I think as soon as they release ranked/modding on the live version of this game it can finally begin to heal.
Mod content even now in the public beta has been pretty great.
And who knows, maybe the devs will end up implementing some of the changes the community makes.
it would allow us to just directly fix/add content rather than having to beg the silent devs.
Oh so you talk spanish?
Epa bro . Algun dia que quieras jugar avisa
Wow. I think I finally understand the artistic design/style/palette that the developers were waxing poetic about.
From a lower and closer angle, these images do indeed look like they came from a painting that just isn’t appreciated from an isometric top-down view.
This is a screenshot of an RTS game from 2010.
I know it’s hard to compare a fantasy SCI-FI vs Historical RTS, but look at all the details they have in there: the projectile fired, the trajectory, the smoke, the flash, the fire, the blood, the lighting, the destruction, the death animation etc…
I’d say we AOE IV fans deserve this level of visual details, do you agree?
Yeah, I also sharply disagree here.
As you pointed out, even if users could ever see these visuals from these angles in game (which they can’t), they are definitely not what I would call good or impressive by any means, especially for a game released in 2021. I’m not actually critiquing the art style (not my fave, but they chose it), but your screenshots (to me) show how pixelated, bland, repetitive, uninspired these visuals are. Take the deer for example – they all look identical (having multiple assets for the same animal isn’t crazy) and generally look lifeless, as do the grass textures. Let’s not even go into the clouds 
As a counterpoint, here is a game Relic made in 2013 and one where users could zoom and change the orientation of the camera to their hearts content:
Company of Heroes 2 (Released 2013)
Then here is your image from AoE4:
Age of Empires 4 (Released 2021)
If you looked at these images, which game would you say is 9 years newer?
And to really bring home my point, this is an unreleased game called “Manor Lords” that has had 1 SINGLE DEVELOPER WORKING ON IT for 3 years.
So yeah, I’ll never get over the poor graphics in this game, but I’m still optimistic that there can be a reset that will make the game enjoyable for a lot more people.
coh2 seems very 2022. even aoe 3 seems more modern than aoe 4
sigh another debate on graphics working it’s way into a thread.
Yeah, definitely do not want this thread to turn into a graphics debate, but I do think it’s a fair part of the argument for folks who think modding support (including visual mods) are the best way for the game to recover.
Meditate a bit, if you have money left over for a top-of-the-line PC, good for you, but it is not a good strategy for a game with a relatively small niche that needs high requirements, the game is inclusive for any mid-range PC, it optimizes 4 cores per Therefore, it does not require super processors, if it were not so, it would surely have fewer players than it does today!
For me the graphics are not the only issue, I would be satisfied if they compensated the lack of AAA graphics in other ways, but they didn’t , for example, the lack of graphical details that are usually brought up here comparing aoe3 and aoe4 , another one is the lack of physics and the lack of animations, the lack of these practically remove the “coolness” from the game and consequently make it less attractive for people outside the rts genre. Exemplifying:
aoe2(1999):
aom(2002)
aoe3(2005)
bfme2(2006)
Is graphics irrelevant for video games nowadays?
Unless I read it wrong, the title doesn’t say “what can be done to salvage aoe 4 except improving graphics”
Of course it’s not irrelevant. Did you read the post on what makes good design. Seems like you are understating just to keep the argument going.
I actually like the art style in aoe4, though I am likely in the minority. If the other issues (balance, drop hackers, game modes, color choice, etc) are resolved, the art style is a relatively minor point. During multiplayer games, how often are you admiring the graphics?
Wasn’t talking about the art style, just the graphics. To your question though: Honestly, in a game with great graphics, how often do I admire the graphics? All the time! I love building my base / city, I love watching battles and all the little effects and projectiles. I love the early game too and I want to enjoy watching my villagers chop down trees. I never do that in AoE4, because there’s not much to see other than a puff of low-fidelity smoke and units awkwardly floating into each other during battles.
Don’t think anyone is saying the graphics are irrelevant, but the initial question in this thread was more about what can be done immediately to try to salvage the game. I think a near complete revamp of the visuals (which I would love!) is highly unlikely.
I get why people are concerned with the numbers. I believe most of us want the game to succeed and have a big community to play games with.
I believe a lot of the drop in numbers is due to lack of content.
When it comes to AoE2 the majority of people play single player, you can find the video here. Things to know before playing Online/Multiplayer [AoE2] - YouTube. So its possible that most people finished the campaingd, played a few games against the AI and simply moved on to another game. Also many people pointed that the AI is too aggressive, even on easy mode which is a bit of a pain for people who just want to sit and relax and play an easy game without any stress.
As for N4C, the tournament was great, it was actually the best tournament so far and the one I have seen more variety of games and strats and thank god we didnt have to sit through any rus mirrors on boulder bay. We have seen many tournaments so far and due to the current balance we constantly see the same match ups and same strats in most maps leading to many high level games being very predictable, in fact you can even predict the winner in certain games just based on the match up.
I am still confident that this game will be much better in the future.
If you look at aoe3 DE, launch was a disaster, but now the game looks and feels amazing. Its like looking at a different game in some ways.
AoE4 just needs time, for a game that is a few months old the balance is actually pretty good, and devs are clearly listening to feedback which shows that they care and that us as players also play a big role in helping the game get better through feedback.
Im afraid it’s too late, mate. Game cant be salvaged, they launched it in an incomplete state and people made up their minds already.
I have seen games recovering from dead, games like No man sky totally recovered but their devs acknowledged failure and they totally change mechanics, I don’t Lelic is going to change anything just ± numbers, they won’t touch graphics, UI, unit types and more in deep mechanics like ballistics,. Or things to avoid the castle spam like in Rise of Nations, if you buy one castle the next one is more expensive etc or enemy is not allowed to build any military building around a castle etc…
Age IV is all about tower spam, castle spam, castle in your face even if that doesn’t make sense, mangonel spam, long bow spam, springald spam, wall spam…
