Gradius's HoTS Story Review

[FanaticTemplar]

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.

The UED doesn't exist pre-Brood War. It suddenly appears, takes down Arcturus Mengsk and the Overmind, the two biggest bads we had until that point, and takes over their forces. Kerrigan runs around telling people about how the UED is such a threat. Then they destroy the UED's weapons and assets and take down the fleet. How is this not a story about building up and tearing down the UED? Especially in contrast to Kerrigan and Mengsk?

[Turalyon]

How is this not a story about building up and tearing down the UED?

I don't think that this is the point of contention. BW's story is exactly as you've described but it has a greater illusion of being more than that compared to Sc2 so far. With WoL and HotS, the illusion seems a lot more obvious, arbitrary, light-weight and superficial.

[Hawki]

Um, I'm not sure what illusion BW pulled off per se. In fact, the nature of BW and SC2 are similar in regards to perception:

-BW: Starts with protoss escaping Aiur, then revealed that there's an Overmind on Char, then reveals that the UED is in the sector for that Overmind, then revealed that Kerrigan is pulling all the strings, then revealed that hybrids are being made, story ends.

-WoL-HotS: Starts with Raider rebellion against Dominion, then zerg invade, then prophecy revealed, then artifacts' purpose revealed, then revealed that Amon is an immediate threat, story ends

Course that's an abridged version in both cases, but looking at both, each story is built has the framework of a larger conflict, but the thread isn't kept on the straight and narrow. Precursor and Insurrection are also similar, in that the initial premise (colonial rebellion) isn't the ending premise (zerg invasion), and as far as we can tell, Ghost would follow a similar thread, starting with colonial rebellion (at least in premise), moving on to zerg invasion, then coming full circle with terrazine and Nova's loyalty choice between Hauler and Mengsk. Retribution and SC1 keep on the straight and narrow in contrast, in that there's always a singular framing context that we're aware of to various extents, sometimes more overtly than others (I'm looking at you Mr Argus). And then there's Stellar Forces where the thread is cut up beyond repair.

[TSCR]

Mengsk: "Korhal will endure! I will endure!"
Kerrigan: "Nice quote. I'll have it engraved on your tombstone."

For a second there, it felt like Brood War Kerrigan was back.

Also, right before Kerrigan rescues Raynor, when the Leviathan "stabilizes" the prison ship by piercing it with a bunch of tentacles, did anybody else think it would be funny if one of those killed Raynor? :P

It'd be like "Ah, damn! That could of went better..."

HOTS recycles dialogue with Warfield as well. Just before he dies he says:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fIP7...f7FLKB&index=7

Warfield : 'How many innocents have you killed? How many more have to die?'

In Brood War right after Kerrigan betrays and kills Fenix Raynor says:

RAYNOR:
He died because you betrayed him. How many noble souls do you need to consume before you're satisfied? How many more people need to die before you realize what you've become?

Perhaps this sheds some light on why Kerrigan killed Warfield? He reminded her of how she trated Raynor back in Brood War after killing Fenix?

However I still find the whole idea of Kerrigan and Raynor being in love to be implausible. I mean why is Raynor so much in love with her? Why? What makes her so special? He knew her for a few months at most as a human and he knew here for four years as an treacherous zerg. Shouldn't his mind be precoccupied by how evil she is rather than how good she used to be? It just doesn't make logical sense to me.

That's the problems with many love stories IMO. They've been explored so throughly that the genre has become over saturated. There are extremely few ways you can do an interesting love story. The problem with HOTS is that it takes the most simplistic form and that's why it feels so forced.

Now Starcraft is a science fiction so there should be a somewhat scientific basis to everything if not an literary basis. A literary liberty in Starcraft would be how there are loud explosions when ships blow up in space. Scientifically sound can't travel in a vacuum so if there was an explosion in space it would be a silent explosion however composers (like George Lucas) opt to keep the sound there just because it helps to get the adrenalin pumping through the audience).

Now the problem with HOTS is that there's no scientific basis behind Kerrigan and Raynor's love but there is basis for the contrary. Let's look at humans, why are men attracted to women and vice versa? It's because of our instinct to breed. We have this attraction because it's necessary for our survival. Now let's look at the zerg. Do zerg breed? No. There's no breeding in the zerg. The zerg are created from larvae that spawn from the hatchery. There's no mating involved. It's arguable if the zerg even have a gender.

Now since the zerg have no instinct ot breed then why is Kerrigan still in love with Raynor after she reinfests herself? That doesn't make any sense. I mean she's zerg now and her instincts should be intact as a zerg. Her love for a human is like King Kong's love for a lady. I don't even get why the other zergs under her don't criticise her for being in love with a human when she's zerg.

