Do you ever think about how the Overmind, who gets 0 speaking lines, is an infinitely better villain in SCII than Amon? Our boy died feeling smug that he'd engineered a successor could eventually kill Amon for him. Dude got killed, then won.
The Overmind does get a few lines in WoL's Prophecy missions, even if they might have been made up by not-evil-space-squid-god. I don't blame you for forgetting/disregarding those :P
@@Photoloss I think the easiest way to fix that plotpoint is to not have it be a deception. Have Tassadar really be stuck as a Force Ghost, just make him an emissary of not-evil-space-squid-god. The whole "It was me all along" thing was out of nowhere and completely unnecessary.
The Overmind was an incredible villain. A powerful and amoral leader of the zerg seeking perfection through assimilating all races he comes across. It required the Protoss and Terran to work together to beat him and Tassadar sacrificed his life to make sure the Overmind stayed dead. His lines were intense and the voice actor for him did an incredible job. He was basically a better Amon than Amon was in Starcraft 1. It honestly kind of sucked that Starcraft 2 portrayed him as a slave to Amon, but even then he was still cool for finding a way to slay his master while beholden to Amon's will.
@@bluesbest1 no way, it would invalidate the Tassadar's sacrifice a bit and open up that wierd "he died, but he is not dead" trope which would question the weight of any Protoss death imo
The S-tier moment for Tychus for me is when he starts the fight with Jimmy with the jukebox getting chucked. At first I thought Tychus was just airing his greviances, but after multiple playthroughs I realised the reason he was demoralising the crew and telling them Jimmy would abandon them all was because he was *hoping* Jimmy would keep him on the ship and refuse to take him to Char with him. That would be the only way he could claim to still be working for Mengsk without being forced to betray Jim. Tychus was a man of conflicted loyalties :(
You can also interpret it as tychus getting increasingly stressed over the fact that he will be forced to betray his friend Tbh I would've preferred a story where zagara tries to reunite the swarm under her banner after the loss of the queen than to see tychus die at the end of WoL
Even when he does betray Jim at the end. It's kinda clear that he fucks it up on purpose. He's behind Jim in a full marine suit with a gauss rifle. If he actually wanted to kill Jim, he'd have done it very easily. But he gives Jimmy the biggest opening possible to stop him, and I don't think it's a mistake. Tychus is still a very hardened criminal who knows how to kill efficiently, someone with that much experience doesn't make such a silly mistake, especially when trying to kill someone they know is at least as equally deadly as they are, so it had to be on purpose
@@silverhand9965 He never even fake-tries to kill jim, he specifically was only targetting kerrigan, Jim just got in the way of the shot on purpose. So I'd interpret it more as him giving Jim time to decide whether kerrigan or tychus dies, since one of them has to.
@@gorkemaykut5230 From a story perspective Kerrigan was bound to survive, but good god would I want to play a Hots and Lotv where she didn't. My view of things is coloured by the lackluster story of those two games, which Kerrigan is the epitome of, but god if they had the guts to have Kerrigan killed and then go from there that would be lit. They could even have pulled a twist in Hots with the swarm attempting to revive Kerrigan, again, but that might feel a bit cheap at that point.
I love how Grant just stealthily puts Dr Hansen in D tier without talking about her and moves on. Also I love the love for UrsaDonny Vermillion. He's the best.
@@onewhocollects6658 according to him, she takes over stettman’s job. She’s an unwanted ship, and she’s only in a few missions. Something along those lines
@@Riku_Light I mean the issue with that is Stetmann himself is odd being there in itself. I'd say collecting the protoss and zerg research makes more sense with Dr. hanson in charge, cause she knows jack all, while Stetmann was employed by someone who knows u don't mess with zerg stuff. They got dumb luck that the hyperion didn't end up infested.
@@Riku_Light I guess his favorite mission then must be Haven's Fall, because not only this is the only mission out of all colonists missions that unlocks a good unit, but also he gets to kill her in cold blood
Raynor: "Now where can we find a mercenary that could deal with this?" Matt: "Sir, I am sure I know whom you are thinking about, but I have to obje-" Mira: *climbing out of a random air vent* "Oh Mathew, you know you missed me as much as I missed you."
@@illogicalbear6200 That actually technically happened before SC2 because Mat won her hand in marriage in... I wanna say a poker game? While he was dead drunk. She just took his last name since she really loves him even if he wants to be nowhere near her, at least status SC2
In heart of the swarm the artifact's consequences are brought up by Stukov and Kerrigan, discussing why all of kerrigan's psionic power disappeared, and they came to the conclusion that narud used the artifact to transfer a large portion of Kerrigan's power from her to the neighboring hybrid that were sleeping in stasis.
Where and when Narud tells that there were hybrids sleeping on Char? For real, I really did not know that. I thought the energy was used to create Amon's host. That's what Stukov (?) suggested to her in a dialogue.
That’s the artifact, not Narud. It doesn’t truely feel like it matters why you collected them in the first place, besides a couple of statements. Really the main affects of his actions are the plot of Legacy of the Void, but you are so far removed from Raynor at that point that it’s not brought up.
On Stetman: You ever read the Zerg Tank and Protoss Tank in the lab? Stetman has a new journal entry there every time you hit a new tier in the Reaseach Lab. You can get a better idea of his personality if you read those twelve or so journal entries. It's not much, but it's something. My first play-through I read them all and I was pretty attached to Stetman when Belly of the Beast rolled around.
Yeah, I felt the same. He is one of my favorite characters in WoL. I wish he had other abilities aside from only healing in Belly of the beast. Like Irradiate or Psi disruptor things.
Honestly, Amon probably would've made more sense if he actually wanted to bring back the Xelnaga. Instead of him being an omnicidal maniac, he could've just been a Xelnaga scientist who survived the rebellions of the Protoss and the Zerg, leaving him as one of the last survivors of his race. He could've even been the one to propose making the Zerg into a hivemind, making him partially responsible for his kind being devoured. Feeling guilty and desperate to ensure his race's survival, he'd orchestrate the hybrid project and leave Duran to run things while he goes into hibernation. Instead of universal destruction, Amon's motive could've been pacifying and eventually merging all protoss and zerg as originally intended, regardless of their input on the matter. Not only would he be finishing his people's work, but he'd likely also see it as a solution to the rampant destruction caused by both races in their wars. He'd no longer be a mass murdering space god, but a man just desperately trying to fix his mistakes.
This is basically what Duran was implied to be doing in BW, except I'm not sure the Infinite Cycle was a thing back then so at first it seemed like he was trying to complete their _magnum opus_ instead of bringing the xel'naga themselves back.
The Xel'Naga aren't purity of form and essence combined, at least not in SC1. That's what they saw as the defining trait of the Zerg and Protoss. Duran as a XelNaga wanted to combine the two into the ultimate lifeform, just like the Overmind did. However, he's doing it in a vastly different manner and utilizing Terrans - the outliers - to do it.
For an armour-plated alien murderbug hivequeen, Zagara has a weird semi-wholesome almost cuteness? Like, even on Char she's still trying her best to do what she was told to, wants to get better, figures out how to do that, and then in the epilogue has a lot of "She's a little confused, but she's got the right spirit" energy and residual naivete. In some weird cursed alternate timeline with a highschool/college anime AU she'd probably be at least in the running for best girl. It sounds weird to me, too, but that's what my brain gave me to work with. Also Selendis absolutely deserved better, yeah.
And Abathur would be that cool genius dude who gives zero fucks and still got all A's in that wierd school setting While Kerrigan is a new girl who had a small beef with Zagara, but end up being bffs with her Stukov would be the guy who was transferred from another (Terran) class to Zerg one
@@ko71k52 Oh no I'm gonna end up trying to write this whole thing and make this timeline into the cursed alternate timeline. XD Kerrigan I feel like it depends where the story starts a bit, but I almost see, and this is where it benefits from college over highschool, that she was a big name back at some fancy private highschool (ghost academy analogue) and then took a couple gap years that went.... questionably. Met some people, fell in love, and then that one toxic friend screwed her over and she went on what amounts to an extended bender (most of SC, All of BW, and WoL) where she was a toxic b**ch to everyone with help from her new clique. Result: Zagara initially trying to be that way to her when she gets out of rehab because she's still trying to impress her. I... kinda hate how much Kerrigan makes more sense as a self-discovering anime college girl and also how much I thought about this??? Solid agree on the other two. Stukov, and again college works nicely, transferred from another program (Maybe history? Engineering?) to biology, Abathur is the KING of bio, and Dehaka... Oh gosh is Dehaka that guy who's coded as being a stoner but they never say it due to censorship and is mostly in bio to figure out how to grow weed real well? OH NO. I'm definitely gonna either end up writing this or try drawing a kawaiified Zagara now.
@@avitraangelica9278 yeah, Zerg are a bio faculty, terran are some tech guys, and wierd speaking protoss are language or history students Waiting for your art or fanfic
See, Valerian is actually very interesting in Wings of Liberty. You can clearly see that his primary motivation is vanity. He doesn't go to Char because the Swarm is harming his people, he goes to Char because he wants the people (Or more likely his father.) to see him as worthy. And, his arrogant glory seeking does cost a lot of lives, the assault on Char is a very uphill battle because the Dominion underestimated the zerg.
@@lowfianimal8605 I don't think you like to, Im pretty sure that's what happened considering how close they seem to be in most of the cutscenes. Like that one mission in LOTV where they both look at each other and share the sadness of the men they lost, and how Valerian trusts Matt a great deal in HOTS when he's basically disinherited.
It's weird because you imply that the assault on Char would have been not a uphill battle if he was better, which could be canon. What is weird is how inconsistent the relative power of all the faction are. The ending of SC1 seems to imply that the zerg swarm is unbelievably dominant, and no other faction has any chance. Kerrigan is the queen bitch of the universe. The wings of liberty campaign also sort of implies this. But then you go to the zerg campaign, and suddenly, it's a struggle for Kerrigan.
@@NestedQuantifier It was a struggle in HotS because Kerrigan lost the support of the majority of the zerg after being de-infested, note that after Kaldir, where she regained a major clump of zerg, Kerrigan pretty much never struggled with anything that wasn't hybrid for the rest of the campaign.
I'll be honest, I think Tychus is the best character in StarCraft 2. His personality is very fun and over the top. But, at the same time, if you go back to follow his story with the knowledge that he is pretty much doomed to die because of the deal he made with Mengsk, he is a profoundly tragic character. He knows that his days are numbered and he is trying to make every second count with the little time he has left with his friend. And you can see him get progressively more and more frustrated as the crew gets closer to the last battle to the point where he snaps in the Maw of the Void mission because he knows that the end is coming soon. As Tosh said "He is fighting himself over something he doesn't want to do.". And, at the end of Wings of Liberty, Tychus could have just shot Kerrigan at any point. I think that Tychus let Jim make the decision. As far as he was concerned, he got what he wanted. He had his last adventure. Most people think that Jim is the player perspective character. But, if you actually think about it, it's Tychus. Just like the players who waited for twenty years for StarCraft 2 to be released, Tychus waited years to get back in the game with good old Jimmy Raynor too. Tychus is a new character, and yet, he represents the spirit of old times. He is an amazing combination between nostalgia and inovation. This is what Wings of Liberty as a whole managed to be (Unfortunately, I don't think Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void or Nova Covert Ops managed to achieve this magic. Many of the new elements didn't fit and many of the old elements were not handled with respect.).
Well it was more like 10 years instead of 20 years between Brood War and SC2. But regardless I have to agree that Tychus is such a great character and knowing what happens in the end really re characterizes his actions towards the final missions of the game
Tychus was absolutely the Player Perspective character. The moment the trailer came out, we were all saying "Hell, it's about time", so when he said it, Blizzard managed to make him the single most relatable character in the series. And I also fully agree that WoL managed to capture all the right stuff. It's just too bad HotS and LoV felt so much more polished.
I've seen the theory about Tychus not being a traitor, but just an old friend ho wants to have one last adventure with his bud a few months ago, but Damn, that bit about Tychus being the representation of player hit hard...
I've read a lot of comments here. Yours' is the best one. I hadn't considered this perspective and it's mindblowing actually if true. To support your claim that Tychus represents the old school players, remember that's it's always the old-schoolers that are mad that Jim didn't see his promise to kill Kerrigan come to life. I accept the explanation that it was because of Zeratul, even if I'm not the biggest fan of the story after WoL. Tychus is the SC1 and BW players incarnate coming to see Jim fulfil his destiny only to be shot because the story is now taking a completely different direction that what had been suggested in BW. Why couldn't you be as good as your older brother WoL, I'm looking at you HotS and LotV!
He's the only Nerazim that I remember actually saying that. And then his _follow through, enforcing_ the statement. It's unfortunate that it's...I wouldn't say it's the _only_ thing worth caring about that he does in SC2. His message to Raynor that Kerrigan needed to live was....long-winded, but I suppose plot necessary. But I think all he did in HotS was basically say "Zerus has some old Zerg stuff you should look at". And LotV....his incredulousness at hybrid being on Aiur is kinda absurd. Why _wouldn't_ Amon have his genetically engineered lieutenants leading his forces? Why couldn't hybrid be there? Yeah, probably most of him in SC2 is a bit of a letdown, compared to SC1. As pitiful as it was for the fandom to lose Zeratul, it was probably his most epic moment in SC2.
Zeratul's whole identity is "S"enile, "S"elendis?, and of course, Hybrid on "A"iur??? So the reason why Grant put him neither on S nor A is beyond me, ^:D^
Alarak is to this day my go to example of how to play an evil character in a good aligned group without derailing everything. Also, about Rochana (the protoss boomer lady): As someone who worked quite a bit with old people, her stubbornness and being stuck in the old ways doesn't really feel out of place. A lot of old people are like that
Amon's tinder account: Likes: ending the infinite cycle Dislikes: the infinite cycle Hobbies: ending the infinite cycle Looking for in a partner: someone who wants to help end the infinite cycle
The problem with SC2 story is that the player always wins everything. In SC1 even if you win a misson it is not a total victory or at least a costly one
Honestly, Grant's idea of a timed Char evacuation for HotS is a good idea. I'd love the idea of cleansed Kerrigan going to Char, rescuing Zagara and attempting to evacuate the standing forces, coming back when she's at full power and THEN crushing Warfield
Well...I mean Tychus is killed by his best friend, Kerrigan apparently abandons her humanity, and the Protoss are forever severed from the Kala...that's some losing.
Karax and Stetman share the same problem, they're the one-man genuis team. They achieve too much on their own, while they should have some kind of assistance. Swann at least has a team of engineers.
Speaking of Stetman, he is also imo a source of slight hypocrisy from Raynor. Specifically talking about his line when you pick up the chrono-item in that one level. He claims that Arcturus is playing with fire when studying and using xeno-tech. You know, unlike Raynor. Who currently is gathering pieces of a Xel'naga artifact of unknown purpose. Or allows Stetman to research a protoss-crystal and zerg... -cyst? to make new tech. Granted I might be reading too much into it and too willing to throw shit at Jimmy.
Stetman noteably is not achieving what he does on his own, the entire protoss line is due to the Khydarin Crystal intentionally guiding him, while the zerg line is him and Swann developing better zerg containment measures based on files already on the Hyperion, Otherwise how would Stetmann be able to identify individual strains of zerg to isolate in the samples and refine into useable information. In fact looking at it, every Zerg Research is an Active vs a Passive solution to The Zerg. Stronger bunkers or Bunkers that fight back, Turrets that can fight Ultralisks or turrets that hide and trap the zerg. The ability to evacuate entire companies at once quickly, or a machine that literally cripples the zerg it fights. the ability to heal against the zerg, or the power to never take damage in the first place. and finally to restrict the zerg's ability to fight you, against turning them upon themselves and completely negating their greatest strength.
@@Satherian I mean... maybe? I personally took it as it being about something alien in origin but I could be wrong. I would even prefer your intepretation because then Jimmy wouldn't be a massive hypocrite on top of his other newly acquired faults.
@@spec2169 It's more of a meme in Grant's channel than anything. But there are legitimate grievances about her, namely how her sidequest ends if you team up with her. Did she find a cure for the Zerg infestation? If so, that's a huge deal that could change the story, but it's never mentioned. If she didn't find a cure, then the Protoss were fought for nothing, and how did the colonists survive? The story had no answer and left it open for interpretation, but it's more like a plot hole. Or it magically changes to make the player's decision always be correct. Also I think most people really really hate The Evacuation.
@@Leon_Ryu Agreed! She was a poorly written character and her side missions felt like they had no payoff. I think this is the downside of split mission decisions. If you side with her she dies, if you don't then she goes on to help the colony thrive and seek a cure... but you can't bring that storyline up later cause it's a split decision. I feel the someway about Tosh, but at least you get to play as him and he's around longer.
