StarCraft II

[Shorty]

I can't believe I'm the one who actually has to start this thread.

Ghosts of the Past Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_E83GfWM-A).

EXPRESS YOUR ENTHUSIASM HERE.

[Madame Adequate]

Blizz makes better movies in their FMVs than most movie companies make in real movies.

Starcraft is fucking godly and this :bou::bou::bou::bou: is going to rock like nothing else ever.

I want to be Arcturus Mengsk.

[Slothy]

This is officially the only thing I've seen on the game besides a couple of gameplay videos maybe a year a go and some screen shots along the way. Normally I would pay more attention to games that interest me to see if they're worth it, but when their worth isn't even in question I like to go in fresh with no preconceptions or mountainous expectations.

This game will undoubtedly be awesome, I've had my pre-order for a while, and next week is going to fucking rock.

[Zaskull]

Blizz makes better movies in their FMVs than most movie companies make in real movies.

Starcraft is smurfing godly and this :bou::bou::bou::bou: is going to rock like nothing else ever.


QFT

[Iceglow]

I want this but I'm not sure even my Vaio laptop can handle this and my vaio is pretty powerful. I know the vaio won't do FFXIV already but hopefully SC2 will run :D

[Slothy]

PC minimum specs for those curious:

* 2.6 GHz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
* 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista/Windows 7 users)
* DVD drive
* 12 GB hard disk space
* 128 MB PCIe NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT or ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card or better
* Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 (With the latest Service Packs) And DirectX 9.0c.)

I can't see anyone having trouble running this unless their computer is either 5+ years old or they just don't have a graphics card powerful enough (which could be possible with a laptop). The system specs are far from excessive though, just like every other Blizzard game ever made.

[Madame Adequate]

I just hope Activision isn't too prominent (read: hopefully none) in my Starcraft experience.

KotickkkkkKKKKKK! :mad2:

Also yeah, Blizz know well the benefits of keeping minimum specs to a minimum. That's one of the reasons WoW is so successful; even when it was new you didn't need a supercomputer to play it.

[Carnage-]

My computer can't even handle fucking pong. There's no way in hell I'll be able to get this :C

[Kossage]

I need to buy a new computer to run this game, but it'll be worth it. I've waited for this game for over a decade (particularly to see how the story will continue), and it looks like SC2 will improve on SC in every way. The only disappointing thing so far is that they've changed Kerrigan's voice actress, but at least most of the original cast is back to reprise their roles. The Galaxy Editor looks nifty, and I'm sure the modding community will create some fantastic single and multiplayer campaigns. :)

[Lionx]

Been playing the Beta for a while, ready to kick ass and chew..aw to hell with it X3

[Iceglow]

My laptop then looking at the specs posted here should be fine :D

[Bolivar]

Really makes me wanna buy a new computer.

[Dignified Pauper]

purchased

installing

excited

[McLovin']

Well how is it? I never played SC1 so if people say SC2 is fun as hell then I might get it!

[Iceglow]

Well how is it? I never played SC1 so if people say SC2 is fun as hell then I might get it!

Starcraft was the C&C killer of '95 basically it was a proper killer of the C&C mold games. It had similar features but featured far more tactical gameplay (zerg commanders, try recovering from a failed rush and then entering a protracted attrition war) and overall became something of a legendary game. Even today you can buy SC1 and SC1:Brood Wars and play them and they're good quality solid games.

SC2 has been anticipated for the last 15 years, ever since the first one and brood wars came out we knew sc2 would eventually come but they made us wait 15 god damn long years....I reccomend these games to anyone with a computer what can run them.

[Lionx]

I thought SC1's success was that there were 3 distinct races for its time, whereas most of the other RTS games including Warcraft II were pretty much a game with very similar races with very little difference between them.

Personally i like the first one alot better for numerous reasons after playing the beta, but everyone is going to play the second. So if you like RTS that is quick and offensive in general, i recommend this. However if you like more prolonged battles and a lil more terrain/squad usage, i recommend Company of Heroes or Warhammer40K instead.

[Iceglow]

It's more than feasible in DoW and CoH (because it's just the same game with ww2 skins) to act much like the average C&C or SC rush player and simply select an army and click attack move on to the middle of the enemy base and watch it unfold, in fact thats commonly accepted as a tactic. If you want a real big strategy get Total War Napoleon.

[JKTrix]

I don't remember much of how the first Starcraft progressed, but I'm liking the structure of the single player campaign. The way your ship is like the hub of unit upgrades reminds me of some DS RPGs I've played recently, as well as a little bit of Mass Effect when you get more people on your ship.

I don't know if I can say how far I am, I've done maybe 7 or 8 different missions.

I do know that I'm tempted to take my 12 lb laptop to school tomorrow to play some more in the 3 hours between my classes.

[Nominus Experse]

54y rtghf

[Bunny]

How does it fare in comparison to the original? I was not a huge fan of the first game, as I found it a little tedious (though I find all RTS games tedious) and only played it from time-to-time. It was fun enough to kill the boredom, but not enough where I was completely crazy over it. Casual... fan, I suppose*.

Better? Worse? On par?

*The thoughts in this post do not reflect the majority of the world and belong solely to the person posting the message.

