Text by shindigs. Art by fusefuse. Edits by itsjustatank. Told me to do it by Heyoka.
Upon completing the Heart of the Swarm campaign, a lot of us were left disappointed with the narrative. Gameplay-wise, Heart of the Swarm brought novel, fun, and innovative mechanics to the conventional RTS campaign. In many ways, the campaign was a detailed improvement in many areas from Wings of Liberty. However, the mundane dialog and cliche ridden story has been the main point of critique for both reviewers and fans alike.
While Brood War did not break literary boundaries, its narrative and dialog were, for many, a compelling piece of work in comparison to StarCraft II. How did it come to this? The original StarCraft was a story with an epic scope. It dealt with the conflicts and competing interests of three unique factions, and was littered with layers of betrayal and political intrigue. Today, StarCraft II is merely a distilled love story with vengeance sloppily blended into the mix. How could Blizzard possibly recover the narrative from its current convoluted state?
After sending a very disappointed, angry, and ALL CAPS email directly to Chris Metzen, we were pleasantly surprised to receive an invite back to Blizzard HQ to preview Legacy of the Void. From our experiences, our preview team can safely say that Blizzard has once again become the storytelling genius of the past, the genius that our generation deserves. Legacy of the Void ends in the best way possible:
TIME TRAVEL!
The development team has intentionally laid out the story of both Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm to end in a glorious time travelling, wacky adventure themed, nostalgia trip finale in order to undo everything that has happened in WoL and HotS. Legacy of the Void is Raynor and Zeratul’s Excellent Adventure, emphasis on the excellent.
Artist interpretation by fusefuse
While we weren’t given permission to publicly reveal the specifics of art and gameplay, we’ve made some artistic interpretations from the experiences we had.
“We have to go back Raynor... back... to the BEFORE TIME!”
As the player progresses through the campaign, the overall situation for our heroes begins to change significantly for the worse. With half the sector in ruin, and the cliched plot mechanics running dry, there’s only one thing left to do: go back in time.
In order to bend the fabric of time and space itself, Zeratul must commit the ultimate taboo: gathering MULTIPLE Mothership Cores together in order to be able to stack the Time Warp ability. After using the Time Warp ability to LITERALLY WARP THROUGH TIME, Raynor and Zeratul find themselves in a land that feels somewhat... familiar.
For the first time in gaming history, newer hardware is less compatible than older hardware.Artist interpretation by fusefuse
In accordance with the cries and complaints from Brood War elitists, players follow Raynor and Zeratul through time and end up during the time period of Kerrigan’s initial surge to power. Not only have our noble heroes landed in a different time, but they’ve entered a different game engine as well. The next few levels are completed in the Brood War engine as the player relives the glory days of the late 20th century.
But that’s not all, Blizzard stays so true to their lore and vision that players who have newer computers that are incompatible with the aging 1998 StarCraft game engine will experience numerous crashes. This forces players to either:
a) Download Chaos Launcher and run StarCraft in windowed mode b) Reinstall Windows 95
Staying true to their roots, Blizzard provides the most authentic Brood War experience as they highlight the wacky adventures of Zeratul and Raynor through time.
"Zeratul...if we do this...Sarah would have never been born!"
Time travel can have its historical consequences.Artist interpretation by fusefuse
After previewing a level from the Brood War time leap, we were given another level taken from historical context. During their journey, Zeratul reads of other ancient civilizations who had to face a great ancient evil. These civilizations had to put aside their differences, and unite for a common cause for the sake of their nations. In order to learn how these ancient beings overcame their trials, Zeratul and Raynor pay visit to another familiar landscape.
Artist interpretation by fusefuse
Multiplayer In accordance with keeping the lore parallel to that which is possible in multiplayer, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void features the same time travel mechanics in competitive play. While the development team kept reminding us that these gameplay elements were still the alpha stage, the features were promising.
Mothership Core Time Warp gains ability to rip a hole through time and space The Time Warp ability receives a functional update in Legacy of the Void in order to keep the game new and refreshing. Instead of simply slowing units down within a sphere, the time warp ability rips a hole through the fabric of time and space where a number of imaginable, and unimaginable, possibilities occur that could sway the course of the battle.
