StarCraft: Remastered

[Cyberarmy]

Warcraft Adventures too.

 

[Morgoth]

The Ghost and WC: Adventures cancelation was never about the (lack of) money, but that the games simply weren't that fun. That was the old Blizzard.

Inversely today, Blizzard has no scruples to push out trash like Diablo 3, Overwatch and countless shitty WOW expansion packs without any regards to their once lofty quality standards. They're just another money-making engine now resting on the laurels of past achievements.

 

[ArchAngel]

The Ghost and WC: Adventures cancelation was never about the (lack of) money, but that the games simply weren't that fun. That was the old Blizzard.

Inversely today, Blizzard has no scruples to push out trash like Diablo 3, Overwatch and countless shitty WOW expansion packs without any regards to their once lofty quality standards. They're just another money-making engine now resting on the laurels of past achievements.

They are fun and they earn a lot of money. They just changed their target demographic. Those people find them fun.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

but that the games simply weren't that fun

Jesus christ how deluded do you have to be

 

[Morgoth]

but that the games simply weren't that fun

Jesus christ how deluded do you have to be

Deluded? Ghost looked like a bad Splinter Cell copycat and I played the leaked WC Adventures Beta myself, which wasn't anything special at all. Blizzard was correct to cancel these.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

No developer ever takes fun into account when developing or canceling projects. This is wishy-washy dreamy bullshit that has no relevance to reality. Fuck off with those broad statements.

 

[MilesBeyond]

Still waiting for a single reason to play this over the original.

Well, I mean, it'll have Brood War.

But for real, you're right. This is something I think Blizzard is doing really, really well here (for the first time in ages haha). The Remastered edition is pretty clearly targeted at SC2 players who are like "Man I hear all this hype about BW but I can't get into it. Too ugly." Most of the multiplayer functionality is also being patched into the original Brood War, Original BW and Remastered editions can play multiplayer against each other just fine, and BW is being released for free. It's great news even for people who prefer the original.

And to me, this is the biggest surprise about it. Blizzard has been such absolute shit in recent years that a move like this seems completely alien. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

No developer ever takes fun into account when developing or canceling projects. This is wishy-washy dreamy bullshit that has no relevance to reality. Fuck off with those broad statements.

Okay, I mean, yes, game development is a business, and yes, the bottom line almost always comes first, but that doesn't mean no one takes fun into account when developing or canceling projects. Games are still labours of love for many. I mean, that's why you have executive meddling. Developers push for what they think will be fun and will make a good game, and publishers push back to try and make it as profitable as possible. That's a generalization, of course, but by and large it seems to be true. The role of the dev is to say "What will make this fun and playable," and the role of the publisher is to say "What will make this profitable?" Most great games are the product of the two working together in harmony. Most great franchises that turn to shit are the product of the publisher getting their way too many times. Most great games that barely sell are the product of the developer getting their way too many times.

It's a stupid conversation anyway because in the case of Warcraft Adventures and Starcraft: Ghost, the two are one and the same. They pulled the games because they felt they weren't fun enough and as a result, would sell poorly. This was like twenty years ago, when neither of these brands had much selling power. Warcraft was mostly unknown outside of strategy gamers in the late 90s. No one was going to buy a crappy adventure game just because it had "Warcraft" in the title back then. Ghost was more recent (ish, depending on whether you count from the beginning or end of its cycle), but even in 06, the Starcraft name alone probably wouldn't have been enough to generate sufficient sales to make up for the damage to the brand name (outside of Korea, maybe). Yes, today they could probably release a shitty Warcraft adventure game and drown in sales, but 90s Blizzard did not have that luxury.

Also, I feel that we should take a moment to reflect on the fact that the guy saying "Fuck off with those broad statements" is also the guy saying "No developer ever takes fun into account when developing or canceling projects."

 

[Wilian]

Still waiting for a single reason to play this over the original.

Well it was couple second DL and since I don't care about MP I got everything I want in that 3-4 seconds bug free.

Works for me.

 

[janior]

I DONT CARE IM HYPED

 

[RhodokMasterRaceOfficial]

clearly targeted at SC2 players

Not if the official forum full of retards asking for unlimited unit selection is to be believed.

The real target demographic here is Korea and the Esports scene. Us foreign subhumans buying it is just a nifty bonus for Blizzard. I'm okay with this if it results in the kind of remaster I wanted, which it will, but it's important to realise that.

