First! Now let's talk spoilers (SC2)!

[AA7Dragoon]

So in one day, as of 2:30AM on 7/28/2010, I beat StarCraft 2.  I believe I am the first in the CC community to do so!


There's a lot to talk about, so everything down below will now be considered spoilers!

*SPOILERS BELOW*


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All right, I was very impressed by how the campaign was put together.  The levels were always interesting, and the upgrades/research were a very fun aspect to the game.  I liked all the bonus units and abilities I couldn't play on multi-player.  The voice acting was excellent although I found the Protoss characters to sound redundant after awhile.

As for the story, I am not sure what to think.  What the hell happened?

Okay, in the prophecy, the death of Kerrigan spelled the doom of the entire galaxy.  There's a hint given that there's only ONE Xel'Naga who is involved in trying to destroy the galaxy, and that he is referenced to as the "Fallen One."  In other words, the Xel'Naga as a race are not back, rather, a rather evil member of the species has come to take revenge on the Koprulu Sector.  The revenge, however, is confusing.

The Zerg destroyed the Xel'Naga because the Overmind willed it so; however, in SC2 lore, it states that the Overmind was given one single purpose: to destroy the Protoss.  Here I thought the Zerg was the immortal enemy of the Xel'Naga, now we learn that the Overmind was actually sympathetic towards the Terrans and Protoss, and was being controlled against its own will..  An interesting twist, but how does it justify itself?

I was also further confused by the climax of the plot.  If Sarah Kerrigan is meant to save the galaxy, WHY did they use the Xel'Naga artifact to make her human again?  After the prophecy, I thought they wanted to keep her alive because her independent spirit would have kept the Zerg from being controlled by the Xel'Naga Fallen One.  Now that she's human, WHO is controlling the Zerg now?  Isn't that only fulfilling the prophecy of doom because since Kerrigan is no longer in control of the Zerg, that leaves them open to a new master?  The Xel'Naga Fallen One as evident in Zeratul's memory?  He was controlling all the Zerg against the Protoss.


So aside from an awesome campaign, great voice acting, cool missions, fun gameplay, etc., I am rather irritated by the story.  They basically took everything that happened in SC1 and said, "NO WAIT!  IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!  EVERYTHING'S A TWIST!  EVEN TASSADAR STILL LIVES LOL.

I liked how matter-of-fact Tassadar was about still being alive: "I have never tasted death." lol, oh, okay, well thanks for never saying hi to your friends in 4 years who needed you in Brood War.

There's so much more I want to say, but I'll start with just this.  What did you guys think?

[Xelxiuz]

There's a hint given that there's only ONE Xel'Naga who is involved in trying to destroy the galaxy, and that he is referenced to as the "Fallen One."  In other words, the Xel'Naga as a race are not back, rather, a rather evil member of the species has come to take revenge on the Koprulu Sector.  The revenge, however, is confusing.

Confusing? Just watch Transformers movie 2 and you got the plot for the next two expansions.

After the prophecy, I thought they wanted to keep her alive because her independent spirit would have kept the Zerg from being controlled by the Xel'Naga Fallen One.  Now that she's human, WHO is controlling the Zerg now?  Isn't that only fulfilling the prophecy of doom because since Kerrigan is no longer in control of the Zerg, that leaves them open to a new master?

99% chance goes in the favor of some sort of crazy explanation asspull just like what transpired this campaign. 1% chance goes in the unlikely event that Blizzard pulls a hilarious stunt like JIM RAYNOR YOU FUCKED UP right at the beginning of the HotS campaign and then from there a fishbone diagram of possiblities can be laid out, ranging from Kerrigan getting killed by whoever won the lottery to re-infestation to evolution to well being a pokemon master of the zerg.

great voice acting

I can't agree with you there, but about half of it was the way the dialogue was put together and not the way they said it. The other half though is and that's still 50%.

And yeah, protoss just sucked balls. Zeratul was already destined to fail his predecessor but what about the other bajillion units?

They basically took everything that happened in SC1 and said, "NO WAIT!  IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!  EVERYTHING'S A TWIST!  EVEN TASSADAR STILL LIVES LOL.

It's better than Fenix coming back again right? At least the En Tarro asshole had a giant explosion to power his crap.

There's so much more I want to say, but I'll start with just this.  What did you guys think?

Haven't played secret mission yet but Duran hasn't peeked his head once in the main campaign. But that might be a good thing seeing Tosh's case. Oh and there might actually be less hero units than in SC1. Total units obviously way bigger but you get what I mean.

Also disappointed a whole lot of characters don't actually have units in the game (Like the TV reporters where you can plug their bodies in the map editor but only half their body is available). Still, wonder if those under the character section could be useable, would be kinda neat.

