OS Neutral Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm

I have finished it now, on Hard. I am going through on normal/hard to aquire the rest of the achievements. I definiately preferred the missions in this over WoL, they are more fun and the Kerrigan unit is badass...shame about the character.

Without spoiling...I would just like to say that the final cutscene in the campaign was hilarious and pretty much sums up the everything about what was, what is and what will be Starcraft 2.

Wardenski said:

I have finished it now, on Hard. I am going through on normal/hard to aquire the rest of the achievements. I definiately preferred the missions in this over WoL, they are more fun and the Kerrigan unit is badass...shame about the character.

Without spoiling...I would just like to say that the final cutscene in the campaign was hilarious and pretty much sums up the everything about what was, what is and what will be Starcraft 2.

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I really don't understand the hate for StarCraft 2's story. I recently replayed SC1 and its story is every bit as hokey and lame as people make SC2's out to be. A friend of mine actually started with SC2, and after finishing WoL I convinced him to play SC1 for the first time- he later told me he thought the story was terrible and incredibly predictable, and that he thought WoL was far, far better. I think most people who start with SC2 and play SC1 are going to think that- the presentation in SC2 is much, much better than SC1.

Personally, I loved HotS, including its story, and thought it was easily on par with SC1/BW and better than WoL.

ReanimationN said:

I really don't understand the hate for StarCraft 2's story. I recently replayed SC1 and its story is every bit as hokey and lame as people make SC2's out to be. A friend of mine actually started with SC2, and after finishing WoL I convinced him to play SC1 for the first time- he later told me he thought the story was terrible and incredibly predictable, and that he thought WoL was far, far better. I think most people who start with SC2 and play SC1 are going to think that- the presentation in SC2 is much, much better than SC1.

Personally, I loved HotS, including its story, and thought it was easily on par with SC1/BW and better than WoL.

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Part of it probably has to do with the fact that people who grew up with SC are older now, and it's easier to see flaws in the story.

That said, having played Brood War semi-recently, I still feel that WoL was a big step down. The plots may be equally silly (for the most part--trying to make the Zerg sympathetic was a huge mistake IMO) but there was just way too much cringeworthy writing in WoL.

In general, I feel Blizzard lore has declined in quality since Chris Metzen took over.

I think Metzen allowed the books based on SC to become the official lore - big mistake. Its basically ripped the universe open in the same way the books for Star Wars did (e.g. Luke joining dark side, Emperor Clones etc)

SC Legacy wrote a special report on the unworthiness of WoL story and dialogue which happens to agree with many of my opinions on the matter.

Wardenski said:

SC Legacy wrote a special report on the unworthiness of WoL story and dialogue which happens to agree with many of my opinions on the matter.

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Are you referring to this article by Gradius? Just read it, and agreed with most of it (though he is a bit too kind to Mass Effect, that series has many of the same problems, especially the "Hollywood Epic Syndrome"). I liked how he pointed out what Brood War did right, in contrast. Hope he writes a similar article for HoTS.

Cougarcat said:

Are you referring to this article by Gradius? Just read it, and agreed with most of it (though he is a bit too kind to Mass Effect, that series has many of the same problems, especially the "Hollywood Epic Syndrome"). I liked how he pointed out what Brood War did right, in contrast. Hope he writes a similar article for HoTS.

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Thats the one, indeed.

I'm also debating. A lot of the reviews didn't think highly of it. Lack of a good campaign and not a lot added to the multiplayer were the main complaints. I'd love to hear from anyone who has it!

Cougarcat said:

Part of it probably has to do with the fact that people who grew up with SC are older now, and it's easier to see flaws in the story.

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That's exactly it, their views of SC1 are wrapped in nostalgia-laden cotton wool- the story of SC1/BW is every bit as silly and full of terrible dialogue. That article is a prime example, the author obviously holds SC1 in a shining light and ignores how the original games used the Xel'Naga to fill in numerous holes in the plot, while providing next-no-information on the Xel'Naga themselves, how stupid the "oh Kerrigan seems ok now, let's work with her" plot device in Brood War was, how you play the über-talented new commander/cerebrate who can do no wrong (and he's whinging about this being the case for Raynor in SC2!) and so on. The vast majority of that article is just personal opinion, e.g. "Kerrigan shouldn’t have had obvious vulnerabilities like the Space Station which was the hub for the majority of zerg fliers, or the nydus tunnels which could be easily flooded with lava.", combine that with the author's love for Mass Effect, which is far worse than SC2 when it comes to the majority of the complaints the author made, and you have something that's quite hard to take seriously.

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TedM said:

I'm also debating. A lot of the reviews didn't think highly of it. Lack of a good campaign and not a lot added to the multiplayer were the main complaints. I'd love to hear from anyone who has it!

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The campaign is fantastic. The multiplayer is in need of a balance update at the moment, but is still great. Widow Mines are stupidly powerful for how little they cost and how quick they are to get out onto the field- they need to be nerfed, otherwise the things that define Zerg play, speed, map control and numbers, are ruined. I.e. one mine shouldn't be able to one-shot 20 Zerglings.