StarCraft had it all: great music, great voice-acting, cutting-edge visuals for the time, free online multiplayer, an interesting story, and 3 playable factions, which was not usual. This was peak Blizzard, the GOAT of PC-gaming.
Anecdote - I used for live off on demo CDs and online flash games in 05/06. I also got pirated music CDs from local shop. So, while playing the StarCraft demo, I used to blast Bollywood songs while stomping on Zerg.
Yay!!! One of my very favorite games… the Terran escape mission is still one of the most memorable gaming experiences I’ve had. Wonderful to see you back!
There were some wild multiplayer maps on Battle Net that weren't even about StarCraft. We played stuff like DnD, Turret Defense, and Resident Evil maps, all made in that map editor. People made that game do things it should never have been able to do.
I've never played starcraft and watching your video, coming from a gamer with similar tastes as me (RPG, platformers, poimt and click adv) made me really interested!
I hope you'll give it a try. It's definitely not easy by any means and you may spend a lot of time scratching your head about what to do next, but when things actually work out, it's such a good feeling. Good luck!
That intro was something else, what a way to get started! The first thing that really popped out at me was that you played in a more conservative style, which I did as well with both RTS and turn based strategy games. It's a good style I always thought, because running out resources was a game over in a lot of cases. Some missions force extreme amounts of resource management, and trying to get the most out of each unit really pays off, which is as you described, makes playing Terran really difficult until you get the medics going, they were a game changer and I knew you'd enjoy having them for sure! Micromanagement of certain units I couldn't agree more with you. A big pile of easier to manage units that worked out really well against everything was great in most cases vs the CPU. Your strong usage of siege tanks/science ball baiting the enemy to chase you techniques in some Terran maps was awesome, and really killed their defenses! Guardians were just the best at killing buildings at range, and your Archon play was just devastating with Protoss. The micromanagement of the specialized units in this game(Defiler, Queen, etc) felt far more advanced than their counterpart units in Warcraft, and I too just enjoyed assembling a big group of Hydralisks to just handle everything in a more efficient manner. For me much like yourself, I also enjoyed the Protoss overall for raw power, since they were both durable and high damage. Plus playing as them, you usually didn't too often have to face CPU Protoss and their insanely accurate usage of psionic storms, which were so frustrating for sure! Playing against my high school friend, I preferred Terrans due to him being especially vulnerable to a massive stealth Wraith attack, which always caused him to yell in disgust at me from down the hallway, which I believe was a common thing at LAN parties as you touched on in the conclusion, haha. You did a marvelous job with this game overall, and I really enjoyed both your entire playthrough and this excellent review and your thoughts on all the different aspects of the game. I'm very much looking forward to you eventually finding other tactical games to try out on both console and PC, as this opened the door for you for all kinds of stuff!
It sounds like we have a lot in common in the gameplay style department, which doesn't surprise me since we both also hoard all the items in games as well, haha... thanks for sharing more about your gameplay style. I honestly can't wait to see you play some WarCraft and watch what someone who really knows what they're doing can do with this kind of game. Your story about playing with your friends and destroying them was definitely an inspiring thing for the conclusion of the video. I came away with this one feeling a little closer to everyone else that's had this game under their belt for decades now. It feels like I'm finally in on the big secret, and I love that! The only person I got to yell at with this game was SG when he loaded up a versus match against me when I wasn't even at the computer one night and came back to find myself being attacked by probes. Too much fun! Thanks again for being there during the streams and for taking the time to watch my videos. It really means a lot to me!
Your description of the gameplay as an ever-accelerating assembly line is quite apt! I enjoy playing StarCraft, but it definitely made me feel like Lucy working at the chocolate factory. I recall the stress of those final levels; I can’t imagine trying to do that on stream. And after getting through StarCraft and Brood War, you have NOTHING to fear from tactics RPGs. At least none of the ones I’ve played. Go have some fun with the Fire Emblem series! And great video as always! Keep them coming! :)
Haha I know exactly the clip of Lucy you're talking about, and that sums it up well. It was definitely tough on stream while trying to be active in chat, but people really seemed to enjoy my triumphs as much as my struggles. It was a good experience! And thanks for the encouragement! Since this video, I've played through Final Fantasy Tactics and really enjoyed my time with it. I'm looking forward to trying out other games like that too.
Back when Blizzard put out bangers on the regular. The segue between SimCity 3000 and Starcraft was curious to me at first but ended up making perfect sense. I had been using the mouse and keyboard setup since I was a grade-schooler so it had never occurred to me that this kind of interface for a video game would feel alien for some. I think my ex would have liked your channel. She seemed to have loads of fun playing video games but oftentimes her sense of embarrassment about not having games growing up and feeling like she didn't know how to play them lead her to not play. I think hearing someone else talk through their frustrations about not knowing how to make the game work so to speak would have been a nice thing.
I missed out on Blizzard's golden era, but better late than never! And yeah, I didn't do much PC gaming as a kid minus the four games I showed: King's Quest VI, Fable, Twinsen's Odyssey, and Curse of Monkey Island. I didn't really play anything action-based with a mouse and keyboard until much later in life. I'm glad the videos feel like they'd resonate with people that might lack some confidence in trying new things. I grew up gaming but didn't get to try a lot of different stuff back then. It took a lot for me to try something brand new and eventually muddle my way through, but I'm glad I did. I have a great sense of satisfaction from being able to say that I got through the majority of the game and the expansion on my own merits.
@@hungrygoriya Yes, I think hearing someone else talk about things like the controls and other stuff that people who have been playing every kind of game since they were tiny don't think about would be helpful. It's kind of eye opening for me to understand why a control scheme might be intimidating.
I'm not interested in Starcraft. But I'm always interested in what Hungrygoriya has to say. You could make a video about almost anything and we'd be here for it.
