How did they screw up the single player that bad?

[Drake Clawfang]

The delivery and proper context are important factors in determining cheesiness.

Agreed entirely. The line "look at that thing", out of context sounds stupid, but TBH I don't recall the context in the game. I doubt it's as stupid as it sounds now though.

As well, since it was mentioned somewhere to suggest improvements and not just complain, to better capture the feel that we're a ragtag band of rebels, have a much lower unit cap, say 50. This encourages the player to use their supply wisely and use their forces better. But, certain missions raise that cap. Rescue Tosh's buddies from prison? Well you just got +25 to the cap. Help the Agria colonists? While they stick around you get +25.

This could also factor into the branching missions - help Tosh and get a higher unit cap, but help Nova and she gives you some sorta secret spec ops tech or whatever, that trains units faster and/or for less money. Mercenaries, since they're hired guns and not part of Raynor's crew, cost no supply to hire. Also, purchasing a merc contract would be more expensive in credits, but would raise the unit cap a little bit. Hire the War Pigs and in addition to calling down squads of 4 in the mission, the unit cap raises by 10.

[Turalyon]

The line "look at that thing", out of context sounds stupid, but TBH I don't recall the context in the game. I doubt it's as stupid as it sounds now though.

The context of that line is when you successfully destroy those towers on that Zerg infested platform in Shatter the Sky.

I'm not sure whether it is cheesy or not, but it is certainly inane. Does it really need to be said? I mean, of course I'm looking at that 'thing', I just destroyed it!

I think a large percentage of the dialogue in WoL that people deem as 'cheesy' is because those lines are not really necessary at all. Think about it, what does Raynor saying "Let's kick this revolution into overdrive!" really contribute to the story or to his character? Nothing at all. It is readily apparent that he's going to "kick the revolution into overdrive" as that cinematic plays out without him having to actually state it.

[Romla]

"You dare threaten a Cerebrate? You will be the doom of us all!"

I have this line in my signature because of reason. The reason to show how forgettable are all the characters in SC2. Kerrigan betrayed them all more than once and killed many of their friends and countless numbers of innocents and still they are willing to play like she wants them to do. Zasz was absolutely right in what he said to Kerrigan, she destroyed them all, all the cerebrates are dead because of Kerrigan, Overmind is dead because of Kerrigan and in my eyes the attraction of the whole zerg race is almost destroyed because of Kerrigan. And the cornerstone of the story in Wings of Liberty is to save Kerrigan, how great, I am happy like a baby, there is still too few people she deceived and I am looking forward to Heart of the Swarm where she'll add more. But in fact I am little bored with the same story round and round, there is too much Kerrigan for me, everything is about Kerrigan, in SC1 she was great, one of the best villains in history, but now she starts to be little annoying, especially with that very poor performance she showed in WoL. She was only able to repeat: "Ah Raynor, I didn't kill you already? And Zeratul you are still alive? I must correct that mistake." But everything she is able to do is nothing and she looks like a fool, similarly to Tal'darim Protoss and their speeches with Raynor:

Tal'darim: "Raynor, you want to steal our artifacts, again, you are evil!"
Raynor: "I don't care."

That's silly, as well as Kate Lockwell daily joking about government in totality controlled media and then even getting the job of main newswoman...

There's many more of that, I don't think the story was absolutely horrible, but I was disappointed that it was much more on the joke side than SC1. And I think while many of the jokes were intended (too many), many of them were unintended.

[Drake Clawfang]

I have this line in my signature because of reason. The reason to show how forgettable are all the characters in SC2.

Wrong, but continue.

Kerrigan betrayed them all more than once and killed many of their friends and countless numbers of innocents and still they are willing to play like she wants them to do. Zasz was absolutely right in what he said to Kerrigan, she destroyed them all, all the cerebrates are dead because of Kerrigan, Overmind is dead because of Kerrigan and in my eyes the attraction of the whole zerg race is almost destroyed because of Kerrigan.

Yes they were. Doesn't change the fact that line, while truthful, is incredibly dumb and cheesy. Especially because it was out of left field and total overreaction from Zasz. "oh my GOD, she threatened me? She'll get us all killed!"

