EPT![[image loading]](http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/1/198791_28030_front.jpg)
I'm willing to bet most of you didn't even know there was such a thing as Starcraft 64! By the way, this will be the only image I use in my entire post.
Back then, it was all about the single player missions using the R button to quick select 18 units, which was the cap. Most of you may ask how the hell someone could endure controlling the cursor with the mini joy stick in the middle of the controller. Well, it wasn't easy. Then again, it wasn't particularly hard because I haven't ever played Starcraft on the computer, and I was having too much fun simply from the concept of an RTS game on the Nintendo. There were, of course, some major/minor differences in playing SC64. Some of these changes:
1. The maximum units selectable were 18 units. Not a bad deal, considering the lack of competition.
2. A unit/building's HP would show when you hover the cursor over the respective target.
3. The workers split themselves. When a geyser is complete, workers will automatically mine gas until 3 workers were mining on the geyser.
4. The speech was slightly altered. They sound a lot more curt and compressed. You should find some clips on youtube if you're truly curious about what I mean.
5. Graphics.
Ah~ Good times. I believe these days playing sc64 with a couple guys were truly the most relaxed and simple fun days of my entire BW history. Playing through the missions to unlock the secret cheat codes was what it was all about! My favorite of all cheats was unlocking the fog of war. There's nothing like discovering the secret to how the hell a computer player can produce 12 zealots while I only have 2 marines (hint hint: you need more than 5 scvs!)
Eventually, one friend from my middle school had introduced me to pure, pristine Starcraft. As soon as I saw what SC was like on the computer screen, I pulled a Fenix and resurrected my love for the game. The graphics were much cleaner and the controls were much smoother; it made me wonder myself how in God's name I used a N64 controller to move around. It didn't take long before I re-adjusted from SC64's control system to the original Starcraft on the computer.
It wasn't until one full year later in the autumn of my 8th grade that I played on Battle.net. A small group of kids from my grade were very into SC back then, so I decided to join them one day. Soon, I entered my first game of online Starcraft, a 3v3 bgh amongst us school kids.
I was absolutely baffled by their skills! I sent my overlord to scout one of my opponent's bases, and he retaliated by using a spore colony to kill my ovie! I mean, didn't you need scourges to kill air units? Who woulda thunk? I've learned so much from playing with these guys, from learning how to use move + a to attack, to producing more than 10 goons to call it a "mass". One particular friend offered me to build 30 workers before doing anything. His advice brought me a whopping ~15% win streak in 2v2 Bgh games. It obviously had nothing to do with the fact that my ally did most of the work.
Unfortunately, like most games that kids in my school played, SC was a game destined to come and go; it was a drug to feed a temporary RTS craving for young pubescent kids. Two years later, most of my school friends began to fade away from starcraft. To me, someone who came across SC much later than my fellow gamers, it felt as if everyone was hastily discarding what could have been precious memories, like a cheap whore once abused and forgotten.
Regardless of solitude, I have come to a point where Starcraft merged with a part of my life. I became the only kid to play a single game by myself seriously, but it didn't matter. I pursued competition in Starcraft: Brood War, a game my fellow schoolmates had not played because "Dts and lurkers were too cheap". Eventually, I had created multiple different accounts on US East to build my record. Those accounts were: The_Snow_Raven, ilovezil, RoseZrRed, and Stephanus_Kr (I'll give you three guesses as to which name I chose to use mainly as my online alias.) Over my high school years, these accounts had accumulated many 3v3 BGH games. Rosez and Stephanus ticked few hundred games, while Raven and Zil took over a thousand games each.
It wasn't long until the dedicated gamer I became began to try the traditional limited resource maps such as Lost Temple. Because LT is essentially half a BGH main with limited resources, I didn't have too much trouble adapting. However, I must admit I severely miscalculated the time it would take to create 12 zealots on several occasions. Meh, no one's perfect when they first try something. My Brood War career now took a fork in its path towards the traditional style play on LT.
Eventually, like an RPG character continuing his storypath, it wasn't long before I came across my first "boss" fight. In middle school when the school gang and I still played, I heard about a legendary BW gamer who was allegedly the top 30 gamer in the world. Thinking back, I'm rather certain that it couldn't possibly be true, but the rumor wasn't without at least some credibility. The legend's name was Royce, not the zerg player Royce some of you may be thinking of, but a korean gamer who had the opportunity to play against many korean gosus. It was a regular day after school, me looking into a public game when Royce joined the same game as I. Naturally, I jammed my caps lock button and spammed ROYCEROYCEROYCEROYCE! Unfortunately, the creator booted the legendary third wheel from his game and began the countdown. That is, maybe he began the countdown; I didn't stick around long enough to find out. Back in my private channel, I immediately typed something along the lines of:
"/m Royce Yo! This is a kid from your high school. Remember? Wanna game?"
A moment later, I received a message from Royce with bated breath. I read:
"From Royce: Uh...sure. I have work soon though, so we'll game another time."
It was then that I /f added royce and stalked him every day after school until I found him online once again. I casually messaged him, pretending I was messaging someone else with /f m,
"Yea, that game was pretty good." "Oh Royce, what's up? You wanna game now?"
Fortunately for me, I caught the somewhat confused gamer in his moment of free time. Soon, I entered the game Royce//1, finding myself in the same game lobby as the elite korean gosu who could easily own my friends. As the countdown started, I was determined to show this guy that I didn't train 5 hours a day nonstop for nothing! As I split my workers, I warmed up my fingers spamming the mouse/keyboard to prepare my epic A game.
