Q&A #9

[Hawki]

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/816...t_9-12_17_2012

Question series nine posted. Deals with Stukov/virus, Narud and more WoL stuff. Or, in other words, ignoring a question (the serum isn't an outright plot hole, but it's avoiding dealing whether it's still effective or not), nitpicking, and the whole "WoL is good/bad/defend it/attack it/stuff that isn't really a question" that was done many threads ago.

Yay.

[Gradius]

Hated it.

The truth is that Brood War changed very little about the geopolitical situation in the Koprulu sector.

More nonsense with Blizzard refusing to acknowledge that the Kel-Morian Combine and Umojan Protectorate are actual large factions that should have had the ability to take power. How are we ever expected to fix the problem if we don't admit it exists in the first place? The reason that people say BW was ignored is because the UED has just as much of a right to exist as the Dominion does. They took over the damn sector. Yeah they were defeated, well so was Mengsk and now he rules the sector, but I'm not about to get into that again.

I also don't think Wings of Liberty is a rehash of vanilla StarCraft. It does indeed reference the events of vanilla quite a bit, as the scars inflicted on the characters in vanilla are still unresolved. But the plot points and character arcs are completely different. Are the characters in the same state at the end of Wings of Liberty as they were at the end of vanilla StarCraft?

So this is a valid defense for why Wings of Liberty was important, but not Brood War? Yeah, ok. -_-

But that would have been a line of dialogue, two at most. It could not have been a major plot point. After all, the story is about Jim's choice between holding on to past grudges and deciding to hope for a better way.

Nonsense. Raynor talks about his past by rambling about Kerrigan and Mengsk countless times. We get a full-blown CGI cinematic about it. Fenix had even more of a right to be mentioned than Kerrigan. Given how highly anthropomorphised the protoss are, how much time Raynor spent with Fenix, and how pissed off he was when Fenix died, it's pretty insulting to just say he's worth "a line of dialog, two at most".

Characters like Tosh present murky choices: do you team up with someone who clearly shares your motivations, even if they don't share your values?

The Tosh choice was actually one of the stupidest in the game. And they're both pirates/rebels, so they should be best-friends anyway. I feel that Kindregan has not read any of the criticism against Wings of Liberty. =/

[Hawki]

(Looks at Grad's post)

Huh, now I know how Church must feel. We get to share our hatred, even if it's for different reasons.

[Kimera757]

Not a lot of info in this one. Interesting to see the reference of zerg becoming immune to the nanites, especially since Stukov didn't seem to be working for Kerrigan, but for some (short-term) survivors of the cerebrate purge.

[Turalyon]

These answers are pretty much what I would've expected from them.

The reasoning Kindregan uses to explain how little BW changes the K sector's geopolitical situation is a howler. That he openly asks what needs to be addressed in regards to BW shows just how little he understands the implications of the events during BW.

Saying that nothing changed in BW because the UED came and then got defeated is synonymous as saying nothing changed in Sc1 because the Overmind came and then got defeated. We all know that it isn't true for the Overmind, so why does it have to be for the UED? It wasn't as if they were lacking in the "threat" or "power" department afterall. The only reason why the UED don't have a significant and justified legacy in the current universe is because Blizz decided against giving them one in WoL.

[Visions of Khas]

I like how he completely evaded Stukov's status and whereabouts.

[Hawki]

On lunch break, so my thoughts in more detailed form:

The Serum

Mixed, about this. On one hand, the lack of any mention of nanites didn’t escape my attention in WoL (and Stukov wasn’t the only one – even ignoring the RPG, there’s still Morik). On the other, it’s more a missing line than a plothole, and it’s something you get used to. On the other, Kindragen doesn’t handle the question well IMO. Just say “nanites no longer work” (which is the implication in his response) and bingo. Would have been good to have it in the game, but you can’t have everything in life I guess.

The Brood War

This isn’t the first time Kindragen’s said that BW changed nothing politically. I get what he means, but the quote in itself is just plain wrong. Protoss-wise, their capital world becomes Shakuras, intergration of Khalai and Nerazim, etc. Terran-wise, we have the curbstomping of the Dominion, which leads to the UP and KMC breaking away and the rise of rebel factions left, right and centre. Zerg-wise, we have Kerrigan becoming the sole leader of the zerg (bar Kaloth, but who’s counting?) A lot changed politically.

On the other hand, I don’t think the game ignored BW per se. Protoss-wise, we don’t see much of the Daelaam outside Zeratul’s campaign, but we weren’t under an obligation to. If anything, I think their absence is good because it suits the story thematically and prevents it being a rehash of the first Great War. Terran-wise, we see the Dominion’s sorry state – could have mentioned the UED I guess, and Fenix, but their legacy is still clearly there. Zerg-wise, Kerrigan’s become closer to the Overmind in persona than in BW, and it’s character development I like. I think the whole “BW was ignored” thing stems from seeing an abundance of GW stuff (Tarsonis, Aiur, etc.) and a lack of direct mention of Fenix and the UED.

