Starcraft 2 impressions

[Julius Seeker]

• I played through the first four levels on Normal. It's a nice step up from Warcraft 3. About as fun as the original Starcraft was when it first came out. It lacks the new feeling of Starcraft though - for obvious reasons.
• Zerg seem more menacing than they did in the first Starcraft.
• The game has less of a Starship Troopers feel than the original. More of a Warcraft III feel. Could be just me though.
• The game struggles a bit at times on my system, which well exceeds their minimum standards. The old Starcraft worked very well even on older machines. It feels like this one pushes things.
• There's a fun shooter arcade game.
• Lots of stuff to do between missions rather than just hitting the next button

Overall, the game is very much worth the 59 bucks. I probably won't do much online for some timer. I look forward to playing more on the weekend; I might do 1 mission a day.

[Shrinweck]

I'm ten or so missions in and having a lot of fun. I love how only a few of the missions so far have taken over half an hour and none of taken me an hour yet. This is the most fun I've had with an RTS in years and that includes WC3. I'm not entirely sure why you're getting WC3 vibes from the game - maybe it's the balancing? There are so few of the mechanics that are the same.

The missions also vary a lot and they throw in a lot of different things to do in each one. Other than basic base building there hasn't been a single mission past the first few that have involved doing the same thing - either the same strategy or massing the same unit.

I'm not going to call game of the year but I can see playing this and being excited about expansions for quite some time.

[SineSwiper]

My PC kicks its ass with everything at 11, and it looks good. Anyway, I'm about at the same point, around 4 missions in. God, it's been a while. I'm getting used to old hotkeys again. Oh, yeah, B-S for supply depots, because you say "fucking bullshit" when you get that message. I can't wait to play the Protoss, but the Terrans are always good to start with. I like the upgrading post-game, which adds a bit of a RPGish element to the game, and the new units and upgrades are pretty cool so far.

Oh, don't forget to click on the units a bunch for some commentary.

Got about 82K on my first try with the Lost Vikings game.

[Louis]

I'm about eight missions in. I'm happy so far. I'm not much of an RTS gamer, but the RPG elements make the game much more enjoyable for me (similar to Warcraft III). I definitely think its worth the money (I'm usually a budget person; waiting for stuff to drop in price).

I haven't tried any multiplayer yet. I'm sure I'll get pwned. I think I need to get much more comfortable with the game before I give it a try.

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, I'm going to wait on multi-player stuff, too. It's been a while, and though stuff is coming back to me, it's still a new game with some new elements. I hear that playing against the AI is good practice, though.

[Flip]

Multiplayer has a practice league where the game is slowed down one tick and a win or loss wont show up on your record. Granted, you are only in the practice league when you first sign up and once you leave it you can never go back in.

[Blotus]

I'm saving multi until I'm finished the campaign as well. Might as well all add each other, though! I'm TACOFEVER.

[Shrinweck]

You can add character names, right? Mine's Yemeth. I'm okay with almost everyone here knowing my first and last name but let's just go with the character name in the public forum :P

Edit: You need a character code as well as the character name if you don't have their e-mail, apparently. Mine is 875.

[Eric]

Beat it, loved it, *Passes out*

[Flip]

Beat it, loved it, *Passes out*

Holy fuck, that was fast.

[Don]

Power Overwhelming!

[Julius Seeker]

Beat it, loved it, *Passes out*

You ****ing insane bastard =P

[Oracle]

So, to get all 3 campaigns, I have to spend $180 on this game (assuming the expansions are $60 as well)?! And they haven't even put out dates for the Zerg and Protoss release?

Might have to skip it :p

[Don]

I'm sure a months/years down the line you'll be able to get the SC2 trilogy box for like $20.

[Anarky]

I'm very curious how long it will take blizzard to release the expansions.

[Eric]

It's blizzard, so expect one every 2 years lol.

[SineSwiper]

So, to get all 3 campaigns, I have to spend $180 on this game (assuming the expansions are $60 as well)?! And they haven't even put out dates for the Zerg and Protoss release?

Might have to skip it :p

WTF?! So I can't play as Protoss?

[Flip]

Not in single player i guess. But in multi, all the races are open...

[Eric]

There's a portion of the Terran campaign that lets you play as Protoss.

[Don]

I originally typed just 'months' and then I remembered it was Blizzard so I added the '/years'.

[Julius Seeker]

So, to get all 3 campaigns, I have to spend $180 on this game (assuming the expansions are $60 as well)?! And they haven't even put out dates for the Zerg and Protoss release?

