Starcraft II vs Starcraft I

[ch3wbucca]

To all of those people that are playing Startcraft II, is it much different to Starcraft I. I was considering buying it however after looking at gameplay videos and screenshots I'm not entirely sold on Startcraft II. Any opinions would be appreciated.

[Melski]

SC1 and 2 have the same game play. The single player game leads on from the story in the first one; though they do enough 'flash backs' to catch most of the relevant story from SC1 (that I remember).

I'd say the main additions are:
: match making is nice
: it also has achievements for those who like it (though I note you dont get to know about them till after you play the mission once! I hate that!!!!)
: it has challenge missions (9) which is supposed to help you improve your micro skills, which is not present in the original.
: much nicer single player games (and pre-game set-up), though it doesn't prepare you for multiplayer as well. It actually manages to avoid the curse of starting up your economy over and over like many other rts single player games.
: easier tracking of your stats and friends

The coop has not been touched, and was disappointing. They have concentrated on the competition side which frankly doesn't interest me that much. I would have been much happier to have different types of co-op. I know it'll come from the modders, but I want blizzard stuff.

Personally, the single player was very short, and was not good enough to replay again. Loved the story but I was happy to have seen the end of the misssions. It is for sure the best RTS I've played for a long time but I find it a mostly dead genre for a reason. This doesn't breath much more than a few days of life into my gaming; I am now back to my other games where I can play with others in a more fun less competitive environment.

[ch3wbucca]

Thanks for the great reply Melski!

Sounds like there a couple of nice new features in SC2.

Although its disappointing to see that there is only a few days of gameplay in it That puts me off buying it. Glad to have heard that here instead of wasting money on buying and then finding that out.

[Zeoinx]

I played my friends copy on his laptop of the first 3 Missions. Now as far as gameplay is concerned, its pretty much the same with improvements in the harvesting system and waypoint system. IE : You can hold shift in Build Mode, allowing you to actually que up multiple buildings at once, allowing the SCV to build one after the other. Also waypoints allow SCVs to auto harvest from min or gas after being built if the waypoint is directed on a gas refinery or min field. (This goes for all races, I just use SCV as a example because I'm so used to playing as Terran) As far as the campaign mode being short, one major reason is because they don't wanna finish it in one game, as there are 2 expansions eventually....(years later......Zzzz) to be released. Now to really get some good challange out of the Campaign, try to limit your tech you use yourself. Especially by not using the Lab Tech Upgrades. (Most of them look pretty helpful in one way or another). Also, if you still feel you want more out of the storyline missions, (though I'm not totally sure on this yet as I dont have full game) you should be able to edit the entire single player missions via Galaxy Edit, and after making it even harder, Add Co-op Mode so you and your friends can go at it.

Now another thing that makes this game unique too is the galaxy editor, which in my mind, is the most powerful map editor for a game ever released thus far, (Except for maybe, and I highly doubt, the Half Life 2 Mod Editor program, which name totally eludes me currently) But yea, This allows you to litterly create infinite game types within itself as the ENTIRE game is able to be modded. Now I may not be a true programmer, but I will be making Co-op campaigns when I get it, and I also seen a lot of fun mods already in the beta of the game (AC-130 Game Type) was a really good one that stood out in my mind. It played like COD MW2 AC-130 Kill Streak Reward, and had you escort a convoy of Terran forces heading toward a base. Outside of that, Ive seen Metal Slug remake in it, along with a start of a LOT of RPG gametypes. So yea, its definitely worth checking out, if just for the galaxy editor and story mode alone. I admit to not being all that good at competitive gameplay, but We all know Blizzard normally (hopefully there fame wont go to there heads like EA or other companies) keeps patching the game to balance it out after receiving player feedback.

Now, on all of these notes, I will say, the first mission didnt impress me much, but there really wasnt much to it. But there was more to it then the first mission in SC1. Because of all the years I slaved within SC1 campaigns I feel like its improved, and I'm sure once I get it, I wont regret it.

If after a million reviews and gameplay videos online still don't sway you into getting it. Well, See if any of your friends have it and check it out there, at least then you can know for sure if you want it or not.

[ch3wbucca]

Another great reply Zeoinx!

It's good to see that Blizzard have made the changes to be able to queue buildings. That was defiantly a annoyance on SC1.
The Galaxy Editor sounds good, however I have never had the patience to sit down and complete anything. Although I'm sure there will be plenty of Mods released by the SC2 community. This alone may make it worth playing and extend the game life, especially with the game types you mentioned for the beta.

I may have to track down a demo(if there is one??) or a friend that has a copy to give a go.....i.e. I should stop being lazy

[Melski]

The game comes with two 7 hour trial passes; all you need to do is track someone down that hasn't used it during their first weekend to play against all their friends (like me).
If you really dedicate yourself you should get prety close to the end of the single player before the trial runs out. There's an achievement in game for completing it in less than 8, so I assume youll be pretty close to 1 hour short which given how quickly the plot winds up could prove frustrating.

[ch3wbucca]

Cool. I just found someone with a copy, so I will have to ask about the passes.

[Zedakiah]

Another thing is that the single player is only for the terran side. The are bringing out the other factions later on... Same sort of style they did with HL2 episodes, however the game play is pretty solid and has the old school SC feel to it. They have really developed the races so they play pretty different but are balanced, the Protoss can now warp in units onto any power field, the zerg have queens that can inject eggs to form more larvee at the hatchs and the terrans can call down mules to help with mining or upgrade supply depots. Each of these upgrades add to the great feel of style you get for playing the different the races. There are still a few minor bugs and balance issues but for a game that has just come out it is pretty good.
Ask around and post in the SC2 forum and im sure there are people more then happy to give you a pass(All ready gave mine out).

Anyway happy hunting
-Zeddy

[Stuman]

Blizzard announced a while back that it was going to be released in 3 stages, with the Terran campaign one first off the rank.

I was engrossed in playing it for a few days - tried some different difficulty settings until I could work out the AI reactions, and so far Brutal setting is ... well .....brutal.

As others have mentioned above, the newer units are well done and work in well with the game. Much of the older game is still there, but the AI is infinitely better (having overseers travelling just outside of turret range is annoying and means you have to go and hunt them down instead of having them blunder into your defences).

One of the major changes though is the lack of LAN support. I know that SC1 was the game that we always used to play on LAN weekends. SC2 sadly won't be (wireless internet in the bush kinda sucks).

Oh and one thing to remember about the store bought copies - they won't allow you to connect to the US or Euro servers . It's a royal PITA but Blizzard shipped only South East Asia connectivity to store-bought copies here in Australia. If you want to play against US and European players - you have to do the download copy. Why they did this is beyond me (and many others) - so be careful.