I am just gonna say that Witcher 1 is underrated as hell. Also, that while the story in 2 seems really cool…
The gameplay makes me suffer.
…
And yeah, I am not touching BL3 with a 4 feet stick.
a christian analogy? this is no more like this batman: “the difference between you and me is that we both saw the abyss BUT You blinked” An infinite cycle kerrigan repeats the path of Amon but the nuances give a different outcome, someone who does not believe in the cycle maintains it the cycle continues
yes the argument this is from children, why it does not embrace drama and focuses on death at every moment, come on, the adventure story revenge or epic, is not just for children
if it is not sinister or sandy it is very low quality,let’s enter the cube “not ultra serious is of poor quality” or “does not connect with me does not touch the topics that I like must be bad”
you are not a new boy to know that this is a fallacy ADpopullum not even well-grounded
it is actually a common phenomenon when a franchise decides to move away from the original formula immortalized in southpark
“Member Berries_”, what we grew up with is better. new sucks,
fans about Star Wars prequel: why is there politics in Star War? midiclorian? science where’s space magic? Jarja why has a stupid in the galaxy is not realistic
don’t get me wrong i don’t prefer soft and colorful environments i love rock, gothic, punk, culture, scratches on armor, and i enjoy that desolate alien and caustrophobic environment. the point is that you are not willing to accept that the universe of starcraft universe is bigger than a narrative style, there is room for romance(I really don’t understand the horror of this, it gives a vibe to children grimacing or “God feelings!”), humor (hope a delusional madman overshadows the rest of the universe) and lovercraftnian horror, revenge, corporate dramas , but the reduction of SC2 is derived more from your real science fiction idea “hard science fiction” for others and materialistic conception of the universe, really the idea of the Clarktech is based on human limitation if it was great to observe aliens scientific philosopher on the concept of perfection and expect to see the result of the actions but for some reason it is wrong to use xenalgas the technological analogue for the protoss of what the protoss are for us, and the door beyond what is possible with our knowledge and rise an experiment fortuitous to a element of the universal order, pangenesis
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I am pretty sure Phlynch was not a 5 year old.
And people… stop acting like stuff for kids has to be dumb, immature and bright-coloured.
Avatar TLA (the series obviously) is easily one of the most shining examples of this as this series aimed for kids is tackling things like war propaganda, a vicious cycle of violence, racism or the importance of standing up to the oppressors instead of collaborating.
And despite the fact that creators were taking great measures to avoid on-screen deaths… It’s still a show with genocide as the base of its premise. And it’s a world where among the 15 most powerful individuals in the world, there are at least 5 children (Aang, Azula, Toph, Katara, Zuko). Kids fighting in a 100 year long world-scale genocidal conflict.
Yaaay pretty colors and goofy looking animal hybrids.
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^In my experience, this is true. There’s no middle ground at all anymore. Either something is the second coming of Christ, or it’s a complete steaming pile of excrement. Period.
There was actually a discussion about this on testyourmight recently, as Mortal Kombat 11 gets heavy flack from it’s own community more than anyone else. That’s for the story, the gameplay, the character and costume design, etc.
Fair enough. if true, that’s some damn fine work he did.
Absolutely correct, it’s critically acclaimed and absolutely should be; it’s overall storytelling is fantastic!
After the ending was first seen though, it seems everyone changed their opinion to “it’s crap because none of it matter,” and not just hate for the ending, but hate for the entire franchise kicked off big time. There was also heavy criticism for the shift in Mass Effect 3 away from the points the previous two games were building for the motivation for the Reapers. The lead writer for the first games, who did not do the third, stated things were indeed changed as BioWare feared the original story idea would be seen as too environmental friendly and they didn’t want that backlash, so they went with the more conservative and generic machines wipe out organics because machines route.
I’m sure it won’t shock you either to learn I personally had no issue with the original ending, though I do prefer the extended ending.
Just to chime in, I got to talk with Metzen two BlizzCons ago very briefly, the one big point we did talk about was the manual was almost exclusively his work and a bit of writing he still loved. This makes sense since earlier games like WCII and Diablo Metzen was the one who wrote the greater world of those games, which the manuals served as the ground floor of.
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Also for some misconceptions on the UED/UPL, here’s the sources for why they certainly wouldn’t ally with the protoss:
The expeditionary force, led by the brilliant Admiral Gerard DuGalle, had a secondary objective as well. Admiral DuGalle was ordered to take control of the Zerg Broods and use them to pacify Protoss activity in the Sector.
