StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty + campaigns

Aside from Silent Hunter III I've been overtaken by the sudden urge to replay Starcraft II trilogy.
Starting from Wings of Liberty, and even then I started from the middle using my old saves. Alas I missed out the cool missions: Redstone III (Reaper hit-n-runs) and Xil (SIEGE TANKS).
Replayed the side storyline with Zeratul's crystal, due to all the research points I would get from it. Except that I used instant win code in the last one, but at that point the objective was "hold the line to the last protoss" but between a flak ton of Carriers and ranks of Photon Cannons I could hold the line painfully long. Were Protoss trying to one-up Terrans? 'cos I'm sure that in the same situations, Siege Tanks, cruisers and bunkered infantry could hold the line much better.
On that note, research and upgrades proved actually useful. Little tweaks to usual units, and research can unlock new ones (those are not subject to upgrades, pity).
The really cool parts are that you can meet old units from Starcraft I/Brood War. Firebat, Medic, Wraith, Goliath, Science Vessel, Vultures, etc. Some are situational, some are awesome, some are decent. Science Vessel is particularly cool; it can repair your stuff and irradiate enemies. For example, in the Char Infested Platform Science Vessels killed the Zerg Leviathan by Irradiate kiting.
Of course, some old units are too symbolic to get rid of them. Marines remain ever useful with their numbers and ranged attack. Siege Tanks' powerful AoE ranged attack in Siege Mode is also valuable in Hold The Line missions as well as in their intended purpose of waging a siege, and their new model - especially the model of a Mercenary Siege Tank - is just beautiful. Battlecruisers, well, they changed, they have a flak ton of weaker attacks instead of a single powerful one, they still have Yamato Guns though. However now they can get Defensive Matrix (a temporary shield) and Missile Batteries (AoE AA attack). Ghosts... I opted out of using them, and they lost Lockdown anyway so... meh. I took Spectres instead, because a) they have essentially a handheld Yamato Gun; b) I don't like that blonde Kerrigan clone you have to help to get Ghosts. And I used them, like, in one mission.
New units are also mostly cool. I especially like Marauders (slowdown grenades are good value), Banshees (Stealthy death from above, combo well with Wraiths), Thors (Heavy assault unit with AA, 330mm Cannons and Immortality Protocol are just the icing on the cake), Diamondbacks (fast, powerful and can fire on the move) and Hercules Transports (large, resilient spaceships that can carry a sh*t ton of units in one go, three Thors for example, and nearly instantly deploy them, if it goes down its passengers use escape pods). Vikings are also useful, especially since you can apply AoE effect to its AA missiles (Anyone remembers UED Valkyries?) and they have longer range than Wraiths, but Viks can't cloak and have to transform to attack ground targets.
As for the story... Missions are fun, most of them. The secret mission in particular. I played through all the main storyline quests until Quadrant Sigma, then completed Tosh's sidequests and then Hanson's. The Zombie Apocalypse mission is easier when you have Siege Tanks, Banshees and permacloaked Spectres. If the infected have detectors/point defense, just nuke them!
Finally, Char missions. I went for denying the Zerg air support so I'll be able to irradiate Leviathan to death. Nydus Worms in the last mission can be hunted down with Banshees. Hive Mind Emulator was invaluable - jack an Ultralisk, watch the shredded zerglings fly. The idea was to also build some Planetary Fortresses on the frontlines.
The storyline itself, however, is not without flaws. If Raynor has been doing nothing but getting hammered for 4 years, he shouldn't be able to lead his ass out of a paper bag, much less a rebellion. No wonder Kerrigan had to actually do the rebellion for him. But oh well, he snapped out of this and started gettin' stuff done. Aside from that, it was a fun ride. I first played WoL when I was in 8th/9th grade and I still find it enjoyable. Especially when it comes to Swann, Tychus or Raynor cracking jokes, Raynor's humor in particular keeps the character from becoming boring.
Finally, Hyperion's interface is nicer than that of the Leviathan or Spear of Adun. There's a jukebox and a game console (and a holostripper, but I like to pretend I didn't notice it) in the cantina, you can get a close-up looks at some particularly cool units in the Armory (Yes, they have a SIEGE TANK in there, and yes, it plays its deploy animation).

I'll post my thoughts on Heart of the Swarm in a later post after I'll complete its campaign.

[heading]Heart of the Swarm campaign[/heading]

Okay, Heart of the Swarm campaign finished.

