StarCraft & Atmosphere

[DonnyZeDoof]

I wouldn't say Sc1 was more about emotion exactly since Sc2 tries to be emo too through its focus on "characters". Rather, Sc1 is more about consequence. Things that happened throughout Sc1 resonated more because they felt more significant, long-lasting, irreversible and natural. In contrast, Sc2 is definitely more about spectacle but it's also more about contrivance.

One only has to look at how death is treated in Sc1 vs Sc2 for a prime example. In Sc1, most characters that die stay dead. In Sc2, there are re-appearances of "dead" past characters like Tassadar, the Overmind, Stukov and even the concept of Amon revolves around him being apparently "dead" at first. The announcement of Raynor's "death" in HotS and the appearance of "Fenix" in LotV also qualifies in this regard. Death is treated like a gimmick, something temporary/to be gotten over. The perceived unreality of it is already one thing to contend with (which is not necessarily a bad thing), but that it's also purposefully and obviously done for the express sake of cameo/callback is what makes it contrived. It also makes any death that does occur in Sc2 somewhat meaningless because of the precedent of death not being permanent.

What did you think of Zeratul's death in Legacy of the Void? Did it feel meaningless?

[The_Blade]

What did you think of Zeratul's death in Legacy of the Void? Did it feel meaningless?

For me it felt orchestrated. LotV Zeratul is a complete different character to the WoL or HotS counterpart, and he was almost written as a "just die" role. When he dusted out into the wind, my disbelief just skyrocketed.

I could compare it best with Tychus' death.

[ragnarok]

For me it felt orchestrated. LotV Zeratul is a complete different character to the WoL or HotS counterpart, and he was almost written as a "just die" role. When he dusted out into the wind, my disbelief just skyrocketed.

I could compare it best with Tychus' death.

I doubt it mattered. On the battlenet forums there's enough people who said Zeratul died the moment the SC2 lore writers came out anyway.

[KaiserStratosTygo]

"there's enough people who said Zeratul died the moment the SC2 lore writers came out anyway.

Well.... if the shoe fits...

[ragnarok]

Well.... if the shoe fits...

That's more because you and others felt it makes no sense to put prophecy into a sci-fi game. Now, on the other hand had Blizzard admitted since WoL that it'll be sci-fantasy....

[Turalyon]

What did you think of Zeratul's death in Legacy of the Void? Did it feel meaningless?

For me it felt orchestrated. LotV Zeratul is a complete different character to the WoL or HotS counterpart, and he was almost written as a "just die" role.

Blade's onto it. It's used more as a means to serve the plot of the story rather than feel like something that naturally builds to it or is narratively earnt. Also, note that I said "somewhat meaningless". Sure, his demise is depicted well enough in that "going out like a champ/hero" sort of way, but given that Sc2 has resurrected dead characters in Sc1 under flimsy pretenses (the Overmind was kind of alive again... for the third time!), it makes any death we see from that point feel shallow/less concrete because there's always this doubt that they'd somehow still be alive due to some potential later, yet-to-be-revealed retcon. I remember that there was, at the time of when WoL was out, the possibility of Tychus making a comeback at one point all because he was popular. That doubt carries on to any of the deaths that you do see later (like Warfield and Mengsk). It's such that "seeing is believing" isn't anymore.

With Zeratul's death specifically, it's supposed to be affecting/meaningful to the audience largely due to nostalgia of the character as depicted in Sc1 because there's very precious little in Sc2 that endears Zeratul to the audience member. A complete neophyte to Starcraft who only goes through Sc2 would probably wonder why anyone would care at all for Sc2 Zeratul since he was was a loner the whole time and had only "informed friends" in Raynor and Artanis, who didn't even act that friendly with him in any of the short interactions they had anyway.

When Z died in LotV, it was certainly meaningful alright... but not in the way the writers would've liked me to be. Rather than the expected/typical sadness and pity about missing the character that the writers were aiming for, it was more to the relief that the character was disposed of so that it no longer had to suffer any further writing indignities placed on him already. It's weird that instead of wanting the character to not die, I hoped that he actually stayed dead for the sake of what integrity and dignity of the character that was left (if he indeed had any at all remaining in Sc2 that is).

there's enough people who said Zeratul died the moment the SC2 lore writers came out anyway.

This joke cracks me up everytime.

Whoever that "thing" was masquerading as "Zeratul" in Sc2, it definitely was not the Zeratul depicted in Sc1. That's not even considering him having a different voice and wonky dialogue in Sc2 neither!

[Visions of Khas]

Fred Tatusciore is a skilled and prolific voice actor, but he lacks that incisive bite Jack Ritschel had. Ritschel also brought an amount of gravitas to DuGalle he otherwise lacked. Zeratul was always a brooding character. But where Zeratul of Broid War was calculating, determined and had a streak of righteous fury, SCII Zeratul had his presence undercut by melancholy and resignation -- even for all the talk of hope.

[ragnarok]

This joke cracks me up everytime.

Whoever that "thing" was masquerading as "Zeratul" in Sc2, it definitely was not the Zeratul depicted in Sc1. That's not even considering him having a different voice and wonky dialogue in Sc2 neither!

Why said anything about joking? If you had looked at the battlenet forums, you'd know what I'm talking about.

[Nissa]

I kinda cheered when "Zeratul" died. In an ironic way, because the death scene was so stupid.

Also, while we're complaining about SC2, one of my worst gripes about SC2 was that it had nothing to do with WoL and HotS. I grant that some here may consider that a plus, but it just goes to show that nobody had a plan from the beginning. Nothing from the previous games really built into LotV, creating a narrative. It's just one random thing after another, plus a bunch of reactions from fan complaint.

[ragnarok]

I kinda cheered when "Zeratul" died. In an ironic way, because the death scene was so stupid.

Also, while we're complaining about SC2, one of my worst gripes about SC2 was that it had nothing to do with WoL and HotS. I grant that some here may consider that a plus, but it just goes to show that nobody had a plan from the beginning. Nothing from the previous games really built into LotV, creating a narrative. It's just one random thing after another, plus a bunch of reactions from fan complaint.

I had expected his death, maybe not as early as LotV had it, but still. Regardless, I didn't mind it, just not happy with so many of those on the battlenet forums saying that he died the moment Blizzard began work on SC2 in the first place.