a list of visual comparisons between aom retold and other games/art
terrain:
retold
aoe3
aoe4
gold mine:
retold
aoe3
retold
aoe3
aoe4
towers:
retold
aoe3
aoe4
fire vfx:
retold
aoe3
aoe4
starting town:
retold
aoe3
aoe4
Are you posting blurry screenshots only for Retold on purpose or is it a mistake?
Yeah, I donât really get the fascination with making AoE4 and Retold look less detailed and more stylized with their textures. Like, a blur tool over the textures rather than intricate, more realistic, details
Itâs not my thing, graphically, but it is what it is. If you like it, you like it. If you donât, you either live with it or donât buy it 
Iâll probably buy Retold, but I do wish it looked better, more realistic, more intricate details, darker shadows, and so on
I know you were replying to the OP, but I noticed the same in OPâs post. My screenshots are directly from Steam and I also thought them a little low resolution. Personally, I posted what the Steam video shows me. I have good internet bandwidth, and any compression of the video to try and sell the game on Steam is not my fault. I shouldnât have to search YouTube for a higher-res video
Before AoE4 got released I thought the gras and terrain looked bad but it was just the bad video comparison.
Normal video compression is really bad for AoE4 gras.
AoMR gras does not look that bad in the trailers so I think itâll look nice in game too.
I hope AoMR also supports HDR like AoE4. I wish AoE3DE did.
source was directly from xbox gameplay stream
maybe it is better ingame instead of youtube. but unless the developers post screenshots directly in the forum this is all we have to go with.
i doubt the vfx like fire will suddenly look better though. its currently unacceptably bad regardless of compression. there doesnât even seem to be illumination/glow from the fire unlike aoe 3 or 4 either.
Your screenshot of gold from AoE3 looks beautiful.
I wish AoE4 and AoM embraced this look more for gold and everything else, in general:
But it just feels like the look theyâre trying to achieve in AoE4 and Retold is one where the graphics look (what Iâll call, for lack of better word) gamey⊠to make things more immediately identifiable to the player no matter the cost to the real world look. This leads to the graphics feeling more like bright, cheery, casual mobile or online games (like AoE:Online, for example) than some of the more gritty feeling AoE PC games of before that I prefer.
Rather than immerse us in the game world that looks real and has realistic textures that donât always have human-friendly silhouettes, colors, textures, contrasts, wear/weathering, and details, we have a game world that seems like it is hand-crafted by UI experts so that every object in the world is designed and implemented specifically for the player in mind⊠sacrificing a lot of real world details or look. (Which makes it less immersive and less impressive for some players, like me.)
I do think one area where AoEIV is better graphically than 3DE is the terrain, though I donât think it is miles better, more of a preference thing. The cliffs in 3DE are objectively pretty bad. AoE3 has every other Age beat in graphical detail and physics for sure, and that plays a part in making it the most immersive game in the series.
AoMR is certainly beautiful in its own right and you can tell itâs very much like 3DE graphically. Bang Engine supremacy.
Tbh Iâd wait for those comparison shots after release.
What are you talking about?
The grass in AoE4 is extremely aliased, it IS bad. The AA options donât impact foliage to a significant degree in AoE4, and the developers donât care enough to do anything about it. It has been a known issue since launch.
EDIT: Out of all installments, AoE4 clearly had the least amount of effort put into environments. They have almost ten biomes, half of which are the exact same grassy areaâusing the exact same assets. Most trees in that game look like they were picked from different games, because they harbour entirely different clashing styles; from blobby and stylized, to gritty and realistic. As you can see in the image above, the cyan-greenish tree to the right has a paper-cut out appearance whereas some of the other ones look more real in style. Basically, there is no attention to detail in environments, and they rarely look like their real life counterpart. The whole game has this desaturated-gray haze to it as well (likely attributed to the council begging developers to kill any colour before launch, over what they claimed to be a âmobileâ artstyle).
It is a shame because the modelling work on units and buildings are quite good and are what I do enjoy about that game. The environment itself is entirely disappointing. Fauna, effects, foliage, wear and so on.
The screenshot you posted is with low graphic settings, of course it looks bad.
i think AOE2DE looks better than AOE4. the art direction they went with is so goofy
I guess the finished game will look very similar to AoE 3 DE.
âLow graphicsâ? Youâre talking out of your arse.
The only way to remedy the AA issue is to put the game on 4K. What an unreasonable solution.