Awww I appreciate that! I know I won't catch everyone with every video, but I played this game for four months and had a lot to say about it. Thanks for checking it out anyway!
That' was a fun review! Starcraft is such a great game, I got completely absorbed & couldn't be bothered to do literally anything else. Even using the bathroom or getting something to eat were completely annoying, almost unacceptable distractions. After about 2 weeks of this, I forced myself to quit because the rest of my life was falling by the wayside.
I can imagine how much this one could draw someone in like that. I felt like that when I played Diablo II for the first time back in 2012 for a while. It was all-consuming!
I don't have a whole lot of multiplayer experience; I was too young to be a part of LAN parties and I'm generally not a competitive person. However, I do have a pretty amusing memory of moving around a Terran base onto an island, plopping down a few surface to air turrets and essentially creating a stalemate out of a loss. At least, that's how I remember it. They probably wiped me eventually, haha. Thanks for the video. It unlocked some nice memories.
I was one who played through this game when I was young. It was probably one of those games that made me love Sci-fi and RTS games. It sort of Game me Warhammer 40k vibes which I love! Unfortunately I only ever played through it once. There was a problem with the disk I had and it glitched out during the last map! So I made it too the end but could not see the ending 😞 I never picked up the game again after that. It was fun watching your play thru! Reminded me why I loved this game and maybe one day actually get back around to beating it The other Sci-Fi RTS I played a lot was “War Winds”. An interesting story about a four way world war between the different races of an alien planet. Each race has different bonuses and weaknesses which gives them different tactics and missions. Anyone reading this who wants a different experience, it’s worth a look! Awesome intro btw! Gotta love that early 3D look 😂
Noooooo :( I'm so sorry that you never got to see the end of this one. I think the classic version is free on Battle Net if you're wanting to revisit it without the need for the disc. War Winds eh? I can't say that I've heard of it before, but I'll make a note and have a look into it sometime. Hopefully some other people will give it a try. It sounds interesting! And thanks about the intro! I wish I could personally take credit for it but my husband's entirely to blame for its quality and humour.
I find it kinda funny that you described "Desperate Alliance" as the mission that got you hooked on Starcraft and gave it praise, whereas speed runners hate that mission and I've heard it described as the worst mission in Starcraft. Starcraft also has many cheat codes. Using them can be helpful when learning the game as you can practice different strategies or just keyboard controls quickly. It also makes the game more approachable as you don't need to find a friend if you can't beat a level.
If I got stuck there, it might've been a different story. I can see why speedrunners would hate it since they'd have to wait. Totally different! I wanted to try to finish the game without cheating since I don't normally use codes or skips when I play through games for the first time. I only play with what information I have from the materials supplied with the game, but that's a good point for others that might want to pick this up and not linger so long on some of the harder missions.
WORLDS COLLIDING. I had way too many emotions about these games and their plots when I was 15. After the Human and Zerg campaigns the Protoss campaign and its geometry and soothing blue light were like easing into a bath.
I loved settling into the Protoss routines. I was actually really sad that they were the end of SC and the start of BW because I wanted to be able to look forward to playing as them again.
Great video. StarCraft is one of my favorite RTS games. I liked it so much I got into StarCraft 2 and beat that game almost every level on brutal, getting all extras.
Oh wow... I wasn't compelled to jump right into the second game after finishing the first one, but I've heard it ties up a lot of loose ends from this game.
Like many people, my first RTS was Dune 2. While that game and others like it lacked the QOL improvements StarCraft had, they were also more manageable. Micro consisted of clicking on one unit at a time to move and attack. From Dune 2 there was Warcraft and then Warcraft 2 that ramped up the complexity of the games. The fact that you jumped right into StarCraft kinda shocked me. Tackling the complexity of that game at a first go was impressive, but I wasn’t surprised you managed it. What did surprise me was how much you enjoyed it. While you say your like the comforts of routine and the familiar, I was pleasantly surprised to see you embrace a totally new genre of gaming at such a high difficulty. GG
Also. Great editing. I think we have a new intro screen for the rest of your RU-vid videos. Jk =P. Video had the typically awesome HG touch. I liked how you gave your gaming background and setting the stage for this video to be a review from a person without any experience in this genre. The narrative journey you took us on from beginning to end as you improved was a great summary of what it was like to peak in from to time watching your progress. A great watch. Thank you and for all the hard work you put into these videos.
I suppose StarCraft was like getting thrown into the lake headfirst and being forced to swim with all its complexities. I'm definitely curious to see what some earlier RTSes are like now that I know the ropes of a more complicated game. It might be easier to go backwards now! And I did really enjoy this one. Sometimes it just takes having someone that knows you shove you out of your comfort zone, and that's what SG was able to do for me here. I would've never had the confidence to try StarCraft without his gentle nudging. I'm really grateful for that! Thanks for the GG!
Haha imagine if we just recycle that one StarCraft intro for every video going forward? My husband is entirely responsible for the space cutscene intro at the beginning, and we brainstormed a lot about how to introduce the video. I think the perspective that I have as someone brand new to the genre was a unique one that we really wanted to put across clearly. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thank you so much for taking the time to leave a thoughtful comment. I appreciate it!
Not only was SC:BW my first RTS. It was the first computer game I ever played other than Oregon Trail and Number Munchers. I loved it so much I ran out immediately and bought my first computer an AMD K6-2 333Mhz. From 1998 - 2001 I was absolutely addicted to SC:BW. Clan Wars, Channel Wars/Botting on Battle Net and such. What a great time to have been on the internet.
