LotV Trailer!

[Dexter]

The trailer is awesome!

[Gradius]

The trailer is awesome!

Go back to your lab or else Mandark will sabotage it again.

[DemolitionSquid]

Go back to your lab or else Mandark will sabotage it again.

SECRET WEAPON UNLEASHED!

[ragnarok]

Go back to your lab or else Mandark will sabotage it again.

You really think it's that crappy?

[Aldrius]

James Phinney cowrote SC1. Metzen wrote BW by himself, which, incidentally, was a lot worse.

James Phinney was the game director, honestly his actual writing contribution was probably somewhat limited. I also wouldn't say Brood War was a lot worse. It did some things better, some things worse. It was a different kind of story. I wouldn't chalk any substantial difference between Vanilla and Brood War up to his involvement.

But if Metzen did write BW then why is SC2 so different from BW?

How could he have Raynor swear to kill Kerrigan and then make him love sick for her in SC2?

He didn't write StarCraft 2. Plus, Raynor can want to kill Kerrigan and still love her, it was more of a contextual failure in SC2. There are SOME references to his desire to kill her, there's some question about why he's doing what he's doing... and then it's immediately contradicted and the story just makes it really obvious he wants his lover back.

(Stuff like Horner saying "I'm not sure what he'll do if we ever see her again.")

The main thing about StarCraft 2 is, they missed some key story points from the original game. "True Colours" is pretty much completely ignored. Infested Kerrigan being anything but an evil wench is ignored. The people who wrote it clearly just had no real understanding of any of the characters and wanted to tell their own story. With a minimal amount of fan service to attempt to make fans of the first game happy.

[TheEconomist]

Given that the original campaigns drew so much from story archetypes (revolution, sacrificial savior, etc.) could account for some of its superiority.

[Aldrius]

Given that the original campaigns drew so much from story archetypes (revolution, sacrificial savior, etc.) could account for some of its superiority.

Yeah but I wouldn't say those things are missing from Brood War necessarily. There's certainly lots of political themes with the UED, and Kerrigan evokes some pretty old-school characterization archetypes.

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Given that the original campaigns drew so much from story archetypes (revolution, sacrificial savior, etc.) could account for some of its superiority.

Yeah but I wouldn't say those things are missing from Brood War necessarily. There's certainly lots of political themes with the UED, and Kerrigan evokes some pretty old-school characterization archetypes.

[TheEconomist]

What I meant to say was that it draws from history and other stronger inspirations. Brood War was more of a video game universe like progression, not that that's bad, just can explain some of the change in feels.

[Turalyon]

James Phinney was the game director, honestly his actual writing contribution was probably somewhat limited. I also wouldn't say Brood War was a lot worse. It did some things better, some things worse. It was a different kind of story. I wouldn't chalk any substantial difference between Vanilla and Brood War up to his involvement.

According to the manual, Phinney was credited for being a producer, senior designer, script and story (the only other person credited beside Metzen), strike team and scenario design. The difference between the stories of Sc1 and BW is that for the former, the action is largely driven by the characters whilst for the latter, the action is largely driven by plot devices. Fast forward to Sc2 and we still see the game being driven by plot devices and Metzen still being the guy to OK this stuff.

As to an indication of what Phinney was capable of in terms of story-writing, I refer you to the game Sacrifice. He was the sole writer/creative force for that game's universe.

The main thing about StarCraft 2 is, they missed some key story points from the original game. "True Colours" is pretty much completely ignored. Infested Kerrigan being anything but an evil wench is ignored. The people who wrote it clearly just had no real understanding of any of the characters and wanted to tell their own story. With a minimal amount of fan service to attempt to make fans of the first game happy.

Some would call the ignoring of key story points from the previous games a lack of "continuity" rather than merely a lack of "fan service". What good is a sequel without proper continuity?

[TheEconomist]

For a game which was supposed to focus on the characters, I sure felt like there was more character development in SCBW. That's, of course, not including the largely useless dialogue.

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For a game which was supposed to focus on the characters, I sure felt like there was more character development in SCBW. That's, of course, not including the largely useless dialogue.