Gradius's HoTS Story Review

[Aldrius]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this. I can only assume you mean that the story in BW is not just all about getting to kill some "big bad guy" whilst HotS is and the implication that HotS is 'telling' (weaker?) because of this? However, that doesn't make much sense when you have to consider that we also have Sc1's story leading up to and ending with the "big bad guy's" (the Overmind) death in Eye of the Storm.

Yeah, basically. It was a story about Kerrigan's growth as a character. Like... Mengsk being defeated in Brood War was the story's mid-point. It wasn't even a big deal.

He's just such a weak, strawman in HotS. He exists to be defeated and to be annoying. The Overmind wasn't that. The overmind was a force of nature.

Funny, I've always interpreted To Slay the Beast to be just that.

To be what?

[Turalyon]

He's just such a weak, strawman in HotS. He exists to be defeated and to be annoying. The Overmind wasn't that. The overmind was a force of nature.

In terms of story plot-wise, HotS and The Fall in Sc1 are fairly similar especially given the narrower perspective. I believe the intended effect was for people to ride on the coattails/coast on prior characterisation of the "big bad" (Overmind/Mengsk) to carry and lend weight to when their eventual demise came. The problem with Mengsk was that he had undergone some serious character assasination over the course of BW and WoL, diluting the final impact of when you actually go to defeat him. In the end, he feels somewhat unworthy for all of our attention throughout the SC2 campaigns such that his demise seems like it's necessary only because the character was written as a dead-end and not because we're led to believe he's a respectable threat.

As compared to the Overmind, who had only the dubious but ambiguous enough idiotic decision to make itself vulnerable on Aiur before then killed in the following Protoss campaign before it underwent character assassination. It didn't live long enough to correct its, in hindsight, tactical error as it rightly should have been. Even with the Overmind already being dead, it didn't stop Blizz from butchering it's character from beyond the grave either - the Overmind actually died because it was committing suicide? Puh-leeze!

[Aldrius]

As compared to the Overmind, who had only the dubious but ambiguous enough idiotic decision to make itself vulnerable on Aiur before then killed in the following Protoss campaign before it underwent character assassination

I think they made it pretty clear why the Overmind did that.

Arcturus was just lame. Regardless of whether or not he was intelligent or sensible, he just wasn't much of a threat and even if he was, it wasn't really deserved...

[Gradius]

I think they made it pretty clear why the Overmind did that.

I agree, we got a bunch of exposition about the importance of the site & the khaydarin crystals. Given that the Overmind is immortal, and that Kerrigan was supposed to be handling the dark templar back on Char, manifesting himself on Aiur in order to facilitate the invasion posed no risk at all. It's one of those things that only seems stupid in retrospect. :P

The exact details of why manifesting himself on the site is important would amount to nothing more than magical psionic wankery, and I'm grateful they decided not to go into that further.

[FanaticTemplar]

To be what?

The end of Brood War. The story of that game was the contest between Kerrigan and the United Earth Directorate over who would get to control the Swarm. In To Slay the Beast, Kerrigan decisively wins that contest and shatters the might of the UED. The Reckoning is an epilogue, tying up loose ends and trying to make The Stand look somehow relevant to the overall narrative. Omega is a gameplay climax. The pre-mission briefing pretty much makes it explicit by making Kerrigan claim that most of her Broods are still on the surface of Char. The only reason there's a challenge here is because Kerrigan is fighting with both hands behind her back.

[Aldrius]

I agree, we got a bunch of exposition about the importance of the site & the khaydarin crystals. Given that the Overmind is immortal, and that Kerrigan was supposed to be handling the dark templar back on Char, manifesting himself on Aiur in order to facilitate the invasion posed no risk at all. It's one of those things that only seems stupid in retrospect. :P

The exact details of why manifesting himself on the site is important would amount to nothing more than magical psionic wankery, and I'm grateful they decided not to go into that further.

Well whatever it was, it was an important step in assimilating the Protoss. And it's always been vague as to whether or not this is the first time the Overmind has taken physical form. Or if it was just flying from Char to Aiur.

[Turalyon]

I think they made it pretty clear why the Overmind did that.

The exact reason for why the Overmind ever needs to be physically manifest at all is not actually explained in Sc1, hence all the theories back in the day about why the Overmind did what it did for what was ultimately the thing that undoes the Zerg.

When SC2 "reveals" that it was because it wanted/had to die, that's when the shit hit the fan.

I agree, we got a bunch of exposition about the importance of the site & the khaydarin crystals. Given that the Overmind is immortal, and that Kerrigan was supposed to be handling the dark templar back on Char, manifesting himself on Aiur in order to facilitate the invasion posed no risk at all. It's one of those things that only seems stupid in retrospect. :P

The exact details of why manifesting himself on the site is important would amount to nothing more than magical psionic wankery, and I'm grateful they decided not to go into that further.

The importance of Khaydarin crystals and Temple location that the Overmind exposits doesn't really explain anything beyond "it must be done for us to win". Besides, the Overmind was immortal because it never made itself physically manifest until Aiur (it is even described as a bodiless entity). The instant it takes physical form - it instantly becomes vulnerable (if it bleeds, it can die) and what do you know, it ends up dying because of this decision. You're right that, in retrospect, it was a stupid decision but in the moment it was a actually huge risk on the part of the Overmind because it relied on Kerrigan doing her job on Char. I've always held that had the outcome been reversed (the Overmind not being killed), the risky decision to make itself manifest would've been hailed as a brilliant gambit. That it died showed that the Overmind was actually fallible and not some god and that it downfall was probably due to a case of it reaping the reward for its sow of hubris.