@@Leon_Ryu She's symbolic of the really bad writing in WoL's split decisions that contort so much that Ray is always the hero in the end and made the right call every time. Side with Hansen? She finds the cure and everything is a perfect happy ending. Side with Selendis? She was infested and a huge danger that needed to be put down. Side with Nova? Tosh was a manipulative scumbag who was using you to achieve his shady goals. Side with Tosh? Nova was a Dominion-controlled liar and Tosh is nothing but an honest if cynical freedom fighter.
Egon actually gets a bit of characterization if you read his notes in the Lab. Especially with regards to the growing Psi Crystal as he realizes how ungodly powerful the Protoss are and what the Crystal has been doing in secret.
@@xseros7954 I mean hey, it gives a bit of lore into how Zerg and Protoss work while also giving some logic to the new abilities you get, so I found it pretty neat
What makes it a really nice piece of charerization is that it changes with every tier you reach, showing Stetmann as a scientist and researcher who studies and takes notes but is also reckless in terms of safety for himself and others. He wants to know more, to the point it risks his personal well-being. While not canon, you can see how that personality can lead to terrazine experiments and the mecha-swarm. Really wish you got to talk to him more instead of Hanson.
@@rawksolid5029 yess every time I got new research I rushed straight to him to see if any new notes came in; trying my best to politely listen to space Texan drawl on about some ‘rebellion’ when I couldn’t care less. Honestly stett notes is what gripped me the most about the franchise back when only the first few missions were F2P. I was DYING to know what he discovered by studying the spooky alien bois.
So what I'm understanding, is that Heart of the Swarm is actually a game filled with a lot of great character, but just decided to focus on the absolute worst one. Heart of the Stukov mod is clearly required. I'm sure if we crowd fund enough money we could get Victor Brandt to do some voice lines.
Zagara has growth but like, her growth is Kerrigan asking her a question, Zagara not knowing the answer, and Kerrigan sends her off to sit in the gene goo for a little while. "Go sit in the goo Zagara" was a fun phrase thrown around a lot with my friends when I played heart of the swarm for the first time.
One character I’m disappointed wasn’t included: Lasarra, the Protoss that Kerrigan captures on Kaldir and then infects with a larva to create a slaughter on the fleeing Protoss ship. She wasn’t there for long, but she always felt like a really interesting character. I wish they hadn’t killed her, though. It was a great moment and a fantastic mission, but the big problem Heart of the Swarm has is that, until you get Stukov near the end of the game, the characters around you are pretty one-note. Having an outside view trying to warn Kerrigan away from returning to becoming the Queen of Blades could have given a different perspective on things. And really, what Starcraft 2’s story needed more of, fully stop, was the races interacting (beyond shooting and killing each other). James Raynor being among the Protoss for so long really helped spice those missions up, and the Brood War Zerg Campaign is so great partly because you have all these different viewpoints clashing against each other, being manipulated by Kerrigan. SC2’s campaigns just felt too insular, and they all suffered a bit as a result.
That could have been interesting to have Lasarra convince Kerrigan to leave the Protoss colonists and maybe even stick around to provide an alternate viewpoint. Almost kind of becoming Kerrigan's conscience when she is going too far.
Personally, I think Kerrigan is not a really good representative for the zerg as she's too humanlike, she better served as a wildcard of the swarm. And that's also why I feel Zerg in Broodwar to be boring as a race, as all the interaction is carried out as Kerrigan only, who think, feel and act like a human. The Zerg is just a tool for her to use without a personality
@@ThanhLe-ti8nx That is something to consider. It does feel like the zerg lost some of what made them unique and different when the Overmind and cerebrates were all killed off.
@@toddclawson3619I know this comment was made a year ago but I just wanted to pipe in to say that I had the same thought when I played HoTS for the first time. I genuinely thought she’d keep Lasarra around as a Protoss conscience friend to give a different perspective and I thought that that would’ve been really interesting from a lore, storytelling, and character perspective
As far as I understand, Lasarra was created precisely to have a lengthy "conscience" NPC for Kerrigan to talk to. But then decided to throw her away in just two missions because reasons.
I'd have stuck SC2 Zeratul in D tier. What makes Zeratul so great in SC1 is that he's this incredibly wise character who is fully willing to make unpopular choices if he believes it'll benefit the common good. He gives Tassadar a chance, bridging the gap between the Khalai and Nerazim for the first time in who knows how long. He commits his people to supporting the Khalai later on because he knows working together will give them a chance at taking down more cerebrates. When Aiur falls, he offers the refugees a place on Shakuras. And then when he discovers the Matriarch is corrupted, even though he doesn't really have any proof, he seizes his first chance to kill her and deny Kerrigan a tool to manipulate the Dark Templar. He ends up exiled from the exiles because of an act that saved his people. He wasn't cool because he knew everything, he was cool because he was willing to make hard choices even knowing the consequences. Then in SC2 all of his appearances go like: Zeratul: "I MUST FIND/FOLLOW/UNDERSTAND THE PROPHECY" Other named character: "Zeratul I know everyone hates you but I BELIEVE IN YOU, LET'S DO THE PROPHECY THING" Zeratul: "Oh no, zerg or hybrid are happening!" Other named character: "Zeratul run I will buy time for you to escape! REMEMBER ME!" Zeratul: "No you can't, you have so much to live for, yawn anyway I'm heading out byeee" (okay maybe not ALL his appearances, but this exact scenario happens at least 2 or 3 times) It got to the point where when they added him to co-op, his army's defining characteristics are 1) Zeratul goes off to find prophecy stuff, and 2) you can summon armies of expendable units led by a named character that buy time for you before inevitably dying. Mengsk was wasted in SC2, Duran was wasted in SC2, but Zeratul got it worst of all in my opinion.
My thoughts exactly. Between the drastic change in appearance and the new, unfortunately necessary VA, I never saw SC2 and BW Zerarul as the same person. So when he died in Legacy, it didn't feel like losing my favorite character in the series, it just felt like the loss of potential as a mouth piece character runs out of things to do because the writers wouldn't let him be anything else.
Personally, I would bump Alarak up to S tier myself. He has the foil to Artanis, the background knowledge and lore building of Abathur, the copious amounts of sass and cheekiness of Tychus, as well as being a wonderful plot twist in himself and an absolute power house in the form a middle finger to Amon's entire plan. His might not be the highest class of writing, but he is an absolute treat every time is on the screen. "Do you think us fools?" *"Yes, but that's irrelevant."*
I think the problem was trying to have "good Kerrigan" without any form of arc towards that. Kerrigan was a Sons of Korhal stooge long before Mengsk was a legitemate authority, back when they were a fringe terrorist group, and even if she was doing that because of whatever happened in the Ghost program that just means that she was basically driven by revenge and heedless of the damage she caused long before she was ever infested by the Overmind. They should have stuck to that. Just have Kerrigan be this twisted revenge monster throughout. Have her reject being "saved" at the start of HotS, have the relationship with Jim be a confabulation of regret and drink, and have her immediately look for a way to return to the swarm because that's what she *is*. Then in LotV have her be tricked into becoming a Xel'naga so she can deal with Amon, explicitly setting one villain against another and have Zagara gank her like the Zerg did to the Xel'naga the first time around (in the fluff in the SC1 manual which the game has long since forgotten).
Kerrigan's storyline really is one that works best when it ends with death. It's set up as a classic tragedy, with her betrayal consuming and twisting her into a being obsessed with revenge with no care for what comes after. Kerrigan slaughters and kills ruthlessly, not caring about terran, protoss, or even the zerg in the end. Her carnage is an empathetic one, Mengsk fucking deserves it, but it should also have been a consuming one and then it just... Isn't. Instead she's forced into the roll of a saviour, without that ever really making sense. Every time I play through the epilogue I have to stifle a laugh at the end when Amon calls her a genocidal maniac who slaughtered countless of innocent lives, and is completely correct. Good god the story got bad.
It is understandable that she comes across so scattered though. She was horrifically brainwashed and abused in the Ghost program. Then the Zerg rewrote her DNA and active biology on every level down to her brain matter, and enslaved her to the Overmind. Then she got free of the overmind and had to resist the huge pull of Overmind 2.0, and became 'queen bitch of the universe'. Then after THAT, her ex blasted most of the zerg out of her (suddenly cutting her off from most of the hive mind, leaving her largely alone in her head for the first time in years) where she's still treated like a monster, and then Jim, the ONLY person who treats her with any dignity or compassion, is kidnapped by her worst enemy, who is also trying to kill her. So she puts herself back in the swarm, and then redoes her DNA even more thoroughly than the Overmind did. She's a giant ball of psychotic breaks and brain damage.
@@danpitzer765 don't forget that along with resisting the pull of the second overmind, she was also resisting her biological urge to follow amon, and the constant gas lighting by Duran/Narud Remember, her big "queen bitch of the universe" moment when she betrayed the the truce and killed fenix and duke was all orchestrated by Duran telling her that if she didn't strike first, they would team up and take her down. (and yes, the whole amon controlling the overmind thing was around back in the 90's, kerrigan mentioned the shadow over the swarm multiple times) the only major thing you got wrong, was she didn't rejoin the swarm. she became primal, which means she doesn't have the hivemind connection the swarm zerg have. so while she can use her psionics to dominate the zerg, she isn't connected to their hivemind. but yea, giant ball of psychosis waiting to happen, which is probably why even after becoming god it still took her a few years of dealing with herself before she was ready to see james again.
Worst thing was to retcon her personality. Queen Bitch of the Universe was her true personality, a fitting result of her experience of slavery, betrayal, and slavery once more. I don't mind her having a redemption arc, but it should be fleshed out, as she slowly reconsiders her stances as she faces new experience, seeks allies, tries to actually fix her reputation, turning from pure evil to somewhat grey, from villain to antihero. Instead, she just had another personality swap, that left her with no personality at all.
Mengsk was already ruined by Brood War. In that campaign he lost his home planet twice and his entire army like four times and survived solely thanks to Kerrigan becoming a cartoon villain herself ("mwa ha ha I'll let you live in shame!"). He has no mystique or menace as a villain after that. I got the impression anyone with an army could roll up and squash his Dominion with a folded-up newspaper, because it just kept happening. I think SC2 actually did a really good job of rehabilitating him from there. In WoL he is a Goliath again and although you beat his forces in tons of missions you're always pecking at the fringes and sneaking around them. And you actually SEE why he's in charge: Korhal has gone from a nuclear desert battlefield to a peaceful planetwide city with greenery in just a few years. I can absolutely believe the citizens in the imperial core follow Mengsk. They don't see what Raynor does hanging out on the fringe planets. The way you can see the contrast between slavery and neglect in the early missions to wealth and security and propaganda in the Korhal ones is a great bit of "show, don't tell" and rings true for how actual larger-than-life dictators operate.
Valerian feels very much like a missed opportunity, for two reasons. First of all, he seems to change as a character from WoL to HOTS. His entrance in WoL makes him look like a machiavellan opportunist who just wants to succeed his father out of of his own desire for power and feelings of grandeur, but with a hint that he's probably gonna be a better ruler than Arcturus, so the raiders just have to make do with this ally of convenience hoping that he'll be the lesser of two evils. But then come HOTS he's just a Good Boy, like a snottier greener snobbier version of Horner. It's like they decided to make it more boring by mixing him up with the corresponding blonde-haired royal scion from that other franchise of theirs. And second, after all the drive that the WoL campaign seemed to have towards dismantling the horrible authoritarian regime built by Mengsk, Valerian just succeeds to him as emperor and everyone's fine with that, and it is all framed as being good and well because he's a Good Boy and he's gonna be a good emperor. Nevermind the fact that it's still a totalitarian regime with an absolute ruler, who rules exclusively by birthright, and who doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot to transition into a more democratic form of government. And this could have been used to make the character more interesting, and tie him back to his more ambiguous first appearence; Valerian inherited all the immense power and ruling infrastructure that was built by Mengsk, but purged of all the terrible things that his father did because he assisted in his downfall - and yet he's very happy to take that power and rule through that infrastructure that only exist because of his father's atrocities. That could make for a very interesting and sinister situation, but no - Valerian is an unambiguous Good Boy, and Raynor and his rebellion are all happy that he's emperor now.
I think the whole Valerian goes completely Good Boy is supposed to be the results on the influence of Jim and Matt as well as the massive humbling that is the battles on Char, especially since Matt basically becomes Valerian's right hand man and confidant after WoL. But all that happens during the time skip between WoL and HotS, so you do not really get to see Matt befriend Valerian and actually give him a stable friend that is not just trying to butter him up for some benefits. And since only the Terrans would be concerned with any political things when you get into the other campaigns you don't get to see Valerian changing the political situation after we find out he became Emperor, and given that the powers of an Emperor would be really useful given they still had big bads to fight against while he is trying to consolidate his power we would only really see any political change well after the campaigns anyways. As hasty change could have thrown the Empire into a full blown civil war like in SC1.
Not every rebel group is the American Revolution and Democracy is not the perfect government that you imply it to be and I'm curious why you think it is. Also, Raynor was fighting Mengsk and his policies, not necessarily the Dominion as an organization. Arcturus' regime was terrible, but that's only because we see the perspective of the oppressed and he himself was despicable. It's easy to talk about how great the US is when you're a white person living off Manifest Destiny, not so great when your ancestral lands have just been purchased by someone a thousand miles away and suddenly your family is getting slaughtered for the crime of already living there.
@@bluesbest1 I don't know if democracy is the best regime but it's certainly better than a dictatorship. That's not something that should be up for debate. Also, a bad ruler is always the result of a bad system. If the government of the Dominion was such that it allowed for Mengsk to become a tyrant, as long as the institution remains the same, another tyrant will inevitably come in his place. You may get lucky and get a nice dictator once in a while, but why roll the dice ? Also also, democracy isn't something unique to the US and every bad thing the US did isn't an indictment of democracy. Also also also, the genocide of native people was the result of a lack of democracy, of the idea that the natives weren't "people" and as such didn't deserve to have their voice heard. I didn't want to write about politics when it wasn't the topic of the video but, God, your comment was bad.
@@lhumanoideerrantdesinterne8598 If a good king raises a good heir, then the dictatorship allows for an amazing rule without the will of the uneducated masses getting in the way. I'm sick and tired of people insisting that democracy is the final stage of government when it amplifies all the negative qualities of mob mentality and glorifies the charismatic electorates above those actually capable of fixing problems. Also, Mengsk was the one to set up the Dominion, so of course it'd glorify him and enable all his worst traits. Also also (also), democratic regimes have a long history of ignoring individuals and groups they don't consider "people". Athens ignored women, for example, and anyone that wasn't a wealthy landowner. The US didn't even consider Blacks to even be fully human, only counting them as 3/5 of a human. I don't like talking politics because it always gets me mad. Especially in modern America where we've largely woken up from the American Dream and opened our eyes in our dingy apartment that's falling apart and still costs several times our wages.
@@lhumanoideerrantdesinterne8598 In fact the US came very close to preventing the genocide. The Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee were citizens of the US and could not be dispossessed, but Andrew Jackson acted like a dictator and unilaterally ignored the Court. If the check on presidential power had worked as intended, and people were given the rights they were intended to have, the outcome would be very different.
The “gathered the artifact for Moebius Corp” thing actually does have negative repercussions. In a side dialogue in LoTV, Karax figures out that the energy used to de-infest Kerrigan was what Amon used to pull himself out of the void Which raises the question: if Kerrigan destroyed the artifact during All In, would the End War never have happened?
Yea, that’s a plot hole, Zeratul said that Kerrigan is needed to kill Amon and all that yet deinfesting her brought back Amon, maybe he was played for a fool by Amon and Nerud? Should we call him Zeratool for that?
@@АртёмЩукин-я2х Zeratul said Kerrigan was needed to defeat Amon because Ouros (disguised as Talendar) said Kerrigan was needed to defeat Amon, since Ouros wanted to merge with Kerrigan and she wouldn’t do that unless she fought Amon alongside the other 2 races
If I remember right Kerrigan stated that she was not really in her mind as Queen of Blade because she was like the overmind without a free will. Only after the artifact and reinfesting in the pool, she was able to control the swarm without any influence
I think doing a tier list for units personalities would be fun to do as another quick video (like short on time, head ache, etc.) in the future. They have such fun dialogue and such cool looks to some of them in their portrait windows. Would be fun I think
The point of her mission, I think, was to show Kerrigan's newfound way of thinking with regards to the broodmothers. Create them, give them instructions of what they are and their place in the Swarm's pecking order, and then let them loose to make their decisions without the perpetual need for an overriding intelligence to guide them. As a former human, Kerrigan understands individuality better than the Zerg, even the highly intelligent ones like Abathur.
