[Spoilers] Legacy of the Void Epilogue -- I can finally empathize with the hate for ME3's ending.

[Nazulu]

And remember, they said they wanted to make this 'trilogy' because it would enable them to make the story more 'epic'.

I can tolerate flawed story's, but I couldn't even stand listening to the characters, and they made those 'special' moments so bloody corny.

 

[Hawki]

Per the above points:

-I think RJ17 puts it best - even if we accept the Overmind and Kerrigan as sympathetic figures (which I do, and IMO, they're better characters for it), the zerg as a whole aren't sympathetic themselves. In HotS, this is reinforced over and over, from all the characters, and arguably the zerg as a whole. The primal zerg are Darwininian - survival of the fittest, "unclouded by delusions of morality" (thank you Ash). The Swarm are the same, only on a much larger scale. No-one sheds a tear for the billion-plus zerg killed on Shakuras for instance, because they're ZERG, even if they're obeying Amon and not Kerrigan. They aren't sympathetic. There's been interesting zerg characters, even sympathetic ones, but the zerg are, and always have been, monsters. Izsha even outrights states (paraphrased) "you're either zerg or the enemy."

-On the subject of the borg, I can't really comment on TNG or Voyager that much (unless we include sfdebris), but I actually like the borg queen for instance. It doesn't detract from the borg in my eyes, but actually adds to Picard and the Federation. The idea that the borg's foes have actually brought them down to converse on the level of their enemies, as they've proven themselves to warrant that (Wolf 359, Earth again, etc.). And similar to the primal zerg, we have borg outside the Collective (or something, there was a Voyager episode I believe). That, IMO, adds to the borg race, even if the Collective itself remains monolithic (like the Swarm), and a stronger adversary for it.

-Back to Prometheus, I agree that sometimes leaving things blank is for the best. Space Odyssey is one such example. The Flood from Halo is another (for me, they were much more interesting before being revealed as the remnants of the Precursors, even if I saw that coming way back in the Beastiarium). However, Prometheus doesn't give us the origins of the xenomorph (the film establishes they were around before the deacon), and the EU had fleshed them out long before Prometheus did.

-As for Metroid...Other M aside (which I haven't played, only watched a walkthrough, and I'm not going to comment due to how hot the topic remains), speech and backstory didn't ruin Samus IMO. She's been monologuing since Super Metroid, engaging in dialogue since Fusion, and had her backstory filled in by the manga, which was further hinted at in games such as Fusion and Zero Mission. Whatever you may think of her characterization in Other M, dialogue and backstory aren't the issues IMO.

 

[rcs619]

-Back to Prometheus, I agree that sometimes leaving things blank is for the best. Space Odyssey is one such example. The Flood from Halo is another (for me, they were much more interesting before being revealed as the remnants of the Precursors, even if I saw that coming way back in the Beastiarium). However, Prometheus doesn't give us the origins of the xenomorph (the film establishes they were around before the deacon), and the EU had fleshed them out long before Prometheus did.

-As for Metroid...Other M aside (which I haven't played, only watched a walkthrough, and I'm not going to comment due to how hot the topic remains), speech and backstory didn't ruin Samus IMO. She's been monologuing since Super Metroid, engaging in dialogue since Fusion, and had her backstory filled in by the manga, which was further hinted at in games such as Fusion and Zero Mission. Whatever you may think of her characterization in Other M, dialogue and backstory aren't the issues IMO.

The Alien universe EU is about as non-canon as the toy line. As for Prometheus, I thought it was pretty clear about the origins of the xenomorphs. They were an Engineer bioweapon that was intended to wipe out all life on Earth because they hate us (for what I'm going to predict will be dumb, arbitrary 'Humans are too dangerous' reasons). It's... serviceable, as things go, but it's still just so underwhelming.

Granted, we still don't know how long the Engineers have been using xenomorphs as bioweapons. Is this just a thing they do? Is this something whipped up special for Earth?

I'm still not 100% clear on how the bioweapon works either. The stages in its life cycle seems horribly convoluted and poorly planned out. I feel like Ridley Scott just had a bunch of ideas for monsters and set-pieces... and just had the black goop do whatever he needed it to do at the time. It just all seemed so, improvised.

If the entire plot of your movie *only* exists because your characters (who were a team of trained professionals in Prometheus) do the stupidest possible things at all times, there is a huge issue with your narrative. The plot of Prometheus would not have happened, had anyone showed the tiniest modicum of sense and logic.

