Haven't finished it yet, but I thought I would create a thread like this to divert any attempt to spoil random threads with story bits and make people focus on this thread :)
I've completed 8 missions so far. Just met Fenix :) Awesome. So many things that took me by surprise or were WTF moments: Like Amon controlling Protoss and they having to cut heir nerve cords (and essentially all become Dark Templar), returning to that temple in shakuras, destroying shakuras). Love the references about SC1/BW, including the music themes and terrain. I love that no mission feels like a filler. Everything is directly connected to the big Amon plot. Things I don't like as much: Zeratul dying felt a bit cliche, but I was very sad nontheless. Phase-Smith sounds too human and looks like a protoss Rory Swann. His beard looks like shit Amon, while he feels more threating than Diablo or Kerrigan still feels like a comic-villain who talks too much.
Will report back when I'm finished. Damn, why do I have to work tomorrow. Will redo mission8; didn't catch that third crystal on Brutal :P
As a protoss player I'm really excited.I haven't touched the multiplayer since WoL and I'm so into the game, I might return to it after finishing my campaign project.
Good luck on the last main campaign mission on Brutal. Even Hard difficulty seemed luck based for me.
Anyway, I was very impressed with the story actually! The character subplots really made the game great and if you don't let the Xel'Naga retcons bother you, then this was very well written. Honestly, all the new/changed Xel'Naga info is in there now I think to fill in plot holes the shoddy writing of the previous installments had set up and they did the best with what they were given!
I'm about to start the Epilogue, which might be silly, so I'm mostly talking about the main campaign.
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So, the void is like dimension X from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles..
The artifact is confirmed in game to be a universal plot device capable of doing anything to anything..
And Kerrigan becomes jesus phoenix force, just as they heavily shoved it in the face during ulnar mission..
And protoss are now progressive western values protoss, fcuk traditions - freedom yeah! They really wanted to push those themes huh..
And there was a lot of unconditional acceptance and unexplained awareness by characters in the first half of the campaign.
But then there was Alarak and he was pertty cool after you get to know him better, like Tosh to WoL and Abathur to HotS, cheered me up.
I suppose Niadra is lost forever then..
You know, fighting final missions against Cthulhu and a legion of zombies and animations who have no agenda, no ideology, no personality - it leaves something to be desired. To fight against an obvious unmistakeable big bad evil as a representative of unmistakeable big good. Fights like these have no weight to them.
I felt the store was pretty good but... I felt like I was replaying the Mass Effect 3 story as well. Complete with faction choices, doom of the universe, cycles of life and the notions of free will. But those are legitmate things to keep in mind at all times and serve as good plot elements.
The theme of free will will always be a constant in games, since unlike all other entertainment media, we have agency, we actually participate. Also we have countless examples of people who imposed order for the greater good, and in the process, comitted the worst atrocities mankind has ever seen. Some things can not be forced. This is exhibited by the story of Adun, who gave himself up to prevent genocide against the Dark Templar. And the story of the Dark Templar shows that while having free will can be dangerous (they unleashed psionic storms on Aiur due to their lack of control), the alternative can be far far worse (Amons subjectation of protoss via the Khala, and the acts of the Conclave that imposed their belief on the Dark Templar, the Purifiers, and just hand waved away Terran lives as the price to exterminate the zerg).
I'm gonna come back to this once I've played more, but I'm 15 levels in now and I'm really liking the whole thing overall. Just about everything is better than expected, and some themes and storylines are just downright well done. The way Alarak is handled is some really good material; maybe not 'top 5 best video game characters' in my book, but something like top 20? Definitely.
So, the void is like dimension X from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles..
The artifact is confirmed in game to be a universal plot device capable of doing anything to anything..
These two bug me most, to be honest. I'm still not gonna lose sleep over it, but there are definitely a couple of deus exes out there. To a certain extent, I can live with the artifact since it was introduced so early and always meant as a mysterious kind of thing with pointers that it'd be important later. LotV just takes it a bit over the top for me to be fully happy about it, though. The void and some of the Protoss technology is just practically entirely technobabble. I recognize you're gonna get a fair deal of that in a sci-fi game, but it does leave me wondering if things couldn't have been a bit simpler and with that more convincing. Especially the levels with Kerrigan in them (not the final ones, haven't reached those yet) asked me to take some pretty big leaps of faith to keep rolling with the story.
And protoss are now progressive western values protoss, fcuk traditions - freedom yeah! They really wanted to push those themes huh..
