Gradius's HoTS Story Review

[FanaticTemplar]

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.

About that. Char isn't the Dark Templar homeworld, so what about Dark Templar who weren't there for Kerrigan to handle? And if the Overmind is not supposed to know about other Dark Templar, how did Kerrigan know to find Raszagal on Shakuras before the Khalai Protoss ever got there?

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.

StarCraft has always been about creating a threat and stopping that threat. It's what annoys me the most about the setting as stories pile up. In StarCraft the Overmind is created and stopped. In Brood War the UED is created and stopped. In StarCraft II Amon is created and... well, you can guess where I'm placing my bets.

If you want to claim the previous stories were about more than that, then to be consistent Wings of Liberty is about redemption and Heart of the Swarm is about revenge.

[Gradius]

About that. Char isn't the Dark Templar homeworld, so what about Dark Templar who weren't there for Kerrigan to handle? And if the Overmind is not supposed to know about other Dark Templar, how did Kerrigan know to find Raszagal on Shakuras before the Khalai Protoss ever got there?

Shakuras pretty much didn't exist in SC1, so it's kind of a Brood War retcon. :P

But that aside, if Zeratul gave the Overmind the coordinates of Aiur, then he should have given him the coordinates of Shakuras as well (which presumably, would have also been Kerrigan's job to handle).

[FanaticTemplar]

Shakuras pretty much didn't exist in SC1, so it's kind of a Brood War retcon. :P

But that aside, if Zeratul gave the Overmind the coordinates of Aiur, then he should have given him the coordinates of Shakuras as well (which presumably, would have also been Kerrigan's job to handle).

Yes, that's also what I was thinking. But if the Overmind knew about Shakuras, then it surely knew that there were other Dark Templar out there that could threaten it.

[Aldrius]

Yes, that's also what I was thinking. But if the Overmind knew about Shakuras, then it surely knew that there were other Dark Templar out there that could threaten it.

Honestly, even if that is the case, he has a massive swarm to act as protection in that instance. It`s not like he`s totally defenseless if some rogue Dark Templar show up.

But that aside, if Zeratul gave the Overmind the coordinates of Aiur, then he should have given him the coordinates of Shakuras as well (which presumably, would have also been Kerrigan's job to handle).

Which I always figured is how she ended up enslaving Raszagal. She went to Shakuras on a mission for the Overmind.

If you want to claim the previous stories were about more than that, then to be consistent Wings of Liberty is about redemption and Heart of the Swarm is about revenge.

WoL hops around too much for it to be about anything like that (and how was Brood War about 'building up the UED and tearing it down'? Really don't get that. The UED was just used as a catalyst for Kerrigan to fearmonger the K sector into doing what she wanted basically). And the Revenge angle in HotS is... weak. So weak. Kerrigan just spends a lot of time shaking her fist at Mengsk and trying to save Raynor. Kerrigan and Mengsk's one conversation in True Colours left more of an impact on me than every single cutscene in Heart of the Swarm.

...I just... Mengsk and Kerrigan's relationship was over in Brood War. Dredging it up again made no sense.

[Hawki]

Which I always figured is how she ended up enslaving Raszagal. She went to Shakuras on a mission for the Overmind.

No, the epilogue of the first game states that Kerrigan was on Char when it died. Formula is basically:

Step 1: Overmind dies, Kerrigan learns everything it knew.

Step 2: "Everything" includes the location of Shakuras, likely learnt when Zeratul slew Zasz

Step 3: "Everything" is also available to Daggoth and co. as zerg loyal to their faction are on Shakuras as well.

Step 4: Kerrigan, seeing the looming conflict, travels to Shakuras, establishes control over Raszagal

Step 5: Daggoth and co. invade as well.

Step 6: The Stand occurs

Step 7: Profit!