Just for fun, some minor disagreements, even though I think you nailed most spots. - They forgot Ouros! He appeared for 1 mission, contradicted himself by saying the cycle can't end but that it ended, refused to elaborate, then died! - Artanis has surprisingly good conversations aboard the Spear of Adun. He's a little more of a realist than people think, like when he discusses with Vorazun how contact with the Tal'darim will change everyone, and that will be scary. - Kerrigan is inconsistent like you said, but I wouldn't blame her for the Epilogue. Her role there at least made sense; take notes, Amon. Her "we all make our choices" attitude reflects the same message Jim had, there's wasted potential there. - Ishza being the Zerg Adjutant was actually a plus for me. It's an adjutant that shares insight sometimes. Nothing amazing, but pleasantly better than expected.
Sidenote to the Amon contradicting himself by wanting to break the cycle while making hybrid. I think what they went for is the following: Purity of form and essence evolves naturally, find eachother and that place which tells the xel'naga story, and then they merge making the new xel'naga(told by the story stones during artanis/kerrigan friendship advanture). However Amon dips from the freezer and makes his own purity of form and essence kind of races (that being the psionicly enhanced protoss and the altered zerg) so he can make the hibrid later and take over the universe. The true purity of form and essence however are the terrans showing inert pscionic potential and the primal zerg, both evolving naturally. Kerrigan by going to the first spawning pool getting the primal essence, becomes the thing that can be a next generation xel'naga.
He's still a terrible villain, tho. It remind me of the Jailer in Shadowlands... it's not an interesting villain at all. Duran is a better one and he still sucks in SC2
Amon is so frustrating because stopping the infinite cycle is a naturally good motive to give a villain - from an outside, entirely practical utilitarian view, it's one of the most horrible things imaginable, essentially farming civilizations for infinite time and infinite suffering. But naturally we go against that as part of the cycle, we don't have the perspective we have and he's doing weird manipulation stuff and genocides his own kind so he's undoubtedly evil... But then the one thing that makes me hate the writers is that he also wants to destroy everyone in this universe. His whole perspective is that the infinite cycle is bad because it equates to infinite suffering, which is true. By killing the xel'naga, he can stop the cycle and that's it. But then he wants to destroy this universe too even though it could easily live out its natural time and peacefully die... contradicting his own beliefs. It creates MORE suffering to destroy the universe and falls pretty in line with what he says he wants to end the cycle for. It feels like the writers were too afraid of writing him as correct. Huge step down in villain motivation imo.
Among Us is literally an angry child that after crying on server that he have to follow the rules suddenly was given an admin privileges, and now is rampaging banning everyone out of pure spite. Except for his hybrids, they are just boring and edgy enough for him to handle
@@Dianbler What makes Amon worse is that he has a very strong premise but the writers completely and utterly failed to make use of it. Amon is best at the start of LoTV when he sounds and seems reasonable and intelligent, but then quickly devolves into a whiny manchild who does nothing reasonable or intelligent. It would have been sooooo much better if Amon kept up that early-LoTV impression, trying to reason with Artanis with no cliche villain undertones to the point where the real dilemma doesn't devolve into good vs evil, but rather survival of the present vs the sacrifice for the future. Just make Amon not a hypocrite about curing suffering and pain as flawed concepts and he immediately becomes an interesting character with interesting motives. Imagine if various characters from the campaign joined Amon to fight against the player, each with perfectly sound logic about how the current state of the universe sucks and Amon offers a better alternative. What if Amon mourns the loss of his commanders and allies, getting angry about the barbarism and short-sightedness of who we play as and is perfect justified to think that way. What if, instead of Amon mind-controlling via the Khala, all that happens is that the Protoss by being linked with Amon simply understand him and many become willing to fight for his future due to seeing its merits and deciding that it is better. What if Artanis has to recruit the Tal'Darim not due to Amon lying, but due to Alarak lying and causing Artanis to have to help sell that lie, killing Malash as an innocent leader to promote a corrupt Alarak. Have Shakuras end with Mohandar converted to Amon's side and having to beat his forces with Vorazun's, no zerg needed. Just not making Amon a hypocrite does so much for how the story would and should go...but didn't.
@@matthewhartman1855 The thing is, we can't even really say that the Infinite Cycle in its original form is a net negative. The xel'naga do not inflict much if any suffering directly, they only enable the existence of advanced lifeforms in general. As long as you believe that life fundamentally is worth living despite the hardships and suffering it faces the xel'naga are ultimately *the good guys* and Amon is plain wrong. If you believe that all life is meaningless suffering then Amon would technically be in the right, but then you wouldn't be fighting a horrible war against him in the first place.
3:35 - Let me be the Devil's advocate for Dr Hanson. I know this community really likes to meme on her, but honestly, I don't think she is a bad character, just Blizzard handeld her poorly. She was a scientist, basically thrown into the roll of being a leader, as the only competent person available on the colony. After her first rescue she offered the Raiders free medical help, and help in their science department - and they probably needed all the help they could get with Stetman around, so his highly experimental equipment won't explode them sky-high. Blizzard wanted to make her the "angel on Jim's shoulder" and as a foil to "Smelt that betrayel coming from a mile away" Tychus. And it almost worked if they didn't screw it up by making her too much of a "Princess that needs rescuing" trope. She should have given more help to the player in-game to counter this maybe. It's fine that she exists to show that: despite Jim being jaded and grumpy he still has a heart that stands for justice and higher ideals. But they should have given her something to make her an individual that stands out. Despite her flawed writting, I think she would have deserved a C rating honestly - if nothing else, just for the memes. But this is just my opinion, feel free to chime in with what you think of the good doctor.
The greatest problem I have, and I can't put this part down, the mission where the colonists turn out to be infected and you have the dilemma, the game goes out of its way to make both sides completely right. And this is in a way that negates the correctness of the other choice that you didn't take. And so this isn't Dr Hansen's fault but the shrapnel is that her hardest moment her hardest stance is neither a willful resolve or a total gut wrenching betrayal/ tragedy. Because it's both it is neither.
I do like that Alarak wants Ji'nara to improve, not only to become a stronger commander but to also act as a buffer between him and potential rivals. Ji'nara is loyal to Alarak (if we exclude her co-op dialogue). It is why he told her to stay out of the Rak'shir between Ma'lash and Nuroka (the former first ascendant) back when they were the 4th and 5th ascendant respectively. As Alarak knew that the 2nd and 3rd ascendants will come to Ma'lashs aid. To which Alarak seized the opportunity to kill those two and then aid Ma'lash in killing Nuroka (keep friends close, but enemies closer). So having her be a roadblock between those who would seek to challenge his rule is smart. It is why he doesn't overly punish her for her failures. As she was designed to lose in those situations. Alarak plans the long game, it is why he "went easy" in a manner of speaking on Artanis during LotV in Forbidden Weapon. To see if he could be a potential ally in overthrowing Ma'lash and robbing Amon of the Tal'darim.
You missed Colonel Orlan (not that he's interesting in any way) and Hill, the mercenary recruitment guy from Wings of Liberty (who's also not relevant in any way, could've been replaced by his computer terminal without any loss to the plot). You also missed the Tal'darim executor from Wings of Liberty (who was apparently named Nyon... everywhere except the campaign itself)
It is funny how Grant was thankful that Alarak didn't turn into your typical, "I'll get you next time!!!" villain. When Nyon was exactly that. I like to believe that Nyon and his band of Tal'darim were sent off to die on purpose. Considering that Narud was also behind the Tal'darim. Purge the weak. Similar to what Alarak does with Jin'nora in NCO.
They probably could've done a bit more with Jimothy after WoL if they leaned in on the fact that he switched from "stop Kerrigan" to "save Kerrigan" because Zeratul specifically told him to. Like, she starts HotS with amnesia, the last thing she remembers is the end of SC1 Terran. Just have him mention how she doesn't remember the Swarm but she does remember him--have him be her leash rather than jumping right back into being her maybe-lover. That kind of ambivalence would've let him be a sort of soft antagonist when Kerrigan is getting her Zerg back on, culminating in the prison break where he symbolically shoots her (maybe him getting captured can be her fault--maybe he was trying to stop the random Protoss murder and she damaged his ship enough for Mengsk to get it?)
I would have liked to know whether Amon likes lemon juice or tomato juice, he kinda feels like that guy. Also, about the fact that primals are in a pack but for selfish reasons, that actually exists in nature, Zebra are exactly like that, they hang out in groups bc it’s a good survival tactic buy they don’t really care about each other. Also, wait, when did Valerian flirt with Kate? I agree, Grant, we need more of that Tychus or Raynor booty action, I would like that more than the nova action.
there was a scene when kate was asking if he is single or something and he says he has too many responsibilities as the prince, but doesnt shut her down completely either.
I kind of disagree with you grant about Warfield, for me, he just felt like a guy that is famous for his military prowess yet on screen we never see him actually DO anything that is cool/smart and it felt off to me. Like, we beat him in media blitz without problem and he kinda sends a wave to the obj and that’s it, no plan, on char he employs a frontal assault and loses an arm for that. Again on char he kind of loses like you said.
When you watch the news she interviews Valerian asking him if he is taken in which he answers that he has many responsabilities but always had a crush on her.
@@АртёмЩукин-я2х I think that was Grant's main complaint. He seemed like a cool guy with some good lines, but ended up wasted potential. If he had been shown to actually outsmart Kerrigan on Char or at least put up an incredible fight, it would have been much better.
Swann: Yeah yeah, robbing trains, bang bang, aaaah.... I'm makin' DIAMONDBACKS. That is my favorite line of dialogue and it's after the Great Train Robbery mission, when you click on him in the Armory.
My 2 cents: Rohana represents the old conclave way of thinking, how the templars used to think, their traditions etc, but eventually accepts the change. Kind of like Aldaris, except he stuck to the old ways. Also btw I like Isha. Can't change my mind.
Except she doesn't seem to realise that even Aldaris changed his mind about going with the dark templar and breaking with some of that age-old tradition in these desperate times. Her claiming to see all history through the eyes of those who experienced it means she either lies or is infinitely more stubborn than Mr. "consorting witht he fallen-ones is heresy".
@@herrdoktor1810 She does change her mind over time. Artanis tells her to 'get over it, we're doing this' and eventually she does. It is best shown when she finally severs her nerve cords. It was like a ritual of sorts, leaving behind past thinking, literally by disconnecting to it. As for Aldaris specifically, he was one a few who changed their mind. In the view of thousands of years of bitter history, its not surprising she will side with the majority who hate nerazim, as opposed to the very tiny minority who thought differently/changed their minds.
Thank God it's not SC1 characters, or Dragoon-Fenix dragoon would have wandered into each tier. Also glad my favorite bug waif-*cough* character from HoTs is in A. :)
"We'll do starcraft 1 later" aaah! saving a tier list for the next time you oversleep I see ;) Honestly the fact alarak is voiced by john de lancie bumps it to s tier for me, he's has such a fun voice and does the sarcastic evil super well! Grant must have got a new archipelago unlock because he just burned hansen hard! Karax needed more solarite to make it to s tier, honestly I think the lack of a work crew was to differentiate him from swann. Kerrigens multiple personalities would actually make sense considering the zerg hive mind and its potential effect on the human mind... IF it was intended but it never feels more like the writers just didnt know how to keep a coherent character across 3 campaigns and swapping between antagonistic and protagonistic etc, if they had leant into it hard they could have made her much more sympathetic having to control the mixed natures instilled in her while also gaining new things to balance as she grows a new swarm and gains even more powers and influences. Talandar is one I'd argue could reach s tier, his whole arc is so good considering how people would have attachment to sc1 fenix and it plays so well on that via artanis being the stand in for the player. Vorazun is discount Zeratul, they needed a Dark templar but they wanted the zeratul tragic story, they didn't really differentiate her from the stuff zeratul had already told us etc
@@Ikobot. I think it says something that the SC2 tier list has so many characters in B tier and only two S tier characters (one of them who only appears in TV broadcasts). While SC1 has less characters overall, I can see it having a lot more characters in higher spots
@@bobbyferg9173 Grant dislikes having too many things on S tier, which is understandable. I'll put Alarak, Talandar, and Matt in addition to the guys on S tier if I were the ranker. I'll bump Artanis to A because of his theme of growing into a true leader by bouncing off of different people and absorbing their great parts.
I think the most disappointing part of Kerrigan not being committed to the role of Antagonist is the existence of the Zerg campaigns in SC1. We've already seen Kerrigan's ruthlessness, and even if she doesn't go heartless, (like honoring Valerian's request to avoid the civilian centers) she's still _a_ villain even if she's not _the_ villain anymore. I guess my point is, the villain perspective has already been done and accepted, yet they were hesitant to do it again, instead preferring to go "Our heroes have to be heroic and essentially perfect with no complications!"
Top Moments of the Tier List Video 1. That Tosh Impression 2. Everything about Donny Vermillion 3. Putting the doctor in D Tier and not saying a word about it
Now that was an S-Tier swipe at Dr. Hansen. I laughed a bit harder than I should have at that one. As for Jim's alcoholism, I kind of figured it similar to Ulysses S. Grant. When he was on mission and needed he was sober and on point, but when he was off duty and had time to live in his own headspace, he deemed himself a failure and binge drank those thoughts away. Also just like the old General, Jim seemed to hate said alcoholism. Zeratul... Only good thing I have to say about him in SC2 is the fight against Artanis and the conviction in the delivery of "My life for Aiur". The delivery of that line basically confirmed to all of us that he wasn't leaving that fight alive.
27:00 Selendis feels like she embodies perfectly what the Protoss are more than anyone else. They are the good guys and they do have a lot of respect for competent warriors on any side, but they won't let anything come between them and their duty 28:30 It would even be fair to say that he's one of the best commanders in the sector honestly.
Isn't you first take a problem tho? In SC1 Protoss had the Conclave - old, dismissive, rooted in their ways, yes but those ways WORKED and they quite literally saved the Protoss from genociding themself. When the Conclave was removed and Aldaris was killed off for being the only one who dared to think in the whole protoss empire, they got dumbed down to "we are the good guys". There is no spice to Protoss, they are unambiguously the good guys. Planet purges are forgotten, persecution is forgotten as if they never existed - they are the good guys. And Amon is the bad guy. In fact, SC2 Protoss, outside of the asspulled new tribes have as much depth as Amon has.
I really like your idea with warfield not dieing early on in char. And i think it could work well with zagara, by having her be the one going back to Char to ward off the gorgons. zagara gets obliterated by the gorgons at first, as we see in gamr already. then kerrigan comes along and does the whole "just throw scourge at them ziggy, it's not that hard", but instead of warfield sending 2 marines and a firebat to kill the scourge nests, he has a gorgon just gun them down, so suddenly it becomes about running the F away from these now unstoppable behemoths and you get the timed defence mission. Later on, when going to attack Char, whilst stuckov is helping on the military command and dehaka is being kept as a sort of special forces reserve, zagara gets sent back to char, and outmanouvers warfield and the gorgons before breeching that final base, and the end Cutscene has zagara letting warfields men live, and learning a little bit about valuing the lives of your underlings, rather than throwing them away in the normal zerg fashion. Could be fun.
These thoughts are really fun to listen to. I'd love to see a 'how I would have done it' for Starcraft's II's story in how things might be rearranged, changes to missions, characters, stuff like that.
I think one noteworthy thing about Zeratul in Starcraft 2 was how much he personally sacrificed to stop Amon. He absolutely hated Kerrigan and rightfully wanted her dead for all the atrocities she committed to the Nerazim, but was willing to put it aside to deal with the bigger threat. His efforts lead to him becoming an outcast and hated by his own people, but also inspired and led others to eventually do the same and work together with hated enemies.
Someone once described Dehaka as a zerg mercenary. I mostly love the way he speaks, and how his motivations are simple, and understandable. It makes sense why he follows Kerrigan
I... kinda agree. I mean, no matter what, Amon overtaking the Khala is a great move, and he pulls it off all by himself (sped up by Naruds whole bringing it from the void thing, but still). Sargeras wins 99% of things either by sending millions of minions, or by not being close enough for people to realize hes nobody you should make a deal with. If else, this meme would work with pre-BfA N'Zoth, since Amon and N'Zoth share the mastermind thing but one got a lot more good hits than the other (then BfA turned N'Zoth into an absolute moron who makes Amon a genius in comparison).
I really liked the idea behind warfeild. This veteran commander who has faith in his soilders.and respect for enemies. it was a real shame that he has to be incompetebt. So Raynor can swoop in and be the hero then he has to lose to Kerrigan early so she can go on her vengeance quest.
