The second coming is upon us! The PCgaming world will never be the same again!
Music is good. Nice and relaxed. Sound effects are good (voices are really good!)
Gameplay is fast and furios and combatmicromanagement is rewarded so nothing for slowheads. Every race have a unique macromanagement mechanic that gives benefits if used (and is necessary for keeping up with a good player.)
Here's a stream: http://www.livestream.com/jobbies/video?clipId=pla_d3b54ec8-0b46-4706-925b-78a1216aab86
The graphics are better then what's shown in the stream (thank GOD for that!)
There are a some screenshots over at http://www.gosugamers.net/starcraft2/blogs/1656
I'd like to see a comparison between the online population of Sins before and after the StarCraft II beta was available
Pretty sure you are going to need to be connected, since they've been hyping it as an 'always connected' experience.
http://www.starcraft2.com/features/misc/battlenet.xml
Yeah, what a drag. They are so used to being in complete control with WOW ('WE OWN YOUR COMPUTER') that they just couldn't give it up. Single-player RTS? Too bad, sign-in.
More time for 'Elemental' for me, because I will NEVER buy a 'logon to play' single-player game.
Yeah that's insane. Only time I really get in to single player games is when I can't get a net connection. And I certainly wouldn't buy SC II for the multiplayer
If SCII weren't the best RTS game on the market, I'd tend to agree. They are packaging it with a ton of perks and benefits though. Besides that, the point of an RTS isn't the single player. The first day the game comes out, I plan to beat the entire campaign, then it's all online from that point.
You don't have to login to play starcraft 2:
"You don't technically have to (login), but you'll want to. You can play in offline mode if you want - I just don't think you're going to want to. You'll be giving up lots and lots of features, and why would you want to be giving up features?" - Rob Pardo, Vice President of Game design, blizzard entertainment.
That's what I thought, thanks for the info. I guess there will be no beta for me.
I think that's debatable. Look at Demigod. It was made almost exclusively for mutliplayer, and only ~23% of the people who bought it even attempted to go online. Obviously Starcraft is a little different, because it already has a ton of people playing it online, but there are still a lot of people who will only play it single player.
You can't get a competitive game of single player in a strategy game. At this point, AI can't mimic the ability of a human player (without cheating.) There's no point in playing the single player after the campaign unless you're really, really bad. Besides, with the new match-making on BNET, you can actually get competitive games instead of always winning or always losing.
My point was that most people, even in games designed for MP, prefer single player. I think everyone knows that humans are more challenging to play against than a computer, but as the Demigod stats show, most people don't care. Sins of a Solar Empire has the same thing. Even at peak hours, you'll almost never find more than 200 people online, and Sins has sold over half a million copies.
Despite the obvious advatages of playing RTS's against other humans, most people don't want to.
Achievements Gonna get every single one of'em and show of (I'm addicted to achievements )
I think it'll take you atleast three days to beat the campaign if playing on any serious difficulty. I plan to atleast start with Hard and later I'll for sure take on Insane (though Dustin Browder have said that Insane difficulty are for people that want to be stabbed in the eye )
That quote is old, and unfortunately, inoperative now. I hope they back off on this, not just because it would loose them my sale (like they care). I really believe this 'logon to our server and let us connect to your PC just so you can play a game' is a) CRAP, and bad for the future of PC gaming.
"In the past, Battle.net was presented as a multiplayer option off to the side, off of the main menu of Blizzard Entertainment titles. That is all changing. With the new Battle.net experience, the service and the game are now interwoven into one experience. Whether you are in single-player or multiplayer StarCraft II, you are always connected, and enjoy a bevy of new and enhanced functionality."
Blizzard can take Starcraft 2 and their 'always connected experience' and SHOVE IT UP THEIR ASS.
Goddamnit.
I just looked at the 'make a battle.net account' screens. Name, address, and PHONE NUMBER ARE REQUIRED FIELDS. HAVE THEY LOST THEIR MINDS?
Between this, Steam, 'EA requires login for C&C4', and Ubisoft PC gaming is really taking it in the shorts lately. Thank goodness for Stardock. It's nice there's one company that isn't run by jerks.
