To the people looking at this and still on the fence, the devs are actually aware of and interact with the community. I am still yelling at them for Order/Shadow content. The game is absolutely great, but also currently a bit flawed. Fortunately, the devs are actively listening to the playerbase and hard at work fixing said flaws. Necromancy wasn't fun, so they completely reworked Necromancy from the ground up for free. Unit tiers were too decisive, so they're currently in the process of reworking unit tiers. Mystic was a bit boring of a culture mechanically, so they're massively expanding it. For free. Hero stacking was the meta, so they did changes to fix this. These changes weren't all winners, so next patch, the devs took note of that, kept in the changes people liked, and completely removed the ones the community wasn't happy with. The devs listen and the changes they make are aimed at making the game more fun and diverse, not removing fun. Hell, even the DLC content follows this ethos. Reavers and Primal, the two DLC cultures at time of writing aren't the strongest in the game. But they're designed with fun and unique interactions in mind over everything. You aren't paying to complete the game, or getting an overpowered thing that invalidates the base game content. It's simply fun additions that add more variety and options. Not overpowered, not underpowered, just unique and fun.
Order / Shadow content would be great. Yeah you're right I should have gone into more details about the necromancy update. Glad you feel as positive on it as I do!
The best addition of this game, is, that is has workshop support on steam. Many developers sleep on that. It makes EVERY game better, because you will always find someone who mods something that annoys you in the base game.
Hey I thought so too at first, age of wonders isn’t really my game but I would recommend giving it a shot. If nothing else at least on steam the platform will refund within the first 2 hours of purchase no questions asked.
Honestly, this is the best Age of Wonders game I've played since the first game; 2 is good, 3 was... eh ok. But this, this is hands down better than the original and that is saying something. If I like a game enough to play it all day that it fixes my messed up sleep... it's good.
THANK YOU! This is probably the best review/overview of a game I have ever watched. I am considering buying it since it's on sale, and it sounds like it's worth it. I watched the whole thing, it was incredibly helpful :) I think the only remaining questions I have are DLC related, but A) I can make DLC decisions after I buy and play the base game and B) DLC specific reviews at time of DLC release should still be relevant. I steered clear of base game reviews on launch cause I know how much can change in the first year of a games life.
I'm very glad you enjoyed it! I worked really hard on it. Yeah I would say that most of the video works as an explanation of the free updates. While DLC things are certainly mentioned, they're most sectioned off into their own things like Dragon Rulers or Primal Culture. I think the base game is absolutely good enough to grab and the improvements it has undergone have been fantastic as I outlined. Good thinking checking out the on-launch DLC reviews. Those are still mostly relevant aside from some light balancing they did to Reavers a few months ago which made Magelocks more viable.
Cheers, will watch later tonight. - Ody Was llooking for a video like this, played the game on launch but havn't played in quite a while. Got the expansion pass and looking to get back into the game.
Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. The game is much better now then it was on launch. For instance, now domains from underground can claim surface provinces and vice versa. Have a great day!
It’s been a long time since I played this game, but the builds in this honestly sound like it’s worth dusting it off, especially Magelock Reaver focus.
You're better off waiting for the next patch if you want to play with Magelocks. They're currently quite bad because they can't move and shoot on the same turn, and they're worthless in autoresolve combat because the AI will often move them forward (so they can't shoot) and then they'll get engaged in melee (so they still can't shoot). This review massively oversells how good the Reaver culture is.
I've had a lot of success with Magelocks and Reavers in general. I've done four full games with them doing different builds and focusing on different units. Sure, you can't just run in with a stack of six Magelocks and win but I don't think that makes them bad. What part do you feel I oversold?
@@RealBootman Reavers have multiple issues. The main thing is that they have no reliable melee unit and while Mercs aren't a bad T1 they're too expensive for what they do and still don't hold the line that well compared to other factions which get a decent shield unit early on (especially when compared to Industrial or Barbarian, which both get a really good shield unit). Subdue is potentially strong but it causes you to miss out on XP every time you use it, which means your heroes will be weaker than they should be at any stage in the game. Magelocks are currently just plain bad units that are too easy to shut down even compared to other ranged units (because they can't move and shoot unlike other ranged units) and cannot be relied on in autoresolve at all. Dragoons are actually pretty good but they're still not frontline material, which means that overall Reavers are an overly fragile faction that doesn't have a native frontline and which performs worse than any other faction in autoresolve. None of this needs to be a gamebreaker if you only play singleplayer and you fight most of your battles manually, especially on low difficulty settings, since you can make literally anything work in singleplayer. However it does mean that compared to stuff like Industrial or High it's just a weak faction.
It's pretty easy to get a good melee unit from tomes though, isn't it? Or just take things like Aspect of the Root or something for your mercs. And their mana gen will help with summoning if you want to go that route for your front line. One of the builds you'll see in the video is necromancy reavers which also covers the front line pretty well. I hadn't considered the XP thing but I think it's a fair tradeoff. Good point nonetheless. I do agree that Magelocks are easily shut down by other players. Typically I just play extra safe with them and it works out. I guess it's worth noting that most of my experience is singleplayer or playing with my friends. I think this is how most people will play the game but it does leave me with a possible blindspot to the top ends of the competitive meta.
Thanks for the guide. I played this on release and liked it, but am overwhelmed by all the expansion stuff which was stopping me from getting back into it.
I'm glad you enjoyed! And honestly, just going through the story modes isn't a bad way to start since they tend to start off shorter. I didn't do that when I first started playing. I jumped into huge full games so I had to spend hours dealing with stupid mistakes I made at the start.
