Something should probably be in the OP (if there isnt already) about there being a secret on Media Blitz. And that you better get it before you finish the game.
Its not really a spoiler in that when you finish that mission, it actually tells you if you found the "Secret" or not. :P
As far as length goes, it might feel lower because there are fewer go destroy the massively fortified, all over the map enemy very VERY gradually missions.
enlightenedbum on
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
As far as length goes, it might feel lower because there are fewer go destroy the massively fortified, all over the map enemy very VERY gradually missions.
Yeah I really liked this
The SC1 missions got very repetitive in this regard, and I'm glad this game had more variety
If you want a longer campaign go play skirmishes against a bunch of AI and you'll get the same effect as the "longer" SC1 campaign
Something should probably be in the OP (if there isnt already) about there being a secret on Media Blitz. And that you better get it before you finish the game.
Its not really a spoiler in that when you finish that mission, it actually tells you if you found the "Secret" or not. :P
True, but by the same reasoning, you could decide to replay it when you see the "Secret Found: No" message.
EggPuppet on
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
This is most certainly longer than SC1, not SC1+Brood war, but that's an unfair metric to use
I mean I guess if you play on normal and don't do any side missions it's shorter
No, I did every mission. I dunno, it just didn't feel as long as even one of the original campaigns, yet alone all 3 combined.
Maybe it's just the really shitty, abrupt ending. Who knows.
If you were expecting a cohesive, non-abrupt ending from the first part of a trilogy, the problem lies with you and has nothing to do with the actual game.
Dhalphir on
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
Whelp. Tried Haven. Got my ass stomped. I think I got way behind the curve, and I lost my forces on attrition.
I needed protoss research, so I decided to purge, and use Hercules drops to try and just overwhelm forces by dropping them in the middle. By the end the Mutas and the Broodlords just terrorized me, because my anti-air fucking sucks the way I've climbed the tech tree.
This is most certainly longer than SC1, not SC1+Brood war, but that's an unfair metric to use
I mean I guess if you play on normal and don't do any side missions it's shorter
No, I did every mission. I dunno, it just didn't feel as long as even one of the original campaigns, yet alone all 3 combined.
Maybe it's just the really shitty, abrupt ending. Who knows.
Some of it might be the fact that in SC1 nearly every mission was "build up your army and crush opposing army". A few exceptions. SC2 varies that structure up a lot more, streamlining how it feels.
But I beat all the missions on Brutal, and I think it was significantly longer than and more satisfying than SC, so meh.
This is most certainly longer than SC1, not SC1+Brood war, but that's an unfair metric to use
I mean I guess if you play on normal and don't do any side missions it's shorter
No, I did every mission. I dunno, it just didn't feel as long as even one of the original campaigns, yet alone all 3 combined.
Maybe it's just the really shitty, abrupt ending. Who knows.
Some of it might be the fact that in SC1 nearly every mission was "build up your army and crush opposing army". A few exceptions. SC2 varies that structure up a lot more, streamlining how it feels.
But I beat all the missions on Brutal, and I think it was significantly longer than and more satisfying than SC, so meh.
With the exception of the on mission where you're raiding the "lab" in the Terran campaign, I guess.
Synthesis on
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Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
Whelp. Tried Haven. Got my ass stomped. I think I got way behind the curve, and I lost my forces on attrition.
I needed protoss research, so I decided to purge, and use Hercules drops to try and just overwhelm forces by dropping them in the middle. By the end the Mutas and the Broodlords just terrorized me, because my anti-air fucking sucks the way I've climbed the tech tree.
Regarding Haven:
They give you Vikings at this point, and they really trivialize either branch. Build up 10-12 Vikings while fortifying your base somewhat and you'll be able to waltz around the map with no pressure whatsoever. Since you chose to purify, you'll also need to wipe out a few zerg bases. Use a mixed infantry army with a few tanks to do this while your vikings clean up around the map.
Whelp. Tried Haven. Got my ass stomped. I think I got way behind the curve, and I lost my forces on attrition.
I needed protoss research, so I decided to purge, and use Hercules drops to try and just overwhelm forces by dropping them in the middle. By the end the Mutas and the Broodlords just terrorized me, because my anti-air fucking sucks the way I've climbed the tech tree.
Regarding Haven:
They give you Vikings at this point, and they really trivialize either branch. Build up 10-12 Vikings while fortifying your base somewhat and you'll be able to waltz around the map with no pressure whatsoever. Since you chose to purify, you'll also need to wipe out a few zerg bases. Use a mixed infantry army with a few tanks to do this while your vikings clean up around the map.
