The Best RTS...

[KungKras]

Kenryoku_Maxis said:

Helios said:

Kenryoku_Maxis said:
Yawn, this thread turned into the same thread every other RTS thread turns into. Starcraft is the best and here's why with a bunch of buzz words like balance and posting of Korean 'pro' videos.

It just goes to show you, Starcraft will always be deemed the 'best' because it was the 'most popular'. Even if a new RTS comes out that does have better 'balance' and 'gameplay' (which I feel, multiple have). And Starcraft 2 is being set up for the biggest case of sequel effect in history.

You're right, not every RTS thread needs to revolve around Starcraft, but the use of Strawmen isn't helping your case here. I, peronally, have not played another RTS like Starcraft. It may not be what you are looking for in a modern RTS, but that does not mean it is not one of the greatest games ever made, nor does it change significance of over a decade of professional competition (with an ever evolving meta-game) and everything which that entails. The game simply would not have been able to sustain this continous level of refinement if it did not have the depth and balance to support it.

Well I personally do not deny it was a great game.  And I do agree it had great balance for when it came out.  But I do think later games, such as Company of Heroes and others, have come out and have surpassed it in both original ideas that improved the RTS genre and 'balance'.  The problem I see is most people aren't looking at the whole RTS genre.  They're looking at 'how does X RTS game compare to the way Starcraft plays'.  And that's the problem.  If every game gets compared to one game in a genre, nothing will be able to measure up to it, even if it does somehow surpass it.  Because eventually you'll find one thing that doesn't quite match what you're looking for or that one thing that isn't 'quite' as good as Starcraft, and that's the ballgame.  The game is 'inferior' to 'the perfect RTS that is Starcraft'.

And that's just my 2 cents.

 Of course most new RTS games have taken a different direction from the Starcraft way of playing, and that makes it difficult to decide wich game should be considered superior. it's like comparing Super Mario Bros 3 to Super Mario Galaxy. One is a 2D platformer, and one is a 3D platformer. Both are sort of in the same genre, but they do different things. SMB3 is the better platformer though.

Starcraft as a game isn't just impressive when compared to other RTS games. Compare what it has achieved with any game of any genre, and finding an equal is still hard.

Even Street figher 2 or counterstrike, two balanced competitive games that are still played today just like Starcraft do not have an evolving metagame with new strategies being invented every now and then like Starcraft.