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30 Year Anniversary of WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness

45 points

by sjoblomj

6 hours ago

| past

| 7 comments

| jorsys.org

| HN

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barfoure

6 minutes ago

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Some additional stuff:

1) you can find the War 2 for PSX source on Archive. It has all the Windows stuff commented out. It might be possible to uncomment and compile with something like Borland C or Watcom C or whatever they used.

2) the modding scene was phenomenal. Not mentioned is StarDraft for obvious reasons but a counterpart to WarDraft. This is where our story takes a turn and the name Camelot Systems emerges, along with a King Arthur (Andy Bond) who shortly after finishing his comp sci degree went to work for Blizzard and has been with them since. This website is a homage to CamSys (JorSys).

3) War2Bne is a thing to behold. Diablo, Warcraft 2 et al being able to seamlessly chat and DM players across games was pure magic.

Many stories to tell, but we will never step into that river again.

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boringg

1 hour ago

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The apex of RTS games -- what a great gaming era RIP. Since then graphics are way better but business models have just deteriorated and mass appeal has driven games.

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itsdrewmiller

1 hour ago

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I think Brood War is the true apex - more than two races with significant differences and aggressive balancing. Warcraft II was what I LAN played the most so it has a special place in my heart though.

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bigstrat2003

2 minutes ago

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Personally I think Dawn of War is the apex. That game really fired on all cylinders. And then for whatever reason Relic completely abandoned the formula and made the next game something different entirely. Dawn of War 2 remains one of my greatest gaming disappointments to this day because of poorly it stood up to its predecessor.

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iammjm

57 minutes ago

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Brood War IS the absolute apex. This is the game that started e-sports. It is what defined the modern RTS games. It is also the most difficult game. Flash, the best Brood War player, is arguably the best e-sports player of all time.

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PeterHolzwarth

54 minutes ago

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Oh goodness, Brood War most certainly is not the game that started e-sports, tho I of course appreciate your enthusiasm for the game.

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embedding-shape

51 minutes ago

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Technically I guess Spacewar! was the one who started e-sports, was the first game people competed in. Personally, growing up in Sweden, I think FPS (namely CS1.5/1.6) was the first game that enabled people to play games professionally on a international level, so I'll always associate CS with starting that, but again, technically I guess Quake was the first FPS people competed in professionally, at least in the US.

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antisthenes

24 minutes ago

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In the RTS niche, it is definitely the game that started e-sports that had any sort of weight and global audience.

I'm honestly not even sure which other RTS game would be close? Age of Empires 1? I don't think it ever had the same traction or hype until AOE 2.

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thinkingtoilet

48 minutes ago

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It started modern esports. There were gaming competitions in the 80s, but there weren't team houses, coaches, analysts, big money sponsors, regular huge events, dedicated TV channels, players in prime time commercials and dating actresses and pop stars, etc... Brood War hit in Korea like nothing before or after it. There were literally three full time, 24/7 TV channels showing Starcraft content at it's peak. No other game has ever done that.

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7bit

51 minutes ago

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But it certainly was the game that made it popular across the world.

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markus_zhang

37 minutes ago

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I loved the campaigns so much that I spent many dollars to play with the campaign editor in a net bar back then. I never figured out how to recreate the Corsair scene at the beginning of Protoss level 2. It was only after many years that I found out that it requires a script not in the official editor — some modders created a new editor that includes all those “unofficial” scripts.

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chollida1

1 hour ago

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Interesting, I think most RTS players would point to StarCraft 2 as the apex, and they'd probably be correct given how its still played so much today.

What makes Warcraft 2 the apex for you over StarCraft 2?

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adinisom

55 minutes ago

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Buildings as walls and using spawn points to jump through terrain are fun mechanics in WC2.

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SpaceManNabs

4 minutes ago

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I consider WCIII TFT the apex but that is because i really like the hero mechanic and it spawned so many amazing custom games, including the moba genre. I know AoS was first but dota really made it.

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YesBox

36 minutes ago

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So happy I bought this game on GOG before they replaced it with the revamped version (modern looking art, etc).

I played through the orc campaign last year and had fun. It's definitely aged, but it makes me wonder if something like that could exist today. Story games are popular, and I think always will be (people like stories).

Instead of a solo protagonist, can we bring back the hero (a la WarCraft III) and their army? Or even the invisible god like WC2?

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thih9

28 minutes ago

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Here is a comparison of the original vs the remaster: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KZ9Ac4WVW6Q&t=100s in case anyone is interested too.

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acheron

43 minutes ago

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Very distinct memory of getting this for Christmas, then installing and playing the first time that afternoon.

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mock-possum

4 minutes ago

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Lucky! my sister and I opened it Xmas morning, then had to wait all day agonizingly to be able to play jt because we hosted the family holiday, we were supposed to be socializing with relatives, not playing computer games upstairs.

We had to wait until after mom and dad went to sleep that night, then snuck up the hall to install it and play it as quietly as possible.

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rickcarlino

20 minutes ago

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Was this the one AOL charged me to play by the minute when I was a kid?

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newshackr

1 hour ago

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Zug zug

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mproud

23 minutes ago

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I’m convinced “zug zug” is a reference to a scene from the 1981 movie /Caveman/[1].

1: https://youtu.be/5h2gVbLlwl8

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semitones

57 minutes ago

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swobu

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7bit

52 minutes ago

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Train train

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jajuuka

42 minutes ago

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Warcraft II was my introduction to the RTS genre and fell in love with it. Warcraft II really gave each unit a unique character and the strategies for almost endless. Spents tons of time playing and replaying it over the years and it's kinda crazy it still has a competitive scene.