StarCraft 2 will launch with Protoss mini-campaign

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Article from games.on.net:


Blizzard: StarCraft II to include Protoss mini-campaign
By James Cottee - Sun Jan 3, 2010 11:58am


The developer of StarCraft II has confirmed that the eagerly-anticipated RTS will include at least two campaigns: the Terran campaign, and a Protoss 'mini-campaign.'

This revelation was made via a post to the Battle.net forums:

"I won't go into details, since we don't give out information on the campaign of StarCraft 2, but I can confirm that there will be a Protoss mini-campaign that lets you control Protoss units. This part of the campaign mode is of course way shorter than the Terran part, but it is very fun to have a very different playstyle to add even more variety to the game. I am sure every Protoss fan will love this part of the Campaign!

"That being said, the Protoss mini-campaign will not prepare you for the multiplayer as Protoss, you won't be using all units or getting to know buildings and upgrades. In general, even for Terran, it is not the objective of the singleplayer to show how to play the game effectively, it is to tell a story and do a lot of fun things, that would not be possible in multiplayer. The Challenges, mini-missions, that ask you to complete a very specific task, are more suited to give players the opportunity to learn how to use the units and how to play the game."

You can read the thread that provoked this remark by clicking here.
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Wow, thanks for throwing us a bone Blizzard. Now I get 40% of a whole game for $50 ($60?) instead of just 33%!
 
Protoss ftw, I'll definitely be playing them until I find them to be underpowered.
 
TomGreen321 said:
You are getting 100%. This one just focuses on the terrans for single player. I don't see problem with it.
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~$150 is the problem with it.

I don't like Starcraft anyway, but I guess it sucks for people who actually do...
 
Is it going to be full retail ($50?) +2 expo priced (30) priced games? Or are all 3 going to be full priced retail products?
 
pigwalk said:
Is it going to be full retail ($50?) +2 expo priced (30) priced games? Or are all 3 going to be full priced retail products?
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They will be expansion priced because that's what they are. Blizzard said this in one of their interviews.
 
Einhanderkiller said:
They will be expansion priced because that's what they are. Blizzard said this in one of their interviews.
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Yeah, they're splitting them up so that each one of the three will focus on each race, or something like that.

I guess it makes sense though. If you consider the amount of data, art, and graphics, plus voice work and FMVs, this is going to be a very large game. Much larger than the original and Brood War of course.

I am just surprised they aren't doing it in one DVD. Or, it could be that each one is one DVD in size. Who knows? It's too early to speculate at the moment anyway.
 
This game was playable 2 years ago.... I'm pretty over it already after waiting so damn long.
 
"The Terran single player campaign is also not meant to teach you how to play multiplayer, but to tell an interesting story." (Paraphrasing). I hope Blizzard is ready to become the next IW. The may get a lot of sales with Starcraft, but they're gong down. They used to be about providing more content than anyone else for your money. Now it is less. They're taking episodic content to a whole new level. At least Valve releases the full game and then makes episodes. Blizzard is basically giving us Half Life 2: Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3, but no Half-Life 2.
 
Honestly can't say anything until it's released... you could have 20 hours of single player campaign alone for each one, and if they're priced at like $30 / expansion pack levels then it wouldn't be as bad.

You can try to speculate but you're just wasting your time until it actually comes out.
 
bitch bitch bitch, name one blizzard game that left you disappointed... ya thats what I thought. From what I read each campaign is like 30 hours so that sounds pretty good to me.
 
rcf1987 said:
bitch bitch bitch, name one blizzard game that left you disappointed... ya thats what I thought. From what I read each campaign is like 30 hours so that sounds pretty good to me.
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Starcraft 2. Protoss is my favorite race, hence auto-disappointment. And campaign in an RTS game is laughable. They're not going to change that unless they make Starcraft II into Starablo II.
 
Blazestorm said:
Honestly can't say anything until it's released... you could have 20 hours of single player campaign alone for each one, and if they're priced at like $30 / expansion pack levels then it wouldn't be as bad.

You can try to speculate but you're just wasting your time until it actually comes out.
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Fine, but unless they somehow expanded the complexity of each race 3 fold, this game is going to be a ripoff. The original Starcraft campaign lasted 30 missions (the Terran campaign is this long), and the multiplayer was incredibly deep due to the presence of 3 very deep, very well made races (Ok..zerg was clearly a little under-powered). This is going to be Starcraft: Episode Terran. I'm not saying it won't be good, or that the single-player campaign won't be long. I'm saying that the campaign was never the best part of the game. It was the diversity of going up against 2 other well made races, of being able to choose your favorite race, developing your skills, and then battling others. If you don't love Terrans (and I don't) you're SOL with Starcraft II. I'm not sure how that can be disputed.