[Slothy]

The pacing is faster than the first: things are researched faster, built faster, die faster, etc. It doesn't feel quite as strategic: it feels more like build masses and then just throw them at each other.

I've only played about 7 missions in single player so far, and while I agree it feels faster, I don't think I'd agree with with it feeling less strategic, especially since it has been out for a day and myself and most people wouldn't have had time to really get into the game mechanics and experiment. As for building masses and throwing them at each other, welcome to 90% of players strategies in every RTS ever. Things will probably be a lot different as people learn the game and some crazy micro emerges.


Kind of like Rock Paper Scissors, only with the added attribute of how large your Rock/Paper/Scissors are or how many of them you have.

You realize that every strategy game ever (including the original SC) pretty much comes down to one big game of rock paper scissors? Typically they include more than just rock paper scissors, and are more strategic given uneven risk/reward structures of different units and the ability to scout and predict enemy plans, but they're still games built around being able to counter certain plans.


Melee units seem less potent/useful due to everything seemingly dying faster (often killed by ranged units before they can even get to them).

Again, I haven't played the entire single player, but this doesn't bear out with my experience, except when I've built a more massive army than the computer or throw a dozen firebats at a bunch of zerglings. But that makes sense since a big army tends to win against a small army of units your guys counter, just like in SC. But I've seen plenty of melee units still get in and do damage even when outnumbered.


You only get to play the Terran campaign. Lots of people complaining about installation issues.

I won't argue with the rest of what you said because it is annoying and were this any other game I would have continued to boycott Activision instead of buying it. But given that the Terran campaign is easily about the same size as all three combined in SC and Brood War, the multiplayer including every race, and the new level editor (which is apparently quite improved) I still can't believe anyone complains about only having the Terran campaign. I can't recall ever complaining about getting more content than most other full games before.

Anyway, as for my thoughts on the game; I'm really liking it so far. There are a lot of changes they've made that especially make single player more manageable by cutting out actions that got in the way of strategy and really only separated players who could perform 300 APM from those that couldn't, even if they were the better strategist. As an example of what I mean, SCV's will automatically repair nearby units and buildings and then move back to the spot they were waiting in when finished. It's little things like that that make the actual experience of playing the game a lot smoother, without providing any real advantage against another player.

[Aerith's Knight]

It looks okay, nothing spectacular. I've only played a few missions so far, but it seems fairly fun, nothing special.

At least it didn't smurf up like the last C&C.

[Rase]

It's more than feasible in DoW and CoH (because it's just the same game with ww2 skins) to act much like the average C&C or SC rush player and simply select an army and click attack move on to the middle of the enemy base and watch it unfold, in fact thats commonly accepted as a tactic.
If that works against someone in CoH you're playing against morons. Try that with infantry and they'll get suppressed by machine guns and then destroyed by whatever the enemy chooses. Use vehicles and if they have a brain they'll see it coming and just flank you with some AT, and then you just wasted valuable resources and possibly lost the game if you tried rushing and screwed up. That's not getting into cover and the myriad of abilities that would smurf up your :bou::bou::bou::bou: (Paratroopers with Recoilless Rifles, artillery strikes, sticky bombs, bombing/strafing runs...) It may be a "commonly accepted tactic" among whoever you pay with, but it doesn't mean it's anywhere close to good or what the average player would intelligently do.


Anyway, SCII looks very fun. I've been replaying SC1 on my laptop while waiting for my desktop I bought used from family to get sent and arrive. After that I'll probably pick it up, I love RTS's and always are looking for more fun ones.

[escobert]

I'm installing it right now. Only a trial. I'll see how much I like it before I buy it :D

[Peegee]

It's fun and thankfully I didn't get spoiled (btw mark spoilers!) about the plot. I will say that it's missions, side quests, and in between there's in-game mechanamations to move the plot along.

Using an rts to tell a video game story...interesting take, bliz. Also the campaigns take advantage of the game editor - I like some of the missions: it's more unique than before. I do see some hints of ums copying from the old sc though. Nice touch!

[Skyblade]

The game is amazing. At least the single player is. The storyline is interesting, the missions unique and fun. Research and buying new units is incredible, and some of the decisions are tough. Hero missions, greed missions, escort missions, stealth missions, survival missions... Tons of variety, and all very fun to play. My favorite is Zeratul's last mission. Not many games let you play through the Armageddon of the universe.

The multiplayer is still a dismal failure, since there is still no concept of pacing. I don't know why they bother keeping the weapon/armor upgrades in the game, since 99% of all multiplayer battles end before anyone even thinks about wasting the resources and time to research them, given their small paybacks. Rushes are still the most popular path to victory, so as a player who likes to take time, research everything, and just play around, it's not that interesting.

Hopefully some good custom maps will come out eventually. WCIII had some great ones (even some of the ones included with the game were great).

Battle.net 2.0 is absolutely, horrifyingly terrible. Why the hell did they break a feature people have been enjoying for years and stick them with something no one wants that is almost impossible to use?

[Iceglow]

Installing this puppy right the hell now I am almost jizzing in my pants here!

