Why the SC2 Story Was a Disappointment

[Visions of Khas]

This was my biggest beef with StarCraft II: Lack of consequence.

We free rebels, philosophers and political dissidents from New Folsom prison, unleashing a veritable plague of unrest on the Dominion -- and we see none of it. No aftershocks, no alliances or 'Thank yous' from former prisoners; no rebellions started on colonies elsewhere.

We spare the lives of colonists, but see no returns. We don't see colonists joining up to fight for the cause. We don't train them to defend themselves.

We incite rebellion on Korhal itself, and given that it was an optional quest, we have no idea whether it even truly happens and adds to the plot of Heart of the Swarm!

It's a lack of continuity. I mean, I personally like being able to play the missions in my own way, but I feel it reduces my accomplishments drastically. If I saw some colonists in the background in the hangar; or Horner mentioning a friend he made with an idealist released from Folsom; or if I maybe saw one or two more ships follow the Hyperion as the game progresses -- something -- I'd feel so much better. It doesn't take that much!

But no. =[

[Genopath]

There was a really good article that did a very good critic of the storyline. I wish I had that bookmarked. It mentions a lot of the points that have been mentioned so far. But yea I agree with Gradius: The storyline is a huge downer.

The storyline of WoL feels out of place. It just doesn’t have the same dark feeling of the Broodwar storyline where it felt like you could be wiped out any second. Now, this feeling is gone. Only the last mission and the mission where you land on char I felt like I was challenged. I’m not taking about skill or the difficulty of the game. I’m talking about the ambiance leading to each mission. Sadly, from playing HOTS I have the impression it’s going to be more or less the same thing.

[Turalyon]

There was a really good article that did a very good critic of the storyline. I wish I had that bookmarked.

Not sure if you meant this one. Either way, it's a fantastic critique of all the pros and cons of the story-telling across all of the SC games.

[Genopath]

Not sure if you meant this one. Either way, it's a fantastic critique of all the pros and cons of the story-telling across all of the SC games.

Nah it was an offsite article. It was like 3-4 pages long and it covered the main inconsistencies in the story. I'll see if I can find it.

[Gradius]

Is it this one: http://metatorial.blogspot.com/2010/...-disaster.html

Haha I love that one. Read it like five times.

[Genopath]

Is it this one: http://metatorial.blogspot.com/2010/...-disaster.html

Haha I love that one. Read it like five times.

Yup. Heh

On another note, I am sure Brian and the other writers are aware of the feedback of the story. The question is if they'll do anything substantial about it at this point. They change too much at this point and the story overall would seem weird. If they change nothing then similar feedback would be expected for the next expansion.

Right now I'm a big worried about how strongly devs (almost all of them) have mentioned on importing your preferences from banks. The idea of having two alternate stories, to me, is not a very appealing one. Although, I'm no writer I strongly believe the consensus is quite clear as I've read similar threads on this board, TL, and battle.net forums. Most would agree that Blizzard just choose a canon version and sticks with that.

The other thing is, I believe Blizzard as a whole has learned about this mistake. Look at Diablo 3. The strategy was clear. Grab one really good writer(NY times best seller, as if Metzen didn't emphasize this enough :P) and have him make the foundations of the story. I honestly have high hopes of this story. I'm certainly going to read Book of Cain when I get some spare time.

[Turalyon]

I doubt that the nature of SC2's story will change considering the amount of work in terms of pre-development that has probably gone into it already. It wouldn't be very economical to up-end everything (art, missions, cinematics, script, VO, etc.) just for the sake of making the script of the story a little bit 'tighter'. We'll just have to accept the continuing retcons, contrived plot twists, 'faux choices' as the shallow story-telling elements as they are.

What can they really change anyway? The premise for the entire story is weak enough already as it is (ultimate and "undefeatable" big-bad interrupts interspecies in-fighting only to find out that it can actually be defeated by select individuals) no matter how much polish they apply to it. You can polish shit but at the end of the day, it's still shit. For example, it doesn't really matter any more whether the vision of Zeratul's vision of the Overmind's vision of the 'end of everything' is actually revealed to be a delusion or not because the whole concept in general is garbage and giving it further attention/reference to it can only make things worse. The bigger problem is that they have to address it, as it appears to be a major plot point for the rest of the series. They can't just sweep it under the rug like you can with say, the "midichlorian explanation for the Force". At least this howler of a plot development was not so important to the story at hand and was effectively never mentioned with any conviction nor bear any relevance to that universe ever since.