As for fascism, they don’t directly call them such in the game, but they do in the manual, albeit for the old UPL:
The UPL was founded upon the basis of‘ enlightened socialism’, but often resorted to harsh, fascist police actions to maintain the public order.
Also the entire reason the terrans in the sector are there is they were lab experiments spared from the chopping block from their Project Purification. Given the UPL only changed to the UED in the past few months, and their final cinematic is a direct Starship Troopers film reference they’ve even gone out and admitted (a film where those propaganda pieces are used to exemplify an explicitly fascist government), and we see Kerrigan use worlds like “clamp down on this sector and enslave us all,” it’s easy to assume they’re still fascist.
It’s interesting people consider the fact DuGalle and Stukov weren’t cackling baby eating bad guys as a failing of the story, as that’s the reason I find the UED so compelling. Their goals are obviously not something of the good guys, and you see the subtle cracks of brutality in some of their actions and use of propaganda, but overall the two seem like regular people who just are here because they have a job to do.
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Kerrigan magnifies the threat for purposes of manipulation, although submission is danger , true interacting with the Zerg is more danger that with humans, although Kerrigan tries to project the idea that she can placate them, controlling to swarm, our friend
Oh certainly, but she only magnifies the threat that’s there. Had there not been a good amount of truth to it it wouldn’t really have worked on Jim. Plus by kicking down the door guns blazing on the Dominion they didn’t exactly do anything to discourage that perception (though it seemed to work enough to get the KMC to peacefully capitulate). Even Fenix can see the “UED grips the sector with an iron fist” during the campaign.
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Plus there was that time the UED demanded the protoss power down all their ships and surrender to them for no apparent reason.
Huh, interesting. I take that to mean Phinney mainly worked on the game?
I’d expect so, most interviews I dug up only say he “worked on the story with Metzen.” So I expect he was big on the actual progression of the games, though his name comes up for a number of ideas for unit ideas too. Hard to say though, I honestly don’t know the extent of his focus.
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You do realize that the ‘Protoss High Command’ wanted to wage a civil war and punish Tassadar more than dealing with the Zerg, right? Overmind was already infesting the surface of Aiur while those mission happens.
Nice! Where can I read it? (I don’t mind paying you some for this trouble.)
Quick question; how do you account for popularity, genre and sampling population? By the last one I mean, after you group them in an appropriated genre and popularity how do you show that the variety of game is sufficed to draw any meaningful conclusion? (And of course, I also meant the fact that you need at least 15 different games from the same appropriated genre and popularity to make any meaningful conclusion, but that’s no brainer. I’m sure you already doing well in that regard.)
Moreover, how do you seperate between trash-clickbait review and honest one? No offend, but you’re extremely biased. I highly suspect that you will disregard all praise as fanboy being blind. Obviously, you can’t disregard any data because you disagree with it. On a flip side, you can’t keep those trashy review, either. How exactly do you decide what to keep and what to discard?
Additionally, there is also a matter of release date, or rather year. How do you account for our current society? As you once said ‘It’s bad, but you’re smart enough to know that it was good back when it releases’. How exactly are you going to do that objectively for your data? Like, the fact that ‘critic’ is now more prevalent than ever, but much less honest. And the implication of Internet can’t be gloss over as well. Not only there are numerous vocal minority, but most honest review are inaccessible. (There is a chance that someone with little to no understanding of the game write the review, too. Now, that I think about it. They might be honest, but you can’t trust them. How do you check this?)
Also, the type of story. I mean some game barely has a story as an after thought, while some masterfully crafts it. Take Monster Hunter for example, the story is rubbish, but no one complains. Some even say that it’s good for its kind. (They’re smart enough to realize that this is not a story-driven game and shouldn’t be judge as one.) Of course, if you think this part is too complicated and group all game story-driven and barely-any-story together, I won’t think any less of you. (Provided that you didn’t try to make any stupid claim out of it, that is! 
)
There are other issues, but I’ll reframe from asking them until I read your paper.
Lucky you! I have yet to start really enjoy to vacation!
I never liked the trajectory of SC’s story because from the beginning it focused on soap operatic melodrama at the expense of believable military scifi storytelling and world building. Metzen is one of those inconsistent authors who is apparently able to come up with a lot of interesting ideas for politics and warfare (see the WC2 and SC manuals) but proved incapable of writing convincing political thriller or military fiction when push came to shove, and has shown on many occasions that he cannot keep track of his own writing. SC1 and BW are brainless popcorn fare at best, like any other Blizzard story.
