Opinion: The Problem of AoE IV

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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It almost makes you feel sorry to see how AoE IV still struggles.
For me, however, this is no surprise.

I got into the series with AoE II and loved the game from the first second.
In fact, I hardly ever played it competitively. I guess I’m the classic casual gamer who played all the campaigns and thousands of rounds with friends against the AI.

I also found AoE III quite good at the time, even if it could never completely convince me.
Nevertheless, it was absolutely clear that AoE IV would get a chance, no matter what kind of game came out in the end.

The problem with AoE IV seems to be that it can’t really cater to any of the play styles.
The developers seem to have tried to make it more of a competitive game, without really doing that well (at least that seems to be the overwhelming opinion of many other forum posts; I can’t judge that myself).
On the other hand, with the focus on competitive gameplay, they’ve kind of forgotten about casual gamers.
In the end, it seems to me that neither side is really satisfied (of course I am happy for anyone who enjoys AoE IV).

AoE 2 did a much better job of making both sides happy, in my opinion.
That seems to me to be one of the main reasons why it couldn’t be killed.
On the one hand, there were the many “hardcore” gamers who remained loyal to the game, but - if I look around at my circle of friends alone - there were also a great number of casual players who always started a version (whether original, HD, DE) to have a round of fun with friends.

If you want to inherit the legacy of a milestone like AoE 2 (which is generally considered the best part of the series), then you simply have to deliver a game that is above average in all areas.
It’s not enough if the gameplay and the technical foundation work great. Everything else has to be perfect as well.
And there are simply too many points in AoE IV that leave you perplexed.

What gets me as a casual player, for example, is that the developers force their view of how the game should be played on you in too many points, where AoE 2, for example, gives you more freedom. Give the games more options to shape the game to their liking (be it just victory conditions, popcaps, player colours, diplomacy and and).
There may be a standard configuration for the ranking etc., but let the players in individual games choose!

It may have become a passable game, but that is not enough to become a resounding success.

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I’m starting to grow tired of AoE2 players telling me why this game I enjoy is so terrible.

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because its previous title AOE2 is much better and this one is aimed at other target audiences more than the AOE players.

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Thanks, you’re one of the players I was referencing. I knew you wouldn’t let me down.

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So… you want it to stay the same and only expect balance patches??
Honest question.

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Of course not, there’s always room for improvement. It’s possible to enjoy things that aren’t perfect. I’m just tired of all these threads just echoing the same points over and over by the same group of people. There’s not a single point in the OP that hasn’t been brought up 30 times before.

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No one forces you to read topics like this. :wink:
Seriously, I know that there are many other and similar topics.
But obviously, the franchise is very impotant to many people and they just want to figure out the reasons why AoE IV does not convince many players of former AoE titles.
Not with the intention to badmouth the game but to name things that could easily be changed to make the game even more enjoyable for more players.
And yes, even for boring AoE 2 players like me.

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There is also a large part of the AoE2 community that want to see this game fail and enjoy whatever schadenfreude they can get by looking at steam charts.

The mod support and other features in the spring patch will hopefully address most of your issues. Custom content is on the roadmap and planned for release soon. It’s a shame that it wasn’t here at release but it is coming.

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For my part, I don’t want the game to fail at all. I love this franchise and I wish AoE IV will become worthy successor to this brilliant series.
But for that, there’s still some work to be done.

As I said. My only intention was to name the points, where the game needs more work and to point out the things where other games in the series found a better solution.

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You didn’t give any examples in your OP. Can you give some? You say how it feels x way compared to AOE2 but don’t give any examples of ways the game plays/game features etc.

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Let’s pretend. Let’s hail game forever, and TGs will be always unplayable, France Hulk would surf the oceans, and Mongols TC rushing.
there no auto fix, only autoarrows.

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Glad you could take the time to visit us from your home in aoezone. I knew you like MahoganyHalo80 couldn’t resist the sirens call of this post.

Let’s continue to pretend things, I’ll pretend you’re a happy person that would love for this game to succeed. Let’s pretend that games don’t get patches and are perfect from day one. Let’s pretend that we all love hippos.

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Before the fix: that is NOT a problem. Otherwise why aren’t they fixing it? Haters.
After the fix: oh thank you so much devs! I know they know this needs fixing all along. Why do you haters claim it’s you who spotted the problem?

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Yeah for sure.

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The only problem of Aoe 4 is coming out too soon, with the spring update the game will be the game that supposed to be at launch. I already invested over 300 hours in this game, I completed all campaigns and done all masteries. The rest are from playing in pvp, mostly tg games that despite not good balance, I find them very funny to play. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, who cares, just have fun. Now I’m listening a bit tiredness, I need new stuff to continue. Fortunately some new games are coming out for my taste, like total war 3 and Elder Ring.
But I’m sure that this game will continue to improve and bring my attention at top. Many are leaving this game, but they will come back as the game improves if the still have love in rts

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TGs still sucks, and no one fix it, and even no one tried to fixed.
That is great example, that your silence wont bring anything except silent ded.
If people stay silent → no progress.
It’s the rule for everything. Learn it and use, home/work/school the discussion will bring success, not muted silence.

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I like quoting random parts of a post and making an overdramatized argument.

The problem is that people keep rehashing the same points in all these various threads without adding much in terms of constructive criticism. Screaming and complaining “TG SUCKS!” isn’t helping anyone.

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the problem that if you not repeat it. They never learn.

I’ve posted about TGs in december(I’ve seen 1 or 2 other posts in december), guess what? no one cares until 10 or 20 or 100 people repeat the same post.

Demos were a joke for 2 whole months, but it was not fixed, why? because no one care about water, it was known but no one cares. It takes them 2 months.

enjoy, how good it was, that people get used to alt+f4

It’s funny on youtube until you face the same shit for 2 months
That’s why Same threads again and again. Nothing else work. Even for Hugely known issues.

But you still do not understand the idea…very hard thought.

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Must be since you haven’t elaborated why “TG sucks” and keep making these arguments about things that are fixed thinking that your spam posting was the core decision reason it got fixed. You’re the hero we need, please carry on.

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go into another thread and read.
Why i should repeat for some random who even did not tried to read these threads?