BLIZZARD BAD

[@Malisteen]

no list of actiblizzard's sins is complete without the allegations of frankly shocking abuse of employees.

[@argylemanni280]

Yeah never mind that companies turn over their entire staff every 5 years let's just bring up the same handful of stories forever. Gamers default to "make the same complaints every time a company gets mentioned anywhere" and it's really boring. The cargo cult of social justice.

[@MischievousCassowary]

@@argylemanni280 Considering that their infamous current CEO defending their horrid company culture, has been at Activision since 1991 (which merged with Vivendi in 2008) and the issues are recent, I don't get what your point is.

[@SpoopySquid]

​@@argylemanni280wut

[@jay9661]

​@@argylemanni280 One of the executives just got arrested by the french police. The people at the top were also responsible and they are still there

[@medievalist8441]

Nothing just makes you wanna work better than getting underpaid and being overworked; sexual harassment too if you're a female

[@DidgeridudeEX]

I got into your channel with all the Metroidvania content. But I like this video too, even as someone who's hardly dabbled into RTS games. 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim was a surprising bridge for me into the RTS genre, a genre I wouldn't have otherwise gravitated towards. This video makes me want to check out StarCraft!

[@dataraxia3520]

I like the greenscreen overlay format! Makes the voiceover feel much more natural. Hope to see more of it in the future

[@ingeniousclown]

I'm glad you enjoy it! I always struggle with it because my thoughts are often not very organized and I have a difficult time speaking off-the-cuff in an unbroken way that sounds/looks good on camera. Makes it extremely hard to edit lol. I do enjoy it enough to bring it out now and again though!

[@TheChaosTheory]

Also keep your eye out for Tempest Rising! Great C&C clone thats coming out soon!

[@soundrogue4472]

7:47 this is what fighting games are missing/ other genres; non-sweaty modes!

[@luxiken6719]

100% agree, I wish I could play games like gg strive or db fighterz and work with my friends instead of being forced to body them.

[@soundrogue4472]

@@luxiken6719As someone who plays Commander; playing the format Allies (where the guy to the left and right of you when you have 5 + players is your ally) really helped me get into the groove a lot better and avoid being bodied as much.

[@nobel11]

My first exposure was Starcraft 64 of all things. And I loved it, until a friend showed me Starcraft on PC. And I played those and Warcraft, but was never very good at multiplayer.

[@sanyuteikouseinen]

I also got hooked on Starcraft 2's co-op when I was just gonna replay the campaigns. The weekly mutations keeps me coming back, for more than a year now!

[@VikingSchism]

I never really played Starcraft - my history with RTS games started with Age of Empires. Would always go round to friends houses to play AOE 1, 2, and 3. Would play the campaigns at home, spent hours and hours on them. I also loved city builders like Anno 1404 and The Settlers: Rise of An Empire since I found myself not great at commanding troops. Then later on I'd find Planetary Annihilation and that game blew my mind when I was younger - the idea of being able to amass giant armies, attach boosters to a moon to crash it into a planet, create a giant laser. I played a lot of that game. Which then led me to its inspiration, Supreme Commander (and specifically Forged Alliance). I got into watching Forged Alliance games on youtube, though I've never been any good at the game myself. I've tried out some other large-scale RTSes like Ashes of the Singularity and AI War, but never found myself able to put in enough time to really get to grips with them. I do want to try getting into Homeworld though

[@calicow]

RTS is a genre that stresses me out a bit too much to play, but I have fond memories of playing Warcraft as a kid. I'm leaving this comment, however, because of something you said. That sometimes you just get in the mood for a specific game and become obsessed with it for a while. This happens to me often, usually at times in my life when I'm struggling. I call it my comfort game, though it changes as to which game that is. Glad to see someone else express that sentiment.

[@Neopolis3]

Your experiences are so similar to mine, clown. Basically grew up on Warcraft, played a lot of WoW, only got into SC2 co-op recently, got sad about it, watched GiantGrantGames, learned about Stormgate and ZeroSpace, and am now really hoping that the genre will go through a resurgence. What's your best commander by the way? For me it's Artanis (zealots go brrrr)

[@ingeniousclown]

I have both Zagara and Stukov maxed out for all prestiges. I love swarmy styles and both of those commanders embody that in unique ways. I've been toying with the idea of making a Stukov-based HotS mod: working title is "Stukov the Swarm"

[@casual_elitist]

forgot that this channel was ingeniousclown, read the first sentence, and was just like "dang what'd he do to you"

[@cursedvoid]

Once again clown another impressive video, good job setting up the greenscreen format.

