[Spoiler]Campaign Story

[Edhel-dur]

Hello.

I've finished the campaign of SC2. However. . .the story is not presented in a fashion anyway similar to SC1/Wc3.
The story has less epic proportions, it focuses more on character development. The objectives are not as epic either.
Example: Sc1 - steal the psi emitter which you can use to control zerg, Sc2 - steal the alien artefact to sell it for some money.
Obviously after we played campaings from Blizzard. . .we expected the epic clash of forces at some point in WoL aswell, however that doesn't really happen, everything is just on a minimal scale. (Well except the last protoss mission I guess).

Also Kerrigan, she feels. . .dull. . .like she shows almost no desire to actually kill anyone. She fails with a rate of 100% in any of her tries to capture a Xel'Naga artefact. I mean I know we are playing from Raynors side. . .but I would have expected that at one point. . .she could have been first to acquire an artefact, so you would needed to steal it back from her. She mostly feels like something you know it's there. . .but doesn't really affect you in anyway. . .untill the last mission that is.
Moreover, I'm guessing there are many players who were to young to play sc1 when it launched. . .and now have started straight from sc2. So you would think that maybe Blizzard would have spent at least as much time developing Infested Keriggan as they did with Tychus. . .who actually dies in the last cinnematic. I mean Keriggan is just one of the most bad ass characters from all of their franchises. I believe that some kind of remades of sc1 missions in which terran Keriggan and Raynor are involved would have made the player understand even more, they would have felt Keriggan as a cool character even more. I mean yes, they talk while in the BCruiser about her. . .but talk is just talk. . .better to show us her. . .show us (the players) for who did Raynor killed Tychus for. I mean in theory we know. . .Raynor saved "the chosen one" from the prophecy. . .yet we not know much about her from SC2. . .however the game ends with her salvation. . .a game is ending with the salvation of a poor rounded character. . .cuz that's what she is in SC2. . .she is poorly characterized. What we find about Sarah Keriggan in SC2 is that she was a possible lover for Raynor, that she comited a lot of crimes as a zerg and that she was left behind by Acturus. Oh and that Zeratul hates her aswell. But we are not shown. . .or remembered. . .how she betrayed the protoss, how ruthless, cold blooded and playfull she is. . .or at least was in SC1.

So how do you guys feel about this new layout of storytelling, of epicless objectives, of investment in characters which later on they die (actually Tosh, the Doctor and Tychus . . .which I believe are the only characters Raynor "picks up" get to die. Funny) ? Also how do you feel about this short dive into fantasy. . .with the presence of Tassadar's spirit, dooming visions, prophecies. . .are they OK for a Sci-Fi which used to be about technology, evolution and war ?

 

[I-am-murloc]

Dont know about the story, but the gameplay of the campaign was kickass

 

[ALiEN95]

new missions get better but playing in start was not so good
for example
sc1 - mission in beginnings (3th) - defend yourself from zergs until timer expires
sc2 - mission in beginnings (dont know name of mission) - defend yourself from zergs until timer expires

anyway it was nice to play and make those bonus upgrades / researches

i dont like that AI is almoust the same
oly new thing is see is that (most of the time) units will move to make other units pass

but why dont single,low numbered units go back to their base,for example overlords will sta at one place for ever until you dont attack them and than its to late because they did not return to base and they die

also,single/low numbered units can go to attack big numbered units witch is very stupid

it is also stupid that somethimes computer sends units in colony 1 by one to kill,well nice fo me but ....
when you order unit to move somewhere the system that tells him how to go does not care for buildings/stones
so if you order unit ot move to some place and only pass it to destroy stone unit will not move to stone

when you order a group of SCVs to main minerals they shold all be ordered to main nearby minerals so they dont come all at one mineral and fix later

but what i saw good is that hard is hard and brutal is brutal

 

[JakeCake]

This is simply not true, you are just another hater.

One of the first words that comes to my head when I think about SC2 is Epic

 

[Buff.Count]

You really missed a whole lot of what was going on in the story line. Did you actually finish the campaign? Oh, and this is how you spell "ARTIFACT". As a raider, Jim needed to sell the artifacts to get money for his rebellion against the dominion. The storyline follows the mysterious artifacts that end up being a cure for Sarah, so it really does make sense... But your analyse is fine too........
Jim is awesome too, I don't see why developing his character would be seen as a bad thing.
alien95 almost, almoust. which, witch.

