Starcraft II

[JohnnyMack]

Anyone got it yet?

NormanPride, I'm talking to you...

[soonerboomer93]

I haven't got it, I'm considering it though.

However I have a dislike for them releasing it and having expansions planned already, when they originally announced they were releasing the terran, zerg and protos campaign all at the same time (and you could choose which one to buy as a full game and then still get the others) and now they changed it to buy terran, then the zerg expansion then the protos expansion.

[Crucifax Autumn]

I'll steal it later today.

[crawfish]

My oldest son got it this morning, has enjoyed it since then. I'm sure I'll get my turn when he's done.

[Howzit]

I'm still trying to get past the first level of Hexen.

[Veritas]

I almost flunked out of college because of StarCraft, so I'm just going to pretend SCII doesn't exist.

[MR2-Sooner86]

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs209.snc4/38799_512755273085_92400414_30449183_2203128_n.jpg

I got it last night at midnight. I got home, played it until 8 in the morning, went to bed, got back up, and played it until just now because I have to go to work.


I haven't got it, I'm considering it though.

However I have a dislike for them releasing it and having expansions planned already, when they originally announced they were releasing the terran, zerg and protos campaign all at the same time (and you could choose which one to buy as a full game and then still get the others) and now they changed it to buy terran, then the zerg expansion then the protos expansion.

It's just the story and you get more Terran missions in this one as it's a game in itself. You can still play Protoss and Zerg in multiplayer and skirmishes.

With that said, I'll probably see you guys again in...three to five months.

[Frozen Sooner]

I almost flunked out of college because of StarCraft, so I'm just going to pretend SCII doesn't exist.

This.

I may just try to figure out who #1 in my class is and put a copy in his mailbox.

[JohnnyMack]

LOL.

[crawfish]

I almost flunked out of college because of StarCraft, so I'm just going to pretend SCII doesn't exist.

We used to play it on lunch breaks at work. Some of our lunch breaks stretched nearly two hours. :)

[Pricetag]

I've never played either, but I'm thinking World of Starcraft would be much cooler than World of Warcraft.

[Ardmore_Sooner]

I'll buy it eventually. Gotta love the Protoss.

[GottaHavePride]

This is on the eventually list for me, too. For one, I don't have a ton of spare cash for vidya games right now. For two, I need to replay the original to refresh my memory, and I don't have it here in Norman.

[GKeeper316]

**** blizzard. they get no more of my money.

[OUTrumpet]

I was selected for beta, but couldn't run the game more than 20 seconds without it grinding to a halt. So till I get my computer upgraded no SC2 for me.

For those that have it - other than it being more addictive than crack, any deeper reviews? As good as the original?

[tommieharris91]

Yea, it's about as addictive as crack.

It's eating up all 2GB of RAM my comp has right now. I'm not even trying multiplayer until I get an ethernet connection. Wireless is just way too inconsistent.

Ohh and as far a single player goes, think SC's strategy with Warcraft III's mechanics. The game isn't about heroes, but there's PLENTY to do between missions.

[hellogoodbye]

Got it yesterday and have been moping ever since. If you dont have a pci-e slot vid card, I dont think its worth it (i could get up to a geforce 6200 on agp, but thats below the minimum).

Blizzard screwed the pooch on this one IMO. The beauty of SC was the gameplay, not the pretty graphics. They should have just added a couple more species to the original. That could have been huge bank for them over the past decade...

[Pricetag]

That is why I will never play another PC game. I understand the advantages they bring, but it just isn't worth it to wonder whether you can play the hottest new game or not.

[MR2-Sooner86]

For those that have it - other than it being more addictive than crack, any deeper reviews? As good as the original?

Alright I've been playing almost non-stop since...well midnight when I got it. Here is my take, so far.

The Good

Graphics - If you have the hardware the graphics are amazing if you have it maxed out. The cinematic are very impressive.
Story - The story, so far, is much better than the original. If you remember the original there was a "HOLY ****" moment in the story. Well, last night I stumbled upon that. I won't ruin it but think of the hidden mission in Brood War but much more in depth and awesome.
Game Length - Now I know several people are bitching and moaning that they only got "1/3 of a game" as they put it. You'll hear online people say, "The campaign is short I finished it in under five hours!" or "It's much shorter than the original!" These people are pulling things out of the air. There were 30 missions total of all three races in the original. This one has 29 and you play Protoss in a few of them. Now, if you don't like playing Terran that can be a problem but other than that it's defiantly a whole game.
Units - There are many, many more units, add ons, special abilities, etc that I can't list them all. There are still some old units we know and love like Battle Cruisers, Siege Tanks, Dark Templar, Hydrolisk, Ultralisk, Infested Terran, and a few others.