Alternately,
Just make a whole fucking lot of Vikings. You seriously need no other units to complete this mission. Fly in, shoot down the air power, leave a couple of them in plane mode and have the rest land and rip through everything with their gatling guns.
The only other thing you might want is a couple other random guys on base defense. Though, those guys could be Vikings too.
Build Vikings Erryday
EggPuppet on
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
Woo, beat all the challenges on gold. Really not as bad as I was expecting - only couple I had any real trouble with were the micro one (where they give you a ton of protoss squads and you have to hotkey everything) and the economy one (always over by just a few seconds ). The economy one especially can go to hell - wtf do you need that many ghosts for anyways!?
Then for the hell of it I got all the "beat a custom game vs. the AI" ones. Setting the AI to very easy makes that go super fast since you can rush him and he'll maybe have out 2 marines :P
Whelp. Tried Haven. Got my ass stomped. I think I got way behind the curve, and I lost my forces on attrition.
I needed protoss research, so I decided to purge, and use Hercules drops to try and just overwhelm forces by dropping them in the middle. By the end the Mutas and the Broodlords just terrorized me, because my anti-air fucking sucks the way I've climbed the tech tree.
Regarding Haven:
They give you Vikings at this point, and they really trivialize either branch. Build up 10-12 Vikings while fortifying your base somewhat and you'll be able to waltz around the map with no pressure whatsoever. Since you chose to purify, you'll also need to wipe out a few zerg bases. Use a mixed infantry army with a few tanks to do this while your vikings clean up around the map.
Alternately,
Just make a whole fucking lot of Vikings. You seriously need no other units to complete this mission. Fly in, shoot down the air power, leave a couple of them in plane mode and have the rest land and rip through everything with their gatling guns.
The only other thing you might want is a couple other random guys on base defense. Though, those guys could be Vikings too.
Build Vikings Erryday
What difficulty was this on?
On higher difficulties Vikings are rather fragile on the ground and need some durable infantry with medics to soak up hits. Unless you make a truly absurd amount of Vikings, that is
The Safe Haven mission, on the other hand, can and should be completed using this exact tactic. Hurray for transforming death-mechs!
Tynnan on
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
Whelp. Tried Haven. Got my ass stomped. I think I got way behind the curve, and I lost my forces on attrition.
I needed protoss research, so I decided to purge, and use Hercules drops to try and just overwhelm forces by dropping them in the middle. By the end the Mutas and the Broodlords just terrorized me, because my anti-air fucking sucks the way I've climbed the tech tree.
Regarding Haven:
They give you Vikings at this point, and they really trivialize either branch. Build up 10-12 Vikings while fortifying your base somewhat and you'll be able to waltz around the map with no pressure whatsoever. Since you chose to purify, you'll also need to wipe out a few zerg bases. Use a mixed infantry army with a few tanks to do this while your vikings clean up around the map.
Alternately,
Just make a whole fucking lot of Vikings. You seriously need no other units to complete this mission. Fly in, shoot down the air power, leave a couple of them in plane mode and have the rest land and rip through everything with their gatling guns.
The only other thing you might want is a couple other random guys on base defense. Though, those guys could be Vikings too.
Build Vikings Erryday
What difficulty was this on?
On higher difficulties Vikings are rather fragile on the ground and need some durable infantry with medics to soak up hits. Unless you make a truly absurd amount of Vikings, that is
The Safe Haven mission, on the other hand, can and should be completed using this exact tactic. Hurray for transforming death-mechs!
Is this Haven's Fall? It's probably too late for this now, but here's how you cheese that one (even on brutal it turns the mission into a joke)
Banshees. Everytime you see "the zerg are attacking a colony!" you send in as many banshees as you can, cloaked, and target the virowhatever thing while it's building. It ends up having like maybe 50hp by the time you get there so it dies at the drop of a hat. And destroying that is all you have to do to "save the colony." So blow it up, get the hell out of there, rinse and repeat as necessary until you're able to take out the three zerg bases (again, banshees work really well en-mass for doing that).
Granted they will start sending in Overseers eventually to detect you, so Vikings or Wraiths are also useful for taking out the mutalisks.
Like I said, it might be too late for that - you'd have to have done Supernova first. But otherwise it really makes that mission a joke.
Whelp. Tried Haven. Got my ass stomped. I think I got way behind the curve, and I lost my forces on attrition.
I needed protoss research, so I decided to purge, and use Hercules drops to try and just overwhelm forces by dropping them in the middle. By the end the Mutas and the Broodlords just terrorized me, because my anti-air fucking sucks the way I've climbed the tech tree.
