I had a chance to talk to some SC2 pros at MLG Anaheim to look back at the first year of Starcraft 2. We talked about their biggest wins, their heart breaking losses and important games that changed the scene of SC2. If you liked Inside MLG Columbus then you should check this out. If you have any questions or comments feel free to post them, I'll try my best to reply.
If people like them I'm always looking to do more, so if any teams or players are interested PM. If you want to show support, pass it on to your friends.
People need to listen the answers of the question about "are you a player who plays to win or player who wants to play entertaining games for the viewers". Thus think a little and stop bitching why some tournament games are boring as hell and stop blaming and hating the players.
Would have loved to hear more answers of other people, but i really liked QXC, KiWiKaki and Jinro. Love those guys.
I don't know what but hearing that naniwa doesn't have any specific respect towars the broodwar players kinda change the vision I have on him. Can't help it
Fantastic documentary. The stylistic choices you made were spot on. You spoke with some very interesting and important people. The editing was done in such a way that it was just really really fun to watch. Very well done and I can't wait for Starcraft Year Two.
"I don't have any special respect for brood war players". Oh my Naniwa 0_0 I don't even know how to respond to that... Your a progamer for christ's sake.
When the interviewer asked "what was your favorite game" I immediately was puzzled. I thought about how I would answer that question and realized that this truly amazing match has just not come for me. I know I've seen hour long ZvTs and what-not, but I can't remember any of the specifics because they were never significant enough. I guess I am just waiting for that game that is both symbolic and awesome to go back and watch. Something like an hour long mined out PvZ on a map like Tal'darim in the ace-match of the MLG finals bettween a Korean and a White dude. That kind of memorable game where one could reference "IdrA vs MC" and even though they've played countless numbers of games against each other, everyone will think of the same game.
On September 01 2011 10:29 sGs.Kal_rA wrote: "I don't have any special respect for brood war players". Oh my Naniwa 0_0 I don't even know how to respond to that... Your a progamer for christ's sake.
that was an amazing video, hilarious at times but very insightful. great opening with Jinro's baneling on the ceiling :D also Naniwa's interviews were so straightforward and fun to listen to
On September 01 2011 10:29 sGs.Kal_rA wrote: "I don't have any special respect for brood war players". Oh my Naniwa 0_0 I don't even know how to respond to that... Your a progamer for christ's sake.
He is saying it from a competitive perspective. If he is playing a brood war pro in a tournament, he just looks at them as a star2 opponent playing star2. I doubt if he played Moon in a pvz, he would give him any special credit for being such a huge war3 legend. He is speaking from an objective standpoint, in that he can't go into a match saying "omg this guy was so good at this other game", but rather with the mindset of, "Hey, I play a terran today".
It isn't him being disrespectful, or saying outside of his professional self, that what someone like Boxer has accomplished in his past isn't admirable. He is just saying in-game, they are just another opponent for him to be playing, and that is the mindset he takes going into the game.
On September 01 2011 10:29 sGs.Kal_rA wrote: "I don't have any special respect for brood war players". Oh my Naniwa 0_0 I don't even know how to respond to that... Your a progamer for christ's sake.
He didn't play BW. Why would he?
Don't wanna get into a bw vs sc2 debate but by just watching a bw fpvod you can't help but be awed by what those players can accomplish. And don't forget the fact that BW essentially pioneered esport's and allowed gamers to have a house to live and practice in with corporate sponsorship. To say you don't have any special respect for BW players when you play SC2 is just close minded... You gotta have respect esport's history. And if things go as they are, BW will be esports history soon :'(
Amazing video, thanks alot! I have to admit, when I saw it I was thinking "Seriously...35 mins of video to watch...well I'll watch the first few mins", and after watching it I am now thinking, "Wait, is that it!?!? I need more!"
Haha, but in my defense, I have a lot of work I need to get done; but it was well worth taking the time to watch this documentary. I hope to see more in the future!
On September 01 2011 10:29 sGs.Kal_rA wrote: "I don't have any special respect for brood war players". Oh my Naniwa 0_0 I don't even know how to respond to that... Your a progamer for christ's sake.
He didn't play BW. Why would he?
They're the reason he has a job doing this in the first place.
Nice documentary. Totally agreed with qxc about the skill ceiling, theres so many things you can do, no one master the game quite yet. Plenty of sloppy play.
