I do not “think” i know. I “do” know. There is a difference. 
You even proved my point earlier when you stated that 1 million copies would make the development studio “break even”. Your statment earlier confused REVENUE, with PROFIT. Which are NOT the same thing.
Minecraft sold a lot, too. And it’s not really known for its stellar graphics
MOST people are ASLEEP, MOST of the time. And MOST other players, have school, or work, or are generally to busy to play 24/7. Your calculations are ENTIRELY MISLEADING.
If that “active palyer count”, REMAINS AT 30,000 for an ENTIRE YEAR. Does that mean that the 30,000 have been playing 24/7 for AN ENTIRE YEAR STRAIGHT? No. It means DIFFERENT people have bene starting up the game, while others have been exiting the game FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR.
So that 30,000 players. Is more like 3 MILLION unique players OVER THE COURSE OF TIME.
Minecraft is an exception. There are always execeptions to the rule.
However, you should NEVER think that the rule is invalid because of a few outliers.
True, true. It is almost 6am there now, you really should get some rest. Sleep is good for us humans!
Lol. So true. But i work up early. Conveniently i work up JUST when the announcement was starting i did not even know about the announcement until there was 26 SECONDS LEFT until the announcement started.
Now i want to watch anime.
Wow, I didn’t know the age forums were this toxic.
Personally I am excited to see actual beta gameplay. The graphics choice can make a lot of sense in higher zoom levels, and might be a lot better than every unit looking too similar.
Personally, I like the graphics
better than a single person making everything
So you’ve never seen Total War gameplay? It’s realistic and easy to see
Realistic means proportions, color, detail and movement.
Whether they are good or bad graphics is subjective.
I’m just curious and disappointed that they chose the same aoe3 animation style, and didnt go for something actually next gen.
The ultimate judgement awaits release, but i have my doubts
Google Will translate this article from german to english
Take a look to the comments: all criticisms are for the graphic.
Germany Is the best market for RTS in Europe.
I have to Say that probably my title Is too strong but i’m a big fan of AOE and i have been on this community since 2017. I Always shared my suggestions, worries and opinions fairly. I’ve created many thread and posted many messaggera too: Always with a good feeling with the most of you.
But since the First gameplay of AOE4 (x019) i said, with many other guys here, that Relic were going with the wrong way on graphic engine: units were poor of detailes and game seemed like a cartoon.
Many threads about this and many invites to developers for some improvements. After Two Years this Is the final result.
Yes, title Is bad and i’m Sorry if i hurted some of you but i probably right: check out the web and you’ll find the same bad graphic reactions.
A Probably solution for me? Delay the game until 2022 and improve the graphic, units and models.
Halo infinite Is the right example here: this game looks much Better than the previous gameplay on Xbox showcase (july 2020)
This Is Age of Empires not a new IP. A bad opinion (and It’s starting now on web) could be damage for the franchise
I think the issue with the graphic quality comes from thinking we want a 3D game, when we don’t:
If you check a trailers they are always zooming and rotating cameras, but in real AOE game, we rarely do that, and when we do it, we zoom units just to enjoy more details on every soldier.
That is something you can accomplish beautifully in 2D imitation, just look at the Paladin’s AoE II helmet feathers, that is pure art!.
When you take a 3d approach for the everything, you lose this details because a 2 millimeters feather in polygons doesnt look natural in a low end computers suffer.
So, my i-know-no-one-will-follow-advice, is to leave 3d for environment and buildings, and go back to 2d imitation for units, and pick extreme realism there, not polygons or cartoonish approach.
With AOE we want to “play” like we are in the “real”, not like we are just having fun.
I personally don’t see graphics being “cartoony” I think color choices and object scaling is throwing you off. I like the graphics, but I respect your opinion.
Those are the graphics I wanted to see in AoE IV…
Are you trolling me? You are posting some really nice pictures and then saying it looks horrible?
I think the main thing is that units have to be polished a bit and animations/arrows. Buildings and environment looks beatifull!
That’s why I wrote, “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.” There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, and it seems like you’re one who has that issue with the older titles, and I’m glad it’s in. The devs made a really cool, unique solution to an otherwise tough issue to sort out! But, surely, I can still be hopeful that there’ll be a toggle… just in case myself and other players would prefer it off, right?
