Should I buy Starcraft 2?

[Evil Top Hat]

I bought it after hearing so much hype and wanting to get into an RTS after having only played Battle for Middle Earth and a tiny bit of total war. I played it for about three months and all I found was an APM (actions per minute) spam fest with no thought and the only strategy to speak of being programmed responses and counters as apposed to actual thought.

Of course many disagree, I just personally didn't see what was so great about it. I doubt a game as popular as Starcraft 2 would be a bad RTS, I just didn't like it myself.

 

[Kurt Horsting]

If you said you liked rts... How the fuck do you not have this game?! Go buy it, NOW!!!

 

[Frankster]

If you want to try a different kinda rts: try relic's company of heroes or dawn of war series.

Company of Heroes is my favorite rts of all time so far, so heartily reccomend it.
Dawn of war series is awesome, but if you ain't a 40k geek then it's best to stick to Coh.

 

[Connor Mulhern]

if you are going to do it, use this
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Main_Page
read everything on the race you want to play
I would even be willing to teach you the basics, if you want (gold league, so I am decent)

 

[SecondSince]

Yes, buy it!


Singleplayer is good. Decent story, very strong mechanics/gameplay, wide array of difficulty.
Multiplayer is fantastic! Just as good mechanics/gameplay (if not better because of balance), league-system that throws you against equal players (as good as a system can do this of course) and promotes you when you get better.

But perhaps the best part are the custom games. A wide and wild variety of different games in different styles are available totally free online as custom maps. These are created with an editor that is with the game, so you can even get creative yourself. Amazing shit is out there to play, really!

One more thing... Someone commented on how it's balanced for competitive/pro play and not for casual/noob. This is true, but that is totally alright. Only on the competitive/pro level does this matter, because below that it is almost totally up to player skill in stead of luck or unbalance. *i need a disclaimer for this ^^*

So, buy it, play it, enjoy it, share it! I know you will! XD

 

[S1leNt RIP]

So basically, I'm okay at RTS games. I bought Battle for Middle Earth 2, but after I completed the campaigns, it became apparent that the multiplayer was dead, down to a few people only looking to play with specific people.

Starcraft is essentially a nerd sport at this point, I always hear praise of it being such a fantastic RTS, and then there are the tournaments. All in all, it looks fairly attractive, but I've had my experiences with disappointing RTS games. So I'd like a few more opinions.

I REALLY found C&C 3 to be a heck of a lot of fun! The different armor types and, weapon types, and scores of units made it fun to try and micromanage the best force you could to defeat your enemy. Kane's Wrath was also great fun, and I enjoyed much time playing both with friends at lan parties.

Now SCII on the other hand, I find to be no fun. I'm not entirely sure why it is no fun to me, but I think it feels a lot less deep than C&C 3 does. It may be just as deep, if not more so, but for some reason I see less variability in it. I own it, and I've played it...but unfortunately I put it on the shelf as something just too annoying and frustrating to be worth my time. Instead I play League of Legends.

So that's my honest opinion. I know a lot of people love SCII, but I'm just not one of them. You might be...who knows!

 

[WarDaft]

The first thing you need to know about SC2 is the multiplayer. First is the ladder. It is competitive. You have to be fast *and* smart to do well. One or the other and you're just middle of the pack and stagnating. Of course, it's such a *large* pack that no matter how good or bad you are, you most certainly will find people your skill level to play against. The easiest way to get started in the SC2 ladder is to play random, watch your replays, and then try the things people do to you until you find one that clicks.

The second part of multiplayer is the custom games. Even if you find the story unbearably bad, even if you can't stand the ladder, there is no way that you will hate every single custom game. The custom games range from modified RTSs, to top down shooters, platformers, card games, TDs, RPGs, and even more esoteric options that are not practical to list. One guy is even dedicated to remaking WoW in SC2.

So no, there is no one who will not enjoy at least some part of SC2. Just buy it.

 

[TehKnifeh]

Going from what the OP send in the inital post, SC2 have quite a rich single player campaign thats worth a playthrough (hell I have done it 3 times just to be abit of an achievement hunter) and I really enjoyed the way it branches out in the sense of choosing what mission you want to go for and even having alternitve missions which have different results (but are self contained so they dont effect the overall story, just more reasearch and tech routes) From the single player alone I would say its a decent purchase.