For years I tried arguing like you are doing, which proved about as effective and painful as bashing my head with cinderblocks. So I decided to work on an original scifi universe that recycles the few ideas I liked from Metzen, but writing political thriller, military, and philosophical plots in the vein of scifi classics like Starship Troopers, The Vang, Dune, Solaris, etc.
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The UED wanted to enslave the zerg to wipe out or enslave the protoss and Koprulu terrans. Like, that was their explicit end goal. Its really hard for any of those parties to look at it and say “well, i think the UED has a point.”
Also, that was Brood War. The UED werent even in SC1
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Every faction in SC has a desire to dominate or destroy rivals. The Zerg want to consume and assimilate everything. The Protoss commit genocide against human worlds to achieve their goal of limiting Zerg expansion and look down on humanity as inferior.
The Confederacy and Dominion are just rival police states that want to dominate Koprulu. How is the UED uniquely bad within this context? Moreover, why would humanity side with rival alien races who pose an existential obstacle to human prosperity and expansion AGAINST another human faction. Sure, the UED is a rival, but at least its a human rival and will put humans as the top priority. If anything, the UED is coming to the aid of Koprulu to ensure human survival against two massive alien threats. It doesn’t value colonial authority and wants Earth to directly control the sector, but it does style itself as humanitys guardian.
In a time of potential extinction or domination by two alien races, why would humans fight humans who have come to ensure their survival in some shape or form? Also, you know what I mean when I say SC. It means SC/BW.
Being stronger than other factions at the moment?
Protoss and Swarm were banged up real’ bad after the First War. In Brood War UED was very well capable of wrecking any Koprulu faction 1on1.
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The UED predecessor was renown for their human purity dogma which led to a massive purge. Given how “impure” the Terrans are according to the UED ideology because of their ancestry, yup, they’d be as bad news as the Protoss and the Zergs for Koprulu denizens, that’s what Kerrigan implied when she told Raynor to remember Earth’s History.
Not to mention, the UED’s goal for their invasion wasn’t the preservation of the human race but to make sure Earth wouldn’t be threatened. Koprulu Terrans would merely be cannon fodder for them.
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Yup, that and as Kerrigan told Duran, they’re siding with the evil they know.
The Conclave, responsible for the destruction of Terran colonies during the Great War, is dead by the time of the Brood War. Raynor’s Raiders was already on good terms with the Templar and Fenix, and they saved Mengsk because they needed his psi disruptors.
Kerrigan, while they didn’t trust her fully, was a wild card in that they didn’t know where she stood without the Overmind, but she was offering to help them. Submitting to the UED for the Templar would have meant extermination, for the remaining free Dominion forces would have meant conscription at best, for Mengsk himself execution, and likely death for the Raiders as well.
For Kerrigan it would have been death, and the enslavement of her swarm.
The alien races actually had more beneficial intentions for the Koprulu Terrans during the Brood War than the UED did. Heck, even after her betrayal and rise to power, Kerrigan and the Zerg Swarm let the Raiders go, they let Mengsk live and left the Dominion alone, and even let the Protoss go an rebuild in relative peace.
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The protoss attitude was practical, not cruel, by this point the planets were lost and the only effective way to fight the swarm was a burned-out war tactic, this point of view is not popular knowledge, and clearly the protoss relanterized also zerg and Tassadar sacrificed much more to maintain evacuation operations. Now the difference between domain confederation and the UED is much more propagandistic. The real point is that the confederation was too corrupt that it was ineffective, the UED was more practical but clearly fascist and attacked the foundations of liberals in the Terran colonies and the Dominion was an absolutist monarchy that depends on the monarch in question and clearly this was a follower of the prince of Machiavelli
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UED didn’t even issue some invitation to the Koprulu Terrans to join them (Heck, even Mengsk gave the appearance of asking for leaders to join his group), the only known group to have joined the UED was Duran’s, and they were the ones to contact the UED first for an alliance to topple the Dominion (So much for Human Unity). Sure Mengsk would have been unlikely to accept being at the very best a colonial governor, but when you immediately come to attack him and make it clear that you want to see him executed, he ain’t gonna think “Humanity first”.
Also, UED was content to let a Terran colony fall to the Zergs in the BW opening cinematic for observation purposes. If they gave a sh!t about Koprulu Humans they did a d@mn good job at hiding it.
(Come to think of it, IMO that cinematic “betrayal” felt more tragic than the Sc2 “Betrayal” cinematic, mainly cause DuGalle and Stukov weren’t smugs about it unlike Mengsk, they sounded almost bored about the whole thing which made them more monstruous. Also, that Morituri te Salutant score)
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