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Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm


Geoffrey Taucer
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I am enjoying the campaign, It is kinda easy, I played WOL on normal and it felt just about right for me. (Silver) But now Im playing on hard and havent had much of a problem.

The writing can be kinda cheesey but I dont think It takes it self to seriously, and Im not a huge fan of the Dinosaur type Zergs.

But the biggest draw for me is the mutations, and the RPG like elements you get with Kerrigan.

Edited by linkspast
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Thoughts on the single player campaign:

The campaign is way too easy, and the writing is painfully bad.

I don't want to say I'm disappointed with the writing so far, but it definitely feels lazy. I was talking to starla about the game and literally the main plot point is: "Oh, the Starcraft equivalent to FOX News said some shit that pissed me off. Fuck it!"

Everything does feel a little easy, and I find it odd that many of the achievements in Wings of Liberty that required the game to be on hardmode only require normal, if any difficulty, this time around. If anything the only reason I don't get every achievement every time is because I beat the mission without realizing it's over.

There's been quite a few "oh...that's it?" moments.

I'm hoping something amazing happens near the back half...Wings of Liberty was pretty consistent, but this just..ehh.

Protoss expansion should be (had better be) intense though...

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Spoiler alert: I am going to assume you've played up to WoL.

I'm unimpressed by our main character.

The redemptive side of the arc is good. Obviously Ms Kerrigan regained her soul even through the events of the entire campaign, which I actually think was handled very well. Her soul is not a shining example of honour, as in say Mr Horner, General Warfield, or even Valerian Mengsk, and you have to remember even Sarah Kerrigan the flirty ghost of SC I was a stone cold killer who'd waste you without a moment of hesitation if you were between her and her goal. (Nova is basically her before the infestation.)

Playing through the missions, you reach the end and go, "Yes, that's a Sarah Kerrigan who is on the way to atone for her actions as the Queen of Blades - but there's still an excellent reason for anyone to put a hole through her forehead." That's appropriate.

I actually don't mind that she flipped out over Fox News. You'd flip out if someone did what they did to a good friend and someone who's just saved your lift. What's inappropriate is the most powerful being in the universe (and a rational, tactically minded person) deciding she wants to start an altercation in the middle of a war zone because they can't go back to rescue her boyfriend. And she does owe Jim a lot, but their interactions and love story in this game are totally insane. It seems forced and shoe-horned into the narrative - even if they used to be together, there's nothing showing why and how they'd have such strong feelings for each other again.

And it characterises men in love as lovesick puppies willing to put up with whatever insanity comes their way from their girlfriends (true to a point. Which Ms Kerrigan has long passed.) Looking at you, Mr Raynor. Dear God.

PS: It's been an honour, General Warfield. A true honour!

Edited by Wacky
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If you're intro the eSports aspect of SC2 or if you play for the multiplayer, it's pretty much a given that you have to get this expansion. The few units they added for each race dramatically change the match-ups and increase the APM ceiling. Those Swarm Hosts especially make Zerg feel so much... swarmier.

The single player missions, I feel, are pretty good. The story and atmosphere are a step below Wings of Liberty, imo, but it's still enjoyable. I don't think there's much that Blizzard could have done to make a Zerg vessel feel as lively as the Terran mission hub, but oh well. The missions themselves have great variety and do an excellent job of introducing the various aspects of playing Zerg. There's even a mission that introduces creep spread in a fun way.

I should give the disclaimer that I haven't played many of Blizzard's older games, so for example, I also thought Diablo 3 was a ton of fun, having not had my expectations raised from playing Diablo 2. I approach Blizzard games with the expectation that I'm going to get kind of a loose but colorful story with gorgeous production values, and solid core gameplay mechanics. In that respect, HotS didn't disappoint.

As an aside, I'm really curious what Anita Sarkeesian would have to say about the portrayal of Sarah Kerrigan. (Not trying to derail this into a 50-page topic on tropes in gaming, just saying...)

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Reapers are broken; I fully expect them to be nerfed in later patches.

I still hate protoss (both playing as and playing against) every bit as much as I did on WoL.

Zerg, though. Zerg is damn fun.

Reapers arent too big of an issue, yeah you can get hit by them fast, but a spine behind the mineral line or an extra queen takes care of them.. they do like 4 Damage per shot... I havent really ran in to many people doing an early reaper harass tho.

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Reapers arent too big of an issue, yeah you can get hit by them fast, but a spine behind the mineral line or an extra queen takes care of them.. they do like 4 Damage per shot... I havent really ran in to many people doing an early reaper harass tho.

I think the difficulty with reapers is that they can kite you to death... well, maybe not to "death." They just feel like they're doing a lot of damage because Zerg can't touch them without ling speed in the early game. They can jump between your basses, and sinking a spine in each mineral line is expensive early on. But they can be defended against... examples can be found in the recent GSTL pre-season.

It's sort of like when I have to deal with Swarm Hosts as Protoss... they feel like they're just killing you slowly because the swarmlings are free units... makes me panic every time. But if you can get on top of them or sneak an observer over and siege with Tempests, they die so fast. Likewise, once you catch those reapers, they melt.

Defending against any kind of brand-new aggression is hard at first. Like, I'm having the hardest time right now as Protoss, trying to learn how to read the various new Terran aggressions. The drops are just brutal right now... Widow Mines, Hellbats, Marine/Marader... you never know what they're going to drop out of there to ruin your day... until you learn to read the info your scout is giving you. And truly, they can't deny you with a wall-off any more, now that you can just float a mothership core over it. Figuring out the new rules of "standard play" is really most of the fun of having an expansion, imo.

It does look like there are some balance issues right now, but they only really affect me as a spectator, not as a player. I'm not that good; I have plenty of room to simply focus on improving myself.

Edited by crypto_magnum
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I have plenty of room to simply focus on improving myself.

Yeah me too, If I can with an unbalance in their favor, if it gets fixed it will make me better.

Ive lost so much stuff to those drops, esp with the boosted Medivacs.

And widow mines make my APM go through the roof.. Im always sending lings out one at a time..

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So my slow and methodical approach of getting up to Heavy Metal and defending like a turtle until I get there now has to deal with the insanity that this expansion now has.

I guess a lot more fun games with friends before I try my hand at a ladder match again.

And I thought I was pretty good with 100 APM! :P

Edit: My play has been entirely with Terran to the point that I still use SC I strategies with Zerg and Protoss. Which don't work.

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