How much is one notch, though? Since you have to restart the game when you change the setting, I’m not going to spend time evaluating that today. It could be a 100 notch difference, but if each not is a nanometer, it won’t be much difference
Haha, yeah, that zoom doesn’t look good to me. If that’s how it looked when it launched, though, looks good. Probably about the same as AoEs and AoM CD/DVD versions at the time. But games made in the '90s and early '00s were still feeling UIs out, experimenting, and being restrained by PC and low resolutions. Times have changed since then and playing games on what looks like the same screen real estate as an old 640x480 or 800x600 is a ‘no thanks’ for me.
But, hey, that’s why game “options” exist. The competitive scene can play their games on what’s probably equivalent to a 1280x720 viewport if they think they’re better/faster with that… and I’ll play way zoomed out in comparison. Everyone happy. But when the devs, essentially, say, “No, everyone must play as though it looks like it’s 1999 or on a 1280x720 screen, even if you never play ranked or MP against any humans,” then you might understand how I’d feel.
As for SC2 icons, they were being futuristic/sci-fi. Fits the game fine, and works for the year it came out. (It’s funny, though, looks like they actually predicted the ridiculous future of iconography.)
Someone coming from Total Annihilation or Beyond All Reason might find AoE2 zoom to be claustrophobic
I highly doubt they’d feel claustrophobic. They’d probably see it as a refreshing breath of fresh air. And if they hate it, they can mousewheel zoom is considerably
It’s great there are games for all preferences.
Too bad AoE4 isn’t one of those games
If players can play games like Starcraft 2, which is insanely intensive, that zoomed in, they can play AoE4 just fine
Don’t get me wrong… I can play AoE4 or any AoE game at the bad zoom level, it’s just annoying to do so. That’s the main reason why I’ve only played AoE4 once since buying it. I’ve helped fund the game and franchise, and if they can’t spend 10 minutes adding a higher zoom level for those who want it, then so be it. I know the game can have a farther out zoom, and it would be easy.
And my single-player, unranked, and MP-with-friends vs. AI wouldn’t impact you or anyone if my zoom was higher than you’re able or wanting to go.
EDIT: Also, question for you. Why doesn’t the Enhanced Graphics Pack in AoE2 allow you to have the same zoomed out level? It’s for bigger monitors after all.
Not sure what you mean. But I’ve asked about EGP before (in 2019), and this was a developer’s response:
… and since I don’t have a 4K+ monitor – as I said before I have 1440p – I don’t use EGP
In its current state and with the upcoming PUP simply adding a bunch of balance tweaks? You’re right. The problem is I see the potential, but MS doesn’t seem to be fueling much dev work on it to improve/enhance it in the ways I would do