Regarding Haven:
They give you Vikings at this point, and they really trivialize either branch. Build up 10-12 Vikings while fortifying your base somewhat and you'll be able to waltz around the map with no pressure whatsoever. Since you chose to purify, you'll also need to wipe out a few zerg bases. Use a mixed infantry army with a few tanks to do this while your vikings clean up around the map.
Alternately,
Just make a whole fucking lot of Vikings. You seriously need no other units to complete this mission. Fly in, shoot down the air power, leave a couple of them in plane mode and have the rest land and rip through everything with their gatling guns.
The only other thing you might want is a couple other random guys on base defense. Though, those guys could be Vikings too.
Build Vikings Erryday
What difficulty was this on?
On higher difficulties Vikings are rather fragile on the ground and need some durable infantry with medics to soak up hits. Unless you make a truly absurd amount of Vikings, that is
The Safe Haven mission, on the other hand, can and should be completed using this exact tactic. Hurray for transforming death-mechs!
It was Hard difficulty. I think I had about 30 of them.
Whelp. Tried Haven. Got my ass stomped. I think I got way behind the curve, and I lost my forces on attrition.
I needed protoss research, so I decided to purge, and use Hercules drops to try and just overwhelm forces by dropping them in the middle. By the end the Mutas and the Broodlords just terrorized me, because my anti-air fucking sucks the way I've climbed the tech tree.
Regarding Haven:
They give you Vikings at this point, and they really trivialize either branch. Build up 10-12 Vikings while fortifying your base somewhat and you'll be able to waltz around the map with no pressure whatsoever. Since you chose to purify, you'll also need to wipe out a few zerg bases. Use a mixed infantry army with a few tanks to do this while your vikings clean up around the map.
Alternately,
Just make a whole fucking lot of Vikings. You seriously need no other units to complete this mission. Fly in, shoot down the air power, leave a couple of them in plane mode and have the rest land and rip through everything with their gatling guns.
The only other thing you might want is a couple other random guys on base defense. Though, those guys could be Vikings too.
Build Vikings Erryday
dont think this is a spoiler, but here goes
i threw up 5 or so tanks with a bunker at each side, my tanks were getting near 200 kills each towards the end
xta on
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
So, regarding the "infinite credits" exploit, here's what I found.
Once you have maxed out both Zerg and Protoss tech, you can go back and do any mission on any difficulty, including those you have done before. When you've completed it, regardless of any side objectives you missed, you won't receive any apparent bonuses, but if you go to the lab and check the research console, you will get credit for having 3 Protoss research points and 5 Zerg research points--i.e., 80,000 credits. You can do this any number of times. At this point in this playthrough, I have Haven, Valhalla, Korhal, the secret mission, the Xel'naga ship, and the Char missions to do. I also haven't done the alternative to Tosh's New Folsom mission yet.
I figured I'd try it, got all my Liberation Day achievements, and got my mission time down to 2:13.
However, contrary to an earlier report I've seen, if you go back and do a mission from when you got on the Hyperion and later, you don't get any upgrades you've accumulated since then.
Shadowen on
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Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
"Fire... Why does it always have to be fire?"
Mission Guide: Supernova
Research Available: +4 Protoss Primary Objectives: 1) Clear the Landing Zone, 2) Destroy the Artifact Vault. Bonus Objectives: Find the Protoss Relics
Mission Map:
Notes: Banshees are unlocked this mission. 200 supply is provided. A wall of flame steadily advances from the west to the east across the map.
Useful technologies: Regenerative Bio-Steel, Automated Refineries, and Tech Reactor are excellent here.
After you dispatch the Protoss at the landing zone, your base lands. Once you've started your SCVs working, get a tech reactor going on your barracks and make two more Banshees. You can ignore your factory. Take your initial four Banshees and immediately head northwest, where there is a Protoss base under construction. Dispatch the base with your four Banshees, with cannon power and Stalkers/Sentries as your primary targets. This will prevent several waves of attacks on your base, leaving you free to focus on the Protoss ahead of you as you move forward.
While you destroyed the rear Protoss base, your Barracks add-on should have finished. Build several Medics, and add a few more Marines and Marauders to form a small MMM ball. With your returning Banshees and the extras you built, move out and secure the first Protoss Relic. In general, lead with your infantry and then follow closely with Banshees. With Regenerative Bio-Steel you don't need to worry much about repairs, but Medics healing infantry are still far more efficient.
From the first relic, head straight north to secure the second relic. There will be a few Protoss units with cannon support; again, lead with your infantry ball and they will be knocked flat in short order. Back at base, train more Banshees. From the Merc Haven, recruit Hel's Angels, War Pigs, and Hammer Securities mercs, and make a few more medics.