[@Nerdasaurus13]

I was a Warhammer kid so the Dawn of War franchise is the RTS I grew up on. The first game plays pretty similarly to Starcraft with lots of units and base building, but the sequel is a really unique RTS that has a much smaller scope and prioritizes unit preservation over production which still has a community modding and playing it to this day. Neither of the new RTS's you showed off look like they will scratch that DoW2 itch for me, but I'm still super excited for them as hopefully breathing new life in the genre will let us see more niche and experimental RTSs pop up as well!

[@verg4469_]

yuris revenge was the shit i beat it sooooo many times and all the old c&c games in general but especially yuris revenge

[@MinhNguyen-ti5yb]

rare comrade!!!!

[@verg4469_]

@MinhNguyen-ti5yb rubber shoes in motion. i lost a bomb do you have eet? lol permanently burned into my brain. on my death bed these will be the words repeating in my brain when the lights go out. lol

[@MinhNguyen-ti5yb]

@@verg4469_ Kirov reported. I cast a deadly shadow. Mastermind on the move. So many good quotes!!!!

[@2Lainz]

I played so many RTS games as a kid. Never competitively but just the campaign. These new indie games prioritizing Co-op sounds really fun, maybe just what the genre needs to get away from ultra try hard 1v1 or die. The last wave of RTS games seemed to entirely revolve around that premise (ESPORTS) and just suffered for it. Great video, as always mr clown!

[@jx_man]

recently played all 3 campaigns and got into watching starcraft 2 content. Loved this video!

[@landsbyreview3420]

Ooohh, is this the new arch in the egghead saga? We've just gone though the arch of Rougelites and now the adventure of RPG's are upon us. Remember Tooth and tale?

[@kaikairos]

Starcraft in high school. Now I just occasionally play AOE2 DE with friends, and I am bad at it. (There are two many important things to track in an RTS.) We have found the (admittedly band-aid solution) of the handicap to be a fun thing for casual play, though; it turns out you have more fun, even losing, if you aren't feeling totally hopeless the whole time.

[@greytoeimp]

Heart of the Swarm was kind of awesome, and I felt bad but stopped playing Legacy of the Void maybe halfway through. At the time I thought it was "me" not them, but now I'm not surprised to hear people had left.

[@arekusu.]

5:58 if that's your friend's gamertag, he's a cultured man

[@ingeniousclown]

That was just some random dude I ended up matching with in coop!

[@TheChaosTheory]

Gigantic making a comeback today and JUST today for a "playtest" is exactly what their games have done to the gaming industry as a whole. Cant wait to play again!

[@Izigurand]

Holy shit how have I not heard about this?

[@haakonglindtvad5489]

Check Tempest Rising out also ! The Huge c&c Successor, being in development for over 4 years now with over 100 working on it.

[@QTpitarianne]

Huh this really coincided with me over the last 2-3 months starting to watch SC2 esports, despite never touching the game, and really enjoying it. I don't know where this SC boom came from but it very much is welcome. Edit: My only other memory was watching my uncle playing a protoss mission where an endless stream if zerg came in and he had to defend against it when i was abt 12. I distinctly remember the colossus from that.

[@ingeniousclown]

That sounds like one of the Protoss missions from Wings of Liberty. Play through that campaign (it's free!) and you'll be rewarded with a nostalgia bomb!

[@timsonnenberg6977]

Ah, Overwatch, my beloved. Really fun, unique potential, but in dire need of love by its overlord, just like this channel.

[@DannyHauckTTV]

I enjoyed this. I appreciate how you deliver information

[@MintCity]

Kohan II: Kings of War is my favorite RTS. Wish they would reboot the franchise.

[@vertigofy6699]

this really resonated with me as a Kane's Wrath fan, that game is in a really similar spot to SCII, in terms of being really innovative and then completely ignored by EA. I so desperately want a new game that takes KW's successes and builds on them

[@pocaiesc]

Total War Warhammer 3 COULD have been that but the company making it went full scumbag and lost a lot of interest from the public. Although is that considered less RTS and more grand strategy?

[@shounak1715]

Its a good day when you upload

[@s27448632]

I just checked and the prices for SC2 are still the same as they were years ago. Really pathetic for a game they dont even support anymore

[@Allodder]

Back when the SC2 expansions were coming out I played SC2 ranked as a newcomer and promptly got placed in gold. Then I got stomped for like 10 games and quit. I would go to build my third base, and run into a wall of marines+medivacs as far as I could see. I would absolutely dumpstered again and again. RTS micro is also very stressful to me, I don't enjoy it.

