If you insist on playing Warcraft 1, please do it with this:

https://www.gog.com/forum/warcraft_orcs_and_humans/warcraft_mouse_helper_utility_for_improved_mouse_control/page1

Truthfully, Warcraft 1 holds up better than I would have thought. As characteristic of Blizzard, it is a large jump forward in an infant genre, and it's a well-polished experience. The only real issue is that small, basic changes that in a few years would go on to be entirely standardized across the genre, are not present yet. Some other ones actually are, but that doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of modern players will struggle terribly just to perform basic actions.

You'd be surprised though, how much of Warcraft 3 is already present in Warcraft 1... and man, I think that's actually pretty impressive.

Fascinating to experience for the historical value, this is the next step of RTS design after Dune 2. You can actually select multiple units (as much as four!) and there are two resources to manage. Although there are two campaigns, they are basically parallels of each other - you will play the same maps, just starting on opposite sides. What surprised me is the amount of missions where you can't build anything and have to complete the objective with the units given to you - this is common practice for later games in the genre, but for one released in 1994 I was expecting every map to be a base construction affair. If you're willing to get used to the ancient interface, there is fun to be had in following the simple but effective plot and overcoming entrenched opponents. With regard to balance, this game does not succeed - humans are simply more powerful with the ability to heal units, and indeed the sheer number of healers will be your primary obstacle in the Orc campaign. However, I did find the Orc units undeniably more charming. Charm is, to be sure, the primary currency of this game - the sprites are colorful and units bursting with personality, at least until you're sick of the repetitive voice lines. There is a spark of greatness here, one that is worth uncovering for fans of the genre. Just get used to holding that CTRL key.

Results:
- finished both campaigns

WELL I decided on a whim today to do the Orc campaign of the OG. I've been on this PC Games Of My Youth kick the last several days, more or less just trawling abandonware sites and grabbing stuff I loved back in the day.

Since I've been playing other RTS of the era this week as well, it's pretty wild to see what Warcraft did and didn't take from Dune 2, and then to see what the original Command and Conquer did and didn't take from Warcraft.

It's hard to impress to folks who weren't alive and playing PC games back then, but the RTS genre was enormous, I mean like, it was The Big Genre, and it evolved quickly. The quality of life things not present here that show up in C&C a year later and then are just fully baked in by Warcraft 2? Incredible to see happen being able to play them back-to-back-to-back

Wish y'all could've been there alongside us to absolutely flip out about being able to select as many units as you want later on

Please get this mouseclick mod:
https://www.gamepressure.com/download.asp?ID=73651
It makes the playing experience SO much better.



Honestly I'm not really willing to write a full Warcraft 1 review right now, even though I fucking love the game more than it deserves and I beat it multiple times, and I pored a lot of hours into researching it for the betterment of the entire Internet(but those are stories for another day), but I will just make it brief: Warcraft, even with the dumb story twists in WoW, even with the attrocities that Blizzard regularly commits, is a stunning and captivating story that impacted my life. I might have started with Warcraft 2 but I have immense respect for the OG and I still play it every now and then. It might be far from a relevant game anymore but this little gem was the source of many of my inspirations and fueled my career milestones in a strange way. So that's why I feel so connected and grateful to it.

So I'd really like to see all the hacking efforts people made in making this game that much more accessible. The mouse mod is a fine start. I want to see how much further it can go.

P.S.: If you've ever contemplating an interest into getting into this whole "Warcraft" thing but are worried about the size of the games and its universe, please talk to me. I should know, I'm a big fan since 1995 and the interest in it hasn't gone down by one bit.