Imagine if World of Warcraft 2 only gave you 1 character class per release. And added a single player bot-driven campaign to justify the full retail price. Would WOW fans be happy about that, saying, "oh but we have 30 hours of content"? Starcraft I had 30 campaign missions. Starcraft II: Terran also has 30 campaign missions. But it lacks 2 other races. Please find me the value there. The campaign is always secondary to skirmishing and online live battles in RTS's. Also, it is likely that they will not have extra maps in Starcraft II: Protoss and Starcraft II: Zerg. This is done for continuity. That means that quite literally the value you're getting for an extra 100 dollars is 60 campaign missions. That is 2 expansion packs, not 2 full fledged games.

So to sum up:
1)30 campaign missions in both SC1 and SC2.
2) SC 1 has 3 races, SC 2 has 1 race for $50
3) Similar number of maps (tied to campaign). Maybe SC2 will give more map permutations. Who cares, for $150 it should blow dry my hair and fetch my slippers.
4) An additional $50 for each previously included race + 30 additional campaign missions. Maybe the addition of some maps, but this would be unwise as you're hoping that Protoss will be able to go up against Terran & Zerg (and all combinations). Meaning maps have to be common to all 3 versions.
 
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My point is still, they aren't releasing much information... you can't make assumptions...

I'm just waiting, I'm not saying it's going to be anything... I'm not making assumptions...
 
akotlar said:
Starcraft 2. Protoss is my favorite race, hence auto-disappointment. And campaign in an RTS game is laughable. They're not going to change that unless they make Starcraft II into Starablo II.
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I'm pretty sure you have never even played sc2 so how can you say its a disappointment
 
rcf1987 said:
I'm pretty sure you have never even played sc2 so how can you say its a disappointment
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Your reading comprehension is off the hook. Protoss is my favorite race aka I don't love playing as Terrans. Cool?

edit: "it looked like you answered sc2 in answer to the "name a blizzard game that disappointed you" --> That's why I said you didn't comprehend what I wrote. I loved playing as Protoss against Terran. Now I will not be able to do that unless I wait for Starcraft II:protoss sometime in 2011-2012, and then hope that I can still find active players of Starcraft II: Terran. It's convoluted, and the only party getting added value over Starcraft 1 is Blizzard. The user does not benefit except maybe in the rare case that someone just happens to love single-race campaigns in RTS's that much. I'd love to see EA release Command & Conquer GDI version, and follow that up with C&C NOD version for an extra $50. See how people react to that. But Blizzard cannot do wrong right now. People have faith in them. Mark my words, they're already down the path "money-corrupted". It just takes time for that to become visible.
 
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akotlar said:
Your reading comprehension is off the hook. Protoss is my favorite race aka I don't love playing as Terrans. Cool?
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it looked like you answered sc2 in answer to the "name a blizzard game that disappointed you"
 
Blazestorm said:
My point is still, they aren't releasing much information... you can't make assumptions...

I'm just waiting, I'm not saying it's going to be anything... I'm not making assumptions...
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Read my 4 point post. You can actually make quite a few assumptions based on the info we've been given. This game will not present ANY additional value over Starcraft 1, unless you value the Terran campaign as being worth the full price of admission.

The other 2 Starcraft II titles will have even less content, as they will most likely need to use the same maps. So then you're getting Protoss + Protoss campaigns for $50, and Zerg + Zerg campaigns for $50. I'm hoping they will at least release these versions for ~20 dolalrs. Finally the continuity of the online community is broken, because each player will need to own 3 copies of the game to get the full title.

So you'll see a lot of people skirmishing against each other Terran vs Terran, and maybe Terran vs Protoss, but far fewer will play Terran vs Zerg (Zerg is the least popular, and as it comes out last you assume that fewer people will own the Zerg title...similarly fewer players will own both Protoss and Terran, as they will choose their favorite race...this way you can still get Terran vs Protoss, but few people will own both versions, hence the need for a common map set).

They will justify Starcraft II as 3 titles by saying that people generally prefer 1 race, and since each race will contain a 3x longer campaign the customer should be happy. This will work for those interested in playing 1 race exclusively, but for fans interested in either 1)Skirmishing against the Zerg & Protoss in 2010 and/or 2)Those interested in playing as the other 2 races, this will be $50 for $17 worth of content. For Blizzard this is a good financial move because they amortize the cost of [creation of] the game maps & races over 3 titles, since that is what will be common to all 3 titles. The reason we can deduce this is that each race must be balanced against one another by the release of each successive title (So if SC II: Protoss comes out 2nd, SC II: Terran must be balanced for Terran & Protoss, since for each race the other is a dependent variable. For SC II Zerg: Zerg can be balanced against the former 2, since by that point they know that neither race is broken, so the last title costs less to make than the first 2), so each release actually includes the amortized cost of all 3 races by the release of the 3rd title (and the amortized cost of Protoss & Terran with the release of the Terran version).