Then why does the Beta have a disabled "Play as guest" button on the login screen? That button is most certainly the play offline button, although it is named oddly.
It works for me
But, I think it's disabled for 2 reasons.
Btw. take a look at this video to see how awesome a good pathfinding algorithm can be.
The zergling swarm looks like one big organism and it just looks great.
Now, if we compare that to the pathfinding in the other SC2 game, Supreme Comander 2, it's easy to see who got the better code monkeys.
@vandenburg really? First of all he's running that video in fast forward, so it might seem fluid, but if you look closely there are many occasions where they all bounce off of each other and run around in circles for a bit before reorienting. Supcom 2 on the other hand has a very good pathfinding system that actually works well when they run into other groups of enemys and such. take a look at this. You'll notice its not fast forwarded so you can actually see what happens.
Download the pirated rip of the Demo . You won't be able to play multiplayer with it, but at least you'll get to play it.
It lets you play single player so that you can come up with strategies so you don't get your butt kicked by all the good players from the beta. It also lets you watch replays, which is nice.
OH MY GOD!
I was reading the beta forum when i noticed: Beta Wave 2 has began or such. The poster said: No emails, just check the account. And i did.
[Something incoherrent]
What luck... i would have never expected to get in the beta. Opted in since it was a possibility...
Partially i'm so excited (can be seen from OMG, i never really say that) because i'm tired and partially because i love Starcraft.
Gotta invent a good name... See ya tomorrow maybe
Not gonna take any videos, Fraps demo is not very good for that purpose.
Starcraft I had awesome gameplay. There was nothing to fix, so they didn't change it much. Some units can shoot while moving, but it requires good unit micro. They didn't do much more other than bring the game up to todays standards in graphics. Oh, by the way, 100 pissed off Starcraft fanboys are on their way to torture (and probably kill) you for your beta key.
Except we can't compare the two because we can't use both of them at the same time
But I will admit, this does look like they are basing themselves off the same flow-field pathfinding system (and damn, I wish I could find a good report about how to implement that so I can compare it to A* !)
Windowed mode, do you use it? I play SCII, Demigod, and Robot Unicorn Attack simulatenously while picking my nose.
did but the ai thats around for it is bad would be better to just wait or play starcraft 1 all that starcraft 2 is just a massive rebalance of the first which is much better done then the first.
The cheating AI is pretty damn hard to kill now unless you do some underhanded tricks that exploit flaws in the AI's design. The AI auto detects your units and builds units to counter them now, which is better than most bronze division players. It also cheats and sees your expansions to kill them if they're undefended.
Numerous things missed though. Yes playing against a human tends to be more challenging without cheating, however against the computer you know what you're getting - you can have a challenging battle without the risk of facing someone who can crush you so comprehensively it robs the game of any fun. You can also set up an easier battle to try out fun combinations that wouldn't work in a fully competitive battle but are still entertaining. You can also save the game, pause it, etc. whenever you want. The AI in some games is also very good, and can give you a competitive battle without needing to cheat. Meanwhile you don't have to worry about rage quits, faulty connections, or the opposite of having someone who can crush you, having someone who doesn't have a clue how to play.
Ultimately though, people play to have fun, and people tend to enjoy winning and not enjoy losing. You can win a far greater proportion of games against the computer than against a person (although on the other hand beating a tougher challenge is more rewarding).
I'm one of those people who has bought demigod+sins and not played online (although in demigods case I probably will when I get round to it, since I liked DotA, assuming the connection issues have been fixed now). I enjoy campaigns much more than multiplayer in the majority of games I buy. That said, I do still play multiplayer in some games, but I tend to avoid it because it usually requires me to spend lots of time getting to know the specific tactics that work well in multiplayer and having to use a few specific styles of play. For example I tend to enjoy a 'turtle' style of play that is fine against the computer but is usually going to be completely destroyed by any semi-competant human player. To play online means I have to play with a different style, which doesn't always make it more entertaining for me.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