Wow, that opening! Nice job! I've never played Starcraft, since I mostly stuck to console gaming. Though I did play a lot of Heroes of Might and Magic 3, and the first Age of Empires. I also played the hell out of the console ports of Star Control (cool that you referenced that series in the video). I also never played Sim City 3000, only Sim City 2000, which was still a lot of fun. But my first RTS was Herzog Zwei. Learning how to play that game without the manual as a kid was quite the challenge. But maybe that's why I have such fond memories of it. Herzog Zwei is often cited as the very first RTS ever made. The creators of Dune 2 and Command & Conquer both used Herzog Zwei as inspiration for their own games. Of course with any such bold claim there is bound to be some disagreement, but it was undeniably a very influential game for the genre. As a prototype of RTS games, Herzog Zwei is vastly different from its descendants. It's a much more arcade style experience, where you control your main unit directly like a typical action game, and you will infinitely respawn if you die. There is no story, just two identical factions with 8 maps, there's only one resource, and you can only give orders to one unit at a time. But that also lends it a sense of breakneck pacing and excitement with low stakes and low commitment. And the fact that it works as well as it does using only a 3 button Genesis controller is a testament to how well made the game is. It never ceases to amaze me that such a PC centered genre had its foundation in a home console release. Anyway, I didn't mean to ramble so much. I just want to say: Welcome to RTS games! I don't play them all that often, but sometimes I just get this hankering for a good strategy game, either real time or turn based. The last one I played was Stellaris, which I forced myself to stop playing so that I could get back to all the other games I was neglecting.
Herzog Zwei was the very first of the first? I do have it on the Genesis and should probably try to get around to that sooner than later. Low stakes and low commitment sounds like it might be an interesting thing to try now that I've played something that feels like the complete opposite. And thank you for the warm welcome! I think there are many aspects of these games that I absolutely love like the base building and resource allocation, and it all feels like one big puzzle-y experience trying to get it just right. I'm definitely keen to try more in the future! As always, you're welcome to ramble on as long as you like. It's always nice to hear from you! Thanks for taking the time to check this one out and leave a thoughtful comment. I appreciate it!
Well, if Wikipedia says it, it must be true, right?! Depending on how much you want to stretch the definition of RTS there are some older games that are close, but not quite there. Bokosuka Wars is the big one that I remember. It never left Japan, but you can easily check it out on a NES emulator if you want to see how weird it is. Funny enough, if there is an older RTS it might be the first Herzog game, which was only on home computers that were never sold outside Japan. I watched some footage of it and felt it wasn't quite an RTS, but maybe I just didn't see enough of it. And in case you were wondering, Herzog Zwei is German for Duke 2. Sadly, they never made a Herzog Drei, though there is a fan inspired game called Air Mech (I think). I intended to get it, but for some reason I never got around to it.
Ah, Starcraft, a game that defined my early teens. I was late to the party by a few years, getting into the game in 2003, but it hooked me immediately there on out. I made a TON of custom maps, even my own story campaigns with my own and my friends Original Characters, even trying to make new "stories" out of the Starcraft base by renaming units to other things and making my own universes. None of them were terribly GOOD mind you (though I did pride myself on becoming quite adept at knowing how the trigger system worked for doing tricky little "cutscenes" with units in game), but its the memories that mattered the most. And I downloaded a ton of killer custom games then too. A Day At School was hilarious, The Thing maps were Among Us before Among Us, there were about 2 million Lord of the Rings and Dragon Ball Z RPG maps (and 2 million more Helms Deep defense maps), and of course the MONEYMAPS, Fastest Ever etc, where you could get tons of resources super easily with hacked mineral veins. Good times all in all. I'm sad to hear you didn't like the story of Brood War, though! I personally think its fantastic. Starcraft is a bleak, awful universe where almost all power structures are totalitarian and fascistic in some way or another. The UED basically erased all forms of culture and reduced humanity's identity to a grey sludge; the humans in Kroprulu are super militarized as well and you basically topple one dictatorship to put another one in power, the Zerg are at best mindless feral monstrosities and are at worst mindless feral monstrosities used as weapons for an all-consuming intelligence, the Protoss are religiously dogmatic not only to the point of alienating their own kind but to the self destruction of their entire species because they'd rather fight and die as proud warrior guys than face facts. Brood War shows us the totality of such a setting. Kerrigan's been betrayed or used by almost everyone, and she plays all their bigotries and hatreds against one another. Brood War isn't just because its a war for control of the Zerg Broods between the UED, Kerrigan and the New Overmind, but also a literal brooding grudge as Kerrigan plays everyone for fools and either directly or indirectly causes their destruction. Aldaris, one of the traditionalist protoss who is trying to open his mind, sees through the ruse early on, but because of how things are set up, seem like he's rebelling and he's killed for it. The UED mosey in like they own the place and wipe the floor with Mengsk's petty little hegemony but completely underestimate the Zerg and what they represent. Jimmy is like the only good guy out in the world and he's one man against heaps and heaps of oppression and evil. So like, its a bad ending for sure, but the universe is bad. It's all bad. The only allies are enemies after all. Just, uh, stay away from Starcraft 2 if you're upset about Jimmy not being able to take out his vow to kill Kerrigan.
I'm much later to the party if it's any consolation! It sounds like you got a very good run out of StarCraft with its story mode and the editor. I imagine there must've been quite a bit of finesse required to get things really perfect in the scenario building mode, and it's great that you have so many memories doing that sort of thing. I'm not sure how many custom levels other people made for download back then, but I imagine there must've been tons and tons. I'll see if any of these ring a bell to my husband. That would be pretty funny! You raise some good points about the story in Brood War. I suppose I just found the characters in StarCraft a lot more compelling than those in the expansion, so maybe I didn't give it as much of a chance as I should've. When you put it all down like this, it sounds pretty good! And oh noooo... others have been saying StarCraft 2 will provide some resolution but maybe it's not the one I'm looking for... uh oh...
