It's probably safe to assume that everyone who likes strategy games has, at some point, played one of one of the Age of Empires games. Actually, I bet that a few of you out there will have played one of them, eventually uninstalled it, and then out of nowhere installed it once more. you probably repeat this play-uninstall-install cycle every once in a while.
For some, RTS games are ones that you don't really grow out of and the older ones in particular retain a sense of belonging and familiarity that newer attempts have found hard to beat. Age of Empires is an especially personal example for me: As a Brazilian, I can't choose my country in any of the games in the franchise, but as a historian by degree and at heart, I've studied many of those empires closely -- the familiarity with the leaders' names and cultures or even the opportunity to play with history and command powerful armies is a real draw.
Generally speaking, you could take umbrage with the franchise's nonchalant approach to historical accuracy. For some, this takes away from the game, but I couldn't disagree more.
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