Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

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russianspy27
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Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by russianspy27 »

Dear CC,

One intelligent poster on Battle.Net named Andrew had written a well-thought-out critique of the weaknesses of SC2 plot. The thread has grown to be 70 pages long as of today and is one of the longest, if not the longest threads in the SC2 official forums. http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic ... 415?page=1

Please post on the thread, if you'd like. I believe we need to keep it up to show Blizzard that the concerns are widespread.

The weakness of SC2's plot was agreed upon by at least ten acclaimed critics, as I had posted here: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/933153955#20 , but I am sure you do not need to be persuaded of it.

With great nostalgia, I look over phenomenal CC "stacraft 2" campaigns, such as the Fenix campaign, or the "War of the Tribes" and it saddens me that after a decade, we're presented with the lazy writing.

I only wish someone got through to Blizzard to get ther act together for the expansions.
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New-/Hydrolisk
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by New-/Hydrolisk »

I'll be reading the OP very soon. By the looks of the 70th page, though, some asshats are claiming there's no such thing as an objective basis to multi-media, when clearly, there is, otherwise, we wouldn't be able to tell shit from Mozart.

Thanks for the link.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by IskatuMesk »

Pretty sure we've already butchered metzen's precious hard work into the dirt as much as possible, but it's not like they give a flying fuck what we think either way!

End of the line, Metzen should have been fired ages ago and they should have gotten an actual writer amongst other things. But cheapest is best for Blizzard, and Metzen is definitely the cheapest you can get.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by Lavarinth »

Correction: StarCraft was originally written by three people (or four, I don't recall exactly). The issue was adding dozens of people to the team that likely have never played the game with Metzen saying "go ahead guys, do it for me."
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by IskatuMesk »

Is that why Metzen said it was his best work yet? Because he didn't actually do anything?

lol
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by Lavarinth »

Very likely.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by DrumsofWar »

Lavarinth wrote:Correction: StarCraft was originally written by three people (or four, I don't recall exactly). The issue was adding dozens of people to the team that likely have never played the game with Metzen saying "go ahead guys, do it for me."
Except one of the biggest weaknesses was the overall plot outline itself, which Metzen had to have either written or thoroughly approved of. It's also a bad sign of a professional writer if you're hiring people who either can't or refuse to write well while thinking they are.
russianspy27
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by russianspy27 »

So I take it getting through to the graphic designer metzen is just as useful as getting through to graphics designer Lucas about the prequels, right?

I partly blame the critics. As you could see from my original post link #2, there are surely at least 10 renowned critics who in some way or the other either bluntly or subtly bashed the SC2 story, but there were more subtle "it's cheesy but hey everything else is awesome" reviews than a few honest ripping plot-analysis. -

Had the critics been more or less unanimous in STRONGLY bashing the story, I think at least someone at Blizzard would send a quick note to Metzen, saying "hey chris, um...we'll lose some money on the story geeks so get your sh*t together."

Also, as useless as it is, please log in to battle.net and keep posting on Andrew's brilliant thread that's up to 70 pages now. Thanks...(I know I'm being naive and hopeful, but hey, why not try?) - http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic ... 415?page=1
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by johnnythewolf »

Gotta love how this guy writes about SC1's plot as if it was some kind of fine piece of classic English literature.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by New-/Hydrolisk »

johnnythewolf wrote:Gotta love how this guy writes about SC1's plot as if it was some kind of fine piece of classic English literature.
>implying it's not
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by DrumsofWar »

russianspy27 wrote:Had the critics been more or less unanimous in STRONGLY bashing the story, I think at least someone at Blizzard would send a quick note to Metzen, saying "hey chris, um...we'll lose some money on the story geeks so get your sh*t together."
Not really, thanks to circular logic.

"The mark of a well written storyline in a game is when fan fiction, books, and other stuff comes out."
"I'm going to pay to have books, comic books, and other stuff written about this game's storyline I just made."
"The storyline I just made must be well written because there's books, comic books, and other stuff about it."

It's that kind of self-fulfilling prophecy that keeps lots of creators, George Lucas included, in a bubble. I'm sure most people can figure it out though given the lack of custom maps or fan fiction about the current storyline compared to all the stuff that the Starcraft 1 storyline did.

The best you'll get out of Blizzard now is a few rewrites or a bit more money for voice acting in the expansions. Other than that, the best you can hope for is the opportunity to make custom campaigns where you make your own storyline.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by johnnythewolf »

DrumsofWar wrote:The best you'll get out of Blizzard now is a few rewrites or a bit more money for voice acting in the expansions. Other than that, the best you can hope for is the opportunity to make custom campaigns where you make your own storyline.
Which, if most previous fan efforts are any indication, will sadly turn out to be just as cheesy and/or melodramatic. Sorry to break it down to you guys, but even good old LotC had its share of eye-rolling cliches and cringeworthy moments.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by russianspy27 »

No one is saying SC1 or even good campaigns like WotT or Fenix are great works of fiction or without any cliches, but they are more than decent and enjoyable sc campaigns with interesting storylines, plot-twists and characters. You can rate them as "B" if you want, but then Wings of Liberty gets a D- in my book.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by johnnythewolf »

I thought the Wings of Liberty was a decent and enjoyable campaign with an interesting storyline, plot twists and characters, despite it not being a great work of fiction. Like any game plot, it served its purpose just fine, and if you don't like it, you can just skip it, unlike a movie plot. What I especially enjoyed about it was that, compared to most "great" custom campaigns, it didn't rely on overlong unskippable story sequences between two short ridiculously convoluted gameplay sequences.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by russianspy27 »

BioWare to the rescue! Granted, they have not made a strategy game, but had their writers (who played original SC+BW and understood that story) been behind WoL, we would have had an immensely different experience in single player, instead of all the weak ret-coning and storytelling.
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