Warcraft 2 or Warcraft 3?

[WonderWillard]

Hey Escapists, I've been a World of Warcraft player for a while now, and I've always wanted to try out the original Warcraft games. I know that my local gamestop only has the Warcraft 3 battlechest or whatever, so I was wondering, should I try and find Warcraft 2, or even the first one online? Or will I be fine with just the 3rd game.

One of the main reasons I want to play the original Warcrafts is for the backstory and lore of the Warcraft universe, just to add some context. I read on the WoW wiki that Warcraft 1 was mostly retconned, so it seems less important story-wise.

 

[Aidinthel]

I wouldn't bother with Warcraft 2 unless you really want to. It's quite old, and it hasn't aged well in graphics or gameplay. If you really want the story, all of that is in the mission briefings which you can find on youtube. Of course quite a bit of it has been retconned, and you have to randomly mix parts of the orc and human campaigns to get the canon story.

 

[WonderWillard]

Hmmm. Alright, thanks.

 

[Rylot]

I have to agree that two isn't essential, but three is worth playing. I still have it down loaded on my computer.

 

[Aurgelmir]

Hey Escapists, I've been a World of Warcraft player for a while now, and I've always wanted to try out the original Warcraft games. I know that my local gamestop only has the Warcraft 3 battlechest or whatever, so I was wondering, should I try and find Warcraft 2, or even the first one online? Or will I be fine with just the 3rd game.

One of the main reasons I want to play the original Warcrafts is for the backstory and lore of the Warcraft universe, just to add some context. I read on the WoW wiki that Warcraft 1 was mostly retconned, so it seems less important story-wise.

Back in the days of WarCraft and WarCraft2 there wasn't, much of a coherent story, there was one Human and one Orc campaign that would tell the Orc or Human plot in WarCraft. And the Plot would differ based on who you chose. Same in WarCraft2 Horde and Alliance got different plots.

What I recommend for learning hte Lore prior to WarCraft3 is buying the Warchraft Archive, it is a book containing 3 novels and a short story that tell the more interesting parts of the world of warcraft.

So if games are all you want I say go for WC3, since WC2 isn't all that fun from a plot perspective.

 

[WonderWillard]

Alright thanks guys, I'll check out those books and then get Warcraft 3

 

[MajWound]

If you have a single non-GameStop game trader in your town, you should be able to get a copy of Warcraft II. I played the hell out of it in grade school, and it's worth the $3 you can get it for. You should play it just to say you did, but if you've been pampered by the automation and streamlined golden orgasm that is Starcraft II, it will get frustrating. It's a fleeting kind of fun you'll quickly get bored with, but worth checking out.