One think that stood out to me was Relic's dedication to unit voices. They poured a lot into making it sound correct, and I think with the English, their spoken language becomes more modern as you age up, or so I was told. Haven't tested it. Still, Relic really hit the right spot, with the immense variation and little sound cues here and there.
indeed all factions got their voice lines becoming more and more modern with the ages .it's nice when you play as french to see the language goes from late latin to old french.
The unit voices are intensely irritating IMO They didn't bother me in the original trilogy. The game itself...meh it's worth £5-10 if you're a series veteran, for a newbie double that if you're only concerned about SP. I've no interest in MP, I'm not good enough, I know my limits lmao.
Really liked this review! Didnt notice how strongly the game down-details units when zooming out and I agree that Relic has to impove optimization and performance. A game that looks like this has no excuse for low framerates, unless you play with an actual potato from 2004. Its certainly something you should check out on game pass.
I'm very much enjoying AOE4 . Looks and plays better than I expected, and the campaign , while simple yes, is in my opinion very well producded, I love the documentary style videos, they are great. All things considered, I believe that Relic & World's Edge have done a great job with the game, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for AOE4 and the Age franchise.
Age of Empires I was the first game of any kind I ever played, and later I spent nearly a decade of my life playing and modding Age of Empires III. What set those games apart was that they always moved the RTS genre forward in terms of both graphics and game mechanics. Hell, AoE3 won GameSpy's best graphics award in 2005, not just for strategy games, but for any game released that year. Given all of that, I just find Age of Empires IV's lack of ambition a weird break from the series' established principles, and it must be a severe disappointment to everybody who was expecting something exciting from the first new game release in this series in sixteen years. I'm sure I'll enjoy it when I eventually pick it up, but what I've seen so far has not enticed me to spend any money on it, and that is a sentence I never thought I would say about an Age of Empires game...
I totally agree. Although I surely like some aspects like the mountable walls, I feel like it severely lacks innovation. It seems like a nitpick of some nice features from aoe 2 and 3, while others like the homecity mechanic or the immersive story were cut away and replaced by less interesting stylistic choices. And the graphics aren't that great either. I think I'll wait a while before I'll buy it. Maybe in any future sale, but until then I will stick with Age 3.
@@maunz5791 It's fair to mention the new implementation of walls; that does seem the one thing that I could point to in AoE4 that it does better than its predecessors. Credit where it's due and all that.
@@rjfaber1991 you can get it for 1$ on game pass for a month to try if you don't like it cancel game pass... this game is 100% worth it for a month for 1$
Thanks for the nice in-depth review! Small note tho: you CAN actually determine and see how troops will line up. Same controls as company of heroes : hold right mouse button after giving a move command and drag your cursor around
Yep I'm aware - the issue is you don't see the "formation" until after you **release the click** - you see a tiny arrow in this game to show you the orientation but its very finicky. in COH it doesn't matter as much as the squad dynamically finds cover / spreads out each time. If you saw the entire formation when you drag right click before releasing, you could orientate them exactly.
It's not even close to Total war. Unit placing and grouping is a joke especially for a game like this it is really needed. I totally missed that this game came out and I only saw it on xbox game pass so I downloaded it to try it out. I played remade versions of AOE 2 and 3 and was impressed. Then I played this game and I thought, ok not bad. But then I saw it was released in 2021 and was shocked. My impression was this came out in like 2010.
I actually completely agree with all of your suggestions regarding UI and controls. I was expecting soemthing crazy like a tactical pause or whatnot, but what you've proposed are I think ideas that 99%+ of the playerbase would agree with. The problem is, modern vidya companies dont really seem to keen on knowing what their playerbase actaully wants, and Relic is perhaps the worst offender in that regard - just look at DW3.
It's surprising how AoE 3 got so many things better than AoE4 in terms of graphics and immersion. Heck, even the "new" age progression system of building wonders was taken straight from AoE3: Asian Dynasties. Not to mention AoE 3 had way more immersive campaigns and stories to tell. It's surprising how much of a dark horse AoE 3 really was.
This is the kind of video that makes it worth being a member! Love your detailed reviews. Combat looks a bit too clunky for my taste but I might give it a go
4:10 Age of empires 3 did this.... 4:50 Age of empires 3 also did this.... 8:50 Age of empires 3 did this.... kind of. Did nobody play Age of Empires 3 (except for me)?
I havnt played a lot of AOE before. Played AOM and found a lot of it very tedious in skirmish. I cant stop watching gameplay of this game for some reason. It just feels really alive, looks charming, and fun. Really agree with you about micro. Shit like reseeding farms and manually repairing ships is boring af and distracts from combat. Early game, from what I can tell, is about getting your economy up to have a solid base to then move on and attack the enemy. Having to do tedious chores during combat sucks.
On your point about the English and the French specifically it appears they have succeeded with their design goal. They wanted both of these civs to be more “AOE” in their design Holy Roman Empire then progresses this uniqueness concept like a ladder (with the Mongols being the most unique out of all) it is something I appreciate but it certainly presents it’s problems. With movement, I think it’s important to keep the identity of the franchise alive too many new mechanics will make it feel less like AOE they did try a lot of things during development and worked with core members of the community “total war and COH while being fun certainly have their own identity and I like that their are options that feel more retro. AOE is AOE it has an identity don’t remove it for the sake of modernisation. Now I do play a lot of AOE so it will skew my perspective some aspects of this of course. Now I want to have more control of formations I will say that. The visual pop in is a bug, in terms of visuals a lot of the community plays on old computers still so they wanted to make sure as many players as possible could join compared with AOE3 (that murdered computers for some as did AOE3DE. Now I would like some more detailed textures on units and ground textures for sure. Optimisation still need work though having said that it’s still better then it was during testing. Lack of blood is something I do not understand unless they want to cater to the Chinese market there should be a blood option. It’s funny in general the UI is one of the most criticised aspects of the game by a general portion of the AOE community. Fun fact about the music, for the first time the music is working on a dynamic system I will edit both the video link and the blog about the visual design and music. Lastly I feel like this art style captures the identity of the franchise quite well (minus some unit art and the lack of blood) to me it feels consistent with the rest of the age games while still being it’s own thing. In conclusion I like how AOE4 takes bits and pieces of every previous entry (including AOEO) and incorporates them into the game somehow art style being somewhat inspired by AOEO, setting and core gameplay of two civs inspired by AOE2 heroes with an ability from AOM being put back in AOE4. Landmark mechanic from AOE3 expansions being put into 4 as a main mechanic. I personally would have liked some more innovation in certain areas but I understand why they chose to go this route for the fourth entry in the franchise after a long hiatus, I just hope the next main line entry is something like an AOM 2 (preferably with AOM DE in-between) where Relic and Adam Iseengreen really feel like they could push the boundaries with a mythology formula. Really great review! Well balanced between praise and critique more should follow this formula. I have subscribed! Edit 1: apologies for the month long delay on the edits, here’s the dev doc about the music system: ruclips.net/video/wZE5TPGfntw/видео.html Edit 2: here’s details about min-spec mode, news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/10/24/age-of-empires-min-spec-mode-more-opportunities-to-play/ I still would look more detail on units and ground textures on ultra settings.
