Classic Game Of The Week - Warcraft 2
Welcome to a special weekend edition of CGOTW, and by special weekend edition I mean I forgot to do it on Friday.
When I was a junior at college, I was part of a weekly Friday Night Computer Gaming Club. It's important to point out that I was already married at this time, so my excuse for spending fridays in college with fifteen other guys at the computer department lab was more robust than most. I was, at this gaming club, the God of Warcraft, and often I would take on three or four opponents at a time without much difficulty. My favorite moment:
"Hey, has anyone been attacked by Sean lately?" *sound of an army of Ogres bloodlusting echoes around the room* "Oh. Nevermind."
I know there were RTS games before Warcraft 2, including Command and Conquer which will probably grace this spot someday, but this game holds a special place in my heart. Mostly because I was good at it, and that's like the chocolate sprinkles on a really great sundae.
Thanks go out to Crouton for the suggestion. Remember to send an email with CGOTW in the subject to elysium@gamerswithjobs.com if you'd like your favorite game to be considered. Included a brief paragraph extolling the game's virtues.
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When I worked nights, my nights off were filled with WC2. I used to play online via a service called KALI. I was pretty good at that game back then, I had tons of practice.
Good Times, Good Times.
Az Syndicate
Woot!, it's a lifestyle!
Not to hijack but Kali is still around. I suckered up and bought their client back in the day (My Diablo1 infatuation) and you can still use it but then again why would you?
I was a Dune2/C&C guy, I didn't really get into Blizzard games until Diablo and then Starcraft (of course) but do have the Battle.net edition for old times sake.
Do you ever walk alone like a drifter in the dark?
I remember playing this back when in came out in the fifth grade.
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Warcraft 2 had beautiful music. The best in the series.
Shelter 1-minute atmospheric teaser.
I only picked up the game after it had gone to the bargain bin. Wonderful game though.
Well, Cooking Mama didn't help me become a better cook, and Trauma Center certainly didn't help me become a better surgeon. I have the proof of both sitting in my freezer. -- imbiginjapan
This was the game that got me into RTSs. I first saw it at a friend of mine's house before I had the access or funds to buy any games for myself. Soon after I was lusting for a computer game so I begged Lovesauce's wife to buy Command and Conquer for her computer since she was a gamer as well.
Yet even then we ran like the wind,
whilst our laughter echoed under cerulean skies...
I remember me and my friends replacing all the wav files for the voices with our own recorded insults.
*sniff* I miss this game.
Letters to the Internet
Good game. Good memories. Except that last alliance mission. So little land to build on, and so far away from the starting point. Then came the dragons. My poor, half completed towers. I never did beat that mission.
Got any toast?
This was my first computer game that I really played. I still have flashbacks of some of the FMV every once in a while. I remember trying to get away from my family on Christmas so I could play more Warcraft 2.
XBL: elliottxW
MMO Aliases: Jozak or Ezzamar
I loved Kali. Warcraft II and Descent were the order of the day. Anyone remember the knock-off, Kahn?
You can tell a competitive Warcraft II player if you say "lumber bug" and are greeted with a nod of understanding.
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What a great game this was. I had more love for C&C1, but this one was a very close second back then. I always laughed my ass off when my opponent would create a very expensive dragon, and I would turn it into a critter with my mage.
I don't watch, I interact!
I remember my father being impressed by the game when he saw it at my friend's house, yet he didn't upgrade our rig so we could play it at home. He sucks.
Roo: "Just to cheer you up if any of the above made you sad: Boobies."
Koning_Floris, on my online 'skills': "Stinking is a skill too!"
I can see my house!
Zug Zug!
Lothar!
Don't you have a kingdom to run?
Who wants to sing?
Nope never played it... when I was at work, at home is another matter.
" Did my love gun hit you?" -Gaald to Certis while playing Sins of the Solar Empire.
"Stop touching me..."
*sigh* Good times.
Yet even then we ran like the wind,
whilst our laughter echoed under cerulean skies...
I remember when it came out it was a big upgrade from Warcraft 1. Warcraft 1 was great, one of the first PC games I got into, before that I always had Apples. Then our family got one of the fancy new Packard Bell Pentium 75s and I loved Warcraft. Then 2 came along with it's navies and more polish and it was even better.
Burned many, many hours playing this over dial up via Kali.
My problem is; this was the second Warcraft game I played. Damn I'm old. I feel like Jeff Green.
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Represent. That and Case's Ladder, but I'll save those discussions for when Descent is the classic GotW (hint, nudge, wink, fart).
Warcraft II was my first RTS. Yeah, you always remember your first. I loved the game, but at the time I thought "damn, the pathfinding is horrid". Fast forward to today's RTSs and they still haven't nailed pathfinding. Blizzard, you were ahead of your time.
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Bacon is like monkeys - it makes everything better. - Bagga
For me 1995 will always be the birth of Command and Conquer, the Nod can school those f*cking orcs and elves.
Let's remember that Warcraft 2 was in awesome 640x480 resolution (the first major RTS to utilize that), while C&C was stuck in a puny 320x200.
Red Alert increased resolution to 640x480 but they were lazy. They literally only increased the resolution, making everything 4 times smaller, instead of making kickass large sprites like Warcraft 2 did.
Ok, all this talk reminds me how awesome Starcraft was. Darn... where's that CD...
Shelter 1-minute atmospheric teaser.
I taught my youngest brother his first word thanks to this game: Dabu.
Elysium: The democratization of the web ... has installed an illusion of a digital first amendment that protects speech no matter how poorly spelled or stupid.
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Ok, it's time to change my sig.
Shelter 1-minute atmospheric teaser.
I think this is one of the first few games I played with voice support. As such, I remember the installation sound test very distinctly.
Your sound card works perfectly.
Your sound card works perfectly.
Enjoying yourself?
Your sound card works perfectly.
Your sound card works perfectly.
It doesn't get any better than this.
In Ultima Online I used to poison hams and leave them on the ground in cities for people to pick up and eat. I can't believe how many people thought street ham was a good thing to eat. -Elliottx
Back to woyk.
Wah is it?
Back to woyk.
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Yeah, the sounds were awesome. It shows how much fun went into making the game. I would love to click the knights, or those kamikaze goblins.
Kaboooooom... oooh that's nice.
I don't watch, I interact!
Oh man! I always used Kahn over Kali, since Kahn's DOS version was completely compatible with its Windows 95 version, and Kali's wasn't.
Even so, Warcraft II and Descent were the first games I played online.
This game essentially killed RTSes for me. I was done with this game but my friends weren't for a long time. I lost a lot of time sitting around waiting for them to finish so we could do something else.
JUST PUZZLED YOUR ASS UP, SON! -Mr Crinkle