I am going to say it before laying out my thoughts: I strongly dislike Kerrigan, hence, my thoughts on the storyline in general might be biased against her.

Not just on the storyline, she's all over the place in this game except a few missions. But I'll come back to this later.

The storyline as a whole... I'll assume a positive lookout and say it could be much, much worse, at least Sarah is not a total b*tch. Apparently she's trying to do good. except that she keeps flakking it up. Okay, I can chalk what she did to Lessara to necessary dirty business, else Daelaam would not rest until they hunted Kerrigan down and, as a consequence, doomed the world. But killing Warfield was absolutely flakking unnecessary. Also Kerrigan ordered some Dominion facilities destroyed. All those men and material would have come handy come the actual war for all the creation. But it's okay since she saved Jim. One death is a tragedy...

Other than that I see little wrong with the storyline, with Kerrigan's reinfestation in particular. There are bright moments too, usually brought by other characters. Zagara starts out as Kerrigan's enemy and becomes a loyal comrade to her, almost like her daughter figure. Abathur also creates a great impact on the game's atmosphere, being overall a very memorable, unique and fun (in a dark sorta way) character, and his Evolution Missions are particularly awesome. Dehaka shows savage side of the Zerg to Abathur's scientific side, also bringing in unique vibe. Last but not the least, Kerrigan manages to recruit Alexei Stukov into the Swarm - at least now there's someone else who understands what kind of a hand fate dealt to her.
(On that note, Stukov was outright stated to be still-alive-but-infested in Starcraft N64 mission "Resurrection", where he was rescued and evacuated elsewhere by Terran-Protoss joint force led by Raynor. The entirety of SCN64 was flip-flopped but there was nothing to contradict it. Good thing that Blizzard remembers the old times.)
At least Arcturus Mengsk is done with. He had it coming since first SC, afterall.
The story leaves a loose end with "Shoot the Messenger", though, but it's a minor thing. Probably a hook for a DLC campaign.

As for the missions, they are quite fun. I especially liked Skygeirr Station and Kaldir missions. "With Friends Like These" is also a fun, unique scenario. Evolution Missions are also a cool part of the story, they also help to establish the Zerg-ish atmosphere and choose carefully which kind of substrain you want to develop for that unit. Overall, most of those are fun to play; with interestingly designed maps. While some scenarios are reused from Wings of Liberty, it's not a bad thing.

The units... Most units can be tweaked in the evolution chamber. These tweaks aren't permanent, so it is a flexible tool - the Zerg aren't set in stone. Later on, after playing a corresponding Evolution Mission, you can pick one of two different substrains.

Swarm Queen, Aberration, Drone and Overlord have no upgrade options, but those are valuable. Drones and Overlords are maintenance units that keep your army afloat. Swarm Queens are also valuable units, spreading creep is situational, but the healing these girls bring is much more valuable when ALL of your stuff is biological, and they offer some fire support. Aberrations are ersatz Ultralisks, being heavy assault units which you get much earlier than Ultralisks, but they are also weaker and lack splash damage. However Aberrations are cheaper, deal more damage against armored targets, require less in tech, and - most importantly - they can step over smaller units (like Protoss Colossi), so they don't block movement to Zerglings.
Of course, remember I said Kerrigan is all over the place? This lady also takes to the field herself. She also has abilities that can be customized in-between missions (when she's reinfested as a Primal Queen of Blades she gets an extra option for each ability slot, some of them are passive and affect your entire army - e.g. Overlords spawn instantly) and a powerful ranged attack that grows in power as she gains levels for completing primary and bonus objectives. She also gains armor and health, and if she kicks the bucket, she can be resurrected at your main hatchery (there are still baseless missions where Kerrigan must survive). Sometimes you get another hero to order around, e.g. in the last Skygeirr mission Kerrigan is busy engaging in Beam O' War with Narud, so Stukov has to bail her out.

To sum it up, even despite my dislike of Kerrigan, I like this part too. I first played HotS in 11th grade (that is, I was 17 - 5 years ago I think), and I still find that story to be captivating and interesting. Partly that, partly I play it for nostalgia for those times.
I'm going to replay Legacy of the Void too, and once again I will post my thoughts in the next post.

[heading]Legacy of the Void campaign[/heading]

Legacy of the Void campaign finished.
Once again, I have already played through the entire thing ~an year ago and replayed it a few times later.

