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Do you still play starcraft?


IanZ

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I think those of us who are embarassed are *addicted* to the game...although, I haven't played since Friday (4 hours on Fri though)...so I think I'm getting clean. My group meetings are on Thursdays if anyone would like to come tell stories of Zerg and Protoss battles.

 

Swoosh

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Originally posted by AB_Legion

I played Star Chaff in Single Player, but never Multi.

 

yes, now I admitted it - so what?? :p

 

*me shrugs, turns and walks away...*

 

Cheers ;)

 

PLAY MULTI PLAY MULTI PLAY MULTI PLAY MULTI

 

It is SOOOOOOOOOO much better than SP! RTS is very near worthless without multi player, and SC has good enough single player that I played almost exclusively that for something like 6 months after release, and then a few games a week or so for almost a year after that, and had a 2 or 3 month stint just a few months ago.

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do I still play starcraft?

 

 

nay

 

 

i get bored of games quickly. i dont know why. i especially hate games that is basicly over and over the same thing yet everybody plays them.... notice those are mostly games by Blizzard? I think they changed half of the population of gamers into zombies :p j/k

 

its a good game. but i'm not that much of a big fan

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Yes, on the extraordinarily rare occasions that BattleNet deigns to function, I have played a few multiplayer games.

 

"I'll build a lot of unit X"

"Oh yeah, well I've got a lot of Y"

 

Bash armies into one another. Repeat until someone's clicker finger gets too tired to build quite fast enough. Certainly there's not much danger of running maps out of resources and being stuck with a draw, as defensive units aren't anything special. Oh, and shooting interstellar warships down with massed assault rifle fire still grates on my nerves for some reason... can't quite pin it down... ;)

 

Victory in Starcraft seems to be mostly dependant upon a few very simple things. Mastery of the truly asinine interface, and most intimate knowledge of whatever Blizzard has tweaked this week.

 

Now, Starcraft has a lot of good points. It's a good "just for fun" game, ruthlessly well-balanced (to the point where it seems rather neurotic, in fact). That same balancing, however, is one of the major things that ultimately turns me off of it. It's balanced to be "fair" in almost every situation, even if you have something ludicrously large and powerful (like the battlecruiser vs. marines example --the marines have a "fair" chance). It doesn't feel very real... so ultimately it's just a "five minutes' entertainment" type of thing while you wait for a chance to play a better game.

 

And hey, I wasn't going to dump the whole essay on you, but you did ask... :)

 

Edit: Oh, and before someone feels the need to tell me, yes this is all my opinion. Yes, I'm all too aware of exactly how successful that game is. Yes, I know what a minority I'm in. No, that doesn't change my opinions. :)

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Still play it every now and then multiplayer with friends. It is probably my favourite strategy game to date due to its superb balance (not achieved the TA way of making both sides virtually the same) and the quirky units. As for the interface it is still ripped off in games like Star Trek Armada (1&2) and functions just as well as other interfaces for what it tries to do (character based combat rather than huge army combat).

 

Yes it is a little odd that marines can shoot down interstellar craft but then they are using DU rounds.

 

Can't wait for Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2.

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I concede the point that you need to be VERY fast in order to play SC successfully. That's why it's an RTS rather than a TBS. However it's a bit more than "click fast". As I have mentioned before, placememnt of units is crucial. So is the "expand vs. build" balance. Don't beleive me? Go online and look at some battle reports from the finals of tournaments.

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My my main complaint about SC's interface was not speed, but rather selection limits. I apologize for my lack of clarity there; my bad.

 

I just find it difficult to believe that command and control techniques have deteriorated to such an extent in the future... so we're left with an obvious and frankly irritating gameplay concession. It does the jobs it was designed to do (pathfinding management and additional balancing by helping to restrict large swarms), but it's just a sloppy way of going about it.

 

To me, it feels like the developers were lobbing whole buckets of paint at the "house" instead of taking the time to use a brush; it may work, but it's still messy and not all that appealing.

 

Oh, and the matter of Armada copying the Starcraftian system rather proves my point, as far as I'm concerned. Armada is (in my opinion) a thoroughly dull game, plagued by all the negative aspects of Starcraft while retaining none of the several positives that SC poses. Starcraft has the virtue of being fun in a lighthearted sort of way, while Armada's entertainment value is much like that of Star Wars: Rebellion. Both can soak up a lot of time, but both ultimately employ the same "morbid fascination" aspect that makes people stare at horrible traffic accidents. :D

Starcraft has a very respectable plot, while the Armada plot is barely perceptible. Starcraft has WIDE variety between the three races and deserves credit for that, but Armada has all the racial "sameyness" of Total Annihilation without the sheer numbers of different units that made the concept work for TA.

 

Armada stays afloat on the strength of the Star Trek name, nothing more. I'll conceede that Starcraft, at least, stands on its own merits instead of leeching off of a pre-existing franchise.

 

I think the simplest way to sum up my issues with Starcraft is this: There can be "Well, that was pretty fun" with Starcraft, even for me (despite my loud and probably irritating complaints on the matter --LOL :)). But there has never been, "WOW, that was cool!!"

It has the formula for commercial success, but lacks the magic, I guess. I don't know how else to put it. :)

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Well, Denise's pretty comprehensive attack on one of my favourite games unfortunately raises several good points. Here comes the counter...

 

Ok the control system is an obvious gameplay concession but at the time it made it accessible to virtually every internet capable PC on the market allowing for large online communities. It is still possible to build, maintain and comfortably control 120 units (not a huge amount but that's more than enough Zerg for a simulated starship troopers assault when three players coordinate their attacks).

 

I just played the original version of Armada and completely severe any contact between it and Starcraft I may have made as it only hurts my case. :) I've been playing the SW vs ST mod (one of my friends is part of the modding team) and I only remembered that version (which rocks) not the original (which sucks like few RTS's ever have).

 

As for the cool factor, I will never forget:

 

The first time by terran base got up and ran away from my friends huge ultralisk wave.

 

The first time I recalled a sizeable archon commando force over my friend's 'impregnable' base.

 

The first time I created a campaign with the out of the box level editor, and it worked!

 

The first time my protoss base got obliterated instantly by massed Yamato fire (what's that swirly sound?... hey, I had a base a second ago! It was right there!)

 

No strategy game I've played since has had the longevity of Starcraft (who still plays original Red alert? Anyone?)

 

I guess it's just not everyone's cup o proverbial tea.

 

And I haven't even started on Broodwar...

 

;)

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