StarCraft Campaign Thoughts and Impressions

[SpikeVorador]

fanatic you're going to take long to make the Hybrid section? im really expecting to see what you have to say about it!

[FanaticTemplar]

fanatic you're going to take long to make the Hybrid section? im really expecting to see what you have to say about it!

I'm kind of juggling with various deadlines and general procrastination right now. If I get a few straight hours of free time I should get this cleared up no problem, but I don't want to make any promises right now.

[broodmywarcraft]

Give the man time...pwnage requires careful processing...

[n00bonicPlague]

I've read up through "The Stand" so far, and your work is incredible. You've revealed to me things that I feel I've always known but have never truly known. This is an excellent piece of writing and criticism. Well done.

[sandrosuperstar]

I draw series and just wanted to say that your analysis have been so enlightening on how to make a good story. Really looking forward to the final part

[Gradius]

Finished reading up to BW. Though plot & character discussion isn't my cup of tea, this is great stuff. You pointed out huge holes that I didn't consider.

I'm somewhat confused as to whether you included the unused CD bonus missions in your analysis of rebel yell. For example:

The only other character implied to directly oppose you is Tassadar in New Gettysburg.

Tassadar wasn't actually introduced in any of the missions except the disabled "biting the bullet" mission.

You maintain an entirely reactionary role, fighting back the Zerg when you need to for survival, or stopping the Protoss when they threaten your plans for the Confederacy, but otherwise you ignore them or flee.

But the "biting the bullet" mission is actually about "saving colonists" and repeling the invasion.

Why exactly can the Overmind only “manifest” at the location of the Xel’Naga’s landing site? What use does the Khaydarin Crystal serve? What does "manifest" even mean? Does it mean he has to fly around in space, unable to land anywhere else? What is it that stops him from landing elsewhere? Does it mean that he can only assume corporeal form in such a place? Why would he even want to do that, since it does nothing but make him vulnerable? Why does he event want to “manifest” on Aiur? If he needs to “manifest” to assimilate the Protoss into the Swarm, then how did he “manifest” on all the worlds where he assimilated the Brontoliths and Mantis Screamers and what not? How did he intend to assimilate the Terrans for their psionic potential? Those worlds don’t contain Khaydarin Crystals, nor do they have spots where the Xel’Naga first landed. These elements do not help develop the characters, the factions or the world, they’re just padding to extend the campaign. It’s obviously a huge problem when a story’s climax is padding.

Though it's definitely not clear in the campaign, I think the Overmind had to manifest himself over the temple to take advantage of the nexus of cosmic energies. He's like Sauron from Lord of the Rings. He has a way to make himself more powerful (manifesting on Aiur vs. creating rings of power), but at the cost of making him more vulnerable. I believe the overmind planned to use the protoss' own psionic matrix against them, perhaps it was a requirement for assimilating the protoss (if anybody read the creep short story, the creep infested a protoss by preying on them psionically).

Also, the overmind can "manifest" wherever he wants. The manual says it's speculated that the Overmind's actual body resides in the recesses of the Tiamat brood.

How did he intend to assimilate the Terrans for their psionic potential? Those worlds don’t contain Khaydarin Crystals, nor do they have spots where the Xel’Naga first landed.

Being creations of the Xel'Naga, both the Protoss and Zerg are receptive to khaydarin crystals. Terrans are not.

With the new motivation for Kerrigan’s infestation, this suddenly makes sense. Likewise, the Overmind’s final words: “Now shall the events set into motion so long ago be made complete,” and “Indeed, our two species are but opposite facets of a greater whole. Soon shall our two races be made as one.” These take new meaning with the Xel’Naga life cycle in mind.

This actually makes the retcon sound worse IMO. I don't really see how the second quote has any different of a significance.

I started this section by stating that the Overmind is synonymous with the Swarm. As a consequence, the Overmind is truly immortal, so long as even a single Zerg remains, as he embodies the sentience of the Zerg hive mind. This is why I suspect that its “manifestation” on Aiur was actually an incarnation – giving physical form to what was previously no more than the gestalt of all Zerg consciousness.

This was only true when the Overmind was first created, but eventually he "developed the rudiments of personality and intellect". He is his own individual. If anything the swarm is now an extension of his thoughts & desires, not the other way around.

Anyway, I have a hypothesis as to why the Overmind is harmed by the Void energies. The Void is described as being the emptiness of space, and as far as I understand astronomy, most – nearly all – of space is emptiness. It is this emptiness that divides all cosmic objects, the result of the break of cohesion after the Big Bang. As I was explaining, the Overmind’s immortality derives from the fact that it is not an actual physical being, but the unity of Zerg consciousness. The Overmind is every Zerg trait, every Zerg thought, everything that can in anyway be considered Zerg, condensed into a single point. It is the Zerg singularity. I further speculate that the Void would force emptiness into this singularity. Like the emptiness of space from which it draws its power, the Void creates emptiness between the thoughts of the Zerg, causing the singularity to lose its cohesion, until it is no longer a single point, but many. Instead of a single Zerg Overmind, there are trillions of tiny Zerg minds.

Anyway, I have a hypothesis as to why the Overmind is harmed by the Void energies. The Void is described as being the emptiness of space, and as far as I understand astronomy, most – nearly all – of space is emptiness. It is this emptiness that divides all cosmic objects, the result of the break of cohesion after the Big Bang. As I was explaining, the Overmind’s immortality derives from the fact that it is not an actual physical being, but the unity of Zerg consciousness. The Overmind is every Zerg trait, every Zerg thought, everything that can in anyway be considered Zerg, condensed into a single point. It is the Zerg singularity. I further speculate that the Void would force emptiness into this singularity. Like the emptiness of space from which it draws its power, the Void creates emptiness between the thoughts of the Zerg, causing the singularity to lose its cohesion, until it is no longer a single point, but many. Instead of a single Zerg Overmind, there are trillions of tiny Zerg minds.

This is indeed an interesting thought exercise, but as for the theory itself, I'll just have to flat out say no. Void energies are probably just vacuum energy and/or solar ions, and if they lead to a loss of cohesion it's only metaphorically.

After the Temple’s use, Shakuras experienced a sunrise, in a world that presumably rarely if ever has any.

I do like your theory that the temple was a terraforming device, since its possible that shakuras might be tidally locked with its sun and that the protoss settlements are on the dark side (coincidence? :P). But I don't know why people keep saying "Shakuras experienced its first sunrise". Perhaps the blast cleared away the clouds that cover the planet in a perpetual twilight? Perhaps sunrises are very common just that the days are shorter and most of the action goes on during the night?

Incidentally, I’ve decided to believe that Raszagal’s possession is due to some form of neural parasite like that of the Infestors in StarCraft II. Psionic domination seems to be what is implied, but that just leads me to wonder why Kerrigan doesn’t use that more often, while the neural parasite offers an explanation – she needs to get close enough to her targets to implant it.

The DT saga claims that Kerrigan had "perverted" raszagal before she even came to Shakuras. Kimera once said that this meant that Raszagal was mind controlled from another planet by Kerrigan, but I don't know. The whole thing doesn't make much sense as you explained.

I could understand using purifier beams to destroy it from orbit, since one would assume they have no orbital weapons that fire Void energies capable of slaying the Overmind, but this is not what they do. The plan really is to send Protoss to hack at the Overmind in melee. It’s really no more difficult to send Dark Templar along.

I wondered about this as well. My best guess was that Zeratul didn't want to kill the Overmind because he was afraid of Kerrigan taking control.

However, in Choosing Sides he states that “the Judicator have long since steered the actions of the Templar to their own ends” which is a strange statement. Nothing we have seen from Aldaris or the Conclave indicate that the Judicator act out of selfishness. Misguided, arrogant, overzealous, dogmatic and perhaps even idiotic, certainly, but never selfish as far as I can see.

