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The problem with the Wing of Libery campaign is the obvious and disappointing shift in priorities at blizzard.
SC1 was the debut of the series. Blizzard needed to make a comprehensive game with a solid, engaging setting and story. They also needed to make a fun, balanced multiplayer.
Then, the worst possible thing for the story happened. SC became an eSport, and the priorities for StarCraft shifted into "Make a perfect eSports game. Oh, and you guys, make a campaign mode, too."
That's exactly what it feels like, a "campaign mode". It doesn't feel like a continuation of the story. The characters (almost) all have the same names. Their personalities are (somewhat) the same, but StarCraft isn't about the StarCraft story anymore. It's about being an eSport.
We can only hope Blizzard realizes how important the story really is to the community before the next expansion.
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On August 06 2010 17:49 Zerokaiser wrote:
The problem with the Wing of Libery campaign is the obvious and disappointing shift in priorities at blizzard.
SC1 was the debut of the series. Blizzard needed to make a comprehensive game with a solid, engaging setting and story. They also needed to make a fun, balanced multiplayer.
Then, the worst possible thing for the story happened. SC became an eSport, and the priorities for StarCraft shifted into "Make a perfect eSports game. Oh, and you guys, make a campaign mode, too."
That's exactly what it feels like, a "campaign mode". It doesn't feel like a continuation of the story. The characters (almost) all have the same names. Their personalities are (somewhat) the same, but StarCraft isn't about the StarCraft story anymore. It's about being an eSport.
We can only hope Blizzard realizes how important the story really is to the community before the next expansion.
I *wish* Blizzard's design plan was "make a perfect Esports game".
Unfortunately you are very much mistaken and that is not at all what happened.
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Mengsk is a tactical genius, and I think this is why:
He sent Tychus, under the guise of the Mobius Foundation, to let Raynor collect all the artifacts so he could uninfest Kerrigan. He relayed the info to Valerian who told Raynor the artifacts they were collecting could help "save" Kerrigan, when in the end its all a huge ruse to assassinate her through Tychus. The feud between Valerian and Mengsk was all fake, or either orchestrated by Mengsk, because Mengsk needed his son to tell Raynor to use the artifacts to de-infest Kerrigan, so he could use his pawn Tychus to kill her when she's nice, squisy and human.
Also the secret mission shows that Mengsk is some how in league with Duran and the hybrids. Sadly, my theory is that everything Raynor did was all part of Mengsk's little plan - Mengsk drove Raynor to carry out his deeds through Tychus, the artifacts, and Mobius. Of course there were probably unexpected hiccups along the way, including the broadcast sabatoge and POSSIBLY Tychus's failure to assassinate Kerrigan, but who knows.
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On August 06 2010 18:01 Klive5ive wrote:
I *wish* Blizzard's design plan was "make a perfect Esports game".
Unfortunately you are very much mistaken and that is not at all what happened.
I'm not saying they did, but it was what was at the back of their minds.
In SC1, it was "This game has to have a really good single player or people won't like it."
In SC2, it was "This game has to be a really good eSport or people won't like it."
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On August 04 2010 11:56 nemanja1503 wrote:
Like the stupid filler missions in which we earn money. That would have been a nice idea if they had like 40 missions in total and were aiming in portraying Raynor's revolution in detail and had you spend 15 missions collecting funds and then 10 missions doing covert ops with Tosh or some other missions in which you don't produce troops (like the secret mission) all of those mixed up with about 15 plot advancing missions. Now that would be an epic campaign, but no. What happened is that too many missions feel like filler from the story perspective, and when we take out the filler missions we get about 10 important missions, exactly how many there were per race in SC1 when all races were in the same game.
This is by far your most valid point and I felt the same way times 10. It felt much much shorter then the original, despite being more expensive than most games. In fact for a campaign marketed as the most epic thing in history, it was VERY lacking, in fact it felt MUCH less epic that many of the games I played in recent past that were 10-20 bucks cheaper.
However, for the rest of your post I think you are being too harsh. I would guess most people here are in the 18-35 demographic which means most of us played SC1 when we were teens/preteens, back when we were young and impressionable, and didn't know what a good story really looked liked.
What we forget is that SC/BW's story wasn't really that great, it was also full of holes and lacked character motivation; its time line seems unrealistic (all those events of SC + BW taking less than a year?), and it lacked for sight; many of the holes I found in SC2 were the result of SC's story being made up as they went along. The fact is that most game's stories suck. The only ones that are decent are the adventure games, of which their whole selling point is the story, and the game is built from the ground up around that fact.
