I think you got something wrong, people are not asking for “super realistic”,
they are asking for “up-to-date.”
Just compare those pictures, Ancient Wars: Sparta or Rise & Fall Civilizations at War from year 2006 to Age of Empires 4 that is going to be released this year.
I suppose by up to date u mean - more realistic. But look at those games like fornite or some nintendo games i see on youtube advertisements. Arent they up to date? Its an art style. There is no up to date art style
Also dont tell me u find this picture better than AOE4. When i see this im insta not interested in a game 
No offence to developers of that game.
Also it seems like u are trying to show how much more detailed everything is in that game. And I have to agree that elephants and solders have much more detail in them. But does it make it look better overall - NOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Its like when u are buying furniture or something for a house u can get each individual thing as fancy as u could find but when u put all that crap in a single room it looks real bad. This is where designers come in so they put everything together that actually looks good.
Least detailed picture of AOE4
still looks better than super detailed picture of this
in AOE4 it just looks great together while in that game it doesnt no matter how detailed elephant is
Ok, what if we compare for example actual modern “super realistic” and “Super Detailed” strategy game like Call to Arms to, for example up-to-date colorful Spellforce 3
Does Spellforce 3 still look super realistic and super detailed ? Those fantasy creatures, with magic effects are clearly not realistic, or the unit sizes of Spiders and Dwarfs, while in the game with tanks you can see the fingers of each soldier, in SF3 you don’t have that level of detail.
Problem is in AOE4 units are badly “constructed”. Look at AoE4 swordsmen, spearman and archer, they all have similar dress code, while they have unrealistic proportions and lack detail. By for example Rise and Fall, archer and soldier have completely different closes, while are more detailed.
or look at the dwarf soldiers in SF3
They are in a chaotic combat, but still you can pretty good tell each one apart, You have a soldier with horns, cape and 2 axes, you have the foot soldiers with his hammer and shield, you have the caster without t-shirt and shield on the back, you have the crossbow guy with clearly brighter uniform, and the fire mage with visible fire on his shoulders. Each unit has a distinct and clear different uniform.
I have to be honest this indeed looks very cool
Yea I agree there could be place for improvement for sure but I already like how it is. But if it was improved to these details like here yea for sure it would look even better.
This picture was a good point. I give credit where its deserved
Looking at this picture I almost have to agree that later on they should release AOE4:DE with these kind of details
on point. Every1 usually give some garbage screenshots from some random games but this indeed shows the whole point
Im having trouble identifying which troops even fight with each other in a zoomed in picture. Good luck trying that in a hectic gameplay. The colors “dark blue” vs “light blue” might not be the best choice either. From a readability side this is horrible, you couldn’t even make it worse. I rather play AoE online than this - and comic styled games are not something that i’m too interested into(propably not but still).
I mean if you can’t identify a unit with his 2m long sword vs a unit with a 5m long lance then there might be a problem.
lol what ?? XD …play AOE 1 rest of your life then
he is kind of right, that even very old games look better designed.
here as example screen shots from a game made 14 years ago.
Its same faction, you can see very detailed units and how they evolve over time,
while have realistic proportions, you can very well tell archer, spearman and sword dudes apart.
Each unit has own very different uniform, and that for 1 base + 2 updates,
while they start in rags, over time they get neat armors.
In AoE4 we have seen units just have one default uniform for all units.
By the way even the way how several constructors are on the building looks there better.
In AoE4 its just clean, by the game designed over 14 years ago you see dust/fog, so it gives the impression they do actually work.
Rise & Fall Civilizations at War was in development just 1 year lol.
here original resolution
They are still better to tell apart than in AoE4, once it does get hectic.
Due to same color patter, units close to each other just look like blue blobs with sticks.
But can it happen? I mean we all know how AoE Online, DoW3, RoL and by many more games it ended.
They did perform poorly, the plug was pulled and those games did not receive any further support.
We all did know it won’t be easy, but it has to meet expectations of the modern games market.
AoE4 has to convince people it’s an up-to-date game, that is in touché what people want.
Again, it was canceled because of economic model, not graphics
I see a lot of these games that are supposedly “up-to-date” that don’t have nearly as big a playerbase as Aoe2, which is a 20 year old game (HD+voobly)
Are you sure you know what people want in an RTS?
