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[Draft]

Question: Warfield said the atmosphere on Char burns humans alive or something like that, How Kerrigan survives that final scene then? without any protection I mean.:lol

If you're wondering how she eats and breathes and other science facts, just repeat to yourself: it's just a game, I should really just relax.

 

[SleazyC]

I think the expansion will open with Kerrigan on the run. Raynor will probably have explained to her what her role is in the prophecy, and what it all means. He knows that he can't be alone with Kerrigan on some quiet world like he wanted to, and that Mengsk's people will be trying to kill them both once Tychus failed. Raynor probably with Matt to hold off the Dominion, giving Kerrigan a ship and supplies. It's possible she'll meet with Zeratul, and then go on a quest to uncover what it is she must do to save the universe, while regaining control over the Zerg swarm (but retaining her humanity at the same time).

If Kerrigan keeps her humanity it just feels to me like too much of a happy ending. I guess I am approaching this influenced by the way Blizzard handled Arthas and the Lich King storyline in Warcraft.

 

[Akuun]

Everyone I know seems to have gone with Nova. Am I the only one that first went "Bros over Hos"?

I went with Tosh. Will go back and finish Nova's version of the mission later.

I enjoyed the game overall. The Firefly vibe was great and the gameplay showed a ridiculous level of thought and polish. I think the first and last Zeratul missions are my favorites in this campaign.

But I agree with the disappointment with the plot. The game itself is incredible, but it's pretty clear that the story was given far less importance compared to the original series. And what the hell is with the cliches and shitty lines?

"It's time to kick this rebellion into overdrive" Why? You've been doing this for years so why now? Because the game started?
"She's back to finish the job." Once again, just because the game started, right?
"I love it when a plan comes together." OH MY GOD WHY DID YOU MAKE THE MAIN VILLAIN SAY THIS AFTER A BEAUTIFULLY EXECUTED BLAZE OF GLORY IN ONE OF THE BEST MISSIONS IN THE GAME. It was armageddon. The moment would have been far, far better if nothing was said at all.

I think the most ridiculous plot point for me was how the Terrans did a frontal assault on Char at all and were not squashed flat on the spot. The plot has always portrayed the Zerg as this endless swarm that is all but impossible to stop once they set their sights on a target. All anyone can do against them is just delay them and escape before they are overrun. But in SC2, you have some douchebag kid who thinks he can do anything taking a terran-only army (when before both terrans and protoss had to work together to just barely stop the overmind) straight to the zerg homeworld, actually fighting their way in head-on, and taking out the Queen of Blades when she and her zerg had trampled every force that had not run from her in the past? It's pretty stupid.

 

[[Nintex]]

I went with Tosh. Will go back and finish Nova's version of the mission later.

I enjoyed the game overall. The Firefly vibe was great and the gameplay showed a ridiculous level of thought and polish. I think the first and last Zeratul missions are my favorites in this campaign.

But I agree with the disappointment with the plot. The game itself is incredible, but it's pretty clear that the story was given far less importance compared to the original series. And what the hell is with the cliches and shitty lines?

"It's time to kick this rebellion into overdrive" Why? You've been doing this for years so why now? Because the game started?
"She's back to finish the job." Once again, just because the game started, right?
"I love it when a plan comes together." OH MY GOD WHY DID YOU MAKE THE MAIN VILLAIN SAY THIS AFTER A BEAUTIFULLY EXECUTED BLAZE OF GLORY IN ONE OF THE BEST MISSIONS IN THE GAME. It was armageddon. The moment would have been far, far better if nothing was said at all.

I think the most ridiculous plot point for me was how the Terrans did a frontal assault on Char at all and were not squashed flat on the spot. The plot has always portrayed the Zerg as this endless swarm that is all but impossible to stop once they set their sights on a target. All anyone can do against them is just delay them and escape before they are overrun. But in SC2, you have some douchebag kid who thinks he can do anything taking a terran-only army (when before both terrans and protoss had to work together to just barely stop the overmind) straight to the zerg homeworld, actually fighting their way in head-on, and taking out the Queen of Blades when she and her zerg had trampled every force that had not run from her in the past? It's pretty stupid.

Remember the news cast in one of the last missions when you're on Char. Zerg were pulling back from the Terran Dominion and set course for Char. When Raynor and Warfield attacked Char, the Zerg were scattered all over the universe trying to find the artifact. Not to mention that if it wasn't for Raynor's crew the attack would've failed.

 

[Jamesfrom818]

Ghosts/Spectres are awesome with Orbital Strike. Too bad it doesn't work with the factory

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Well, the artifact destroyed all of the Zerg on Char (that's what it seemed to look like as the intention) so any loose end Zerg I'm sure Kerrigan will control outside of Char.