You can know your enemy and still be caught off guard by them when they have the home turf advantage. Char was their home, Warfield only had limited information on it, and that won't factor any changes the Zerg made since Terrans last visited. So I don't equate it up to incompetence, just got outplayed by the enemy having the advantage on him
The Hybrid were created as a mockery of the Infinite Cycle which was supposed to be done without direct intervention of the Xel’Naga. The hybrid were completely artificial and were originally aimed to be made with direct guidance, both which are big no-nos for the loyalist Xel’Naga
The main thing that always bothered me about Tychus was honestly the Wings of Liberty opening cinematic. It's a cool cinematic! And it really does explain the horrible situation Tychus is in. But it was at the very start of the campaign, so from the moment he showed up after mission 1 you knew he was working for Mengsk, even if he was coerced into it. I feel like it would have been a lot better if he were left a bit ambiguous for longer, with Matt having his suspicions about him and Jim defending him constantly and *then* getting the cinematic to reveal what's going on, maybe just before you land on Char. I think that would've had more impact, because the first time I played through Wings I was just always thinking "okay, so when's he going to betray me, then?" and I feel it really undermined him as a character, though he's grown on me since because he is very entertaining and well-written. Just wish I'd been able to enjoy that more on the first playthrough without having the "yep, he's a double agent" thing spoiled from the get-go.
Mostly agreed, but I think they should have gone in the other direction - made it MORE clear that he was a double agent, so the player has that tension of "when's he going to turn on me," and they can more effectively see the conflict in him. If they made it clear that he'd become a believer but needed to follow Mengsk's orders anyway, it would have been more tragic. Instead there's that prologue/trailer scene with no obvious connection to the story, and he's an antihero/loose cannon ally the entire game, and then 15 seconds from the end of the last cutscene he goes "BTW I'm a traitor," points his gun slowly at Human Kerrigan, and Raynor shoots him.
My first starcraft is sc2. Zeratul that i know is sc2. Its a good character. He is misterious, wise . But he have cool wibes. Its just a pity that we dont have his journey about his adventures. Even if it was like covert ops it would be great. But sadly we get 7 missions... it is just sad.
Narud was the one behind the fall of the original queen of blades, he told valerian that the xelnaga artifact could be use to defeat her and that serves him to collect the psi-onic energy that kerrigan lost when she was desinfected to resurrect Amon. He plan everything in SC2. But I still think he could be a lot more.
Indeed, i think they should have gradually revealed him as something more than some random corporation owner instead of the *laserbeam as soon as he gets on screen*. Another cool thing they could have added was that the narud missions get harder the more zerg/protoss samples you sold him during Wings with some lines indicating it. Like "thanks to your the Raider's generous contributions to science ...*something about more hibrid*"
Wings of Liberty, as a campaign, felt like it had about 50% more characters than the story had the space for. A few more missions would've done a lot to add dimension to a few of the more threadbare characters.
One think i love from artanis is that in post sc2 stories they made him that he always tries to be a good leader in times of peace but he isnt a good one, and that he is a great one in times of war
Yeah the problem I see with her is that she never contributed something important, nothing of impact. It would be so cool if something only Rohanna could've known would be an important thing of a strategy
@@Dj0enderman3000 it feels like it was the goal with her trying to spy on Amon, but what she ends up finding is so obvious it doesn't feel like she did something cool
I also like Janara because she is sort of like Zagara, but a Zagara that never learns but, does so in a genuine character flaw way, like, it's in her character to be a head strong stubborn "child" in strategy
Zeratul's voiceover in "Alone" is one of the most epic things I've ever experienced. Just for that and his death, I'd rank him as an S-tier stallion. He did do more than you give him credit for as well: he put himself in harms way to not only sway Kerrigan's path, but Artanis' and Raynor's paths too. He's the top-tier mentor character if I've ever seen one.
Karax has the head of the support crew in the background would have been awesome. You see some working in the background. You see him giving an order or two and in the mission where he is the commander. He would lead the army, but has the head of his crew. Like they give here and there some messages about stuff they achieved. Like that the hacked the plattform and you can move it now, because of them. A message about how they saved a bunch of templers by managing the spear of adun. Selendis should have gotten a true role in LotV instead of becoming the vessel of the big bad. Mira does not show up often, but when, she is fun and she maybe a mercenary and crime lord, but she follows her rules. She doesn't hand over the one dude to Matt and Kerrigan, because the deal was made with Jim. Mensk. I wish he would win somewhere sometime. He really lost everything between Starcraft 1 and 2 what made him good. Am I the only one who thought that there where some flirty tones between Vorazun and Artanis? I really like Abathur. He is just so alien. The cut line where he raps made him even better.
Nah, I thought there were flirty tones between Alarak and Artanis (eve their names start with the same letter! They’re a match!) what with all the proposal from alarak to become his subject.
Selendis: I completely agree she got shafted, HOWEVER, her being the one to set up Artanis' ultimate one-liner (imo) in the final cutscene after Salvation also felt super incredible. "But without the Khala, what will we become?" "Free." I would love to have seen her be in the early campaign for some more characterization, and THEN maybe on/around Ulnar she gets controlled by Amon etc. It would also have made that exchange hit EVEN harder since we got to see more of her early on. Honestly, since Rohana was unliked, Selendis couldve filled that role as the 'Old Conclave views' (while toning down the space racism). And instead of having Rohana disconnect from Amon on the Spear of Adun (cuz rohana doesnt exist), instead we just get the final cutscene when we reunite Selendis.
@@andysmarines I think it might have been interesting to have Selendis be the main character in LOTV. It would have honestly been much more shocking to have Artanis taken over by Amon given the connection most players already have with him through Starcraft 1. It would have made some of those lines in Salvation hit harder if it had come from him. This would also have given Selendis a great chance to grow and become an actual character. Make it much more of a struggle for her to adapt to the lost of the Khala and overcome long held beliefs.
Agree with all of these. SC2 has a bunch of wasted opportunity due to too many good characters and not enough missions or background details to flesh them out. - Karax could've been a representation of the support crew instead of the only one. - Selendis either needed a mission or two before her mind control or needed to show up in WoL or HotS more often. - Mira has just the right amount of quirk and ham to be fun but not overly cartoony. Plus she's a good counterpoint to Horner's moral righteousness. - Mengsk needed something to make him feel like a bigger threat, and show the might of the Dominion that the Raiders just can't handle head-on. - You're definitely not the only one who noticed the flirty tones between Vorazun and Artanis. They are both opposites and similar in desires for their people, as well as being the youngest leaders of the peoples' histories. They even have a whole ship dedicated to them that came into being purely from these flirty lines (of which I happily endorse and really wish Blizzard would make canon. The dynamic is poetic but not toxic unlike Alarak/Artanis.). It has quite a few fanfics and fanart of them together, more so than Alarak/Artanis. Note: I think Vorazun should've been placed in at least B-tier simply because of her in-game dynamic with Artanis, flirtatious lines aside. - Abathur is that mad scientist that is morally detached from everyone else yet still knows how to make surprisingly witty dialogue.
The drunken Jimmy mission is an interesting idea. The mission starts with a no build segment where he sends a terrible unit composition, like Firebats and Hellions vs armored Protoss units and photon cannons, or a bunch of units that can't attack air like Marauders and Siege Tanks vs Mutalisks or Scouts. Throughout the whole mission you get distortion and blurring screen effects that make it hard to see what's happening, and hallucinated units like a Sentry makes and the unit characters questioning Jimmy like a Marine saying "shoot the enemy here? what enemy? it's clear!"
Fighting against an illusionary army would be interesting (combined with real army of course) and could be used as an interesting plot material Not the screen blurring tho, some gameplay elements shouldn't be played with
> "Firebats and Hellions vs armored Protoss units and Photon Cannons" Hey, no need to make fun of Grant's Archipelago playthrough :) Grant confirmed to be Drunk Jim.
33:43 I think doing a thing where he snaps(in both meanings) orders at people while stressed early on and then later he’s more of an effective leader and stays calmer under pressure would have been cool
Personally I consider Wings of Liberty Raynor to at least get to A tier but I have to agree that Matt really is such a great character. Not only is he the more level headed idealist who is always there for Jim but he also part of some of the best moments in humor in SC2. He also goes past being Jim’s right hand man and is clearly a great leader himself. Also you cannot forget his distain and even distrust for Tychus which in part is probably due to how Tychus is a link to Jim’s criminal past
Matt was a wraith pilot. On the theme of Magistrate, discarding the player characters (magistrate/admiral, two cerebrates and the two executors) was a major travesty.
@@АртёмЩукин-я2х You basically have to be the Red Baron with Jedi magic to make it through two major interstellar wars flying a wraith, it's called survivourship bias.
I think the problem with Amon is the same as many recent Blizzard villains - they want to give them some SLIIIIIIGHT sympathy by making them act, up to the bitter end, that they are doing the right thing. Even though the games (mostly through Rohana) clearly show that Amon is having an eons-long temper tantrum at the fact he cannot use his magnificent Xel'Naga powers for himself. While still not great of a character, I think he'd be a lot better if they ran with the temper tantrum route. Have him act all grandiose and visionary when he has the upper hand, then still grandiose but more personal and aggressive when the tables start to turn, and by the time Kerrigan ascends, have him show his true colors as an entity that is desperate to clinge on the dream he once had but that it was that, just a dream. Age and power without maturity. (Plus I think it would solve the issue as to why both the Protoss and the Zerg rebelled against him - he's not as magnificent as he thinks) By having him act grandiose and visionary from start to end, however, he ends up feeling flat like a pancake. Kind of the same problem the Jailer has in WoW: by trying to give him "sympathy", he actually became a worse character.
20:40 But there was - energy that artifact succed out of Kerrigan was the one that allow Amon to return from the void. Guess you missed some dialogues.
Hot take: I liked Amon actually more than the Overmind in relation to the entire overarching story. Amon was a typical pure evil villain. His urge to end the infinite cycle was its randomness that would birth Xel'Naga. He wanted a controlled final go around that would make eternal monstrosities in his image. I don't need to know it identify with him because he's a pure evil God, and therefore he's beyond a mortal mind. The idea of a war of the Gods, and his constant background manipulation since the beginning, that only the unexpected arrival of Terrans combined with Zerg and Protoss would stop him otherwise he would've had total victory...defeating him just felt good! Edit: shame about Izsha. Apparently she was supposed to have more to do originally and was described as running her own secret sinister plans behind the scenes. That, sadly, got cut, which destroyed any potential she could've had
I personally like to pretend this as well. It just fits so much better rather than Matt being some random new character that just so happens to be Raynor's 2nd in command. That and he is the most formally dressed character despite being a rebel and is disdainful towards Tychus for being a convicted criminal despite all of them technically being criminals. Really feels like something a confederate magistrate would do given that they were mostly an aristocracy.
I always figured Valerian was going to be the reason there were humans working with the hybrid, since he wears similar iconography on his shoulders. But then it was just mind control or whatever.
there actually are a dozen conversations with Egon Stetmann you cant see if you have Ariel Hanson on the ship, as they fulfill the same role to the player but different interpretations. Stetman is an Amateur Experimental Machinist who is trying to bridge the technological gap between humanity and the children of the Xelnaga, but is so far over his head that he is beginning to collapse from the stress, especially since Jim Raynor generally is actually smarter about the fields that Stetman is studying. Ariel Hanson conversely is a career Laboratory Biologist who keeps in constant touch with scientific periodicals on Zerg biology and Psionics research. Hansen actually has fewer conversations then Stetmann, its just that you probably dont leave Evacuation - Outbreak - Haven to the last 3 missions before Char so you dont see Egon normally. frankly, Egon wasnt a good character until they had him go metasane from huffing all the Terrazine, mostly since both Egon and Ariel are primarily mouthpieces for in universe exposition. and while C-op isnt canon, the comicbooks are
Imo the biggest problem with Stetmann and Hanson is that the two don't interact with each other. We could have had a situation where the two are foils for each other - maybe Stetmann is the inexperienced but eager scientist who geeks out over Protoss tech, while Hanson is the more experienced but careful Zerg expert. Either that or just combine them into 1 character. As you noted, in terms of conversations with Raynor they actually cannibalise each other.
@@emilchan5379 I would say Egon geeks out over the tech, but Hansen is anything but cautious. She's incredibly cocky. If anything, Egon would be the careful one.
Do you ever think about how the Overmind, who gets 0 speaking lines, is an infinitely better villain in SCII than Amon? Our boy died feeling smug that he'd engineered a successor could eventually kill Amon for him. Dude got killed, then won.
The Overmind does get a few lines in WoL's Prophecy missions, even if they might have been made up by not-evil-space-squid-god. I don't blame you for forgetting/disregarding those :P
@@Photoloss I think the easiest way to fix that plotpoint is to not have it be a deception. Have Tassadar really be stuck as a Force Ghost, just make him an emissary of not-evil-space-squid-god. The whole "It was me all along" thing was out of nowhere and completely unnecessary.
The Overmind was an incredible villain. A powerful and amoral leader of the zerg seeking perfection through assimilating all races he comes across. It required the Protoss and Terran to work together to beat him and Tassadar sacrificed his life to make sure the Overmind stayed dead. His lines were intense and the voice actor for him did an incredible job. He was basically a better Amon than Amon was in Starcraft 1. It honestly kind of sucked that Starcraft 2 portrayed him as a slave to Amon, but even then he was still cool for finding a way to slay his master while beholden to Amon's will.
@@bluesbest1 no way, it would invalidate the Tassadar's sacrifice a bit and open up that wierd "he died, but he is not dead" trope which would question the weight of any Protoss death imo
@@ko71k52 Except it already invalidated Tassadar's death, because we were led to believe that Tassadar survived.
The S-tier moment for Tychus for me is when he starts the fight with Jimmy with the jukebox getting chucked. At first I thought Tychus was just airing his greviances, but after multiple playthroughs I realised the reason he was demoralising the crew and telling them Jimmy would abandon them all was because he was *hoping* Jimmy would keep him on the ship and refuse to take him to Char with him. That would be the only way he could claim to still be working for Mengsk without being forced to betray Jim. Tychus was a man of conflicted loyalties :(
Oh shit I didn't think about it in that way
You can also interpret it as tychus getting increasingly stressed over the fact that he will be forced to betray his friend
Tbh I would've preferred a story where zagara tries to reunite the swarm under her banner after the loss of the queen than to see tychus die at the end of WoL
Even when he does betray Jim at the end. It's kinda clear that he fucks it up on purpose. He's behind Jim in a full marine suit with a gauss rifle. If he actually wanted to kill Jim, he'd have done it very easily.
But he gives Jimmy the biggest opening possible to stop him, and I don't think it's a mistake. Tychus is still a very hardened criminal who knows how to kill efficiently, someone with that much experience doesn't make such a silly mistake, especially when trying to kill someone they know is at least as equally deadly as they are, so it had to be on purpose
@@silverhand9965 He never even fake-tries to kill jim, he specifically was only targetting kerrigan, Jim just got in the way of the shot on purpose. So I'd interpret it more as him giving Jim time to decide whether kerrigan or tychus dies, since one of them has to.
@@gorkemaykut5230 From a story perspective Kerrigan was bound to survive, but good god would I want to play a Hots and Lotv where she didn't. My view of things is coloured by the lackluster story of those two games, which Kerrigan is the epitome of, but god if they had the guts to have Kerrigan killed and then go from there that would be lit.
They could even have pulled a twist in Hots with the swarm attempting to revive Kerrigan, again, but that might feel a bit cheap at that point.
Donny Vermillion's line "My brother was on Tarsonis" is one of my favourites from WoL. So much character development for him in that one line.
Awesome writing
Peak line
And it was immediately wasted in next cutscene.
It was so fucking strong, one of my favourite moments
I love how Grant just stealthily puts Dr Hansen in D tier without talking about her and moves on.
Also I love the love for UrsaDonny Vermillion. He's the best.
I never unstood why he doesn't like her. I don't think I've ever caught a full explanation.
@@onewhocollects6658 according to him, she takes over stettman’s job. She’s an unwanted ship, and she’s only in a few missions. Something along those lines
@@Riku_Light I mean the issue with that is Stetmann himself is odd being there in itself. I'd say collecting the protoss and zerg research makes more sense with Dr. hanson in charge, cause she knows jack all, while Stetmann was employed by someone who knows u don't mess with zerg stuff. They got dumb luck that the hyperion didn't end up infested.
@@Riku_Light I guess his favorite mission then must be Haven's Fall, because not only this is the only mission out of all colonists missions that unlocks a good unit, but also he gets to kill her in cold blood
he should've made an F tier just for her
Raynor: "Now where can we find a mercenary that could deal with this?"
Matt: "Sir, I am sure I know whom you are thinking about, but I have to obje-"
Mira: *climbing out of a random air vent* "Oh Mathew, you know you missed me as much as I missed you."
You know that Han And Matt eventually end up together? She even takes his last name. It's really kinda sweet, in their way.
@@illogicalbear6200 That actually technically happened before SC2 because Mat won her hand in marriage in... I wanna say a poker game? While he was dead drunk. She just took his last name since she really loves him even if he wants to be nowhere near her, at least status SC2
@@thyrussendria8198 there's even an achievement for finding out what he won in a poker game lol
@@ham_the_spam4423 I swear sir, if i knew what the prize was i never would've joined that card game.
