StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void Campaign Thoughts
Dec 24, 2015 8:22:36 GMT -5
Devil Mingy likes this
Post by Axalon on Dec 24, 2015 8:22:36 GMT -5
As I did back when Heart of the Swarm came out on the old website, and would have done if Wings of Liberty had come out when we had this little community, I decided to run through the latest StarCraft campaign's story and compile my thoughts about it.
Overall I felt the Protoss campaign was more or less just better overall than Heart of the Swarm was. Overall. It also falls victim to some of the cheesiest and strangest things since, I dunno, Mass Effect 3 I guess. But more on that later. For now we discuss the three mission prologue to the main game itself.
I've put each mission under spoiler tags so that...
A: People who still don't want to be spoiled aren't and
B: So anyone who makes use of the Recent Posts button isn't slammed by a giant wall of text and images.
If anyone would prefer to watch my blind playthrough of the game on YouTube you can see it here:
So without further ado, the Prologue: Whispers of Oblivion
MISSION 1 - DARK WHISPERS
MISSION 2 - GHOSTS IN THE FOG
MISSION 3 - EVIL AWOKEN
Overall thoughts:
To Aiur!
Overall I felt the Protoss campaign was more or less just better overall than Heart of the Swarm was. Overall. It also falls victim to some of the cheesiest and strangest things since, I dunno, Mass Effect 3 I guess. But more on that later. For now we discuss the three mission prologue to the main game itself.
I've put each mission under spoiler tags so that...
A: People who still don't want to be spoiled aren't and
B: So anyone who makes use of the Recent Posts button isn't slammed by a giant wall of text and images.
If anyone would prefer to watch my blind playthrough of the game on YouTube you can see it here:
So without further ado, the Prologue: Whispers of Oblivion
MISSION 1 - DARK WHISPERS
From a story perspective I already disliked the prologue from the beginning. From the get-go Zeratul tells us that the Terrans, Protoss and Zerg (that's all three factions) are completely useless in the war and that only the dead Xel'naga can save the day.
But that's silly, because they're dead, right? As established back in SC1? Silly Zeratul.
Then Zeratul gets a distress call from some Protoss commander, Talis, explaining where Terrans have been abducting Protoss and fusing them into Hybrids. Zeratul rushes to her aid and encounters Kerrigan, who, for no sane reason, decides to not cooperate with Zeratul and indeed will murder any Protoss that gets in her way.
- The Pro of this situation is that at least there is a common enemy and Kerrigan doesn't send her Zerg out of their way to attack your base, being focused on the Terrans and Hybrids.
- The obvious Con is that Zeratul clearly explains that he is seeking valuable information to defeat Amon and the Hybrids while Kerrigan doesn't give a damn, ironically lacks the mysterious "vision" she kept trying to hammer into Zagara in the previous game, if she indeed ever had it to begin with, and is clearly more concerned with the ever present here-and-now than the grand scheme of things...which honestly is fairly consistent with her character.
- She has one goal and pursues it with laser-like focus, like with Mengsk, and deviates only enough to accomodate something to help achieve that goal and ignoring any collateral damage in her path (unless Raynor is there to scowl about civilian casualties of course). So again, consistent.
The first group of rescued Protoss simply confirm what we already know, an unknown force has abducted Protoss and is experimenting on them. Nothing new here, we move on.
We also come across a co-opted pylon that the Terrans have made to work for them, allowing Terran warp-ins and such. This is a good thing. It validates what was seen in the secret mission of Brood War way back when where the Terrans creating the Hybrids under Samir Duran's guidance were experimenting with Protoss technology.
Talis brushes off the Terrans as "primitive beasts", a claim that Zeratul oddly does not challenge as he did when Artanis made a similar claim. Talis sadly displays yet more of the traditional blind Protoss ignorance that got them into this mess in the first place. We press forwards regardless.
At around this point Kerrigan goes so far as to actually MOCK Zeratul as he races to get the information he needs before the Zerg blow up everything. Whose side is she on, again?
