My Protoss Critique

I don't know, but Protoss don't seem to have the effect they had in the original. Everything seems far too clean cut and polished now, which doesn't fit the Protoss I know. I always pictured Protoss being fairly gritty; somewhat wartorn and roughed up alittle. They don't have that same awesome voice effect either, which is very disappointing. Protoss are supposed to sound nearly inaudible, even when speaking English, I think. They have to sound unhuman.

I dislike alot:
Stalker - Sounds horrible/Model looks flimsy and bouncy
Zealot - Sounds horrible/Model isn't fitting/Poor attack sound & animation
Warp Ray - Sounds horrible/Poor model/Doesn't serve any real 'role'
Dark Templar - Model isn't fitting
Stasis Orb (Unconfirmed) - Poor concept

I like alot:
Phase Prism - Looks decent/Decent concept
Collossus - Looks great/Sounds great/New & Interesting role/Great concept
Immortal - Looks great/Sounds lame
Carrier - Looks great

Indecision:
Mothership - Looks great/Sounds decent; too talkative/Overlapping roles with Carrier
Phoenix - Sounds decent/Looks decent/Downgrade from Corsair & Scout

Am I crazy, or no?

 

Could aya give some reasons for your rhoughts.

A whole list of "Seems unfitting" just doesn't do anything for me
I should mention that sounds are one of the last things done so you shouldn't be worried about the voices yet. Don't worry until after they have hired voice actors

 

Well, I kind of disagree with you on some points, but others I think you're dead on right. For example, i agree with you totally on the Stalker. I LOVE the concept, and giving it blink will make for a really interesting gameplay mechanic, but the model does look too flimsy. And Crypt Fiendish. Same with the voice, it sounds like it popped right out of Warcraft III.

As for the Zealot, my only real issue is with the attack animation. I mean, Zealots are supposed to be hardend warriors, trained for years in strength, and they're supposed to be the embodiment of rage and anger on the battle field. in the original game, they had a thrusting, punch like attack that looked like it was gonna take the enemies head off. Now it's just a swinging attack, like he's in a damned slap fight with the enemy. That's not the Zealot I knew and enjoyed using. We should bring back the ferocious punch.

 

Well, I meant it when I said 'they're unfitting'. The current Zealot model does not fit the bloodthirsty, warrior of a Zealot that i've come to know and love. He bounces around lightly and almost seems graceful, which isn't like the Zealot to me. Perhaps the model is alright, I just dislike the animations. The metalic sound of his blades, as well as his grunts, will also be missed.

Dark Templar also doesn't seem right to me. They look strangely bulky and armored; almost top-heavy. I don't care much for thier new weapon either.

Ah well, Starcraft II will be amazing, maybe I just miss the original.

 

Protoss are the most technologically advanced of the 3 races, how are they supposed to be gritty? Even losing their home world I can't picture that changing the way they live even if it was on another planet. And inaudible? People could clearly hear what they said in the first one. Sure some you didn't know what was said(probe, observer, reaver) but those were mechanical so it was understandable. Besides don't Protoss not have mouthes? Another words when they speak it is a machine allowing them to speak, which means it can sound proper english or southern trailer trash english, either way is up to the creator of their machines.

Think about this logically. Even if you had blades extended on your hands(Think Wolverine) would your only attack be to put your arms directly in front of your body and thrust them at someone like pistons? Or would you swing them wildly trying to do as much damage as possible with as much force as possible. Here is a test, go outside put you hands in front of you body and don't allow them to go outside the range of your shoulders and punch a bag or something. Now swing you hand as far back as you can and accelerate it at that bag as fast as you can. Honestly, tell me which one does more damage? Since I already know the answer, no, swing motions that are fast and accurate are better for good fighters then little jabs.

"Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee" was a quote from most likely one of the best boxers in American History. Heck, this one is simpler then me laying out a lot of info. Think Spartan from the movie 300. Not huge, not insanely big, and definitely not stupid, BUT they were graceful, light, and very much the peek of fighters.

 

If I have things on my arms capable of melting any substance instantly, I'm throwing a punch staight for the neck.

And even if you are right, I'd rather him look cool. So yeah.


Edited out quotes. Please read the forum rules and refrain from quoting unnecessarily. Do not quote the post directly above yours.

 

A swing covers more area and is likeley to decapitate. A slice while more shallow can be as grevious if not more than a stab due to the surface area.

You dont see knights stabbing. There is a reason

 

actually with a sharp weapon a stab is much more deadly then a slice because of internal organs puncture wounds are by far more deadly then cuts, a cut will just destroy and damage skin unlike a puncture

ex: i cut one person across the chest and shoot another in the chest. Who dies first? the shot (puncture) is much more deadly

for the most part stabs are more deadly unless there is no vital organ or major blood vessel in the area

and don't worry about this stuff man they will fix it have faith in your gods of the game

 

@ BirdOfPrey
You could be right, but in the end, to be totally honest, I think the animation looks kinda silly more than anything. Regardless of how effective a swipe is, I just think a punch type attack looks better on the Zealot.