The third Protoss relic is directly south, then east on a small peninsula. You should have plenty of time at this point to clear out the intervening Protoss and snag it, but keep an eye out for attack waves from the next Protoss base. Continue to build Banshees and infantry, and don't forget to keep Mercs on cooldown. Hel's Angels are particularly useful for clearing out the Protoss cliff base at the center of the map. You are probably almost mined out, so go ahead and move your base to the small resource area you cleared on the way to the third relic. Get started mining there while you attack the intervening Protoss base.
You don't need to feel rushed at any point in this mission. Just keep steadily advancing. You have plenty of time to play a slow push, so don't worry. You don't need to start clearing out the first intervening Protoss base (on the cliff to the east of the first relic) until the Hyperion calls you to tell you so. Again, lead with your infantry up the ramp, but keep your Banshees and the Hel's Angels you've bought directly above since this base has Colossi. Clear out the cliff base. Move your barracks and starport onto the plateau shortly and get their add-ons started. Once you've mined out the small intervening area, move your CC and SCVs onto the plateau. Build another Merc Haven on the plateau. Don't forget to use all your CC's energy on MULEs. Continue to build Banshees; ideally here you will have ten or more. If your infantry ball has taken losses make sure to replenish them from the barracks and Merc Haven, and recruit additional squadrons of War Pigs, Hammer Securities, and Hel's Angels.
The next Protoss base has a stronger air presence, and you will begin facing Archons and more numerous Immortals in the Protoss attacks. When you attack the second intervening Protoss base (southeast of the plateau base you've just moved to), keep your Hel's Angels engaged to quickly remove air threats and Warp Prism power supplies. Again, keep up a slow and steady pace and you will have nothing to worry about from the wave of fire. After you populate the plateau base there will be attacks from behind; it is close enough that you can easily fly your Banshees home to deal with the threat, or just leave a few Banshees as a rear guard.
The fourth Protoss Relic is directly to the east on a small peninsula. The peninsula has a photon cannon, a Stalker, and a High Templar with full energy. The simplest way to deal with this is to hire the Siege Breaker mercenaries and bombard the peninsula from range. If these are unavailable, then dancing out of a few storms also works but can be dicey. Once the templar is out of energy, feel free to swamp him with your infantry ball or your Banshees.
At this point you are ready to head north for the final push to the Artifact Vault. Relocate your base one final time to the latest resource patches, and drain your coffers at the Merc Haven, Barracks, and Starport. The final base contains the toughest combination of Protoss units, most notably in the form of High Templars. Do not commit to an attack early on; rather, try and deplete the energy of whatever Templar are above you on the cliff. Siege Breakers are optional, but can prove highly useful for sniping off Templars if you have the spare cash. Push your way directly north along the east edge of the map (do not hurry or blitz it, just push along and be methodical), until you have cleared the immediate vicinity of the Artifact Vault. Smash it open and claim your prize.
Brutal notes: The author had success using this general strategy on Brutal difficulty; the difference between Hard and Brutal is mostly a matter of the size of Protoss attack waves and garrisons. Take care to avoid losing individual units, keep your unspent resources low and your standing army large, and employ a healthy mix of units. You may find it necessary to build more Vikings past the six Hel's Angels mercenaries. Try to keep your Banshee force large (12+), and allow your infantry to take as much of the damage as you can. You may also find it useful to employ Ghosts or Spectres later in the mission to neutralize High Templars. On Hard and Brutal the AI is fond of using hallucinations. Keep this in mind as you face Protoss attack waves that seem much larger than they ought to be. Good luck!
Finished the game today, does anyone else agree that the writing is kinda bad?
It seems like every time a amazing cinematic or story point came up a character bogged it down by saying some old tired line. Like twoards the end of the game when captain warsomething nearly died, a cool scene was capped off with "You magnificent bastard!" ehhhhh.Still I liked some characters and stuck with it to the end, so it wasn't that bad.
Whelp. Tried Haven. Got my ass stomped. I think I got way behind the curve, and I lost my forces on attrition.
I needed protoss research, so I decided to purge, and use Hercules drops to try and just overwhelm forces by dropping them in the middle. By the end the Mutas and the Broodlords just terrorized me, because my anti-air fucking sucks the way I've climbed the tech tree.
I did the save mission first and did the purge mission after I beat the game. Something must have glitched though because when I went back to do that mission I had ALL of the tech I did at the end of the game. I just made a bunch of battlecruisers and owned the map.
Still don't know how that happened since every other mission, even the ones I hadn't done yet, only let me use the tech I had at the time.
