Starcraft 2 Battle Report (Specs Not Released)

[geno]

***** UPDATE #3 *****

Starcraft II Battle Report #4

Streaming Link from gamer.nl
Direct Download link
Youtube link Part 1/2
Youtube link Part 2/2


Like its predecessor before it, Battle Report #4 has now been leaked. Or maybe done virally, who knows. Either way, it will probably show up on their main page tomorrow or in the next couple of days. In the meanwhile, this leaked version should satisfy some curiosity!

This one is a PvT between Yeon-Ho Lee and "SC2 bonjwa" David Kim, on none other than Lost Temple. As of my writing this, I haven't even had time to sit down and watch it, but from the responses I've read, it may be the best battle report yet. I'll edit in some more thoughts when I see it.

Fantastic game. Finally a good look at Terran mech, some hot ghost action, and the power of psi storm. Not going to give the match away, but there is some great back and forth action very reminiscent of SC1 in this match, probably the best of the battle reports so far. Why the hell is beta taking so damn long =(




***** OLD *****

Blizzard just added a new feature to their SC2 site: Battle reports.

StarCraft II Battle Report 1

Introducing StarCraft II Battle Reports
12.18.08 | by Blizzard
In order to give you a closer look at the fast-paced, intense, and exciting-to-watch multiplayer matches of StarCraft II, we're creating a series of videos for the official website. In the first of our StarCraft II Battle Reports, you'll see two of Blizzard Entertainment's best players go head-to-head as the protoss and terrans while our commentators, StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder and eSports team member Robert Simpson, dissect and analyze the on-screen action for you.

Basically, they get a game going between two of their internal testers, then they get their lead designer and one of their leading e-sport team members to commentate the match. Their commentary is kind of annoying in that it is full of too much fake enthusiasm, but its still kind of a cool feature that shows off the graphics, gameplay, and balance of their latest alpha builds. They only have one video up, but the way the site is designed, it looks like there are more to come.


UPDATE #1

Starcraft II Battle Report 2

http://us.starcraft2.com/features/ba...ng%20Sands.jpg

Battle report #2 is out. Took forever, they seem to blame the lengthy localization process I guess. Anyways, the new one is a TvZ somewhat low econ game. Its a pretty good match though. The match is played on a smaller 2 player desert tileset map. Wasn't the high econ macro game I was hoping for, but I guess those aren't likely going to be easy for them to showcase, I'll have to wait for beta to see those. Commentary was more of the same, but it was bearable. Other than that, was a pretty good battle report; plenty of action, a very good map, and finally some new zerg footage (I really love how hydras look).

UPDATE #2

Starcraft II Battle Report 3

Battle report #3 seems to have been leaked is now out! A beautiful PvZ on another new map Scrap Yard. David Kim, undefeated from the first two videos against Matt Cooper, tries his Protoss skills against a different opponent, a Zerg player named Yeon Ho Lee.

I'm not going to give away the results yet, but there is one thing I will say about this match. In SC1, I always loved how there were a lot of abilities/units that felt overpowered from all three races, and together the game managed a pretty beautiful level of balance. Well, thats what I saw a lot of in this game. There are some ridiculously good abilities that are hard as hell to deal with if you aren't prepared, but both races have them and its really fun to watch.

[Maguspk]

Pretty nice, yeah the commentary is kind of annoying but the players are at least pretty good so it is nice watch.

[Correction]

I like that they're employing more than just damage multipliers on damage type vs. armor type this time around. The Toss warp in is sexy, as is Terran fast-expanding. Can't wait for beta.

[geno]

Pretty nice, yeah the commentary is kind of annoying but the players are at least pretty good so it is nice watch.

Yeah, they aren't bad. I think David Kim at least was a former progamer, or at least involved in that scene so he's definitely one of their better players when it comes to higher APM and multitask (you can tell from his quick response time to a lot of incidents). The protoss wasn't as good (his macro slipped up a lot more if you watch the mineral/gas counter they have at the top left), but he was still quite aggressive and had fairly good micro.

