like it does in AoE2:DE, as seen at about 1m 58s of the AoE IV - Gameplay Trailer
Gold could maybe look a bit more game gold-like… more brilliant with more sheen, and have less stone percentage:
But maybe it’ll be all good once I play.
Fires look quite white (too white, imo):
:
I know I’m commenting on cosmetic and nice-to-have things, but I can’t do much else since I haven’t done any hands-on. So, my comments come with a huge grain of salt (i.e., take them for what they’re worth)
PS: Things we point out or that will become known in beta is partly why I wish it didn’t hide in secrecy so long, as there’s little time to change or tweak things now, relatively speaking, since it’s launching in just a handful of months. Still, I’m super excited to play it and am not as worried about this as I was pre-AoE3. And I bet they’re pretty aware of most anything and everything we say and had good reasons for most decisions
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Well. It does attract a lot of responses that way which is fine to measure general opinion.
And there is also some entertainment in it caused by the forgotten letter s and ‘so stupid’.
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Lol. I never even noticed that it was not spelled correctly.
So nothing has changed since 2005? Yes, Age of Empires 2 way back in 2001 sold a lot of copies. Yes, Age of Empires 3 sold a lot of copies back in 2005 but fewer than Age of Empires 2.
But right now in 2021 Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition has 31,000 active players on Steam. Behind heavy hitters like Euro Truck Simulator 2, The Binding of Isaac and others.
What we need is a new take on RTS games that is considerably different from Age of Empires 2 and 3. And not “Age of Empires 2 sort of with a few new combat features”.
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Unless it meant a single sprite of course lol. Not so bad at all then.
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I was only correcting your calculations. You sure do think you know a lot about business but that has nothing to do with the graphics. Perhaps you should go to bed before wasting more time rambling.
I find the simplistic 3D graphics does fit in a game one plays from a high pov. That way it’s easier to see different units in the mass. Too many details or messy 2.5D graphics just doesn’t seem to fit in a 2021 age game.
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There are MULTIPLE flaws in your argument.
FIRST: You failed to address the fact, that i ALSO stated that the HD Edition on Steam; Which came out in 2013 ALSO SOLD 10 MILLION COPIES.
And that AoE 3 on Steam (which would have been re-released at approximately the same time as the HD Edition in 2013) ALSO sold 5 MILLION COPIES.
SECONDLY: You are referencing CURRENT ACTIVE PLAYERS. Which is ENTIRELY MISLEADING.
- That is NOT “total OWNERS” of the game. Some players ONLY PLAY once a day, or once a week, or once a month. Therefore a BETTER reference would be TOTAL PLAYERS PER DAY/WEEK/MONTH. A single snapshot in time is irrelevant.
You are ALSO, comparing an RTS game to NON-RTS games. Which is ILLOGICAL. Would you compare an apple to an orange? No. So why would you compare a game in the RTS genre to a game NOT in the RTS genre.
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Most AAA games choose graphics over substance. Do you know why? BECAUSE GRAPHICS SELL.
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It would seem most choose the ‘never again’ option after playing it once given the active playerbase counts.
And the game design of RTS should do something to address that.
If AOE2 can only keep 0.005% of the people who purchase it regularly playing it… is that a success in your eyes? Because to me that sounds like a dying genre and I want RTS to stick around and innovate.
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