[Skyblade]

During the course of the campaign, you'll unlock a number of research options. As soon as you get the lab, about five missions in, you can see all of the availible options, but they are split up into pairs so you can only obtain half of them. Here are my suggestions.

Zerg Tree:
First Tier: Bunkers
Either bunker upgrade is fairly awesome, but since Bunkers need such continual repairs either way, I would go with the added firepower, and trust your SCVs to keep them up even without the health boost.

Second Tier: Defenses (Planetary Fortress versus Perdition Turrets)
Perdition Turrets, hands down. A cheap, effective, easy to use firebat turret instead of a bulky, powerful, but nearly useless cannon. The Fortress can't fly, and is expensive as hell. Your Command Centers are nearly always in the safest part of your base anyway, so the most the fort can do is protect your SCVs, which it isn't that great at since splash damage will kill them. Building a Fortress where you might use it is laughable, since other defenses are way better and much, much cheaper.

Third Tier: Extra Units (Predator versus Dropship [don't remember Dropship's full name])
Honestly, I'm not too thrilled with either of these units. The Predator is fairly nice against the Zerg, but it's hardly a can't do without unit. The Dropship would be awesome, except that by the time I've teched up to the Starport, I'm not using ground units for my assaults anyway (or if I am, I'm slogging them around on the ground, not airlifting them). I'd stick with the Predator. It comes around a little faster, and has a little more overall utility.

Fourth Tier: Upgrades (Extra Energy versus Vehicle Self-Repair)
Go with the extra energy. Self repairing vehicles is nice, but very slow, and a certain Protoss Tree research option blows this ability completely away. Every energy unit gets more energy, and start with more energy, so your casters have a lot more firepower to work with.

Fifth Tier: Anti Zerg Defenses (Mind Controller versus Slow Totem)
Both of these are just cool. The Mind Controller lets you tag a friendly Zerg unit and control it permanently, and if you get a good unit, it helps a ton. Best of all, these caught units don't add to your Supply total, so you can slowly build up an army of nearly limitless Zerg, if you can keep them alive after your capture them, they'll self repair or your medics can heal them (even Ultralisks). It doesn't work automatically, though, so you'll have to manually trigger it.
But the Sigma Radiation Tower is also cool. Slows Zerg movement by 50%, so they take twice as long to get to you. That's twice as long to get through your Siege Tanks and other defenses lines of fire. Then, they suffer 50% attack speed reduction as well, which means they won't tear through your defenses nearly as quickly. This is great, especially on hold the line missions.
Advantage goes to the Sigma Tower, but both are really useful.

Protoss Tree:

First Tier: Upgrades (Weapon Speed Boost versus Health Boost)
Basically, this one improves the quality of the weapon/armor upgrades researched at the Engineering Bay and the Armory (adding in a secondary bonus of attack speed or health of 5% per upgrade), and is fairly evenly split. Personally, I prefer the higher attack speed that the weapon upgrade gives, but it's a fairly close call. Boosts are % based, so they affect units fairly well, regardless of tech tree position.

Second Tier: Economy (Faster Vespene Harvests versus Instant Build Supply Depots)
Well, sure, supply depots take a little while to build, but its rare that I need them built immediately. While increasing the rate of Vespene harvesting lets you tech up and build higher quality units that much faster, and, for me, it's the way to go.

Third Tier: Economy Mark II (SCV Reactor versus Automated Refineries)
This one is a fairly unbalanced one. Automated Refineries free up 3 SCVs per Geyser to spend on Minerals. Producing two SCVs is nice, especially for startup, but given how many missions you need a steady stream of Vespene incoming, making it come in without tying up SCVs is a huge boon.

Fourth Tier: Flying Detectors (Nighthawk versus Science Vessel)
In the entire research department, there is no simpler choice than this one. The Nighthawk is a sweet unit, don't get me wrong. But the Science Vessel is just allmighty in SCII. Why? It's a flying SCV that repairs vehicles and infantry at the cost of energy, not minerals/gas. And it can repair a lot. Grab two of these (so they can repair each other), and you can have them keep your entire air wing alive forever. These things are fast enough to keep up with your other air units (and significantly faster than Battlecruisers, something to watch out for if you group them together, you don't want Science Vessels to reach air defenses before the Battlecruisers), have enough energy to heal basically forever, and generally just make your missions way, way easier. They can Irradiate biological targets if they have to, but, really, with them healer the damage dealers, there is no need for that.

The Nighthawk, on the other hand, is a powerful caster, but severely more limited. Three neato abilities, but it can run out of energy much faster, and is a bit of niche unit. Hunter Seeker can't target buildings, and its splash damage makes it a little useless on defense. Auto Turrets are ok, but don't do tons of damage and don't last long. The most useful, and most difficult to use, is the Point Defense Turret, a little aerial drone that shoots down 30 projectile attacks before running out. Great, in the right situation, and before it runs out of energy.

So, definitely, definitely, go with the Science Vessel. They are reasonably cheap (although they require an upgraded Starport), and they make your assault forces basically immortal. As I said, this thing negates the need for regenerative armor from the Zerg line, and the extra energy benefits the Science Vessel to keep it casting.