@@hungrygoriyaVanilla Starcraft is, on its own merits, a much more satisfying space opera epic, and Tassadar, Raynor and Fenix are top tier likeable protagonists, and Brood War does put them in the background to focus on newer, much less enjoyable protagonists (save for Artanis, he's a pretty cool guy). As for 2, it's honestly a weird mess of peaks and valleys. Wings of Liberty is a really fun romp that ultimately doesn't actually go anywhere until the very end? So you get lots of good Jimmy fun at least. Heart of the Swarm is fucking awful and has some of the worst writing I've seen in any of Blizzard's stuff, and I play World of Freakin' Warcraft. Legacy of the Void is a fuckin 9/10 for me that gives the Protoss a great arc and probably comes the closest to what you were wanting out of the Brood War story conceptually, but it is oh so stained by the Epilogue missions which are not only just boring to play, but also just kind of bring out the worst elements of all three of SC2's installments and puts them on display front and center. It's such a fucking whiplash after Void surprised me (as I went into Void expecting the worst after Swarm burned me so bad).
I've covered a few on the channel before like Fable (the point and click adventure from 1996) as well as SimTower, but this is my first real deep dive into one. Thanks for taking a chance on something new with me!
I used to play through the Starcraft campaigns at least once a year, before I kind of fell off the RTS genre. Like yourself, the RPG elements were the most enticing for me so Starcraft and Warcraft III eventually became my transition into tactical RPGs. I never did get into the PvP. I am so glad you spoke about the music, though. That OST has stuck with me so long, whenever I find something that sounds similar it immediately becomes replayed into oblivion. Lovely view into a novices exploration of an intensely popular video game, I really enjoyed this! Cannot wait to see what you dive into next.
I started to believe I just didn't like RTS games after not playing any for the past 10 years, until I replayed Dawn of War a few months ago. I am more entry level when it comes to RTS but a lot of them do not factor new players into their designs.
Hey thanks for saying so! I was so reluctant to play this game or even share the experience with others because it was something I was so unfamiliar with, but I'm so glad I took the plunge. Something like Warcraft III seems like it'd be right up my alley, especially since I love that swords and shields fantasy stuff. The music in StarCraft was so good. Protoss and Terran music were my favourites without a doubt, and I would've loved to use it in the video, but I can't imagine Blizzard would've allowed that without copyright claiming it. We did a test upload of some intro clips and they even got flagged so I was really hesitant to put any of the music in. I've been listening to the music a lot since finishing the game though!
Ah, the humble RTS. While I did dabble in Starcraft in my youth. Had the shareware version of the game from my cousin and my dad refused to buy it because he would only buy a PC game if he was going to play it. So I had Age of Empires(both 1 and 2) to fall back on. I never really went through the story of Starcraft as a kid since on the shareware version I had you could only play through the Terran's campaign and that was it. But I did eventually played it about 8 years ago now just because I was curious what actually happened in the plot. Protoss have always been my favorite of the factions to play, carrier spam! Quick edit: loved the intro!
Awww, well better late than never! It's nice that you eventually got to try out the game in full. Go team Protoss! And thank you very much about the intro! My husband took the reigns there and we had a great laugh as he put more and more of that together. He's just getting into video editing and I'm really proud of what he accomplished there.
Snoman Gaming did two videos about his introduction to turn-based Tactics Games. One of the videos is specifically about Wargroove, and the other video is about the genre as a whole. I would recommend those videos.
I love all the Dune 2 music here; Frank Klepacki is a genius! I haven't played this, because my brain is just not wired for real-time multitasking like this, and also because I'm way too much of a bulldozer for most Strategy titles, Real-Time or otherwise, but I do enjoy stuff like this, because it brings me to a world I otherwise couldn't visit.
I loved listening to the Dune 2 soundtrack and trying to pick good tunes for this video. My husband played the Sega Genesis version with his cousin growing up and was really excited to revisit that game a bit while we were working on the video. I'm still not sure I'm completely sold on the pressures of real-time strategy, but it felt like it pushed me right out of my comfort zone into something brand new. I never really excelled at this game but it was still really fun when I got a win. I'm glad you gave some of these kinds of games a try just for the excuse to go somewhere new. That's great!
33:52. to be fair, you were playing through Statcraft AND Brood War as your learning experience. For us at the time, when Brood War came out, we had been playing Syarcraft for quite a while now. Our strategies and stules refined, then Broodwar added in new units changing the dynamics. You on the otherhand had more new units to learn which honestly, is easily able to overwhelm anybody! Its a lot of units to remember. By the time of Broodwar, My Mouse and Keyboard Hot Keys were second nature to me. Yiu effectively learned one game amd immediately went on to completely change the dynamics of what you had just learned. I never thought how difficult that would be before.
It was very tough in many ways for me to push through Brood War. I hadn't really thought about it this way either until you mentioned it, but you're absolutely right. There was so much to remember and not so much experience with refining strategy on my part.
@hungrygoriya Mmm i should also add, i wasmt the biggest fan of what happened to Kerrigan either. I always hoped she'd wake up, be more who she was before being so, consumed. Kind of a redemption story, over the, sequel bate. 2 was boring to me lol.