Thanks, now I'm imagining Mira climbing around vents like a fucking Xenomorph looking for Matt.
In heart of the swarm the artifact's consequences are brought up by Stukov and Kerrigan, discussing why all of kerrigan's psionic power disappeared, and they came to the conclusion that narud used the artifact to transfer a large portion of Kerrigan's power from her to the neighboring hybrid that were sleeping in stasis.
true! give this ninja some upvotes
Where and when Narud tells that there were hybrids sleeping on Char? For real, I really did not know that. I thought the energy was used to create Amon's host. That's what Stukov (?) suggested to her in a dialogue.
Wasn't it about a single hybrid channeling the energy the artifact sapped from kerrigan and using it to revive Amon?
@@blakedake19 thank you for reminding me, it wasn’t his host but it was for amons resurrection into a being that can exist in the Starcraft universe
That’s the artifact, not Narud. It doesn’t truely feel like it matters why you collected them in the first place, besides a couple of statements.
Really the main affects of his actions are the plot of Legacy of the Void, but you are so far removed from Raynor at that point that it’s not brought up.
On Stetman: You ever read the Zerg Tank and Protoss Tank in the lab? Stetman has a new journal entry there every time you hit a new tier in the Reaseach Lab. You can get a better idea of his personality if you read those twelve or so journal entries. It's not much, but it's something. My first play-through I read them all and I was pretty attached to Stetman when Belly of the Beast rolled around.
yeah they were cool!
Yeah, I felt the same. He is one of my favorite characters in WoL. I wish he had other abilities aside from only healing in Belly of the beast. Like Irradiate or Psi disruptor things.
@@ernestoiparraguirre2745 I think Irridate might have been cool, but healing was good enough.
@@ernestoiparraguirre2745 you can get Stettman with irradiate ability in Moebius mod. It is very interesting mod.
Honestly, Amon probably would've made more sense if he actually wanted to bring back the Xelnaga. Instead of him being an omnicidal maniac, he could've just been a Xelnaga scientist who survived the rebellions of the Protoss and the Zerg, leaving him as one of the last survivors of his race. He could've even been the one to propose making the Zerg into a hivemind, making him partially responsible for his kind being devoured. Feeling guilty and desperate to ensure his race's survival, he'd orchestrate the hybrid project and leave Duran to run things while he goes into hibernation.
Instead of universal destruction, Amon's motive could've been pacifying and eventually merging all protoss and zerg as originally intended, regardless of their input on the matter. Not only would he be finishing his people's work, but he'd likely also see it as a solution to the rampant destruction caused by both races in their wars.
He'd no longer be a mass murdering space god, but a man just desperately trying to fix his mistakes.
Man, why couldn’t Blizz employ YOU to make the story of Amon, you just made him interesting and sympathetic while also indisputably bad.
This is basically what Duran was implied to be doing in BW, except I'm not sure the Infinite Cycle was a thing back then so at first it seemed like he was trying to complete their _magnum opus_ instead of bringing the xel'naga themselves back.
Like driven mad because of the zerg who were his creation
@@Photoloss Duran brings it up, but it's not elaborated on at all
The Xel'Naga aren't purity of form and essence combined, at least not in SC1. That's what they saw as the defining trait of the Zerg and Protoss. Duran as a XelNaga wanted to combine the two into the ultimate lifeform, just like the Overmind did. However, he's doing it in a vastly different manner and utilizing Terrans - the outliers - to do it.
For an armour-plated alien murderbug hivequeen, Zagara has a weird semi-wholesome almost cuteness? Like, even on Char she's still trying her best to do what she was told to, wants to get better, figures out how to do that, and then in the epilogue has a lot of "She's a little confused, but she's got the right spirit" energy and residual naivete. In some weird cursed alternate timeline with a highschool/college anime AU she'd probably be at least in the running for best girl. It sounds weird to me, too, but that's what my brain gave me to work with.
Also Selendis absolutely deserved better, yeah.
And Abathur would be that cool genius dude who gives zero fucks and still got all A's in that wierd school setting
While Kerrigan is a new girl who had a small beef with Zagara, but end up being bffs with her
Stukov would be the guy who was transferred from another (Terran) class to Zerg one
@@ko71k52 Oh no I'm gonna end up trying to write this whole thing and make this timeline into the cursed alternate timeline. XD
Kerrigan I feel like it depends where the story starts a bit, but I almost see, and this is where it benefits from college over highschool, that she was a big name back at some fancy private highschool (ghost academy analogue) and then took a couple gap years that went.... questionably. Met some people, fell in love, and then that one toxic friend screwed her over and she went on what amounts to an extended bender (most of SC, All of BW, and WoL) where she was a toxic b**ch to everyone with help from her new clique. Result: Zagara initially trying to be that way to her when she gets out of rehab because she's still trying to impress her. I... kinda hate how much Kerrigan makes more sense as a self-discovering anime college girl and also how much I thought about this???
Solid agree on the other two. Stukov, and again college works nicely, transferred from another program (Maybe history? Engineering?) to biology, Abathur is the KING of bio, and Dehaka... Oh gosh is Dehaka that guy who's coded as being a stoner but they never say it due to censorship and is mostly in bio to figure out how to grow weed real well? OH NO.
I'm definitely gonna either end up writing this or try drawing a kawaiified Zagara now.
@@avitraangelica9278 please write this, it’d be hilarious.
@@avitraangelica9278 yeah, Zerg are a bio faculty, terran are some tech guys, and wierd speaking protoss are language or history students
Waiting for your art or fanfic
@@ko71k52 Protoss I could also see as SUPER pretentious physics stidents
See, Valerian is actually very interesting in Wings of Liberty. You can clearly see that his primary motivation is vanity. He doesn't go to Char because the Swarm is harming his people, he goes to Char because he wants the people (Or more likely his father.) to see him as worthy. And, his arrogant glory seeking does cost a lot of lives, the assault on Char is a very uphill battle because the Dominion underestimated the zerg.
@@lowfianimal8605 I don't think you like to, Im pretty sure that's what happened considering how close they seem to be in most of the cutscenes.
Like that one mission in LOTV where they both look at each other and share the sadness of the men they lost, and how Valerian trusts Matt a great deal in HOTS when he's basically disinherited.
I personally liked vallaerian in WoL because you were always on the edge of your seat, wondering if he will betray you
It's weird because you imply that the assault on Char would have been not a uphill battle if he was better, which could be canon. What is weird is how inconsistent the relative power of all the faction are. The ending of SC1 seems to imply that the zerg swarm is unbelievably dominant, and no other faction has any chance. Kerrigan is the queen bitch of the universe. The wings of liberty campaign also sort of implies this. But then you go to the zerg campaign, and suddenly, it's a struggle for Kerrigan.
@@NestedQuantifier It was a struggle in HotS because Kerrigan lost the support of the majority of the zerg after being de-infested, note that after Kaldir, where she regained a major clump of zerg, Kerrigan pretty much never struggled with anything that wasn't hybrid for the rest of the campaign.
I don't think that Karax should be S tier, but I feel that he should have his own Solarite tier
"Hierarch, this tier is made out of pure solarite!
@@CoqueiroLendariocommander its also soaked in terrazine, it could be of great use for my- our, our research
Yeah, that sounds fine, hot shot.
S stands for Solarite
s for solarite
I'll be honest, I think Tychus is the best character in StarCraft 2.
His personality is very fun and over the top. But, at the same time, if you go back to follow his story with the knowledge that he is pretty much doomed to die because of the deal he made with Mengsk, he is a profoundly tragic character. He knows that his days are numbered and he is trying to make every second count with the little time he has left with his friend. And you can see him get progressively more and more frustrated as the crew gets closer to the last battle to the point where he snaps in the Maw of the Void mission because he knows that the end is coming soon. As Tosh said "He is fighting himself over something he doesn't want to do.". And, at the end of Wings of Liberty, Tychus could have just shot Kerrigan at any point. I think that Tychus let Jim make the decision. As far as he was concerned, he got what he wanted. He had his last adventure.
Most people think that Jim is the player perspective character. But, if you actually think about it, it's Tychus. Just like the players who waited for twenty years for StarCraft 2 to be released, Tychus waited years to get back in the game with good old Jimmy Raynor too.
Tychus is a new character, and yet, he represents the spirit of old times. He is an amazing combination between nostalgia and inovation. This is what Wings of Liberty as a whole managed to be (Unfortunately, I don't think Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void or Nova Covert Ops managed to achieve this magic. Many of the new elements didn't fit and many of the old elements were not handled with respect.).
Well it was more like 10 years instead of 20 years between Brood War and SC2.
But regardless I have to agree that Tychus is such a great character and knowing what happens in the end really re characterizes his actions towards the final missions of the game
Tychus was absolutely the Player Perspective character. The moment the trailer came out, we were all saying "Hell, it's about time", so when he said it, Blizzard managed to make him the single most relatable character in the series. And I also fully agree that WoL managed to capture all the right stuff. It's just too bad HotS and LoV felt so much more polished.
I've seen the theory about Tychus not being a traitor, but just an old friend ho wants to have one last adventure with his bud a few months ago, but Damn, that bit about Tychus being the representation of player hit hard...
WoL was SC2 at its best. And Tichus was WoL at its best.
I've read a lot of comments here. Yours' is the best one. I hadn't considered this perspective and it's mindblowing actually if true. To support your claim that Tychus represents the old school players, remember that's it's always the old-schoolers that are mad that Jim didn't see his promise to kill Kerrigan come to life. I accept the explanation that it was because of Zeratul, even if I'm not the biggest fan of the story after WoL. Tychus is the SC1 and BW players incarnate coming to see Jim fulfil his destiny only to be shot because the story is now taking a completely different direction that what had been suggested in BW. Why couldn't you be as good as your older brother WoL, I'm looking at you HotS and LotV!
Zeratul's death cinematic, where his final words are "My life.....for Aiur", that alone gets him a +1 to his tier. Zeratul is A tier
Zeratul gets S tier for his sole appearance in the entire SC2 trilogy. That weird rambling prophet from WoL and HotS gets a C- or so.
He's the only Nerazim that I remember actually saying that.
And then his _follow through, enforcing_ the statement.
It's unfortunate that it's...I wouldn't say it's the _only_ thing worth caring about that he does in SC2. His message to Raynor that Kerrigan needed to live was....long-winded, but I suppose plot necessary. But I think all he did in HotS was basically say "Zerus has some old Zerg stuff you should look at". And LotV....his incredulousness at hybrid being on Aiur is kinda absurd. Why _wouldn't_ Amon have his genetically engineered lieutenants leading his forces? Why couldn't hybrid be there? Yeah, probably most of him in SC2 is a bit of a letdown, compared to SC1.
As pitiful as it was for the fandom to lose Zeratul, it was probably his most epic moment in SC2.
Zeratul's whole identity is "S"enile, "S"elendis?, and of course, Hybrid on "A"iur???
So the reason why Grant put him neither on S nor A is beyond me, ^:D^
His SC2 self is but a shadow of what he was in SC1.
Zeratul is S tier
Alarak is to this day my go to example of how to play an evil character in a good aligned group without derailing everything.
Also, about Rochana (the protoss boomer lady): As someone who worked quite a bit with old people, her stubbornness and being stuck in the old ways doesn't really feel out of place. A lot of old people are like that
Amon's tinder account:
Likes: ending the infinite cycle
Dislikes: the infinite cycle
Hobbies: ending the infinite cycle
Looking for in a partner: someone who wants to help end the infinite cycle
The problem with SC2 story is that the player always wins everything. In SC1 even if you win a misson it is not a total victory or at least a costly one
Honestly, Grant's idea of a timed Char evacuation for HotS is a good idea.
I'd love the idea of cleansed Kerrigan going to Char, rescuing Zagara and attempting to evacuate the standing forces, coming back when she's at full power and THEN crushing Warfield
Well...I mean Tychus is killed by his best friend, Kerrigan apparently abandons her humanity, and the Protoss are forever severed from the Kala...that's some losing.
@@Laneous14 ye, your right. But i still prefer the sc1 story
That doesn’t make the story bad though as it’s still good
Plus you don’t win every mission
Karax and Stetman share the same problem, they're the one-man genuis team. They achieve too much on their own, while they should have some kind of assistance. Swann at least has a team of engineers.
Speaking of Stetman, he is also imo a source of slight hypocrisy from Raynor. Specifically talking about his line when you pick up the chrono-item in that one level. He claims that Arcturus is playing with fire when studying and using xeno-tech.
You know, unlike Raynor. Who currently is gathering pieces of a Xel'naga artifact of unknown purpose. Or allows Stetman to research a protoss-crystal and zerg... -cyst? to make new tech.
Granted I might be reading too much into it and too willing to throw shit at Jimmy.
@@Tenesfer I thought that line was specifically because it was time-manipulation stuff
Stetman noteably is not achieving what he does on his own, the entire protoss line is due to the Khydarin Crystal intentionally guiding him, while the zerg line is him and Swann developing better zerg containment measures based on files already on the Hyperion, Otherwise how would Stetmann be able to identify individual strains of zerg to isolate in the samples and refine into useable information. In fact looking at it, every Zerg Research is an Active vs a Passive solution to The Zerg. Stronger bunkers or Bunkers that fight back, Turrets that can fight Ultralisks or turrets that hide and trap the zerg. The ability to evacuate entire companies at once quickly, or a machine that literally cripples the zerg it fights. the ability to heal against the zerg, or the power to never take damage in the first place. and finally to restrict the zerg's ability to fight you, against turning them upon themselves and completely negating their greatest strength.
Karax is Stettman with the edges smoothed and more time to develop.
@@Satherian I mean... maybe? I personally took it as it being about something alien in origin but I could be wrong.
I would even prefer your intepretation because then Jimmy wouldn't be a massive hypocrite on top of his other newly acquired faults.
So frustrating that we went from the intrigue, interest, and moral gray areas of SC1 Villains, to "Space Satan" and "Space Hitler" in SC2
You are looking at it wrong. SC1 is about morals, SC2 is about personality and how people don't change back to who they were.
man i really hope dr hanson ends up on the S tier
Man oh man
Bruh it's D cause she's D!r hanson
Hanson getting unceremoniously dumped is peak perfection.
I still don't know why she is so hated :(
Very sad :(
@@spec2169 It's more of a meme in Grant's channel than anything. But there are legitimate grievances about her, namely how her sidequest ends if you team up with her. Did she find a cure for the Zerg infestation? If so, that's a huge deal that could change the story, but it's never mentioned. If she didn't find a cure, then the Protoss were fought for nothing, and how did the colonists survive? The story had no answer and left it open for interpretation, but it's more like a plot hole. Or it magically changes to make the player's decision always be correct.
Also I think most people really really hate The Evacuation.
@@Leon_Ryu Agreed! She was a poorly written character and her side missions felt like they had no payoff. I think this is the downside of split mission decisions. If you side with her she dies, if you don't then she goes on to help the colony thrive and seek a cure... but you can't bring that storyline up later cause it's a split decision. I feel the someway about Tosh, but at least you get to play as him and he's around longer.
@@Leon_Ryu She's symbolic of the really bad writing in WoL's split decisions that contort so much that Ray is always the hero in the end and made the right call every time. Side with Hansen? She finds the cure and everything is a perfect happy ending. Side with Selendis? She was infested and a huge danger that needed to be put down.
Side with Nova? Tosh was a manipulative scumbag who was using you to achieve his shady goals. Side with Tosh? Nova was a Dominion-controlled liar and Tosh is nothing but an honest if cynical freedom fighter.
Egon actually gets a bit of characterization if you read his notes in the Lab. Especially with regards to the growing Psi Crystal as he realizes how ungodly powerful the Protoss are and what the Crystal has been doing in secret.
you mean....anyone reads those...?
@@xseros7954 I mean hey, it gives a bit of lore into how Zerg and Protoss work while also giving some logic to the new abilities you get, so I found it pretty neat
uh yeah i remember reading it, they were kinda cool!
What makes it a really nice piece of charerization is that it changes with every tier you reach, showing Stetmann as a scientist and researcher who studies and takes notes but is also reckless in terms of safety for himself and others. He wants to know more, to the point it risks his personal well-being. While not canon, you can see how that personality can lead to terrazine experiments and the mecha-swarm. Really wish you got to talk to him more instead of Hanson.
@@rawksolid5029 yess every time I got new research I rushed straight to him to see if any new notes came in; trying my best to politely listen to space Texan drawl on about some ‘rebellion’ when I couldn’t care less.
Honestly stett notes is what gripped me the most about the franchise back when only the first few missions were F2P. I was DYING to know what he discovered by studying the spooky alien bois.
So what I'm understanding, is that Heart of the Swarm is actually a game filled with a lot of great character, but just decided to focus on the absolute worst one.
Heart of the Stukov mod is clearly required. I'm sure if we crowd fund enough money we could get Victor Brandt to do some voice lines.