I think your definition of micro is actually wrong but I agree with your suggestions for QoL improvements. Micro, in my experience, is the intensive management of one unit, or a small group of units, and their special abilities, with exceeding finesse. Being able to kite really well with a ranged unit in RTS in an example of good micro. Controlling all your units on the map and being aware of everything you're doing at once is not micro, it is macro.
Yeah a few have mentioned that - I was so sure I'd seen it before so I booted AOE3 and couldn't find it after playing a few civs... I was like "huh, guess it is just this game" :P
'If you're not here for the multiplayer and wanted a grounded, real campaign--' Joke's on you, I wanted neither. I wanted an RTS singleplayer experience with campaign missions that might seem the same at times but might mix it up, whether with hero units or little special mechanics. So far, this isn't a mind blowing campaign, but I got what I came for. Mind you, the UI is ugly as sin and follows 'modern less-is-more design' like a bible, which.. Considering how much it was taught in colleges out here, at least, when I went through design class, I am saddened but not surprised by
"I wanted an RTS singleplayer experience with campaign missions that might seem the same at times but might mix it up, whether with hero units or little special mechanics." Can you tell what that means?
@@Aurinkohirvi One comment at a time, if you will. Colleges aren't always right, and even if they are, it does not mean 'Less is more', for instance, is executed to its potential enough to supersede classic/traditional designs involving more. You can use a bland dark blue and gold box because that's the simplest way to make more out of less, while the decorative papyrus and stone UI themed after specific factions can bring a lot more personality. For something like a Bauhaus design or logos that can make a few shapes mean multiple things I'm all for 'less is more', but for the design of a UI.. It can help clarify things, but it can also make things lack specifics or personality. As for what I wanted? Exactly what I said. An RTS. That I can enjoy in singleplayer. With a campaign that has missions with some variation sprinkled in without every mission having to be completely unique. It can have hero units and special mechanics to mix it up, for instance. Does this clarify it?
@@AnthroTsuneon I didn't understand your sentence what did it mean, hence I asked. You hoped the campaign missions "might seem the same at times"? So their missions differ too much, you want them to be more similar? And having different units and heroes would make the missions different? I would not know how their missions are, I have not played the game.
@@Aurinkohirvi There was no argument being made against the game, since I said I got what I wanted, there was no implication I hoped for anything different
Could you imagine how good DoW3 could have been if Relic had just taken what worked in DoW1 ( large armies, open campaign from dark crusade, base building and expansion ) with DoW 2 ( heroes that aren't stupidly overpowered making your boots on the ground basically window dressing and a good cover system and destruction) we could have had something amazing, instead we got a DoTA clone that tried to convince you your normal troops were something more than target practice for the heroes, you know...and a somersaulting suit of terminator armour.........
Don't often get a 40-min review. Fantastic. About comment on group replenishment, I agree. I like Stellaris-style unit management. Create a fleet from what's currently available, replenish with a click when models are destroyed. Also, I can't help but feel this kind of scrutiny would have been a stage of development, prior to release, 10 years ago. Games are being released in evermore broken conditions as profits become paramount.
Age of Empires I was an amazing game. Age of Empires II was even better I played them for the first time decades after they were released and I still found them incredibly solid, the soundtrack was amazing, the gameplay was addicting, and not frustrating, so I can only imagine how amazing they must have been when they came out and so few games existed Age of Empires III had some of the best graphics ever made for a game at the time, and they still hold up today, a lot of the inovations were terrible, the biggest issues were the capital city stuff and the hard to control units, and overall the game was a bit too confusing to be as enjoyable to play or watch as II Age of Empires IV meanwhile has no innovation, is a broken mess, with poor coding, heat seaking missile projectiles, the combat is horrible, you would expect AoE to go more in the direction of total war as technology gets better, with larger units that behave in a realistic way and are less micro intensive, but in Age of Empires IV you have the opposite, the game looks worse than age of Empires III, has no memorable soundtrack, for the first time in the series, has a horrible sound design, the multiplayer is horrible, just watch any competitive player's match, nothing happens, and after 30 minutes one guy gets his entire army of 5 archers wiped out by 1 shot from an onager that never misses, and that's game (no wonder why none of the pro play it, unless they're getting paid to, age of empires IV is so bad people need to be paid to play it) what a mess, they're like windows, the first windows OS were innovative and great products, and it's gotten worse and worse with every release, until you get at windows 8-10-11 which are a mix of a tablet OS for special need children and the software equivalent of a stalker who breaks in your house and spies on you The story of microsoft is really the story of the downfall of microsoft
"AoE to go more in the direction of total war as technology gets better" no way !!! it's perfect as it is back to the roots of classic Aoe and RTS, it alot more fun than those Total war games. Just play total war
and no wonder why none of the pro play it, unless they're getting paid to, age of empires IV is so bad people need to be paid to play it) there are quite a few, also Theviper plays it . You probably one of those guys who got 1 hour of play time, and then u think you know all about it
i personally loved AoE3 for its huge innovations and steps forwards, im really put off by AoE4 becuase it feels like a step back for me. If i wanted AoE2 i would play that not a whole new game with 8 civs. Just seems really lackluster for now unless they can transform the game in an expantion or something.