Awesome intro! Congrats on 30k subs too! Thanks for the spoiler alert regarding Brood War storyline; I beat the base game many years ago, but never got to play Brood Wars and as you mention, the difficulty is already ramped up, so it's a bit hard to just go straight to it after years without touching the game. The story is pretty good, so maybe I should give it a try :). Regarding the intro section and Tactical RPGs, my impression is that they are much more similar to old JRPGs compared to RTS, though the genre can be diverse too. For example, Final Fantasy Tactics is mostly combat driven (with story segments in between) and combat itself is quite similar to JRPG combat, but with a big focus on terrain. A similar entry-level game of that kind is Mario + Rabbids (which is quite cheap on sale). Then you have Heroes of Might and Magic and King's Bounty like games which have a focus on drafting troops and resources, additionally to combat. Ogre Battle / Advance Wars have a focus on strategy, rather than combat. Anyways, most of these games are relatively accesible in my opinion (Heroes of Might and Magic is probably the hardest to learn, though you may like its exploration component), so you should be fine trying any one out :). A separate not that related point, have you checked out "The CRPG Book"? It's a beautiful free (digital version) book about the history of CRPGs. It's really cool to see old games that you may have played and forgotten or games that you may want to play.
Hey thanks on both fronts! The 30K just kinda crept in on me. The channel's growth has mostly been a slow burn so it was a pleasant surprise to see it finally happen! And no problem about the spoiler alert. I hate getting games spoiled for me, especially the story. It's way more fun playing completely in the dark, especially when the narrative's so good like this game's was. Thank you for the suggestions on some new games to try. I was actually thinking about the Mario + Rabbids game recently because I picked it up pretty cheap a while back but was also intimidated to try it out for all the reasons I mentioned here. Heroes of Might & Magic is a series I've heard spoken about a lot but have obviously never tried out. I really do enjoy those kinds of fantasy worlds so that's the one that speaks to me the most out of what you've mentioned, but I've also seen some Advance Wars and Ogre Battle over the years and wondered about them too. King's Bounty's totally new to me. I think I perused the CRPG book a very long time ago (it's older, right?) and meant to get back to it, but never did! Thank you for the reminder!!!
@@hungrygoriya , about the games: King's Bounty is like a simplified version of Heroes of Might & Magic, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it to you as it takes out some of the aspects you'd probably enjoy the most. Anyways, there's probably a line from RPG to RTS like 'RPG - Tactical RPG like FF Tactics - Tactical RPG like HOM&M - Tactical RPG like Ogre Battle / Advance Wars - RTS'. All options are good :); if you feel more comfortable with RPGs, maybe FF Tactics (or Mario + Rabbids which is in the same category) would be a good starting point (for what's worth, FF Tactics isn't hard to learn, it's very fun, but it has some difficulty spikes in my opinion). Regarding the book, yes, it's some years old, though it has been updated over the years. Something I really enjoyed from the book is that it focuses on what made each game stand out when it was released, so you get an idea of how the different systems have evolved over the years.
huge fan of this video, as someone who plays SC2 competitively and grew up with SC, and command and conquer (whos music was a nice touch here as well) if you ever go back to the Starcraft 1 well, the remaster is almost entirely graphical with the gameplay so well preserved that remaster and original owners can play multiplayer together
We listened to the C&C soundtrack a couple of times during my playthrough, especially during the Zerg campaign where there wasn't really much music to take in sometimes. It was pretty good! And I had no idea that the remaster was purely graphical! It's cool that old and new players (or old players wanting a fresh coat of paint so to speak) can enjoy the game like that. Right on!
Awww thanks for the enthusiasm about it! I had a blast with StarCraft and Brood War, even if the latter was a really tough thing to get through for my skill level. Next up will be something short and sweet in contrast to this beast of a video, haha... thanks so much for stopping in!
3DO Star Con 2 is a very good port of a very fun game. I highly recommend it. You might want to try out Star Control 1 first, just for context. It has a solid Genesis port if the PC version isn't as easy to get running as Starcraft was.
@@hungrygoriya combat needs a second to get used to. Challenge your husband in 1v1 battles to get an idea what ship has which abilities and have fun in the process. :)
That is a FANTASTIC intro! As for the games themselves, I got into them a bit as a teen, but never got as deeply into them as many people did. The real-time micro-management wasn't something I enjoyed in a game.
Thanks about the intro! It's entirely my husband's doing and I think it came out really well. That real-time micro-management is something I don't know that I could've handled when I was younger and could barely handle now. I liked the game a lot but I did find myself struggling to know what to do and how to do it effectively in the moment. Has your opinion on that changed or are you still feeling that way?
Happy to hear you stepping outside of your comfort zone. I think ill enjoy this game through you still! Though if youre still craving some RTS type stuff, id recommend 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim! I do appreciare how in depth the story is! But I still dont know if I cah make that leap!
Good to know about 13 Sentinels. Thanks for putting something new in my ear! And yeah, it's a pretty huge commitment to start up StarCraft. Definitely do it if you want to dabble, but if you're in for the long haul, it might suck you in and consume your life for a while, haha
It was such a treat catching you streaming this game and hearing your thoughts as someone who felt initially intimidated by RTS games but found so much to love in their first one. I grew up with the Age of Empires series, which had a lot more beginner friendly settings (easier AI difficulty settings, skirmishes with multiple allies, non-combat victory game modes, etc.) that allowed me to ease into the challenges of RTS gameplay over many years. Super impressive that you managed so well after jumping into the deep end with such a challenging classic RTS. If you're in the market for another classic RTS experience with just as much depth but far greater quality of life and a more relaxed vibe, I'd highly recommend giving Age of Mythology a try, as it also offers a great campaign with a continuous story, cool factions/units and excellent mission designs. If you want to try something even more interesting albiet a bit more challenging, I'd also recommend Impossible Creatures: a game where you design your army by splicing various animals together in awesome and often hilarious ways, and which has a very enjoyable story-driven campaign with a 1930s pulp-science adventure vibe.