This doesn't sound fair to me. The Protoss have been more progressive since Brood War. The old conclave was a bunch of old racist farts. There's a reason they fell, and Artanis' values don't seem far-fetched or strange to me at all. The whole Zeratul related business on Aiur puts a lot of weight on his mind and he becomes an advocate for unity, taking on Zeratul's prophecy-loving stance. There's plenty of folks on-board constantly doubting these unifying decisions (and with good reasons when it comes to figures like Alarak), but Artanis defends his decisions well enough.
I felt the store was pretty good but... I felt like I was replaying the Mass Effect 3 story as well. Complete with faction choices, doom of the universe, cycles of life and the notions of free will. But those are legitmate things to keep in mind at all times and serve as good plot elements.
I felt a lot like this at some points as well, yeah. The purifiers aren't exactly the Geth, but they're close enough for me to go "wait a minute" every now and then. And then there's the Tal'darim and the Dark Templar, as 'unfriendly allies'; definitely Mass Effect-ish. But as you rightly mentioned: they are still legitimate themes and I don't think they make the game any worse for it - perhaps just slightly more cliché.
The way Alarak is handled is some really good material; maybe not 'top 5 best video game characters' in my book, but something like top 20? Definitely.
Agreed, the conversation after the first Slayn mission had me going "What the fuck dude". Totally plays Artanis and his ignorance of Rak Shir.
This doesn't sound fair to me. The Protoss have been more progressive since Brood War. The old conclave was a bunch of old racist farts. There's a reason they fell, and Artanis' values don't seem far-fetched or strange to me at all. The whole Zeratul related business on Aiur puts a lot of weight on his mind and he becomes an advocate for unity, taking on Zeratul's prophecy-loving stance. There's plenty of folks on-board constantly doubting these unifying decisions (and with good reasons when it comes to figures like Alarak), but Artanis defends his decisions well enough.
Yeah, that is true, there was this theme of reviewing their old ways and mistakes and adapting to this new situation. What had gotten to me was “What will I be without the Khala?” “You’ll be free” with Rohana.
You have this unique emphatic link that has been a part of your species for thousands of years. It’s your racial identity, your legacy. You’ve made the decision to preserve it various times during the campaign. And now you discard it for “freedom”.
And it’s such a missed chance too. If blizz wanted a theme of sacrifice, it could have gone a different way. Rohana could have voluntarily cut her chords right after Amon unpossessed her because she knew what he was planning (recalling golden armada) – and she know how to counter it (destroy planetary psi-link) – but because Amon can see into her like she can see into him during possession – she could not threaten the plan by being exposed to him again. Would show that she has a backbone and sense of duty, to forgo all that she is in order to preserve.
But alas, I’ll remember her as “I sacrificed Khala so that I could be free of immediate threat and of my past ways which are obviously wrong” instead of “I sacrificed Khala so that firstborn could endure in this dark hour”.
I just feel disappointed that protoss are now basically space humans. Lets make the product appealing to our audience by un-aliening aliens!
Like what? Can't really come up with anything. Maybe our good old 'dragoon' friend, but... not really.
Artanis, what’s happened?
Amon has corrupted the khala!
Ok! (I’m not going to ask who is Amon, or how such thing is even possible)
Zerg on Shakuras – Lets destroy the Shakuras using a temple that is know for its ability to wipe all zerg from the planet without damaging it! Blowing planets cause we’re ‘toss and cause devs wanted that “universe burns around us/no going back” setting.
Oh look – a Cthulhu creature is attacking us – we’ve never seen it before, didn’t even know such thing was possible – but lets not get emotional here – I’m bestowing the name "Void Trasher” unto it. Trash him!
Okay, it’s not that much, I may have overreacted. At the time I was slightly upset about the whole “OH HEY, KHALA IS NOW CORRUPTED, WE COULD GIVE YOU HOW AND WHY BUT WE WON’T CAUSE &#%^ YOU, FACTS ONLY, EXPLANATIONS ARE FOR CHUMPS”, so I have not checked idle (non-cutscene) chatter on characters until after Ulnar, they may have referenced some of my concerns.