First of all, the prologue.
A build-up to the storyline and sorta preview of what we'll see. Definitely not out of place and gives us the taste of how the things were before everything goes to the Void in a handbasket.
Also, praetor Talis, poor girl. I've just started to like her enthusiasm (she'd be a Destroyer pilot were she a Tal'Darim), and next moment, she's ganked by a bunch o' hybrids. Bam, another corpse to pave Zeratul's road to deliver the news. There isn't much left of that road, though.

The main campaign.
First thing's first? Sh*t gets real! With how Daelaam start cracking - launching a full scale offensive to reclaim Aiur - Amon starts cracking too, about just as epic. Y'know, that Protoss racial psionic Facebook called Khala? Amon turns it into a psionic botnet and ASSUMES DIRECT CONTROL. Zeratul has to sacrifice himself to make Artanis a haircut, so it's up to Artanis to set things right. First heroes (Artanis & Co.) escape on the abandoned arkship Spear of Adun (which is essentially Protoss Craftworld), try to recover and gather power (exploding Shakuras in progress), then find out that their hopes of getting Xel'Naga help is busted... but they say "screw Xel'Naga, we are offing Amon by ourselves" and start gathering armies and defeating Amon's secondary forces. I particularly liked Alarak joining the crew and bringing Tal'Darim into the fold, as he saved Artanis from meaningless death and the character cast from being entirely made up from bland characters.
Then the entire gang goes to Aiur and banishes Amon. Even though things will never be the way they used to be, and victory demanded a horrible cost... the lines from my favorite song are especially fitting: "The end of an era is here. It's time to attack!"
I pretty much liked the storyline. Especially all those little touches and sneak-peeks into Protoss' culture, either of their intercaste differences and differences between their offshoot branches (that is, Templars, Nerazim, Tal'Darim and Purifiers). There are lots of worldbuilding in this game, just like with Heart of the Swarm, with Tal'Darim actually getting face-lift (and culture that's essentially a mix between Sith and Dark Eldar) and Purifiers delving into a Clone Question.
A Harsher in Hindsight detail: while what's left of Daelaam are gathering forces and recovering, Amon's forces rampage through Dominion space. Suddenly you realize, that some facilities, forces and people (e.g. General Warfield) that you took out during two previous campaigns could have been handy in this situation and could have saved at least some innocent lives. And while some of these earlier losses could have been justified, some could have been avoided.

Epilogue.
Meh.
Okay, Stukov got his revenge he's been waiting for all the way from Broodwar.
But other than that... after all Kerrigan's done, she gets to turn into a Xel'Naga? Flak this with Flakvierling 38.
There is a silver lining though if you think about it. The prophecy says that only the mix of Purity of Essence and Purity of Form gets to ascend. Purity of Essence has been assumed to be the Zerg and Form usually was attributed to Protoss... But Kerrigan has nothing to do with Protoss, she's a mix of Zerg and Terrans. Which means that Terrans were supposed to be the Purity of Form all along! Especially seeing that Xel'Naga were all for non-interference and Protoss were forcibly uplifted by Amon. Or even better, Terrans went ahead and threw a battlecruiser sized wrench into EVERYONE's plans JUST BY EXISTING! Either way; HUMANITY FLAK YEAH!
A side note. Starcraft II campaigns went in the same order as Starcraft campaigns: Terran, Zerg, Protoss. The Epilogue's missions went in the same order as Starcraft Broodwar campaigns: Protoss, Terran, Zerg.
Still, everyone gets a happy end. Might or might not be what Raynor and Kerrigan deserved, but it could be worse.
As a side note, Alarak letting some of his people go to Templars is seen as a noble move, but it also seems that he simply told them that if they don't want to follow him, they should just flak off and never come back.