Good video. I played this game on release, it was a little raw, but I want to return to it later few month and check updates developers added. so good to refresh memories
Thanks! I nice tutorial play through series after the next DLC gets released would be great. Most of the videos on UA-cam for AOW4 are from the base game and the DLCs have changed a lot of things.
Yeah this video accounts for everything up to now! I probably won't do a full one on the next DLC but plenty of content creators cover that stuff, or you can check out the dev diaries.
Good video! I've been enjoying the game on and off since launch, and still finding things I love in it, so it's very much "preaching to the choir" for me, but the only bit that took me by surprise was when you said Barbarian was the weakest culture haha! I had possibly my quickest win ever with a Barbarian faction with Elephant mounts, so it just took me by surprise since I mostly associate them with that time.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! And yeah the general reaction to that claim has been powerful. I stand by what I said but I think people hear 'weakest culture' and get a different idea of what I'm saying. If you pick random builds with them or more off-beat builds they'll be less viable than others. But if you focus on their strengths in specific ways they're very strong. Personally I don't like that in order for them to be strong you have to play them in more limited ways compared to others. But I'm glad to meet another based elephant mount enjoyer. Grab Elephant Mounts with Tome of Vigor. It will turn all of your squads into one man squads
Very happy you enjoyed the video! I really hope so. My work got busy and drove me into the ground the last few months. But I have some more free time now so I'm planning on restarting work today. The script for it is already written. I just need to add in a few more tomes, record, get footage and edit.
@@RealBootman Wow, so happy to hear that! Don't get me wrong, you've put this great content here for free and we/I have no right to be pushing you for more (and life/work can be a b****) but sometimes you see those great YTers making one or two wonderful vids and then disappearing and I was worried it would be the same with you. Happy to hear we'll get the vid!
I'm a big fan of the DLC so far! But other content creators have done a great job catching people up. The purpose of this video was to help people understand and appreciate how good Age of Wonders 4 is, and I'm happy I achieved that, so there probably won't be an Eldritch Realms video.
Yeah. It might sound silly to some people, but I genuinely consider this video 'concise'. Relative to the information it covers it's really focused and fast. Thank you very much for appreciating it!
I am gonna ramble. I tried AOW4 at the launch. I thought it was an improvement over AOW:P, I think AOW4's tactical combat is simpler than planetfalls which is a good thing in my opinion. I was never able to learn Planetfall's tactical side. The older UI was a big barrier to entry. Tactical combat has also turned into hell in larger battles. so I always played it on small maps with small amounts of players however, after a while I stopped and just played games with just the tactical combat or the empire building. I am used to complex games with bad UE design like Dominions, but I was never able to play Planetfall effectively because it became really tiring to keep track of the armies, their composition, their upgrades etc; especially in MP. Which is weird because that's something that I can do in other games. I think the reason for that was the style, Planetfall is vibrant with details, everything has different models and such. That tired me for some reason. I experienced the same thing with TotalWar Warhammer 3 as well. Large map, vibrant colors, lots of factions, lots of detail in visuals etc... Which is something I have never experienced in other TotalWar titles before. AOW4 at launch was far better than Planetfall, especially at its simplicity and basic gameplay loop. However, I still had my gripes especially with the army movement in strategic map and the pacing of the game. I think everything moves so fast on the strategic map compared to other 4X titles, I feel in a game like Endless Legend where empire development is the focus, everything seems more inline with that aspect of the game. One year has passed so I gave a look at AOW4 again at its current state and I am quite impressed. I would say at launch this game was a 7 out of 10 (without the bugs) right now it is probably around 8 out of 10 at least. Which is an unexpected but welcome improvement. I think the pacing of the game has changed for the better but I don't know what changed, or anything changed at all. I feel like infestations are rarer and marauder guards are overall easier to fight and recover from, they feel like roadblocks rather than tackied on challenges to make the world seem less empty. So there is less unit swapping to heal and replenish. Though maybe it is untouched and I am imagining things. Also, diplomatic side of the AI seems to be performing a lot better. Which makes fights with empires more interesting and common. I still do not like the bigger army movement and the sprawling cities. I feel like the tactical aspect of the game is its identity. I think cities and improvements should create the stage for these tactical battles, in my opinion the sprawl does not help with that. Tactical battles are the culmination of all the effort put into the session. I feel like they should be the highlight though that's me. An addition I would like to see (maybe it is there and I missed it) is to re-play or setup battles. Like the one in the Airships: Conquer the Skies. Also, I don't know why I am writing all of this here.
I think I agree with pretty much everything you've outlined, except I would probably score AoW4 higher than you. I think as time goes on it will keep getting better as well. While I do like the sprawling cities, I agree it would be neat if your domain had more of an effect on the fight. There are some effects like that but it'd be cool to see it implemented on a broader scale.
well i´ve read your wall of text and i agree. i feel the same and in the exact same games you mentioned, for the reasons you mentioned. also i hope the dev of Airships does another DLC soon ; ) i wish AoW4 would implement more things from dominions! more world changing spells =)
The video was in the works for a few months before the expansion and my main goal with it was to try to help the expansion sell more! So I had to get it out before the expansion. Thankfully, based on the comments, it seems to have worked. Plenty of other youtubers have made videos about the new expansion though. So you could watch this and follow it up with some of theirs!