The second thing that bothers me is that it felt incomplete, and this is more obvious and has been more brought out. I'm not talking about the cliffhanger ending, which is understandable. But considering we will not have any focus on the Terran side again, except in the form of cameos, makes it all the more disappointing. I bet we won't see the fight between Raynor and Mengsk, we won't see directly what goes on between Mengsk and his son, or with the raynor fight, and since we had barely any exposition at all in this first installment, it left me with a bittersweet taste in my mouth.

These two quotes can be combined. The Zeratul missions on the Overmind were very clear on what the Overmind had set in motion, but it's vision will still partly come to pass anyway.

With the Overmind, its cerebrates and now even the Queen of Blades gone, the Zerg are basically again in rampage mode, aside from their thinned number with the Char purge. You can expect Mobius / the Mengsks to move in on them with psi emitters and possibly some early Hybrids to control some Zerg (read this thread for the secret mission).

Kerrigan will likely only retake control of the swarm because she has to, with the now supreme Dominion ruling the sector, the rampaging Zerg which will probably show up on non-Dominion protected colonies and of course the Protoss who Zeratul forgot to tell about not killing Kerrigan (whoopsie!) and who will want to kill her for her actions in BroodWar (killing the matriach and ruining Shakuras, as laid out in the story recap).

The cliffhanger of Heart of the Swarm will probably be Mengsk getting killed by the now active Hybrids (or he will be killed at some earlier section of the game but it is hardly relevant at this point) and Kerrigan, Raynor's Raider and Zeratul making sure that the Zerg don't fall completely under Hybrid control. With the Dominion and most Zerg under Hybrid control, we will probably move on to full out war between the Hybrids and Protoss, as the Overminds vision suggested would happen eventually, with the raynor-kerrigan party somewhere in between.

The real question is when the Xel'Naga themselves will show up and what role they will play, as they "transcended their creation" somewhere between the end of WoL and the Overminds vision. I assume that they are going to be a minor influence story wise, or worse: a deus ex machina or cliffhanger.

That what I think anyway.


On game structure :

it seems unlikely to me that the design will change radically between games, so Kerrigan will probably be on a ship of her own or the Hyperion and the Protoss will likely use a mothership.

Real question here is whether this will be an entirely new game / expansion with it's own multiplayer or whether only the single player will be different with the MP largely similar if not identical due to time restraints.

Not that anyone will pay yet another 55 euros for that... who am I kidding: of course we will. :')


Other sillyness: afer the reveal that Mengsk son is the owner of Mobius AND the secret mission, you can still turn over research points to Mobius as if nothing has changed at all.

 

[Draft]

I'm almost positive that if there is some canon storyline, it will be save Ariel / side with Tosh.

 

[ToyMachine228]

Overall I liked the story, but there are a few things that I would change.

- Throughout the whole game there is a bond that makes it through all the tension during the game between Tychus and Raynor. They have disagreements, they have fights, but they remain loyal to each other the whole way through up until the final cutscene. It would have been nice to see Tychus sacrifice himself by turning down the chance to kill Kerrigan and stay loyal to Raynor "until the end". Instead, his character now only did everything he did as a chance for his freedom, it kind of damages to friendship between the two in retrospect, and his character dies a pretty selfish death.

- A minor critique here, but I would have liked Kerrigan to stay in Queen of Blades form. But to have gotten her human mind back. The Queen of Blades is just too badass to say goodbye to. My take would be to have her still be the Queen of Blades visually, and to still have control over the Zerg, but to have her human mind back and be using the Zerg to fight back against the Xel'naga alongside Raynor. So no, Raynor wouldn't get his babe back, but he would "save" her in a sense, and create a new ally to potentially save all life in the universe.

But overall I was satisfied with the story and presentation of it.

 

[Draft]

Overall I liked the story, but there are a few things that I would change.

- A minor critique here, but I would have liked Kerrigan to stay in Queen of Blades form. But to have gotten her human mind back. The Queen of Blades is just too badass to say goodbye to. My take would be to have her still be the Queen of Blades visually, and to still have control over the Zerg, but to have her human mind back and be using the Zerg to fight back against the Xel'naga alongside Raynor. So no, Raynor wouldn't get his babe back, but he would "save" her in a sense, and create a new ally to potentially save all life in the universe.

.

I'd bet good money that's one of the core progression concepts of SC2: Zerg Edition. Instead of upgrading tech, you'll upgrade Kerrigan, maybe she'll be a permanent hero unit in every campaign map or something.

 

[Narag]

I'd bet good money that's one of the core progression concepts of SC2: Zerg Edition. Instead of upgrading tech, you'll upgrade Kerrigan, maybe she'll be a permanent hero unit in every campaign map or something.

That'd be neat. I'd been wondering if either of the next two campaigns might have a more WC3 approach to it.

