[Finale Spoiler] Finale discussion

[Roland]

The first time I saw the ending cinematic, I was left a little confused. Don't get me wrong, its a BEAUTIFUL cinematic and I have nothing against Kerrigan being de-infested in of itself. Just with the Zeratul plot and the fact we know Kerrigan is the star of the Zerg expansion (Who else would we play as? The Overmind?...actually that'd be awesome, but beside the point), it seems to ruin the point a little.

The more I think about it and watch it though, the more I like it and think its a fitting end for the first chapter. Metzen has stated that he feels the "heart" of the StarCraft story is Raynor and Kerrigan, and this was obviously a big Raynor/Kerrigan moment. If anything this makes me even more curious about what will happen in Heart of the Swarm.

As for Tychus, I was expecting the betrayal but I wasn't expecting him to pull the trigger or even die (especially since Blizzard hyped him up to be an "iconic" character). To me it did seem he regretted making his deal with Mengsk in the end, but oh well...so long Mr. Findley, you crazy, gun-happy mother-fudger you.

It's possible Kerrigan is still partial infested (see her hair), and will struggle to get her powers/control of the Swarm through HoS. She may also need sub-commanders now, which will provide people to talk to. One more alternative is that the Zerg were never compelled towards her Zerg parts, just her, so they'll still be possible to control, even though she was weakened big time. Finally, if you check the final Zerg research tank, Stetman figures out the Zerg control mechanism when he finds a sample of the Overmind DNA is included in his Zerg research, and possibly in every Zerg. He built a device that can mind-control Zerg from it, and with a little tweaking, that could seriously amplify any control capacities Kerrigan may have.

Also, it's possible Findlay is alive, and will return as a plot twist. I for one won't give him up until I get absolute confirmation. We never got a body, and Blizzard has brought back heros even when we did get a smoking corpse. I think he's probably dead, but I wouldn't put it past Blizzard to bring him back.

[Nenol-phoenix]

Also, it's possible Findlay is alive, and will return as a plot twist. I for one won't give him up until I get absolute confirmation. We never got a body, and Blizzard has brought back heros even when we did get a smoking corpse. I think he's probably dead, but I wouldn't put it past Blizzard to bring him back.

On the single player screen after you complete the campaign there's some text saying congratz you finished the game.
A part of it goes something like this: ... but victory has come at a high price Tychus Findlay is dead and Arcturus Mengsk remains secure in his throne...
or something like that
isn't that a confirmation?

[Dalamar]

Imo, it would be a bit ridiculous to bring Tychus back for HotS. He wasn't killed from a distance or from an explosion or from a dropship crash, etc... He was shot at point blank range. It would have been rather difficult for Raynor and the other marines, not to notice, that he's still alive.

[mr. peasant]

Imo, it would be a bit ridiculous to bring Tychus back for HotS. He wasn't killed from a distance or from an explosion or from a dropship crash, etc... He was shot at point blank range. It would have been rather difficult for Raynor and the other marines, not to notice, that he's still alive.

Unless... they were the ones who are keeping him alive. Remember; Raynor knew that Findlay was being forced to do something and the game went on and on as to how Raynor felt he still 'owed' Findlay for taking the rap for him.

[Dalamar]

Unless... they were the ones who are keeping him alive. Remember; Raynor knew that Findlay was being forced to do something and the game went on and on as to how Raynor felt he still 'owed' Findlay for taking the rap for him.

Hmm... there is that possibility as well.

[Visions of Khas]

Something about the story is off. Arcturus set Tychus free on the condition he kill Kerrigan... Valerian uses Tychus as an agent to assemble the Artifact, and used resources ''against'' Arcturus' permission...

I think the Mengkses were working together the whole time in a bid to be rid of Kerrigan, one holding the Dominion together, defensive, the other on the offense.

Also remember, zerg can and do regenerate necrotic tissues. Tychus' ''death'' means nothing.

[Spartan13]

Something about the story is off. Arcturus set Tychus free on the condition he kill Kerrigan... Valerian uses Tychus as an agent to assemble the Artifact, and used resources ''against'' Arcturus' permission...

I think the Mengkses were working together the whole time in a bid to be rid of Kerrigan, one holding the Dominion together, defensive, the other on the offense.

Also remember, zerg can and do regenerate necrotic tissues. Tychus' ''death'' means nothing.

U're right on the second part...Stukov was dead too but he got infested just fine!
Come to think of it maybe u're right on the first part of ur suggestion too..
I'll dig up some info on Valerian

[Pandonetho]

Really, I think Tychus is dead. It even says so in the singleplayer tab after you beat the campaign. "Tychus is dead." They didn't even leave it ambiguous, they outright said he died.

And how on earth could Raynor 'keep' him alive? Tychus is HOOKED onto his suit, it's got all his vital signs checked. You think Mengsk wouldn't know that he's still alive? And Raynors gun is a freaken revolver, using conventional bullets and probably gunpowder . His bullet isn't going to do jack all if it hits anything but Tychus's face.

[Nicol Bolas]

If Kerrigan had remained the Queen of Blades, she would either have to die, or kill everyone. Obviously she's not going to kill everyone, so she must die.

Stop right there. That's a false-dichotomy. There's on reason why she couldn't have lived as the Queen of Blades.