 

[Edhel-dur]

You really missed a whole lot of what was going on in the story line. Did you actually finish the campaign? Oh, and this is how you spell "ARTIFACT". As a raider, Jim needed to sell the artifacts to get money for his rebellion against the dominion. The storyline follows the mysterious artifacts that end up being a cure for Sarah, so it really does make sense... But your analyse is fine too........
Jim is awesome too, I don't see why developing his character would be seen as a bad thing.

Of course I have.

I didn't say that the story didn't make sense. . .yet we see a different approach to it. . .unlike the previous Blizzard games.
The missions themselves were fun and exciting, especially after you land on Char. However. . .since Kerrigan seems to be an important part of this expansion. . .why not show her more ?
I find Tychus really bad ass. . .but as you (by you I mean Blizzard) invested time in creating Tychus. . .who just ends up dead. . .why not invest some time into Kerrigan. . .which as I understand, has a big part to play into this plot.

 

[Mooglefrooglian]

I didnt find the campaign quite as well done plot-wise as SC1, but the gameplay itself was amazing. I'm willing to forgive Blizzard for that. There were what.. 2 boring cut and dry defense missions the whole game? Most of the missions had some neat addition to them, like the mining laser one, or the final one with the energy nova.

 

[Dr Super Good]

You lot fail to ralise this is part 1/3 of a trillogy.

It is clear from the protoss missions that the main villian is somehow related or created or supported by the Xel Naga. The campaign points towards the hybrids eithor being the Xel Naga or the product of their zerg and protoss experiments, and ultimate race of super beings. As it was shown in the protoss mission, not only can these hybrids influence protoss like templars do to start cults, they can also assume complete control over the zerg. This is because they share the same overmind link system between all hybrids and zergs as the zergs do but they also share the protoss psy power and as such all the hybrids link together to form their own overmind (or perhapes an xel naga's mind network).

If you played the secret mission (I only found one), you will realise very quickly that the Dominion has something todo with the hybrids (making them as all the machines point towards). From the protoss missions it is clear that the protoss are having iternal conflicts started by the hybrids forming cults and brain washing protoss to fight for them. Who else but the diminion would be watching this and see the power these hybrids bring, a being able to controle 2 races as well as being physically tough).

This brings us back to dear old Keriggan. As the queen of Blades she was still known as an infested terran who was ruled mostly by her powerful emotions of feeling betrayed and the hate for what she has become. This ultimatly was not the overminds real reason for making her (it unfolded at the end). As the infestation controles her, she has no free will which is why she goes crazy about the impending doom. Obviously she knew what was going to happen to her but the zerg part in her caused her crazy and stupid artifact retrevial as self defense because that is what it was designed to do. She however physically was the least damaged infested terran, probably at the overminds orignal plan.

The Artifact once charged destroyed all pure zerg biomass. Yes all pure zerg biomass. However some of the zerg biomass twisted her orignal human cells so were neithor human nor zerg. With all pure zerg cells being killed by the artifact this leaves her original human cells (now twisted by zerg) to be fully incontrole. The zerg control systems over her are shattered basically so her own personality should not be in control but she still remains enhanced by her contact from the zerg. So what does this mean? She is a human and zerg hybrid, the first human who probably has power to influence and control and even interact with zerg. Also since she is human she is nolonger restricted to the lack of freewill the overmind had and so can fufill her true desterny and plan of the overmind, to grant the zerg their freedom, the freedom to do what they want unlike before which they had to do what the xel naga told them.

So who does this benifit. Well the prince of course. He is even more power mad than his father but currently he is a nobody, basically head of the major xel naga research. He probably created the hybrids as his experiments to see what combining DNA of zerg or protoss can do and realised the beings were too dangerous to terrans to be of use so wanted to destroy the palce and whoever did the research. He must have tried humans as subject even and failed to do the spicle properly (the protoss and zerg sides taking control and controling the person) which was of no use. However he then discovered the artifact, its purpose is unclear but it basically destroys their creations (unknown if protoss are effected but might also be destroyed like zerg). Putting 1 and 1 he realised he could kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Not only could he deem his crazy old father unfit for rule but removing the queen of blades as a threat, but he could also unlock his ultimate goal, to rule over everything. With Keriggan being infested, some of her human DNA would make her immune from complete distruction by the artifact but still reamin twisted and part zerg. Thus the campaign ends with him getting the ultimate weapon, a human zerg hybrid who is human controled.