At its core SC will always be a competitive online game. The story will always be the second or even third priority (I would say game mechanics 1, balance 2). By that standard SC had an amazing story. I can't think of many other games built from the ground up for online competition who's single player was on par with SC. True, there are many games that far surpass SC's single player by leaps and bounds but they are supposed to, since most of them don't even have a multi-player option, and is focused on story telling.
If you ever play a game like The Longest Journey or Deus Ex or one of the classic Sierra/Lucas game, or my personal favorite Vampire Bloodlines; you will know what the height of gaming storytelling can be. SC2 doesn't reach those heights, but to pretend SC1 did is to fall in the trap of nostalgic revisionist memory. What SC2 offers is a squeal and update to the greatest pro league game of all time. It is by that standard that you can criticize its single player.
This however leads to an underling question as to weather or not the expansions should be purchased if there main focus is on the campaign and not multi-player. My answer is that if money is tight, which for most of us it is, than by judging from the quality of WoL, I would say no. There is just no way to justify buying a game's campaign in three $60+ installments unless it is out of this world incredibly epic. SC2 isn't even remotely close to that qualification. I see no reason why all three campaigns weren't including considering the price tag. If that's the best Blizzard can do with a reported $100 million dollar budget and SEVEN years of development than there needs everyone associated with the project needs to be fired.
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On August 06 2010 13:33 DreXxiN wrote:
Also, why would they want Tychus to kill Kerrigan...NOT Raynor..?
Because Raynor still loves Kerrigan. Why else would he keep a picture of her, as seen in the beginning of the campaign?
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On August 06 2010 18:47 Barook wrote:Show nested quote +On August 06 2010 13:33 DreXxiN wrote:
Also, why would they want Tychus to kill Kerrigan...NOT Raynor..? Because Raynor still loves Kerrigan. Why else would he keep a picture of her, as seen in the beginning of the campaign?
So...they wanted to hurt Raynor's feelings?
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Anyone else notice how Tychus uses a lazer and waits so Raynor can see before he shoots. It's pretty obvious Tychus wants Raynor to stop him but Tychus has to go along with the plan since the suits reactor can be overloaded if he disobeys
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I wonder where will the zerg campaign battlepost pre-mission will be. An overlords' stomach?
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On August 06 2010 19:06 Zerokaiser wrote:Show nested quote +On August 06 2010 18:47 Barook wrote:On August 06 2010 13:33 DreXxiN wrote:
Also, why would they want Tychus to kill Kerrigan...NOT Raynor..? Because Raynor still loves Kerrigan. Why else would he keep a picture of her, as seen in the beginning of the campaign? So...they wanted to hurt Raynor's feelings?
It wasn't enough to simply kill Raynor. Tosh explained that during the campaign. Mengsk had to discredit Raynor first.
Can you imagine what Raynor would do if Mengsk had had her killed? He'd either have offed himself or gone berserk. Either way, Mengsk would've been rid of him in a way that didn't make him into a martyr.
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On August 06 2010 09:21 Fimbulwinter wrote:
Strongly disliked the ending, Queen of Blades was the best character the storyline of SC had by far. Human Kerrigan, or even a Kerrigan sympathetic to terran goals is going to really ruin Heart of the Swarm if they go that way. I want the murdering, evil, psychotic bitch back.
I'm glad the evil psychotic bitch is gone and we have our cute little redheaded ghost operative back  Been waiting 10 years for it too.
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Honestly I disapprove of the ending, it just doesn't seem like it can transition into two more full length campaigns without forcing something.
Kerrigan has been cleansed, so logically she should have no more control over the zerg. If she does it will feel like they are stretching it and if she doesn't then how will we have a zerg campaign that feels right? The only way I can see that would be if she was only like 99% cleansed and the infestation took over her again but that would defeat the entire purpose of this campaign.
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Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind if the zerg campaign was not about Kerrigan. Let the zerg actually be ruled by a ZERG instead of some wannabe. How would you feel if the protoss campaign revolved around a zerg or terran being the ruler of all protoss? I want to be immersed into all things zerg in HotS - don't dilute it by making a terran their leader. How about a new overmind or a battle between competing queens, until "there can be only one"? Anything is better for the zerg campaign than having a romance backdrop.
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Because that is exactly the plot of Broodwars.