Tier 5: Convenience (Infantry Drop Pods versus Reactor/Tech Lab combo)
The Drop Pods are nifty, and if you use primarily units from the Barracks, you will probably want them. Drop pods make all Barracks units build instantly, and they drop on the rally point, so if you set the rally point on your assault forces, you can keep them reinforced as long as you have the credits. Definitely a powerful tool.

My favorite for this one, though, is the Tech Reactor. This thing lets you build two queues worth of high tech units. Rather than being stuck with just Marines, Vultures, Hellions, Medivacs, and Vikings in your double queued structures, you can now double queue any unit. From Firebats to Battlecruisers, this upgrade doubles the production capabilities of all the high tech units, and only costs 50% more than the standard Tech Lab or Reactor. Definitely a plus, as you'll see when you start cranking out huge teams of Siege Tanks and Battlecruisers (with accompanying Science Vessels, of course).

[Slothy]

Have to say I agree with you on your choices of upgrades, although I did go for instant supply depot's. I've been caught without enough before, especially in the early game if I'm not paying enough attention, and having them drop instantly is pretty nice since it doesn't tie up an SCV or two for a good chunk of the game. I can just use the same ones I use for building defenses without having to take them away from repair or bunker building duty for more than a few seconds.

[Skyblade]

Working my way through the Terran multiplayer a little bit, I'm forced to ask: Where the heck are the rest of the units?

Firebats, Medics, Vultures, Wraiths, Diamondbacks, Goliaths... None of these units exist in multiplayer. I was expecting for the extra research units to be missing, like the Science Vessel and the Predator. But what about the others? Why the heck are they leaving so many other units from the multiplayer?

[Slothy]

Most of them are kind of redundant frankly or, I would imagine, result in balance issues with the changes to the other races (still haven't played multiplayer yet). Firebats are mostly replaced by Hellions, Medics by the Medivac dropship, etc.

I'll also say that as much as some of the older units can be fun and useful, including them as well as the new units in multiplayer would have been way too many options if you ask me, particularly when some of them are redundant, and others are blatantly more versatile than the new units.

[Skyblade]

Those redundancies aren't actually that useful. The Hellion can't be put in Bunkers, can't be healed by Medics, and doesn't travel nearly as well in a mixed infantry group. The Medivacs can't heal each other, require a heck of a lot more tech (and resources) to create, and require more micro to use efficiently. And there they seem to think that Vikings are somehow a replacement for both Goliaths and Wraiths, and that is certainly not true.

I don't know. The campaign is great, but the multiplayer just seems unfinished. There are so many problems with the networking, and the techtrees have been stripped down to bare bones and feel inferior to the original Starcraft. I'm guessing most of my non-campaign play is going to be on custom maps.

[Slothy]

I think that's kind of the point as far as where they were trying to take the game though, in so far as requiring better micro on the part of players to do well since that's where a lot of the actual skill side of the game was in the original. Strategy and macro still plays a big role (I'd say even a bigger role in campaign mode than in the first, which is actually pretty challenging this time around on hard), but good micro should decide a fight between equally matched players.

As for the redundant options not being useful, again I haven't played any multiplayer yet, but from what I've used of them in single player, and knowing what units made it to multiplayer and what didn't, I can certainly understand why they may have chosen the ones they did. Again, I think they put more emphasis on good micro and planning as far as fighting a battle, whereas units like the wraith and goliath tend to be all purpose killing machines that put a little less emphasis on using them well as much as just building a lot of them.

Starcraft is a competitive game and it doesn't surprise me that they put more emphasis on the areas that made the first so competitive this time around. If that doesn't suit some people then that's fine. There's always custom games, playing with friends, or implementing things like no rush rules to alter the experience to your liking. I have little doubt that all of those will become just as common and popular with SC2 as they were with SC and WC3.

[Lionx]

I personally liked the Hercules transport since it is chunky and therefore most of my units survive death defying transport paths since its so much HP. The Cat Robot looks awesome but honestly imo its nothing Firebats/Hellions can't handle. That and infantry in the campaign is extremely strong imo.

Preferred Attack Speed vs Health, you can always make more medics and the best form of controlling the crowd is through death. I also feel that SCV production is better since once you get Orbital Command, Minerals are super easier to get, and SCVs do get replaced often if they get shot down in the front for the tougher missions.

----

I found the campaign fun but only because i can use so many units. The story was 'ok' and honestly i feel like i seen better with some parts of it in the Dawn of War series.

----

Multiplayer: The entire SCI game was rush oriented too, similar tactics could be used in both to screw you over. I mean who (thats playing competitively and not just screwing around) would just let you build up to a point where the researches are super useful if they could prevent that? That being said, weapon upgrades are VERY useful...you need to think about the entire army getting that bonus too. Its huge.

That being said, ever since the Beta that i been playing...the game is much more RPS based than the original(certain units just OWN the other ones so easily). Micro in this game is NOT as important with the simpler commands compared to the original. Still important but much much less manually intensive.

That being said Hellions are the Vultures of today, except they can potentially do more damage with its main weapon (at the expense of controlling space on the map with Mines). More hit and run, play em differently. I am not feeling Medivacs as well but if you position them right they can help...they also are a boon to Infantry drops since they instantly heal once your units are down boosting life expectancy.