[Master Jademus Sreg]

I'll come back to this when I'm done with the campaign.

[Alevice]

So did you buy it after all?

[Master Jademus Sreg]

No. And I'm certainly not playing the campaign on a cracked copy of the game. That would be illegal.

[Xenon]

(doesn't read the thread) Sheesh, AA7, don't you ever stop to enjoy the scenery?

[Legion]

I haven't finished, but I've played a big portion of it already. I agree with AA7.

The terran voice acing is excellent, the protoss... nnnot so much. I dislike Zeratul's voice. Not so much 'cause I'm used to the old one, but because he's too slow and there are hardly any effects on him. As for the rest of the protoss that I've heard, it sounds like Blizzard just slapped some random choruses and wobbler/flanger things on 'em without even attempting to match the voices from the first game. Artanis is... ew! I think they've gotten over their love for good voice effects since the success of Warcraft 3. That game had the worst voices in a Blizzard game ever but the public didn't seem to mind all that much!

The story is weird. It's not like I didn't expect it. Brood War didn't leave them a great many options. Tassadar was bound to make an appearance again. And Kerrigan? What else can you do but make her the epitomy of all evil? I'm not so sure if I really Zeratul as a ninja, by the way.

The game is amazing! I would buy it if it were twice the price. I just think we see these things because we've played the first one. It's a technological improvement over SC1, but nothing more. There's so much you can do now, but it doesn't give me that old Starcraft vibe. It's like a very, very good fanmade product.

It's nice be back in the Koprulu Sector again, though.

[RazorclawX]

I shudder to think of how people will hold custom campaigns to that standard with the cutscenes. The sorry fact is the assets used for the Hyperion are really only any good for the Wings of Liberty campaign.

[Xelxiuz]

I shudder to think of how people will hold custom campaigns to that standard with the cutscenes. The sorry fact is the assets used for the Hyperion are really only any good for the Wings of Liberty campaign.

You'll just have to write a better story to cover for it

[Master Jademus Sreg]

I enjoyed the campaign but shall refrain from going on at length about what I enjoyed; in short, pretty much everything.

The inconsistency of the game's far past lore doesn't concern me; deception and bad information are precisely what one should expect from ancient lore. Also, I persist in my assertion that Xel'Naga are synonymous with Warcraft's Titans and this "Fallen One" is Sargeras.

[RazorclawX]

I shudder to think of how people will hold custom campaigns to that standard with the cutscenes. The sorry fact is the assets used for the Hyperion are really only any good for the Wings of Liberty campaign.

You'll just have to write a better story to cover for it

That can't be hard. The game's story isn't all that great. The gameplay is excellent, which is what really carries the campaign.

[thebrowncloud]

I'll be honest, I wasn't incredibly impressed with the story. There were some good little mission arcs and the gameplay was solid, but it felt like the campaign itself didn't have much of a direction until the end. It seemed basically like a bunch of odd jobs throughout the whole thing. It made the progression as a whole feel "busy" but that isn't what I was looking for. The ACTUAL plot didn't kick in until the last 4 missions.

The ending, however, was nothing like what I expected it to be (in a good way). But now I have no idea what HotS is gonna be like. If I had to guess, I'd say a cerebrate is going to emerge as the new leader and select another character to be infested to be the subject of the campaign. Since zerg can reanimate the dead with infestation now, and Tychus' body, as far as we know, is still on Char, I'll throw him into the ring. Unlikely, but that's speculation for ya. 

[Master Jademus Sreg]

I'm anticipating Kerrigan will be the protagonist of Heart of the Swarm; having been partially deinfested, but still obviously Zerg in part, she will serve as the bridge between those who would oppose the Hybrids (and the Fallen One) and the Zerg, thereby making her instrumental to the resistance and avoiding the fate foreseen by the Overmind. The installment's campaign will likely focus on her development and reestablishing control over the Zerg in opposition to the Dominion, Protoss, and those Zerg under the command of Hybrids and/or a nascent Overmind.

[Maglok]

I enjoyed the campaign a lot.

One thing that bugged me a LOT was the voice of the hybrid in the map with zeratul and the preservers. So much bass, so much effect. It was like 'wtf are you saying man?' It sounded a bit like some kinda fanboy trying to do a protoss.

That said, otherwise it was kick*ss!

[RazorclawX]

I enjoyed the campaign a lot.

One thing that bugged me a LOT was the voice of the hybrid in the map with zeratul and the preservers. So much bass, so much effect. It was like 'wtf are you saying man?' It sounded a bit like some kinda fanboy trying to do a protoss.

I liked the hybrid's voice... I hated most of the Protoss in general because I couldn't understand THEM. I could understand the hybrid fine even with all the effects on it.