[Finale Spoiler] Finale discussion

[Dalamar]

It's actually quite interesting, how we've seen opinions on the finale from the entire spectrum. There are those who hated it, those who loved it and every shade in between. Not to forget, of course, those who changed their mind as part of this discussion (such as myself).

A little bit of controversy is always good in spurring a discussion.

[unentschieden]

It´s the end the Overmind (retroactivly?) planned all along. He knew the "bad guy" would enslave the Zerg, they were build that way by the Xel´Naga. That is why he needed Kerrigan, a non-Xel´Naga replacement for himself. But by assimilating her she inherited the same issues all Zerg have - thus the deinfestation is required to free her mind. She is a slave to the Zergpurpose like all other Zerg.
The artifact is some kind of Zerg Genocide button (Plothole: why didn´t the Xel´Naga use it once the Zerg did rebell? I mean it´s existance alone tells us even THEY could tell it was comming!) Kerrigan is looking for it to destroy it. It´s quite likely that the Artifacts discovery by Moebius (Think about their Head Scientist, he isn´t just a one off character) is what got her to invade at that very moment - the first Zerg attack is on the first Artifact.

The HotS base plot is thus a bit remisicent of the Brood Wars, Kerrigan needs to regain power and control over the Zergswarm with about everyone against her expect maybe Raynor.

Tycus was very very heavily forshadowed, from Acrturuses Voice in the opening, to his constant nagging that Raynor should hook up with about EVERY Female they meet so he´d forget about Kerrigan.
Why didn´t Arcturus order Tycus to kill Raynor? One, Raynor says so himself, he´d be a martyr and two, Tycus propably wouldn´t make that deal. Tycus NEVER meet Kerrigan and Arcturus propably didn´t tell him her background and history with Raynor. It was clear from the start that he was freed because of his connection to Raynor, not exactly because Menksk wanted Raynor to find the Artifacts but because he knew that Raynor would be the only one capable of dealing with Kerrigan.

[Eligor]

Just finished the campaign. A terribly unsatisfying ending (can't believe they spoiled it with concept art three years ago either!). Once it became clear that it's going to involve a Raynor-Kerrigan-Tychus triangle (during the conversation Matt was having with Tychus about Kerrigan) I started hoping that the campaign would end with Raynor sacrificing himself to save (The Infested) Kerrigan from Tychus. Would have been a meaningful (and ironic) death that would've brought Raynor's story to a proper closure (wasn't it something they promised before the release?) and been faithful to the tone and themes of the original StarCraft. Instead we get Raynor and Kerrigan walking off into the sunset with no questions answered, nothing really resolved but Raynor supposedly finding peace of mind because he's with Kerrigan again (considering the events of Brood War his feelings about her should've been much, much too conflicted to allow him to have such an absolutely positive reaction to her, de-infested or not). Mengsk was reduced to a buffonous figurehead (he was a cold, calculating amoral character back in Brood War, someone you loathed but by no means could underestimate or disrespect, here on the other hand much is made of how inefficient and self contradictory he is), much as the dominion itself, for something called "Wings of Libery" to have the main antagonist oppressive government to display its oppressiveness through silly (and unfunny) TV broadcasts is a bit... unusual. Wasn't StarCraft supposed to be grim, gritty and realistic?
Zeratul was just miswritten, they tried too hard to match his style of speech in the first StarCraft with apparently no real appreciation for this kind of stuff ("we think this guy speaks in a ridiculous fashion but the fans think it cool so we'll deliberately write him that way" kind of mentality), "veil of oblivion" indeed... He sounds like a parody of himself (although the bits in the fight with Kerrigan cinematic are good). Heifer by the way is rather bad, Talken's Kerrigan could be ironic and vicious and melancholy all at the same time, Heifer sounds very flat.

Tychus was a great character they could've done MUCH more with, Ariel Hanson's story was really all the romance the plot needed, and was actually very understated and beautifully done, in fact the interaction between Hanson and Raynor and the little conversation between Matt and Tychus about Kerrigan are the best parts of the story, they should've approached the rest of the campaign in the same way. Warfield and Valerian's characters seem rather pointless, little more than plot conveniences, although well acted, again, characters a LOT more could be done with. All in all there are small moments of emotional truth buried in a very thinly stretched plot with no real resolution, which renders them irrelevant to the overall story. This is not a plot that woul've worked as a ten-mission StarCraft campaign with briefings, would that it had been one. And that's just for Raynor, as to the Hybrids and the Prophecy they're another can of worms entirely which I won't go into here (there's a potential for a good story there, maybe, if they do it right). Hybrids actually looked rather cool by the way, and I like the idea that the Overmind was controlled by someone else, explains both the general viciousness and nastyness of the Zerg (why would the Xel'Naga deliberately make them like that?) and gives another angle to Kerrigan being his greatest creation.