The army sizes in the video made the game look really low econ (like ZvZ is in SC1), but that may just be how they played it (the protoss didn't expand til like 10minutes in for instance).

[yayaok]

jesus they talk so much lol i'd much rather hear YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA REAVER 10 KILL YAAAAAAAAAAAAA GEE GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
it was pretty fun to watch nevertheless, are they going to add more of these frequently? i might translate this for kr sc players if it hasnt been spread already...

[Kaylia]

I was worried about Starcraft 2 gameplay, but after this video, I'm convinced it's going to be just as good as the old one. Can't wait to play.

[edit]
and yeah...the comment were a bit ridiculous. Never seen someone so excited by a probe dodging a marine.

[yayaok]

wow i just got about 18min into the video, sc2 really doesnt look like itll disappoint anyone
did anyone see the scv glitch-hovering at 16min? lol

geno, can you imagine the level of intensity sc2 starleague is going to be like when sc2 finally comes out? man this video has me pumped again!

[Maguspk]

sc2 is going to be legendary.

I got excited when I saw the probes shields recharging so quickly but yeah the commentary was a bit much. Also, the charging zealots were impressive, I didn't think they'd be able to attack after charging and the ability would be almost useless even against micro but it looks like it works well and they get an attack regardless of whether they enemy is microing or not.

[geno]

jesus they talk so much lol i'd much rather hear YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA REAVER 10 KILL YAAAAAAAAAAAAA GEE GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Those guys definitely need to work on their commentary skills if they are going to do more, lol. Its a pretty niche role though, pretty much only for special events (they did a live commentary at Blizzcon as well) and this alpha phase, which is probably why they didn't hire anyone else. They certainly got excited pretty well, but it did feel too fake and at bad times.. I don't even understand korean but nothing compares to their commentary (and for fun, a behind the scenes look at the commentators, lol)

it was pretty fun to watch nevertheless, are they going to add more of these frequently? i might translate this for kr sc players if it hasnt been spread already...

According to their community page,

In order to give you a closer look at the fast-paced, intense, and exciting-to-watch multiplayer matches of StarCraft II, we're creating a series of videos for the official website. In the first of our StarCraft II Battle Reports, . . .

So they will be making more, but how many and at what frequency is unknown. It seems likely to me they will use these to showcase at least multiple different matchups, or some interesting new mechanic they really want to show off rather than casually mention in their Q&A things they do.

geno, can you imagine the level of intensity sc2 starleague is going to be like when sc2 finally comes out? man this video has me pumped again!

You don't have to tell me. I played the game at Blizzcon... I lost most any doubts I had left that day.

[yayaok]

i only watch MSL for the commentators lol, love their overreactions heh

good to hear that they'll be doing more as showcases, it was seriously fun watching it... and you got to try it out at bizzcon? man i'm so jealous dude lol it must've been amazing!

as for starleague, have you been following recent news? savior (as i recall, you said you were a fan?) just broke 15th msl entry... as much as i dont like him, i have to say it is quite an accomplishment. msl only used to have 2 zerg lol, but today i saw 5 up... guess yellow finally stepped up. batoo league looks promising too!

[geno]

i only watch MSL for the commentators lol, love their overreactions heh

good to hear that they'll be doing more as showcases, it was seriously fun watching it... and you got to try it out at bizzcon? man i'm so jealous dude lol it must've been amazing!

as for starleague, have you been following recent news? savior (as i recall, you said you were a fan?) just broke 15th msl entry... as much as i dont like him, i have to say it is quite an accomplishment. msl only used to have 2 zerg lol, but today i saw 5 up... guess yellow finally stepped up. batoo league looks promising too!