I think you're reading too much into this and he doesn't really say they're selfish. I think it was a protoss political statement, namely that judicators have a penchant for sending the templar on fools errands that gets them killed. We see how eager the judicators were to burn the terran planets. They're far removed from the action and it's easy for them to make these commands.

There’s also the ridiculously comical bit about being stranded on Char. When you accost him in The Hunt for Tassadar, he says that he had given up all hope of rescue, which leads us to wonder why he never mentioned that he needed rescue?

I think this was explained in Queen of Blades. He didn't want to detract from the war effort on Aiur. Then when they finally show up to arrest him, he busts out one of my favorite lines:

"Aiur burns at the touch of the Zerg...and you travel all this way to arrest me?!"

Edmund Duke is part of an optional branch of the mission Choosing Sides where you get to fight some Supply Depots, Missile Turrets, Wraiths, and a Battlecruiser. This is the totality of the Protoss versus Terran you will encounter in the campaign. Anyway, Duke threatens Tassadar, ending with a fairly humorous line, and adds to his tally of defeats, now five. We really get little new about Duke, but the interaction demonstrates some of the change in Tassadar’s character. He is less patient with the Terrans, perhaps realising that the Conclave was right about burning the Terran worlds, and that if he had obeyed, Kerrigan would never have been infested.

Keep in mind that the "you have endangered terran lives in your reckless attack against the zerg" is probably referring to the pack of dragoons that steamrolled the terran base in the cinematic before this mission. So yeah I would say Tassadar is less patient with Terrans now.

Again, human pharmaceutical companies have the power to enslave the eternal will of the Swarm. I can’t get over how this is canon lore. I imagine it can’t be a coincidence that starting with Brood War, the Zerg lose any personality or identity they ever had. But more on that in the Zerg campaign itself.

Couple points:
1) The new overmind was a baby and with fewer cerebrates to back him than the original overmind, much more easily manipulated.
2) As Kerrigan says, the UED's control of the zerg is tenuous. They need a team of scientists to control so many Zerg.

But yes, the plot devices they have in BW are pretty lame and should be easily replicated. As Stetman says "I don't understand how the protoss can possess technology of this magnitude and not rule the known universe. Perhaps they simply don't want to?"

Zeratul appears on an unidentified Protoss Carrier, but in The Reckoning he has regrouped with Protoss survivors on the surface of Char. Survivors from what, we don’t know

Well, their capitol city did just explode last mission. But more broadly I think it refers to the fact that Aiur & Shakuras were both buttsecksed by the Zerg.

I’ll give respect to Duke, he never flinched. In fact, this may make Duke the only character from the original StarCraft who came out of Brood War looking better in my opinion than he did coming in.

Not to mention that when confronted with "the combined might of the United Earth Directorate" and hopelessly outclassed, he just says "nobody messes with the dominion on my watch".

[FanaticTemplar]

I'm somewhat confused as to whether you included the unused CD bonus missions in your analysis of rebel yell. For example:

Tassadar wasn't actually introduced in any of the missions except the disabled "biting the bullet" mission.

But the "biting the bullet" mission is actually about "saving colonists" and repeling the invasion.

No, I wasn't considering the unused missions. Although Tassadar doesn't appear directly, we know from the manual and further campaigns that he commands the Expeditionary Fleet that attacks in New Gettysburg, so it's implied that he's commanding the enemy forces in that mission.

Though it's definitely not clear in the campaign, I think the Overmind had to manifest himself over the temple to take advantage of the nexus of cosmic energies. He's like Sauron from Lord of the Rings. He has a way to make himself more powerful (manifesting on Aiur vs. creating rings of power), but at the cost of making him more vulnerable. I believe the overmind planned to use the protoss' own psionic matrix against them, perhaps it was a requirement for assimilating the protoss (if anybody read the creep short story, the creep infested a protoss by preying on them psionically).

Also, the overmind can "manifest" wherever he wants. The manual says it's speculated that the Overmind's actual body resides in the recesses of the Tiamat brood.

But the Overmind does say that "it is on that ground alone that I may be made manifest" though if I understand your argument correctly, he means that only there is it worthwhile for him to manifest? That is possible.

This actually makes the retcon sound worse IMO. I don't really see how the second quote has any different of a significance.

It sounds to me that this was the Dark Voice's first attempt to create the Hybrids, through the Zerg assimilation. I don't really like this motivation as much as the original, but it's still fairly interesting.

This was only true when the Overmind was first created, but eventually he "developed the rudiments of personality and intellect". He is his own individual. If anything the swarm is now an extension of his thoughts & desires, not the other way around.

I think this is more in the sense that the Overmind is the higher functions of the Swarm's instincts. I don't think that it would be possible to call the Overmind an individual in any sense distinct from the Swarm. This is not Kerrigan asserting her will over the Swarm, the Overmind and the Zerg have the same will and purpose.

I do like your theory that the temple was a terraforming device, since its possible that shakuras might be tidally locked with its sun and that the protoss settlements are on the dark side (coincidence? :P). But I don't know why people keep saying "Shakuras experienced its first sunrise". Perhaps the blast cleared away the clouds that cover the planet in a perpetual twilight? Perhaps sunrises are very common just that the days are shorter and most of the action goes on during the night?

The Protoss derive sustenance from sunlight, so it seems unlikely that they would choose to live on the darkened half of the planet, I therefore assumed something like clouds or dust obscuring the sun. Or maybe there's another larger planet between Shakuras and its sun that causes them to be perpetually eclipsed, but I don't think that's even possible.

Couple points:
1) The new overmind was a baby and with fewer cerebrates to back him than the original overmind, much more easily manipulated.
2) As Kerrigan says, the UED's control of the zerg is tenuous. They need a team of scientists to control so many Zerg.

But yes, the plot devices they have in BW are pretty lame and should be easily replicated. As Stetman says "I don't understand how the protoss can possess technology of this magnitude and not rule the known universe. Perhaps they simply don't want to?"

Yes, I overreacted. Slightly :P.

Well, their capitol city did just explode last mission. But more broadly I think it refers to the fact that Aiur & Shakuras were both buttsecksed by the Zerg.

But what are they doing on Char?

[FanaticTemplar]

Hmm. I thought I'd posted this over a week ago. Sorry for the delay.

Hidden Content:

The Hybrids

First off, one important distinction has to be made regarding this storyline compared to all the others I’ve written about. Those stories were complete. Certainly, the effects of one story may bring new light to events that happened before, but they are largely self-contained, with a clear beginning and end. With the Hybrid story, we’ve only just begun. It is possible that occurrences in Heart of the Swarm or Legacy of the Void will completely alter my perception and understanding of this particular storyline. Still, I’ll at least comment on what I think of the story thus far.

There are two distinct parts to the Hybrid story thus far, not counting references such as The Moebius Factor, which are the bonus missions of Brood War and Wings of Liberty, and the Prophecy mission arc. The bonus missions are teasers. Dark Origins was obviously teasing for the sequel, and Piercing the Shroud implies a connection between Arcturus Mengsk and the hybrids. Both of these missions are excellent. Dark Origins introduces the threat to us under the form of a mystery. Coming after the resolution of Brood War’s titular plot and before the assertion of Kerrigan’s dominance in Omega, Dark Origins feels disconnected from the expansion’s themes. Rather than being about schemes for control and power that drove Kerrigan and the UED, this mission reverts to the core mythology behind the Protoss and Zerg, and the mysteries of the unknown that have always been part of the intrigue of science fiction. As a teaser for StarCraft II, it also sets up that game’s new antagonists, the Hybrids and the Dark Voice (then known only as Duran’s ‘greater power’) thus avoiding the problems encountered with the introduction of the United Earth Directorate in Brood War. The Hybrids tie in with the Xel’Naga experiments and the Zerg and Protoss’ opposite halves of perfection aspect from the game backstory as well as with the Overmind’s plans of assimilating the Protoss from the initial StarCraft which would have resulted in much the same. Rather than two opposite halves in opposition that was the plot of StarCraft, Dark Origins suggested that the joining of those two halves would be the plot of StarCraft II. And with the revelation of Duran’s allegiance, they have an established character to spearhead their introduction. By using Terran mercenaries to drive the Hybrid experiments, we have a reason to expect the Terrans to finally play a pivotal role in the story, something that had been lacking thus far. This was further reinforced in Piercing the Shroud by connecting the Hybrid experimentation with Arcturus Mengsk and the Dominion, the major Terran power in the Sector.