Awww thanks for saying so! I really did enjoy playing through StarCraft and Brood War, even when it was squeezing me for all I had in terms of my patience. I'm still not sure how I managed to squeak by some of the hardest missions, but I feel like Brood War trained me up to come back to StarCraft one day and really do a better job with it. Age of Empires seems like a really cool series. I've watched my husband play that a little bit and before I played StarCraft, I never had any idea what was going on! I think it's the "our world" stuff that prevented me from wanting to play it myself. Age of Mythology and Impossible Creatures eh? I'll look into those! Anything a little more relaxed might be fun now that I've put in some time with a difficult adventure in StarCraft. Impossible Creatures sounds like what I know of the game Spore, but instead you're making horrible armies of evolutionary misfits, haha... the mental picture I have about it all is great! Thanks for the recommendations and for the kind comment!
That intro! XD You've really excelled yourself with the editing and little references this time. Also, it's nice to see the horse make an appearance (include a horse, reference a horse).
The intro was my husband's entire brainchild. I'd hear him cackling downstairs as it developed and grew into what it is. Bubsy in hot pursuit of some space explorers turned out to be perfect to ring in this massive project! The horse clip was so memorable for me! I loved Ultima V but good LORD were the keyboard commands hard to get into my brain! I'm glad StarCraft was more lenient with me and my gooey memory.
StarCraft's Siege Tanks are *really* satisfying. That heavy, bassy *thwooom,* and watching your opponent's buildings just disappear... exquisite! As much fun as StarCraft can be, I have a hard time keeping up with RTS games. I prefer pauseable real-time and turn-based strategies. On that note, if you've a hankering for more strategic fare, I heartily recommend the original 1994 X-Com, which has been modernized and plays like a breeze thanks to the OpenXcom source port. It's still my favorite game all these years later and I'm sad to say there's nothing else exactly like it, despite how many people have tried to recreate it.
I loved that noise whenever it was coming from my side! The worst was hearing siege tanks creep up on me and destroy everything I built. I don't think I ever got used to the "stress" of StarCraft and would enjoy something a little slower paced too. It was still fun though! I'm glad I did it! X-Com you say? I should really have a look into it. My husband really enjoys the sequel, which I think is a tactical RPG? He surprisingly hasn't mentioned much about the first game. Thanks for the heads up about it!
@@hungrygoriya Yeah, the later "XCOM" games by Firaxis are pretty good for sure. The original one's a different sort of beast, though. It's a two-tier strategy, with a global map and base management, and ground-based missions in which you throw your team of guys and gals against the aliens. It's the perfect blend of complexity and simplicity. It's never overwhelming, but there's always something to think about to keep you feeling engaged. Mostly, "which cool new thing do I want to unlock next," or, "all those scouts flying around in Australia probably means there's a base there and I'd better do something about it." The newer games don't really have those simulation elements, and while not everyone misses them as much as I do, I think they're definitely a great addition to the game. If I recall, the lead designers were pushed to add them to the game because of the success of the publisher's Civilization series. Luckily, this case of executive meddling turned out great!
Haven't finished this one yet but I'm excited to since SC is one of my faves, loved the intro and that you went with the og cd version haha. I started with Dune 2 on PC/Amiga so I was fairly used to RTSs when this came out, but it still took months and a lot of "re-learning" to actually be good at it when playing against others online in standard games (that's a whole other topic, the different kinds of games you could turn SC into online with custom maps). SC was a pretty big step forward when it came to story integration and faction/race diversity, and of course the cutscenes were pretty top notch at the time. There are more accessible RTS games now but I do think SC is a good introduction if you want to play a 90s one, unless you're gonna use mods (there are really good ones for Dune 2, Warcraft 2 and Dungeon Keeper for example), which might require some knowledge of the games already to get the most out of them.
In the mission Rebel Yell, I can only think: Last night a little hydralisk, he came spiting in my door Last night, that little zergling, he came crawling under my floor
This was a very good video! It kind of brought me back to when I played through the game back in the day. I think you are correct about the weird turn the characters and the narrative took in the expansion. I was kind of disappointed that most of my favorite characters were dead and many of them through betrayals that you could see coming a sector away or else, as you observed, by my own hand. I started out pretty sympathetic to Kerrigan and some of the more flexible minded characters, but by the end it all seemed as though maybe Judicator Aldaris was right all along.... Probably not entirely, but still. I think that there is no reason to not give turn based tactics games a try. Final Fantasy Tactics is very, very fun and while somewhat challenging, it will reward you if you give its systems a thoughtful try.
Thanks so much! I hoped my experience would be a relatable one, and I'm also glad to hear that you're in agreement about the direction of the expansion's story. I've been told StarCraft 2 covers some of what I was hoping to learn about my favourite people, but I think I'm a long way out from playing that game. I've actually played Tactics since this review and adored it! I feel like my StarCraft experience translated really well to turn-based combat, and it was a huge relief actually having time to think!
I devoured StarCraft when it first came out. Then Brood Wars. Then loved StarCraft 2 even more. I've played it a few times. Fantastic games. I won't give blizzard money anymore but back in the day I bought anything they made. Great video! Loved seeing this through fresh eyes and your videos are always so well done.
I think the original StarCraft is free on Battle Net if you want to play but aren't interested in supporting the company directly anymore. I've played a bit of the Diablo games and enjoyed those a lot. They really knew how to work magic back then!
I did! The end of Brood War was a slog and felt like a vertical climb sometimes, but I loved the rest. I did click on the SCVs quite a bit, as well as many other units. The battlecruisers were one of my favourites since I only got into watching Star Trek about a year or so ago. The lines were very funny!
considering your choice of background music (at least some of the tracks), can we expect a review of the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection? If you don't have CDs of the original games sitting around the collection is probably the best and easiest way to play them.
Maybe some day? This was my first RTS experience so there's still lots more for me to take in. I think we do have many of the original discs lying around.