Some of our experiences with the time warp ability were as follows: a) The game jumps forward 15 minutes and reverts to normal speed. Both players have late-game technology.
b) Due to the rift in the time-space continuum, players are swapped and take control of other players in a completely different game instances.
c) The game reverts to previous patches. For instance, roaches suddenly cost 1 supply, Fungal Growth is once again instant cast, and additionally something something Bunker build time.
d) A wormhole is formed, where units such as the Reaver, Scout, Lurker, and Vulture emerge to join the player in combat.
The fanboy prayers are answered!
Blizzard time is reverted to Real Time In accordance to their Time Travel theme, Blizzard finally changes the in game timer to reflect real time.
Unfortunately, everyone has to relearn their timings.
Conclusion After finishing our preview of the game at Blizzard HQ, we find ourselves in complete awe at how wonderfully and beautifully orchestrated the entire plot has been tailored in order to usher in one of the most compelling uses of time travel to complete the StarCraft 2 trilogy. Be sure to check out Legacy of the Void when its released sometime...in the future.
Will the collectors edition feature your own model mothership core, that is heavy enough so if you throw it at a friends head you can make their mental age travel back in time, to that of a slobbering potato.
HAHAHA this is all I needed to see: "After sending a very disappointed, angry, and ALL CAPS email directly to Chris Metzen, we were pleasantly surprised to receive an invite back to Blizzard HQ to preview Legacy of the Void. From our experiences, our preview team can safely say that Blizzard has once again become the storytelling genius of the past, the genius that our generation deserves. Legacy of the Void ends in the best way possible:
On March 29 2013 12:31 Jaaaaasper wrote: Can I just say I would actually prefer this story line over the one that blizzard has lain out thus far?
zeratul (to raynor and kerrigan) : "k we should probably go kill this amon guy"
raynor: "hell it's about time (suck it tychus)"
kerrigan: "hey jimmy remember how my hair had more zerg last time? ok well it has more primal zerg this time!"
all: "..."
(hours of learning protoss unit basics later)
zeratul: "k we have 200/200 of each race let's go kill amon"
(here is a mini-boss/plot twist! it'll probably be artanis cause that dick always likes to get in the way for some dumb reason no one cares about)
kerrigan: "lol 3-0ed"
amon: "but i am the true threat remember me! also you are all just like me because you're powerful and i'm also powerful! also if you join me we'll be more powerful!"
(big epic battle with time constraints and items and all 3 races and heros and xel'naga and hybrids)
amon: "damn you owned me, guess i won't destroy the universe let me go"
(zeratul comes out of stealth and stabs amon, smiles at camera, credits roll)
On March 29 2013 13:09 Burns wrote: I love the random ninja turtle hanging out with Raynor and Zeratul
you talkin' about the Peon?! (squervuu) Anyway that would be a hilarious plot twist....
Raynor: Shit man, we can't beat Amon or the Hybrids because there's no more lumber in the universe! Zeratul: It's no problem Raynorman, I know where we can get some and a few people who might help us get it.
Zeratul reaches into his pocket and takes out a garage door remote. Pressing the button, a bright light fills their eyes and lifts the ominous mood blinding the two stalwart warriors as the door opens. Inside sits their last hope to save the universe from an unspeakable evil, a 1982 Delorean.
Hmm wouldn't mind the warcraft 2 human adviser briefing me about the battles ahead in starcraft 2 : Time travel of void would bring a lot of nostalgia back to me . I miss warcraft 2....
Should have included the part where orks and humans protoss, zerg and terran end their hostilities get all cuddly and band together against a "greater evil", oh wait.
e) Players continue their battle in Brood War. All HotS/WoL incompatible units will be replaced with BW units. There is a list of replacements that's going to be posted soon.
On March 29 2013 20:39 HalloniKanada wrote: http://i.imgur.com/yeVvnu8.jpg Pretty sure that's from the Age of Empires II campaign.
Well that article clearly flew over some people's heads.
Thanks for reminding me of some of the amazing RTS experiences I've had over the past decade and a half. As many others said, the Raynor/Zeratul excellent adventure line was gold and I especially loved your reinterpretation of the vortex LUNKERS
Why? WHY WOULD YOU GIVE THEM IDEAS? I wouldn't put it past blizzard to have the last mission in LOTV to be protecting the wormhole as whoever was sent back in time tries to un-do the future. (Or something along those lines).