 

[Draft]

That'd be neat. I'd been wondering if either of the next two campaigns might have a more WC3 approach to it.

The developers said that each races single player will have a different core idea. The Terrans were the resource management/upgrade/research concept. There will be something different for the Zerg and Protoss. I believe they hinted that the Zerg will have some sort of upgrade/evolution mechanic and that the Protoss would be focused on diplomacy, whatever that means.

 

[ZealousD]

Question: Warfield said the atmosphere on Char burns humans alive or something like that, How Kerrigan survives that final scene then? without any protection I mean.:lol

Better question is, how the hell did it rain?

 

[zoukka]

The story was ok pulp. I hate the fact that they killed Tychus. He was far better than any other characters. Especially Jim and Matt (who had a whopping two facial animations). And I have a soft spot for lovers reunion, but come-on... my queen of blades needs to be there

 

[Nirolak]

Alright, I just finished up the campaign, and I have to say that I found the storyline to ultimately be really disappointing in what was otherwise a really great game.

Given that we already knew about the hybrids from StarCraft 1 and we already knew about the Voice in the Darkness from the graphic novel, the only relevant changes to the StarCraft universe in Wings of Liberty were the broadcast about Mengsk and Kerrigan becoming mostly human. Since Mengsk is still in power and wasn't really that popular anyway (as witnessed in the beginning of the game), this makes Kerrigan the only relevant change.

Based on what happened in Wings of Liberty and what we know of the sequels, it seems that Blizzard is most likely taking one of two possible scenarios for the trilogy.

Possibility #1.) The Completely Irrelevant Plot Loop

In this scenario, we find out that the entire StarCraft II trilogy actually resulted in absolutely nothing happening to the universe. While Kerrigan was turned into a human, in Hearts of the Swarm she not only turns into a zerg again, but also returns to being evil. Arcturus Mengsk is killed at one point in the story, and his son takes over the Dominion. However, despite seeming benevolent at first, Valerian ultimately turns out to be just as evil as his father. Finally, in Legacy of the Void, the protoss manage to defeat the Voice in the Darkness thanks to Kerrigan's efforts against the hybrids in Heart of the Swarm, removing the hybrids and the Voice in the Darkness from the universe.

Due to this course of events, we find ourselves at exactly the same place we started, allowing StarCraft III to start with a drunk Raynor trying to start a revolution against (Valerian) Mengsk and moping around that he lost Kerrigan (again).

Possibility #2.) The Minor Plot Development Trilogy

In this scenario, the universe of StarCraft does actually move forward, but only a little. In Heart of the Swarm, Kerrigan once again becomes the Queen of Blades, but retains her humanity, fulfilling the Overmind's plan of freeing the Zerg from the corrupting influencing the Voice in the Darkness, much like Grom Hellscream sacrificed himself to free the orcs from the corrupting influence of the Burning Legion. Despite Kerrigan becoming a zerg again, she and Raynor continue their relationship, because Blizzard showed that they were perfectly fine with interspecies relationships with Thrall and Jaina. In Legacy of the Void, the protoss, with Kerrigan's and Raynor's help, defeat the Voice in the Darkness and his hybrid armies, though some pockets of hybrids remain, controlling relatively small amounts of zerg. Finally, at some point in the trilogy, Arcturus Mengsk is killed and the Dominion falls apart, but Valerian, seeking vengeance against his killers, takes a small group of loyalists and leaves to plot his revenge.

Due to this course of events, we find that the StarCraft universe has actually advanced, but just not very much. We also conveniently now have good/bad humans, good/bad protoss, and good/bad zerg, allowing for easy integration of (insert faction) vs. (insert faction) gameplay in StarCraft III without having to randomly invent a faction like the Tal'darim.

Relative to the original StarCraft, I don't find either of these options especially compelling, though it's possible the second option could at least be somewhat interesting with some really high quality writing. However, given what I feel is a steady, steep decline in writing quality from Blizzard ever since StarCraft 1, I don't hold out much hope.

I also have a very hard time imagining any other plotline given Blizzard's history, though I would love to be proven wrong.

If I had to guess as to which of these options they would go with, my guess would be the second, since much in the way they recycled StarCraft plot elements like Kerrigan into WarCraft (Sylvanas), I expect them to do reverse since they lost the Warcraft universe as a universe they could easily make major changes to without upsetting the basis of the gameplay. Since Blizzard was exploring the concept of redemption with Sylvanas before they realized that they couldn't change the factions in World of Warcraft, I expect them to move that storyline back to Kerrigan and leave Sylvanas as the eternally vengeful queen of evil, since that works excellent with the Warcraft faction split.