And the cornerstone of the story in Wings of Liberty is to save Kerrigan, how great, I am happy like a baby, there is still too few people she deceived and I am looking forward to Heart of the Swarm where she'll add more. But in fact I am little bored with the same story round and round, there is too much Kerrigan for me, everything is about Kerrigan

Yeah, being the leader of the main antagonists of the series, so far anyway, will do that. Silly thing to complain about, like complaining that SC1 everything was about the Overmind.

in SC1 she was great, one of the best villains in history, but now she starts to be little annoying, especially with that very poor performance she showed in WoL. She was only able to repeat: "Ah Raynor, I didn't kill you already? And Zeratul you are still alive? I must correct that mistake." But everything she is able to do is nothing and she looks like a fool, similarly to Tal'darim Protoss and their speeches with Raynor:

Tal'darim: "Raynor, you want to steal our artifacts, again, you are evil!"
Raynor: "I don't care."

Agreed that the villain banter was tiresome. They could have thrown in a mission where Kerrigan actually tries to make good on that and attacks Raynor unprovoked.

There's many more of that, I don't think the story was absolutely horrible, but I was disappointed that it was much more on the joke side than SC1. And I think while many of the jokes were intended (too many), many of them were unintended.

It was hardly "more" on the joking side. The newscasts were obviously intended as comic relief and are optional, if you don't care for them fine, but they are not an integral part of the story. It's not like Jar-Jar Binks, if you find them annoying and out of place its a simple matter to just ignore them and not watch them.

Personally though I liked seeing how the media always spun Raynor's actions to make him look like a terrorist, it was funny to see them stretch the truth. But then I watch Jon Stewart so I'm used to that sort of thing being mocked .

[Gradius]

I liked overthinkingit.com's critique. Even though their lore knowledge is wrong at times, it's still on spot: http://www.overthinkingit.com/2011/0...starcraft-2/2/

Here is the base of the StarCraft story:

Hidden Content:

• Chau Sara was a Terran colony that was invaded by the Zerg. So, the humans are fighting the Zerg. Great.
• While the Terrans were fighting aliens they had never seen before, a commander showed up like Paul Reiser in Aliens looking to protect some secret research installation and cover up the existence of the Zerg to support a corrupt and shady government. This is largely responsible for the planet not being adequately protected and eventually falling. So, the humans are fighting each other. Great.
• Meanwhile, the Protoss show up with a fleet of spaceships looking for the Zerg, because they are ancient enemies of the Zerg and hunt them down and exterminate them wherever they are. So the Protoss are fighting the Zerg. Great.
• The Protoss get an order to “purify” the planet, killing all life on its surface, including the humans who live there. The commander in charge of the fleet disagrees with the order. So the Protoss are fighting the Protoss. Great.
• But the Protoss decide to go ahead with the purification anyway, and zap the planet, killing all the humans and Zerg on it. The humans are caught totally off-guard and are furious. So the humans are fighting the Protoss. Great.

Here is the base of the StarCraft 2 story:

Hidden Content:

The actual underlying story, which you only really piece together gradually through indirect sources and don’t encounter in any major single events, works like this:

• The Dark Voice (a villain who isn’t in the game and you never face from a race that isn’t in the game) is the Big Bad.
• The Dark Voice is manipulating the Zerg to fight the Protoss so he can create super-powered hybrids (which you can’t play as and only show up in a few missions and never in multiplayer) that will destroy the universe and rule over total darkness
• The Dark Voice does this by infiltrating the brain of the Zerg Overmind (a villain who isn’t in the game, because he is already dead, and you never face him and can’t play as him).
• The Zerg Overmind (which again, isn’t in the game) tries to defy the Dark Voice (who again, isn’t in the game) by infesting Sarah Kerrigan, who will have more free will than he does and will someday defeat the Dark Voice (which is a huge retcon and not something we’ve heard of before in the previous games)
• A Protoss guy sees in a vision a possible future where human beings kill Sarah Kerrigan, which prevents her from defeating the Dark Voice, letting him take over the universe.
• A shady human organization lets a former marine out of prison and gives him secret instructions to find and kill Sarah Kerrigan. One wonders how they could ever possibly expect him to succeed, since he is just one guy with a gun and a robot suit, and she has psychic powers and is the tyrant in charge of an alien empire of billions of giant monsters.
• The Protoss and the Zerg are fighting each other over a sacred planet where there is a prophesy (“Prophesy” is code in screenwriting for: “Our characters are about to do a bunch of stuff for no good reason.”) that tells everybody about all this information. Sort of. It is never explained why the Zerg want it.
• The Prophesy is connected with a bunch of artifacts that are scattered around the galaxy. Everybody is trying to find them. It is never explained why they are doing this, since not everybody has the Prophesy, so not everybody could know why they are important. These things eventually make the magical penis that turns Sarah Kerrigan back into a submissive human lady.
• The artifacts were left by the Xel’naga, the progenitors of the Protoss and the Zerg (who again, aren’t in the game, and you can’t play as them in multiplayer).

