Nobody is perfect. When it comes to creating an epic story arc, awesome pre-rendered movies and a fully fleshed campaign Blizzard has done well. Now, Blizzard speaks of Starcraft 2 and the world shuts their mouth and listens to each and every word. What’s the word?
A Trilogy.
We’re not talking about the Lord of The Rings style trilogy, but three games with full stories which all end with the gamer being satisfied at the closure, not cliffhangers.
The three standalone games will be (says GameStooge):
- Terrans – Wings of Liberty
- Zerg – Heart of the Swarm
- Protoss – Legacy of the Void
Gamers are probably thinking, “so, I can play multiplayer with only one race?” No! The campaign is split into three separete games, not the races and multiplayer features. Although, each title is sure to introduce something new to the game engine, Blizzard has said:
“Nothing changes for multiplayer or skirmish mode. All three races are fully implemented from the get go. Each campaign will feel like an epic story – not a cliffhanger into the next one. They will each have separate arcs that have a clear start, middle, end – and you will feel like you’ve really finished *something* at the end of each game. More content than we’d previously planned – many more Movies, Missions, etc.” (games.on.net)
From our perspective, it seems Blizzard is itching to release the multiplayer system to the world sooner than later, considering some countries use Starcraft as a professional league, but they don’t want to rush out fast to market campaigns just to satisfy this multiplayer desire.
Instead, they’re going to take their time, in usual Blizzard style, by releasing the game as they finish it… per races story. This should give us a less watered down storyline or having one or two races with a piss poor storyline while another has a kick ass storyline because it was done first.
End result? Multiplayer gamers will be happy in the end while those that play Starcraft for the story will need to wait for each game to be completed. We know Blizzards release schedule is “when it’s ready” so we can only imagine how long it will take to reach that third game in the trilogy.
@Exbox One and Paystation 4
The Chinese have a very different understanding of what copyright infringement is. At university I was genuinely laughed at for having physical UMD disk games for the PSP by my Chinese course mates. Apparently in Hong Kong you can purchase an already cracked system and download the games online. As lucrative as the Chinese industry is, I don’t think Sony and Microsoft can ever crack it, regardless of the legal status of gaming in the country. Piracy will kill any profits they hope to make. The only games that can survive in China are Freemium games, which offer online transactions for additional content.
@Street Fighter 5 BETA be worth it (sorry my pun game is so weak)
I was never really a fan of the Street Fighter series. Like Jonah, I found it too technical. My biggest problem with the series was its poor storytelling. That’s why I grew up playing Mortal Kombat, with its accessible lore and buckets of ketchup. I was surprised to hear that SFV will be exclusive to PS4. Sony must be paying Capcom a lot of money to keep it that way. Ironically, while skipping Microsoft Xbox One, Capcom is bringing SFV to Microsoft PC,meaning that I can still enjoy the series as long as I overclock my system and get a diamond fiber connection.
@Pee-sports
I still can’t believe that e-sports actually exists. At least don’t call it sport. Comparing Usain Bolt to some spotty snotty teen who calls himself DeathLordOverkill745 is just laughable. Nonetheless, e-sports is difficult to ignore. Its raising the profile of gaming, and often in a negative way. Maybe some proper regulation will do it some good.
@QOTW
I can’t think of an expansion pack that I actually enjoyed. I don’t tend to buy expansion packs on their own. I get them with GOTY edition or in a bundle, so for me they become just a part of the game. The only recent ones I can think of were Dawnguard and Dragonborn for TES5, but all they did was throw extra content at my already overpowered Dark Elf.
I believe that a good expansion pack must provide you with a new gameplay mechanic, that lets you enjoy the game in a new way. Its what distinguishes an expansion pack from DLC. Throwing more of the same at you after you already completed 10 hours of a game is not worth the money. The expansion must also feel like an addition to the game; not something that was supposed to be there in the first place.