New HotS Trailer Feb 26th?

[The_Blade]

Hidden Content:

No that's definitely Kerrigan (Pre-Zerg w/ a ....psi blade??) vs Kerrigan (after Zerg)

I just realized it's Sarah all the way, not our HotS Kerrigan... Sorry, that changes some things. The other is not Infested Kerrigan though, that's still some kind of Queen or perhaps a Hybrid (even Abathur).

Edit: Abathur, Queens and Hybrids all have less than 5 fingers. Last bet goes for an Abomination. The Queen of Blades has a different structure.

Edit 2: Nvm it's Sarah vs tQoB. Found a boob and figured out the exit wound arquitecture. That's her lower back, where the wings come from.

[PhanttoM]

It's left to be seen how many of those clips are purely for the sake of "trailer awesomeness". Same goes for the other trailers I guess.

Remember the WoL trailer action clips: Banshee flying between buildings, Kerrigan vs. Zeratul (where he parries her kicks), marines with nuke in the background and the hydralisk getting shot through the torso.

I don't recall if there ever was any cutscene made with the ingame engine, that turned out purely for trailer use - So I'm assuming that's the case here too.
Honestly I'm kinda hoping that the "super saiyan kerrigan" scene is purely for show.

[sandwich_bird]

1:17, leaked ending final scene?

Not to beat a dead horse but... I'm still extremely disappointed about the return of tQoB and the most likely inevitable death of Mengsk...

[AngryMatt]

Why don't you guys think that the NEW Queen of Blades may be Izsha? She still has her plot.

[The_Blade]

Why don't you guys think that the NEW Queen of Blades may be Izsha? She still has her plot.

Because Izsha is to Hard Drive as Kerrigan is to Evil Super Computer.

[Aldrius]

Yes, because, you know, not being a "badass" would mean character development. And we can't fucking well have that now can we?!

Character development is only worthwhile if it takes the character in an interesting direction. And quite frankly taking the games' lead character and making her into a navel-gazing loser would be kind of lame I think.

I'm... sort of interested in the direction the story is going in now? Sort of. I've never been big on Kerrigan's relationship with Raynor and I'm finding it pretty over-played at this point. It seems to be a hugely major focus of heart of the Swarm, and... I dunno. I feel it takes a lot away from Kerrigan's character, and makes her a whole lot less interesting and intimidating.

[Visions of Khas]

and... I dunno. I feel it takes a lot away from Kerrigan's character, and makes her a whole lot less interesting and intimidating.

I think I see where your coming from. But I still see her as badass, and like that fact that everything Raynor has worked so hard to accomplish is blowing up in his face -- in some cases very literally.

Kerrigan is having to deal with quite a few things right now: Raynor's love and dedication to her. He's proven himself time and again, but has stripped her of any power and effectively handed her over to the son of her arch nemesis. And will Junior be a Mengsk, Jr.? Then there's daddy himself; it's interesting that his betrayal led her to become the single most powerful creature in known existence, and yet she's obviously striving to regain that very power she was betrayed to. Plus we've got the obvious Smeagol/Gollum aspect going now, too.

There's a lot of potential. As there has always been in StarCraft. It's just up to the narrative and delivery now.



Also, I'm wondering about why they edited the Sith eyes onto Kerrigan. Is it just linked to her power, or is it part of her Gollum Complex manifesting itself?

[Aldrius]

I think I see where your coming from. But I still see her as badass, and like that fact that everything Raynor has worked so hard to accomplish is blowing up in his face -- in some cases very literally.

Kerrigan is having to deal with quite a few things right now: Raynor's love and dedication to her. He's proven himself time and again, but has stripped her of any power and effectively handed her over to the son of her arch nemesis. And will Junior be a Mengsk, Jr.? Then there's daddy himself; it's interesting that his betrayal led her to become the single most powerful creature in known existence, and yet she's obviously striving to regain that very power she was betrayed to. Plus we've got the obvious Smeagol/Gollum aspect going now, too.

There's a lot of potential. As there has always been in StarCraft. It's just up to the narrative and delivery now.