[@asomelord]

If you want a good RTS, I've been having a lot of fun with Call to Arms: Gates of Hell. It's a really cool, historically accurate WW2 RTS. The tank battles are amazing. It certainly doesn't have the hero mode, and frankly, I've never played Starcraft or any Blizzard game (I'm pretty sure I'm younger than you and didn't have a computer until high school... i first played AoE 2 until 2011 ish) so i don't really know if my suggestions are too relevant to your taste, but I've really been enjoying it playing co-op with my best friend over the past year or so

[@haakonglindtvad5489]

Tempest Rising, Stormgate and if u tried Aoe 4 at release, u should know there is an expansion coming, and the state of the game now is great

[@Draconis_Eltanin]

Not sure if you'll read this but I want to say Planetary Annihilation: Titans. It was pretty good, although I am terrible and inexperienced in RTSs, so my opinion may lead to unsatisfactory results. Also two honorable mentions for RTS adjacent, unconventional tower defence games by solo devs: Mindustry and Creeper World (series, mostly 4 and 3). Mindustry answer the question of "What if factorio was more focused on defending from waves?" and adds a good dose of unit production and management on top. Creeper World is what I'd call a tower offense game, where you have to defend from a single enemy, but it is a viscous fluid: very cool and satisfying.

[@ingeniousclown]

i adore the creeper world games, they're so satisfying to just veg out on

[@Draconis_Eltanin]

@@ingeniousclown :0 I did not expect a reply so soon! Pleasantly surprised by your knowledge of CW :D

[@soundrogue4472]

9:42 it's simple; you like, RTS nothing is wrong with that; I went back to Super Meatboy and speedrun level segments from time to time. Your brain as certain games or activities that have a scratch to fill.

[@SimonToth83]

It's the weird split personality. For a real time strategy to be good, it has to be great for hardcore players, but that does make it a very steep hill to climb. I have kind-of surrendered myself and now live off of tower defense games (mostly). The times when I could climb to diamond in SC2 are long gone.

[@ingeniousclown]

I'm learning that the ladder climb is a lot of mindset. Maybe you don't need diamond to have fun? Regardless, I've started trying and have clawed my way up to Plat 3 playing only a few games a day (though with deliberate build order practice within it)

[@Zannyzander]

I think you have the negative mindset about this. Every good game will have hardcore players, even a lot of bad games do. I think you need to look at what you really want out of the games and how to realistically accomplish that. If you want to be competitive in a competitive game then you'll need to take on that mindset and work on improvement, taking it somewhat seriously at a minimum. If you don't want to try and compete for high rankings then don't take it too seriously. Just have fun doing your thing and remember if you start getting upset or taking it too seriously that it's not why you play.

[@ingeniousclown]

Yeah thats the mindset thing I mentioned. Personally I've been watching a lot of instructional SC2 videos (lots of PiG's B2GM) and spending some time in the evenings working out my mechanics and practice in the ladder. I was taking it way too seriously and getting pretty salty before actually taking a step back and realizing that, yeah, I absolutely suck, and I'm never going to be playing to be best in the world anyway. DESPITE THAT, it's extremely fun to watch a build come together and smash whatever your opponent thought they had going for them, and it's very rewarding to be able to pinpoint where you may have messed up and then solve that problem over the course of a few games. The grind isn't necessarily about winning and being the best. Sometimes it's just about the grind itself! It's fun to improve at things, even if they're relatively useless skills.

[@SimonToth83]

@@Zannyzander Which is kind of the point isn't it? This entire genre is inherently competitive. And there are few and far between games that you can enjoy without the need to be competitive.

[@Zannyzander]

@@SimonToth83 What I was saying is that it doesn't have to be competitive. You can just play campaigns or group games with friends. You can join a competitive match and just screw around trying out things you think are fun to do. Having a competitive mode does not necessitate you compete to be the best. It's all about your mindset.

[@ShadowMageAlpha]

"I started up my favorite campaign of the three Star Craft 2 campaigns... Heart of the Swarm. Not because it's the best campaign, but because I'm a zerg player." I mean... your reason may have been because you're a zerg player, but as a Terrain main since SC1, it is the best. It's a deeply compelling storyline that gives character development to the zerg (which I had previous through impossible) and gives a great deal of catharsis for a transgression committed by Mengsk to many years ago. It was excellent where the other two were... uhh... not. (At least in my opinion.)

