StarCraft II

[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.

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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.

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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.

(SPOILER)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. (SPOILER)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]

(SPOILER) 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. (SPOILER)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:
(SPOILER)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. (SPOILER)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:
(SPOILER)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 (SPOILER)seeing as Zerg campaign is 'simzerg', I hope the protoss campaign has some closure

[Skyblade]

Decisions, decisions.

(SPOILER)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.

/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. 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

[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.