Whew. Jeez louise.
Okay, so none of this really makes any sense, and all of it hinges on the actions of characters who aren’t involved in the actual gameplay. So it’s doing a really really bad job of explaining Why are these races fighting, and why do they fight over and over again in different configurations?

[Drake Clawfang]

Well just from what you've quoted Gradius, he makes the mistake everyone else is seeming to - expecting and assuming WoL will reveal everything when we all knew going in there were going to be plot holes and other unexplained things for the second two games to pick up and and explore. He makes a big to-do about the Dark Voice and related characters and concepts not being explored or not appearing in the game. Duh, because they weren't central to to the plot of WoL, they are central to the overarcing plot of the entire game.

Again, its like playing just the Terran campaign in the first game and, without touching the Zerg and Protoss campaigns, complaining that the Zerg Protoss weren't very well explored and we didn't get a good feel for the characters. People are looking at the story of WoL as a stand-alone game, and it isn't meant to be, it's Part 1 of a trilogy, it is its own self-contained story but also has to build up a foundation for a greater story that the other two games will expand on.

People are being too critical of some aspects of the story not being fleshed out, when they have to realize the story isn't done yet.

[phazonjunkie]

In any case, methinks a rather substantial number of 'saving throws' will be necessary in the remaining 2 installments.


Of course, many plot elements revealed thus far in WOL could, in fairness be considered 'saving throws' done wrong.

[Eligor]

Again, its like playing just the Terran campaign in the first game and, without touching the Zerg and Protoss campaigns, complaining that the Zerg Protoss weren't very well explored and we didn't get a good feel for the characters. People are looking at the story of WoL as a stand-alone game, and it isn't meant to be, it's Part 1 of a trilogy, it is its own self-contained story but also has to build up a foundation for a greater story that the other two games will expand on.

People are being too critical of some aspects of the story not being fleshed out, when they have to realize the story isn't done yet.

I would say that just the Terran campaign in the first SC featured MUCH more tight and lucid storytelling than WoL, we actually witnessed a chain of momentous events, had the characters and their relationships evolve in a cohesive and believable arc and got a satisfying conclusion with "The Inauguration" cinematic (none of which can be said for WoL). And as for exploring the Zerg and Protoss, even without touching their respective campaigns we had the histories from the manual which provided an indepth look at both races, offering at least ten times the amount of story and information than we had in WoL (and it was all very cohesive and clear, without the need to fall back on Phantom Menaces and vague prophecies).

Just sayin'.

[Gradius]

Well just from what you've quoted Gradius, he makes the mistake everyone else is seeming to - expecting and assuming WoL will reveal everything when we all knew going in there were going to be plot holes and other unexplained things for the second two games to pick up and and explore.

It's not about the plot holes or lack of explanation. It's the convoluted & borderline irrational basis for why the races are fighting. The reasons in SC were simple and were established on one planet. Yes, most of the info about the dark voice has more to do with the rest of the game, but it's not going to get any less convoluted with more expansions, and some of the things he mentioned still apply to WoL. It seems absurd to me that Selendis would fight Jim Raynor for example. There was literally no attempt at diplomacy in that mission. Why does Kerrigan want the artifacts? Why does Mengsk want the artifacts? Hell, why does Valerian even want the artifacts aside from his archaeology fetish from the DT Saga? It seems awfully convenient that he would know that all the artifact pieces make a zerg DNA destroyer once assembled. It's also convenient that Mengsk would know Tychus would somehow get close to Kerrigan.

We're just not given clear reasons for why the races are fighting. The worst is the Tal'Darim. The metatorial review of SC2 (my fav) is spot-on about the Tal'Darim:

To Metzen's credit, writing a plot for a real-time strategy game is difficult. It's essential, for the sake of mission variety, that every faction wind up fighting every other faction in the game at some point, and coming up with a plausible reason to pit the Terrans against the alien Protoss - with whom they allied themselves to save the universe four years prior - would be difficult, to say the least. The effort made, however, is beyond pathetic. For instance: in his quest to acquire resources and Xel'Naga artifacts, Raynor spends several missions butting heads with a Protoss faction known as the Tal'darim, who are cutely described as "fanatics" but commit no obvious crime aside from refusing to roll over and die when Raynor comes to scour their worlds (by force!) of their rightly-owned valuables. The Tal'darim are dressed up in scary religious language - "You shall not defile the Breath of Creation! Execute all those who would desecrate our altars!" - but it's hard not to see Raynor as the villain here, especially considering that he's knowingly making a grab at a resource the Tal'darim consider religiously significant.The cultural insensitivity and abject stupidity reach their heights in the mission "Supernova" - an implausibly-constructed scenario in which Raynor must plunder a valuable artifact from the Tal'darim before the planet is engulfed by a slowly-moving wall of flame - where the following dialogue is uttered:

Tal'darim Executor: "Now you will pay for desecrating our holy relics!"
Raynor: "Aw, hell. Not these Tal'darim guys again. They seriously need to learn when to quit!"

