Starcraft 2

[SquareSphere }12thVR{]

So done with single player.... it was only 26 missions long and not all of those are mandatory.  Gotta say was totally disappointed at the length after all the hype talk that it was going to be as long as all 3 SC1 campaigns put together.

That being said, Blizz should have put out a single player only version for $30 in addition to the $60 "full" package.  They would probably would have made a lot more sales.

[-BRS-]

So done with single player.... it was only 26 missions long and not all of those are mandatory.  Gotta say was totally disappointed at the length after all the hype talk that it was going to be as long as all 3 SC1 campaigns put together.

That being said, Blizz should have put out a single player only version for $30 in addition to the $60 "full" package.  They would probably would have made a lot more sales.

Completely agreed, that could have boosted sales even further because there are quite obviously a lot of people who don't trust Blizzard's matchmaking and can't be bothered to try multiplayer.

I've got to admit though, I'm getting rather sick of all the praise the game is receiving. We've been waiting for this game for what, 12 years? And *that* is all? A game that mostly feels like its predecessor, even recycles some of its audio files? It doesn't excel in any way and that is what pisses me off most. I totally expected a GOTY candidate in SC2, but reality is far from it. It's a good game, no doubt, but it's not a masterpiece.
I personally think that if it hadn't received that much hype, most people would have ignored it.

One of my major griefs is actually one aspect where Blizzard used to excel: cutscenes. F§@%! Raynor walks like his knees or hips had been broken. Many of the conversations are plain pointless and the new characters are so boringly stereotypical...

I have to work pretty hard to remind myself of all the good things about this game: there are so many funny little things going on, so many references to pop culture... the last couple of missions are great, the ones [spoiler]where you play as Protoss[/spoiler] are great - and of course the grand final and last cutscene.

As said: good game, just not the masterpiece I personally would have expected from a company like Blizzard after such a long wait.

[Leeko]

So done with single player.... it was only 26 missions long and not all of those are mandatory.  Gotta say was totally disappointed at the length after all the hype talk that it was going to be as long as all 3 SC1 campaigns put together.

Wut? Only four missions shorter, with actual content in between. And it's 27 if you count both pre-final missions, more like 31 if you count every branching choice you're given at plot arc conclusions.

I've got to admit though, I'm getting rather sick of all the praise the game is receiving. We've been waiting for this game for what, 12 years? And *that* is all? A game that mostly feels like its predecessor, even recycles some of its audio files? It doesn't excel in any way and that is what pisses me off most. I totally expected a GOTY candidate in SC2, but reality is far from it. It's a good game, no doubt, but it's not a masterpiece.
I personally think that if it hadn't received that much hype, most people would have ignored it.

They've only been working on it for 4 years or so. In any case, if you don't think it's an improvement over the first you don't have an eye for subtlety. The UI is more responsive, the units are more fun to use IMHO (roaches and infestors anyone?), its mapmaking and modding tools are much more powerful, and the pathfinding AI is far better. Just a few things off the top of my head. And as to the audio files thing - check your ears. They reused a couple of lines for most of the units that carried over into SC2, but they are rerecorded and for me they brought about nostalgic warm-fuzzies.

One of my major griefs is actually one aspect where Blizzard used to excel: cutscenes. F§@%! Raynor walks like his knees or hips had been broken. Many of the conversations are plain pointless and the new characters are so boringly stereotypical...

Personally, Raynor's exaggerated cowboy stride never bothered me. It sort of added to the Firefly-influenced western atmosphere actually. For that matter, it doesn't really bother me that the cast is stereotypical. As far as I'm concerned, it's all I could ask for in an RTS. You can't really tell a story as intimately as you can in another genre, making RTS storytelling masterpieces on the level of Half-Life 2 nonexistent. And anyway, if you don't like pointless conversations then don't poke around on the Hyperion. On a side note though, I'm probably spoiled by the absurd campiness of C&C cutscenes, so not much in that vein bothers me.

I have to work pretty hard to remind myself of all the good things about this game: there are so many funny little things going on, so many references to pop culture... the last couple of missions are great, the ones [spoiler]where you play as Protoss[/spoiler] are great - and of course the grand final and last cutscene.

[spoiler]YESSS. It glitched on me and Kerrigan only arrived once so I had it easy, but man was the finale epic. Can't wait to see what Heart of the Swarm is going to be like - I imagine it would involve Kerrigan becoming a psionic superbadass. The Zeratul missions were great too; he's my favorite character in the SC universe.[/spoiler]

As said: good game, just not the masterpiece I personally would have expected from a company like Blizzard after such a long wait.

Sorry if I sounded harsh, but this is what you're asking for by giving yourself expectations. I hardly ever read game previews anymore unless I'm extremely undecided as to whether I want to buy something. Spore taught me that lesson the hard way. But realistically, there's not much room for innovation on the classic RTS formula. The death of C&C taught us this. It's still fun, and I'm not complaining. SC2 is a refinement on SC1 in almost every way, with a much more enjoyable single player experience and lots of little changes that make it a more modern game. Most astoundingly though, they managed to pull off giving us a whole new set of toys to play with while maintaining that one thing that made Starcraft... well, what made it Starcraft. Near-perfect balance in a game with three entirely asymmetrical armies.

