SO Sc1 was definitely one of my favorite games, however, Sc2 pales in comparison. It seems catered for kids with its cartoony look. What happened to that brooding atmosphere and the dark graphics?
The campaign is ok, but also lacks this key component that I liked in the SC series. I do enjoy match making though. Just something to think about for your players Blizz.
I prefer being able to select more than 12 units, rally my workers right into resource harvesting, and hot keying multiple production buildings under a single hotkey; having all my gateways / warp gates in control group 5 is something I can’t do in BW.
Yah like my uncle doesn’t like ac2 because of how much faster it is than brood was, and he prefers the micro wars brood war, but he does agree that sc2 fixes everything annoying with brood war mechanics as you have mentioned
Oh and unit pathing.
Well gameplay got more user friendly that’s for sure. SC2 gameplay is really good objectively.
If we are divorcing story and competitive play from assessment, I have back-and-forthed a bit on which I liked better between SC2 and BW, but honestly I ultimately fell on simply that they are different experiences, and I like them both for different reasons. I can’t put myself in the camp of “X is bad because it is not Y.”
SCBW:
Pros:
-A lot more manual actions to keep you on your toes even late in the game.
-Longer missions often on big maps requiring pushes and taking bases repeatedly throughout.
-Traditional RTS experience with missions based solely on tried-and-true melee play with varying objectives, start conditions, map layouts. Consistently enjoyable throughout campaign
-Difficulty is in the game mechanics, maps, resource distribution (less standardized) to give inherent challenge in addition to the opponent
-BW expands on scenario diversity
Cons:
-No actual difficulty level selection
-AI is often odd in behavior. Melee game AI often plays a giant macro game attacking with only a few units at a time
-Classic Battle.net issues attempting to create lobbies (for my ISP at least)
SC2:
Pros:
-Campaign gameplay gives unique experience from melee, army customizing features, campaign-specific units
-Unique and creative missions forcing larger variety of approaches
-Co op mode for subfactions of the races as well as their heroes, campaign units, call downs etc
-Vs AI matchmaking and Arcade mode for PvE players
-Automated gameplay features like automine, shift commands, unlimited army select etc can be nice at times albeit it makes me lazy and worse at BW
-Wide variety of units
Cons:
-Overlap in units/overly specialized units for one specific purpose at only certain points
-Some missions are built around spamming the unit you just unlocked (sometimes you never use them again after)
-Too many MOBA missions and boss fights
-Specific map triggers and events made possible in SC2 often very hit or miss, making missions run the gambit from highly enjoyable to very disappointing and totally avoided
-Co op commanders require excessive level grinding to get to “video demonstration” capability
-Melee mode got let enjoyable to me in LotV due to fundamental changes
I like both for different reasons and play whichever depending on the mood. I love the SC1/BW campaign, a lot of the non-ladder Blizzard melee maps in it as well for vs AI, and i enjoy SC2 for the WoL/NCO campaigns and some missions in the others as well as co op (after lvl 15) games (I dislike mutations) among other things. Starcraft for better or worse is still my all time favorite RTS series.
I actually like the grind. The grinding helps me slowly learn how to play with the comander. In fact, I don’t like the EXP boost that comes with the bundle since it speed up the process too much for me.
Yeah the grind helps you get used to the mechanics of each commander too.
I get that. For me it is different because I am more casual these days with limited play time, so I certainly do not want to spend it grinding unlocks, and the number of matches required has always been hours more than I needed to get a good feel. I learn them better after 15 when I am not worried about victory xp. Actually after a 4 year hiatus from it I was able to relearn my first 3 15s in just 2 games or so on hard without losing so I never found it necessary. I just feel the design could have been better, that is why I call it a con.