Honestly the only plausible way I think Blizzard could have made the HOTS love story work was if they made a horror-love story or something along those lines. Kerrigan reinfests herself and finds she can't love Raynor anymore even when she tries. Instead she just wants power to evolve further (because that's within her instinct). With some creativity, I think Blizzard could have made a story like that to be quite interesting, even tragic in a way.

Anyway end rant.

[Hawki]

However I still find the whole idea of Kerrigan and Raynor being in love to be implausible. I mean why is Raynor so much in love with her? Why? What makes her so special? He knew her for a few months at most as a human and he knew here for four years as an treacherous zerg.

He didn't know her in those four years though. They were without contact for those four, so his emotions could take their course.

Now Starcraft is a science fiction so there should be a somewhat scientific basis to everything if not an literary basis.

No, not really. The only time a scientific basis is required by definition of genre is in the "hard" sub-genre. There's no real-world basis for warp space, or the Void, or psionic powers, or lots of other things. The notion that everything needs a pre-existing basis for inclusion just ends up stiffling creativity unless one's going for realism. That I prefer believability to realism aside, StarCraft has never been hard sci-fi, and likely never will be.

Now the problem with HOTS is that there's no scientific basis behind Kerrigan and Raynor's love but there is basis for the contrary. Let's look at humans, why are men attracted to women and vice versa? It's because of our instinct to breed. We have this attraction because it's necessary for our survival. Now let's look at the zerg. Do zerg breed? No. There's no breeding in the zerg. The zerg are created from larvae that spawn from the hatchery. There's no mating involved. It's arguable if the zerg even have a gender.

Now since the zerg have no instinct ot breed then why is Kerrigan still in love with Raynor after she reinfests herself? That doesn't make any sense. I mean she's zerg now and her instincts should be intact as a zerg. Her love for a human is like King Kong's love for a lady. I don't even get why the other zergs under her don't criticise her for being in love with a human when she's zerg.

Alright, few things. Firstly, Kerrigan's re-infestation is only on the biological level, but unlike the intitial infestation, is not on the psychological level. Secondly, if it did alter her on the psychological level, it's an example of character change, not character development. Character change isn't adverse in itself, but usually it comes in at the end or beginning of a story. Not at the middle of a story where character development is going to come soon after anyway (discovering Raynor's still alive). Thirdly, the zerg do chastize Kerrigan for her attraction. Not directly, but they repeatedly question her decision to work with the Raiders and express discontent. Fourthly, even if we're putting the relationship in a biological sense, Kerrigan's figure is still distinctly humanoid. Facial expressions, form, these are all something a human can relate to and understand.

[TSCR]

He didn't know her in those four years though. They were without contact for those four, so his emotions could take their course.



No, not really. The only time a scientific basis is required by definition of genre is in the "hard" sub-genre. There's no real-world basis for warp space, or the Void, or psionic powers, or lots of other things. The notion that everything needs a pre-existing basis for inclusion just ends up stiffling creativity unless one's going for realism. That I prefer believability to realism aside, StarCraft has never been hard sci-fi, and likely never will be.



Alright, few things. Firstly, Kerrigan's re-infestation is only on the biological level, but unlike the intitial infestation, is not on the psychological level. Secondly, if it did alter her on the psychological level, it's an example of character change, not character development. Character change isn't adverse in itself, but usually it comes in at the end or beginning of a story. Not at the middle of a story where character development is going to come soon after anyway (discovering Raynor's still alive). Thirdly, the zerg do chastize Kerrigan for her attraction. Not directly, but they repeatedly question her decision to work with the Raiders and express discontent. Fourthly, even if we're putting the relationship in a biological sense, Kerrigan's figure is still distinctly humanoid. Facial expressions, form, these are all something a human can relate to and understand.

That's why it's implausible for his emotions to return to affection. It makes no sense. She left him betrayed and broken so how are his feelings regressing back to affection? His feelings should be full of disgust if not vengeance. Besides my main point is that it doesn't make sense that Raynor is so in love with her. What's so special about Sarah? Raynor had a wife and kid in the past so I don't see how he became so attached to some lady he knew in a few months.

No a somewhat scientific basis should be used in science fiction as long there is a scientific basis for the idea already in the real world. We know hardly a thing about warp space so it's acceptable if Blizzard takes artistic liberties with it but the same cannot be said about love. Love has been studied for ages and Blizzard broke the scientific basis behind love without any plausible explanation.

And that's what I don't get. Why is it not on the psychological level? She is a zerg so she thinks like a zerg. Saying it doesn't affect her psyche is saying that a dog can hold the same conciousness as a human which is just wrong. Even a kid's show like Ben10 uses this idea. The reason why Ben has a time limit on how long he can change into an Alien is stop himself from giving in to the instincts of the Alien species and remain in control. Same for other sciene fiction books even ones written for children like Animorphs. However Blizzard breaks this rule for no real reason other than move a romantic plot forward. I'm not referring to Kerrigan's form. I'm talking about her as what creature she is. She's a zerg now. There is no logical reason why her love for the human Raynor should continue. Its existance should have ceased.