@@RealBootman Yeah, I figured you put in some time, because it's extremely detailed and even I saw a few new combos despite having hundreds of hours in this game. It's amazing and I wish they continue to support it :D Yeah, I've already played dozens of hours of the new expansion and Eldritch Sovereigns, I just wanted to hear you talk about it, as this video was extremely good :P Congrats on your 2nd video being that polished mate.
I just played this. To be fair. I am so surprised (positively) how close to Age Of Wonders 1 the graphics style is (of course in 3d 😅). I am really impressed as I preferred this stylistic over AoW2. AoW4 is like best mix of all games
After following development for a while I feel pretty confident in saying that the developers really cared about the franchise on the whole. Everyone who knows the old lore (not me) consistently remarks on things like that.
Turn-based fantasy 4x is a pretty niche genre, but I agree that AoW 4 is easily the best game within this niche. It just has so much variety and replayability that it never really gets boring, especially with the ability to make your own races and factions. I often find myself coming back to it whenever I out of the blue suddenly think up some weird combination of stuff that I can make a faction out.
What i hate about this franchise, its that cities are symmetrical. The same buikdings. Even if they were doing the same thing they should at least have different icons. And low visual gratification. I litetally want to see every step of my progress on map, not just an interface icon.
Did…. Did u even play the game?? 1. Each culture has different icons for city’s 2. Times give buildings 3. U can see province improvements in the map 4. Even civilisation, let alone other turn based games, didn’t show things besides special buildings Eike wonders and walls improvement
I'm playing on PS5 and they seriously need to introduce mouse compatibility. I mean it is playable using the DualSense, but an option to have mouse compatibility would make menu navigation and map scrolling etc. so much better.
Arrows, pikes, swords, all weapons makes the same SFX when they hits an enemy. AOW4 is a great game, but needs a little more cure in small details that otherwise can compromise the player immersion.
Anyone know of a good guide, that explains the thinking behind moves? Never played 4x games, I can't tell if there are build orders or is more sandbox type play.
“There was never a good knife made of bad steel ” ― Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life There never was a good 4X with lacking city management and AI
Then there's never been a good 4X because I've never played one without some level of AI issues. I have found it interesting how many people disagree with Age of Wonders 4 being a great 4X because they choose one of the four Xs to be the most important of them all.
@@RealBootman Look, AoW4 has the graphics and the fantasy immersion, but little else. Endless Legend, while worse, is not that far, which could maybe help you to do the proper reconsiderations. Meanwhile the Civ series, while sometimes feels monotonous, is objectively very well rounded, hardly lacking anything.
@@Scarletraven87 I disagree that it has little else. Maybe pick a point or two from my video where I talk about the positive qualities it has and show why they're wrong.
It does! Overall the campaign missions are shorter than playing a regular game which is nice, but you need to account for that with your build. I find them quite fun. About as good as this sort of thing can be in a 4x.
There's been AI improvements but genuinely I think it's towards the upper end of AI in these sorts of games. Strategy AI has always and will always suck, at least for the foreseeable future.
I really love playing this game, but I find that once you reach the endgame, it becomes incredibly focused on micromanagement, which can make it feel quite tedious. I tend to get bored during the later stages and end up just randomly selecting tomes and spells without even bothering to read them. This might be a personal issue of mine, but it does end up making the game less enjoyable. Despite this, the game offers a wide range of strategic possibilities, and if I can resist the urge to rush through the endgame, I believe it has all the qualities I look for in a game like this.
Fair enough, though I suppose I'd be curious what is the 'late game' / 'end game' for you. Because I might agree but draw the line in a different place.
I would absolutely get pedantic right now. Age of Wonders series was always like a 4X with combat at its heart and all other aspects, particularly city management and diplomacy, downplayed. AoW4 is definitely a 4X with the best combat around, but it steps back from even what Planetfall has to offer in terms of diplomacy and economy. Games like Dune: Spice Wars have better diplomacy, while almost every other 4X post-Endless Legend has better city management and development. Again, AoW 4 has undeniable top-of-the-line strenghts, but it's not the best 4X overall.
I completely understand that point of view. My opinion on video game design is that I much prefer focused mechanics over broad mechanics. Imagine a pyramid, where all the mechanics stack up and focus on a single end point, the combat. I really value that in my games and that informs my evaluation of it being 'best'.
@@RealBootman That must mean you also value combat over the other aspects. I can personally understand a desire for focused design, but in my opinion the focus then must be on economy, infrastructure development and city management with other aspects bouncing off of it. Otherwise you just get a wargame. You might love Fantasy General II by the way.
@qasderfful problem is literally no other 4x game has as good combat as AoW so then the question becomes why focus on the aspect that everyone else is doing instead of what your game is able to do better. I would honestly prefer that most strategy games diverged their focus like this more because then the market becomes flooded with samey games. Why should I buy millennium when Old World, Humankind and civ exist when the changes are fairly miniscule while on the fantasy side of things I can go endless legend for diplomacy and fun strategical map based gameplay, spellforce conquest of eo has the best exploration of most 4x games because you're constantly moving your wizards tower around the map. Dominions has insane army management and strategic spells and age of wonders has the best combat. Feels like the 4x community is keeping themselves in a bubble of their own design which imo will only lead to stagnation and continued decline of the genre as a whole.
@@gstellar96 not sure I get your point? The only game with conwlling city management is Civ6 and you know how the rest of it is. We definitely need more of *that*.
