Echoing some of the previous posters and adding a few thoughts, my main concerns about the graphics are:
Arrows coming from Mongolian towers travel vertically before heading towards their targets.
All arrows are too bright/large and move disjointedly through the air.
Elephants do not strike the buildings they are supposedly attacking.
Gunpowder units’ flashy attack animations potentially make battles difficult to interpret or unrealistic in appearance.
Yellow ghosts show up during the construction of buildings and deployment of siege weapons.
Fire and related indicators seem like unnecessary clutter on the screen, which should emphasize unobstructed, impressive visuals of medieval combat.
Gold piles slightly resemble plastic, which does not mesh with the landscape design.
All that said, I agree with the OP that the landscapes and buildings look fantastic. I have mixed feelings on the units’ appearances, but I suspect that, since the game will be played zoomed pretty far out, the issues may seem more serious than they are. Personally, if the units feel good to control, and they look good from a zoomed out perspective, I will be satisfied.
Don’t know about him but I at least can feel slightly better if what you say is that non-competitive AoE2 players found that too slow and I am not an exclusive AoE2 player. Actually I have played all of the franchise (yes included AoEO for which I had even tried the premium Greeks ) and all of dow and coh series. But in the end of the day I guess -as we haven’t played the game- we just can’t have our own opinion atm and have to show trust to Relic’s round table.
Is there anything else you could maybe say that doesn’t violate your agreements? Have at least any of the issues that you see in this forum been raised by the council? What’s the general feeling about graphics, animations or gameplay? Are you guys satisfied or dissatisfied with what you see?
Thank you for yet another revealing gif of the state of the game right now. Those sudden crude turns will look great for some parody in a youtube review.
I know that is what they are intended to represent; I called them yellow ghosts to give some indication of why I feel they are out of place. Aesthetics aside, I can see the flickering yellow villagers being distracting when there is a lot of information on the screen. The scaffolding and real villager provide the same information, in a way that isn’t distracting and better fits in with the surroundings, in my opinion.
Still, for things like this, we don’t necessarily have to choose. If they included an option to turn them off, I would be happy
Really? But then, why this game is trying to appeal to the “greater audience” ? I mean relic removed blood and corpses to appeal to kids and chinese, they also made the game cartoony because they think that 6 year old kids have money to buy games… Why this game is trying to appeal to al generes without pleasing rts fans for a 2021 AAA game?
Could you please cite the source you are referencing that states Relic’s state of mind with regard to their decisions? It sounds like you are speculating about what is going on behind their decisions. I certainly am unable to comment on their state of mind, if I even had some way of knowing it.
It is certainly OK for you to have an opinion that prefers blood and corpses and does not prefer the art style. But unless Relic somewhere explained their state of mind, it doesnt seem very helpful for people to assume things as true.
Isn’t it obvious ? Do you think they will say “yes we lower graphics and made the game cartoon to go after china and fornite players” ? Some times you need to use your logic. But also I have been dow-coh fan for many years, I know this relic is very different, I saw the beginning and failure of dow3 and their decisions behind it.
Seriously? Just because you say so? AOE III is almost that in the last era, only minimal adjustments are needed, imperialism died when the old powers lost their hegemony in the colonial territories, and do not forget the Empire of Japan
On the one hand, I agree that AoE covers ancient history and believe I could dig up some old quote from Bruce Shelley about his philosophy with the franchise that supports the point that we fight with swords around here and not guns.
On the other hand, it doesnt matter what Bruce Shelley ever said or what any of us fans say. If MS makes a 20th Century rts and slaps the AoE name on it, then abracadbra the ground would shift under our feet.
The visual art of the game is not harmonious . The terrain and some buildings have a beautiful realistic style, being as good or better than Ancestros Legacy and CoH2 and different from this games, we will build things wherever we want.
The units are very cartoonish, as the animations. Even Halo wars 2, where we see rocks and plants receiving more simplicity, the units get some realistic view.
I really like the Total war Britannia units with this mod. Its colorful, and maches with the terrain style
I hope you do know that in a 3D game you don’t have to animate every single frame. It’s a 3D model in a 3D environment, the smooth transitions should happen automatically.
If anything, the devs had to intentionally spend time forcing these crude turning dynamics as a way of making units change direction faster for what I guess is a faster game pace, or some sort of a homage to AOE II 2D graphics.
Really interesting discussion. It looks like they started aiming towards realism but met the issue of it affecting mechanics too much and went with the quick fix of units skipping frame and turning from A to B instantly. However I find that its TOO forced… it feels worse than Age II, which is nonsense.
I, personally, prefer to have a game where units are responsive and not have a inertia / turning speed, especially simpler units like cavalry that I expect to control very often, dodge shots with, etc… But it should not feel like its teleporting. You have to be able to look, see, understand and predict. When it simply pops at a different angle without any indication of direction, it becomes a nightmare to counterplay.
) and all of dow and coh series. But in the end of the day I guess -as we haven’t played the game- we just can’t have our own opinion atm and have to show trust to Relic’s round table. 
