well I am nearly 39 I have been playing games and seen graphics of basically all systems and computers back to early DOS games like Oregon trail, captain cosmic (anyone ever play this?) I remember well AOE1 coming out and it may not have been leaps forward, but actually was really good graphics for the time for RTS. I had played Command and Conquror and really like it but AOE had chariots! Then AOE2 was released was pretty awesome and definitely looked like top graphics of the time. I too like Temouloun would get the game release magazines and oogle the pictures and the idea of gates on walls that would move was like the thing… everyone wanted… and for the time looked super real. The only other way to get the realism into graphics was to make movie cinematics and include them but was not the same.
Then AOE 3 blew them all away… and apparently still will. It was beautifully made with hand painted textures for everything.
AOE4 looks great, minus some sea textures and well lack on crew on siege.
Yeah I was 19 playing aoe1 in 1998. For sure the graphics were great but I don’t recall that being a major part of the experience or reaction. We were installing the game on all sorts of PCs in college, none of which were particularly powerful.
Exactly its not TW so models should look even better. You have 10 000 plus units in TW on scream at times so its actually TW which should we cut some slack.
I mean like good graphics (or should I say appropriate, as AOEO has good graphics but not appropriate) are fun to have but totally agree… I actually prefer AOE3 on the lowest settings just for clarity.
It was cool to see the rise in pixels and such but I look at what a lot of games have that my nephew plays and am actually prefer the SNES N64 type feel those games had to what the modern counter parts are. so I really do like AOE4 style that is clean and bright and pretty. I just am crying over the no crew on siege.
The unmanned trebs or catapults dont bug me but I prefer unique asymmetric civ design and tossing in some small manned siege is a great look. So it’s not specifically the unmanned part of the equation that bugs me. It’s the apparent refusal to spice things up.
Yes they don’t but Unmanned Cannon do. unmanned Terbs & other siege units looks familiar to aoe2 but unmanned connon in that Abbasid video looks kinda spooky.
I personally don’t understand the refusal to man siege weapons. Nobody thinks AoE is going for a hyper realistic simulation - what’s stopping them from adding men to these siege weapons? I feel like it’s a big downside for so many people and zero upside. I haven’t heard a single person who prefers siege weapons move autonomously.
Honestly in an AoE2 world where every unit is one pop, it’d be super confusing for a unit with a giant machine and 2-3 dudes to be 1 pop. I swear the whole thing ties back to a failure to move away from old AoE2 ideas.
Yeah they have a hard time moving on, and that is the problem when you take a franchise away from the original artist, who always sees their creation as something to progress. But when it is bought up, it is simply trying to emulate what artist already created.
But there is just no excuse for at least some (but all) of the siege to have crew.
Its like looking at a picture of the Mona Lisa, then realizing he forgot to paint the nose on. It just stands out as missing and ridiculous with no real reasoning or explanation. The game can look as detailed and realistic as whatever but if missing that the goal all falls apart.
need to be able to zoom WAY out. WWAAAAY out . feels too crowded. I don’t want to buy a game that the buildings take up so much of the screen.
Unplayable IMO