Zeratul tries to reason with her, saying that slaying the cannon fodder is all well and good, but is pointless if Amon himself is free to do what he pleases. This is a lesson the Zerg should know firsthand given that this is EXACTLY how the Protoss defeated them in the first game, and this SAME tactic is how Kerrigan gained full control of the damn Swarm in Brood War. Cut off the head andtwo more shall take its place HAIL HYDRA *BLAM* the body will die.
Perhaps deep down Kerrigan realizes this as she doesn't bother to grace Zeratul's logic with a response. Talis voices the opinion that it would be "better to reason with a stone than the Zerg" and in light of this instance one cannot help but agree. The second group of Protoss are freed and we move on.
We save all three Protoss (on Brutal difficulty I lured Kerrigan's army into the final group defending my captured Protoss, forcing her to work with me whether she liked it or not) where finally we meet a prisoner who has a clue as to what's going on. This random High Templar tells us that it was the Tal'darim who abducted them to be turned into Hybrids. Zeratul runs up to a computer, reasoning that since both Moebius Corps and the Tal'darim worked for Narud (aka Duran) there must be a map showing the location of the temple the Templar mentioned.
He presses a button and quickly the map loads, no doubt labeled "NotTheSecretTemple.jpg". We know he couldn't have spent a long time searching for it, because Kerrigan and the Zerg are rampaging everywhere burning everything to the ground, taunting the Protoss along the way.
Talis pledges to aid Zeratul in thanks for her assistance, Kerrigan goes off doing God-knows-what and ignoring everything. Onwards to Mission 2!
But that's silly, because they're dead, right? As established back in SC1? Silly Zeratul.
Then Zeratul gets a distress call from some Protoss commander, Talis, explaining where Terrans have been abducting Protoss and fusing them into Hybrids. Zeratul rushes to her aid and encounters Kerrigan, who, for no sane reason, decides to not cooperate with Zeratul and indeed will murder any Protoss that gets in her way.
- The Pro of this situation is that at least there is a common enemy and Kerrigan doesn't send her Zerg out of their way to attack your base, being focused on the Terrans and Hybrids.
- The obvious Con is that Zeratul clearly explains that he is seeking valuable information to defeat Amon and the Hybrids while Kerrigan doesn't give a damn, ironically lacks the mysterious "vision" she kept trying to hammer into Zagara in the previous game, if she indeed ever had it to begin with, and is clearly more concerned with the ever present here-and-now than the grand scheme of things...which honestly is fairly consistent with her character.
- She has one goal and pursues it with laser-like focus, like with Mengsk, and deviates only enough to accomodate something to help achieve that goal and ignoring any collateral damage in her path (unless Raynor is there to scowl about civilian casualties of course). So again, consistent.
The first group of rescued Protoss simply confirm what we already know, an unknown force has abducted Protoss and is experimenting on them. Nothing new here, we move on.
We also come across a co-opted pylon that the Terrans have made to work for them, allowing Terran warp-ins and such. This is a good thing. It validates what was seen in the secret mission of Brood War way back when where the Terrans creating the Hybrids under Samir Duran's guidance were experimenting with Protoss technology.
Talis brushes off the Terrans as "primitive beasts", a claim that Zeratul oddly does not challenge as he did when Artanis made a similar claim. Talis sadly displays yet more of the traditional blind Protoss ignorance that got them into this mess in the first place. We press forwards regardless.
At around this point Kerrigan goes so far as to actually MOCK Zeratul as he races to get the information he needs before the Zerg blow up everything. Whose side is she on, again?
Zeratul tries to reason with her, saying that slaying the cannon fodder is all well and good, but is pointless if Amon himself is free to do what he pleases. This is a lesson the Zerg should know firsthand given that this is EXACTLY how the Protoss defeated them in the first game, and this SAME tactic is how Kerrigan gained full control of the damn Swarm in Brood War. Cut off the head and
Perhaps deep down Kerrigan realizes this as she doesn't bother to grace Zeratul's logic with a response. Talis voices the opinion that it would be "better to reason with a stone than the Zerg" and in light of this instance one cannot help but agree. The second group of Protoss are freed and we move on.