If nothing else, Legacy of Avoid this game at all costs really shows us all you can accomplish when you decide to retcon everything that happened beforehand and completely eschew the limitations of your setting by making a completely different game at all! Don't want to be pidgeonholed into making a Protoss campaign? Or is the label 'StarCraft expansion' getting you down? Just follow in Blizzard's footsteps and erase or misrepresent everything that made every race what they were (humans aside, those casuals have got to 'connect' with your story somehow) and then appropriate the lore of other games! Mass Effect's Thresher Maw becomes the VOID THRASHER! Warhammer 40,000's Dreadnought becomes FENIX(D)! And if you ever need a big bad end-of-the-universe enemy, ask Metzen to throw a couple dicks at a dartboard with generic, contrived idiocy like 'Dark', 'Void', 'Shadow', 'Essence', 'Ancient', etc. as labels and see what sticks! Ah, I see you've wound up with Dark Voice! Excellent choice! I would recommend picking some obscure, non-English moniker for him (let's be honest, feminism has no place in big bad guy land, which I also see you've tactfully named the 'Void' - bonus points for making it nebulous and without explanation). May I suggest the Sindarin word for 'doom'? Don't know what Sindarin is? Good, you're on the right path! Have fun!
This is literally the worst game I have ever played and I haven't even finished it yet. Damn, daddy.
Oh man ... I played the 1st two missions and was like yeah this is great...and then that last cinematic...I was super sad...ugh! Zeratul!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Game is feeling awesome, real immersive, fun and the terrain is so beautiful.
I feel the same way Im happy with this one! Terrain is so super awesome, the sound effect are super fine tune, game play is incredibly fun. Cinematics are like Jorge Lucas type. Models for units and doodads are like no other. I like so much and Im doing it again on america server again. This is a fun campaign and Blizz super exceeded my expectation. This is one is a home run or touch down.
This is literally the worst game I have ever played and I haven't even finished it yet. Damn, daddy.
So we can safely ignore your entire rant, since it is entirely hyperbole.
Also, for those who are confused on why Kerrigan is the one to ascend. It is laid out in the Ulnar missions that a Xel Naga can only arise from purity of essence and purity of form. The Zerg and the Protoss, because of the manipulations of Amon, by accelerating their evolutions, fail those tests, and thus can never become Xel Naga, only the perversion that is the Hybrid.
Kerrigan however, as a naturally evolved human, has massive psionic power (one reason the Overmind was interested in Terrans to begin with, back in SC1), so she passes the purity of form test. By undergoing the process to become a primal zerg, she now possesses the power to achieve great change, since the primal zerg can change almost at will, via their genetic absorbation capability (To quote Zeratul "They hunt, they kill, they evolve"). So she, as a primal zerg, passes the purity of essence test. And thus is the only candidate to become a new xelnaga.
And since she, and she alone could become the new Xel Naga, and all other Xel Naga are dead, the Infinite Cycle is broken, since unlike all other xelnaga before her, Kerrigan is not of the Void.
Zerg on Shakuras – Lets destroy the Shakuras using a temple that is know for its ability to wipe all zerg from the planet without damaging it! Blowing planets cause we’re ‘toss and cause devs wanted that “universe burns around us/no going back” setting.
You probably overlooked the fact that the Warp Gate was active, and even if they did blow the temple and kill off all the zerg on Shakuras, endless hordes along with hybrid were STILL pouring through the gate. So blow temple, and walk out of temple, and face virtually the same problem. Since as you noted, the temple would have NOT destroyed the Warp Gate (since it obviously survived the first temple activation back in Brood War). So it was better to destroy the planet, eliminating the gate and a ton of zerg/hybrid along with it.
I found the campaign gorgeous. Everything looks, sounds, and even plays great. I loved Alarak, and casting John de Lancie was a brilliant choice. Customizing the Spear of Adun was also very fun, as was just sitting and watching the rooms' idle animations.
On the other hand, there are a LOT of things in the story that bug me. The major "twist" about the Xel'naga not making the Zerg and Protoss is the biggest problem I have. A good twist should make sense in retrospect, but Blizz didn't nearly lay enough groundwork. Compounded with he ever-shifting explanations of what Amon actually is just makes me unmoved by the central antagonist.
I also DESPISE prophecy as a plot device. When everything is predetermined, the characters have absolutely no agency, they're just rats in a maze. Of course, this particular prophecy is pretty confusing, since apparently the Xel'naga made it with knowledge of the terrible things at would happen to them, including Amon making other races. And then they carved murals about it.
The aforementioned Swiss army Keystone is very silly. I'm pretty sure that there are two points in the story where Kharax has almost identical dialog along the lines of "Zeratul was right! The Keystone is the answer to all our problems!" It seems weird to me that they felt it some important to use that artifact that they retconned its age.