But it does not provide 3 races (or even 2 with the release of Terran, and with the release of Protoss) worth of user content. For Blizzard it would make just as much sense to give us the content, unless they plan to finish the each race upon the release of the last $50 game (which for the reasons I just outlined would mean Terran & Protoss were unbalanced until Zerg is released). The maps must be common because owners of the SC II Version 1 need to be able to play against SC II Versions 2(Protoss)& 3(Zerg). Otherwise people would be in a state of [justified] outrage saying that SC 2 costs $150, since you are only able to play against the community if you own all 3 titles. Cool story right?

edit: Expect the scenario I wrote above to be used in future titles. Blizzard apparently is doing something more benign: releasing only 1/3 of the campaign, but including the full multiplayer component. Since each campaign is the full length of the Starcraft 1 campaign, it now only affects those who enjoyed the Protoss & Zerg campaigns.
 
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rcf1987 said:
bitch bitch bitch, name one blizzard game that left you disappointed... ya thats what I thought. From what I read each campaign is like 30 hours so that sounds pretty good to me.
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starcraft 1 was pretty disappointing to me.
 
Akotlar

You do realize they stated that the multiplayer component is separate from the single player campaigns.

You can play as Protoss, Zerg, and Terran multiplayer in the first release of the game. As well as the Terran Single Player, you simple won't be playing the Zerg or Protoss single player until they release those campaigns.

And nobody has stated the costs of the game, they could be $60 each or they could be $30, you won't know until it comes out.
 
Blazestorm said:
Akotlar

You do realize they stated that the multiplayer component is separate from the single player campaigns.

You can play as Protoss, Zerg, and Terran multiplayer in the first release of the game. As well as the Terran Single Player, you simple won't be playing the Zerg or Protoss single player until they release those campaigns.

And nobody has stated the costs of the game, they could be $60 each or they could be $30, you won't know until it comes out.
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Yep you're right, I see that now. About the cost of the game, I stated $50 because that's the standard price for PC titles, but the actual sum didn't matter in the context of what I wrote.

I just dug through their FAQ, and I see that they are including the multiplayer component for all 3. That's good, in that case I don't have any real complaints. The confusion came from the announcement that the single player component would be split over 3 titles. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Blazestorm said:
Akotlar

You do realize they stated that the multiplayer component is separate from the single player campaigns.

You can play as Protoss, Zerg, and Terran multiplayer in the first release of the game. As well as the Terran Single Player, you simple won't be playing the Zerg or Protoss single player until they release those campaigns.

And nobody has stated the costs of the game, they could be $60 each or they could be $30, you won't know until it comes out.
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Indeed, half of those questions already have answers and aren't hard to find. The Terran campaign alone is said to be near the length of the original SC, and all 3 races are playable for multiplayer. The following 2 will act as expansions and will cover their full story in approximately the same length. New units/abilities/balance changes will be introduced as well, just like an expansion. I have no idea on the pricing of those.
 
Idiots complain to much. No wonder the legitimate the few complaints get drowned out. Give it a rest, stop speculating.
 
Obi_Kwiet said:
Idiots complain to much. No wonder the legitimate the few complaints get drowned out. Give it a rest, stop speculating.
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Yeah, my only concern is if the campaign length is going to be shorter than they say it is in terms of the main story. Since they're adding a lot of optional missions and junk, they can easily "pad" the gameplay hours with those and say it's total length is on par with SC1. I don't mind optional missions, but there has only been like 1 game I can think of where I'd actually *want* to complete them for the sake of the story and not the sake of completeness.
 
Y'all are blowing this out of proportion.

Just wait until they release 3 separate expansion for Sc2. :p

Or better yet....
Sc2: Terran + episode 1 and 2
Sc2: Zerg + episode 1 and 2
Sc2: Protoss + episode 1 and 2

big_eek3.gif
 
^^^^ lol

Look, guys, I hate to be the pessimist here. I know how that comes across, I roll my eyes at every pessimist on here.

But we all know who is running Activision and his philosophy when it comes to the industry.

If I'm wrong, I will publicly eat my words.....however I fully expect Kotick and Co to try and squeeze every dime out of this franchise in the crappiest ways possible. $60 for each campaign, special units/maps available for priced download, subscription fees for Battle.net, etc. I wouldn't be surprised to see any of it.
 
mastercheeze said:
^^^^ lol

Look, guys, I hate to be the pessimist here. I know how that comes across, I roll my eyes at every pessimist on here.

But we all know who is running Activision and his philosophy when it comes to the industry.