Piercing the Shroud plays a similar role to Dark Origins, minus the mysterious alien presence represented by Duran and replacing it with the immediate human threat represented by Arcturus Mengsk. It otherwise works much the same, only more threatening and more immediate. Instead of Terrans incapable of using Pylons properly and a single Hybrid destroyed by Zeratul in its sleep, here we see a fully awakened Hybrid wreaking devastation upon a Terran laboratory, and multiple tubes with cloned versions of that creature. Essentially, playing the two missions back to back results in a feeling like a countdown, as the Hybrid threat grows ever closer and more threatening, nearing the inevitable hour of reckoning, though exactly what that entails isn’t fully comprehended yet.

Unfortunately, that brings us to the Prophecy arc from Wings of Liberty. Soon after playing the campaign for the first time, when asked how I rated the story I gave the Protoss section a 3 out of 10, which, like my early impressions of Brood War, only goes to show that I should not be relied upon to make a sound judgment on something before having experienced it repeatedly. The Prophecy section of the game is beyond terrible, it somehow manages to not have any redeeming qualities at all. The Stand had the evacuation of Aiur, the murder of Aldaris, the dynamic between Artanis and Aldaris and the awesome Twilight tileset. The Artefact arc had The Moebius Factor and to an extent Smash and Grab. Even the Covert missions had A Better Tomorrow. I could not find anything worthwhile to extirpate from this mess, at best I could say that some things are not quite as bad as they are made out to be, which is still a far cry from calling it good.

Let’s start by saying that it’s unoriginal. Prophecies are a lazy way to set heroes off on a path, and the fact that the Hybrids’ goal is to conquer the world is disappointing. The Hybrids, after all, represent the answer to one of humanity’s fundamental philosophical inquiries, as pertains to the Protoss and Zerg, that is to say, they are the meaning of life, the purpose of their existence. How would the world change for us if we knew the answer to that question? And in this case it goes further still as the Hybrids mean that the purpose is not only known, but fulfilled. There are innumerable ways this could change the Koprulu Sector, but instead they just want to conquer everything, like the UED and the Overmind before them. But so be it. What is most upsetting however is the means of that conquest: using the Zerg Swarm. What happened to the Terrans being the driving force behind the Hybrids? Instead we get a repeat of Brood War, with the villain and Kerrigan struggling to control the Swarm so they can take over the world. I wasn’t exactly fond of this plot the first time around, as you may remember, so reusing it, and worse, retconning it into being involved in StarCraft as well certainly did not please me.

Which brings us to the next item, Prophecy reinforces the main story flaws of each of the three races. For the Terrans, it’s their periphereal importance to the storyline. Even back in the original game, the Terrans were a minor factor in the story which dealt with the struggle between Protoss and Zerg. And while the United Earth Directorate was crucial in Brood War, they don’t exactly count as Terrans, as their role in the story could have been replicated without change by using any other species. The Koprulu Sector Terrans themselves were hardly relevant to that story either. Now, with Dark Origins having them set up to be the main force behind the Hybrids, they instead get wiped out offstage before the climactic confrontation between, once more, the Protoss and the Zerg. Why would the Dark Voice even take the detour of wiping out the Terrans anyway, given his apparent hatred of the Protoss?

As for the Protoss, their flaw since the beginning of Brood War retconned them into losing the battle for Aiur is their military powerlessness, their inability to play in the big leagues. I discussed the drastic decrease in power implied by their sudden inability to fight back a fragment of a remnant of the Zerg without magical superweapons in The Stand, and made excuses for Selendis being fought off by Raynor in Safe Haven, but in this campaign you actually play as the Protoss, and the only mission that could possibly be construed as a Protoss victory in this arc is A Sinister Turn, in which you fight other Protoss. This arc plays like a list of creatures that have, are or will kick the Protoss’ arses. First there’s Kerrigan, who murders Judicators unhindered, mind controls ancient Dark Templar elders and dispatches Artanis’ Templar fleet with but a fraction of her broods, the present enemy. Then there’s the Hybrid Maar, the future enemy (as the Hybrids, not as an individual), who single-handedly corrupts a majority of a Protoss shrine world and enslaves Preservers to feed off their power (I really hope we’ll get an explanation for that whole “corrupted Protoss” business in the expansions, incidentally. That thing defies comprehension. If a single Hybrid could do that, why do an army of them have to fight in In Utter Darkness? Why were Zeratul and his forces unaffected?). After that we get the Overmind, conqueror of the sacred Protoss homeworld Aiur (Do all Protoss planets need to have qualifiers? I get "archive world" but why is Zhakul "forbidden"? Why were there so many Protoss on it if it's forbidden?) in the middle of said devastated planet, the past enemy. And to top off the list, we get to witness the extermination of the Protoss species, because really, how much further could they be pushed before this became the only logical conclusion? In this arc we get to run away while our companions die to buy us some time, we get to fight kindred who have been possessed or something, we get to walk in the ashes of our greatest defeat and we get to witness the genocide of the species. These are missions in which we actually play as the Protoss, mind you, so I dare not even imagine what fate awaits them when we play as their enemies. But we’re a far cry from the golden days where they would be setting fire to entire Terran planets from orbit, humiliating Kerrigan on the battlefield and assassinating immortal servants of the Swarm. These days if Aldaris told them that they’d overcome the entire Swarm with the might and the fury that is their heritage, they’d probably fall over dead from hysteria.

And then there’s the Zerg, who don’t really even count as characters anymore. Like a Siege Tank or a Warp Blade, the Zerg no longer seem to be anything other than a weapon for other characters to use to fulfill their own goals. This is of course the reason why I disliked the plot of Brood War, with that whole Overmind-controlling pharmaceutics angle and the Zerg’s role as the prize in the contest between Kerrigan and DuGalle, but now it makes an encore, except it’s much worse. Because unsatisfied with simply confirming that the Zerg will never have personality or a purpose of their own again, the Overmind retcon informs us that even in StarCraft, back in the only game they ever did have ambition and drive and purpose and actual character, they actually didn’t. The Zerg, Prophecy tells us, were always someone else’s weapon to be directed against the target its wielder wished to destroy. And that’s terrible. The annihilation of the Protoss in In Utter Darkness, if it weren’t the culmination of an ongoing series of Protoss failures, would at least be an epic, worthwhile ending. The Zerg genocide from the same mission, on the other hand, is exactly what one should expect from a species who are now only a tool: once their purpose is served, they are cast aside. An entirely pointless death for a race that is now entirely lacking in purpose. Although to its credit, Prophecy gives us the memories of the Overmind as told by Tassadar, which is sadly the most character the Zerg have had since Tassadar’s sacrifice.