Tycus was a pawn, although the prince freed him to get the artifacts (and unite his fathers greatest enemies with him), the emperor ultimatly found out and pointed another gun at tycu's head. Seeing the opotunity to kill kerrigan, the emperor wanted her dead because it will not only totally demoralize Raynor forever but will also give his son no leverage overhim to get him thrown out cause there is no evidence. I bet tycus would have been killed anyway by the emperor even after killing kerrigan because he is just that sort of guy. However the emperor basically lost. Not only is Keriggan humanish again so can tell the truth about what actually happened when he took power but also his son has done the impossible, and defeated the zerg's leader the queen of blades which is a feet his father never matched. Thus I suspect the emperor eithor being killed somewhere next campaign or being overthrown by his son.

The evidence for this is the fact Keriggan kept her Queen of Blades tenticle hair as opposed to reverting to her orignal orange/ginger hair from when she was a ghost.

Especially if the next campaign is zerg, this would fit in all too well.

I believe the ultimate goal of th

 

[Edhel-dur]

Dr.Super Good, thanks for that awesome, detailed long opinion.

In a way you showed what I have been trying to explain.
Tychus was just a pawn. . .with a good developed character !
Kerrigan has a big role to play in the plot. . .yet, from a perspective as a SC2 only player (I played sc1 also. . .but I'm talking about from SC2 only perspective) her character is poorly developed. You hardly see any of her traits being shown.

So what you're saying, is that Kerrigan will still be able to control zerg, however she won't be controlled by the Hybrids. . .because she revereted to being a human ? Well, that makes sense, nice prediction.

And I have accounted for the fact that this is a trilogy, and this is just 1/3, however out of 26 missions. . .you would think that Blizzard could have made 2-3 missions in which they could show more of Infested Kerrigan.

 

[Mooglefrooglian]

Dr Super Good, did you never play the secret mission in Brood War?

For those who never played and don't mind spoilers, http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Origin

 

[Tyranid]

You lot fail to ralise this is part 1/3 of a trillogy.

I don't exactly accept this as an explanation for the slightly poor storyline that was in Wings of Liberty. Just because it's only the first part of a trilogy doesn't mean it's completely alright to do such a poor jobs in some areas (goddamn those Zeratul missions and their dialogue).

It is clear from the protoss missions that the main villian is somehow related or created or supported by the Xel Naga. The campaign points towards the hybrids eithor being the Xel Naga or the product of their zerg and protoss experiments, and ultimate race of super beings.

http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Voice
http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Voice_in_the_Darkness_(entity)

Also the Hybrids are being created by Ulrejaz and Duran. I doubt it's the Xel'naga mostly because

SPOILER

Lorewise, the Xel'naga themselves are naturally born when the Purity of Form and Purity of Essence fuse together by natural causes. The Zerg were supposed to assimilate the Protoss at some point and form the new generation of Xel'naga. Something messed up with the Overmind's "coding" thought, and caused him to seek to destroy the Protoss rather than assimilate them. The Overmind created Kerrigan to bypass this problem.

The Hybrids on the other hand are abominations of the Xel'Naga cycle, because rather than being a natural fusion of the 2 purities, they are forced artificial ones. I doubt the Xel'naga would be behind something like this, especially because of how "caring" they're introduced as everywhere.
http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Xel'naga
and the Overmind thing is from the Tassadar Force Ghost mission

If you played the secret mission (I only found one), you will realise very quickly that the Dominion has something todo with the hybrids (making them as all the machines point towards). From the protoss missions it is clear that the protoss are having iternal conflicts started by the hybrids forming cults and brain washing protoss to fight for them. Who else but the diminion would be watching this and see the power these hybrids bring, a being able to controle 2 races as well as being physically tough).

There is only one secret mission. Also the Dominion being literally involved in highly unlikely, as Horner pointed out that Dominion doesn't even have the technology that was used to create the Hybrids. More likely Duran is using parts of the Dominion (the Moebius Foundation) to create Hybrids to serve the Dark Voice/Voice in the Darkness.

Incidentally, the head of the Moebius Foundation is called named Narud... as in Duran backwards.