If I'm wrong, I will publicly eat my words.....however I fully expect Kotick and Co to try and squeeze every dime out of this franchise in the crappiest ways possible. $60 for each campaign, special units/maps available for priced download, subscription fees for Battle.net, etc. I wouldn't be surprised to see any of it.
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I forgot that it is Blizzard-Activision now. Well I won't be surprised if they try to milk as much money as they can from the series with 50 dollar expansion packs. Regardless of that, the game so far looks good. I just don't like how they got rid of the LAN option.
 
z3r0- said:
Wait, people are buying starcraft 2 for single player?
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The large majority of the RTS playerbase complete the singleplayer campaign, get in maybe 1-2 matches of multiplayer, then never play it again.

Relic did some research when DoW2 was released and concluded that only 10-15% of consumers are active in multiplayer after the first couple of weeks.
 
akotlar said:
Fine, but unless they somehow expanded the complexity of each race 3 fold, this game is going to be a ripoff. The original Starcraft campaign lasted 30 missions (the Terran campaign is this long), and the multiplayer was incredibly deep due to the presence of 3 very deep, very well made races (Ok..zerg was clearly a little under-powered). This is going to be Starcraft: Episode Terran. I'm not saying it won't be good, or that the single-player campaign won't be long. I'm saying that the campaign was never the best part of the game. It was the diversity of going up against 2 other well made races, of being able to choose your favorite race, developing your skills, and then battling others. If you don't love Terrans (and I don't) you're SOL with Starcraft II. I'm not sure how that can be disputed.

Imagine if World of Warcraft 2 only gave you 1 character class per release. And added a single player bot-driven campaign to justify the full retail price. Would WOW fans be happy about that, saying, "oh but we have 30 hours of content"? Starcraft I had 30 campaign missions. Starcraft II: Terran also has 30 campaign missions. But it lacks 2 other races. Please find me the value there. The campaign is always secondary to skirmishing and online live battles in RTS's. Also, it is likely that they will not have extra maps in Starcraft II: Protoss and Starcraft II: Zerg. This is done for continuity. That means that quite literally the value you're getting for an extra 100 dollars is 60 campaign missions. That is 2 expansion packs, not 2 full fledged games.

So to sum up:
1)30 campaign missions in both SC1 and SC2.
2) SC 1 has 3 races, SC 2 has 1 race for $50
3) Similar number of maps (tied to campaign). Maybe SC2 will give more map permutations. Who cares, for $150 it should blow dry my hair and fetch my slippers.
4) An additional $50 for each previously included race + 30 additional campaign missions. Maybe the addition of some maps, but this would be unwise as you're hoping that Protoss will be able to go up against Terran & Zerg (and all combinations). Meaning maps have to be common to all 3 versions.
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Yes, Legacy of the Void and Heart of the Swarm are expansion packs, not full games. Where did you get the idea that they were?

Wings of Liberty will be about the same length as three race campaign in StarCraft, but it will also have side and challenge missions. The side missions will give you money to buy more units and upgrades to your units and buildings and the challenge missions will probably have a leaderboard.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I just re-read your post. Are you saying that StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty will only have the Terran race playable in both single-player and multiplayer? If that's what you think, then you are wrong. The multiplayer will be fully developed with all the races. Only the single-player will be Terran-focused, though there will be a mini Protoss campaign in there -- that's what this thread is about.

EDIT: Nevermind. It's already been cleared up in the above posts.
 
AceCR42 said:
The large majority of the RTS playerbase complete the singleplayer campaign, get in maybe 1-2 matches of multiplayer, then never play it again.

Relic did some research when DoW2 was released and concluded that only 10-15% of consumers are active in multiplayer after the first couple of weeks.
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Seeing as how every RTS other than SC/WC and COH normally has piss poor multiplayer, I'm not surprised.
 
mastercheeze said:
If I'm wrong, I will publicly eat my words.....however I fully expect Kotick and Co to try and squeeze every dime out of this franchise in the crappiest ways possible. $60 for each campaign, special units/maps available for priced download, subscription fees for Battle.net, etc. I wouldn't be surprised to see any of it.
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Remember that SC2 will come with a hugely customizable map editor for everyone to use. At Blizzcon '09, they demonstrated its customizability is capable if making 3rd person shooter-type settings or even spaceship shoot-em-up style games (like gradius). Mapmakers will have the option of selling their creations through battle.net. That much I know, but it's aimed for serious small developers that can budget their own professional art assets, sound, etc. I don't have much of a reason to believe things like paid special units and bnet subs will happen. For any of the paid services that may happen, I'm guessing that it'll provide no combat advantages. Much like in WoW at the moment. The competetive aspect of the game is srs bsness in South Korea.
 
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sok0 said:
This game was playable 2 years ago.... I'm pretty over it already after waiting so damn long.
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Same. I spose if its graphically intense great but considering people are still playing the original and it's like a billion years old who cares. Just put the damn game out already though with only being able to play terrans I've almost completely lost interest. I'm sure I'll buy the complete set 2 years from now on steam for 9.99.
 
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