Of all the pros the game has, which one is your favorite?

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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After playing beta I got different feelings about the game. There are many videos and comments already complaining about the graphics, I am quite sure devs are notified about that. The question is, why do they not talk about it? Bet we would appreciate updates regarding this topic…

On the other hand the game have so much potential and positive things that I consider important to share to thank devs for some specific decisions that I am quite sure we mostly like (imo, not pretending to talk by a majority)

1-Landmarks: many people hate landmarks, I personally liked it. It adds a whole new game mode and that’s pretty cool to have, they will obviously add the most played mods we all know of course, but having a new game mod it’s pretty cool and brings that feeling that they will add more fun game mods.

2-Environment: I do not know if I am the only one… but the game is so pleasant to see when you are playing it in terms of environment. I pretty much like the feeling of the atmosphere. I think we all agree that there is a lack of details and little details, but I am quite sure they will add those in the campaigns at least (fingers crossed)

3-The mongol explorer: the mongols explorer is amazing, just wish all civs had their unique explorer, with that big button to find him easily.

4-The shepherd horse: well that was so much fun to haunt some sheeps with my explorer, and stealing dead sheeps from the enemy base was so much fun and strategic. That’s a great addition. Still like it more the treasure haunting from AoE 3, but devs did great by adding something completely new and different and that means a lot.

5-Game stability and performance: that’s finally fixed at all. A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE. Again thanks to devs for such incredible work in this area. For whoever has played the previous AoE versions online, the sync errors and the lag caused by others make the experience so frustrating and it takes dozens of minutes to find a good game that is worth it. It seems to be completely eradicated now, at least in the beta it took a few minutes to connect a game and had 0 drops, 0 fraps drops, and had a great time playing without any inconveniences.

6-Art design: this is a polemic one. One thing is art direction and another thing is graphics. If the graphics are not looking anything like the concept arts then there is a mistake. For example the concept art applied to the graphics from 2019 looks great. But the graphics from the beta are hard to read in game and far (visually speaking, proportions, colors, tones, saturation) from the 2019 video. My hope is that they fix or tune over whatever they have to do to make it look better, because the graphics are a failure at this point IMO, but the art design, yes those colorful cinematics (assuming that was the main art design) from 2019 were amazing. For example the mobile game shares the same concept art but it looks more defined and contrasted, and with bigger amount of details and props, you can check this post: AoE 4 vs AoE mobile, lets compare them - #32 by marcoracosta205

7-Sound design and music: age of noob explained it very well. Sound is a masterpiece, so pleasant to hear and give extra inmersion to the inmersion lol, I really loved that, again thanks to the devs for such a crazy and incredible perfect work in terms of audio.

8-Celebration animations: thanks for bringing back that detail from AoE 3, it adds a lot to the game.

9-Age of mythology gameplay: I do not understand why are people comparing it to AoE 2 gameplay, when it is completely equal to AoM. As a AoM casual player I love this, thanks for keeping it stuck to the game and not changing it that much that would ruin the experience. And I think this is a wink for us to expect AoM 2 on this game engine which will be insane!

10-Classic 10 elephants in a boat lol: maybe you have not noticed but this is a very loved and authentic feature from all AoE games. I know ships could be better and bigger and more exciting, but even if they enhance them, I hope they keep this feature of getting my whole army inside of a small ship :joy:

Well now I want to hear your opinion, from all the pros the game has, which one is your favorite? or what else would you add?

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Mangudais that shoot while moving.

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How actually fun it is

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Sound design really.

It’s easily one of the most immersive and best designed games I have ever played when it comes to sound, even tho I think that AoE4 is really flawed in some basic concepts.

Everytime soldiers shout to me from across the other side of the map for notification, army movement starts to sound really heavy at ~20 men or they start to charge into the fight.
It just gives you the chills.

Small details such as building noises and villagers actually dropping the ressources are also just great to listen to while playing.
The game started to give me Stronghold vibes at some point.