So who does this benifit. Well the prince of course. He is even more power mad than his father but currently he is a nobody, basically head of the major xel naga research. He probably created the hybrids as his experiments to see what combining DNA of zerg or protoss can do and realised the beings were too dangerous to terrans to be of use so wanted to destroy the palce and whoever did the research. He must have tried humans as subject even and failed to do the spicle properly (the protoss and zerg sides taking control and controling the person) which was of no use. However he then discovered the artifact, its purpose is unclear but it basically destroys their creations (unknown if protoss are effected but might also be destroyed like zerg). Putting 1 and 1 he realised he could kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Not only could he deem his crazy old father unfit for rule but removing the queen of blades as a threat, but he could also unlock his ultimate goal, to rule over everything. With Keriggan being infested, some of her human DNA would make her immune from complete distruction by the artifact but still reamin twisted and part zerg. Thus the campaign ends with him getting the ultimate weapon, a human zerg hybrid who is human controled.

I doubt Valerian even knows of the Hybrids. As I pointed out earlier, this is probably Duran's doings again.

Tycus was a pawn, although the prince freed him to get the artifacts (and unite his fathers greatest enemies with him), the emperor ultimatly found out and pointed another gun at tycu's head. Seeing the opotunity to kill kerrigan, the emperor wanted her dead because it will not only totally demoralize Raynor forever but will also give his son no leverage overhim to get him thrown out cause there is no evidence. I bet tycus would have been killed anyway by the emperor even after killing kerrigan because he is just that sort of guy. However the emperor basically lost. Not only is Keriggan humanish again so can tell the truth about what actually happened when he took power but also his son has done the impossible, and defeated the zerg's leader the queen of blades which is a feet his father never matched. Thus I suspect the emperor eithor being killed somewhere next campaign or being overthrown by his son.

Valerian never freed Tychus, that was Arcturus all along. Watch the first cinematic (The Deal). It basically deals with Arcturus releasing Tychus in exchange for a certain deal, which later turns out to be killing Kerrigan. Of course this plot point is abit stupid as how would Arcturus know that Tychus would actually get such a chance, unless Arcturus is the most Magnificent Bastard in all existence.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Also the Hybrids are being created by Ulrejaz and Duran. I doubt it's the Xel'naga mostly because

Who? I do not particually remember seing such characters. What SC2 mission were they from?

As for Tychus...
In that case after he was freed the mobious foundation must have contacted him not fully knowing about the emperor have the gun to his head. The fact that the emperor held a gun to the princes plan supports this because his entire plan ceneterd around uninfesting the queen of blades and so it would only be minorly sucessful if it failed but not enough to be able to take over from his father.

Incidentally, the head of the Moebius Foundation is called named Narud... as in Duran backwards.

Um prince Valerian owns the Moebius foundation and by the sounds of it takes a pretty active stance in its affairs... I think Narud was just the head of the research facility.

Also all your links were to wiki articles, I doubt they might all be telling the truth.

 

[SomeRandomDeleted Dr. Cabbage0]

I loved the end when Kerrigan survived her infestation and brought back by Jim Raynor

Slutet gott, allting gott! =O)

Agree with OP 100 %

BUT since I've played SC1 (A LOT) I could follow SC2 story totally, and it kicked ass for me as a starcraft fan

 

[Fussiler1]

The mission where I had to storm the UNN studios made my day.

It's epic, in my opinion, but I never played SC I.

 

[Mechanical Man]

Long campaign my ass. My friend finished it one day. And he is not like some uber pro, he didn't even play beta. Blizzard was too lazy to make campaigns for all races, so they made an excuse that they will make the campaign long, while seems to be shorter than two sc1 campaigns at once. And as we know Blizzard, in expansions they tend to make even shorter campaigns, so we can expect a campaign with an equal length as in sc1. The shortness of the campaign can be also attributed to the fact most missions you have to rush instead of take your time and plan your attack. No, I haven't played the campaign yet, because of crappy computer, but if people are finishing it in 1 day, then looks crap.

 

[Tyranid]

Who? I do not particually remember seing such characters. What SC2 mission were they from?


Also all your links were to wiki articles, I doubt they might all be telling the truth.

Duran was a character from Starcraft Brood Wars. He was introduced as an Alpha Squadron member, who later on helped the UED. Then he turned out to be Infested and later helped Kerrigan. However in the Protoss campaign it turned out that he wasn't exactly what he seemed, and he told that he is very, very old and has had many names throughout the millenia. He also serves a "higher power" and has been creating the Hybrids.

http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Samir_Duran

Ulrejaz is a corrupted and mad Dark Archon, who also seemingly serves a "Higher Power" and has been creating Hybrids.

http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Ulrejaz

The wiki is also pretty reliable, as they have a really active Administrator who constantly checks the articles there. All of it are from books and games, so no speculation there unless it's in the speculation area.