Keep in mind, Other M was actually written by the guy who made Samus in the first place. Her depiction in that game is 100% canon and creator-intended. She really *is* that dull, droning, melodramatic, naval-gazing and hung up on a man with the personality of wet cardboard, according to her creator. I have never seen a game commit character-assassination to such an unbelievable degree.

 

[Muspelheim]

I'd actually love it if more media depicted angels more in line with the bible. Some of them where quite horrific. Wheels within wheels, spinning while they were on fire, covered in hundreds of eyes. You could do a lot of interesting things with making a benevolent being look like some sort of cosmic horror. Bayonetta went in that direction a bit (and the art direction in that game was super cool), but I wish they'd have gone further.

But you'd also probably make a bunch of Christians mad too.

Yeah, that'd be pretty effective. I imagine they've got the lovely winged-people form for when they need to be comforting and familiar to mortals, but wouldn't bulk at entering their more true forms when a stern hand is needed.

That'd be a damned cool scene, the meanies attacking an angel & company and suddenly, there's a peal of thunder and a blinding flash. Then, there's a dizzying mass of flaming wings, wheels, eyes and radiating stars bearing down on them, trumpeting, singing and shouting for them to pack it in.
Doubt any but the usual bunch of weird churches would be upset, angels are pretty common in other contexts. Loads of religions got them, too.

It'd certainly spice up Warcraft a lot, seeing the Light's true form or something to that effect.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Hehe, trust me, I've all my own reasons for not particularly liking Blizzard. Beyond that, I don't have nearly enough invested in this series to go on a fanboy rant defense.

Likewise.
I'm restraining myself from going on my usual Blizzard-betrayal rant, to focus on the topic at hand.

So let me ask you what I asked the OP of this topic: what kind of ending would you have liked? Or perhaps a better question for you in particular would be "what kind of story would you have liked?"

More of the same with Kerrigan just going on another round of backstabbing conquests across the sector with the other races having to ally against her? Keeping Kerrigan as the big-bad throughout the story would negate - if you ask me - the foreshadowing that Duran, the Hybrid Lab, and the Zerg Epilogue provided in BW.

A tough question, but fortunately, one I have pondered before.
...Like, seriously, way more than I should. (lots of bored study time at University these past 6 years).

Spoiler: Strap in, this is LONG

Spoiler: Kerrigan, and the Swarm

Kerrigan, and the Swarm
First, I wouldn't keep Kerrigan as the sole big bad.
She would be a major villain and player, but not "the one everyone unites against."

Her main opponent would be the new-found Hybrids.

My reasoning is thus: Rather than have Kerrigan mindlessly rampage across the Koprulu Sector, I'd have her initially behave more like the Queen of the sector. She successfully played her enemies to her whim and crushed the UED invaders to the last ship. In the process, she got all she wanted: revenge against Mengsk and Zeratul, and control of the swarm.
(killing Fenix was to break Jim's will; as he was at the start of WoL. That part I would keep to provide him an arc in this)

At the end of Brood War, she knew she was the Queen. The natural thing to do then, is to rule.

Towards that end, I'd center the initial conflict between her and the upstart Hybrids.
Kerrigan would (as the zerg are wont) attempt to infest and dominate the hybrids.
But when she tries, she finds them utterly untame-able; biologically and psionically.

She does not initially understand why.
At this point, she knows of the Xel'Naga, but she knows of them as dead since their annihilation by ol daddy Overmind.

Realizing she cannot control the hybrids, she sets to destroy them before before they become a true threat to her and the swarm. To facilitate this, she creates new agents to find the hybrids, and whoever created them.
(the Zerg campaigns will be focused on these agents)

Spoiler: The Hybrid Faction, and the Xel'Naga

The Hybrid Faction, and the Xel'Naga
The Xel'Naga are obviously behind the hybrids, but not as direct controllers or dominators.

Instead, they act in an purely advisory capacity, because the Xel'Naga see the hybrids not as a means of conquering the sector/galaxy/etc but as their favored children. (absolutely none of that rubbish about plunging the universe into darkness).

The Hybrids are beings of immense potential, but despite being made from two old factions, are unique and new having effectively just been born. They are grateful and eager to please their parents, but ultimately have ambitions to strike out on their own.

Because of Kerrigan's aggression, they logically make eliminating her and the swarm their primary goal.

Reinforcing that goal is the prejudice of the Xel'Naga. They see Kerrigan as an abomination. Though infested as Zerg, she's still a human ego in command of their creation.