A rough translation would be as follows:

Tal'darim Executor: "Stop robbing us of the objects of our faith at gunpoint!"Raynor: "Gee whiz, these Tal'darim are just so unreasonable!"

It's sad really that they kept reusing "Generic Tal'Darim Executor #183431" every mission instead of a real character. We don't even know what the Executor's name was. It was a waste of filler missions.

People are being too critical of some aspects of the story not being fleshed out, when they have to realize the story isn't done yet.

I agree. However, WoL is its own story. Just like SC vanilla was its own story with the 3 campaigns. Blizzard made the decision to structure the story into 3 separate pieces, so people shouldn't have to wait to play every campaign before deciding "hey, it looks like the storyline isn't monkey hurlage after all!"

[Drake Clawfang]

I It seems absurd to me that Selendis would fight Jim Raynor for example. There was literally no attempt at diplomacy in that mission.

Yes there was. Selendis told Raynor they detected the colonists were infested and they had to be wiped out, standard procedure for the Protoss. Raynor refuses to let them do this and tries to protect them, which Selendis doesn't stand for. My issue with the mission isn't the negotiations, its Selendis' response when Raynor blows up the Purifier is "okay okay yeesh, we're going". As TV Tropes puts it, if the theory that Selendis is the Ep 4 Executor is true, her Honor Before Reason way of doing things explains a lot of the idiocies of the Protoss in Brood War.

Why does Kerrigan want the artifacts?

She knows what they can do.

Why does Mengsk want the artifacts?

Fair point.

Hell, why does Valerian even want the artifacts aside from his archaeology fetish from the DT Saga? It seems awfully convenient that he would know that all the artifact pieces make a zerg DNA destroyer once assembled.

Unless the Narud-Duran thing turns out to be something substantial. The Moebius boys clearly are getting tips from a higher power, and as Valerian owns them...

It's also convenient that Mengsk would know Tychus would somehow get close to Kerrigan.

That's been discussed back and forth so I won't touch it, its pretty hard to argue that twist wasn't badly executed.

We're just not given clear reasons for why the races are fighting. The worst is the Tal'Darim. The metatorial review of SC2 (my fav) is spot-on about the Tal'Darim:

It's sad really that they kept reusing "Generic Tal'Darim Executor #183431" every mission instead of a real character. We don't even know what the Executor's name was. It was a waste of filler missions.

Fair point. Though you could argue that thanks to the DT Saga we know the Tal'darim are working for Ulrezaj (or rather are going on orders from him from before he got locked up), and even if they aren't by this point we know they're still bad news. We know that in the Overmind's vision, somehow Kerrigan was killed and with her gone the Dark Voice reigns. Ulrezaj, presumably working for the Dark Voice, sends out the Tal'darim to find and protect the artifacts to make sure that any attempt to save Kerrigan's life and alter the foreseen future doesn't happen.

As for the Executor's name, they named him in data files somewhere I believe, "Nyon" or something. Why they didn't use it in the missions, I'm not sure.

Blizzard made the decision to structure the story into 3 separate pieces, so people shouldn't have to wait to play every campaign before deciding "hey, it looks like the storyline isn't monkey hurlage after all!"

Agreed, but they need to realize that some of their complaints are insubstantial. Some genuine plot holes do exist, but the other two games may fill them in. On the other hand, complaining about the Dark Voice stuff when it is perfectly obvious that we aren't being given the full story yet is ignorant. It's a plot hole about why Mengsk wants the artifacts. It's set-up for the sequel about how Mengsk has his hand in the Hybrids.

EDIT - One problem

coming up with a plausible reason to pit the Terrans against the alien Protoss - with whom they allied themselves to save the universe four years prior - would be difficult, to say the least.

No, it was Raynor that allied with the Protoss. The Dominion and Protoss have always been enemies because Arcturus doesn't know any better.