BIG IDEA
Fun fact, I have it from a reliable source that a Stukov HoTS mod is in fact currently under production
@@Chiraln Don't do that.
Don't give me hope.
I'd say Kerrigan is both D and S depending on how the writers felt that day.
Zagara has growth but like, her growth is Kerrigan asking her a question, Zagara not knowing the answer, and Kerrigan sends her off to sit in the gene goo for a little while. "Go sit in the goo Zagara" was a fun phrase thrown around a lot with my friends when I played heart of the swarm for the first time.
One character I’m disappointed wasn’t included: Lasarra, the Protoss that Kerrigan captures on Kaldir and then infects with a larva to create a slaughter on the fleeing Protoss ship.
She wasn’t there for long, but she always felt like a really interesting character. I wish they hadn’t killed her, though. It was a great moment and a fantastic mission, but the big problem Heart of the Swarm has is that, until you get Stukov near the end of the game, the characters around you are pretty one-note. Having an outside view trying to warn Kerrigan away from returning to becoming the Queen of Blades could have given a different perspective on things.
And really, what Starcraft 2’s story needed more of, fully stop, was the races interacting (beyond shooting and killing each other). James Raynor being among the Protoss for so long really helped spice those missions up, and the Brood War Zerg Campaign is so great partly because you have all these different viewpoints clashing against each other, being manipulated by Kerrigan. SC2’s campaigns just felt too insular, and they all suffered a bit as a result.
That could have been interesting to have Lasarra convince Kerrigan to leave the Protoss colonists and maybe even stick around to provide an alternate viewpoint. Almost kind of becoming Kerrigan's conscience when she is going too far.
Personally, I think Kerrigan is not a really good representative for the zerg as she's too humanlike, she better served as a wildcard of the swarm.
And that's also why I feel Zerg in Broodwar to be boring as a race, as all the interaction is carried out as Kerrigan only, who think, feel and act like a human. The Zerg is just a tool for her to use without a personality
@@ThanhLe-ti8nx That is something to consider. It does feel like the zerg lost some of what made them unique and different when the Overmind and cerebrates were all killed off.
@@toddclawson3619I know this comment was made a year ago but I just wanted to pipe in to say that I had the same thought when I played HoTS for the first time. I genuinely thought she’d keep Lasarra around as a Protoss conscience friend to give a different perspective and I thought that that would’ve been really interesting from a lore, storytelling, and character perspective
As far as I understand, Lasarra was created precisely to have a lengthy "conscience" NPC for Kerrigan to talk to.
But then decided to throw her away in just two missions because reasons.
I'd have stuck SC2 Zeratul in D tier.
What makes Zeratul so great in SC1 is that he's this incredibly wise character who is fully willing to make unpopular choices if he believes it'll benefit the common good. He gives Tassadar a chance, bridging the gap between the Khalai and Nerazim for the first time in who knows how long. He commits his people to supporting the Khalai later on because he knows working together will give them a chance at taking down more cerebrates. When Aiur falls, he offers the refugees a place on Shakuras. And then when he discovers the Matriarch is corrupted, even though he doesn't really have any proof, he seizes his first chance to kill her and deny Kerrigan a tool to manipulate the Dark Templar. He ends up exiled from the exiles because of an act that saved his people. He wasn't cool because he knew everything, he was cool because he was willing to make hard choices even knowing the consequences.
Then in SC2 all of his appearances go like:
Zeratul: "I MUST FIND/FOLLOW/UNDERSTAND THE PROPHECY"
Other named character: "Zeratul I know everyone hates you but I BELIEVE IN YOU, LET'S DO THE PROPHECY THING"
Zeratul: "Oh no, zerg or hybrid are happening!"
Other named character: "Zeratul run I will buy time for you to escape! REMEMBER ME!"
Zeratul: "No you can't, you have so much to live for, yawn anyway I'm heading out byeee"
(okay maybe not ALL his appearances, but this exact scenario happens at least 2 or 3 times)
It got to the point where when they added him to co-op, his army's defining characteristics are 1) Zeratul goes off to find prophecy stuff, and 2) you can summon armies of expendable units led by a named character that buy time for you before inevitably dying.
Mengsk was wasted in SC2, Duran was wasted in SC2, but Zeratul got it worst of all in my opinion.
I love 'yes Artanis, we did slay the Overmind...' from SC:BW
My thoughts exactly. Between the drastic change in appearance and the new, unfortunately necessary VA, I never saw SC2 and BW Zerarul as the same person. So when he died in Legacy, it didn't feel like losing my favorite character in the series, it just felt like the loss of potential as a mouth piece character runs out of things to do because the writers wouldn't let him be anything else.
Fucking love when Swann calls someone 'Skippy' and they look absolutely befuddled.
Artanis even goes, "Skippy?"
One of the best lines from sc2
Personally, I would bump Alarak up to S tier myself. He has the foil to Artanis, the background knowledge and lore building of Abathur, the copious amounts of sass and cheekiness of Tychus, as well as being a wonderful plot twist in himself and an absolute power house in the form a middle finger to Amon's entire plan. His might not be the highest class of writing, but he is an absolute treat every time is on the screen.
"Do you think us fools?"
*"Yes, but that's irrelevant."*
I think the problem was trying to have "good Kerrigan" without any form of arc towards that. Kerrigan was a Sons of Korhal stooge long before Mengsk was a legitemate authority, back when they were a fringe terrorist group, and even if she was doing that because of whatever happened in the Ghost program that just means that she was basically driven by revenge and heedless of the damage she caused long before she was ever infested by the Overmind.
They should have stuck to that. Just have Kerrigan be this twisted revenge monster throughout. Have her reject being "saved" at the start of HotS, have the relationship with Jim be a confabulation of regret and drink, and have her immediately look for a way to return to the swarm because that's what she *is*.
Then in LotV have her be tricked into becoming a Xel'naga so she can deal with Amon, explicitly setting one villain against another and have Zagara gank her like the Zerg did to the Xel'naga the first time around (in the fluff in the SC1 manual which the game has long since forgotten).
This... actually would have been so much better. Props to you, shame on Blizzard.
Kerrigan's storyline really is one that works best when it ends with death. It's set up as a classic tragedy, with her betrayal consuming and twisting her into a being obsessed with revenge with no care for what comes after. Kerrigan slaughters and kills ruthlessly, not caring about terran, protoss, or even the zerg in the end.
Her carnage is an empathetic one, Mengsk fucking deserves it, but it should also have been a consuming one and then it just... Isn't. Instead she's forced into the roll of a saviour, without that ever really making sense. Every time I play through the epilogue I have to stifle a laugh at the end when Amon calls her a genocidal maniac who slaughtered countless of innocent lives, and is completely correct. Good god the story got bad.
It is understandable that she comes across so scattered though. She was horrifically brainwashed and abused in the Ghost program. Then the Zerg rewrote her DNA and active biology on every level down to her brain matter, and enslaved her to the Overmind. Then she got free of the overmind and had to resist the huge pull of Overmind 2.0, and became 'queen bitch of the universe'. Then after THAT, her ex blasted most of the zerg out of her (suddenly cutting her off from most of the hive mind, leaving her largely alone in her head for the first time in years) where she's still treated like a monster, and then Jim, the ONLY person who treats her with any dignity or compassion, is kidnapped by her worst enemy, who is also trying to kill her. So she puts herself back in the swarm, and then redoes her DNA even more thoroughly than the Overmind did.
She's a giant ball of psychotic breaks and brain damage.
@@danpitzer765 don't forget that along with resisting the pull of the second overmind, she was also resisting her biological urge to follow amon, and the constant gas lighting by Duran/Narud Remember, her big "queen bitch of the universe" moment when she betrayed the the truce and killed fenix and duke was all orchestrated by Duran telling her that if she didn't strike first, they would team up and take her down. (and yes, the whole amon controlling the overmind thing was around back in the 90's, kerrigan mentioned the shadow over the swarm multiple times)
the only major thing you got wrong, was she didn't rejoin the swarm. she became primal, which means she doesn't have the hivemind connection the swarm zerg have. so while she can use her psionics to dominate the zerg, she isn't connected to their hivemind.
but yea, giant ball of psychosis waiting to happen, which is probably why even after becoming god it still took her a few years of dealing with herself before she was ready to see james again.
Worst thing was to retcon her personality. Queen Bitch of the Universe was her true personality, a fitting result of her experience of slavery, betrayal, and slavery once more. I don't mind her having a redemption arc, but it should be fleshed out, as she slowly reconsiders her stances as she faces new experience, seeks allies, tries to actually fix her reputation, turning from pure evil to somewhat grey, from villain to antihero. Instead, she just had another personality swap, that left her with no personality at all.
Mengsk was already ruined by Brood War. In that campaign he lost his home planet twice and his entire army like four times and survived solely thanks to Kerrigan becoming a cartoon villain herself ("mwa ha ha I'll let you live in shame!"). He has no mystique or menace as a villain after that. I got the impression anyone with an army could roll up and squash his Dominion with a folded-up newspaper, because it just kept happening.
I think SC2 actually did a really good job of rehabilitating him from there. In WoL he is a Goliath again and although you beat his forces in tons of missions you're always pecking at the fringes and sneaking around them. And you actually SEE why he's in charge: Korhal has gone from a nuclear desert battlefield to a peaceful planetwide city with greenery in just a few years. I can absolutely believe the citizens in the imperial core follow Mengsk. They don't see what Raynor does hanging out on the fringe planets. The way you can see the contrast between slavery and neglect in the early missions to wealth and security and propaganda in the Korhal ones is a great bit of "show, don't tell" and rings true for how actual larger-than-life dictators operate.
Yeah Kerrigan is just emblematic of how Blizzard writes female main characters. They change wildly depending on the writer and it's so infuriating.
Yah didn’t someone who worked at Blizzard mention that somewhere and something similar happened to Sylvanas as a result
My wife thinks she & raynor dated before the events of sc1 & i think they meet in sc1 and the love story thing is all in raynors head
That’s not always true, there are some good female characters by them that are consistent and I think Kerrigan is one of yhrm
Valerian feels very much like a missed opportunity, for two reasons.
First of all, he seems to change as a character from WoL to HOTS. His entrance in WoL makes him look like a machiavellan opportunist who just wants to succeed his father out of of his own desire for power and feelings of grandeur, but with a hint that he's probably gonna be a better ruler than Arcturus, so the raiders just have to make do with this ally of convenience hoping that he'll be the lesser of two evils. But then come HOTS he's just a Good Boy, like a snottier greener snobbier version of Horner. It's like they decided to make it more boring by mixing him up with the corresponding blonde-haired royal scion from that other franchise of theirs.
And second, after all the drive that the WoL campaign seemed to have towards dismantling the horrible authoritarian regime built by Mengsk, Valerian just succeeds to him as emperor and everyone's fine with that, and it is all framed as being good and well because he's a Good Boy and he's gonna be a good emperor. Nevermind the fact that it's still a totalitarian regime with an absolute ruler, who rules exclusively by birthright, and who doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot to transition into a more democratic form of government. And this could have been used to make the character more interesting, and tie him back to his more ambiguous first appearence; Valerian inherited all the immense power and ruling infrastructure that was built by Mengsk, but purged of all the terrible things that his father did because he assisted in his downfall - and yet he's very happy to take that power and rule through that infrastructure that only exist because of his father's atrocities. That could make for a very interesting and sinister situation, but no - Valerian is an unambiguous Good Boy, and Raynor and his rebellion are all happy that he's emperor now.
I think the whole Valerian goes completely Good Boy is supposed to be the results on the influence of Jim and Matt as well as the massive humbling that is the battles on Char, especially since Matt basically becomes Valerian's right hand man and confidant after WoL.
But all that happens during the time skip between WoL and HotS, so you do not really get to see Matt befriend Valerian and actually give him a stable friend that is not just trying to butter him up for some benefits.
And since only the Terrans would be concerned with any political things when you get into the other campaigns you don't get to see Valerian changing the political situation after we find out he became Emperor, and given that the powers of an Emperor would be really useful given they still had big bads to fight against while he is trying to consolidate his power we would only really see any political change well after the campaigns anyways. As hasty change could have thrown the Empire into a full blown civil war like in SC1.
Not every rebel group is the American Revolution and Democracy is not the perfect government that you imply it to be and I'm curious why you think it is.
Also, Raynor was fighting Mengsk and his policies, not necessarily the Dominion as an organization. Arcturus' regime was terrible, but that's only because we see the perspective of the oppressed and he himself was despicable. It's easy to talk about how great the US is when you're a white person living off Manifest Destiny, not so great when your ancestral lands have just been purchased by someone a thousand miles away and suddenly your family is getting slaughtered for the crime of already living there.
@@bluesbest1 I don't know if democracy is the best regime but it's certainly better than a dictatorship. That's not something that should be up for debate.
Also, a bad ruler is always the result of a bad system. If the government of the Dominion was such that it allowed for Mengsk to become a tyrant, as long as the institution remains the same, another tyrant will inevitably come in his place. You may get lucky and get a nice dictator once in a while, but why roll the dice ?
Also also, democracy isn't something unique to the US and every bad thing the US did isn't an indictment of democracy.
Also also also, the genocide of native people was the result of a lack of democracy, of the idea that the natives weren't "people" and as such didn't deserve to have their voice heard.
I didn't want to write about politics when it wasn't the topic of the video but, God, your comment was bad.
@@lhumanoideerrantdesinterne8598 If a good king raises a good heir, then the dictatorship allows for an amazing rule without the will of the uneducated masses getting in the way. I'm sick and tired of people insisting that democracy is the final stage of government when it amplifies all the negative qualities of mob mentality and glorifies the charismatic electorates above those actually capable of fixing problems.
Also, Mengsk was the one to set up the Dominion, so of course it'd glorify him and enable all his worst traits.
Also also (also), democratic regimes have a long history of ignoring individuals and groups they don't consider "people". Athens ignored women, for example, and anyone that wasn't a wealthy landowner. The US didn't even consider Blacks to even be fully human, only counting them as 3/5 of a human.
I don't like talking politics because it always gets me mad. Especially in modern America where we've largely woken up from the American Dream and opened our eyes in our dingy apartment that's falling apart and still costs several times our wages.
@@lhumanoideerrantdesinterne8598 In fact the US came very close to preventing the genocide. The Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee were citizens of the US and could not be dispossessed, but Andrew Jackson acted like a dictator and unilaterally ignored the Court. If the check on presidential power had worked as intended, and people were given the rights they were intended to have, the outcome would be very different.
The “gathered the artifact for Moebius Corp” thing actually does have negative repercussions. In a side dialogue in LoTV, Karax figures out that the energy used to de-infest Kerrigan was what Amon used to pull himself out of the void
Which raises the question: if Kerrigan destroyed the artifact during All In, would the End War never have happened?
Yea, that’s a plot hole, Zeratul said that Kerrigan is needed to kill Amon and all that yet deinfesting her brought back Amon, maybe he was played for a fool by Amon and Nerud? Should we call him Zeratool for that?
Sorry, not brought back, resurrected.
@@АртёмЩукин-я2х Zeratul said Kerrigan was needed to defeat Amon because Ouros (disguised as Talendar) said Kerrigan was needed to defeat Amon, since Ouros wanted to merge with Kerrigan and she wouldn’t do that unless she fought Amon alongside the other 2 races
Realistically, if Jim hadn't assembled the artifact Kerrigan would just exterminate the entire Universe, so it doesn't really matter that much.
If I remember right Kerrigan stated that she was not really in her mind as Queen of Blade because she was like the overmind without a free will. Only after the artifact and reinfesting in the pool, she was able to control the swarm without any influence
36:10 In Ironwood's Defense, it is possible to be all of Heart of The Swarm with only Zerglings, so it was inevitable that he would loose to them.
Ironwood ? Man RWBY changed a lot
@@timotheebrasseur6188 Is Penny Karax? Because she is solarite ready xD
+Rudy Roughknight Penny is Fenix, obviously.
@@samiamrg7 And who would be Ruby? :p
@@timotheebrasseur6188 well, we have Nova's gunblade in setting
I think doing a tier list for units personalities would be fun to do as another quick video (like short on time, head ache, etc.) in the future. They have such fun dialogue and such cool looks to some of them in their portrait windows. Would be fun I think
15:28 the immediate slap down a tier as soon as the ending comes up slayed me
The best moment of whole video.
Poor Niadra, forgotten completely.
She exists for only one mission, but she's full of personality, and I love her.
The point of her mission, I think, was to show Kerrigan's newfound way of thinking with regards to the broodmothers. Create them, give them instructions of what they are and their place in the Swarm's pecking order, and then let them loose to make their decisions without the perpetual need for an overriding intelligence to guide them. As a former human, Kerrigan understands individuality better than the Zerg, even the highly intelligent ones like Abathur.
