Criticism of RTS Storytelling

I know this blog was originally about Starcraft 1, but I've gotten bored of that and want to move on to other topics. Such as bad writing in Warcraft 3! (Terrible joke, I know). For example, Arthas' fall to darkness doesn't sit well with me. Ignoring all the hot takes about "he was a born sociopath" from Sylvanas stans, in the original game his arc is obviously intended to be a tragedy where a well-meaning hero is tortured and gaslit by the villains until he goes crazy and joins them. The problem is that key parts of this narrative undermine the emotional arc. When Arthas culls Stratholme, Uther and Jaina just leave rather than try and stop him. This goes against their personalities! But the writer forces them to act this way because it would break the plot. This is bad writing. (BTW, Stratholme was supposed to be an impossible situation. There was literally nothing Arthas could've done that would've made any difference. I have problem with how this makes ...

SC1 opens with a cinematic where the protoss incinerate Chau Sara. Throughout episode 1 the protoss pose an ever-present danger of planetary incineration. Several planets including Mar Sara and Antiga Prime are incinerated. After episode 1, however, the protoss seemed to forget they had planet glassing  lasers . They never use the lasers in later episodes where they would be convenient. Tassadar never tries to laser zerg positions on Char. The protoss never laser zerg positions on Aiur in the middle of an invasion. Tassadar kamikazes his carrier into Overmind rather than using the laser. They never explain why they cannot, either. Altho the lasers are used for destroying whole planets, we usually see this being done by dozens of carriers at a time. It is reasonable to deduce that the damage is proportional to the duration of the firing and the number of lasers used. So it could work as an orbital canon to strike strategically viable positions. The starcraft story was  develope...

The Overmind and cerebrates are explained as being effectively immortal. Unless killed using void powers they will instantly "reincarnate" their body. There are a few problems with this plot device. Firstly, it's a lazy plot device and was obviously shoehorned in later in development. Tassadar wasn't initially intended to divebomb Overmind, this was suggested by the design team to add an epic climax to the script. I can't be sure, but I suspect the vulnerability to void power was added as part of this because the presentation is clunky (see my second point). The SC1 manual never once implies that the Overmind or cerebrates were immortal or could only be killed by void powers. Secondly, the introduction of this plot point is very clunky and involves characters reading ahead in the script rather than coming to reasonable conclusions. In order: Overmind tells us that cerebrates are immortal Zeratul permakills Zasz Overmind says only dark templar can kill cerebrates ...

While the zerg were originally introduced as apocalyptic villains bent on devouring the galaxy and so on, after the first game (SC1 OG campaigns) they were reduced to a plot device for human and protoss characters to fight over. This reaches a peak in BW, where the plot centers around a war for control of the zerg. There are some plot holes here that should be pointed out, particularly with regard to how easy it is for random characters to enslave zerg. I’ll go thru it chronologically: The Confederacy experiments with weaponizing zerg for a decade without any apparent success (the zerg arrived in 2487 , the Battle of Chau Sara occurred in 2499 ), aside from the psi-emitter and psi-disruptor tech. The psi-emitter is created for false flag ops but backfires because the zerg are too powerful. The space pirate Schezar raids Aiur for crystals that he uses to enslave a cerebrate with the help of rogue ghosts in a few days or so. He tries and fails to enslave Overmind. No explanation how h...

Someone shared with me a good analysis of the inconsistencies in the way psi-emitters are used, so I am sharing that here for archiving. Credits to “ARM3481” for this. The psi emitters were always a problem because we, the players, knew that the zerg were driven by a complex intelligence with an agenda, while the terrans at the time thought the zerg were basically just animalistic and cunning. For the psi emitters to actually have worked, the Overmind and its Cerebrates should have been freaking about their entire broods running off to invade planets without being ordered to do so.  That not being the case, it only made sense for the psi emitters "working" to be a misunderstanding whereby the Swarm's intelligent leadership were mistaking them for exceptionally powerful human psionics while the terrans were assuming that their devices were working as intended. Brood War and subsequent portrayals exacerbated the problem by applying both standards to the behavior of everyone...

Most of the obvious bad writing in the first StarCraft is concentrated in the Brood War expansion, but that does not mean the original game is devoid of bad writing. It has no shortage of its own. In the plot of  Episode 1 , a key plot device is the psi-emitter . Its purpose is to lure zerg, which it does very well: countless zerg from light years away will converge on it when you turn it on. Those who are familiar with the replicators from Stargate SG-1 may recognize this plot device, as a similar one was used to lure the replicators into a trap. The psi-emitter is never used against the zerg to lure them into traps, despite the fact that they seem compelled to follow it even if that interferes with their own plans. The idea is just never brought up even once, even though it is blindingly obvious. It is just used to lure the zerg so they can kill Mengsk's enemies for him. Considering that the plot is already about a civil war between the terran colonies while two simultaneous ...