Starcraft reboot ideas discussion thread

[Mislagnissa]

Not all of us got into the SC universe from the SC1 lore. There certainly are holes, something I'm still looking for ways to fill in, that is all.

What holes are you talking about and how do you propose to fill them? The plot of Starcraft 2 is embarrassingly bad and cannot be salvaged. Even my suggestions are just glossing over it while focusing on future games instead.

I am aware that SC2 fans may have points of contention against my suggestions. Backtracking retcons will lose fans, SC2 players would be confused, a bigger protoss empire from nowhere would trivialize the Aiur protoss and creates plot holes, the psi emitter is overused, etc. To all those complaints, I say that Blizzard already pulls those stunts all the time and whining about them is pointless.

• Retcons are not inherently bad, and retcons to fix the franchise and put it back on track would only lose the shallow fans. The Overmind and Khala (as well as all the baggage associated with them like the cerebrates, broods, tribes, castes, etc) are the only parts of the zerg and protoss which make them interesting and different from humans. Starcraft 2 is crappy for destroying all that.
• Players introduced through SC2 had no problems understanding the plot (despite its sheer stupidity), so backtracking by re-introducing the Overmind and Khala would not be a big leap for them. The zerg and protoss are crappy and boring otherwise, because that was the entirety of their culture and they have nothing else to do but ape humans (which is stupid).
• Introducing a new protoss empire is no different from introducing the UED, since SC1 went to so much effort to cut off Earth for a clean slate only to throw all that work into the shitter in the first expansion. In fact, this is exactly what Blizzard did in Warcraft 2 and 3: introduce new empires and entire continents which did not exist before. Starcraft is a scifi setting in which they could introduce literally anything. Introducing a new protoss empire would fix more problems than it creates, since SC2 went out of its way to make the protoss into a generic dying race with no genetic diversity (the manual stated tribes had distinct skin tones) or any culture period beyond bland paladin stereotypes (again, the manual stated that tribes had their own cultures).
• The plot holes created by a new big protoss empire can be easily explained. The Aiur protoss did not evacuate to the empire? Well clearly there were extenuating factors, like maybe they did not have access or something? Maybe they were cut off for centuries and forgot the empire existed? In any case, that complaint is easily addressed.
• Yes, the psi emitter is overused, but that's the problem with introducing plot devices like that. You absolutely have to use them whenever it would be convenient, otherwise your characters will look like idiots. Really, you should chastise Blizzard for introducing psi emitters in the first place.
• Lastly, SC3 will definitely make a bunch of stupid new retcons that SC2 fans will complain about (while SC1 fans will just shake their heads knowingly), because that is what Blizzard does. At least my suggestions would make the lore less convoluted and inconsistent. It is virtually certain that SC3 will introduce new factions that never existed before in order to justify another galactic apocalypse plot and be essentially a self-contained story only tangentially related to the previous installments, since every single Starcraft and Warcraft game has done just that.

[ragnarok]

It's exactly this reason why I had gotten the impression back when I was on the battlenet forums that the people who disliked the SC2 storyline felt the writers should be locked in the insane asylum for writing a story that a monkey could have done better.

Now yes we all know even those who aren't die hard lore fans certainly felt there were serious problems with the storyline, but I'm not convinced to just use the nuke option on it

[Mislagnissa]

It's exactly this reason why I had gotten the impression back when I was on the battlenet forums that the people who disliked the SC2 storyline felt the writers should be locked in the insane asylum for writing a story that a monkey could have done better.

Now yes we all know even those who aren't die hard lore fans certainly felt there were serious problems with the storyline, but I'm not convinced to just use the nuke option on it

Again, I did not suggest the nuke option. I suggested resurrecting dead plot points to pick up the slack in this franchise.

Seriously, if BW can retcon in the UED and SC2 can retcon in Amon, then retconning in a galactic protoss empire and a revived overmind is perfectly permissible. Blizzard will definitely do something like that to justify another apocalypse in SC3. Remember the Eredar fiasco?

