Why the SC2 Story Was a Disappointment

[phazonjunkie]

Perhaps he was too busy, or perhaps Kerrigan was busy doing something else (like finding Shakuras and enslaving Raszagal). To say that this is a plot hole is an argument from ignorance and not that big of a deal to say the least. Either way the retcon is not a satisfactory solution to this problem. If the Overmind was created without free will, where did he find the free will to create Kerrigan and leave her behind on Char? The retcon deconstructs itself.

Of course that depends on how exactly you define 'free will'. For example, I remember that Seven of Nine from 'Voyager', while as a borg ostensibly not possessing 'free will' did on occassion in various flashbacks in different episodes display what could be considered a measure of free will, or at least significant willfulness; as did Capt. Picard as 'Locutus.'

As it stands, the infestation is 100% responsible for Kerrigan's actions in BW. Kerrigan doesn't even seem to remember what happened. Everything that she did is totally not her fault, and that's just lame IMHO.

I don't think It's inherently lame conceptually speaking, I mean it's clear what they were going for (some kind of Jean Gray/Dark Phoenix type schtick). Once again, the failure was in the execution, but it's a plot 'twist' that could actually have worked.

Anyway seeing as what's was wrong with the story up to this point has been more or less beaten to death, necro'd and beaten some more, what, in your opinion would it take to salvage what's left of the sc2 story arc...at least to something you think would be respectable?

[Revenant]

I think it would have been better to have shown the war aswell... Similar to let's say:

A dominion force is outnumbered and outgunned by the zerg force. They've been sending out a request beacon for help, offering a sum of money or possibly their service, or whatever. You receive this at a certain point of a mission in which you CANNOT save them while completing your own task at hand. Do you:

A.) Save the Dominion Forces, possibly gain several bonuses(lesser minerals needed for marines, an upgrade for an existing vehicle or even a special unit could do) as well as a way to prove your not the bloody monster Mengsk has the Dominion believe. They can choose to join you for the rest of the campaign and the such.

B.) Let them burn and complete your mission. F*ck 'em, they're your enemies after all. You get a bonus from your employer on the fact that even though you were given a good offer, you knew where your loyalties lay.

It's just that, everything was informed around you. You didn't see anything of the real damage of the war. Nothing to show how brutal the zergs were when they attack the dominion. It was all just talky-talky about it. It was like the war didn't even concern you. The mission arc which I really liked was Dr. Hanson's missions, since it was the closest thing to brutality, and genocide you could get.

If they had also had shown a cut-scene of a small village being overrun by Zerg, women and children running to dropships or trucks while men, wielding nothing but their low-tier weapons fend off the attackers in a desperate attempt to buy time. It would have shown that shit just got serious.

Heck this could even happen:

Tychus offers you a job on an artifact run. You get to the planet and as you do the mission, you get a distress signal from colonists, fighting off the zerg/protoss. Dr. Hanson begs you to save them, while Tychus tells her to go f*ck herself and that the Raiders need the money. You have a choice on either to save the colonists before grabbing the artifact, taking a harder more painstaking decision or use them as a distraction to get to the artifact even faster. You get a certain bonus or something extra in your choice, and the behavior of your crew shifts depending on the behavior Raynor's applying.

Greedy:Tychus;Tosh
Humanitarian:Hansen;Swann
Greater Good:Horner;Nova(possibly)

But the dev team just was too focus on the artifact hunting that the whole reason to have a war was removed, and it just became some sort of... Indiana Jones in space game with lotsa guns and aliens.

[Gradius]

I just went on a huge spiel on the case of enemies' incompetence in WoL: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/3804731076

what, in your opinion would it take to salvage what's left of the sc2 story arc...at least to something you think would be respectable?

Like Turalyon discussed, I think that ship has sailed. It'd be too expensive for them to flake on their current plans and go with something else.

What I would appreciate the most is them fixing the stuff I talk about in the link. I would also like plot twists that aren't retcons. Really just hiring a pair of decent writers that would do some research before getting into it, would be solid. But that's just scratching the surface. =/

Anyway seeing as what's was wrong with the story up to this point has been more or less beaten to death, necro'd and beaten some more

Well I guess we can go back to dead forums and talking about nothing. :P

[DarthYam]

I felt that the over mind lacked free will in the sense that every choice he made had to further his directive. Kerrigan being infested could both further and hinder the directive so technically he could do so without violating it. In Bartimaeus it said that while the spirits are bound to do the charge they can exploit ambiguities or conveniently interpret something so that they can use it. The over mind could have done that. He could have also came up with excuses not to deploy her. Honestly your kind of making it up.

As for Kerrigan I think that what happened was that the infestation brought out the beast within while surpressing the humanity and compassion she once had. The only time she EVER shows it is when Jim is involved and that was because he was literally the one human who treated her with compassion. It was faint. I felt that the conditioning ensured that what little humanity she had was too weak to exert itself. the artifact shattered the conditioning allowing her humanity to resurface.