Really, it´s not exactly the Plot that is the problem it´s the way the story ISN´T structured. Let me quote myself regarding what is good about the Campaign story and what isn´t:
On August 06 2010 17:45 Unentschieden wrote:
The game gives you a nightmare/flashback sequence TWICE to the key moment on Tarsonis (the old adjutant and a cinematic) when Mengsk abandons Kerrigan. This is THE defining event for Raynors character. Remember after the original Terran campaign the next thing he does is follow Kerrigans "lure" where he discovers her Transformation. This motivates him to aid the Protoss in defeating the Overmind. In the Brood wars he has to realise that the Queen of Blades is no longer Kerrigan but a monster with her face and declares that he needs to finish the issue. He still blames himself (and Arcturus) for the events on Tarsonis.
After Broodwars he can´t really do anything about Kerrigan so he keeps himself busy with his revenge against Arcturus with limited success initially.
The Wol story actually picks up on all these points: Especially in the "Horner" Missions it´s evident that he considers stopping the current goverment (Mengsk) his concern but building a new "better" one Matt Horners. Matt knows this but disagrees - cue the "we are waiting for you" conversations.
His position on Zerg infestation is handled in the Colonist Subplot, the conflict of revenge against Arcturus no matter the cost to what is "best" for the Population.
It´s a similar Matter as well with Tychus, he is Raynors best friend but he also is contra Kerrigan the whole time. Despite certain weak motivations (they need to plant a bomb in his suit to make him "kill Kerrigan or die") the point in the end is that Raynor choses Kerrigan over him.
With all the above the "Story" fits and develops Raynors character rather well even if they fail to connect the plot (both due to irrelevance of the events to each other and the free missionchoice which weakens the building of Tension). What they did very well however is the consistency between Plot and Missionevents, there is no longer the player wiping the map but the cutscene showing the Heroes barely escaping. Also the few Missions without "options" (the first and last 3 each) are great about connecting the events and building tension.
The Protoss minicampaign however is a PROTOSS campaign, yes they put it in context to Raynor but it actually relates to how the Protoss get a warning of their "gods" as told by one of their greatest Heroes. The narrative with heroic sacrifices, ancient prophecys and "the end of the universe" doesn´t fit at all with the Space western Terrans but it DOES fit with the Mystic and ancient Protoss.
I think of it as a sequence from Legacy of the Void that they snuck into WoL to have Protoss in the campaign - which only appear otherwise as Selendis cameo and Superflat bad guys the Tal´darim. Remember in the Prophecy itself the Protoss are blaming themselves for killing Kerrigan. Raynor isn´t mentioned AT ALL, there is no reason for Zeratul to talk to Raynor about it but some off screen relevation about it. And for how important it appears to be - why don´t any Protoss show up, neither to help fight Kerrigan or even to protect her?
The prophecy is "problematic" because it´s outside the Terran campaigns plot and story. The other sidequests are "merely" outside the plot.
Raynors character isn´t in conflict between killing Kerrigan and preventing the Prophecy -that´s the Protoss, he is in conflict between saving his comrade (lover?) and killing the monster that wears her Face.
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I thought the campaign was a lot of fun. All the missions, in my view, had a purpose.
Mar Sara - A nod to the original StarCraft, good introduction missions that set the tone for the story (relationship with Mengsk, the attack of the Zerg)
Hanson - These missions aren't plot related, but more storyline related. They give us some insight as to what the Zerg are doing (saying that they're attacking Terran colonies in news reports is nice - much more fun to actually see it), as well as a good introduction of the Protoss and how they're reacting to the new Zerg offensive.
Tosh - I'm the most dissapointed with these missions. They seemed rather gimmicky, they wanted to throw Nova in so they just stuck her here because these missions don't really have a point. I guess it's an introduction to Spectres in SC lore, but it just felt out of place.
Horner - This fit nicely in with the fact that they are actually rebelling against Mengsk. The missions were unique, and the first few were resource constrained which fit in with the theme that Raynor doesn't have a million credits. I liked the variety of missions they had in here.
Zeratul - Probably the best IMO. You have the backstory being set up for the entire SC2 campaign, and they had some amazing missions. How better to foretell the fall of the worlds then by showing the last stand.
Tychus - Lead-in to the Zerg missions, gives feel that getting this Artifact isn't the easiest thing in the books, and that there's more things going on with Raynor than what he initially sees.
Zerg - Lots of fun, had a mixture of A-move and defense. Wraps up the story neatly.