I value a core mechanic. For instance, if everything was focused on diplomacy and your army was merely a way to strongarm people diplomatically, and all the enchantments and exploitation fed into that as well I'd be happy. Once again, as long as those things are meaningful. I think there's some meaningful economic aspects to AoW4 but I can see how it would not hold up in that regard compared to others. Personally I like the choice of tile exploitation and domain expansion, and how that feeds into diplomacy, economics and military. But it isn't super complex or in depth, which might be something you value a lot!
@@timecrystal5thapostleof125 peer-to-peer is a connection rype. AoW4 hosts saves and games on a server by the company. Peer-to-peer is instead hosting the game on the hosts computer where others connect to the game. It has its own flaws but they are typically really good at preventing sync issues.
Funny! AoW4:Eldritch Realms just crashed 4x times in a row on me, so I came over to YT to kill time and am suggested this video. The irony! /Edit: Crashes aren't common. I just seem to've stumbled on a weird bug (Toll of Seasons? Mage ___ (ugly critter - forgot it's name)?)
Well I hope you enjoyed it! Yeah while there has been periods of instability in Age of Wonders 4, Eldritch Realms seems to be solid. Sorry you're having issues!
One thing I really miss is the quirky, Discworld-style flavour text when you click on a unit for info. They added a real feel of context and background, plus the humour was right up my street.
AoW was and always will be the noobs' HoMM3, since it's release it's in that enormous shadow and only AoW3 was good for 1vs1 tournaments - the rest is just weak (;
the Best 4X you need to play more games.. this game is OK the original was WAY better!!! and there are far better x4 games than this.. tis just happens to be the newest using stuff other have not yet ot round to.. it makes you sound like a child when you claim this is the best x4 lol I was shocked by your voice
I've been playing 4Xs for years and I do consider it to be the best. Surely if it comes down to it just using new stuff that other games haven't gotten around to yet, we could agree that it wears some sort of badge of distinction until they do catch up, right? Like if Ford makes a new car tomorrow with new tech that's faster than every other car we'll talk about it and praise it even if other companies will catch up fast.
bought base game for $15 on a cd key website and used cream api to unlock all dlc free ;) have been doing it for years and not once have i had an issue on steam muhaha fuck paying for bitch dlcs.. used to be expansion packs that added more than 2 things..
I'd say the overall development of Age of Wonders 4 has been worth the price of DLC. Gotta remember that you're not just paying for the content of the DLC itself, it's a way of supporting the creators while they do free updates. For instance, Mystics getting subcultures in the most recent update! We got that for free and it's very cool.
Thank you for a good content!
Right back at you!
Pretty cool that you got a comment from the official Age of Wonders 4 account on UA-cam!
To the people looking at this and still on the fence, the devs are actually aware of and interact with the community. I am still yelling at them for Order/Shadow content.
The game is absolutely great, but also currently a bit flawed. Fortunately, the devs are actively listening to the playerbase and hard at work fixing said flaws. Necromancy wasn't fun, so they completely reworked Necromancy from the ground up for free. Unit tiers were too decisive, so they're currently in the process of reworking unit tiers. Mystic was a bit boring of a culture mechanically, so they're massively expanding it. For free.
Hero stacking was the meta, so they did changes to fix this. These changes weren't all winners, so next patch, the devs took note of that, kept in the changes people liked, and completely removed the ones the community wasn't happy with.
The devs listen and the changes they make are aimed at making the game more fun and diverse, not removing fun. Hell, even the DLC content follows this ethos. Reavers and Primal, the two DLC cultures at time of writing aren't the strongest in the game. But they're designed with fun and unique interactions in mind over everything. You aren't paying to complete the game, or getting an overpowered thing that invalidates the base game content. It's simply fun additions that add more variety and options. Not overpowered, not underpowered, just unique and fun.
Order / Shadow content would be great.
Yeah you're right I should have gone into more details about the necromancy update.
Glad you feel as positive on it as I do!
The best addition of this game, is, that is has workshop support on steam.
Many developers sleep on that. It makes EVERY game better, because you will always find someone who mods something that annoys you in the base game.
these kinds of strategy games aren't really my thing
but it's pretty clear to even me how much of a standout in the genre this game must be
Hey I thought so too at first, age of wonders isn’t really my game but I would recommend giving it a shot. If nothing else at least on steam the platform will refund within the first 2 hours of purchase no questions asked.
Straight to the point and a very good introduction to AoW4. Hope this helps a lot of people get into the game!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
Honestly, this is the best Age of Wonders game I've played since the first game; 2 is good, 3 was... eh ok. But this, this is hands down better than the original and that is saying something. If I like a game enough to play it all day that it fixes my messed up sleep... it's good.
Yeah I'm a big fan of 3 but 4 blows it out of the water.
Yeah. To me AoW 1 was the best. So happy that the 4 matches the graphical style of 1 (but with amazing 3d)
THANK YOU! This is probably the best review/overview of a game I have ever watched. I am considering buying it since it's on sale, and it sounds like it's worth it. I watched the whole thing, it was incredibly helpful :)
I think the only remaining questions I have are DLC related, but A) I can make DLC decisions after I buy and play the base game and B) DLC specific reviews at time of DLC release should still be relevant. I steered clear of base game reviews on launch cause I know how much can change in the first year of a games life.
I'm very glad you enjoyed it! I worked really hard on it.
Yeah I would say that most of the video works as an explanation of the free updates. While DLC things are certainly mentioned, they're most sectioned off into their own things like Dragon Rulers or Primal Culture.
I think the base game is absolutely good enough to grab and the improvements it has undergone have been fantastic as I outlined. Good thinking checking out the on-launch DLC reviews. Those are still mostly relevant aside from some light balancing they did to Reavers a few months ago which made Magelocks more viable.
