Alright, I've gotten around to this now that I can run StarCraft without it crashing. Here's my little mini-review feedback thing so far:
MISSION ONE: Deus Ex Machina
I never fully understood where the "construct a Factory" objective came from? I recognise you're escorting an engineering team, and whatnot, but the adjutant never specifically said anything about a factory.
The scene where Schezar joins you starts out fine, with Schezar sufficiently introducing himself. However, after basically one line from each of the main characters, the scene is simply over, and it's just taken for granted that Schezar has joined up with you here. That was kind of weird. In fact, on that note, it's bizarre that Larsson is so trusting of Schezar. He doesn't seem remotely suspicious until Schezar
literally picks up the Cerebrate in a Dropship. Sorry, what? In a Dropship? How the hell did he fit that thing in there?
Also in the ending sequence, Schezar asks Larsson to direct a message to the Governer for him. Why doesn't he just speak to the Governer directly since he's right there? Seemed weird.
You have definitely nailed the vanilla StarCraft aesthetic in your terrain and presentation. I kind of question why, but I'll talk about that later - for now it's enough that you've definitely got your vision and execution in pretty much sync. One thing was that this map seemed a bit big, but it still worked fine aesthetically and gameplay-wise... the map size doesn't start becoming an issue until...
MISSION TWO: Bad Moon Rising
Credence Clearwater Revival?
As I was saying, this map is too damn big. There is a lot of wasted space. Also, despite having a long path to the Khaydarin Crystal formation, there's really not a lot of Protoss guards barring the way. Speaking of the Crystal...
Eredalis wrote:Khaydarin crystals are only on Aiur
Not exactly true! According to the wiki, the Khaydarin Crystals were "
left behind by the xel'naga on various worlds." Therefore, it is plausible for it to be here on Halcyon's moon. Perhaps a bit of a stretch, but not actually breaking any rules. And not as much of a stretch as
LOADING A CEREBRATE INTO A DROPSHIP.
The only thing I'd point out is that it seems like they discovered it a pretty convenient moment, but I could be nitpicking.
I liked the nod to the Sara system in the briefing. It seemed kind of weird to have Wraith tech and not Siege Tanks. That's about all I have to say about this mission.
MISSION THREE: Unnatural Selection
I noticed Schezar's dialogue is a lot more characterized in this briefing than his dialogue in the previous maps. He has a little more personality. That said, all the characters are pretty one-dimensional right now. We'll see if that changes later, but this is definitely more of a story driven than a character driven campaign.
Also, was "vile aggression" a subtle reference to Laconius' campaign?
"10 minutes until the Cerebrate hatches" is misleading. The cerebrate is not hatching, it's not in an egg or a chrysalis or something. It's probably more accurate to say it's birthing, or something.
In Krauser's line where he's feeling it, there's a typo where he says "strenght" instead of "strength"
when referring to the Torrasque.
On that note, by the way,
it was really cool getting to use the Torrasque that we fight in the last map of Enslavers. You've definitely put a lot of work into staying true to the source material. It's nice seeing that kind of attention to detail.
Also, can you explain exactly what Schezar is talking about in the following line?
SCHEZAR
Hey... What's up, Governor? Those aren't even your citizens.
Very well. Go home, if you want. I was about to ask you the
permission to use Halcyon as spawning ground for my Zerg,
now I'll simply do it. Have a good day, Governor.
I reread it probably ten times and I still have no idea what the hell he's talking about.
Like the previous mission, this map is just plain too big, like Eredalis said. It drags on way too long and there is a lot of unused space. It really feels like a waste and hinders gameplay.
I'm beat right now, but I'll return to playing this later (maybe later today) and let you know what I think of the next three missions.