Just for fun, some minor disagreements, even though I think you nailed most spots.
- They forgot Ouros! He appeared for 1 mission, contradicted himself by saying the cycle can't end but that it ended, refused to elaborate, then died!
- Artanis has surprisingly good conversations aboard the Spear of Adun. He's a little more of a realist than people think, like when he discusses with Vorazun how contact with the Tal'darim will change everyone, and that will be scary.
- Kerrigan is inconsistent like you said, but I wouldn't blame her for the Epilogue. Her role there at least made sense; take notes, Amon. Her "we all make our choices" attitude reflects the same message Jim had, there's wasted potential there.
- Ishza being the Zerg Adjutant was actually a plus for me. It's an adjutant that shares insight sometimes. Nothing amazing, but pleasantly better than expected.
Sidenote to the Amon contradicting himself by wanting to break the cycle while making hybrid. I think what they went for is the following:
Purity of form and essence evolves naturally, find eachother and that place which tells the xel'naga story, and then they merge making the new xel'naga(told by the story stones during artanis/kerrigan friendship advanture). However Amon dips from the freezer and makes his own purity of form and essence kind of races (that being the psionicly enhanced protoss and the altered zerg) so he can make the hibrid later and take over the universe.
The true purity of form and essence however are the terrans showing inert pscionic potential and the primal zerg, both evolving naturally. Kerrigan by going to the first spawning pool getting the primal essence, becomes the thing that can be a next generation xel'naga.
He's still a terrible villain, tho. It remind me of the Jailer in Shadowlands... it's not an interesting villain at all. Duran is a better one and he still sucks in SC2
Amon is so frustrating because stopping the infinite cycle is a naturally good motive to give a villain - from an outside, entirely practical utilitarian view, it's one of the most horrible things imaginable, essentially farming civilizations for infinite time and infinite suffering. But naturally we go against that as part of the cycle, we don't have the perspective we have and he's doing weird manipulation stuff and genocides his own kind so he's undoubtedly evil... But then the one thing that makes me hate the writers is that he also wants to destroy everyone in this universe. His whole perspective is that the infinite cycle is bad because it equates to infinite suffering, which is true. By killing the xel'naga, he can stop the cycle and that's it. But then he wants to destroy this universe too even though it could easily live out its natural time and peacefully die... contradicting his own beliefs. It creates MORE suffering to destroy the universe and falls pretty in line with what he says he wants to end the cycle for. It feels like the writers were too afraid of writing him as correct. Huge step down in villain motivation imo.
Among Us is literally an angry child that after crying on server that he have to follow the rules suddenly was given an admin privileges, and now is rampaging banning everyone out of pure spite. Except for his hybrids, they are just boring and edgy enough for him to handle
@@Dianbler
What makes Amon worse is that he has a very strong premise but the writers completely and utterly failed to make use of it. Amon is best at the start of LoTV when he sounds and seems reasonable and intelligent, but then quickly devolves into a whiny manchild who does nothing reasonable or intelligent. It would have been sooooo much better if Amon kept up that early-LoTV impression, trying to reason with Artanis with no cliche villain undertones to the point where the real dilemma doesn't devolve into good vs evil, but rather survival of the present vs the sacrifice for the future. Just make Amon not a hypocrite about curing suffering and pain as flawed concepts and he immediately becomes an interesting character with interesting motives.
Imagine if various characters from the campaign joined Amon to fight against the player, each with perfectly sound logic about how the current state of the universe sucks and Amon offers a better alternative. What if Amon mourns the loss of his commanders and allies, getting angry about the barbarism and short-sightedness of who we play as and is perfect justified to think that way. What if, instead of Amon mind-controlling via the Khala, all that happens is that the Protoss by being linked with Amon simply understand him and many become willing to fight for his future due to seeing its merits and deciding that it is better. What if Artanis has to recruit the Tal'Darim not due to Amon lying, but due to Alarak lying and causing Artanis to have to help sell that lie, killing Malash as an innocent leader to promote a corrupt Alarak. Have Shakuras end with Mohandar converted to Amon's side and having to beat his forces with Vorazun's, no zerg needed. Just not making Amon a hypocrite does so much for how the story would and should go...but didn't.
@@matthewhartman1855 The thing is, we can't even really say that the Infinite Cycle in its original form is a net negative. The xel'naga do not inflict much if any suffering directly, they only enable the existence of advanced lifeforms in general. As long as you believe that life fundamentally is worth living despite the hardships and suffering it faces the xel'naga are ultimately *the good guys* and Amon is plain wrong. If you believe that all life is meaningless suffering then Amon would technically be in the right, but then you wouldn't be fighting a horrible war against him in the first place.
Ah yes, a tier list about the characters of Mortal Kombat 11, my favorite real-time strategy game!
3:35 - Let me be the Devil's advocate for Dr Hanson.
I know this community really likes to meme on her, but honestly, I don't think she is a bad character, just Blizzard handeld her poorly.
She was a scientist, basically thrown into the roll of being a leader, as the only competent person available on the colony. After her first rescue she offered the Raiders free medical help, and help in their science department - and they probably needed all the help they could get with Stetman around, so his highly experimental equipment won't explode them sky-high.
Blizzard wanted to make her the "angel on Jim's shoulder" and as a foil to "Smelt that betrayel coming from a mile away" Tychus. And it almost worked if they didn't screw it up by making her too much of a "Princess that needs rescuing" trope.
She should have given more help to the player in-game to counter this maybe.
It's fine that she exists to show that: despite Jim being jaded and grumpy he still has a heart that stands for justice and higher ideals. But they should have given her something to make her an individual that stands out.
Despite her flawed writting, I think she would have deserved a C rating honestly - if nothing else, just for the memes.
But this is just my opinion, feel free to chime in with what you think of the good doctor.
The greatest problem I have, and I can't put this part down, the mission where the colonists turn out to be infected and you have the dilemma, the game goes out of its way to make both sides completely right. And this is in a way that negates the correctness of the other choice that you didn't take.
And so this isn't Dr Hansen's fault but the shrapnel is that her hardest moment her hardest stance is neither a willful resolve or a total gut wrenching betrayal/ tragedy. Because it's both it is neither.
I do like that Alarak wants Ji'nara to improve, not only to become a stronger commander but to also act as a buffer between him and potential rivals. Ji'nara is loyal to Alarak (if we exclude her co-op dialogue). It is why he told her to stay out of the Rak'shir between Ma'lash and Nuroka (the former first ascendant) back when they were the 4th and 5th ascendant respectively. As Alarak knew that the 2nd and 3rd ascendants will come to Ma'lashs aid. To which Alarak seized the opportunity to kill those two and then aid Ma'lash in killing Nuroka (keep friends close, but enemies closer). So having her be a roadblock between those who would seek to challenge his rule is smart. It is why he doesn't overly punish her for her failures. As she was designed to lose in those situations. Alarak plans the long game, it is why he "went easy" in a manner of speaking on Artanis during LotV in Forbidden Weapon. To see if he could be a potential ally in overthrowing Ma'lash and robbing Amon of the Tal'darim.
You missed Colonel Orlan (not that he's interesting in any way) and Hill, the mercenary recruitment guy from Wings of Liberty (who's also not relevant in any way, could've been replaced by his computer terminal without any loss to the plot).
You also missed the Tal'darim executor from Wings of Liberty (who was apparently named Nyon... everywhere except the campaign itself)
Also Maar and his love for pears
Also Naktul, Niadra and primal zerg pack leaders, whatever their names were.
It is funny how Grant was thankful that Alarak didn't turn into your typical, "I'll get you next time!!!" villain. When Nyon was exactly that. I like to believe that Nyon and his band of Tal'darim were sent off to die on purpose. Considering that Narud was also behind the Tal'darim. Purge the weak. Similar to what Alarak does with Jin'nora in NCO.
Also the high Templar who went to seek prophecy with zeratul
And the Elite Phoenix and Void Ray commander, but they only appeared via one mission with two or three lines so they are quite skippable I guess
They probably could've done a bit more with Jimothy after WoL if they leaned in on the fact that he switched from "stop Kerrigan" to "save Kerrigan" because Zeratul specifically told him to. Like, she starts HotS with amnesia, the last thing she remembers is the end of SC1 Terran. Just have him mention how she doesn't remember the Swarm but she does remember him--have him be her leash rather than jumping right back into being her maybe-lover. That kind of ambivalence would've let him be a sort of soft antagonist when Kerrigan is getting her Zerg back on, culminating in the prison break where he symbolically shoots her (maybe him getting captured can be her fault--maybe he was trying to stop the random Protoss murder and she damaged his ship enough for Mengsk to get it?)
Brilliant intro for Dr. Hansen. Accurate, informative, and perfectly timed. 10/10
Seems legit
Matt and Tychus are like little angel and demon on Jim’s shoulder reminding him what to do. It’s hilarious
I would have liked to know whether Amon likes lemon juice or tomato juice, he kinda feels like that guy. Also, about the fact that primals are in a pack but for selfish reasons, that actually exists in nature, Zebra are exactly like that, they hang out in groups bc it’s a good survival tactic buy they don’t really care about each other. Also, wait, when did Valerian flirt with Kate? I agree, Grant, we need more of that Tychus or Raynor booty action, I would like that more than the nova action.
there was a scene when kate was asking if he is single or something and he says he has too many responsibilities as the prince, but doesnt shut her down completely either.
I kind of disagree with you grant about Warfield, for me, he just felt like a guy that is famous for his military prowess yet on screen we never see him actually DO anything that is cool/smart and it felt off to me. Like, we beat him in media blitz without problem and he kinda sends a wave to the obj and that’s it, no plan, on char he employs a frontal assault and loses an arm for that. Again on char he kind of loses like you said.
@@systemreset9410 thanks, I didn’t remember that, kinda funny.
When you watch the news she interviews Valerian asking him if he is taken in which he answers that he has many responsabilities but always had a crush on her.
@@АртёмЩукин-я2х I think that was Grant's main complaint. He seemed like a cool guy with some good lines, but ended up wasted potential. If he had been shown to actually outsmart Kerrigan on Char or at least put up an incredible fight, it would have been much better.
Poor Ji'nara, even on a Tier list she can't win on her own xD
Swann: Yeah yeah, robbing trains, bang bang, aaaah.... I'm makin' DIAMONDBACKS.
That is my favorite line of dialogue and it's after the Great Train Robbery mission, when you click on him in the Armory.
My 2 cents: Rohana represents the old conclave way of thinking, how the templars used to think, their traditions etc, but eventually accepts the change. Kind of like Aldaris, except he stuck to the old ways.
Also btw I like Isha. Can't change my mind.
Except she doesn't seem to realise that even Aldaris changed his mind about going with the dark templar and breaking with some of that age-old tradition in these desperate times. Her claiming to see all history through the eyes of those who experienced it means she either lies or is infinitely more stubborn than Mr. "consorting witht he fallen-ones is heresy".
@@herrdoktor1810 She does change her mind over time. Artanis tells her to 'get over it, we're doing this' and eventually she does. It is best shown when she finally severs her nerve cords. It was like a ritual of sorts, leaving behind past thinking, literally by disconnecting to it.
As for Aldaris specifically, he was one a few who changed their mind. In the view of thousands of years of bitter history, its not surprising she will side with the majority who hate nerazim, as opposed to the very tiny minority who thought differently/changed their minds.
Thank God it's not SC1 characters, or Dragoon-Fenix dragoon would have wandered into each tier.
Also glad my favorite bug waif-*cough* character from HoTs is in A. :)
"We'll do starcraft 1 later" aaah! saving a tier list for the next time you oversleep I see ;)
Honestly the fact alarak is voiced by john de lancie bumps it to s tier for me, he's has such a fun voice and does the sarcastic evil super well!
Grant must have got a new archipelago unlock because he just burned hansen hard!
Karax needed more solarite to make it to s tier, honestly I think the lack of a work crew was to differentiate him from swann.
Kerrigens multiple personalities would actually make sense considering the zerg hive mind and its potential effect on the human mind... IF it was intended but it never feels more like the writers just didnt know how to keep a coherent character across 3 campaigns and swapping between antagonistic and protagonistic etc, if they had leant into it hard they could have made her much more sympathetic having to control the mixed natures instilled in her while also gaining new things to balance as she grows a new swarm and gains even more powers and influences.
Talandar is one I'd argue could reach s tier, his whole arc is so good considering how people would have attachment to sc1 fenix and it plays so well on that via artanis being the stand in for the player.
Vorazun is discount Zeratul, they needed a Dark templar but they wanted the zeratul tragic story, they didn't really differentiate her from the stuff zeratul had already told us etc
Tassadar will instantly sit in tier S
@@Ikobot. I think it says something that the SC2 tier list has so many characters in B tier and only two S tier characters (one of them who only appears in TV broadcasts). While SC1 has less characters overall, I can see it having a lot more characters in higher spots
Yes. Q is automatically S tier!
@@bobbyferg9173 Grant dislikes having too many things on S tier, which is understandable.
I'll put Alarak, Talandar, and Matt in addition to the guys on S tier if I were the ranker. I'll bump Artanis to A because of his theme of growing into a true leader by bouncing off of different people and absorbing their great parts.
I think the most disappointing part of Kerrigan not being committed to the role of Antagonist is the existence of the Zerg campaigns in SC1. We've already seen Kerrigan's ruthlessness, and even if she doesn't go heartless, (like honoring Valerian's request to avoid the civilian centers) she's still _a_ villain even if she's not _the_ villain anymore.
I guess my point is, the villain perspective has already been done and accepted, yet they were hesitant to do it again, instead preferring to go "Our heroes have to be heroic and essentially perfect with no complications!"
Top Moments of the Tier List Video
1. That Tosh Impression
2. Everything about Donny Vermillion
3. Putting the doctor in D Tier and not saying a word about it
Now that was an S-Tier swipe at Dr. Hansen. I laughed a bit harder than I should have at that one.
As for Jim's alcoholism, I kind of figured it similar to Ulysses S. Grant. When he was on mission and needed he was sober and on point, but when he was off duty and had time to live in his own headspace, he deemed himself a failure and binge drank those thoughts away. Also just like the old General, Jim seemed to hate said alcoholism.
Zeratul... Only good thing I have to say about him in SC2 is the fight against Artanis and the conviction in the delivery of "My life for Aiur". The delivery of that line basically confirmed to all of us that he wasn't leaving that fight alive.
Amon feels like an impetuous child with infinite power
27:00 Selendis feels like she embodies perfectly what the Protoss are more than anyone else. They are the good guys and they do have a lot of respect for competent warriors on any side, but they won't let anything come between them and their duty
28:30 It would even be fair to say that he's one of the best commanders in the sector honestly.
Isn't you first take a problem tho? In SC1 Protoss had the Conclave - old, dismissive, rooted in their ways, yes but those ways WORKED and they quite literally saved the Protoss from genociding themself. When the Conclave was removed and Aldaris was killed off for being the only one who dared to think in the whole protoss empire, they got dumbed down to "we are the good guys". There is no spice to Protoss, they are unambiguously the good guys. Planet purges are forgotten, persecution is forgotten as if they never existed - they are the good guys. And Amon is the bad guy. In fact, SC2 Protoss, outside of the asspulled new tribes have as much depth as Amon has.
@@ofgreyhairwaifu4089 Well, I guess it'd be more accurate to say that Selendis embodies the Templars instead yeah
@@ofgreyhairwaifu4089 of course there is no spice for protoss, they photosynthesis. how are you going to add oregano to the sun? (this was a joke)
@@stephenpenton3183 what a stupid question, you just gather enough oregano and send it AT NIGHT.
I really like your idea with warfield not dieing early on in char. And i think it could work well with zagara, by having her be the one going back to Char to ward off the gorgons.
zagara gets obliterated by the gorgons at first, as we see in gamr already.
then kerrigan comes along and does the whole "just throw scourge at them ziggy, it's not that hard", but instead of warfield sending 2 marines and a firebat to kill the scourge nests, he has a gorgon just gun them down, so suddenly it becomes about running the F away from these now unstoppable behemoths and you get the timed defence mission.
Later on, when going to attack Char, whilst stuckov is helping on the military command and dehaka is being kept as a sort of special forces reserve, zagara gets sent back to char, and outmanouvers warfield and the gorgons before breeching that final base, and the end Cutscene has zagara letting warfields men live, and learning a little bit about valuing the lives of your underlings, rather than throwing them away in the normal zerg fashion.
Could be fun.
Holy Hell, its peak fiction
8:25 only one thing to say about this character
LOOKS LIKE THE THRASHERS HAVE ARRIVED. LET'S KICK EM BACK TO THE VOID.
Hey at least she's buying the first round, and that's a promise.
Your teardown of Zeratul made me come to the sad realisation that his most significant contribution to the plot was to die.
These thoughts are really fun to listen to. I'd love to see a 'how I would have done it' for Starcraft's II's story in how things might be rearranged, changes to missions, characters, stuff like that.