Looking at the story of the arc, I get the distinct impression that it was just tacked on to the game. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for its inclusion. The first three missions are redundant: a mystic prophecy guides you to the Overmind who tells you a mystic prophecy – three missions could have been cut if the vision In Utter Darkness had been the original prophecy. In fact, I expect this was the original intent, given Kerrigan’s line in Whispers of Doom saying that “Wouldn't it be better to end your struggle now than witness the final agonizing moments of your species?” In fact, as it stands there would appear to be three separate prophecies in the arc. The Overmind’s vision, the prophecy in three fragments you collect in Whispers of Doom, and an unknown third prophecy that Zeratul and Kerrigan discuss in The Prophecy cinematic and Whispers of Doom. While I don’t know what this prophecy entails, it seems to be much the same as the Overmind’s vision, given Kerrigan’s talk about oblivion and whatnot. Thus, I suspect that the original layout had the In Utter Darkness prophecy come first, then The Prophecy with Kerrigan and Zeratul’s fight, possibly a Whispers of Doom mission that didn’t involve gathering prophecy fragments culminating in a wounded, exhausted Zeratul showing up on the Hyperion. This obviously wasn’t cleaned up before release. Which is another thing with this arc, if they really wanted to include it, then it should have had the resources up to par with the Terran portion. Instead we get the Void Seeker flying through space while Zeratul narrates, and scenes with actual in game footage for meetings between Zeratul and Tassadar over the corpse of the Overmind. I understand that making detailed models and environments for those missions would have been a lot of time and effort, but then again, if it’s not going to fit with the level of quality employed elsewhere, and it obviously doesn’t have much purpose in Wings of Liberty’s story, why include them at all?

Incidentally, the Overmind’s vision itself only reveals that the Hybrids are a massive threat, something we could already anticipate thanks to Piercing the Shroud. We only learn that this threat will come in the least original way possible. As to the nominal reason behind its inclusion, the necessity of keeping Kerrigan alive does not seem like an important part of the arc, as it reasonably should be if that revelation was the point of its existence. Instead we get what is essentially a throwaway line in the middle of the extermination of the Protoss. That line is extremely awkward and does not feel like it even should be part of the mission, the Dark Voice simply decides for inscrutable reasons to state that only Kerrigan could have prevented his victory. Aside from that there is no foreshadowing of this within the arc, even the encounter with Kerrigan herself in Whispers of Doom does not seem to hint to anything, although I could be missing something. AFter all, Kerrigan’s character in that mission is incomprehensible to me. Besides, Wings of Liberty itself already has a far superior ‘save Kerrigan’ storyline in it, as I outlined previously, so this information was not needed, quite the contrary.

Prophecy can be used for interesting purposes in stories, but this was not one of them. Prophecies used as the impetus for a story to begin is lazy, but harmless enough, and used frequently enough is fantasy. But the obligation to save Kerrigan is not an impetus, it is a restriction, something the decreases the protagonist’s choices. These prophecies are not good for stories, because all they are is a way to justify actions by claiming that the plot says so. When such prophecies are used, they’re generally in stories about destiny and free will. If the protagonist tries to fight the prophecy and fails, then it’s a tragedy, as was used in Greek plays. If he fights the prophecy and wins, then it’s a triumphant endorsement of free will and the human spirit. Or you have those clever iterations where the protagonist finds a way where the prophecy is fulfilled technically, but not in the sense it was initially understood. Of course, this prophecy is none of those, it really is just the plot telling us that we can’t kill Kerrigan. Like those “choices” in RPGs where selecting the wrong answer just brings the same question up again, over and over until you “choose” correctly.

So the Prophecy missions are terrible in their own right, reinforce the worst flaws in the characterisation of the Protoss, Terran and Zerg, and worse yet undermines previous, better stories. The Overmind retcon undermines the characterisation and purpose of the Zerg in Overmind and StarCraft as a whole, the prophecy replaces Wings of Liberty’s complex character-driven reasoning for saving Kerrigan with a cheap fiat and sabotages the promise of Dark Origins and Piercing the Shroud with a completely bland resolution. The prophecy arc, unsatisfied with being terrible by itself, actually corrupts everything it touches, and that makes it the worst story in StarCraft thus far, in my opinion.

Characters

Artanis

A number of Protoss heroes appear in In Utter Darkness, but not enough that I can really say much about them. I did however wish to note that of the little we see of Artanis here, he does seem to have matured a bit from his last appearance in Brood War, so that’s interesting. It’ll be good to see how much he has developed.

Both Artanis and Zeratul spend time in In Utter Darkness telling us that the Protoss will face the end united, which is unfortunate because it just doesn’t compare with the same sentiment demonstrated in Eye of the Storm by Tassadar, Zeratul and Aldaris. This is of course because whereas a significant portion of The Fall actually involved overcoming the prejudices of the Protoss and uniting in the face of the Zerg, these three Protoss standing together itself demonstrated this gestalt without the need to crudely shout it out. Since we haven’t seen anything leading to the Protoss’ last stand in In Utter Darkness, and don’t really know half of the Protoss heroes who show up, how can we tell? How can we care?

The Dark Voice

Assuming that this is Duran’s master from Dark Origins, the Dark Voice (which I imagine is another way of saying we still don’t know who he is) looked like it was being set up to be a Sauron style villain, manipulating events from afar. Unlike, say, Arcturus or Kerrigan, these kinds of villains are typically not very developed characters, because they don’t really ever appear, which is fine. In these cases, we know of them by what they do and who they employ. Sauron, for example, we identify through the Ringwraiths and the Uruks. If this was the intended role of the Dark Voice, then by having characters like Samir Duran and possibly Arcturus Mengsk or Ulrezaj as its enforcers, by its hand in bringing the Hybrid schemes to fruition or its involvement in other plots, it could have made for a terrifying villain despite never directly appearing (or never directly appearing ‘till the climax).

Unfortunately, this gets torn down by the same flaw that afflicted Zeratul in Brood War and even more so in the Prophecy missions. Basically, it’s difficult to maintain an aura of mystery when you’re talking all the time. And it’s very hard to seem imposing when what you do say is repetitions of general gloating and uninspired threats. The Dark Voice’s downfall as a character is actually showing up. It makes Arcturus sound humble, Aldaris sound open-minded and Duke sound contemplative. It’s not threatening, it’s annoying. This presumably comes from announcing attacks, the same principle that made Maar sound similarly laughable in A Sinister Turn. This also applied to Kerrigan in All In, but thankfully not nearly as often. Besides, it’s established character for her anyway, all the way back to ‘my stare alone would reduce you to ashes’. Anyway, in this respect quite frequently I find that less is more.

The Overmind

For all of only speaking once, I liked the Overmind. I’m not fond of the new eye – it’s so heavily armoured it looks like he’s squinting all the time, the old eye didn’t even have an eyelid, it was always watching. This Overmind didn’t sound as impressive as the old voice did either. But on the other hand, look at it. It’s huge! It’s a massive carcass sprawling across the crater formed by its own meteoric fall to the planet! And being the person I am the first thing I did upon seeing the corpse of the Overmind was search for the wreckage of the Gantrithor. I think I found it, a burned up husk behind the Robotics Support Bay.

But that’s not why I liked the Overmind here. The Overmind’s lines aren’t great, he sounds too conciliatory with the Protoss, which alongside Tassadar’s reciprocation inevitably leads to the supposition that if not for the Dark Voice the Overmind might have been good, a heinous thought that would truly undermine the epicness of the original StarCraft if it were fact (I contend that they’re both praising the other for their efforts in fighting the common enemy, but the delivery really invites the confusion). But on the other hand, for the first time since, well, the Overmind’s death, there’s something in the universe that actually cares about what befalls the Zerg. I wouldn’t expect anybody too, of course, they’re a plague upon the galaxy, but this comes back to the death of Zerg characters again. No Overmind, no Cerebrates, and Kerrigan, who is a self-centred child. With just this one thought the dead Overmind has shown itself to be closer to the Zerg than we’ve really had the opportunity to experience in a long time.