Hope developers listen to fans and not push what they believe themselves.
They are making games for fans therefore fans feedback is important.
If they want to push what they believe, then good luck. Let them enjoy the game they made for themselves, not their fans.
You do realize that most people DO NOT have a 3 year bachelor degree in graphics, and CANNOT explain the “type” of graphics USING “GRAPHIC DESIGN TERMINOLOGY”. If you were to ask me what “saturation” means, i would have NO CLUE. I have only heard about it, as an “excuse” used to justify the graphics. I have also heard that Age of Empires 2 using an “isometric” graphicsw, or something like that. WHICH I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THAT EVEN MEANS.
When someone refers to something as being “cartoony” They are NOT referring to something as being ACTUALLY “cartoony”. They are just using a BEST FIT terminolgy, based on the vocabulary that they have available. Which is NOT the same vocabulary that a “graphics designer” would use.
Just to be clear. Usage of the world “cartoony” is NOT subjective. Nothing is subjective. It is just, that those who are making the comments, do NOT know how else to phrase, “HOW” they perceive the graphics. 
Also, just to be clear. After carefully reviewing the released footage. What i described as “cartoonish” in the Age of Empires Forums, is MOSTLY the fact, that, the “player colour identifiers”, for each unit, is used on TOO MUCH of most of the units “relative to the proportion of the whole unit”.
Just to be clear. Age of Empires 2, has the player colour identifiers on each unit as being LESS prominent on each unit. Thereby, it makes all units of a specific colour, look like that colour, instead of looking like the unit. If that makes sense. This explanation is probably terrible though. There are also a few things with the NON-unit grapihcs, which appear slightly cartoonish. Which is even more difficult to explain exactly how it is perceived as “being cartoonish”.
A good analogy is manga vs comics. I can ““SEE”” the difference in the graphical style. HOWEVER, i do NOT ““KNOW”” the difference. I hoep that makes sense.
After reading the first two (2) sentences, the first thought was, “so you play tested different Builds of the game”.
We must wait for the e3 I think to see the evolutions.
Lol E3? E3 is a joke.
trust me, most of the people saying ´´GrApHiCz dOeZ nOt MatTer´´ are mostly kiddos that started playing this game 5 years ago.
For those of us who started it 20 years ago, we witnessed how amazing and big was the graphics and mechanics improvement from AoE 1 to 2, then to mythology then to 3. The biggest characteristic of the saga was the graphics. Then the historical accuracy and the wonderful colors. Remember there was a huge step from 1 to 2. So AoE 2 is not famous because it’s fun, it’s popular because it has the meaning of innovation, realistic historic battles and colourful visuals.
In AoE 4 colors are perfect, I love them. units size are fine, I prefer clear understable units. BUt those units look cartoonish, you can’t say Aoe 1, 2 and 3 are cartoonish, they are colorful units but not cartoonish at all. Battles and animations in AoE 4 look so mediocre and boring. sieges without operators look cringe and ships have a lack of detail and animations. They completely forgot we are 2021. You can’t justify a big company like Relic doing such a mediocre game with this franchise.
But hey there’s a chance, they usually listen to people. They still have time to do corrections and to delay the release date. Hope they do and make it the game we all expect.
bruh what a difference, now I am even more dissapointed, it is just ridiculous, it really makes me feel disgusted…
I have played the age games for 20 years and I don’t really care for the graphics. IMO they really don’t matter too much. I’m also fine with them taking a new more stylized direction with the looks of the game. I still see potential for improvement but overall I really like the way the game looks. I would play the game as it looks right now but I also would be open if they desaturated the colors of the units to make them fit in with the landscape more. But please don’t generalize your own opinion and say that people that like the graphics are kids that don’t know the franchise because that is not true from all of us.
it becomes painful, I am over 30 years old and I like the game as it is. thank you for respecting the community.
@Huge5000RTSFan great use of images to make your point. aoe4 definitely did not live up to the expectations in graphics.
Memes are already out. Thats from reddit lol. Where are the devs to see that?
XO19 environment looks more alive because of the saturation and sun shine. I think devs should bring that back.