Long campaign my ass. My friend finished it one day. And he is not like some uber pro, he didn't even play beta. Blizzard was too lazy to make campaigns for all races, so they made an excuse that they will make the campaign long, while seems to be shorter than two sc1 campaigns at once. And as we know Blizzard, in expansions they tend to make even shorter campaigns, so we can expect a campaign with an equal length as in sc1. The shortness of the campaign can be also attributed to the fact most missions you have to rush instead of take your time and plan your attack. No, I haven't played the campaign yet, because of crappy computer, but if people are finishing it in 1 day, then looks crap.

The campaign is fairly lenghty, althought it's no SC 1 campaign. The length also depends on how many side missions you choose to do.

 

[Dr Super Good]

You just proved my point that none of what you have mentioned is from Starcraft II. It is well known blizzard loves changing previous game's storyline so that recent ones make sense.

In WoW they demoted archimonde from the ultimate demon overlord to a dranari. For all we know simlar things will occur with starcraft so you can pretty much disregard anything from broodwars or books. Just like why Kerrigan, the queen of blades was so rigged in SC2 yet died easilly in SC1. In SC2 she could destoy a battlecruiser every 8 seconds solo, I do not remember her being able to do that in SC1.

 

[Edhel-dur]

The campaign is fairly lenghty, althought it's no SC 1 campaign. The length also depends on how many side missions you choose to do.

I completed all the side missions on normal and it took me 10 hours. (I also interacted with all the characters and objects all the time. . .though that might be 15minutes at most).
Also there is an achievement to finish the entire campaign on normal in less than 8 hours.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Playing on normal leaves you no room to comment. Try completing it on brutal that fast.

 

[Edhel-dur]

Playing on normal leaves you no room to comment. Try completing it on brutal that fast.

The achivement is for normal : ) sorry, forgot to mention.

 

[Statharas]

new missions get better but playing in start was not so good
for example
sc1 - mission in beginnings (3th) - defend yourself from zergs until timer expires
sc2 - mission in beginnings (dont know name of mission) - defend yourself from zergs until timer expires

anyway it was nice to play and make those bonus upgrades / researches

i dont like that AI is almoust the same
oly new thing is see is that (most of the time) units will move to make other units pass

but why dont single,low numbered units go back to their base,for example overlords will sta at one place for ever until you dont attack them and than its to late because they did not return to base and they die

also,single/low numbered units can go to attack big numbered units witch is very stupid

it is also stupid that somethimes computer sends units in colony 1 by one to kill,well nice fo me but ....
when you order unit to move somewhere the system that tells him how to go does not care for buildings/stones
so if you order unit ot move to some place and only pass it to destroy stone unit will not move to stone

when you order a group of SCVs to main minerals they shold all be ordered to main nearby minerals so they dont come all at one mineral and fix later

but what i saw good is that hard is hard and brutal is brutal

Stop playing the campaign in casual :v

 

[Tyranid]

You just proved my point that none of what you have mentioned is from Starcraft II. It is well known blizzard loves changing previous game's storyline so that recent ones make sense.

In WoW they demoted archimonde from the ultimate demon overlord to a dranari. For all we know simlar things will occur with starcraft so you can pretty much disregard anything from broodwars or books. Just like why Kerrigan, the queen of blades was so rigged in SC2 yet died easilly in SC1. In SC2 she could destoy a battlecruiser every 8 seconds solo, I do not remember her being able to do that in SC1.

Removing Duran from the story would be incredibly idiotic, as his story was left in such a cliffhanger in SC 1. Also don't think they'll just retcon the hell out of SC 1, as that wouldn't really serve any purpose. We might as well argue that this is all a dream because "Blizzard can do that." Also you said it yourself: Wings of Liberty is just 1/3 of a story, so just because it wasn't in Starcraft 2 YET doesn't mean it won't be there. I'll guarantee that Duran will make an appearance and he is one of the forces behind the Hybrids.

Tell me, what purpose would writing out Duran and Ulrejaz actually serve? At the moment they haven't conflicted with any part of Starcraft 2, in fact they've supported them. There was a Terran installation making Hybrids, which was exactly what Duran was doing in SC 1: making Hybrids with the support of Terrans. Also the Protoss have strange cults associated with the Hybrids which again supports Ulrejaz: a Protoss Dark Archon cult Leader who is closely connected to the Hybrids.

