Whether it was familiar stories for Joan of Arc and her rally across France, the tragic tale of William Wallace and his fight for freedom, or something more exotic like Vlad Dracula or Kotyan Khan, this series has been a mainstay on my PC. AoE II was one of the games that got me started in the RTS genre, rich with story and strategy from start to finish, and I have fond memories of staring into my giant tube monitor into the night as I carried my empire out of the dark ages. Age of Empires was a game that defined my early PC gaming days, and its sequel is the stuff of legends.