SC2: The first nine.

I'm nine missions into Starcraft 2. Out of 26, according to the mission replay screen.

So far, I'm somewhere between liking it a lot of loving it, although I doubt it will make me an RTS convert. I've played a fair bit of RTS games, from the PC way back (Command and Conquer, Warcraft 2) and newer (Warcraft 3 and Company of Heroes), to console RTS (Command and Conquer 3, Halo Wars). And I always like them. To a point.

But I always reach a critical moment where I lose interest completely. Usually, right when I start losing.

A mission takes too long to lose. If I spend an hour playing a mission it's too painful to lose. It doesn't really matter if I have a save point somewhere in the mission; I lost. I probably screwed it up by the time I saved it. And I don't really want to try again if I know I might already be on a weak foundation.

But Starcraft 2 is so finely polished, a the learning curve is so gentle that I've found myself going strong (although 9 missions in isn't exactly nearing the finale). Well, I was going strong until I hit a little snag the other night.

It was a mission called 'Welcome to the Jungle', the first mission that you fight the Protoss (the advanced alien race, as opposed to the bug-like Zerg). Spread across the map there are 13 gas nodes, and you have to harvest 7. Obviously the Protoss don't want you to, and they will defend the nodes whenever you try to harvest.

In addition, the Protoss are running around sealing the nodes. The seals are permanent, so since there's only 13 nodes, you lose the mission as soon as 7 are sealed. It's a battle on three fronts; the node you're trying to harvest, any nodes they're trying to seal and defending you base from random attacks.

The first time I played, I failed after 40 minutes, maybe an hour. That's a tough blow. Today's soft gamers (like me) find losing progress outright kind of a turnoff (unless it's a central risk-reward mechanic ala Demon's Souls, and even then it's an acquired taste).

Up to this point in the game, I had handily steamrolled every mission. So when I lost, it felt abrupt. Like, 'Oh it's gonna be like that? Ten missions in and they throw the difficulty spike that will make me quit the game like every other RTS?'

So I turned off the game. And for the next couple days, any time I thought about firing up the game, I thought about that loss. And starting over. And maybe losing again... And I just didn't want to bother. For a split second I wondered if I ever would try again. Call me a baby.

But as I finished up some work today I booted up Starcraft 2 again. I figured maybe I could do a different mission. Since you can upgrade between missions, maybe I could earn some cash to give me the edge.

But when the game loaded, it loaded me about 1/2 way into the 'Welcome to the Jungle' mission. The autosave was in a surprisingly good place, just before I started loosing my footing. I had 3/7 of the nodes harvested, and none sealed by the Protoss.

So, I just took it from there. Knowing how I lost the first time (not being aggressive enough, not continually building, worrying too much about defending nodes that were being sealed despite knowing full well I was free to lose 6. My efforts were best spent racing to the next closest node and not defending ones I hopefully wouldn't need anyway. And I got a victory.

So yeah. I almost fell off, but I'm back on now. Thanks to a smart save system and hard to resist gameplay.

Relieved, I started the next mission. And it was a blast from start to finish. It brought back my favorite unit from the original StarCraft; the Siege Tank. The sound they make as they transform into their defensive position is still as iconic and satisfying as ever.

Not only that, but this mission also gives you control of a massive laser, larger than any building you can buy. It was a power-trip mission right when I needed it. I mopped the floor with the enemy and had a blast doing it.

Next time I get to a mission that gives me trouble, I think I'll think twice about getting angry. I'd like to be able to see one RTS through to the end, at least.

Maybe once I do beat Starcraft 2, I can give Company of Heroes another shot. COH, I want to love you so, I really do. I just have the patience of... a console gamer, I guess.