But than again, different strokes for different folks

 

Or not. A slice can be alot more deadly than a stab. Let me give you a simple example for a normal human. If you shot him in the chest there is a big chance the bullet won't hit the heart, and he will either live another day or die in a long hemoragie. But if you cut him at his lateral part of his neck (jugular, carotide and vague nerve) or at the frontal part of his leg (the femural artera) he dies verry fast, due to the fact that the hemoragie is so intense his heart fails in less than 2-3 minutes (belive me when i say this - i'm a student at the university of medicine). So basicly a warrior will never hit in one way no matter what weapon he holds, but he will use his skills to hit the best place the situation offers him. And if he has to dance to achive a fatal hit ... he will tango you with alot of grace. I say the zealot attack animation, need 1-2 more attack ways, but they are not bad. The animations from the first SC were bad...verry bad. No warrior would ever hit like that, even with weapons of pure energy.

 

Yes i think your crazy. first of all how do you think the mother ship over laps with the carrier??? the carrier only sows chaos onto a battle field. A mother ship has clock timebomb and planet cracker(aka base owner).... I herd the mother ship doesn't even fire in the air....now the stalker i do agree it sounds horrible but it doesn't look so bad to me. the dark templar looks ok. I strongly disagree with you on the Warp Ray. if you don't understand its use your gonna get owned bye people who are gonna run 5 or 6 of those into your base and own your buildings, mainly your command center. The Warp is base assult and is heavy unit assult, making it good agents a thor, bc, carrier, mother ship, another warp ray(i think), immortal, collossus, tanks, and archon. Come on man don't be slow, you need to think before you say things. Warp rays fit the protoss race and i'll be glad to use them.

 

Stabbing is a quicker, more energy efficient, and effective technique. This is why the Roman Legions were so succesful. In prolonged battle, in tight spaces, it's the best way to go. Swinging has the tendency to telegraph your moves and tire you out quicker. If I had blades of energy I wouldn't waste movement swinging those suckers. The 1-2 jab in SC1 looked good. That being said, I wouldn't mind if they mixed the animation up, ALOT. I think WC3 has like two attacks for melee units, why not 3 or 4 for Zealots?

I agree with the OP about the voice sounds of the Protoss, even though they're hardly final. The problem isn't the actors themselves but the effects being done to them. They sound too human. Honestly, can anybody hear 'power overwhelming' being heard as it should be heard from this style of Protoss?

 

look at my avatar
this is how they should attack

what i think the problems are:
some units dont talk fast enough (zealot)

Moi Loife!.... For Auir!
it just takes too long to say
but some of the stuff they say is pretty sweet

stalkers are like liddle pimps ;D
they are my favorite unit mechanics-wise

the immortals sound like their stoned/drunk (they slur words)

the poenix has a lisp XD
that makes me laugh

the warpray sounds like a human

mothership is just plain awesome

cant wait for the next update

 

I think i know what's wrong with the zealots attack. If you notice, in SC2 they attack twice per turn. Stab Stab, dealing 8 damage each. (because if you watch closely on the attacked unit, it drops by 8 twice if unarmored). In SC2, they just have 1 full swing dealing the full 16 (if it's still 16 dmg). It's not so much the zealots stabbing that's needed. It needs to attack twice per turn like it did in original Starcraft, even 2 swings would change a lot.. THAT'S what gave zealots the "I'm angry so i'll chop off your leg!" attitude.

PS. Longlivefenix's avatar has the perfect example of the stab stab factor. Swing swing would be nice too (no not the stupid AAR song)

 

You know, a really cool swipe animation was for the Dark Templar, I'd be fine with something like that. It looked like it had precision and power to it, as opposed to the Zealots kindof "I hope I get lucky and hit something" swing. Just my opinion, though.

 

I think that Zealots in its current stage deal 8 damage per swing, but the single swings occur about twice as often as the double-stabs in SC1, so it evens out. Yay.

 

uh.. isnt this bad? this means that more armor mitigation?

example: carapace blocks 2 dmg per hit. so 6+6 =12 vs 16-2= 14 -> uhhh...? ???

 

That was actually the case in SC1 too, it was just less visible since the attacks were so close to each other.

 

I disagree with Redlazer on most of your points, the Zealot is awesome, the attack animation is different, this is SC2 not SC1 and they should add a ferocious sound effect as they attack like in SC but everything is fine and i mean, Model isn't fitting? what the hell? its a Zealot and it looks like a Zealot and it has the same concept and almost same model as in SC.
The Stalker......it is a great unit, the model does look great IMO and it does not looks flimsy, it looks like a smaller Dragoon however different, the dialog is like it was straight from WCIII but its voice sounds cool.
The WarpRay is awesome as well, and it does deserve a damn role, it has a role of destroying structures and eliminating heavy armored units and the model is great like it says in the official website of SC2:

It meant to look like a flower and there is nothing wrong with it, i don't understand why are you so negative about this unit.
the Dark Templar has a fitting model but not the scythe, but it does gives a dreaded look to it making it look like a Grim Reaper which is always invisible killing units one by one, so there is a reason why it has a model like that.

 

I like the zealot, the stalker looks flimsy because its flimsier that most other protoss units(colossus, immortal), its not a tank its a ranged unit with a lot of mobility, its not supposed to be tough.

I like the zealot attack, its more intelligent than sc1 zealot, where its very brutish, very i hope i hit something attack.

Keep in mind this is 3d.