A View From The Road: The StarCraft Dilemma

[warps]

Is that somekind of joke, or are you just ignorant of Blizzard's legacy? They are credited with pioneering in RTS (Star Craft and WarCraft II), and RPG (Diablo).

I'm afraid you're the one who's ignorant of their legacy. The first Starcraft was pretty much Warcraft II with third race added. Warcraft II, on the other hand, was the first Warcraft with better graphics, a few new mechanics and being able to select 9 units instead of 4 (guess what, that's exactly what they did in transition from Starcraft to SC2!). And while we're at the first Warcraft - it was basically Dune II in a fantasy setting. Diablo might be the most original of Blizzard games.

They weren't responsible for the initial popularity of MMORPGs, but they did simplify the concept enough to make it accessable to casual players in World Of WarCraft.

Exactly! That's what Blizzard does most of the time - takes a game that works pretty well and simplifies/complicates the gameplay, adds a decent story and polishes the game to a mirror shine. Then the games sells like Billy-oh! Which is why I (and most of other Blizzard fanboys) didn't expect Starcraft 2 to, as you called it, "attempt to create that next big push".

 

[LordZ]

snip

Realm down? What's the last time you played anything on Bnet, 1999? And have you even seen how the new one looks? It isn't just a reskin.

The last time I played was a few months ago.

 

[maninahat]

Is that somekind of joke, or are you just ignorant of Blizzard's legacy? They are credited with pioneering in RTS (Star Craft and WarCraft II), and RPG (Diablo).

I'm afraid you're the one who's ignorant of their legacy. The first Starcraft was pretty much Warcraft II with third race added. Warcraft II, on the other hand, was the first Warcraft with better graphics, a few new mechanics and being able to select 9 units instead of 4 (guess what, that's exactly what they did in transition from Starcraft to SC2!). And while we're at the first Warcraft - it was basically Dune II in a fantasy setting. Diablo might be the most original of Blizzard games.

They weren't responsible for the initial popularity of MMORPGs, but they did simplify the concept enough to make it accessable to casual players in World Of WarCraft.

Exactly! That's what Blizzard does most of the time - takes a game that works pretty well and simplifies/complicates the gameplay, adds a decent story and polishes the game to a mirror shine. Then the games sells like Billy-oh! Which is why I (and most of other Blizzard fanboys) didn't expect Starcraft 2 to, as you called it, "attempt to create that next big push".

I think I need to clarify my use of the term "pioneer". I was not crediting them with inventing new mechanics, or being the first to do anything. If being the first to do something mattered at all, we wouldn't be regarding RTSs as being "modelled on WarCraft" but "modelled on Dune II" (or "modelled on Stonkers"). Henry Ford did not invent the car, but he did streamline the invention to the point where his cars became iconic, with his methods of production being copied to this date. Likewise, Blizzard did not invent the various genres they have contributed to, but they did streamline them to the point that they became iconic - and Blizzard's techniques and conventions are being copied to this day.