Tenebrais posted:

That's overselling it a bit. The zerg by SC1 clearly incorporated the DNA of their subsumed species, since they were able to hatch them from zerg eggs. Zerg have always had a big unstable-alien-DNA thing going on.
And the map powerup is just a gameplay visual for getting living tissue samples.
The concept of incorporating alien DNA has always been a core part of the Zerg.

Calling it essence all the time is a dumb coat of paint to make what the zerg does more like magic and less like science, at least from their own perspective. Along with tying DNA concretely to the whole "purity of form/purity of essence" thing the Xel'naga had going on, just in case you'd forgotten that the Zerg had Purity of Essence, and wanted the Protoss, who had Purity of Form, and it was very important that something had Purity of Form and Purity of Essence and the Zerg are the ones with the Essence. Essence.

It wouldn't grate so bad if they weren't saying the word every other sentence, good god.

Regalingualius posted:

Kerrigan is her own justification, as far as the story’s concerned.

painedforever posted:

Does the game try to justify Kerrigan in any way?

Octatonic posted:

There are the same number of essences as Pokémon. 1015

Kith posted:

No, the game very clearly calls Kerrigan a monster multiple times. This is all on her doing what she wants because she feels like it. There are a couple times where people are like "but that's wrong and hosed up!" and Kerrigan might feel a little sad about it sometimes, but otherwise just goes "yeah well you can't stop me soooooo gonna do it anyway"

wedgekree posted:

Essence Essence Joy Joy

To the tune of the Ren and Stimpy song!

PurpleXVI posted:

I feel like the game could have used maybe a few flashbacks to Kerrigan's Queen of Blades period to both illustrate how she was thinking/feeling during that period and how she feels about it now. Because as it stands she kind of feels like she's only in the... now, at any given point. There's no looking back or introspection going on. Just "hm, need to save Jim. Need to war crime to save Jim. War crime it is."

BisbyWorl posted:

I justify nothing. There is no moral high ground here.

RevolverDivider posted:

That line about the Protoss killing Zerg is one of the funniest lines in all three campaigns and I fondly remember bursting out laughing that they said it with a straight face.

Octatonic posted:

There are the same number of essences as Pokémon while HotS was in development. 649

quote:

She was intelligent, careful, and tenacious. But she made one mistake. She ran away.

quote:

I justify nothing. There is no moral high ground here. Your people have killed billions of zerg. We are all covered in blood. There may be more on my hands than yours, but in the end we are both killers.

bladededge posted:

The whole ESSENCE! thing attaches literal and mechanical meaning to something that was originally more of a metaphorical, philosophical concept. I find this annoying because you're taking something with nuance and removing that nuance.

In the SC1 background, the creators of the Protoss deemed their creation to have 'purity of form', but they were weak on 'purity of essence', which the second creation, the Zerg, apparently succeeded on. Part of the Overmind's general goal in hunting and attacking the Protoss was to finish what his creators started and become complete by taking the protoss into himself. Psionics are somehow part of this, which is why the terran psi potential (esp. Kerrigan) were interesting to him/them, driving the original push into terran space.

That's all interesting. What is 'purity of essence' or 'purity of form' exactly? We can speculate! It opens up something you can think about.

Little did Big O know that all he needed to do was just gank some Protoss raiding parties and collect their pickups, would have made the Zerg's lives easier

Torchlighter posted:

We will get to that. It will not be satisfying.

quote:

Driven to perfect their science of
proto-genetic evolution, the
ancient, enigmatic race known as
the Xel’Naga traveled to the distant fringe-
world of Aiur. The vast jungles of Aiur had
produced the most advanced race that the
Xel’Naga had ever seen. Believing that they
could steer the race’s evolution to the pinnacle
of physical perfection, the Xel’Naga began to
conduct their proto-genetic experiments. The
race that the Xel’Naga would eventually name
‘Protoss’ advanced rapidly and gained what
their creators termed ‘a distinct purity of form’.
Unfortunately, the Xel’Naga pushed their
experiment too far. The inherent essence and
sentience of the Protoss developed far too
rapidly, leading to bitter strife and division
between them and their creators. The Xel’Naga
deemed that the purity of form they sought to
create had been sullied by a conflict of essence
and thus decreed that the Protoss were, in fact,
a failed creation. The Xel’Naga abandoned
their children and launched themselves into
the void.

quote:

The Xel’Naga planned to continue
their Grand Experiment of evolution, only this
time they dismissed their tenets of physical
form and focused chiefly on the pursuit of a
distinct purity of essence.

quote:

As the Zerg incorporated more and more
host creatures into their fold, they began to
assimilate their various genetic strains and
processes. Zerg chemistry began to mutate and
adapt according to the volume of new genetic
material being processed. However, as diverse
as the range of host creatures became, there
was always the undeviating drive to consume
only the most evolutionarily advanced species
encountered. The Zerg were innately selective
as to which species they consumed, ensuring
that at every stage of their development they
were at the top of the proverbial food chain.
Any race that the Zerg came across that was
deemed unworthy of assimilation was
eradicated to further purify the strains.

quote:

Over a
surprisingly short amount of time, the strains
grew to resemble a terrifyingly ravenous and
unified race.

