How ar the artifacts Dues Ex Machina?

[flabortast]

What I meant was it may have been made to absorb Zerg and Protoss to use the energy for something else, but it ends up killing them in the end. Like those Phoenix things in Lefacy of the Xel'Naga.

[solidsamurai]

It's more of a macguffin asspull.

Macguffins in general are sloppy writing. They take a suspensful situation where things are really dark and then interpose a convenient way to make it all happy again. This is done instead of having to come up with a more creative way of explaining how the heros get out alive, or perhaps transcending with a different ending that is less black/white.

[GRUNT]

In an interview, Dustin (I think it was Dustin) suggested that there may be more to the artifact than meets the eye, and that Kerrigan's de-Zergification may simply be a side effect of the artifact's true purpose.

Now, I'm a Magic the Gathering player so I've been a little spoiled - I'm used to stories which can have frustratingly vague events and conclusions, but Wizards of the Coast has shown that they generally set up for a payoff further down the road, even if it's many years away.

Dustin's comment about the artifact has put faith into me that WoL will look better in retrospect than it does right now. It's just a shame that they didn't hint at anything else about the artifact in WoL itself.

I just hope that come HotS and LotV, we'll see plenty of seeds planted in WoL come to fruition.

[hack59]

Whether deus ex machina in any precise sense or not, we can certainly agree that the artifacts are a major plot device. People have said it before here, SC1 and BW certainly had their fair share of plot devices, too. Just look at the shocking amount of crystals, there seems to be a crystal somewhere in the sector tailor-made to solve any problem, it would seem.

But plot devices aren't necessarily a catastrophe. If they are used to make a good story work, allow for characters to develop and build relationships and be interesting, then a plot device may be forgiven. Sure, it's awfully convenient that the Protoss manage to conjure up planet-sweeping powers on two occasions, but by and large that's the culmination of a focused, driven story that is more or less very well narrated. A strong, compelling narrative can get away with a few weak elements.

Unfortunately the narrative of WoL was neither strong nor compelling. The problem with the artifacts is that there is nothing driving the story to its conclusion. Most of the campaign is spent in an uninspired, unmotivated "well let's make some cash" manner. The final conclusion is hardly at all built up and only pops up in the last two or three missions, when suddenly and conveniently all the stuff you were doing up to then fits in magically to solve your problems.

The disconnect between the bulk of the campaign and its ending is the main problem. There is no build-up. The audience has no investment in the bulk of the campaign, and no relation to its ending. This is the failing of the artifact plot device.

Imagine how the story could have been constructed: In the beginning, Raynor is down and distraught. Then he learns rumours, bit by bit, of the powers of XN technology. Then he pursues those (cue missions in which the player has to achieve something!), and eventually learns more and more details about the prospects of saving Kerrigan. He then has to plan a strategy to recover the artifacts, to get someone who understands them and can operate them, and finally to find a way to get to Char. Perhaps it should have been him who convinced Valerian to mount an attack, offering him a way to outdo his father. We can have the exact same ending, but if it was something that I had knowingly worked towards, I might actually have had an emotional response at the end.

[Turalyon]

Too true, hack.

They should have looked at their old Terran campaign for inspiration. The psi emitter was a plot device too but used very well in context. It was understated and used more as an avenue to explore character development. It drove the story forward but it did not overshadow it. It did not dictate how the story was going to work out, it informed how the characters were going to take action.

[RolleR_RATM]

I do think it's trite, but I wouldn't call it a DEM. The artifact destroys Zerg cells. Just like the XN temple on Shakuras. Just like the Phoenix creature from SoTN, etc. It was not created to deinfest a human. It's even explained in the game. <_<

During the 2010 BCon QA it was said that the whole de-infestation thing is just a side effect of the artifact. I think it is definitely not just a convinient solution from the writers. They said that the artifact has a big role to play in the future chapters.

[hack59]

During the 2010 BCon QA it was said that the whole de-infestation thing is just a side effect of the artifact. I think it is definitely not just a convinient solution from the writers. They said that the artifact has a big role to play in the future chapters.

So wait, does that mean the artifacts satisfy you? Or why are you bringing this up?

I don't doubt that the artifacts are important. They surely do play an important role even in WoL! The problem is that they're terribly disconnected from the story. Raynor (hence we the players) has no more interest in the artifacts than a McDonalds clerk has in burgers. They're simply a day job. The fact that they're important doesn't come up till the very end, and so there's no reason to care while you gather them and no feeling of accomplishment when they randomly turn out to be the big solution in the end.