Yeah, it just seems like more... hollywood melodrama... like StarCraft had a strong narrative in my mind because it didn't dwell on that sort of thing. Alexei's death is really sad, Kerrigan's downfall (and subsequent bitchery) is really tragic, Aiur's fate is sort of sad. But they don't spend a huge amount of time lamenting these things... I dunno. It just feels like there's more dialogue and the characters are saying less.

[RODTHEGOD]

Atleast in WoL, I might have been satisfied if the dialog wasn't so... cheezy, I might have been satisfied if they stuck to what made starcraft great. No... they went with all those 2-dimensional lines, characters and scenerios EVERYONE can see through. I'm looking back at WoL these days and other then the single player gameplay, I'm actually quite unsatisfied with WoL. I don't expect to be much more satisfied with HotS.

but... I'm still going to buy HotS... simply because Starcraft was such a huge story when I was a child and that inner child would not let me not buy it.

[Hawki]

I think there's some significance to Kerrigan's different glowing colors, and this may have to do with her seperate Sarah/QoB personae.

That's pretty much a given. Ghosts and Khalai are blue, Spectres red, Nerazim green. Kerrigan's colours have been shown to be amber and purple in HotS trailers, so that could mean something.

That weird jungle animal looks like a pre-infestation hydra to me... at least based on it's basic geometry.

Slothein were basically giant caterpillars. That creature doesn't look like such a thing to me...

I'm still extremely disappointed about the return of tQoB and the most likely inevitable death of Mengsk...

Mengsk, no. QoB? Well, considering that Kerrigan's swinging between Queen Bitch of the Universe and whiny emo git, no, I'm not thrilled either. You know, it might have been interesting to see her develop as a character as was hinted at with the original HotS ending, but no, we can't have that...

Why don't you guys think that the NEW Queen of Blades may be Izsha? She still has her plot.

Izsha's a new character to many people. I think most would feel betrayed if she became a new QoB (would she even go by that name? She's got tentacles rather than bladed wings after all).

Because Izsha is to Hard Drive as Kerrigan is to Evil Super Computer.

So does that make Abathur Microsoft? The evil guy who always wants you to upgrade your hardware and software?

Character development is only worthwhile if it takes the character in an interesting direction. And quite frankly taking the games' lead character and making her into a navel-gazing loser would be kind of lame I think.

I agree. But the character development for Kerrigan in HotS seems to be going nowhere. In SC1, she was established. BW, she forged her path/developed. WoL, we saw the end of that path. In HotS we see what looks like a return to SC1/BW.

Am I the only one who has a problem with this?

I'm... sort of interested in the direction the story is going in now? Sort of. I've never been big on Kerrigan's relationship with Raynor and I'm finding it pretty over-played at this point. It seems to be a hugely major focus of heart of the Swarm, and... I dunno. I feel it takes a lot away from Kerrigan's character, and makes her a whole lot less interesting and intimidating.

Even if Raynor was removed, Kerrigan's character is being stagnated regardless.

Yeah, it just seems like more... hollywood melodrama... like StarCraft had a strong narrative in my mind because it didn't dwell on that sort of thing. Alexei's death is really sad, Kerrigan's downfall (and subsequent bitchery) is really tragic, Aiur's fate is sort of sad. But they don't spend a huge amount of time lamenting these things...

Actually there's a lot of time spent on Stukov (last UED mission, cinematic) and Kerrigan's downfall (Raynor's reaction, which resurfaces in Brood War). Aiur's fate is a bit minimalized though. It's understandable due to the green text and the player character format. Both of which may have served those games at the time, but are primitive by today's standards.

I dunno. It just feels like there's more dialogue and the characters are saying less.

Well, HotS is going down that path seemingly. Wouldn't be surprised if by LotV we're back to talking heads and Executor "player character I will never ever care about" and regulate to my mountain of evidence of why silent protagonists should have died out a long time ago.*

I mean, maybe I'll be proven wrong. I hope I'll be proven wrong. But everything I've seen for HotS in recent times strikes me as a giant step back. The SC1 games did their thing, WoL did its thing, and now we're having some awkward transition that feels partly like a misguided attempt to go back to the former games, and a woefully ill-advised step into grimdark territory.

*With a few exceptions, but it doesn't reflect on the RTS genre well that the only completely silent protagonist I felt worked well was from Tiberian Twilight of all things.