I think this is a good length for the subject. Short, snappy, and to the point. Also nice how clips from the games/events being mentioned are edited in.
That was absolutely amazing. I'm not sure how to even express how awesome it was. You rarely get to see that side of the players and it is just awesome to finally get a glimpse of it.
On September 01 2011 10:29 sGs.Kal_rA wrote: "I don't have any special respect for brood war players". Oh my Naniwa 0_0 I don't even know how to respond to that... Your a progamer for christ's sake.
He is saying it from a competitive perspective. If he is playing a brood war pro in a tournament, he just looks at them as a star2 opponent playing star2. I doubt if he played Moon in a pvz, he would give him any special credit for being such a huge war3 legend. He is speaking from an objective standpoint, in that he can't go into a match saying "omg this guy was so good at this other game", but rather with the mindset of, "Hey, I play a terran today".
It isn't him being disrespectful, or saying outside of his professional self, that what someone like Boxer has accomplished in his past isn't admirable. He is just saying in-game, they are just another opponent for him to be playing, and that is the mindset he takes going into the game.
People need to read this and stop posting bs based on a lack of reading comprehension.
Nice. I'm not big on following pros or stuff, but this was pretty intriguing to watch.
I really like what MrBitter had to say at 28:50 about SCBW pros not necessarily jumping to the top of SC2. I think it's terribly elitist, overconfident, or arrogant to say that they definitely would. (that said, I agree with what QXC said afterward also)
I am not trying to hurt ur feelings i am not trying to be a dick I am just saying didnt like it. Dont know why just didnt like it. Wish you GL tho if u do another.
Aahahaha naniwa showing EXACTLY why he's my all time favorite. Just basically saying he doesn't have any respect for people because of BW. So honest and brutal.
Seriously, what other player has that kind of straight-forwardness and cold don't-give-a-shit attitude?
Only a Swede I tell you. Fucking Swedes man, crazy bastards.
You all are taking what Naniwa is saying out of context.
The question was would he be afraid of playing Boxer. When he answered that he does not have any special respect for BW players, he means that he won't treat a BW player any differently in game than he would any other person. He doesn't mean that he dislikes BW players and what they represent.
It's amazing hearing these guys talking about their favorite memories of SC2 so far after I witnessed those moments live, especially when Bitter brought up the MKP vs Kyrix match.
On September 01 2011 10:29 sGs.Kal_rA wrote: "I don't have any special respect for brood war players". Oh my Naniwa 0_0 I don't even know how to respond to that... Your a progamer for christ's sake.
Actually, I think its very forthcoming and honest of him to stay that.
TL is like the inquisition when it comes to BW; the sligthest criticism of either player or the game gets you burned at the stake. If you didn't play brood war youself, theres no reason to have any special respect for them either; it's SC2 not SC1, SC1 pro does not necessarly make you SC2 pro.
I find it quite refreshing that he dosn't mindlessly praise gamers just because they played SC1, unlike alot of other casters and players who didnt play BW in the first case
I really like the documentary, but I will like it even more if it includes other SC2 key figures or even top Koreans that had a huge impact on the game (Day9, Artosis, Huk, MC, Nestea, etc)...
LOL, Naniwa shows the death stare whenever he can. He has an ...interesting attitude toward Starcraft 2.
qxc showing some flair, I had to rewind to catch his rhyme! So clever -_-.
I think qxc's point about the skill cap of players is valid -- i.e, that in Sc2, nobody is playing perfectly. There are always things to improve on. Take the example of Mill.Adelscott (my argument now, not qxc's): he had a particular style involving mass gateways and armor in his PvT. This gave him plenty o'win (see TSL3, 5-8th). However, his mechanics were not good. He would regularly float thousands of minerals even less than 10 minutes in a game. When someone can win games with mechanics of that caliber, it is certain that the skill cap of Sc2 has not been reached or is even that close.
I know my example is from a few months ago, but nevertheless with close observation similar mechanics and other imperfections of players are evident even now.
Audio needs a lot of work, some interviews (husky, mrbitter) are too loud, while other are barely audible. Others (qxc) have too much bass, needs more intelligibility.
I'm glad people like it and I wanted to clarify something.
Naniwa brought it up as we talked to him at the start. He is here to win, his line about not having respect for BW players was most likely something lost in translation. I asked him how he would feel playing Boxer and to him a game is a game. Your opponent doesn't matter, only winning.
