The Starcraft 2 Journal: Day 8

Read Journal #1 here first

Alright, I figured it was about time to check in with another Starcraft journal, as I’ve had the game for about a week now, and I’ve got a decent amount more to report on. Last time, I spent awhile griping about my PC issues, where my work laptop doesn’t have anywhere near the musclepower it needs to play the game with reasonable graphics.

I’ve decided just to ignore the blocky polygons for the time being while I contemplate whether or not a new $800 system is worth it just for Starcraft. Thanks to all of you who have written in with suggestions, but no matter the scenario, it seems I have to spend a lot of cash to get the game working right.

But anyway, no more graphical moaning, onto the content! I’ve done a huge number of campaign missions since I last wrote, I think I’m currently at 20/26. It does now ring a bell that once upon a time Blizzard announced they were splitting the game into thirds, with one race’s full campaign accompanying each new expansion. I would complain about this, but as I get further into the campaign I realize just how expansive it is, and they’re right, it is about as long as the original storyline in SC1.

I really do like how the campaign utilizes different units and upgrades than the multiplayer, and it really makes it more fun to play. The missions are diverse and intense, though I will admit they can be unnecessarily long-winded at times (do I really have to sit around and wait for EIGHT trains to raid? How about five?). Each new mission introduces a new unit you can build, and the corresponding mission is usually built around that unit. I see why they did that, but it’s a bit obvious that you’re just supposed to build an ass ton of that new addition and you’ll usually steamroll over the computer. And since you’ll get a new unit in the next one, there’s hardly an opportunity to go back and use all the old one’s you’ve amassed.

“THOR IS HE-UHH!” Well not really, I haven’t unlocked him yet.

There’s also a series of interesting side missions where you play as Zeratul, who has left Raynor a “memory crystal” that details his journey to find out what the f*ck is going on with the Xel’Naga and the mysterious Protoss/Zerg hybrid creature we saw at the end of Brood War. It’s a cool opportunity for at least a little bit of a Protoss campaign, and the strategy-heavy missions have been some of my favorite to date.

As you progress through the campaign, you reach an occasional “choice” mission where you either choose to help your crew member, but risk being screwed over by them later. Not one to be screwed over later, I have so far chosen to ditch both allies, as I never really liked either character anyway. There are different rewards for choosing different paths, and I have to wonder if and how these decisions will come into play later on. I’m growing to hate decision engines though, as sometimes I just wish I could progress through a game without wondering “what could have been.” Just write the story and let me play it out! All games do not need to be a “choose your own adventure.”

Screw you, dude.

Onto multiplayer, the source of much joy and frustration for me and a million others. I’m mid-level gold league in all categories except 1v1, in which I’ve stayed at #3 silver for my last five wins or so. I’ve got about a 50-50 record so far, and in my journeys I haven’t encountered anyone too terrible, as they’re all trapped in the Copper league I’m assuming, and so I’m stuck with people who actually know what they’re doing, which is kind of a bummer. Yes, I like a challenge, but I also like winning, and I get frustrated anytime someone organizes a perfectly timed Zealot push or Reaper rush and I get shafted as I didn’t perfectly prepare for such an occasion, but that’s just how the game works I suppose. Unless you’re a super high-level strategist, a lot of it just rock-paper-scissors in the end.

Void rays continue to be overpowered, and I saved a replay where I literally won a game essentially 1v4, as I took out the main bases of the entire other team while they were attacking using only a handful of Voids. To be fair, when attacked head on, they’re pretty flimsy, but if you have them fully charged behind someone’s base, there isn’t much, if anything, that can stop them.

I vote making them only air to ground.

Other strategies I’ve employed include early Reaper harassment with Thors to come later. Terran is generally my race of choice these days for their ability to quickly block off their entrance and avoid rushes, and the fact that mass Thors is pretty unstoppable if you get enough of them. I’m also a fan of Valkyrie/Banshee’s, and have one Banshee rush build where I can fly them over to someone’s main within four minutes of the game starting. Catches a lot of people by surprise, but if you get countered or rushed, you’re boned.

I’ve learned it’s exceptionally hard to combat an early Gateway plant in someone’s base with Protoss. I’ve won countless 1v1 games with that, and it’s just spirit breaking for most people to see a bunch of zealots charging out of dual gateways only yards away from their actual base. Most people quit out of frustration rather than fight.

Last time I wrote in, I hadn’t played at all with Zerg. I still haven’t done much with them, and I just don’t really know why they don’t appeal to me. I just don’t know many good strategies outside of Ling/Roach/Hydra, and that’s just boring. It takes forever to get air, and Mutas are generally pretty shitty unless you have like two dozen of them. I miss Guardians, those should show up in an expansion.

F*cking Zerg. How do they work?

I’ve also had a chance to play a few custom games, which are the “madness” and “tower defense” games that were spawned in SC1. Since the game is so early, there are a LOT of kinks to be worked out in these games, and almost none of them played without errors. That being said, I can already see how vast the potential is here, as the world editor is more of a sandbox than it ever was. For talented people willing to invest hours and hours of their time, that is. We thank them for their sacrifice.

I’m enjoying myself, now that I’ve mostly stopped grumbling about the graphics on my system being shitty. Someday I’ll have a new computer, hopefully by the time the expansions come out, and I’ll be able to see the game in its full glory then.

Alright, by the next time I write in, I expect to have beaten the campaign, and to have been recruited by a pro Korean Starcraft team. See you then.