Come to think of it, not sure why Kerrigan would choose to go to Shakuras pre-emptively, unless the 'memory download' included Raszagal and she figured she could do something with her. If I had to guess, Daggoth's proper invasion occurs post-mission 2, as in, zerg follow through warp gate, Daggoth learns of Khalai presence, sends zerg to finish the job. Or maybe Nerazim living on Shakuras was justification enough to invade.

Mengsk and Kerrigan's relationship was over in Brood War. Dredging it up again made no sense.

Sort of...sort of not...you cited True Colours as an example, but for Mengsk, the adversity isn't over, given his vow at the end of BW, and we often see glimpses in fiction set between BW and SC2 of how Kerrigan haunts him in a sense, even during HotS itself to its credit. The problem however is that in said mission, Kerrigan claimed she'd got vengeance. With HotS...you know, come to think of it, in a way, it's guilty of the same sin as SC1, where SC1 had gameplay/cinematic segregation, HotS has cinematic/SMS segregation. On one hand, Kerrigan is characterized extremely well in cinematics in the game IMO, so often a lot is said with facial expressions alone (again, where she kills Warfield is an exellent example). In SMS, it's always "vengeance this, vengeance that," but while I understand the "how" of that desire (de-infestation and psychological effects), the game never really provided a "why" to that. Or, to put it another way:

Stage 1: Kerrigan de-infested

Stage 2: ?

Stage 3: Kerrigan wants vengeance

Stage 4: Kerrigan kills Mengsk, gets rid of the emotional baggage

So, in a way, I got Kerrigan's motivations. What really needed to be explained was why those emotions came up, and the question of justifying her pursuit of them (in the macro sense, the micro sense is covered)

[Turalyon]

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)

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.

I never said that assimilating the Protoss wouldn't be the ultimate goal of the Overmind, just that making itself physically manifest was hugely risky without the audience knowing the proper reason why. It can also be said that everything the Overmind does can be construed as an "important step" in achieving assimilation of the Protoss - it doesn't necessarily dictate that gathering Khaydarin crystals and landing on a piece of ground out of what seems like sentimental value (the Overmind just waxes lyrical on its importance) is the direct, specific and mandatory step for the assimilation of the Protoss. Also, prior to the EU specifically stating that Zerg cannot infest (and by extension and implication, assimilate as well I suppose - not sure what the canon says on this specifically) Protoss, when we view Sc1 without such knowledge one should not expect the Overmind's assimilation of the Protoss to be any more difficult than any other species it has assimilated before.

Lastly, since anything the Overmind does can be construed as step toward Protoss assimilation, even my obsolete theory at the time can still be incorporated into it. By calling the numerous Swarms from the outer reaches of the galaxy to Aiur by tapping into the energies of the Crystals and Aiur itself coursing through its physical structure, thereby acting like a beacon, would ensure eventual security and total pacification of resistance so that the Overmind can begin work on assimilating Protoss without distraction or fear of reprisal. Such an outcome would still mean the Overmind has indeed won - hence the premature gloating of the Zerg becoming perfect.

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...

Don't count your chickens yet. The love of Raynor and Kerrigan will conquer all and Amon will probably die because of how saccharine it turns out to be. XD

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.

I thought the manual said it was rumoured that the Overmind resided in recesses of the Tiamat brood. My take on the Overmind was that it was not a single, individualised "soul" to begin with at all but that it was the collective consciousness of the entire Swarm meaning that every individual Zerg creature was in someways both a tiny portion of the Overmind in bottom-up way and the whole part of the Overmind in a top-down way. In this light, the "I am the eternal will of the swarm" is not a metaphor but an accurate description of the Overmind's immortality.

Yes, that's also what I was thinking. But if the Overmind knew about Shakuras, then it surely knew that there were other Dark Templar out there that could threaten it.

