Like I said. Some people say it changes too much and some say it doesn’t. There will always gonna be people from one side or the other.
I think that by finding a middle ground between AOE 2 and 3, AOE 4 does in fact return in certain way to its origins. Is that good? Maybe not. But this is because we have tons of AOE 2 irrational players who didn’t want to evolve and accept AOE 3’s mechanics.
That’s what makes me angry. People saying that Relic doesn’t hear the core fan base when they actually do, and maybe they shouldn’t. I believe AOE 4 should continue the path AOE 3 opened (XP system, cards and heores), but after a big AOE community fracture and 15 years of no new main AOE titles… I think AOE 4 is doing the best to start again and unite us all together. It is not a remake, but it is more like a restart. Call it reboot if you please. It might not be the game all of us wanted, but it is the game we all needed.
Ok, I understand your perspective now, it makes more sense. I also have to agree that the game seems by result to cater too much to the AoEII base.
I just disagree that it is the game that we all needed.
I personally don’t need it at its current state. Maybe in the long run it will turn out that it was a good starting point, like you said, that helped the new devs become acquainted with this franchise to create something better down the line.
But right now it just doesn’t give me either a fresh perspective or the prospect for greatness that I was hoping for.
It doesn’t deviate enough from the directions of the old games to see it as something unique and different and at the same time it doesn’t carry them through. It lacks ambition and I just can’t find a good reason at the moment to pay 70USD (the equivalent price in my country) for a mediocre game that lacks ambition. And that comes from someone who was initially looking forward to get a collector’s. I can already enjoy all it offers in a more complete, well-rounded and fully featured manner from AoEIII - and others I bet from AoEII or another Age game. Maybe in a year or so from now it will become something better that I’ll want.
AOE 4 is in certain way trying to trick AOE 2 players into playing somth more close to AOE 3. The game is filling the gap that actually Age of Mythology covered.
The problem is that many people jumped from AOE 2 to AOE 3 directly, missing to understad the evolution of the game for not playing AOM. I understad all the franchise because I played all the games. AOE 1, AOE 2, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, AOM, AOE 3, AOEO and AOE 4.
The only true “fail” was to asume AOE fans would like an even more cartoonish look in AOEO. That failed to captivate me at that moment, and even tho, I tried the game years later thanks to Project Celeste and found it cool. Actually if I find a problem in AOEO that is the messy menus rather than anything else. People should be more open minded, and over all focus on game mechanics instead of graphics.
AOE 4 certainly adds further replayability thanks to age up wonders, just like asian civs in AOE 3, and feels more intense and more alive than AOE 2. For me, the best thing in the game is the wall construction system. Sea battles are also really spectacular. It is really really fun. Certainly a game I wanna play more.
To be fair, the melee damage upgrade icons in aoe2 never made sense. The best armory upgrade icons are in age of mythology, hands down (save for the thor unique attack upgrade, thats very out of place).
yeah, we sure have different views on AoEIV but that’s ok, I surely wouldn’t praise the wall construction or the navy for instance I wished I liked them though.
I just have one question, if AoEIV tricks the AoEII players to play something similar to AoEIII, what does it do to AoEIII players? It sure isnt as imaginative as AoM but I can indeed see it falling somewhere between them.
Doesn’t that mean that AoEIII guys would have to do a couple of steps back to enjoy it?
Like you said, I think this game lacks thematic cohesion: the terrain doesn’t fit the units and buildings, the units and buildings don’t fit the UI and menu, the UI and menu doesn’t fit the terrain. It’s like there was a lack of communication between the different departments during development.
I mean, they could just put different graphical options in the Options menu like every other game. I’m not getting this point. Also if financial accessability is an issue for most players, then why would they price the game at full AAA price (aka 60 euros in my case)? Intentionally “gimping” your game in order to sell to the highest number of customers, while at the same time asking for the same price as other AAA studios seems like a bad practice imo.
So let me try to understand you: you are fine with overpaying for a game just because of the IP? You don’t need me to tell you just how bad that sounds…
Overpaying no. It’s just not some random indie game. It has profund mechanics, a good lot of content (8 civs vs the usual 3 of other RTS) and a big promising community. All that counts. Excellent BSO and sound effects BTW.
Not really impressed with AoEIV tbh. I purchase it when it goes on sale just because I’m such fan of the franchise but it ain’t gonna supplant AoEIII for me.
Thanks for this reply. I’m right there with you! AoEIII just gives much more at this moment. I don’t feel like we are its targeted audience anyway.
