SC2 Beta Impressions?

[MyNameDidntFit]

Did anyone get into the Beta and, if so, what are your impressions?

Someone please cheer me up, I just got a member on another forum I frequent to give me his opinion and it's made me sad.

If anyone cares to read said opinion:
I think most of you have tried the beta out now as well as a few of the "unofficial" A.I maps floating around on the net.


Note that this is just my opinion of the whole mess and as we speak they(Blizzard) are still patching the sucker. But I need a shower.

This game when/if it comes out will really have alot of mixed opinions.

For those who want a nostalgia trip then good for you since you will be getting what you paid for. But for those of us who are hoping for an innovation on blizzard's part it's all a downward spiral from the get go, if the finished product is just mostly the same as the beta that is.

Now let's start with some of the good stuff.

Brand spanking new 3d engine. (Yep think dow2 on high meth) Whatever the earlier screenies of the thing showed it wont come close as to when you are playing it. It's more gritty and less cartoony than Warcraft that's for certain. And it's very dark now.( really set's the mood for war and all of that...)

New units. pretty cool if not flawed concept on some.
The terran Supply Depo can be submerged and upgraded. Very good.

And that's about it for me really...

Let's go to the bad parts:(Really coz I really love this part)

From what I gathered this was made by a korean based Blizzard team and it actually reflects it. If you look at it from my standpoint.

Seems to me majority or if not all of them koreans did for most of the decade and and up to this point(might I add) was play SC1 and Broodwars over and over and over and over and over again(Add naseum.) Ignoring every innovation that came out in the RTS genre throughout these years.

It has a very good terrain physics engine but seriously what's the point of making a goddamn crater when your infantry cant use it as cover? Eye candy?
Why not just slap on a freaking crater textures instead? Saves some mid range computers the grief? And where's the ragdoll effects? A zergling being hit by a sige tank salvo (in siege mode) either turns into a gory splatter or just keeps charging. Super duper high gravity?


The mellee parts: Eversince Liquid entertainment came out with Battle Realms(remember that one?) Other game Dev's took notice on how melee combat should be presented even on an rts game.
The result:

Total war series
Dow
And a plethora of others.

These games made the Zoom feature a necessity so that one can show off spectacular kills/melee battles via screenies or vids.

Well chuck that innovation out the door bub, since SC2 melee is the same as the original. Which means yes virginia: Mr. zealot and Senor Zergling/Ultralisk just repeats the stabbing/Clawing/Biting/Fapping animation until one of em' is a pulpy mess. (Why the hell you idiots even bothered with a zoom feature you fucking fuckheads?)

Unit production: It's along que to the barracks exit boys! Yep infantry is still individually made, forcing you to make a lot of duplicate Buildings just to keep your army up and running. There's a kinda cloning addon for the terrans but really...Cloning vats?

While other games have moved on to squad based infantry, it seems the SC universe is still composed of a lot of Rambo's(human or otherwise) Who band together to form a kickass team.

Now we go to the infantry balance: Back when the original SC came out Marine/Firebot Lovers howled "Murder and Injustice" becoz the other two races had ways to retreat and come back at you thru Regen(The zerg units in their mudpits) or shield recharge for the zealot and templars. While the marines and firebots were left to suck on a lollipop and ignore the pain after a skirmish with the enemy. Then came the Terran medic in broodwars and bruised ego's were soothed, flaring tempers were put out, and the balance to the universe was restored...Amen.

Now I dunno who's the fucking genius at blizzard who decided to combine the carrier and the medic into one unit but the results are blatantly disastrous. At early tiers the two races(Zerg and Protoss) can run to fight another day while your terran infantry have to suck on the proverbial lollipop again. Until you have enough moolah for a spaceport.

Would someone be kind to point out the genius who made this mess of a concept?

So I can drag him in the middle of the gobi desert, Kneecap the bastard and leave him to bleed out.

And that's about it for me I'm still getting the game just becoz of the campaign in it and becoz blizzard makes the most orgasmic cinematics this side of reality(Tho they better watch out: Bioware is slowly catching up to them)

But overall if you're a vet RTS player like me it feels nothing more than a trip to memory lane. The game is like buying a remastered album of the Village people. Sure they rocked back then but do they rock now? It's all up to you.

My opinion on it is that this game would've fared better were it was released earlier (preferably during the generals era) But that's just me I'm sure millions of fans (koreans) would be jumping in joy again coz they're getting what they asked for.

Me? Imma gonna take a shower...A loooong one.

Feels like I sat on something old...And dirty.

[Source (http://www.therogueforums.com/everything-gaming/173974-sc2-beta-first-thoughts-request.html)]

[Konrad]

I haven't tried it, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it yet. It seems that whoever wrote this is was really hoping for a DoW II painted shimmering Starcraft color, not a StarCraft on drugs which this (at least to my understanding) was always the intent.

I also wouldn't yet worry about things such as game balance and unit animations or rag-dolls. This just the first phase of several betas with no release date announced, and I can bet my cookie these things will be fixed.

Other than that he's complaining about infantry coming in singles not squads. Who really cares whether the game renders one or three models per "unit", the strategies don't change and neither does the relative strength of the units. :\

So, I'd say that if you're also hoping for Star Craft 2 to be Dawn of War-y then it looks like you have a reason to be afraid. If you wanted Star Craft but new and better, I would rest in peace knowing that Blizzard is doing massive betas specifically to get rid of imbalances, placeholder animations and might very well implement some new useful mechanics. It will be like StarCraft, but it won't be worse than StarCraft.

[Rob]

I'm about to go back to sleep so ill make this short. SC2 has been in development for long time and is in many ways the same starcraft that many people remember. They just took it and made it sexier then ever while staying as close to the oldschool core mechanics as possible. Expecting Blizzard to morph SC into a game that looks and plays like more a modern RTS is unreasonable to me. The speed and heavy emphasis on micro managing fights is something that can only take place without the need to select cover for troops. Take any other gameplay mechanic you wish made it into the beta and apply that logic. Starcraft to me was so damn good that SC2 doesn't need to move away from its already proven mechanics.

Also a large part of the game will be its fully realized 3 part campaign which is going to use some of the more modern mechanics that rpg and rts games enjoy. I'll try and give a longer impression of the multiplayer when time allows. The most important idea that Konrad hit on is that this is a Starcraft game... not some other series. :)

[MyNameDidntFit]

Personally I was hoping for something more... well, something that justifies having twelve years between it and its predecessor. What this looks like to me is SC1 made better looking... :/

If I was looking for SC then I'd play SC. When there's a big sequel to a big game made by a big developer I expect it to be different. I guess we'll see when the release comes just how different it is. But, so far, my money is on it being SC2: The Remake.

[Rob]

What this looks like to me is SC1 made better looking... :/
... with loads of new units :) Also terrain is a factor and building units that can take advantage of that will be important. Zerg can creep all over the place now. Terran can drop depots and make their command center an fn cannon. Protoss can create a mini black hole that tears everything apart and makes it go byebye. I hear you but SC isn't like other franchises that need to come up with huge changes to keep people interested. (I hope i'm right about that)

Look at DiabloIII and the direction it is taking. More of the same core with a new skill system, health system, and minor/major UI changes that make the game build up into a big bag of fun. Blizzard only has Diablo/Warcraft/SC to maintain and work on so they are taking those series and squeezing every ounce of kickass out of them.

[MyNameDidntFit]

Eh. I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it...