well water was the absolute highlight
obviously being 2005 the unit models and poly count especially was a tradeoff for super nice shaders and particles
also this water reflects things, sadly aoe4 water does not, even the improved one
Something I love about AoE 3 is how lively the map look, especially when you zoom in on Native settlements on the American maps
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since weâre on the visuals, i want to highlight where aoe4 actually makes me wish devs allocated to visuals showed more care, outside of proportions
this absolute travesty of an arc, every single projectile arc in this game is like this
Yes, at least from what Iâve seen and experienced, AoE4 maps feel pretty lifeless and sterile. I donât think there are even any birds that fly over the map like they used to. AoE4 sacrificed a lot of beauty and aesthetic to be an all out mechanical RTS game, I feel.
I wish it had a much stronger balance, because a good part of my enjoyment of AoE2 has always been âimmersionâ (that lovely word everyone likes). And when the world feels a bit sterile and lifeless, and the UI is as it is, it doesnât help my immersion. There are even no animated chickens at TCs as this link to the thread discusses
Yes, that screenshot/biome looks nice ArdeiGras1576, for sure. It could easily be improved nicely with some more graphical love, though
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As I understand it, there is a lot of enthusiasm in the AoE IV MOD community to add Landmarks models, Siege Units with Siege Operators and to change the mangonels (Onagers) to "true mangonels".
However, it is not possible at the moment, since they say: The editor is blocked from adding new models. And so far, no visual mod program has been invented, as it happened back in the day for AoE II with the AdvancedGenieEditor, CampaignToScenarioUtility and others.
Maybe it will be possible, as an official visual mod, in the very distant future, but at the moment I donât think it will happen.
Me too.
Speaking of Malians, they came with the Savannah DLC, but that one is also full of wolves and deer. In the future, hopefully weâll have lions and zebras, or wildebeests and giraffes replacing them for that biome.
In practice, a biome where there were more species of GAIA animals has already been made, so itâs not impossible. Remember the White deer from Enchanted Grove? How I loved that biome. Hopefully one day theyâll bring it back for some event.
In my opinion the graphics are nice enough, but there could be more Fauna and Flora, but thatâs more of an âadd-onâ than a change that I wish for. Aoe2 did it in its time with the turkeys and jaguars of the new world, thereâs no reason why the same thing shouldnât happen in the future in AoE4.
DLC wise, some CO-OP scenarios would be welcome on top of the singleplayer campaign in my book
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Do you mean arrow arcs? If so, rejoice! As Season Nine FAQ says they fixed that:
Design Update/Rework
Projectiles have been reworked as part of Age of Empires IV â Season Nine Update Preview 12.0.1974.
- Arrow projectiles have been updated to have smoother, more natural trajectories.
- Now accounts for the height difference between two units when calculating trajectory arcs.
- The trajectory should look more ânaturalâ, i.e. Archers on a Wall or on a high cliff no longer aiming upwards even if the target is very close.
- Keep and Outpost trajectories are smoother when targeting units below them.
- Arrows no longer teleport to find the target on the final frame.
- This was especially noticeable if the unit died during the arrows flight.
- Units will no longer fire projectiles at units in their death animation.
I donât know if that has launched yet, or if it is coming later. The page title says âpreviewâ, but the page content seems more like ârelease notesâ to me⊠which are contradictory in nature. I donât really understand âSeasonsâ in gaming jargon anyways, as I donât usually participate in them (i.e., Diablo seasons, etc.). If itâs just the new name for âpatchâ, âupdateâ, or some ânew contentâ and itâs always free, then that helps me
i have some bad news on that
arrows seem better yes, but this torch above, this is a season 9 screenshot, just few days old
I also think that AOE4 does something better than other games, and that is simulating the wind. You can see how the weeds and trees move in a very natural way. In AOE-3 this is not recreated well, especially after the definitive edition it got much worse. I reported it and so far it has not been fixed.
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Ahh, so torches have same issue as arrows did (angular trajectories), and/or torches arenât leaving their hands?
Sorry, my lack of AoE4 experience can only decipher so much. You may need to circle what youâre wanting us to look at to help the uninitiated. To me, I canât tell if an arrow is coming from the tower making that very angular arc, or if torches are being thrown and that is their arc even though the units still carry torch in hand
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iâll clarify, you circled the right thing, and yes this here is the torch thrown by the nearest soldier, for some reason they always have these octagonal arcs, i can confirm arrows arenât problematic anymore
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It reflects the sun, and itâs got shadows. I think it looks good.
You have to understand water in AoE3 was an exception. They hired a programmer dedicated only to water physics. That doesnât mean itâs what should happen in every game because it happened in AoE3.
I understand you prefer that game and thatâs fine with me. You are free to play what you like. You donât need my approval.
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i will give aoe4 devs credit otherwise on new water mesh and new terrain rendering, one in place since i think season 5 patch, that was a significant improvement, back to DLC a bit, last one added new mechanics for maps, namely fields you can burn, iâd like more of that for next DLC
edit: smt i should mention with that water pic, iâm very annoyed that in aoe4 you have to go out of your way and spin camera around for decent visual, idk who gave all maps the worst lighting angle they possibly could
I think I did that so itâs easier to see the shadow and the sunâs reflection in one picture. Anyway thatâs a weird thing to point out. It looks just as nice when itâs not rotated.
Maybe AoE4 doesnât feel like itâs got something to prove. 
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it wasnât strictly related to the screenshot itself, but as a general critique of smt i think can be done better, the screenshot is still nicely done
thats one way of looking at it for sure
This is something you can report as a bug if it bothers you.
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it was reported 3+ years ago in betas, more than once
Well it clearly still bothers you. I havenât even noticed it, and I have more than 1000 hours in the game. If it bothered me I would definitely report it.
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its sign of lacking polishing touches in a sense, although imo there are things i believe are higher priority to correct, and those arenât visual (except for camera, but i wonât start with that here, not a place to argue that)
iâd keep those for private DMs to not derail the discussion on DLC needlessly