I guess if I ultimately had to explain why I felt so disappointed with StarCraft II's plot, it would be that I viewed StarCraft 1 as having really interesting plot with a few rough edges, and held out hope that despite the steady decline in Blizzard's writing quality, they would fix up the rough edges of StarCraft and make something even better. Even if the story isn't bad when looked at in isolation, given that it was such a decline from StarCraft 1, it was probably one of my biggest plot disappointments in ages.

 

[Effect]

Finally finished the game a few minutes ago. Still reading this thread but wanted to give my thoughts real quick. Gameplay as expected was great. The story was solid I think but I'm not ready to really judge it totally since there are two expansions coming out. So they clearly didn't have to wrap up everything in this game since it was known the game's story was broken up into three parts. I fully expect us to get follow up on the other various characters when the new expansion comes out. I say that because the game has been decent about doing that already after each mission so far or even when something happens in the cut scenes.

As some have said I think we'll be seeing a Raynor/Valerian/Kerrigan(Zerg) alliance at the start of the next expansion. Now I do wonder if Sarah is good now or still evil. She's human again more or less but still somewhat Zerg altered. That doesn't at all mean she's "good". I hope it does or at the very least she's good as far as normal human citizens, Raynor's faction and friends are concerned. Her having no problem unleashing her Zerg forces on Mengsk or some Protoss or Xel-Naga I wouldn't mind though.

I do think they could have pushed the Zerg stuff back fully to the next expansion. Lead up to it with you collecting the artifacts in this game and then finally fight the Zerg at the start of the first expansion then get control of the Zerg. I found the TvT and the TvP story more interesting. Especially the Protoss missions and interactions. The Protoss just have this Epic story feeling about them. So any interaction with them is a plus. Really looking forward to their expansion.

Also did anyone else catch Artanis in the last Protoss mission? To see him at such a high rank brought a smile to my face when he showed up.

 

[ShadowPampers]

It also annoyed me that there was no mention of the UED, or other major events in Broodwar

 

[zoukka]

I didn't expect much from the plot, but I did miss the quirky cinematics from the original games. Like marines keeping beer in the coolant case of a nuke and the really nasty violence.

Jim Raynor had zero edge in this game. That's the biggest flaw of SCII story.

 

[Pureauthor]

It also annoyed me that there was no mention of the UED, or other major events in Broodwar

Why should the UED be brought up? They showed up, dicked around, and got annihilated for their troubles and High Command at home decided not to bother anymore.

 

[[Nintex]]

I don't think Mengsk will be killed, he somehow survived the nuclear bombing of Korhal, the UED chase and even Kerrigan let him live. Not to mention that the Dominion will tell everyone that Warfield and Mengsk Jr. destroyed the Zerg to boost morale and maybe end the hunt on Raynor since he helped out.

 

[duckroll]

Here's why I found the story almost completely satisfactory: I feel that Blizzard is one of the few developers who have always succeeded in building the world to fit around the gameplay perfectly. The world is interesting, the characters are interesting, and most importantly, the gameplay is enhanced and aided by the story events and circumstances without being a slave to it.

Is it true that pretty much nothing "happened" during the campaign? Sure. But were the missions varied with lots of interesting scenarios, and did they allow me to play the game in interesting ways while feeling that the story was connected in almost everything I did? Definitely.

Another good example is Diablo 2. Almost all the quests in the game didn't really add anything to the actual story, and even the story itself was pretty straightforward. The hero from Diablo 1 couldn't control the Soulstone, he succumbed to the great evil and freed Diablo's brothers - now new heroes must rise against hell's minions and kill all the bosses. That's pretty much the entire plot. It never changes, and in the end you destroy the soulstones instead of stabbing them into your forehead.

But yet it is the world around the story, and the way they tie into keeping the game scenario interesting while you're playing and enhancing everything around the gameplay, which is the strongest point of the writing. That's still true in pretty much everything Blizzard makes, and it's true for Starcraft 2.

 

[Draft]

It also annoyed me that there was no mention of the UED, or other major events in Broodwar

That is weird. Like, the do acknowledge Brood War in some of the character biographies, but honestly, for what Brood War was in the canon, it really has very little impact on SC2.

Maybe I need to go back and play BW again, but I seem to remember the final cutscene being Zerg just running rampant on Terran worlds. The implication being that the Zerg are about to fucking win. I sort of figured SC2 would begin from that premise. But instead it's like there must have been some massive fighting or something between the end of BW and beginning of SC2 that is just being ignored.

Edit: I don't think it's fair to say nothing happened in the story. Even if the presentation left something to be desired, there is a pretty fundamental shift in power because Kerrigan is now... not evil? Obviously not sure exactly what her deal is, but she's probably not leading Zerg to kill everything anymore, the stopping of which was the primary motivator in BW.