I will have to agree that Vikings are not as awesome as i would have hoped but they are essential to online play since they counter so many air units and also are great for raiding people from behind. They are downright dirty esp if paired with Banshees. I won many a match with M&M&M + Tanks (with some Vikings) at the front while sneaking Vikings/Banshees at the back.

I am personally going to 'remake' SCI with a friend X3 Hopefully it would be just as fun with the new UI.

[Peegee]

Plot discussion. Spoilers!

But before I do spoilers, I will suggest to all of you who are playing to save in between campaigns - there are three (irrc) plot points that branch off, and for completion's sake you may want to go back and forth.

The plot points are killing Ariel's people, freeing Tosh's spectres, and whether to take on zerg air or ground

I personally don't know what they are setting up the zerg campaign for, considering the ending for the Terran campaign. If Kerrigan is not infested, and zerg race is either extinct or is heavily crushed, how does this fit into the prophecy? Does it mean that hybrid guy cannot use zerg against them, or does it mean Kerrigan will be a force for 'good' later?

[Lionx]

You can redo the missions at the mission select screen after you beat the game.

My guess is that part 2 is a flashback on those quiet 4 years that Kerrigan had developing the Swarm. Remember its basically SimZerg, and i doubt its anything more than that...it will probably talk more about the prophesy and everything. I hate the premise but hope theres more to the story than that.

[Skyblade]

Don't worry too much about the plot choices. Once you complete one of the two missions in each choice, you can play the other mission from the archive, and once you finish it, you can see the cutscene you missed. So the only thing to worry about is if the rewards for the mission differs. Ghosts and Spectres aren't that different, only one separate ability. Both of Ariel's missions offer the same reward, except for whether you get Zerg or Protoss research (and research points are overabundant anyway, you can easily max both trees). The air/ground is probably the biggest choice, and that's up to you, it only affects one more mission, the last one.

As for the ending:
Watch the cutscene again. Kerrigan is not completely human. Her hair, at least, remains how it was when she was the Queen of Blades. I'm guessing that the Artifact fractured the control that was placed on her by the Overmind (which was in turn placed on the Overmind by the force behind the Hybrids). She has her human mind back, but remains Queen of the Zerg, and will have to gather them and forge the free Zerg into another army to strike at the hybrids.

[Dignified Pauper]

please add ilsadar (367) um, I am addicted to this game.

[Peegee]

Don't worry too much about the plot choices. Once you complete one of the two missions in each choice, you can play the other mission from the archive, and once you finish it, you can see the cutscene you missed. So the only thing to worry about is if the rewards for the mission differs. Ghosts and Spectres aren't that different, only one separate ability. Both of Ariel's missions offer the same reward, except for whether you get Zerg or Protoss research (and research points are overabundant anyway, you can easily max both trees). The air/ground is probably the biggest choice, and that's up to you, it only affects one more mission, the last one.

As for the ending:
Watch the cutscene again. Kerrigan is not completely human. Her hair, at least, remains how it was when she was the Queen of Blades. I'm guessing that the Artifact fractured the control that was placed on her by the Overmind (which was in turn placed on the Overmind by the force behind the Hybrids). She has her human mind back, but remains Queen of the Zerg, and will have to gather them and forge the free Zerg into another army to strike at the hybrids.

I like that interpretation however seeing as Zerg campaign is 'simzerg', I hope the protoss campaign has some closure

[Skyblade]

Decisions, decisions.

Honestly, I'm torn on the Ghost/Spectre choice. While the results from siding with Tosh show that there was a lot of good done (and, if Ariel is still with you, she'll confirm that Nova was lying about the Spectres being psychotic as a result of their training), I still can't help but like Nova. She's a cooler unit with some awesome special abilities. And the video after completing her mission is one of the best in the campaign. So which should I side with in the end?

The big problem is that I really don't like Tosh (been annoyed with him from the very beginning. Him and his stupid Troll accent), but siding with him seems to be more of the "correct" solution. So I guess I'll stick with him as my confirmed choice, and go along with Nova in the archives for fun.

[JKTrix]

The big problem is that I really don't like Tosh (been annoyed with him from the very beginning. Him and his stupid Troll accent)

As someone of west-indian heritage, I'm gonna have to politely say 'wtf' at that culturally insensitive statement.

Tosh is probably a reference to this person (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKtURqCt-JQ).

/jktrixcultureminute

I can understand not liking the accent though, it does annoy me at times too (in the real life), but that was pretty harsh :P

[Skyblade]

Yeah, that was a culturally insensitive remark, and I apologize for it. Although I do think that the character was more culturally insensitive than my remark. Voodoo dolls? Seriously? It was one thing with the trolls in Warcraft, as it was woven very deeply into the lore, but it didn't really have any background or explanations in Starcraft.

And the main point of the remark was that Tosh reminds me a lot of the Trolls in Warcraft. And I'm a dedicated Alliance player. So I don't like him. :p Remember the flavor comment in WCIII: "What do you mean what kind a accent is dis? It's a Troll accent. I swear, Jamaica me crazy."

[Lionx]

Tosh was actually described quite well in the Manga which is considered canon. He came from a tribe that thought Ghosts were magic and the sort.