On another note: This campaign sounds amazing. If blizzard all-stars had a campaign, it should be about Raynor and Zeratul going through the blizzard universes.
Time travel within an actual multiplayer game would be epic: 1 second into the game a massive army of your own units suddenly appears in front of your base, sent from the future in order to take out the opponent while he is still weak.
Once you crush your opponent, you have to click "keep playing", build up the aforementioned massive army and send it back in time or else you could never have taken out your opponent in the first place. You have to remember the exact army composition and location too.
At first I thought, Time Travel? Blizzard would use something like that to fill all the gaping plot holes from the first two games. So I was totally buying it at first, then realized the troll with the 8-bit graphics lol.
O man thats a solid 5/5 I can see the day 1 dlc already Jim Raynor uses a stimpack from 50 yards away and starts sprinting towards the screen, and at about 5 yards away he yells "HI I'M JIM RAYNOR AND WELCOME TO JACKASS". Cue 10 banelings unburrowing behind him.
And naturally, they infuse the powers of Warcraft, ehem, before time units into existing units in order to defeat Amon. Like Chain psy storms, Zealots with haste and bloodlust etc. Older units, which affect the current timeline the most, have unique interactions when they fight one another. Like when two scarabs collide, you engage in a DBZ-like power clash, in which you play a game of Pong with them using your mouse or even a N64 controller (for obvious reasons)!
But alas, Amon finds out about your plans, contacting his ancient minions The Burning Legion, and appearing in in the form most known to them - Sargeras! Now, Illidan and Malfurion, using the secret arts taught to them by Zeratul, must unite to become the most powerful Night Archon, for only they can defeat the might of the Demon/Undead hybrids.
Don't forget the awesome new features, including: Neutral shops, Creeping, Resume from Warcraft or Brood Wars, and even sea battles! You thought Medivacs were fast, wait until you try Goblin Zeppelins!
On March 29 2013 22:04 spinesheath wrote: Time travel within an actual multiplayer game would be epic: 1 second into the game a massive army of your own units suddenly appears in front of your base, sent from the future in order to take out the opponent while he is still weak.
Once you crush your opponent, you have to click "keep playing", build up the aforementioned massive army and send it back in time or else you could never have taken out your opponent in the first place. You have to remember the exact army composition and location too.
There's actually an RTS game with this exact mechanic out there... I think it's out of beta by now. Indie game, can't remember the name, but absolutely crazy concept. Graphics and UI not to my taste but crazy that they managed to execute that concept into an actual game imo!
On March 29 2013 22:04 spinesheath wrote: Time travel within an actual multiplayer game would be epic: 1 second into the game a massive army of your own units suddenly appears in front of your base, sent from the future in order to take out the opponent while he is still weak.
Once you crush your opponent, you have to click "keep playing", build up the aforementioned massive army and send it back in time or else you could never have taken out your opponent in the first place. You have to remember the exact army composition and location too.
There's actually an RTS game with this exact mechanic out there... I think it's out of beta by now. Indie game, can't remember the name, but absolutely crazy concept. Graphics and UI not to my taste but crazy that they managed to execute that concept into an actual game imo!
OT: JINRO COME BACK RIGHT NOW I DEMAND YOU TO COME BACK
I'm pretty tired at the moment, and when I first started reading this, I thought to myself "OH MY GOD THIS IS GOING TO BE AMAZING" and quickly realized that I'm dumb.
On March 29 2013 22:04 spinesheath wrote: Time travel within an actual multiplayer game would be epic: 1 second into the game a massive army of your own units suddenly appears in front of your base, sent from the future in order to take out the opponent while he is still weak.
Once you crush your opponent, you have to click "keep playing", build up the aforementioned massive army and send it back in time or else you could never have taken out your opponent in the first place. You have to remember the exact army composition and location too.
There's actually an RTS game with this exact mechanic out there... I think it's out of beta by now. Indie game, can't remember the name, but absolutely crazy concept. Graphics and UI not to my taste but crazy that they managed to execute that concept into an actual game imo!