Invisible on
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
Finished the game today, does anyone else agree that the writing is kinda bad?
It seems like every time a amazing cinematic or story point came up a character bogged it down by saying some old tired line. Like twoards the end of the game when captain warsomething nearly died, a cool scene was capped off with "You magnificent bastard!" ehhhhh.Still I liked some characters and stuck with it to the end, so it wasn't that bad.
I will say this: it is cliche-tastic. That's not necessarily bad thing.
More disturbing is the apparent music plagiarism.
Shadowen on
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
Music Plagiarism? I assume this goes beyond securing the rights to the songs in the Jukebox? (Not the rights to the recordings, but the rights to the songs akin to how Guitar Hero/Rock Band games or moviemakers do when they don't want to pay for the originals).
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited August 2010
The only thing similar I noticed in the msuic is it sounds a lot like Firefly.
-Loki- on
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
I finished the campaign yesterday and really enjoyed it - more than I thought I would actually having to play so many missions as the same race. The design of most missions I felt was pretty good in the end. The final mission was so epic it wasn't even funny - absolutely loved it. Also did all the missions on brutal first up, which was really challenging because if I had known how difficult some missions were without certain units I would do things in a very different order.
Finished the game today, does anyone else agree that the writing is kinda bad?
It seems like every time a amazing cinematic or story point came up a character bogged it down by saying some old tired line. Like twoards the end of the game when captain warsomething nearly died, a cool scene was capped off with "You magnificent bastard!" ehhhhh.Still I liked some characters and stuck with it to the end, so it wasn't that bad.
I thought General Warfield had some of the worst voice acting in the game, I was always reminded of the voices of token black guys in anime, it's the same voice actor I swear. They should have followed through with more missions or impact with the Nova/Tosh - Haven/Purification - Tychus betrayal. It would have been cool to see Tosh or Nova's forces land on Char to assist you. Or a special delivery from the Protoss/Scientist decision. I guess research points count though.
I really don't like that you had these choices that mean almost nothing(the Haven decision was great for the introduction of this 'gimmick' as they say in the dvd) but when it's a character you actually care about and was part of the storyline since the announcement of the sequel, you watch him die in a thousand dollars cut-to-black cutscene. Tychus was easily a big focus on the story line and a very good redneck Robin to to Raynor's Billy Bob Batman.
It would have been cool to have a choice on letting Tychus kill Kerrigan, cause that would have supposedly done a lot of damage to the Zerg. Then it would have been cool to tell Zeratul and his prophecy to eff itself and make Raynor handle the Xel'naga and it's mutations the destructive Terran way. Kerrigan killed Duke and Fenix, there is no redemption from that.
The campaign was still great and promising(IMO) and the Galaxy Editor is an open world game itself. I'm anxious to see how Blizzard handles the criticism and what it will do for the next chapter in the series.
Andy Chambers made himself look like an intentional/unintentional douche in the DVD. I'd link the youtube video but I cannot find it.
Blizzard will be having their conservative card in play for the whole franchise. But more unique Zerg/Toss units would be amazing.
Actually the insane AI cheats by getting 40% more minerals.
Oh, whoooops. Looks like I was misreading things... the Insane AI is labeled "c_skirCheater". I thought that was just an unused difficulty option. Yeah, looks like they have maphack (unless not having "c_diffNormalVision" DOESN'T mean that), double harvest rate, and infinite APM.
Silly me.
Garthor on
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
Music Plagiarism? I assume this goes beyond securing the rights to the songs in the Jukebox? (Not the rights to the recordings, but the rights to the songs akin to how Guitar Hero/Rock Band games or moviemakers do when they don't want to pay for the originals).
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
I have to admit the writing in the game is all over the place. Sometimes its really good and well done, but other times it just misses the point or comes off as very "hollywood". Especially compared to the first game and how it was done. I also think the storyline suffers from having the Terran only focus, as it doesn't give itself time like SC to present the story from all sides to flesh it out more.
I still enjoyed the game a lot, but by a certain point it becomes difficult to figure out why they've forgot some plot points and are kind of doing things almost at random (on very flimsy logic at that).
First off, I missed the secret mission the first time through, so I had apparently not seen all Tosh's character development when I decided to throw him under the bus.
More importantly, though, why come it works out so whatever you choose is the "right" choice? Was Hanson infested all along or no? Was Tosh using you to rebuild a force of zombie psycho killers, or was he an ally trying to get justice for his fellow Spectres? These should be things you find out, they shouldn't hinge on what you as the player decide to do.
