The developers have an awful lot of work to do

Hi the release of the game is fast approaching. One Beta is behind us and one Beta is ahead of us.

The developers have an awful lot of work to do … Let’s hope that they will fix things a lot and improve them for the next Beta.

And as you can see in the video … a lot of work is waiting for the game to approach 2021.

5 Likes

No idea what you are talking about.

10 Likes

I know that very well.

The real question is : why do you make a thread every time some dude make a video telling things that he dont like about age4? for me that video says almost nothing , trebuchets are good to go for me and its a pointless thing to complain about (imo)

but yeah ,they have a lot of things to do

8 Likes

Thanks for the video, very interesting.

2 Likes

The devs can finish their works before game release, don’t worry

Actually for this video I agree 100% with Age of Noob. Trebuchets should have proper sound impact and also in my opinion they look ugly and confusing while packed. AoE2s trebs are just better. Like he said, it’s in the little details like these.

2 Likes

That video isn’t REALLY about just trebs when you try to analyze it as somebody that was following this game, and most likely playing recently, for a while.
Every single element mentioned in that vid element represents the uncertainty and fears about the general state of the game. Trebs are a placeholder, an example to use, without breaking NDA, to maybe talk about it.

It’s not like every unit, building etc has its own set of 3d artists, animators or sound designers assigned to work on it. When you have some doubts and worries about the sound effects of treb projectiles - that can potentially cover and extend to a much wider array of in-game elements.

Mentioned animations of treb, visibility of the projectile, trails it leaves on the screen and impact it causes can refer to torches, arrows, cannon shots and many others.
The way buildings are affected by its fire can be stretched to other siege units.
Destruction mechanics is the same whether a building is destroyed by a treb, shock infantry, cannons or anything else.

And it has nothing to do with style of the game, visuals tones. It’s not out of the line to expect from AAA full priced game to have good basic mechanics involved throughout the entire game, in every single game, in a way that doesn’t only impress today but has potential to stand the test of time for at least couple of years :slight_smile: Think of physics in Half-Life 2, AI in F.E.A.R.

I can have the most stylized soldiers AoE have ever seen, but I still want to see them equipped with sufficient number of well-made animations that make sense and properly represent my input and their actions on the field. With well-designed sound, properly adjusted models and meshes that doesn’t leave an impression of cheapness, incompetence and indie-ness (with all respect to Indie devs out there!).

This game is primarily about warfare and every single element that contributes to that gameplay loop should be as good as it can be - you can spend a mountain of money to create a beautiful game with an amazing story, but if controlling units, destruction, gore, UI etc. doesn’t feel good- playerbase will start to bleed very quickly.
Nobody is really presenting any demands about building, gathering resources etc. because these are secondary elements.

Please remember AoN said few times he got more positive to say about IV, but can’t because of NDA :slight_smile:
And just like with most of complaining in places like that - most of the time it’s not a reflection of terrible state of the game, just very high expectations and passion for the project.

3 Likes

20 minutes to say he thinks AoE4’s treb projectiles are hard to see and track, the sounds aren’t menacing enough, the impacts aren’t impressive, the dust poofs are too opaque, and ground decals under buildings jarringly switch to different patterns? :open_mouth:

Just because it’s in video format, does that make it more relevant than a few sentences or paragraphs written in the forums? I see that happen from time to time, and it strikes me as odd; although I probably fall victim to the same sometimes… as I recognize that it is often more personable, entertaining, interesting, and convincing to watch someone explain things (with visual examples) rather than read a paragraph in a forum.

Only Trebs are discussed… and Trebs could use some improvements, certainly, but a 5 minute vid would have probably sufficed :smiley: To fix most of the things he says need fixing with Trebs would be pretty easy to fix, in my opinion. I see it as do-able before launch! Well, especially the sounds, impacts, and dust opacity. For the ground decals, animating their transition over a handful of frames rather that one frame would help (if it they are currently one-frame transitions)… and that would likely be pretty straightforward. Adding more ground decals to cycle through, though, would be a bit more time-consuming (to create more artwork).

If you haven’t had a chance to peruse the forums much yet, there are many other concerns along with trebs that are worth looking into, bringing to light, or possibly commenting on, too,

PS: The Total War example is, obviously, going to seem impressive when from ground level 500 trebs hurl flaming boulders 1000 on-screen feet, pursued by a chase cam that swivels down to ground level to let us feel the impact . Of course that might make us feel the inertia and impact a little more than an AoE game :wink: For me, their launch sound didn’t sound that great or menacing to me in Total War. I like AoE2 (pre-DE)'s launch sounds best of all the sounds shown in the vid.