Samir Duran

Samir Duran’s betrayal of the UED was well foreshadowed, but actually betraying Kerrigan as well was a surprise. It would truly have been a pity if Duran had ended up being no more than Kerrigan’s obsequious retainer, but thankfully that was just a ploy and we get to see that Duran is indeed a badass. Someone capable of backstabbing two immensely powerful groups liked the Directorate and the Swarm is not someone you want to mess with, and as I said before, if this guy was to be the visible arm of the Dark Voice, then how terrible must the actual head of the plot be?

This said, I’m not entirely certain that Duran actually is working for the Dark Voice. Replaying Dark Origins, it struck me that Duran definitely doesn’t sound like he’s planning on using the hybrids to annihilate species. He’s dangerous, no doubt, but his goals appeared to be more about discovery and learning. He actually berates Zeratul for his violent impulse to destroy the Hybrid, which would be immensely hypocritical if his own purpose was genocide. From what we’ve learned since, it does sound as though Duran’s goals are to actually bring about the Xel’Naga’s return, rather than the Dark Voice’s schemes of galactic domination. Then there’s Kerrigan. The Dark Voice claims that Kerrigan is the only being that could have stopped it, then why did Duran spend all of Brood War helping her rise to power? Whether this is a change in characterisation in the decade since Dark Origins was written, or if Duran is being manipulated by the Dark Voice, or whether they’re actually enemies is something I cannot tell.

Interestingly, his discussion with Zeratul reminded me of Zeratul’s own interjection against Aldaris in The Trial of Tassadar. Both claimed to be far older and more experienced than their target, have knowledge beyond their understanding and ridicule them for their violence while ignoring the greater picture. Of course, I get something of a mad scientist vibe from Duran, It’s possible that his big picture is actually disastrous, but he just wants to see it. Anyway, while Duran didn’t mention the entropy of realities, it did feel like Zeratul was getting a taste of humility here. And as with Aldaris, Zeratul’s reaction was to change priorities, he abandoned his search for Artanis and the fight against Kerrigan to go out on his quest for answers, which is where we meet up with him in the Prophecy missions.

Sarah Kerrigan

Kerrigan’s characterisation in Whispers of Doom is baffling. Obviously, it starts making more sense when you realise that she and Zeratul are discussing the Overmind’s vision, as I explained earlier regarding the whole disordered progression of the arc. Despite this, her fatalism is incomprehensible. Since when does Kerrigan give up because of a prophecy? Actually, last time I remember Kerrigan putting stock in something prophetic was when she claimed her Ghost powers allowed her to divine the Protoss’ intentions in Rebel Yell – which was wrong, the Protoss were engaging the Zerg rather than purifying the planet specifically to spare the Terrans, as Aldaris tells us later. In that same passage she also tells us that Arcturus will come around, she knows he will. It’s not specified whether this was also something she knew because she was a Ghost, but I should hope not, because if so Kerrigan clearly has the worst prescient ability ever. Anyway, the point is her track record with foreknowledge is terrible. On the other hand, it has been clearly established that she either has a ridiculously high opinion of herself, or that her insecurities push her to overcompensate by acting so brazen (I suspect the latter). So why is she admitting defeat without even fighting? And this doesn’t carry over to the Terran portion of Wings of Liberty at all. In fact, in that game she seems quite eager to obtain the artefact fragments, whatever it is she wants them for, which would clearly be an example of her not giving in to oblivion and instead continuing her struggles, contrary to what she advocates to Zeratul.

I imagine it could be an attempt at mind games with Zeratul, but if Brood War has taught us anything, it’s that Kerrigan is as subtle as an anvil. Really it would seem so much more likely that she would mock and taunt Zeratul about this prophecied doom rather than apparently succumbing to it herself.

Suffice it to say that either I don’t understand Kerrigan’s characterisation in this arc at all, or she was portrayed horribly, but I can’t really provide analysis for something this apparently out of step with her ongoing portrayal.

Zeratul

Back in Brood War I commented that Zeratul’s repeated appearances detracted from the mystery of his original character, and this applies doubly in the Prophecy missions. Dark Origins isn’t nearly so bad, since it comes at the very end of the expansion, the game assumes you are familiar with the basic mechanics and leaves Zeratul to be mystified about things that should also be puzzling to the player. The impression is then not so much that Zeratul is ignorant, but rather that whatever is so beyond Zeratul’s comprehension has to be pretty significant.

The Prophecy missions, on the other hand, focus on Zeratul pretty much by himself. And he talks a lot. About the trivially mundane (“I can blink across this chasm!”) to the more truly mysterious, as with the Overmind’s thoughts. Whatever the case, Zeratul’s aura of mysticism and knowledge are thouroughly shot now. Which is unfortunate since the resources were there for the opposite to happen. After all, the point of the first three missions is to get a glimpse of the Overmind’s vision. And while it’s sensible that if Zeratul got insight into the Overmind’s thoughts from slaying Zasz with Void energies, then Tassadar would get much greater insight by killing the Overmind itself in a cataclysmic strike of Void energies. Still it would likely have been better for Zeratul’s own development as a character if he had the answers. He’s seen into the mind of the Overmind already.

In fact, if the point was to get to the Overmind’s prophecy, then the entire campaign could have been played like a vision quest from Zeratul, and brought new players up to date with some of the lore of the original game by having Zeratul go back to the Overmind’s death, the murder of Zasz, the creation of the Queen of Blades, and ultimately back to the Overmind’s own creation, as Zeratul looks back through his memories and the Overmind’s searching for that vision. Instead of Zeratul being perpetually surprised, we would get a glimpse of just how much he has experienced. It seems like such a waste to have Zeratul, the only non-Zerg alive to have seen into the mind of the Swarm, have to ask other people for knowledge of the Overmind’s vision.

Like Kerrigan, I’m not sure what to make of Zeratul’s personality in this arc. He just always seems so surprised, it’s disorienting. He’s always reacting, he lacks the confidence and wisdom we’ve come to expect from him.

We can't repair the spots where the monsters hide. Call us after you get rid of them.

[Laurentian]

I agree that the Prophecy arc appears to have been tacked on. Raynor doesn't appear to act as if the prophecy is any reason to spare Kerrigan or if deinfesting her might not be a good idea. Couldn't he have at least discussed it with Matt? Also judging by what we know so far about HOTS it looks like they are using Kerrigan's role in stopping the hybrids as a surprise when the game already explicitly told us the true purpose of her infestation. Also Kerrigan has amnesia so anything she knows about the prophecy and her true role in the swarm she will have to relearn. We will have to wait and see but I think HOTS might play better without the prophecy arc.

I've thought of Duran not being evil might be a good plot twist. Problem is we already know that the overmind was misunderstood so too many misunderstood villains can be pretty silly.

Good point about the races. The terrans seem awfully superflous (Hell WOL is looking to be pretty superflous!) and the Protoss are seemingly pretty weak for a story about what I imagine are supposed to be three rather balanced (ugh!) races.

I think that a serious problem with the zerg is that they are being led by a former human who has human issues to deal with. It seems that there are no proper zerg characters so they have to recruit one from another race. And since they have placed her in a position where she has to die it looks like they are creating a rather convoluted way to stop her from being killed off.

Good point about how the game is playing out to be a BW rehash. Using a prophecy and a deus ex machina to start it off when they could have easily have done it without them? Is Kerrigan going to have any character development that we didn't already see before (e.g. "embracing her zerg side") or could have easily been accomplished without magic rocks?

Interestingly WOL seems to be about reverting Raynor, Mengsk and Kerrigan to roughly the point they were at the beginning of BW. The UED and Kerrigan don't seem to have harmed Mengsk's rule in any real way. Raynor seems to still think Kerrigan can be saved when BW suggested that he realized that she can't be saved. Kerrigan of course has to regain control of the swarm (again) and figure out her place in the sector and the swarm (again) and decide whether or not she is a genocidal maniac (again).