What I like in AoE 4 is the wall and siege mechanic, it is more stronghold than the current stronghold series is. Though there should more optimization especially towards huge clashes between armies, it looks clunky, imo.
About replenisment system idea, lategame you keep losing so many units that would rarelly be able to replenish anything imo. But... I have noob idea... how about infinite queue by 1? So you don't have to create villagers all by yourself non-stop through out the game. War selection does it and it is great IMO.
I think the intention was they can miss, but not that wiggling side to side was a desired counter to make them even less accurate... could be wrong though.
@@RepublicOfPlay I don't know about Relic's reasoning for guided arrows in AoE4 but for AoE2 specifically, dodging was a form of "next level micro". Ensemble studios added a formation for dodge micro named flank formation. It is a design choice by both companies though so we have to go with it I guess :)
i must say i would be very much opposed to a 5th resource... all in all i really like what they did.. only things to improve are cam angle and zoom..as well more hotkey variety
I agree on the population cap. that's my biggest complaint. I'm okay with 200 for multiplayer and even campaign TBH but for custom game skirmishes it's really silly that I can't just blast the population cap and game speed and set up giant epic battles
Nice review. Your breakdown of the graphics and art style really made me think twice, those are some pretty glaring issues. I'm not into pvp in this franchise so I think I'll wait to pick this one up.
I prefer the art style in AoE 2 & 3 Definitive. I know people take issue with how the buildings collapse in the latest titles but I love it. AoE 4, on a purely visual level, looks unfinished. It reminds me of early 360 titles when the textures took an age to load in, only they never do here...
Mods could do a lot for this game that also I do not expect the developers to be able to improve on any time soon, but mod support still seems a way off and when it comes will enough people care?
it would be better if they add options which age to start and which to end. so if you want to focus ONLY in the castle age that would be best. so no annoying cannons and gunpowder units just pure stone and steel.
ah a late review, just what I was looking for. Thanks man! It's hard for them to know which way to go with the game. I think the feedback they are getting will help them immensly. You don't really want to add any more complexity to a complex game like this or you are locking out new players. Think of Dota 2's brick wall learning curve. I've gotten several people to try the game and the complexity drives them away every time. It's hard to iterate on something legendary. There are way more ways to make it worse than there are to make it better with the iconic games of the past. They should have had mod support day one. The community would have shown them exactly what to do. Mongols: The tc speed is bugged, literally. It's faster than scouts i think. Thorough review without a bunch of blah blah. Liked and subbed!
Thanks for the video. I am still on the fence. I have Age 2 and love Age 2 I don't need a lazy reboot of Age 2. AOE 3 had a lot of innovations which gave it it's own feel and it was quite beautiful, but the AOE series has always been a run straight through world history. Age 1 was Stone Age to the end of Roman. Age 2 to Dark Age to the High Medieval Age, Age 3 Early Colonial Age to the Age of Industry (1800). Age 4 I have hope was going to be a bit more ambitious and we were going to start in the industrial age and at the end we would be in the our current age, if not a little bit of speculative near future stuff. Age 4 has a few new features that I think are interesting especially how everyone has to build a landmark to age. But after so long not being able to align units (which has been around since Rise of Nations) and no defense stance or other advanced formation stuff that has been standard for years is a little frustrating. I smell a game that is going to be launched half done at full price and then slowly patched and matured through DLC for even more money. I think I will wait for a while.
@@janmajnik6889 A problem with modern games is the placation of normies with easy modes, and hand holding. The other is the same with movies, reboots, prequels, too much glitter an flash, and lack of creativity. I much prefer indie games at this point they have the pioneer, (were making game we would want to play) attitude. Age 2 was extremely popular when it came out and it makes me think some marketing person just went, "that was popular, 'member, let's do that again but with 4k graphics and a few new things."
The Company of Heroes and Total War flourishes are not unreasonable; not in 2021. Unfortunately, many AoE fans are just stuck in the past. And this is coming from someone who grew up playing the original games in the 90s. Hell, I come from the C&C, Dark Reign, etc. era, and I'd love to see AoE gain some fundamental qol changes.
Played age of empires 2 since release with an on again of again relationship. I'm enjoying this. I think they can fixed a lot of issues related to some game play decisions like you mentioned in patches that will hopefully happen with more post launch care. The graphics aren't great but I'm happy enough with what's there. I'd like a bit of collision with regard to charges and fighting elephants and some physics when artillery hits infantry. I hope this game finds its own audience. I think guys who played the older AOEs should enjoy it for what it is. I would however love a formation system like total war using drags of the mouse etc.
You managed to make both the fans and haters mad at you, so your review is probably balanced. I agree with you though I love the buildings but really dislike the unit aesthetics. Also in AoE 2 when a unit dies the fade out is much much nicer (Iirc they have several fade out frames of the unit turning to skeleton and decays) so AoE4 does feel like it's taking too many backward steps here and there. Also very sad to hear the campaign is boring, I play these kind of games for the campaign. I played the AoE2 campaigns multiple times over and over, I really like the story based approach of those. Here it seems like it's reduced to just another tutorial for the multiplayer, the same reason that I hate Dawn of War III's campaigns.
Big secret tip: if you have troops in a formation and want them facing a certain way, instead of just right clicking, hold right click and drag in the direction you want them to face. You're welcome.
Thanks but I know this already, did it in the video many times when talking about controls. It’s difficult to get the exact angle correct which is why it takes 2-3 clicks to see the exact orientation the formation takes. If you dragged and saw the formation before releasing the click that would fix it. Instead you see a tiny arrow thats the pivot point for the formation.