Once, as Protoss, i was losing. i dont normally do the Archon group, but he was vulnerable to it so i put everything i had into building them. Alas, my gamble failed. He was going to win. So, I considered the situation, and made like 3 or 4 archons. Then... cloned them with fakes! I attacked and made sure the real ones hit things in unison so as to cause "Fire" damage on buildings.... The Guy forfeit, and I won. xD
@hungrygoriya My best was the Zerg. I would be so, heartless with my units sometimes. A favorite play of mine. Put a bunch of units underground in front as wave A. then one more forward as wave B. Let them bring up siege tanks, let them sat scan and spot wave A. the siege tanks would destroy wave A. Then advance forward to start sieging my base. Not knowing they are set up on top of Wave B. The moment they begin to move out of siege mode, hydralisks pop up right on top of them, and destroy them before they can start shooting. I am all for preserving units! But sometimes, you got to sacrifice a pawn, to take a rook off the board.
I never played Starcraft much in my childhood, but I played another one, Total Annihilation, a lot. Age Empires too, I suppose lol. I did enjoy these games quite a bit, but can't say I explored the genre much outside a few titles. If you do happen to be interested in giving another RTS a try I do recommend Total Annihilation btw. It's pretty streamlined with just two resources, metal and energy, with more focus in combat. Banger soundtrack too.
Hey thanks for the suggestion! I'm interested in trying out more RTS games in the future and have a small list of recommendations. I'll add Total Annihilation to the bunch. I feel like it'll be easier for me to step backwards into something less complicated having been through the tribulations of Brood war.
I had revamped the whole game in the editor to make it feel more like syatship troopers. Rebalancing things, was really fun for a kid. ;) I had gotten into Warcraft 2 first, and that had a map editor too. =)
Excellent video! It makes me want to dip my toe into PC strategy RPGs. Do you have another console strategy game on your radar now that you've beaten Final Fantasy Tactics?
I hope you'll give some a try! I was thinking of the Shining Force games or even Ogre Battle stuff eventually. I think Fire Emblem stuff's a bit too intense for my tastes with the permadeath.
I've only seen a little bit of what the remastered version looks like. Everything's so smooth! I'm interested in playing more RTS games in the future so I'll certainly look into those ones.
I remember playing a LAN match against my brother where he turtled a bit too long, as Terrans tend to do, while I surrounded his base with Protoss cannons and units. He never amassed enough forces to break through. I think he eventually ran out of resources by the time I made my assault. My brother was the multiplayer in the house; we had to use the original disc for that and I couldn't play online with him using the CD copy we made. I don't recall if he did much on the "ladder" but he certainly played custom games, often whose gameplay deviated from the base game.
Oh nice! The Protoss were so powerful compared to the Terrans. It was like night and day playing as both factions. My husband described the first instances of "bunker wars" with StarCraft and played a lot of his friends' maps as well. I'd love to see if anyone has posted a video or two on their custom games they made back in the day. That'd be awesome to see! Thanks for sharing!
@@hungrygoriya I think I liked Protoss more for their psionic warrior vibe and high technology over their place in game balance. When Starcraft II came out, I vastly preferred the custom games over the competitive ladder. That being said, I also watched high level competitive game replays with commentary by Husky. At one point I think I watched more Starcraft II gameplay than playing the game itself. Maybe I'll get back into it and actually play the Zerg and Protoss campaigns as well seeing where the custom game scene is these days.
@@hisoj I don't recall much. He might have sent stuff in piecemeal such that I was able to reinforce the blockade after his assaults and/or I was able to amass units to always eliminate his advances. Choke points and the game's bad pathfinding probably helped too. We were also just kids and thus were not the most refined players. I certainly was not aware of the hotkeys back then, and I'm sure I cheated through the later levels of the campaigns.
If you and your husband like to game together and communicate/strategize, you should give Starcraft 2's commander Co-Op mode a try. SC2 has even more QoL improvements and gets rid of some of SC1's inconveniences. Co-Op mode breathed fresh life into the game for me. My gf was new to RTS so we took advantage of the difficulty slider and slowly became better until we could comfortably play Brutal difficulty.
You know what? He's never played StarCraft 2 so that's actually a fantastic idea. Definitely something I'll propose to him. It's awesome to hear that you and your girlfriend had such a good time with it as well. Thank you for the suggestion!
I've always loved starcraft but never played the expansion until recently. I was never very good at it. The sequel however is one of my favorite games of all time
I remember you saying that one night. I'll definitely see what StarCraft II is about someday because it might be just the ticket to resolve some of the story here. I came away from this game feeling like I'm not very good at it, but I had fun anyway.
@@hungrygoriya Ohh ya, don't get me wrong it is fun to play stuff like this and Age of Empires with your friends in a casual way but I'll never be good competitively. There was one called Total Annihilation I'd play single player and I liked it because you could turn down the speed when things got a bit crazy.
If you had fun with this playing the single player, I highly recommend checking out Warcraft 3 or Red Alert 2. Both are fantastic RTS games from that era with great fun storytelling and campaigns that will ease you into their respective mechanics Also, cool intro
I got into RTS (briefly) with Blizzards other series, Warcraft... particularly Warcraft II Tides of Darkness, which is still one of my favorite games of all time. It's simpler than Starcraft but IMO that makes it more accessible. Plus I just vibe with Warcraft II's "Tolkien by way of Saturday Morning Cartoon" setting more than Starcraft's gritty space marines. These days Warcraft is only associated with an MMO and has become something I don't even recognize.
My husband was explaining what Warcraft I and II were like, with the two factions that are very evenly matched. I'd definitely feel comfortable playing earlier RTSes now that I've gone through the wringer of something a bit more complex. It might even be relaxing to try something like that! I'm also a huge fan of fantasy settings with swords and armour and dragons and all that... I'd probably enjoy Warcraft quite a bit! I played a tiny bit of vanilla WoW when it came out since my husband wanted to revisit it and I jumped in with him. It's a pretty neat game, but I really prefer stuff with more structure with a clear beginning, middle and end. It's cool, but not really for me.