Cheers, will watch later tonight. - Ody
Was llooking for a video like this, played the game on launch but havn't played in quite a while. Got the expansion pass and looking to get back into the game.
Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. The game is much better now then it was on launch. For instance, now domains from underground can claim surface provinces and vice versa.
Have a great day!
It’s been a long time since I played this game, but the builds in this honestly sound like it’s worth dusting it off, especially Magelock Reaver focus.
Yeah Reaver units are all are barrel of fun. Magelocks are about to get another buff.
You're better off waiting for the next patch if you want to play with Magelocks. They're currently quite bad because they can't move and shoot on the same turn, and they're worthless in autoresolve combat because the AI will often move them forward (so they can't shoot) and then they'll get engaged in melee (so they still can't shoot). This review massively oversells how good the Reaver culture is.
I've had a lot of success with Magelocks and Reavers in general. I've done four full games with them doing different builds and focusing on different units. Sure, you can't just run in with a stack of six Magelocks and win but I don't think that makes them bad.
What part do you feel I oversold?
@@RealBootman Reavers have multiple issues. The main thing is that they have no reliable melee unit and while Mercs aren't a bad T1 they're too expensive for what they do and still don't hold the line that well compared to other factions which get a decent shield unit early on (especially when compared to Industrial or Barbarian, which both get a really good shield unit). Subdue is potentially strong but it causes you to miss out on XP every time you use it, which means your heroes will be weaker than they should be at any stage in the game. Magelocks are currently just plain bad units that are too easy to shut down even compared to other ranged units (because they can't move and shoot unlike other ranged units) and cannot be relied on in autoresolve at all. Dragoons are actually pretty good but they're still not frontline material, which means that overall Reavers are an overly fragile faction that doesn't have a native frontline and which performs worse than any other faction in autoresolve.
None of this needs to be a gamebreaker if you only play singleplayer and you fight most of your battles manually, especially on low difficulty settings, since you can make literally anything work in singleplayer. However it does mean that compared to stuff like Industrial or High it's just a weak faction.
It's pretty easy to get a good melee unit from tomes though, isn't it? Or just take things like Aspect of the Root or something for your mercs. And their mana gen will help with summoning if you want to go that route for your front line. One of the builds you'll see in the video is necromancy reavers which also covers the front line pretty well.
I hadn't considered the XP thing but I think it's a fair tradeoff. Good point nonetheless.
I do agree that Magelocks are easily shut down by other players. Typically I just play extra safe with them and it works out. I guess it's worth noting that most of my experience is singleplayer or playing with my friends. I think this is how most people will play the game but it does leave me with a possible blindspot to the top ends of the competitive meta.
Random bit. Frostling combined with angelic has one of the goofiest color schemes that makes your units look like photo negatives
Thanks for the guide. I played this on release and liked it, but am overwhelmed by all the expansion stuff which was stopping me from getting back into it.
No problem! Hope it helps!
Thank you so much!
Im new to the game and most beginners guides are not up to date with the updates and new content, this is really helpful!
I hope you enjoy!
This is a REALLY good video. The kind I wish would be available for every complex game out there!
Thank you very much! I tried my best with it and I'm glad you appreciated it.
Great content with really good instructions and tips there!
how should i start getting into AoW4? which campaigns?
this video is great btw and love the detailed explanations. subbed.
I'm glad you enjoyed! And honestly, just going through the story modes isn't a bad way to start since they tend to start off shorter. I didn't do that when I first started playing. I jumped into huge full games so I had to spend hours dealing with stupid mistakes I made at the start.
FYI, critical chance is tied to morale, so you can also buff the Barbarian units with moral boosters, like Tome of Revelry.
Very true! I am honestly not sure how I forgot to mention that in the review.
Good video. I played this game on release, it was a little raw, but I want to return to it later few month and check updates developers added. so good to refresh memories
The last of the first set up DLC is coming out in a few days. So now would be a great time to start!
Great review of the game. I was initially going to skip playing this game, but now I'm more interested in it.
Glad to hear it! I hope you enjoy!
This is a huge work! Thanks and good luck with the channel
Thank you for your support! I appreciate it!
Thanks! I nice tutorial play through series after the next DLC gets released would be great. Most of the videos on UA-cam for AOW4 are from the base game and the DLCs have changed a lot of things.
Yeah this video accounts for everything up to now! I probably won't do a full one on the next DLC but plenty of content creators cover that stuff, or you can check out the dev diaries.
Good video!
I've been enjoying the game on and off since launch, and still finding things I love in it, so it's very much "preaching to the choir" for me, but the only bit that took me by surprise was when you said Barbarian was the weakest culture haha!
I had possibly my quickest win ever with a Barbarian faction with Elephant mounts, so it just took me by surprise since I mostly associate them with that time.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
And yeah the general reaction to that claim has been powerful. I stand by what I said but I think people hear 'weakest culture' and get a different idea of what I'm saying. If you pick random builds with them or more off-beat builds they'll be less viable than others. But if you focus on their strengths in specific ways they're very strong. Personally I don't like that in order for them to be strong you have to play them in more limited ways compared to others.
But I'm glad to meet another based elephant mount enjoyer. Grab Elephant Mounts with Tome of Vigor. It will turn all of your squads into one man squads
Just found this video as I was considering buying the game. Awesome one!
Will we get the announced vid about tomes and traits?
Very happy you enjoyed the video!