@@RepublicOfPlay Ah, well, fair enough if it doesn't work for you--I guess I haven't had as many issues with it. Also, a lot of people don't know this bc it's not mentioned in the training afaik, so it's useful.
All of the graphical issues you list are non existent for me, a few friends with hi-spec PCs have them though, I'm guessing bad optimisation? I'm running a intel i5 4th Gen, (lol) 32gig ram and a 1660ti and I'm having no issues what so ever running it on ultra and still getting good fps, no tearing and the units still look great zoomed out. Pretty bad that so many people have to deal with the graphics looking like they do on your PC!
I really don't like the no gore and how much focus there is nowadays on readability in games that they are willing to sacrifice all aesthetics for it. Where is the grit and gore? With such colorful playercolours all over my units it looks like a child game for smartphones not a wargame.
IT'S NOT AN "ART STYLE!" Seriously I'm sick of people keep using the term "art style" to justify this PS3 looking game. "art style" is what people who know nothing about art and design in general use to defend their low quality, low skill products. Like when you make a shitty drawing, post it on the forum, get rejected because it's low quality, then go on and whine because "it's not bad, it's my style of drawing and you have to respect it." It's low quality and far subpar for 2021 graphic standard. Plain and simple! Just imagine for a moment, that if Starcraft 3, or Warcraft 4, or Warhammer 3 would look like this, is it acceptable to you? Game doesn't even have cinematic intros lol! They have a handful of cheap actors dressing up and still-figures for their trailer lol! They could afford one bit quality CGI. That's how cheap this game was made.
Remember when you quit your job at CA, immediately put out a video bashing them and decided to try and do a job that earns you 0.001% of what 5 year old kids opening toys earn?
Uhhh kinda? I never made a video bashing them, and I make more now than I did at CA. And at CA I made more than friends I had there who worked there for way longer… they dont exactly pay well.
This game can be so emersiv and fun to play If they add blood efects and to dead bodies better animations, it's 2021 c'mon, why și much animations and detailes are censored?
Great review, been very on the fence about getting this game. I really hate the presentation of the campaign and how boring and surface-level the history is. On the other hand, the gameplay looks decent.
Does anyone know how to remove the visual numbers above soldiers when you assign groups for them? It's really annoying. A bit dissapointed with this game. Will probably rather play AOE 2 and 3 and total war games. :) Way better.
I couldn’t push myself to buy this one. I can’t stand the art style of this game. I was expecting more than just the same setting as before just with some revamped mechanics.
One think that stood out to me was Relic's dedication to unit voices. They poured a lot into making it sound correct, and I think with the English, their spoken language becomes more modern as you age up, or so I was told. Haven't tested it. Still, Relic really hit the right spot, with the immense variation and little sound cues here and there.
You are correct voices grow more modern as you age up
Sound is top notch.
indeed all factions got their voice lines becoming more and more modern with the ages .it's nice when you play as french to see the language goes from late latin to old french.
The unit voices are intensely irritating IMO They didn't bother me in the original trilogy. The game itself...meh it's worth £5-10 if you're a series veteran, for a newbie double that if you're only concerned about SP. I've no interest in MP, I'm not good enough, I know my limits lmao.
I can actually do all the accents very accurately, which I thought was weird.
Really liked this review! Didnt notice how strongly the game down-details units when zooming out and I agree that Relic has to impove optimization and performance. A game that looks like this has no excuse for low framerates, unless you play with an actual potato from 2004. Its certainly something you should check out on game pass.
I'm very much enjoying AOE4 . Looks and plays better than I expected, and the campaign , while simple yes, is in my opinion very well producded, I love the documentary style videos, they are great. All things considered, I believe that Relic & World's Edge have done a great job with the game, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for AOE4 and the Age franchise.
Age of Empires I was the first game of any kind I ever played, and later I spent nearly a decade of my life playing and modding Age of Empires III. What set those games apart was that they always moved the RTS genre forward in terms of both graphics and game mechanics. Hell, AoE3 won GameSpy's best graphics award in 2005, not just for strategy games, but for any game released that year. Given all of that, I just find Age of Empires IV's lack of ambition a weird break from the series' established principles, and it must be a severe disappointment to everybody who was expecting something exciting from the first new game release in this series in sixteen years.
I'm sure I'll enjoy it when I eventually pick it up, but what I've seen so far has not enticed me to spend any money on it, and that is a sentence I never thought I would say about an Age of Empires game...
i agree completely i was wanted alot more, not a rebranded aoe2
I totally agree. Although I surely like some aspects like the mountable walls, I feel like it severely lacks innovation. It seems like a nitpick of some nice features from aoe 2 and 3, while others like the homecity mechanic or the immersive story were cut away and replaced by less interesting stylistic choices. And the graphics aren't that great either.
I think I'll wait a while before I'll buy it. Maybe in any future sale, but until then I will stick with Age 3.
For me the civilizations is a thing that realy sets it apart :)
@@maunz5791 It's fair to mention the new implementation of walls; that does seem the one thing that I could point to in AoE4 that it does better than its predecessors. Credit where it's due and all that.
@@rjfaber1991 you can get it for 1$ on game pass for a month to try if you don't like it cancel game pass... this game is 100% worth it for a month for 1$
The Wonder system was the best part of Asian Dynastys, I’m glad they’re back and the standard
4:03 AoE3 also has landmarks that you age up with, so that isn't new to AoE
Ettan who plays AOE3 :kappa:
@@dansudo me :D
This is a wholesome channel. Not barely over 8 mins for ad revenue, the videos are long and thought out
Thanks for the nice in-depth review!
Small note tho: you CAN actually determine and see how troops will line up. Same controls as company of heroes : hold right mouse button after giving a move command and drag your cursor around
Yep I'm aware - the issue is you don't see the "formation" until after you **release the click** - you see a tiny arrow in this game to show you the orientation but its very finicky. in COH it doesn't matter as much as the squad dynamically finds cover / spreads out each time.