We save all three Protoss (on Brutal difficulty I lured Kerrigan's army into the final group defending my captured Protoss, forcing her to work with me whether she liked it or not) where finally we meet a prisoner who has a clue as to what's going on. This random High Templar tells us that it was the Tal'darim who abducted them to be turned into Hybrids. Zeratul runs up to a computer, reasoning that since both Moebius Corps and the Tal'darim worked for Narud (aka Duran) there must be a map showing the location of the temple the Templar mentioned.
He presses a button and quickly the map loads, no doubt labeled "NotTheSecretTemple.jpg". We know he couldn't have spent a long time searching for it, because Kerrigan and the Zerg are rampaging everywhere burning everything to the ground, taunting the Protoss along the way.
Talis pledges to aid Zeratul in thanks for her assistance, Kerrigan goes off doing God-knows-what and ignoring everything. Onwards to Mission 2!
MISSION 2 - GHOSTS IN THE FOG
I honestly don't have much to say about this mission, good or bad. The gameplay is standard build your base destroy the enemy, aside from the slow income of vespene at the start, and the story is the bad guys holding off the good guys as they try to break in. Dialogue is mostly the two Protoss factions screaming death threats at each other.
The Tal'darim have received a new evil looking red and black color scheme with more spikes and stuff. In all honesty they needed the new look, given that Blizzard is determine to differentiate them from standard Protoss visually (as well as in practically all other things).
Long gone are the days when Raynor could roll up, punch them in the face, steal their holy artifacts and look like the stereotypical Terran bad guy when doing it.
In fact, the only other noteworthy thing is when Zeratul finds a vespene vent and begins mining it from orbit.
Why can't he just...mine the vespene from the giant canyons full of it? What makes it different from the other vespene coming from the ground? Why haven't the Protoss, the most technologically advanced of the three main races, figured out the art of automated vespene retrieval? Hell the primitive by comparison Terrans figured it out just off of reverse-engineering some Protoss stuff they found. Aside from the answer being gameplay/story segregation I got nothing.
The Templar break the Tal'darim and Zeratul leads a small force in while the Templar stand guard outside to stop Tal'darim reinforcements. This does beg the question as to why the Tal'darim can't just WARP the reinforcements into the temple directly while bypassing the Templar altogether, but whatever. To Mission 3!
The Tal'darim have received a new evil looking red and black color scheme with more spikes and stuff. In all honesty they needed the new look, given that Blizzard is determine to differentiate them from standard Protoss visually (as well as in practically all other things).
Long gone are the days when Raynor could roll up, punch them in the face, steal their holy artifacts and look like the stereotypical Terran bad guy when doing it.
In fact, the only other noteworthy thing is when Zeratul finds a vespene vent and begins mining it from orbit.
Why can't he just...mine the vespene from the giant canyons full of it? What makes it different from the other vespene coming from the ground? Why haven't the Protoss, the most technologically advanced of the three main races, figured out the art of automated vespene retrieval? Hell the primitive by comparison Terrans figured it out just off of reverse-engineering some Protoss stuff they found. Aside from the answer being gameplay/story segregation I got nothing.
The Templar break the Tal'darim and Zeratul leads a small force in while the Templar stand guard outside to stop Tal'darim reinforcements. This does beg the question as to why the Tal'darim can't just WARP the reinforcements into the temple directly while bypassing the Templar altogether, but whatever. To Mission 3!
MISSION 3 - EVIL AWOKEN
Much like Mission 2 I don't have much to say about this one. Zeratul and his small group infiltrate the temple and go John Rambo on the Tal'darim within.
The Tal'darim get these sick as hell anti-air cannons though.
The Tal'darim Highlord communes with Amon, who was revealed to have revived at the end of Wings of Liberty, through this giant Diablo-style coffin thing. I'm not sure how this device works, but whatever it is...it is clearly inferior to the technology the United Earth Directorate employed in Brood War to spy on the Koprulu Sector from 60,000 light-years away. Those guys knew about the second Overmind and dispatched an expedition to go tame it, all before the Protoss did. From 60,000 light-years away. Without having to go to an isolated temple.