From the other part of what was said it sounds like you are wanting abit of longevity from playing MP, and in this instance you wont be stuck for choice or people to play with. It does use a matchmatching system which works quite well and is good at sticking you in with the right level of players (obv it will throw you into some tougher matches to throw you to the wolves every now and again)

If you have not seen or heard much from the multiplayer point of view there are plenty of shoutcasters for the game, huskystarcraft (http://www.youtube.com/user/huskystarcraft) and day9 (http://blip.tv/day9tv) are two of the more prominent out there atm, although there are dozens of good shoutcasters. That statement alone should give you a sense of size of the community and how well recieved it is within the whole "e-sport" crowd.

Although I am very biased I have to admit having played the original Starcraft and Brood War to death but I have bought two copies as I decided I wanted to get the collectors edition after owning standard edition after 6 months and after spending over £100 on the game buying it twice I couldnt be happier with my purchase. Plus all the time I sink into watching shoutcasters and tournements.

TLR - Well worth having a shot at the game if you like the RTS genre, and if you know some1 with the game they might be able to give you one of the free passes that came with it for trial. Hell even I might spare free pass somewhere...

 

[VladG]

I'm not going to go into gameplay mechanics, balance, whatever. You can get all that off the internet. I will answer the "Is it worth buying question": I pre-ordered the game and got to play the beta, then I got my game on day one. I've been playing ever since. So that's already 1 year worth of entertainment for my one time payment. The campaign is awesome and the multiplayer has NO chance of going down. You will find a match in under a minute during the day. Hardly more than one minute at 5am in the morning. There are at least 2 more expansions coming with new content and added game time (yes, you will have to pay for those too, still worth it).

Consider a really good single player game. Half-life 2 for example(I know it has multi, but who plays it?). Great game. Keeps you busy for about a week, maybe 2 depending on how much you play. You play through it twice... maybe 3 times. 5 times is stretching it. That's maybe 3 months worth of entertainment.

Coming back to SC2 and the fact that I still very much enjoy playing it after nearly a year, I would consider that GREAT value for money.

Oh, and there's also the map and modding community. SC2 offers a much more versatile engine, it seems, than Warcraft3, and that game had some really, really awesome maps (just think DoTA) and that just adds to it's longevity.

 

[dracomanm]

even if you have no internet connection, you should still get it for the campaign.

oh wait, you can't play it without internet connection... well just get it! you're missing out.

actually, you can play the campaign while offline, you're just getting the achievements rigt away (the "complete this mission" achies will still be rewarded upon logging back on, the "do X or Y in mission Z" won't count though)


About SCII and to buy or not buy, there is a trail, so at least check that out. Besides that, you can say that there's something for everybody. A campaign that's really fun to play, AI to beat or be brutally beaten by, multiplayer on multiple skill levels, either having fun/learning at bronze, or laddering up to plat diamond if you're up for a challenge, and a BUTTLOAD of custom maps with more being made every day, be it tower defence, Moba (DotA like games), or blizzard's own custom maps.

I guess it's safe to say SCII has one of the best hours of entertainment/money spend ratio on any game to date.

 

[Zacharious-khan]

its really not as bad as you would think. If you want to be competitive about it you can be and if you don't you don't. Things don't get super cut-throat until you get to the high leagues where most people are dicks. Most people are actually pretty nice, forgoing the occasional cheese.

 

[omega 616]

So basically, I'm okay at RTS games. I bought Battle for Middle Earth 2, but after I completed the campaigns, it became apparent that the multiplayer was dead, down to a few people only looking to play with specific people.

Starcraft is essentially a nerd sport at this point, I always hear praise of it being such a fantastic RTS, and then there are the tournaments. All in all, it looks fairly attractive, but I've had my experiences with disappointing RTS games. So I'd like a few more opinions.

It is a very fast RTS, it is quite balanced (don't listen to IdrA and Artosis) and the multiplayer will never ever die ... People still play SC:BW for Jesus sake.

The pro's make it look easy as fuck but the game is quite tricky to learn and I watch day[9] like a hawk. Even the most simple build orders are tricky to get at first.

I would suggest getting it.

 

[Weaver]

IT's fun if you like memorizing build orders and counters and practicing splitting your worker's off the line for 400 games in a row.