Archimonde was never demoted into a Draenei. Archimonde was never a Draenei. Archimonde was and always has been an Eredar. The Draenei is just a racial offshoot of the Eeredar.

Also comparing gameplay with lore=fail. Kerrigan was strong in SC 2 because she was needed to be a boss character. If she had similar stats to what she had in SC 1 she would have been too easy and a really boring fight. Also she could devastate BCs in SC 1 too, mostly because she had Psionic Storm.

 

[I-am-murloc]

Just a quick lore-question: If you take this artifact that was used against Kerrigan and use it against the hybrids, would they turn into Protoss? :O

 

[deathreaven]

As well as the fact that time has past. You don't exactly expect someone to get all that much weaker over the course of a game...usually the big bad person is supposed to be powerful. And possible, but they wouldn't be full protoss.

 

[Tyranid]

Just a quick lore-question: If you take this artifact that was used against Kerrigan and use it against the hybrids, would they turn into Protoss? :O

Could also be that they also suck the Protoss, as in some of the Novels there have been Xel'naga artifacts which suck both Zerg and Protoss. The Hybrids could also be immune to the artifacts as they already possess a fused form of the 2 purities.

 

[Grey Nightmare]

You lot fail to ralise this is part 1/3 of a trillogy.

This ^

I am sure there will be plenty of "epic" battles to come, probably similar to the final Reign of Chaos one... all the races unite against the hybrids?

I dunno exactly but have faith! The campaign was the best bit about sc2 so far =) (imo)

 

[saphiree]

I really have to say, I felt let down by the story in the campaign, and I know there is a lot of people feeling this way, just look at the official forums, and I don't think that this being 1/3 of a trilogy is any excuse for not making an epic story.
Really, there is just way too few plot twists and surprises, for it to be interesting, and it does not even feel like the missions themselves are really connected to each other, it just feels like the missions are separated from each other, and doesn't really connect to each other in any way.
They really need to make something happen in hearth of the swarm, as this, compared to Blizzards usual standard when it come to stories, just ain't good enough!

 

[Edhel-dur]

I really have to say, I felt let down by the story in the campaign, and I know there is a lot of people feeling this way, just look at the official forums, and I don't think that this being 1/3 of a trilogy is any excuse for not making an epic story.
Really, there is just way too few plot twists and surprises, for it to be interesting, and it does not even feel like the missions themselves are really connected to each other, it just feels like the missions are separated from each other, and doesn't really connect to each other in any way.
They really need to make something happen in hearth of the swarm, as this, compared to Blizzards usual standard when it come to stories, just ain't good enough!

That's because. . .only the missions which involve artifact recovering and those on Char are actually part of the main storyline.
Others are optional. Even those when you play as protoss are optional. Most other missions are just about Raynor going to "!", doing the job, returning to "?", <Complete Quest>, You have been rewarded 40,000 golds. . .ah I mean credits, in order to finance his revolution.

Sadly, it seems that 'Heart of the Swarm' will be about Kerrigan doing missions in order to gain more psy-power over the zerg (and not in a RTS manner but with a RPG style), while in 'Legacy of the Void' it will about Zeratul trying to unite all the protoss tribes into one fighting force.
So most likely we will not see any kind of story flow anyway near to either SC orignal or SC:BW.

The missions themselves are good. . .gameplay wise. They are fun and engaging.

Someone will bash me for saying this. . .going a little off-topic here, in the Harry Potter series. . .in the 6th Book. . .at least some of my friends completly missed the point of it. It was a book meant to show us . . .who the enemy really was. . .who was the hero actually fighting with. It was meant to show us the enemy not only as a target but as a character. I don't see how we will be able to learn anything significant about our enemies in the next two expansions, at least not if Blizzard won't notch it up a bit. Still, I'm curious to see how Blizzard will approach the next expansions.

 

[Gauntlet2021]

I finished the campaign about 2 hours ago, and it didn't seem too bad to me. Seemed good actually. I think the issue with the lack of epic scale is due to their new method of storytelling; focussing on one character makes the scope more limited, otherwise it'll come off as too unbelievable. I expect Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void will fix this, but it was definitely noticeable this time around. Overall though, I was satisfied with the story.

