Favorite HoTS Arcs

[Gradius]

What is your favorite planet/story arc from HoTS in terms of story? Here are mine, in descending order:

1) Skygeirr
2) Char
3) Umoja
4) Korhal
5) Space
6) Kaldir
7) Zerus

Skygierr included several interesting things that I like: Stukov, Hybrids, Kerrigan getting owned by Hybrids, Duran, the overarching xel'naga arc, etc. Char was great because it went back to the basics of a decent zerg campaign. Warfield was one of the few characters to call Kerrigan out for reverting to a genocidal maniac, but laying the smackdown on him was still way fun. Umoja was interesting because we finally got to see Umojans, who have the sterilized white aesthetic that I love that's been going around in sci-fi, and things didn't start going downhill for me storywise yet.

Korhal, again, back to basics, a giant invasion. Still, hate the fact that it's some giant deal to destroy what has always been an easy target for the zerg. Space was awesome gameplay-wise, but the stupidity of fighting against Mira and Mengsk failing to blow up the prison ship in time just puts it too far down on the list. Kaldir I hate because it's an example of needless genocide and makes the protoss look like incompetent weaklings. Zerus is just one of the worst arcs in SC2 because I loathe the primal zerg concept, hate all the retcons, and hate the fact that traveling halfway across the galaxy in such a short amount of time is even possible.

[ragnarok]

You said Narud was a poor excuse because we don't even know where he came from, and Stukov's explanations weren't exactly favorable...

[RetlocLive]

Probably an odd choice, but I believe the Char arc has HotS' best overall storytelling, and is probably the one arc I look at in a positive light.

-Zagara's introduction was a great way to introduce a character (she was kinda like a mentor figure testing to see if Kerrigan was still worthy of leading the Swarm in her current state), and her mission gives Kerrigan a batch of reinforcements to make the latter battles against Warfield much more believable. Just a shame the character ended up sucking horribly in practically every appearance afterwards.

-I also liked the build up to the eventual Warfield confrontation with him calling her out for returning to the persona she use to be as the QoB. If there was better storytelling later on, this could have made for a great turning point where she treats life in a better manner instead of going down the dark path again...which is all but thrown out the window once she chooses to re-infest herself on Zerus, or worse...if you ended up saving the Kal'dir arc until AFTER Char.

[ragnarok]

Probably an odd choice, but I liked how the Char arc played out.

-Zagara's introduction was a great way to introduce a character (she was kinda like a mentor figure testing to see if Kerrigan was still worthy of leading the Swarm in her current state), and her mission gives Kerrigan a batch of reinforcements to make the latter battles against Warfield much more believable. Just a shame the character ended up sucking horribly in practically every appearance afterwards.

-I also liked the build up to the eventual Warfield confrontation with him calling her out for returning to the persona she use to be as the QoB. If there was better storytelling later on, this could have made for a great turning point where she treats life in a better manner instead of going down the dark path again...which is all but thrown out the window once she chooses to re-infest herself on Zerus, or worse...if you ended up saving the Kal'dir arc until AFTER Char.

Which order did YOU do the 3 arcs in, Retlo?

Because I tended to do it in Char, Zerus, and then Kaldir, which was why I felt Char was the best one and because it showed Kerrigan was still willing to give Warfield a chance BEFORE learning Raynor was alive.

Skygeirr was the next, only because it revealed more on the prophecy.

The Space missions came next because of the "Believe in Me" cutscene, but that one was dinged because the writers forgot about the relationship on Matt and Mira as shown in Flashpoint.

The Korhal invasion was bad in the FIRST of the 3 missions, I felt I was doing the Char invasion in WoL with the rescuing Dominion battle groups all over again, and that was meh. The other 2 were better, though you didn't really HAVE to defend the Hyperion in the last HotS mission, Mengsk reacted too slow.