You might as well have a choose your own adventure book where page 1 says "To win by diplomacy and tact, turn to page 2. To win by force and deviousness, turn to page 3."
Anyhow, now I'm to the part where I spend a few weeks desperately trying to get good-enough at multi (ha ha ha), then someday I'm sure I'll go back for the other SP missions.
I thought Hanson infected herself by testing a cure, since she's not infested when you choose the other path.
Tosh, both? He's your ally who's building an army of psycho killers and freeing his other psycho killer buddies who were unjustly imprisoned because mengsk became fearful of them.
Music Plagiarism? I assume this goes beyond securing the rights to the songs in the Jukebox? (Not the rights to the recordings, but the rights to the songs akin to how Guitar Hero/Rock Band games or moviemakers do when they don't want to pay for the originals).
Hm. Well, it's not exactly the same, but whoever scored the second one was clearly copying the structure, tone, and instrumentation of the first.
I wonder whose fault it was - did Blizzard tell the composer "hey, we want it like this piece," or did he just decide to crib from it himself, unbeknownst to them?
I have to admit the writing in the game is all over the place. Sometimes its really good and well done, but other times it just misses the point or comes off as very "hollywood". Especially compared to the first game and how it was done. I also think the storyline suffers from having the Terran only focus, as it doesn't give itself time like SC to present the story from all sides to flesh it out more.
I still enjoyed the game a lot, but by a certain point it becomes difficult to figure out why they've forgot some plot points and are kind of doing things almost at random (on very flimsy logic at that).
I think the non-linear structure of the "side" missions is the cause of that. They can't assume the player has already done certain things on other missions.
I finished the campaign on normal. When I go back to replay missions it says 26 of 29 missions available (or maybe 25 of 28, I don't remember perfectly - i'm at work). I did all of the dialogue and I know there's one hidden mission that I didn't do - what am I missing?
I finished the campaign on normal. When I go back to replay missions it says 26 of 29 missions available (or maybe 25 of 28, I don't actually remember perfectly - i'm at work). I did all of the dialogue and I know there's one hidden mission that I didn't do - what am I missing?
The choices count as two missions.
So you're missing one side of the Purge/Protect, Nova/Tosh and Tunnels/Air missions
I finished the campaign on normal. When I go back to replay missions it says 26 of 29 missions available (or maybe 25 of 28, I don't actually remember perfectly - i'm at work). I did all of the dialogue and I know there's one hidden mission that I didn't do - what am I missing?
The choices count as two missions.
So you're missing one side of the Purge/Protect, Nova/Tosh and Tunnels/Air missions
The odd thing is that I
replayed the tosh mission - the first time I went with tosh, I replayed it betraying him
and after I completed the mission, it didn't update the number of missions completed. Do I need to play them in a new campaign in order for it to register? It still only allows be to select 26 missions. Three of these missions, when I enter them, allow me to make the pathchoice at the beginning. Perhaps I'm mistaken.
Posts
Load an "XYZ Victory" autosave from before the point of no return.
Its not really a spoiler in that when you finish that mission, it actually tells you if you found the "Secret" or not. :P
Yeah I really liked this
The SC1 missions got very repetitive in this regard, and I'm glad this game had more variety
If you want a longer campaign go play skirmishes against a bunch of AI and you'll get the same effect as the "longer" SC1 campaign
True, but by the same reasoning, you could decide to replay it when you see the "Secret Found: No" message.
If you were expecting a cohesive, non-abrupt ending from the first part of a trilogy, the problem lies with you and has nothing to do with the actual game.
Some of it might be the fact that in SC1 nearly every mission was "build up your army and crush opposing army". A few exceptions. SC2 varies that structure up a lot more, streamlining how it feels.
But I beat all the missions on Brutal, and I think it was significantly longer than and more satisfying than SC, so meh.
With the exception of the on mission where you're raiding the "lab" in the Terran campaign, I guess.
Regarding Haven:
Alternately,
The only other thing you might want is a couple other random guys on base defense. Though, those guys could be Vikings too.
Build Vikings Erryday
Then for the hell of it I got all the "beat a custom game vs. the AI" ones. Setting the AI to very easy makes that go super fast since you can rush him and he'll maybe have out 2 marines :P
What difficulty was this on?
The Safe Haven mission, on the other hand, can and should be completed using this exact tactic. Hurray for transforming death-mechs!
Is this Haven's Fall? It's probably too late for this now, but here's how you cheese that one (even on brutal it turns the mission into a joke)
Granted they will start sending in Overseers eventually to detect you, so Vikings or Wraiths are also useful for taking out the mutalisks.
Like I said, it might be too late for that - you'd have to have done Supernova first. But otherwise it really makes that mission a joke.