Missions in general are decent. My only complaint would be that most of those missions are timed. However, some of them are enjoyable. In particular:
-Last Shakuras mission. Naturally you are nolding a well defendible position, place Khaidaryn Monoliths, Photon Cannons and Shield Batteries to hold chokepoints and form first and second lines and there's not much short of Guardians and Hybrids that can get through. "Death is waiting on the hill, no surrender, shoot to kill..."
-Last Korhal mission. You have allies that can heal your wounded troopers and repair your vehicles!
-Both Slayn missions. First mission, use Bloodhunters to sneak in (they have a trick vs. Photon Cannons) and take HVTs out. Also you can use Dark Archons to amass a fleet of Scouts. Second mission, do secondary objectives then amass an army (few Dark Archons for stealing Tal'Darim carriers optional) and steamroll the opposition. Easy enough if one has Vanguards.
Second to last and last missions on Aiur. The former can allow you to use all the arsenal you have acquired to steamroll the map. Vanguards, Wrathwalkers, Tal'Darim Mothership, etc. The latter is an epic last stand. And one can use Dark Archons to steal enemy Carriers and Tempests. Also, Alarak telling Amon to BRING IT ON.
Epilogue missions are very challenging. All of them are joint ops though, and all of them decent. Just be aware that in the last mission, Amon can destroy parts of the MAP ITSELF! Such as, yes, under your main hatchery.
The gameplay gives you some addition in the main campaign and first Epilogue mission: support powers from Spear of Adun. Reinforcements, orbital bombardments, etc, etc, I mostly used basic orbital bombardments, reinforcements and passive abilities: Warp Harmonisation (Stargate and Ropotic Factory can deploy units like Warp Gates) and Recreation Beam (Repairs damaged mech units/structures). You can configure the selection inbetween missions, and have to complete secondary objectives to make more powerful abilities available or get additional starting supplies/build rate buff/shield regen rate buff.
You can also configure your unit selection. You get up to three variants for each unit role and have to pick one. The selection, like with Spear of Adun's support powers, is not permanent and can be changed between missions.
My unit selection:

Overall... not bad for the end of the trilogy. It gives closure to the series' main arc. There are still loose ends so the story might be continued, but the main arc of the entire Starcraft is done.

It was, however, implied that humans were on their way to evolve into a psychic species. Terran Ghosts had the powers before they were found out and press ganged into Ghost Corps (which was there for a long time before Starcraft seeing as it was an established procedure). Kerrigan was particularly powerful pre-infestation, but she wasn't the only one with psi-index 10 (Nova's also 10). And UED had Ghosts too, meaning that this wasn't just a random genetic glitch the supercarrier passengers developed. Moreover, Stukov hero unit in Brood War is a Ghost, so it is possible he also was a psionic (he definitely is post-infestation). Might also be the case why Duran decided to off him and probably had a hand in his resurrection. Or jumped at the chance when Raynor brought him back.

This is all a bunch of implications though, 'cos as I've heard Blizzard originally planned to make UED a separate faction but decided against it so they just were saddled with Terran units (okay, 'kyries were stated to be UED ships later briefly adopted by Koprulu terrans), so it's possible that UED's Ghost equivalents were just normal special ops units, and last time I checked Stukov was good at employing such units. (I might need to replay Brood War)

And even then, human psychics are considered to be dangerous and require a lot of training to control their powers. Not to mention how brutal that training is, at least for Confed/early Dominion Ghost Corps. Spectres were stated to be free-willed in WoL, but they are also nuts to different degrees, and come LotV Moebius Corps have tons of them... probably Narud "uplifted" them too?

Overall I agree that Starcraft's story is complicated, but I appear to have a bit better grip on the events.

TBAFH, while it might be complicated, I found it interesting. I still think to replay SCI/Broodwar campaigns, or some side semi-canon campaigns such as Insurrection, Retribution, Enslavers or Enslavers 2.

P.S. It was Overmind that ordered Kerrigan infested, not a queen; Overmind and its fellow Cerebrates, IIRC, were identified by male pronouns. When Kerrigan took over, she installed matriarchy.

Hm, always thought those were the same, and that the Warp matrix was rather technology based.
Or you mean that "warp" as in ability to influence matter? Some Ghosts IIRC can use tele/pyrokinesis and Nova could use a psi-blade in scrapped Starcraft: Ghost, and spectres had Psionic Lash.
Also, weren't Nerazim using Void powers too? And Dark Archons have Mind Control, all the way back to Broodwar. Tal'Darim using Void powers was explained essentially "smoke 'zene everyday".

Raynor was a rebel and Mengsk the Emperor since the last Terran mission of the original Starcraft. In Broodwar, UED invaded the sector and Mengsk had to fight to preserve his title. Kerrigan actually fought to throw UED (who wanted to control the Zerg by creating second Overmind) out of the sector, screwing everyone else but Samir Duran over in the process.
Also, Protoss/Zerg Hybrids were first mentioned in Brood War.

It's ok. Blizzard aren't really known for not making any slip ups (just how often did they retcon WoW storyline?), but it's hard to keep a storyline perfectly consistent with such a time gaps between chapters and when storyline in question is so complicated. I'm speaking from experience of creating a bunch of custom Warcraft III campaigns.

P.S. Yeah, that too.

IMO Spoiler forum is good, there are a lot of spoilers in here