All in all, in my mind, Blizzard offcially lost it. There are good ideas and good moments in there, but the whole thing is very misguided and miswritten.

[Aldrius]

If we're not talking about what they were like before their change, then what do we have to go on in order to ascertain their real personalities? This isn't just about origin stories, what they went through, it's what they did and wanted. Arthas wanted revenge more than ANYTHING. Thus, his spiral into becoming a Death Knight was more or less his choice. Kerrigan, on the other hand, was forced to become what she did. Arthas' dialogue after he became a Death Knight was his own, but he was stripped of his humanity, his compassion, his caring, and the Lich King burned into his mind that it is god. The same thing happened to Kerrigan, she was still herself, but again stripped of humanity, compassion, and the Overmind instilled in her mind that it is god.

The Overmind controlled her. Retcons aside, he made her into his slave, she pursued power and carnage, but she did everything she told him to. Arthas... had his soul stripped from him, but as was shown, so yes a lot of his coldness and callousness came from that, but the Lich King's control over his undead minions was not absolute, and he began losing his power. As proven by The Frozen Throne, Kel'thuzad and Arthas were perfectly willing to serve him even when he held no control over them. (In fact bits of dialogue in TFT imply that MOST if not ALL of the Scourge still serving Ner'zhul after that one point in the storyline were willing servants.)

The Overmind did not strip Kerrigan of her humanity and compassion. Anymore than say, being the victim of a violent crime strips anyone of their humanity and compassion. It didn't happen because she was turned into a Zerg agent. It happened because she was betrayed by Mengsk and because she was a pawn for the confederacy and the Overmind. She didn't LIKE being the victim.

She was pissed off at the Protoss for making her look like a fool? Seriously, you really think that's strong enough motivation for everything she did to them? That would make her the most petty villain in the history of gaming. Plus, she already had the Protoss convinced that she had changed. This would be the perfect stepping stone for her real vengeance - against Mengsk. Jim and Fenix would DEFINITELY not side with Arcturus over her. This whole paragraph makes no sense. I'm not saying it isn't true, can't really disprove it, but if it is, then the writing staff dropped the ball something fierce there.

Fenix and Raynor DID side with Mengsk during that mission (if you ONLY attack the Dominion at first, Fenix's forces will still attack you). And yes, Kerrigan is incredibly petty. Her only goal is control. That's one of the things that's bugged me about her characterization since. She shouldn't care about the Zerg's evolutionary imperatives outside of how they make HER more secure.

She strikes at the Protoss and Terrans because of their personal affronts to her, because she's a megalomaniac now and because she won't STAND for any threats to her. And she's become kind of a sadistic bitch.

So? Having a dark side doesn't necessarily make her a bad person.

No, but it means she had the potential to become what she became before the Overmind got it's talons into her.

In fact, if she was feeling guilt for what she had done before, then if that same person had done the things the Queen of Blades did (i.e. brutally kill BILLIONS of people), don't you think just the guilt of that would be enough to stop her?

No, because she stopped caring. Her guilt allowed Mengsk to take advantage of her to the fullest extent he possibly could and her weakness made her into the victim she was. Infested Kerrigan justifies EVERY SINGLE THING she does in the entire Brood War campaign. Killing Fenix is fine because he's a warrior, it's his dream to die in combat. Killing Duke is fine because Mengsk was a bastard.

Again, this makes no sense, if she was the same person she was before and already was feeling guilty, how would killing billions of terrans(most of which victims of Arcturus' lies and propaganda) and protoss(for making her look like a fool) make her feel?

It wouldn't make her feel anything. She's not a moral person anymore. She left that behind her a long time ago. She's not a saint, and being tortured and victimized all her life made her a crazy control-freak.

Could you give an example of a good, non-cliche ending for WoL?

Raynor releases Kerrigan from her Zerg-y-ness, Kerrigan says something to the effect of 'this changes nothing' and that she'll earn everything she's just lost back, one way or another, while Raynor watches on as the Dominion troops cart her away in shackles. Something to that effect.

Anyway, I already wrote an article on Kerrigan. Don't care to write another one, so if you want to respond to me again, read this:

http://sclegacy.com/feature/9-contri...n-of-starcraft

Disagree with it if you want, but that's my opinion and perspective on the Queen of Blades. Some of the article is pretty ironic now actually. And shows how little faith I should actually have in Blizzard sometimes. :P

[hyde]

A few easy things to fix.

1) Do not drop hints about Tychus backstabbing us...it was apparent from the intro cinematic with Mengsk's voice =_=

2) Fix the dialog (Actually fix it all) at the end? You're telling me Tychus hears Raynor reply + unbuckle his pistol holster and still just idles his reticule at Kerrigan?