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I agree, and even the way the units actually talk and whisper when not selected makes the units feel so alive

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I see everyone praising sound design in AoE IV and I myself find it really good too. But am I the only one that thinks that artillery lacks some oomph and boom to it?

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Trebuchets sound great. Im not sure about bombards however.

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The gameplay in general for me is a big pro, its so smooth, its hard for me to describe it but I really like the way the units move and the way they behave when idle or when you order them to attack.
Also naval maps are so much more fun on this game than any previous aoe game.

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Sound design, by a mile. There is simply no contest, all other features are meh but the audio feels truly revolutionary when compared to previous AoE games and other modern RTSs.

You need a subwoofer. Bombard cannons sounded just like Pershings tanks in CoH. My neighbors probably thought we were being invaded during the closed beta. The Relic folks really are experts in making gunpowder stuff sound very realistic.

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We can make an asmr just with that lol

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Only really being able to put units on walls. So epic and would just make me want to play every game like an AoE4 low elo legend for fun. I also like burning buildings.

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:slight_smile:

Jokes aside, those little things are giving the game this “busy city” feeling that it lacked until now.

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I’m gonna have to agree with most people in this thread and say I was absolutely blown away by the sound design.
…except the bell of course
I also really enjoyed the faster pace of the dark age. Feels like just the right amount of early game city building before jumping into combat.

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Sound design all the way. Can’t stress how good it is, it’s better than most games. Only game I can think of that had better audio is Valheim.

I also really enjoy the nature and the terrain. The game really comes alive when you have a scout riding up a mountain shepherding sheep through a forest. The cliff sides and rolling hills look like a Renaissance painting.

I really enjoy the feel of the game in general, even though I’ve been complete ■■■■ at it in the betas. I also do agree with the majority of the topics in the post. It’s nice to see positivity here, it’s rare on the forum.

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Yeah, the sheer amount of discussion happening on the “cons” version of this topic is kind of disheartening but expected (and maybe more helpful for the devs I suppose)

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That’s the point my friend. This is not with any bad purpose or saying devs did garbage. What they have done has so much potential. But since they are not current AoE players they are missing some elemental things and making some questionable decisions that most of the community is complaining about. So the main idea is to help the game be what we all expect to be. We can not lose this opportunity to make this game a hit and promote the creation of more classic RTS. Hope they can take tips from forgotten empires, they did brilliantly in all DE versions. They can work with them and save the day, and I am completely sure we all agree to have a delayed release as long as they fix the common cons we have found as a community…

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Well as people have noted the sound design is amazing.

I actually quite like the graphics and art style. It makes me think of a painting and I think it’s very fitting.

I also like that they have tried making tech tree differences additive this time rather than subtractive like aoe2. That and the way blacksmith upgrades now work make it easier for civs to adapt to the enemy unit composition.

I like the level of asymmetry they have. Having the same core units, but more unique techs and some different mechanics between the civs. It feels between AoE 2 and 3 which is good. Although I hope they branch out a bit more with future civs.

I like the landmarks, the sacred sites, how sheep work now, the varied elevation in maps, etc…

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I enjoy some of the graphical details. For example, when you build a house, the area around it transforms into a yard, the lumber yard wheel turns and rotates, burning buildings have heat waves that distort the air around it, upgraded units appear distinctly different, the berry bushes have butterflies (butterflies!?). These little things are often missed during hectic online gameplay, but really help create a gorgeous environment.

I still haven’t seen anything jaw-dropping as when I first played other Age games (the water and ragdoll physics from Age3 sticks out in my mind), but I really appreciate the attention to details.

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Walls. You can actually have sieges now

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I never really expect or even want draw dropping graphics in RTS. They could improve water a bit but I don’t really even notice or care. The AoE3 rag doll physics are way over the top, but some different death animations for units that get taken out by cannons and springalds and things could be nice.

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