 

[RhodokMasterRaceOfficial]

Also, PTR Version 3 is up! Source: https://us.battle.net/forums/en/starcraft/topic/20753737831

Howdy Commanders,

We're excited to release the next iteration for your critique. We'll see you on the battlefield this weekend. Notes:

Specific Changes & Improvements

• Improved International Keyboard support
• Players will rejoin their channel after searching, creating, or playing a game
• Lowered OpenGL requirement to 2.1

Bug Fixes

• Fixed various crashes
• Fixed password failure cases
• Fixed various hotkey issues
• Fixed Esc canceling build orders when typing in in-game chat
• Fixed issues affecting AZERTY keyboards
• Fixed an issue with 3+ spawn point maps
• Fixed leaderboard rendering issues in UMS maps
• Fixed cause of SCMDraft crash
• Fixed issues with Whisper commands and Do Not Disturb

Known Issues

• Portrait animations can cause stuttering on some PCs. If you're affected, please disable portrait animations in options.

Existing installs will update, but the stand alone installers are here:
https://battle.net/download/getInstallerForGame?version=PTR&gameProgram=STARCRAFT

Cheers,
Pete

 

[HeroicBloodshed]

Unsuprised that Blizzard has resorted to jumping on the remaster bandwagon. They have not produced a new interesting IP in decades.

The original is still very playable (and still very popular in Korea), and matchmakers are generally much worse than the games you can find in in-house leagues.

Sad that they are unable to make a NEW game as well-balanced and atmospheric.

 

[RhodokMasterRaceOfficial]

They have not produced a new interesting IP in decades.

Overwatch is doing pretty well, but that game doesn't look like it was marketed to "us", so I don't know how interesting you'd call it. I certainly think it's interesting that Blizzard can go from big titty blonde women in every game to LGBTQIAP multi-cult bait.

 

[ArchAngel]

Well Heartstone made people consider card games good and made them popular.

 

[FeelTheRads]

So I'm guessing that with the 2D looking portraits they have in the HD version they won't be animated?

 

[RhodokMasterRaceOfficial]

The portraits in classic SC1 are still animated despite being 2D.

 

[Luka-boy]

So I'm guessing that with the 2D looking portraits they have in the HD version they won't be animated?

You can see the remade Battlecruiser commodore's portrait having at least some animation in the announcement trailer.

 

[FeelTheRads]

The portraits in classic SC1 are still animated despite being 2D.

You are clueless. Thanks for participating.

You can see the remade Battlecruiser commodore's portrait having at least some animation in the announcement trailer.

OK, there seems to be something going on there.

Maybe they're 3D renders too, this looked so much like a drawing to me that I thought it was just that:
http://cdn.gamer-network.net/2017/usgamer/Starcraft-Remastered-HD-Shot-(4).jpg

 

[Lostpleb]

Holy fuck, those classic TvPs. The memories.

If the Toss was any good he would have taken advantage of the T not having any turrets up, and he would have straight up won the game with Shuttle Zealot Bombs.

 

[luj1]

Stumbled upon this video which inspects the visual improvements more closely.

Spoiler

01:00 onward you can hear the remastered OST, I think it sounds awesome
02:40 Toss structures explode much better
03:00 some very cool zoomed stills. The details on the Nexus are amazing. Citadel of Adun (I believe it's called?) looks insane as well. Makes me think a zoom feature would be very cool


Very good clip showing how vastly improved unit sprites are. Recommended.

Spoiler

01:14 striking amount of detail on Terran units like the Firebat
02:12 new, enlarged unit portraits. Some are very different. Don't think they're animated anymore though, seems they went for a comic book-style appearance.

 

[shihonage]

If they fail to animate HD unit portraits, they screwed the pooch once again.

 

[Makabb]

Man Korea is crazy for starcraft

 

[zerotol]

i fucking hope the portraits are animated. I would take the old crappy ones but animated over the new dead pictures any day

 

[GloomFrost]

Stumbled upon this video which inspects the visual improvements more closely.

Spoiler

01:00 onward you can hear the remastered OST, I think it sounds awesome
02:40 Toss structures explode much better
03:00 some very cool zoomed stills. The details on the Nexus are amazing. Citadel of Adun (I believe it's called?) looks insane as well. Makes me think a zoom feature would be very cool


Very good clip showing how vastly improved unit sprites are. Recommended.

Spoiler

01:14 striking amount of detail on Terran units like the Firebat
02:12 new, enlarged unit portraits. Some are very different. Don't think they're animated anymore though, seems they went for a comic book-style appearance.

I think unlike the shitty torment remaster, starcraft HD is well worth the money.

 

[RhodokMasterRaceOfficial]

The portraits are animated, just look at the battlecruiser's one that you see in the announcement vid.