I thought the writing was just as good as some other games. They did a great job of capturing the feel of the world. If you wanted to see Raynor go and focus on one massive plot, I think you're missing the point of this campaign. It was much more of a ground-up feeling of what was going on, rather than just epic battles.
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Completely agree with OP. And for those of you who think that its because I played BW when I was 10 years younger, you're wrong. I first played BW only 3 years ago 
On August 06 2010 18:09 Zerokaiser wrote:Show nested quote +On August 06 2010 18:01 Klive5ive wrote:
I *wish* Blizzard's design plan was "make a perfect Esports game".
Unfortunately you are very much mistaken and that is not at all what happened. I'm not saying they did, but it was what was at the back of their minds. In SC1, it was "This game has to have a really good single player or people won't like it." In SC2, it was "This game has to be a really good eSport or people won't like it."
No. Blizzard isn't out to make a perfect esport. They're out to maximize profit. Now this is completely understandable because that's what a company would do, but please don't delude yourself. They are not trying to make the second coming of the best competitive game ever. They are trying to maximize profit and the best way to do that is to cater to the casuals.
Ask yourself, if blizzard's #1 goal was to make a perfect e-sports, would we be seeing things like:
MBS/automine
Smart casting
Hard counters
No LAN or cross realm?
Of course not. Everyone and their grandmother here on TL knows that adding these features is at best imprudent and at worst disastrous to the competitive scene.
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On August 06 2010 22:27 Unentschieden wrote:Because that is exactly the plot of Broodwars. Really, it´s not exactly the Plot that is the problem it´s the way the story ISN´T structured. Let me quote myself regarding what is good about the Campaign story and what isn´t: Show nested quote +On August 06 2010 17:45 Unentschieden wrote:
The game gives you a nightmare/flashback sequence TWICE to the key moment on Tarsonis (the old adjutant and a cinematic) when Mengsk abandons Kerrigan. This is THE defining event for Raynors character. Remember after the original Terran campaign the next thing he does is follow Kerrigans "lure" where he discovers her Transformation. This motivates him to aid the Protoss in defeating the Overmind. In the Brood wars he has to realise that the Queen of Blades is no longer Kerrigan but a monster with her face and declares that he needs to finish the issue. He still blames himself (and Arcturus) for the events on Tarsonis.
After Broodwars he can´t really do anything about Kerrigan so he keeps himself busy with his revenge against Arcturus with limited success initially.
The Wol story actually picks up on all these points: Especially in the "Horner" Missions it´s evident that he considers stopping the current goverment (Mengsk) his concern but building a new "better" one Matt Horners. Matt knows this but disagrees - cue the "we are waiting for you" conversations.
His position on Zerg infestation is handled in the Colonist Subplot, the conflict of revenge against Arcturus no matter the cost to what is "best" for the Population.
It´s a similar Matter as well with Tychus, he is Raynors best friend but he also is contra Kerrigan the whole time. Despite certain weak motivations (they need to plant a bomb in his suit to make him "kill Kerrigan or die") the point in the end is that Raynor choses Kerrigan over him.
With all the above the "Story" fits and develops Raynors character rather well even if they fail to connect the plot (both due to irrelevance of the events to each other and the free missionchoice which weakens the building of Tension). What they did very well however is the consistency between Plot and Missionevents, there is no longer the player wiping the map but the cutscene showing the Heroes barely escaping. Also the few Missions without "options" (the first and last 3 each) are great about connecting the events and building tension.
The Protoss minicampaign however is a PROTOSS campaign, yes they put it in context to Raynor but it actually relates to how the Protoss get a warning of their "gods" as told by one of their greatest Heroes. The narrative with heroic sacrifices, ancient prophecys and "the end of the universe" doesn´t fit at all with the Space western Terrans but it DOES fit with the Mystic and ancient Protoss.
I think of it as a sequence from Legacy of the Void that they snuck into WoL to have Protoss in the campaign - which only appear otherwise as Selendis cameo and Superflat bad guys the Tal´darim. Remember in the Prophecy itself the Protoss are blaming themselves for killing Kerrigan. Raynor isn´t mentioned AT ALL, there is no reason for Zeratul to talk to Raynor about it but some off screen relevation about it. And for how important it appears to be - why don´t any Protoss show up, neither to help fight Kerrigan or even to protect her?
The prophecy is "problematic" because it´s outside the Terran campaigns plot and story. The other sidequests are "merely" outside the plot.
Raynors character isn´t in conflict between killing Kerrigan and preventing the Prophecy -that´s the Protoss, he is in conflict between saving his comrade (lover?) and killing the monster that wears her Face.
