How I Learnt To Love Something New

I've never been one for real-time strategy (RTS) games. I have always lacked the necessary level of patience (and smarts) required to juggle their numerous simultaneous mechanics. However, at the behest of a friend — one very familiar with the genre — I purchased Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in order to give the game a fair shake.

I had (as I think every gamer has) already dabbled with AoE II in the past, but my experiences had always been brief and repelling. As a child, I wanted excitement: guns and horror… and some WWF Smackdown for good measure. What I certainly didn't want were the recreations of historical peoples and their conflicts. As such, videogames of this ilk always remained the antithesis of fun.

What occurred recently, however, was that the aforementioned friend and I began to regularly tackle AoE II in co-op, and each time, I was delighted with the results! Building up my little settlements, surviving the onslaughts of opposing factions, and then retaliating with roughly one million trebuchets has, indeed, been brilliant fun.

As he was far and away more experienced with these sorts of micromanagement simulations than I, my friend showed me the ropes over a couple of weekends. And before I knew it, I was building keeps, researching upgrades, and setting up resource camps faster than him. Much like Neo, I can now see the Matrix for what it really is, and I know kung fu, damn it!

As I have already alluded to, my job in battle has been siege equipment; my friend's many troops work to guard my caravan of city destroyers as they travel around the map, razing enemy strongholds. So far, it's been a very sound strategy to simply pump out infinite trebuchets and has been enjoyable to boot. I think that having a goal like this — one that contributes to a team's combined effort — is what helps me to power on. It is nice to build up your own civilisation, sure, but I'm a huge fan of the cooperation element, and I like to contribute to it whenever possible.

Now, with all that said, I wouldn't say that I am a full RTS convert; honestly, I couldn't imagine how dull a solo revisiting of the genre would be. However, it has been wonderful trying something new and sharing that experience (complete with much banter) with a close friend. It's the little things in life, you know?