If there is one gaming series I have always loved, its been the AOE series - better known as the Age Of Empires Series. Undoubtably, the second generation (Age of Kings, followed by the expansion The Conquerers) is my favourite one and while the third one is excellent, nothing will beat the second.
So, when I discovered about a year back that a new AOE title was soon to be released, I got really excited. I figured, 'why not look at some screenshots of the work-in-progress'?
Sadly however, I couldnt be more disappointed. Firstly, what I saw were cartoon greek hoplites attacking Egyptian spearmen. AOE has ALWAYS been about realism, so why all the cartoon stuff? I was further disappointed when I discovered that Gas Powered Games were creating it. GPG made Dungeon Siege, another of my all time favourite series. Ever since GPG sold off the DS franchise to Obsidian, they really karked it in terms of quality.
But, I persisted, thinking it might be okay. More wrong thinking on my side.
The game itself only comes with two civ's: The Greeks and the Egyptians. In order to get more civ's, the user must PURCHASE the extra civ's (Such as the celts) with REAL LIFE MONEY.
Screw that.
I was not prepared on any level whatsoever to buy a game that gives you barely anything and expects you to pay further money in order play as other civ's. AOE2 was good in that it gave you everything right from the beginning - why hold back?
At about this point, I decided that I wasnt going to buy the game, even though JB-HiFi listed it as a meager $20. About the same as AOE2 is selling for at the moment.
So, low and behold, I'm casually browsing Steam today and I discover AOE Online for free. My initial thoughts? 'Alright, it looks stupid, but its free. I might as well try it'. So, I get to downloading it. The final size is about 2GB, which I was happy with. When its done, it happy loads the launcher and starts the game. The music plays and I think, yea, this could be the AOE series I knew and loved.
Two options appear, "Start" and "Live". Live obviously stood for online play, based on what I had read previously. I press Start and the Games for Windows Live (GWL) screen appears (Oh please no).
It wants me to sign in. Well, luckily, I have a GWL ID so I sign in.
Then it asks for a CD Key.
WHAT THE HELL!!!
This game came FREE on Steam. Why on earth would I need a CD Key? I alt-tab to steam and look around for one - there isnt one.
So, I go online and search it up. As it turns out, about 500 other people also have this problem. Eventually, a forum moderator made a post saying that in order to fix the problem, I had to 'buy' the game off the GWL website. The GWL website lists it as free as well, so I think: 'Sure, okay... minor oversight'. I go to GWL, sign in and browse for the game. Sure enough, its there.
I click purchase on the game, and it says okay, tells me how much will be deducted (Nothing, since its a free game) and a few other pointless details. The next step is Billing Information.
As soon as I press that, I am whisked away to another screen, wanting to verify the purchase. It's apparently sent an email to sirphilp@hotmail.com with the code. Not only do I NOT remember having an account like this, there's nothing in my folder of passwords that tells me that the account ever existed (I have a folder with all my usernames, passwords and backup details in it that goes back about ten years. Don't bother looking, you'll never find it).
So I think, okay, a minor glitch in my folder. I go onto hotmail.com and type in sirphilp@hotmail.com. Hotmail comes back to me and says the email address doesnt exist...
DOESNT... EXIST...
Big oversight here Microsoft...
Thinking its another glitch on my email (Apple would never do this - yes, I said it), I go onto my email and check my recovery accounts page. Sure enough, sirphilp@hotmail.com is there. So I press delete.
The confirmation message says that it will take ONE WHOLE MONTH in order to delete this single line of information.
ONE WHOLE MONTH.
Well screw that. I go back to the recovery accounts page and put in my newer email address - dowdeswell.iv@outlook.com (Just in case you didnt know, this is my new email address). Guess what! It's going to take ONE WHOLE MONTH to get that one line of data added.
ONE WHOLE MONTH FOR ONE LINE OF DATA.
In Conclusion
In order to play AOE Online, I must wait one month for my email addresses to link as recovery accounts and then be able to get the code to verify my account as being allowed to purchase, and THEN be able to get the CD-Key to play a game THAT IS FREE.
I would have thought that Microsoft would have loved to make money off the DLC for this game when everyone was able to play it for free. But I'm certain that nobody in their sane state of mind would willingly get a game, only to have to wait a whole month in order to play it. This is Microsft in all its shining glory...
Not worth it Microsoft...
Not worth it at all...
AOE Online - deleted...