[Turalyon]

Of course that depends on how exactly you define 'free will'.

Not that I think there are valid and differing definitions of 'free will' (philosophically speaking, if there is such marked variation in its definition, isn't that just proof that free will does not exist at all?) but Blizzard could have just omitted that word and just have easily replaced it with 'enslaved' or 'coerced' to explain it's actions. It fits exactly with what we're given and is way more easily understood than bandying with a concept they just threw out without seemingly understanding it.

The examples you described (about the Borg) are not proper examples of "no free will" because they actually still have it. Free will is generally something you have or have not, there are no 'degrees of free will'. Examples of such are really just examples of limited freedom/free action/slavery of some kind. The Borg assimilation is just another fancy way of saying enslaved. Something that has "no free will" would be a computer or artificial intelligence (as we know it today) - the most sophisticated systems can seemingly make actions that seem like 'free will' but are in actuality limited/restricted by it's programming and cannot truly think outside of it.

That the Overmind knows and willingly allows a potential (and purposed) threat to rise against it's master (even if the actions still partially aligns with it's directive) is not compatible with something that has 'no free will'. The fact that it was, at some level within the Overmind's thought processes, all part of the Overmind's plan to usurp the DV means that the Overmind has free will. This is the problem!!!

[Gradius]

The Tassadar scene was just awful, and that's because it looks like they changed it in the last minute from the alternate storyline that I extracted from the editor.

Something else I found out from this:
The cinematic where zeratul asks "do the xel'naga come to save, or to destroy" is from when it was just the xel'naga in the storyline, not the dark voice. That's why Kerrigan is happy to "embrace fate". Not because she wants to die, but because she's the key to stopping the xel'naga in the older storyline.

It's also why the prophecy missions are all messed up: we never got to see how zeratul got injured, and kerrigan/zeratul both act like they know the protoss & zerg will be eradicated in the very first zeratul mission.

Guess what we have here is just very poor planning.

[solidsamurai]

I can't remember, did I say something here?

[broodmywarcraft]

Right Now Blizzard is 0 for 2 with me.

How they handled two of my favorite warcraft characters Illidan and Kael was terrible (Even TVtropes acknowledges it), and now they ruined my favorite video game story of all time, Starcraft and Brood War...

Now with Diablo 3 on the way...the force is not strong with this one... :'(

[DarthYam]

I honestly think WOL ENHANCED the story. There were some elements of the first that bugged me but first I will answer the "Retcon deconstructs itself" argument. There actually is a way it can work, and I intend to state my case. I will make a comparison to another series I loved, the Bartimaeus Trilogy.

By free will, the Overmind was given latitude to work, but every choice it made had to further the directive of the Dark Voice. In the bartimaeus saga, the demons have similar constraints. However, if they can find a vague loophole they can find a way to destroy their master or turn the directive against them to use. My guess is that the Overmind did something similar.
Kerrigan could have easily been a weapon to damage the protoss, while the chances of her actually succeeding him where low. As such he could infest her without violating the directive. Given that the DV's directive amounted to "Destroy the Protoss" a smart guy could easily find a loophole to exploit. It could explain why Kerrigan wasn't deployed to Aiur EVEN AFTER THE DARK TEMPLAR ARRIVED ON THE FREAKING PLANET (since he thought the Conclave would wipe out the Templar). As for why Kerrigan was deployed to engage the Dark Templar who could kill her; He would have only been able to deploy her on the grounds she was a weapon and it was stated flat out that it was an act of desperation that led to her infestation. As luck would have it Aldaris's arrival forced Kerrigan and Zeratul to end their duel in a draw, and Tassadar was able to prove the Templar's worth and use the merging of light and dark to decimate the overmind, allowing Kerrigan to ascend and thereby shattering the Dark Voice's hold over the swarm.

1.) First of all, why assimilate the species that is your polar opposite; Yes there is some justification about assimilation, but the zerg are the kind who incorporate and incorporating the species that is your antithesis strikes me as sheer stupidity. Why would the Overmind go after them unless a.) the original intent was a merger like the puppet master and Kusanagi in ghost in the shell or b.) he was strong-armed by the dark voice.

2.) Why wasn't Kerrigan disciplined for defying the Overmind's orders? He flat out ordered her to slaughter every last Terran, yet her feelings for Raynor caused her to let him and his friends leave the battle unharmed. I can get not wanting to destroy an investment but you could at least try to rework it or do something? Yet she gets off for DEFYING A DIRECT ORDER even when she was programmed to be obedient. He said that she was ultimately loyal even when she had disobeyed him. Why would a control freak like the OM let her off the hook?