The "ancient but inexplicably advanced technology" trope is really annoying. The Protoss are obsessed with their history, but don't remember how he Spear of Adun was made? Which leads me to the Spear itself. Only three Ark ships were ever made. They're these massive important ships stuffed to the gills with warriors and technology and placed in known locations across Aiur. Given all that, we're supposed to believe that the Protoss simply abandoned them during the evacuation of Aiur?
I'm confused about Kerrigan becoming a Xel'naga. The temple said Zerg and Protoss had to merge, but she ended up merging with a Xel'naga, instead. Unless I missed something, they didn't even keep their space magic consistent through the campaign. [Edit: ArcaneDurandel has a good explanation for this that he posted while I was writing. Thanks, AD.]
I have a lot of other nitpicks, but this is starting to feel like major overkill. When I look at the campaign as a whole, it seems to me that they didn't know what to do with the Protoss. There's a lot of meandering in the plot, including a completely unnecessary diversion to get robot buddies, that seems like filling space rather than driving towards a central objective.
At its heart, Starcraft ended up being a story about Kerrigan, so it was probably a mistake to make the final episode the Protoss campaign. Of course, that was a decision they made a /long time ago, so they couldn't put the genie back in her bottle. Unfortunately, they decided to shelve Kerrigan until the epilogue, which is where the meat of the story ended up being crammed into a few levels. As a side note, I was hilariously bad at switching races, making those last levels quite hard.
Thanks for listening to my rambling. Apologies for any typos—I'll try to clean it up,as I notice them, but I'm on prescription painkillers that make me very fuzzy-head.
The aforementioned Swiss army Keystone is very silly. I'm pretty sure that there are two points in the story where Kharax has almost identical dialog along the lines of "Zeratul was right! The Keystone is the answer to all our problems!" It seems weird to me that they felt it some important to use that artifact that they retconned its age.
On one hand, yes, the Keystone feels very much like Deus Ex Machina.
However, as an engineer, the keystone is very scifi. With the discovery of quantum mechanics, we have learned that matter and energy are entirely interchangeable. Also, computers operate on the same principle, with bits. The entire idea of quantum mechanics is that everything can be quantized, reduced to mesaureable components. So yes, once you think about it, we ALREADY interchange matter, energy, information with relative ease, since computer take matter, use it to move energy (electrical pulses) and that movement is then interpreted as information. Having something like the keystone would be an awesome technology. Think of it as the perfect computer, no latency, infinite RAM, and infinite computing speed.
The "ancient but inexplicably advanced technology" trope is really annoying. The Protoss are obsessed with their history, but don't remember how he Spear of Adun was made? Which leads me to the Spear itself. Only three Ark ships were ever made. They're these massive important ships stuffed to the gills with warriors and technology and placed in known locations across Aiur. Given all that, we're supposed to believe that the Protoss simply abandoned them during the evacuation of Aiur?
Pride. The conclave simply didn't think the zerg were that dangerous. Recall in SC1, after Fenix dies, in the middle of their homeworld being invaded, they somehow have the resources and time to go hunt down Tassadar. It would be akin to the US hunting Osama Bin Ladin... after World War 3 started and Russia has occupied the East Coast. They didn't even take the help of the dark templar, so why use the Spear of Adun?
As for forgetting how it was made. Again, pride and apathy. Also, by the time Karax makes such a comment, do recall that the zerg massacred at the end of SC1 over 70% of Aiur's population, so it is quite possible everyone who knew how to build the Spear of Adun is dead.
At its heart, Starcraft ended up being a story about Kerrigan, so it was probably a mistake to make the final episode the Protoss campaign.
Perhaps. I think it was story about choice. Every major character had to make a hard choice. And philsophically, deciding to spare a beings life is a FAR harder choice then choosing to kill. Lord of the Rings majorly emphasized this with Bilbos and Frodos decision to not kill Gollum out of hand. Sure we all love a good vengeance and retribution ending, but historically, such things have rarely solved problems. Usually they simply perpetuate a cycle of violence and hate.
You probably overlooked the fact that the Warp Gate was active, and even if they did blow the temple and kill off all the zerg on Shakuras, endless hordes along with hybrid were STILL pouring through the gate. So blow temple, and walk out of temple, and face virtually the same problem. Since as you noted, the temple would have NOT destroyed the Warp Gate (since it obviously survived the first temple activation back in Brood War). So it was better to destroy the planet, eliminating the gate and a ton of zerg/hybrid along with it.