I think, again, the only real problem in the story is that it's too subtle. Maybe whoever was writing it got carried away. Good literature is subtle. Characters shouldn't be too obvious in their motivations. Like the robot devil said, you can't just have characters state how they feel, that makes me so angry.

But the SC2 plotting could have used a bit more blunt object and a little less scalpel. Ham up Tychus trying to convince Jimmy to kill Kerrigan. Make it clear that the Zerg invasion is a terrifying, apocalyptic event for humanity. Demonstrate that the Char invasion is a desperate last stand.

That's SC/BW storytelling in a nutshell. I think if you go back, the stories from those games aren't terribly clever or deep, but they are EPIC. Everything is important. You can't fart without having a world get blown up/eaten by Zerg. SC2 moved away from that, I think ultimately to its detriment. Maybe that's an inevitable side effect of spreading the story over 3 games.

 

[duckroll]

It also annoyed me that there was no mention of the UED, or other major events in Broodwar

This is not true at all. The UED plotline is closed, it is the one self-contained thread in Brood War. There is no point bringing it up again. Kerrigan destroyed the entire escaping UED fleet and they never made it back to Earth. It will be a long, long time before Earth catches wind of what happened in the sector, far more than 4 years. That thread is closed.

The other major events in Brood War certainly carry over to SC2. Mengsk trying to destroy Raynor and Kerrigan has a lot to do with the events in Brrod War. Before that he was simply going to ignore Raynor as just another guy he used. Zeratul's feud with Kerrigan is a direct result of the events of Brood War. Zeratul looking for Xel'Naga prophecies is a continuation of Brood War. The hybrids are a continuation of Brood War.

It's very hard for me to see how the game "ignores" Brood War at all.

 

[Nirolak]

Here's why I found the story almost completely satisfactory: I feel that Blizzard is one of the few developers who have always succeeded in building the world to fit around the gameplay perfectly. The world is interesting, the characters are interesting, and most importantly, the gameplay is enhanced and aided by the story events and circumstances without being a slave to it.

Is it true that pretty much nothing "happened" during the campaign? Sure. But were the missions varied with lots of interesting scenarios, and did they allow me to play the game in interesting ways while feeling that the story was connected in almost everything I did? Definitely.

Another good example is Diablo 2. Almost all the quests in the game didn't really add anything to the actual story, and even the story itself was pretty straightforward. The hero from Diablo 1 couldn't control the Soulstone, he succumbed to the great evil and freed Diablo's brothers - now new heroes must rise against hell's minions and kill all the bosses. That's pretty much the entire plot. It never changes, and in the end you destroy the soulstones instead of stabbing them into your forehead.

But yet it is the world around the story, and the way they tie into keeping the game scenario interesting while you're playing and enhancing everything around the gameplay, which is the strongest point of the writing. That's still true in pretty much everything Blizzard makes, and it's true for Starcraft 2.

If I were to judge the story solely by this, I would like it for the same reason I liked Diablo 2's plot.

However, one of the things that was really special about StarCraft 1 was that it was one of the only games in the genre that actually had a good story that could stand on its own two legs. To see the sequel lose that trait is disappointing, and even more-so given that RTS games are now a dying genre where Blizzard is becoming one of the last developers around.

They had a great base, a budget to do whatever they want, and an audience large enough to really make an impact on what people think of the stories in gaming, and instead of really trying to go out there and achieve something great, they make a serviceable plot that is really just a way to tie the missions together.

Given that Blizzard constantly strives to raise the bar in everything else they do, seeing them gladly lower their bar in storytelling just seems so disappointing.

 

[Dahbomb]

After finishing the game it seems fairly obvious where the game is heading.

Kerrigan is going to be joining the good side and would probably end up killing Mengsk in the process as well (or maybe Raynor will too but they are going to be together and their feelings are mutual on Mengsk).

She will slowly regain her powers to control the Zergs in the Heart of the Swarm (basically the entire game will be revolving around this) but it will be for the "good" side. There will be some uneasiness between her and Zeratul as well as most of the Protoss/Terrans but an alliance will eventually be made because there is a bigger threat in coming.

In Legacy of the Void we will probably see the Hybrid race come to full power or close to it and all out war will ensue. There may be an intervention from the Xel Naga in some form. The Hybrid race will be making absurd combination of units, like Terran + Protoss and Zerg + Protoss and will be controlling the other races as well to some degree (like they did in the Protoss missions where they were controlling Protoss only forces and Zerg forces as well. I would expect them to gain control over some Terran forces as well).

All 3 races will have to join forces and my guess is that the climax will be some insane shit like controlling Rayer + Terrans, Kerrigan + Zergs and Zeratul + Protoss (plus some Xel Naga plot device) in one epic battle against the Hybrids. Sort of like Protoss + Terran vs Zerg at the end of Starcraft 1. I just hope that the ending is a spectacle.


