Sure, but those are different things to what I was talking about.
varied scenery is smt aoe4 just can’t do well until they stop using the same deer boar and whatnot for everything, all past games had this figured out, now terrain geometry, yes aoe4, and essence in general does it well, reason probably being when the camera is as close as it is in all relic games its much easier to pick on smaller details on terrain (smt aoe4 actually fumbled initially till graphics patch), so it had to look right cause otherwise it’d be instantly pointed out as lacking
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Is there any chance that the graphics updated in the next or future patch ?
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I don’t think so. I’m on the side of who believe that all the graphic updates have been added to the game at this point. Graphic changes on models (something similar to COH3) would request too much work by developers. They should remade all units in 4k resolutions as we seen with Season V.
The game looks too “cold”. Every map has a blue tint to it. Even warm regions.
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Yes, I think that when the new DLC is announced at Gamescom, this will move a bit more… but that’s still 3 weeks away…
Nah, too early for that… AoE 4 has DLC until 2026 and we wouldn’t see AoE 5 until 2027…
It’s because AoMR looks more alive, AoE 4 will look more “realistic” but the maps are very empty of life, they look like AoE 1 or 2 maps, but those are games from 25 years ago…
Exactly, I couldn’t have said it better myself…
True, and let’s not even mention AoE 3, where all the maps are from the real world and, despite being symmetrical, they feel real with native minor civs, fauna and flora…
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Exactly!
AOEIV needs to implement the native mercenary units of the AOE3.
It adds so much taste and unit capacity and leads to more combat.
I don’t know about native mercenaries per se, but bandit camps like in campaigns, where you pay 1000 food and gold to recruit them or on the contrary destroy them and steal their treasure with 1000 of each resource…
No, those games also have good wildlife representation for such old games, there are elephants, lions and crocodiles, and different types of birds. Also, they shouldn’t be compared to the original games, but to the remasters.
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True, but not as much as AoE 3… and they are forgiven because they are games from the late 90s…
It’s just odd that they’ve neglected to add more animals for so long. It really is not a big undertaking, and I am still hoping that event they had a few months ago (almost a year now) celebrating the animals in the game, was a hint towards something more–because if not, then it is so tone deaf it just makes me question the people behind the project.
I think AoE4 plays the best out of any Age games available, despite featuring bit boring design for unique units and mechanics. What holds it back, and what has always held it back, was a underwhelming campaign and visuals.
The people that made the developers turn the game into a desaturated mess because of the initial “mobile game” criticism before launch have legitimately hurt the game in more ways than one. I suspect they’re behind many odd decisions, such as the size of production buildings and stubbornness around the usage of weapons for Spearmen. They’re likely the reason behind not adding more diversity to the environment and animals too.
For reference, here is how it looked before people demanded they change the colours;
And here is after.
The game was clearly not built with this palette or building production size in mind, yet no one seemingly wants to walk back this obviously awful decision because it went through some council, because they suppousedly know better than the artists behind it.
My most hated element of environment in AoE4 is specifically those trees you see on the bottom left of the last picture. You see, they look incredibly artificial after they changed the colours. Too blue to look like any real tree. But, I imagine that they likely would’ve appeared much better in the original lighting of this game. Oh, and it is also featured way too much, in almost every environment, making them feel that much less like different environments.
EDIT: Also frozen horses in stables and chickens in houses/TCs. Like, cmon you can do better.
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Sure, I can accept the graphics and the lack of fauna, as long as they include fun and interesting civs to play and documentary campaigns or at least ones that resemble those of AoE 2…
It should be very obvious to even the last fan of the series that aoe4 is a budget game, fullstop.
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They can’t. It can confuse competitive players. They’re too smart to beat anyone, but too dumb to tell the difference between a decorative unit and an interactable one.
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So pros don’t play SC2 then…there are decorations on all maps…
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Budget game.
One can’t say more than that…
Create massive cash by selling copies and then running away with it.
No support.
I mean, Lucifron and Vortix now officially leave aoe4.
It’s not an old game, not even 3 years old and the biggest pros are already leaving.
Aoe2 players (and pros) who tried it, realized on release that this game is NOT worth the aoe title.
I’m just hoping aom retold will have a better fate and an amazing support.
I hope that game gets the love from M$crosoft that aoe4 should have deserved as well.
It’s been years since aoe4 release and nonstop claimed BASIC QOL features, which have been demanded, haven’t been worked at yet at all.
This game is doomed.
Microsoft is trying to grab some last cash, then let it die.
Just hoping for aom retold now.
Haven’t prepurchased it, will judge about it through twitch streams after release and see if it’s worth the money or being released in alpha/beta state like aoe4.
Though, world’s edge is working on it and they are far more capable than Relic, which were honestly a terrible choice for aoe4, aoe is not their field.
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Yes, ten seasonal updates with however many monthly updates and a full expansion in the middle screams “budget”.
“I want this game to have more, do more and be more” is absolutely fine (isn’t that why we’re all here?), but “budget” it is not. For example, the original campaign cinematics alone aren’t “budget”, whether you like them or not.
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Wait, that’s what it originally looked like? It looks so much better!
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Yep. Lighting matters when most assets are created with one type of it in mind. Look at the fullness of the red paint covering the wooden framework, look at the golden cap having a robust orange golden sheen to it, the grass, bushes and forests looking verdant rather than pale and neon.
Of course, people were convinced the game looked “cartoonish” and attacked any and all elements of it. And to be fair, the game does look cartoonish, but lessening the qualities that makes it work does not make it less cartoonish. It just makes it look worse for everyone.
The colours that were brought forth by the prior lighting completed AoE4’s look. No one dares changing this now because it was changed to begin with on behalf of “the playerbase” who were blindly attacking any and all visual elements of the game.
I simply ask that they reevaluate. It currently looks dreadful.
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While this solution doesn’t have control over everything required to do a graphics overhaul, Reshade can be used to change a lot about color values and other things people have had an issue with.
I think it would be very interesting to see some gameplay with the preferred visuals people have described using this tool!
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