I really hope so. My work got busy and drove me into the ground the last few months. But I have some more free time now so I'm planning on restarting work today. The script for it is already written. I just need to add in a few more tomes, record, get footage and edit.
@@RealBootman Wow, so happy to hear that! Don't get me wrong, you've put this great content here for free and we/I have no right to be pushing you for more (and life/work can be a b****) but sometimes you see those great YTers making one or two wonderful vids and then disappearing and I was worried it would be the same with you. Happy to hear we'll get the vid!
Very good info here. Good luck on the channel, keep making videos as good as this one and you'll do well.
It means a lot to get this kind of praise! Thank you very much.
Holy crap how do you only have 100 subs? I was guessing something in the 100ks from the quality!
Thank you very much! I really tried my best on it. I want to produce high quality content
@@RealBootmanyou might want to take a look at the new eldritch stuff dlc. Idk if it’s that great but there is definitely a lot to analyze
I'm a big fan of the DLC so far! But other content creators have done a great job catching people up. The purpose of this video was to help people understand and appreciate how good Age of Wonders 4 is, and I'm happy I achieved that, so there probably won't be an Eldritch Realms video.
@@RealBootman fair enough. Have a good day :)
Ya, this is our #1 4x game of all time for us.
Mad respect to you then.
Awesome vid man! You honestly sold me on this game and I'm not just saying that for likes!
Well you're getting one anyway!
What a great guide! Excellent work brother
Thanks brother! Keep on keeping on!
What a great review. So complete. Perfect. Thank you
Thank you for watching! I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
Yo succedded! New dlc annoincement today!
I am very happy this game got the love it deserves and I've already bought the next season pass!
@@RealBootman Me too! Eastern culture of first dlc looks phenomenal!
You did an excellent job at being focused in the video. Impressive considering its 50 minutes long.
Yeah. It might sound silly to some people, but I genuinely consider this video 'concise'. Relative to the information it covers it's really focused and fast.
Thank you very much for appreciating it!
Great video, longing to see more AOW4 content :)
I've got a video on every Tome in the works! Stay tuned
We will watch your career with great interest
Thanks! I hope to get back into making videos soon.
I am gonna ramble. I tried AOW4 at the launch. I thought it was an improvement over AOW:P, I think AOW4's tactical combat is simpler than planetfalls which is a good thing in my opinion. I was never able to learn Planetfall's tactical side. The older UI was a big barrier to entry. Tactical combat has also turned into hell in larger battles. so I always played it on small maps with small amounts of players however, after a while I stopped and just played games with just the tactical combat or the empire building. I am used to complex games with bad UE design like Dominions, but I was never able to play Planetfall effectively because it became really tiring to keep track of the armies, their composition, their upgrades etc; especially in MP. Which is weird because that's something that I can do in other games. I think the reason for that was the style, Planetfall is vibrant with details, everything has different models and such. That tired me for some reason. I experienced the same thing with TotalWar Warhammer 3 as well. Large map, vibrant colors, lots of factions, lots of detail in visuals etc... Which is something I have never experienced in other TotalWar titles before. AOW4 at launch was far better than Planetfall, especially at its simplicity and basic gameplay loop. However, I still had my gripes especially with the army movement in strategic map and the pacing of the game. I think everything moves so fast on the strategic map compared to other 4X titles, I feel in a game like Endless Legend where empire development is the focus, everything seems more inline with that aspect of the game. One year has passed so I gave a look at AOW4 again at its current state and I am quite impressed. I would say at launch this game was a 7 out of 10 (without the bugs) right now it is probably around 8 out of 10 at least. Which is an unexpected but welcome improvement. I think the pacing of the game has changed for the better but I don't know what changed, or anything changed at all. I feel like infestations are rarer and marauder guards are overall easier to fight and recover from, they feel like roadblocks rather than tackied on challenges to make the world seem less empty. So there is less unit swapping to heal and replenish. Though maybe it is untouched and I am imagining things. Also, diplomatic side of the AI seems to be performing a lot better. Which makes fights with empires more interesting and common. I still do not like the bigger army movement and the sprawling cities. I feel like the tactical aspect of the game is its identity. I think cities and improvements should create the stage for these tactical battles, in my opinion the sprawl does not help with that. Tactical battles are the culmination of all the effort put into the session. I feel like they should be the highlight though that's me. An addition I would like to see (maybe it is there and I missed it) is to re-play or setup battles. Like the one in the Airships: Conquer the Skies. Also, I don't know why I am writing all of this here.
I think I agree with pretty much everything you've outlined, except I would probably score AoW4 higher than you. I think as time goes on it will keep getting better as well.
While I do like the sprawling cities, I agree it would be neat if your domain had more of an effect on the fight. There are some effects like that but it'd be cool to see it implemented on a broader scale.
well i´ve read your wall of text and i agree. i feel the same and in the exact same games you mentioned, for the reasons you mentioned.
also i hope the dev of Airships does another DLC soon ; )
i wish AoW4 would implement more things from dominions! more world changing spells =)
I love this game so much! Nice vid
Thanks! I worked really hard on it!
This was an excellent guide / review!
Thank you! Yeah I only meant to review it but as I went along I kept explaining things so it ended up being a guide as well hahaha.
Fantastic video! It's just a pity that you didn't include the new expansion 🙃
The video was in the works for a few months before the expansion and my main goal with it was to try to help the expansion sell more! So I had to get it out before the expansion. Thankfully, based on the comments, it seems to have worked.
Plenty of other youtubers have made videos about the new expansion though. So you could watch this and follow it up with some of theirs!