If you saw the entire formation when you drag right click before releasing, you could orientate them exactly.
It's not even close to Total war. Unit placing and grouping is a joke especially for a game like this it is really needed. I totally missed that this game came out and I only saw it on xbox game pass so I downloaded it to try it out. I played remade versions of AOE 2 and 3 and was impressed. Then I played this game and I thought, ok not bad. But then I saw it was released in 2021 and was shocked. My impression was this came out in like 2010.
I actually completely agree with all of your suggestions regarding UI and controls. I was expecting soemthing crazy like a tactical pause or whatnot, but what you've proposed are I think ideas that 99%+ of the playerbase would agree with. The problem is, modern vidya companies dont really seem to keen on knowing what their playerbase actaully wants, and Relic is perhaps the worst offender in that regard - just look at DW3.
A lot of work put into this. Much appreciated!
It's surprising how AoE 3 got so many things better than AoE4 in terms of graphics and immersion. Heck, even the "new" age progression system of building wonders was taken straight from AoE3: Asian Dynasties. Not to mention AoE 3 had way more immersive campaigns and stories to tell.
It's surprising how much of a dark horse AoE 3 really was.
This is the kind of video that makes it worth being a member! Love your detailed reviews.
Combat looks a bit too clunky for my taste but I might give it a go
Yeah that's the biggest weakness for me. Too much micro with the combat and it feels really clunky.
Can you recommend a RTS with combat that doesnt look clunky? Honest question.
4:10 Age of empires 3 did this....
4:50 Age of empires 3 also did this....
8:50 Age of empires 3 did this.... kind of.
Did nobody play Age of Empires 3 (except for me)?
I havnt played a lot of AOE before. Played AOM and found a lot of it very tedious in skirmish. I cant stop watching gameplay of this game for some reason. It just feels really alive, looks charming, and fun. Really agree with you about micro. Shit like reseeding farms and manually repairing ships is boring af and distracts from combat. Early game, from what I can tell, is about getting your economy up to have a solid base to then move on and attack the enemy. Having to do tedious chores during combat sucks.
It's an RTS for a reason
I’m Mongolian and I was surprised by unit voices. They actually speak almost Ancient Mongolian. Aoe2 was modern Mongolian lol.
They modernize language as the ages advance, its a really nice touch
after release, hopefully relic will listen to the community with all the feedback and give updates
On your point about the English and the French specifically it appears they have succeeded with their design goal. They wanted both of these civs to be more “AOE” in their design Holy Roman Empire then progresses this uniqueness concept like a ladder (with the Mongols being the most unique out of all) it is something I appreciate but it certainly presents it’s problems.
With movement, I think it’s important to keep the identity of the franchise alive too many new mechanics will make it feel less like AOE they did try a lot of things during development and worked with core members of the community “total war and COH while being fun certainly have their own identity and I like that their are options that feel more retro.
AOE is AOE it has an identity don’t remove it for the sake of modernisation. Now I do play a lot of AOE so it will skew my perspective some aspects of this of course.
Now I want to have more control of formations I will say that.
The visual pop in is a bug, in terms of visuals a lot of the community plays on old computers still so they wanted to make sure as many players as possible could join compared with AOE3 (that murdered computers for some as did AOE3DE. Now I would like some more detailed textures on units and ground textures for sure.
Optimisation still need work though having said that it’s still better then it was during testing.
Lack of blood is something I do not understand unless they want to cater to the Chinese market there should be a blood option.
It’s funny in general the UI is one of the most criticised aspects of the game by a general portion of the AOE community.
Fun fact about the music, for the first time the music is working on a dynamic system I will edit both the video link and the blog about the visual design and music.
Lastly I feel like this art style captures the identity of the franchise quite well (minus some unit art and the lack of blood) to me it feels consistent with the rest of the age games while still being it’s own thing.
In conclusion I like how AOE4 takes bits and pieces of every previous entry (including AOEO) and incorporates them into the game somehow art style being somewhat inspired by AOEO, setting and core gameplay of two civs inspired by AOE2 heroes with an ability from AOM being put back in AOE4. Landmark mechanic from AOE3 expansions being put into 4 as a main mechanic.
I personally would have liked some more innovation in certain areas but I understand why they chose to go this route for the fourth entry in the franchise after a long hiatus, I just hope the next main line entry is something like an AOM 2 (preferably with AOM DE in-between) where Relic and Adam Iseengreen really feel like they could push the boundaries with a mythology formula.
Really great review! Well balanced between praise and critique more should follow this formula. I have subscribed!
Edit 1: apologies for the month long delay on the edits, here’s the dev doc about the music system: ruclips.net/video/wZE5TPGfntw/видео.html
Edit 2: here’s details about min-spec mode, news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/10/24/age-of-empires-min-spec-mode-more-opportunities-to-play/
I still would look more detail on units and ground textures on ultra settings.
I think your definition of micro is actually wrong but I agree with your suggestions for QoL improvements. Micro, in my experience, is the intensive management of one unit, or a small group of units, and their special abilities, with exceeding finesse. Being able to kite really well with a ranged unit in RTS in an example of good micro. Controlling all your units on the map and being aware of everything you're doing at once is not micro, it is macro.
The advancing to a new Age with buildings isnt new, AoE 3 had that with the Asian cultures
Yeah a few have mentioned that - I was so sure I'd seen it before so I booted AOE3 and couldn't find it after playing a few civs... I was like "huh, guess it is just this game" :P
You know what I would love to be worth the wait? RoP rome 2 2021 review
I'm sure that at this rate we'll get it in 2023
:dan:
'If you're not here for the multiplayer and wanted a grounded, real campaign--'
Joke's on you, I wanted neither. I wanted an RTS singleplayer experience with campaign missions that might seem the same at times but might mix it up, whether with hero units or little special mechanics. So far, this isn't a mind blowing campaign, but I got what I came for.
