Starcraft 2 LotV: Revenge of the Xel'Naga

[Joseph Hutzulak]

So how about that Legacy of the Void?

I think the analogy to Revenge of the Sith is pretty perfect.

Sure its arguably the best campaign wise of the SC 2 games, but in the end it can't escape its destiny and your reminded of just how low the once beloved grim dark franchise that ended in Broodwar with the villain winning.

Its final zenith is:

Spoiler

Kerrigan goes super saiyan and destroys the Old God at the very end and then Jim "Ill kill you myself" Raynor walking off into the sunset afterward, insert SNL cow bell skit but with Metzen and Kerrigan.

The only bright spot is they didnt mess with the UED, Stukov sacrificed himself to save the earth from being involved in this turd sandwich.

 

[LetalisK]

Meh, they've been openly telegraphing this ending for the last two games. You really didn't even need to spoiler it. XD

 

[Fat Hippo]

I've enjoyed the Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm campaigns for their gameplay, but Blizzard has done a fantastic job of not making me give a shit with their writing from the very start of Starcraft 2. Which is a shame, because I quite liked what they did with the original Starcraft and Brood War. SC has always been cheesy, but in comparison to SC2, the original's writing was downright subtle. Now it's all "LETS KICK THIS REVOLUTION INTO OVERDRIVE" *SHOOTS TV CAUSE HES SO FUCKING BADASS AND LOOK AT HIS MUSCLES AND HES DRINKING SO MUCH AND ERWMAGERD!* Just blegh.

 

[mad825]

So how about that Legacy of the Void?

I think the analogy to Revenge of the Sith is pretty perfect.

Comparing SC to SW? Oh god, how far SC has fallen.

That said, the end scene for HotS was ripped-of RotJ.

 

[Mangod]

So how about that Legacy of the Void?

I think the analogy to Revenge of the Sith is pretty perfect.

Comparing SC to SW? Oh god, how far SC has fallen.

That said, the end scene for HotS was ripped-of RotJ.

Can't disagree, though I'd hasten to add that all of Blizzard's games seem to have undergone severe narrative degeneration since the Brood War/Lord of Destruction days. Still, I enjoyed several parts of Legacy of the Void, Alarak being an unabashed mustache-twirling douche being chief among them.

 

[distortedreality]

Picked this up on release day but haven't installed it yet - didn't really feel the need to distance myself from spoilers because, as said above, it's been fairly obvious what the end will be.

Is disappointing, but I am still looking forward to playing through the campaign. I do still find the characters interesting, it's just a shame that the overarching story is so weak.

 

[Hawki]

I really can't be arsed to get into an argument so I'll just say I'll agree to disagree. Even as someone who played SC1 back in the day and enjoyed it, I still enjoy SC2 more in all aspects, including story. And once again, I can't help but feel a sense of cognative dissonance:

-"Brood War ended with the villain winning." Yes. And? So a villain wins. That doesn't mean a series has to follow suit in every installment. It got tiring in Game of Thrones soon enough. What I've liked is that each SC2 campaign has had its own tone. Not that SC1/BW were without tonal distinction, but it was far more muted.

-"Kerrigan goes super saiyan and kills the Old God."

"A psionic being channels a bast amount of psionic energy and slays a creature inspired by the C'thulu mythos, ending the story, the nature of the sacrifice drawing parallels to Abrahamic religion in the visual style." Am I describing Kerrigan or Tassadar?

Note that I'm not that far in LotV yet, but, yeah. Frankly, a lot of the complaints I've come across have had me scratching like this - things that were present since day 1, but the community arbitrarily decided that they didn't like much later.

-"SHOOTS TV CAUSE HES SO FUCKING BADASS AND LOOK AT HIS MUSCLES AND HES DRINKING SO MUCH AND ERWMAGERD"

Funny, I had the opposite reaction. I liked how it showed how weak Raynor was at that point in the story, beginning the start of the "one bullet" motif in WoL. I never got a sense of that making Raynor a badass.

-"Comparing SC to SW? Oh god, how far SC has fallen."

Star Wars has been cited as one of the original inspirations for StarCraft, something that was established from day 1 (psi-blades akin to lightsabres, the dichotomy between the Khala and Void being akin to the Light/Dark Side dichotomy, the ion cannon, the "rebel scum" shoutout, etc. And now, it's a bad thing. Huh.

So, yes. I'm playing and enjoying LotV - it's hard to say whether it'll surpass WoL yet, and my guess as to which I prefer will probably come down to personal preference. Right now, WoL has the edge, but time will tell.

So, just my 2 cents. Do me a favor and don't respond - having gone through the same rigamarole with WoL and HotS, I don't have it in me to go through more debate.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Meh.

I'm still looking forward to playing through the story when I get it tomorrow, and then getting my ass handed to me in multiplayer some. Always knew obviously the Heroes were going to win; that much was obvious after Blizzcon when they said that the Nova Missions are post-game, as is a lot of the content they're planning.

Its just a matter of how and what it costs them that'll be interesting to see.

 

[chimeracreator]

I just beat it and the writing really did go down hill from the original. I mean they went from a rich science fiction world to "We need to stop the dark god from destroying all of existence!" Which is the same plot they used in both Diablo 3 and Warcraft 3. That said it was enjoyable overall, but the fact they added in the Sith was a weak move in my book.