As of Sc1's perspective only, I don't think that the exact reason why the Overmind needed to be made physically manifest necessarily needs to be "wankery". At the time, I had the blandest idea that Overmind only did this to become a beacon for the rest of the extended Swarm spread out throughout the galaxy to converge on Aiur, thereby ensuring the eventual and utter pacification of any resistance.

Arcturus was just lame. Regardless of whether or not he was intelligent or sensible, he just wasn't much of a threat and even if he was, it wasn't really deserved...

Mengsk was only confirmed to be really lame as a potential threat in BW though, as evidenced by getting steam-rolled by the UED. However, I entirely agree on the focus of him as the final enemy of HotS, the middle chapter of a trilogy about the sins of space gods coming back to bite their creations, completely undeserving. Much like Kerrigan's over-inflated importance as a "vital" hero who must eventually win in Sc2, Mengsk's presence in Sc2 suffers a similar over-inflated importance as a "vital" villain who must eventually die. It didn't help that his oh-so-conveniently-revealed involvement in the Hybrids seemed like just a trite attempt to tie him into the "grander" story in order to make him a "justified" big-bad to kill.

[Aldrius]

The exact reason for why the Overmind ever needs to be physically manifest at all is not actually explained in Sc1, hence all the theories back in the day about why the Overmind did what it did for what was ultimately the thing that undoes the Zerg.

When SC2 "reveals" that it was because it wanted/had to die, that's when the shit hit the fan.

Oh, well I'm not talking about that. I mean in the original story, manifesting on Aiur was an important step in achieving his ultimate goal: assimilating the Protoss. That's what he says. (And again, never clear if he had a physical form prior to Aiur)

As of Sc1's perspective only, I don't think that the exact reason why the Overmind needed to be made physically manifest necessarily needs to be "wankery". At the time, I had the blandest idea that Overmind only did this to become a beacon for the rest of the extended Swarm spread out throughout the galaxy to converge on Aiur, thereby ensuring the eventual and utter pacification of any resistance.

Watching the briefings it's really vague and not clear at all, but I always was under the impression that it was to assimilate the Protoss.

Mengsk was only confirmed to be really lame as a potential threat in BW though, as evidenced by getting steam-rolled by the UED. However, I entirely agree on the focus of him as the final enemy of HotS, the middle chapter of a trilogy about the sins of space gods coming back to bite their creations, completely undeserving. Much like Kerrigan's over-inflated importance as a "vital" hero who must eventually win in Sc2, Mengsk's presence in Sc2 suffers a similar over-inflated importance as a "vital" villain who must eventually die. It didn't help that his oh-so-conveniently-revealed involvement in the Hybrids seemed like just a trite attempt to tie him into the "grander" story in order to make him a "justified" big-bad to kill.

Well, they spend the whole HotS campaign trying to build him up. And... well it's not what StarCraft is about honestly. In my mind it's about more than just creating a threat and stopping that threat. Usually whatever the final mission is about, it's about a long-held goal more than just defeating an enemy. For the UED it was about control, for Kerrigan it was about domination, for the Protoss it was about escape and safety.

Both SC2 campaigns are about defeating a threat to the world. Oh, and Kerrigan and Raynor's love story. Always Kerrigan and Raynor's boring as hell love story. I'm really glad that can't possibly be a huge factor in Legacy of the Void...

[Gradius]

The manual mentions that the Overmind himself resides in the recesses of the Tiamat brood. I always took it that he did have a physical body, only that he could transfer his "soul" to another shell. "I am the eternal will of the swarm" was just metaphor.

[Hawki]

Well, they spend the whole HotS campaign trying to build him up. And... well it's not what StarCraft is about honestly. In my mind it's about more than just creating a threat and stopping that threat. Usually whatever the final mission is about, it's about a long-held goal more than just defeating an enemy. For the UED it was about control, for Kerrigan it was about domination, for the Protoss it was about escape and safety.

Just passing by, but to be honest, I never got the sense of Mengsk being built up per se in HotS. He's not a threat to Kerrigan or the zerg. The only reason she goes after him is to get rid of the emotional baggage. Why that emotional baggage is only relevant now is something I feel could have been explored more in SMS (mentioned that Kerrigan feels like two different characters in cutscenes and SMS), but the intent was clear.

But contrasting SC1/SC2 on goals and stuff, I have to ask whether they're that different, and if so, why they're bad? SC1, we may read (yes, read...gah) about the fall of the Confederacy, but it's impossible to be invested in its fall. The Overmind may come to Aiur with it ablaze, but there's no feeling there. Tassadar may warn about the Overmind consuming all life, but if it wasn't for the fact that said life includes characters we care about, does anyone really care about that? Brood War has a shift in the political landscape and such, but again, it's the characters that drive it. Kerrigan may put the zerg back in the top spot, but it's her character development we care about. The UED fleet may be wiped out, but DuGalle's death has more weight than that fact. The deaths of Raszagal and Fenix mean more than the sorry state the protoss find themselves in. Maybe I'm projecting, but it's characters, not events, that drive interest in a story. The motives of the characters are far more interesting than the goals of their factions.

So, with Kerrigan killing Mengsk, is it tactically required? No. Will it alter the status quo of the zerg at that point? No. Is it relevant to character development? Yes. That said character development could have been handled better aside, that it's relevant to character is the be all and end all of the event.