Mind you, the UI is ugly as sin and follows 'modern less-is-more design' like a bible, which.. Considering how much it was taught in colleges out here, at least, when I went through design class, I am saddened but not surprised by
"I wanted an RTS singleplayer experience with campaign missions that might seem the same at times but might mix it up, whether with hero units or little special mechanics." Can you tell what that means?
You college taught "less is more" and you are saddedned that this game follows this principle?
@@Aurinkohirvi One comment at a time, if you will. Colleges aren't always right, and even if they are, it does not mean 'Less is more', for instance, is executed to its potential enough to supersede classic/traditional designs involving more. You can use a bland dark blue and gold box because that's the simplest way to make more out of less, while the decorative papyrus and stone UI themed after specific factions can bring a lot more personality. For something like a Bauhaus design or logos that can make a few shapes mean multiple things I'm all for 'less is more', but for the design of a UI.. It can help clarify things, but it can also make things lack specifics or personality.
As for what I wanted? Exactly what I said. An RTS. That I can enjoy in singleplayer. With a campaign that has missions with some variation sprinkled in without every mission having to be completely unique. It can have hero units and special mechanics to mix it up, for instance. Does this clarify it?
@@AnthroTsuneon I didn't understand your sentence what did it mean, hence I asked. You hoped the campaign missions "might seem the same at times"? So their missions differ too much, you want them to be more similar? And having different units and heroes would make the missions different?
I would not know how their missions are, I have not played the game.
@@Aurinkohirvi There was no argument being made against the game, since I said I got what I wanted, there was no implication I hoped for anything different
Could you imagine how good DoW3 could have been if Relic had just taken what worked in DoW1 ( large armies, open campaign from dark crusade, base building and expansion ) with DoW 2 ( heroes that aren't stupidly overpowered making your boots on the ground basically window dressing and a good cover system and destruction) we could have had something amazing, instead we got a DoTA clone that tried to convince you your normal troops were something more than target practice for the heroes, you know...and a somersaulting suit of terminator armour.........
Don't often get a 40-min review. Fantastic. About comment on group replenishment, I agree. I like Stellaris-style unit management. Create a fleet from what's currently available, replenish with a click when models are destroyed.
Also, I can't help but feel this kind of scrutiny would have been a stage of development, prior to release, 10 years ago. Games are being released in evermore broken conditions as profits become paramount.
Age of Empires I was an amazing game. Age of Empires II was even better
I played them for the first time decades after they were released and I still found them incredibly solid, the soundtrack was amazing, the gameplay was addicting, and not frustrating, so I can only imagine how amazing they must have been when they came out and so few games existed
Age of Empires III had some of the best graphics ever made for a game at the time, and they still hold up today, a lot of the inovations were terrible, the biggest issues were the capital city stuff and the hard to control units, and overall the game was a bit too confusing to be as enjoyable to play or watch as II
Age of Empires IV meanwhile has no innovation, is a broken mess, with poor coding, heat seaking missile projectiles, the combat is horrible, you would expect AoE to go more in the direction of total war as technology gets better, with larger units that behave in a realistic way and are less micro intensive, but in Age of Empires IV you have the opposite, the game looks worse than age of Empires III, has no memorable soundtrack, for the first time in the series, has a horrible sound design, the multiplayer is horrible, just watch any competitive player's match, nothing happens, and after 30 minutes one guy gets his entire army of 5 archers wiped out by 1 shot from an onager that never misses, and that's game (no wonder why none of the pro play it, unless they're getting paid to, age of empires IV is so bad people need to be paid to play it)
what a mess, they're like windows, the first windows OS were innovative and great products, and it's gotten worse and worse with every release, until you get at windows 8-10-11 which are a mix of a tablet OS for special need children and the software equivalent of a stalker who breaks in your house and spies on you
The story of microsoft is really the story of the downfall of microsoft
"AoE to go more in the direction of total war as technology gets better" no way !!! it's perfect as it is back to the roots of classic Aoe and RTS, it alot more fun than those Total war games. Just play total war
and no wonder why none of the pro play it, unless they're getting paid to, age of empires IV is so bad people need to be paid to play it) there are quite a few, also Theviper plays it . You probably one of those guys who got 1 hour of play time, and then u think you know all about it
@@haakonglindtvad5489 they play it as a sponsor.
i personally loved AoE3 for its huge innovations and steps forwards, im really put off by AoE4 becuase it feels like a step back for me. If i wanted AoE2 i would play that not a whole new game with 8 civs. Just seems really lackluster for now unless they can transform the game in an expantion or something.
AOE2 fans are why AOE4 is AOE2 remade.
They had a massive shet fest when AOE3 changed things.
This game will die off like Dawn of War 3
What I like in AoE 4 is the wall and siege mechanic, it is more stronghold than the current stronghold series is. Though there should more optimization especially towards huge clashes between armies, it looks clunky, imo.
but the walls are not strong at all. They need to be tankier. Total War three kingdoms does it quite well I think.
About replenisment system idea, lategame you keep losing so many units that would rarelly be able to replenish anything imo.
But... I have noob idea... how about infinite queue by 1? So you don't have to create villagers all by yourself non-stop through out the game. War selection does it and it is great IMO.
You can't set a production queue to repeat? Age of Mythology had that years ago...
27:30 It was intentional design because there's thumb ring and ballistics technology which makes Archers 100% accurate.
I think the intention was they can miss, but not that wiggling side to side was a desired counter to make them even less accurate... could be wrong though.
@@RepublicOfPlay I don't know about Relic's reasoning for guided arrows in AoE4 but for AoE2 specifically, dodging was a form of "next level micro". Ensemble studios added a formation for dodge micro named flank formation. It is a design choice by both companies though so we have to go with it I guess :)
i must say i would be very much opposed to a 5th resource... all in all i really like what they did.. only things to improve are cam angle and zoom..as well more hotkey variety
30:16 "buildings on the other hand look quite good, they have no pop-in issues-" (shadows immediately pop in)
That's actually just because they "aged up" so there's a glow effect as all the buildings transition and the shadows initialize. Bad timing from me!