The Bad

Graphics - You need the hardware to run graphics and many people don't. My Mac Pro has the specs to run graphics maxed out and it still lags up a little. I keep the settings at medium which works fine especially for multiplayer. It looks good but you do get the WC3 feeling.
Balancing - Some will disagree but I think the Terran and Protoss are pretty much dead even but the Zerg are underpowered in terms of balancing, I think.

The Ugly

No LAN support - I never had a LAN party with the original but I always wanted to go to a Starcraft LAN party which I know there are still a few around. I won't be able to do that with this one.
DRM - Did you pirate or buy this game? Doesn't matter, Blizzard treats you the same anyway. Once you buy the game you will have to register it online at the Battle.net website by creating an account, entering the CD Key, and verifying it. I know some will say it's no big deal but this is the first computer game I've had to do this and the first time I've seen it in a Blizzard game. This goes along with LAN but they want the user connected to new Battle.net 2.0 constantly. Now, you can play the single player offline but that's only after you register and some features will be unavailable to you. Also, you will have to re-register the game every 30 days with Blizzard.
Battle.net 2.0 - I won't lie, I hate it. For all the sunshine pumping they did it's not better than the original. Imagine the original Battle.net but stripped down and then stuffed with a bunch of bells and whistles. There maybe stuff from the original that are in the new one but I haven't found it yet because the interface has so many tabs, buttons, and such that it's hard to get use to it.

Summary
The big question to many is, is it better than the original? Yes and no. Some parts of the game Blizzard knocked out of the park but other parts you scratch your head going, "If it isn't broken, why are you trying to fix it?"
Is it worth buying? Absolutely yes. I know I've gotten my $60 out of it already and I haven't even beat the game.
Will it be as big? I guess only time will tell but I do see it being played like the original in 12 years. Hopefully by the third installment many balancing and issues are resolved like they were for Brood War. If they fix Battle.net 2.0 that'll defiantly help with the multiplayer.

[hellogoodbye]

thanks for the review.

I do remember that WC3 feeling... ugh

I know a lot of players were way into it, but I never was that thrilled about the single player stories\cinematics.

And - register every 30 days?? wtf is that their way of overcompensating for the fact that the original SC was so easy to rip and burn?

[OU Adonis]

You know if your computer is more than 3 years old, its time to upgrade anways.

[GottaHavePride]

Man, I can't afford that. Right now my computer barely has the horses to run Neverwinter Nights 2 at its lowest graphics capability.

[GKeeper316]

Man, I can't afford that. Right now my computer barely has the horses to run Neverwinter Nights 2 at its lowest graphics capability.

wow.

just spend a couple hundred at newegg.

my gaming rig cost me 300 bucks and outperforms the high end dell graphics editing systems we use at work that cost the company 1500 each (not counting software licenses)

[MR2-Sooner86]

In case anybody is wondering here are the system requirements.

StarCraft II System Requirements

The system requirements for the StarCraft II are as follows:

PC Requirements
PC Minimum System Requirements*:

Windows® XP/Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 (Updated with the latest Service Packs) with DirectX® 9.0c
2.6 GHz Pentium® IV or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor
128 MB PCIe NVIDIA® GeForce® 6600 GT or ATI Radeon® 9800 PRO video card or better
12 GB available HD space
1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 users)
DVD-ROM drive
Broadband Internet connection
1024X720 minimum display resolution



PC Recommended Specifications:

Windows Vista®/Windows® 7
Dual Core 2.4Ghz Processor
2 GB RAM
512 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 GTX or ATI Radeon® HD 3870 or better
*Note: Due to potential programming changes, the Minimum System Requirements for this game may change over time.



