So... out of curiosity, what do you all think of "Blizzard Entertainment", and their RTS / MMORPG franchise?

Blizzard to me is a company that began at the best they'd ever be, and slip further down the suckometer every time they make something.

Warcraft Orcs & Humans - Epic
Warcraft II - Supah Sweet
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal - Pretty Sweet
Diablo 1 - Sweet
Starcraft - Awesome
Brood War - Great
Dialbo 2 - Good
Diablo 2 LoD - Decent
Warcraft III - Playable
Warcraft III: Frozen Throne - Better than Homework/Work
World of Warcraft - Meh
Burning Crusade - Bleh

Apart changing Diablo 2 from "good" to mostly "playable, for a while", and the same for LoD, and give Diablo 1 and awesome rating, and of course change WoW and everything that comes out of it to "a disgrace not only for Blizzard, but for the gaming industry as a whole" I agree with Khell's list. I have no doubt that they will keep up their pattern with Starcraft 2, even more so than they already have.

OT for a second, I'm looking at Khell_Sennet's avatar dance to Mope by The Bloodhound Gang, and it's freakin' hypnotising.

I reckon Blizzard are admirable. They have a devotion to quality that means they don't churn out as many games as some big studios, but the games they do ship are reliably good, as in well-made. I've gone off PC gaming because on my computers (which were never that cutting-edge, but still cost a pretty penny for a young lad) I always had trouble getting games to run - but Blizzard games always ran well and looked good.

Sure the shine is wearing off some old classics, but that's because each expansion and sequel has been a refinement of the last game, not a revolution. Blizzard's strength isn't invention, it's knowing which design concepts are best, putting them together and refining the hell out of them. Starcraft wasn't the first RTS with asymmetrical armies (tho I'm not sure anyone had done it to the same extent), it was just the best. There were no gameplay elements in Diablo that expanded all that much on the foundations laid by old games like Rogue, but Diablo had the right tempo of gameplay, the right amount of levelling-up positive feedback and really visceral, satisfying audio and graphics. That level-up "ding!" still makes me grin a little, which is why I can never play WoW.

Starcraft 2 won't be radically different to Starcraft, just as Warcraft 2 and even Warcraft 3 (given the time difference) weren't that different to Warcraft and Diablo 2 wasn't that different to Diablo: just bigger, flashier and more refined. Diablo 3 will be the same story.

Hopefully they'll come up with a new IP that works for them sometime soon, because like everyone else in this thread so far, I'm getting bored with what boils down to two game franchises and an MMO.

So I guess the habit of releasing polished titles when they're ready rather than with a slew of game-breaking bugs doesn't mean much.

Having played a few online offerings, I don't really understand the hate for WoW other than that it makes people's soul-crushing game addictions more public by virtue of being on the Internet.

I guess WoW aggravates its critics more than other games because a) it's immensely popular, b) it's a long-format game that doesn't have an ending, so most people will get to a certain point, whether four hours in or four hundred, and think "oh my god... I have achieved nothing" and c) it doesn't go away. If you're not playing it, other people always are. WoW is still hugely popular and it came out in 2004; comparatively few people are still playing Doom 3 or GTA: San Andreas, for example.

tangyuzhe:
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banhammer senses.....tingling.....

I've enjoyed Warcraft, and Warcraft 3 (never played 2 sadly). Starcraft i found very meh. I had a 10 day trial on WoW... it was ok. i prefer City of Villains though. Never played that clickfest Diablo either. Blizzard are ok as developers go, even if they are a bit light-fingered when it comes to ideas *coughGamesWorkshopcough*

Warcraft: Orcs and Humans was amazing
Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness was amazing.
Warcraft 3 ehhh...I enjoyed it, but it wasn't incredible.
World of Warcraft I thought was fun, but once you get a character up to level 70 it gets a little old.
Diablo was amazing
Diablo 2 was even better
Starcraft is easily one of the most well balanced RTSs I've ever played.

Blizzard had it's epic games, The Lost Vikings, Rock and Roll Racing. Heck, even Blackthorn was a decent game.
Blizzard is a company that rather than just make a game, puts tons of story into the game, to make it a believable experience. For example, the entire Warcraft line has volumes of back story behind it, something I can't say for many other MMO's, and currently is the largest MMO in existence. That in no way means it's good, just huge.
Personally, until World of Warcraft is dropped and we get Universe of Starcraft I'm not playing it :)

I'm terrible at RTSs, but I will give credit to Blizzard for creating one of the largest mod community I've seen for a game. I had a ton of fun with friends playing mods. The actual game itself was good (from what I've played) but I think they've done good with Warcraft 3.