Gabriel Tosh - StarCraft and StarCraft II Wiki (http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Tosh)

[kotora]

please add ilsadar (367) um, I am addicted to this game.

doesn't work for me. Mine is Karupin (691). addplz

on a side note, I found Tosh' stupid troll accent to be pretty cool actually.

[Lionx]

Cross reigon does not work at this time, so its best to specify which part of the world you are at.

[kotora]

Yurop

another truly retarded feature of the new Battle.net, btw. The one in WC3 may have sucked if you wanted to play a game with friends but at least you got to choose your regions. Why can't they just get it right without fucking things up.

[Lionx]

I wrote this on another forum...its mostly the main issues with SCII right now.


Issues with SCII Custom Maps.

I had a bigger reply but for some reason the quick post thing closed out on me killing my entire post. In addition to more lag and RAM taken to run Bnet in the background...there is a big issue with Custom Maps. Me and Eric talked about this a couple times and this is basically the jist.

Basically its this...Starcraft II has a bad Map making system.

1.) Map Censoring

SC2Mapster Forums - General - General Chat - StarCraft II Inappropriate Content Policies - StarCraft 2 Maps - SC2Mapster.com (http://forums.sc2mapster.com/general/general-chat/6058-star-craft-ii-inappropriate-content-policies/#posts)

Map censoring, with words like God or somehow African being censored. Anything reportable can get you banned and lose 60 dollars. This means we have to make maps with so much more discretion.

StarCraft II (http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/375109318)


2.) Blizzard Police

They are going so far as to police them: Blizzard Deleting 'Inappropriate' StarCraft 2 Maps (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/starcraft-warcraft-diablo,11014.html)

Blizzard Community Manager Bashiok says this:


Quote
“Because we can. Literally. We have a support department now of size and ability to enforce these types of things. It simply wasn’t possible when our in-game support used to consist of approximately 20 technical support agents. We’re working on improving our processes to ensure the map maker has more information on why their map was removed, right now it is a bit vague and has obviously led to this misunderstanding.”

Thread: http://forums.sc2mapster.com/general/general-chat/5611-my-map-deleted-from-bnet/?unread

Therefore, the entire custom map making community is in a freeze, nothing new or special is being made in fear of whats appropriate or not.

3.) Forced to publish on Battle.net.

Meaning you have to play these games while connected to internet. If for some reason BNet shuts down then you cannot play them anymore. This also means you cannot download off a site for a map that you want. You have to risk your map being put on BNet and also to play even single player Custom Maps, you have to be online.

This means even if we were to make our own maps (CCS and MK), we have to put it through BNet even if the intention is just for us to play it and risk your game.

4.) Finding Custom Maps

The current way to find things is through popularity (as in number of people joining). You cannot find them in any other way. Therefore games that are made first are on the top and newer maps are almost never found since they never got a chance to become 'popular'. The only other way is to 'search' and you cannot tell what map you downloaded before.

StarCraft II (http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/375108842) (the stupid part is people support blizzard anyways -_-).

5.) Finding PEOPLE to play them.

Just because you see a map on the list doesn't mean theres a game. If you click "Join a Game' and then click on a custom map, you might instead create a game instead. This is because all the maps you publish are on BNet and you just click on them in a list. That doesn't mean the game is actually made, just that the map is published. So you have to be LUCKY enough for someone to click on that same game to play with you. Therefore making new 'unpopular' games....never played.

In the old games when you create a game, no matter what it will appear at the top of the list...not anymore. Maps are published and hosted on BNet in a list. There no other way to join or create a game without looking at this list.

-----

Entire map making is at a standstill now due to bad software that they been working on for 7 years and draconian policies.


Apparently another minus to map makers is that when you upload your map up to Battle.Net, you only upload it to the current reigon and not worldwide like the old games. So you have to ask someone from another region to help you out.

[kotora]

Yeah, I read about all that. It majorly sucks and if they don't fix it the whole multiplayer thing is gonna go down the drain. Why do they think people are still playing WC3? For the crappy skirmish mode? Might be going to back to that game if I can't play some fun custom maps on here.

[Skyblade]

Yeah, I read about all that. It majorly sucks and if they don't fix it the whole multiplayer thing is gonna go down the drain. Why do they think people are still playing WC3? For the crappy skirmish mode? Might be going to back to that game if I can't play some fun custom maps on here.

I feel the same way.

Luckily, I bought SCII just for the single player, so I don't miss the multiplayer too much.

[VeloZer0]

I feel the same way.

Luckily, I bought SCII just for the single player, so I don't miss the multiplayer too much.
I haven't even tried the multiplayer but it shocks me that there are any problems with it. The game has been in beta testing for something like two years? Blizzard is probably the only game developer I have explicit faith in, so I am confident it will be remedied.

[Skyblade]

I feel the same way.

Luckily, I bought SCII just for the single player, so I don't miss the multiplayer too much.
I haven't even tried the multiplayer but it shocks me that there are any problems with it. The game has been in beta testing for something like two years? Blizzard is probably the only game developer I have explicit faith in, so I am confident it will be remedied.

The really, really funny thing is that the campaign mode wasn't availible for Beta, only the multiplayer part was.

