Gradius's HoTS Story Review

[Visions of Khas]

Duran destroyed the UED's chances by taking out their assets behind the scenes. Now, Stukov is taking out HIS assets behind the scenes, allowing Kerrigan to beat the crap out of him. In essence, he fell prey to the same tactic he used on alexei

That's interesting and I hadn't thought of it that way. It's a fitting reversal. I just wish there were more tension between Stukov and Kerrigan, since Kerrigan kinda killed his best friend and fleet and all.

[LordofAscension]

Excellent points, all of you.

I will be incorporating many of these thoughts into my massive review of the game. If you guys have any more to add or are willing to provide sourcing for some of the historical aspects, that would definitely help as well.

I love a good lore discussion and you guys are hitting much of it on the head. Anyone here interested in writing for SC:L? We're moving to a freelance model, so all writing is paid for

~LoA

[Laurentian]

Did anyone else notice that HOTS appears to have retconed Kerrigan's death toll? In WOL "billions" died in the initial zerg attack and Raynor says that Kerrigan killed 8 billion people. However at the beginning of the second mission Kerrigan is said to have killed "millions" and later Warfield says she has killed "thousands" of his men. I imagine they did this to make her more sympathetic and perhaps to address the Fridge Logic of the size of the Terran population and its huge population growth.

[Visions of Khas]

Did anyone else notice that HOTS appears to have retconed Kerrigan's death toll? In WOL "billions" died in the initial zerg attack and Raynor says that Kerrigan killed 8 billion people. However at the beginning of the second mission Kerrigan is said to have killed "millions" and later Warfield says she has killed "thousands" of his men. I imagine they did this to make her more sympathetic and perhaps to address the Fridge Logic of the size of the Terran population and its huge population growth.

I'm not worried about the figures too much. It's clear she's killed several "-illions" of people.

UNN stated the Swarm's initial invasion in WoL got the toll up to several billion, but I'm of the opinion that it was hyperbole and overestimated figures. She may have killed thousands of Warfield's troops during his invasion of Char; and Raynor is probably just saying "millions" to mean a metric shit-ton of people throughout the Queen of Blades' career.

Whatever the case, I'm extremely disappointed with the way everyone is, yet again, willing to welcome back Kerrigan with arms wide open. (Didn't they learn from their first mistake? Guess not.)

[Laurentian]

I'm not worried about the figures too much. It's clear she's killed several "-illions" of people.

UNN stated the Swarm's initial invasion in WoL got the toll up to several billion, but I'm of the opinion that it was hyperbole and overestimated figures. She may have killed thousands of Warfield's troops during his invasion of Char; and Raynor is probably just saying "millions" to mean a metric shit-ton of people throughout the Queen of Blades' career.

Raynor says she killed 8 Billion people. That statement implies that he has a rough estimate of the people she killed. In HOTS this is ignored in favour of "millions." Seems they want her death toll to look less large.

Whatever the case, I'm extremely disappointed with the way everyone is, yet again, willing to welcome back Kerrigan with arms wide open. (Didn't they learn from their first mistake? Guess not.)

I found it rather silly that Warfield is shocked by her betrayal and all. I mean what did he expect? He didn't know her while she was human. It's not like she has done anything since New Gettysberg to show she wasn't going to try to conquer humanity.

I find it funny to see SC2 critics complaining about how the game should be about political infighting and being praising Game of Thrones for having that. I not sure what they mean by that. I doubt they want Yes, Minister or even The West Wing.

Dehaka talked so much about essence I'm surprised he didn't start ranting about water flouridation and losing his precious bodily fluids.

So that secret mission from that N64 game is canon huh? And If I didn't read Starcraftwiki or see Blizzcon footage I would have no idea that Stukov was still alive let alone infested. Awfully forgiving Stukov is of Kerrigan for killing him and Dugale. And does this mean that Johnny Raynor will be the lead of StarCraft 3 when that comes out in 2030? The fact that his existence has not been acknowledged ingame can't stop them!

[GRUNT]

Awesome and detailed review, Gradius.

I too was disappointed by the numerous retcons (especially the 'mangling' of the term 'purity of essence'). However, I have to admit, despite the inconsistencies, I think that HotS by itself, works better in terms of story and pacing than WoL did. A lot of Kerrigan's behaviours are inconsistent mainly just if you take into account previous lore (which is no excuse, I know), but it at least worked in HotS' context, whereas I feel that a lot of Jim's decisions in WoL were just plain inexplicable :P.

The best part was when Kerrigan just floated away. I was like: "What?? You could do that THE WHOLE TIME??"

[LordofAscension]

A lot of Kerrigan's behaviours are inconsistent mainly just if you take into account previous lore (which is no excuse, I know), but it at least worked in HotS' context, whereas I feel that a lot of Jim's decisions in WoL were just plain inexplicable :P.

I actually think that's an excellent point. Well said.

The best part was when Kerrigan just floated away. I was like: "What?? You could do that THE WHOLE TIME??"

The Leviathan was sucking the Zerg back up.

On an unrelated note, did anyone else think it was cheesy that Kerrigan had to close her eyes and touch her temple to communicate with the Brood Mother's in other systems? I'm sure it was just to show what she was doing, but if she can exert control over billions of life forms then why does she need to do that?

~LoA

[FanaticTemplar]

The best part was when Kerrigan just floated away. I was like: "What?? You could do that THE WHOLE TIME??"

Kerrigan ascending into the sky angelically and turning into a brilliant star of light killed me. And this is coming from someone who only slightly rolled his eyes at the Convenient Weather during Raynor's 'some things are just worth fighting for' speech.

[Visions of Khas]

On an unrelated note, did anyone else think it was cheesy that Kerrigan had to close her eyes and touch her temple to communicate with the Brood Mother's in other systems? I'm sure it was just to show what she was doing, but if she can exert control over billions of life forms then why does she need to do that?

Yeah, I think that could have been handled better. Have her voice echo as the camera pans from world to world, from Zergling to Overlord to Queen. Perhaps several voices speak together as one. I think that would have helped drive home the point that the Zerg are a Hive Mind, and not just puppets. That's an aspect to them that was sorely lacking in HotS.

[DarthYam]

gradius made some good points but on the whole I disagree.

Kerrigan never struck me as being wholly in control by brood war (as gradius himself stated


I also don't think the retcons are irreconcillable, though i'll get into that later

1.) If I recall correctly, the manuel stated that the overmind was made while the zerg were already highly developed. I also think it's possible that Amon was part of the original Xel'naga team, and that he probably suggested "hey maybe we should put a hivemind in place. You know, in case the protoss repeats itself" before silently sabotaging the hive mind.