And as I have pointed out on another thread it is not looking good that the game appears to be making Mengsk the Big Bad (I guess his story has not in fact been told) when the hybrids should be. Did he survive WOL (and BW) for no other reason than the plot required it?

[broodmywarcraft]

Hmm. I thought I'd posted this over a week ago. Sorry for the delay.

Hidden Content:

The Hybrids

First off, one important distinction has to be made regarding this storyline compared to all the others I’ve written about. Those stories were complete. Certainly, the effects of one story may bring new light to events that happened before, but they are largely self-contained, with a clear beginning and end. With the Hybrid story, we’ve only just begun. It is possible that occurrences in Heart of the Swarm or Legacy of the Void will completely alter my perception and understanding of this particular storyline. Still, I’ll at least comment on what I think of the story thus far.

There are two distinct parts to the Hybrid story thus far, not counting references such as The Moebius Factor, which are the bonus missions of Brood War and Wings of Liberty, and the Prophecy mission arc. The bonus missions are teasers. Dark Origins was obviously teasing for the sequel, and Piercing the Shroud implies a connection between Arcturus Mengsk and the hybrids. Both of these missions are excellent. Dark Origins introduces the threat to us under the form of a mystery. Coming after the resolution of Brood War’s titular plot and before the assertion of Kerrigan’s dominance in Omega, Dark Origins feels disconnected from the expansion’s themes. Rather than being about schemes for control and power that drove Kerrigan and the UED, this mission reverts to the core mythology behind the Protoss and Zerg, and the mysteries of the unknown that have always been part of the intrigue of science fiction. As a teaser for StarCraft II, it also sets up that game’s new antagonists, the Hybrids and the Dark Voice (then known only as Duran’s ‘greater power’) thus avoiding the problems encountered with the introduction of the United Earth Directorate in Brood War. The Hybrids tie in with the Xel’Naga experiments and the Zerg and Protoss’ opposite halves of perfection aspect from the game backstory as well as with the Overmind’s plans of assimilating the Protoss from the initial StarCraft which would have resulted in much the same. Rather than two opposite halves in opposition that was the plot of StarCraft, Dark Origins suggested that the joining of those two halves would be the plot of StarCraft II. And with the revelation of Duran’s allegiance, they have an established character to spearhead their introduction. By using Terran mercenaries to drive the Hybrid experiments, we have a reason to expect the Terrans to finally play a pivotal role in the story, something that had been lacking thus far. This was further reinforced in Piercing the Shroud by connecting the Hybrid experimentation with Arcturus Mengsk and the Dominion, the major Terran power in the Sector.

Piercing the Shroud plays a similar role to Dark Origins, minus the mysterious alien presence represented by Duran and replacing it with the immediate human threat represented by Arcturus Mengsk. It otherwise works much the same, only more threatening and more immediate. Instead of Terrans incapable of using Pylons properly and a single Hybrid destroyed by Zeratul in its sleep, here we see a fully awakened Hybrid wreaking devastation upon a Terran laboratory, and multiple tubes with cloned versions of that creature. Essentially, playing the two missions back to back results in a feeling like a countdown, as the Hybrid threat grows ever closer and more threatening, nearing the inevitable hour of reckoning, though exactly what that entails isn’t fully comprehended yet.

Unfortunately, that brings us to the Prophecy arc from Wings of Liberty. Soon after playing the campaign for the first time, when asked how I rated the story I gave the Protoss section a 3 out of 10, which, like my early impressions of Brood War, only goes to show that I should not be relied upon to make a sound judgment on something before having experienced it repeatedly. The Prophecy section of the game is beyond terrible, it somehow manages to not have any redeeming qualities at all. The Stand had the evacuation of Aiur, the murder of Aldaris, the dynamic between Artanis and Aldaris and the awesome Twilight tileset. The Artefact arc had The Moebius Factor and to an extent Smash and Grab. Even the Covert missions had A Better Tomorrow. I could not find anything worthwhile to extirpate from this mess, at best I could say that some things are not quite as bad as they are made out to be, which is still a far cry from calling it good.

Let’s start by saying that it’s unoriginal. Prophecies are a lazy way to set heroes off on a path, and the fact that the Hybrids’ goal is to conquer the world is disappointing. The Hybrids, after all, represent the answer to one of humanity’s fundamental philosophical inquiries, as pertains to the Protoss and Zerg, that is to say, they are the meaning of life, the purpose of their existence. How would the world change for us if we knew the answer to that question? And in this case it goes further still as the Hybrids mean that the purpose is not only known, but fulfilled. There are innumerable ways this could change the Koprulu Sector, but instead they just want to conquer everything, like the UED and the Overmind before them. But so be it. What is most upsetting however is the means of that conquest: using the Zerg Swarm. What happened to the Terrans being the driving force behind the Hybrids? Instead we get a repeat of Brood War, with the villain and Kerrigan struggling to control the Swarm so they can take over the world. I wasn’t exactly fond of this plot the first time around, as you may remember, so reusing it, and worse, retconning it into being involved in StarCraft as well certainly did not please me.

Which brings us to the next item, Prophecy reinforces the main story flaws of each of the three races. For the Terrans, it’s their periphereal importance to the storyline. Even back in the original game, the Terrans were a minor factor in the story which dealt with the struggle between Protoss and Zerg. And while the United Earth Directorate was crucial in Brood War, they don’t exactly count as Terrans, as their role in the story could have been replicated without change by using any other species. The Koprulu Sector Terrans themselves were hardly relevant to that story either. Now, with Dark Origins having them set up to be the main force behind the Hybrids, they instead get wiped out offstage before the climactic confrontation between, once more, the Protoss and the Zerg. Why would the Dark Voice even take the detour of wiping out the Terrans anyway, given his apparent hatred of the Protoss?

As for the Protoss, their flaw since the beginning of Brood War retconned them into losing the battle for Aiur is their military powerlessness, their inability to play in the big leagues. I discussed the drastic decrease in power implied by their sudden inability to fight back a fragment of a remnant of the Zerg without magical superweapons in The Stand, and made excuses for Selendis being fought off by Raynor in Safe Haven, but in this campaign you actually play as the Protoss, and the only mission that could possibly be construed as a Protoss victory in this arc is A Sinister Turn, in which you fight other Protoss. This arc plays like a list of creatures that have, are or will kick the Protoss’ arses. First there’s Kerrigan, who murders Judicators unhindered, mind controls ancient Dark Templar elders and dispatches Artanis’ Templar fleet with but a fraction of her broods, the present enemy. Then there’s the Hybrid Maar, the future enemy (as the Hybrids, not as an individual), who single-handedly corrupts a majority of a Protoss shrine world and enslaves Preservers to feed off their power (I really hope we’ll get an explanation for that whole “corrupted Protoss” business in the expansions, incidentally. That thing defies comprehension. If a single Hybrid could do that, why do an army of them have to fight in In Utter Darkness? Why were Zeratul and his forces unaffected?). After that we get the Overmind, conqueror of the sacred Protoss homeworld Aiur (Do all Protoss planets need to have qualifiers? I get "archive world" but why is Zhakul "forbidden"? Why were there so many Protoss on it if it's forbidden?) in the middle of said devastated planet, the past enemy. And to top off the list, we get to witness the extermination of the Protoss species, because really, how much further could they be pushed before this became the only logical conclusion? In this arc we get to run away while our companions die to buy us some time, we get to fight kindred who have been possessed or something, we get to walk in the ashes of our greatest defeat and we get to witness the genocide of the species. These are missions in which we actually play as the Protoss, mind you, so I dare not even imagine what fate awaits them when we play as their enemies. But we’re a far cry from the golden days where they would be setting fire to entire Terran planets from orbit, humiliating Kerrigan on the battlefield and assassinating immortal servants of the Swarm. These days if Aldaris told them that they’d overcome the entire Swarm with the might and the fury that is their heritage, they’d probably fall over dead from hysteria.