The beta key for SC2 that I got at blizzcon will probably make you even more jealous

Btw how can you not be a savior fan! You're crazy! And yeah, it was a pretty big accomplishment, but it was clear during his game against Frozean (cuteangel now i think he is called?) that his ZvT is not what it used to be. His best luck in this MSL will be ZvZs which he has been almost as good as ever in recently but are rather unlikely considering the low zerg count recently, and ZvP which he does seem to be getting some of his edge back in. I doubt anyone is going to be able to stop Bisu this MSL though, he has been on fire and I think stands a decent shot at 4 MSL badges.

To prevent a complete self-dereail: the only thing I really wished they would have done in this battle report thing was tech up more so we could see what the mid/end game options like tanks/immortals/BCs/Carriers/etc are like right now. I'm hoping the next game they do is a more econ-focused one (both players expand multiple times) and we get to see higher-tier units and bigger armies

[Elvis]

Anyone wana guess when they'll release it? Lie to me. It's Christmas.

[geno]

Lets say beta mid-to-late Q1 2009, game release 3-6 months later.

Actually lets just say beta Jan1, that'd be a bit better.

[Quicklet]

Now if they can just fix the whole, you know, sell one game as three separate games thing. Hopefully it doesn't turn into a "Yeah I have Starcraft: Red, Starcraft: Blue, AND Starcraft: Hot Date" travesty that Activision would like it to be. The gameplay looks pretty solid though at least, just hope the marketing isn't designed to milk the franchise dry of any future potential before it even comes out.

[DeathbySnoosnoo]

woulda been released years ago if it wasn't for effing WoW

[yayaok]

GENO YOU HAVE A BETA KEY? WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
I WANTED TO REPLY TO THE THINGS BELOW BUT THAT SENTENCE HAS BLOWN ME AWAY

[Valkrish]

/drool

[geno]

GENO YOU HAVE A BETA KEY? WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
I WANTED TO REPLY TO THE THINGS BELOW BUT THAT SENTENCE HAS BLOWN ME AWAY

rofl

As for the above, I love the two expansion idea (yes, that's what they basically are: expansions) for both its additional content and benefits to gameplay/balance. The ONLY worry in mind might be price, but even then I doubt they are going to be too greedy with it (You might also be able to buy the next expansions as upgrades, similar to the way Windows works, for a cheaper price if you already own a/both games. And then on top of that, think about WoW. If you want the game and the first expansion, you can pay $40 for the battlechest; I WONDER IF THEY ARE GOING TO DO BATTLECHESTS FOR SC2 HMMM).

The WoW thing is probably true because even though they have separate project teams, they do move around a bit (I'm pretty sure some SC devs went to the WoW team, and WoW devs went to the SC2 team). But even though it probably would have been out sooner, it would have been a much worse game: they wouldn't have had NEAR the amount of capital they have now and the game wouldn't have been as graphically stunning.

[Sonomaa]

a friend of mine does art for blizz for sc2 and he told me that the sc2 team did help with a lot of the play testing for wrath, which is probably why they had such a good launch, that and the beta being so huge. They are finishing up the first content patch then the team that was assisting the wow team is back to sc2 full time, but its still like 100+ people for it as I recall him telling me. I hope he can get me a beta key ; ; I was going to go to blizzcon just to get one

I personally like the idea of three games, when you think about it, 30 missions per game, the usual blizzard high quality design, high impact cinematics, and you know there will be bonus content like fucking crazy, new multiplayer maps per week, maybe new units released for free. Its blizzard, they have yet to dissapoint anybody who wants to play their games.

[geno]

*bump*

Starcraft II Battle Report 2

http://us.starcraft2.com/features/ba...ng%20Sands.jpg

Battle report #2 is out. Took forever, they seem to blame the lengthy localization process I guess. Anyways, the new one is a TvZ somewhat low econ game. Its a pretty good match though. The match is played on a smaller 2 player desert tileset map. Wasn't the high econ macro game I was hoping for, but I guess those aren't likely going to be easy for them to showcase, I'll have to wait for beta to see those. Commentary was more of the same, but it was bearable. Other than that, was a pretty good battle report; plenty of action, a very good map, and finally some new zerg footage (I really love how hydras look).