StarCraft 2 Media

[Trippy]

StarCraft 2 Cinematic Trailer

StarCraft 2 Artwork Trailer

StarCraft 2 Gameplay Video (1280 x 768)

[MrHat]

StarCraft 2 Cinematic Trailer

StarCraft 2 Artwork Trailer

There should be a few gameplay trailers going up soon too.  I'd love to get them from here rather than the fuckmyassblizzardtorrent.

[Trippy]

There should be a few gameplay trailers going up soon too.  I'd love to get them from here rather than the fuckmyassblizzardtorrent.

They originally promised the gameplay trailer they showed at WWI on the 20th but changed that to "coming soon".

[Tannhauser]

That cinematic took too long to get interesting.

[Xerapis]

Yeah, the gameplay demonstration was definitely the best part of the whole presentation.

[Register]

Starcraft 2 gameplay videos on You Tube :

Gameplay Video 1 http://youtube.com/watch?v=cexOPKic15E&mode=related&search=

Shows off Zealots and their new charge ability, Seigetanks and their firepower, and new Protoss unit similar to Dragoon with a shield ability that gets activated by burst/massive damage - hard counter to siege tanks.

These are then countered by new jetpack infantry pack that flies/jumps over elevation and is a good counter to the Dragoon type as their shields are ineffective against steady incremental damage.

Gameplay Video 2 http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sns34WXKOf0&mode=related&search=

Large battle showing the Protoss mothership ending with the use of nukes.

Gameplay Video 3 http://youtube.com/watch?v=wa6ZWbPitwc&mode=related&search=

Shows new protoss aircraft with laser beams that is a counter for large strong units/buildings - as I read, their lasers do more and more damage as they continue to focus on a single target. They then get destroyed by mass infantry.

More on the Protoss mothership - it shows off a force shield type ability, as well as an Independence Day type laser from its bottom that destroys ground troops.

Gameplay Video 4 http://youtube.com/watch?v=n8HEO7PD2FA&mode=related&search=

4 seems to be more or less a repeat of 2. Skip if you don't feel my compulsive urge to watch simply because it was labeled part 4 on Youtube.

All in all, was not quite impressed by the 2 Blizzard trailers - but the gameplay vids won me over - the units look so much better in animation than in screenshots... and the gameplay videos look so bloody cool.

[Trippy]

StarCraft 2 Gameplay Video (1280 x 768)

[Trippy]

I just noticed there's a female Night Elf hologram dancing in the section where he's introducing the Protoss Immortals. I love those sorts of touches.

[Trippy]

I split off the balance discussions to the main SC2 thread.

[Aez]

Ah - neeeecro

It's worth it.

A battle report :

http://www.starcraft2.com/features/battlereports/1.xml

[Samprimary]

That battle report actually had something of a dulling effect on my desire to play starcraft II, since it's indicating a strong focus on the stuff about starcraft and other RTS's which is passe and which we could do without: the scripted start which must be repeated ad nauseum (god, listen to the commentators work up a froth trying to make the initial 'probe finds base' encounter exciting) and the game's pathological reliance on harvesting as a weak front.

[Rendakor]

I'm not as jaded as Sam over there, I thought the video was 

[Prospero]

I'm actually a big fan of the starting build and probe game. Maybe it is just a ritualistic thing, but I find it is a lovely way to settle into a match. I need that time to calm my nerves.

[Trippy]

Ah - neeeecro

It's worth it.

A battle report :

http://www.starcraft2.com/features/battlereports/1.xml

Nice recovery by the Human player (David Kim).

[Samprimary]

I'm actually a big fan of the starting build and probe game. Maybe it is just a ritualistic thing, but I find it is a lovely way to settle into a match. I need that time to calm my nerves.

my opinion is that the first few minutes of most RTS play is an infinitely repeated process which can not be made very interesting. Even in the upper echelons of starcraft play it is always the exact same building tending and initial harvester scouting repeated ad nauseum. The game does not even really begin until the first handful of grunts are out on the field and you can start probing and applying map control and pressure. so, it was fun listening to that guy flip the fuck out trying to describe how awesome it was that the probe was running a marine around. er.