The main problem with Starcraft 2 is that it seems to me that Blizzard's new writing team just don't like what happened in the original so they go about trying to 'erase' the original so they can do something else. That's why they create some strange love plot and go about dealing with Brood War characters so anticlimatically. The whole amnesia device seemed to be a part of all this as well.

[Hawki]

That's why it's implausible for his emotions to return to affection. It makes no sense. She left him betrayed and broken so how are his feelings regressing back to affection? His feelings should be full of disgust if not vengeance.

No-one ever said love was rational. And even then, it isn't too implausible. On Korhal, Raynor's left with vengeance. By the end of BW, he's been left broken. By WoL, that brokenness remains along with regret and the like. He remains conflicted over the issue of Kerrigan right up to the moment of shooting Tychus.

Besides my main point is that it doesn't make sense that Raynor is so in love with her. What's so special about Sarah? Raynor had a wife and kid in the past so I don't see how he became so attached to some lady he knew in a few months.

Technically he fell for Liddy in a similar period of time, a year at the most. But that aside, the relationship was established in SC1 itself and left dangling at the end of BW. I can't fault WoL and HotS for wrapping up/developing plot threads that had yet to be addressed.

No a somewhat scientific basis should be used in science fiction as long there is a scientific basis for the idea already in the real world. We know hardly a thing about warp space so it's acceptable if Blizzard takes artistic liberties with it but the same cannot be said about love. Love has been studied for ages and Blizzard broke the scientific basis behind love without any plausible explanation.

Regardless of whatever scientific basis may or may not exist for love, it's not a basis we're slaves to. We behave irrationally. What may be physically and psychologically appealing to one person may disgust another. If fiction operated on the basis that love and affection is something that can be boiled down to cold science, then Romeo would have never married Juliet, Arwen would have never chosen a mortal life to live with Arragorn, and Bella would have never married Edward (which I'm sure many would argue would be preferable). And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

She is a zerg so she thinks like a zerg.

No, she doesn't. She's never thought like a zerg, not even in SC1. While infestation undoubtedly altered her psychologically, even back then she was impetuous, defied authority, was willing to manipulate enemies, etc. The closest Kerrigan's ever been to being pure zerg was in WoL, and even then human personality aspects remained.

Saying it doesn't affect her psyche is saying that a dog can hold the same conciousness as a human which is just wrong.

Why? There's no reason to assume conciousness transfer is possible, ergo, there's no scientific basis either way. In a real-world sense, there's no limiting factor. In a setting sense, there's factors that show levels of communication. Nova could understand Pip's train of thought, Kerrigan could retain a human-esque psyche under the Overmind, Green Eyes retained levels of his old self even centuries after assimilation, etc.

Even a kid's show like Ben10 uses this idea. The reason why Ben has a time limit on how long he can change into an Alien is stop himself from giving in to the instincts of the Alien species and remain in control. Same for other sciene fiction books even ones written for children like Animorphs.

Just because fiction uses an idea doesn't mean that fiction is bound to follow that idea, or that idea is better than others. I can't comment on Ben 10, but yes, Animorphs uses the premise that animal morphs retain traces of their base species's psyche, and that some animals are easier to operate in psychologically than others. But I could just as easily cite The Gizmo (a children's book) as an example of where a human's mind is transferred into a dog's body and vice versa, where he retains his full human instincts in said dog's body whereas the dog retains his full set of instincts in said human's body. Neither version is more accurate than the other because there's no real-world example to compare it to. And even if there was a real-world example either way, it's academic. If it were scientific fact that a human mind is fully retained in an animal's body, that Animorphs can get around it by saying "it's andalite technology, it's a bit glitchy in the animal assimilation/transformation process. If it were scientific fact that a human conciousness will be altered by an animal's phisiology, then The Gizmo can get around that by saying "the gizmo is a marvel of technology and allows a human conciousness to fully maintain itself. So unless zerg really exist and really start infesting humans, the setting has no burden of conformity to what may or may not be plausible.

However Blizzard breaks this rule for no real reason other than move a romantic plot forward. I'm not referring to Kerrigan's form. I'm talking about her as what creature she is. She's a zerg now. There is no logical reason why her love for the human Raynor should continue. Its existance should have ceased.

Except there's no rule to break. We've seen her retain human elements after the first infestation, and she's not the only infested terran to do so. And it's arguable whether her power buff on Zerus even counts as infestation per se, when all it does is change her biologically and psionically.