The game looks a lot better on my computer.
it looks great in 2k aswell as in 4k. it has a distinct style which is great. it doesnt look super realsitic, but AoE isnât super realistic either cause guess what: those are games and they have to be especially visual clear/good to read for their genre they are in.
i personally think the style of retold is one of the most beautiful style i have seen in an rts. ofc its partly cartoony, but as mentioned, AoM before was this too. the great thing is its a style which aims for being not too realstic and not cartoony. if you look at other modern rts games (beside maybe tempest rising and ofc godsworn) its way more pretty and accessable.
some higher resolution images from promo page
its not as bad as i thought from the xbox youtube video, but some of the enviroment and vfx are clearly a downgrade over past games.
gold mines are clearly worse than aoe3 and aoe4, and water also looks like a downgrade. water in aoe3 is gorgeous, this doesnât compare. grass and desert ground also look worse, and stone/roadwork looks like its from a mobile game. lighting also seems to be worse, the harsh overly bright image look wrong. maybe its the lack of shadows?
fire and lightning effects from the first and especially the third screenshot are not good by any measure for a 2014 game, let alone 2024. unit models are nice, though too cartoony for my tastes. monsters donât feel intimidating and impressive, though thatâs a stylistic choice. leans less into realism or fantasy paintings and more into this strange plasticky look that other recent games like dragon age have been going, and Iâm not fan.
also, they heavily covered up the statues in the last picture which is kind of funny. reminds of this story: Principal who was fired after students were shown 'David' is welcomed in Italy : NPR
its strange how much more prudish games and other media are today. when i was in elementary school in the midwest our teacher showed us pictures of âno dressâ classical statues just fine, and i even took a picture book of classical architecture with âno dressâ statues home to read with my parents. seeing this whiplash to the human body in society in the last decade or so is tragic. (why is #### censored?)
I donât agree.
AoMR is going for a different style then AoE3DE or AoE4.
Itâs up to you if you like it or not but itâs not objectively better or worse.
AoMR doesnât try to be as realistic, it is more stylised on purpose
Also it tries to be close to the original so gold mines or trees have to be relatively small.
Not sure what you talk about, every unit and every building are clearly casing a shadow in all the screenshots.
It is funny that you can go visit the Vatican in real life and see depictions of humans that would be considered inappropriate in many places (especially in the US).
They are trying to be more Catholic then the pope.
Even though these screenshots are higher res than the video, I tend to think the video actually looks better. I find 3D graphics generally look better when animated, and 3D RTS games generally look better from the distance and angle theyâre usually viewed from. Close-ups and low camera angles donât tend to improve things, and I think thatâs true here.
The main thing that stands out to me here is the colour of the grass â it really doesnât look like the colour of actual grass to me. It looks more natural in the other screenshots, especially this one:
Not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean this screenshot?:
There are shadows, but they seem quite muted. Presumably this is supposed to be in bright sunlight, but the shadows should really be darker to give that effect. In fact, on all these screenshots, I think the shadows donât seem dark enough and the overall contrast levels seem too low.
The fiery wings donât look great, but I think the fire in the third screenshot looks fine. During the daytime in direct sunlight, flames usually arenât that visible, and if anything these are probably too bright.
I think this probably looks fine from the distance and angle youâll see it while playing. But close up the fur doesnât look like fur â it looks more like plasticine or something.
I found this weird in Hades as well. If youâre basing something around classical Greece, it feels weird to remove one of the most well-recognised features of classical Greek art.
Hmm, personally I think the styles of AoMR and AoE4 are very similar, and making comparisons seems very sensible. It seems to me that AoMR graphics look more cohesive though, whereas to me in the AoE4 graphics the different pieces donât feel like they fit together so well.
I wouldnât say AoE3âs style is more realistic, but it is a bit hyper detailed (especially the grass textures) and Iâm not that keen on it, personally.
Iâm not sure whatâs going on here. Why are there no shadows? AoE4 trees definitely usually have shadows, so low graphic settings or not, I donât think this is displaying properly.
Yes, AoE 3 DE looks sharper and with all the fauna and flora it looks more realistic in general⊠AoM is a classic, but it is true that it is an older version of the Bang Engine and AoE 4 is graphically bland⊠.AoE 2 DE is very clear as a 2D gameâŠ
Hopefully, we hope soâŠ
Yes, AoE 4 looks bland, even at maximum graphicsâŠ
Well there it looks betterâŠ
Of course, one thing is the graphics of the game and another thing is the art and graphic style⊠AoE 3 is realistic, AoM and AoE 4 is ânot so realisticâ and AoEO is directly a Disney/Looney Toons cartoonâŠ
Of course, there is already the game camera that works magic⊠in AoE 3 DE you have screenshots that look like something out of RDR2âŠ
Of course, itâs a matter of getting used to itâŠobviously it will be more noticeable if you play a casual game and bring the camera closer, fighting you wonât even give it importance, just donât lower your FPSâŠ
Itâs because it has minimal graphicsâŠ
