Tychus Findlay in HOTS

[Sheliek]

Yeah.

To be fair, his head's the same shape. The only difference is the hair, which is grown out. That isn't that unbelievable.

. . .
Like I said - no one could really know what the concept art meant, it could've been deinfestation, it could've just been a generic picture of Kerrigan relaxing, it could've been something else that sapped her powers, but left her infested, etc. No one could've known what it meant.
. . .

I, for one, thought it was a scene from a flashback to Kerrigan's rebirth from the Chrysalis.

[Quirel]

Yeah.
Seriously speaking, he went from a generic Marshall to some real rough and bad ass space cowboy with Sweet home Alabama on his Juke Box, sipping whiskey and holding a revolver. The "Redneck space cowboy" thing was way overdone.

Heh. I liked it myself.
StarCraft always had an element of "Space Cowboy" to me, so I guess YMMV.

Obviously we were not 100% sure. But now you're just kicking a dead dog, what game company seriously does that? Yes just release concept art of the final scene before the beta is even out. This is a major gaming company with a major product and they can't even do their fans some respect.

You know what? That was back when Blizzard was still hammering the story out over cans of Red Bull and Chinese take-out. I think they can be forgiven for releasing some VERY ambiguous concept art of an ending they might have thought they weren't going to do.

As for what game company does that?

That's the promotional art from the beginning (Note that Kat still has two prosthetic arms). Notice anything interesting about the order that they're standing in? Or how Jun at the end is the only one crouching?

Just wondering.

Blizzard wrote it. I know he's probably still alive. But examining WOL itself, his character was poorly handled and his assassination attempt was a joke. We knew he was a Mengsk pawn from the beginning and all he could do was aim his sight at Kerrigan in perhaps the most cliche part of the game.

Well, if you want to assume that Tychus wanted to shoot Kerrigan, go ahead. Note that he really had no real motivation to do so, aside from resentment toward Raynor and a nearly nonexistent chance that Arcturus would let him walk.

Oh well I never expected that much, but I felt it wasn't up to WC3/SC1's campaign quality in terms of story telling. SC2 still feels like a weak attempt at copying Mass Effect's method.

Probably, and there's definitely room for improvement. But I don't think it's quite as bad as many people believe, and it's main flaw is not curing cancer when the hype all but said it would.

[mr. peasant]

You know what? That was back when Blizzard was still hammering the story out over cans of Red Bull and Chinese take-out. I think they can be forgiven for releasing some VERY ambiguous concept art of an ending they might have thought they weren't going to do.

Moreover, I think it should be mentioned that, unless I'm mistaken, the art was released before Blizzard decided to break SC2 into three separate games. In other words, though that was the end of the Terran campaign, it wouldn't have been SC2's ending at all (you would have been able to continue the game straightaway by starting the Zerg campaign). It would be akin to releasing artwork of the Overmind landing on Aiur in SC1.

[TheEconomist]

No, it'd be more like showing artwork of Tassadar energypwning the Overmind. It may not have been the ending, but it was a major change that deserved to be kept secret until experienced in the game.

[mr. peasant]

I disagree since Tassadar's killing of the Overmind was the climax and/or ending of the original Starcraft, from which you couldn't continue until Brood War came out which was awhile later. Had SC2 been a single game, the story would continue unravelling in the Zerg and Protoss campaigns.

[Articorse]

No, it'd be more like showing artwork of Tassadar energypwning the Overmind. It may not have been the ending, but it was a major change that deserved to be kept secret until experienced in the game.

I completely disagree. From what you're suggesting we get a clear idea of what the ending of the whole game will probably be. From what Blizzard did we get a few different, vague ideas about how 1/3 of the game might possibly end.

[sandwich_bird]

That's the promotional art from the beginning (Note that Kat still has two prosthetic arms). Notice anything interesting about the order that they're standing in? Or how Jun at the end is the only one crouching?

Just wondering.

lol, never thought about that. Nice find!

It still is not as explicit as Kerrigan's artwork though.

[TheEconomist]

I disagree since Tassadar's killing of the Overmind was the climax and/or ending of the original Starcraft, from which you couldn't continue until Brood War came out which was awhile later. Had SC2 been a single game, the story would continue unravelling in the Zerg and Protoss campaigns.

Where it comes in the story is irrelevant. It's a significant change and being spoiled years ahead of time was a huge blow.

In fact, I'd even say showing "Tassadar's killing of the Overmind" artwork would be less of spoiler. Think of it this way, who didn't honestly think the Overmind was going to die in the game? All this artwork would tell you was that Tassadar was the one to kill it. Kerrigan's de-infestation being spoiled, however, is a much larger blow.

@Artifcorse: Stop thinking of it in terms of ending or not, think it in terms of how much would be lost by it being spoilered. Just because the Overmind came later doesn't make it more important or more shocking.

[mr. peasant]

Where it comes in the story is irrelevant. It's a significant change and being spoiled years ahead of time was a huge blow.

In fact, I'd even say showing "Tassadar's killing of the Overmind" artwork would be less of spoiler. Think of it this way, who didn't honestly think the Overmind was going to die in the game? All this artwork would tell you was that Tassadar was the one to kill it. Kerrigan's de-infestation being spoiled, however, is a much larger blow.

Where the event occurs does matter since an event that occurs earlier in the game will have its effects felt for a longer period within that game itself. Hence, had all 3 campaigns been sold together within one game, spoilers revealed about the Zerg and Protoss campaigns would likely have made reference to this event; thus spoiling it anyway.

Also, based on your statement, you should be against all spoilers; since spoilers around one event allows you to predict how other events will unravel (particularly how they got into that situation as well as what's going to happen to it). And the more spoilers you reveal, the more accurately and more events you can predict. In terms of significant reveals, what about Blizzard revealing about Zeratul's prophecy that Kerrigan must live? That was a pretty big situation-changer. Also, what about Raynor's collection of Artifacts and that he was working for a mysterious group called the Moebius Foundation? People accurately predicted that he was unwittingly working for Valerian Mengsk (which is important since working with a figure so central to the Dominion runs against what he stands for).

[Articorse]

@Artifcorse: Stop thinking of it in terms of ending or not, think it in terms of how much would be lost by it being spoilered. Just because the Overmind came later doesn't make it more important or more shocking.

Not a single person has spelled my name right since I joined, lol.

Even so, the art was way too vague. You couldn't have possibly gathered from it that Kerrigan will be deinfested. Sure, the thought could've crossed your mind, and probably some people were even sure it would happen. But it could still be interpreted in too many ways. Like I said earlier - when I saw that art back before the beta, I thought it might be deinfestation, too. But it also could've been a generic picture of Kerrigan relaxing. Since it was so heavily stylized, the missing carapace didn't mean much. It could also have been a picture of her simply having been defeated, but still infested, since she still had the tentacle hair. Like Muspelli said, it also could've been a flashback to Kerrigan in, or having just been released from, her chrysalis.

Can you honestly tell me that when you saw this art originally your mind jumped to 'deinfestation'? Do you really think that back then you could've said that the deinfestation scenario was the most likely of all the possible scenarios?