@@RealBootman Yeah, I figured you put in some time, because it's extremely detailed and even I saw a few new combos despite having hundreds of hours in this game. It's amazing and I wish they continue to support it :D
Yeah, I've already played dozens of hours of the new expansion and Eldritch Sovereigns, I just wanted to hear you talk about it, as this video was extremely good :P Congrats on your 2nd video being that polished mate.
@@RealBootman Can't wait to hear you talk about tomes btw :)
I just played this. To be fair. I am so surprised (positively) how close to Age Of Wonders 1 the graphics style is (of course in 3d 😅). I am really impressed as I preferred this stylistic over AoW2. AoW4 is like best mix of all games
After following development for a while I feel pretty confident in saying that the developers really cared about the franchise on the whole. Everyone who knows the old lore (not me) consistently remarks on things like that.
Turn-based fantasy 4x is a pretty niche genre, but I agree that AoW 4 is easily the best game within this niche. It just has so much variety and replayability that it never really gets boring, especially with the ability to make your own races and factions. I often find myself coming back to it whenever I out of the blue suddenly think up some weird combination of stuff that I can make a faction out.
Yeah the faction creation is the heart of the game and what really draws me to it. It does a fantastic job of making all your choices matter.
What i hate about this franchise, its that cities are symmetrical. The same buikdings. Even if they were doing the same thing they should at least have different icons. And low visual gratification. I litetally want to see every step of my progress on map, not just an interface icon.
That's fair. I think that's pretty low priority compared to other things but it would be neat.
Did…. Did u even play the game??
1. Each culture has different icons for city’s
2. Times give buildings
3. U can see province improvements in the map
4. Even civilisation, let alone other turn based games, didn’t show things besides special buildings Eike wonders and walls improvement
@@theonesithtorulethemall civ was providing very good visual reward
I think you would like the dominions series if you can pass the graphics
I'll have to look it up!
I'm playing on PS5 and they seriously need to introduce mouse compatibility. I mean it is playable using the DualSense, but an option to have mouse compatibility would make menu navigation and map scrolling etc. so much better.
It still blows my mind to hear people play these kinds of games on consoles. More power to you!
Arrows, pikes, swords, all weapons makes the same SFX when they hits an enemy. AOW4 is a great game, but needs a little more cure in small details that otherwise can compromise the player immersion.
Speaking as somebody who exclusively plays video games with the sound off while listening to music and podcasts, I can genuinely say I never noticed.
Ya, this is my #1 4x game of all time ... and also many of my friends
Glad to meet another fan!
Amazing comment. But may need to revisit some parts (ranks, Mystics culture) after the latest update
Yeah for sure. I'm not planning on updating it but that's the said truth of anything that covers stuff currently in development.
Very good. Thanks for the video.
Thank YOU for watching! Have a great day.
Brah wth... This game is freaking insane❤🔥
Agreed! Hahaha.
Anyone know of a good guide, that explains the thinking behind moves? Never played 4x games, I can't tell if there are build orders or is more sandbox type play.
I think your best resource there would be watching streams.
Fantastic review!
Thank you! I worked hard on it.
AOW 4 is pure class
Hard agree. The best development cycle of any game I've been actively a part of.
I love this game
Always glad to meet a fan!
Wow this video is awesome
Thank you so much!
“There was never a good knife made of bad steel ”
― Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
There never was a good 4X with lacking city management and AI
Then there's never been a good 4X because I've never played one without some level of AI issues.
I have found it interesting how many people disagree with Age of Wonders 4 being a great 4X because they choose one of the four Xs to be the most important of them all.
@@RealBootman Look, AoW4 has the graphics and the fantasy immersion, but little else. Endless Legend, while worse, is not that far, which could maybe help you to do the proper reconsiderations.
Meanwhile the Civ series, while sometimes feels monotonous, is objectively very well rounded, hardly lacking anything.
@@Scarletraven87 I disagree that it has little else. Maybe pick a point or two from my video where I talk about the positive qualities it has and show why they're wrong.
i would love more roguelike integration for players like me who love rng and trying to make the best decisions of the random options im given!
I think it'd be interesting if the strategy was more reactive, though for me a person who likes my builds to run smoothly I'd be less of a fan hahaha.
Thank you for the video. Still struggeling with the story realm 4......😢
does the game have a campaign ?
It does! Overall the campaign missions are shorter than playing a regular game which is nice, but you need to account for that with your build. I find them quite fun. About as good as this sort of thing can be in a 4x.
I just wish my PC could run the game well.
At least it isn't Planetfall. That game chewed up my GPU hard core.
for best 4x, I zstill rate amplitude games endless legend
I quite like Endless Legend as well!
Yeah I might revisit this game. My issue with it was the AI seemed really dumb at all levels
There's been AI improvements but genuinely I think it's towards the upper end of AI in these sorts of games. Strategy AI has always and will always suck, at least for the foreseeable future.
@RealBootman I re-downloaded it and the updates are great. Thanks for the video, got me back into it
What happened to the resolution?
My second video sadly got delayed because my job got very busy. I really want to get back into making videos but I haven't had the time or energy.
I really love playing this game, but I find that once you reach the endgame, it becomes incredibly focused on micromanagement, which can make it feel quite tedious. I tend to get bored during the later stages and end up just randomly selecting tomes and spells without even bothering to read them. This might be a personal issue of mine, but it does end up making the game less enjoyable. Despite this, the game offers a wide range of strategic possibilities, and if I can resist the urge to rush through the endgame, I believe it has all the qualities I look for in a game like this.