That sounds like a blast to play, I'm gonna look that up now :D. EDIT: It's called Achron and it looks insanely cool.
I initially thought this was real, so I didn't really read it the first time through. Then I saw the multiplayer changes and thought they were hilarious so I read the whole thing. I would LOVE these changes.
I hope Blizzard does exactly as the OP describes. There's only one way to find out: TIME TRAVEL! :D
On March 29 2013 22:04 spinesheath wrote: Time travel within an actual multiplayer game would be epic: 1 second into the game a massive army of your own units suddenly appears in front of your base, sent from the future in order to take out the opponent while he is still weak.
Once you crush your opponent, you have to click "keep playing", build up the aforementioned massive army and send it back in time or else you could never have taken out your opponent in the first place. You have to remember the exact army composition and location too.
There's actually an RTS game with this exact mechanic out there... I think it's out of beta by now. Indie game, can't remember the name, but absolutely crazy concept. Graphics and UI not to my taste but crazy that they managed to execute that concept into an actual game imo!
Not exactly. Achron allows you to change the past. But that gives rise to paradoxa which I don't like and avoided. If you are traveling to the past, then you have to already be there in the past the first time you are in the past.
If we combine time travel and the anthropic principle (as in: stuff only exists because/when I observe it), then we can change the past as long as neither player had a chance to notice the change back in the past. But then whatever you send in the past can not be controlled until the time where you sent it to the past, or else you would have observed it before. If someone scouts the area where something that was sent into the past is supposed to be before the time when it is sent into the past, it won't be observed and thus must have disappeared between the time of time travel and the time of scouting the area.
Things get at lot better if we only allow sending stuff into the future.
I have to admit that I'm not sure if you're trolling, or if Blizzard's trolling, or if this is some kind of hoax, or the truth, but either way its awesome ^^
c) The game reverts to previous patches. For instance, roaches suddenly cost 1 supply, Fungal Growth is once again instant cast, and additionally something something Bunker build time.
I actually think we'll get something like this, or at least the campaign will take place several years after HotS with you going back in time and undoing certain things. I have a hunch you will prevent kerrigan from killing mengsk for some reason just to ruin everything you did in hots.
While Brood War did not break literary boundaries, its narrative and dialog were, for many, a compelling piece of work in comparison to StarCraft II.
You're obviously wearing your nostalgia goggles. Writing has never been Blizzard's strong suit.
Nah. Not all of us played SC when we were super young. I played the actual campaign 2-3 years before SC2 came out and I have replayed it a couple times since then because for an RTS it's a pretty decent story. Hard to have nostalgia if both game playthroughs were contemporary.
I would say the pooh, poohing over Blizzard's past stories is more revisionist rather than this supposed nostalgia. I really don't recall people so consistently talking disparagingly about Blizzard's storytelling until after SC2 came out (or maybe sometime in the WoW years, I don't know.)
I enjoyed the BW stories a bit more because it was the story about the Korpulu Sector, not just about the characters (though that was important too). It really felt like you were unraveling the mystique of the SC universe. Maybe because I'm an SC lore nerd but SC2's CORE story didn't add too much in that regard. However, I thought the Primal Zerg stuff was really cool and a great part of HotS as it actually expanded on SC2 lore. Wings of Liberty did a great job too actually in the subtle details laid around the campaign.
I also really enjoyed Dehaka and Abathar as characters because they weren't human and had a very unique personality. They really shine through.
I think people poke fun at SC2 because of the dialogue. I mean a lot of people remember the phrases "queen bitch of the universe" or "some day I'll be the one that kills you" and really well done monologues during campaign levels. SC2 doesn't have a lot of that.
There will always be a nostalgia factor, but I think its better to acknowledge that and design around it. HotS did a better job of that than WoL. I'm actually pretty excited for Legacy of the Void...and a part of me legitimately cannot shake the fact that time travel will be involved.
While Brood War did not break literary boundaries, its narrative and dialog were, for many, a compelling piece of work in comparison to StarCraft II.
You're obviously wearing your nostalgia goggles. Writing has never been Blizzard's strong suit.