As Aldrius points out, if the Overmind did know about Shakuras already this explains why it left Kerrigan on Char (since you've always felt that it was stupid for the Overmind to not bring the ultimate weapon it was searching for to fight the Protoss proper on their originating homeworld) because it wanted her to go there and kill them after she finished her work on Char. It could also explain the Overmind's apparent haste in invading Aiur - it wanted to get it out of the way so that it wouldn't have to face the prospect of two-pronged Protoss front from both Aiur and Shakuras maybe. The Overmind wouldn't go to Shakuras first nor with any haste nor without Kerrigan due to the dangerousness of the Dark Templar.

Either way it's a slippery slope here if the Overmind was know about the secret DT homeworld of Shakuras as well... surely, Zeratul could've sensed the Overmind being you know, enslaved and raging in a prison of its mind too. There is nothing to denote what a "brief touching minds" would mean in terms of the amount of info being transferred or whether the amount of transference was supposed to be asymmetrical or not.

Stage 1: Kerrigan de-infested

Stage 2: ?

Stage 3: Kerrigan wants vengeance

Stage 4: Kerrigan kills Mengsk, gets rid of the emotional baggage

So, in a way, I got Kerrigan's motivations. What really needed to be explained was why those emotions came up, and the question of justifying her pursuit of them (in the macro sense, the micro sense is covered)

Stage 2 is "Kerrigan becomes human again and is embroiled in the typical but petty human emotional conflict of guilt about her own actions and then attempts to justify and rectify it by searching for something to blame - Mengsk is an easy target".

[Gradius]

I thought the manual said it was rumoured that the Overmind resided in recesses of the Tiamat brood. My take on the Overmind was that it was not a single, individualised "soul" to begin with at all but that it was the collective consciousness of the entire Swarm meaning that every individual Zerg creature was in someways both a tiny portion of the Overmind in bottom-up way and the whole part of the Overmind in a top-down way. In this light, the "I am the eternal will of the swarm" is not a metaphor but an accurate description of the Overmind's immortality.

The location was a rumor, but it still indicated that the Overmind had a physical shell. The only other thing is, if the Overmind does not need a physical body, why was the second Overmind forced to morph into a physical shell? I know we can just say that the cerebrates are retarded and don't learn from their mistakes, but I think it's easier to say that a physical body is still a requirement. Plus, it makes it easier to swallow that the UED ended up enslaving the "eternal will of the swarm" with some drugs. :P

[Hawki]

Or maybe the cerebrates had to means to create a non-corporeal Overmind? Cerebrates are distinctly physical bar the 'essence' they bear (depicted in QoB), it isn't far fetched to assume that a cerebrate-based Overmind would operate on the same principles (required physical shell to house essence only Nerazim can fully destroy).

[Turalyon]

The location was a rumor, but it still indicated that the Overmind had a physical shell.

I read it as being that the Overmind having a physical presence at all was a rumour, not just that the location of the Overmind was a rumour. Also consider how the writer of that statement would know the Overmind has a physical presence when they haven't actually seen it and somehow not know where this physical presence is. Sounds a bit strange to me. Also, when it comes to any "physical" description of the Overmind, the manual is most clear that the Overmind is a bodiless entity in its profile.

The only other thing is, if the Overmind does not need a physical body, why was the second Overmind forced to morph into a physical shell? I know we can just say that the cerebrates are retarded and don't learn from their mistakes, but I think it's easier to say that a physical body is still a requirement. Plus, it makes it easier to swallow that the UED ended up enslaving the "eternal will of the swarm" with some drugs. :P

Going from Sc1 alone, it intimates that the Overmind's physical body was the entire Swarm itself... up until it actually became a a physical target in the game proper. :/

The "Second Overmind" is a product of BW, so like it being drugged and then used to control the Swarm, the possibility of its existence at all is a logic gap all of its own.

[Gradius]

up until it actually became a a physical target in the game proper. :/

And the "meteorite" with which it landed. But yes, you're right about the "bodiless entity" description in the manual. Still, I like to think that at some point the Overmind was forced to use a physical shell in order to better coordinate his forces.