3.) As said before, even when the DT were on Aiur Kerrigan was left on Aiur. why wouldn't he deploy her to Aiur (she was on Char when Tassadar killed him), and he obstensibly created her as his "ultimate weapon" and claimed that Kerrigan was loyal to him? A logical leader would have deployed her regardless YET HE DIDN'T. While one could argue he got cocky and thought the Conclave would deal with his problem that seems like a big mistake for the OM to make.





Kerrigan: While Kerrigan did have some humanity it was practically dormant due to the infestation. According to the EU the infestation surpressed her sense of compassion and empathy, and in book 2 of the DT trilogy it is said that only thoughts of Jim could bring it out. By that point Kerrigan had a small spark that was buried beneath layers of infestation and her own darkness. The Infestation conditioning meant that the good was to be trapped beneath that. As such the artifact was the only thing that could free her humanity, since it shattered the conditioning and allowed it to resurface. If HOTS is indicating anything, she has got a way to go before she finally achieves redemption for her sins (she still has a lust for blood and it is implied that she is still somewhat crazed. In short,Kerrigan was a cold blooded monster. Even at the end of Brood War, she already made the transition. Her actions to Raszegal and DuGaulle show that what humanity she had was practically gone and that it would take extraordinary circumstances to achieve redemption. I'll go into more detail later but suffice to say it the "ruined" crowd need to stop overreacting. It's silly, juevinile and arrogant.

[Turalyon]

By free will, the Overmind was given latitude to work...

Huh? The Overmind supposedly has NO free will, therefore it should have NO latitude at ANY level. The mere 'thought' (the most basic unfettered choice anyone can make) of rebelling demonstrates that the Overmind has free will. Something with no free will cannot even entertain the thought. Subverted free will such as through slavery, medication/intoxication, indoctrination does NOT equal NO free will.

1.) First of all, why assimilate the species that is your polar opposite; Yes there is some justification about assimilation, but the zerg are the kind who incorporate and incorporating the species that is your antithesis strikes me as sheer stupidity. Why would the Overmind go after them unless a.) the original intent was a merger like the puppet master and Kusanagi in ghost in the shell or b.) he was strong-armed by the dark voice.

To meet the Overmind's criteria for "perfection"? What more needs to be said? What's wrong with the reason being the search and attainment one's own ideal of "perfection"? Sure the Overmind's ideal of perfection sucks for everyone else's perspective but, hey, that's why "perfection" is an ideal.

2.) Why wasn't Kerrigan disciplined for defying the Overmind's orders? He flat out ordered her to slaughter every last Terran, yet her feelings for Raynor caused her to let him and his friends leave the battle unharmed. I can get not wanting to destroy an investment but you could at least try to rework it or do something? Yet she gets off for DEFYING A DIRECT ORDER even when she was programmed to be obedient. He said that she was ultimately loyal even when she had disobeyed him. Why would a control freak like the OM let her off the hook?

There is a logical fallacy in here somewhere...

The Overmind could have easily reigned her in but then she'd just be another "yes-man" like all the other cerebrates. Her whole existence is to bring something 'new' to the Swarm. Part of giving her the ability to make her own decisions means that it had to accept that somethings would turn out unexpectedly. Besides, the Overmind probably didn't actually care because a) it was a trivial matter to it and b) it knows it can reign her in at anytime.

3.) As said before, even when the DT were on Aiur Kerrigan was left on Aiur. why wouldn't he deploy her to Aiur (she was on Char when Tassadar killed him), and he obstensibly created her as his "ultimate weapon" and claimed that Kerrigan was loyal to him? A logical leader would have deployed her regardless YET HE DIDN'T. While one could argue he got cocky and thought the Conclave would deal with his problem that seems like a big mistake for the OM to make.

The world is full of "could'a, should'a, would'a" moments. The Overmind may come across as being godly but it was never infallible (if it was, why then search for "perfection"?). There could be numerous reasons why it didn't bring Kerrigan to Aiur, the least of which could include mere tactical misjudgement.

According to the EU the infestation surpressed her sense of compassion and empathy. Kerrigan had a small spark that was buried beneath layers of infestation and her own darkness. The Infestation conditioning meant that the good was to be trapped beneath that.

Then again, who says she was wholly compassionate and empathetic to begin with? Those two traits are not usually synonymous with someone who is an assassin by trade. Oh, that's right, Kerrigan's a female, so she must automatically have these traits as default.

As such the artifact was the only thing that could free her humanity, since it shattered the conditioning and allowed it to resurface.

Really? The only thing? The artifact's conception is flimsy at best because it could just as easily be any other thing that does "such-and-such". There is as much rationale for the artifact as me making up that there are some mystical, ancient Xel'Naga bones that do the same thing as the artifact.

Who's to say that Kerrigan is seeking redemption or be any good-er with her apparent de-infestation? The fact that she now seems obsessively compelled to kill Mengsk when her humanity has been restored possibly speaks of her inhumanity more than ever considering that as the Queen of Blades she had resisted the urge to kill him when she had all that time and opportunity to do it.