Mac Requirements
Mac Minimum System Requirements:

Mac® OS X 10.5.8, 10.6.2 or newer
Intel® Processor
NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT or ATI Radeon® X1600 or better
12 GB available HD space
2 GB Ram
DVD-ROM drive
Broadband Internet connection
1024X720 minimum display resolution




Mac Recommended Specifications:

Intel® Core 2 Duo processor
4 GB system RAM
NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600M GT or ATI Radeon® HD 4670 or better

[Crucifax Autumn]

I could run that while whacking it to porn and reading stock quotes on my second monitor.

[hellogoodbye]

You know if your computer is more than 3 years old, its time to upgrade anways.
booboo can hv cpu $$?
but yea i know
still.... thats a lot of processing for whats essentially a 2D universe
i just hope they dont pull the plug on the old bnet..

[SoonerAtKU]

Don't base your computer's capabilities on NWN2. That engine eats cycles and frames for breakfast. Play something on the Unreal engine or Source and check that way.

[GKeeper316]

I could run that while whacking it to porn and reading stock quotes on my second monitor.

you got a camera in my computer room?

i play champs on one monitor while downloading/watching video files and surfing the net on the other. the only time the game skips or lags is server side.

amd athlon dual core
nvidia gforce 8800gt

ill be upgrading to quad core and 2 radeon cards running xfire before next spring when TOR comes out.

[soonerboomer93]

Alright I've been playing almost non-stop since...well midnight when I got it. Here is my take, so far.

The Good

Graphics - If you have the hardware the graphics are amazing if you have it maxed out. The cinematic are very impressive.
Story - The story, so far, is much better than the original. If you remember the original there was a "HOLY ****" moment in the story. Well, last night I stumbled upon that. I won't ruin it but think of the hidden mission in Brood War but much more in depth and awesome.
Game Length - Now I know several people are bitching and moaning that they only got "1/3 of a game" as they put it. You'll hear online people say, "The campaign is short I finished it in under five hours!" or "It's much shorter than the original!" These people are pulling things out of the air. There were 30 missions total of all three races in the original. This one has 29 and you play Protoss in a few of them. Now, if you don't like playing Terran that can be a problem but other than that it's defiantly a whole game.
Units - There are many, many more units, add ons, special abilities, etc that I can't list them all. There are still some old units we know and love like Battle Cruisers, Siege Tanks, Dark Templar, Hydrolisk, Ultralisk, Infested Terran, and a few others.


The Bad

Graphics - You need the hardware to run graphics and many people don't. My Mac Pro has the specs to run graphics maxed out and it still lags up a little. I keep the settings at medium which works fine especially for multiplayer. It looks good but you do get the WC3 feeling.
Balancing - Some will disagree but I think the Terran and Protoss are pretty much dead even but the Zerg are underpowered in terms of balancing, I think.

The Ugly

No LAN support - I never had a LAN party with the original but I always wanted to go to a Starcraft LAN party which I know there are still a few around. I won't be able to do that with this one.
DRM - Did you pirate or buy this game? Doesn't matter, Blizzard treats you the same anyway. Once you buy the game you will have to register it online at the Battle.net website by creating an account, entering the CD Key, and verifying it. I know some will say it's no big deal but this is the first computer game I've had to do this and the first time I've seen it in a Blizzard game. This goes along with LAN but they want the user connected to new Battle.net 2.0 constantly. Now, you can play the single player offline but that's only after you register and some features will be unavailable to you. Also, you will have to re-register the game every 30 days with Blizzard.
Battle.net 2.0 - I won't lie, I hate it. For all the sunshine pumping they did it's not better than the original. Imagine the original Battle.net but stripped down and then stuffed with a bunch of bells and whistles. There maybe stuff from the original that are in the new one but I haven't found it yet because the interface has so many tabs, buttons, and such that it's hard to get use to it.

Summary
The big question to many is, is it better than the original? Yes and no. Some parts of the game Blizzard knocked out of the park but other parts you scratch your head going, "If it isn't broken, why are you trying to fix it?"
Is it worth buying? Absolutely yes. I know I've gotten my $60 out of it already and I haven't even beat the game.
Will it be as big? I guess only time will tell but I do see it being played like the original in 12 years. Hopefully by the third installment many balancing and issues are resolved like they were for Brood War. If they fix Battle.net 2.0 that'll defiantly help with the multiplayer.

Wow, I can't beleive there's not a LAN party option. They just pissed off about 1/2 of S. Korea with that move.

I have to re-register every 30 days, and lose options if I'm playing off line?

