Age Of Empires II (1999 and HD version) - One of the best games in history

A bit of history

Age of Empires II was developed by Ensamble Studios and published by Microsoft in September 1999. The saga is based on video games such as Dune II and Warcraft in terms of gameplay, being an RTS (Real Time Strategy Game).

What the developers of Ensamble Studios were looking for was to set the game in an era that had not been explored so far, the Middle Ages. The main idea was to be able to experience the history of various heroes of the time, such as William Wallace, Genghis Khan and Saladin, in addition to representing historical battles. There was a variety of civilizations with their distinctive stamp.

The launch of the game was a commercial success. In its first year, it managed to sell more than 2 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling RTS of the time.

Thanks to the great success of the base game, Ensamble Studios decided to develop an extension called “The Conquerors” where they expanded the range of civilizations, units, technologies and added historical campaigns of characters such as El Cid, Attila, among others.

Age of Empires 2 sold over 3 million copies worldwide, clearly not counting the number of people who have played it pirated (including me). It has won awards as the best strategy game by GameSpot and Pc Gamer Awards in 1997.

The game left an indelible mark on the representation of medieval history in video games. This game redefined the standard for RTS games. More than two decades after its release, Age of Empires II remains a benchmark in both the representation of medieval history and the RTS genre.

What the video game means to me

When I was between 5 and 7 years old, I remember a visit to my grandfather's house. Back then, I wasn't very familiar with technology and didn't use it often. My grandfather had the Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings CD and used to play it from time to time. One day, I tried the video game at his house and was fascinated. Seeing how much I liked it, my grandfather gave me the disc so I could play it on my mother's computer.

It was the first video game I played in my life since I can remember, I used to play William Wallace's campaign or Cid Campeador's campaign which were among my favorites. Being so young, I was not really good at keeping an economy in the game, so I used to call my mother who had a list of tricks to get the base resources of the game just by putting a command in the chat. The trick that I used the most was the most fun, it was the one that appeared some cars in the game that destroyed all the enemies.

The game has a great emotional value for me, as it is one of the few memories I have of my grandfather, who passed away only a few years after we played it together. Throughout my life, I have continued to play Age of Empires II in its various versions. I started with Age of Kings and The Conquerors in its original 1999 version.

Age of Empires II (HD Version)

When I was eleven years old, I bought the HD version of Age of Empires II on Steam. At that time, I took the time to complete all the available campaigns without using cheats, which allowed me to live unforgettable experiences playing the campaigns of El Cid, Joan of Arc, Barbarossa and Genghis Khan. It was also my first introduction to medieval history, which has become one of my greatest passions.

At that time, I had a friend who was much older than me, that's where I started playing my first online games. We used to play on a map called “Black Forest” as a team against two other people. I wasn't very good at it, so I was helped by my friend who was pretty good at the game.

I became a fan of the Age of Empires saga, so I have played its first and third installment completing all its campaigns and the mythical, literally, Age of Mythology which has a story about mythology that was very entertaining to watch and play.

Closing

I was planning to talk about the whole game in one post, but as I was developing it I realized that it is a better idea to divide it in two. The last one is dedicated to the latest version of Age Of Empires II The Definitive Edition, to its community that is still active and other details about the game.