Might have to skip it :p

I highly doubt the expansions will cost as much as the main game. If I recall correctly, Warcraft 2 and 3, along with Starcraft had the prices of thir expansions considerably cheaper.

[Eric]

So, to get all 3 campaigns, I have to spend $180 on this game (assuming the expansions are $60 as well)?! And they haven't even put out dates for the Zerg and Protoss release?

Might have to skip it :p

I highly doubt the expansions will cost as much as the main game. If I recall correctly, Warcraft 2 and 3, along with Starcraft had the prices of thir expansions considerably cheaper.

But that was before the dark times, before Activision. ;p

[SineSwiper]

Pffft...with a cash cow like WoW and the horrible Diablo balance issues, Blizzard's always been in the business of ripping people off and sucking as much money as possible. They didn't need Activision to push them.

[M'k'n'zy]

Actually from what I understand each section of the game is supposed to be a full 25-30 mission campaign so they aren't really expansions per say.

[Julius Seeker]

Are there any sources that say Blizzard has changed their policy? I don't really see any reason why they would do that now.

I am not sure if Blizzard functions any differently post-merger as they did before. The parent company has always been Vivendi - if I am not mistaken, since Warcraft II. From what I understand, Vivendi's game companies were merged under the Blizzard Activision brand for financial purposes.

[Anarky]

I'm about 4 missions in and I've been playing them on Hard. I have a feeling I will definitely be going back to try for achievements. Even though I've played Beta for a few months and I know the flow of the game single player is a different beast. I think they did a good job of making the missions so that you're always on your toes. Especially with the extra objectives.

I also like using some of the units from SC1 that are not available in multiplayer, nice touch.

[Flip]

For anyone who says this is 1/3 of the game, arent there like 30 missions, which is the same that the original Starcraft had? You're getting your money's worth if the 'expansion' is full price for another 30 missions.

[Don]

Total Annihilation had like 30 missions per side in the campaign. It's not really that hard to come up with a large number of missions that are mostly the same. I mean just look at what people can do with the Starcraft/Warcraft editor for free, and imagine that with a bunch of people who are actually paid to do this.

[Louis]

Through the first few missions of Starcraft II, I thought there was quite a bit of variation in them. Like stopping the trains, destroying the infested structures, etc.

[Shrinweck]

It IS more difficult and costly to create cinematics and detailed writing for 30 missions, though. There's ~3-5 total minutes of dialog and cinematics before and after each mission. The missions are hardly "mostly the same", as well.

The Protoss are probably last again, though god dammit.

For example the mission where you unlock ghosts has three extremely different phases requiring radically different tactical decisions.

Edit: How are they going to handle off time between missions with the Zerg? Hydralisks aren't known for being garrulous. And Kerrigan personally talking to you all the time is a little far fetched, too. Maybe she creates a fake Terran alliance and the downtime is her in a Terran battleship? Ehhhh.

[Eric]

Beat the game and you'll have a better idea of how that plays out.

And even though it's just 1 race of missions, the game's single player has a crap load of dialog/cinematics/maps more so then the original SC1 did @ release.

[Don]

The cost for these things is most definitely below linear. If it cost $X to make 1 mission it does not cost anywhere near $30X to make 30 missions. It might be well below $2X in terms of creative resources.

[Tessian]

Add me --> Tessian code 388

[Eric]

http://kotaku.com/5599005/everything-we ... craft-game

When will it be out?

No one can be sure yet but it is looking like it could be out in early 2012, based on an estimation of 18 months from the release of Wings of Liberty from lead producer Chris Sigaty. Blizzard won't nail this down, of course. They're not big on promising release dates this far out.
How much will it cost?

There is no definite answer for this but it has been suggested by Blizzard's Rob Pardo that it will be priced as an expansion pack. If we base this off of their World of Warcraft expansion packs then we're looking at around $30 to $40.

[bovine]

http://kotaku.com/5599005/everything-we ... craft-game

When will it be out?

No one can be sure yet but it is looking like it could be out in early 2012, based on an estimation of 18 months from the release of Wings of Liberty from lead producer Chris Sigaty. Blizzard won't nail this down, of course. They're not big on promising release dates this far out.
How much will it cost?

There is no definite answer for this but it has been suggested by Blizzard's Rob Pardo that it will be priced as an expansion pack. If we base this off of their World of Warcraft expansion packs then we're looking at around $30 to $40.