And then there’s the Zerg, who don’t really even count as characters anymore. Like a Siege Tank or a Warp Blade, the Zerg no longer seem to be anything other than a weapon for other characters to use to fulfill their own goals. This is of course the reason why I disliked the plot of Brood War, with that whole Overmind-controlling pharmaceutics angle and the Zerg’s role as the prize in the contest between Kerrigan and DuGalle, but now it makes an encore, except it’s much worse. Because unsatisfied with simply confirming that the Zerg will never have personality or a purpose of their own again, the Overmind retcon informs us that even in StarCraft, back in the only game they ever did have ambition and drive and purpose and actual character, they actually didn’t. The Zerg, Prophecy tells us, were always someone else’s weapon to be directed against the target its wielder wished to destroy. And that’s terrible. The annihilation of the Protoss in In Utter Darkness, if it weren’t the culmination of an ongoing series of Protoss failures, would at least be an epic, worthwhile ending. The Zerg genocide from the same mission, on the other hand, is exactly what one should expect from a species who are now only a tool: once their purpose is served, they are cast aside. An entirely pointless death for a race that is now entirely lacking in purpose. Although to its credit, Prophecy gives us the memories of the Overmind as told by Tassadar, which is sadly the most character the Zerg have had since Tassadar’s sacrifice.

Looking at the story of the arc, I get the distinct impression that it was just tacked on to the game. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for its inclusion. The first three missions are redundant: a mystic prophecy guides you to the Overmind who tells you a mystic prophecy – three missions could have been cut if the vision In Utter Darkness had been the original prophecy. In fact, I expect this was the original intent, given Kerrigan’s line in Whispers of Doom saying that “Wouldn't it be better to end your struggle now than witness the final agonizing moments of your species?” In fact, as it stands there would appear to be three separate prophecies in the arc. The Overmind’s vision, the prophecy in three fragments you collect in Whispers of Doom, and an unknown third prophecy that Zeratul and Kerrigan discuss in The Prophecy cinematic and Whispers of Doom. While I don’t know what this prophecy entails, it seems to be much the same as the Overmind’s vision, given Kerrigan’s talk about oblivion and whatnot. Thus, I suspect that the original layout had the In Utter Darkness prophecy come first, then The Prophecy with Kerrigan and Zeratul’s fight, possibly a Whispers of Doom mission that didn’t involve gathering prophecy fragments culminating in a wounded, exhausted Zeratul showing up on the Hyperion. This obviously wasn’t cleaned up before release. Which is another thing with this arc, if they really wanted to include it, then it should have had the resources up to par with the Terran portion. Instead we get the Void Seeker flying through space while Zeratul narrates, and scenes with actual in game footage for meetings between Zeratul and Tassadar over the corpse of the Overmind. I understand that making detailed models and environments for those missions would have been a lot of time and effort, but then again, if it’s not going to fit with the level of quality employed elsewhere, and it obviously doesn’t have much purpose in Wings of Liberty’s story, why include them at all?

Incidentally, the Overmind’s vision itself only reveals that the Hybrids are a massive threat, something we could already anticipate thanks to Piercing the Shroud. We only learn that this threat will come in the least original way possible. As to the nominal reason behind its inclusion, the necessity of keeping Kerrigan alive does not seem like an important part of the arc, as it reasonably should be if that revelation was the point of its existence. Instead we get what is essentially a throwaway line in the middle of the extermination of the Protoss. That line is extremely awkward and does not feel like it even should be part of the mission, the Dark Voice simply decides for inscrutable reasons to state that only Kerrigan could have prevented his victory. Aside from that there is no foreshadowing of this within the arc, even the encounter with Kerrigan herself in Whispers of Doom does not seem to hint to anything, although I could be missing something. AFter all, Kerrigan’s character in that mission is incomprehensible to me. Besides, Wings of Liberty itself already has a far superior ‘save Kerrigan’ storyline in it, as I outlined previously, so this information was not needed, quite the contrary.

Prophecy can be used for interesting purposes in stories, but this was not one of them. Prophecies used as the impetus for a story to begin is lazy, but harmless enough, and used frequently enough is fantasy. But the obligation to save Kerrigan is not an impetus, it is a restriction, something the decreases the protagonist’s choices. These prophecies are not good for stories, because all they are is a way to justify actions by claiming that the plot says so. When such prophecies are used, they’re generally in stories about destiny and free will. If the protagonist tries to fight the prophecy and fails, then it’s a tragedy, as was used in Greek plays. If he fights the prophecy and wins, then it’s a triumphant endorsement of free will and the human spirit. Or you have those clever iterations where the protagonist finds a way where the prophecy is fulfilled technically, but not in the sense it was initially understood. Of course, this prophecy is none of those, it really is just the plot telling us that we can’t kill Kerrigan. Like those “choices” in RPGs where selecting the wrong answer just brings the same question up again, over and over until you “choose” correctly.

So the Prophecy missions are terrible in their own right, reinforce the worst flaws in the characterisation of the Protoss, Terran and Zerg, and worse yet undermines previous, better stories. The Overmind retcon undermines the characterisation and purpose of the Zerg in Overmind and StarCraft as a whole, the prophecy replaces Wings of Liberty’s complex character-driven reasoning for saving Kerrigan with a cheap fiat and sabotages the promise of Dark Origins and Piercing the Shroud with a completely bland resolution. The prophecy arc, unsatisfied with being terrible by itself, actually corrupts everything it touches, and that makes it the worst story in StarCraft thus far, in my opinion.

Characters

Artanis

A number of Protoss heroes appear in In Utter Darkness, but not enough that I can really say much about them. I did however wish to note that of the little we see of Artanis here, he does seem to have matured a bit from his last appearance in Brood War, so that’s interesting. It’ll be good to see how much he has developed.

Both Artanis and Zeratul spend time in In Utter Darkness telling us that the Protoss will face the end united, which is unfortunate because it just doesn’t compare with the same sentiment demonstrated in Eye of the Storm by Tassadar, Zeratul and Aldaris. This is of course because whereas a significant portion of The Fall actually involved overcoming the prejudices of the Protoss and uniting in the face of the Zerg, these three Protoss standing together itself demonstrated this gestalt without the need to crudely shout it out. Since we haven’t seen anything leading to the Protoss’ last stand in In Utter Darkness, and don’t really know half of the Protoss heroes who show up, how can we tell? How can we care?

The Dark Voice

Assuming that this is Duran’s master from Dark Origins, the Dark Voice (which I imagine is another way of saying we still don’t know who he is) looked like it was being set up to be a Sauron style villain, manipulating events from afar. Unlike, say, Arcturus or Kerrigan, these kinds of villains are typically not very developed characters, because they don’t really ever appear, which is fine. In these cases, we know of them by what they do and who they employ. Sauron, for example, we identify through the Ringwraiths and the Uruks. If this was the intended role of the Dark Voice, then by having characters like Samir Duran and possibly Arcturus Mengsk or Ulrezaj as its enforcers, by its hand in bringing the Hybrid schemes to fruition or its involvement in other plots, it could have made for a terrifying villain despite never directly appearing (or never directly appearing ‘till the climax).