The problem with Kerrigan, Queen of Blades was that she had no plan, no purpose. She wasn't really trying to do anything. After BW, when she claimed total control over all (essentially) Zerg, there wasn't anything for her to do. She could cackle or something, invade people and serve as an obstacle, but that's about it.

All they needed to do was give her a plan, something to do in service to the plot. A goal. Even if it was the Overmind's old goal of integrate Protoss into the Swarm to achieve perfection, that would be better than nothing.



What I don't like about this ending is that it seems to say that Sarah Kerrigan and Kerrigan, Queen of Blades are two different people. I call this the "Phoenix Ending," named after the Marvel universe character Jean Grey/Phoenix.

See, at some point, Jean's powers went off-the-scale and she became Phoenix. For a while, this was good. But with Great Powers come Great Insanity, and Phoenix became Dark Phoenix. During this time, she blew up a random star to consume its energy, killing the 6 billion aliens on one of its planets. She, being Dark Phoenix, didn't care, or even notice.

The original plan for the end of this arc was that she would get her powers reduced a bit and leave the earth, becoming a celestial-level figure. However, someone pointed out that there should be some consequences for, you know, killing 6 billion people. A reasonable point. So instead, she died. Or rather, she sacrificed herself, knowing that a human being is simply incapable of wielding such power.

At which point, the plan became to have this person simply not be Jean Grey. That this was in fact someone else, and thus absolve Jean of all responsibility for what happened.

I found this to be disgusting, utterly demeaning to the feel of the ending of the Dark Phoenix saga. But it was necessary in order for her to continue as a character in the universe.

But most of all, I feel it is a cop-out. Rather than have Jean have to deal with the fact that she committed genocide, and have other people deal with that fact as well, something that could lead to real character development, they took the easy way out: it's not her fault.

And that's what they've done with Kerrigan. Sarah Kerrigan and Kerrigan, Queen of Blades are two different people. Sarah was stripped of control of her body back in SC1; she was replaced by the QoB. Even after the Overmind was destroyed and she was no longer controlled by it, Sarah could not regain control; everything that happened was the QoB's fault.

What does this mean? The semi-clever character, manipulating fools throughout BW? Yeah, she's dead now. You just killed her. And odds are, she ain't coming back.

What we have now is Sarah Kerrigan, someone who never got much character development in the game to begin with, someone who had no real identity outside of being Mengsk's second in command and Raynor's love interest. In short: she's nobody. She barely exists as a character, as far as the games are concerned.

We rescued Raynor's Shallow Love Interest. Um, yay?

I would much rather that Kerrigan was one person. That she did all of those things. And when she is de-powered as she is now (de-powered to some degree), that she doesn't regret one bit of it.

Mind you the whole Tychus plot made zero sense whatsoever.

Good Lord, you can say that again. It made sense up to a point. That point being when Raynor found out his old friend had a gun to his head.

The first thing that should have been tried was to have his tech boy rig up some kind of jamming equipment to block all possible transmissions. That way, he could have a conversation with Tychus without either eavesdropping or other potential problems. Then, they could decide how to deal with the problem.

Maybe that's not possible. OK, then the second thing would be to plant a bomb on his suit. Then, at the moment of truth, you can tell him that he's a dead man either way, whether he does it or doesn't. So he may as well make his peace with his dear and fluffy Lord and Savior.

Basically, they drop this bombshell on you, and then do nothing with it. It makes no sense for Jim to know this and just pretend like it's not there. If this were a BioWare game, you can be damned sure that there would have been an entire subplot built around finding a way to save Tychus. Either it would be a pure conversation puzzle, or there would have been a subquest or two to undertake in order to defuse his suit covertly.

But then, BioWare has actually good writers.

The Queen of Blades is essentially Kerrigan with her conscience turned off and her viciousness unleashed. Far as I can tell, de-infesting her simply brought her back to the way she was before. I think it's a tad premature to conclude that Blizzard has made the two of them into two distinct entities since we've hardly seen any hint of Kerrigan's behaviour or thoughts after de-infestation.

Nope, sorry; the game has Jossed that one. Sarah Kerrigan had actual dialog in the final mission, separate from that of the Queen of Blades.

A terribly unsatisfying ending (can't believe they spoiled it with concept art three years ago either!).

Unsatisfying, perhaps. But a spoiler? No. Did you know Kerrigan was going to be de-infested? No, you didn't. It was only a spoiler retroactively; something we call "foreshadowing".

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

Simple: the Protoss artifact is used to keep the Zerg from overrunning humanity in some way. It is not used for de-infesting people.

Or perhaps Kerrigan and Raynor broker a peace deal where he hands over the artifact in exchange for peace with humanity.

There were any number of ways to end WoL without this 5th grader hack-writing.

[Crazy_Jonny]

Poor Tychus...

I think the explanation for Kerrigan's hair is she had to style it when she was human, so when she got uninfested her hair was just still shaped the same, but not zergy anymore. That's my theory - I think she's uninfested, like the ending text says.

So I'm wondering if either:
- she'll become infested again (to break the cycle).
- or the Overmind will come back (which is what I want to happen but probably never will).

My opinion on the ending:

It really leaves you hanging until the sequel. I can't fully judge it until we get the whole story, but it felt like a B-rated action movie ending - which I kinda have a soft spot for.