Why so expensive?

[Silver Shroud]

I mean this game looks like it from 90x, even in 90x some games had better art.
I know graphics isn't important in this kind of games but anyway Victoria and CK III have very charming and modern art and graphics.
This game looks like crap and cost like AAA product.

[akivida]

You raise a great point, and the answer is pretty simple: Don't buy it.

[The Former]

Probably because it was made by a team that has guys from the 90's on its staff. A few of the people at the studio worked on the old school Age of Empires games, as I recall. I agree the game would be improved with more charming graphics, but honestly I got quite comfortable with them as I went through my first playthrough.

[Silver Shroud]

Originally posted by Ärlig, Paradoxriddaren:

Probably because it was made by a team that has guys from the 90's on its staff. A few of the people at the studio worked on the old school Age of Empires games, as I recall. I agree the game would be improved with more charming graphics, but honestly I got quite comfortable with them as I went through my first playthrough.

I mean yes, I do not mind the art style if they chose it, or guys from 90`s making this game, but price is too much for this kind of visual quality.

[Black_Rat]

Originally posted by Silver Shroud:

Originally posted by Ärlig, Paradoxriddaren:

Probably because it was made by a team that has guys from the 90's on its staff. A few of the people at the studio worked on the old school Age of Empires games, as I recall. I agree the game would be improved with more charming graphics, but honestly I got quite comfortable with them as I went through my first playthrough.

I mean yes, I do not mind the art style if they chose it, or guys from 90`s making this game, but price is too much for this kind of visual quality.

So you do mind the art style then?

[BSNB]

Originally posted by Silver Shroud:

I mean this game looks like it from 90x, even in 90x some games had better art.
I know graphics isn't important in this kind of games but anyway Victoria and CK III have very charming and modern art and graphics.
This game looks like crap and cost like AAA product.

If you like gameplay more. I suggest you try shadow empire. It is a mile deep game compared to this puddle of a game.

[Silver Shroud]

Originally posted by Black_Rat:

Originally posted by Silver Shroud:

I mean yes, I do not mind the art style if they chose it, or guys from 90`s making this game, but price is too much for this kind of visual quality.

So you do mind the art style then?

I do not mind if price is adequat, which is not in current case.
I won`t buy game that look like idie and priced as AAA

[The Former]

Originally posted by Silver Shroud:

Originally posted by Black_Rat:

So you do mind the art style then?

I do not mind if price is adequat, which is not in current case.
I won`t buy game that look like idie and priced as AAA

Consider Unicorn Overlord.

https://img.game8.co/3764140/28bd3c1629cfdbeec553716809968769.jpeg/show

This is a game that sells for $60 US and it's incredibly well received. Nevermind that they do a lot with the visual style they chose, the point I'm making is that graphics aren't always what we're paying for.

Yes, for a game like Call of Duty, you're generally paying for the top-of-the-line graphics and high-end voice acting. But there are $60 games that have a much simpler graphical style that charge for the work that went into the game itself, more than they charge for the graphics.

This is one of those latter games.

[Silver Shroud]

Originally posted by Ärlig, Paradoxriddaren:

Originally posted by Silver Shroud:

I do not mind if price is adequat, which is not in current case.
I won`t buy game that look like idie and priced as AAA

Consider Unicorn Overlord.

https://img.game8.co/3764140/28bd3c1629cfdbeec553716809968769.jpeg/show

This is a game that sells for $60 US and it's incredibly well received. Nevermind that they do a lot with the visual style they chose, the point I'm making is that graphics aren't always what we're paying for.

Yes, for a game like Call of Duty, you're generally paying for the top-of-the-line graphics and high-end voice acting. But there are $60 games that have a much simpler graphical style that charge for the work that went into the game itself, more than they charge for the graphics.

This is one of those latter games.

Consider Unicorn Overlord have a very good art style every pixel works together to make great visual appeal.
I cannot say the same for the Millennia, thats the problem.
I mean not graphics like shaders and all that high tech things, I mean graphics that is visual appealing and works together with game.
Look at Victoria and CK III, they look increadibly well for the "map games".

[Xuande]

You seem to be confusing the 2-man developer team (per Paradox, apparently now 20?) with the far larger publisher, Paradox.

While one can make the case that $40 USD is overpriced for other reasons, art really shouldn't be one of them, as its unlikely investments in that area would pay for themselves considering how much it costs to commission that level of work. This is an indie game.

Kinda like how Dominions/Conquest of Elysium have been able to carve out a niche for decades despite a poor UI and poor graphics engine, their 3-person team chose to prioritize the type of game that a certain demographic enjoys playing over trying to commission fancier graphics.

[Black_Rat]

Originally posted by Silver Shroud:

Originally posted by Black_Rat:

So you do mind the art style then?

I do not mind if price is adequat, which is not in current case.
I won`t buy game that look like idie and priced as AAA

Then what you are saying is that art style does indeed matter to you then. That is fine, just say what you mean. Dont dance around it.

[Oddible]

Cuz it is literally one of the best 4x strategy releases in the last 5 years. The devs/designers deserve it - this is a unique game.

[Oaks]

It seems pretty clear that you've made up your mind already. If 40 is too expensive for you for a game with these graphics, that's fine then, don't buy it.

Why did I get it? I prioritize gameplay and replayability over graphics. I am likely going to spend a few hundred hours playing this game like I did with Civ 5 and Civ 6. A few hundred hours for 40 Euro? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

[xyzapip]

Originally posted by Ärlig, Paradoxriddaren:

Consider Unicorn Overlord.

How dare you compare this to Millennia?

UO was 10 years in development and is famous for its fantastic arts. You will not find one article that does not celebrate its looks.

The main cost drivers where graphics and balancing, so that each game element adds up.

UO is a well crafted game that does not deserve to be compared to Millennia but as a harsh counter example what game development should be. A big proportion of balance in Millennia is done by abusing the customer as beta tester.

Quote from https://gamerant.com/unicorn-overlord-development-10-years-why-vanillaware/

The first thing that most fans will notice about Unicorn Overlord are its striking visuals, something that developer Vanillaware has a long and storied tradition of including in all of its titles. Not only does crafting all of these hand-drawn assets take time, but the different unit types at play in the game were continually being rebalanced. The tweaks to the various unit types to provide a more even balancing of difficulty were primarily done to prevent certain classes from being "broken", and this naturally led to additional time needed to redesign the look and animations of the units

[Silver Shroud]

Originally posted by Black_Rat:

Originally posted by Silver Shroud:

I do not mind if price is adequat, which is not in current case.
I won`t buy game that look like idie and priced as AAA

Then what you are saying is that art style does indeed matter to you then. That is fine, just say what you mean. Dont dance around it.

I am not dancing around, I said in my first post: this game looks like crap, so why it cost like AAA project?

Art style and look is different thing, it's okay if they choose some art style and follow it to perfection so it looks like some love and labour was put in it. Millennia in other hand looks like there were no attention to graphics at all. So if product is not adequate quality and have "lazy made" visuals then why such price?

[Silver Shroud]

Originally posted by Oddible:

Cuz it is literally one of the best 4x strategy releases in the last 5 years. The devs/designers deserve it - this is a unique game.

Mixed reviews on steam do not agree with you