3) Oh of course, Raynor can quickly cover Kerrigan and then quickdraw like the spacecowboy he is ...
=_= .......

4) Random characters that mean nothing. Like Dr Ariel Hansson. Ok cool so we saved her people and got a kiss from her, jesus it was the most unneccessary thing ever. Jesus I think we got more screen time of Hanson than Kerrigan.

5) Stop trying to be Mass Effect/Choose your own Adventure when your stupid ending is locked in stone
i) They tried to put the whole "Choose your fate/side" with Tosh/Nova and Protoss/Ariel.
Neither are compelling choices and you present me with some revlon model whose day job is a trained assassin compared with some other space pirate dude I don't really know. Cool, I don't give a f- about either. (I picked Tosh because Nova's story was flaky...just a bit more)

In reality the WoL campaign to me was only maybe 8 missions long? Collecting the artifacts and then the push on Char, everything else was mindless background noise.
Those three things were cheesy/unneccessary.
What made the original StarCraft/Brood War stories so good was that the backstabs occurred on the go , that we the player , were as shocked as the characters on screen when they occurred.

[Spartan13]

A few easy things to fix.

1) Do not drop hints about Tychus backstabbing us...it was apparent from the intro cinematic with Mengsk's voice =_=

2) Fix the dialog (Actually fix it all) at the end? You're telling me Tychus hears Raynor reply + unbuckle his pistol holster and still just idles his reticule at Kerrigan?

3) Oh of course, Raynor can quickly cover Kerrigan and then quickdraw like the spacecowboy he is ...
=_= .......

4) Random characters that mean nothing. Like Dr Ariel Hansson. Ok cool so we saved her people and got a kiss from her, jesus it was the most unneccessary thing ever. Jesus I think we got more screen time of Hanson than Kerrigan.

5) Stop trying to be Mass Effect/Choose your own Adventure when your stupid ending is locked in stone
i) They tried to put the whole "Choose your fate/side" with Tosh/Nova and Protoss/Ariel.
Neither are compelling choices and you present me with some revlon model whose day job is a trained assassin compared with some other space pirate dude I don't really know. Cool, I don't give a f- about either. (I picked Tosh because Nova's story was flaky...just a bit more)

In reality the WoL campaign to me was only maybe 8 missions long? Collecting the artifacts and then the push on Char, everything else was mindless background noise.
Those three things were cheesy/unneccessary.
What made the original StarCraft/Brood War stories so good was that the backstabs occurred on the go , that we the player , were as shocked as the characters on screen when they occurred.

1) Well ur right bout that!They spoiled too much of the story this time...bad move blizz(still though i enjoyed the campaign)
2) Tychus doesn't show any sign that he actually heard raynor reaching for his pistol
3)Why not? U gotta have some skill to survive all this years vs the zerg right?
4)What can u do bout random characters? they wanted to add some depth in the campaign plus its kinda inevitable to raid 20 planets without meeting at least 1 interesting person
5)Why not? different choices grant you different bonuses...Can't have multiple endigs on a game that is heavily lore based AND will have multiple sequels following the canon ending

P.s So in hots u should ask blizz to make like 10 missions with backstabbing
Horner back stabs Raynor.Raynor backstabs tosh.Zeratul backstabs the dark templar and so on...Dont forget that in brood war kerrigan backstabbed everyone just once!BUT this happened in a game that featured all 3 race's campaigns so can we give it some time and see what hots and lotv look like

So that we can safely conclude if the story told was good or...

[Gurluash]

I think Tychus was delaying because he wanted to hear Raynor's reply and he was probably thinking if he should disobey the order anyway.
After all they were really close friends, when Raynor just gave his cryptic reply Tychus said "Damn shame" hoping that he would have said something else...Or simply damn shame that he or Kerrigan needs to die.

[Spartan13]

I think Tychus was delaying because he wanted to hear Raynor's reply and he was probably thinking if he should disobey the order anyway.
After all they were really close friends, when Raynor just gave his cryptic reply Tychus said "Damn shame" hoping that he would have said something else...Or simply damn shame that he or Kerrigan needs to die.

That too!But what i don't get is...why would you follow mengsk's orders to get ur freedom? arent'u already free alonside raynor? i mean wth?

[Roland]

You should have talked to people on the Hyperion more. If you talk to Horner at the right time, he tells you he did a scan, and Tychus has a kill switch in his suit. If he disobeyed Mengsk, he would be killed.

[Articorse]

That too!But what i don't get is...why would you follow mengsk's orders to get ur freedom? arent'u already free alonside raynor? i mean wth?

It was clearly stated earlier that Tychus is locked inside his suit and there's a device there that can stop his heart with the push of a button. Mengsk has the button.