As far as the quality of the story telling is concerned, I will wait for the final expansion before giving my opinion on it. This is like 1/3rd of the story and not even the most influential story of the bunch because its the Terran side of things. The Protoss side missions had more of an actual and quality story than most of the Terran missions in this game as well as previous Starcraft games. This game was really more of a set up for the 2nd game with the rescuing of Kerrigan which will consequently end up setting for the 3rd game but I really expect the 3rd game to turn up the story because the Protoss is really where most of the lore of Starcraft lies.

 

[duckroll]

If I were to judge the story solely by this, I would like it for the same reason I liked Diablo 2's plot.

However, one of the things that was really special about StarCraft 1 was that it was one of the only games in the genre that actually had a good story that could stand on its own two legs. To see the sequel lose that trait is disappointing, and even more-so given that RTS games are now a dying genre where Blizzard is becoming one of the last developers around.

They had a great base, a budget to do whatever they want, and an audience large enough to really make an impact on what people think of the stories in gaming, and instead of really trying to go out there and achieve something great, they make a serviceable plot that is really just a way to tie the missions together.

Given that Blizzard constantly strives to raise the bar in everything else they do, seeing them gladly lower their bar in storytelling just seems so disappointing.

Yeah but I don't think the story in Diablo 2 and Starcraft 2 are any worse than Starcraft and Brood War. More shit "happened" in Starcraft, doesn't really make it better to me. The actual experience of playing the campaign and the quality of writing is better than Starcraft imo.

 

[Draft]

Yeah but I don't think the story in Diablo 2 and Starcraft 2 are any worse than Starcraft and Brood War. More shit "happened" in Starcraft, doesn't really make it better to me. The actual experience of playing the campaign and the quality of writing is better than Starcraft imo.

No doubt that it is. SC/BWs story is presented via talking heads bantering over TV sets, which while kind of awesome is also hilariously janky.

 

[[Nintex]]

I think the big difference is that in Starcraft you're leading the direct assault on the Confederacy, you invade Aiur in order to destroy the Protoss and in the end you lead the Protoss and Tassadar to destroy the Overmind. In Starcraft 2 you aren't playing as the Terran Dominion fighting the war against the Zerg. Raynor is mostly involved with hit and run missions, some rebellion and searching for the artifacts. I like the difference between the missions on the front line like the invasion of Char and the Protoss last stand, compared to the smaller operations that Horner and Raynor take part in. The story and 'epicness' of Starcraft 2 fits with the character you're playing with.

 

[duckroll]

I think the big difference is that in Starcraft you're leading the direct assault on the Confederacy, you invade Aiur in order to destroy the Protoss and in the end you lead the Protoss and Tassadar to destroy the Overmind. In Starcraft 2 you aren't playing as the Terran Dominion fighting the war against the Zerg. Raynor is mostly involved with hit and run missions, some rebellion and searching for the artifacts. I like the difference between the missions on the front line like the invasion of Char and the Protoss last stand, compared to the smaller operations that Horner and Raynor take part in. The story and 'epicness' of Starcraft 2 fits with the character you're playing with.

Right, in SC and BW, they were war driven RTS games. SC2 was more of an adventure driven RTS game, which makes it really unique. If SC2 was a big war story, and it didn't deliver on the narrative, then sure, that's worse. But it isn't a war story yet!

 

[Proelite]

All 3 races will have to join forces and my guess is that the climax will be some insane shit like controlling Rayer + Terrans, Kerrigan + Zergs and Zeratul + Protoss (plus some Xel Naga plot device) in one epic battle against the Hybrids. Sort of like Protoss + Terran vs Zerg at the end of Starcraft 1. I just hope that the ending is a spectacle.

Macroing three races together is so hard, I did imagine it would be like three choices for the beginning of the mission, and the other two races will be played by comps.

 

[Neo Child]

so im up to the point where im working with mengsks son and nothing has happened so far, i assume im nowhere near the end?

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

This is not true at all. The UED plotline is closed, it is the one self-contained thread in Brood War. There is no point bringing it up again. Kerrigan destroyed the entire escaping UED fleet and they never made it back to Earth. It will be a long, long time before Earth catches wind of what happened in the sector, far more than 4 years. That thread is closed.

The other major events in Brood War certainly carry over to SC2. Mengsk trying to destroy Raynor and Kerrigan has a lot to do with the events in Brrod War. Before that he was simply going to ignore Raynor as just another guy he used. Zeratul's feud with Kerrigan is a direct result of the events of Brood War. Zeratul looking for Xel'Naga prophecies is a continuation of Brood War. The hybrids are a continuation of Brood War.

It's very hard for me to see how the game "ignores" Brood War at all.

well, Zeratul seemed to have forgotten he found hybrids four years ago in Brood war so....

