EPTVideo games are mainly about the gameplay. I went into WoL and HOTS expecting a good RTS game with a clichéd and cheesy story, and that is exactly what I got.
Heart of the Swarm: An Empire, or a Menace? - Page 4
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maartendq
Belgium3115 Posts
Video games are mainly about the gameplay. I went into WoL and HOTS expecting a good RTS game with a clichéd and cheesy story, and that is exactly what I got. | ||
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willoc
Canada1530 Posts
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Bagi
Germany6799 Posts
On March 21 2013 01:00 maartendq wrote: I really can't be the only one who finds every single story Blizzard ever came up with incredibly predictable and clichéd? Diablo's story is just an excuse to kill an infinite amount of monsters (let's be honest here, the story is just ridiculous), Warcraft is a collection of fantasy clichés and starcraft's story is a combination of sci-fi stuff from the 80ies. I mean, we're talking video games here, not art movies or literature. The best story ever told in a video game was Bioshock, and even that story pales in comparison with a good book. Video games are mainly about the gameplay. I went into WoL and HOTS expecting a good RTS game with a clichéd and cheesy story, and that is exactly what I got. Aww hell no. | ||
Plexa
Aotearoa39261 Posts
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FilthyRake
United States473 Posts
I dont *agree* with pretty much any of it, and I definitely agree with some of the other folks who think you come across smug/with an axe to grind against blizzard/sc2. Pretty much the only thing I agree with you on is the love story feeling forced/dumb. I've read the books, and ok, they try to fit it in there leading up to HoTS so you are prepared for it... but meh. They could've just done without it. I actually maintain that Raynor's motivations make more sense without it. He's trying to restore her because what Mengsk did was *unjust* or wrong or whatever and that goes against his "do what's right" mentality - though it does still go against what he'd said previously about hunting her down. So there's a bit of a problem there. The love story was their attempt at fixing that. Sure, he SAID he'd hunt her down, but he loves her, so he couldnt do it and had to save her instead. I guess its OK. I can look past it. Aside from that, I didnt have any major problems with the storytelling, or the story itself. Loved every minute of it. | ||
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BronzeKnee
United States5212 Posts
On March 21 2013 01:14 FilthyRake wrote: Thats a really well thought-out, and well written, review there wo1fwood. I dont *agree* with pretty much any of it, and I definitely agree with some of the other folks who think you come across smug/with an axe to grind against blizzard/sc2... I understand how you can enjoy the story except for the love piece, because I enjoyed it. But how can you not agree with his conclusions? Logically, you have to. The SC1 manual states that the Overmind took control or kill everything on Zerus. But then we have the primal Zerg in HOTS? How can that be? It is in fact, impossible as those are mutually exclusive. Either the Overmind didn't take control or kill everything on Zerus (and in fact left at least some of the planet intact before leaving) and the primal Zerg existed alongside the Overmind or the primal Zerg were killed off or assimilated into the Swarm. Both things could not have happened, yet according to Blizzard they did! You can't just create a piece of the story, conveniently forget it completely, and then remake the story around another plot. It would be like Blizzard creating the character Jim Raynor in BW as they did, but then in WOL saying that he was a farmer from Agria who was mad the dominion left him when the Zerg came, and decided to create an outfit called Raynor's raiders and start the story from there. So what do you not agree with? | ||
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Wertheron
France439 Posts
The story is not really good, that's true. They had the opportunity to do so many good things and they just made a Hollywood scenario where you can't be surprise. Btw, it seems that the end of the story will be like War3 with the bad guys and the good guys becoming the best friends to kick the ass of a big-mega monster/xel'naga who wants to destroy the universe (because he don't have television and want to have some fun). | ||
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decaf
Austria1797 Posts
Liked that line. Very good (and long) write-up. However, I disliked how you sometimes used other games to get your point across like you did with mass effect. While you can expect most people to have watched star wars you can't assume everyone will be able to follow you when you talk about any other games. One example of another game with a detailed explanation as to how it's similar would have been better for getting your point across in my opinion, but that only made up a small portion of your post anyway. I agree with pretty much everything you said. I played the bw campaign a couple of times and have it still pretty well memorized, but I forgot almost everything from WoL and I felt like the summary blizzard gave us during the installment of the game was severely lacking and the entire story and reasoning was completely confusing. For the most part I had actually no idea what was going on or why we are doing the things we're currently doing. And the whole love story was just cringeworthy and out of place. I hope you get paid for this. | ||