He gave me the badass stare the entire interview and as soon as we were done he just got up and left without saying anything. I was like man this guy is so intense. Then a minute later he comes back in to the room we interviewed him and says I forgot my pillow then just laughs.
That quote from naniwa is complete and total boss status. I've always hated how actors upon winning oscar's are always thanking their fans, and shit, but Naniwa fucking understands. You do what you love, because its what you want to do, not for someone else, but for yourself. that's fucking right. Naniwa is my favorite fucking player now.
I've never seen stalife/slush/kiwikaki in an interview before this. Gotta say, stalife looks like the type of guy a lot of people could be good friends with.
KR /GOSU /EG Huk whaiitiiing . Also great video , quite entertaining. . ¨Tho i still dont understand why "STALIFE" is in there... instead of someone like Huk or Idra.
On September 01 2011 18:19 DH_Remorse wrote: KR /GOSU /EG Huk whaiitiiing . Also great video , quite entertaining. . ¨Tho i still dont understand why "STALIFE" is in there... instead of someone like Huk or Idra.
its important to have a variety of pros to show the diversity and level of pros. even stalife was humble about his current position as a "pro". I think it was a great addition. Sorta sad though to not have day9 on this interview, but husky and mrbitter were great.
Stalife seems like such a cool guy! qxc had some really solid answers to some of the questions. Naniwa's determination is so palpable! Jinro's hilarious.
Good luck to all the pro-gamers attending school! Hell, good luck to all of them, regardless.
Very entertaining, Husky talking about zergs running their zerglings and their "Huge balls" around made me giggle. Also Mr bitter saying nestea having some success was a riot xD.
very cool! Wish you got some interviews from some of the spectators to see what they thought about the whole event, it would be fresh to get some insight from how the open pool players and spectators though about sc2
I liked QXC's comment that "People are like 'oh my god, Starcraft 2 is so easy' and we're all still terrible at it". It really highlights the fact that the game is still so young that even top professionals can't possibly have plumbed all its depths yet, and that the quality of play will certainly improve with time.
Great documentary-thing! Really interesting to see players with different attitudes towards the game. Stalife seems to approach SC2 more casually, saying he cares about making every game enjoyable for the viewer. Other players like NaNiwa seem to take it very seriously, the correct attitude imo.
More of an interview pack than a one year anniversary documentary. I liked it though, and I'm glad you guys picked some less popular yet solid players as well as super stars to talk to.
Great documentary/interviews, really enjoyed it. My only complaint would be including Stalife and to a lesser extent Spanishiwa. Those players haven't really achieved anything to deserve being included in a video with a theme of such dignity, and I found those parts where they were interviewed really boring compared to the awesome rest of the video.
On September 01 2011 17:27 WP.Krukar wrote: I'm glad people like it and I wanted to clarify something.
Naniwa brought it up as we talked to him at the start. He is here to win, his line about not having respect for BW players was most likely something lost in translation. I asked him how he would feel playing Boxer and to him a game is a game. Your opponent doesn't matter, only winning.
He gave me the badass stare the entire interview and as soon as we were done he just got up and left without saying anything. I was like man this guy is so intense. Then a minute later he comes back in to the room we interviewed him and says I forgot my pillow then just laughs.
On September 01 2011 22:24 diverzee wrote: Great documentary/interviews, really enjoyed it. My only complaint would be including Stalife and to a lesser extent Spanishiwa. Those players haven't really achieved anything to deserve being included in a video with a theme of such dignity, and I found those parts where they were interviewed really boring compared to the awesome rest of the video.
I deleted my post then watched a bit of the video and realized I shouldn't have. Adding those players I feel is a good move. Look at starnation when they interview these random guys but they are so happy and have so much fun. They are important, the little kid playing is a great storyline and gives a lot of perspective. All of them are valuable and help paint the big picture. If you stop looking at the player and look at the person, you can accept and appreciate what their unique views add.
Edit: As feedback, you have to balance the volume. It's really frustrating having it blast and rushing to the controls to lower it, then turning it up again when there is a low volume interview. Maybe if you have high volume it doesn't matter because you can hear everything but I'm sure there are many people who prefer to have the audio quite low, just enough so everything is clear to understand. And then you have to turn it up for the low parts and get blasted the high parts.
Spanishiwa would make such a good caster. He's got a pretty good voice, though I don't know if I've ever heard him excited, and based on what he's said before, he's a pretty analytical player.