Geopolitical story with a few memorable characters >>>>>> shit cowboy love story with a few planets mixed in
On March 30 2013 10:56 emc wrote: I actually think we'll get something like this, or at least the campaign will take place several years after HotS with you going back in time and undoing certain things. I have a hunch you will prevent kerrigan from killing mengsk for some reason just to ruin everything you did in hots.
This man speaks the truth. HotS made WoL's story irrelevant. LotV will make any story we advanced in HotS irrelevant.
@shindig I was kinda meh on the whole Primal Zerg thing. They pulled the same re-interpretation with the Orcs in War 3 and while I got over that, I didn't like seeing it crop up yet again. The writing was on the wall with the whole Tassadar prophecy stuff, but I had kinda hoped that was the lie.
I don't particularly like the secret enemy behind the mysterious enemy as an explanation as the first enemy always gets retroactively short-changed. (Didn't like the Mass Effect 3 child-god enemy behind the enemy, either for instance.)
Now as long as Ridley doesn't re-intrepret the Xenomorphs as somehow being the 'good guys' and the last defence against some other enemy...
On March 29 2013 22:04 spinesheath wrote: Time travel within an actual multiplayer game would be epic: 1 second into the game a massive army of your own units suddenly appears in front of your base, sent from the future in order to take out the opponent while he is still weak.
Once you crush your opponent, you have to click "keep playing", build up the aforementioned massive army and send it back in time or else you could never have taken out your opponent in the first place. You have to remember the exact army composition and location too.
There's actually an RTS game with this exact mechanic out there... I think it's out of beta by now. Indie game, can't remember the name, but absolutely crazy concept. Graphics and UI not to my taste but crazy that they managed to execute that concept into an actual game imo!
"additionally something something Bunker build time." lol brilliant XD Awesome writeup, seem like legacy of the void will be on BW's level, so excited :D
I actually love the idea of going back to BW-style for a few games. This sounds like more fun than HotS campaign was...but then again, that's not too difficult.
On April 02 2013 23:37 CryingCow wrote: was heart of the swarm campaign so bad that it just cant be fixed?
I havent actually played hots yet.
The mission design and gameplay are simply the best I've ever experienced in an rts campaign. The story follows some predictable guidelines but it didn't strike me as horrible by any means. I liked a few of the new characters they introduced (and one of the old timers heh), but really the gameplay is so fun I immediately restarted it on brutal after completing it on normal. I also forgot just how pretty the SC2 engine could look considering I always play multiplayer with mostly low settings.
On April 02 2013 23:37 CryingCow wrote: was heart of the swarm campaign so bad that it just cant be fixed?
I havent actually played hots yet.
The mission design and gameplay are simply the best I've ever experienced in an rts campaign. The story follows some predictable guidelines but it didn't strike me as horrible by any means. I liked a few of the new characters they introduced (and one of the old timers heh), but really the gameplay is so fun I immediately restarted it on brutal after completing it on normal. I also forgot just how pretty the SC2 engine could look considering I always play multiplayer with mostly low settings.
I don’t believe in objectivity when it comes to artistic productions. A lot of people really dig the campaign of HoTS, which is cool. It’s all fairly subjective. With that said, HoTS is about as objectively close as you can get to being terrible, despite many people enjoying it.
Now, I’m pretty well-read and I enjoy high-brow movies as much as I enjoy low-brow. The original Starcraft was tightly knit, did some innovative things for the story through gameplay and cut scenes. Multiple perspectives based on race through one story line where each race’s campaign contributed and built on the entirety of the story? Yes, thank you. As far as SC1 goes, it’s not Dostoyevsky, but as a science fiction story and game, it really is very well done. It had intrigue. You wanted to figure out what would happen next.
By comparison, HoTS is a total shit show. There are some clever moments, but it relies a lot on cliché. Now, SC1 was certainly taking on standard sci-fi motifs, but it truly was its own universe. How else could this story with all of its lore sit so high up on all of our lists. I think my taste, even as an 18 year old, was pretty pick and refined. That story has stuck with me. HoTS is the complete opposite. It took this amazing IP that built on the standard and was wholly original and devolved into cliché.
To each his own, though. For me, SC1 (Brood War got pretty cheesy) is at the top of not just video games but Sci-Fi as a whole. SC2 will always live on for me as wasted potential.
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LUNKERS