 

[[Nintex]]

well, Zeratul seemed to have forgotten he found hybrids four years ago in Brood war so....

I think it was intentional, not everyone played Brood War and there's alot of new Starcraft players who didn't know about the Hybrid(it's a secret mission after all). Zeratul knew about the experiments but the creature he saw could've had a different shape or form.

 

[ToyMachine228]

Here's why I found the story almost completely satisfactory: I feel that Blizzard is one of the few developers who have always succeeded in building the world to fit around the gameplay perfectly. The world is interesting, the characters are interesting, and most importantly, the gameplay is enhanced and aided by the story events and circumstances without being a slave to it.

Completely agree with this. I felt pulled into the world that the game presents to the player. I was interested in it. I wanted to talk to the characters after every mission. The game really sold me on the StarCraft universe and I really felt compelled to, and enjoyed exploring it.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Completely agree with Duckroll. I have a few nitpicks about the story but nothing major. Regardless, the story did help contribute to the gameplay in that it provided the most varied and exciting campaign missions I've played in an RTS so far. I'd never have expected some sort of great American novel-quality story from Starcraft so it's definitely not a negative that the gameplay was served more by the story than the narrative itself. Definitely a good thing for a game like Starcraft.

 

[Dahbomb]

so im up to the point where im working with mengsks son and nothing has happened so far, i assume im nowhere near the end?

You are closer than you think, unless you skipped the Zeratul missions in which case they make up most of the actual story in WoL.

 

[duckroll]

well, Zeratul seemed to have forgotten he found hybrids four years ago in Brood war so....

He didn't forget. The hybrids he saw previously were not alive, they were in tanks. He was expressing shock at the first living hybrid he encounters, who had already indoctrinated his people on a world.

 

[Effect]

The choices in this game just create completely alternate universes.
If you side with the Protoss, Dr. Hanson locks herself in the lab and turns out to be infested, if you decide to fight the Protoss Dr. Hanson gives Raynor a kiss and asks him if he's ever thought about settling down, hint hint.

If you help Tosh the prisoners at New Folsom are simply political dissidents and luminaries who according to Capt. Horner will do more to help their rebellion than all the battles they've fought. Dr. Hanson will also tell you that what Nova said about Spectres being mentally unstable and dangerous is completely false.

However if you help Nova, the prisoners at New Folsom are dangerous crazies who need to stay locked up for the good of everyone, and she kills Tosh at the end

The choice between eliminating Nydus Worms vs. Zerg Air doesn't change the story at all, though. Although the mission if you choose Nydus Worms is way more fun than the Zerg Air one.

I didn't play the Nydus worm mission but instead did the Zerg air on. In that you get introduced to a new Zerg unit called the Leviathan. That thing is a huge pain to take down as well as it moves fast and is powerful. I'm curious if it will show up again in the other games. Though I wonder how much different the last mission would have gone if I had to deal with air units instead of ground. I did the bulk of the game on Hard but I had to drop down to Normal on the last one. Kept getting overrun early in the mission and couldn't establish my defenses quick enough.

The mission where you help Tosh was fun. Though I did it after I helped Dr. Hanson and her people settle on the new planet and help defend it from the Protoss. Didn't know she would comment one what Nova said.

 

[Coeliacus]

Yeah but I don't think the story in Diablo 2 and Starcraft 2 are any worse than Starcraft and Brood War. More shit "happened" in Starcraft, doesn't really make it better to me. The actual experience of playing the campaign and the quality of writing is better than Starcraft imo.

No one seems to remember that the writing in the original games was just as over the top. I do miss Raynor saying 'man' all the time.

 

[[Nintex]]

No one seems to remember that the writing in the original games was just as over the top. I do miss Raynor saying 'man' all the time.

Starcraft was all about betrayal. Mengsk sets Kerrigan up, Duke leaves the Confederacy and joins Mengsk etc. I was shocked when Aldaris turned on me and I wondered if Tassadar would double cross the Protoss next.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

So I beat the campaign a couple days ago and just thought I'd share what I think.

I'm in the camp that agrees that although less shit happened when you actually think about it, it doesn't really matter that much because of the way it was tied into the gameplay and all that, and it still managed to be pretty serviceable to the overall plot.

I'm glad they chose to end the game in an open ended cliff hanger and not a direct one, that would suck balls. Also I'm pretty sure Tychus knew he was gonna die and had no intention of betraying Raynor, that is if he is dead. Who knows what may have happened.

I'm excited for Heart of the Swarm but I really hope this game doesn't end in the "3 races join forces to eliminate the hybrids then live happily ever after on their own planets" type of way. But yeah overall the gameplay and all that was fantastic, the story I think is being analyzed too much considering it's meant to be 1 part of 3 and I just thought it did a good job at the least at setting things in motion and introducing to us all the possible situations that could arise.