[l33telboi]

I didn't dislike the story as much as some, but needless to say I didn't think it was quite perfect either. The main problems were the narrow point-of-view, squandered potential, unsatisfying end, and the cliché story twists.

What I mean by narrow point-of-view is that we spend the entire game looking at things from Raynor's and the Hyperion's POV. It's like there's this massive war happing right outside your window, but you're not allowed to look. Instead of really taking part in this war you're skirting the fringes of it, collecting artifacts and whatnot, while hearing blurbs about it on the telly. The terran campaign in Starcraft vanilla was far better in this respect. You were constantly in the thick of it, from start to end. You were there for all the major turning points in the war.

The depth of the setting was also a disappointment because of all the squandered potential. In the previews we saw bits and pieces from the Hyperion that were actually more detailed and expansive then what was ultimately released (the galaxy map being one of those things, your ability to chose dialogue with people and have more extensive conversations another, your ability to play around with the scenery a third). Why? Were the writers afraid that more material and depth to the universe might somehow confuse people? One of the things that made the original Starcraft great was how everything had personality and how everything was explained to some degree or another. But there's actually less descriptions in this game then what we found in the original manual. When you go to a new planet you should be able to read what that planet is all about, when you get a new unit you should be able to read what that guy is all about, etc. Do something similar to Mass Effect's codex and you’ll make me a happy camper.

The end was also pretty unsatisfying, ending in a cliffhanger with pretty much nothing resolved and everything up in the air. Raynor's war against Mengsk? Unresolved. Raynor's troubles with Kerrigan? Unresolved. The zerg and the protoss were barely even mentioned. It's like you got half-way through a television episode only to find the "to be continued" text suddenly appearing at a totally inappropriate point. I would've liked it more if the terran campaign would've ended with the death of Mengsk. That would in a way "fix" the terrans and provide a nice conclusive terran end.

As for the story twists? Well they're just bad and unimaginative. Kerrigan turning human again? No, don’t do that. Especially not via some contrived "deus ex machina" artifact plot. The xel'naga and hybrid war on the horizon? No, that's been done too many times and it's getting old. The Overmind really being the good guy all this time? Don't make totally black and white changes to characters like that, at least not without substantial build-up. You should resolve the plot without adding silly new twists and cliché story lines. Just look at the story and ask "what would logically happen now?" instead of going "well, what sort of silly twist can I add to all this in order to get a completely new story line going?"

[Gradius]

I agree with so much of what he points out. I really enjoy StarCraft 2... I have spent countless hours playing the multiplayer... however, I realized shortly in to the campaign that the story and presentation were not up to the high standards of the original StarCraft. If you are a gamer that cares nothing for the single player or campaign, and your only interest in the game is working up the ladder, then you probably don't care. But if you were a fan of the original SC campaign, then you should check out the vid.





Lola Hernsheim
Pocket Nappies and Pocket Diapers , Modern Cloth Nappies Supervisor
South Brisbane, Queensland

These bots are getting smart. =/

[Quirel]

I doubt that the nature of SC2's story will change considering the amount of work in terms of pre-development that has probably gone into it already. It wouldn't be very economical to up-end everything (art, missions, cinematics, script, VO, etc.) just for the sake of making the script of the story a little bit 'tighter'. We'll just have to accept the continuing retcons, contrived plot twists, 'faux choices' as the shallow story-telling elements as they are.

I don't think it's as hard as you think.
Basically, the only thing that can't be changed narrative-wise are the pre-rendered cinematics. The rest, such as the conversations and cenimatics on the Hyperion can be changed using the same art assets, but different animations or dialog. Expensive, yes, but probably not as expensive as creating those art assets from scratch.

As for the missions, they can probably remain untouched. All that would have to be changed is the dialog and voice-overs.