And which part of the game has the most problems? The part they put into Beta.


Of course, these complaints have been made continuously since the Beta came out. Blizzard continued to ignore them (although I think we are seeing a lot of influence from Activision). The patch ups they are working on right now (like trying to reintroduce chat channels) are badly executed patch up attempts.


End note: Starcraft II is awesome. Battle.net 2.0 is a massive failure.

[Lionx]

I haven't played WoW but from the story, ret-cons, bad business decisions and etc they did and that i hear of from my friends, i am surprised there are still people that believe in them..D:

They aren't that godlike guys. Even the single player was only so-so imo compared to other RTSs that have been out, its just that they have the Starcraft name that it got so many positive reviews and support from players.

[VeloZer0]

From all of my time playing WoW I was very impressed with how they handle themselves. They made mistakes, but what always endeared themselves to me was that they usually admitted they were wrong and fixed things themselves.


Even the single player was only so-so imo compared to other RTSs that have been out,
It's quite possible that Starcraft doesn't stack up against other RTS titles for RTS fans, but to people who are lukewarm for the genre it is typically much more enjoyable. It's not hard to imagine that RTS fans and the general gaming population would look for different things in a game.

[Lionx]

Thats not even the point i was trying to make. Not to mention the fact that Dawn of War II did a better single player leveling up thing, it just wasnt a war story. The original Starcraft is awesome, it was an actual believable war story. Now, despite Blizzard lying to us saying that there will be multiple paths that influence your teammates on the ship...it is:

Warning => Lots of spoilers and SC Lore.

Its more of some guy drinking the entire game, trying (very weakly) to fight against Mengsk doing merc jobs.

Tassadar isn't dead, the Overmind isn't evil, Kerrigan the lady who killed all your friends is the savior of everyone and somehow magically we can reverse infestation (why don't we use this artifact more on other infested terrans?). Also, Stukov from Brood War isn't dead too in terms of canon...

They turned this somewhat into a love story and not really a war story. What happened to the hate that Raynor had in that cutscene after Kerrigan killed Fenix(to which i have to say, why isn't he even mentioned)? Why did he go, I love Kerrigan, to skeptism(Brood War), to HATE, back to suddenly love despite you know, murdering someone he was close to in cold blood?

It was average at best. The gameplay for single player was much more interactive than the first but the story was extremely lacking. I don't know how you felt when the credits were done, but for many of my friends it was like 'that was it?'

Also the lack of insight on characters that were ONLY introduced in the mangas...yet canon.

tl ; dr it was only average at best. Not because i am a huge RTS fan, but because it really mediocore...unlike the first iteration of the game in terms of plot.

--

On WoW i havent played it but i have played WCIII..and i cannot relate to many WoW players due to the many ret-cons. There were two things in the story that stuck out to me that this blizzard is not the same as before ...

That illidan is not some guy who tries to do good but ends up in sad and bad situations like he was in WCIII. He is some ruthless dictator that depsite freeing the people in Draenor in WCIII, enslaves them again in WoW...makes total sense.

And also...this one line at the end of WoW: WotLK... "There should always be a Lich King!!!" (cuz you know otherwise the Undead run rampant and are apparently MORE dangerous).

So why the hell did we kill him!?!?!?

If anything...as WoW went on i lost more and more interest in Blizzard's ability to write good believable stories.

[kotora]

The singleplayer in the first game is much better. The only reason they can actually get away with this 3-game thing is because the first game was such a success, partly because it actually had a good singleplayer story (which is because you get to see all 3 sides of the conflict instead of doing lame mercenary jobs all the time).

I like the multiplayer much better than the singleplayer, but that's mainly just because I've been waiting for years to play SC1 at a decent resolution and being able to select more than 12 units at the same time.

[Elly]

today on the StarCraft II Updater:

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Patch 1.0.3

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue preventing some players from accessing offline play from the login screen.


see they do listen, to the reasonable stuff anyway...

[Peegee]

today on the StarCraft II Updater:

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Patch 1.0.3

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue preventing some players from accessing offline play from the login screen.


see they do listen, to the reasonable stuff anyway...

That's not a bug - it's a feature.

Also once I finish Brutal mode (I'm on Welcome to the Jungle on hard mode - it's hard!) they better have some good enfos or dota or tower defense maps set up!

[kotora]

Don't get your hopes up. The current Dota maps suck balls.

[Iceglow]

I'm playing the game on normal first time through (don't feel like having to go psycho nuts trying to play it and also on my laptop so touchpad controls = not as good) I'm currently attempting the first mission in the crystal from Zeratuul but I need some help. So I don't spoil the game for those not this far in yet: I've killed the 3 hatcheries (optional objective) and I've gotten the 3 shrines, however when you have 2 minutes to get Zeratuul to the last objective with whole armies of Zerg after you, what is the best technique to use, I have something like 6 stalkers left and Zeratuul there seems little point in trying to void prison and stealth kill since there are so many enemies present after Kerrigan summons them And whenever I try to rush through I end up being stalked by overlords and swarmed. What advice do you guys have for me completing this mission?