On September 01 2011 17:53 corpsepose wrote: every time i hear naniwa talk i become more and more of a fan. the dude is a straight boss.
Me too. I remember i was turned off when I watched the TSL3 finals because of his thing with Chill but the more interviews I watch of him and stuff I just keep loving the guy more and more. He's got that drive and fire to succeed that you just have to admire and respect.
On September 01 2011 22:24 diverzee wrote: Great documentary/interviews, really enjoyed it. My only complaint would be including Stalife and to a lesser extent Spanishiwa. Those players haven't really achieved anything to deserve being included in a video with a theme of such dignity, and I found those parts where they were interviewed really boring compared to the awesome rest of the video.
I deleted my post then watched a bit of the video and realized I shouldn't have. Adding those players I feel is a good move. Look at starnation when they interview these random guys but they are so happy and have so much fun. They are important, the little kid playing is a great storyline and gives a lot of perspective. All of them are valuable and help paint the big picture. If you stop looking at the player and look at the person, you can accept and appreciate what their unique views add.
I agree with this. Their inclusion I think was important for the video. Their unique and different opinions of the game (that they play for fun, not to win) I think goes to show that this is still a video game community, no matter how "pro" it becomes. It also goes to show you can play for fun and still be incredibly good (say what you want about Stalife and/or Spanishiwa, they'd stomp most of us).
After watching the video, I will say I am very much a Jinro fan now. I think his perspective on the game is really balanced, and he gets that he has to balance that desire to win with the need to keep the fans engaged and have a good time himself. Plus the Baneling sleepwalking thing was pretty awesome.
Don't take this the wrong way but I don't think this was a documentary, it was a couple of interviews cut together. A documentary needs to put interviews in a context.
So, Spanishiwa starts with the standard build study/starcraft and he will transition into mass study / mass starcraft depending on what his opponent will do, or just transition into caster, am I ritght?
But i gotta say i'm a bit tired that in so many interviews there's always bw related questions in form of "who would you wanna see switch / how do you think they will do / do you think we will reach their status" and so on. I don't get the obsession, Sc2 has to set out and create something for their own, creating their own legacies, and stop thinking they are in a form of shadow from bw.
really well done, i like seeing the reign guys, they seem so dedicated, i would love to see a post about RGN practicing at the gom house or something. Make it happen!
I guess I am just a sucker for these things, but it was really nice indeed to see this kind of recap. While some of the questions were a bit fleeting, fx balance changes and the removal of Metalopolis in that they do not really stand the test of time and their relevance might not be long lasting, it is always cool to get a peek inside players minds, to see what makes them tick and their motivations.
Just watched it after I saw the link in the TL-documentary. Awesome documentary, should imho receive more credit. Nice insight in the scene, good questions, nicely made. Keep it up!
On November 16 2011 20:20 Grumpy wrote: Just watched it after I saw the link in the TL-documentary. Awesome documentary, should imho receive more credit. Nice insight in the scene, good questions, nicely made. Keep it up!
Same here, only 7 pages for a 36min documentary featuring great insights from the pro's and an all-around nice recap of year 1. Deserves more
Was really great stuff! Good luck on your documentary for TL Michael Kruka!
just watched that again after a while and was pretty impressed what players answered to the question: "If you could change one thing what would you change?" Naniwa: "Nerf Infestor a bit" - done Kiwikaki: "Nerf EMP Range or DMG" - done Slush: "Remove Mothership and remove Overseer from the Game" - comming in Heart of the Swarm
On November 16 2011 23:59 2v2Alienrage wrote: just watched that again after a while and was pretty impressed what players answered to the question: "If you could change one thing what would you change?" Naniwa: "Nerf Infestor a bit" - done Kiwikaki: "Nerf EMP Range or DMG" - done Slush: "Remove Mothership and remove Overseer from the Game" - comming in Heart of the Swarm
Now I might be guessing... Any chance some Blizzard employees saw this and discussed it at a meeting after seeing this? (not overseer - Dustin Browder has for a long time said it was a mistake having a 0 supply caster)
How did I miss this when it came out!? After watching this I am so pumped for the TL documentary. One little bit of constructive criticism would be the audio levels though.
This video was amazing, I mean this coverage is unreal.... Thank you so much for this and would love for more of them. Personally from this video i love Stalife, hes so funny lol. Everything he said i laughed at. I also liked a lot of what slush said.