[Gravecoast]

Also the expansions are bein priced as expansions, so probably 30-40 *most likely 40 if they're doin it similiar to WoW expansions*
I say it was well worth it

[SquareSphere }12thVR{]

Ultimately for me, it was all about the single player story.  If they just did a book, i would have bought it instead.  Maybe it's me but I didn't know where Homer came from, the "choices" you make in the game don't seem that significant to the ending, only how you unlock tech.  The "specter" story lines is not fleshed out at all.  The Mengsk and his Son are left unresolved, which makes me wonder how they'll tie those up in the Zerg/Protoss campaigns if they even choose too.  Heck even the "uprising" doesn't make much sense or if it even has a long standing impact on the current situation.

With so many games out there now with branching endings impacted by choice, the fact that Blizzard completely ignored it fuels a lot of my disappointment.

[(TLL)CapperDeluxe]

like many recent blockbuster games the single player has taken a backseat to the multiplayer.... but I still think the story is pretty interesting even if we have to wait for the expansions to get the rest of it. At least it not like the single player for Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2, those were just terrible.

[TheDrgnRbrn]

Hmmm....

I got this game mainly out of loyalty to great RTS games. I was never a big SC fan, WarCraft was more my style, and even then, I was so young when they first came out that I still thought it was fun to cheat! Hell, I remember that my parents didn't want me playing SC at a friends house cause it was 'Too Violent and Bloody' cause it was rated T or whatever. So when SC 2 was announced, I poked around, watched some trailers, but that was about it. I knew I would end up getting it, out of loyalty to the genre, not rabid fandom of SC 1.

What really has surprised me though is some of the split opinions. Whining about money is silly folks. Some of you dished out forty bucks to get an old game to play a free mod. This whole '60 bucks???1??' is just silly. What really surprises me is that people expected to see some kind of revolution in gameplay. If it aint broke, don't fix it. It really was not in development for 12 years, that would be insane. If it was, you could expect an AI that reads your mind and little wires that you attach to your nipples to help micro your units better. What did we get? Not a remake of SC 1, not by a long shot. Down at the basic levels, it is still the same, but it received so much spit & polish that it really shines. It feels full. Complete. Hard to explain, but picture the last hyped-up game you played, and all the bugs it had, all the balance issues, all of that. SC 2 has had none of that, though that could also be due to the extensive beta testing. I feel excited that there was a finished game released, an actual complete, finished game. The only bugs were stuff to do with things that hadnt been available in the MP beta, and they were small. If only more games were like that..

Again, the 'same ole same ole' view is strange. SC 1 is huge. Will stay huge. Did we want them to pull something like CnC 4?

The lan thing.. Understandable.. but lul wut? As much fun as it is to play games at lan parties, there are two things. First, so much stuff is done online these days that it is insane. I can play stuff with my friends who moved off to college hundreds of miles away. Its like a lan party without the hassle. Second, you normally used a pirated version at said lan parties. Cmon guys.. I know, its the pot calling the kettle black, but we should still support developers. It might encourage them to make more games like this, instead of more WoW.

I dunno, I am tired, I am rambling, but I am very, very happy with my purchase. So, if it makes even a jaded gamer like me feel warm and fuzzy inside while playing, I think they hit the mark. No Game of the Year, but who gives about that? Really? A popularity contest?

OH, the ONLY thing the game is missing? The one thing to make it a real game?

A manual.

Yes, thats right. How many of you remember the days when you got a nice, big box for your games to come in? I mean a box, not this little carton thing. A box, with a disk in a sleeve, and a manual a hundred pages long? The StarCraft manual was amazing! All the backstory, all the art! I remeber, as a kid, shuddering when I saw that pic of the infested Terran they had in the manual. Man, I hate cost cutting..

[Askis]

I'll have to admit that I "acquired" the game to test out the SP-Campaign and for someone like me who has no interest in playing the game competitively, the price tag isn't worth it...
Sure the campaign is a lot of fun but not as varied as some reviews make it out to be, the two main missions that are often referred to, the one with the rising lava (it's a minor annoyance that doesn't really change the nature of the mission much) and the one with the wall of flame (slightly more annoying since you'll lose unmovable buildings at some point) are still just basic "build your base, pop out units, profit" missions, the ones where you just have a handful of units are alright but nothing groundbreaking.

And when I read the Gamespot review, this:
"The game punctuates its most poignant and thrilling moments with fantastic prerendered cutscenes, but even the in-engine cutscenes pull you in, thanks to expressive facial animations and plenty of humorous winks and nods scattered about."
actually made me laugh out loud.
I've seen alot better in many games that use their engine for cutscenes and while the pre-rendered ones are of jaw-dropping quality, the lack of any apparent emotion in the in-engine ones is just sad.