Good post. WOL was about Raynor more than anything. In the end, he loved Sarah Kerrigan more than he hated Mengsk. That's the real insight we get into his character.
I just hope Blizzard doesn't kill off either one of them in the subsequent campaigns or re-infests her.
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On August 04 2010 19:35 hoppipolla wrote:
Wait, what's up with Tassadar anyway? He comes flying out of nowhere "Sup Zeratul, not really dead LOL" then just flies away and you never see him again?? Is he a god now? Is he a Xel'naga? That was such a stupid part, just leave dead characters dead. If I see Tychus or Fenix alive in Heart of the SwarmI'll be raging hardcore and stop caring about the story completely.
He's become one with the Force... oops, I mean the Khala. That was pretty random and goofy. I like that the Overmind might come back though.
I finished the campaign last night and while I liked the story with Kerrigan, Tychus, etc., some things did sort of disappoint me.
The whole hybrid/return of the xel'naga arc bugs me. It would be cool as a surprise at the end of Legacy of the Void, but it just feels like Warcraft 3 again with the Scourge and boring super-powerful villains with no personality that fit better in an RPG than a strategy game. The xel'naga were cool because they were a dead race and we only got to see traces of them. Now they're back to wipe everyone out, and it's boring. I think it's more interesting when Starcraft is just about the 3 races and their conflicts. I can see the hybrid thing developing into a 4th race in the expansions, which brings back bad memories of the Frozen Throne - a game where half the time you don't even play as the race you selected, but rather the Naga or Blood Elves. I thought the prophecy as a whole was dumb and the Zeratul missions were boring, especially In Utter Darkness.
In terms of gameplay I wished there were more "destroy all enemies" missions and a lot fewer "protect this unit" or "hold out in your base" missions. Blizzard clearly disagrees with me there. I re-played SC and BW this spring, and there wasn't anything in WoL as exhilirating as say, the last Terran mission in Broodwar with the 3 cerebrates and the Torrasque. In BW the Zerg mission to get 10,000 minerals was an interesting challenge; this time, the lava mission where you have to get 8,000 minerals was mostly just tedious, how is it fun to spend half a mission hiding in your base? Blizzard worked so hard to make the missions smarter, where you have to stop a train or keep the Odin alive or move your base every few minutes, but the campaigns in SC and BW were much less creative and were still very fun. Sometimes I just want to build a base up and go out and kill everything with brute force. There's a certain satisfaction you get from beating a mission by wiping out every last enemy, you feel like a winner, like "take THAT, b-tch!"; it doesn't feel the same when you "win" by just surviving for 30 minutes (or by letting the enemy wipe you out only after you kill 3000 of them? Seriously?). I guess that's what multiplayer is for, huh?
Wouldn't All-In have been more fun if the goal was to kill every last Zerg on the map until Kerrigan had no support left, and then use the artifact on her? Instead you spend the whole mission getting your a$$ kicked. It's kind of a downer.
That said, I did enjoy the game quite a bit and will replay the campaign a couple times for the achievements.
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After seeing Tassadar again I can't wait to see Fenix return as a Phoenix.
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On August 06 2010 22:35 writer22816 wrote:Completely agree with OP. And for those of you who think that its because I played BW when I was 10 years younger, you're wrong. I first played BW only 3 years ago Show nested quote +On August 06 2010 18:09 Zerokaiser wrote:On August 06 2010 18:01 Klive5ive wrote:
I *wish* Blizzard's design plan was "make a perfect Esports game".
Unfortunately you are very much mistaken and that is not at all what happened. I'm not saying they did, but it was what was at the back of their minds. In SC1, it was "This game has to have a really good single player or people won't like it." In SC2, it was "This game has to be a really good eSport or people won't like it." No. Blizzard isn't out to make a perfect esport. They're out to maximize profit. Now this is completely understandable because that's what a company would do, but please don't delude yourself. They are not trying to make the second coming of the best competitive game ever. They are trying to maximize profit and the best way to do that is to cater to the casuals. Ask yourself, if blizzard's #1 goal was to make a perfect e-sports, would we be seeing things like: MBS/automine Smart casting Hard counters No LAN or cross realm? Of course not. Everyone and their grandmother here on TL knows that adding these features is at best imprudent and at worst disastrous to the competitive scene.
All those things, save for LAN and cross-realm, have nothing to do with a competitive game. Hell, Xbox360 games are competitively played and they have auto-aim ffs.
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