But over time, some Xel'Naga begin studying the Terrans more directly. Initially trying to assess them as a threat to the Hybrids, but later to comprehend the potential of a species that they had overlooked.

Over time, those pursuits become so strong that it creates a split in the Xel'Naga ranks.
Remember, in my interpretation, they are all Xenobiologists; basically creative scientists unleashed.

Here, it's a case of innovation vs evolution.
One side believes the "perfection" they seek lies right in front of them in their children, the Hybrids.

But the dissenting faction (called "Dissenters" from here onward) believes that strict adherence to that thinking blinds them to the possibilities, and worse, was the kind of thinking that nearly caused their annihilation way back on Zerus (when they underestimated their quarry in the Zerg).

The Dissenter Faction may approach Mensk or Raynor. Likely both.
The Xel'Naga Dissenters will offer the Terrans unique insights and tech to defeat the Zerg. Even the dissenters love their Hybrid creations to not directly oppose them. Also, by ensuring the Terrans' survival, the Xel'Naga can more closely study them.

Spoiler: Terrans

Terrans
Initially, they're more defensive, due to their need for reconstruction following the Brood War. The tiny patches of UED troops that survived Kerrigan's wrath in the Koprulu sector have been pressed into the existing Terran factions anyway (likely soldiers that went AWOL when Char fell).

Since the Terrans are more initially passive, and Kerrigan suspects any planet could hide hybrids, she sets about to seeding her agents across their systems. Prying for information. And brutally assaulting any place where there are signs of Hybrid activity.

Thus, the Terrans are pulled into the conflict in several ways. Effectively culminating in a three way shadow war between the Hybrid faction, the Swarm, and the Xel'Naga-assisted Terrans. (and to a lesser extend, the Protoss; read below).

Spoiler: Fate of the Protoss

Fate of the Protoss
Since securing Shakuras, like the Terrans, their priority is to rebuild. But they're by far the most conservative and insular of these factions, since by proportion, they lost the most of the surviving factions.

They won't be left to idle; though, since the Hybrids desire them as breeding stock.
(there are Zerg specimens nearly everywhere in the Koprulu Sector, but with the withdrawal of the Protoss to Shakuras, lets just say they're a hot commodity)

Initially, Shakuras' location remains a secret to the hybrids, but there are ways of locating it.

At the advice of the Xel'Naga, the Hybrids plot to lure Protoss survivors back to their old worlds and colonies by strategically cleansing them of swarm (especially Aiur) and then leaving the rest intact.
The plan is that Protoss survivors will take the bait and come looking for old relics, possibly a chance to recolonize.

The Protoss campaigns are about solving that mystery, working to destroy the abominable hybrids before they can attack Shakuras in numbers.

As for the ending...this is where I get a tad ambitious in concept (and probably a good reason why I'm not a game developer/writer).

First, there would be four factions (the original three, plus the Xel'Naga/Hybrid faction).
Each faction would have two distinct campaigns.

The first campaign is to establish what happened following Brood War, and to set the stage for greater conflict.
In this, each faction's first campaign would lead to the same continuity, just from that faction's perspective.

The second campaign per faction, leads to how that faction could possibly win.

Meaning, my version of Starcraft 2's story would have no singular canonical ending; fans could pick their preferred faction to be the winner.

Spoiler: ENDINGS BY FACTION

Spoiler: Zerg

This ending was fairly simple, because the meat lies in Kerrigan's main campaign.

The Zerg embark on a sector-wide hunt for the Hybrids; the Queen will not be usurped so easily.

This time, Kerrigan must learn how to rule through guile as much rather as brute force to succeed.
As she said at the end of Brood War "In the end they will all be mine, for I am the Queen of Blades. And none shall contest my rule again."

Spoiler: Hybrid Ending

The Hybrid campaign ends in two shifts. First, the conquering of Shakuras. Using the numbers gained from the Protoss stock, they eventually rise to challenge and defeat Kerrigan directly.

With the Zerg and Protoss definitively crushed, that leaves the fate of the Terrans. (I would leave this direction of the Hybrids to the player. They could make peace with the Terrans, subjugate them, or annihilate them.)

Spoiler: Protoss Ending

The Protoss realize that fending off the Hybrids is unsustainable in the long term.
Instead, they plan a desperate gambit; knowing the Hybrids have established themselves on Aiur (purging all the zerg presence as part of a strategic move, and to make the lure all the more appealing).

In a rare display of forward diplomacy for a proud, insular race, the Protoss approach the Terrans for help to crush the Hybrids on Aiur; correctly positing that so long as they remain at large, Kerrigan will turn the sector inside out to destroy them.