With all that said, someone who's more interested in the MP, loved SC1 and doesn't mind the Micro and learning all the build orders and tactics involved, will not regret it.

I'll buy the game soon too, but mostly for the funmaps that are already starting to come out

[~SJ~ wangmauler]

I downloaded it a few days ago, I'm on, i think, the last mission, like 21 or something. Great game, I hope they make the cracked version playable in skirmishes soon...

[Askis]

I hope they make the cracked version playable in skirmishes soon...

The version I have has working Skirmishes
Still, please buy it at some point...

[SquareSphere }12thVR{]

My beef with the $60 price point is one based on my personality.  I'm pretty laid back and flexible but there are hard lines i do not cross.  The $60 is one of them.  It would be like buying a new car at full price only for it to be worth about 5K less as soon as you drive it off the lot.

I can no see the price justification in the $60 price point from a game production stand point.   If Blizz was using a lot of in house devs in the US maybe, but in the credits it's VERY obvious a lot of the work was done over seas probably for cost savings.

$60 games on consoles is a modern example of the whole, "if you throw a frog in boiling water he'll jump out, but if you leave him in warm water and slow increase the temp, he'll boil alive".  People are "used" to it, but damit i'm an old crocthcy man and refuse to play this pricing game.

I'm totally on board with what Askis said about the price point for just SP.  Also on the LAN issue, blizzard is now deleting any user created map that deem "inappropriate".  IT'S USER CREATED CONTENT. Back in the day if you didn't like something you just don't download it. 

Back to the point, i'd have almost no complaint if the game was price at 49.99

[^sPikE-]

Dont know if you guys know this, but sc2, like warcraft and sc1, has one uber strong aspect, and that is custom games. The editor is so ultra powerful its crazy, and even only few weeks after release there are tons of insanecustom scenarios and maps available, from rpg styled hero arenas, to dozens of tower defense variants, and of course some of you mit remember DotA. For me, warcraft 3 was unplayable aside from these custom games, and i still played them until sc2 came out.

Now, here is my biggest grief with sc2. Thay made an insanely stupid custom game lobby/searfh engine. In wc3 you could download a map from anywhere and host, or just scroll through the hosted games andchoose. Now, you only have them sorted by popularity, and can only scroll down by clicking show more. This is incredibly stupid for a competent developer as blizzard.

Otherwise, playing single player feels very nostalgic and for now also very good, but the multiplayer captivates me most at the moment. 3v3 matches are simply insane, epic battles, thousands of mini strategies to counter anything, thousands styles of play. I am having an insane amount of fun playing it with my friends, i even think mwll is taking a backseat for a while.

I must say MWLL and SC2 currently share the first spot on my top games list.

[(TLL) Zeh]

Wow, much different responses here than the other forums I frequent. (Teamliquid.net , sc2gg.com, etc.)  (For those that don't recognize them, hard-core starcraft geekery sites)

I think the game is the bomb.  The single-player is fun, but getting Starcraft for single player is as bad as getting ModernWarfare2 for single player, you're avoiding the real meat of the game.  Starcraft is probably the most widely played game from the 90s today, by far.  It's the only game I know of that has multiple professional gaming leagues built around it (Yes I know only in Korea, they're crazy), but the big gaming World Championships generally include a Starcraft category as well, despite it's 12-year age, completely unheard of for any other game.

Anyways, I digress.  It's really just about the multi-player, and if you don't like competitive RTS, then I couldn't see how you could be anything but unenthusiastic about the game.  Then again, if you like RTS, if you like Starcraft, it's gold baby.  A fantastic accomplishment and Blizzard's best work to date IMO.

[Deathbane]

I downloaded it a few days ago, I'm on, i think, the last mission, like 21 or something. Great game, I hope they make the cracked version playable in skirmishes soon...

Same. Its a good game, but i will not pay for or support a game that doesnt allow lan play.

Some of us LIKE playing together, requiring an internet connection and using the frankly idiotic arguements like LOL USE THE INTERNET is dumb. The only reason they didnt put it in is because they wanted more control.

At alot of the lans, we've all mostly had legitimate copies.

If you want more control, you arnt going to get it. Ill just pirate it and play it offline when a cracked server app is released.

Im playing on PC for a reason. More options, not to be locked down like im playing on some crappy console.

This describes how i feel quite well.

http://www.gossipgamers.com/blizzard-angered-hitler-with-no-starcraft-2-lan-play/

Im sorely disappointed - with all the money blizzard are getting from world of warcraft, they could have even allowed for spawn copies like the original . Would a few pirated versions really matter? They re fapping loaded.

Oh well, this is what happens when games companys forget about making games and concentrate solely on the profit. I feel sad for the people on the team that undoubtedly did work their asses off with a love of a game, only to get shafted by managers just like the playerbase did.

[SquareSphere }12thVR{]

It was probably more of an activision directive than Blizzard