Criticism of RTS Storytelling

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...

The behavior of feral zerg is inconsistent between different games, depending on the plot the writer is trying to tell at the time. There isn’t any way to reconcile these different depictions because the writers change the rules for each one. In one Loomings mission, zerglings are smart and dexterous enough to hotwire security systems so that they attack Confederate marines sent to investigate. Presumably this was done to explain why the turret doodad was attacking, since there's no other plausible reason beyond hacking and only the zerg would be motivated to hack it. But it does imply that the seemingly feral zerg are much smarter than depicted in later entries, creating an inconsistency. In StarCraft OG , if a cerebrate is killed then their brood goes into a killing frenzy and cannot be reclaimed. This is presumably to justify the ZvZ mission, since otherwise it would end immediately because the player character would just take control of the feral zerg. It does create a huge i...

What makes the zerg zerg is their " purity of essence ." This means they're driven to constantly pursue perfection, which they do by consuming all species in their path and using what they learn to create new engineered organisms and alter themselves to become ever more efficient. They're comparable to the Borg  or tyranids , who also seek perfection by consuming the species in their path. Where the writing screws up is that it adds Queen of Blades, who doesn't demonstrate purity of essence at all. In her original appearance in episode 2 she acts absolutely nothing like her original personality so you wouldn't know they were ever the same character if the script didn't tell you (not even an evil version of Kerry, QoB is a spoiled brat who speaks in faux Shakespeare ), she is whiny and argumentative, she is vain and spoiled and selfish (in direct contrast to the other zerg characters who always act calm and collected even under extreme stress), constantly...

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...

So I am sure most people reading this are aware of the storytelling issues in Heart of the Swarm . For example, there is a huge disconnect between the zerg's whole spiel about "purity of essence", evolution, predation, etc and Kerry's stated goal of getting revenge on her ex-boss Mengsk. ("Kerry" is my nickname for Sarah Kerrigan because it is quicker to type.) Why are these horrific alien monsters working with this chick who just wants revenge on her ex and does not actually care one whiff about the zerg's motives, even threating to exterminate them herself on at least one occasion? Why is Kerry working with these horrific alien monsters that do not value any of the human desires she experiences every moment of her life? Why are the zerg placed in the good guy role when they would clearly be much better as the villains? You can read about the zerg's backstory on the fandom wiki . One thing you may notice is that absolutely everything about them is h...