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Old 03-27-2017, 01:36 AM   #1
Loki
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Starcraft Remastered

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kE-Wxxfpjk

Blizzard is making the original Starcraft and Brood Wars free to play, make the games compatible with modern Windows (idunno about Mac or Linux), access to non-battle.net servers, and eventually will release an HD graphics patch.

This news isn't exactly surprising since Starcraft Broodwars has recently become popular again in Korea, with many veterans leaving Starcraft 2 and going back to Brood Wars despite the lack of 'official' e-sports events in the game.

It is a bit surprising in that Blizzard has had for years been pushing Starcraft 2 as the new go to pretty hard, and in doing this move, they're kind of back pedaling and admitting that Starcraft might be more popular than Starcraft 2. They obviously haven't pushed for new Brood War tournaments, but with the additions of observer mode and so forth, they do show that they know such tools are needed for a proper e-sports scene.

Either way, everyone can get Starcraft and Brood Wars for free soon enough. That's pretty cool.
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Old 03-27-2017, 03:54 AM   #2
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Isn't StarCraft already compatible with modern Windows...I played it on this PC myself.

I dunno how to react to this. 4K graphics are worthless since the human eye can't distinguish between them and normal graphics at distance anyway. The only way that matters is if you're broadcasting to a huge audience on an enormous screen. Notice the 4K models look awful close up in that video but are probably decent from a distance.

SC and Broodwars being simpler games likely has a role in their popularity enduring.
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Old 03-27-2017, 04:48 AM   #3
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Starcraft and Brood Wars works on most computers, but there tends to be visual glitches. Also, people with APUs instead of normal GPs can easily run into issues with older games as they are unable to detect hardware and such.

The human eye can definitely see better than 4k, but it definitely depends on the quality of your monitor and your visual acuity. And I personally thought all of those models looked just fine. How close are you sitting from your screen?

Also, I actually think Starcraft 2 is an easier game, as Starcraft BW's skill ceiling is incredibly high with the worse UI and the insane micro needed for everything whereas SC2 automates most of it. Like workers rallied to a resource will start harvesting right away and the hotkey groups being larger than 12.

I will say that SC2 is balanced by constant patching, nerfs, buffs, and seasonal ladder maps whereas BW is only balanced by map. This makes it harder to master the game since certain builds and units might get changed later on and you have to relearn new build orders and getting used to new buffed units or nerfed units.
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Old 03-27-2017, 07:36 AM   #4
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I sit about two feet from my screen, because the Dell Latitude has an X-Box huge keyboard, making it impossible to be closer than one foot away. The 3D graphics looked garbage to me, but I'm biased anyway since I've been of the opinion that SC/Brood's sprites looked better than the WC3-era models. The only reason I found things like Lux good looking was because it's a sprite of a cute girl. The "orcs" looked more like moblins to me.

...

I personally disagree with the patching/nerfs/buffs as a reason for SC2 being balanced, although having not played the game, this is based on hearsay and an outsider's POV. I say this because micro is what really allows the game to be balanced; inherently balancing every unit matchup makes the game about which race you play against the opponent and less about how well you play it.

SC2 has more interactions and variables than the original and BW did, which makes it harder to isolate things and tell if something truly is balanced. My experience in YGO tells me that Blizzard probably either did things based on gut, case studies (YT vids of exploits or cheese) and ladder results where one faction tended to dominate the meta for a while. Meta domination is actually not a good way to determine balancing, unless you're taking huge sample size with easily identifiable patterns.

The simpler the game, the easier it is to balance. For example, Rock-Paper-Scissors is a perfectly balanced game. But, SC/BW was actually not balanced. Terrans were the best overall race but also the most micro intensive, requiring outstanding motor skills to bring out their full potential. Zerg required the least micro so it tended to attract individuals with less micro skills, but those who brought it to Zerg outclassed everyone (Flash?).