Can anyone give compelling reasons why my suggestions would not rejuvenate the franchise and are not better than anything Blizz could think up?

[Mislagnissa]

Reading about the development of Starcraft reveals that major events like the fall of the Confederacy, the infestation of Kerry, the invasion of Aiur, Tassadar's sacrifice, etc were not originally planned but devised well into production. The backstory in the original manual seemed to have solidified before then and informed development. The status quo is that the zerg and protoss are fighting in koprulu with terrans caught in the middle.

Let's have a thought experiment. If you had to write the story of a new game using only the original manual as a basis, what would you have written?

Let's add some rules to keep things from getting stale: you cannot include Metzen's bizarre extraneous additions like Queen of Blades, UED, or the xel'naga. This is because Koprulu was deliberately cut off from Earth for a clean slate, the zerg build armies of monsters not individual mary sues, and the xel'naga are just a plot device to explain where the aliens came from. Adding those dilute the premise and, despite what some people might think, are not integral to Starcraft.

Obviously, I would have used Enumerate as my template so I have no further comment in that area.

[ragnarok]

There you go with this again, which shows you're mostly interested in using the nuke option

[ragnarok]

Again, I did not suggest the nuke option. I suggested resurrecting dead plot points to pick up the slack in this franchise.

Seriously, if BW can retcon in the UED and SC2 can retcon in Amon, then retconning in a galactic protoss empire and a revived overmind is perfectly permissible. Blizzard will definitely do something like that to justify another apocalypse in SC3. Remember the Eredar fiasco?

First tell me about the Eredar fiasco.

[Turalyon]

Amon and Overmind always had the same goal, but one is a villain and the other a hero, which is bad writing.

Well, LotV potentially retconned this already though. Given that the Zeratul stuff in WoL was revealed to be part of a ruse by Ouros (the "Deceiver" as I like to call him) to manipulate things to get Kerrigan to him, all those things about Tassadar and the subsequent Overminds vision could all be bunk. I think Ouros is supposed to be the hero ("good Xel'Naga to Amon's "evil" Xel'Naga), not the Overmind. For all we know, they could make it as if Ouros being really of the same ilk as Amon and be the next big bad (and is now using Kerrigan as a vessel) if a SC3 had to follow on from SC2. Then the Kerigan haters can rejoice so that the story now has an excuse to put her down for good!

[Turalyon]

You should probably also add the rule that the status quo (that the 3 races are always equal and never gain a decisive advantage over the other) has to be maintained because otherwise it'd be too easily biased toward one's race preference.

For example, if it were up to me following on from the manual and the status quo could be changeable, I'd just have the Zerg take the psionic potential off the Terrans and kill them all off cos the Terrans are really that weak. Then the Zerg fight the Protoss for some time until they get enough samples to start assimilating them and then eventually beat them as well. The bits in between are all just "details". As you can probably tell from this, I have a bias toward/like the Zerg and it'd make for a dull story...

[ragnarok]

Well, LotV potentially retconned this already though. Given that the Zeratul stuff in WoL was revealed to be part of a ruse by Ouros (the "Deceiver" as I like to call him) to manipulate things to get Kerrigan to him, all those things about Tassadar and the subsequent Overminds vision could all be bunk. I think Ouros is supposed to be the hero ("good Xel'Naga to Amon's "evil" Xel'Naga), not the Overmind. For all we know, they could make it as if Ouros being really of the same ilk as Amon and be the next big bad (and is now using Kerrigan as a vessel) if a SC3 had to follow on from SC2. Then the Kerigan haters can rejoice so that the story now has an excuse to put her down for good!

If you're going to make Ouros the hero, you shouldn't have had him give Kerrigan the whole matter of ascension. Hell, just drain her instead. She can get the heroic sacrifice, and Ouros can deal with Amon himself.

[sandwich_bird]

Let's add some rules to keep things from getting stale: you cannot include Metzen's bizarre extraneous additions like Queen of Blades, UED, or the xel'naga.

Obviously, I would have used Enumerate as my template so I have no further comment in that area.