Yeah, I'll stick with Red Alert 3 (as much as I miss Westwood and dislike EA) when I want to play RTS.

[soonerboomer93]

Heh, I only have one monitor, kinda wish I had kept the other.

Was piking/running missions in DDO last night, and ****ing around on CoH, swapping between the 2.

Hmm, need to save up for that second monitor

I'm running a i7 quad core, 8 gb ram, geforce 260gtx

DDO uses more memory, but isn't d11 capable until maybe later this year so it turns off aero anyways.

[Frozen Sooner]

Oh, man. CoH. I should fire my account back up and see if it's fun anymore.

[OUMallen]

I'm still trying to get past the first level of Hexen.

Me too.

[OUMallen]

Me too.

Speaking of:

http://www.xgenstudios.com/play/doom

[GKeeper316]

Oh, man. CoH. I should fire my account back up and see if it's fun anymore.

its still fun, but its a ghost town now that CO is out. DCUO goes live in november, which will steal players from both games.

my fire/rad corruptor is still the most fun character ive played in any mmo, slightly edging out my shadowstep/dagger rogue in WoW

[Crucifax Autumn]

Nerd!

[GKeeper316]

Nerd!

no. im a geek. nerds get good grades.

[OUMallen]

its still fun, but its a ghost town now that CO is out. DCUO goes live in november, which will steal players from both games.

my fire/rad corruptor is still the most fun character ive played in any mmo, slightly edging out my shadowstep/dagger rogue in WoW

What's CO?

I had a ton of fun with my prot pally on WoW for a while.

[GKeeper316]

What's CO?

I had a ton of fun with my prot pally on WoW for a while.

champions online... cryptic's new superhero mmo.

ret > prot. the only thing in wow that could beat my ret pally was a holy pally or resto druid. everything else got its face smashed. hard.

[soonerboomer93]

Oh, man. CoH. I should fire my account back up and see if it's fun anymore.

Mac version is out. Going Rogue due out within a month according to some I know who works for NCSoft.

Game did get better when they split and posi took over. However they did just do another global damage debuff and adjusted some defensive sets. I ran my max build the other night, I could see the lower defense numbers, but still ripped apart the hazard zone spawns.

[soonerboomer93]

its still fun, but its a ghost town now that CO is out. DCUO goes live in november, which will steal players from both games.

my fire/rad corruptor is still the most fun character ive played in any mmo, slightly edging out my shadowstep/dagger rogue in WoW

DM/shield or fire/shield are just viscious

Beta server is packed, and I know more then a few waiting on GR to live before playing more. I also know a few like me who are on ddo, but with active coh accounts just for a change of pace.

Last I heard champions had a lower population then coh. Frankly a lot of the old timers I know on pinn and protector are like me, and won't play a game that jack is involved with. He has great ideas, but he has disdain for the players and isn't exactly up front and honest.

[GKeeper316]

DM/shield or fire/shield are just viscious

Beta server is packed, and I know more then a few waiting on GR to live before playing more. I also know a few like me who are on ddo, but with active coh accounts just for a change of pace.

Last I heard champions had a lower population then coh. Frankly a lot of the old timers I know on pinn and protector are like me, and won't play a game that jack is involved with. He has great ideas, but he has disdain for the players and isn't exactly up front and honest.

ya ive cancelled my CO sub and will probably go back to CoH/CoV till TOR comes out. might be fun to play through hero content on my widow. she's pretty fun.

i like the open framework that CO uses, but it makes balancing PvP difficult, and the single faction dynamic isnt very much fun... i think CO is on the right track, but by the time its a fun and playable game, TOR will be out and i wont even have time to sleep lol.

[GKeeper316]

hmmm i guess some chinese ****er hacked my ncsoft account goin after my aion stuff... had to start a new account to play CoH :(

[OUMallen]

champions online... cryptic's new superhero mmo.

ret > prot. the only thing in wow that could beat my ret pally was a holy pally or resto druid. everything else got its face smashed. hard.

I think I was prot. I never followed the perfect guide. I was fairly casual...got my pally up to about level 47 (back when 60 was tops) and had a ton of fun with him. I figured out I really enjoyed swapping out between tanking and healing. The hybrid nature of the Pally was fun. I had the most fun hanging back and healing, and when the mobs were at a safe level, diving in and swinging away.