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Hryul
Austria2609 Posts
And maybe the character development in SC1 was This is fucked up in so many ways I really doubt your high standards. And don't get me started on the whole Brood War Protoss campaign which is a giant quest to gather two crystals to activate an ancient Xel'Naga Temple (Do you see the pattern?!). You just nitpick the better parts - SC1 Terran and BW Zerg and ignore all the mess that the rest of the campaign is. | ||
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moskonia
Israel1448 Posts
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Deleted User 135096
3624 Posts
On March 21 2013 01:14 Plexa wrote: Wow. I, uh. I honestly did not expect this, especially because of some of the somewhat controversial or difficult topics discussed here. ♥'s TL!This is really well written! Spotlighted it. On March 21 2013 01:27 decaf wrote: I actually got a few responses from friends along those lines as well. I suppose it's hard for me not to as I've been playing games for so long, but it is definitely an important thing to consider (and maybe requires small excursions to help those who don't or haven't experienced these things). >This is why Mengsk's teeth are shown just before his final moments, as it's a subtle reference to the more primal and violent nature of human beings Liked that line. Very good (and long) write-up. However, I disliked how you sometimes used other games to get your point across like you did with mass effect. While you can expect most people to have watched star wars you can't assume everyone will be able to follow you when you talk about any other games. One example of another game with a detailed explanation as to how it's similar would have been better for getting your point across in my opinion, but that only made up a small portion of your post anyway. I agree with pretty much everything you said. I played the bw campaign a couple of times and have it still pretty well memorized, but I forgot almost everything from WoL and I felt like the summary blizzard gave us during the installment of the game was severely lacking and the entire story and reasoning was completely confusing. For the most part I had actually no idea what was going on or why we are doing the things we're currently doing. And the whole love story was just cringeworthy and out of place. I hope you get paid for this. | ||
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FilthyRake
United States473 Posts
On March 21 2013 01:19 BronzeKnee wrote: I understand how you can enjoy the story except for the love piece, because I enjoyed it. But how can you not agree with his conclusions? Logically, you have to. The SC2 manual states that the Overmind took control or kill everything on Zerus. But then we have the primal Zerg in HOTS? How can that be? It is in fact, impossible as those are mutually exclusive. Either the Overmind didn't take control or kill everything on Zerus (and in fact left at least some of the planet intact before leaving) and the primal Zerg existed alongside the Overmind or the primal Zerg were killed off or assimilated into the Swarm. Both things could not have happened, yet according to Blizzard they did! You can't just create a piece of the story, conveniently forget it completely, and then remake the story around another plot. It would be like Blizzard creating the character Jim Raynor in BW as they did, but then in WOL saying that he was a farmer from Agria who was mad the dominion left him when the Zerg came, and decided to create an outfit called Raynor's raiders and start the story from there. So what do you not agree with? I dont have it in front of me, but was this the WoL manual or the HoTS manual? If it was the WoL manual, then it is easily explained as being *wrong*. Not non-cannon, or anything. Just treat it as information from the game universe, as it is known at that time IN the game universe. It was believed, even within the swarm, that that was what happened. So thats how information is presented. Zeratul discovers that it was not the reality of the situation, corrects Kerrigan, and reveals the truth, that the overmind failed to control/kill everything on Zerus (the specifics of how/why are completely unimportant). If it was the HoTS manual, well, really my biggest gripe is treating the game manuals for SC2 as any part of legitimate story/cannon. As far as I'm concerned, only in-game or in-book (not game manual) counts as real/official info. | ||
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Aerisky
United States12128 Posts
A systematic and thorough analysis. Just...wow. A lot of people taking about the many issues with the campaign but this is far and away the most amazing :O | ||
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BronzeKnee
United States5212 Posts