Unfortunately, this gets torn down by the same flaw that afflicted Zeratul in Brood War and even more so in the Prophecy missions. Basically, it’s difficult to maintain an aura of mystery when you’re talking all the time. And it’s very hard to seem imposing when what you do say is repetitions of general gloating and uninspired threats. The Dark Voice’s downfall as a character is actually showing up. It makes Arcturus sound humble, Aldaris sound open-minded and Duke sound contemplative. It’s not threatening, it’s annoying. This presumably comes from announcing attacks, the same principle that made Maar sound similarly laughable in A Sinister Turn. This also applied to Kerrigan in All In, but thankfully not nearly as often. Besides, it’s established character for her anyway, all the way back to ‘my stare alone would reduce you to ashes’. Anyway, in this respect quite frequently I find that less is more.

The Overmind

For all of only speaking once, I liked the Overmind. I’m not fond of the new eye – it’s so heavily armoured it looks like he’s squinting all the time, the old eye didn’t even have an eyelid, it was always watching. This Overmind didn’t sound as impressive as the old voice did either. But on the other hand, look at it. It’s huge! It’s a massive carcass sprawling across the crater formed by its own meteoric fall to the planet! And being the person I am the first thing I did upon seeing the corpse of the Overmind was search for the wreckage of the Gantrithor. I think I found it, a burned up husk behind the Robotics Support Bay.

But that’s not why I liked the Overmind here. The Overmind’s lines aren’t great, he sounds too conciliatory with the Protoss, which alongside Tassadar’s reciprocation inevitably leads to the supposition that if not for the Dark Voice the Overmind might have been good, a heinous thought that would truly undermine the epicness of the original StarCraft if it were fact (I contend that they’re both praising the other for their efforts in fighting the common enemy, but the delivery really invites the confusion). But on the other hand, for the first time since, well, the Overmind’s death, there’s something in the universe that actually cares about what befalls the Zerg. I wouldn’t expect anybody too, of course, they’re a plague upon the galaxy, but this comes back to the death of Zerg characters again. No Overmind, no Cerebrates, and Kerrigan, who is a self-centred child. With just this one thought the dead Overmind has shown itself to be closer to the Zerg than we’ve really had the opportunity to experience in a long time.

Samir Duran

Samir Duran’s betrayal of the UED was well foreshadowed, but actually betraying Kerrigan as well was a surprise. It would truly have been a pity if Duran had ended up being no more than Kerrigan’s obsequious retainer, but thankfully that was just a ploy and we get to see that Duran is indeed a badass. Someone capable of backstabbing two immensely powerful groups liked the Directorate and the Swarm is not someone you want to mess with, and as I said before, if this guy was to be the visible arm of the Dark Voice, then how terrible must the actual head of the plot be?

This said, I’m not entirely certain that Duran actually is working for the Dark Voice. Replaying Dark Origins, it struck me that Duran definitely doesn’t sound like he’s planning on using the hybrids to annihilate species. He’s dangerous, no doubt, but his goals appeared to be more about discovery and learning. He actually berates Zeratul for his violent impulse to destroy the Hybrid, which would be immensely hypocritical if his own purpose was genocide. From what we’ve learned since, it does sound as though Duran’s goals are to actually bring about the Xel’Naga’s return, rather than the Dark Voice’s schemes of galactic domination. Then there’s Kerrigan. The Dark Voice claims that Kerrigan is the only being that could have stopped it, then why did Duran spend all of Brood War helping her rise to power? Whether this is a change in characterisation in the decade since Dark Origins was written, or if Duran is being manipulated by the Dark Voice, or whether they’re actually enemies is something I cannot tell.

Interestingly, his discussion with Zeratul reminded me of Zeratul’s own interjection against Aldaris in The Trial of Tassadar. Both claimed to be far older and more experienced than their target, have knowledge beyond their understanding and ridicule them for their violence while ignoring the greater picture. Of course, I get something of a mad scientist vibe from Duran, It’s possible that his big picture is actually disastrous, but he just wants to see it. Anyway, while Duran didn’t mention the entropy of realities, it did feel like Zeratul was getting a taste of humility here. And as with Aldaris, Zeratul’s reaction was to change priorities, he abandoned his search for Artanis and the fight against Kerrigan to go out on his quest for answers, which is where we meet up with him in the Prophecy missions.

Sarah Kerrigan

Kerrigan’s characterisation in Whispers of Doom is baffling. Obviously, it starts making more sense when you realise that she and Zeratul are discussing the Overmind’s vision, as I explained earlier regarding the whole disordered progression of the arc. Despite this, her fatalism is incomprehensible. Since when does Kerrigan give up because of a prophecy? Actually, last time I remember Kerrigan putting stock in something prophetic was when she claimed her Ghost powers allowed her to divine the Protoss’ intentions in Rebel Yell – which was wrong, the Protoss were engaging the Zerg rather than purifying the planet specifically to spare the Terrans, as Aldaris tells us later. In that same passage she also tells us that Arcturus will come around, she knows he will. It’s not specified whether this was also something she knew because she was a Ghost, but I should hope not, because if so Kerrigan clearly has the worst prescient ability ever. Anyway, the point is her track record with foreknowledge is terrible. On the other hand, it has been clearly established that she either has a ridiculously high opinion of herself, or that her insecurities push her to overcompensate by acting so brazen (I suspect the latter). So why is she admitting defeat without even fighting? And this doesn’t carry over to the Terran portion of Wings of Liberty at all. In fact, in that game she seems quite eager to obtain the artefact fragments, whatever it is she wants them for, which would clearly be an example of her not giving in to oblivion and instead continuing her struggles, contrary to what she advocates to Zeratul.

I imagine it could be an attempt at mind games with Zeratul, but if Brood War has taught us anything, it’s that Kerrigan is as subtle as an anvil. Really it would seem so much more likely that she would mock and taunt Zeratul about this prophecied doom rather than apparently succumbing to it herself.

Suffice it to say that either I don’t understand Kerrigan’s characterisation in this arc at all, or she was portrayed horribly, but I can’t really provide analysis for something this apparently out of step with her ongoing portrayal.

Zeratul

Back in Brood War I commented that Zeratul’s repeated appearances detracted from the mystery of his original character, and this applies doubly in the Prophecy missions. Dark Origins isn’t nearly so bad, since it comes at the very end of the expansion, the game assumes you are familiar with the basic mechanics and leaves Zeratul to be mystified about things that should also be puzzling to the player. The impression is then not so much that Zeratul is ignorant, but rather that whatever is so beyond Zeratul’s comprehension has to be pretty significant.

The Prophecy missions, on the other hand, focus on Zeratul pretty much by himself. And he talks a lot. About the trivially mundane (“I can blink across this chasm!”) to the more truly mysterious, as with the Overmind’s thoughts. Whatever the case, Zeratul’s aura of mysticism and knowledge are thouroughly shot now. Which is unfortunate since the resources were there for the opposite to happen. After all, the point of the first three missions is to get a glimpse of the Overmind’s vision. And while it’s sensible that if Zeratul got insight into the Overmind’s thoughts from slaying Zasz with Void energies, then Tassadar would get much greater insight by killing the Overmind itself in a cataclysmic strike of Void energies. Still it would likely have been better for Zeratul’s own development as a character if he had the answers. He’s seen into the mind of the Overmind already.

In fact, if the point was to get to the Overmind’s prophecy, then the entire campaign could have been played like a vision quest from Zeratul, and brought new players up to date with some of the lore of the original game by having Zeratul go back to the Overmind’s death, the murder of Zasz, the creation of the Queen of Blades, and ultimately back to the Overmind’s own creation, as Zeratul looks back through his memories and the Overmind’s searching for that vision. Instead of Zeratul being perpetually surprised, we would get a glimpse of just how much he has experienced. It seems like such a waste to have Zeratul, the only non-Zerg alive to have seen into the mind of the Swarm, have to ask other people for knowledge of the Overmind’s vision.

Like Kerrigan, I’m not sure what to make of Zeratul’s personality in this arc. He just always seems so surprised, it’s disorienting. He’s always reacting, he lacks the confidence and wisdom we’ve come to expect from him.

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