The Terran forces agree to a coalition, and the gambit succeeds.
With the unexpected added might of the Terran forces, the Hybrids' trap becomes their tomb.

In addition to crushing the Hybrid command force and retaking Aiur, several Xel'Naga are captured, alive.
The Protoss-Terran coalition may not possess the strength of numbers to challenge the Zerg directly, but together, they at least will not be conquered by force alone.

Spoiler: Terran Ending

-The Terran campaign would end with pacification of the Swarm, though I haven't decided how exactly.

What I did decide on, is that The Terran campaign must end Raynor's arc.
Probably with him having to make a hard choice on how to end this conflict.

He knows that Kerrigan is beyond redemption (no Deus Ex Machina device to un-infest her here; this adds weight to her decisions in Brood War). The Zerg are rampaging across worlds, searching for something (Hybrids) with reckless abandon.

Jim doesn't know what Kerrigan is after; for all he knows, she's gone completely insane.
But what he does know, is they cannot be allowed to go unchecked any further if the Terrans are to survive.

Alas, with no meaningful options to oppose her, Raynor works to protect his people and avoiding direct conflict with his old enemy, Arcturus Mengsk, just to give the Terrans a better shot at surviving this. (he still absolutely hates Mengsk; if given a chance to kill the man, Jim would probably take it)

But one day, out of nowhere, an opportunity arrives.
The Dissenter faction of the Xel'Naga approach Raynor with an offer to help destroy the Zerg.

Surprised at the emergence of a third sapient alien race (that knows of the Zerg no less) he suspects foul play. But eventually accepts. Within months, through typical human ingenuity, his faction churns out new, extremely effective anti-zerg measures never thought possible. Not enough to decisively win the war, but enough to stave off being immediately overrun.

Humanity's swift assimilation and adaptation of core conceptual knowledge greatly impresses the Xel'Naga in turn; reinforcing their decision to leave, but encouraging them to study the Terrans even more closely (intrusively, if necessary).

The Xel'Naga have the means to help pacify, possibly even destroy the Swarm, but at the cost of the Protoss (whom Raynor would obviously object to selling out). But to betray these new benefactors would mean possibly pitting the Terrans against the Hybrids.

To do nothing would mean letting Kerrigan tear the sector apart even further.

Beyond that, I haven't really pinned down the Terran ending, because I want it to be the most closely reflective of humanity, ethics and ambition. Nothing too heavy, but enough to make the player feel for Raynor as someone who lost more than his girlfriend and best bro to space bugs.

(I will add that I really liked Tychus Findley for that in WoL; he added some much needed grit and underhanded thinking to an outlaw faction like Raynor's Raiders).

 

[Tanis]

Sounds like Amon wanted to...equalize...the universe.

 

[Rastrelly]

I actually liked this ending. While it's executed sloppily, looking back at all the SCII there were hints to this ending all along. Everything actually more or less ties up. Unlike ME3 ending mentioned above, this one actually does not contradict the idea and global buildup. Kerrigan was 'pumping up' to become 'superbeing' from the beginning, with all those ascension - purgation - reascencion stuff in WoL and HotS.

 

[VanQ]

Kerrigan was given power over creation itself when she transcended into Xel'Naga. Is it any surprise that she could choose her own body or change its appearance at will? Would you have chosen to be a lovecraftian horror if you could choose your form? I'm sure some would, but after having her body warped over and over both against her will and by her will, I'm not surprised she wanted to be pretty again.

 

[kuolonen]

I suppose this has to do with me not having been terribly invested in SC 1 story, and never having even played Brood war, but I wasn't particularly bothered by the story aspects of SC2, HotS,and LotV.

That said, ending it with slideshow with one bloody sentence of status update for every race? Uh, yeah. I can see where the ME3 comparison comes from. Not like I wanted to know anything about how protoss managed to integrate the four aspects of their race together, if terrans ever got a second call from home earth, or what became of the wily Stukov. But I guess this might be to set up for the sequel in the next 12 years.

 

[wizzy555]

OK well that is over. It wasn't as disappointing as ME:3, but I was already prepared for the fact it probably won't be great.

My only major beef with it is that Kerrigan should have merged with Artanis (or another protoss) since they said previously purity of essence must merge with purity of form to be Xel'naga. Unless we retcon terrains to be purity of form this seems like an oversight.

I also feel the hybrid were wasted. They were nothing but super units. It would have been nice to meet one.