Artistic Integrity

Personal gripe, but I did mention ‘hate’ above, and I guess this is it. The way Kindragen defends WoL. I don’t want to go into the ‘ethics’ of artists defending their work, but long story short, there’s a certain method that should be followed (or at least one I’ve been taught to follow, or learnt how to) and it doesn’t involve “well, I think it’s good, you just don’t get it.” Which, looking at the last post, is basically what it boils down to. Yes, the question wasn’t really a question, but I expect something better from a writer who actually does it as a living. Yes, I like WoL. Yes, I will defend WoL. But there are still valid criticisms against it (as in all forms of art), and there’s a certain method to defending a piece of work than what’s done in the thread.

Like I said, personal gripe, but it’s a trend I’ve noticed from Kindragen before. And it bugs me as much now as it did in the past.

[Turalyon]

On the other hand, I don’t think the game ignored BW per se... Terran-wise, we see the Dominion’s sorry state...but their legacy is still clearly there.

Highly debatable here. I (and quite a few others it seems) don't get the feeling the Dominion are in a sorry state at all in WoL, what with all the rebuilding and the "being stronger than ever before" vibe the game sends off. By the end of BW, the Terrans as a whole are in total shambles. It's quite ironic (and perhaps more truthful?) to see the UED's legacy in BW as an overall lessening of Terran power even further in the K-sector when they gutted and dismantled the only Terran power (the Dominion) at the time and their own subsequent and systematic defeat.

With this in mind, the fact that Kindregan goes on to explain that the UED's time in BW provided no geopolitical change is actually the only justifiable (like it or not) reason to explain why WoL's landscape is the way it is now (ie: Dominion being all rosy and still in secure power as if nothing happened).

I think the whole “BW was ignored” thing stems from seeing an abundance of GW stuff (Tarsonis, Aiur, etc.) and a lack of direct mention of Fenix and the UED.

I assume this is what Kindregan thinks too. Either way, it's a complete and incorrect oversimplification of the real "BW was ignored" argument.

Personal gripe, but I did mention ‘hate’ above, and I guess this is it. The way Kindragen defends WoL. I don’t want to go into the ‘ethics’ of artists defending their work, but long story short, there’s a certain method that should be followed (or at least one I’ve been taught to follow, or learnt how to) and it doesn’t involve “well, I think it’s good, you just don’t get it.” Which, looking at the last post, is basically what it boils down to. Yes, the question wasn’t really a question, but I expect something better from a writer who actually does it as a living. Yes, I like WoL. Yes, I will defend WoL. But there are still valid criticisms against it (as in all forms of art), and there’s a certain method to defending a piece of work than what’s done in the thread.

Like I said, personal gripe, but it’s a trend I’ve noticed from Kindragen before. And it bugs me as much now as it did in the past.

I agree with you here. You've done a far better job at defending WoL, Hawki, than this latest attempt by Kindregan.

My cynicism detector may be off, but I didn't quite get the feeling of "I think it's good, you just don't get it" from Kindregan in his previous FAQs as much as this one. Then again, I can understand his response given the question (was it even that?) was essentially just a statement of "This was shit. Please explain".

[Hawki]

I assume this is what Kindregan thinks too. Either way, it's a complete and incorrect oversimplification of the real "BW was ignored" argument.

Alright, fair enough. I guess a better way to phrase that would be, if we cut out the Dominion thing, the "ignoring" of BW boils down to certain lines (Zeratul not mentioning Duran when he sees the hybrid) or lack of them (Raynor not mentioning Fenix). As for the Dominion itself though, honestly, it's been discussed to death. I'd rather agree to disagree at this point in time.

[Turalyon]

Of all the "BW ignoring" moments in WoL, the Dominion "thing" is perhaps the biggest oversight of them all. The reason it's harped on is because it's more important than most people tend to realise.

Kindregan states that the geopolitical station does not change in BW (since the fifth QA it seems) because he only sees it in the terms of the UED coming and going. He's guilty of oversimplifying the impact of what the UED actually did during that time - the systematic dismantling of the fledgeling (no-one seems to notice this for some reason although it's important because fledgling governments that are crippled in such a manner are always irreversibly crippled) Dominion, the strongest front the Terrans could have put up against the alien threat at the time, and the leaving of a void. If we contrast this to the end of SC1, we still expected the Overmind/Zerg to have made an impact on the geopolitical situation even IF BW was to never see the light of day. How would it seem if the Protoss just suddenly sprang up in BW as if nothing happened, like the Terrans are represented as doing in WoL?