On March 21 2013 01:35 FilthyRake wrote: I dont have it in front of me, but was this the WoL manual or the HoTS manual? If it was the WoL manual, then it is easily explained as being *wrong*. Not non-cannon, or anything. Just treat it as information from the game universe, as it is known at that time IN the game universe. It was believed, even within the swarm, that that was what happened. So thats how information is presented. Zeratul discovers that it was not the reality of the situation, corrects Kerrigan, and reveals the truth, that the overmind failed to control/kill everything on Zerus (the specifics of how/why are completely unimportant). If it was the HoTS manual, well, really my biggest gripe is treating the game manuals for SC2 as any part of legitimate story/cannon. As far as I'm concerned, only in-game or in-book (not game manual) counts as real/official info. As far as the manuals not being legitimate story answer these four questions: You'd be okay if I told you a story, then had you play a game based on the story, except the game has nothing to do with the story and completely contradicts it? Why would I bother telling you the story? Why did Blizzard even include stories in the manuals then? Why fill in blanks with misinformation, instead of just leaving it blank? If Blizzard hadn't written that in the SC1 manual, everything would have been fine. They shot themselves in the foot and hoped you wouldn't noticed when they wrote that, then decided it didn't fit their plot and changed it. | ||
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Assirra
Belgium4169 Posts
On March 21 2013 01:38 Aerisky wrote: Give this man a star! And yeah, blizzard hire him! A systematic and thorough analysis. Just...wow. A lot of people taking about the many issues with the campaign but this is far and away the most amazing :O Blizzard might read it but hiring? no way. Criticizing a script/story is waay easier then actually making one. | ||
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Deleted User 135096
3624 Posts
On March 21 2013 01:35 FilthyRake wrote:+ Show Spoiler + I think he mis-spoke there. This information that he cites comes directly from the original Star 1 manual, so it predates everything else.On March 21 2013 01:19 BronzeKnee wrote: I understand how you can enjoy the story except for the love piece, because I enjoyed it. But how can you not agree with his conclusions? Logically, you have to. The SC2 manual states that the Overmind took control or kill everything on Zerus. But then we have the primal Zerg in HOTS? How can that be? It is in fact, impossible as those are mutually exclusive. Either the Overmind didn't take control or kill everything on Zerus (and in fact left at least some of the planet intact before leaving) and the primal Zerg existed alongside the Overmind or the primal Zerg were killed off or assimilated into the Swarm. Both things could not have happened, yet according to Blizzard they did! You can't just create a piece of the story, conveniently forget it completely, and then remake the story around another plot. It would be like Blizzard creating the character Jim Raynor in BW as they did, but then in WOL saying that he was a farmer from Agria who was mad the dominion left him when the Zerg came, and decided to create an outfit called Raynor's raiders and start the story from there. So what do you not agree with? I dont have it in front of me, but was this the WoL manual or the HoTS manual? If it was the WoL manual, then it is easily explained as being *wrong*. Not non-cannon, or anything. Just treat it as information from the game universe, as it is known at that time IN the game universe. It was believed, even within the swarm, that that was what happened. So thats how information is presented. Zeratul discovers that it was not the reality of the situation, corrects Kerrigan, and reveals the truth, that the overmind failed to control/kill everything on Zerus (the specifics of how/why are completely unimportant). If it was the HoTS manual, well, really my biggest gripe is treating the game manuals for SC2 as any part of legitimate story/cannon. As far as I'm concerned, only in-game or in-book (not game manual) counts as real/official info. | ||
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Fym
United Kingdom189 Posts
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BronzeKnee
United States5212 Posts
On March 21 2013 01:41 Assirra wrote: Blizzard might read it but hiring? no way. Criticizing a script/story is waay easier then actually making one. They go hand in hand actually. If you can criticize work well, then you can create good work, because you can criticize your own work when isn't good and work on it until it is good. Being able to critique work is part of being able to produce good work. On March 21 2013 01:42 wo1fwood wrote: I think he mis-spoke there. This information that he cites comes directly from the original Star 1 manual, so it predates everything else. I meant to write SC1 manual. My mistake. | ||
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Yacobs
United States846 Posts
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Savant
United States379 Posts
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