You're right, but it's still a puzzling choice - Zerg are endless, and destroying your home to kill maybe a hundred or so hybrid and then mention that "Aiur is our home" when Aiur is in an even worse position is weird (Aiur is worth fighting for while Shak is not?). But I suppose the idea of zerg being on Shakuras for any prolonged amount of time is so sickening to new matriarch that she'd rather burn it now than return to cleanse it after Amon is dead..
I think I'm just too sensitive to them pushing this "new beginning in unity without khala, bridges burned no turning back" theme they're doing for protoss. ;_;
The choice sort of made sense to me, given how the Protoss have always had a tendency towards blowing up planets. They're basically the kings of overkill.
That said, did they lose whatever technology they used to level Chau Sara? Oh, was it part of the armada that they lost? If that's so, why wasn't Amon using it?
I didnt believe when she becomes Xel'Naga...now she left with raynor and is shapeshifter :D
I hope she will shows up in next campaign. I love kerrigan so much!
I'm working now on my new lotv campaign to connect kelysas story. I already have retextured kerrigan (queen of blades) model and made her into new person which made kelysa with essences. (Kelysa from my campaign brood wrath) - but that's optional information.
you have been warned!
Haven't finished it yet, but I thought I would create a thread like this to divert any attempt to spoil random threads with story bits and make people focus on this thread :)
I've completed 8 missions so far. Just met Fenix :) Awesome. So many things that took me by surprise or were WTF moments: Like Amon controlling Protoss and they having to cut heir nerve cords (and essentially all become Dark Templar), returning to that temple in shakuras, destroying shakuras). Love the references about SC1/BW, including the music themes and terrain. I love that no mission feels like a filler. Everything is directly connected to the big Amon plot. Things I don't like as much: Zeratul dying felt a bit cliche, but I was very sad nontheless. Phase-Smith sounds too human and looks like a protoss Rory Swann. His beard looks like shit Amon, while he feels more threating than Diablo or Kerrigan still feels like a comic-villain who talks too much.
Will report back when I'm finished. Damn, why do I have to work tomorrow. Will redo mission8; didn't catch that third crystal on Brutal :P As a protoss player I'm really excited.I haven't touched the multiplayer since WoL and I'm so into the game, I might return to it after finishing my campaign project.
Good luck on the last main campaign mission on Brutal. Even Hard difficulty seemed luck based for me.
Anyway, I was very impressed with the story actually! The character subplots really made the game great and if you don't let the Xel'Naga retcons bother you, then this was very well written. Honestly, all the new/changed Xel'Naga info is in there now I think to fill in plot holes the shoddy writing of the previous installments had set up and they did the best with what they were given!
I'm about to start the Epilogue, which might be silly, so I'm mostly talking about the main campaign.
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So, the void is like dimension X from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles..
The artifact is confirmed in game to be a universal plot device capable of doing anything to anything..
And Kerrigan becomes jesus phoenix force, just as they heavily shoved it in the face during ulnar mission..
And protoss are now progressive western values protoss, fcuk traditions - freedom yeah! They really wanted to push those themes huh..
And there was a lot of unconditional acceptance and unexplained awareness by characters in the first half of the campaign. But then there was Alarak and he was pertty cool after you get to know him better, like Tosh to WoL and Abathur to HotS, cheered me up.
I suppose Niadra is lost forever then..
You know, fighting final missions against Cthulhu and a legion of zombies and animations who have no agenda, no ideology, no personality - it leaves something to be desired. To fight against an obvious unmistakeable big bad evil as a representative of unmistakeable big good. Fights like these have no weight to them.
I'm happy it's over. gg no re.
I felt the store was pretty good but... I felt like I was replaying the Mass Effect 3 story as well. Complete with faction choices, doom of the universe, cycles of life and the notions of free will. But those are legitmate things to keep in mind at all times and serve as good plot elements.
The theme of free will will always be a constant in games, since unlike all other entertainment media, we have agency, we actually participate. Also we have countless examples of people who imposed order for the greater good, and in the process, comitted the worst atrocities mankind has ever seen. Some things can not be forced. This is exhibited by the story of Adun, who gave himself up to prevent genocide against the Dark Templar. And the story of the Dark Templar shows that while having free will can be dangerous (they unleashed psionic storms on Aiur due to their lack of control), the alternative can be far far worse (Amons subjectation of protoss via the Khala, and the acts of the Conclave that imposed their belief on the Dark Templar, the Purifiers, and just hand waved away Terran lives as the price to exterminate the zerg).