I agree on the population cap. that's my biggest complaint. I'm okay with 200 for multiplayer and even campaign TBH but for custom game skirmishes it's really silly that I can't just blast the population cap and game speed and set up giant epic battles
Nice review. Your breakdown of the graphics and art style really made me think twice, those are some pretty glaring issues. I'm not into pvp in this franchise so I think I'll wait to pick this one up.
I prefer the art style in AoE 2 & 3 Definitive. I know people take issue with how the buildings collapse in the latest titles but I love it. AoE 4, on a purely visual level, looks unfinished. It reminds me of early 360 titles when the textures took an age to load in, only they never do here...
@@Grandmastergav86 Yeah, the popping assets and textures make it look super dated. Really hope they address that.
Mods could do a lot for this game that also I do not expect the developers to be able to improve on any time soon, but mod support still seems a way off and when it comes will enough people care?
it would be better if they add options which age to start and which to end. so if you want to focus ONLY in the castle age that would be best. so no annoying cannons and gunpowder units just pure stone and steel.
ah a late review, just what I was looking for. Thanks man! It's hard for them to know which way to go with the game. I think the feedback they are getting will help them immensly. You don't really want to add any more complexity to a complex game like this or you are locking out new players. Think of Dota 2's brick wall learning curve. I've gotten several people to try the game and the complexity drives them away every time. It's hard to iterate on something legendary. There are way more ways to make it worse than there are to make it better with the iconic games of the past. They should have had mod support day one. The community would have shown them exactly what to do.
Mongols: The tc speed is bugged, literally. It's faster than scouts i think.
Thorough review without a bunch of blah blah. Liked and subbed!
Thanks!
Couldn't agree more on the campaign. I only play AOE for the single player. I am a little let down by it.
I really think it should have been an early modern to modern day game. And as such 5 should have been a Sci Fi game
The toop deployment in rise of nations would be great in aoe4. You basically click were, and can pivot the direction they face.
Thanks for the video. I am still on the fence. I have Age 2 and love Age 2 I don't need a lazy reboot of Age 2. AOE 3 had a lot of innovations which gave it it's own feel and it was quite beautiful, but the AOE series has always been a run straight through world history. Age 1 was Stone Age to the end of Roman. Age 2 to Dark Age to the High Medieval Age, Age 3 Early Colonial Age to the Age of Industry (1800). Age 4 I have hope was going to be a bit more ambitious and we were going to start in the industrial age and at the end we would be in the our current age, if not a little bit of speculative near future stuff. Age 4 has a few new features that I think are interesting especially how everyone has to build a landmark to age. But after so long not being able to align units (which has been around since Rise of Nations) and no defense stance or other advanced formation stuff that has been standard for years is a little frustrating. I smell a game that is going to be launched half done at full price and then slowly patched and matured through DLC for even more money. I think I will wait for a while.
This game sometimes feel like a mobile game. Too simplistic and cartoony units style...
@@janmajnik6889 A problem with modern games is the placation of normies with easy modes, and hand holding. The other is the same with movies, reboots, prequels, too much glitter an flash, and lack of creativity. I much prefer indie games at this point they have the pioneer, (were making game we would want to play) attitude. Age 2 was extremely popular when it came out and it makes me think some marketing person just went, "that was popular, 'member, let's do that again but with 4k graphics and a few new things."
Completely agree with you about the tedium-based micro & control clunkiness.
The Company of Heroes and Total War flourishes are not unreasonable; not in 2021. Unfortunately, many AoE fans are just stuck in the past. And this is coming from someone who grew up playing the original games in the 90s. Hell, I come from the C&C, Dark Reign, etc. era, and I'd love to see AoE gain some fundamental qol changes.
I don't think Relic is up to the task. Someone else should be given this title.
This god damn camera… why we are not aloud to zoom out properly like in AOE2 😬
Played age of empires 2 since release with an on again of again relationship. I'm enjoying this. I think they can fixed a lot of issues related to some game play decisions like you mentioned in patches that will hopefully happen with more post launch care. The graphics aren't great but I'm happy enough with what's there. I'd like a bit of collision with regard to charges and fighting elephants and some physics when artillery hits infantry.
I hope this game finds its own audience. I think guys who played the older AOEs should enjoy it for what it is. I would however love a formation system like total war using drags of the mouse etc.
the pop in on trees might be so one can see units better in light forests.
Most of those forests you can't walk into though? Only the stealth ones.
As usual, your well structured and detailed review is the best I could wish for an RTS game.
You managed to make both the fans and haters mad at you, so your review is probably balanced. I agree with you though I love the buildings but really dislike the unit aesthetics. Also in AoE 2 when a unit dies the fade out is much much nicer (Iirc they have several fade out frames of the unit turning to skeleton and decays) so AoE4 does feel like it's taking too many backward steps here and there.
Also very sad to hear the campaign is boring, I play these kind of games for the campaign. I played the AoE2 campaigns multiple times over and over, I really like the story based approach of those. Here it seems like it's reduced to just another tutorial for the multiplayer, the same reason that I hate Dawn of War III's campaigns.
Is the available for the Mac?
If the game is about micro, then the UI and flow should be optimized for micro, but is it? I agree with your improvements on micro management.
Big secret tip: if you have troops in a formation and want them facing a certain way, instead of just right clicking, hold right click and drag in the direction you want them to face. You're welcome.
Thanks but I know this already, did it in the video many times when talking about controls. It’s difficult to get the exact angle correct which is why it takes 2-3 clicks to see the exact orientation the formation takes. If you dragged and saw the formation before releasing the click that would fix it. Instead you see a tiny arrow thats the pivot point for the formation.
@@RepublicOfPlay Ah, well, fair enough if it doesn't work for you--I guess I haven't had as many issues with it. Also, a lot of people don't know this bc it's not mentioned in the training afaik, so it's useful.
Anyone wants a Total War: Medieval 3 to be made? I'm shocked that they didn't give that theme another go. :(
That was truly an excellent review. Thank you.
Enjoying the game. Simple, but fun. Looking forward to the optimizations and new civs.
