![]() ![]() Aside from the troubled online UI for custom maps, the campaign editor was simply far less accessible this time around. ![]() A popularity-driven user interface made it hard for people to discover new maps, and that discouraged mapmakers from wasting their time crafting something that few people would ever see. SC2 launched with a rather problematic UI for custom maps that effectively killed the entire scene before it ever had a chance to develop. The problem is, this focus on competitive RTS gameplay meant a shift away from what I loved most about SC1: the custom maps scene. While the game's popularity as an eSport died down once MOBA's essentially supplanted the RTS genre for most players and viewers, no one can deny that it had a good run there as a compelling competitive game. With SC2, Blizzard made it very clear that their focus with the new game would be to push it heavily as the premiere eSport, and for a while they were certainly successful in this regard. ![]() The chunky, Fisher-Price-esque art style of SC2 is a clear step down from Brood War IMO. So I put off buying the game for a while, and over time various issues that I had with the direction of the sequel resulted in more and more hesitation on my part. My mind raced with possibilities of what the sequel would bring, but ultimately when the game launched my PC wasn't up to the task of running it. The combination of an approachable level editor and a user-friendly online interface resulted in a perfect storm of content creation and discovery where mapmakers pushed the boundaries of what was possible within SC1's RTS engine.Īs you can imagine, I was as hyped as anyone when Starcraft 2 was announced for release over a decade after Brood War. Other than Warcraft III, no other game has come close to matching the free exchange of user-created content that players enjoyed on Bnet with Brood War in its prime. Even before watching competitive play in recent years opened my eyes to just how deep the rabbit hole goes with BW's core gameplay, the game was always on my shortlist of favorite games of all time for the sheer breadth and diversity of user-created content (custom maps) that sprang from it over a 20-year period. I've never been a huge RTS fan, but Starcraft was the exception for me because of its awesomely rugged sci-fi trappings, memorable characters, unique three-race design, and stellar online in the form of 1.0. I've put untold numbers of hours into SC1/BW over the last 20 years, most of which have been spent playing custom maps online. The original Starcraft and Brood War are collectively my most-played games ever. I don't have it in me to try and recreate my original post, so I'll keep this one short and simple. Note: I had a rather lengthy OP typed up and ready to post for this, but I tragically lost it all when the Preview button borked and deleted everything I had typed. ![]()
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