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Originally Posted by broodmywarcraft
True, but in all fairness, when you have such a long established canon, re-examining it can be a potential minefield. Every fan will undoubtedly have their own ideas, about where the story should go, what motivates each character, etc...
Then again, artistic differences are one thing and bad writing is quite another.
I can handle artistic differences to an extent, but bad writing is without excuse. Tassadar's Return and the Overmind's Retcon just had my eyes rolling almost out of their sockets.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalamar
But that has more to do with the Prophecy itself which was a shitty idea to begin with even when I read it back in Queen of Blades, and how it was poorly executed in Starcraft 2.
Ironically, I think the Tassadar and Overmind cameos as well as the trip back to Aiur in general were Blizzard's attempt to shoehorn in their appearances in an attempt to satisfy old fans by giving them a chance to meet again with these nostalgic favourites.
But those are artistic differences. Retcons are not bad writing. Indeed, as pointed out earlier, the Overmind's retcon made his earlier actions make sense, when at the time they did not.Quote:
I can handle artistic differences to an extent, but bad writing is without excuse. Tassadar's Return and the Overmind's Retcon just had my eyes rolling almost out of their sockets.
What "Tassadar's return" comes to depends on how it gets used later.
Nicol, don't take me out of context. I said after that:Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas
It's the Prophecy that was badly written into the game. That's what really annoyed me.Quote:
But that has more to do with the Prophecy itself which was a shitty idea to begin with even when I read it back in Queen of Blades, and how it was poorly executed in Starcraft 2.
Personally, I don't mind the Prophesy theme for SC2 and I actually liked the Overmind retcon. It's the implementation of the idea that bothers me, rather than the idea itself. I believe, that a good writer can take almost any theme and make a good story of it, whereas a poor writer can literally turn diamonds into dust.
Think of the Lord of the Rings novels. Boiled down to the very basics, it's a conflict between good and evil, over a powerful object, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Nothing too exceptional about it. It is the implementation of the concept, the personalities of the characters, the flow of the story, the descriptions, the atmosphere, etc..., that has elevated those novels to the status of classic literature.
The only action that makes sense is its decision to allow Kerrigan to stay behind. Everything else, however, does not. It proceeds with its mission with the intent to assimilate the protoss. Manifesting itself gave it access to a powerful nexus of psionic power. And all its malevolence is brushed aside in a moment as it reflects on the protoss' coming destruction.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas
Which it uses to do what? It didn't make the Zerg any more powerful. It wasn't the reason why the Protoss were losing. For all of that talk about a "powerful nexus of psionic power," all that it actually did was make the Overmind a big, fat, immobile target.Quote:
Everything else, however, does not. It proceeds with its mission with the intent to assimilate the protoss. Manifesting itself gave it access to a powerful nexus of psionic power.
Exactly as planned.
No, I think it had more to do with the fact that the Protoss were the first beings that the Overmind actually feared. It knew about the Protoss long before Protoss knew of the Zerg. Without a way to combat the massive psionic advantage the Protoss had, the Overmind knew the Protoss would decimate the Zerg. It manifested itself on Aiur to give the Zerg every possible advantage.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas
The retcon sucks because it turns the Overmind from a cosmic horror to an enslaved joke.
You are either completely fabricating reasons or bringing in something that was not mentioned in the game itself. If it's the former, Fanon's not worth discussing. This is the StarCraft Lore forum, not the "rationalizations I made up to make StarCraft make sense" forum.Quote:
No, I think it had more to do with the fact that the Protoss were the first beings that the Overmind actually feared. It knew about the Protoss long before Protoss knew of the Zerg. Without a way to combat the massive psionic advantage the Protoss had, the Overmind knew the Protoss would decimate the Zerg. It manifested itself on Aiur to give the Zerg every possible advantage.
And if it's the latter, well, I have a quote for you (it would be in my sig, but it's too long) :
"You don't get credit for stuff you don't put in the movie because... now try to follow this, because it's a pretty big leap... you didn't put it in the movie. I shouldn't have to wait months and watch all your deleted scenes to say, 'Oh, this finally makes sense,' or pore through some non-canon books to say, 'Oh, so this isn't a pile of nonsensical horseshit afterall." - SFDebris Star Trek Generations Review
Nothing of what you're saying was in the game. Therefore, it doesn't matter. If you can't be bothered to put all of your story in, you know, your story, then maybe you should rewrite your story.
To the extent that the Overmind was a "cosmic horror," it already had a single purpose before the retcon. It was already for all intents and purposes enslaved to that desire. All this does is show that someone gave it that desire for a reason.Quote:
The retcon sucks because it turns the Overmind from a cosmic horror to an enslaved joke.
The only difference is that we learned that the Overmind didn't particularly want that purpose.
And the joke is on the slavemaster, because the Overmind looks to be getting the last laugh. The "enslaved joke" seems to have the upper hand here.