Random Campaign Thoughts

[Turalyon]

I think we're clearly not understanding one another. What does it matter that you can't choose wrong? The development is (or rather, should have been) based on what you choose, not what results from your choice. But yes, I agree with the lack of consequences rendering the subject moot, as I have stated before.

I don't have a problem with not being able to choose wrong, I just have a problem with being set-up for a false choice that is ultimately meaningless.

Even if this was supposed to be an exercise in character development, the choice is less about being idealistic or pragmatic and more about being smart or stupid. We are given no reason why we shouldn't trust Hanson or Tosh - they haven't exactly done us wrong and have been on the level since we first met them. Then all of a sudden, we are presented with a choice from some characters that come out of the blue and they expect us to side with them?

[Zero]

I don't have a problem with not being able to choose wrong, I just have a problem with being set-up for a false choice that is ultimately meaningless.

Even if this was supposed to be an exercise in character development, the choice is less about being idealistic or pragmatic and more about being smart or stupid. We are given no reason why we shouldn't trust Hanson or Tosh - they haven't exactly done us wrong and have been on the level since we first met them. Then all of a sudden, we are presented with a choice from some characters that come out of the blue and they expect us to side with them?

True. There's a bit more development with Hanson though, as she uses her doe eyes to persuade Raynor to help her cause, and overall, she has far more contact with Raynor than Tosh. Tosh, on the other hand, all we get is that he's a shady character that no one seems to trust. Sure, it's because he's creepy and has those voodoo dolls, but when Nova pops up to give Raynor a choice, don't we feel kind of silly that we know so little about Tosh, despite him hanging out on your ship the last few weeks, that we'll consider siding with the Dominion ghost over him?

This is one thing I hope Blizzard will focus a bit more on in HotS, although we don't know what kind of contact and allies Kerrigan will have yet. If we make a decision and lose an ally, I want to feel bad because I liked him/her/it or be happy that they're gone. I didn't feel anything for anyone in the Tosh/Nova decision. It was based more on what I wanted: Ghosts vs. Spectres, that drove my choice in my first run-through.

[mr. peasant]

True. There's a bit more development with Hanson though, as she uses her doe eyes to persuade Raynor to help her cause, and overall, she has far more contact with Raynor than Tosh. Tosh, on the other hand, all we get is that he's a shady character that no one seems to trust. Sure, it's because he's creepy and has those voodoo dolls, but when Nova pops up to give Raynor a choice, don't we feel kind of silly that we know so little about Tosh, despite him hanging out on your ship the last few weeks, that we'll consider siding with the Dominion ghost over him?

I agree. Moreover, the news reports in WoL suggested that Tosh and his Spectres were behinda few pretty bad terrorist attacks. Nova would have made a far more compelling argument, and hence a more evenly balanced choice, if she had made these accusations known to Raynor, with Tosh claiming that he was not involved in those events.

[Louis]

True. There's a bit more development with Hanson though, as she uses her doe eyes to persuade Raynor to help her cause, and overall, she has far more contact with Raynor than Tosh. Tosh, on the other hand, all we get is that he's a shady character that no one seems to trust. Sure, it's because he's creepy and has those voodoo dolls, but when Nova pops up to give Raynor a choice, don't we feel kind of silly that we know so little about Tosh, despite him hanging out on your ship the last few weeks, that we'll consider siding with the Dominion ghost over him?

This is one thing I hope Blizzard will focus a bit more on in HotS, although we don't know what kind of contact and allies Kerrigan will have yet. If we make a decision and lose an ally, I want to feel bad because I liked him/her/it or be happy that they're gone. I didn't feel anything for anyone in the Tosh/Nova decision. It was based more on what I wanted: Ghosts vs. Spectres, that drove my choice in my first run-through.

Hanson, and maybe Stettman approach Jim and basically say that Tosh lied to him about the resource collecting. Tosh made Jim think it was just for money and said nothing about psionics, so Tosh was lying by omission. And when appraoched by Nova, Tosh doesn't deny Novas accusations.

[Norfindel]

but when Nova pops up to give Raynor a choice, don't we feel kind of silly that we know so little about Tosh, despite him hanging out on your ship the last few weeks, that we'll consider siding with the Dominion ghost over him?

I think it's stupid enough to let a supposedly Ghost desertor that you know nothing about inside your ship. I mean, what stops the guy from cloaking and killing you if he's so inclined? Why would you thrust him, when you know that your head has a price? How do you know he's not sent by the Dominion? All that "Mengsk won't make him into a martyr" talk don't makes any sense as Mengsk has a gazillion ways to kill Raynor without anyone ever knowing he was behind, if he's so trusting with everyone. Hell, he could ask Tychus to do it, seeing how he tried to kill him on his own after a few drinks.

[Louis]

They didn't know nothing about him, Matt did a background check. Matt decided that Tosh was somewhat trustworthy ("turns out he hates the dominion almost as much as you"... must have found evidence of Tosh fighting the Dominion, yeah?), and Jim gave orders for Matt to keep an eye on him. What'd you want then to do, cuff him, put him in a cell? That's no way to treat a valuable business partner.

[Turalyon]

Hanson, and maybe Stettman approach Jim and basically say that Tosh lied to him about the resource collecting. Tosh made Jim think it was just for money and said nothing about psionics, so Tosh was lying by omission. And when appraoched by Nova, Tosh doesn't deny Novas accusations.

You'd think Raynor would know that Tosh had something more in mind for these "resource raid" missions that what he was (not) saying, given the nature in how he first turned up and propositioned him. Not to mention that he's a Ghost (sort of) and a generally shifty looking person. If Raynor was self-righteous he would have demanded why Tosh was asking him to do these missions before going ahead and possibly refuse to help. In the end though, I suppose Raynor didn't really care about questioning Tosh's motivation as long as he got paid, since Tosh kept up his end of the deal after each of those missions.

With all of the above in mind, it's hard to understand Raynor taking up a moral stance and siding with Nova only at the end of the "Tosh arc" when she comes out of the blue to tell him the real reason behind Tosh's missions. Afterall, she is an operative of your sworn enemy, the Dominion - how can Raynor tell if she's telling the truth?

As I said before, the choice is between being smart (Tosh - his lies have not harmed Raynor directly and you've benefited from his acquaintance) vs stupid (Nova - for the reasons mentioned in this post).

[Norfindel]

They didn't know nothing about him, Matt did a background check. Matt decided that Tosh was somewhat trustworthy ("turns out he hates the dominion almost as much as you"... must have found evidence of Tosh fighting the Dominion, yeah?), and Jim gave orders for Matt to keep an eye on him. What'd you want then to do, cuff him, put him in a cell? That's no way to treat a valuable business partner.

Meh, didn't remembered that. My mind erases bad stories fast.
They could do business with him, but let him enter the ship?
All the missions he throwns at you are ethically bad. Attacking the Tal'Darim for no good reason. At least he should have tried a little bit more diplomacy. If some of them ultimately murder Raynor, it would be 100% justified.

Also, if he hates the Dominion so much, why didn't he moved a damn finger until you did all the dirty work? At the end, you need to choose if you release a bunch of guys that could or couldn't be mass-killer psychics from a maximum security prison, based only on the words of a Dominion Ghost and a Spectre you don't know much about, that has a lot of money god knows how, and will pay you for attacking the Tal'Darim to steal their sacred relics.