Fair enough, though I suppose I'd be curious what is the 'late game' / 'end game' for you. Because I might agree but draw the line in a different place.
I would absolutely get pedantic right now.
Age of Wonders series was always like a 4X with combat at its heart and all other aspects, particularly city management and diplomacy, downplayed.
AoW4 is definitely a 4X with the best combat around, but it steps back from even what Planetfall has to offer in terms of diplomacy and economy. Games like Dune: Spice Wars have better diplomacy, while almost every other 4X post-Endless Legend has better city management and development.
Again, AoW 4 has undeniable top-of-the-line strenghts, but it's not the best 4X overall.
I completely understand that point of view. My opinion on video game design is that I much prefer focused mechanics over broad mechanics. Imagine a pyramid, where all the mechanics stack up and focus on a single end point, the combat. I really value that in my games and that informs my evaluation of it being 'best'.
@@RealBootman That must mean you also value combat over the other aspects.
I can personally understand a desire for focused design, but in my opinion the focus then must be on economy, infrastructure development and city management with other aspects bouncing off of it. Otherwise you just get a wargame.
You might love Fantasy General II by the way.
@qasderfful problem is literally no other 4x game has as good combat as AoW so then the question becomes why focus on the aspect that everyone else is doing instead of what your game is able to do better. I would honestly prefer that most strategy games diverged their focus like this more because then the market becomes flooded with samey games. Why should I buy millennium when Old World, Humankind and civ exist when the changes are fairly miniscule while on the fantasy side of things I can go endless legend for diplomacy and fun strategical map based gameplay, spellforce conquest of eo has the best exploration of most 4x games because you're constantly moving your wizards tower around the map. Dominions has insane army management and strategic spells and age of wonders has the best combat. Feels like the 4x community is keeping themselves in a bubble of their own design which imo will only lead to stagnation and continued decline of the genre as a whole.
@@gstellar96 not sure I get your point? The only game with conwlling city management is Civ6 and you know how the rest of it is. We definitely need more of *that*.
I value a core mechanic. For instance, if everything was focused on diplomacy and your army was merely a way to strongarm people diplomatically, and all the enchantments and exploitation fed into that as well I'd be happy. Once again, as long as those things are meaningful.
I think there's some meaningful economic aspects to AoW4 but I can see how it would not hold up in that regard compared to others. Personally I like the choice of tile exploitation and domain expansion, and how that feeds into diplomacy, economics and military. But it isn't super complex or in depth, which might be something you value a lot!
I really like AoW4.
I just wish the multiplayer worked.
Why no Peer-to-peer? Seriously...
Yeah would be nice. I'm sure we'll get there eventually...
@@RealBootman idk, been over a year. Losing hope :(
Peer-to-peer? As in hot-seat? If that's the case, then you can already do that
@@timecrystal5thapostleof125 peer-to-peer is a connection rype. AoW4 hosts saves and games on a server by the company. Peer-to-peer is instead hosting the game on the hosts computer where others connect to the game. It has its own flaws but they are typically really good at preventing sync issues.
Need buy other cpu to run this, and motherboard 😢
Funny! AoW4:Eldritch Realms just crashed 4x times in a row on me, so I came over to YT to kill time and am suggested this video. The irony!
/Edit: Crashes aren't common. I just seem to've stumbled on a weird bug (Toll of Seasons? Mage ___ (ugly critter - forgot it's name)?)
Well I hope you enjoyed it!
Yeah while there has been periods of instability in Age of Wonders 4, Eldritch Realms seems to be solid. Sorry you're having issues!
I still prefer AOW3. I realise there is a lot to like about 4; but there's something about 3...
Yup! We all have our preferences. Absolutely nothing wrong about it. I love AoW3 as well.
@@RealBootman And I'm a Planetfall guy! But I'm happy to get converted into AoW4!
What's the best part of Age of Wonders 3 missing from Age of Wonders 4?
One thing I really miss is the quirky, Discworld-style flavour text when you click on a unit for info. They added a real feel of context and background, plus the humour was right up my street.
@@abnon-tha3088 Oh yes, the unit descriptions! I miss them so much!
Daring calling it "the best".
Yes it is.
@@RealBootman Nah. Not even better than AoW2: SM.
AoW was and always will be the noobs' HoMM3, since it's release it's in that enormous shadow and only AoW3 was good for 1vs1 tournaments - the rest is just weak (;
the Best 4X you need to play more games.. this game is OK the original was WAY better!!! and there are far better x4 games than this.. tis just happens to be the newest using stuff other have not yet ot round to.. it makes you sound like a child when you claim this is the best x4 lol I was shocked by your voice
I've been playing 4Xs for years and I do consider it to be the best. Surely if it comes down to it just using new stuff that other games haven't gotten around to yet, we could agree that it wears some sort of badge of distinction until they do catch up, right? Like if Ford makes a new car tomorrow with new tech that's faster than every other car we'll talk about it and praise it even if other companies will catch up fast.
bought base game for $15 on a cd key website and used cream api to unlock all dlc free ;) have been doing it for years and not once have i had an issue on steam muhaha fuck paying for bitch dlcs.. used to be expansion packs that added more than 2 things..
I'd say the overall development of Age of Wonders 4 has been worth the price of DLC. Gotta remember that you're not just paying for the content of the DLC itself, it's a way of supporting the creators while they do free updates. For instance, Mystics getting subcultures in the most recent update! We got that for free and it's very cool.