I think I’d be okay with it if it wasn’t so bright… and blended with things more naturally (so I hope things can be modded, if no other skin options are given in-game)… but we’ll see. Maybe once I play it, I’ll always want it how it is 
It does look pretty gorgeous, especially when zoomed out more, and has some cool vistas/moments in the trailer, imo 
So cool!
I think if future marketing focuses less on zoomed-in details (which, for some, reveals a ‘lack’ of detail and polish) and shows more from the perspectives and/or zoom levels we’ll be playing at, then I think that would be good. (Unless AoE IV will require a lot of zoomed-in gameplay?)
I strongly feel gameplay > graphics, but know that good graphics or extra graphical details can really accentuate things nicely. For me, it’s not always about the highest resolution textures, but moreso the attention to detail even if those details don’t have the highest resolution textures in the world. Which is why I mentioned sparks on pick-axe strikes on gold mines and such.
Surely, Relic has to optimize the game for a wide variety of PC configurations. They could have probably put 8K textures on everything if they wanted and shown us that in the trailers, but I think they went with a more realistic and real world/modest approach to show the graphics are fantastic, but nicely reasonable for today; and hopefully prioritized gameplay over graphics.
I bet the graphics are pretty scalable in the engine. So, if the game doesn’t already release with the graphical details, textures, and polish you expect, then it’s probably(?) in their back pocket to release an update or expansion at some point down the road, as higher-end PCs get more affordable and more mainstream, to reveal more detailed graphics. Hard to explain without writing a book, so I’ll leave it at that and hope it somewhat makes sense.
You don’t need the game to release to critizice something you can clearly see in the trailers showed today (Unless the devs plan to fixed or change drastically the Graphics on release, then the critic is valid).
I have never played Warcraft 3. But IF you are talking about Warccraft 3 REFORGED!!! That game SUCKS AND EERYONE KNOWS IT!! THere were MILLIONS OF REFUNDS!!!
Warcraft 3 Reforged? More like Warcraft 3 REFUNDED!!!
In regards to Starcraft 2. The game Star craft 2 is NOT cartoonish.
I actually addressed this point a few comments after you posted this.
The game Starcraft 2 is NOT Cartoonish. Also, Starcraft 2 is MOST popular in Asian countries, and specifically in Korea. This is MOSTLY due to the playstyle/game FORMAT being similar to an FPS, WHEREBY the game DOES NOT go for very long, AND where the “action” of the game, can happen ALMOST “immediately”.
A Starcraft 2 game can be finished in under 5 minutes. An AoE 2 game will take At least 10 minutes AND probably “longer”.
Actually, that is ALL THE MORE REASON, to discuss the game. One of the MAIN reasons that AoE 3 FAILED, wa because it tried to hard to make the simplify the base building concepts and too hard to have the player start attacking sooner, which was quite possibly an attempt to get the AoE SERIES and turn the franchise into an Esports type of game.
The only problem being, that NO ONE wants to watch an Esports game where BOTH players spend the first 10-15 minutes BUILDING THERE BASES. Although the can get many to watch AoE 2 on twitch, the simply fact, was that AoE as a franchise, was never going to be an Esports becaues the FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN of the game, makes that impossible. The only way to change that, is to FUNDAMENTALLY change the design. Not to mention that to be successful, the AoE franchise would need to compete against Starcraft 2.
You know what other game was similar to Starcraft 2 and TRIED to get into the Esports scene? Command and Conquer. Which FAILED. Though mostly because of the continously rushed games being developed and released.
Pointing out flaws is NOT complaining. And your attempt to state that it is complaining, is merely an attempt to DEFLECT LEGITIMATE CRITICISM.
You are naming OUTLIERS. Outliers by defintion, are the EXCEPTION, NOT THE RULE.
What is being referenced is whether the graphics look CARTOONISH, and NOT whether the graphics “are good or not”. There IS A DIFFERENCE.
This a previusm reply that should explain what was stated. For further context. See the reply what what “cartoonish” means.
You may actually be right, if not fully, then at least partially right. I thought the environment looked okay, though some of the wall looked a bit cartoonish. Most of the buildings looked okay, except for a few.