Let it be enjoyed as an AoE2.5 by those who never played AoM, never liked AoEIII or whatever theory one comes up with. It still just underperforms in my eyes and I’m very curious to see how it’s going to be received at launch.
Good for them though and fortunately for us that we have the DE and FE on our side.
Lets break this down. 1 - “It has profound mechanics” - not really, most of it’s mechanics (or at least some similar iterations) came from either the older AoE games (AoM included) or other RTS’s like Stronghold, Battle for Middle Earth or the Settlers to name a few. 2 - “A good lot of content (8 civs vs the usual 3 of other RTS)” - only if you’re talking about Starcraft or Spellforce (games that are extremelly assymetrical, therefore being way harder to balance and that’s why there’s only three factions), older games like Empire Earth II and Rise of Nations released with 14 and 18 civs respectivelly. 3 - “A big promising community” - … that has nothing to do with the development of the game. Like, you can’t charge extra money based on a community that you didn’t build yourself, that’s absurd.
Look, if you like the game, great, I’m happy for you. But I don’t believe it has enough content to really justify much of a purchase.
Que te hace pensar que nunca he jugado age2 o age3? lo jugué primero que usted, jugaba partidas online con un modem 56k mucho antes de usted… Quizás hasta mas RTS haya jugado que tu.
I agree with you, age lll is as a superior game than age2, age2 is using very old and clunky mechanics, like castles throwing arrows to other castles that just doesn’t fit in 2021… But I disagree with you on graphics, yes, terrain looks good, some buildings too, but units, ohh boy that’s a different story they look cartoon or washed out, very difficult to distinguish them, you mentioned you loved age lll even more right? compare age lll units to age IV and see the difference… Mayorcete, there are many many people complaining about unit graphics/textures, siegue not using operators etc, so do you think they are wrong? they never played any age game also?
Also, I don’t see the “profund mechanics” of age IV, games like Dawn of war, COH2 etc, those have deep mechanics, but I can see the game at least is fun, but ignoring graphics and current UI is a big mistake.
One of his videos, he says age iv graphics are very good… and that there is no cartoon, there is no cartoon on buildings and terrain/environment but there is indeed cartoon on units.
So? It combines mechanics to make a unique game. AoE2, AoE3, and AoM all are very different games, AoE4 tried combing the best of those games to make a unique game. Did it work? Not as well as it could’ve.
What I was trying to say (and apparently failed) was that the mechanics that they brought over are neither new nor profund. I wished they’d brought something like the campaign maps style from Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots, the Spy system from Empire Earth II or stuff like Luxury Resources. AoE3 when it came out had multiple mechanics never seen before in an RTS, stuff like the Card system, Mercenaries (though Starcraft II would do something kind of similar later), Minor Civ settlements, Trade Routes, Explorers and the Treasure mechanics, while also bringing minor stuff like easier herding. I don’t know, I was expecting to have something of that level, but AoE4 failed to meet those expectations for me. Maybe if they reveal a totally different game mode ala War of the Ring from Battle for Middle Earth (with obvious changes), I would be interested but as it stands… I’m not excited. “Look guys you have Holy Sites on the map, now!” “Cool! What do they do?” “If you stand with at least one unit inside all three of them, you can wait a certain amount of time and you win the game!!!” “… so they’re just capture points.” Then you have Landmarks, which are just AoE3 Wonders but lamer. It’s stuff like this that makes me lose hope for the Franchise.
I cannot accept AOE 4 being cartoon because true cartoon is Age of Empires Online, not Age of Empires 4.
Yes. AOE 4 has a degree of simplicity, and you may call that “slightly cartoonish”, but that style has been consistent throughout all the AOE saga. AOE 1 has it. AOE 2 has it. AOE 3 has it. And so does AOE 4. If you think AOE 4 is different and AOE 2 “was more reallistic” then you got blind by nostalgia.
People don’t really know what ‘cartoony’ means, and think it’s a synonym for ‘stylized’. Which it isn’t.
Just because it can share some things, like (potential) simplicity, doesn’t justify using this term alternately.
As you’ve said- AoE:O is cartoony, not in meaning-message, but at least in style- much more brightly colored and exaggerated.
AoE IV is just more simplistic and less detailed than what we have in 3DE. All games are stylized, this one just doesn’t have a more realistic and natural looking approach when it comes to things like textures, so stylization is visible in a more clear way.
There is a short path here (along of which you darken textures, tweak music, lighting add gore and brutality to encounters) to a much gruesome, somber-feeling experience.
It would be hilarious to see death animations in AoE:O where solders pierce chests of dying enemy combatants, lying on the ground soaked in blood.
Here- I can see at least a possibility of such a thing
I wished I liked them though.