I'm gonna come back to this once I've played more, but I'm 15 levels in now and I'm really liking the whole thing overall. Just about everything is better than expected, and some themes and storylines are just downright well done. The way Alarak is handled is some really good material; maybe not 'top 5 best video game characters' in my book, but something like top 20? Definitely.
These two bug me most, to be honest. I'm still not gonna lose sleep over it, but there are definitely a couple of deus exes out there. To a certain extent, I can live with the artifact since it was introduced so early and always meant as a mysterious kind of thing with pointers that it'd be important later. LotV just takes it a bit over the top for me to be fully happy about it, though. The void and some of the Protoss technology is just practically entirely technobabble. I recognize you're gonna get a fair deal of that in a sci-fi game, but it does leave me wondering if things couldn't have been a bit simpler and with that more convincing. Especially the levels with Kerrigan in them (not the final ones, haven't reached those yet) asked me to take some pretty big leaps of faith to keep rolling with the story.
This doesn't sound fair to me. The Protoss have been more progressive since Brood War. The old conclave was a bunch of old racist farts. There's a reason they fell, and Artanis' values don't seem far-fetched or strange to me at all. The whole Zeratul related business on Aiur puts a lot of weight on his mind and he becomes an advocate for unity, taking on Zeratul's prophecy-loving stance. There's plenty of folks on-board constantly doubting these unifying decisions (and with good reasons when it comes to figures like Alarak), but Artanis defends his decisions well enough.
Like what? Can't really come up with anything. Maybe our good old 'dragoon' friend, but... not really.
I felt a lot like this at some points as well, yeah. The purifiers aren't exactly the Geth, but they're close enough for me to go "wait a minute" every now and then. And then there's the Tal'darim and the Dark Templar, as 'unfriendly allies'; definitely Mass Effect-ish. But as you rightly mentioned: they are still legitimate themes and I don't think they make the game any worse for it - perhaps just slightly more cliché.
It was kind of cool having Darth Vader in the game!
@MaskedImposter: Go
That was noted in his short story, that he would be totally be a classic Sith Lord. Hell, his name practically sounds Sith ish "Darth Alarak"
Agreed, the conversation after the first Slayn mission had me going "What the fuck dude". Totally plays Artanis and his ignorance of Rak Shir.
Yeah, that is true, there was this theme of reviewing their old ways and mistakes and adapting to this new situation. What had gotten to me was “What will I be without the Khala?” “You’ll be free” with Rohana.
You have this unique emphatic link that has been a part of your species for thousands of years. It’s your racial identity, your legacy. You’ve made the decision to preserve it various times during the campaign. And now you discard it for “freedom”.
And it’s such a missed chance too. If blizz wanted a theme of sacrifice, it could have gone a different way. Rohana could have voluntarily cut her chords right after Amon unpossessed her because she knew what he was planning (recalling golden armada) – and she know how to counter it (destroy planetary psi-link) – but because Amon can see into her like she can see into him during possession – she could not threaten the plan by being exposed to him again. Would show that she has a backbone and sense of duty, to forgo all that she is in order to preserve.
But alas, I’ll remember her as “I sacrificed Khala so that I could be free of immediate threat and of my past ways which are obviously wrong” instead of “I sacrificed Khala so that firstborn could endure in this dark hour”.
I just feel disappointed that protoss are now basically space humans. Lets make the product appealing to our audience by un-aliening aliens!
Artanis, what’s happened?
Amon has corrupted the khala!
Ok! (I’m not going to ask who is Amon, or how such thing is even possible)
Zerg on Shakuras – Lets destroy the Shakuras using a temple that is know for its ability to wipe all zerg from the planet without damaging it! Blowing planets cause we’re ‘toss and cause devs wanted that “universe burns around us/no going back” setting.
Oh look – a Cthulhu creature is attacking us – we’ve never seen it before, didn’t even know such thing was possible – but lets not get emotional here – I’m bestowing the name "Void Trasher” unto it. Trash him!
Okay, it’s not that much, I may have overreacted. At the time I was slightly upset about the whole “OH HEY, KHALA IS NOW CORRUPTED, WE COULD GIVE YOU HOW AND WHY BUT WE WON’T CAUSE &#%^ YOU, FACTS ONLY, EXPLANATIONS ARE FOR CHUMPS”, so I have not checked idle (non-cutscene) chatter on characters until after Ulnar, they may have referenced some of my concerns.