My point is, because of Blizzard's management to the meta ecosystem, SC2 (much like YGO) became a game of matchups and not of skill. Back to the Rock-Paper-Scissors example. It is balanced on paper, but if you know someone always plays rock, the game is not balanced anymore due to an asymmetric matchup. But trying to introduce more micro into SC2's framework is harder due to the different number of unit matchups. It's easy to balance Rock-Paper0Scissors, but not Rock-Paper-Scissors-Tape-Rubber-Glue-Leaf-Magnet-Match-etc.

Original SC's micro was emergent gameplay, really. The engine allowed it, but it wasn't Blizzard's intent. The ecosystem was simple enough but the game flexible enough to support the use of micro.
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Old 03-27-2017, 12:29 PM   #5
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You clearly know nothing of Starcraft.

Micro play is like the action scenes of a Michael Bay film. It looks awesome and can leave a good impression with you that the plays you're watching are great. But the best films have a good plot and acting. This can be compared to macro play and timing. While an outsider will watch micro play and be highly impressed, the best players in the world aren't the ones with the highest APM, but the ones with strong understanding to all the aspects of the game.

During Wings of Liberty (Starcraft 2 original), the best player in the world- MVP, was crippled by carpal tunnel syndrome to the point of having his mouse hand be completely numb. He only knew he was clicking because he knew his brain sent the signal. He did not have the highest APM in the world compared to other players like MarineKing, who played the same race during the same era, but was known for his excellent micro. Yet MarineKing could NEVER beat MVP. MVP's strengths were macro play and timing attacks as well as a deep understanding of the late game. He had sufficient unit control, but nothing on par with the the fastest APM players.

And nerfs and buffs definitely shift the balance between the races.

The newest expansion Legacy of the Void changed Terrans immensely. They allowed Siege Tanks in siege mode to be picked up and dropped off, allowing for a great deal of mobility for the long range siege unit. This lead to a great many Terran victories as it was very difficult to efficiently counter this. Now they've taken this away and Terrans are somewhat struggling.

Recently Hydralisks have been the target of changes from Blizzard's balance team. First they gave them a new upgrade for increasing their movement speed on top of their former upgrade of range +1. They then made it easier by combining the two upgrades into one. Then they changed it again, boosting the movement speed and changing the range upgrade to +2 instead. This was SO POWERFUL, they immediately backtracked this buff after immediately realizing how insanely powerful it was. Now they've simply added +10 health to the unit and it's possibly going to be a pretty potent boost as Hydralisks are considered glass cannons, the extra health can extend their life and their damage outpost.

This isn't that different from League of Legends buffing and nerfing specific champions to keep the game interesting each season. BW hasn't had any changes since like the early 2000s and so the balance of the game can only come from how maps are designed. Choke points, close enemy base spawns, and resource locations all shift how the game's balance is.

Last edited by Loki; 03-27-2017 at 12:38 PM.
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Old 04-14-2017, 12:23 PM   #6
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I for one am quite excited to have Starcraft and Brood War remastered
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Old 04-14-2017, 02:48 PM   #7
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I don't pay attention to professional SC, but I was under the impression that at least part of the issue with SC2 crashing and burning was due to Blizzard trying to fuck with the established eSports leagues in Korea to their detriment.
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Old 04-19-2017, 05:54 PM   #8
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Yeah, trying to unite Korea with the other regions into a Global E-Sports scene was a pretty bad idea. It sounds good on paper, but it was a pretty bad execution. In attempting to stopping tournaments from overlapping time, they essentially chopped up time slots and prevents tournaments from happening. It sucked to have MLG and IGL happen on the same weekend and divide the viewership, but once ESL got the main rights outside of Korea, it became impossible to have a tournament except for ESL ones. Korea had GSL and KesPa leagues compete and essentially KesPa just decided to implode their SC2 division and just do LoL or something.

Oh yeah, FREE BROODWARS launched today.
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