Likewise, depending on your choice in HotS, Mengsk can directly communicate with Kerrigan all the way out at Zerus. I personally chalk the latter up to gameplay/story segregation but it wouldn't be the most ridiculous feat in StarCraft.
Zeratul reaches the evil coffin thing and gets a message from Tassadar's ghost.
Amon starts summoning a bunch of evil wraith Protoss units and Zeratul beats a hasty retreat away. Talis needlessly sacrifices herself so Zeratul could get away (she totally could've gotten away as well) and Zeratul is hopeful now that the prophecy is complete (somehow it wasn't before in WoL) and rides off to the main game itself.
The Tal'darim get these sick as hell anti-air cannons though.
The Tal'darim Highlord communes with Amon, who was revealed to have revived at the end of Wings of Liberty, through this giant Diablo-style coffin thing. I'm not sure how this device works, but whatever it is...it is clearly inferior to the technology the United Earth Directorate employed in Brood War to spy on the Koprulu Sector from 60,000 light-years away. Those guys knew about the second Overmind and dispatched an expedition to go tame it, all before the Protoss did. From 60,000 light-years away. Without having to go to an isolated temple.
Likewise, depending on your choice in HotS, Mengsk can directly communicate with Kerrigan all the way out at Zerus. I personally chalk the latter up to gameplay/story segregation but it wouldn't be the most ridiculous feat in StarCraft.
Zeratul reaches the evil coffin thing and gets a message from Tassadar's ghost.
Amon starts summoning a bunch of evil wraith Protoss units and Zeratul beats a hasty retreat away. Talis needlessly sacrifices herself so Zeratul could get away (she totally could've gotten away as well) and Zeratul is hopeful now that the prophecy is complete (somehow it wasn't before in WoL) and rides off to the main game itself.
Overall thoughts:
Aside from the awkward first mission the prologue does what it was basically there to do. Tide over people waiting for the main game to come out. As someone who liked the sci-fi aspect of StarCraft far more than the science-fantasy aspects having more prophecy stuff and gods and dark gods just wasn't my cup of tea. That isn't to say that SC was devoid of fantasy aspects before, just that in SC2 they just take up so much more prevalence now.
Besides the prohpecy getting things added to it nothing much has changed either. Talis and her forces are introduced and killed off all in the span of three missions, meaning Zeratul has no backup for when he goes to meet Artanis and the others. Zeratul is still going to "face judgement" from the Protoss for something, my best guess would've been killing the Matriarch (who was being forcefully controlled and enslaved by Kerrigan) in Brood War. We do get our first genuine Protoss villain since Ulrezaj from the old Enslavers II Campaign/Dark Templar novel trilogy. Unless you count the crazy Tal'darim executor from WoL who was upset that Tychus and Raynor were stealing the holy artifacts of his people for some quick cash. Anyway the prologue gives us Ma'lash, the Tal'darim Highlord:
He looks kind of Final Fantasy to me, but I welcome more Protoss villains who are actually villains, and not just obstructive bureaucrats.
Besides the prohpecy getting things added to it nothing much has changed either. Talis and her forces are introduced and killed off all in the span of three missions, meaning Zeratul has no backup for when he goes to meet Artanis and the others. Zeratul is still going to "face judgement" from the Protoss for something, my best guess would've been killing the Matriarch (who was being forcefully controlled and enslaved by Kerrigan) in Brood War. We do get our first genuine Protoss villain since Ulrezaj from the old Enslavers II Campaign/Dark Templar novel trilogy. Unless you count the crazy Tal'darim executor from WoL who was upset that Tychus and Raynor were stealing the holy artifacts of his people for some quick cash. Anyway the prologue gives us Ma'lash, the Tal'darim Highlord:
He looks kind of Final Fantasy to me, but I welcome more Protoss villains who are actually villains, and not just obstructive bureaucrats.
To Aiur!