@@hungrygoriya For me a moment that bugged me about WoW was when I saw this cutscene or something of a giant godlike being sticking a huge sword in the planet. That felt more like something that would happen in an anime than anything I associated with Warcraft (which formerly, as I said, was more in line with classic fantasy like Tolkien). And yeah, in Warcraft II the factions are basically mirrors until you get magic or certain upgrades. Which for me is fine--a lot of what I like is the goofy stuff like their voices or what happens when you repeatedly click on a unit. Another channel I watch, Pixelmusement, just put out a review of the original Warcraft. I recommend giving it a watch. Although Warcraft II is a huge improvement over the first.
This one makes my playlist too. Hearing someone talk about a game puts me in the right mood, pictures of the game appear in my mind and before I know it I'm off to dream land.
To combine RTS games with your love of the NES I would suggest Megalomania. Its an excellent port of an Amiga or Atari game but I don't know if it was released outside of Europe. It is unlike anything else on the NES, contains speech and I think it would hold up well today.
Starcraft came out smack in the middle of my first big PC period. Prior to... I think it was 1995, I was a Sega Master System and Megadrive kid. We got our first PC around the mid decade while was about 14-15. In those days I mainly played Doom clones, the odd point-and-click and yes, strategy games. Indeed, Blizzard's output of the time (Warcraft 2, Diablo and Starcraft) were a big part of my teen years, despite rarely playing multiplayer. Australian was then, as now, absolutely terrible. These days, with the genre slowly stirring once more after a long slumber, I'm tempted to jump back into RTS, but at 42 years of age I'm not confident I could keep up with the break-neck pace of micro-management that needed.
It's great that you got to try so many of those titles when you were younger. I wish I'd had the chance to do so too, but better late than never! I would say you should jump in and see how far you get. No shame in trying it, and I think StarCraft classic might be free on Battle Net!
I didn't use any cheats except one after I finished the game to find the secret mission, and of course to hear Radio Free Zerg. What does power overwhelming do?
I was more of a Command and Conquer guy, mostly because I didn't really have a PC until after the PS1... and C&C definetely was on the PS1. Edit: I realize that comment is kind of barebones and pointless, on its own like that but...I can't add much, other than when I got a PC then I still had trouble getting into the *craft RTSes. Even WC3, which spawned things like DotA ...they just couldn't hold me. Starcraft looked outdated at that point. So, more C&C for me, and then later on Dawn of War and the like. Regarding 'real world' war vs sci fi, I definetely prefer realworld settings. Could just be German culture tho. Even as children we'd play soldiers of all kinds lol. Usually American wars tho, because we had the toys for that. (Much easier finding a toy M16 then something German or Russian or something) Landmines were emulated with empty 'cap gun' ammo cases lol. They were clear and crunched loudly when stepped on. Good times...good times. Also the reason why I love(d) so many war FPSes, although eventually I got tired of Russia and Germany being bad guys, so I transitioned from specialized games, like call of duty and the like, to sandbox like the Arma series, where one can just set up ones own scenarios.
I've heard such wonderful things about Command and Conquer and I think I might try some of them out someday for fun. DotA has completely flown under my radar, and while I've definitely heard the name before, I don't know anything about the game. Sorry that you didn't find much outside of C&C to hold your interest! I love your tidbit about German culture and how it might've made you more likely to want to play real world events than other places in the world. I hadn't considered that being a factor but that does make sense! I can also understand why always being painted as the bad guys in games could start to feel draining. Thanks for a thoughtful comment!
@@hungrygoriya Well, C&C is very B movie esque, which gives it some charme, and due to the extreme censorship in Germany at the time, the units were robots, too (lol). So, to me, who didn't know any better, that was 'sci fi' in a way, too, but in a more down to earth setting. Truth be told, Starcraft was probably the better game, gameplay wise, but the down to earth quality of C&C had a bigger appeal to me. It just overall seemed more strategic, and also, yeah, bias toward 'real wars' cause that's such a common thing here. And it's not like I disliked Blizzard or anything, I played the living daylight out of Diablo 1 and 2, I just could not get into the *crafts. I'd play Dungeon Keeper instead of Warcraft. And Jagged Alliance and Command and Conquer instead of Starcraft. In the end, I think the first Command and Conquer isn't all that good, but Red Alert is a classic and Generals is pretty good too. Music kicked ass too. Frank Klepacki put out some real bangers there, which still hold up, at least imho.
I definitely wouldn't consider myself good at StarCraft either. A few people have mentioned Total Annihilation, but not too many have talked about Supreme Commander. I'll have to look into that one and see what it's like.
Ooooo I might have to check out the novels sometime! I wonder how I'd fare with StarCraft 2. I've seen some gameplay and it looks so different, but I'm curious to see what happens to all my favourite people.
@@hungrygoriya the story gets epic, I played sc1 in highschool and sc2 didnt come out until 12 years later so while it may feel like they left a cliff hanger to sell games later today, it was really there was no plan at the time if they would release additional expansions or part 2 at the time and there was a lot of fan fiction and fan made campaigns during the interim that were a lot of fun and well made.
RTS definitely isn't the genre for me. I am NOT good at multi-tasking. I'd probably need something that's one screen or has something between RTS and Turn-Based that has it in small bursts. It's too much info to parse out.
That was my trouble towards the end of the expansion. Thankfully turning the game speed down gave me more opportunities to think in real time while the game chugged along. Multitasking's not my strong suit either! I wonder if there's an experience out there similar to what you're describing.