If nothing else, Legacy of Avoid this game at all costs really shows us all you can accomplish when you decide to retcon everything that happened beforehand and completely eschew the limitations of your setting by making a completely different game at all! Don't want to be pidgeonholed into making a Protoss campaign? Or is the label 'StarCraft expansion' getting you down? Just follow in Blizzard's footsteps and erase or misrepresent everything that made every race what they were (humans aside, those casuals have got to 'connect' with your story somehow) and then appropriate the lore of other games! Mass Effect's Thresher Maw becomes the VOID THRASHER! Warhammer 40,000's Dreadnought becomes FENIX(D)! And if you ever need a big bad end-of-the-universe enemy, ask Metzen to throw a couple dicks at a dartboard with generic, contrived idiocy like 'Dark', 'Void', 'Shadow', 'Essence', 'Ancient', etc. as labels and see what sticks! Ah, I see you've wound up with Dark Voice! Excellent choice! I would recommend picking some obscure, non-English moniker for him (let's be honest, feminism has no place in big bad guy land, which I also see you've tactfully named the 'Void' - bonus points for making it nebulous and without explanation). May I suggest the Sindarin word for 'doom'? Don't know what Sindarin is? Good, you're on the right path! Have fun!
This is literally the worst game I have ever played and I haven't even finished it yet. Damn, daddy.
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So basically... you're mad that there's vague terms in a sci-fi universe and two entities that vaguely resemble those from other franchises?
Oh man ... I played the 1st two missions and was like yeah this is great...and then that last cinematic...I was super sad...ugh! Zeratul!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Game is feeling awesome, real immersive, fun and the terrain is so beautiful.
Oh...the music...oh....oh. oooooooooohhhhhhhhh.
I feel the same way Im happy with this one! Terrain is so super awesome, the sound effect are super fine tune, game play is incredibly fun. Cinematics are like Jorge Lucas type. Models for units and doodads are like no other. I like so much and Im doing it again on america server again. This is a fun campaign and Blizz super exceeded my expectation. This is one is a home run or touch down.
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So we can safely ignore your entire rant, since it is entirely hyperbole.
Also, for those who are confused on why Kerrigan is the one to ascend. It is laid out in the Ulnar missions that a Xel Naga can only arise from purity of essence and purity of form. The Zerg and the Protoss, because of the manipulations of Amon, by accelerating their evolutions, fail those tests, and thus can never become Xel Naga, only the perversion that is the Hybrid.
Kerrigan however, as a naturally evolved human, has massive psionic power (one reason the Overmind was interested in Terrans to begin with, back in SC1), so she passes the purity of form test. By undergoing the process to become a primal zerg, she now possesses the power to achieve great change, since the primal zerg can change almost at will, via their genetic absorbation capability (To quote Zeratul "They hunt, they kill, they evolve"). So she, as a primal zerg, passes the purity of essence test. And thus is the only candidate to become a new xelnaga.
And since she, and she alone could become the new Xel Naga, and all other Xel Naga are dead, the Infinite Cycle is broken, since unlike all other xelnaga before her, Kerrigan is not of the Void.
You probably overlooked the fact that the Warp Gate was active, and even if they did blow the temple and kill off all the zerg on Shakuras, endless hordes along with hybrid were STILL pouring through the gate. So blow temple, and walk out of temple, and face virtually the same problem. Since as you noted, the temple would have NOT destroyed the Warp Gate (since it obviously survived the first temple activation back in Brood War). So it was better to destroy the planet, eliminating the gate and a ton of zerg/hybrid along with it.
I found the campaign gorgeous. Everything looks, sounds, and even plays great. I loved Alarak, and casting John de Lancie was a brilliant choice. Customizing the Spear of Adun was also very fun, as was just sitting and watching the rooms' idle animations.
On the other hand, there are a LOT of things in the story that bug me. The major "twist" about the Xel'naga not making the Zerg and Protoss is the biggest problem I have. A good twist should make sense in retrospect, but Blizz didn't nearly lay enough groundwork. Compounded with he ever-shifting explanations of what Amon actually is just makes me unmoved by the central antagonist.
I also DESPISE prophecy as a plot device. When everything is predetermined, the characters have absolutely no agency, they're just rats in a maze. Of course, this particular prophecy is pretty confusing, since apparently the Xel'naga made it with knowledge of the terrible things at would happen to them, including Amon making other races. And then they carved murals about it.
The aforementioned Swiss army Keystone is very silly. I'm pretty sure that there are two points in the story where Kharax has almost identical dialog along the lines of "Zeratul was right! The Keystone is the answer to all our problems!" It seems weird to me that they felt it some important to use that artifact that they retconned its age.