If you guys like my text-written summaries and analyses, please like and subscribe! Let’s see if we can get 100 likes on my post!!

5 Likes

I know right, god I can’t stand AoN style. Also he shouldn’t even be making videos with beta experience under his belt. All us beta testers should just not talk about it - we already had our chance to talk about to the devs when it matters. AoN video is basically just view-baiting for those who didn’t get an invite and are desperate for some beta insight. Because of this you get long winded spiels full of hearsay and speculation:

It’s not really a fruitful discussion is it :wink:

Why AoN felt the need to make a video talking about feedback of pre-beta footage is the real mystery here.

4 Likes

When does the NDA end, I wonder? (Rhetorical question, mainly.) It’s just that he says he will refrain from talking about beta stuff ‘until after the NDA is lifted,’ but I don’t know that NDAs for alphas/betas/pre-release stuff magically “lifts” at time of game release or shortly after, unless a date was specifically given. Maybe he’s aware of a firm date mentioned in the contract/agreement. For any and all betas for any franchise, I just assume I can never speak of them, lol. It’s a nice, safe default stance to have. But that’s why I’m always surprised when I see people talk openly in forums about things seen or discussed during betas

Either way, he certainly seems like a cool guy and enjoys making his videos, so I certainly don’t want to affect that positivity or be too judgmental, by any stretch. I re-read my post above and realize my matter-of-fact/objective tone could be misinterpreted, so I’ll edit it for some levity. His chill, laid-back approach is pretty refreshing amongst all the flashy and sensory overload videos on the internet, to be honest :slight_smile: … and realize that could be a big draw for followers. But, for me, in this one particular case, I wasn’t expecting to watch 20 minutes to see what amounts to five quick bullet-points of info. I’ve only seen this video of his, and maybe one other.

I’ll watch more of his videos, though, and try to keep an open mind

I do not think the NDA for the closed beta ever lifts. It does not benefit the AOE franchise in any way for details of older closed builds to be out there, potentially misleading new fans who might not know better.

3 Likes

Yeah they really have nothing to gain and more to lose if they were to say “oh our game had problems in dev builds before launch”.

They’re a game company at the end of the day and they have financial concerns and an image to uphold.

The fact beta testers got a preview of the game was already a massive risk on their part.

1 Like

The animations of the trebuchets are so much better in aoe4 than earlier

3 Likes

isnt this his tactic with everything though? click bait, verbose videos, with very little point, or something he’s robbed from someone else?

he’s done this a few times, including posts on reddit… i wouldnt be surprised if he sees what is gaining the most popularity amongst the vocal crowd and goes with that…

no it isnt… have you played the beta?

3 Likes

but did he wrong with the video, or did he lie?
it’s named explanation.

2 Likes

He didn’t. Most of the time there’s a bunch of text on screen where he’s presenting points, arguments, reason for what he’s saying.
It’s literally impossible to take it as trolling, maybe outside of being a fan boy :wink:

Trailers presented to public are often cherry-picked, properly tied together and beautified to leave the best impression. They say ‘we are showing you this because we think it’s good, interesting and we hope this will make you buy this game’.
These are not video renders. Why not judge it?

Video like that is valuable just to be able to go back and notice progress (or their lack of) when it comes to issues visible in earlier builds.

The latest official AoE channel Instagram video about trebs was pretty cool and pretty nice timing considering this thread :smiley:

https://www.instagram.com/ageofempiresgame/

I didn’t find any issues with Trebs, I srsly don’t understand why one should care about projectiles as all siege weapons just need a right click and their projectiles will hit on that building or unit. Projectiles are not based on distance that the player needs to adjust it, as the unit automatically unpacks at the minimum firing range. None of the projectiles are approximate, they have laser point accuracy, only thing people need to worry is protecting the siege from getting melee damage.

last thing is pan the camera to destroyed building and confirm the destruction. AOE 4 is fine the way it is, sound can be improved but there are bigger priorities like UI, information, communication, optimization, Match quality, connectivity that needs to be improved.

No matter how much beautiful something is made, aesthetics is subjective opinion.

Sounds like this guy is a literal noob in understanding reality vs gameplay.

I’m gonna be honest here. I think the video is a result of someone having way, way too much free time.

5 Likes