This was at its absolute worst point in Warcraft III, which was a forgettable mplayer experience. The 'dick around with your harvesters and base' period was longer, the dead period prior to the construction of your hero was extremely noticeable, and the early game was a lamefest of creeping and niggling harassment.

The dead period accumulated slowly to the 'midgame,' which was a tiresome period with your heroes and armies slowly wiggling around each other, never engaging without significant advantage. When two experienced players fought each other midgame, or when a 2 on 2 game was being played, this would all cumulate around a point where the game was literally decided in seconds and then the players who knew they had lost (hero gets caught in root, blademasters killed your acolytes while you were creeping, enemy caught you while YOU were creeping, etc) would just quit. The entire dead period for about 30s/2m of actual gameplay before the end result of the match became mostly inevitable.

HURR WOT A FUN GAEM

It looks like they are strenuously trying to minimize these issues as significantly as possible. They got rid of heroes (thank god), getting nutkicked in the harvester line seems to count for less so prolly isn't that appealing anymore, and you already start with more harvesters, but they should probably increase the amount of default resources you start with so that the player can immediately work out their initial building branching order and the game proper can begin with grunts beginning to leak out of the base ASAP.

[bhodi]

I'm with sam. I was slightly more than a casual starcraft player, way back when. It's only a 2 or 3 minute buildup, and part of your attention is focused on scouting so it doesn't feel that long. It looks like they made the SCV/probes/drones stronger; they definitely have a longer attack range and don't seem to go down as easily. Those zealots weren't really a match for even a dozen SCVs and they didn't do crippling damage do the economy either. I am surprised at how weak the base defenses were; in the first game base defenses were pretty useful. I guess with the fast shield recharge you don't need the shield transfer station things anymore either. I used to abuse the hell out of those.

There wasn't really a "recovery" by the terran player; the protoss guy had 0 chance as soon as the terran guy completed his command center without it being scouted. Those protoss walkers seem like pretty crappy units for how expensive they were. That sweeping beam is a nice idea, but it seems way too situational and unless you're perfectly lined up you're only going to hit one guy. The kiting thing should be fixed as well, that's a bit cheap. With units with a slow rate of fire, you shouldn't be able to fire and then move during the firing cooldown.

[ahoythematey]

To those that haven't watched it yet, don't even bother with the video on Blizz's site: the you-tube HD version works great.

Also:

DO WANT NOW.

[bhodi]

To those that haven't watched it yet, don't even bother with the video on Blizz's site: the you-tube HD version works great.

Also:

DO WANT NOW.

HEY, THANKS FOR THE LINK TO SAID VIDEO!

[ahoythematey]

I wasn't aware of Youtube being that difficult to navigate.

Part 1
Part 2

[Trippy]

There wasn't really a "recovery" by the terran player; the protoss guy had 0 chance as soon as the terran guy completed his command center without it being scouted.

The Protoss player was behind in developing his first expansion (he started it after the Zealots did their first attack on the SCVs) but he should've had the resource led at that point in time anyways cause of all the SCVs he destroyed plus the time he took away from the Terran player when the SCVs were defending themselves instead of gathering. To me it looked like the Protoss kept building the wrong stuff to counter what the Terran player was doing (or vice versa).

Those protoss walkers seem like pretty crappy units for how expensive they were. That sweeping beam is a nice idea, but it seems way too situational and unless you're perfectly lined up you're only going to hit one guy. The kiting thing should be fixed as well, that's a bit cheap. With units with a slow rate of fire, you shouldn't be able to fire and then move during the firing cooldown.

I bet they'll leave the kiting in. It's basically a tradeoff -- you can do some intense microing to give you a tactical advantage in that one battle but that leaves you vulnerable to stuff going on elsewhere.

[Samprimary]

Really it just looked like an alpha build issue. The protoss walkers were total fail. They're conceptually a counter to massed units but when they pop so easily under pressure they're just a resource liability.