It was Hard difficulty. I think I had about 30 of them.
dont think this is a spoiler, but here goes
I figured I'd try it, got all my Liberation Day achievements, and got my mission time down to 2:13.
However, contrary to an earlier report I've seen, if you go back and do a mission from when you got on the Hyperion and later, you don't get any upgrades you've accumulated since then.
Mission Guide: Supernova
Primary Objectives: 1) Clear the Landing Zone, 2) Destroy the Artifact Vault.
Bonus Objectives: Find the Protoss Relics
Mission Map:
Notes: Banshees are unlocked this mission. 200 supply is provided. A wall of flame steadily advances from the west to the east across the map.
Useful technologies: Regenerative Bio-Steel, Automated Refineries, and Tech Reactor are excellent here.
After you dispatch the Protoss at the landing zone, your base lands. Once you've started your SCVs working, get a tech reactor going on your barracks and make two more Banshees. You can ignore your factory. Take your initial four Banshees and immediately head northwest, where there is a Protoss base under construction. Dispatch the base with your four Banshees, with cannon power and Stalkers/Sentries as your primary targets. This will prevent several waves of attacks on your base, leaving you free to focus on the Protoss ahead of you as you move forward.
While you destroyed the rear Protoss base, your Barracks add-on should have finished. Build several Medics, and add a few more Marines and Marauders to form a small MMM ball. With your returning Banshees and the extras you built, move out and secure the first Protoss Relic. In general, lead with your infantry and then follow closely with Banshees. With Regenerative Bio-Steel you don't need to worry much about repairs, but Medics healing infantry are still far more efficient.
From the first relic, head straight north to secure the second relic. There will be a few Protoss units with cannon support; again, lead with your infantry ball and they will be knocked flat in short order. Back at base, train more Banshees. From the Merc Haven, recruit Hel's Angels, War Pigs, and Hammer Securities mercs, and make a few more medics.
The third Protoss relic is directly south, then east on a small peninsula. You should have plenty of time at this point to clear out the intervening Protoss and snag it, but keep an eye out for attack waves from the next Protoss base. Continue to build Banshees and infantry, and don't forget to keep Mercs on cooldown. Hel's Angels are particularly useful for clearing out the Protoss cliff base at the center of the map. You are probably almost mined out, so go ahead and move your base to the small resource area you cleared on the way to the third relic. Get started mining there while you attack the intervening Protoss base.
You don't need to feel rushed at any point in this mission. Just keep steadily advancing. You have plenty of time to play a slow push, so don't worry. You don't need to start clearing out the first intervening Protoss base (on the cliff to the east of the first relic) until the Hyperion calls you to tell you so. Again, lead with your infantry up the ramp, but keep your Banshees and the Hel's Angels you've bought directly above since this base has Colossi. Clear out the cliff base. Move your barracks and starport onto the plateau shortly and get their add-ons started. Once you've mined out the small intervening area, move your CC and SCVs onto the plateau. Build another Merc Haven on the plateau. Don't forget to use all your CC's energy on MULEs. Continue to build Banshees; ideally here you will have ten or more. If your infantry ball has taken losses make sure to replenish them from the barracks and Merc Haven, and recruit additional squadrons of War Pigs, Hammer Securities, and Hel's Angels.
The next Protoss base has a stronger air presence, and you will begin facing Archons and more numerous Immortals in the Protoss attacks. When you attack the second intervening Protoss base (southeast of the plateau base you've just moved to), keep your Hel's Angels engaged to quickly remove air threats and Warp Prism power supplies. Again, keep up a slow and steady pace and you will have nothing to worry about from the wave of fire. After you populate the plateau base there will be attacks from behind; it is close enough that you can easily fly your Banshees home to deal with the threat, or just leave a few Banshees as a rear guard.
The fourth Protoss Relic is directly to the east on a small peninsula. The peninsula has a photon cannon, a Stalker, and a High Templar with full energy. The simplest way to deal with this is to hire the Siege Breaker mercenaries and bombard the peninsula from range. If these are unavailable, then dancing out of a few storms also works but can be dicey. Once the templar is out of energy, feel free to swamp him with your infantry ball or your Banshees.
At this point you are ready to head north for the final push to the Artifact Vault. Relocate your base one final time to the latest resource patches, and drain your coffers at the Merc Haven, Barracks, and Starport. The final base contains the toughest combination of Protoss units, most notably in the form of High Templars. Do not commit to an attack early on; rather, try and deplete the energy of whatever Templar are above you on the cliff. Siege Breakers are optional, but can prove highly useful for sniping off Templars if you have the spare cash. Push your way directly north along the east edge of the map (do not hurry or blitz it, just push along and be methodical), until you have cleared the immediate vicinity of the Artifact Vault. Smash it open and claim your prize.