 

[kamspy]

It never actually shows Tychus die. Just assumes it. Maybe he'll come back in an expansion.

Right now he's easily my favorite supporting game character in 2010.

"You can't fix stupid" is the best lines I've ever heard when commanding a unit in an RTS.

 

[Nirolak]

Yeah but I don't think the story in Diablo 2 and Starcraft 2 are any worse than Starcraft and Brood War. More shit "happened" in Starcraft, doesn't really make it better to me. The actual experience of playing the campaign and the quality of writing is better than Starcraft imo.

I would argue that there were definitely some steps back.

As an example, the felt the changes to Arcturus Mengsk's character were really a disservice to both him and the plot.

In StarCraft 1, he came off as a fairly charming and confident person who could believably inspire people to start a revolution against the Confederacy. When he finally turned on you in the campaign, he actually came off as a truly evil person who could convincingly hide his nature.

In StarCraft 2, he came off as a characture of himself. He wasn't likable or charming in the slightes, and the concept of someone acting like him and being able to convince people to follow him as their emperor was honestly comical. He felt much more like a Saturday morning cartoon villain than a compelling antagonist.

Many of the other character, while very well acted and nicely presented, lacked any real character development. I'm personally a huge fan of character driven stories, and can easily forgive a lacking plot if a game is fulling compelling characters, but the characters in StarCraft II felt like the video game equivalent of Magic The Gathering flavor text. Sure, the little amount of dialog they had was often funny or entertaining, but there was so little there that the characters ultimately felt irrelevant and served as a reminder that the universe is far more interesting than any of the events in the game or almost any of the characters in it.

I'm not by any means saying that StarCraft was some incredible story, because you're right that it was not, but my complaint is ultimately that they're using far less of the universe's potential than they did back then, and that they're not making characters that fill in the gap left by the plot.

Of course, I realize almost no one is plays a game like this for a plot, which is why this thread is so short and I ultimately don't hold my disappointment in the plot as anything more than a minor complaint against the game.

In the end, it's just that StarCraft is a universe I would really like to see served by significantly better plots, and StarCraft II seems like a surefire sign that Blizzard has no intention of ever doing that.

 

[Technosteve]

Starcraft 2 adventure mechanic just makes me want to play a starcraft adventure game =(. They canceled an entire warcraft adventure game cause it's not up to snuff, guess they got to use all those skills in this game. Now if they made Zerg campaign like diablo with loot drops....

 

[Man]

Having cleared the game earlier, it says that I have done 25 out of 26 missions. How come? There were at least three choose missions I can think of so it can't be that?

 

[Draft]

Having cleared the game earlier, it says that I have done 25 out of 26 missions. How come? There were at least three choose missions I can think of so it can't be that?

You missed the secret mission. And in a kind of dick move, Blizzard saw fit to not allow you to go back and get it in the mission archives. You need to start a new campaign.

 

[duckroll]

Having cleared the game earlier, it says that I have done 25 out of 26 missions. How come? There were at least three choose missions I can think of so it can't be that?

You missed the secret mission. The only way to unlock it is to grab the secret documents on the Media Blitz mission from destroying the Science Facility in the bottom right of the map. You have to do this BEFORE going to Char. So you'll need a save from just before the Char missions.

You missed the secret mission. And in a kind of dick move, Blizzard saw fit to not allow you to go back and get it in the mission archives. You need to start a new campaign.

Not true at all. I replayed mission and got it. You just need to do it before Char.

 

[Pooya]

Secret Mission was the best mission IMO, don't miss it! That mission made me want a 3rd person StarCraft game even more.

 

[Man]

Okay I made a separate save right before Char. Will take a look later, thanks.

 

[Draft]

You missed the secret mission. The only way to unlock it is to grab the secret documents on the Media Blitz mission from destroying the Science Facility in the bottom right of the map. You have to do this BEFORE going to Char. So you'll need a save from just before the Char missions.



Not true at all. I replayed mission and got it. You just need to do it before Char.

Oh. People were saying earlier it didn't pop if you replayed Media Blitz.

 

[Man]

The story was forgettable but well made.
The intro (and debut CG trailer) remains on the of the finest game related scenes ever. Perfectly directed and stunning art.
The Protoss confrontation with Kerrigan was upper echelon material as well.
Visiting the various sections and listening to Tychus was always enjoyable.

StarCraft 2 was much more detailed, polished affair than WarCraft 3 but how the story progressed in the latter was super intense with how all the forces had to come together to win over the demon hordes, it built excellently with a great finish. SC2 went slightly out of steam story wise, in gameplay it built excellently.

As a game the campaign was great.
As a story it was formulaic and lost a bit of steam towards the end.