Kaldir was next, mainly because of dealing with the Protoss and because they appeared too little so far in both WoL and HotS, but as I felt Kerrigan DID show regret for killing Lassara, I cannot see her as a complete monster, or even 95% of one, as you and I discussed on skype, Gradius. I just believed that Raynor never got the chance to bring it out of her because the abduction.

And that is why the Umojan missions rank after Kaldir. I was glad in mission 2 for the "old days" with Raynor and Kerrigan side by side again, but since he was taken by the Dominion too quickly, this fell short.

As for Zerus, the cutscene with Zeratul was the good part, but I wasn't too happy that the primal Zerg simply copied the corrupted Zerg's genetic info and everything and we didn't get to see a lot of the original primal Zerg, save for the pack leaders and such.

[RetlocLive]

The true path for me went Umoja > Kal'dir > Char > Zerus > Space > Skygeirr > Korhal

But then again, I also think Kal'dir just shouldn't be included at all since its the closest thing HotS has to filler like the Hanson/Tosh arcs were for WoL.

[ragnarok]

The true path for me went Umoja > Kal'dir > Char > Zerus > Space > Skygeirr > Korhal

But then again, I also think Kal'dir just shouldn't be included at all since its the closest thing HotS has to filler like the Hanson/Tosh arcs were for WoL.

Hmmm, I always thought it was supposed to be Skygeirr first, and THEN Space.

After all, Kerrigan's actions on the Skygeirr platform was still the whole matter of such cruelty on Dominion soldiers. Sure, they deserved it, but if she did that AFTER Raynor was rescued off the Moros, I just don't think it'd fit.

Remember, that was the whole reason why she even gave in to Valerian's request to land the swarm outside Augustgrad in the first place. You can say this is a weak excuse, but it was only in the aftermath of rescuing Raynor that Kerrigan realized unless she changed her mentality of taking revenge on Mengsk at ANY cost, then all of Raynor's actions really WILL be for nothing.

Sure, plenty had already died before she realized this, but still....

[RetlocLive]

For me, Skygeirr feels like "final arc" material (even moreso than the actual Korhal finale) while for Space, it would feel like something Kerrigan would want to go for right away since its the missions that lead her to Raynor.

If anything, the harder choice as to which came first would be if Kal'dir or Char came first as both are, more or less, just Kerrigan picking up much needed reinforcements. Only reason I put Char second is because the Warfield moment comes off as a good closer to her picking up reinforcements before heading off to Zerus.

And Zerus would obviously be the middle ground. No problems there.

[ragnarok]

For me, Skygeirr feels like "final arc" material (even moreso than the actual Korhal finale) while for Space, it would feel like something Kerrigan would want to go for right away since its the missions that lead her to Raynor.

If anything, the harder choice as to which came first would be if Kal'dir or Char came first as both are, more or less, just Kerrigan picking up much needed reinforcements. Only reason I put Char second is because the Warfield moment comes off as a good closer to her picking up reinforcements before heading off to Zerus.

And Zerus would obviously be the middle ground. No problems there.

Well to me, Kaldir made more sense to come first because otherwise the cutscene with Zeratul wouldn't make much sense.

After all, if she went to Char first, and then Zeratul contacted her about Zerus, then then first thing she does after the primal transformation is kill more Protoss, then Zeratul's actions would make no sense.

Again, as Blizzard said it themselves, the whole point of why the Overmind did what it did was only for Kerrigan to ensure the survival of the swarm. If you do Zerus and THEN Kaldir, it would send the message that her plan for that is to kill everyone else, allowing the Zerg to grow stronger from that to beat Amon.

Which, as far as I see, is still a possibility.

[NikoMyCousin]

Char > Space > Skygierr > Umoja > Zerus > Kaldir

I hate Kaldir the most. One of Kerrigan's traits is that she doesn't take prisoners. Yet, after 4 years under her leadership, Izsha captures Lasarra. One of many flaws in that arch that ends up not making any sense at all.

[RetlocLive]

I hate Kaldir the most.

Dont worry, about 95% of the fanbase that can actually think logically hate this arc the most.