Starcraft 2

[xiombarg]

This is going to rock. The gameplay vids they have up on youtube etc. are freaking awesome. The Thor mech looks awesome! And the Protoss mother ship with the instant black hole weapon is insane!

[Ben-Ohki]

release was originally listed on retail sites for early December... but lately I've been hearing delays for at least until March next year. Aiya...

Same with Dawn of War 2 - haven't heard any news on that since summer.

[xiombarg]

It's got to be all the game testing. Based upon how many gameplay vids they have up on Youtube I really doubt they are doing anymore ground level designing or programming.

I'm betting they have at least one or two new races also.

Based on what we've seen so far I'm thinking I'll be playing more Terran this time around. Of course all races look cool, but the new Terran units look the most exciting to me.

[00silvergt]

Wow, yes when i saw the first previews I was salivating. I remember staying up until the next morning playing network scrimmages of the original. This one promises more, considering it took over 8 years to make...I'm expecting the world.

[tanrover]

They sure have their hands full with starcraft 2 and diablo 3 coming out.

[Ben-Ohki]

Gonna hi-jack this thread (because I figure anybody interested in sci-fi RTS like SC2 would also be likely interested in another).

Dawn of War 2 will have a beta release on January 28 to be distributed through Steam. People who have DoW: Soulstorm will get a advance access to the closed-beta a week early on January 21.
arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2009/01/13/dawn-of-war-ii-beta-coming-january-21

...I can't wait!!!

[xiombarg]

So the SC2 beta has finally come out. Lots of great vid footage on youtube and everything is looking very cool. From the vids I've seen all three races seem to work on similar dynamics, but with tons of new units.
I'm still betting there will be an expansion with new races, or at least I really really hope so. Regardless, there are so many new units that all three races almost seem new.

[Ben-Ohki]

I've heard good things too - that it'll be that familiar frantic feeling of resource management (something lacking in Dawn of War 2 which focused more on deployment tactics). Hey, did anyone notice this thread started in 2008?

[bengus]

Feb 25, 2010 20:56:40 GMT -5 Ben-Ohki said:

I've heard good things too - that it'll be that familiar frantic feeling of resource management (something lacking in Dawn of War 2 which focused more on deployment tactics). Hey, did anyone notice this thread started in 2008?

Blizzard does what it wants to, when it wants to. ;D

Seriously, it's worked for them so far...

[xiombarg]

I've been playing the beta and it's certainly addictive. The play is great and the new units are all generally cool in theory yet I'm finding many of the new Terran and Zerg units aren't all that practical when it comes to using them and actually micromangaging them in play. For example I've been playing a lot of Terran lately and even though the Banshee is a cool idea with really innovative abilities, I dont' find myself using it in gameplay very often, if at all. I was also disappointed to find that the Thor isn't as cool as I thought it would be either, but not because of micromanagement, but more because of what it is which is basically a Battlecruiser on the ground with slight differences in armor and power.

The new Protoss units on the other hand seem to work in a much more practical way compared to the other two races. I think Protoss is the most powerful race among the three. The Protoss Colossus and the Void Ray are awesome, but I generally like all of the new Protoss units. The only one I've found that is currently hard to use is the Phoenix. It has a way cool ability, but it's very impractical to take it into battle and yse its lifting ability unless you know exactly what you are going to do with it before you come into contact with your opponent. Love the Mothership. Way fun and so useful in late game. The black hole in late game is a total game winner.

Zerg is now even more rush than it was before. I do like the new Roaches and Baneling units for early game. These two units are a lot of fun.. and cheap, but I haven't had much success with the new Zerg bigger macro game units and find myself going back to the old standbys when it comes to late game strategy, much like I do with Terran.

Anyway, that's my take on SC2 for the moment.

[mecha-mania]

Nice! have enjoyed the original starcraft immensely and cant wait for the sequel. but i have only been reading about the release for the past 2-3 years, any news of its eventual release?

[xiombarg]

Blizzard gave their guarantee that it would be out by July 27th, but we'll see.
Here's a heads up though: if you pre-buy from Gamestop they'll give you a Beta key.

[xiombarg]

Here's my current take on SC2

Zerg: It's all about using your queens spawning ability. Once you get that second base going you can have an army of around 100 units in minutes. And this also means that if your army gets wiped out in a skirmish you can have another fresh army almost immediately. Not the case with Terran or Protoss.

Terran: Probably the weakest of the bunch. My take on Terran is that you have to really play a strategic game and utilize the strengths of almost all unit types. What I mean is that with Zerg and Protoss you can almost just focus specifically on one or two unit types to build armies. With Terran you've got to use almost everyone at different points in the game, which makes them much more complex.
If it wasn't for Ghosts Terran would be almost unusable. Not just because of their nukes, it's the EMP round. Sure nothing kicks butt like three nuclear explosions in a row.. BUT, in a big skirmish a couple of EMP rounds will totally take your opponent by surprise.

Protoss: Protoss is just too killer. In the late game Protoss becomes almost invincible. I feel several of the Protoss units have an unfair advantage.
For example:
Zealots: with the charge upgrade they turn all other infantry units (and Siege Tanks) into dust.
Immortals: Ok, they do the same amount of damage as a Siege tank (in the same amount of time against armored units), and have hardened shields which reduce high powered weapons to only 10pts damage!!! AND have twice as much armor as a Siege tank AND don't have to take the time to change into siege mode. What the hell?
Carriers: Carriers have one huge unfair advantage being that their Interceptors require no micromanagement and simultaneously render base defenses useless as they try to shoot down the Interceptors instead of the actual Carriers. Compared to a Battlecruiser, the Carrier is faster, does more damage and doesn't have to turn or aim to launch it's interceptors.. you get all that without any upgrades.

[xiombarg]

I just have to mention this because it was so funny seeing these guys pull this off. In 2 vs. 2 these guys were using this tactic where the Protoss mothership casts a vortex and then a ghost plants a nuke right in the middle of it. It times out almost perfectly where the vortex wears off and BAM!! everything blows up that was caught in the vortex! Soo cool. It's tactics like that where SC2 is such a blast.

[Ben-Ohki]

For those who aren't my Facebook friends and didn't see my post from earlier today...

Blizzard released the final cinematic full trailer for SC2:


I don't remember how the story ended in Brood War but I guess it doesn't really matter now: the trailer looks like it picks up some time in the middle of Brood War (and shows an awesome flashback to the moment Kerrigan was lost to the Zerg... I won't ruin any more but while it's fun to think about what kind of stuff you can do in multiplayer, I'm more excited to learn the final fate of our heroes from the original campaign.

...and something cool to look for - seems like each of the voices finally has a full character development (you just look at some of the faces that pop up in the trailer and go, "oh! that must be the SCV driver!" I think I'll play through the original SC campaign ...try to finish it before next Tuesday.