I keep finding myself growing more and more apathetic towards Blizzard and it's current and future releases. I lost all interest in WOW the first time I laid eyes on it and likewise was greatly disappointed in what I saw of StarCraft2 and more recently in Diablo 3. They keep touting all these supposed new, unprecedented play features but it only seems as though they're taking the old games, building them on 3d engines, tacking on a few new aesthetic features and options (most of which have been done to death already) and throwing it out there to the customers. Not that their old games were bad. I loved StarCraft and WarCraft 2, but I guess I was, I don't know, hoping for something new from them, considering how long they've been around and how talented they are. (were?) I'm not saying they desperately need a new IP, but at least trying to do something different wouldn't hurt. Still, they are one of the most talented companies out there.

i said good titles

and they do have good titles, they produce a steady stream of decent stuff, with occasional gold.

They get my thumbs for being consistent and fun.

Uhm... Diablo 2 > Diablo 1; Warcraft 3 > Warcraft 2 (especially because of the Online play and Mods it is a MUCH better game), StarCraft best RTS ever, Lost Vikings and Blackthorne series were some of the "decent/great" Jump & Run titles that came out for PC aside of Earthworm Jim, Jazz Jackrabbit and some others...

I have to agree though that their "latest" releases (namely Cashcow World of Warcraft) and Diablo 3 (from what one can see of it) aren't exactly up there with some of their previous works... not nearly

Blizzard appear to spend a lot more time writing history and story and dialouge than making a game. When I played Warcraft 3 I was really interested in the characters and story and the world it was taking place in but about halfway through the Undead campaign I gave the game up because working for one and a half hours on a mission for half a minuite of cutscene just wasn't worth it. It's akin to someone making you eat a mountain of cold mashed potato before finally giving you the lone peice of toffee you were promised beforehand.

Compare this to something like Age of Empires 3. The campaign was patchy and a bit stupid but I played it through twice and then skirmish maps for months afterwards because it was genuine fun. I was tired of Warcraft 3 in the first week.

Maybe Blizzard should make movies instead?

Novajam:
Maybe Blizzard should make movies instead?

Second! Oh damn second!

I may bash Blizgames because they are going stale and they haven't actually improved since WCraft1/SCraft1/Diablo1, all they do is spruce up the graphics, but one think I do like about Blizzard is their ability to make kickass storylines and cutscenes.

Prior to it being locked, the Diablo3 thread had someone comment on nobody actually playing Diablo for the plot... That was pretty true of Diablo2 and that's what made it a suckfest compared to Diablo1, but Diablo original was ALL about story. Not just the game's storyline, but backstory and history, extras like the cryptic poetry and dark subplots... Warcraft (WoW included) had a pretty damn good tale behind it too, and Starcraft is not completely devoid of plot, even if its is the weakest.

I want a Starcraft action blockbuster to rival Aliens and Starship Troopers.
I want a Diablo trilogy of movies with all the care that was put into LoTR.
And I want a World of Warcraft TV series (Live action preferred, CG Cartoon acceptable, Anime acceptable).

"What, the storm? I hate them."

I do hate Blizzard the game company.

What I want to know is why they continue to make games, I mean come on, people STILL buy their old games -not to mention that I still see Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft battlechests at every electronics and game store out there -, and WoW has sucked in a lot of the worlds population, they have hit the game development dream and they have practically no need to develop games anymore - they already make enough money, and yet we have Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 on the way - these will sell bajillions (yes, bajillions) of copies, and yet Blizzard has already hit the "Game Developers Dream!"

shatnershaman:
"What, the storm? I hate them."

I do hate Blizzard the game company.

YOU don't like them? Traitorous swine!

Lol ElArab, that's great never seen that before :)

I'm not a big fan of Blizzard... Starcraft was always weird to me cause there were other RTS franchises using the exact same setup in different time periods that were much better produced, like Age of Empires for one... Diablo was too dungeon-crawly for me, and I never really like the whole fantasy getup anyway that put Warcraft out of the picture...

They make good titles, and that's what I voted, but I've never been the fanboy for Blizzard... and who needs me anyway? They have enough fanboys to last a lifetime...