Not including the Protoss arc... that whole thing seemed out of place and at least partially unbelievable. Dialogue was way off, and that whole Tassadar thing seemed ridiculous to me. Perhaps if Zeratul found traces of Tassadars energy in the Overmind's husk or something it would be plausible in-world, but it seemed like a pointless cameo appearance to me. And all the lore-breaking moments... at least they acknowledge that they were lore-breaking, but then basically say that's technically not, without elaborating on the details.

I agree that Kerrigan was off too, but I think the other characters were well done. Well, my issue with Kerrigan is the same as my issue with the Zerg portrayal in the Campaign. Yeah, you know she's a bad guy, people seem to know she's a big deal, but she doesn't come across as frightening or deadly to the degree you'd expect. And why the fire magic? Why orange? I could see purple for the Zerg affiliation, green for being her original colour, or blue for the psionic power, but orange has no connection to her at all. In my opinion, her up-close-and-personal style of combat from Starcraft is part of what made her seem vicious; I'm not seeing how fire-powers came into it at all.

Although this isn't really an issue for people who didn't play the original game, the huge voice changes in Protoss characters really threw me off. They're not bad voice actors (although Zeratul's dialogue was just...really awkward in places), but they're very different. Zeratul sounds alright, but not at all like before...his voice really stood out to me before. More noticeable was when Artanis appeared; I had no clue who it was until I read the name.

I'm still waiting for the epic scale to return, considering the only real non-character driven thing that changed in Wings of Liberty was the Queen of Blades (presumably) not being an enemy anymore. I was disappointed that there were no Installation levels or other horror-inducing moments, but I did enjoy the campaign overall. Hopefully Heart of the Swarm will bring about the turn towards an awe-inspiring epic.

I did like that Blizzard was willing to kill off characters though. I was worried that the 'you control Raynor' angle would mean characters wouldn't die off through the course of the story.

 

[Tyranid]

Although this isn't really an issue for people who didn't play the original game, the huge voice changes in Protoss characters really threw me off. They're not bad voice actors (although Zeratul's dialogue was just...really awkward in places), but they're very different. Zeratul sounds alright, but not at all like before...his voice really stood out to me before. More noticeable was when Artanis appeared; I had no clue who it was until I read the name.

I'm with you here. I really wish Blizzard would have brought back more of the old voice actors. Now bringing back Zeratul would be impossible, as his old VA is dead, but why change characters like Kerrigan? Tricia Helfer is good and all, but in my opinnion she doesn't fit Kerrigan. I have no idea why Blizzard replaced Glynnis Talken Cambell with Tricia (except for the star reputation), especially since Glynnis said she would have liked to play Kerrigan again.

I'm still waiting for the epic scale to return, considering the only real non-character driven thing that changed in Wings of Liberty was the Queen of Blades (presumably) not being an enemy anymore. I was disappointed that there were no Installation levels or other horror-inducing moments, but I did enjoy the campaign overall. Hopefully Heart of the Swarm will bring about the turn towards an awe-inspiring epic.

Did you play the bonus mission? If I remember correct that was an installation mission. And I agree with you that they really need to bring back the "epic scale". I hope Heart of the Swarm delivers, althought these 1 race campaigns kinda concern me. I hope Legacy of the Void ends with more than just the Protoss point of view for the final battle.

 

[mrzwach]

Just like why Kerrigan, the queen of blades was so rigged in SC2 yet died easilly in SC1. In SC2 she could destoy a battlecruiser every 8 seconds solo, I do not remember her being able to do that in SC1.

wat. The reason why Kerrigan died easily in SC1 was because she was controlled by the player. Having her uber imba would mean making the zerg campaign essentially retarded.

 

[Edhel-dur]

wat. The reason why Kerrigan died easily in SC1 was because she was controlled by the player. Having her uber imba would mean making the zerg campaign essentially retarded.

I would have made Kerrigan from the last mission a little more. . .cooler.
For once as she walks towards you. . .zerg units unborrow as she gets closer to your base. . .first a couple of zerglings maybe. . some roaches / hydras. . .than some Ultralisks. . .so when she arrives, she would have arrived with some army to back her up.
Second of all. . .instead of giving her 1k hp. . .I would have given her some kind of shield ability which would give her 1k damage absorbtion. Than when the shield is down. . .she would retreat to gather her energies untill she can reuse the shield. That would have made more sense than just have her coming towards you solo with 1k hp (although she isn't taller than a marine...) and than at 1 hp left. . .she doesn't die.