[@KlausWulfenbach]

I think the slow decline of Starcraft II to the point where Blizzard got rid of the entire "Classic Games" team has reinvigorated both everyone who thought they never had a chance of competing with SC2 as an eSport as well as everyone who just wanted to make an RTS and never wanted to make an eSport but would have been forced to try if SC2 was still huge. As for me, well I'm an Indie and my RTS is going to be a bit different. It's just a coincidence that I'm working on it while all this other stuff is happening.

[@FearfulFellow]

As a terran player, Id agree that heart of the swarm is definitely the best campaign and its not even close

[@wonderfulworldofmarkets9033]

Awesome video, I loved Sc2 and its sad to see it go into maintence mode. But honestly, ever since it launched it was being eclipsed by League of Legends. It was always on borrowed time.

[@ingeniousclown]

Ehh, they're two completely different genres. The control style is similar at a glance but SC2's death has nothing to do with MOBAs, despite the fact that MOBAs started as RTS mods.

[@alexs958]

You sound like 1994 spiderman cartoon

[@arekusu.]

I've always known about RTS games but unfortunately I'm trash at them lol. Probably doesn't help that even to this day I've never had consistent access to a PC which is--let's face it--the only acceptable way to play an RTS. When I was a kid, however, at one point we got a hand-me-down PC from my brother's friend and I played the shit out of Stronghold Crusader/AoE on it. I'd still play those games today if I had a PC.

[@mggthebest]

Man, I gotta install starcraft again.

[@ingeniousclown]

emperordoit.gif

[@1cynicalsaint]

You know, honestly, Star Craft II might have actually been the point Blizzard lost me. My main memory of it was being pissed about how they split out all the campaigns piecemeal, and if anything hearing that the commanders mode is all microtransactiony is really reinforcing the ick feeling about the whole thing.

[@ingeniousclown]

I remember being frustrated about the campaign splits too, but each campaign was roughly the size of the entirely of Starcraft 1, while also greatly improving on the mission design. On top of that, HotS and LotV were only $40 each instead of the full $60 of the time. Blizz was definitely early on the nickel-and-dime train but I honestly don't think it was all that bad, taking everything into account. As for the co-op microtransactions, I get it. But it's also a completely optional side mode that is completely free to play, with 3 fully unlocked commanders to start with and the entire roster playable in a sort of "demo" format. $5 is honestly a low price for the hours of enjoyment I was able to get from each commander I bought and that's the ONLY gameplay-affecting purchase you make for the mode.

[@skrotosd]

i was fighting the urge to download starcraft again, now i lost.

[@ingeniousclown]

gottem

[@DomTheSub24]

Purist or riot.

[@ingeniousclown]

what do i look like, northernlion?

[@OzomaLp]

You play old games instead of a new one....that's crazy right? No actually you just learned that playing the new stuff is not the way to enjoy gaming. There is a reason why the old games were a hit. You just learned that this exist. Congratulation of becoming a gamer.

[@Xankara98]

As a real gamer, I dislike Blizzard cause they didn't make video games the way I like instead of the horrible employee female abuse, siding with a regime against human rights and generally avoiding ethical management.

[@qasderfful]

It's interesting that StarCraft II did the same thing to RTS that WoW did to MMOs, but in RTS circles it's still considered good despite all the consequences. What gives. In this particular case I can't see eye to eye with you. I don't want to invalidate your tastes, but I'll say a few things about myself. I've been playing RTS since 1998, when I got my first PC, and I'm one of this rare bunch who think that Blizzard *butchered* WarCraft II with their third installment. My two hopes are Sanctuary: Shattered Sun and Tempest Rising. Being SupCom-style and C&C-style games respectively.

[@ShirakiAkarin]

You guys don't have phones ?

[@DampeS8N]

Boy, it is dangerous for me to comment on this one at all. Um. First?

[@juliantaranto4178]

cheater

[@soundrogue4472]

How can you comment first if it's only 16 minutes old?

[@Stereotypical_Cat]

Is it just me or is your mic peaking a lot?

[@ingeniousclown]

no peaking here. lots of processing, but no peaking

[@QuestionMarkSS]

W vid

[@Zatiels]

Let Blizzard die already.

[@rafresendenrafresenden.1644]

dude you need to eat more eggs and meat.

[@ingeniousclown]

dont be so jealous of my lithe figure

[@rafresendenrafresenden.1644]

@@ingeniousclown I just want for you to be healthy, eat some salt and drink water always go to bed at the same hour everyday