The main problem with Starcraft 2 is that it seems to me that Blizzard's new writing team just don't like what happened in the original so they go about trying to 'erase' the original so they can do something else. That's why they create some strange love plot

Except the love plot was never resolved in the first place. There were four ways it could have ended - Raynor killing Kerrigan, Kerrigan killing Raynor, Raynor moving beyond Kerrigan, or Raynor saving Kerrigan. The end of BW leaves the choice ambiguous. You could argue that it went with option 3 at the end, but there's not enough gravitas to really call it distinct.

[Aldrius]

The UED doesn't exist pre-Brood War. It suddenly appears, takes down Arcturus Mengsk and the Overmind, the two biggest bads we had until that point, and takes over their forces. Kerrigan runs around telling people about how the UED is such a threat. Then they destroy the UED's weapons and assets and take down the fleet. How is this not a story about building up and tearing down the UED? Especially in contrast to Kerrigan and Mengsk?

Because that's not what the story is about. They're hardly in the Protoss campaign. They're the Protagonists in the Terran campaign, and definitely not portrayed as villainous in that story.

I think one main thing is, the story changes in SC1 as opposed to SC2 which has a consistent narrative through out. The SC1 campaigns are three chapters in a larger story. The Protoss campaign is about the Protoss finding a home, the Terran campaign is about the UED taking control of the sector, the Zerg campaign is about Kerrigan's ascension. The first two campaigns are almost a build-up for the third. None of the major plot elements that the story is 'about' even really appear until the Zerg campaign. (TFT actually followed a similar structure)

SC2 is pretty much about the same thing from beginning to end. The threads don't really follow eachother very well, and there's not really a strong beginning-middle and end.

[FanaticTemplar]

I don't think that this is the point of contention. BW's story is exactly as you've described but it has a greater illusion of being more than that compared to Sc2 so far. With WoL and HotS, the illusion seems a lot more obvious, arbitrary, light-weight and superficial.

Well, I wonder. Is there an objective reckoning for such things?

Because that's not what the story is about. They're hardly in the Protoss campaign. They're the Protagonists in the Terran campaign, and definitely not portrayed as villainous in that story.

I think one main thing is, the story changes in SC1 as opposed to SC2 which has a consistent narrative through out. The SC1 campaigns are three chapters in a larger story. The Protoss campaign is about the Protoss finding a home, the Terran campaign is about the UED taking control of the sector, the Zerg campaign is about Kerrigan's ascension. The first two campaigns are almost a build-up for the third. None of the major plot elements that the story is 'about' even really appear until the Zerg campaign. (TFT actually followed a similar structure)

The Stand is irrelevant to the story of Brood War and is pretty much terrible. But what does "villainous" have to do with anything? That's not what we were discussing at all. Kerrigan's ascension, which is revealed in the epilogue of StaCraft, is relevant to this story only in that she is the one who takes down the UED. Other than this, Brood War decided to make every faction other than the Zerg and the UED utterly insignificant, so combined with the fact that, as previously mentioned, Kerrigan's ascension had already been established makes it pretty much a de facto result from the result of the UED's story.

What it comes down to is that everything that happens does so because of the UED, not Kerrigan.

Now the problem with HOTS is that there's no scientific basis behind Kerrigan and Raynor's love but there is basis for the contrary. Let's look at humans, why are men attracted to women and vice versa? It's because of our instinct to breed. We have this attraction because it's necessary for our survival. Now let's look at the zerg. Do zerg breed? No. There's no breeding in the zerg. The zerg are created from larvae that spawn from the hatchery. There's no mating involved. It's arguable if the zerg even have a gender.

Ah, love. The most logical of emotions.

What you're saying here is that Raynor and Kerrigan shouldn't love each other if they can't breed. Which, you know, homosexuality and stuff. But that's not really accurate. More precisely, you're saying that it's okay that they fell in love, but they should have immediately lost that feeling the moment the female changed to become unable to reproduce with Raynor. More accurately, you're advocating that "scientifically" it is impossible to love after menopause. I'm assuming you have evidence for this.

[Aldrius]

Kerrigan's ascension, which is revealed in the epilogue of StaCraft, is relevant to this story only in that she is the one who takes down the UED. Other than this, Brood War decided to make every faction other than the Zerg and the UED utterly insignificant, so combined with the fact that, as previously mentioned, Kerrigan's ascension had already been established makes it pretty much a de facto result from the result of the UED's story.

What it comes down to is that everything that happens does so because of the UED, not Kerrigan.

Kerrigan's plotting is the main thrust of the story's climax. Things happen because of Kerrigan. Fenix, Mengsk, Raynor and Zeratul are major characters in the story's final act, so no, I wouldn't say the UED and Kerrigan are all that matter. And I don't see how the Fall is irrelevant... it may not tie in directly with the Kerrigan stuff going on in the last act (aside from Raszagal) but it's informing us of important aspects of what's going on with the Protoss, and the world at large. And Kerrigan plays an important role there too.