 |
|
Blizzcon 2008 Coverage >> Starcraft 2 gameplay panel summary
The StarCraft II Gameplay panel was quite interesting and gave a lot of news on the topic of Single Player gameplay for once. We saw more shots of Jimmy’s bar (which was revealed to be on Mar Sara, not on Hyperion), and many aspects of the way the new THREE parts will be shown. Rob Pardo takes us on a tour on StarCraft 2 Single Player Gameplay.
The Big News
The BIG news is of course the splitting of StarCraft II into the StarCraft Trilogy:
This was done, because the alternatives seemed very dull for the dev team (more later), and the advantage is more maps, more ingame cinematics, more info, more pre-rendered cinematics etc. They will be sold as separate products, probably similar to expansions of the game. Whether there will be an actual expansion later on or not is unknown, but it seems very apparent that you only need part one for playing multiplayer with ALL races. This split is mainly to enable the extensive single player experience, and to release the multiplayer game within reasonable time.
Just so that we will get to play more races than the Terran when getting the first game, a small Zeratul mini-campaign will be added, with a “deeper storyline” that transcend the other campaigns. If there will be similar “mini-campaigns” for the other parts of the trilogy is unknown.
New Focus
The new focus is Single Player, and Blizzard decided they want to focus heavily into this, and to show a whole new game with StarCraft. A new approach compared to StarCraft I, where you will have more choices and varied, interesting missions. SC1 had that to some extent, but it will be even more advanced this time around. This time we’ll see a lot more of the StarCraft Universe, all the world and planets. Blizzard are nto done with the multiplayer aspects, but they mostly involve minor changes and balance tweaks at this point. There are no more whole races to create…
The focus will start with Jim Raynor, as the actual character you are representing, not some faceless “Executor” or officer of some sort. He starts on Mar Sara, in the bar Kalos unveiled screenshots of. Tychus Findlay is a supporting character, whith long history with Jim, even if he did not appear in SC1. He’s the marine being welded up into a Marine suit in the first SC2 teaser.
Environment
Several things in the environment will be clickable and activated, such as the Jukebox, and TV screens with Mengsk propaganda channels. Entire 3D TV programs from the UNN news network is available, and you can easily see how Mengsk has been able to defeat Jimmy in media instead of on the battlefield. Accusing him of stealing biological weapons and other things. Quite well made TV programs as well, with voice actors. For people who have read the novels, we might even get to see Liberty!
The Star Map is the most intricate and impressive feature, with a detailed outlay of the local part of the universe right at hand. Choice of what planet to visit next and where to go will vary depending on alliances made through your choices. Picking and choosing units and technology when entering combat. Single-Player-specific upgrades such as “Bunker NeoSteel frame” will enhance Bunker strength, or basic things like StimPack upgrades. The prices are in the millions of credits, and since every mission only gives a little, your choices might mean a lot down the line.
The Star Map shows you the mission, and you get briefed from different people, depending who are initiating it. In one case it’s Tychus Findlay, or another might feature civilians under attack by the Zerg.
Cinematics
Ingame cinematics are of a quality even higher than the pre-rendered ones in StarCraft I (perhaps the lighting is slightly better), and involves both lip synced dialogue as well as action scenes such as a swarm of Mutalisks attacking the Hyperion, and the ship is using multiple cannon batteries to shoot them all down. The real size of the Battlecruiser becomes apparent, and some truly awesome videos is to be expected by the community.
The trilogisation of StarCraft 2 also enables Blizzard to make many more pre-rendered cinematics, something many fans will appreciate. While no source on BlizzCon, press kit, panel, QA or interview have talked of a set number of cinematics, Samwise did mention that it would be likely to have at least an introduction and finish for each campaign. Cinematics they talked about was about 4 minuts, which is very promising. On the whole, we can probably expect at least 6 cinematics, plus the Tychus Findlay one.
Why Three Parts?
Blizzard faced a lot of challenges with StarCraft II, the behemoth of a project it is becoming. By the sound of Rob Pardo, the game was probably meant to be launched by now or something, in old internal plans. Meeting this problem of three HUGE stories, alternate missions and lots of ingame cinematics, a greater need for development time became apparent. The fact that they use this story mode apparently increased the required development by 3 or 4 times what it would have been in a simpler Single Player mode. They were faced with three options:
Out of these three, they decided on the second option, and all the fans at the panel gave them a sounding applause in agreement. Rob promised that this meant nothing for multiplayer, and this might be a very good way for lore and single player enthusiasts to get exactly what they want, without holding back the game for all progamers and multiplayer fans.
How Does it End?
The campaigns all have a start and an end. How to get there, and what things you do on the way will be unique to each player. If you want to play all the content, it will be a 26-32 hour experience. Each Campaign will end with an end cinematic [Ed note: It’s also EXTREMELY probable to start with an intro cinematic]. There will also be more easter egg maps etc.
What Cinematics Will We See?
We were not shown the cinematic, but as Blizzard makes them, they start with an animated draft (hand-drawn, with sound), and then create the 3D animation afterwards. We were shown the animated draft, wich pictured Sarah Kerrigan being abandoned on New Gettysburg by Arcturus Mengsk. Quite cool and interesting, and we are very exited to see the full version.
We also got to see 1 minute out of one of the cinematics, in which Zeratul is looking for Xel’Naga artefacts, and finds Zerg. The Queen of Blades had apparently been waiting for him, saying “I thought you were going to get here eventually”, not seemingly aggressive.
Q & A Session
Coming soon!
As much as I want this game right now. I’ll have to say, take your time Blizzard, take your time.
Sweet! alot of cool new details. Dividing singleplayer over 3 products was certainly surprising, but if we get that much more dept and quality out of it combined with an earlier release of part one than I can’t do anything other then like it 
It sounds like all the elements for a truely epic set of campaigns are there: bring it on!
So, it may seem that I’m the only one who thinks that they now want to charge $150 for what used to be $50…
Interesting decision, but its gonna suck to have to buy the game 3 times to get the whole kabang :<
I hope we will be able to ask Blizz some question on this very subject today!
You should see the interview I had with Sigaty later
He goes into detail on SC expansions and how it works, I’ll give more info soon.
I understand that it may not be fair to say that they are tripling the price, as they are going with a more ‘episodic’ scheme that seems to be a lot more popular these days, like Half Life 2. Which is a good thing, because it will probably mean that they can devote a lot more time to developing the entire experience. The post with info from Sigatay mentions a nearly threefold increase in maps also. But none of this really seems to salve the sting of paying three times. I really hope that they set some good price points for this.
It really sounds like they are going to be three standalone products. It may be hard from their perspective to set the price point low enough for the majority of consumers if they are offering three standalone products. If they offer it episodically, they could set a higher price point for ‘Wings’, say the average $50. Then they could release ‘Heart’ when they finish it, for say $20 - $30, and so on for ‘Legacy’.
- StarCraft Videos |
Network sites: IncGamers.com | World of Warcraft | WoWUI | Guild Wars | Warcraft 3 | Diablo 3I | Diablo Wiki | Hellgate: London | StarCraft 2 |
| Copyright © IncGamers Ltd. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy |
I absolutely agree that the best option of the three was #2 and applaud the developer’s decision to separate it into three products. The confirmation of easter egg maps and selectable missions, although discussed previously, is also appreciated.