I predict that they are going to be built like the later, original Dawn of War expansions. This means that they will be stand alone products. They won't be expansions in terms of "I buy this separate product and I do not need the original to play it". It will contain the next faction's story mode, but what I am not sure of is what they are going to do with the multiplayer. Will each game have a few of its own unique multiplayer units, thus making someone who wants to have the entire roster for each faction will have to buy them all. Or, will they all have the same stock multiplayer, with the expansions bringing on new modes (like how Halo ODST had the regular Halo 3 multiplayer on it, but also came with firefight mode).

That is what Bovine thinks.

[SineSwiper]

I'm about 4 missions in and I've been playing them on Hard. I have a feeling I will definitely be going back to try for achievements. Even though I've played Beta for a few months and I know the flow of the game single player is a different beast. I think they did a good job of making the missions so that you're always on your toes. Especially with the extra objectives.

I have been switching back and forth between Normal and Hard. Hard kicks my ass sometimes, and Normal is sometimes too easy. Really depends on the mission.

[Don]

I can't imagine the other two campaigns not being stand alone games assuming they don't actually add anything to the core gameplay. It'll look like your generic episodic game where episode 1 is not required to play episode 2. To do anything else would be very foolish.

[Blotus]

TACOFEVER 8-5-6

[Flip]

DCElite 887

[Julius Seeker]

Based on what Blizzard did with expansions in the past, it'll be more than just 30 new Missions. There'll be:
* New units
* New cinematics
* New Story sequences
* New sub-game (as Terran, between Missions there are a lot of different things you can do, this will obviously be different for the Zerg and Protoss).

I want to see a link to where Blizzard says that the expansions will be full price. Where did people get that information?

[Julius Seeker]

I can't imagine the other two campaigns not being stand alone games assuming they don't actually add anything to the core gameplay. It'll look like your generic episodic game where episode 1 is not required to play episode 2. To do anything else would be very foolish.

Well Blizzard has always released expansion in the past in the way that you say is foolish; and they have seen great success. Why do you think that it will be stupid to do something different than what you suggest? So even what they have been doing for all their games, very successfully, for the past 15 years is stupid?

[Shrinweck]

Man, if Blizzard doesn't understand how to successfully make money off of us by now then no one can help them.

[Blotus]

What a huge difference between running the game in OSX and Bootcamp on the same machine! I've got everything set to low-medium in OSX to run comfortably, while in Bootcamp I can run everything at high with few snags.

Also, this game is awesome. Haven't even touched the multi or challenges yet. Eric, now that you're finished with the campaign, you can start making a Firebat Madness custom.

[Eric]

I think you'd be better suited to such a task sir! I was never big on map making.

[SineSwiper]

Got 500K on Lost Viking. Woo!

[Julius Seeker]

Got 500K on Lost Viking. Woo!

Jesus =P

[Louis]

"I ain't workin'. I'm drankin'"

So far that has to be my favorite line.

[Shrinweck]

I think you'd be better suited to such a task sir! I was never big on map making.

I spent hours on a map when the original came out but me being 12... it sucked.

Tess and I have been playing some 2v2 custom games versus medium computers. We haven't lost yet, although that came close to ending in our second game when I tried zerg for the first time and almost got destroyed but managed to sneak out one builder and by the end I was able to churn out four brutalisks. We've been doing well with him on Protoss and me on Terran, which is kinda funny because those roles were reversed in the original.

Still need to perfect my comp stomp strategy from the original where I entrench and then rush to ghosts and nukes and just nuke and nuke and nuke.

[Eric]

Insane Comp fucking rapes. In SC1 at least vs insane AI you could wall off, and the comp would get confused. But oh no, not this time. Insane comp is actually insane. It scouts for recon, and observes what buildings/units you're getting, then counter-builds, so those scouts need to die.

They will push early if you have no army and they see that, even if you make an army, there's a very good chance their first push will end you.

They will micro units, if they have Roaches, and they researched burrow, they will burrow and unburrow. If they have Reapers, they will run in front of you pursuing units shoot, and flee, shoot and flee.

It's not perfect though, I observed that if you can harass their main base, sometimes their entire army will turn around to deal with you, which is rather funny. Sometimes it gets stuck building a certain type of unit, and won't tech change, IE if you go air mid-game, and their army is ground based, they won't go anti-air.

Rushing still works, early reaper, or 7 pool rush can be effective, however the comp income is really fast so if they get out Stalkers/Rauders/Roaches you're fucked.

[Blotus]

Did anybody get the CE with the art book? I'm wondering if there's a decent picture of the girl on Tychus' armor. I need a hi-res version of it to turn into vector art. What I'm working with now is the best screencap I could take in-game and it's super pixelly when blown-up.