 

[aarontg]

It really depends on whether or not you like rts'. There's not much in the way of rpg elents or other gameplay elements to keep you interested and if you don't like rts multiplayer then there's little point to getting it. But if you like the pure rts then there's fewer better choices.

 

[WOPR]

So basically, I'm okay at RTS games. I bought Battle for Middle Earth 2, but after I completed the campaigns, it became apparent that the multiplayer was dead, down to a few people only looking to play with specific people.

Starcraft is essentially a nerd sport at this point, I always hear praise of it being such a fantastic RTS, and then there are the tournaments. All in all, it looks fairly attractive, but I've had my experiences with disappointing RTS games. So I'd like a few more opinions.

Yes you should, cause wen you look at it, you're buying thousands of games at once (see: custom maps)

and don't call it a "nerd sport" that's what the brain dead idiots at my school call it... you know, those idiots that beat nerds up and make them do their homework so that they can stay on the football team, while they sit at home and play WoW while insulting StarCraft not knowing they're by the same company...

but yeah- if you like GAMES, then YES you should get it
if you want alternatives but don't care about multiplayer... get Earth 2160 off steam for $5

if you want well played custom maps that you don't mind filtering through
get WarCraft 3

but if you want one of the best RTS games made

GET
STARCRAFT 2

 

[John Funk]

Yes, absolutely. The campaign is one of the best-designed campaigns ever in an RTS with a bunch of great, unique missions. The story is kind of cheesy but it's well told, and it's an enjoyable backdrop for the great missions.

The multiplayer, of course, is absolutely fantastic. It's addictive, ruthless, and as much fun to watch as it is to play.

 

[Seanchaidh]

So basically, I'm okay at RTS games. I bought Battle for Middle Earth 2, but after I completed the campaigns, it became apparent that the multiplayer was dead, down to a few people only looking to play with specific people.

Starcraft is essentially a nerd sport at this point, I always hear praise of it being such a fantastic RTS, and then there are the tournaments. All in all, it looks fairly attractive, but I've had my experiences with disappointing RTS games. So I'd like a few more opinions.

SC2 is essentially about resource gathering, unit control, and building management. The UI isn't nearly as archaic or annoying as SC1 or Brood War, and how the units work is pretty straightforward. Probably the most important skill to have to be competitive at SC2 is the ability to utilize all your resources and buildings efficiently. You don't want idle workers (this is fairly easy to avoid, as a rally point on a resource will cause a worker that is being built to start mining on completion, and you can get into a habit of shift-right clicking on a mineral patch whenever you have a worker do something else) or buildings (this can be harder, it requires attention and for you to build overlords, pylons, or supply depots early enough for your production not to falter) and you don't want to queue unit production, as that spends your resources now only to start actually using them to build something later. (It's much better to build a barracks for 150 than queue 3 marines for 50 each.) The game is very fast paced-- units can die very quickly and are built fairly quickly. Micromanaging your units is effective, but it's generally a bad idea to let your unit production slip because you're paying too much attention to microing what you have.

If you get a zenlike joy from matching your spending to your income perfectly and positioning units intelligently, take a look at SC2. It's a fun game if you like managing a lot of different things at once. There is virtually no limit to the number of decisions you can make, the difficult part is in knowing or remembering which decisions need making.

 

[Whateveralot]

Yes, if you are into really competative multiplayer.

Not even that. If you're just looking for fun, that's ok too. If you are good or bad, it doesn't matter. The matchmaking system is a life-saver.


To be honest, I hate micromanaging RTS games, but I really loved SC2 because it does so much more than that. It has amazing mechanics at times.

Edit: OI WHO DARED REMOVE CAPTCHA?!

 

[LightningBanks]

The campaigns brilliant, and the custom modes are amazingly fun too (they even go as far as turning it out of an rts into something else, for example, Mafia is a game where the Mafia has to murder people without being caught)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQQkPidCOW0 heres a video of Mafia

I'm a bit miffed that they are releasing each campaign as a separate game however. Seems a little greedy.

The campaign is pretty big though, and I think the expansion pack has a ton new maps n stuff iswell

 

[thiosk]

I would say DONT buy it if you are really into the single player.

I am disappointed by the complete lack of single player modifications.