I really hope they ad the danish and or Norse. I find it strange that they didn’t quite frankly. Byzantine as well.
All of the graphical issues you list are non existent for me, a few friends with hi-spec PCs have them though, I'm guessing bad optimisation?
I'm running a intel i5 4th Gen, (lol) 32gig ram and a 1660ti and I'm having no issues what so ever running it on ultra and still getting good fps, no tearing and the units still look great zoomed out.
Pretty bad that so many people have to deal with the graphics looking like they do on your PC!
Thanks for such a detailed review. I enjoyed listening to it.
It's videos like these from your channel that convinced me to become a member. Thanks a lot for the brilliant job you do.
Thank you 🙏
Age of Empires 4: The Dean Takahashi review.
JK, I agree they should reduce the micro a little in the more tedious areas.
The game already has less micro than other AOE games. Down it too much and people will flip out.
So the Campaign is like Command and Conquer 4 , a big tutorial for MP ?
It is Anathema to even acknowledge the existence of C&C4
If original devs were making age 4 it would be closer to total war probably imo, cause it's natural.
I 100% agree with your opinion on the micro
Niceu! I was waiting for this review soo thanks :)
huh...i was shocked to hear that the pop limit is still 200 :/ yeahh im not getting this one...
It needs a little work in some areas, but so far I'm having fun. It's very user friendly.
It sounds like something that will already be on sale on Black Friday. Battlefield V style
Amazing review. The issues about game details and fps are really surpising.
I really don't like the no gore and how much focus there is nowadays on readability in games that they are willing to sacrifice all aesthetics for it. Where is the grit and gore? With such colorful playercolours all over my units it looks like a child game for smartphones not a wargame.
I agree with you. Age of Clans IV is what it should be called. :D
I had a dream, and it's gone.
The tedious micro as you termed it is exactly what prevents me from trying AOE4
IT'S NOT AN "ART STYLE!"
Seriously I'm sick of people keep using the term "art style" to justify this PS3 looking game. "art style" is what people who know nothing about art and design in general use to defend their low quality, low skill products. Like when you make a shitty drawing, post it on the forum, get rejected because it's low quality, then go on and whine because "it's not bad, it's my style of drawing and you have to respect it." It's low quality and far subpar for 2021 graphic standard. Plain and simple!
Just imagine for a moment, that if Starcraft 3, or Warcraft 4, or Warhammer 3 would look like this, is it acceptable to you? Game doesn't even have cinematic intros lol! They have a handful of cheap actors dressing up and still-figures for their trailer lol! They could afford one bit quality CGI. That's how cheap this game was made.
Thank you for the reviewing the game 👍
It's a good game but I feel the price for it is a slap in the face. I think they know that too. They just don't care. I'm going to buy this on sale.
Reviews is where you shine.
Isnt CA and Relic owned by Sega? They can borrow from each other.
Remember when you quit your job at CA, immediately put out a video bashing them and decided to try and do a job that earns you 0.001% of what 5 year old kids opening toys earn?
Uhhh kinda? I never made a video bashing them, and I make more now than I did at CA. And at CA I made more than friends I had there who worked there for way longer… they dont exactly pay well.
Been waiting for this review
It sounds like you would enjoy AoE3 DE even more
also i love mongols
This game can be so emersiv and fun to play If they add blood efects and to dead bodies better animations, it's 2021 c'mon, why și much animations and detailes are censored?
Rus as favorite, who would have thought? 😅
Definitely worth it! Best mobile game of our generation!
Yeah I agree, it would be quite good for a mobile remaster of AoE 2. Not so good for a sequel though, to put it nicely
Thanks for the review.
I will get it if it goes to the Xbox
As always your the guy to go to for these types of games.
ummm btw aoe2 let you set population to 400.... but in most cases it just isnt needed
Yeah I know, that's why I'd like to see it here! Just for skirmish at least. Why not be able to play 2v2 with 400 pop cap on an 8 player map.
60$? Where did u buy it?
I played it on gamepass, but its $60 on steam
@@RepublicOfPlay lol you joking right? I bought aoe iv for 249 idr/17 usd
@@honestblondie Congrats on discovering regional pricing
people in the late 20s and early 30s have kids ;)
Let them grow up with this new generation of RTS just like we did back in the day with AoE2.
Or just give them AOE2 remaster 🤷♂️ maybe… if I had a kid I’d try show them a bunch of OG games before new stuff
This isn't even new gen.
Pass. Played the originals when they came out to death...was hoping for something more.
Booooo its a good game
@@natedlc854 Good dont mean i'll pay full price...some of us been around for ages so we are more fussy😜
@@MauriceTarantulas its on game pass
@@natedlc854 I'll still pass. Dont have game pass n got Pathfinder to play...getting new screen tues👍
IT’S OUT!!!
Great review, been very on the fence about getting this game. I really hate the presentation of the campaign and how boring and surface-level the history is. On the other hand, the gameplay looks decent.
imagine playing AoE 2 on one of the easier settings and there you go.
Get the xbox game pass for 1 month (almost free) and then you can cancel. Then you can try out the game. Pass also includes AOE II and III.
It's age of empire but in 2021
Does anyone know how to remove the visual numbers above soldiers when you assign groups for them? It's really annoying. A bit dissapointed with this game. Will probably rather play AOE 2 and 3 and total war games. :) Way better.
They did modernized it.....
There are only 7 civilizations....... also no Japanese or Korea? Wtf
Thats too funny, the game started to grow on me too after sometime
naaah....ill take this over what they did to dow3 every time lol
Great review, I loved AOE2 back in the day though will admit its aged. This new entry looks disappointing and will be skipping thanks to your review!
I couldn’t push myself to buy this one. I can’t stand the art style of this game. I was expecting more than just the same setting as before just with some revamped mechanics.
A game looking like that should not run MUCH better.
this only makes me want to play AOE1
not buy this game.
0/10 - no BR
200 units is too few
Coming from total war age of empires 4 is so outdated. Just play it on Xbox live