I got raped in under 8 minutes.
For those of you who want to know the details, it was an RvR game that spawned me as Terran and Royce as protoss. Royce opted for a standard two gate robo build, while I dropped a 2 marine, 1 goliath, and one tank behind his mineral line. Needless to say, I didn't even know what a build order was back then. Regardless, Royce remained passive throughout most of the game and because of his subtle actions, I believed I was making somewhat of an impact against him. That is, until I saw endless legions of goons/zeals/templars rip my 10 tanks, 4 rines, and 2 science vessels to shreds, while accumulating 7 bases against my 2. So much for effort ~_~
Regardless of outcome, my game against Royce was the turning point in my BW career. After the game, I made sure to save the replay and analyze his actions. For the first time, I saw what it was like to see through the minds of a true Starcraft gamer. Build orders. Micro. Positioning. I took my time to place myself in Royce's shoes and thus, I selected the race that would accompany to this day, Protoss.
My efforts had paid off. Whenever I joined a public game, I brought my newfound knowledge with me and upgraded my game to another skill level. I used the same gay strategy royce had used against me, abusing 2 gate robo into mass expos until finishing my opponent off with maxed units and 6 bases. It was viable because it was public US East. The exhilaration of winning games so easily for the first time in my life was an epic high I would never forget.
Of course, with each high, there's a low. I came down with a crashing low when I realized there were severe flaws to using the same, exact BO in every game. My strat wouldn't work against zerg players. My strategy wouldn't work in 2v2's. Hell, my strategy got blown to shreds against a protoss who simply added one gate more than I had. I couldn't stand the fact that I was losing so badly; what was I doing wrong? Later down the road, I would finally realize that Royce's strategy was mainly designed for a standard pvt. I was slowly starting to realize how big the sea of competition was in the gaming world, working my way up bit by bit.
Throughout this time, I gained and lost many acquaintences on battle.net. I tried and played with many different strategies I've come across. It was also during this time that I first heard of professional gaming, including a couple top gamers under the alias "Nada" and "Boxer". The last statement holds a completely different story on its own; I might blog separately about my first time hearing about progamers some other time.
During this time period I call my learning phase, I would train against many gamers and experience my first ladder gaming on PGT. With a record capping 3900+, I was definitely unsatisfied, believing I could have done better. Still, having achieved C- on my first try, I would think back and ponder about how far I've come down the path of a BW gamer. Some have called me gosu; others simply left me with "lol nub". It all started with a particular trip to Toy's "R" Us for a Nintendo 64 game, but I aspired to end it by becoming as much a legend as Royce, the gamer who had inspired me. The rest is history; my learning experience would carry on throughout the rest of my high school years, into the end of last year, 2007.
During the last surge of my gaming time, I pursued and challenged the cap of my talent from the bottom of a new ladder, Iccup, hoping perhaps to revive my dream of becoming a true "gosu". Those of you who had read my previous blogs may already know about this experience, in my quest as Mallow[x] to achieve my top iccup rank. The details are in my iccup blogs, but I managed to acquire B- with an approximate 6700 high. A short time later, I honed and perfected what I learned in Iccup with the help of a few particular individuals from US West. I followed after Tempest)IS( to shape my game into the top form of macro that I had ever achieved. I kept studying top progamer replays and tested my limits against the top gamers whom I could previously not beat on my buddy list, and several korean gosus from known channels.
Unfortunately, my era was soon to collapse. I had slowly faded from BW after all these years, perhaps simply from outgrowing the game. I had a small spark of hope to return to my previous gaming era when TSL had arrived around a month later, but that didn't last too long. My skills had already declined sharply and the remaining flames of passion I had left burning for BW died down to subtle embers. Unable to get past D+, the curtains soon came to a close, while I as a gamer, had faded with nothing more than memories.
It is with my first time gaming in many months that I am inspired to write this blog. Today, I achieved a stellar 0-6 performance against lax competition, completely one-sided. What's most interesting, however, is that I no longer become irritated after losing a game. Instead of becoming addicted once again, I simply accept my loss and quit Starcraft after a couple games. Today is the day I truly realize it's over. Starcraft is no longer a dominating factor of my life. Perhaps it comes with age and maturity, but now I can take my hands away from the keyboard and close BW without the continuous 6-7 hour sessions I had previously engaged.
Sometimes, I think back and wonder if I could have done something differently or have tried harder. I once had a dream of having people talk about me the way my schoolmates talked about Royce, but my efforts obviously bore little fruit. When I think about that, it is with a heavy heart that I close my eyes to an essential piece of memory I'll hold for the rest of my life. On the other hand, I'm happy that I'm finally free. No matter how far I take my Brood War skills, I doubt I would be happy with what I'd accomplished. In any case, a gamer pursuing Starcraft seriously in the United States is already traveling down a hard path, with VERY little chance of profitable outcome. Thus, it is with a mixed heart that I close the bittersweet last chapter in my Brood War Chronicles. Perhaps I'll have the chance to write a sequel when SC2 comes out. Then again, I'm not sure if I'll let history repeat itself. If it does, will it turn out any different? Only time will tell...
I actually did not realize my blog was going to turn out this long. If you had read to the end, thanks for reading my blog, I hope you were able to enjoy it!
Editted a few minor mistakes
I play very casually now, but end up getting raped like a D rank newb :o
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