I think one noteworthy thing about Zeratul in Starcraft 2 was how much he personally sacrificed to stop Amon. He absolutely hated Kerrigan and rightfully wanted her dead for all the atrocities she committed to the Nerazim, but was willing to put it aside to deal with the bigger threat. His efforts lead to him becoming an outcast and hated by his own people, but also inspired and led others to eventually do the same and work together with hated enemies.
I felt Rohana was there to bring back the old templar mentality from starcraft 1, and how the protoss have changed since
Someone once described Dehaka as a zerg mercenary. I mostly love the way he speaks, and how his motivations are simple, and understandable. It makes sense why he follows Kerrigan
"Mom? Can we have Sargeras on our way back?"
"We have Sargeras at home"
Sargers at home: *Amon*
to be fair sargeras is even more boring than amon
I... kinda agree. I mean, no matter what, Amon overtaking the Khala is a great move, and he pulls it off all by himself (sped up by Naruds whole bringing it from the void thing, but still). Sargeras wins 99% of things either by sending millions of minions, or by not being close enough for people to realize hes nobody you should make a deal with.
If else, this meme would work with pre-BfA N'Zoth, since Amon and N'Zoth share the mastermind thing but one got a lot more good hits than the other (then BfA turned N'Zoth into an absolute moron who makes Amon a genius in comparison).
@@lenkagamine4145 well tbf sargaras had some pretty badass moments...more than what we can say for amon
Amon is more like Jailer than Sargeras tbh
Gran't: I can't record anything of quality today.
The video: 144p or 1080p take ot or leave it
I really liked the idea behind warfeild. This veteran commander who has faith in his soilders.and respect for enemies. it was a real shame that he has to be incompetebt. So Raynor can swoop in and be the hero then he has to lose to Kerrigan early so she can go on her vengeance quest.
You can know your enemy and still be caught off guard by them when they have the home turf advantage. Char was their home, Warfield only had limited information on it, and that won't factor any changes the Zerg made since Terrans last visited. So I don't equate it up to incompetence, just got outplayed by the enemy having the advantage on him
Out of nowhere we get a Monster Musume reference that Grant might find spider legs very charming.
Wasn't it more of a reference to that one Neil Cicierega comic about Ariel with legs?
Grant : "I like Tosh, he is a cool dude"
Also Grant : I put him in B tier
The Hybrid were created as a mockery of the Infinite Cycle which was supposed to be done without direct intervention of the Xel’Naga. The hybrid were completely artificial and were originally aimed to be made with direct guidance, both which are big no-nos for the loyalist Xel’Naga
The main thing that always bothered me about Tychus was honestly the Wings of Liberty opening cinematic.
It's a cool cinematic! And it really does explain the horrible situation Tychus is in. But it was at the very start of the campaign, so from the moment he showed up after mission 1 you knew he was working for Mengsk, even if he was coerced into it. I feel like it would have been a lot better if he were left a bit ambiguous for longer, with Matt having his suspicions about him and Jim defending him constantly and *then* getting the cinematic to reveal what's going on, maybe just before you land on Char. I think that would've had more impact, because the first time I played through Wings I was just always thinking "okay, so when's he going to betray me, then?" and I feel it really undermined him as a character, though he's grown on me since because he is very entertaining and well-written. Just wish I'd been able to enjoy that more on the first playthrough without having the "yep, he's a double agent" thing spoiled from the get-go.
Mostly agreed, but I think they should have gone in the other direction - made it MORE clear that he was a double agent, so the player has that tension of "when's he going to turn on me," and they can more effectively see the conflict in him. If they made it clear that he'd become a believer but needed to follow Mengsk's orders anyway, it would have been more tragic.
Instead there's that prologue/trailer scene with no obvious connection to the story, and he's an antihero/loose cannon ally the entire game, and then 15 seconds from the end of the last cutscene he goes "BTW I'm a traitor," points his gun slowly at Human Kerrigan, and Raynor shoots him.
My first starcraft is sc2. Zeratul that i know is sc2. Its a good character. He is misterious, wise . But he have cool wibes. Its just a pity that we dont have his journey about his adventures. Even if it was like covert ops it would be great. But sadly we get 7 missions... it is just sad.
Narud was the one behind the fall of the original queen of blades, he told valerian that the xelnaga artifact could be use to defeat her and that serves him to collect the psi-onic energy that kerrigan lost when she was desinfected to resurrect Amon. He plan everything in SC2. But I still think he could be a lot more.
Indeed, i think they should have gradually revealed him as something more than some random corporation owner instead of the *laserbeam as soon as he gets on screen*.
Another cool thing they could have added was that the narud missions get harder the more zerg/protoss samples you sold him during Wings with some lines indicating it. Like "thanks to your the Raider's generous contributions to science ...*something about more hibrid*"
The fact you didn't put Alarak in S-Tier hurts my soul. John De Lancie REALLY brings Alarak alive and they really couldn't have picked a better actor.
Wings of Liberty, as a campaign, felt like it had about 50% more characters than the story had the space for. A few more missions would've done a lot to add dimension to a few of the more threadbare characters.
It had so many characters that the other campaigns borrowed them lol
One think i love from artanis is that in post sc2 stories they made him that he always tries to be a good leader in times of peace but he isnt a good one, and that he is a great one in times of war
This isn't the StarCraft smash or pass but I still like it!
Blizzard listening to Grant on Fanservice: Sure, here, have your Dr. Henson, Amon, and Iszha butt shots in the cinematics!
When i saw the cutscene where zeratul died i was very shocked and artanis having his weapon later was such a nice detail
He gave Warfield a low score?
Send in another Gorgon!!
I actually like rohana, she has some breakdowns, some progress, it's at least c tier for me
Yeah the problem I see with her is that she never contributed something important, nothing of impact. It would be so cool if something only Rohanna could've known would be an important thing of a strategy
@@Dj0enderman3000 it feels like it was the goal with her trying to spy on Amon, but what she ends up finding is so obvious it doesn't feel like she did something cool
@@Dj0enderman3000 she is the most developed and interesting of the adjutants.
I also like Janara because she is sort of like Zagara, but a Zagara that never learns but, does so in a genuine character flaw way, like, it's in her character to be a head strong stubborn "child" in strategy
Zeratul's voiceover in "Alone" is one of the most epic things I've ever experienced. Just for that and his death, I'd rank him as an S-tier stallion. He did do more than you give him credit for as well: he put himself in harms way to not only sway Kerrigan's path, but Artanis' and Raynor's paths too. He's the top-tier mentor character if I've ever seen one.
8:17, but he built garry in a cave with a box of scrap
Karax has the head of the support crew in the background would have been awesome. You see some working in the background. You see him giving an order or two and in the mission where he is the commander. He would lead the army, but has the head of his crew. Like they give here and there some messages about stuff they achieved. Like that the hacked the plattform and you can move it now, because of them. A message about how they saved a bunch of templers by managing the spear of adun.
Selendis should have gotten a true role in LotV instead of becoming the vessel of the big bad.
Mira does not show up often, but when, she is fun and she maybe a mercenary and crime lord, but she follows her rules. She doesn't hand over the one dude to Matt and Kerrigan, because the deal was made with Jim.
Mensk. I wish he would win somewhere sometime. He really lost everything between Starcraft 1 and 2 what made him good.
Am I the only one who thought that there where some flirty tones between Vorazun and Artanis?
I really like Abathur. He is just so alien. The cut line where he raps made him even better.
Nah, I thought there were flirty tones between Alarak and Artanis (eve their names start with the same letter! They’re a match!) what with all the proposal from alarak to become his subject.
Selendis: I completely agree she got shafted, HOWEVER, her being the one to set up Artanis' ultimate one-liner (imo) in the final cutscene after Salvation also felt super incredible.
"But without the Khala, what will we become?"
"Free."
I would love to have seen her be in the early campaign for some more characterization, and THEN maybe on/around Ulnar she gets controlled by Amon etc. It would also have made that exchange hit EVEN harder since we got to see more of her early on.
Honestly, since Rohana was unliked, Selendis couldve filled that role as the 'Old Conclave views' (while toning down the space racism). And instead of having Rohana disconnect from Amon on the Spear of Adun (cuz rohana doesnt exist), instead we just get the final cutscene when we reunite Selendis.
@@andysmarines I think it might have been interesting to have Selendis be the main character in LOTV. It would have honestly been much more shocking to have Artanis taken over by Amon given the connection most players already have with him through Starcraft 1. It would have made some of those lines in Salvation hit harder if it had come from him. This would also have given Selendis a great chance to grow and become an actual character. Make it much more of a struggle for her to adapt to the lost of the Khala and overcome long held beliefs.
Agree with all of these. SC2 has a bunch of wasted opportunity due to too many good characters and not enough missions or background details to flesh them out.
- Karax could've been a representation of the support crew instead of the only one.
- Selendis either needed a mission or two before her mind control or needed to show up in WoL or HotS more often.
- Mira has just the right amount of quirk and ham to be fun but not overly cartoony. Plus she's a good counterpoint to Horner's moral righteousness.
- Mengsk needed something to make him feel like a bigger threat, and show the might of the Dominion that the Raiders just can't handle head-on.
- You're definitely not the only one who noticed the flirty tones between Vorazun and Artanis. They are both opposites and similar in desires for their people, as well as being the youngest leaders of the peoples' histories. They even have a whole ship dedicated to them that came into being purely from these flirty lines (of which I happily endorse and really wish Blizzard would make canon. The dynamic is poetic but not toxic unlike Alarak/Artanis.). It has quite a few fanfics and fanart of them together, more so than Alarak/Artanis.
Note: I think Vorazun should've been placed in at least B-tier simply because of her in-game dynamic with Artanis, flirtatious lines aside.
- Abathur is that mad scientist that is morally detached from everyone else yet still knows how to make surprisingly witty dialogue.
The 360p and the fact that the description says Mortal Kombat 11 makes this so much better
The coop version of Stetmann was made canon in the comics.
That’s comics. Not in the games
The drunken Jimmy mission is an interesting idea. The mission starts with a no build segment where he sends a terrible unit composition, like Firebats and Hellions vs armored Protoss units and photon cannons, or a bunch of units that can't attack air like Marauders and Siege Tanks vs Mutalisks or Scouts. Throughout the whole mission you get distortion and blurring screen effects that make it hard to see what's happening, and hallucinated units like a Sentry makes and the unit characters questioning Jimmy like a Marine saying "shoot the enemy here? what enemy? it's clear!"
Fighting against an illusionary army would be interesting (combined with real army of course) and could be used as an interesting plot material
Not the screen blurring tho, some gameplay elements shouldn't be played with
> "Firebats and Hellions vs armored Protoss units and Photon Cannons"
Hey, no need to make fun of Grant's Archipelago playthrough :)
Grant confirmed to be Drunk Jim.
33:43
I think doing a thing where he snaps(in both meanings) orders at people while stressed early on and then later he’s more of an effective leader and stays calmer under pressure would have been cool
Dehaka is S tier, because his personality is simple and compelling:
Throat Cancer
He's a dinosaur. With a beard. Who can gobble a Protoss Mothership in one sitting. Of course he's S!
@@Alknix He has a gofundme to raise money for treatment. Please go support him.
And he must evolve because he lives in the US and because he is jobless he does not have health insurance.
@@blakedake19 He must collect essence or he can't afford healthcare.
@@The_Story_Of_Us like some nobel prize winners who must sell their thophies in order to pay for medical expenditures. SC2 just became way too real.
I would maybe put Matt into S tier - he feels perhaps more iconic than Raynor for SC2
Personally I consider Wings of Liberty Raynor to at least get to A tier but I have to agree that Matt really is such a great character. Not only is he the more level headed idealist who is always there for Jim but he also part of some of the best moments in humor in SC2. He also goes past being Jim’s right hand man and is clearly a great leader himself.
Also you cannot forget his distain and even distrust for Tychus which in part is probably due to how Tychus is a link to Jim’s criminal past
in WOL we learn that Amon "loves it when a plan comes together"
Matt was a wraith pilot.
On the theme of Magistrate, discarding the player characters (magistrate/admiral, two cerebrates and the two executors) was a major travesty.
How could someone pilot something as useless as the wraith while being so competent?
@@АртёмЩукин-я2х You basically have to be the Red Baron with Jedi magic to make it through two major interstellar wars flying a wraith, it's called survivourship bias.
@@АртёмЩукин-я2х you mean like Artanis the scout pilot? I'm sensing a pattern here.
Actually the executor of episode 3 is supposed to be Artanis, so that is the one instance they made the player character a part of the story from SC1
@@bobbyferg9173 And the BW Executor is apparently Selendis, so that's two instances.
I think the problem with Amon is the same as many recent Blizzard villains - they want to give them some SLIIIIIIGHT sympathy by making them act, up to the bitter end, that they are doing the right thing. Even though the games (mostly through Rohana) clearly show that Amon is having an eons-long temper tantrum at the fact he cannot use his magnificent Xel'Naga powers for himself.
While still not great of a character, I think he'd be a lot better if they ran with the temper tantrum route. Have him act all grandiose and visionary when he has the upper hand, then still grandiose but more personal and aggressive when the tables start to turn, and by the time Kerrigan ascends, have him show his true colors as an entity that is desperate to clinge on the dream he once had but that it was that, just a dream. Age and power without maturity. (Plus I think it would solve the issue as to why both the Protoss and the Zerg rebelled against him - he's not as magnificent as he thinks)
By having him act grandiose and visionary from start to end, however, he ends up feeling flat like a pancake.
Kind of the same problem the Jailer has in WoW: by trying to give him "sympathy", he actually became a worse character.
20:40 But there was - energy that artifact succed out of Kerrigan was the one that allow Amon to return from the void. Guess you missed some dialogues.
Can ya blame him? Amon's convoluted plan is dumb as hell and THE ARTIFACT is one of the crappiest 'do-anything' plot tickets I've ever seen
Hot take: I liked Amon actually more than the Overmind in relation to the entire overarching story. Amon was a typical pure evil villain. His urge to end the infinite cycle was its randomness that would birth Xel'Naga. He wanted a controlled final go around that would make eternal monstrosities in his image. I don't need to know it identify with him because he's a pure evil God, and therefore he's beyond a mortal mind. The idea of a war of the Gods, and his constant background manipulation since the beginning, that only the unexpected arrival of Terrans combined with Zerg and Protoss would stop him otherwise he would've had total victory...defeating him just felt good!
Edit: shame about Izsha. Apparently she was supposed to have more to do originally and was described as running her own secret sinister plans behind the scenes. That, sadly, got cut, which destroyed any potential she could've had
I can agree with this placement. Two changes. Swap the S and A line-ups, and also put Tosh in S. Then it is perfect.
My head cannon is Matt is the player character from SC1 and I don't care what the lore says. Jim and Matt together from the very beginning.
I personally like to pretend this as well. It just fits so much better rather than Matt being some random new character that just so happens to be Raynor's 2nd in command. That and he is the most formally dressed character despite being a rebel and is disdainful towards Tychus for being a convicted criminal despite all of them technically being criminals. Really feels like something a confederate magistrate would do given that they were mostly an aristocracy.
I love the instant no-comment D tier for The doctor
I always figured Valerian was going to be the reason there were humans working with the hybrid, since he wears similar iconography on his shoulders. But then it was just mind control or whatever.
there actually are a dozen conversations with Egon Stetmann you cant see if you have Ariel Hanson on the ship, as they fulfill the same role to the player but different interpretations. Stetman is an Amateur Experimental Machinist who is trying to bridge the technological gap between humanity and the children of the Xelnaga, but is so far over his head that he is beginning to collapse from the stress, especially since Jim Raynor generally is actually smarter about the fields that Stetman is studying. Ariel Hanson conversely is a career Laboratory Biologist who keeps in constant touch with scientific periodicals on Zerg biology and Psionics research.
Hansen actually has fewer conversations then Stetmann, its just that you probably dont leave Evacuation - Outbreak - Haven to the last 3 missions before Char so you dont see Egon normally.
frankly, Egon wasnt a good character until they had him go metasane from huffing all the Terrazine, mostly since both Egon and Ariel are primarily mouthpieces for in universe exposition. and while C-op isnt canon, the comicbooks are
Imo the biggest problem with Stetmann and Hanson is that the two don't interact with each other. We could have had a situation where the two are foils for each other - maybe Stetmann is the inexperienced but eager scientist who geeks out over Protoss tech, while Hanson is the more experienced but careful Zerg expert.
Either that or just combine them into 1 character. As you noted, in terms of conversations with Raynor they actually cannibalise each other.
@@emilchan5379 I would say Egon geeks out over the tech, but Hansen is anything but cautious. She's incredibly cocky. If anything, Egon would be the careful one.
I love how grant casually went "ugh" and put hanson in D tier XD