quote:

The Xel’Naga, remembering all too well that
their failure with the Protoss was a result of
pushing the sentience of the fledgling species
too quickly, decided to follow a different path
with the burgeoning Zerg. Attempting to
waylay the potential hazards of differing egos,
the Xel’Naga structured the collective
sentience of the Zerg into a unified,
amalgamated ‘Overmind’. The Overmind
coalesced into a semi-sentient being that
represented the primary drives and instincts
of all of the Zerg strains. As time passed, the
Overmind developed the rudiments of
personality and advanced intellect.

quote:

A bunch of stuff about how the Overmind controls Cerebrates who control Queens and Overlords, with each tier being completely under the control of the one above. There is no division amongst the race, either in group or by individuals

quote:

The inclusion of super-dense hides
and the ability to exist in a vacuum bolstered
the genetic pool of the swarm. Soon the Zerg
warriors were conditioned to survive the
harshness of space.
This pivotal moment in the development of
the Zerg was not lost to the Xel’Naga. The Zerg,
despite having an extreme physical handicap,
had succeeded in not only surviving, but in
retaining the purity of their terrible overriding
essence. The Xel’Naga knew that they had
achieved their goal.

quote:

Through dissecting the memories of the
Xel’Naga, the Overmind was made aware of
the myriad races that had at one time or
another been influenced by the ancient race.
The Xel’Naga had kept a detailed genetic
history of each race, giving the Overmind a
clear understanding of their respective
strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly,
the Overmind learned of an exceedingly
powerful race that lived near the galaxy’s fringe
known only as the Protoss. The Overmind
knew then that the Protoss and the Zerg would
eventually be caught in an inevitable,
apocalyptic conflict.

quote:

Despite innumerable victories, the
Overmind was greatly disturbed. The
Overmind was aware that the Protoss had
become a highly psionic race, able to bend
and warp the very fabric of reality to their
whims. It sought a way to counter the
awesome might of the Protoss, but found no
answers among the genetic strains it devoured.

quote:

Obsessed with
fashioning the perfect life-form, the Xel’Naga
labored to create a creature that would be
defined by a distinct purity of form. For
thousands of years they carefully steered the
delicate evolutionary processes of their
budding species. Although their protracted
experiments produced many intriguing
deviants and mutations, the races that the
Xel’Naga cultivated always fell short of their
enormous expectations. Despairing at last, the
Xel’Naga focused their frustrated efforts on the
most promising of their engineered worlds.
Aiur, a massive jungle-world on the galaxy’s
fringe, had borne a race of highly advanced
beings. These beings were incredibly
adaptable to harsh natural conditions and
climates. Their strength and speed were
unparalleled amongst the other races known
to the Xel’Naga. The race had even developed
a rudimentary tribal society based upon group-
hunting and warrior rule. However, their most
distinct aspect was that they communicated
with each other through a very complex
method of instinctive telepathy, allowing them
to operate communally with striking efficiency.

quote:

As their
understanding and personal awareness grew,
the Protoss became exceedingly proud and
began to see more value in personal
achievements than communal advancement.
The more successful Tribes began to isolate
themselves from one another, each seeking to
define their own roles, not only within their
immediate society, but within the greater
universe as well. As the Tribes grew further
and further apart, the Xel’Naga reeled in
frustration. They speculated that perhaps they
had pushed the evolution of the Protoss too
far, marring the purity of their creation. Many
Xel’Naga believed that the Protoss had lost
their greatest strengths, as individual egos
arose to overpower the once primary
communal link.

quote:

Attempting to completely sever themselves
from the rest of their race, the Tribes began to
lose the connection to their primal psychic
link. This breakdown in the inherent empathy
of the Protoss for one another did the most to
dissolve the last remnants of unity and
brotherhood amongst them. The severing of
the psychic link was also the greatest sign, to
the Xel’Naga, that the Protoss had tragically
lost the most fundamental element of their
greatness.

BisbyWorl posted:

aniviron posted:

Oh also I did just remember that the Protoss in the last mission were using Scouts so basically they deserved to lose that one. I didn't even know there was a Scout model in SC2.

BisbyWorl posted:

BisbyWorl posted:

I justify nothing. There is no moral high ground here. Your people have killed billions of zerg. We are all covered in blood. There may be more on my hands than yours, but in the end we are both killers.

Ah yes, killing billions of ravenous animals puppeted by a hive mind that actively desires the consumption of your kind is totally equivalent to what we're doing here. This is such a morally gray situation!

GunnerJ posted:

Kerrigan, bad news, there are whole Zerg strains that exist to be suicide bombers!

Tenebrais posted:

Are phoenixes just that unfun to play against in single player?

Cythereal posted:

I think the campaigns keep using them because phoenixes can only attack air units (without their special trick and I'm not sure that was even in the game prior to Legacy), making them harmless if the player chooses not to make air units. Air units that the player may not even have, as seen here.

Cythereal posted:

I think the campaigns keep using them because phoenixes can only attack air units (without their special trick and I'm not sure that was even in the game prior to Legacy), making them harmless if the player chooses not to make air units. Air units that the player may not even have, as seen here.