Brutal notes: The author had success using this general strategy on Brutal difficulty; the difference between Hard and Brutal is mostly a matter of the size of Protoss attack waves and garrisons. Take care to avoid losing individual units, keep your unspent resources low and your standing army large, and employ a healthy mix of units. You may find it necessary to build more Vikings past the six Hel's Angels mercenaries. Try to keep your Banshee force large (12+), and allow your infantry to take as much of the damage as you can. You may also find it useful to employ Ghosts or Spectres later in the mission to neutralize High Templars. On Hard and Brutal the AI is fond of using hallucinations. Keep this in mind as you face Protoss attack waves that seem much larger than they ought to be. Good luck!
Submitted by: Tynnan (Spinnaker.707)
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I did the save mission first and did the purge mission after I beat the game. Something must have glitched though because when I went back to do that mission I had ALL of the tech I did at the end of the game. I just made a bunch of battlecruisers and owned the map.
Still don't know how that happened since every other mission, even the ones I hadn't done yet, only let me use the tech I had at the time.
I will say this: it is cliche-tastic. That's not necessarily bad thing.
More disturbing is the apparent music plagiarism.
I thought General Warfield had some of the worst voice acting in the game, I was always reminded of the voices of token black guys in anime, it's the same voice actor I swear. They should have followed through with more missions or impact with the Nova/Tosh - Haven/Purification - Tychus betrayal. It would have been cool to see Tosh or Nova's forces land on Char to assist you. Or a special delivery from the Protoss/Scientist decision. I guess research points count though.
I really don't like that you had these choices that mean almost nothing(the Haven decision was great for the introduction of this 'gimmick' as they say in the dvd) but when it's a character you actually care about and was part of the storyline since the announcement of the sequel, you watch him die in a thousand dollars cut-to-black cutscene. Tychus was easily a big focus on the story line and a very good redneck Robin to to Raynor's Billy Bob Batman.
It would have been cool to have a choice on letting Tychus kill Kerrigan, cause that would have supposedly done a lot of damage to the Zerg. Then it would have been cool to tell Zeratul and his prophecy to eff itself and make Raynor handle the Xel'naga and it's mutations the destructive Terran way. Kerrigan killed Duke and Fenix, there is no redemption from that.
The campaign was still great and promising(IMO) and the Galaxy Editor is an open world game itself. I'm anxious to see how Blizzard handles the criticism and what it will do for the next chapter in the series.
Andy Chambers made himself look like an intentional/unintentional douche in the DVD. I'd link the youtube video but I cannot find it.
Blizzard will be having their conservative card in play for the whole franchise. But more unique Zerg/Toss units would be amazing.
Oh, whoooops. Looks like I was misreading things... the Insane AI is labeled "c_skirCheater". I thought that was just an unused difficulty option. Yeah, looks like they have maphack (unless not having "c_diffNormalVision" DOESN'T mean that), double harvest rate, and infinite APM.
Silly me.
Go to 3:07 with this, and then listen.
(Spoilered for those who haven't gotten to the last mission!)
I still enjoyed the game a lot, but by a certain point it becomes difficult to figure out why they've forgot some plot points and are kind of doing things almost at random (on very flimsy logic at that).
More importantly, though, why come it works out so whatever you choose is the "right" choice? Was Hanson infested all along or no? Was Tosh using you to rebuild a force of zombie psycho killers, or was he an ally trying to get justice for his fellow Spectres? These should be things you find out, they shouldn't hinge on what you as the player decide to do.
You might as well have a choose your own adventure book where page 1 says "To win by diplomacy and tact, turn to page 2. To win by force and deviousness, turn to page 3."
Anyhow, now I'm to the part where I spend a few weeks desperately trying to get good-enough at multi (ha ha ha), then someday I'm sure I'll go back for the other SP missions.
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Tosh, both? He's your ally who's building an army of psycho killers and freeing his other psycho killer buddies who were unjustly imprisoned because mengsk became fearful of them.
Hm. Well, it's not exactly the same, but whoever scored the second one was clearly copying the structure, tone, and instrumentation of the first.
I wonder whose fault it was - did Blizzard tell the composer "hey, we want it like this piece," or did he just decide to crib from it himself, unbeknownst to them?
I hated her on most levels, so I purged all her friends.
I think the non-linear structure of the "side" missions is the cause of that. They can't assume the player has already done certain things on other missions.
The choices count as two missions.