What Makes Age of Empires IV better?

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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UPDATE: Thank you all for your insight. I have completed my assignment and appreciate all of your feedback. I hope to see you in game when I am not drowning in homework :slight_smile: !!!

Hello fellow gamers,

What do you like about Age of Empires IV and what makes it stand out over itā€™s predecessors? If you do not like Age of Empires IV as much as others, please specify your favorite AOE game and why that one is better.

Please list your top three (3) criteria on why AOE IV outpaces other AOE installments. Preferably, you can list your opinions as a reply, however if short on time, you can instead select up to three items you like best from the poll.

  • Historical accuracy/representation of campaigns, units, civilizations, events and battles.
  • Graphics.
  • User interface.
  • Length of campaigns/missions.
  • Discreetly teaching us history of feudal events and how armaments were created through amazing cinematic visuals.
  • Choice of civilizations.
  • Civilization perks.
  • Technology tree.
  • Smarter computer AI.
  • Game customization.
  • Multiplayer.
  • Something else not listed, Iā€™ll specify in a reply to this thread.

0 voters

I really need your input for a university paper :smiley: ! This will help me determine what players find the most enticing about the new Age of Empires IV.

Thank you in advance and for completing this as soon as possible :slight_smile:,
Christopher C.

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Thank you to those who have voted however if I could get at least 6 more people to vote or write an opinion that would be great!

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The only people you want to respond are those who believe AoE4 is better than all other age games, right?

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I personally think that AoE2 is better, so Iā€™m not going to vote.

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Actually, it would help me as well if you told me why another AOE game is better than AOE 4. What are your thoughts on why itā€™s not as good as your favorite? What is your favorite?

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Better Accessibility, it is easier to learn and less punishing (less micro intensive) when not perfecting the early game (See AOE2 Build orders, food decay, reseeding).
It leads to a lower skill level entry barrier and is more casual friendly.

Also Sound Design is :ok_hand:

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AoEO has far smoother gameplay, compelling and deep civs, and exceeds AoE4 in every category, except perhaps music.

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Thank you for your input! This is great information.

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Which AOE are you talking about? And thanks for the information.

I personally like them all except for AOE III. I canā€™t stand that one!

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I prefer the art style of AoE2, itā€™s a lot easier to distinguish units, the music is still pretty good, although IV might be better, it has a lot more civs, as well as more campaigns, has a lot of the good QoL and other stuff that IV is missing, the AI is better than IV. And Micro. Micro in AoE2 actually exists! :scream: I do like walls, burning buildings, and unit abilities in AoE4 though. Otherwise I think I prefer 2.

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I wish I had given AoE:O a better chance. I really only played one or two games and it really seemed quite legit as an AoE titleā€¦ but the cartoony graphics and animations turned me off from it, so I never played more. Maybe life had distractions, tooā€¦ and micro-transactions?.. but either way, I never went back to it, unfortunately. From what I remember, though, the gameplay seemed pretty solidly ā€œAoEā€ and I was surprised

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Ohhhh! Doh! Age of Empires Online. Sadly I havenā€™t tried that one.

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Yep! AoE:Online

Is this for a school project/research paper? Just curious. Having such a targeted number of responses, and being time-sensitive, made me think of school, lol

I havenā€™t played the released version, so canā€™t respond. I only did the Closed Beta (which I canā€™t (or donā€™t want to) comment on due to NDA), and the Tech Stress

EDIT: Oh, sorry. I see your note at the bottom saying itā€™s for a University paper :slight_smile:

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Yes, this is for my university composition class. It is a compare and contrast essay. Essentially those who vote or write what they like will be tallied up and 3 or 4 of them will be considered for the criteria to compare the main 4 installments of the AOE franchise. My professor wants us to also inject our opinion and weigh which one we thing is best as a result. We also have to include a counter argument to our judgement and explain why others may like a different choice (thatā€™s why I like when people disagree that IV is better :stuck_out_tongue:)

Thank you for your response and I agree that micro-transactions are often a turn off for players.

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Because I am having more fun playing the game on beta than the previous titles, imagine when the game full releases.

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I agree! I do not think some should be quick to judge IV on the lack of any content. Most AOE games seem to have released with only a few civilizations and campaigns. Then again, those have been around long enough to have many expansions.

Thanks for the response. Iā€™m gathering these responses mostly because I donā€™t know myself why I find the game addicting and enjoyable. Perhaps because I can build a monument at the speed I like instead of wait up to 190 seconds to age up. I guess it sometimes feels more fast pace as I am typically very slow at AOE1 and 2.

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Ahh, excellent; thanks for explaining :slight_smile: If I had bought the game already, I can say that AoE2 is still my favorite because I can zoom out more, and I like the graphics better (including the camera perspective and orthographic style), like its UI/UX better, as well as the fact that I can do 400 max population

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Im not an insider (I am unsure how to become one) so I hope that is ok. I really like being able to put units on walls and them actually get meaning full bonuses. I am a huge Stronghold fan, I even design my base to accommodate double layered walls between buildings. Visually and mechanically, walls have never been better for AoE.

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Rigth now, the best ā€œAge Of Empireā€ game is the least worst of them:

  • ā€¢ ā€œAge Of Empire 3ā€
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    I got 3 reason for that:
    Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć· Ć·

  • 1- ā€œUnits Behaviorā€:

Units are not just pions figthing each other, you can see their behavior in the face of batle and the environnement.

(Reference : Hosre and siege enginear, sething up canon in fire position. Siege enginear reloading canon. Rag doll animated death whent hit by a canon ball.)

I would love to see units action to be altered by its surounding, but age of empire series is deeply lacking of it.

In Age of Empire 4, I still donā€™t see wy some units, do no run away to a close safe location, when under attack by enemy or nature, feal like a downgrade to the series.

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  • 2- ā€œFigthing mecanicā€:

Also, in Age of empire 4, you can feal the plastic of the pion units, that need to stop and figth, unable to push other units around. Units buff do not affect the game play and units behavior, only slitly affect damage or resistance.

It make feal like age of empire 2 is a upgrade to the series, where units can doge arrow and siege attack.

Units that are unable to doge attack, do not feal like it belong to the series, it did not feal rigth in age of empire 3, but was acceptable because of the higth use of gun. it do not feal more rigth to nt be able to doge attack in age of empire 4, when it is motly a copy of age of empire 2.

I do love age of empire 4, to be able to finaly put units on wall and to see arche use pike wall, on the batlefield, it is a upgrade to the series.

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  • 3- ā€œResources Gatheringā€:

Having no resourcess drop off, in age of empire 3, is a series down grade.

Having resourcess all grouped in on big object, it make the game feal like a down grade, for age of empire 3 and age of empire 4. It make feal age of empire 2 a upgrade, when you look at the spread stone and gold, on the map.

I do love age of empire 4, for the new unique farm system, that separate the farm into section, that regenerate food over time. But, it is missing the farmer replanting seed, for a cost of wood? Maybe.

The age of empire series is lacking in plant and animal reproduction, but it is true that if you kill all animal and tree, they will not be able to reproduce any more.

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Thank you for your response KettleBunny!

I apologize, I didnā€™t mean to exclude non-insiders from this thread. I want everyoneā€™s opinion! Iā€™ve corrected the introduction. To become an insider, you simply have to sign up through the Age of Empireā€™s website: https://www.ageofempires.com/insiders/

I too am a huge Stronghold fan! I admit that the first installment is my favorite but the other games have some legitimate issues that need to be ironed out. As for the walls, I build defensively and also enjoy the new walls!

1 Like