 

[Gauntlet2021]

Did you play the bonus mission? If I remember correct that was an installation mission.

Actually, I don't believe I have, but you've got me interested. How do I find this mission?

 

[Edhel-dur]

Actually, I don't believe I have, but you've got me interested. How do I find this mission?

IN the mission 'Media Blitz" go to the bottom right corner and destroy a science facilit, it will drop a Data Disc upon death which will unlock the mission. However you can't play the mission if you have already left for char. The mission will not unlock unless you return to an earlier save than 'Media Blitz' or start the campaign all over again. Or till maybe Blizzard will fix it through a patch or something.

YouTube helps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWqbKsZ0IM4

Also a similar thread started on official forums: http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/169527133

 

[Puncho]

Not including the Protoss arc... that whole thing seemed out of place and at least partially unbelievable. Dialogue was way off, and that whole Tassadar thing seemed ridiculous to me. Perhaps if Zeratul found traces of Tassadars energy in the Overmind's husk or something it would be plausible in-world, but it seemed like a pointless cameo appearance to me.

Tassadar said he existed in the void. Void= WH40K Warp(Place where spirits go)
WH40K combines futuristic space stuff with magical/supernatural powers. Starcraft draws inspiration from it, therefore Tassadars "cameo appearance" makes perfect sense. I personally found it cool.

 

[RedZack]

Long campaign my ass. My friend finished it one day. And he is not like some uber pro, he didn't even play beta. Blizzard was too lazy to make campaigns for all races, so they made an excuse that they will make the campaign long, while seems to be shorter than two sc1 campaigns at once. And as we know Blizzard, in expansions they tend to make even shorter campaigns, so we can expect a campaign with an equal length as in sc1. The shortness of the campaign can be also attributed to the fact most missions you have to rush instead of take your time and plan your attack. No, I haven't played the campaign yet, because of crappy computer, but if people are finishing it in 1 day, then looks crap.

I bet there are lots of people who finish SC2 in a day, but there are also people who can finish the SC1 campaign in a day. You can´t rate a game as short, just some people play games as fast as machines.

At the moment I play on the SC2 campaign on hard. And as you see Iam still busy since the release. Well I play max 2hours a day, and I replay every mission till I got all archivments or got bored.

There are people who can eat 10 burgers in 30 min. is that a reason for you to don´t eat burgers?



Anyway, Iam satisfied with SC2, so far.
I think Blizzard kept all their promisses. I don´t know what exactly some people expected to get. But compare SC2 with other startegy games?
Yes, there is no competition.

If you want a game that promisses much but keep less, when buy Spore or Black and White.
I still remeber when they announced how great Spore is, and all-in-one.


And even the storyline of Starcraft, which game can competite with that?
Starcraft is almost like a movie, but you playing it.


So if you are dissapointed in any way, just dont expect the impossible, cause you will never get a game that is advanced like a swiss army knife!

 

[Gauntlet2021]

IN the mission 'Media Blitz" go to the bottom right corner and destroy a science facilit, it will drop a Data Disc upon death which will unlock the mission. However you can't play the mission if you have already left for char. The mission will not unlock unless you return to an earlier save than 'Media Blitz' or start the campaign all over again. Or till maybe Blizzard will fix it through a patch or something.

YouTube helps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWqbKsZ0IM4

Also a similar thread started on official forums: http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/169527133

Thanks for that, I withdraw my complaint about lack of Installation level...that was pretty enjoyable, I must admit.
As a side note, replaying Media Blitz had me feeling a little nostalgic...which is pretty odd considering it only came out very recently. I stand by my statements though; game was good and well developed, but lacked scale, and the protoss arc was out of place.
Also I wish Mira Han and Nova had bigger roles, but oh well.

Tassadar said he existed in the void. Void= WH40K Warp(Place where spirits go)
WH40K combines futuristic space stuff with magical/supernatural powers. Starcraft draws inspiration from it, therefore Tassadars "cameo appearance" makes perfect sense. I personally found it cool.

It still seems unbelievable to me. It would be the equivalent of Duke (for example) reappearing as a ghost (spirit, not agent) before Raynor to tell him of the future. It was the low point of the game in my opinion, but I'm sure there's a lot of people that agree with you instead, since I assume the vast majority of internal testers must have enjoyed the moment.