The "ancient but inexplicably advanced technology" trope is really annoying. The Protoss are obsessed with their history, but don't remember how he Spear of Adun was made? Which leads me to the Spear itself. Only three Ark ships were ever made. They're these massive important ships stuffed to the gills with warriors and technology and placed in known locations across Aiur. Given all that, we're supposed to believe that the Protoss simply abandoned them during the evacuation of Aiur?
I'm confused about Kerrigan becoming a Xel'naga. The temple said Zerg and Protoss had to merge, but she ended up merging with a Xel'naga, instead. Unless I missed something, they didn't even keep their space magic consistent through the campaign. [Edit: ArcaneDurandel has a good explanation for this that he posted while I was writing. Thanks, AD.]
I have a lot of other nitpicks, but this is starting to feel like major overkill. When I look at the campaign as a whole, it seems to me that they didn't know what to do with the Protoss. There's a lot of meandering in the plot, including a completely unnecessary diversion to get robot buddies, that seems like filling space rather than driving towards a central objective.
At its heart, Starcraft ended up being a story about Kerrigan, so it was probably a mistake to make the final episode the Protoss campaign. Of course, that was a decision they made a /long time ago, so they couldn't put the genie back in her bottle. Unfortunately, they decided to shelve Kerrigan until the epilogue, which is where the meat of the story ended up being crammed into a few levels. As a side note, I was hilariously bad at switching races, making those last levels quite hard.
Thanks for listening to my rambling. Apologies for any typos—I'll try to clean it up,as I notice them, but I'm on prescription painkillers that make me very fuzzy-head.
On one hand, yes, the Keystone feels very much like Deus Ex Machina.
However, as an engineer, the keystone is very scifi. With the discovery of quantum mechanics, we have learned that matter and energy are entirely interchangeable. Also, computers operate on the same principle, with bits. The entire idea of quantum mechanics is that everything can be quantized, reduced to mesaureable components. So yes, once you think about it, we ALREADY interchange matter, energy, information with relative ease, since computer take matter, use it to move energy (electrical pulses) and that movement is then interpreted as information. Having something like the keystone would be an awesome technology. Think of it as the perfect computer, no latency, infinite RAM, and infinite computing speed.
Pride. The conclave simply didn't think the zerg were that dangerous. Recall in SC1, after Fenix dies, in the middle of their homeworld being invaded, they somehow have the resources and time to go hunt down Tassadar. It would be akin to the US hunting Osama Bin Ladin... after World War 3 started and Russia has occupied the East Coast. They didn't even take the help of the dark templar, so why use the Spear of Adun?
As for forgetting how it was made. Again, pride and apathy. Also, by the time Karax makes such a comment, do recall that the zerg massacred at the end of SC1 over 70% of Aiur's population, so it is quite possible everyone who knew how to build the Spear of Adun is dead.
Perhaps. I think it was story about choice. Every major character had to make a hard choice. And philsophically, deciding to spare a beings life is a FAR harder choice then choosing to kill. Lord of the Rings majorly emphasized this with Bilbos and Frodos decision to not kill Gollum out of hand. Sure we all love a good vengeance and retribution ending, but historically, such things have rarely solved problems. Usually they simply perpetuate a cycle of violence and hate.
You're right, but it's still a puzzling choice - Zerg are endless, and destroying your home to kill maybe a hundred or so hybrid and then mention that "Aiur is our home" when Aiur is in an even worse position is weird (Aiur is worth fighting for while Shak is not?). But I suppose the idea of zerg being on Shakuras for any prolonged amount of time is so sickening to new matriarch that she'd rather burn it now than return to cleanse it after Amon is dead..
I think I'm just too sensitive to them pushing this "new beginning in unity without khala, bridges burned no turning back" theme they're doing for protoss. ;_;
@DuckyTheDuck: Go
The choice sort of made sense to me, given how the Protoss have always had a tendency towards blowing up planets. They're basically the kings of overkill.
That said, did they lose whatever technology they used to level Chau Sara? Oh, was it part of the armada that they lost? If that's so, why wasn't Amon using it?
@LucidIguana: Go
I didnt believe when she becomes Xel'Naga...now she left with raynor and is shapeshifter :D
I hope she will shows up in next campaign. I love kerrigan so much!
I'm working now on my new lotv campaign to connect kelysas story. I already have retextured kerrigan (queen of blades) model and made her into new person which made kelysa with essences. (Kelysa from my campaign brood wrath) - but that's optional information.