Loving the FMVs in this game the storyline is quite something though I couldn't stand playing it in low specs anymore and bumped it up to medium causing my laptop to lag a little when playing battles (another reason I won't do hard atm)

[VeloZer0]

I recall doing a lot of mad rushing. If memory serves there are a series of roadblocks you can blink past instead of destroying, thus slowing the Zerg. Zeratul an your stalkers move just as fast as the zerg as far as I know, so if you use blink liberally you should stay ahead.

[whisper]

what's the requirement of a laptop for starcraft 2??

[Skyblade]

I'm playing the game on normal first time through (don't feel like having to go psycho nuts trying to play it and also on my laptop so touchpad controls = not as good) I'm currently attempting the first mission in the crystal from Zeratuul but I need some help. So I don't spoil the game for those not this far in yet: I've killed the 3 hatcheries (optional objective) and I've gotten the 3 shrines, however when you have 2 minutes to get Zeratuul to the last objective with whole armies of Zerg after you, what is the best technique to use, I have something like 6 stalkers left and Zeratuul there seems little point in trying to void prison and stealth kill since there are so many enemies present after Kerrigan summons them And whenever I try to rush through I end up being stalked by overlords and swarmed. What advice do you guys have for me completing this mission?

Loving the FMVs in this game the storyline is quite something though I couldn't stand playing it in low specs anymore and bumped it up to medium causing my laptop to lag a little when playing battles (another reason I won't do hard atm)

Not to mention that the overall plot is once again identical to Warcraft.

The ancient race that shapes the world, then leaves it behind (Xel'naga/Titans). Only to have it later attacked by a corrupted one of their number (Fallen One/Sargeras). Who uses a slave race whose strength lies in simple, overwhelming numbers (Zerg/Undead), led by a single controlling ruler (Overmind/Nher'zul). The controller finds a human pawn (Kerrigan/Arthas) that he corrupts to help ensure future freedom.

You can draw those comparisons back through the main campaigns of Starcraft and WCIII (with the exception of the Orc campaign, which doesn't really fit in anywhere), and SC: Brood Wars and WCIII: The Frozen Throne. Blizzard needs to learn to write more than one plot.

[Elly]

not a bad thing really though, not for everyone anyway, there are those like myself that actualy prefer Sci-Fi to High Fantasy and therefore may never play Warcraft...

[Peegee]

iceglow, you still stuck on that level? sacrifice a stalker and keep running forward (ie make one stop and attack which saves you a few seconds)

[Iceglow]

I got through, I did it on my second attempt lol. I was I guess just tired the first time (it was late night) and didn't think to use my common sense lol. once I began blinking forwards as fast as possible I did just fine :D Currently I just maxed out the zerg research tree, went for the mind control, don't know how much I'll end up using it but well, it'll be fun to turn ultralisks or other ridiculous monsters to my cause.

[VeloZer0]

I went mind control too, but I didn't once get to use it on anything remotely cool. I was very disappointed.

[Iceglow]

Logic says as a base defense option you ought to go with the sigma field, slowing the zerg down, a building what must be left to the fore of your defences to stand a chance of drawing attention to and taking control of a zerg unit of power isn't exactly logical. If the Zerg is in your defensive perimeter the time taken to take over the unit means it will suffer most likely fatal damage. If you can manage to take it over however then awesome you could just trigger medics to heal them manually once the carnage dies down

[Lionx]

I don't see any good reason to get the mind control thing outside of lulz. Because the effects of the Psi Emitter is army-wide within that radius. If i was able to choose either or for Melee, the Psi Emitter would win me battles never thought possible especially if i proxy base...and the mind control one would only be a small annoyance at best.

[VeloZer0]

I certainly knew I was purchasing the mind control tower for lolz, I was just disappointed I didn't get to use it in any fun way. Maybe I should take a map on easy and build one in an enemy's base near their drones...

[Peegee]

I certainly knew I was purchasing the mind control tower for lolz, I was just disappointed I didn't get to use it in any fun way. Maybe I should take a map on easy and build one in an enemy's base near their drones...

Final level - for the anti-air mission, mass them near the artifact. When mobs come in, mind control them. When the leviathan comes, keep collecting mutalisks. So easy after that

I find that I don't really have a lot of people on msn who play this game to chat with. I am replaying the entire campaign on brutal (well, easy -> brutal) for the achievements, and I find that it takes me 1-2 days to do each level, unless it's particularly hard.

Right now doing safe haven on brutal. It is messy to do (I tried the sneaky way but there's too much ground troops). I cleared the nexuses but could not defeat the purifier because it will spawn so many troops at the end. I think I need to build up a lot of towers at my base (10+) and try again tomorrow

[VeloZer0]

Mutalisks are sooooo boring to mind control. Thats all I ever got.

Does the Psi Wave kill your mind controlled units?

[Dignified Pauper]

that terazine gas mission on brutal is impossible.

[Peegee]

Mutalisks are sooooo boring to mind control. Thats all I ever got.

Does the Psi Wave kill your mind controlled units?

lol good question - I don't know bc I am replaying it. I got the zerg slowing device the first playthrough.

that terazine gas mission on brutal is impossible.

It is not fun that is for sure.

[evernic]

i just got this and crazy about it.