[Frozen Sooner]

Heh. The most difficult thing for me as a Pally was switching over from CoH tank mode. CoH tanking is "Run in and collect ALL the aggro you can-you can take it!" Does not work with Pallys.

[soonerboomer93]

I never played WoW.

CoH put in aggro caps anyways, it's something like 16 mobs on a tank. 8 on a scrapper/brute

[GottaHavePride]

Don't base your computer's capabilities on NWN2. That engine eats cycles and frames for breakfast. Play something on the Unreal engine or Source and check that way.


Oh, I know. I have to hack the debug console and disable a lot of stuff to keep it going - the game's all buggy as hell, even with the endless updates they cranked out for it.

But seriously, looking at the requirements for SC2, my processor is OK, but I'm overdue to upgrade to Windows 7, add another gig of RAM, and my video card is a Radeon 9600.

[Scott D]

Palidorks...that is all.

[Crucifax Autumn]

I never had a single bug crop up on NWN2. I guess I'm just lucky.

[GKeeper316]

I think I was prot. I never followed the perfect guide. I was fairly casual...got my pally up to about level 47 (back when 60 was tops) and had a ton of fun with him. I figured out I really enjoyed swapping out between tanking and healing. The hybrid nature of the Pally was fun. I had the most fun hanging back and healing, and when the mobs were at a safe level, diving in and swinging away.

i didnt like prot all that much personally... i used it from about lvl 48 or so to 60 as an aoe grind spec on ice yetis.

ret was just awesome if you knew how to play it

[GKeeper316]

and apparently CoH has undergone a complete graphics upgrade... servers are down for another 2 hours, but its all installed and patched :)

actually lookin forward to leveling a corruptor all over again, and unlocking widow.

[soonerboomer93]

yeah, they launched ultra mode with the last update. I was in the beta for that (i'm in the GR beta too).

It definitely looks better. It will really shine when the new zones in GR though.

Hope the trip to 20 and unlocking the widow isn't too rough.

[MR2-Sooner86]

Well, I finally beat Starcraft 2. However, the ending left me with many more questions than answers. I wonder what will happen next...

[soonerboomer93]

An expansion in 6 months

[MR2-Sooner86]

Actually I've been trying to find it but I've heard from places that Blizzard said each expansion would be at least a year so...if that's true we'll see Heart of the Swarm this time next year.

[GottaHavePride]

The sources I saw said they would take as long as it takes to make sure each expansion meets their quality standards. Whatever that means. So yeah, 110, 120, whatever it takes.

[soonerboomer93]

****ing blizzard

[Crucifax Autumn]

So 10 years for a sequel to the game, then countless years of expansions. Not to even mention Diablo 3 that they started in 2003 according to rumor and then Blizzard North closed and they started over later and now, 7 years later, it's still on the horizon.

Great work Blizzard.

And for the record, their stupid activation thing may be a pain in the ***, but aside from Battlenet it's pretty easily cracked.

[MR2-Sooner86]

So 10 years for a sequel to the game, then countless years of expansions. Not to even mention Diablo 3 that they started in 2003 according to rumor and then Blizzard North closed and they started over later and now, 7 years later, it's still on the horizon.

Great work Blizzard.

And for the record, their stupid activation thing may be a pain in the ***, but aside from Battlenet it's pretty easily cracked.

Well you have to remember that they decided to do Warcraft 3 and the expansion over Starcraft 2 and didn't start until those two games were done. Then production had to be shut down a year or two for everybody to focus on World of Warcraft. As for Diablo 3...it's hard to make a sequel when everybody who made the first two Diablos left. Why most fans consider Hellgate London to be the "real" Diablo 3.

[GKeeper316]

Why most fans consider Hellgate London to be the "real" Diablo 3.

cuz that was a successful game...

[MR2-Sooner86]

cuz that was a successful game...

You would think with all the Diablo fanboys who were saying that it would've been more popular than it was. Oh well, I could care less.

[soonerboomer93]

I haven't played WoW but it looks like it has a bunch of Diablo II features kinda built in. Like the class system and progression through the classes


anyways, I may or may not have beta access for GR, and may or may not have finally gotten on there and may or may not think that it looks ****in awesome (graphically)

[soonerboomer93]

FYI, CoH GR went live yesterday (in stores today).

Best Buy has the best price at 29.99