[Venkman]

That battle report actually had something of a dulling effect on my desire to play starcraft II, since it's indicating a strong focus on the stuff about starcraft and other RTS's which is passe and which we could do without: the scripted start which must be repeated ad nauseum (god, listen to the commentators work up a froth trying to make the initial 'probe finds base' encounter exciting) and the game's pathological reliance on harvesting as a weak front.

I'm sorta in this camp too. I'll still buy it of course, but it looks to be the same game I played 8 years ago. Yea, I know the reasons for that like everyone else. But honestly, I'm more curious about the timespan between this launch and an announced MMO than this game itself. It doesn't feel like a Warcraft II to III leap. But I'm happy to accept correction.

[Trippy]

I just want to access to the builder. I hope it allows for some sort of Hero-type creator even if the game doesn't have it itself.

[Samprimary]

Urgh. As I think about it, I really wish that heroes coulda been a force for good in mplayer.

[ahoythematey]

They could have if there weren't such a discrepancy between the hero units and regular units.  Make them beefier regular units, basically, with maybe one or two extra skills, and price them accordingly.  Don't make them Queens in a sea of pawns.

[Ragnoros]

I'm fairly sure the have stated that heroes will be in the campaign, and by extension the map editor. Just not the standard multiplayer.

[Samprimary]

Don't make them Queens in a sea of pawns.

the analogy works in a great way because the queen's major weakness is trade susceptibility, as she can be bullied by all the weaker units that cannot be taken in trade.

[Trippy]

I meant Heroes you can level up. StarCraft had Hero units as well.

[Aez]

I'm fine with hero leveling up but the way Warcraft III implemented them was horrible.  Creep and unbalanced items ruined the game.

I wonder how I'll play Starcraft II.  The four months after Starcraft  release were the most hardcore of my gaming "career".  Folowed by a total burn out.  I barely played  Broodwar multilayer. 

A couple of years later, I kept myself in the top 100 of warcraft III ladder for 3 weeks after release until I realized it was designed has a grind fest.


Anyone here was a regular of Zileas.com?  It was a great forum for hardcore RTS.

[ahoythematey]

That's a shame, Brood War is still amazing.  It fixed a lot of vanilla SC's problems.

[Samprimary]

Slowly, it did. At first it accidentally catapulted Protoss into absurd supremacy with those damn corsairs. Oh, but those days were fun.

[Megrim]

I'm fine with hero leveling up but the way Warcraft III implemented them was horrible.  Creep and unbalanced items ruined the game.

I wonder how I'll play Starcraft II.  The four months after Starcraft  release were the most hardcore of my gaming "career".  Folowed by a total burn out.  I barely played  Broodwar multilayer. 

A couple of years later, I kept myself in the top 100 of warcraft III ladder for 3 weeks after release until I realized it was designed has a grind fest.


Anyone here was a regular of Zileas.com?  It was a great forum for hardcore RTS.

I used to lurk on Zileas' forum, still visit the nohunters one as well on occasion, though it's long moved on beyond being sc-related.


As for the vid: the game still needs a lot of polish. Unit movement is clumsy, colour schemes are questionable, etc... Most noticeably though, i think faction identity and uniqueness seems to have taken a big hit. Flamethrower quads? Wow, imaginative.

[KallDrexx]

Most noticeably though, i think faction identity and uniqueness seems to have taken a big hit. Flamethrower quads? Wow, imaginative.

I had trouble at times figuring out if those stalkers were protoss or terran units. 

[rask]

As much as I loved the original Starcraft and BW, I'm looking forward to DoW2 in the RTS area more. This probably has to do with one of two things: Blizzard chopping up SC2 into 3 full releases, each probably priced at the standard $50, and me being a huge neckbeard. Anyway...

The death grip of anticipation Diablo 3 has on my nuts is also infinitely larger than the pinch for SC2.

Bleh, I'll probably want to play them for the sp campaigns even after all my bitching.

[bhodi]

The second and third SC2 releases will very likely be the first blizzard games that I have ever pirated.